Don Hertzfeldt
Don Hertzfeldt is a well-known: animator, artist, writer,
and independent filmmaker from USA, California. He is known for his work, such as: “Rejected”, “World of Tomorrow” and “Everything Will Be Ok”. His films have
received over 250 awards and have been presented around the world.
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| Fig.1 |
However, his animations are created traditionally with pen and
paper, often with minimal or none digital fixing. It forces him to draw every
element on the screen over and over again, giving to the animation trembling
look. Also, his hand-drawn figures look really simple without any shading, only
lineart, which lets all people to clearly understand what he wants to show or
mean. He draws stick figures, in stories of black humour, surrealism, and
tragicomedy, thus, his animations are more preferable for adults. Moreover, it’s
usual for Hertzfeldt to write, direct, produce, animate, photograph, edit,
perform voices, record and mix sound or compose music for his films, sometimes
it requires a year to complete a single short. The animation for one of his
films may often require tens of thousands of drawings, which means he puts a
lot of effort to have solid drawings even though they are simple, it still
takes time. On the other hand, his films tend to build slowly and steadily
towards over-the-top climaxes, often favours ambiguous endings, tends to favour
absurdism and surreal humour. Nevertheless, Hertzfeldt often uses classical
music in his films. The music he chooses is from: Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Smetana, Beethoven, Richard Strauss and Wagner. On occasion, Hertzfeldt also makes music by himself
with a guitar or keyboard.
All in all, Hertzeldt influenced many artists, such as, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch and many more.
All in all, Hertzeldt influenced many artists, such as, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch and many more.
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| Fig.2 |
Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger was a German film director and the silhouette
animation. She made over 40 films using her silhouette animation technique. Her
best known film by everyone is “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” released in
1926. Also, “The HPO” and “Däumlienchen”.
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| Fig.3 |
German
animators cartoon work was based on the traditions of the oriental
shadow theatre. Her technique of animation is made by placing flat,
cut-out figures against a translucent screen with a source of light
underneath. The paper figures and their limbs are made separately and
pinned to each other, allowing the character move more realistically. Reiniger moved each limb lightly to give the character more alive with personality. After she moves the part she takes pictures and continues this technique until she finishes full scene. Nevertheless, it
was hard for viewers to understand the character because the character wouldn’t
have facial expression which is important in animation, so Reiniger made exaggerated movements to give character
more vivid personality.
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| Fig.4 |
Moreover, in her animation it is hard to see the depth because the first layer is most important in her animation, thus, to make blurry and bigger vision she had to keep taking it further away from the screen, giving the final scene to look in depth. In conclusion, Reiniger work is lovely and inspiring. Till this day it has left a big mark in animation history.
Bibliography:
Don Hertzfeldt - https://www.youtube.com/user/t1i1b
Lotte Reiniger - http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.3/articles/moritz1.3.html
Illustration List:
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