Ryan Woodward

        I first came across Ryan Woodward's beautifully simple animation Thought of You, as the video for the Arctic Monkey's song I Wanna Be Yours, although it was not originally created to accompany this piece of music.

 

 

        Woodward is an animator and storyboard artist who began his career working on hand drawn animations for Warner Brothers before moving into live action storyboarding for films such as Spiderman 2, Cowboys & Aliens and many of Marvel's superhero blockbusters. In a way, this short animation is the antithesis of working on storyboards, as Woodward keeps a fixed perspective and distance from the dancing figures, with no cinematic shot changes, emotional close ups or dialogue to tell the story for him. It is all gestural., which allows each viewer to associate the characters with people of events personal to them. There is no fixed or definite meaning to the film. 

 

        It is stylistically as well as thematically different to his commercial work; the characters are simple, with few features and no facial expressions, yet incredibly well drawn and expressive through their movements, which are elegant, smooth and graceful. Despite the simplicity of the design, the animation is far from straightforward. As the characters dance together, not only does Woodward have to contend with capturing their spontaneity and the secondary motion of clothes and hair, he further complicates the project by having their limbs transform into wings or extend as though they have become swathes of fabric. The pace also alters, with one character freezing as the other continues to dance, while their bodies shift between weightlessness and reality. It is in these complex moments that Woodward's skills as an effects animator (he animated fluids for Warner Brothers) shine through.

 

        This animation is hypnotic, with the simplicity allowing you to focus of the beauty of the movements. That a colourless, line drawing can capture so much feeling and emotion demonstrates how well Woodward has recorded the complex motion and interaction between the two characters, and his skills at drawing figures.