Mixing techniques can result in some very interesting visuals that can be as fun to plan as they are to produce. Many artists combine approaches successfully, and it gives their work a unique art direction. One artist viewed in previous chapters is the Italian graffiti artist Blu. This stop-motion artist paints graphic two-dimensional images on exterior and interior walls in sequences, while shooting a frame-by-frame camera that is in constant motion. Blu also paints three-dimensional objects as he animates them moving through his composition. This combination of the three-dimensional and twodimensional graphic worlds is seamlessly blended in an organic and practical manner all directly in front of the camera.
Our next exercise plays with this approach. Keep in mind, this exercise can be expanded into an infinite variety of approaches, and I encourage you to try something of your own design once you have gone through this simple process. As always, you need a dslr camera or digital video camera and a tripod on which to mount the camera. If you want to incorporate camera moves (which is not necessary), then you may want to add a Manfrotto geared head (410 Junior tripod head or 400 Deluxe tripod head). The geared head can be cranked or turned in small increments for pans and tilts, allowing for ease-ins and -outs. I recommend that you keep your camera in a fixed, locked position by taping down or sandbagging your tripod and tightening all the control knobs on the tripod once you set your composition. You also need an assistant to operate the camera or a human subject who will sit in front of the camera and have his or her hands animated. I recommend that you have a computer with Dragon or a similar capture software program, so you can compare frames for subject placement and replacement registration. You need to have a table to work on.
We created a simple bouncing ball sequence. You can "rock and roll" this sequence by reversing the cycle once it has completed its forward movement, so the ball appears to bounce up and down and back and forth (once we start moving the cards in the exercise). So, you shoot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, and so on.
You should be able to take Exercise Figure 3.A and put it on a copying machine or scan it and blow up the sequence so that each frame of the bouncing ball is 4 inches by 4 inches. Print this series out on card stock that is a bit heavier than normal paper. You have a series of seven ball drawings with one ball on each 4-inch piece of card. You need a small block of wood or some sort of simple support with a piece of tape or wax to help support each drawing as you replace each in front of the camera for this exercise.
FIG 3.A A sequence of a two-dimensional bouncing ball cycle.
Fig 3.B The cards on a table with a backing block to hold each one upright.
You are bouncing the graphic ball back and forth between your hands as they slowly come together to squash the ball. You should sit behind a simple, clean tabletop, and the camera can point directly at you. It is much easier if you have an assistant or someone else in front of the camera as you operate the computer and change out the drawings.
FIG 3.C The composition of the handball exercise.
As the animated subject sits at the table across from the camera, place the hands of the subject together.
FIG 3.D The opening position for the exercise (hands together) from the camera’s POV.
You open the hands to about 15 inches apart from each other in seven moves and reveal the ball cards between the hands. You need to have one card that is only 2 inches wide as an in-between to reveal the cards. This exercise should be shot at 15 frames per second.
You should always start with a ten-frame hold then slightly part your hands (a quarter to half inch) for an ease-in for the first move. The hands should move apart more on the next frame, allowing the animator to put the 2-inch-wide card between the hands.
Fig 3.E A shot of the hands starting to ease in to their movement apart with a 2-inch card between the hands.
On the third frame, move the hands apart so you can place the first full 4-inch ball cycle card between them and start the replacement ball/card cycle going frame right. Continue to move your hands apart to complete the seven-move sequence until they are about 15 inches from each other. Make sure to ease out from the movement. Each card should be attached to the small support stand that sits behind the card to hold it upright and should be replaced every frame. The cards and hidden stand should be shifted frame right for each replacement until the card comes up against the frame-right hand. That hand should slightly anticipate the ball’s arrival by slight shifting away from the ball as if getting ready to hit the card with the ball on it. The hand then moves about an inch or two forward (frame left) in one frame then stops and holds, appearing to hit the ball. The ball and card direction and replacement lineup are reversed, and they start moving frame left. The overall effect is that the hands are bouncing the ball on the cards back and forth.
Fig 3.F The middle position of the animation.
Each time a hand hits the ball and card, it should move closer to the other hand, as if to squash the ball and card. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what you do. This merging of the hands on a frame-by-frame basis can happen fairly fast (perhaps over 40 frames). When the hands get close to touching the card on either side, close the hands completely in one move (removing the card completely) and hold the closed hands with no card for about eight frames. Open the hands and reveal a dimensional red ball (if you can find one) or any other object that you want. When you open the hands include one ease-in movement, slightly revealing the ball or object of your choice, shoot a frame, then open the hands enough to see the ball or object in full. Hold the hands and object for ten frames.
Fig 3.G The final shot of the hands apart enough to reveal the final dimensional ball.
You have successfully mixed techniques in front of the camera and practiced some of the "trick" techniques the early filmmakers like Melies used. Two other great references for this mixing of techniques are the film Door by the English artist and director David Anderson and the American independent filmmaker David Russo’s film Pan with Us. The mixture of two- and three-dimensional elements is explored with models, objects, and photographic sequences shot frame by frame in front of the camera in a fascinating blend of imagery that is both unique and poetic. Once you start to think about the principles here, it should become apparent that there is a vast area to explore in this approach to frame-by-frame filmmaking.
