Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 14, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
In all its diversity, animation shapes filmmaking worldwide. Different techniques such as drawn animation, puppet animation and computer-generated imagery are equally attractive and appeal - particularly as a 3-D cinema format - to young
and increasingly also adult audiences. In the television and cinema sectors, animation offers the opportunity to tell imaginative stories in a more complex and pointed way than live-action film.
All professional visitors agreed on this at the animation-film symposium last Thursday, September 10, held as part of the 32nd LUCAS International Children’s Film Festival (through September 13).
Moderator Anja Perl (VIA University College, Denmark) introduced the English-language symposium organized by the German Film Institute, DIF, with an outline of the genre’s historical development. Krzysztof Brzozowski (Se-ma-for Studios, Poland), Sinem Sakaoglu (animation designer and producer) and Stefan Schomerus (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, A 2/17) then presented their work in workshop talks. In discussions, the speakers and professional audience examined in particular the advantages and disadvantages of computer animation in puppet animation. Claudia Dillmann, Director of the German Film Institute, and Petra Kappler, LUCAS Festival Director, opened the
symposium.
The event and the special animation-film series accompany the international competition of Germany’s most tradition-rich children’s film festival, which continues until Sunday, September 13, presenting current, committed children’s cinema in two festival cinemas in Frankfurt.
Introduction
Anja Perl began by discussing the development of the genre from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Animation technology originated in optical toys based on photographic technology, whose further development enabled new experiments. After the invention of film projection, animated films such as A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) by Georges Méliès were created. With THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (1926) by Lotte Reiniger, animated film established itself as a feature-length entertainment format. “Historical animated film functions like a seismograph of cultural and social development. Precise analysis makes it possible to draw conclusions about audience tastes,” said Anja Perl.
The Workshop Talks
In the first workshop talk, Stefan Schomerus, a graduate of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, presented his 17-minute graduation film PLYWOOD PIRATES (2006). Using the original puppets, photographs of the shoot and excerpts, Schomerus explained the character production for his feature film, which used both classic puppet animation and modern computer animation. “The computer is a welcome tool that perfects stop-motion animation and makes the animator’s work easier - without destroying the magic of this traditional animation technique.”
Krzysztof Brzozowski from Poland argued similarly in the second workshop talk, explaining his work as lead animator on the puppet-animated film PETER AND THE WOLF (2006) using the puppets. The animated film directed by Suzie Templeton won an Oscar for best animated short film in 2006. “Not only PETER AND THE WOLF, but numerous current Polish puppet-animated films use computer animation to control movement sequences on screen and retouch the smallest errors. Nevertheless, classic stop-motion
animation must not be replaced.”
In the final workshop talk, Sinem Sakaoglu presented her current production THE SANDMAN AND THE LOST SAND OF DREAMS, a stop-motion and animated film with live-action sequences that is currently in computer-based post-production. Contrary to the previous speakers, the director believes that computer animation should not conceal the animation process and warns: “Excessive use robs the animated film of its magic and the animator of the fun.”
