Pictoplasma 2020 Roundup

Pictoplasma 2020 Roundup

As with most of my plans this year, a certain global pandemic that rhymes with 'Bovid' has squandered anything I had planned to do. Most frustratingly among all of these plans, was the cancellation of Berlin's annual animation festival 'Pictoplasma', which sees animators from all across the globe coming together for artist talks, workshops, and animation screenings.

Fortunately for us though, the good people at Pictoplasma moved their entire festival online for 2020, running the same events and talks over the 18th and 19th of September. While obviously not the same as being there in person, it still gave existing and budding animators across the world the opportunity to absorb as much inspiration and information as they could pertaining to their passion.

This post will look at several key areas from the event that I've looked more in depth at, such as trends in animation, influences, the effect of remote working, workflows and pipelines, as well as some analysis of my favourite animations I saw over the 2 days.

I hope you enjoy reading about them and let's hope we can all meet up next year! I'll buy you an overpriced beer! :)

Animation Trends 2020

As good a place to start as any, is the kind of trends we can see in the animations across all the showreels shown at the event. Admittedly the animations shown at Pictoplasma are a relatively small sample size when looked at in comparison to the entire animated field, but even still, there are some very prominent styles, media, and techniques that were shown through many of the pieces shown over the weekend.

The first thing I noticed was a huge surge of mixed media across many of the animations that were shown. Combinations of 2D motion graphics and 3D characters, or even claymation combined with real life actors created some of the most striking and unique animations I've seen at the conference. The real benefit of mixed media is how it allows such a vast array of combinations outside of just sticking to one medium. 

We can see this portrayed in a few of the animations shown in the event, such as 'Lucky Chops - Traveler' by Studio Vogel, which uses a combination of hand drawn frame by frame digital artwork, 3D rendered realistic textures, and 3D stylised backgrounds and environments. The mix and almost clashing variety of styles complements the thematics of the animation by throwing you into this bombastic carnival parade, which is meant to feel overwhelming and loud. 

Lucky Chops - Traveler by Studio Vogel

I also saw an increase in the amount of real life incorporations in the animations this year. Fusing real life footage with animation is extremely effective in creating unique worlds in which these stories play out. Two great examples from this year are 'Facing It' by Sam Gainsborough, that uses real life actors with digital claymation faces to communicate the feelings of social anxiety. And 'Soft Life' by Jack Sachs, which combines 3D motion graphics with real life footage of Hong Kong streets overdubbed with poetry.

 

Especially in the 2D animations shown in the showreel, there's a huge trend of extremely vibrant artwork, but also grainy textured looks being applied to their work. In comparison to animated work you would see on television that uses a lot of clean linework and colouring, the animations shown here are much more deeply textured for a less clean and more natural look.

'Breast Friends' by Caitlin Young, 'I'm Not Ready' by Cassie Shao, and especially 'Cooking' by Elenor Kopka. Not only does this differentiate the work shown from more traditional, commercial animated pieces, but adds a natural and grungey look.

Key Influences

The influence that the current political and social climate is having on the animations shown at Pictoplasma is possibly the most crucial element to discuss in regards to what is inspiring artists to create the work that they do.

Body Image - Many of the female animators showcased at this years event created animations that focused on body image, using the medium of animation to create surrealist imagery that helps portray the feelings of body dysmorphia, and to explore this topic in a narrative.

Animations such as 'Fat Boy' and 'Check 'Em Out' dealt with this using surrealism, but the most comprehensive example was the aforementioned 'Breast Friends' which anthropormophises 2 breasts of a woman who act as 'Angel and Devil' figures arguing the importance of being thin and using social media.

Work Stress - Similarly to body image, portraying work stress through surrealist animation is an incredibly effective way to communicate certain emotions to your audience using often uncomfortable imagery and sound effects. A prime example of using animated metaphors in this way is 'Afternoon Class' by Seoro Oh, which I'll talk about a little later in my favourites list, but for a more focused interpretation, 'Sola' by Zoltan Debreczeni is a fantastic piece.

Debreczeni portrays the stress of a workplace filled with menial tasks and awful co-workers, by not only using a drab, blue colour palette and the backdrop of a 1984 esque dystopian society, but primarily by animation a tumorous growth attached to the unnamed protagonists head. The animation work is fantastic here as you can really feel the weight and uncomfortable nature of this growth and what it represents for the protagonist. 

The use of animation to allow the audience to feel the physical weight of the burdens the protagonist carries is a fantastic narrative tool, and one of the most important parts of the medium as a whole.

Since Pictoplasma is more focused on being an artistic showcase, it allows artists to explore more taboo subjects. Since the work of a lot of the artists in this year's showreel have been surrealist, it's the perfect opportunity to explore sexual desire and issues surrounding it through the use of animation.

Rather than animating sex itself, animators use surrealist imagery and metaphors to explore the emotions and feelings that come with it. 'I'm on Grindr' by New Bevel and 'Crazy' by Inari Sirola explore this, the former using imagery to portray the thoughts and routines of a gay man using the Grindr app, and the latter taking place in a surrealist dream world which mirrors the protanogists inner turmoil and awkwardness as she struggles to deal with her sexual thoughts and desires.

The Impact of Remote Working

Remote working has turned the workflow of the entire planet upside down, but how has it impacted the animation industry and its practitioners?

Studios are having to move their entire workflow online and use software such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to discuss and develop their projects, though many artists and creatives at the event discussed how they really are missing the studio buzz and creative vibes that come with it.

That said, it's not like remote working has only been seen as a hindrance. Being locked up in your own home for months on end has driven all of us a little mad, but has also allowed some artists and animators to experiment with things they would have never previously tried.

Jon Burgerman, one of the initial speakers at this year's Pictoplasma, mentioned how he was able to create work that fused IRL photography and sculpted characters, with the backdrop of completely empty streets, a visual look that he wouldn't have been able to capture at any other time.

This could be said for many people in lockdown, but remote working is also allowing people to have more time to be reflective about themselves, what they're interested in, and what they want out of their positions. It's allowing artists to really break the mould and try new things, so I can only imagine the madness that will ensue from next year's festival!

My 10 Favourite Animations + Analysis

The thing I love so much about Pictoplasma is that it's such a mixed bag of madness and creativity. When watching the animation showreel, you have no idea what's going to come up next, with constant surprises coming from the sheer fidelity of the animations, or the shock value of some content.

But for all the weird and wacky, there's also some wonderful and damn impressive film making and artistic genius shown at this event, so without further ado, here are my top 10 animations from the weekend:

Horse - AJ Jefferies - An amazing start to day 1 saw this colourful character blob around onto our screens. 'Horse' is a comedic short that shows a pink blob slowly morphing (with extreme difficulty) into a horse by the end. The physical humour, beautifully contrasting colours and smooth playdough-esque texture work make this a joy to watch from a humor and technical standpoint.

Facing It - Sam Gainsborough - 'Facing It' explores the feelings of social anxiety using an impressive blend of claymation, pixelation, and live action to tell a very well constructed and emotionally heartfelt narrative. With the assistance of some excellent sound design, the twisting, contorting faces of our protagonist really reflect his inner emotions in this social setting. A huge success in mixed media animation.

Sola - Zoltan Debreczeni - With more traditional, digital frame by frame animation, Sola tries to capture the physical weight of emotional baggage and stress. Set against a backdrop of an Orwellian Corporation, we slowly see a growth on the head of the protagonist grow and grow in response to work stress, tiredness, and awful co-workers, until it eventually engulfs her. This animation has some fantastic tonal setting with its use of colour, as well as some excellent cinematography throughout.

'Traveler' by Lucky Chops - Studio Vogel - One of the more narratively obtuse animations that I picked out was a music video titled 'Traveler' by Lucky Chops. Another amazing example of mixed media work (combining 2D frame by frame, and 3D assets and environments), Lucky Chops is an absolute visual feast which really sells the loud, 'in your face' sound of it's associated music track.

Seed Supreme - Jack Maschka - This cartoony flick by Jack Maschka was right up my street! Seed Supreme shows a battle between 3 fruit aliens(?) as they fight for control of a power seed on an alien world. The clean colours and line work accompanied with some cute and expressive character design really makes this one of my favourite animations of the event, most closely resembling the kind of work I would love to create.

Clown Suit - The Mcleod Brothers - Clown Suit combines 2 of my great loves: British Comedy, and David Bowie. While waiting for the cameras to reset on a film shoot, a runner asks David Bowie (in pencil cartoon form) what the best moment of his career was, which he then recounts in animated form. The humour and animation reminded me of clips from The Ricky Gervais show, or any animated podcast video you can find. Extremely funny, well executed, and a great nod to the late man himself.

Afternoon Class - Seoro Oh - Similarly to 'Facing It', this animation uses a large variety of visual metaphors to express the feeling of that final lesson of the day, where you just can't keep your eyes open. The morphing of the protagonist from object to object is incredibly well done, with the animation having such a perfect understanding of weight that you can feel your own head drooping along with his! Don't watch if you're tired.

One Unique Creature by Lawrence Arabia - Frances Haszard and Louis Olsen - Another Music video entry, One Unique Creature is a surrealist piece that seems to be inspired by Japanese tapestry and traditional paper artwork. It may be cliche, but it's one of those animations where every frame is a painting, and it really pulls it off well.

Soft Life - Jack Sachs - I've included Soft Life by Jack Sachs because I'm fascinated by the process that was used to create it. This use of 3D motion graphics combined with real life footage is so seemlessly integrated that I'm still trying to figure out how it was done. Objects move and appear from behind objects as if they were physically in the real world, and the shadow mapping is absolutely perfect. This is just a visual masterclass for anyone interested in 3D motion graphics.

Pulsion - Pedro Casavecchia - Pulsion gave me HUGE 'Inside' vibes, one of my favourite games from the developer 'Playdead', which is what drew me to it initially. Pulsion tells a narrative of a child growing up in a dysfunctional family, his life events eventually catapulting him into madness. If Soft Life was a masterclass on 3D motion graphics, Pulsion is a masterclass in 3D animation in general. Small, contained isometric worlds frame the story beautifully, with the black backgrounds servicing the tone of the psychological horror perfectly. A must watch for horror fans!

Where Would I Like To Go Next?

It's impossible to watch Pictoplasma and not be inspired by something. This year in particular, there was such a huge mix of styles, techniques, genres and themes that it was actually pretty overwhelming. With so many avenues to look at and experiment with it was hard to pick some favourites to focus in on, but these are the styles I would like to look at in my own work going forward: -

Social Influence - As previously mentioned in the section on influence, a vast number of the animations and artist talks at this year event touched on the social influence that led to their final products. Whether it be feminism, body image, political statements, any project can become considerably more driven with a strong personal, or social element. Though I mainly work in cartoon form, there's no reason why I can't incorporate more of these messages in order to give greater meaning to my work, as well as inspire me further.

Lineless - Up until now, All of my animation and illustration work has had a foundation of thick linework to create strong silhouetted characters. However, one of my favourite pieces in terms of character design this year, Afternoon Class, uses lineless character designs to great effect, contributing to the flowing and morphing nature of the visuals. This will be a good thing to experiment with, and see how I can incorporate it into my own designs.

Madness - As someone who comes from a background primarily founded on television, film, and gaming animation, many of the shorts shown at pictoplasma leave me saying '...huh?'. I'm conditioned to accept something more narratively driven, more safe, more in keeping with what I expect when I think of 'animation', but I think this may be limiting myself. I need to go a little bit mad and really push the boat out, push those expressions and takes just a bit further, go crazy with colour, paint myself, just do something that lets me access more wacky sides of my psyche, because I might find some really cool stuff in there.

I'm terrified of what's in my head though..