Harvie Krumpet

Harvie Krumpet By Adam Elliot

Adam Elliot was born on the 2nd January 1972 in South Australia. He grew up on a shrimp farm in South Australia with his two brothers, sister and parrot. He found his talent for art at an early age, and spent 5 years studying photography, painting, pottery, and other artistic areas. He has won 34 awards including oscars, and is a unique and succcessful animator.

What type of animation is it? Describe the use of sets/script/characters/storyline. The animation is a type of claymation full of characters with extremely large eyes and noses like the style of wallace and gromit. The big features are kind of like a trademark animative technique, as the other animations by Adam Elliot do. It has partial aspects of substitution and all the characters have distinctive similarities about them.

How would you describe the style? Why do you think Adam Elliot uses that style?
The style seems rather old fashioned and dull, with sepia affectively used. It has a pretty blank story line that seems quite basic, but its livened up by sarcastic and witty naration. The voiceover gives it a commical effect, as it narrates the life of Harvie. It involves some aspects of history in WW1 adding detail to what seems a blunt story.

What effect does it have on the audience?
The animation is really funny because of the tone the narrator uses when he's telling the story, but he also makes you feel sorry for Harvie. When his parents die you feel sentimental, but then the narrator says that "they were frozen, in the nude" which instantly makes you laugh.

Why do you think it won an oscar for best animated short in 2003?
I think that it won an oscar because its an animation thats original from others. Like Vincent, the animation is slightly twisted in a dark setting with a celebrity voiceover, but its also nothing alike to it. The animation really connects with the audience within the language it uses, and the way that its all set out. You could compare it to the likes of "wallace and gromit" or "creature comforts" because of the appearance of the characters, but as a story they are completely different

websites: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254178/ http://www.melodramapictures.com/

Metamorphis and Zoetrope Animation techniques

Above Left: Pictures for metemorphisis animation Right: Zoetrap animation strip

Metemorphis animation is a series of pictures put together to show an object expanding into another. It consists of drawing a beggining picture, and an ending picture then drawing all of the stages inbetween. The ways in which they merge can vary widely, from explosions on the page to shape shifting and size expansion or decreasing. The easiest way to merge the two is by finding shapes within both pictures that are similar in some way, and looking at the ways they can blend together. Zoetropes were first used in Roman times and are still used today as a form of entertainment. They consist of a series of drawings that change very slightly each time, and when spun inside a zoetrope give the illusion of a moving picture. The simpler the idea the more affective the outcome is, for example, using a ball is a simple idea but because its simple the effect can be played around with easily. Zoetropes are popular animations andare relatively simple to make.
On Friday 26th February, we went to the Norwich University of Creative Arts and had a go at making out own metemorphosis animations

We were taken there to have an insight of how they were made, and had the chance to make our own. We used shots of two to give a smooth running effect, without any blips to spoil it aswell as making the video in itself longer. The link posted below shows our final animation.


We started off by each taking a word out of an envelope and changing the word into a picture. Mine was a house so i drew a house trying to limit the detail to make transforming it easier. We then had to copy our partners drawing which in my case was a bicycle and then draw all the pictures inbetween. I managed to get the windows to turn into wheels, the chimney into a bike seat, and the roof into random parts of the bike, but it was hard work and isnt as easy as you'd think. We then went over to the A level students, and they took photos of our pictures on a rostrum and edited them all together on the computer. While they were doing this we started working on a zoetrope. The zoetropes were a lot easier than the metemorphisis animations, but were just as effective. Mine was a little creature sitting in a room and a box fell on his head then tumbled off. It sounds plain and boring, but thats all you need to make a good animation. You basically have to draw out the full animation twice however to make the running of it look smooth and not like a load of pictures just thrown together in a wheel. I found the experience really good because i didn't even know what metemorphisis animation was before going to the studio, so justlearning about them was something new to me. I found the day really good, and i learnt a lot of animation techniques including the use of lightboxes and rostrum use. I think the trip really benefited me, and i now have an insight of another 2 types of animation.

The Monty Python

Killer Cars
The monty python is a type of animation thats very different from others. The monty python is a series of different cut outs and still images to produce an individual animation. Terry Gillian uses images that appear to be victorian to make the Monty Python, to give a desaturated effect in his animation.
The still image and stop motion technique is another effective type of animation. Pictures of magazine cutouts or photographs are moved at different speeds togive the illusion of deformed movement. A few pictures are taken of each picture, and are then processed as frames and edited together. Some of the animations are quite surreal with one including a giant cat eating acity and being squashed by an abnormally large sized hand. They animations are all made up of moving mouths, eyes changing direction of sight, different sized limbs and characters disproportioned, un-coordinated bodies, and lots of different layers.
The monty python is styled to be a surreal type of comedy with bizarre outbursts. The randomness of the animation is amusing becayse the whole animation makes sence without having to make sence. Everything slots in together by using things such as giant animals or limbs, linking images together, and adding peculiar sound effects. The all round outcome of the animation is a weird but wonderful selection of sketches that git together to create 5 minutes of pure genius.


souces used: http://www.youtube.co.uk/ http://www.wikipedia.co.uk/ the help of mr seal

Pixilation

Pixelation is a technique where human beings are animated by taking different frames and pictures. It blends actors in with live action, giving a surreal and quite disturbing effect. Popular television series such as “Angry Kid” and short films such as “Bolox Brothers – The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb” “A Chairy Tale”. “Neighbours” and music videos such as “Coldplay – Strawberry Swing” and “Kanye West – Heard em say” all use pixelation.

The actors in the animation
Food was created by Jan Švankmajer and is a prime example of pixilation. A man enters a room puts down his belongings, and prepares to become a human vending machine. He puts money into the mouth of the man whos currently the vending machine, and eventually is presented with a meal of sausages, mustard, bread, and a drink. He eats the meal and then becomes the human vending machine himself. All the men who enter the room take it in turn to do this for the 3 different meals of the day. The pixilation makes the film seem quite disturbing because it looks un-real but is moving in an un-human way. Long shots with close ups are used to catch the different angles of the pixilation, focusing on the movement of the men especially.
Neighbours was created by Norman Mclaren and is another good example of pixilation. Neighbours is supposed to be an anti-war film which is about two men who fight over a flower. They end up losing everything, and die themselves for this one flower which neither of them end up claiming. They kill each others families, destroy their houses, and end up dying all for nothing. It’s a pixilation from the 1960’s, with some live action added in to give a more realistic effect. They use a mixture of long shots and close ups again, to emphasise different parts of the film like when they’re in their graves at the end. Its quite strange when they attack each other because it all seems so pointless, but it makes sense because its based on pointless fighting.
Both the films use pixilation with some clay motion, and the same types of shots. They use the same techniques to show movement, and shuffle instead of walking. They both come across as un-human in the way they move, and are original ideas. Food is digetic however, and Neighbours is not. Both the films make you feel differently, and only Food uses recording as well as still images.

websites used: www.wikipedia.co.uk www.imdb.com

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