Project 1 / Misery Machine

I explored the problem of the "visual machine" through semi-traditional animation techniques. At twelve drawings per second, animated on a beat, the movements of the characters are intended to mimic the motions of machinery. Birds pop (piston-like) from the eyes of a skull, a cat sweats in pain as his arm is stretched up and to the left to grind gears of bone, horse heads emerge from beneath a section of skulls, blasting steam from their nostrils, mice scurry (as if moving along a conveyer belt) from the open eye socket of one elephant into the waiting socket of another, as more steam erupts from a twitching trunk. The background is made up of mechanically gyrating, nodding, and pulsating skulls.

The drawings are presented in a quasi-1920s style. The characters are intended to remind the viewer of the identity-less, ball and rubber hose constructed background animals of early animation. They are not individuals -- only parts of the machine.

The "Misery Machine" exists to twist, pull, and milk misery from its living components, while the tears, blood, and sweat from those parts all help to grease the dry gears and keep them grinding. The machine works to create misery, which it is in turn, powered by. In effect, the primary purpose of the machine is simply its continued existence.

 

Project 2 / The Collector's Study

The setting is a room filled with curiosities, books, and bell jars. The camera pans slowly to the right as a mouse scurries behind two chairs, bugs hurry up a wall of peeling paper, and a painting gives way to cutaway eye holes and an unknown onlooker presumably peeping in from the next room. The camera rests on a head in a jar, atop a small table, before the composition fades out and in again on a close up of the same head, sobbing black tears as it decomposes on a skull, before recomposing itself with different features a moment later -- the black tears continuing to flow as the change occurs.

At 24 frames per second, the animation was intended to be a bit smoother than my last project, through doubling the number of drawings per second. The background and the nail-riddled post were painted with water color washes and inked with India ink and a dip pen. As on the previous project, I added film grain and dust to further the nostalgic feel of the piece. In addition, I experimented more this time with lighting and focus (blur) to try to bring all of the parts together aesthetically.

 

Project 3 / The Chase/The Fall

For the audio project, I took individual sounds from a public domain track and re-sequenced them on a sampler, synthesizing bass and organ parts, to create an original musical composition. I programmed the song at 120 beats per minute to match the rhythm of the visuals, which are animated at 24 frames per second with an emphasis on beats every 12 frames.

The sequence begins with a group of three animal-characters running along a road, feet falling to the beat. The trees move from right to left on the screen to simulate movement in a way similar to familiar scenes from early cartoons. A larger tree crosses the foreground every four beats. The animation then transitions to a falling shot, as the camera pans down a well. Ghosts leap in and out, dancing to the beat. There is no intended narrative -- only a series of images interacting with the music.

The animation is (again) hand-drawn before being composited in After Effects. The background of the well scene is India ink and watercolor on Bristol board, using conventional dip pens and brushes. The "Coletoon Cartoons" title was an afterthought in order to avoid opening with a black screen.

 

Project 4 / Creepers/Crawlers

For the text assignment, I animated a silent scene with limited visual information. The moans, groans, growls, and other sounds appear as text within the scene. All of the text, like the rest of the animation, is hand-drawn at 24 frames per second.

 

Final Project /