As a huge fan of Caroline Leaf I couldn’t believe we had the chance to speak with her about her films and experiences. Fresh from wrapping my own paint on glass animation, I was really interested to know about Caroline’s techniques and her time spent at the NFB, where many amazing animations have been made. Although I was keen to get her advice I quickly realised how incomparable my current situation is to hers when she was animating, as sophisticated computers and specialist softwares like Dragonframe didn’t exist in her time. I find her work even more impressive now that I consider that she wasn’t able to see or edit her work as she was shooting. I wondered how much she planned out before she painted, as I often don’t have whole sequences mapped out beforehand. It seemed as though she worked mostly straight ahead but always knew where she was going as she approached specific movements or transitions. I have definitely fallen into the habit of relying on editing to improve my animation, and I would be interested to see what happens if I limited myself to total straight-ahead animation. It was also useful to see how she uses the medium and lightpad to create tones and play with lighting, I noticed that she would often change the colour of her characters, inverting the light depending on the situation they were in, which is something I would be hesitant to do. She advised to focus on the movement of what you want the eye to follow – a useful bit of advice for somebody like myself who often gets stuck on small details. I also didn’t know she had done so much animation using scratchings on film, I would really like to try this technique myself one day.
The thing that resonated with me most from Caroline’s talk was her reasoning behind choosing to do sand animation as her first animated film. She said that she didn’t feel she could draw well, and felt too much pressure when using a pen or pencil because of the many standards that are set. She used sand because there couldn’t be an expectation from it, she could create whatever she wanted without pressure of being “good” at it. This made so much sense to me and made me realise that this is exactly how I feel, and although I like the idea of drawing I rarely do it because I find it extremely intimidating. I think that I subconsciously leaned into stop motion animation because every creation is completely unique and there is a much broader spectrum of what “good” can be. This is definitely also why I lean towards painting and model making more than drawing when I’m coming up with concepts and characters. I always thought it was something I needed to work on, that as an artist I should be able to draw well, but hearing this from Caroline helped me to understand that I don’t have to work in mediums I don’t like, and that I can “take advantage of my shortcomings” in her own words.
I was surprised to hear about Caroline’s experience of working alone in the studio for so long. She spoke about how the long hours in dark rooms made her feel as though she was missing out on life, and I could feel that it still affects her years after. This wasn’t something I had ever given much thought to but I’m sure I would feel the same way if I spent most of my time isolated from others. I have spent many hours in a dark room over the past couple of years but I have always had people around and it’s always been a temporary arrangement for a specific project, I’m not sure I would like to do it every day. This semester I found that having a part time job forced me to be in a social environment each week which really helped me take a step back and feel refreshed. I think I should consider this when I’m looking for work in the industry as I enjoy working with others and being part of a team.
This q&a session was exciting and inspirational, the films we watched and the things that were spoken about made me feel really reflective about my own practice and curious to do more experimental films. I hope that Caroline feels all of her hours in the studio paid off with the legacy she has left in animation.
Thank you Caroline!