Physical theatre uses mostly techniques that are centered around balance. Physical balance as well as emotional balance are used to perform and act. Pygmalion theatre also institutes a balance between physical acting and dialogue or script acting. This idea of balance was a strong design influence on the logo and corporate id. Together with Aaron we started to develop the concept of a footprint for the logo but at first this created confusion in the reading of the logo, it may have been interpreted as an orthopedics company or massage business. The idea of a footprint pushed us in other directions though, leadings us to also consider the company as ‘making an impact’. Aaron and I made some prints of his feet with paint in different stances that he takes in his performance and used some of them as the basis for our design.
The logo began to develop around the print of just the toes and ball of the foot which was both more aesthetically pleasing and philosophically sound as the big toe is considered to be the key to balancing with the foot. My task was to produce a multitude of design for consideration and develop some of the design that were chosen by Aaron. This process is part of the skills that I brought to animatio from my experience in Graphic Design but also it furthered my skills in communication and brief interpretation.
After the initial concepts Aaron found that some of my design were displaying elements of other artistry that he found appealing. My use of brush stokes and wider shapes reminded him of some of influences and previous teachings he had that included the japanese style of butoh. We discussed it and pushed the design to represent a more asian theme and the motif included brush strokes similar to japanese caligraphy.
In this portion of the design I improved my skills in communicative design and my use of the program Illustrator CS2. I employed my knowledge of colour principals and design aesthetics and improved my understanding of themed design with Aaron guidance on asian styles.
Other pieces that included the logo were business card, posters and promotional flyers that were requested after the submission of the initial brief. Each were designed with a similar process in collaboration with Aaron. The work on these tasks was made easier with my familiarisation of how Aaron developed his ideas.
During the production of the Pygmalion Theatre’s School workshop flyer I utilised the skills I learnt in Digital compositing subject to manipulate an image and key out a portion of the image. I also used my skills in photoshop which have been advanced by practice during this course. Aaron gave me more creative freedom with the flyer brief due to my previous experience designing for a children’s entertainment company and also because of the work we did with ‘Bravehearts’ last year in community engagement. I endeavoured to use a animator’s sensibility with the framing of images and experimented with techniques learn in Digital Imaging which we did in first year. The flyer was not a final design and was part of a marketing kit that aaron was presenting for consideration of funding. We worked with some feedback given to us from the funding body but the project was left incomplete.
Aaron also required some animation to be created for a performance that he was producting. The performance included the use of multimedia and the animations were to be displayed on stage as part of the piece. The animations that I created were simplistic but stylised recreations of optical illusions and visual phenomenons that occur with the persistance of vision. The best example of these was a lilac chaser with was a clock like animation where images flickered on and off in succession to create the illusion of movement. This philosophy is basically an explanation of animation it self and I found it a very interesting experiment. I worked with Aaron in Adobe After Effects and flash to create the animations and created files that he could use with a digital projector on stage. The animation was simple but it also needed to have the flexibility to speed up and slow down and for images to be interchanged. This was done with the creation of an acessible file that Aaron could utilise in future projects.
Overall I found the experience to be both challenging and rewarding. I was required to utilise my skills as an animator and a designer in often very unconventional ways. I really enjoyed the chance to create something with such a strong philosophy behind it, and that that philosophy had such an influence on the aesthetics of the visuals. This move towards philosophy motivated design is something I believe Aaron in pushing towards in his art as a performer and on a personal level it has encouraged and inspired me to push similar boundaries with animation and design.
Pygmalion Theatre and Aaron O’Brien gave me the comprehensive experience of working closely with a motivated director. He lead me in his vision of design and aesthetics and showed trust in my experience where it was relevant. It has been a most beneficial experience.
