Pulses of Abstraction: Episodes from a History of Animation

Download or read book Pulses of Abstraction: Episodes from a History of Animation written by Andrew Robert Johnston and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on extensive archival research, this project emphasizes the history of techniques and technologies deployed for the production of images within abstract animation by coupling materialist histories with formal analyses. I begin by describing this approach and also engage with theoretical debates about the nature of animation and how to situate it within the field of film studies. I argue for a new, more inclusive definition that is attendant to both the diversity of materials and technologies employed in animation and to the perceptual impact of the generated images. While previous accounts have tended to treat animation in isolation from broader currents in cinema, I take up these moments in this history of abstract animation to show that it can offer the material out of which a more inclusive, flexible and dynamic account of cinema can be built. Highlighting a rich array of graphic techniques--such as etching directly onto the filmstrip, generating rapid, discontinuous montage sequences, or using digital vector displays and programming technologies--I show that animation is and has been an especially privileged site for the investigation of technology, form, and aesthetic experience.