A Sense of Drama - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 111

maintaining great dynamic compositions. It is usually more interesting to have a
subject enter the camera composition from a diagonal direction than directly in
from the side. There are many ways to build interest in your animation, and many
of these principles apply equally to live-action filmmaking.
Good art direction is critical to any film, but two elements are even more
important. The first element and the one that everything rotates around is the
idea. We touched on this in preproduction, and Focal Press has several topics
that cover this immense subject. The next element is performance. Having good
actors can make or break any film, and the same is true with animation. When it
comes to animation, you, the animator, are really the actor and what you do with
your inanimate object, person, or artwork in terms of performance is pivotal to
the success of your film. Live-action filmmakers know that there are two kinds of
realities. First, there is the way life unfolds from one event to the next. We live this
reality every day here on Earth. Sometimes, it is exciting and usually it is not. Life is
full of dull tasks and activities that are necessary to our survival. When we go to see
a film or a stage production, we do not want to be reminded of these mundane
tasks and realities. We are interested in the compressed, interpreted high and low
points and emotional expressions of an event. We want the icing without the cake.
This is true for animation as much as any other sequential art form. One example of
this reality in animation is the use of the everyday walk. Walks can be very revealing
about an individual. When we observe a walk, we take cues about the energy level,
determination, and attitude of an individual. If this is essential to understanding
that character, then animating a walk is an important element in the storytelling
process. Normally we do not need to see a character walk from point A to point B.
We want the filmmaker just to get us to point B and move the story along. We are
interested in the emotion and highlights of the story, not the everyday realities like
a long walk. There are some exceptions to this premise, but for the most part, this is
the dramatic reality that animation should consider.
PES describes his approach to his 2003 pixilated film Roof Sex . Even though he
is approaching this film in a documentary form, there is still a great sense of
drama and compressed and interpreted shot sequences.
“Would the idea of two chairs having sex conceptually work as a drawn
animation? Yes, definitely. In CGI? Yes, definitely. But, in my opinion, the
execution gains power when using real objects on a real location … it's
much, much closer to real life and it hits a more absurdist note. I believed
that stop-motion was the best technique for Roof Sex because my
intention was to treat the idea like a documentary. I fancied myself spying
on these two specific chairs that escaped from their owner's apartment
one day, and almost as a voyeur, I recorded what they had done for
posterity. There are no cartoony sound effects; everything was done with
an eye to being as believable as possible. As in much of my work, there is
humor to be found in the earnest—almost documentarian—approach to
the fantastic. For me, photographic images combined with absurdist, yet
oddly logical, ideas are like rubbing two rocks together to create a spark.”