Sigrid Lemm is the maker of Jeanne d'Arc which won
a Silver Seal and was screened at Movie 2002. It was also screened at UNICA
2001 which is where she spoke to Dave Watterson about her animation
and her classes in Rostock.
| I studied Fine Art in Berlin and in 1990 visited
the Animated Film Festival in Stuttgart - it's a very big festival. That
was the first time in my life that I had seen animated films, other than
Walt Disney or what is on television. I was so interested that I wanted to
learn how to do it.
I read books and taught myself. One useful book was Timing for Animation
by Roger Manvell. It was very difficult at first. I began by drawing on paper.
Film uses three dimensions: the two drawn ones and time. Learning
about that extra dimension was very hard.
At that stage I did a lot of drawings and animation exercises in moving figures,
walking and so on. Then I discovered my favourite technique: oil-painting
on glass. I use glass plates and simply paint with a brush.
I was inspired by the work of Caroline Leaf the Canadian animator whose creations
I love. Three years ago I started to work with children, especially with
groups of disturbed children - using their paintings to help discover their
needs. It was a form of Art Therapy.
I did that for two years, then last year I had the chance to make my own
animated film in the institut für neue medien (New Media Institute).
They asked me if I would like to work there and lead their animation studio.
I was very pleased to do so.
So now I work with all sorts of young people from eight to twenty-one years
old. Some of them really like to study animation and there are a lot of very
talented people among them. |
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Teaching
For me the challenge was learning how to teach them animation - that's not
easy. I developed my own teaching methods. My experience in an art therapy
project helped me.
At first they have to do small exercises. I can see from those pieces what
special talents they have. For example I might ask them to metamorphose a
fish into a cup - in both cases drawing simple designs. The children need
ten or twelve sheets to do it. Another exercise is to make a figure walk,
which is a very difficult task. I learn a lot about their skills from that.
We work with drawings, cut-out paper shapes and plasticine. The first exercises
take a day.We shoot them on video using a normal Hi-8 or Digital. We sometimes
use a computer to trim shots to the single frames needed for animation.*
There are 20 children in my workshop every week. Sometimes I work with school
classes who come one or two days. A young Russian girl, who is excellent,
comes every day. It does not leave much time for my own work! I am keen to
start my new film, but I have no time.
If a child likes to come to my studio I try to discover what he enjoys doing;
if not he finds another pastime. I had one girl who loved to draw but was
not able to imagine a film. She could not think in terms of stories. She
was talented in many other ways ... languages, drawing ...
Putting together a story, that's a major issue. Another of the exercises
I do in workshops, if the children do not have their own story ideas, is
to play them sounds on CD and ask them to imagine a story to fit the noises. |
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| Malte Pätz
[Still from Mission Impossible by Malta Pätz . The monk hits
all sorts of problems trying to ring the bell.]
One boy, Malte Pätz, is just eleven years old and is so good it's
unbelievable. He made an animated film Mission
Impossible, about a monk trying to ring a bell, which I sent to
festivals in Rome (I Castelli Animati) and Texas (CinemaKids
Festival). Then I sent it to the very big Student Animation
Festival in Ottawa and they accepted it. His film was shown among the
student films, competing with people in their twenties. He got a lot
of media attention with newspaper and television interviews. He won
in his category - films made by children in the age up to 12 years.
When he came back it was hard to work with him for a while - he believed
he was brilliant and had nothing more to learn! But he is a strong character
and soon got back to concentrated work.
His parents are very encouraging and Malte himself is very proud of his success.
His artistic nom-de-plume is Meister Pätz named after a much-loved bear
in a popular children's fable. |
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Getting started
You have to love animated film and if you also like working with children
it's easy to do. That and a little technique is all that you need. For beginners
I think it is best to work on video. It's easy and it's cheap. In two days
they learn the basics.
Another exercise lets me see if they like to work in colours, to mix colours.
Some children often like to work in black and white; others in colour. Sometimes
they want to create a new world with friends and hospitals and family and
so on. Maybe because they do not like their own world very much. I like to
help children to be creative and to find their own way rather than to direct
them saying "Do this ... and this ... and this." I love left-handed children
- they are more spontaneous.
Sometimes my workshops have mixed ages, which is good because the older children
know what they want while the young ones are more crazy. As their ideas get
more difficult you have to introduce them to the concept of timing.
I ask what they want to do. Sometimes they say they want to make a series
like The Simpsons or South Park. I say OK, do the exercises
first because that's not possible. |
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How to animate 3D characters
It's easy. I give them plasticine or a potato and say draw a face on it,
turn it around and have a look. We use a plasticine that does not soften
under the lights. When I make plasticine figures I make them about 15
centimetres tall. We use a special artist's modelling clay.
Why do you use animation?
I like to have complete control of my work. I don't like to work with actors
who have different problems ... I think that is another type of art. 50%
of an animated film is the sound - voices and sound.
For major productions we work together with students from the drama school
in Rostock. Last month a schoolgirl from America visited our workshop. She
will stay in Rostock for seven months. I talked with her. She has an excellent
voice. We made a test with her which was brilliant. I hope we will work together
for the next seven months. She is a natural talent.
Why do you use oil on glass?
Other animators have mountains of cels to handle ... I only have three pieces
of glass! I enjoy the colours and manipulating the images. And I am painter.
That´s why I love to paint my animated films. |
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Update
In an email on May 1st Sigrid added: "I have just finished the screenplay
for my next film. In July and August I will be in Canada - teaching animation
at an art school - a new challenge."
* We never use a computer for the graphics. We shoot short bursts,
"blipping the camcorders", load the material into a computer and cut single
frames using software called PAR, a DOS system you can download from the
Internet.
The picture of Sigrid Lemm was taken by Maria Meira an Argentinian
film student who was also attending UNICA 2001. All but one of the
frames on the right are from Jeanne d'Arc.
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"I am very proud and happy about working with the children." - Sigrid
Lemm
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