Francis is an account of the creation of a 9-year-old 'defective' animated character. As the draughtsman’s hand goes to work and Francis attains animated consciousness, his behaviour is observed and assessed by a child psychologist. The boy’s responses – initially slow and apparently flawed – develop in unusual comic directions as the examination progresses.
As his vocalisations begin to address the nature of his animated world and the psychologist continues to try and interpret his actions, it appears that Francis may ‘break out’ once and for all and become a ‘real’ animated character. Francis playfully addresses notions of construction and the role that language plays in interpreting, classifying and creating certain types. In an animated world populated by impressionable idiot figures, mischief-makers and oddballs with strange vocal mannerisms, Francis puts the cute but simple cartoon character into therapy for a case study of 'animated behaviour'.
I am a Horse
I am a horse was a sculpture by David Salkeld. Derived from Halysites and siderite fossilised corral, which is expressed in a delightful free flowing ocean like style in its sense of play and movement.
The project was to recreate the sculpture as something new - an experimental animation. Working with the sculptor to recreate I am a horse in 3D animation as close as possible to the original sculpture, where the allusion of complex interlocking shapes was created out of one solid piece of wood in a series of components forming the impression of a horse.
The animation depicts the the sculpture forming out of the coral and fossilised formations and sea, and will express the natural flow of the shapes and sense of fun of the original design, before dissolving back into the sea.
Karen the penguin is not pleased to see John the polar bear on her doorstep. Their argument last night has put her in a very bad mood and John is on egg shells. John has had time to think however and has put together an apology that he hopes will appease her bad temper; he just needs an opportunity to say it out loud with Karen in ear shot. A cup of tea and a sit down would also be good. Karen reluctantly obliges.
This is Keith Reynolds and today is promotion day. Having worked at the company eight years he is the most senior Junior Business Analyst in the building. He's been waiting for this day for a very long time.
Passenger planes and tall buildings. A contemporary haunting. We are constantly reminded of the horrors of such real events in the recent past and are regularly forced to revisit them.
Landing Lights is more of a dream than a nightmare and as such could be read as something of an antidote to the prevailing politics of fear.
The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries. Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent 'whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?
