Experimental Animation

Experimental Animation is the name given to assorted methods of painstakingly animating frame-by-frame to manipulate the resulting images. There are no set rules and the artist can take liberties with the medium, let his imagination run wild and create poetry on film by drawing directly on film or using anything from sand to paint to pins!

Drawn on Film Animation
A technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock, for example by Norman McLaren and Len Lye.

Sand Animation
Sand is moved around on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to create each frame for an animated film. This creates an interesting effect when animated because of the light contrast.

Paint on Glass Animation
A technique for making animated films by manipulating slow drying oil paints on sheets of glass.

Pinscreen animation
This technique makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows. The technique has been used to create animated films with a range of textural effects difficult to achieve with traditional cel animation.