Deux Ex Machina

As the final animation for Scott Hall's Intro to Animation course, "Deus Ex Machina" was different from all the films I had made up to that point because it was all straight ahead animation. As a consequence the production process was different from the way I was used to working in the past because the method of animating forced me to not time my drawings through breakdown, passing, and extreme positions. All that existed in front of me were the key drawings. I would have to continue animating this way from the first drawing to the very last one I made, whether it be forward or backward in sequence.

The style for the animation was influenced by the South African animator William Kentridge. I was first introduced to his works by my awesome drawing professor Dennis Ahearn and the films left a strong impression on me. Kentridge would apply charcoal to his drawings and leave imprints in the artwork to give the animation more of a personal feeling. I made that my top goal for this project. In addition I used parts of classical composer Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” for the soundtrack to the animation. As I heard different parts of the score throughout the production it hit me that I could reverse the footage at the end to match up the footage with another part of Vivaldi’s score. So I inverted the reversed footage in order for the viewer to have a different experience watching the film.

There were no storyboards, concept art, or scripts for the film. I just animated what came to my head which went along with the straight ahead animation method. Originally the film was supposed to continue beyond the snow globe sequence but I never got a chance to do those scenes because the deadline for the film quickly approached. I wish I could tell you what those scenes were in my mind at the time, but today I have no idea what they could have been since it was so many years ago. And even if I did it would not matter anyway because the film is complete as it is.