ANIMAFEST PRO | ANIMAFEST SCANNER XII | PANEL 3: ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LINE

Lines ahead! Sequential Image Making Practice in Drawn Animated Author’s Films - ALINE HELMCKE

PANEL 3 - ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LINE
04/06 WED 10:35-11:05 KIC

Drawing as an artistic form of expression is often being referred to as a spontaneous, simple and direct act where impulse, movement and drawing mark are closely related to one another. The practice of drawing for animated films, however, seems to oppose this in many ways, as the creation of an illusionary flow of moving imagery requires a systematic, thought-out approach: every line has to be placed in relation to its progression in time and space.  Since the birth of the animated moving image, rules and techniques of how to set a drawing in motion have been developed, the most influential certainly being the so called “12 principles of animation” developed in the Disney Studios and described by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. These rules aim at conveying the impression of a fluent and dynamic, a “believable” action and require a deep analysis of the respective movement. Moreover, they exert a strong influence on the visual appearance of lines and forms that shape our expectation of how an animation should “behave” on the screen. This raises the question whether author filmmakers perceive these rules as a helpful guidance or rather a restriction that can limit the freedom of the drawing process, leading them away from spontaneity and an individual approach to drawing and narrating a film.  The presentation aims to give an insight into how contemporary author’s filmmaker develop individual animation strategies based on their respective drawing style, their use of tools, techniques and materials as well as their individual process of sequential image-making. It suggests that these aspects serve as vital elements that are also actively being used by the artists to develop and build the dramatic structure of their films.

Aline Helmcke is an artist, animation director and researcher with a focus on drawing and experimental animation. After studying Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Berlin and Animation at the Royal College of Art in London, Aline is teaching at university level since 2008. She was a lecturer for Drawing at the UdK Berlin and a senior tutor and guest professor for Animation at the Bauhaus University Weimar. Her moving image work has been shown both in exhibition and festival contexts nationally and internationally and received grants and scholarships from the DAAD, nordmedia and Deutscher Künstlerbund, amongst others. Aline is currently teaching at Kunsthochschule Weißensee while working on a practice-based Ph.D at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam which examines author's films as an experimental field of artistic expression in drawn animation.