From Jon Krasner’s Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics
Persistence of Vision: Our eye’s ability to retain an image for a fraction of a second after it disappears.
- This is a fundamental concept that I find is necessary to remind oneself while creating animation
- All forms of animation require the audience’s ability to retain the given image
- I became aware of the importance of this principle during our projects in Introduction to Animation as we were limited to small fractions of time and material to maximize and use this audience’s ability
Comic Strips
- This is considered to be an early form of animation as it illustrate character movements alongside a narration or story
- Cell animation can be considered as the next stage in animation as they use translucent sheets of celluloid for overlaying images to create motion
- The comic strip reminds me of the connection between photography and animation
Political Conditions & Animation
- Krasner interestingly states “postwar technological and industrial advances, and changing social, economic, and cultural conditions of monopoly capitalism throughout Europe fueled artists’ attempts to reject classical representation”
- I find it quite intriguing how political conditions can influence and ultimately advance art, more particularly animation
- For example, Italian Futurists began depicting motion on the canvas as a means of liberating the masses from the mistreatment of the government
- In this manner, I find, there is a great link between of what I percieve to be two separate worlds of the sciences/politics and the creative/art realm
- I am therefore eager to experience how art will further change as a result of our dynamic world
Everything is Connected
- Krasner’s history of Animation reveals — to me — how all forms of what we understand as art (film, animation, design, etc.) are intertwined in their birth
- Title sequences in film gave birth to Motion Graphics and subsequent categories such as commercial titles sequences
- By various technical experimentation and artistic exploration we are innovating the animation world such as Pablo Ferro’s techniques of rapid cut-editing, split screen montage, and “MTV style” editing
- Typography thus becomes an animation on its own; the manner in which we design and employ a title becomes a central descriptive element of a film/television/poster etc.
- Title sequences to a network, television program, commercial, film etc. thus become a manifestation of the art and a miniature preview of the message
- Examples: Show Openers, Show Packages, Interstitials, Bumpers, Lower Thirds, Mortises, Line-Ups/UpFronts,
