Enso

Enso by Beth Chesser, Digital Music and Sound Arts Graduate from The University of Brighton, Beth talks about the film below…

Who?
I created all of the stop motion animation scenery, with some help from Dan Rossati when animating the deer. I also created the music and sound design with performances from Lisa Cohen on Cello, Phil Ward on Double Bass and Mat Fuller (aka Summa) on Violin.

What?
Ensō is a mixed media, animated short film. It explores the cyclical nature of life, current environmental concerns and aims to highlight the interconnectedness of our existence with earth whilst questioning human interaction with it.

Why?
I was inspired to make Enso as my final degree project at the University of Brighton. My course is actually Digital Music & Sound Arts but I was determined to create a moving image piece so that I could allow the music and visuals to influence each other (rather than creating the music at the end of a film project which is common place in the film industry, this approach provided me with a rare opportunity). A couple of years ago I discovered Lotte Reiniger’s cut-out silhouette animation and began researching stop-motion animation in all of its various forms, then discovering ‘Hedgehog in the Fog’ by Yuri Norstein. I then went on to find such indie animators as Mikey Please and Will Anderson whose narrative style and contemplative concepts inspired me to create a story bigger than myself, something I think the medium of animation can handle really well.

How?
I began Enso with the best intentions to be completely true to the hand-animated style of Reiniger, however I quickly realised that a subtle and sympathetic use of technology could enhance the style and enable me to create more fluid motion. The background scenery is predominantly cut-out sheets of greaseproof paper and black card which I animated using the stop-motion technique. I photographed each frame with a Nikon D7000 in the ‘Dragonframe’ stop-motion software. My set-up, which was inspired by Reiniger and the ‘Multiplane camera’ was to lay the paper on top of a transparent perspex table, light it from above and shoot each frame from below to create the luminous effect. The Deer was animated by hand, frame by frame using the software ‘Plastic Animation Paper’. I used ‘Adobe After Effects’ for any extra details and ‘Premiere’ for timeline editing. I created the music and sound design in ‘Logic Pro 9’.

Next Project?
As i’m first and foremost a composer and sound designer I am due to collaborate with an animator on a short animation over the coming months, creating the soundtrack. I also hope to develop my individual style as an animator, combining different mediums to form unique audio-visual experiences.

Which animated film would you like to have made?
I am constantly inspired by the work of Sylvain Chomet, especially ‘The Triplets of Belleville’ because it works on so many different levels. Firstly, the visual style is so appealing, the colours, illustration and animation are so unique and detailed. Furthermore, the music and sound design is considered and sympathetic to the piece as a whole, and I particularly appreciate the lack of dialogue which I believe adds to the films nostalgic narrative.

For further work you can find me here:
http://bethchessermusic.weebly.com/ and https://soundcloud.com/bethchesser