Master of Animation magazine #01 AKV|St.Joost

Andreia Dobrota Antigoni Agathokleous Armando Goedgedrag Evert van der Veen Jonas Ott & Ruud Bakker Martynas Puodziunas Raimke Groothuizen Roel Kolsteren & Rutger van de Wiel Rowena Crowe Vera van Wolferen Vlad Craina Zhuoying Li

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Master of Animation class

PREFACE We are very proud to present to you the first issue of the Master of Animation magazine. The magazine accompanies the graduation exhibition presented at AKV|St.Joost in Breda from August 29th until September 4th. It provides more background information on the master students of 2012-2013, the projects they worked on throughout the year, and their research subjects.

Sarah Lugthart Coordinator Master of Animation

PREFACE

We hope you enjoy this first issue, and are inspired by the creative talents of the students of 2012-2013. We also invite you to keep an eye on our website and blog at akvstjoost.nl and to follow our activities next year.

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This development has resulted in surprising and innovative concepts and shows in the various projects presented in this issue. The students have participated in the development of short films for the urban screens of art platform Dropstuff. They developed animations for a multimedia POPUP@ChassĂŠ event during the Culture Night in Breda, involving soft sculptures on, between or in which the animations were projected.

And of course, they worked on their graduation projects. Coming from an editing background, Rowena Crowe, for example, developed an online series based on found footage material and researched the added value of presenting one’s work this way. Similarly, Ruud Bakker and Jonas Ott asked themselves how the developments of presenting work online could add to their creative practice, making short animated sketches for this online platform. Illustrator Zhuoying Li made use of the boundless imagination of children to help her create bacteria-like characters for an e-book with accompanying animation. Together the projects show a diverse and broad application of the ability of animation to create amazing worlds and tell heartfelt stories.

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The Master of Animation course started three years ago. During the development of the course it has become clear there is a strong desire among not just animators, but also professionals from other contexts like media, design and games to broaden their view on their practice. There is always a demand for knowledge and innovation in these areas through new design questions, production methods and narrative strategies. This means looking past the borders of your own discipline and asking yourself how animation can add to your ability to tell a story or how to present yourself as a creative professional.

COLOFON page 2

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Colofon Editor and production manager: Mette Peters Corrector: Lenne Priem Texts and images: Andreia Dobrota, Antigoni Agathokleous, Armando Goedgedrag, Evert van der Veen, Jonas Ott, Martynas Puodziunas, Raimke Groothuizen, Roel Kolsteren, Rowena Crowe, Rutger van de Wiel, Ruud Bakker, Vera van Wolferen, Vlad Craina, Zhuoying Li Texts: Sarah Lugthart, Karin van Pinxteren Graphic Design: Staynice Typeface: Legato by Evert Bloemsma Photo cover: Vera van Wolferen Photos POPUP@Chassé: Peter de Krom This magazine accompanies the graduation exhibition of the AKV|St.Joost Master of Animation course, August 29th until September 4th 2013. © AKV|St.Joost, Breda 2013

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MA MAGAZINE CONTENTS

Andreia Dobrota 4 Antigoni Agathokleous 6 Armando Goedgedrag 8 Dropstuff 10 Evert van der Veen 12 Jonas Ott & Ruud Bakker 14 Martynas Puodziunas 18 POPUP@ChassĂŠ 20 Raimke Groothuizen 24 Roel Kolsteren & Rutger van de Wiel 26 Rowena Crowe 30 Festival visits and study trips 32 Vera van Wolferen 36 Vlad Craina 38 Zhuoying Li 40 Practical information 42

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CONTENTS Master of Animation Magazine class 2012 / 2013

ANDREIA DOBROTA MA MAGAZINE

GET HAPPY OR GET OUT

The story of a man whose forced, false happiness ends up suffocating him.

This film is about a character called “D”, one of the last unhappy people in a world where everything is intended to bring happiness and almost everybody is filled with joy.

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The unhappy are slowly cast away, never to be heard from again or, very rarely, converted to a state of happiness.

D’s story begins when he receives a letter from the happiness court demanding that he essentially get happy or get out. He begins to change his life, trying harder to fit in the society he is forced to live in.

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Andreia Dobrota

My graduation project consists of a 2D short animation, made mostly using TVPaint software.

Stylistically, it follows two different worlds that oppose each other in every aspect; aesthetically, it consists of two very different color pallets, the very bright and blissful world and the very dark, mostly grey world in which the main character lives. The sound has been created by a sound designer. It has no musical soundtrack, but is composed with a multitude of sound effects that add to the description of each world.

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Andreia Dobrota

andreiadobrota.weebly.com

ANDREIA DOBROTA

My research revolved around finding an aesthetic that reveals the two opposite worlds, the happy one and the unhappy one, and their respective characters. I also focused on the movement and postures of the characters from both sides. My research can be divided into two main categories: theoretical and practical, for each world.

By studying theory on the subject, especially concerning clinical depression in all its aspects, I was able to create a design for the main character and his private house. I have also watched animations and films that connect to the same story, aesthetic or general feeling. I have tried to incorporate animation techniques or design models that have worked magnificently for others into my own animation. Furthermore, I viewed live action footage of people doing the activities I intended to use in my film, to get a better feeling of the timing and spacing of their movements. For happiness, I followed the same pattern: discovering distinguished features either through theory or through practical research that I could use or adapt for my animation, to create a more intense viewing experience that emphasizes the important aspects of joy.

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Research

I come from a fine arts background, having graduated from a fine art high school and the National University of Art in Bucharest. I became interested in animation in high school by pure chance and developed my passion on my own in the years that followed. Using self-teaching tutorials and researching animation as much as my surroundings would allow, I cultivated my animation skills to a high level, enough to be confident in my chosen field. Sensing the need for real, professional guidance and because there are no schools or any sort of institution for education in animation in Romania, I decided to continue my studies at AKV|St.Joost. Prior to coming here I have worked as an animator for a TV series and have participated in the creation of animated films for various festivals and contests. There is no doubt, however, that this one year Master of animation course has completely reshaped my animation and design skills, my research methods and my overall view on animation.

CAT ATO NIC

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Antigoni Agathokleous

CATATONIC is a film based on original images of dreams.

The story is about a young father who refuses to take responsibility for taking care of his daughter. When he tries to leave his own house and daughter, he enters a new world. In this dreamy world he is challenged to face fears and obstacles that have an unconscious meaning. This journey will lead him standing outside his door where he is forced to answer the question “Will you leave, or will you go back in?”. The story is about running from what you are in life. The message is that whenever we try to escape from a situation we will always carry it within us because it is part of us. The animation has a rough style of black and white drawing and uses rotoscoping. The film is based on live-action shots made by me, and some scenes are traditionally animated. In the movie, natural and unnatural sound effects are used to give the feeling of a strange environmental scene.

Antigoni Agathokleous I studied 3D animation and multimedia productions at Middlesex University in Athens. My animation work focuses on spontaneous self-expression. I have always been interested in presenting the world in a subjective perspective distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.

I prefer to express meaning and emotional experience rather than a physical reality. I am an escapist and I like to create work that questions our sense of self and delves deep into the subconscious of mysteries through 2D and 3D animation, video art and photography.

ANTIGONI AGATHOKLEOUS

antigoniagathokleous.tumblr.com

”The story is about running from what you are in life.”

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While I was working on my animated film, I researched dreams, the main research question being “How to make a non-narrative animation that is based on dreams?”. In my research I focused on an innovative perspective. By innovative I mean “being”, as opposed to the traditional meaning of “doing”. An innovative perspective involves exploring, learning, experiencing, imagining, while the traditional way is through interpreting, identifying and studying. A dream is best expressed through the arts.

Instead of trying to tell a dream as a story, we can change the sentences in the dream into how it makes us feel. Many dreamers have noticed that at times the unconscious wants to move on. They might start with a dream but as we allow the energy of the dream to create an image, other emotions and memories arise. Some of us choose to follow the original dream and others follow the associated energy that comes from a dream. We can choose to focus on an original image or we can allow one image to lead to the next, and then the next. For example, I started writing and creating the scenes for my film using original “dream” images that had no linear structure or story. However, analyzing and asking myself questions and feeling emotions allowed me to create a scene that led to another scene. I have analyzed my own film, as well as films based on dreams by other animators, to see what some symbols and situations mean. I am interested in learning more about non-narrative dream storytelling without destroying the beauty of the original images, by using a structured storyline.

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Research

ARMANDO GOEDGEDRAG MA MAGAZINE page 8

THE LIVING FOREST This short film is about someone who discovers light creatures in a dark forest.

He films his discovery with a camera. The viewers will get the experience of what he saw that day in the forest. In the end he becomes one with the light creatures. There are many different kinds of animals that are visible in their light form. These animals only appear in the forest on dark and cloudy days. They do not harm you when you see them. The source of the light creatures is a rotating liquid particle field. The liquid that comes out of this source moulds them into their shape. This is a short explanation of how the animals are created in this story. In this project, a combination of different programmes and techniques are used. The visuals were created in TVPaint, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premier and Adobe Photoshop and mixed with live action footage. I will make my own music and sound effects in Cubase.

In short, this will be a multimedia project, because I think this fits me better than just a single style animation.

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Armando Goedgedrag

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Research

thelivingforestanimation.blogspot.nl

Armando Goedgedrag

ARMANDO GOEDGEDRAG

I have a great passion for painting, animation, film and photography.

I come from a small island named Aruba. Ever since I was a little kid I have been intrigued by nature. The island is very special to me, because even though it’s small, its wide variety of landscapes makes it look much bigger.

It has colourful birds, deserts, mixed landscapes, and amazing sunsets almost every day. The sea is also amazing with the raw imperfect waves that clash onto the rocks on the north of the island. In short, I feel very connected to this island due to its beautiful nature. I finished my bachelor’s degree of Communication & Multimedia Design at the Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden. I am used to combining many tools and techniques to create my artworks, such as live action filming, 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects. I wanted to specialize more in animation because I like making my paintings come to life. And that is why I’ve chosen to do this master course at AKV|St.Joost.

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In my research I’ve focused on how I can achieve the ideas that I have in mind for THE LIVING FOREST project. My major source of inspiration is nature itself, but I also use, for instance, nature movies and music. On a technical level I had to figure out how to make those light creatures as lifelike as possible in the living forest. This required some experimentation. At first, I considered using TVPaint only, but when my concept became clearer, I was aware that I had to use many more programmes and had to experiment with a variety of software to make this project come to life.

The animation will start from scratch with handmade drawings, and compositions and effects will be added in the final design.

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DROPSTUFF

DROPSTUFF

dropstuff.nl

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In current image culture, it is hard to distinguish cultural content from commercial content. Think of the MTV shorts from the eighties and nineties, which are a good example of blended commercial and cultural content. These clips always end with an MTV logo. Because 99 percent of all urban screens have commercial content, most people think that Dropstuff.nl is also a commercial initiative. To change that image Dropstuff has to explain very carefully what it does: present media art in the public space.The question posed in the assignment for the students was: how can Dropstuff make clear in an original and creative way what the identity of the platform is by means of a one-minute short? The short autonomous animations use the logo somewhere in the clip. The resulting animations are shown in the programming of the urban screens on a regular basis.

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In the first phase of the master course all students participated in making short animations for Dropstuff.nl. Dropstuff is a “museum without walls�, a unique digital cultural infrastructure of interconnected public screens. These screens present media artworks and artistic games and are located on (central) squares and railway stations, where a large and diverse audience passes by on a daily basis. Real interaction is possible through a synchronous broadcast on the smartphone, thus challenging passengers to participate and play games with others visiting the Dropstuff-screens. This way the screens also function as portals in time and space.

EVERT VAN DER VEEN MA MAGAZINE page 12

FRACTURE A character travels to a deserted planet and makes contact with abstract round shapes that deform on the beat of music.

While this character wanders around the planet he is touched by one of these shapes that fly through his body. This triggers something, and the character starts to deform as well.

Every beginning has an end, and this Master of Animation course is no exception. This year I’ve been busy with a lot of different animations, including character animations. In my graduation animation FRACTURE (working title) I wanted to combine my passions for animation, character animation and music.

Like my bachelor graduation movie SONIC FAUNA (2012), I wanted to combine music driven animations with characters, but compared to SONIC FAUNA this movie is harsher. It’s not going to be about sweet and cute characters that make a happy song, but about one character that enters another world with tougher rules, and harder music.

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Evert van der Veen

This movie is animated in 3D, using Maya software.

First the character and the landscapes are modelled; then the character is animated in the landscape. These Maya animations are rendered into images that are loaded into Adobe After Effects. In After Effects, the characters and landscapes are combined into one composition, and the colours are corrected so the composition looks harmonious.

The music is made by me using Ableton, a music program in which you can manipulate sounds and create music with synthesizers. I created a score and animated on the beat of the music, which I used as a guide. The music is built on an electronic techno beat that evolves into nasty dubstep with lots of wobbles and glitchy sounds.

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Evert van der Veen

EVERT VAN DER VEEN

My thesis is focused on character design. I have searched for specific topics that come to mind when you start to design characters, such as the formats you are designing for, and how to use colours and shapes.

I have chosen this topic because I’m always drawing characters myself. The first idea for my graduation project was to create different idents with different characters. Although the concept for my project changed, I continued to research character design. I wanted to know about the topics that can be used when you start designing, so I could use this information for my designs. I’ve analysed different characters and wanted to find out why some characters are good and some aren’t. I wanted to know why I like them, and what I could learn from other designers about the use of colours, shapes and formats (2d and 3d). I’ve also analysed the characters I designed through the years, to find out in what areas I can improve.

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Research

When I was young I was fascinated by animation. I watched a lot of films like THE LION KING, ALADDIN or other Disney movies. But the animated works on television also triggered my inspiration to draw characters. Through the years I’ve drawn a lot of characters, and at some point when I had to choose my education, I chose the animation course in Zwolle on the Deltion College. After my graduation, I wanted to continue to learn about animation techniques, and to develop my skills even more. I enrolled in the Bachelor of Animation course at AKV|St.Joost and graduated in 2012 with my animation SONIC FAUNA. With this film I won the Breda Art award, and with the prize money, I could afford to attend the master’s course. I chose this course so I could develop my abilities in character design further, as well as character animation, combined with my other passion: music.

I enjoy creating worlds not possible in real life, and animation is what allows me to do so. With the knowledge I’ve gained in the master’s course I hope I can create more worlds for my audience to enjoy.

JONAS & RUUD MA MAGAZINE page 14

THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW One is tall, one is small.

One is bearded, one has curls.

One is Dutch, one is Swiss.

This is THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW. Presenting a bunch of mind blowing animated ultra-shorts all about “Love & Lust”.

J&R Jonas Ott & Ruud Bakker

The ultra-shorts which are part of THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW have a straightforward story line and are peppered with black humor.

Ruud Bakker

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Jonas Ott Jonas is an international animator who lives and works in the Netherlands and Switzerland. His graduation film WASHED ASHORE (2012) has been screened on festivals all around the world and won prizes for the best student film at the Playgrounds Festival in Tilburg and at the Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht. His work is peppered with curious characters acting in an unusual way. He loves to visually narrate unique stories and finding the accurate way of designing them.

He tries to create a world full of atmosphere and emotions. When back in Switzerland, he makes animation shorts in collaboration with Swiss animator Martine Ulmer.

JONAS & RUUD

THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW is a collaboration between the two animators Ruud Bakker and Jonas Ott. Both make their autonomous work around the theme “Love & Lust”. The theme is given for a working period and can be adapted in the future. The concept of making short films allows the artists to work together in a loose mode, developing the content together and executing the episodes on their own. The separated workflow is necessary, because of the different technics Ruud and Jonas use to work. As Ruud is a mainly 3D animator, Jonas loves to animate his illustration in a cutout computer-animated technique.

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Ruud and Jonas are much alike, but so different at the same time. They share the same sense of humour and the love of telling ultra-short stories, sometimes showing nothing more than just random situations. Whereas Jonas developed a love for 2D animation, Ruud got trapped in the third dimension.

During their project for the Culture Night of Breda they had already proved they could collaborate on a single project.

But for the graduation project they decided to go their own way. But they can’t let each other go so easily. That’s why they have worked with one theme, producing ultra-shorts around it. Combine all of them and THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW is a fact.

Ruud is a Tilburg based animator. He has a bachelor’s degree in animation at AKV|St. Joost. His graduation film BLACK&BLUE (2012) has been screened on numerous film festivals around the world, including Pictoplasma, Playgrounds Festival and Cut-Out Fest, as well as a very successful online debut with over 60 thousand views.

His work is playful and fun, but always with a sharp edge. Humor is his tool to tell somewhat cruel stories, but never without compassion for his loveable characters.

Besides his need to make independent shorts Ruud works at Animate The World studio, where he directs, designs and produces commercial films.

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JONAS & RUUD

The collaboration between Ruud and Jonas started four years ago during their bachelor studies at AKV|St. Joost in Breda, especially in the graduation year, when they worked shoulder to shoulder in a tiny, stinky room under the roof of our former monastery school building for a year. After this one year 24/7 man cave situation, they decided to expand and continue working relationship that had successfully started. This was the foundation of THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW. The ultra-shorts which are part of THE RUUD AND JONAS SHOW have a straightforward story line and are peppered with black humor. The theme “Love & Lust” provides a broad opportunity for the two directors to take their own approach. A car, an accident, an ambulance and a funeral car strangely move backwards and forwards in different rhythms. It’s Burning Rubber.

Two dogs meet in the park. An iPhone with hands and feet plays with the iLove app. The awkward moment of a blind dating couple gets interrupted in a surreal manner.

vimeo.com/channels/theruudandjonasshow

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At the end there will be about eight to ten episodes with only one thing in common: “Love & Lust”

thisisbeker.com jonasott.com

MA MAGAZINE JONAS & RUUD

MARTYNAS PUODZIUNAS MA MAGAZINE page 18

HOLD YOUR BREATH Every one of us has experienced these moments, where you just desperately want to escape reality, and hide yourself in the deepest corner of your imagination. For some of us, it’s a sort of meditation and a way of finding and expressing yourself; for others, it’s the only place where they feel safe.

M Martynas Puodziunas

The story in my graduation film HOLD YOUR BREATH develops around a teenage character, who is wandering through his bizarre selfcreated world, in order to break away from the tough daily routine in his family. It’s a story about balancing on an edge and the importance of making decisions, told through the perception of a young boy. A place where the darkest dreams and thoughts become alive, coloured with surreal and abstract visuals. My graduation project is a clash of 3D and 2D animation techniques: most of the work (characters, animation, sets etc.) is done in 3D software, while the rest (background, environments, compositing, additional details) will be created in 2D. blackbark.lt page 19

Martynas Puodziunas I am a designer/animator and multidisciplinary artist, who has graduated primarily as an architect, though with a stronger passion for moving images.

Originally being from Vilnius, Lithuania, the land of forests, I now wander the streets of Rotterdam. I try to produce authentic work that is visually and aesthetically appealing, with a story behind it. I like creating abstract and surrealist images that are reflected in an everyday context, and spice up my work with visuals of an imaginary world.

I long to support my artistic passion and vision through life, and to communicate it to people around me. When I am not working, I enjoy coffee and a sketchbook, with a good jazz tune. Besides that, I like to get my hands dirty with various crafts and DIY projects.

MARTYNAS PUODZIUNAS

I think, and many designers/illustrators will agree with me, that ideas that pops into one’s mind don’t find their way into the final work as easily as they seem to from the outside. It requires scribbling and deleting, thinking it over and over again, pulling back from the work and taking crucial decisions.

It’s these decisions that I’m interested in and focus on in my research in which main question was: how to find the most reasonable way for me of sketching initial character designs?

Being inspired by the “Doodle a Day” movement, in which artistically inclined people create something precious on a daily basis, I took a path for a research process as my personal challenge. I set myself to make a daily drawing for 30 days, having only 3 minutes for each sketch. Furthermore, every day I get a new randomly generated adverb from the internet to work with, and interpret it in 3 different ways. When I’m finished, I write a short explanation of just 3 words below the doodle to describe the character. After this daily quick morning sketch session I update my blog. After 30 days, the outcome is a presentation of 90 different characters designed in one month, together with my observations and description of all the obstacles I had to overcome.

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Research

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POPUP@CHASSÉ

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Karin van Pinxteren: “It was important for AKV|St.Joost that the animations were an integral part of the project, not just an easy opportunity to generate animations. It was considered of great value that the animations of the students and the sculptures designed and made by Studio Anthony Kleinepier & Studio TTTVO were equally important. Another decisive fact was the set date for the presentation during de Breda Culture Night. The responses to the final presentation were enthusiastic, especially because of the ‘unexpected setting’ and the feeling of ‘total surprise’.”

This project was a collaboration between the Master of Animation of AKV|St.Joost and the House of Visual Culture in Breda. The city of Breda was initiated commissions to represent cultural heritage in a contemporary form.

huisvoorbeeldcultuur.nl

POPUP@CHASSÉ

Curator and project manager Karin van Pinxteren: “For the content I was looking more for anecdotes and stories then for actual historical facts. A written footprint can leave a stronger impression than excavated foundations, a shard or a part of a wall. The various stories that were available seemed more interesting to me as an inspiration for the animators and graphic designers to work with. When our imagination is activated, thoughts shoot off in every direction, which helps us have a freer and more pleasant relation to the commission. I wanted to stimulate a free approach.”

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POPUP@Chassé was an idiosyncratic presentation in which anecdotes and historical facts from the history of Chassépark in Breda were being told and shown in a contemporary way. During the Breda Culture Night of 25 January 2013, the pedestrian entrance of the Chassé car park was transformed into an “experience cinema”. Man-sized soft sculptures of vases and jars referred to special local archaeological finds.

The animations, all with a different approach to local history, were projected in and around these sculptures.

BLOODY MARY READ ZOÖTROPE

THE SUTLER

Vlad Craina The animation emphasizes the connection between past and the future, and is staged in Breda’s Museum (former Chassékazerne). The sutler woman wants to transmit her occupation to future generations.

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POPUP@CHASSÉ

Rowena Crowe, Raimke Groothuizen, Armando Goedgedrag An animation loop of a walk cycle: child > servant > sailor > female innkeeper > pirate > pregnant woman > belly > baby > born again…

Based on the dramatic life of the Irish female pirate Mary Read, who briefly owned a tavern in the area of Chassépark.

THE PARADE

Ruud Bakker, Evert van der Veen, Martynas Puodziunas, Jonas Ott An orderly musical military parade turns into hilarious chaos. The animation references the military history of the area.

BR-ART

Andreia Dobrota, Zhuoying Li A playful interactive animation game. Distinguish between the true and false facts presented in the game, which are related to the history of Breda and the Diego Velázquez’ painting The surrender of Breda.

PHANTOMS OF THE OLD

Antigoni Agathokleous, Vera van Wolferen Words of Charles Baudelaire’s poem Le Flacon (The Perfume Flask) are mixed with images of the dark and dusty building of the Kloosterkazerne, a 16th century monastery church.

Watch a short documentary about the project online: vimeo.com/61632608

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POPUP@CHASSÉ

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RAIMKE GROOTHUIZEN

R A “The fact that a child’s own stuffed animal will play a part in the content makes the content

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more valuable for that child.”

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Raimke Groothuizen

My graduation project is an animated pilot episode for an educational cross-media series. This cross-media series for young children is called KNOEFIE, referring to the Dutch word “knuffel”, which means stuffed animal. The cross-media project will be a combination of a personalized stuffed animal that you can buy and register online, picture books, short animated films and games. My graduation project will only consist of a short animation. The picture books and games will be developed afterwards. The idea is that your personalized stuffed animal is the main character in the media content. There will be several options in colours and kinds of animals that children can choose from. The fact that a child’s own stuffed animal will play a part in the content makes the content more valuable for that child.

Raimke Groothuizen

RAIMKE GROOTHUIZEN

In 2008 I graduated from the Bachelor of Animation course at AKV|St.Joost, with a picture book and a short animation called THE LITTLE CROW WITH THE NAKED BOTTOM. This animation won several international prizes and was shown on over 40 international film festivals. After that, I studied to become a primary school teacher at Avans Hogeschool in Breda. In 2010, I started my own company called RAIMKE, in which I make animation films and give animation workshops in schools and businesses. I’ve got a great variety of clients: on one hand of the spectrum I made safety animations for a service station franchise and, on the other hand I made a short animation for the Dutch version of Sesame Street. I started the one-year Master of Animation course, because I would like to specialize in animation for young children. Together with a commercial business partner, I want to develop the “Knoefie”-project. The master felt like an obvious choice to start this enterprise.

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raimke.com

I studied how to connect to the world of experience of young children, using storytelling and aesthetics in animation and examined theories about Development Psychology of young children. Furthermore, I wanted to know more about the opinions of experts, so I studied existing research and interviewed some makers of children’s television programmes.

I’ve tried to implement some of this theory in my work. And in the end I asked for feedback from my target audience, using my own network. I arrived at lots of interesting new insights regarding my animation, and also realized I already was using many of the results in my work, without knowing the theory behind them.

Moreover, I found out how I feel about animation made for young children. Because I think that it is important to try to connect to this world of experience, instead of just making animation for children bases on artistic choices. So to animate for children is to try to think like a young child. page 25

The pilot episode is called RAIN, the title of which also describes the topic. The main characters are Monkey and Mouse. Monkey and Mouse are two preschool stuffed animals living in a crayon coloured house. Monkey is the personal stuffed animal, while Mouse is the enthusiastic side character. When the two friends want to play in the garden, they realize that it is raining. They then try to find a way to play in the rain without getting wet. The two animals communicate with sounds, but a voice-over tells the audience what the animals are talking about. This voice-over will be supplied by me; I have taken a voice-over course to this end. Moreover, there will be humorous sound effects and happy music, because I think these are very important to a young audience (toddlers and pre-schoolers). The environment is made out of bright and colourful crayon drawings. These drawings are very simple, almost like children could have drawn them. The 2D characters have the same texture and look as the stuffed animals, and the animation is done in Adobe After Effects.

Research

ROEL & RUTGER MA MAGAZINE

For our graduation project we wanted to do something special. Take it beyond the screen.

When we heard about the “Oculus Rift�, a virtual reality (gaming) headset, we were intrigued.

This head-mounted display tracks the movement

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of your head and shows the virtual surroundings as if you were really there. It is already possible to play many videogames, like first person shooters, using the Oculus Rift in combination with game controllers.

R&R Roel Kolsteren & Rutger van de Wiel

“We wanted to give the spectator the freedom of looking at whatever he or she wants to see in the scene at any given moment.”

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Since we are animators and not videogame developers, we were going to limit this project to only be able to “look around” and in this way create a virtual reality (movie) experience rather than a fully interactive videogame.

Still, this would require 3D animation in Maya, as well as scripting in Unity, a videogame engine. To be able to watch a film in 360 degrees, as if it were happening right in front of you, was going to be our goal for the next couple of months. We wanted to give the spectator the freedom of looking at whatever he or she wants to see in the scene at any given moment. Not heavily based on a storyline, but above all an experience in a world no one has ever seen before. Giving people the feeling they can reach out and touch the various characters we have brought to life through the magic of animation.

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Research

frameplay.nl

Roel Kolsteren & Rutger van de Wiel Hi there. We are Roel and Rutger. We are two aspiring animators with a background in communication and multimedia studies.

We decided to start our own animation studio called Frameplay after we graduated from Communication & Multimedia Design at Avans Hogeschool in Breda in 2012, with our animated short film called DRAWN. That was until Leon van Rooij (teacher at master course and director of Playgrounds festival) accidentally walked into our temporary office when we were working on our graduation film. He told us about the Master of Animation course at AKV|St. Joost and we thought it would be a good idea to expand our horizon before diving into the commercial animation world.

ROEL & RUTGER

Our research was divided into two directions. On one hand we were focusing on the visual side of the film, namely cinematography, on the other hand we were delving deeper into the implications and future of virtual reality. These parts of the research are carried out individually.

Roel: “Since the distribution of the Oculus Rift has only just started, the first user experiences are scarce. One thing that can be concluded is that the intense virtual reality experience isn’t perceived as pleasant by everybody. My research focuses on the psychological aspects of virtual reality and the possible side effects that can occur.”

Rutger: “The cinematography side is about the general rules and practice of the field. What is the process behind deciding how to frame a shot?

Who are the most renowned cinematographers and what makes their work exceptional or distinct? Ultimately I want to have a distinct idea of what can be learned from all the years of cinema and whether there really are dos and don’ts when it comes to deciding how to stylize the shots.”

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ROEL & RUTGER

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ROEL & RUTGER

ROWENA CROWE MA MAGAZINE page 30

IF WE WERE TOGETHER

A short documentary about motherhood and loneliness while husbands are away from home, fighting a war.

Set in 1967, it is a message from the past with current themes.

IF WE WERE TOGETHER uses for its soundtrack an actual recorded letter from 1967, giving us insight into family life stretched to its limit in times of separation. Most of the film takes place inside a Mini Morris where the mother records a letter to her husband with her two-year-old son in the back seat. While she drives the car with the child, who sometimes drifts off to sleep, in the back, she needs courage to confront a difficult topic between them. IF WE WERE TOGETHER is a part of an online documentary series I am developing based on found archival audio called WHAT LOVE SOUNDED LIKE.

R Rowena Crowe

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rowenacrowe.com whatlovesoundedlike.com

I am an Australian editor who currently calls Breda, The Netherlands her home.

The past year has been an exciting time for me to experiment and investigate my love for drawing and combine it with my love for filmmaking by completing the Master of Animation course at AKV|St.Joost. I have a Master of Arts in Documentary Editing and have lectured on editing at Australian film schools and The European Film College in Denmark.

While at AKV|St.Joost, I have made a looping 32 screen projection telling the story of Pirate Bloody Mary for the House of Visual Culture project, a sketch book come to life for Dropstuff (never work with animals and soup‌ it’s a long story) and made my graduation project IF WE WERE TOGETHER. I am leaving AKV|St.Joost with a renewed passion for animation and documentary.

ROWENA CROWE

The research for my project was focused on the use of animation in documentary, interactive online platforms and the investigation of techniques using TVPaint, rotoscoping and Adobe After Effects. With my love of archival material and drawing, I wanted to find a way to marry the look of both these elements. I was interested in using animation to portray the woman and her child in a sketched, loose way, as it leaves room for viewers to participate by using their imagination and be transported by the audio. The archival material and the actual audio from the 1960s provide the film with authenticity even though the situation and context is entirely imagined. In researching digital platforms I discovered the unique ways in which digital storytelling can support other elements of the project like additional material that might not fit in the film. As a result, I was challenged not only in how to visually explain the concept of audio letters to people who may not be familiar with this way of communicating but also in how to tease an audience into interacting with the website that still fits with the story world through animation. This project was a way for me to become immersed in what excites me most in filmmaking at the moment: hybrid storytelling, animation in the realm of digital story telling.

Rowena Crowe

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Research

al FESTIVAL VISITS AND STUDY TRIPS

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and Visiting festivals and studios throughout the year is always a good way to get inspired. It provides a great opportunity to meet interesting people and look behind the scenes of mind blowing projects. Here is an overview

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of some of the visits and trips we undertook this year.

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overview of new developments, and it gives visitors the

PLAYGROUNDS FESTIVAL The Playgrounds Festival took place from the 20th to the 23rd of November in both Amsterdam and Tilburg. The program consisted of artist talks and masterclasses by the likes of Mikey Please, Peppermelon, Onesize, Alex Trochut, Felice Haymoz and Digital Domain. Here you could learn how some of the most amazing projects around

Quotes from students:

were made: sometimes by “stealing”

want our images to look like they were made by a

Ruud: “Tactile was the buzzword this year. ‘We don’t computer, even if they were’, said Mike Alderson from

best like Trochut shows, sometimes by

to chance, and love the imperfections that come with it.”

Man vs machine. Playgrounds inspired me to leave more

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from history and learning from the creatively working with small budgets like The Daniels made clear, and always you love doing.

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by just working very hard and doing what

playgroundsfestival.nl

I was particularly interested in the talk by Antfood. In their presentation they made clear that a key point for them is to work with your hands. They try to find unique sounds, and one way to do this is by making your own instruments. By doing stuff yourself, you will get a better understanding of how sound and music works.”

FESTIVAL VISITS AND STUDY TRIPS

Evert: “As an animator and sound designer,

Quotes from students: Roel: “Something I will keep in mind for my own practice is the advice quite a view speakers at OFFF gave: you should not forget about what YOU want to do and what direction YOU want to go in, and not always let the clients determine

FESTIVAL VISITS AND STUDY TRIPS

OFFF 2013, Barcelona

that for you.”

Part of the curriculum each year is a study trip to a European city, to expand the students’ network. This year we chose Barcelona, where the international OFFF festival took place from the 6th to the 8th of June. At OFFF, many people from the industry gather, resulting in a great opportunity for networking in a relaxed atmosphere .

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There were talks by renowned artists such David O’Reilly, McBess and Vault49. One of the highlights was our visit to the studio of Physalia and Dvein. It was great to see how multiple studios and designers, situated in the same studio space, benefit from each other’s skills and talents.

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Physalia showed how they create their own tools – or hack existing ones – for their innovative projects that make you wonder if what you see is real or computer generated.

Their courage to take risks by not knowing beforehand if something will work was a great inspiration. offf.ws

Zhuoying: “The most memorable presentation for me was the one by David O’Reilly. The character design in his animations inspires me a lot. It is very innovative and exaggerated in colour and proportion. Also the way Octocat triggered fans to make their own adaptations and how it creates a new way to relate to the audience is something I will bear in mind when developing my own projects.”

dOCUMENTA (13) To start off the new academic year and to get to know each other better, all the master students were given the opportunity to join on a two-day trip to the dOCUMENTA (13) exhibition in Kassel. It proved to be an inspirational visit, not in the least because it made everyone look across the boundaries of their own disciplines, as this quote students, shows:

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from Rowena Crowe, one of the “For me the most successful or the most satisfying exhibits at dOCUMENTA (13) were the installations that created an environment or atmosphere in which you were transported to another world or another way of looking at the world. There sculpture, sound and other related ephemera. A highlight was William Kentridge and the work of Kader Attia. I also enjoyed Charlotte Salomons work. I found her palette and sense of colour appealing and her storyboard-like paintings gave me the immersive sense of being dropped into a story and going on a journey to

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might be an installation containing a combination of photography, animation,

another place.�

FESTIVAL VISITS AND STUDY TRIPS

d13.documenta.de

VERA VAN WOLFEREN MA MAGAZINE

HOW TO CATCH A BIRD

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Once upon a time in my youth there was one very sad event. Of course I had never seen it coming; it started off as a great summer day on which my father taught me how to fish. It’s this event the story for my graduation film HOW TO CATCH A BIRD is based on.

V

Vera van Wolferen

In the early summer of 2012, I was driving home in a car filled with cardboard sculptures: a house, a Ferris wheel, an excavator, a crane and a dozen moths. These models were the props for my graduation film NAVIGATING, with which I graduated from ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede and got my bachelor in Fine Art. This film was a combination of sculpture, video and spoken word. Now that I had left the academy behind me and was moving forward at a hundred kilometers per hour on the freeway I realized I wanted to continue the process that had started with NAVIGATING. It felt like I was on the right track, but instead of video I wanted to make use of animation so I could make my static cardboard sculptures move. I knew how labour intensive stop motion animation would be, so I also had to change how I worked. Until then, my work always evolved in an intuitive way, but now I had to learn how to add structure to the process. So I chose the Master of Animation course at AKV|St.Joost for my next destination.

But for now I will first share my stories on earth starting with the memory of a summer day in my youth when my dad taught me how to fish.

Vera van Wolferen

veravanwolferen.nl vimeo.com/user2339310

VERA VAN WOLFEREN

And these events I collect. I collect my own stories, stories of friends and stories of strangers both on paper and in my mind. They form a playlist that’s on repeat in my head and I use them to find the answer to the question: why do people behave the way they do? What is going on beneath the surface of a face? Story by story I’m gathering answers. And one day when I’m an old woman, and I’m even shorter than I am now, but a lot wiser, I can write a book and shoot it into space. One lucky alien will then find out a lot about people and their motives and perspectives.

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But animation, for me, is not just making models and making them move but also telling stories that move me and that will hopefully also move you. What fascinates me is the way our memory works. Not in a neurological way; I often think about the selection of memories made by or for us, and how we use these stories as symbols, symbols to define our identities.

I think that the event on which my graduation film is based, made me experience for the first time what responsibility is, what death means and how tragic a mistake can be. Now, 18 years later, because of my reflection on this story is given value, and thus, I see it as an important event.

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I started my animation adventure in September. I had done some experiments with stop motion before the master’s course, but it had always been a part of a video. I spent hours cutting and gluing away, closing the blinds, turning on the studio lights and making the cardboard models move.

There’s something about making models. At the beginning of the day there is just plain cardboard; then you start shaping and adding more and more details until at the end of the day I wish I had a magic button that could scale up these models so I could live in them. Anyway, when working on my miniature sets I get so carried away I only drink my coffee when it’s cold.

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VLAD CRAINA

VIRT Will the “Virtuality” program survive the first human interaction tests?

V Vlad Craina

The short animation VIRTUALITY is about testing a technologically advanced computer simulation that I always hope and imagine to be a part of our future. The device’s main interface is a digital table materialized by rearranging nanoparticles, thus creating any chemical element needed in order to produce the desired environment. The successive transformation of the surroundings is done by bending and pulling the same materials together. They seem liquefied in a way, or melted somewhat to become malleable for a fluent transformation. The animated motion is shot from the perspective of a head mounted camera, thus giving the impression that the images are captured through the eyes of the crew member; a first person view.

The animation shows an experiment done by a crew member on one of the days on the space station.

He begins his day trying to get the hang of this new module equipped with one of the first environment generators, powered by a state-of-the-art computer. A variety of options is tested, but there are still some programming bugs left. Some of the areas and options that the computer generated world provides seem to fail, making it unstable. Will the “Virtuality” program survive the first human interaction tests?

TUALITY Research

I have a background in advertising, having mainly worked on 2D graphic designs, short online commercial animations and website design. For the last six years I have been working as a junior and apprentice graphic designer for Punkt Advertising (Romania), as well as being a freelancer in my spare time during and in-between projects. A couple of years ago I discovered my passion for 3D motion graphics and since then, I have explored this world-creating tool. Fascinated by its endless possibilities, I am always eager to work on a new project. It became more and more interesting for me to learn about 3D animation techniques. I got involved with some simple moving image formats at first, finding this to be an exciting new way to express myself and the main reason for taking part in the Master of Animation course at AKV|St. Joost. Now, I feel confident that with time, the complexity of my work will improve. And with the aid of technology, the possibilities that we, the digital artists of today, can make use of are becoming greater than ever before.

VLAD CRAINA

vladcraina.wix.com/animation

Vlad Craina

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I always find it more intriguing to have projects that can guide you towards learning new and fascinating things, and help you decide what will come next. The first part of the research consists of testing and learning more about motion tracking and camera solution techniques, as well as rotoscoping. My first thought was to explore the possibilities of having 3D animation embedded into live action footage. Tests were done to prove the precision of motion tracking and the technical difficulties encountered.

The results reveal that the best camera solution is definitely the one with less movement. Seeing an electronic camera rig setup and the work that resulted from it was an amazing experience I had when we visited Dvein studio in Barcelona. A camera rig like that is bound to be a great asset in my future projects that require more complicated shoots in any situation; not only for motion tracking. This research was mainly done to better understand the basics of motion tracking and to gain the knowledge that I need in order to have a more professional approach when it comes to future projects. The second part of the research is more directly connected to my final project, as I am trying to perfect my general 3D animation skills and post-production techniques to help give a more authentic perspective on the story. These include Adobe After Effects editing, color correction, usage of render passes and various composing techniques, but also Adobe Photoshop texturing, 3D modeling, bending shapes used in the transforming environment in the animation.

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“I always find it more intriguing to have projects that can guide you towards learning new and fascinating things, and help you decide what will come next.”

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ZHUOYING LI

GERMS is a story about a germ named Lacto who goes out into the world to find new friends.

R

Lacto, the main character lives in a fridge.

Milmil is a drop of milk who likes tiny things.

Nobody wants to play with Lacto in the fridge, because all the food is afraid of germs, but Lacto finds a real friend when he meets Milmil.

When they spent too much time outside the fridge, however, Milmil expires and she can’t go back into her milk bottle. Lacto feels very sad and tries his best to help Milmil find a new

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home.

M S

Z Zhuoying Li

My graduation project includes a children’s book, the opening titles for an animation series and two activities for children. In my project, my intention is to create a new logical world with germs, to stimulate children’s unlimited imagination with the simplest elements and teach them about germs. There are thousands of germs living in the micro world, and they have different characteristics and functions.

Research

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Zhuoying Li My name is Zhuoying Li and I have a bachelor’s degree in Display Design from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China. After working in China as a toy designer and children’s book illustrator for four years, I decided to apply for the master’s course at AKV|St.Joost. I enjoy creating worlds with my illustrations, and have always wanted to turn my books into animation. This master’s course gives me a good opportunity to improve my 2D animation skills and to learn about storytelling. In my work the most important ideas originate from a humorous point of view and imaginary worlds. My dream is to establish my own art school for young children and combine illustration, animation and interactivity in a training course. Always wonder; imagination is unlimited.

ZHUOYING LI

zhuoyinglee.tumblr.com lactoandmilmil.blogspot.nl

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The central research questions for my project were: How can I build a new logical world of animated germs that triggers children’s imaginations?; How can I trigger the imagination of young children through interesting activities?; How can I promote my project in an interesting way, both on the Internet and locally? I have studied psychology theories for different age groups and done some tests with children, as well as interviews with children’s teachers and parents. I designed a children’s book, using Adobe Photoshop and the cooperation of a public organization named Small Book House in Guangzhou, China. I am a member of this group and there are a lot of volunteers working for this organization. For example, every weekend we read books to children at the Library of Guangzhou. On one such occasion, I had invited an editor from Modern Primary School Newspaper to participate. Firstly, we made a poster and put it on the website. Then, we sent the whole plan and my e-book to the Small Book House and had meetings on Skype in order to make sure everything could be put into practice. We then introduced some basic knowledge about germs to the children. We showed them my e-book, the volunteers read the story and asked them some simple questions. Then we asked the children to imagine different germs and draw them, giving them the freedom to come up with their own germs’ characteristics, hobbies, functions and so on. Finally, we collected the children’s works and did short interviews with children, parents and volunteers to get responses and collect data. I have also asked children via the Internet to design new friends for Lacto. I made two clay toy sculptures of the main characters Lacto and Milmil and brought them to different countries, for example Italy and Spain, and took photos to promote the activity on internet, using Facebook and Blogger. I will use the characters from the children’s artwork in my animations. For the design of the 2D animation I will use After Effects, and for the sound I will cooperate with music designer Maarten Bonder. I’ve made an opening title for the animation series and intend to make an animated series after finishing the master course.

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Interested in applying for our master program?

Here is some more information about the program, our team of teachers and guest teachers and critera for application.

Program Overview The programme is structured in 4 phases. Every phase offers courses in: concept & strategy, research & entrepreneurship and general academic studies (research skills). In addition every phase offers workshops relevant to the specific phase.

Together with the student we will set up a study plan that will function as a red thread throughout the year. We always try to involve actual clients, keeping in mind that there should be enough room for the student to develop their own ideas and ambitions.

Phase 1 URBAN SCREENS / ONE MINUTE FILM Focus on: personal study plan, design & strategy, animation technique, visual narrative, pitch, clients and audiences.

Phase 2 COLLABS Focus on: personal study plan, directing, interdisciplinary group work, visual experiments, context and presentation

Phase 4 GRADUATION (15 weeks, incl. summer break) Focus on: production and work methodology, research, public presentation, exhibition.

During the graduation phase students work on the project(s) they proposed during their assessment and which show their position within their field. They will show that they can work professionally from a personal vision and artistic identity.

Students will also work on a research report documenting their work process. The graduation phase (period 4) involves made-to-measure individual supervision preparing for the examination, reflection and research and the exhibition of the masterpiece.

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Phase 3 AUTHORSHIP Focus on: personal study plan, authorship and branding, storytelling, research- and graduation project proposal, international study trip.

COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT

Teachers & Guest teachers Lecturers: Fred van Hoek (entrepreneurship) profiling and entrepeneurship coach

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Vice-dean: RenĂŠ Bosma Course coordinator: Sarah Lugthart

Maarten Koopman (concept & development) major animation, independent animator Drs. Sarah Lugthart (research) specializing in media theory

A selection of guest teachers that we have worked with so far: Sytske Kok (storytelling), Peter Wassink (TV Paint) Hisko Hulsing (storyboarding), Menno Fokma (After Effects), Bram Meindersma (sound design), Fons Schiedon (character design).

INFORMATION

Leon van Rooij (concept & development) major animation, director of Playgrounds Festival and curator at STRP

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INFORMATION

Critera for application The selection committee examines if you have sufficient competencies to follow a master course. Several aspects will be examined, for example: artistic and analytical skills; technique and motivation; strategic vision; your research question/question; communication skills.

Requirements Masters In order to submit an application, you must have a certificate or diploma proving that you have successfully completed a Higher Education programme (bachelor level) or possess recognised foreign qualifications that are equivalent to the academic requirements. Specific admission information and conditions can be found in the relevant master on this website.

Application Are you Dutch and do you live in The Netherlands? You can apply directly in Studielink. After submitting your application you will be invited for the selection assessment.

Living abroad? Download and fill in our application form and send it to us. After we have received your application, you will be invited for the selection assessment.

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See also: akvstjoost.nl/opleidingen/m/an/praktischezaken/admission

Questions?

For more information you can contact Nancy Stipkovits: jma.stipkovits@avans.nl.

All the Master courses of AKV|St.Joost are fully accredited and reviewed by the NVAO (NederlandsVlaams Accreditatie Organisatie), the standard academic accreditation council for the Netherlands and the Flemish part of Belgium. To learn more about the international value of a Master degree check: nvao.com and nuffic.nl/en.

AKV|St.Joost Beukenlaan 1 4834 CR Breda The Netherlands akvstjoost.nl