Film Critic Dave Kehr categorizes animation in Encyclopedia Britannica as a still image that appears to be moving regardless of its form and medium. From the prehistoric era of cave painting to 19th-century devices such as flipbooks, it is recorded throughout history that artists tried to captivate audiences with the magic of moving characters. With the help of technological development and the popularity of motion pictures, the art of animation currently enjoys great success around the world. However, despite experts’ speculation that the industry will keep growing, the medium seemingly lacks progress in developing its artistry.
Realizing this phenomenon, experimental filmmaker Chaerin Im- whom I had the honor to meet during the Minikino Hybrid Internship Program for Festival Writers – tries to expand the visual language used in animation by going against the industry norms. Granted, her short debut The Genesis (2017) and successor Flora ‘꽃’ (2018) are made within the animation standard techniques; respectively using hand-drawn and CG animation. Yet her three latest films – Mate (2019), Eyes and Horns (2021), and I Am a Horse (2022) – are where her style shines the most, offering a distinct and unique experience to the audience.
Unconventional Animation Techniques and Materials
This is perhaps the filmmaker’s most noticeable trait since her latest films don’t employ the traditional hand-drawn images or CG animation that mainstream audiences used to see. Instead, she approaches through stop-motion animation that combines top-down photography and image scanning. If this work isn’t laborious enough, you will be surprised how the South Korean animator pushes the boundaries by implementing diverse animation techniques across all of her films.
Her third film Mate uses intaglio printmaking into the film, inspired by her interest in the art technique. When asked why this approach is used, the animator gives a simple yet ambitious answer: to develop a new visual language. She traced her memory back to the production of Flora ‘꽃’ (2018); recalling this urge to break out from the structured nature of CG that doesn’t allow herself to explore and pour the raw emotion into the artwork. Interestingly enough, intaglio itself is known to be an unpredictable artwork where the artist only could see the end result, helping to strengthen the energetic rhythm and mysterious essence that the film offers.
The unconventional technique served the purpose of ‘reinventing’ the artist technique she referenced as well, mainly as a recurring theme of gender issues in her films. Eyes and Horns uses cyanotype printmaking as a tribute to Picasso’s Vollard Suite. However, instead of processing the image with etching, Chaerin engraved her drawings using a laser printer in plexiglass. This is intended to invert the light and shadows when the image is scanned; connecting to the theme of ‘reflection’ that she intended for Picasso’s toxic masculinity.
Choice of material also plays an important part in symbolizing representation of oneself. Her latest film I Am a Horse features a sequence that transitions drawings from a white background into aluminum foil; a technique known as kitchen lithography. The reason for using kitchen lithography – as explained by the director herself – is to represent the stereotype of Korean women as caretakers, only working in the kitchen to serve the family. The intention fit well with what was presented on the screen, where the audience was taken into a female narrative journey of a female centaur where almost no men exist as the aluminum foil sequence unraveled
With a short running time of 4~6 minutes, each film takes almost a year to animate. This is why after Mate – which she argues is her most rigorous project – she reverts to the use of laser printers to cut time on drawing each frame. But that is not only her obstacle as an experimental filmmaker, where she faced conflicts due to producers’ disagreement and budgeting due to the unorthodox form rarely seen in conventional animation. Yet we could see how the materials and techniques she used in each film enhance the film’s intention and will not work well within conventional animation.
Straight-ahead animation
Another thing you might notice in Chaerin’s film is how the animation looks so fluid and formless. As an experimental animator, the artist believes spontaneity in her work is important, trying to avoid the pose-to-pose technique that tightly controls the end result. She instead constructs the movement through Straight-ahead animation, where no storyboards are planned and each frame is drawn directly.
The unconstrained work that she implements resembles a lot of the work of Wong Kar-wai, a director that I adored so much. Known for his method of working with no script and impulsively conveying the mood on the spot, critics celebrate his body of work that produces raw emotion in the audience. It is the exact sentiment that could be shared toward the auteur’s animation; a visual containing substantial expression from abstract feelings and emotion that can’t be put into words since the drawing comes from the honest, unconscious mind.
But perhaps what makes the experimental animator’s work fit this style is the nature of the themes presented in her films. Discussing gender issues, her characters are always shown to be free-spirited, trying to break free from the confining conservative values that people are still afraid to explore. The unpredictability of straight-ahead animation helps to symbolize her belief, fighting the philosophy of Pose-to-pose “academic” rules that emphasize clarity in the animation.
Transformation & metamorphosis
Looking at the film closer, the characters in Chaerin’s films always undergo development through transformation. Mate sees two genders blended into one, Eyes and Horns examines a minotaur’s struggles between masculinity and femininity, while I Am a Horse shows the transformation of a bull into a female centaur that captures a dreamlike logic.
It is also a suitable method to deliver the message that the filmmaker tries to tell. Similar to all films focusing on gender issues, it has the goal of conveying the message of “change” to the audience; reflecting the prejudice in conservatism and libertarianism toward both genders. This is evident in most of her animation, where two different subjects were once separated and ended up merging to represent the importance of co-existence between genders. Alternatively, Eyes and Horns and I Am a Horse also examine the transformation of a masculine subject into femininity or a mixture of both; serving as a reflection specifically of male ego and patriarchal value. Despite having no narration, it is an effective method of storytelling to connect with the audience on the author’s intention.
What’s next?
Despite the distinctive animation and techniques contained in Chaerin’s film, she has found difficulties in funding her shorts. Producers often point out that the off-beat visuals combined with its nonconformist narrative will be a hard sell to the audience. To counter this, her next film will confront a more traditional storytelling structure, while still implementing the eccentric style mentioned above.
Before closing the panel, the South Korean animator shared a bit of her work-in-progress for her next short; fortunately, she still maintains all of her trademarks for her upcoming films. I believe that she has found a style that she is comfortable working on. Even if her films are meticulous in production, the director has proved that the animation medium hasn’t stagnated yet as an artistry and most importantly, as a self-expression.
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