Postcards from: In Motion

On the hunt for some new sources of inspiration, our animation and motion design specialists headed out to In Motion London, an exploration of the trailblazing work being done across these disciplines.

From building surreal worlds to re-learning the rules of the game, and of course, the prevailing influence of K-Pop Demon Hunters, we asked them what they’d write home about.

Izzy

It was really exciting to have the opportunity to visit a design festival centred purely around motion design and animation, and to take a look behind the scenes into the creation of some hugely successful media.

The highlight for me was getting to look behind the screen at the visual reference and origins of inspiration for Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’s K-Pop Demon Hunters. It was really insightful to see the development of the art style from the original concepts and photographs from their trip to Korea, and how that trip was crucial to making both design and animation decisions. In particular, how the hunters’ style evolved from historical artwork of Korean Shamans, and the footage of real Korean Martial artists used for motion capture to animate the dance-style fighting of Huntr/x.

Kate

I enjoyed discovering the different processes many designers have to their designs and techniques.

Builder’s Club are a great example of how AI can start to fit into a design workflow – as a helpful tool within the process. Humans are still creatively taking the lead, using AI for experimentation to get different looks and results. The designers then push these outputs further using more traditional digital techniques.

I was also inspired by Raman, who has an interesting and inventive process for combining different elements together. Whether its combining fun 3D elements with footage in a fun way, or combining 2D animation in a CGI world, they’re able to create unusual and almost surreal worlds.

It was great to see the process behind K-Pop Demon Hunters, and how heavily their research trip influenced many aspects of their film – such as the weight of the weapons meaning the characters wielding these would need muscle. There’s also a really interesting blend throughout the film between Korean art – like Kkachi horangi inspiring Derpy the tiger character and the female shaman that ward off the spirits – and modern Korean culture.

The directors placed a lot of emphasis on how much they wanted the main characters to feel real and relatable: going out to dinner, needing spa days, hating mornings. But they also wanted to portray women as not just strong but by being able to be goofy, and silly – something they said they was often missing from Hollywood women. To do this visually, they combined their animation style with a more chibi style to create these extreme expressions such as corn eyes.

Mike

At the recent Playgrounds’ In Motion festival, it felt to me like two main themes emerged: embracing and exploring new technology, and creating authentic, idiosyncratic work.

Builders’ Club spoke about their experiences using AI to enable new visuals and workflows while preserving human authorial intent, and Nexus discussed how spatial design in immersive formats like XR (extended reality headsets) and the Las Vegas Sphere is both similar and different to traditional motion graphics, and how creatives will need to re-learn the rules as screens become more unconventional.

This interest in technology was also balanced by a strong emphasis on vision, authenticity and challenging yourself creatively. Raman Djafari’s work was deeply personal and expressive; highlighting the community spirit and collaborative nature of animation, while the ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ talk showcased the effort that team made to authentically depict Korean culture and create female leads who felt like complete and believable human beings.

The final talk of the day (a 25-year retrospective from Shynola) neatly bridged both themes, as they discussed the factors that’ve contributed to a long and successful career. They’ve constantly challenged themselves not to re-tread comfortable ideas and keep work creatively fresh, pushing what they’re capable of alongside the industry’s evolution – from the earliest days of computer graphics to today.