Animation and Memory

Animation and Memory
Author: Maarten van Gageldonk
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2020-08-20
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3030348881

​This book examines the role of memory in animation, as well as the ways in which the medium of animation can function as a technology of remembering and forgetting. By doing so, it establishes a platform for the cross-fertilization between the burgeoning fields of animation studies and memory studies. By analyzing a wide range of different animation types, from stop motion to computer animation, and from cell animated cartoons to painted animation, this book explores the ways in which animation can function as a representational medium. The five parts of the book discuss the interrelation of animation and memory through the lens of materiality, corporeality, animation techniques, the city, and animated documentaries. These discussions raise a number of questions: how do animation films bring forth personal and collective pasts? What is the role of found footage, objects, and sound in the material and affective dimensions of animation? How does animation serve political ends? The essays in this volume offer answers to these questions through a wide variety of case studies and contexts. The book will appeal to both a broad academic and a more general readership with an interest in animation studies, memory studies, cultural studies, comparative visual arts, and media studies. Chapter “Introduction” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

A Sky Longing for Memories

A Sky Longing for Memories
Author: Makoto Shinkai
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-06-30
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1941220436

A Sky Longing for Memories is a Makoto Shinkai fan's dream! Featuring art created by the beloved director, this full-color art book is packed with art from the many movies he directed for Studio CoMix Wave. The book is a 175 page LANDSCAPE FORMAT softcover, the majority of which are images, a rare treat in the realm of fanbooks. Inside you will find hundreds of backgrounds from from his award-winning works: 5 Centimeters per Second, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Voices of a Distant Star, and a TV advertisement for the Mainichi Newspaper. In addition to the backgrounds, there is a section about the software and technique behind CoMix Wave's animation, which discuss the key features of the software the studio has developed to use at various stages of production. The English edition also comes with a lengthy interview with Mr. Shinkai and other key members of his studio.

Anime and Memory

Anime and Memory
Author: Dani Cavallaro
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786453478

The theme of memory has played a significant role in anime throughout its evolution as an art form and as popular entertainment. Anime's handling of memory is multifaceted, weaving it into diverse symbolic motifs, narratives and aesthetic issues. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of a range of anime titles wherein different aspects of this cultural phenomenon are articulated. It explores anime films and series that exemplify the distinctive signatures placed by particular directors or studios on the treatment of memory, while also highlighting the prominence of memory in anime with reference to specific philosophical, artistic, and historical contexts.

Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary

Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary
Author: Donna Kornhaber
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2019-12-12
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 022647271X

In 2008, Waltz with Bashir shocked the world by presenting a bracing story of war in what seemed like the most unlikely of formats—an animated film. Yet as Donna Kornhaber shows in this pioneering new book, the relationship between animation and war is actually as old as film itself. The world’s very first animated movie was made to solicit donations for the Second Boer War, and even Walt Disney sent his earliest creations off to fight on gruesome animated battlefields drawn from his First World War experience. As Kornhaber strikingly demonstrates, the tradition of wartime animation, long ignored by scholars and film buffs alike, is one of the world’s richest archives of wartime memory and witness. Generation after generation, artists have turned to this most fantastical of mediums to capture real-life horrors they can express in no other way. From Chinese animators depicting the Japanese invasion of Shanghai to Bosnian animators portraying the siege of Sarajevo, from African animators documenting ethnic cleansing to South American animators reflecting on torture and civil war, from Vietnam-era protest films to the films of the French Resistance, from firsthand memories of Hiroshima to the haunting work of Holocaust survivors, the animated medium has for more than a century served as a visual repository for some of the darkest chapters in human history. It is a tradition that continues even to this day, in animated shorts made by Russian dissidents decrying the fighting in Ukraine, American soldiers returning from Iraq, or Middle Eastern artists commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Arab Spring, or the ongoing crisis in Yemen. Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary: War and the Animated Film vividly tells the story of these works and many others, covering the full history of animated film and spanning the entire globe. A rich, serious, and deeply felt work of groundbreaking media history, it is also an emotional testament to the power of art to capture the endurance of the human spirit in the face of atrocity.

Surrogate Memories in Animation and Sound

Surrogate Memories in Animation and Sound
Author: Jared Duesterhaus
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

A document in support of my exploration into memory in relation to the mediums of animation, sound, and theater. A reflection on remembering as a creative act.

The Memory Box

The Memory Box
Author: Joanna Rowland
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2017
Genre: Christian literature
ISBN: 1506426727

"I'm scared I'll forget you]]' From the perspective of a young child, Joanna Rowland artfully describes what it is like to remember and grieve a loved one who has died. The child in the story creates a memory box to keep mementos and written memories of the loved one, to help in the grieving process. Heartfelt and comforting, The Memory Box will help children and adults talk about this very difficult topic together. The unique point of view allows the reader to imagine the loss of any they have loved - a friend, family member, or even a pet. A parent guide in the back includes information on helping children manage the complex and difficult emotions they feel when they lose someone they love, as well as suggestions on how to create their own memory box.

The Crafty Animator

The Crafty Animator
Author: Caroline Ruddell
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2019-04-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3030139433

This collection is a study of the value of craft as it can be understood within the study and practice of animation. The book reconsiders the position of craft, which is often understood as inferior to ‘art’, with a particular focus on questions of labour in animation production and gendered practices. The notion of craft has been widely investigated in a number of areas including art, design and textiles, but despite the fact that a wide range of animators use craft-based techniques, the value of craft has not been interrogated in this context until now. Seeking to address such a gap in the literature, this collection considers the concept of craft through a range of varying case studies. Chapters include studies on experimental animation, computer animation, trauma and memory, children’s animation and silhouette animation among others. The Crafty Animator also goes some way to exploring the relationship craft has with the digital in the context of animation production. Through these varied discussions, this book problematizes simplistic notions about the value of certain methods and techniques, working to create a dialogue between craft and animation.

Animation – Process, Cognition and Actuality

Animation – Process, Cognition and Actuality
Author: Dan Torre
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1501308165

Animation - Process, Cognition and Actuality presents a uniquely philosophical and multi-disciplinary approach to the scholarly study of animation, by using the principles of process philosophy and Deleuzian film aesthetics to discuss animation practices, from early optical devices to contemporary urban design and installations. Some of the original theories presented are a process-philosophy based theory of animation; a cognitive theory of animation; a new theoretical approach to the animated documentary; an original investigative approach to animation; and unique considerations as to the convergence of animation and actuality. Numerous animated examples (from all eras and representing a wide range of techniques and approaches – including television shows and video games) are examined, such as Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Madame Tutli-Putli (2007), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), The Peanuts Movie (2015), Grand Theft Auto V (2013) and Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist (1995–2000). Divided into three sections, each to build logically upon each other, Dan Torre first considers animation in terms of process and process philosophy, which allows the reader to contemplate animation in a number of unique ways. Torre then examines animation in more conceptual terms in comparing it to the processes of human cognition. This is followed by an exploration of some of the ways in which we might interpret or 'read' particular aspects of animation, such as animated performance, stop-motion, anthropomorphism, video games, and various hybrid forms of animation. He finishes by guiding the discussion of animation back to the more tangible and concrete as it considers animation within the context of the actual world. With a genuinely distinctive approach to the study of animation, Torre offers fresh philosophical and practical insights that prompt an engagement with the definitions and dynamics of the form, and its current literature.

Animation Masterclasses: From Pencils to Pixels

Animation Masterclasses: From Pencils to Pixels
Author: Tony White
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 1026
Release: 2022-11-17
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1000685837

Today, it is commonly believed that if you learn software, you can become an animator. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Master animators are trained and not born. Software, as is the humble pencil, is merely yet another tool through which an animator can apply their knowledge. However, neither software nor pencils give you that knowledge, nor do they do the work for you. If you place a fully trained master animator on a computer, or give them a pencil, they’ll astound you with their mastery. However, if you put a nontrained animator on a computer, all you will have is a technician creating moving objects ・ as you’ll see all over YouTube and other video platforms. This book teaches you exactly how to become a Master Animator ・ whether you ultimately plan to use pencils, computers, drawing tablets or rigged characters. It’s a complete course in its own right, being a collection of 48 masterclasses gleaned from the author’s 50 years of experience of top-level animating, teaching and filmmaking. It will also train you in the value and application of observational gesture drawing. This book of masterclasses by a master of the art, Tony White, is entirely designed to be THE definitive reference book for students learning how to make things move really well ・ as well as how to create films once you know how to do so. A book for everyone: For home-based, self-study students: It is a perfect manual to take you from raw beginner to proven animated filmmaker. For full-time students: It is an ideal companion to supplement your full-time educational studies, which, no doubt, is overly based on software technology. For current animation professionals: It is a comprehensive archive of animation tips and techniques that will enable you to take your work to the next level. For current animation educators and instructors: It is a book that can be the ultimate curriculum and study program, enabling your own students to become the master animators of today and tomorrow.