Dan & Lienors Torre – Recording Australian Animation History

Critical Significance of Historical Research Animation has been practised in Australia from a relatively early stage in the worldwide history of cinematic animation, as evidenced by quite mature examples of cutout animation by cartoonist Harry Julius beginning in 1912. It may therefore seem odd that there is comparatively little written of its history. In America […]

Zhi-Ming Su – Reaching Out to Touch

Animation and Aboriginal Children in Taiwan Introduction Taiwan aboriginal means the residents who have been living in Taiwan before the immigration from Mainland China in the seventeenth century. The Council of Indigenous People, Executive Yuan in 2006 recognized thirteen aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. They are Tayal, Saysiat, Bunun, Tsou, Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Amis, Yami, Thao, […]

Miriam Harris – How Michaela Pavlatova both incorporates and rebels against the Czech animation tradition

Introduction The Internet’s potential for global shrinkage, electronic travel, and animated transmission is a technological development that would have left citizens of previous centuries stupefied by such wondrous demonstrations of magic. Typing in the address for the Czech animator Michaela Pavlatova’s website transports one as if by sorcery to Prague, and a realm of moving […]

Cathryn Vasseleu – The Svankmajer Touch

I am a hand with six fingers with webs in between. Instead of fingernails I have petite, sharp, sweet-toothed little tongues with which I lick the world. Jan Švankmajer, Self-portrait, 1999 (2002, 6) Jan Švankmajer’s animated films are renowned for their tactile dimensions. Heads devour one another in devastating conversations, objects collide painfully with mismatched […]

Peter Moyes – Behind the Flash Exterior

Scratching the Surface of Online Animated Narratives Introduction The flat simplified graphics and limited animation of Flash online creations recall 1950 and 1960s cartoons for TV and stand in stark contrast to the photo-realistic forms and naturalistic movement of high-end 3D computer realisations. Celebrated for its ease of use, its affordability, and its enhanced dissemination, […]

Andrew Buchanan – Facial Expressions for Empathic Communication of Emotion in Animated Characters

Introduction The challenge of communicating emotional content to an audience via animated characters has existed since the art form first appeared. As animation techniques and technology have advanced, animators and character designers find themselves with a multitude of resources and tools for the creation of facial expressions so as to effectively communicate the emotions of […]

Cordelia Brown – Flowerpot Men

The Haptic Image in Brian Cosgrove and Richard Hall’s Animations I. The Haptic Image Haptic is a term used to describe the experience of touch. In most fields it refers to a generalised tactile sensibility. For example in Child Psychology, haptic is defined as ‘the perceptual experience that results from active exploration of objects by […]

Matthew Butler & Lucie Joschko – Final Fantasy or The Incredibles

Ultra-realistic animation, aesthetic engagement and the uncanny valley Introduction This paper examines the aesthetic qualities of two animated feature films, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and The Incredibles, as a precursor to considering what issues are associated with the shift toward ‘ultra-realistic’ animation. The concept of realistic depiction of animated characters will be analysed within […]

Katharine Buljan – The Uncanny and the Robot in the Astro Boy Episode “Franken”

Introduction In the story of ‘Franken’, by Osamu Tezuka, humans flee in horror at the sight of a robot named Franken,1 unaware that he is actually on a search for his lost friend, as well as for mechanical pieces to repair himself. Directed by Kazuya Konaka, ‘Franken’ is an episode of the Japanese animation series […]

Michael Broderick – Superflat Eschatology

Renewal and Religion in anime “For at least some of the Superflat people […] there is a kind of traumatic solipsism, even an apocalyptic one, that underlies the contemporary art world as they see it.” Thomas Looser, 2006 “Perhaps one of the most striking features of anime is its fascination with the theme of apocalypse.” […]