Monday 22 March 2010

Animator: Jiri Barta (1948-)


Jiri Barta is a Czech stop-motion animator, who was famous by using ,once again, known objects such as dolls or far more natural sources such as wood to create his weird and twisted animation full of uncanny effects. Although, they had this effect, they also helped to create a richer critic to society values or even political.
I must say I wasn't familiar with his work, but after watching the short film>Klub Odlozenych (Club Of The Laid Off), I must say it is interesting and delightful to see how he uses objects that can identify easily with the actual people, and strongly criticizes society. Even though the characters were manikins with a rather scary look, I felt a strong connection between them and people in general, who demonstrated their importance for family and its values. Maybe they appearance helped to identify better or not, but the idea to fight for what is yours and your families was presented.
As I mentioned before, Barta uses any kind of materials for is animations, but with the only purpose to emphasize the meaning behind them and creating a strong narrative.

Definitely worth to have a look at his work, as it is a brilliant approach to animation, not only technically but also story-wise.





6 comments:

Sam Hayes said...

I really like the new Blog design Ruben, the banner looks awesome.

Ruben Martins said...

Cheers Sam, I really will just change the positioned of the found and the characters.
the only problem is that you can see the how many comments you got under the post apart from the top link. :/

tutorphil said...

Online Interim Review 23/03/10

Hey Rubes,

1) I know you feel you haven't had the best start to this unit, what with paper delay and illness, but your creative focus, emphasis on the importance of setting, detail and mise-en-scene, and character refinement all suggest that you are nonetheless in control of this unit; your story is resolved, your character nicely expressive (I really like the use of the handle to give dynamism and the 'Gromit' approach to the peppermill's expressions), and, again, your attention to detail (music) is satisfying and bodes well. Looking forward to it.

2) Regarding your blog, I have an issue with the banner, because it doesn't work graphically - it's a mash-up between two very different worlds, with the result being that both worlds are less clear. Less is more, Ruben - I suggest you pick one thing as an emblem of your creativity - and perhaps something more abstract and expressive of creativity itself - mark-making, a lovely pencil sketch - something that communicates your potential, as opposed to the finished product; also, change that font - it's got military connotations and doesn't seem 'fine line' enough for your template; keep it simple, Ruben.

3) See following post for some essay stuff...

tutorphil said...

Use your introduction* to state clearly the investigative intention of your written assignment and the means by which you are going to support your discussion; for instance:

‘This essay will investigate the animated films of The Brothers Quay in relation to Freud’s theory of the Uncanny - with particular focus on Street of Crocodiles (1986) and The Comb (1990)…

Or

‘The stop-motion animator, Ray Harryhausen is arguably the father of modern day cinematic fantasy. What follows is an investigation of his life and work in relation to the development of special effects…’

Stylistically, it is often clarifying to begin with a key-note quote or bench mark statement that sets the scene for the discussion… for instance:

‘… the Brothers Quay's works are independent of any definable genre; indeed, the imitation of their unique style which can be observed in films of other animators are a complimentary gesture to the auteur style they have developed. Throughout their opus, a continuity can be observed - Quays' devotion to the marginal, the nobody and the unnoticed, elevated into the sublime…’ (Buchan: 1996)

In her essay, Shifting Realities – The Brothers Quay – Between Live Action and Animation, Suzanne Buchan observes that other animators have imitated the unique style of the Brothers Quay. This investigation seeks to trace that influence by comparing their short 1986 film, Street of Crocodiles with Henry Selick’s Coraline (2009)…

* If you can’t provide a succinct introduction for your discussion, chances are you’re not quite ready to write the essay. You need to make your argument clear – without one, you are submitting a ‘blancmange’.

When referring to a film for the first time, always give proper title (with capital letters!), release date and director; after that, you can use title only. Please check spelling of film title – if it’s a made-up word, the spell check won’t know the difference!

When referring to a person for the first time, use full name – after that, use surname only.

You must use Harvard Method for quotations!

Use footnotes for ‘additional’ information that is important or contextualizing but ‘outside’ of the main body of the essay.

Please double-space your written assignments!

You must provide a paper-copy at time of crit!

tutorphil said...

God - you're fast - and yes - your blog feels calmer and more resolved already...

Ruben Martins said...

Thanks you Phil for the comments, and yes I think this project has started for me in the start like the others, but it can only get better. I am almost done with painting digitally the character and everything is going better, healthy wise as well.

I saw the comments about the banner, and I guess I just suffered from the sydrome of wanting to put all my work inside a banner, despite bearing really different styles.
So I took a look at the horrid template and changed to something, rather calmer and simpler. and I just add the characters from my last project and thats it.