Study Task 3 - Research (Article 1 - Aesthetics)

For this task, I need to produce two articles exploring an area of my practice. For this particular article, I have decided to focus on aesthetics.


Article 1

Nearing the start of this module, one lecturer urged my group to combine both 2D and 3D animation, while another raised their concerns about the popularity, or lack there of, of mixed media animation in today's entertainment.

Looking to previous examples, especially from decades where technology was still considered new, these concerns are reasonable.

There are however, cases where this style of animation has worked. A popular example is the virtual band, 'Gorillaz', as shown in Figure 1, who time and again have experimented with mixed media animation and whose results are aesthetically pleasing, "His images were striking for their depth, using rich textures that echo both printed halftone and computer generated pixels, a neat distillation of Gorillaz' ability to transcend the on- and offline worlds." (Gosling, no date).

These methods also work well over a range of different genres. Creator of 'The Amazing World of Gumball', Ben Bocquelet, credits 'Gorillaz' as his inspiration for the show's visual style, as seen in Figure 2, "The mixed media combination of 2D and 3D animation […] was inspired by Gorillaz music videos" (Fandom, no date). The show has been described as "A success both visually and aurally" (Wired, 2012) and the style is one of the main contributing factors to this, as the media provides an extra layer to the narrative, and is often used cleverly, such as the episode 'The Money' where the scene gets broken down into the different layers of production.

One of the first examples I saw of this style was 'Amaro and Walden's Joyride' by 'The Line', as shown in Figure 3, and I found this style memorable and unique. 'The Line' went on to animate the music video 'Humility', as seen in Figure 4, "The video […] blends beautiful traditional hand drawn animation techniques with stunning live-action." (The Line, no date).

Visually, hybrid animation allows animators to explore a range of techniques that wouldn't work under the limitations of using just one medium. Some examples broke the mould so much that they are now considered iconic, and have influenced animation, "marked the start of Gorillaz' extraordinary impact on popular culture and public consciousness" (Passion Animation Studios, no date).


Figures List:

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4


Bibliography:

Amaro and Walden (JOYRIDE) Animation Video - YouTube. (no date). Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=amaro+and+walden's+joyride&sxsrf=ACYBGNTXdhQhc244JsS93Anuo5LpRGSzaw:1576867545367&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=PebOqM9fOlQHRM%253A%252CcZoXltgN6khVSM%252C%252Fg%252F11b7x3j6tw&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSK_Y51Gx1VU9_Q1ZMl8ijZLGV3Ow&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwix1piv8cTmAhUaM8AKHS5ECfUQ_B0wD3oECAkQAw#imgrc=UygJmL_puRhdQM:&vet=1 (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Cartoon Network UK. (2018) 'The Amazing World of Gumball | Don't Be a Sell-Out | Cartoon Network', YouTube, 11 February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFJ5tiIJ94 (Accessed: 21 December 2019).

Fandom. (no date) References to Gorillaz in Popular Culture. Available at: https://gorillaz.fandom.com/wiki/References_to_Gorillaz_in_Popular_Culture#cite_note-4 (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Gosling, E. (no date) Pop Art: Tracing the Artistic Development of Gorillaz. Available at: https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/gorillaz-art-retrospective/ (Accessed : 20 December 2019).

McCarthy, J. (2017) How the Gorillaz embraced mixed reality to tell the story behind their new album Humanz. Available at: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/05/04/how-the-gorillaz-embraced-mixed-reality-tell-the-story-behind-their-new-album-humanz (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Moore, M. (2017) Promoting Good Animation: The Amazing World of Gumball. Available at: https://medium.com/betweentheframes/promoting-good-animation-the-amazing-world-of-gumball-2715f479f8b5 (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Passion Animation Studios. (no date) Gorillaz 'Clint Eastwood'. Available at: http://www.passion-pictures.com/uk/animation-studios/project/gorillaz-clint-eastwood/ (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Passion Animation Studios. (no date) Gorillaz 'Feel Good Inc.'. Available at: http://www.passion-pictures.com/uk/animation-studios/project/gorillaz-feel-good-inc/ (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

The Line. (no date) Amaro and Walden's Joyride. Available at: https://www.amaroandwalden.com/ (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

The Line. (no date) Gorillaz Humility. Available at: https://www.thelineanimation.com/work/gorillaz (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Williams, E. (2018) How I Got Here: Jamie Hewlett. Available at: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/jamie-hewlett/ (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Wired. (2012) Be Amazed By The Amazing World of Gumball. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2012/09/be-amazed-by-the-amazing-world-of-gumball/ (Accessed: 20 December 2019).

Wolfe, J. (2012) Season Three of 'Amazing World of Gumball' Greenlighted. Available at: https://www.awn.com/news/season-three-amazing-world-gumball-greenlighted (Accessed: 20 December 2019).


I struggled with this task, as trying to condense the techniques, the pros and cons, and the alternative processes into only 150 words, while still referencing throughout to show our research and development of theories is incredibly difficult. I couldn't explore the limitations as much as I would have liked as I was already over the word count.