Experimental animation
Animation that breaks from the cartoon: new materials, new techniques, or subjects animation isn't supposed to touch.
The field runs from Len Lye and Oskar Fischinger through Robert Breer and the experimental animation programme Jules Engel founded at CalArts. Its makers will turn animation to anything: abstraction, documentary, diary, horror.
Jim Trainor's films are a case in point. His rough marker drawings and flat, nature-documentary narration take on serial murder, sex and the animal underside of human behaviour.
Films to start with
In the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Still from The Fetishist to come. The Fetishist
An animated portrait of the Chicago serial killer William Heirens, whose crimes began with stolen underwear, told through vignettes, dreams and fantasies.
Still from The Moschops to come. The Moschops
Set about 250 million years ago and narrated by mammal-like reptiles, with a melancholy theory of where romantic longing comes from.
Still from Dusty Stacks of Mom: The Poster Project to come. Dusty Stacks of Mom: The Poster Project
Mack animates the leftover stock of her mother's poster and postcard business, set to a remake of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with new lyrics that tell the story. She has sung parts of it live at screenings.
Nearby
Movements, forms and techniques that share filmmakers or methods with this one.
Abstract animation
Animation without characters or objects: pure shape, line and colour set in motion.
Direct animation
Animation made straight onto the film strip, painted or scratched frame by frame, with no camera involved.
Pixilation
Stop-motion animation with people instead of puppets: actors hold still for each frame, so they can glide, float and slide without moving their feet.
Hand-drawn animation
Animation drawn by hand, picture by picture, with the drawing itself left visible on screen.
Stop-motion
Animation made by photographing objects or images one frame at a time, moving them a little between shots.
Visual music
Moving abstraction composed like music, with shape, colour and rhythm in place of melody and harmony.