Final Animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue55tYbOu4Q

A Final Reflective Review

When this project started i was very unsure as what to chose to animate as 'The Everyday' is a very broad theme. The reason i chose to base this animation on the building i live in and the deterioration of the Brutalist building was because i remember the feeling i had when i first saw Rowley Way as i had never seen anything like this before. 

The fist thing one notices about the building is the sheer concrete, it almost hits you in the face. The building looks very out of place as it is surrounded by up market real estate so it stands out. Whilst researching the building i looked at some pictures of the building when it was built in the early 70's and the contrast to then and now is astonishing. The main component of change would be the change in colour as it has gone to a bright white to a concrete grey and this has made the building appear monolithic and primitive. 

I wanted to recreate this change that the building has undergone through my animation and to emphasise the aesthetic degradation of this building and of many other council estates.Part of my animation shows concrete creeping down the red brick path that runs the whole way down the estate ending at Abbey Road. I chose to depict this to show how a building like this can interestingly blend into its environment especially in the winter but still simultaneously hold a strange contrast to its environment.

The stairs feature heavily in the animation as to me they characterise Rowley Way as there are so many of them leading to all sorts of strange places around the building. I also wanted to show how the concrete   has slowly weathered on the steps which is reflected by the decline of a set of steps, like a representation.

Throughout this project i have come to understand about Brutalist architecture and the ideologies that the architects held. For me it has been insightful to understand the difference in building estate design and i see the building that i live in in a whole new light and i now have a strange appreciation for Brutalist architecture.

Final Sound Choice, Jrgen Plaetner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXx_C4E1Ako

Jrgen Plaetner made electronic music from the 1960's. The link isn't the track that i am using for my animation as i couldn't find it but his work has a similar sound to it. As this music was made in the 60's and brutalist architecture occurred at this time i think that this is the right sound to use. I think that the track really reflects brutalism as it sounds solid like brutalist buildings are and it also sounds piercing and clunky which also reflects brutalism architecture.

Experiments

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

Here are some experiments which include the deterioration of parts of Rowley Way Estate in particular sets of stairs which are featured all over the estate and are a big characteristic of the building. I have used different techniques for mark making as i want to emphasise the discolouration the building has undergone.

Boards Of Canada, Whitewater. An animation/Film music video featuring brutalist architecture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4HmyVr2Bo

The reference to birds in this animation is very significant, It is a film showing brutalism architecture and i feel that the flight and motion of a bird is the furthest think away from this. I think the makers of this animation are emphasising the brutishness of this style of architecture and the flying birds featured stress this further.

The ocean is featured in this animation contrasted against a brutalist building and i think this must be to force the issue of the artificial. Brutalist architecture is often deemed ugly and uninviting and the animators have played on this by using imagery of the open ocean and a whale swimming freely, the opposite to the inhabitants of the brutalist building maybe?

Laura Oldfield Ford, Drawing

http://departmentart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Slide3.jpg

http://www.loststeps.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/laura_aylesbury.jpg

http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/overgrown-tricorn-abandoned-design-for-e-and-c-shopping-centre-evading-the-gated-city-series-2008-acrylic-and-ballpoint-pen-on-watercolour-paper-297-x-425-cm.jpg

This artists explores social and economic themes within her work such as social housing regeneration and often depicts concrete estates. The estates and various other environments she draws are depicted very negatively and this is emphasised through using the medium of pencil as this can often give the effect of grubbiness.

The splashes of colour that are often featured on many of her drawings for me feel quite sickly and contrasting to the drawing. However i think that this is done intentionally and the colour is used to symbolise what these estates felt like when they were first built, bringing hope to the people who were to live there and a complete change of architecture that occurred in the 1950's onwards.

Manus Walsh, Painter

http://www.irishartpaintings.com/showInventory.asp?iId=4237&title=On%20Cerro%20Mariposa,%20Valparaiso&artist=Manus%20WALSH

I came across this artist and this particular painting caught my eye due to the atmosphere that the painting holds. The way in which the paint seems to slide off of the houses to me makes it seem quite melancholic and the girls walking up the middle of the painting in between the houses seems quite eerie to me. I think that this technique that the painter has used is very good for causing a negative atmosphere despite the bright-ish colours that have been used.

Possible Sound choice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoEa7lApIKY

I may choose the song 'starlings' by Elbow to play over my animation as i feel that the tone and mood of the song goes with the mood of my animation. They share a similar rhythm and i will only choose the first 50 seconds of the song which is just instrumental and i believe that this particular song will compliment my animation.

brutalism

Brutalism is a school of architecture founded in the 1950's and Rowley Way is an example of a brutalist building. Brutalist buildings usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and, where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situ casting. 
Another common theme in Brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's functions—ranging from their structure and services to their human use—in the exterior of the building.


Brutalism as an architectural philosophy, rather than a style, was often also associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of the style. Critics argue that this abstract nature of Brutalism makes the style unfriendly and uncommunicative, instead of being integrating and protective, as its proponents intended. Brutalism also is criticised as disregarding the social, historic, and architectural environment of its surroundings, making the introduction of such structures in existing developed areas appear starkly out of place and alien and i feel this applies to my building.


Since reading up on this form of architecture i want to include the theme of brutalism in my animation and emphasise this ideology. However i feel that the idea of creating a community with this type of architecture does not work from my experience and i wish to communicate this also. This may be due to the times we live in now and people/communities may have become more hostile.


Examples of Brutalist buildings





Trellick Tower, London 1966- 1972

Park Hill, Sheffield 1961

Park Hill, Sheffiled

University of California (This building has been featured in a number of science fiction movies)

University of Leeds

Drawing Experiments

Here i have done the same experiments as i did for the stair drawing. I want the animation to be fluent therefore i feel that all of the drawings should have the same technique used to make the animation flow well from beginning to end.

Drawing Experiment

I have drawn part of the building here which are the flats and balconies which run all the way down the estate. They are a very weird structure which could enhance the animation if i include this aspect as it would not be entirely obvious as to what the structure is.

grey steps

Here i have coloured the steps from light to dark grey to show the ageing and deteriation of the building. I feel that this as part of an animation would work well as the viewer can see the gradual change of the building.

This is a slightly different approach to the one above as the grey creeps over the steps which i feel could possibly look more interesting as an animation as this isnt a realistic way in which a structure discolours whereas the image above is more realistic. This way of depicting the ageing of the building could proove to be more intriguing. I will experiment wth both of these techniques to see what best suits my idea.

Steps again

I have experimented with how the concrete can be depicted through different textures.

Sketches from the building

This is a sketch of the 'ramp' that takes you out of the building. This is shown on the Rowley Way homepage.

Here is a sketch of the flats and the balcony. It is not very clear as to what it is an in reality it is also quite surreal. I will experiment with this drawing to make it more clear.

Steps

This is a pen drawing of a set of steps that are all over the building. I think i could do something with this in an animation and show the deteriation of the concrete.

Animation that links to my idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca5SDlcBKSc&feature=relmfu

I came across this animation and it is for an Elbow song. I think this relates to my idea and i would like to achieve a similar look to this animation. It is fairly simple but the way the building grows and the colours spread is something i aim to achieve.

3 sketches, white to grey

These sketches depict an aspect of the building. The sketches get greyer to emphasise the deteriation that the building has taken.

Photo's of the building

Drawing over photo's

My original idea for this project was to depict the people who live in the building of Rowley way which is where i live as there is a diverse community and i wanted to show the change the building has taken (some experiments above). Through thinking this over i feel that this idea is quite cliche and could become quite boring. Instead of depicting the people who live in the building i have now decided that i will depict only the building and the change it has taken through 40 years. I want to show the physical change that the building has taken in particular the deteriation of the paint work which has turned from white to concrete grey. I think that this could have potential as an animation as there are many different parts to the building that could be shown through the animation to emphasise the surrealness and the deteriation of the building.

Estate History

Here is a bit of history about the estate and a photograph of the estate when it was first built. The building was painted white which made it it comparable to holiday chalets, it is a very different looking place today.


"http://www.alexandraandainsworth.org/history.html">

An idealised photo of part of the building

I like this photograph most out of the many i have seen as it makes the building look welcoming with the plants and sunlight. This is quite a contrast to many other images of the building and this shows how the building has changed with the times.


"http://www.alexandraandainsworth.org/images/rowley_way_b-block.jpg">

Photo's at night

The building looks a lot different at night time compared to the day time. It looks a lot less harsher and I think this is because of the row of street lamps which are on either side of the path which is sandwiched between the two buildings. The lamps give the building and the environment a calming effect.

I will take photographs myself of the building in the day time and at night time to show the contrast that the estate has and i may use this aspect of contrast in my animation. I feel that the estate looks like a completely different place when it is dark and it surprisingly less intimidating.



"http://www.alexandraandainsworth.org/gallery.html">

Rowley Way Homepage

The estate has its own homepage where residents and the general public can find out about the building and watch the film 'One below the Queen' which was made by the residents.

http://www.rowleyway.org.uk/

The Everyday

'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes' (Sherlock Holmes' words)

I am going to base this project on the building that I live in (Alexandra and Ainsworth estate AKA Rowley Way). This is because it has a very unusual architectural design as it is a Brutalist building and as I live in it it means that I  am accustomed to it, and wish to communicate the 'mundane' in this surreal environment (the building is extremely unusual remember). The building looks out of place as it stands between St Johns Wood and Hampstead which are two generally affluent areas with pre-20th century design;this strangeness is compounded by the fact that it is a 2nd grade listed building. There are varied cultures, races, ideologies (exhibited by the regular socialist posters often on display) and religions all present on the estate. I also want to interpret the design of the building (designed in the 60's and built in the 70's), as the school of architecture that influenced the architect Neave Brown wanted to move away from high rise blocks to create a sense of community and space.

Today the building looks very different to what it did when it was first built mainly due to the weathering of the white paint which originally covered the building, to a mottled dirty grey which it has now. The building has been used in many t.v programmes including The Sweeney, The Bill, Breaking and Entering and One Below The Queen, which was made by the residents of the estate.

Final Animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_Lv8mfIQA

This is Nancy and my final animation. The references we researched helped us greatly and i feel that the animation works and suits the music well. As the sound choice we used was not a serious one we reflected this in the animation as it is hopefully quite humorous to suit the music. The coffee worked well as we thought it was important to include this due to the sound clip being about coffee. All in all i am happy with the work and i have learnt a lot which will help me with the next project.

Second Animations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEsHEO87Da0&feature=player_embedded

The newspaper Nancy and I chose to animate was titled "The man who fell down a mountain". We considered using drawings of a man to begin with but realised that this would be to complex and it wouldn't be adding anything new to the article so we used a piece of blue tac in the shape of a ball to symbolise the man. We experimented with the ball falling down a mountain which is difficult to depict accurately due to the gravitational pull. I would like to do something like this again however as i appreciate how difficult this motion is to animate.

First Animations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RuUu_pKg5SI

I really enjoyed the first session of animation and I was quite surprised at how simple the computers were to use. I worked with Ollie and i think we worked well together. I got a good understanding about movement and how this effects a piece of animation hugely.

What 'documentary' means to me

Documentaries that I watch are usually to do with social issues as these are regulary on the t.v and fairly easy to watch. It is good when you see another view on a particular topic or issue and understand various opinions as this can define your own views and it is good when a documentary delivers this.

I enjoy documentaries by Richard Dawkins as his way of discussing religion can often be thought provoking and enlightening in informing the viewer of how people can hold views despite overwhelming arguments and evidence against their views. The documentary style doesn't seem to be hugely edited and things are left in which other documentary makers may tend to leave out, this makes it sometimes uncomfortable for the viewer to watch however i believe that in a documentary this is a positive thing as the viewer can see the reality of the interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjoEgYOgRo