Experimental Mention


The more I tried to review new software and digital art techniques, the more I reminisced on the old techniques. I am feeling more and more that in order to learn something new one should look to the past for inspiration. This goes against most of my points in my past blogs, but nobody is perfect. Not to steal their ideas, but to use them as a starting point to appreciate the advantages we have in the year 2006.

The experimental film creator, Norman McLaren comes to mind when I think of animated movies and how computers mimiced his style for their advantages in creating animated film. McLaren lived from 1914 to 1987, so he did get a chance to see and probably used computers for something, just not to wow audiences with realistic pixel work. McLaren used experimental techniques such as drawing on film to create images and scratching and all kinds of intersting marks were created which then were projected onto a screen. He also used techniques like filming the motion of people and then backing up the film and recording again along with stop motion animation. He also created sound cards that had black and white lines on the cards. The cards that had thin lines produced high pitch sound, and the cards with thick lines produced low pitch sounds.

To connect to my above comment on looking to past work for inspiration, that was meant more as an appreciation to those who did not live in a digital age and had to explore and make their own technology in order to create what they wanted. I am also curious about film and digital animation, because, as someone who studies art at a university; more and more students are entering the digital arts programs. Is this due to money, jobs, and it being the new trend. Or does the attraction of easier publishing and sharing over the internet have an effect on this uptrend of digital art students. I will keep exploring the possiblities of digital designs, but you can always catch me with a pen and a piece of paper, thinking of my next idea.