APD W8 PLAY AND BODY

https://youtu.be/i3Ks3eTGUV8

For this week’s response Play and Body, I made a short animation that attributes the manipulation of body applied to the character. My initial plan was to make an interactive game that requires the players to pick a card and act out what’s written on the card, all being simple movements done unconventionally. What I mean by unconventional is doing the movements using body parts that are not usually used to do the movements. An example for this that I had in mind was, to undo your shoelace without hands. The plan was to create a set of online cards that the group choose from, and every card that has been chosen cannot be chosen again. However, due to my technical limitations, I thought that it would be too much to do, as I can only make it on Adobe XD, which means that I probably have to create a high degree of screens as the combination of which cards have been chosen and which hasn’t. Additionally, I was not feeling very sure about the intention and justification of the response. Thus, I was trying to find something else to do that can be a lot more straightforward and related to my own practice, which is animation. That is when I decided to create an animation showing body morphing.

My response shows how I can play around with body as much as I want as far as my imagination allows it. Although the response is very short, I’m sure that it has communicated the intention enough. I am showing how animators can create any kind of things happening towards the morphology of their objects, or subjects. Here I am showing how the character’s body, more specifically the hand, can morph conveniently into the form of an inanimate object, an umbrella. Then, the legs of the character can elongate and shorten back to avoid a big puddle.

Method

I am using ToonBoom Harmony to accommodate my animation production process and After Effects to add some playful sound effects. I did frame by frame method to produce the animation on 10 fps.

Upon the planning of the animation, I thought on doing a series of imaginative body morphing and movements, for example, a hand that tries hard to hold on to something that it wraps and coils around the object it’s holding onto. Another idea is to show the flexibility and convenience of morphing the body parts for some uses. But I was not satisfied with the idea of creating a collection of different scenarios. Then I remembered my Studio 1 Folio 1 project, a comedy with a mosquito as the main character. I intended to use my Studio 1 mosquito character as my response. I remembered getting feedback to be playful with the body of the mosquito, which I slightly did by showing how stretchy the mosquito legs were. As a result of that experience, I was inspired to create playful body treatment. I decided not to use the same character and work with a new setting.

I thought of what kind of scenarios that would allow me to show a couple of morphs in one continuous story and came up with the raining day setting. That way, I can fit in the morphs in one theme, which works more cohesively as a story. The morphing plays a role in serving unexpectedness of the viewer, which can be seen as a playful tactic of presentation. It gives the viewers anticipation to guess what the character will do. The sound effect adds the playfulness of the response as it enhances the humour and the action of the movements through its cartoony sound.

Context

This week’s response is related to and showing forms of imaginative play, tinkering with body through morphing, and playful behaviour and engagement with technology and practice (animation.) Sutton-Smith (1997) explains how play possess a wide range of meaning and interpretation, and some of them is called mind or subjective play, which consists of imaginations. It was also discussed how the imaginative behaviour “is sustained by modern positive attitudes toward creativity and innovation.” (Sutton-smith, 1997). This encourages the imaginative practice, not to limit oneself as it is the seed of change, of innovation and moving towards progression. By allowing the mind to be free and explore its abilities, it is definite that people can be more adaptable and have the opportunities to practise creative problem solving. Additionally, I believe that imaginative practice creates and motivates people to be more curious and open minded, which may result in positive outcomes.

Reflection

This week’s theme has been a great reminder for me not to get too fixated on the reality, on the ordinary/common practices, the things and occurrence that has been constructed in the society and deeply embedded within our minds. Creating the response has helped me to let go of my attachments on what is considered as normal and realistic. I often still get too enclosed with what I’m used to and not letting myself to fully be freed of those attachments, which usually result in creative block and limitations. From this exercise I was able to see better that going away from familiarities and what seems to be ‘normal’ practices can be very liberating and resulting in a more interesting and engaging outcome. In terms of the response itself, looking back, I could have chosen for a more creative and absurd action and movement, really pushing the morphing further. For example, what if when the character is about to cross the puddle, I make propeller morph from the umbrella or the top oh the head, and the character cross the puddle by flying. It seems that even after realizing my attachment to reality and trying to detach from it, I was still playing slightly safe. I will use this experience to remind myself in the future to be braver with unconventional ideas and push through my imagination.

Reference

Sutton-Smith B (1997) The Ambiguity of Play, Cambridge, Mass. ; London, Harvard University Press. https://login.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/login?url=https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=3300549.