Animation Research: Kentridge

William Kentridge
I had never previously heard on William Kentridge until the start of the animation module. I discovered he was a South African animator who often works in charcoal, and makes his films by rubbing out and adding to drawings and photographing them as he goes.
We had a go at working in the style of Kentridge and the results can be found on my DVD under ‘Hammer’. At first I think I was unsure as to how to work in the style, and the lesson I learnt straight away was ‘LESS IS MORE’. My animation ‘Hammer’ was far too quick and had too much going on. It is amazing how little you need to change between images.
This is something Kentridge is truly successful at, his animations flow beautifully, and the speed is obviously carefully considered when he adds to and erases from his images. His images- drawings- are often presented as artwork themselves along with the animation, which is something our group has done with ‘Consequences’.
Something small that I enjoy from Kentridge's work is his sparse use of colour. Working in black and white, with charcoal, chalk and erasers, means his work is normally very greyscale... however in some of his animations, a dash of blue or red is used, adding a whole new concept into the film. An example of this is in ‘Felix in Exile’ where a dash of blue represents water. The film is very emotive, and is set in his home country, where there are still many poverty and social issues. I read somewhere about Kentridge that the ways in which some of the previously erased frames are visible through the current on-screen frame could represent the vague memories of the past... and I thought that was a really accurate and beautiful way of describing ‘Felix in Exile’. The drawing quality and emotive subject matter comes across as memories of hardship and dreams of change.