Between Angels & Machines - Part I: The Fallout [Animation]
11(EDIT: The video may seem quite choppy/have some pixelation due to Youtube's file constraint on uploaded videos, so some quality may have been lost in the process.)
Between Angels & Machines -- Part I: The Fallout
This video is a project I had been working on for the Agenda 13 Art Collective, a group in my university that put together a gallery exhibition hosting our own art work. I decided to work on a traditional animation, all HAND DRAWN & edited in.... Windows Movie Maker (& Microsoft Publisher)! Of course, WMM wasn't really out of choice since I lacked the necessary software at home (mainly because my PC is absolutely dreadful), so please forgive the choppiness of the frames. Unfortunately, I lacked stuff like PhotoShop too, so I can only do picture edits with Microsoft Publisher (just like the intro animation).
However, the idea of being all hand drawn & traditionally animated (& the old film grain) is something I had chosen:
The idea of this project was to show the twisted distortions of religion & science. This is explored in the medium of animation.
The animation style was inspired by old-fashioned films & modern Japanese art; mostly influenced by manga & anime. Specifically by the 1954 film "Gojira" (Godzilla) where the concept was about an ancient beast awakened & mutated by the nuclear blasts of the atomic bombs of WWII. In this case, the 'beast' represents science & the 'angel' represents religion.
A traditional form of animation is used; a sequence of hand-rendered drawings influenced by Francis Bacon, Iri & Toshi Maruki. The animation deliberately uses the old-film look to replicate the classic films of the early/mid-20th century, such as the aforementioned Godzilla (1954). The idea of the film featuring only black, white & red is also linked to the limited colours/or lack of colours of old cinema.
The music chosen for this video is "Inner Universe" by Russian singer, Origa. "Inner Universe" is a popular song used as the opening for the anime show "Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex".
The speech at the end was from Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the man who helped develop the atomic bombs.
If I had the time, I would have made a few more frames & such, maybe the next part would be more refined!
The video was previously hosted in the Zion-Arts Gallery in Manchester, England, under the Agenda 13 exhibit.
The title of the video were inspired by songs by my favourite bands: "Between Angels & Machines" name was based of the Papa Roach song name "Between Angels & Insects", whilst "The Fallout" (& the next part, "The Catalyst") is a reference to the 2 tracks of the same names by Linkin Park.