Rhythm and Flow - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 125

slumping image. When I asked Mr. Kentridge about his approach, here is how
he responded:
“The morning I decide to make a film, I begin. I may have to pause to
find an object or image. Thinking about the film starts while setting
up the camera … I can make a film without having to sell the idea to
a producer. I can practice my craft without being dependent on the
whims of anyone else—there is no crew, no cast. I like to use a camera
like a typewriter.
“In the long term, my approach is based on a year at the Ecole Jacques
Lecoq in Paris, where there is an emphasis on the expressiveness of
gesture throughout the body. In the short term, I find the trajectory of a
movement either by watching myself in the mirror, or filming myself or
other people with a video camera; or by making a movement in the air
with my hand, while counting.
“Objects and images in the films float between being seen as
photographic objects, or the things themselves, and provoking other
meanings and associations—for example, a cloth draped around a
corkscrew is also a woman lifting her arm.”
His animated movement is lyrical and so is the pattern and pace of his
animation. It unfolds in a mysterious yet simple pattern that makes us wonder
about the life of the created image.
Fig 9.5 William Kentridge rescuing the image in his artwork from 7 Fragments for Georges Melies ("Moveable assets"), 2003 (video
stills from installation). Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery in New York and the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg.
This rhythm and flow of images can be an abstract concept to grasp,
but it is often the element that defines a particular piece of animation. It is
the artistry. Whether the visuals are tightly matched to a music track or much