The 'Act' of Animation
The 'Act' of animation, on my terms, means several things... It means to respond to an impulse to create motion, its the process of creating and re-creating that moment, it is how it feels to follow an instinct as closely as possible to an unfolding of a moment in time and space. It is to feel the process itself. It is a sense of being in between, in terms of being between a moment unfolding and the moment becoming solid. It is also, in a sense, to walk in that moment and 'picture' the shot 'in camera', and visualising how this shot may be strung together with the past and future shots, simultaneously. It is also the act of handling materials, tools and processes in the making of animation, as a form.
My own practice evolved from a single act of contemplative perception of a blade of grass, the intention of which was to attempt to locate the self at a point in place and time and answering the question 'Where am I in this 'world' ?". Investigating 'what is the world as I see and experience it? (It is no coincidence that these questions came about following a long 3 month intensive training in 3D Studio Max, and prolonged periods in the production studio.)
There seemed to be a sense of mobility in observing the blade from multiple positions of view without moving either the body or the object. This imagined object was constructed as 'Blade", and 'Blade re-presented".This work evolved to include two further companion pieces, 'Interconnection', a kinetic projection screen in relief, and 'One', paper kinetic sculpture/puppet and animated film. (More detail on the Website sarrahornby.com, link at the top right of the screen)
In addition to this work, the work 'Time', engaged with the physiological restrictions of experiencing time, and how there is a fallibility in the perception of the velocity of speed. This engaged with the concept of the primal brain function of the 'Amygdala', a part of the brain that when stimulated by emotional impulse, appears to increase the number of 'shots', visual images taken and read by the brain, working as an internal animation mechanism, the 'film' slows down the 'action' as the perception of speed and time appears to the mind, to slow down.
In this project I am not examining the physiological concept of time necessarily although this is considered to be an important aspect of the perception of time. I am more interested in the impulse to create animation in exploring notions of time from within the creative process.
My own practice evolved from a single act of contemplative perception of a blade of grass, the intention of which was to attempt to locate the self at a point in place and time and answering the question 'Where am I in this 'world' ?". Investigating 'what is the world as I see and experience it? (It is no coincidence that these questions came about following a long 3 month intensive training in 3D Studio Max, and prolonged periods in the production studio.)
There seemed to be a sense of mobility in observing the blade from multiple positions of view without moving either the body or the object. This imagined object was constructed as 'Blade", and 'Blade re-presented".This work evolved to include two further companion pieces, 'Interconnection', a kinetic projection screen in relief, and 'One', paper kinetic sculpture/puppet and animated film. (More detail on the Website sarrahornby.com, link at the top right of the screen)
In addition to this work, the work 'Time', engaged with the physiological restrictions of experiencing time, and how there is a fallibility in the perception of the velocity of speed. This engaged with the concept of the primal brain function of the 'Amygdala', a part of the brain that when stimulated by emotional impulse, appears to increase the number of 'shots', visual images taken and read by the brain, working as an internal animation mechanism, the 'film' slows down the 'action' as the perception of speed and time appears to the mind, to slow down.
In this project I am not examining the physiological concept of time necessarily although this is considered to be an important aspect of the perception of time. I am more interested in the impulse to create animation in exploring notions of time from within the creative process.
