In my final post exploring animated design I wrap up Liz Blazer’s book, look at some rotoscoped films, and create a trailer for a rotoscope documentary that I have been wanting to make.
Reading & Writing: Show and Tell
The film is finally done – you have exported it and cannot wait to see how the world will respond. In the final chapter of Liz Blazer’s Animated Storytelling she breaks down the last three steps that should be done as you are planning to release your art to the world.
First you should package your product with a title card, logo, and still from the film and create a synopsis, director bio, and story of the film’s creation. Get this out of the way even before submitting it or sharing it so that all this information is easily available to those who want to learn more about the film and, of course, the talent behind it.
Next you should create a network of people in the field that you are inspired by. One of the best ways to do this is to speak up as much as possible at film festivals and events of that sort, but in these times it is probably best to stick to online groups and emailing (yes, please stay home). Do not be afraid to reach out to the creators you admire – the worst that can happen is they ignore you and the possibilities are endless if they do not!
Finally, share your film across your platforms and submit to film festivals that interest you. Film Freeway is a great way to find and submit your film to festivals all around the world. And once you started creating and sharing, never stop!
Research to Inform: Rotoscope Animation
For my final project I wanted to create flashback sequences using rotoscope animation. A looked back to a few animations that I admire and looked to new ones for inspiration on style.
I have shared a trailer for Undone in the past, but it is a show that heavily inspired my idea for this film. The show is both rotoscoped and about a psychotic break and my film is rotoscoped and about a psychotic break – seems pretty perfect to me. I think the reason rotoscoping is so effective for stories in this vein is because it imitates reality but has a lot of flexibility with it – in Undone, reality is constantly manipulated to create a dream-like feeling that emulates the main character’s illness.
I have not seen this film, but I am intrigued by the way the animators blended the realism of rotoscoped bodies with anime-style faces. While the mixing of computer animation makes me feel a bit uneasy (I still can’t watch the 2D/3D shows on Netflix without feeling off), the mix of styles is done pretty well.
Waltz with Bashir is one of my favorite documentaries for so many reasons, one of them being the unique style of animation. It is a mix of 2D CGI and rotoscoping to make it match the graphic novel style that it is based upon. Like Undone and my film it is also about a person struggling with reality – in this case it is about a veteran with PTSD exploring the past.
On the note of the past, this is another aspect that Undone, Waltz with Bashir, and my film all have in common – they all have flashbacks to the past. Again, I think that rotoscoping is the perfect animation style for this since reality is present to a degree, but able to be easily manipulated.
Create: Coming from Somewhere
Ever since I met Elaine I have been fascinated by her journey. This story and the song that came from it really struck a chord with me. I knew that I wanted to rotoscope this story to bring it to life in a dream-like way and I think rotoscope animation is the best way to do it. There is still a lot of work to be done to give the light and color to the story that I believe it deserves, but I think for a teaser to my final doc about her this is something I can be proud of.
While the animated sections themselves are short, the process of making this was extremely time consuming. I would estimate that the whole process took about about 50 hours, not including me already gathering the interview footage which was done quite some time ago.
Part of the process was following some of the steps from the book. I decided on the story structure, created a storyboard, honed in on an animation style, filmed and drew over the frames (of which there are about 1500), then tweaked it to fit a more appropriate size for a trailer. I regret that I did not have the time to experiment with color and assets, but this is something that I will have to keep in mind for my final project.
I am excited to keep working on this (maybe in 2 hour sessions instead of 10) and to see what people think. I am happy that I was able to learn so much about animation while taking this course so that I can use the knowledge to make my dream films come true – which is beginning to happen with this trailer. Let me know your thoughts of what I can do with the film in the comments!
Emma Lao 