Progress
The part of this poster that took the longest was getting the group to come together to discuss what section of Irish animation we should focus on. Over Easter, we were all busy with the Animated Narratives module and I was working with some film students at Dublin IADT to animate some scenes for their short documentary. I organised one voice call where three of our four members showed up and we reviewed old student poster examples that I collected from Blackboard and we talked about the direction we would go in.
The idea changed a few times since the decision made at the first meeting, but finally we landed on researching the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, which is a celebrated animation studio in Ireland. The studio created several short films and is famous for its’ Folklore trilogy, its’ focus on mythology and its’ 2D art style.
My part of this poster was to watch the short films that were created during the earlier years of the studio and draw comparisons to the more recent works. One of our members found a playlist of old shorts that I went though and took notes on.
Once the poster was compiled, I spellchecked it and approved it for finals.
Research
For my research, I learned that during their twenty-four years in business, Cartoon Saloon has made many features and shorts for the public. When going back to their early work (namely ‘From Darkness’ 2002, ‘Cúilín Dualach’ 2004, ‘Old Fangs’ 2009 and ‘Somewhere Down the Line’ 2014) I began seeing some patterns and styles that have remained the same throughout their tenure, and some details that have developed since their first short film.
‘From Darkness’ was the studio’s first short, and its’ art style is very similar to that of the most recent works, such as ‘Wolfwalkers’, with its exaggerated, shapely character designs. Most of the shorts are rife with visual metaphors and laced with traditional Irish music.
‘Cúilín Dualach’ or ‘Backwards Boy, made in 2004, featured quite a different style of animation. It combined 2D drawing with real life photos that gave a scrapbook feel to the short, combined with the less flowing, more awkward animation style that fitted the characters and story. Due to these points as well as the short’s more silly and up-front nature, it was very different from later productions from the studio.
‘Old Fangs’, made in 2009, strikes me as a medium point between shorts such as ‘Cúilín Dualach’ and the modern feature films. It has characters that are clearly constructed with basic shapes which exist in a flat world, as well as having a few visual metaphors scattered throughout (for example, the last shot features the main character’s estranged, absuive father inside his home, looking isolated from anything else in the frame. He is also depicted as huge, filling up the whole house with his anger and depression). All this is similar to the later Folklore trilogy. In contrast, ‘Old Fangs’ featured mixed media, including watercolour and photography, which was more like the older shorts and something the studio seems to have left in the past.
The last short film I reviewed was ‘Somewhere Down The Line’, made in 2014. It had a choppy, simple animation style, more realistic anatomy for its’ characters and altogether isn’t a short you’d see and immediately think of Cartoon Saloon. It does, however, contain some of the studio’s signatures – lots and lots of visual metaphors and traditional Irish music.
What Did I Learn?
During the process of creating this poster, I learned that while there was a gradual change in the direction the studio went with their films, the very first short ‘From Darkness’ carries much of what the company eventually ended up making their trademark themes – smooth, flowing movements, basic shape-centric character designs and tales based on folklore.
While researching these short films, I came across a YouTube video entitled ‘Tomm Moore – A Deeper Perspective’, which gave a brief insight into the Cartoon Saloon co-founder’s outlook on backgrounds. His worlds are usually flat, with perspective added only when characters are in trouble, with the danger able to better tower terrifyingly over the protagonists. I learned that the style was inspired by stain glass windows and medieval tapestries, and in contrast, the composition inspired by more modern, contemporary art.
Bibliography
Cartoon Saloon (2013) ‘From Darkness (2002)’. [Online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ePFIp_4GQ&list=PL-gg564EyxI1nraqv4nHNkWFcYbWc2sm6 (Accessed 23/04/2023)
Cartoon Saloon (2013) ‘Cúilín Dualach (2005)’. [Online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrDL6Yq0np0&list=PL-gg564EyxI1nraqv4nHNkWFcYbWc2sm6&index=2 (Accessed 23/04/2023)
Cartoon Saloon (2013) ‘Old Fangs (2009)’. [Online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sa0JxvjKLQ&list=PL-gg564EyxI1nraqv4nHNkWFcYbWc2sm6&index=3 (Accessed 23/04/2023)
Cartoon Saloon (2017) ‘Somewhere Down the Line’. [Online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5po8ywAoKwM&list=PL-gg564EyxI1nraqv4nHNkWFcYbWc2sm6&index=4 (Accessed 23/04/2023)
Cartoon Saloon (2017b) ‘Tomm Moore – A Deeper Perspective’. [Online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCRghZ_-Shc&list=PL-gg564EyxI1nraqv4nHNkWFcYbWc2sm6&index=5 (Accessed 23/04/2023)
ireland.ie (2023) Éire Bheoga: A Celebration of Irish Animation. Ireland.ie Available from: https://www.ireland.ie/en/expo/ourprogramme/irish-animation/ (Accessed 09/05/2023)