Wallace and Gromit are two of the most popular characters to come of out of British animation studio, Aardman Animations. Originally conceived by Nick Park as his graduation film for the National Film and Television School, cheese-loving Wallace and his clever hound Gromit have gone on to star in four shorts and one feature-length… Read more »
A brief moment. The way the actor moves his head. The beauty of a face. A flicker of an expression that seems to contain all the meaning in a scene. Photogénie as a cinematic concept originates with early French film theory. We often use it to try to capture the enigmatic qualities of a film star,… Read more »
Animation has a rich history of ingenuity. Since almost the beginning of cinema, filmmakers have experimented with how and what to animate, from slices of wax to drawing directly on strips of film to the more traditional forms that we see in commercial animation. Below are four of my favorite experimental animation techniques: paint on… Read more »
Born April 29, 1917, this year would have been Maya Deren’s 100th birthday. In celebration of her contribution to experimental cinema, this video outlines some of the key principles informing Deren’s filmmaking. Deren wrote prolifically about her film practice, and the compilation of her writings — Essential Deren — has been one of my touchstones… Read more »
On Saturday at 3:00 p.m., the IU Cinema will screen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (dir. Mel Stuart, 1971) in its final CINEkids screening for the academic year. For several years now, the CINEkids International Children’s Film Series has featured a variety of kid-friendly films, from classic silents to modern favorites to new releases…. Read more »
The Czech surrealist filmmaker, Jan Švankmajer, has a preoccupation with morphing, distorted, incoherent bodies. In his stop motion films, he frequently works with everyday things like toys and clothes, imbuing them with lives that defy how we normally make sense of the world. This video essay looks at the dolls in his 1971 film, Jabberwocky (Žvahlav aneb… Read more »