Experimental Animation: From Analogue to Digital, focuses on both experimental animation’s deep roots in the twentieth century, and its current position in the twenty-first century media landscape. Each chapter incorporates a variety of theoretical lenses, including historical, materialist, phenomenological and scientific perspectives. Acknowledging that process is a fundamental operation underlining experimental practice, the book includes not only chapters by international academics, but also interviews with well-known experimental animation practitioners such as William Kentridge, Jodie Mack, Larry Cuba, Martha Colburn and Max Hattler. These interviews document both their creative process and thoughts about experimental animation’s ontology to give readers insight into contemporary practice. Global in its scope, the book features and discusses lesser known practitioners and unique case studies, offering both undergraduate and graduate students a collection of valuable contributions to film and animation studies.

This book discusses developments and continuities in experimental animation that, since Robert Russet and Cecile Starr’s Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art (1976), has proliferated in the context of expanded cinema, performance and live ‘making’ and is today exhibited in galleries, public sites and online. With reference to historical, critical, phenomenological and inter-disciplinary approaches, international researchers offer new and diverse methodologies for thinking through these myriad animation practices. This volume addresses fundamental questions of form, such as drawing and the line, but also broadens out to encompass topics such as the inter-medial, post-humanism, the real, fakeness and fabrication, causation, new forms of synthetic space, ecology, critical re-workings of cartoons, and process as narrative. This book will appeal to cross and inter-disciplinary researchers, animation practitioners, scholars, teachers and students from Fine Art, Film and Media Studies, Philosophy and Aesthetics.

Cecile Starr (1921-2014) dedicated her life to the recognition of film as a visual art. She worked, as a writer, educator, and curator, to raise awareness of experimental film in general and women film artists in particular. This book includes her contributions to Experimental Animation, originally published in 1976, as well as a collection of her other writing on the historical roots of avant-garde film. It is prefaced by the personal reflections of a number of artists and curators on her impact on their lives.

Once the realm of a few stalwart artists, animating with sand, clay, and wet paint is now accessible for all filmmakers with an experimental frame of mind. Created directly under the camera with frame-by-frame stopmotion, this "fluid frame animation" provides a completely unique visual world for animators. While pioneering animators such as Caroline Leaf, Alexander Petrov, and Ishu Patel paved the way, the availability of frame capture programs, compositing software and digital workflow is opening up new avenues of exploration for artists of all experience levels. This book will walk you through setting up your studio, choosing and working with your materials, and combining the physical under-the-camera production with digital compositing and effects to enhance your animation. · Firsthand advice from experimental animation veterans and rising stars in the field · Covers the digital aspects of experimental animation, including the latest techniques in After Effects CC · Tutorials and source files for under-the-camera approaches and After Effects enhancements on the book’s companion website In addition to the practical advice, you’ll find historical and contemporary examples of successful films, step-by-step tutorials for working under the camera and working with the footage digitally, and interviews and tips from artists who are currently pushing the boundaries in these experimental mediums. Stacked with information and images from over 30 artists, this book is an indispensable resource for both the student and professional wishing to get their hands dirty in an increasingly digital world.

First Published in 1998. Understanding Animation is a comprehensive introduction to animated film, from cartoons to computer animation. Paul Wells' insightful account of a critically neglected but increasingly popular medium: * explains the defining characteristics of animation as a cinematic form * outlines different models and methods which can be used to interpret and evaluate animated films * traces the development of animated film around the world, from Betty Boop to Wallace and Gromit. Part history, part theory, and part celebration, Understanding Animation includes: * notes towards a theory of animation * an explanation of animation's narrative strategies * an analyis of how comic events are constructed * a discussion of representation, focusing on gender and race * primary research on animation and audiences. Paul Wells' argument is illustrated with case studies, including Daffy Duck in Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck, Jan Svankmajer's Jabberwocky, Tex Avery's Little Rural Riding Hood and King Size Canary ', and Nick Park's Creature Comforts. Understanding Animation demonstrates that the animated film has much to tell us about ourselves, the cultures we live in, and our view of art and society.

An Introduction to Film Studies has established itself as the leading textbook for students of cinema. This revised and updated third edition guides students through the key issues and concepts in film studies, and introduces some of the world's key national cinemas including British, Indian, Soviet and French. Written by experienced teachers in the field and lavishly illustrated with over 122 film stills and production shots, it will be essential reading for any student of film.Features of the third edition include:*full coverage of all the key topics at undergraduate level*comprehensive and up-to-date information and new case studies on recent films such as Gladiator , Spiderman , The Blair Witch Project, Fight Club , Shrek and The Matrix*annotated key readings, further viewing, website resources, study questions, a comprehensive bibliography and indexes, and a glossary of key terms will help lecturers prepare tutorials and encourage students to undertake independent study.Individual chapters include:*Film form and narrative*Spectator, audience and response*Critical approaches to Hollywood cinema: authorship, genre and stars*Animation: forms and meaning*Gender and film*Lesbian and gay cinema*British cinema*Soviet montage Cinema*French New Wave*Indian Cinema