[-empyre-] Christopher Sullivan thoughts

[christopher sullivan]

Quoting christopher sullivan <csulli at saic.edu>:

> having students work fast is always great, I do this court room reporting
> assignment, that always gives birth to great things, I play a radio play, or
> read something out loud, and the students have to keep up by drawing the
> animation frames that come to mind. after we look at all of the results with
> a
> lot a variation, but as interestingly a lot of similarities(this is an
> argument
> that some creative decisions are more objective than subjective, most
> students
> will draw several images that are very similar, that jump out of the story.
> I have a lot of students who do destructive Kentridge like animation, or as
> I
> like to say Caroline Leaf, Joan Krantze, Piotr Dumala, like. 
>    But I do fear students creating "making of" kinds of work, so that is the
> only danger area, re showing pencil tests, showing themselves creating the
> work.
> I like to do this think in which students who want a drawn on film look just
> eyeball a one inch by 2 inch frame and animate like that no light table. 
>    Group animation projects work like this too. 15 students each responsible
> for
> 10 seconds on a theme, with some other agreements on visuals for continuity.
> 
> Chris.
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting Christina Spiesel <christina.spiesel at yale.edu>:
> 
> > I have been lurking (and very behind) in this wonderful conversation 
> > about animation. This has been due to the midterm teaching demands and I 
> > am still in them. Nevertheless I am moved to respond to Sullivan's 
> > pedagogical question. My pedagogical practice involves getting a group 
> > of law students from ground zero to making a 5 minute video (that may 
> > contain all kinds of information, photographic, graphic, etc.) for 
> > argument in a hypothetical case. I believe that to do this they need not 
> > only instruction in production and editing, but in playing with how 
> > words and pictures condition each other, how visual narrative might be 
> > constructed, what a time-based experience (rather than single frame) is. 
> > These elements underly animation as well and they are fundamental to 
> > making the thing, whether analog or digital. Why not have students make 
> > Kentridge like animations of their own work process however they want to 
> > conceive of it, bringing together two streams of production as a bridge 
> > to jumping into animation as a medium?
> > 
> > Christina
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > christopher sullivan wrote:
> > > Hi everyone, as the week draws to the end, It has been an interesting
> mix
> > of
> > > thoughts and ideas. One thing that I wanted to talk about before things
> > draw to
> > > a close is my hopes for animation, and my thoughts on a pedagogical side.
> 
> > >              I feel that the independent animated feature is going to
> > increase
> > > exponentially in years to come (just hope I get my film to screen before
> it
> > is
> > > a infinite pool) I do hope that these new films will not be plagued with
> > the
> > > remakes and adaptations that are now overtaking Hollywood. Besides
> Charley
> > > Kaufman, who is getting original scripts produced?  Even Wes Anderson’s 
> > > (another script writer) Incredible Mr. Fox, is an adaptation, again
> > Charley
> > > Kaufman prophetic, in the writing of Adaptation. 
> > >              So the thing that we independent animators have to do is
> > create
> > > works that really take advantage of the qualities of animation that set
> it
> > > apart from live action film, and particular for the west to catch up
> with
> > some
> > > of the cinematic chances taken in the east “for instance, Paprika” or
> the
> > > highly disturbing Mindgame. Fringe feature anime is politically very
> > > conservative in particular with gender politics, and I am not even
> talking
> > > about being queer enough, I am referring to the heterosexually
> > conservative,
> > > and completely fraternal in the sense of the internal mind; men
> imagining
> > > fantasies of women.   But these films are very sophisticated in regards
> to
> > > filmmaking. How they play with time, how they create and destroy
> > characters, in
> > > constant sates of death and resurrection. So I hope that We as
> filmmakers
> > can
> > > get the backing to create innovative films that challenge audiences not
> as
> > > people going to see animation, but going to see demanding cinema. See
> you
> > in
> > > the trenches.
> > >  
> > >          One other thought I wanted to bring up is whether you think
> that
> > > animation is really a good tool to teach artists how to think. I have
> > debated
> > > this for years because of its very slow turn around, and the literal
> amount
> > of
> > > idea stuff that a student can handle during their studies. Every
> > successful
> > > student I have had, has had other outlets to plow through and discard
> > ideas, be
> > > it photography, comics, performance, live action films, writing. I have
> > never
> > > had an exclusive animator that I feel really used their time in school
> > fully. 
> > > I learned more about making art in my early twenties in school doing
> > > performance than doing animation, though my artistic identity as an
> > animation
> > > artist via grants awards, employment, solidified at this time as well. 
> I
> > am
> > > pondering these questions; Is animation a medium that condenses other
> > artistic
> > > experiences into a less temporal vision, but not the best generative
> > medium? Is
> > > it a good intellectual teaching medium? Of course this is about matters
> of
> > > degrees, as I do believe my students grow in my classes, but they do
> grow
> > > slowly. 
> > > What are people’s thoughts? 
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Christopher Sullivan
> > > Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
> > > School of the Art Institute of Chicago
> > > 112 so michigan
> > > Chicago Ill 60603
> > > csulli at saic.edu
> > > 312-345-3802
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > empyre forum
> > > empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> > > http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> > >
> > >   
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > empyre forum
> > empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> > http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> > 
> 
> 
> Christopher Sullivan
> Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
> School of the Art Institute of Chicago
> 112 so michigan
> Chicago Ill 60603
> csulli at saic.edu
> 312-345-3802


Christopher Sullivan
Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 so michigan
Chicago Ill 60603
csulli at saic.edu
312-345-3802