APD-week 7

Theme:

Play &body

Content:

The concept of this stop motion was inspired by the animation from Yoyo The Ricecorpse, named ‘the lost land and souls’ (2017). When I saw this animation, I was surprised by the form of this animation, it was the first time I saw it. Yoyo put the characters she designed into a real environment (photography).
This combination of virtual characters and reality deeply attracted me and
inspired me to think & explore about this new form.

Not only is this novel animation form, I think the author's strong narrative ability is also a part I need to learn. In this animation, the author has produced a series of looping animations. Even simple and looping movements, I can imagine the story between the characters and the environment. I hope I
can learn this narrative ability and apply it to practice.

<https://vimeo.com/201405198>

Method：

- Software：flipaclip, primiere

- shoot a walking video firstly

- add some elements by drawing

-use premiere to edit, then add background sound

Response:

This combination of virtual and reality is completely new to me, but I want to add some of my ideas to this new form. I use myself as the character and combine some virtual elements with the real environment and body, which means that I think about Yoyo's works in reverse.

In fact, before I started, I conceived a relatively complicated story line, but this means that I have to put on a variety of actions so that some virtual elements can be added later. However, it is difficult for me to find a large space at home to shoot. The limitations of the space made me encounter many problems during the shooting process, for example, some unnecessary things will appear in the scene, which will greatly affect the later stage Drawing. As a result, I gave up the first plan.

Before starting the second shooting, I decided to start with simple and basic movements, which is the source of the main action 'walking' in this video. After the video shooting, I used flipaclip to add hand-drawn virtual elements: clouds float over the head, the ground moves under the feet, and the grass and flowers change. I have combined simple colors and lines to highlight the virtual sense and the cute and light atmosphere. For background music, I chose a cheerful style, which I think can better complement the work.

Reflection:

In fact, I ’m stuck on this week ’s theme, and it’s difficult for me to think creatively, especially about the body. I think it is difficult to innovate some works with the body, and I was limited to the body This makes it difficult for me to think differently in words. Fortunately, I was inspired by Yoyo's works and decided to create my body based on virtual elements.

It is exciting for me to start exploring this new form every time, and I look forward to what new experience I can gain in the unknown. This experience is unforgettable for me. I have also seen more possibilities between virtual and reality. In the past, my cognition of virtual and reality stayed within the scope of VR and AR. This exercise has broadened my single form of expression during creation. As Miguel Sicart (2014) mentioned in ‘play matters’, play is an expression through which a meaningful
personal world and unique experience are built. I created a new form of ‘world’ through virtual animation and real body and found a unique expression form. As a conclusion, this exercise not only gave me a better understanding of virtuality and reality, but also gave me a deeper understanding of ‘play’.