Movement Media is delighted to have Doug Fox as a guest blogger for this week’s posting. Back in February 2009, Doug presented several movement-based animations as a guest curator for Movement Media’s Kinetic Cinema program. Click here to read our blog posting featuring Doug’s Animation program at the screening.
Doug Fox’s Picks for Dance and Movement Animations
One of the captivating elements of dance and animation is the diverse range of forms it can take. Among the animation techniques that can be employed to represent the body in motion, whether in a more concrete or abstract manner, include:
- 2D
- 3D
- Stop motion
- Live-action and animation hybrids
- Real-time animated graphics using motion tracking
- Visualization overlays
- Special effects
- ASCII-based animations
- Digital puppetry
- Cut-out animation
- Motion-capture based
- 2D/3D lasers
- Rotoscoped
- Virtual worlds
- Pre-cinema era animations
For Doug’s round-up of some of his favorite dance and movement animations he made selections of each of these different types of animations. A few videos chosen by Doug couldn’t be embedded onto our blog for your viewing convenience, but we encourage you to take a minute to check out these great videos, to learn about the many types of dance and movement-based animated videos artists are creating. Enjoy!
Rotoscoped Tango dance scene from “Waking Life”:
Gabrielle Lamb’s “Quizas” mixes 2D animation and live-action footage:
“En Tus Brazos” is a narrative-based 3D animation about a tragic accident that besets a famous Argentinean Tango dancer:
Also enjoy an ASCII-based animation “TextField” by Chirstinn Whyte and Jake Messenger:
http://www.jakemessenger.plus.com/textfield-h264.mov
The Converse music video “My Drive-Thru” is based on the cut-out animation technique:
Oren Lavie’s “Her Morning Elegance” is a stop-motion music video compiled from thousands of photographs:
The “Prodigy Warrior’s Dance” combines stop-motion animation and puppetry:
The Recoil Performance Group’s “Body Navigation” uses motion tracking and projectors to general real-time, interactive graphics in a performance environment:
“Trash Dance” features 3D animation and motion capture:
Lastly, Doug offers us “Anima Istanbul”, which re-creates the feeling of the pre-cinema era zoetrope effect:
http://motionographer.com/theater/if-2009-zoetrope/
Movement Media appreciates Doug sharing some of his favorite animated videodances with our readers. As you can see, artists are making some extraordinary animations, and there will certainly be more exciting works in the future, as more artists are combine animation with dance and movement.
Doug Fox is the founder of Great Dance, one of the first dance blogs. His blog and speaking programs have primarily addressed how dance-makers can embrace the Internet and digital tools to enhance their marketing and promotional efforts. He is an active member of the dance community and serves on the Dance/NYC Advisory Board.
Doug began to study and research all forms of animation, especially as they relate to dance and movement. This research led to the creation of his dance animation educational program, which he was delighted to introduce at Movement Media’s Kinetic Cinema. Doug is continuing to expand this screening program and workshop and it will be shown on August 16th at the Hong Kong Science Museum presented by the City Contemporary Dance Company.
Doug can be reached at doug@greatdance.com and through his Great Dance website: http://greatdance.com. You can also follow his Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/dougfox.
Move the Frame 
I like to see 3d dance and people dance it all good have anything like that??