Lost in the Plot

- Talk Notes, 23.05.06

Introduction

I’m Neal Ellis, and this morning I’ll be talking to you about the Honours research I’m doing this year, on the application of Romanticism to Computer Animation. I’ll explain a little why I’ve chosen this topic, what these two concepts represent and what it is about them that combines to form the core of my research, and finally how I’m exploring and applying these ideas both theoretically and in practice.

Explanation

I came into this year having completed six short animated films during the last three years at CNMA, and in some ways I think they play a primary part in explaining the direction I’ve chosen to take my research, as well as informing my experience of computer animation as a medium today.

For me, and for most people, computer animation brings images like these to mind-

- (Commercial Film Montage)

Certainly there is a wide range of computer animation being created today, and as new media artists we are aware of a greater variety of work, but why are these images dominant? Why are they considered by so many to be examples of Computer Animation at its peak? Anyone creating Computer Animation who is using commerical software, has seen a a CG Feature, or is familiar with modern cinema, is influenced by these things to varying degrees.

In my experience, Computer Animation has been:

- largely defined by mainstream commercial output

- dependent on computers and software and what they do best

- preoccupied with realism and simulation

A capacity for technological innovation, its potential for mass appeal and its resulting profitability have seen computer animation grow into the medium it is today, but these same factors threaten to diminish its attractiveness to artists, stunt its visual vocabulary, and even impede on its legitemacy as an artform.

When I began thinking about creating a new animated film this year, I found myself desperately wanting to work on a project that completely avoided all these things. And when i began thinking about what I wanted to research, I found myself really wanting to understand better why. Was I just sick of computer animation? Why did I want to work in that medium anyway? It was like I had started to grow apart from what had been my favourite artform.

I wanted to create freely, with diverse styles and intentions, and I wanted to see more work that was able to escape these forces and do something original, personal and creative.

It was Romanticism that quickly became the answer, both as an approach to my practical creative work, and as a concept through which I could begin to understand my relationship with the medium of Computer Animation.

Broadly speaking, Romanticism was a movement of ideas in philosophy, art, music and literature, mainly occuring from the late 18th to mid 19th Centuries. It was a reaction against the rationalism of the enlightenment, and the social and political thinking that had been commonplace.

The defining elements of Romanticism in art were-

- strong emotional experience, in artist and art

- the individual imagination & perspective

- a focus on nature, and its dominance over human existence

The Focus

So my research seeks to understand these Romantic ideas, consider them in a contemporary context, and use them as a lens through which I can approach the problems facing the medium of computer animation. Additionally, these Romantic concepts connect closely to my own creative interests and animation work, and seem to me a natural direction in which to move from my previous practice. In these ways, through exploring the concepts of Romanticism, and better understanding the nature of Computer Animation, my research is focused on establishing connections between seemingly disparate times and mediums, and finding the familiar context between the two that can better support my creative work.

The Practice

Parallel to the formation of these ideas, my animation project is also based around demonstrating a continous context in which seemingly contradictory spaces and ideas can exist. I view this both as an extension of the theoretical side of my research, but also as an expression of my own personal creative vision. In the past my work has touched on similar ideas, but I’ve long struggled to neatly define just what my animation was really about. Now through this research, informed by the specific ideas of Romanticism, I have a clearer and more cohesive understanding of what I want to communicate with my practice.

Conclusion

Yes, there are artists creating vibrant original work and taking computer animation to new, expressive and deeply personal places, but they are a minority. The majority of computer animation today, to varying degrees, is shaped by impersonal forces, and the medium is at risk of becoming increasingly commercial, derivative, ignorant of artistic or conceptual context, and defined by its own technological trajectory.

I am studying the application of Romanticism to Computer Animation because I want to explore this complex relationship between authentic personal expression, and the technological and commercial industry.

In seeking a common ground between these two worlds, and expressing my ideas in my own practice, I want to encourage a greater understanding of computer animation as the incredibly expressive and powerful form of new media that it is.