For my first project as part of the ECA Animation course, we were put in groups of people from different years of the course and instructed to create an animation based on maps of Edinburgh. My group had Gary Hercus (Year 4) , Ronja Gippert (Year 1), Carwyn Leung, James McLeod (Year 3), and Holly Summerson (Year 2). Together we created not only one but two experimental pieces of animation based on the idea following sounds that we heard in the city.
To begin our initial ideas and research, we discussed where we could take inspiration from and what our 'map' would be. We decided on the idea of following sound as this ignored narrative and therefore allowed to be more free creatively and explore the city without many limits, only following the sounds that interested us. We had created a Facebook group in order to effectively communicate and share our ideas and work, including this advert for New York Bakery Company, which inspired us with its use of sounds to create an environment filled with energy and excitement.
After deciding on our theme, we then began research in the city itself. We did some previous personal visual recordings- I went around Edinburgh, particularly the George Square Campus and drew things that either a lot or a little noise. Other places included Black Medicine Coffee Co., a busy café bustling with chatter and working students, the Meadow Walk, a cut-through to from the Meadows to Lauriston Place, and the bottom of the Grassmarket, a popular tourist destination with bars and restaurants.
As a group we explored the Old Town with our sketchbooks and recording equipment to record sounds which could be used later for our final film. Sounds recorded included traditional Edinburgh-related sounds such as bagpipes, cobblestones, tour guides, and spitting on the Heart of Midlothian, as well as more general sounds of the city such as traffic, chatter in pubs, zebra crossing beeps, and building sites. As we only had two sets of sound recorders, while two of us recorded sounds, the rest of us sketched the locations in which we found many of these sounds.
We then combined our total sketches and recordings in the form of a physical map of the city in order to visualise what we have created, and allowed us to work out what we had and where to go next.
(Source: Holly Summerson)
Following the initial research, we shared multiple animations in our group, including those with and without narrative. With some discussion, we decided which methods were most effective for creative a film in the time space as well as keeping up a good standard between the four years. Most of these animations were music videos, which seemed to closely relate to our theme as both match with the audio somehow.
This music video consists of stop-motion animation created entirely out of chalk, which created a ghostly and smoke-like path that follows the main source of movement. The result is a continuously connected set of animations that are visually pleasing as well as showing viewer what goes into animation to create a moving image- a whole load of frames. Though the song itself was not relevant to us, I found that the method of using everyday objects such as chalkboards set in a circle in an empty room created its own little world for the characters and objects that continuously shifted around and around.
This animation portrayed synaesthesia, a condition in which the setting off of one sense can trigger another sense, which in turn gives off responses such as 'seeing sounds'. This animation related closely with our own theme, and the use of presenting sounds in a non-conventional way (i.e. not just from its original source) would allow us to have more creative freedom and let us all contribute equally.
This music video seems to use markers to create the visuals, giving an appealing hand-made aesthetic along with the semi-abstract video. Rather than representing the just sounds, the video also matches up with the lyrics, and telling its own story with real life objects and speech. Though we took ideas from the video such as using non-specific to animation materials (e.g. paints and crayons) we tried to avoid creating real-life objects as much as possible, with few exceptions to help convey a sense of setting within Edinburgh, such as visuals of buildings.
The use of colours and lively movement along with the music in the introduction give this simple line a playful character. The simplicity and abstraction of the animation method allowed for creative freedom that matched with the sounds without just being the visual representation of what the sounds are, similar to the second video in this list. I took inspiration from this video when creating many of my clips, including the bright colours and lively movement.
We decided that with our collected sounds we could create an abstract musical piece and make multiple short clips of animation based on those individual sounds, and them combine them to create layers of interesting and dynamic animation.
The project gave me an opportunity to explore the facilities that the animation had to offer, such as the computers. To record all our animations we used the program Dragonframe, which I have had previous experience with in my foundation course, so I adapted easily to the work. Before actually animating, I experimented with a variety of materials in order to use the most suitable one for a certain clip. Watercolour has an interesting painterly effect, so the tones of each shape or object are not completely uniform, and react to time- as they dry they become less bright on the paper, creating this 'ageing' effect on the animation.
Below show the finished clips I contributed to the project.
This was the first animation I created for the project, using watercolour on coloured paper. Inspired by the 'Tallest Heights' music video, I wanted to create a brightly coloured animation clip. In order to do so I used contrasting colours- pink watercolour on green paper. However it came out yellow in the recording process, but it still shows off the bright paint well. This clip was inspired by the sounds of a suitcase being pulled across the cobblestones in the Old Town, giving a clattering sound. To portray this I used squares (which can visually represent the cobblestones) which spread out as the sound continues. This clip was heavily inspired the synaesthesia animation which portrayed sounds if they were scene.
This animation was inspired by the sounds of the sirens, such as the changing of the pitch and volume, which was represented with the growing and shrinking circles. The colours of the crayons used, red and blue, also reflect the lights on top of police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks that flash when the siren is in use.
This clip was more of a visual experiment rather than a sound, and is probably why it wasn't selected to be used in the final pieces. It reflects the geometric but not symmetrical shapes of the old town, particularly the map we recorded previously (see above). However I did not find it a waste of time as it allowed me to experiment with more geometric shapes, rather than the organic ones that were produced for the other clips.
This was my last animation made for the project, based on the sounds of a bagpipe. Rather than sticking to the conventional visual imagery of bagpipes- i.e. people in traditional clothes playing the instrument, I followed purely how the sound 'flowed', such as its pitch and volume, which changed either from the recording or from the instrument itself. I enjoyed using watercolours as a material from the cobblestone animation and wanted to try again and improve on the method, such as having more control of the paint and its placement to keep it looking neater. I feel like this second try with it was very successful and is something I'd like to use again for an animation, abstract or not.
However, there were many unfinished bits of animation that never came to be, either because they were not working out or because they were not needed for the final piece (we had a lot to choose from). One such example was above, which was also inspired by the sound of the police siren, similar to the other crayon animation that was created after this one. I found that this piece was not very effective as it was barely visible onscreen- not only did the orange crayon not contrast very well with the white paper but it also reflected light from the lamp. After redoing this with another idea for the sirens, I took things that I learnt from this with me, such as turning off the lamp when using crayons and using a coloured piece of paper, even if it isn't bright, just to take the edge of the glare.
After completing all our animations, we then used Gary's mix that he created from the sounds we collected, which created an erie and mysterious tone, something we did not expect from what we saw in the city. James and Carwyn were then in charge of editing the final pieces, as we thought it would be interesting to see what the outcome would be if two individuals created a piece with the sound and animation provided, and how they would differ. Both use some similar clips in roughly similar times, but also had different editing styles, such as Carwyn's use of small snippets of shapes and James' changing of the size of the entire screen. Overall both were very effective at creating an abstract piece that represented the idea of following the chaotic sounds of a city, which we used as our 'map'.
Overall I am satisfied with what I have produced for this project with my group. I believe we had very good co-operation and organisation skills which allowed us to put a lot of effort into these films. It also allowed me to experiment with materials that I'd have not normally chosen for this medium, but has given me the experience and confidence to perhaps try again with them in another project.
(Process shots of the cobblestone and bagpipe animations)
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