Characters are designed to respond to specific concerns relative to time and context. But as we move deeper into the 21st century, what are those concerns, and how do they differ from those in the 20th century?
Living Data: Evolving Conversations. Exhibition and Forum at the University of Technology Sydney, 2014. Curators: Lisa Roberts and Anita Marosszeky.
Living Data
We hear so much about the integrity of scientific process and the role of data in driving action on climate change – but what role is there for artists in bringing about changes in understandings? Science…
Cate Blanchett plays the voice of Valka in How to Train Your Dragon 2.
DreamWorks
The release of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon 2 has once again brought into relief the fact that animated feature films now regularly attract a host of Hollywood stars and high-profile performers…
Norman McLaren working on Begone Dull Care, 1949.
National Film Board of Canada
Animation is all around us – from Pixar to manga to animated gifs. As with any creative field, it has its unsung heroes – the innovators who have shaped and defined the art form. So it was a great delight…
Hollywood’s idea of family entertainment these days largely consists in a kind of reassuring condescension. On the one hand, it must persuade us that its “means of production” — the truly staggering resources…
Distilling serious health issues – such as inflammatory proteins (in purple) in type 2 diabetes – into easy-to-understand concepts is made easier using animation.
WEHI.TV/screenshot
Telling science stories often involves explaining complex interactions between a cast of molecular “actors”, on a set smaller than the wavelength of light, so scientists are increasingly using animation…
Character drawings are encoded with cues to help animators understand how the character should move.
Courtesy DreamWorks Animation SKG
When I first started working as an animator on the South Park (1999) feature film in California, I found it remarkable that every Tuesday evening the studio would hold life-drawing classes. It seemed odd…
Miyazaki has refused to replace hand-drawn animation with CGI.
AAP/PR
Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki has long been considered by critics and fans alike as the epitome of animation, not only in Japan but across the world. With the release of his latest, and possibly…
Animated evidence is often used in court but is it reliable?
Gareth Norris
Recent cases involving the use of computer generated images as evidence in courtrooms have shown the powerful impact they can have on jury decision making. But studies show that jurors can be unduly influenced…
Improvements in technology have lead to a boom in animations, but not all are as effective as they could be.
Marin Takahama/ Ars Electronica
We increasingly use animation to inform, explain and instruct. It is used to present evidence in courtrooms, teach about scientific phenomena and provide dynamic assembly or operation manuals. But do animations…