Creativity Base

Every now and again I stumble upon a beautiful union of substantial intellectual content and playful creativity. The embedded video in this post is a shining example of such a harmony resonating at its best. Below is a speech by radical sociologist David Harvey, who asks us if it is time to look beyond capitalism and towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane.

The producing party, The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA Animate) describes themselves as:

a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.

Importantly for Creativity Base, this RSA information-dense presentation is accompanied by the live cartooning genius of an uncredited artist. As David Harvey’s narrative progresses, his ideas are illustrated by drawn analogies (pun intended) photographed in timelapse and played back as video at various speeds. The cartoonist wryly draws a mock Monopoly board to set the scene for the presentation’s climax- a perfect choice considering the piece’s open criticism of Capitalism’s shortcomings. In the cleverly crafted cartoon continuum, humor and character abound and transform a powerful speech into powerful media- multiplying its potency in the process.

Dan Monceaux

Back in April, I was asked by the wonderful folks behind the group Mobile Monday in Adelaide if I would be interested in presenting at one of their sessions. Having been actively interested in smartphones since I bought my first back in 2009, I agreed to present and decided to look into what was coming up on the mobile video front. After spending several hours trawling through specifications, articles and forecasts (many hosted by the terrific website GSMarena.com) I assembled my observations into a series of slides and transferred them directly to my LG Viewty Smart GC900 phone. Why, do I hear you ask? Well, the days of the laptop presentation are over my friends. When I chose to invest in my LG handset last year, one of the exciting new features was a composite video output. By running a cable directly from my phone to Mobile Monday’s provided desktop projector, I was able to give the presentation from the palm of my hand.

These early generation smartphones are not without their limitations, but change is afoot. Offering faster processors, better resolution screens, more storage space and more flexible operating systems as general improvements, we’ll be watching the decline of the phone and the emergence of the pocket media and communications centre before the year is through.

Since giving this presentation, exciting new models have already been announced, including several with HDMI output capabilities. The Android operating system is also proliferating, though my new Smartphone will most likely be Nokia’s N8, which runs the Symbian 3 operating system. I went to a conference in Sydney on Friday and came extremely close to not taking a laptop. With a device like Nokia’s forthcoming N8, I will be able to connect to a hotel or conference centre TV, flip out a collapsible wireless bluetooth keyboard and have a seriously powerful pocket computer at my hip.

Not only that, it will also have a 720p HD video and 12MP stills camera built in, and a squillion other attractive productivity and lifestyle features. As a digital media professional who likes to keep mobile, this wave of change is one I’ll be riding all the way.

Dan Monceaux

The animation production and consumption communities have been steadily conditioned to ultra-slick, glistening, epic-budget animation, produced by the likes of Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, Aardman and the other major studios over the past 25 years. It is important for animators as artists and craftsman in their formative years not to get hung up on emulating these ‘big box’ aesthetics. Afterall, the key to effective animation is mastering the illusion of movement, and that can be achieved without ever turning on a PC. There are countless opportunities to explore analog techniques and hybrid methods awaiting the curious animator. In fostering resourcefulness in animation (rather than resource dependency) and daring to create new styles or revive lost methods there is an exciting frontier ahead of us.

Studio animation has always been eager to hide the hands of the magician (read ‘animator’) with only a few exceptions. Animation legend Chuck Jones’ classic Warner Brothers cartoon from 1953 ‘Duck Amuck’ is a popular example of breaking the format’s conventions. In this rightly lauded short, Daffy Duck gets tangled up in a fierce argument with the animator as to where, what and why he exists. The page, the animators tools, and the true ‘God’ of the animated cartoon is revealed, with comical and extremely memorable results.

The British claymation series Morph produced back the 1970’s also combined the animator with his clay puppets in Morph’s world, without compromising on the performances of the claymation characters. Morph would often turn to his animator for advice when things weren’t working out for him, and the line between worlds of imagination and reality were beautifully blurred. In embracing the animator and his or her hands, a distinctive look and feel can be created, leading once again to much more memorable experience for the viewer.

The internet has afforded us the opportunity to share and enjoy a resurgence of alternative animation techniques, if not yet embraced by mainstream broadcasters, production houses and ‘old world’ markets’. I stumbled upon this video today, which shows a playful combination of physical and drawn animation technique. Have a think about which animated films and cartoons have stuck with you and why- if you’re anything like me it’ll be the animators who took risks and broke new ground that left a lasting impact.

Dan Monceaux