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Discussion of reasons for making the zoetrope - is it to teach people about the principles of animation for example? - Me as a creative exploring the crossover between analogue and digital practices, could be promotional
Evaluation - What do I say? Feels like I've sort of been evaluating while writing idea gen and research etc.
For this project I'll be showing off my work at my own college's summer show. How I'm going to present it though is what I'll consider here.
How Zoetropes are Presented
I decided to take a look into how zoetropes are presented by other creative practitioners. I found it quite difficult to find anything as zoetropes are still quite uncommon and not amazingly well known, so there aren't really any that are displayed in art galleries. However I still managed to find some helpful stuff;
This piece is called "All Things Fall" made by Mat Collishaw. It was presented at Galleria Borghese, an art gallery in Rome. It was presented during the solo exhibition (art show that features only one artist's work) "Black Mirror." It uses a motor to spin which I must admit looks a lot nicer than using a record player. I really like how it's presented too - There's no ugly workings on show, it's just sat on a nice black stand which draws all your focus straight to the zoetrope. Also the contrast between the white zoetrope and the black stand makes it look very professional.
As professional as this looks, I wouldn't like to present my zoetrope this way - it's too open and that would worry me because there's a much higher risk of it getting damaged. Also for my college summer show I want to have other things next to the zoetrope (I talk about it later on in this section) but I wouldn't be able to present them next to the zoetrope if I present it like the image on the left as there's no extra room on the table.
This piece is called "Made in Strathcona" by R James Healy. The use of vibrant colours inside the zoetrope coupled with the black display case again make this piece look really professional. Again there's no ugly electronics or workings on display so again your focus is all on the animation. I also like that the zoetrope is in a glass case - it means that it can't be touched and therefore damaged and again it adds to the professional look of this zoetrope.
I would like to present my zoetrope in a similar way to this. I like how portable it looks too - no record players or anything else to carry around, very convenient. Of course my presentation would be slightly different as I want to have small karts on display for people to take (I talk about this later on in this section) so I need to take that into account, making sure that the zoetrope doesn't take up too much space to leave room for the karts as well as a small plaque with some information on it.
This is quite grand I must admit, however I do really like this display case. Even the case itself is quite fun and makes the zoetrope more enjoyable to experience. I also really like that there's a button to start the animation. At the time of writing I have a finished zoetrope as well as a strobe light system that was donated to the college which I'm using, and the strobe light system is turned on and off by a touch sensitive button. I have been thinking about having a button to turn on the lights so that people can see how the zoetrope goes from a spinning blur to an animation. It will come as no surprise that I also really like the glass case, again because it provides protection for the zoetrope. Again though the only problem with presenting the zoetrope like this is that I wouldn't have anywhere to display my small model karts for people to take. However the free model karts is more something I want to do just for the college summer show, but if I were to present my zoetrope in an art gallery I wouldn't have the free karts, so that wouldn't be an issue.
Different Ways Artists Present Work
Just before the Easter holidays I went on a college trip to London to go to a couple art galleries. While we were there we were tasked with looking at different ways in which artists present their work. These are a few;
Illusion
IMG_1460.mp4IMG_1463.mp4I really liked the way this one conveyed its message. Each rotating panel represents a different ecosystem and it's meant to depict how humans are entangled with the natural environment in ways that are harmonious, healing or harmful. You'll also notice that each panel is made up of emojis, and when they are viewed from afar, create the illusion of one big imagae. I really like this as the emojis catch the eyes of a younger audience while conveying a message that they may not otherwise be interested in listening to. I also like that rather than it just constantly being stationary, it shows other ecosystems when the panels rotate, keeping the viewer engaged.
In some ways my project is similar - I'm getting something maybe a bit old and boring, in my case a Victorian animation toy, but putting a spin on it to make it appeal to a younger audience, and that spin being the addition of a Mario Kart animation.
Getting Creative with Storytelling
This was my personal favourite piece, partly because of the way conveyed its message, but mainly because it was from the Bible. To get context to this piece, I'd recommend reading Genesis chapter 11 verses 1 through to 9. After reading that (and I trust that you have ;) ) you can clearly see where they got this idea from. All the radios are tuned to different stations, so that when you are in the room, all the voices clash with each other and you can't understand what any of them are saying - just like the people couldn't understand each other after God had confused their languages (in response to the people trying to exalt themselves above God) in Genesis chapter 11.
I'm not too sure how I could apply this to my own project as this is quite a specific piece, but it does reinforce the idea that an art piece that represents its message well is far better, and more enjoyable, than one that doesn't.
Interactive
Most art pieces are simply there to be viewed and strictly not touched, which is what made this piece so different. People were encouraged to sit on it. Having sat on it I can say that the material itself is comfy, but the shape of it makes it a bit uncomfortable, so it's not the best functional piece of furniture, but it sure does look different and catches the eyes of people passing by.
Applying this to my project, of course I can't have people sitting on or playing around with the zoetrope, because the thing will be spinning pretty quick and if people started touching it, the whole animation would just crumble. However it got me thinking that, for the summer show, I could potentially print some extra karts, maybe slightly larger, and have them on display for people to look at and hold.
Before and After
This one caught my eye too. It's always fun to look in an artist's sketchbook and see the ideas that they have, and I'm also a big fan of the sketchy style of drawings, but it's arguably even more fun to see the finished result in front of your eyes. I really like how this artist chose to show the drawing and design process that happens before you start making the thing for real, and the result after production has been completed.
Thinking in the more short term, I could present my zoetrope at the summer show as a physical object, and then just in front of it I could show images and sketches of the design process to show how it went from a mere idea to a physical thing you can look at and touch. I could even get a screen up and show some of the earlier versions of the animation, or I could show a sped up video of me modelling something on the zoetrope.
If I were to eventually present my zoetrope in somewhere like an art gallery, I would prefer to have it behind a glass case, much like this piece of work, just to keep it safe and preserve it as art galleries would get a lot more visitors than my college summer show.
I don't even know
Let's just say this wasn't a personal favourite. I trust it will come as no surprise to hear that this was in a modern art gallery (Tate Modern, London). A word from the artist; "Blue has no dimensions, it is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not... blue suggests at most the sea and sky, and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract." What a load of waffle. How can a colour be beyond dimensions but every other one isn't? The artist even said that blue suggests the sea and sky, but with how dark this is it could almost suggest the deep depths of outer space, which makes this piece even worse when you find out that it was inspired by a sunny day in the south of France.
Whether you like this piece or not, if I handed in a blue square for my FMP and talked about how it transcends dimensions, I wouldn't expect to see 'Distinction' on my results letter. This piece is not only just lazy and let's be honest, rubbish, it's also inaccurate. There's also nothing fun to do with this piece - normally with art you can stand there and examine the art piece for a few minutes, taking it all in, but with this one there just isn't anything to look at. It's just a solid colour with a couple paragraphs of writing and nothing else to keep anyone mildly entertained.
How I Want to Present My Work
The Presentation
The first phase of presentation will be at my college's summer show. For the summer show, I intend on having my zoetrope simply sitting on a table with a small plaque just explaining what a zoetrope is and some information on the animation. I plan on having it in a dark room as well, this is because of the flashing lights which may not be suitable for some viewers, so having it in a separate room with a warning on the door saying "Warning: Flashing Lights" eliminates any risk of epileptic fits. The reason the room needs to be dark is because the strobe effect works best when it's in a darker room - the lighter the room, the more blurry the animation will look due to the zoetrope spinning.
I've also had the idea to 3D print a big model of a kart and paint it with the original Mario Kart colours and just have that sat next to the zoetrope for people to pick up and look at. If I chose to print a big model of a standard kart that would be great as people could see the miniature models up close and really see what the model looks like. However I also like the idea of printing a model of the B Dasher. This would show the different ideas I had and the development of the project to get it to what it is at the end, and also gives the audience something slightly different to look at and pick up.
Another idea I've had is to 3D print a bunch of tiny karts rather than have one big one. This way, when there are potentially children looking at my zoetrope, they could watch the animation and, because they'll see a Mario Kart in real life, they'll likely want to take one home. So I could have a bunch of small karts on display and have a sign up saying something along the lines of "Please feel free to take a model Kart!" It's a fun wholesome way to put a smile on people's faces and also makes my piece just that little bit more interactive, different and memorable. The only thing I'd need to be careful of is the size of the karts and the choke hazard that comes with that. I could work around this by simply printing the karts at a slightly bigger scale - after all they are very cheap to print, so making them a bit bigger wouldn't cost much at all (maybe a penny, if that).
While thinking about how I want to present my work, I've been trying to take into account the fact that there will likely be parents there with their children, so I've got to have something to keep both audiences entertained. This is why I've chosen to have a bit of writing explaining the piece as that is something that will interest the adults more than the children, and then I've also chosen to have the big model of the kart or a bunch of small models there as a sort of 'toy' for children to look at.
For the actual zoetrope itself I plan on having it spin on a record player. I think the record player is kind of a cool aesthetic addition to the presentation, although I must admit record players do have nothing to do with zoetropes. Something else to take into consideration as well is that the needle of the record player could get in the way, and even if it's not in the way it could look a little bit ugly and may even distract people from the zoetrope. Thankfully there is a turntable at college that I can use if I decide against the record player idea. Below is a rough sketch of how I want to present my work (forgive the lack of drawing skills, I tried to add shadows to show that the zoetrope is raised up from the record player)
This is a brief summary of what I said when talking about the production of the platform. Basically I made the platform too big to fit on a record player now, so that's that option out of the window, unless I manage to get the zoetrope to sit on something on top of the record player, which would raise the zoetrope above the needle of the record player meaning that it could turn freely with the added bonus of even covering up a lot of the record player, so it wouldn't look so ugly. The other option is I use the turntable which we have at college which looks a lot cleaner and more professional than using a record player, so that is also a viable option.
Either way, using a record player doesn't look terribly professional, and I recently found out that the turntable turns once every 30 seconds, rather than at 30rpm, so that's not an option anymore. A record player works fine temporarily just to make sure the zoetrope will actually work, but looking ahead I need something that will look a lot more professional than a record player. These are some options;
Electric Pottery Wheels - We have one that's available at college, and it definitely spins fast enough. The only problem is that we can't move the pottery wheel to the summer show, so my zoetrope would be displayed in the corner of a room quite a way away from the rest of the summer show - not ideal. If I was going to buy my own pottery wheel, it's going to cost around £150, which is also far from ideal.
Oookay I really thought there would be a lot more options than that but I've looked at every different type of turntable product there is and everything is either too slow or requires modification to an existing motor or just making a motorized turntable from scratch, and I don't have any plans on becoming an electrician within the next 6 days. For the time being it seems I'll have to stick with the record player as it's the only affordable option I have that spins at a quick enough rate. It's not ideal to have to use it because it does make it look home-made and not like a high quality product, but again the main thing is just getting a zoetrope working and enjoying the wow factor of seeing a big spinning blurry mess, and then all of a sudden watching it come to life in an animation. Besides, there are still ways to cover up the record player which I'll discuss below;
The platform itself - Because I made the platform too big to actually fit on a record player, I have to prop it up. At the moment I'm just using a roll of sellotape. Not the best option but I plan on having something more robust made by the 3D workshop again. Anyway, because the whole thing is propped up and because it's bigger than a typical record, it actually covers up a lot of the record player itself.
Black cloth - I can't imagine it being too difficult to simply get a piece of black cloth and just covering up some of the record player with it. Of course I'll have to be careful to make sure that the cloth doesn't get in the way of the zoetrope or the motor or anything like that. This would also have the added bonus of drawing all the attention to the zoetrope, rather than focussing on how the thing is actually spinning.
Something else I've thought of as well is that it can't be touched by anyone at any time because it could break if it's touched while it's spinning at 45-70rpm (already made that mistake a couple of times myself). I could just put a sign up saying "Do not touch" but accidents do happen so I'll need to be more cautious than that. Something that did cross my mind is that when the lady kindly donated a bunch of old animation toys and kits etc, she mentioned that if she wanted to showcase a zoetrope, she would but a box over the top of it and then the strobe light system (which I'm currently using) on top of the box but cut a hole in the box, so that the light can actually shine through. This could be an option for me as having a box over the top of it makes it very difficult to touch even if you're trying.
Accessibility
I've talked a lot already about the strobe lighting and the problems that inevitably come with that, so I need to think of some ways that allow epileptic people to still enjoy my zoetrope. Something else worth noting too is will it be accessible for wheelchair users or people with crutches etc. I'm going to discuss some of these problems and potential solutions below.
Epilepsy
Red strobe light - The red strobe light is no where near as intense as a white one and makes it much easier to look at. However despite that, red light is more likely to cause an epileptic fit than white or blue light. Also an epileptic fit is caused when light flashes around 15-25 times a second, and the strobe light for my zoetrope will be right in the heart of that range. So in summary, I'm going to have to think of a way for epileptic people to still view my zoetrope without any flashing lights whatsoever
iPad - One option I've got is to set up an iPad next to the zoetrope and have the camera settings set so that when the camera is pointed at the zoetrope it plays the animation. I've done something similar on my phone before and there's no flashing lights, no rolling shutter or anything. With the right settings this could be a viable option. The only problem is that there would just be an iPad unaccompanied at a public show which wouldn't be too difficult to steal. Plus if the iPad is left on the whole time the battery will eventually drain. There could be ways to work around this like always having someone watching over my zoetrope and leaving the iPad on charge, but either way it's still a bit inconvenient.
A video - As boring as this solution is, there aren't really any major problems with it. If I use a camera with the right settings to record the zoetrope then I could just simply have a video on display on a screen of it working. The only downside to this solution is that the viewer doesn't get to see the magic of the animation playing in real life before their eyes. However it's still a good way to allow epileptic people to see the magic of a zoetrope.
Wheelchair Users / Children
Low Table - With wheelchair users /children being lower down /shorter than other people, it's important to remember how they will still be able to see the zoetrope. Simply having the zoetrope displayed on a lower table makes it much easier for them to be able to see it, I'd just have to remember to put the zoetrope far enough back so that little children can't touch it and risk damaging anything. Again there's no real problems or downsides to this problem, I'd just have to make sure the the zoetrope is well protected so that people don't accidentally bump into it while walking around.
Video - I won't repeat myself as I wrote about this in the box above, but having a video of the zoetrope working still allows wheelchair users to be able to see the animation, even if the physical zoetrope is too high up for them to see.
Other
Viewing Angles - Ideally I would have the zoetrope be viewable from every side, however the only way I can see that happening is having it completely open which runs the risk of potentially a little child trying to touch it and damaging it. One way I could work around that is by getting 2 tables, pushing them together to make one big table and then having the zoetrope in the middle of that big table. That way it's still open and therefore viewable from every side and there's much less risk of a small child trying to touch the zoetrope and potentially damaging it. I'll still put signs up saying "Do not touch" just to hammer the point home.
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