"Anatomie & Animation"

by Stuart Sumida, Berkeley University

Language: English

Not only do basic biological principles about the construction of animals tell us about their function and evolution, but they are useful tools for the animator as well. Drawing on the single biological characteristic of what an animal eats, anatomical and character construction guidelines for shape, locomotion, walk cycles, run cycles, jaw joints for talking, eye position for expression, and myriad other features may be quickly determined. This concept will be illustrated with animals common to animated films and with example of films on which Dr. Sumida has worked, and he will then show how these rules may be extrapolated to extinct dinosaurs or the construction of hybrid fanciful and mythical creatures. Example will be provided from amongst the earliest of films on which Dr. Sumida consulted, such as Beauty and the Beast and Lion King, to some of the most recent including How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Rio, and Wrath of the Titans.

"Two ways of finding and developing ideas"

illustrated by two unreleased short films from "Dragons and Princesses" by Michel Ocelot (Paris)
Language: English

As time passes, I like more and more inventing and telling stories. It is becoming easier and easier as well. I have two ways of finding ideas. One is the infinite material of old folk stories, to which one must be unfaithful. The other way is looking into one's personal life, and creating a totally original story. I will show a case study for each, with two recent short films of mine: "Ivan Tsarevich and the Changing Prin-cess" and "The Mistress of Monsters".

"Research & Storytelling - New ways in script development"

Hannes Rall (Singapur) Co-Presenter: Dr. Simeon Magliveras (Athens)

Language: English

As Professor for animation at the research intensive Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and an independent animation film director Hannes Rall integrates academic research with a scientific ap-proach and content creation for animated film. This workshop will demonstrate how combining these approaches can be highly beneficial for developing script, design and technological approaches in animation.

In his research he explores the creation of genuinely Asian animation styles, which are not derived from Western concepts in two major research projects:

"Wayang Kulit" explores ways to adapt the traditional Asian shadow puppet play (which had already inspired Lotte Reiniger) in novel ways for digital animation. "Tradigital Mythmaking" explores the adaptation of a traditional Vietnamese folk-tale in a line-style evoking the artistic qualities of traditional Chines painting. Both projects are highly interdisciplinary, with researchers from the fields of arts, anthropology, computer science and literature collaborating closely.

This carries many advantages for the outcomes: The collaboration with literature scholars can improve depth and quality of the writing and address adaptation issues. The technological knowledge helps to solve artistic problems and leads to the development of new software tools. Particularly when indigenous art forms are adapted the research of an anthropologist can help tremendously to do this in respectful and meaningful ways, respecting traditional values and avoiding fundamental mistakes. Dr. Simeon Magliveras, an experienced anthropologist will provide practical examples for this approach.

"Alois Nebel: Writing by timetable - Graphic novel and animation adaption"

by Jaroslav Rudiš (Praha)

Language: German

The end of the eighties in Central Europe. Lonely train director Alois Nebel works at a small station in Bílý Potok, a remote town on the Czech-Polish border, once known as Sudetenland. Sometimes a thick fog hangs over his station and then he sees trains with ghosts and shadows from Central Europe’s dark past: the Second World War, the Holocaust, the expulsion of the Germans, the Soviet occupation. Alois Nebel is a Czech graphic novel by author, Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromír 99, an illustrator and musician. The raw, black and white comic trilogy drawn in woodcut style has been published in German by Voland & Quist and was filmed in 2011 by Tomáš Luňák. The result is a black and white animated film which uses the rotoscopy technique: all scenes were filmed first with real actors and then transformed into drawn film images. Luňák’s film debut celebrated its world premiere at the film festival in Venice and will open in German cinemas in 2012. The Literaturhaus Stuttgart has developed the exhibition "Alois Nebel - Leben nach Fahrplan" (Life according to a railway timetable) together with the two authors. It will be on show until May 25. Jaroslav Rudiš wrote the film’s screenplay of Alois Nebel together with Jaromír 99.

In his workshop he will present this fascinating graphic novel and the elaborate film adaptation. He will also show and comment on a making-of and looks at the translation of the novel into a film. How does a comic be-come a film? Why is Alois Nebel not a film but an animated film? Was it necessary to take this into consideration when writing? How do you convert 350 pages of comic into 87 minutes of film? Are there differences between a railway timetable which determines Alois Nebel’s life and a screenplay?

"Alternative ways of writing"

by Fréderique & Samuel Guillaume

Language: Englisch

The origin of any film – regardless of the genre - is always the desire to tell a story. But where to begin with the story-telling, when on the one hand you are bubbling over with ideas but on the other hand you are tortured by the fear of an empty white page? Using current examples, Sam and Fred Guillaume will report on alternative writing experiences which evolve as words are transformed into images. Regardless of whether creating a series for children, (very short) short films or an animated documentary, this is of no importance – it is the actual process of writing which lends the project its singularity and sometimes takes authors along unforeseen paths.

The screenplay workshops are held in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Baden-Württemberg, the Stuttgart Media University (HdM) and the MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg.