3D Zoetrope
A BA (Hons) ANIMATION PRODUCTION COLLABORATION WITH MoDiP:
Project Curator Ian House
3-26 February 2020
LIVE PROJECT SPACE
The 2018-19 academic year saw the completion of a 3D printed Zoetrope for an exhibition on campus at MoDiP.
The Animation presented within the zoetrope, was designed by Ian House and realised by creative initiative BA (Hons) Animation Production students.
The project brought together the learning of how to build robust puppets and models for computer animation, along with the execution and creation of a group project, concerned with the reception of screen imagery in comparison to a physical artefact.
The zoetrope portrays the mechanics of animation to an unfamiliar audience by raising an intrigue of the magic of movement, character and life. Modelled and puppeteer within the computer, these characters are caught within a perpetual enactment of chaos and delivered with clarity into the physical world.
The Projects aims was to further an awareness and analysis of how the idiosyncrasies of physical craft might embed a more emotional response, through the tactility of the experience. By simultaneously exhibiting the 3D computer model behind the screen of an exhibition monitor alongside the same characters and animations as a physical model, the audience can directly compare their emotional response to an experience where only the tactility and the craft of the presentation has changed.
This work aligns and becomes an integral part of the research into emotional response through tactility in media.
The piece was also exhibited at Aardman Animation Studio, in the summer of 2019.
Concept behind the model
Within or Without is, in its simplest form, a comparison: a question of effect … How? and Why? is our chance to reflect. Are we moved emotionally by this sleight of hand or this trick of the light? And if our experience is meaningful, does our eye see more than what we might consider to be unfinished, incomplete or imperfect?
“… Perhaps, what we need more than anything is a suspension of belief and a chance to follow our hearts, before our work becomes truly magical.”
“How do we incorporate the effects of these motivations and how do they drive the transformation of our being, either in reflection or as inspiration.”
“By bringing our animation into the real world we instil a delicate wavering of imperfection. This locus of acceptance is a feeling more than a calculation and is easily missed when our work is shaped within the computer.”
The rough stutter, jitter or slip of mishap better imitates a world we know all too well – a place we can navigate freely. The inaccuracies of due process help us to define a sense of texture and tactility that is more in line with sputtered ink, splayed paint or a shattered line. This is the texture with which we might feel our way, bringing our audience suddenly closer to the experience.
Meet the Project Curator Ian House
Ian House, Senior Lecturer, Arts University Bournemouth. Ian teaches Story Craft and 3D Computer Animation Technique on BA (Hons) Animation Production.
His principle concern is development within the Computer Animation Pathway. His career has encompassed working with market leaders including Industrial Light and Magic, Weta Digital and The Moving Picture Company within the Visual Effects (VFX) sector.
Ian has also enjoyed a formidable career at Pixar Animation Studios in California, creating the modern classics from Carsto Cars 2, including Ratatouille, Walle, Up andToy Story 3.
His knowledge of VFX and Feature Animation has been shaped by the best in the business and he has witnessed the transition and favour of Computer Animation into the leading filmmaking platform that it now represents.
More recently, Ian has returned to academia to ratify his enthusiasm for storytelling. He has received a Masters’ Degree from Bath Spa University in Scriptwriting, which enables him to inform and guide narrative structure at AUB. His role enables him the freedom to pull from his vast experience and invest in the future industry:
“Story and character are at the heart of every good piece of animation and as filmmakers we must strive to support them both through research, imagination and creative endurance.”
Museum of design in Plastics (MoDiP)
MoDiP is a specialist research resource at the Arts University Bournemouth. It is the only accredited museum in the UK with a focus on plastic and is the UK’s leading resource for the study and interpretation of design in plastics and a specialist research resource within AUB.
The Museum aims to collect, research, interpret and present artefacts made of or including components of plastics. This adds a unique value to AUB as a leading resource for collaborative, experimental and interdisciplinary research, and as a gateway to the AUB’s wider environment.
BA (Hons) Animation Production
BA (Hons) Animation Production provides the technical and creative skills required by professional animation practice. Through a combination of practical and theoretical assignments, the course develops an understanding of animation as an expansive visual language that has multiple creative applications.
THEGALLERY AND AUB
TheGallery works with courses right across the university on a variety of exhibitions, events and projects. 3D ZOETROPE is another example of one of these projects that we have worked on with the staff and students from BA (Hons) Animation and MoDiP.
When working on a collaborative project we provide advice and support for the curatorial and technical aspects of the exhibition, as well as advice on event and project management.
TheGallery provides a national and international public platform for the arts within the sub-region as we promote the University’s shared passion for excellence in education, industry and the sector.
RELATED STORIES
BA (Hons) Animation Production students create innovative 3D Zoetrope in collaboration with MoDip
The project was a collaboration between MoDiP and BA (Hons) Animation Production students and part of a wider three-week student exhibition of work at MoDiP.
Gallery
Images: 3D Zoetrope in MoDiP, AUB Marketing 2019.