The Evolution of Stop-motion Animation Technique Through 120 Years of Technological Innovations

Stop-motion animation history has been put on paper by several scholars and practitioners who tried to organize 120 years of technological innovations and material experiments dealing with a huge literature. Bruce Holman (1975), Neil Pettigrew (1999), Ken Priebe (2010), Stefano Bessoni (2014), and more recently Adrián Encinas Salamanca (2017), provided the most detailed even tough partial attempts of systematization, and designed historical reconstructions by considering specific periods of time, film lengths or the use of stop-motion as special effect rather than an animation technique. This article provides another partial historical reconstruction of the evolution of stop-motion and outlines the main events that occurred in the development of this technique, following criteria based on the innovations in the technology of materials and manufacturing processes that have influenced the fabrication of puppets until the present day. The systematization follows a chronological order and takes into account events that changed the technique of a puppets’ manufacturing process as a consequence of the use of either new fabrication processes or materials. Starting from the accident that made the French film-pioneer Georges Méliès discover the trick of the replacement technique at the end of the nineteenth century, the reconstruction goes through 120 years of experiments and films. “Build up” puppets fabricated by the Russian puppet animator Ladislaw Starevicz with insect exoskeletons, the use of clay puppets and the innovations introduced by LAIKA entertainment in the last decade such as Stereoscopic photography and the 3D computer printed replacement pieces, and then the increasing influence of digital technologies in the process of puppet fabrication are some of the main considered events. Technology transfers, new materials’ features, innovations in the way of animating puppets, are the main aspects through which this historical analysis approaches the previously mentioned events. This short analysis is supposed to remind and demonstrate that stop-motion animation is an interdisciplinary occasion of both artistic expression and technological experimentation, and that its evolution and aesthetic is related to cultural, geographical and technological issues. Lastly, if the technology of materials and processes is a constantly evolving field, what future can be expected for this cinematographic technique? The article ends with this open question and without providing an answer it implicitly states the role of stop-motion as a driving force for innovations that come from other fields and are incentivized by the needs of this specific sector

A Design Perspective on Animated Puppets’ Materiality. How Design can Provide New Interpretation Tools in the Analysis of Animated Puppet Films

Animation is an interdisciplinary art field as its production processes can be implemented by many disciplines and it can be analysed from several perspectives. In this fascinating field, several tools of interpretation based on examining moving images from philosophical, social, psychological and aesthetic perspectives have been developed. The paper suggests applying tools of analysis provided by the field of design and considers puppets‟ material features as another vehicle of significances in the interpretation of stop-motion animated films. The recognition of the evocativeness of the material qualities of puppets‟ surfaces is not new in the analysis of puppet films, and several scholars have interpreted animated puppets‟ materiality as a meaningful element in the narrative. These studies demonstrate stop-motion animation to be a powerful expressive material medium, and I suggest recognising the design‟s toolkit suited for its analysis. Over the last decade, design scholars have studied materials as vehicles of emotions in the user-product interaction and, according to them, those visceral reactions stem from both personal experiences of material and collective values according to the historical dimension evoked by its use: human beings‟ everyday experience with the surrounding world is mediated by material surfaces of things, and each culture shares common imageries about materials. Stemming from these premises, the paper aims to find new interpretations of stop-motion films, based on the material analysis of their protagonists: the puppets. To support my reasoning I will discuss Adam Elliot‟s clay-biographical films. Elliot fabricates „wonky‟ un-proportioned clay puppets with imprecise lines and imperfect finishes, and this formal imperfection is both a physical feature and the main power of the material used. Shape uniqueness, superficial imperfection and passing time, indeed, are both material features and keys of interpretation in Elliot‟s films

The “Animated Empire” of Post-modern Heroes: Japanese Anime on Italian TV in the Late 70s

From Pacific regions to European countries, mass communication’s history had been exposed to numerous revolutions in the late 70s and early 80s: new TV shows, networks, technologies, audio-visual products, and disciplines examining the relationship between culture and media appeared. In those years, the Japanese media industry exported a huge amount of animated series in European countries and, especially in Italy, Pacific heroes became dominators of private and public networks that broadcasted their stories daily with great success. This article aims at tracing factors that opened Italian purchasers and spectators to the new Pacific heroes and at defining this cultural and economic phenomenon as an “animated empire” built for the last forty years. These phenomena can be explained by summarizing political, economic, social, and technological events that occurred in both Japan and Italy in the 1970s, such as the energy crisis of 1973, the economic dynamism of Japanese animation studios and Italian TV networks in the late 1970s, and the post-modern revolution of Italian society. The article examines these converging factors and relies upon a research path that is not new to the Italian scene, with Marco Pellittieri, Saburo Murakami, Guido Travassi, Franco Colombo, Luca Raffaelli, and Roberta Ponticello among the leading exponents, some of whom are mentioned in the article. These researchers in the last two decades have associated the study of television as a cultural medium, made up of genres, formats and contents, with the historical and social analysis of the arrival and distribution patterns of anime in the Italian TV programming

Motion design and visual communication in the era of ‘diffuse design’ paradigm. Analysis and evaluation of a didactic experiment

In recent years, co-creation and collaboration platforms to create and deliver new products and services have taken a step forward; this has led to the development of a new active involvement of users, who from co-designers have become independent designers, even if not experts. Co-design is dynamic and provides the tools to generate democratic design processes guided by the users themselves. The democratization of design tools is the premise for a new paradigm defined ‘Diffuse Design’ by Manzini (2015). This contribution explores the approaches of open design and open production with particular attention to the field of visual communication and the production of motion design artifacts. After an introduction to the co-design framework, the main open-production visual communication platforms are presented to offer an overview of the topic. Next, the potential of online platforms to enable non-designers to produce animated artifacts is explored by examining student projects in a motion design University course. The most significant outputs of the student experience are then described and critically analyzed. Finally, the conclusions investigate the different perspectives for reading the democratization of tools for creating visual artifacts and lay the foundations for future lines of research

Waste-No-Taste: Animated Video Recipes to Prevent Domestic Food Waste

In recent years numerous service and communication design projects have faced the problem of food waste and helped make the fight against it more efficient. How motion design tools can contribute to prevent this problem? The paper presents a project that consists in creating a shared platform of animated video recipes, prepared by using food at the end of its lifecycle. Participation, community, education, information and technology are the “ingredients” of the project, that operates through an online sharing platform. The platform has an attractive interface, and bring together ludic aspects, technological tools and animated contents. Addressed audience, indeed, collects animated video recipes in a “personal cookbook”, leaves feedbacks and suggestions, and participates in activities such as quizzes and scoring games. Animated representation of food also evokes a meaningful tradition that charges the action of cooking with a strong symbolic value, and makes it an instrument of knowledge of culinary, cultural and social traditions. The goal of the paper is to test project’s attractiveness, effectiveness, margins of development and variation before releasing the beta version

Animated landscapes as remediation and premediation: cyborg cities and virtual worlds in japanese anime

[EN] Cyberpunk anime often stage postapocalyptic and hyper-technological futures. By recognizing the narrative power of animated landscapes, this article describes the background of these anime and explores scenarios in which space and technology are hybridized in one narrative and aesthetic device. Examined landscapes are taken from anime: Future boy Conan (Mirai shōnen Konan, 1978), Akira (1988), Metropolis (Metoroporisu, 2001), Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin seiki Evangerion, 1995), Digimon (1999), and Sword Art Online (2012). The analysis is diegetic, stylistic and symptomatic, and is divided into two main sections: in the first one technological cities are described as re-mediation (Grusin, 2017) of the architectures of the Japanese “Metabolists” of the 1960s; in the second one cyber-fantasy settings are explored as pre-mediation (ibídem) of immersive virtual worlds. In conclusion, the article recognizes anime as valuable medium to reveal and question social issues related to technology.[ES] Los anime del género ciberpunk muestran un futuro post-apocalíptico e hipertecnológico. Reconociendo el poder narrativo de los paisajes animados, el artículo describe los escenarios de algunos de esos anime, en los que el espacio y la tecnología se hibridan en un único dispositivo narrativo y estético. Las escenografías examinadas están tomadas de Conan, el niño del futuro (Mirai shōnen Konan, 1978), Akira (1988), Metrópolis (Metoroporisu, 2001), Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin seiki Evangerion, 1995), Digimon (1999) y Sword Art Online (2012). El análisis es diegético, estilístico y sintomático, y se divide en dos grandes apartados: en el primero, las ciudades tecnológicas se describen como remediación (Grusin, 2017) de las arquitecturas de los “metabolistas” japoneses de los Sesenta; en el segundo, los escenarios de la fantasía cibernética se exploran como premediación (ibídem) de mundos virtuales inmersivos. En conclusión, el artículo reconoce al anime como un medio narrativo para revelar y discutir temas sociales relacionados con la tecnología.Maselli, V. (2021). Paisajes animados como remediación y premediación: ciudades cíborgs y mundos virtuales en los anime japoneses. Con A de animación. 0(13):78-93. https://doi.org/10.4995/caa.2021.15927OJS7893013ADAMS, Bill, 2020. "Digital Animals", en The Philosopher, vol. 108(1), pp 17-21.BELLETTINI, Valentina, 2012. "'Metropolis' di Rintarō. Il futuro del nostro passato", en Universi Incantati, 3 de majo, 2012 (http://valentinabellettini.blogspot.com/2012/05/recensione-animemetropolis-di-rintaro.html [marzo, 2021]).BRODERICK, Mick, 2009. "Superflat Eschatology: Renewal and Religion in Anime", in Animation Studies, vol. 4, pp. 29-45 (https://journal.animationstudies.org/michael-broderick-superflat-eschatology/[marzo, 2021]).CRIVELLI, Sabrina, 2020. "Dossier |Metropolis (2001): la città retrofuturista e la I.A. secondo Tezuka e Ōtomo", en Il cineocchio, 28 de junio (https://www.ilcineocchio.it/cinema/dossier-metropolis-2001-tezuka-otomo/ [marzo, 2021]).CURTI, Giorgio Hadi, 2008. "The ghost in the city and a landscape of life: A reading of difference in Shirow and Oshii's Ghost in the Shell" in Environment and Planning D Society and Space, vol. 26(1), pp. 87-106. https://doi.org/10.1068/d458tDUNNE, Anthony, RABY, Fiona, 2013. Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.FREINA, Laura, CANESSA, Andrea, 2015. "Immersive vs Desktop Virtual Reality in Game Based Learning", en Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL), Steinkjer, Noruega, 8-9 de octubre 2015, Nord-Trondelag University College, pp. 195-202.GRITTI, Mattia, 2020. "L'architettura distopica: parte 1 - Metropolis, Blade Runner, Brazil, Akira", en Cinerama, n. 07, 23 de junio (https://www.cinefacts.it/cinefacts-rubrica-dettaglio-74-8/larchitettura-distopica-parte-1-metropolisblade-runner-brazil-akira-cinerama-07.html [febrero, 2021])GRUSIN, Richard, 2017. Radical Mediation. Cinema, estetica e tecnologie digitali, Cosenza: Pellegrini.JON, Allan Asbjørn, 2010. "The Development of MMORPG Culture and The Guild", en Australian Folklore, n. 25, pp. 97-112.MAGALHÃES, Filipe, SOARES, Ana Luisa, 2013. "Routine metabolista", en Domus, vol. 969, 29 de majo (https://www.domusweb.it/it/architettura/2013/05/29/routine_metabolista.html [septiembre, 2020]).MASELLI, Vincenzo, 2020. "Three, two, one… link start. Prefigurare universi virtuali attraverso artefatti audiovisivi", en AA VV (ed.), 2020. Design in the Digital Age. Technology, Nature, Culture, Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli, pp. 440-443.MUMCU, Sema, SERAP, Yılmaz, 2018. "Anime Landscapes as a Tool for Analyzing the Human-Environment Relationship: Hayao Miyazaki Films", en Arts, vol. 7, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts7020016MURRAY, Robin L., HEUMANN, Joseph, 2007. "Environmental Cartoons of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s: A Critique of Post-World War II Progress?", en Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 14, pp. 51-70. https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/14.1.51PELLITTERI, Marco, 2018. Mazinga Nostalgia. Storia, valori e linguaggi della Goldrake-generation dal 1978 al nuovo secolo, IV ed, Latina (Italia): Tunué.PRINKE, Mike, 2018. "What principles of biology and technology do we not understand fully enough in order to develop "full-dive" VR?", en Quora, 23 de octubre (https://www.quora.com/Whatprinciples-of-biology-and-technology-dowe-not-understand-fully-enough-in-orderto-develop-full-dive-VR-like-in-Sword-Art-Online [marzo, 2020]).RIEKELES, Stefan, 2011. Proto Anime Cut. Visiones y espacios en la animación japonesa, Madrid: La Casa Encendida.SCATENA, Alessandro, 2019. "Metabolisti a Neo-Tokyo: Un'analisi sull'evoluzione dell'architettura negli anime", en Niccolo Murgia, 2 de mayo, (https://niccolomurgia.it/blog/2019/2/5/op-ed-1-metabolisti-a-neotokyo-unanalisi-sullevoluzione-dellarchitetturanegli-anime [septiembre, 2020]).STEINBERG, Marc, 2019 [2012]. Anime system. Il successo polimediale dell'animazione giapponese, trad. italiana Marco Pellitteri, Valentina Testa, Latina (Italia): Tunué (Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and characters in Japan, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).WILKINSON, Philip, 2017. Phantom Atchitecture, Londres: Simon & Schuster

Uncanny tales and erethic drawings. Il valore sociale e pedagogico della rappresentazione del perturbante nelle narrazioni sequenziali

Dall’arte all’entertainment, dall’antropologia alla semiotica, la fascinazione estetica e narrativa del perturbante, dello sconosciuto e dell’incontrollabile ha attraversato la storia dell’uomo. Mago, artista eretico, demiurgo, alchimista e progettista visionario l’essere umano si scontra da secoli con un viscerale bisogno di interrogare, manipolare e visualizzare topoi che sono al di della sua dimensione ontologica e della sua comprensione, quali la morte, l’aldilà, la generazione della vita e l’origine della stessa, adottando linguaggi letterali e metaforici, e codici di rappresentazione astratti e figurativi. Riprendendo la teoria psicanalitica dell’uncanny, già applicata per spiegare il curioso connubio tra la raffigurazione della vita e della morte nell’arte, e l’idea dell’inanimato che diventa animato grazie ad uno sforzo concettuale ma anche ad un artificio tecnico, l’articolo passa in rassegna le rappresentazioni del perturbante nelle narrazioni sequenziali, nello specifico nel settore dell’illustrazione. Dopo un rapido excursus tassonomico e metodologico, l’articolo analizza alcuni esempi di narrazioni illustrate per testimoniare la varietà di scelte estetiche e narrative, di tecniche e di modalità di rappresentazione adottate per raccontare eventi traumatici e tabu culturali. L’effetto straniante della rappresentazione del perturbante è una sfida estetica e concettuale riconducibile ad un approccio “eretico” dell’arte del disegno, di cui tali rappresentazioni rivelano la vastità di scelte linguistiche adottabili, il valore sociale e il potere educativo

Mai più solo, mai più annoiato. Il gaming nello spatial design contemporaneo

From the design of digital interfaces and virtual environments to the manufacture of ephemeral architectures that inhabit urban spaces, using entertainment as a significant quality of an artefact is a typical approach of the contemporary world. In 2008, in the digital media industry field, James Currier defined this way of designing as Gamification, and described it as a trend dating back to the 1980s, and applied to city scenarios through actions of urban regeneration, performances of urban art and spatial design projects. These ephemeral installations, unique in their guises, relate to the urban context with different approaches, occupying or reconfiguring it, and in both cases they evoke memories and create experiences that encourage a new, short but highly emotional dimension of socialization

African Design Wave. Paradigmi estetici, materici e identità di un Sud glocale

Il design contemporaneo manifesta un continuo e profondo interesse verso tradizioni linguistiche, tipologiche, tecnologiche “altre” ed “esotiche”, provenienti da luoghi storicamente poco indagati, ma ricchi di “narrazioni” e identità. Gli scenari produttivi e culturali africani, in particolare, si prestano a riflessioni orientate ad abbattere etichette e identità stereotipate e a ridiscutere i rapporti tra processi di produzione locale e consumo globale, tra un “Sud” e un “Nord” contemporaneamente geografici e simbolici. Si delineano così profili progettuali e paradigmi estetici, materici e tecnici di un Sud glocale, capace di intervenire sui consumi globali, diffondersi a livello mondiale collocandosi in mercati maturi e raggiungendo posizionamenti autorevoli, senza rischiare di appiattirsi o omologarsi, poiché forte di patrimoni morfologici e tradizioni artigianali e segniche “tipiche”. Le pratiche del meticciato oggettuale, il concetto di glocalizzazione, e le narrazioni plurali si incontrano e partecipano allo sviluppo di contesti produttivi e di consumo multiculturali, in cui il design si dimostra valido veicolo di sperimentazione e dialogo tra culture, luoghi e tradizioni che si fondono in un nuovo modello di spazio identitario, “umano” ed etico.Contemporary design shows a constant and deep interest in “other” and “exotic” linguistic, typological, technological traditions, coming from places that have been little explored, but rich in “narratives” and identities. African production and cultural scenarios, in particular, suggest analyses aimed at breaking down stereotypes, labels and identities, and at re-discussing the relationships between local production processes and global consumption, and between the concepts of “South” and “North” as both physical and symbolic entities. This glocal South has recognizable aesthetic, material and technical profiles, is capable of intervening on global consumption, spreads worldwide by placing itself in mature markets, and reaches appealing positions, without risking to homologate, as it has strong morphological and typological traditions. Hybrid objects, glocalization, and plural narratives meet and participate in the development of productive and multicultural consumption contexts, in which design proves to be a valid vehicle for experimentation and dialogue between cultures, places and traditions that merge in a new model of identity, “human” and ethical space

SOCIALITÀ DIGITALE E COVID-19. Service Design per l’analisi del coinvolgimento emotivo nella città digitale

La recente emergenza mondiale e la conseguente virtualizzazione della quotidianità che l’essere umano ha dovuto fronteggiare, hanno fatto emergere il ruolo delle tecnologie digitali nella vita di ognuno e le criticità ad esse connesse. L’articolo riporta l’analisi delle piattaforme digitali più diffuse durante il periodo di lockdown 2020, volta a evidenziare una correlazione fra il successo in termine di fruizione e la componente emotiva-relazionale dei servizi stessi. A tal fine, è stato definito uno strumento di indagine derivante dal Service Design in grado di affiancare a un’azione di analisi prestazionale del servizio i relativi effetti in termini di fattori emozionali: un’opportunità per la comunità scientifica di riflettere sul miglioramento delle componenti socio-relazionali di una metaforica città digitale.The recent world health emergency and the consequent virtualisation of daily life that human beings had to tackle, have brought to light the role of digital technologies in our lives and the problems linked to them. In this context, the article deals with the analysis of the most used digital platforms during the 2020 lockdown, aimed at highlighting the link between its success and the emotional-relational component of the services.To this purpose, an investigation tool coming from Service Design was created. A tool capable of supporting the action of a service performance analysis and its effects in terms of emotional factors: an opportunity for the scientific community to think on the improvement of the socio-relational components of a metaphorical digital city