Wolf Video Reference

Just adding to the wolf reference material with the BBC's Frozen Planet - a great documentary about the polar regions of our world.

Researching Quadruped Animation

The project is stepping into other stages of animating. A challenge of animating quadrupeds asks for some better research into approaches and techniques. To start with I have looked at real life references. BBC Motion gallery  and Frame Pool websites offer a great deal of sources.

For instance there is a variety of videos of wolves and dogs in differing  situations. Time lapsed videos and those X rayed ones were the most informative. 

At 11 second club , a website for animators, the topics of how to animate quadrupeds directed quickly to Edward Muybridge’s Books. The animators have discussed the images are as useful as giving 70 percent of the entire animation. Therefore this will too be the key source for animating the wolves.

Another hugely useful thing to do was to read about the general breakdown of
dog’s move. Apparently, there are mainly 5 types of movement
dogs/wolves do:

Diagonal walking – diagonal legs move simultaneously at the same direction

Pacing  - legs on the same side of the body  move at the same time and direction, there is more roling in the body than in trotting

Trotting - (inbetween walk and sprinting) legs move in diagonal pairs, leghtening the distance of coverage , but not  in simultaneous order , so that one of the  feet is  on the ground

Sprinting – ordinary run

Galloping – moving in a series of leaps , front legs then back legs hit the ground , barely touching the ground. (looks like flying).

The animation will be aiming to build a believable yet stylized animation, so I also looked at some existing animations of quadrupeds. Most interesting seemd to be   Andreas Deja, animator of The Lion King’s  Mufasa character take.

 In his opinion building animation of animals one has to suggest real animal qualities but in humanized shape (with expressions and body language, behaviour). Also, there are no hands which help to express a great deal of ideas, therefore the concentration goes onto the overall pose attitude, angles of head, face. 

Some other references are films which showcase some wolves animation, such as The Secret of Kells (2009), Princess Mononoke (1997), The Lion King (1994).

So far this was the initial research before going to animating the characters.

Week three: Defining Further

Week three has started and the time is spent to further define the project. We had run through our storyboards and are preparing yet another animatic.

We also set up some clear rules which help think about our project and guide its production:

The wolves race from “unconsciousness” through “sub consciousness” to “consciousness” , the environment corresponds to this idea (ex: unconscious – empty blackness)

Each wolf is always on the heels on the other

There are 3 main layers of each shot: Wolf, effects, environment

Wolves cannot affect immediate ritual space as none has taken it over.

As we are about to step in design stage, we piled up some more reference sheets. This time we are looking at native american graphics evident in carvings, decorations, amulets etc. Also some references of their dolls, which becomes the mcguffin in this animated short.

Animated Short Ego (2007)

This morning Alan suggested watching this particular animation
(The quality isn't sparkling, apologies for that)

Freud's Id, ego, super-ego

In discussion of the very core of our narrative, we found that it captures the essence of the conscience seeking to direct our lives and goals, not dissimilar to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis of the id, ego and super-ego. While not straying too far from the point, we briefly drew parallels from Freud’s theories to elements of our narrative.

Id
The evil wolf comes to represent the dark, inaccessible part of the Id, where primal instincts drive the subject to satisfy pleasures and desires in complete disregard to all else. The evil wolf brings chaos and destruction to the environment with its relentless pursuit of its goal.

Ego
Conversely, the good wolf can come to reflect the Ego, as it seeks to control the Id’s primal instincts. It too desires to control the human psyche, but to suit long term benefits as reflected in its restoration of life to the surrounding environments.

Super-ego
Lastly, the super-ego is found in the culmination of the human soul and psyche of the Native American doll. Being influenced by both id and ego (the two wolves in this case), it strives to maintain a balance to suppress the unacceptable urges of the id and make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather than on simple realistic principles. It is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

This helps to discern the essence of what each element in our narrative may come to represent.

Style Approach: References to Native American Art and Design for Theater

The story is taking it's shape, soon we'll work on character and set design and overall style for the animation. Few key sources are informing it: Native American tribe art and (set) design for theater.

Amerindians have a symbolic representations for animals,which do vary slightly , here is an example of wolf:

Examples of Totems, pottery, masks, jewelery and spiritual paintings are truly suggestive for shape, colour combinations, surface textures and graphics

The tale is aiming to represent fight happening inside each of us,  in the inner environment. It  has a more abstract feeling , surrealism, lucidity and secrecy about it therefore, the second big influence, as mentioned above, is design for theater performances.

Clear and recognizable structures merge with abstract decorations and fantastic lighting. Volumes interact and start creating something unexpected. Also, it seems one of the major aspects of set design right there is consideration how all of it will play with the surrounding darkness. How the darkens, as one of the key  elements , will play its part.

The following example plays with same setting but different lighting approach, which results in mood changes

Lastlly, all the desicions for reference should now come together and be evident and consistent in our own concepts.

Cultural Perceptions of Wolves

A collection of research investigating some of the cultural perceptions and symbolisms surrounding wolves. This is key in influencing and informing our designs.

European
With European imagination, wolves long stood as a symbol of bane being uncontrollable nature. The Bible describes Jesus as the shepherd protecting his herd of sheep from the wolf, signifying the wolf as a symbol of sin and prurient influence (John 10:12). Wolves in literature also do not fair well, often being wicked villains as long fanged, terrible beasts, with examples in Grimms' Fairy Tales of the big bad wolf in Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs.


Roman
In Roman mythology, the Wolf symbol appears with the founders of Rome with the twins Romulus and Remus. Being cast out by their great uncle Amulius, the two founding brothers were adopted by a she-wolf known as Lupa. Otherwise, they have become as symbols associated with the Gods of war, Ares and Mars.


Norse
In Norse mythology, the Wolf is a symbol for victory when ridden by Odin and the Valkyries upon the battlefield. It often includes the legend of three malevolent wolves Fenrir, Sköll and Hati, where the tale suggests that Fenrir will have grown so large that his upper jaw touches the sky while his lower touches the earth when he gapes. Otherwise, the wolves Geri and Freki were Odin's faithful pets, becoming a sign of good omen.

Celtic
As a Celtic symbol, the Wolf was a source of lunar power. Two wolves drive the time as they chase the sun and moon. Celtic lore states that the Wolf would hunt down the sun and devour it at each dusk so as to allow the power of the moon to come forth.

Asia
In Asia, the wolf guards the doors that allow entrance to heavenly, celestial realms. The Wolf is also said to be among the ancestry of Genghis Khan. Grain farmers once worshiped wolves at shrines and left food offerings near their dens, beseeching them to protect their crops from wild boars and deer; where talismans adorned with images of wolves were used as charms to ward against calamities such as fire and disease, as well as bringing fertility to crops and couples.

Native American Culture
Wolves held a special place in almost all Native American tribes, being admired for their strength, endurance and hunting skills. They taught the tribes about sharing, cooperating while hunting and looking after the young, caring and having pride in their tribes. They showed the Indians how to move in the forests - carefully and quietly. The hunters looked for signs of them, for when game was scarce, the wolves would be gone. And after killing the prey, a good hunter always left a piece of meat behind.

For the Cherokee tribe, they would never kill a wolf, believing the spirit of the slain wolf would revenge its death. The Cherokee also believed that if a hunter showed respect and prayed before and after killing an animal, the deer, wolf, fox, and opossum would guard his feet against frostbite.

The Native American symbol/carving of the Wolf:


Symbolising intelligence, leadership, a strong sense of family, guardianship, ritual and spirituality.

Revered because it was a good hunter, the wolf symbolizes cunning and was often associated with a special spirit a man had to acquire to become a successful hunter. As Wolves mate for life and live in close family units usually traveling in packs, they are regarded as a family-oriented symbol in West Coast Native culture. Wolf is the land manifestation of the Killer Whale as they mate for life, protect their young and do not separate from their families.

Upon looking at further symbols of Native American culture, I found an interesting example concerning The Twins.



Portrayed in most emergence or creation stories, they illustrate the concept of duality in life. In the natural world everything exists in balance: male & female, large & small, light & dark & good & evil. The twins are usually shown as boys or short men who overcame great odds to defend the people from all enemies, drought, attack from other beings, animals, or many other problems. Here they are depicted as Father Sky & Mother Earth from a Navajo sand painting.

Again, the idea of twins arises to reflect the duality of good and evil; they are part of the same and perhaps together form as one.

Sources:
Cry of Wolves: http://www.cryofwolves.com/wolves4.html
Totem Wolf Symbols: http://www.whats-your-sign.com/totem-wolf-symbols.html
Meaning Wolf: http://www.mnforsustain.org/wolf_meaning_wolf.htm
Wolves and Christianity: http://www.wolfsongalaska.org/wolves_and_Christianity.html
Symbols of West Coast Native Art: http://www.littlebearart.ca/mythology.html
Wolves Spirit Meanings: http://alltotems.com/wolf-totem-symbolism-and-meaning/

Discussing Approaches #2

There’s been much discussion today over our idea, and here I’ll try to surmise our line of thinking thus far.

Our idea is to illustrate the story of the Two Wolves with an animation that captures a frozen moment of time between the two wolves. Theatrical camera movement and staging of characters and props will be used to unravel the story, akin to Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and animations such as Apnee. This is to reflect the inner space within us, and perhaps the theatrical performance of the stage. The passage of time can be reflected with careful and seamless editing of frozen moments, not dissimilar to the idea of a modern La Jetée of sorts.

Only a select few of the qualities describing the wolves that echo the lines of good vs evil, will feature in our character and environment designs. For example:

Good Wolf
Peace, Benevolence, Love, Hope

Evil Wolf
Anger, Hate, Arrogance, Greed

These will be grounded with Native American culture and influences to reflect the philosophical origins of the tale.

Objects/props can help illustrate the two polar opposites. For instance, a Native American doll is presented to the two wolves where one is shown to care for the doll, the other destroys it, before descending into a final frame of eternal conflict. Acts such as this will help provide resonances of the ‘evil’ twin, sibling rivalries or the Doppelganger into the mix, reflecting the notion of the battle between good and evil raging within us.


Hope this clears things up a bit.

Discussing Approaches

After discussions with tutors and in between ourselves it seems we have an idea to transform this legend into a theater play tipe of animation. However there seems to be two ways of approaching this idea.

1. Idea:
As like in a real theater play where camera is representing the audience, it can be positioned in front of the play and be left still for the entire performance to happen in one long take.

2.Idea:
The other for camera work is to have it much more involved in the play. Much like in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope , all the action would still be revealed in one long take, only this time carefully both considering camera's movement and staging of characters to tell the story.

The best examples of such idea are these two following videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKukDFyupd8&feature=BFa&list=PL93BDEF0C54209CB4&lf=mh_lolz


Philips Carousel from The Foundry on Vimeo.

Native American Art and Symbology

American indians possessed rich and varied culture: from fisherman to agriculturist, susbsistence and buffalo hunters. Within diverse environments thei evolved a spiritual relationship to forses of nature, deep concern for animals, understanding of human responsibilities . The origin of the art motifs result from this relationship and observation of nature.

Traditional pattern work, images of animals, objects cary specific meaning

Totem poles  recount  legends, notable events, celebrate cultural beliefs and are  artistic presentations.