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Artihost residency I 2023
Project ”About what Panevėžys dreams?/ Apie ką svajoja Panevėžys?”
Animation video project at the Panevėžys Youth Centre
The Artihost residency was an interesting and one of a kind life occasion that provided me with valuable experience, introduced me to a new life companion Martina(Italy), and afforded me the opportunity to acquaint myself with a previously unfamiliar city.
The residency commenced in September 2023, starting with familiarizing myself with the living space, getting to know my collaborator, Martina Sedda, and naturally exploring the city of Panevėžys. Prior to this, I had never spent such a lengthy period of time in Panevėžys, making it an entirely fresh adventure, enriched with creative and personal experiences in my life.
After exploring Panevėžys and talking with Artihost curators I decided to make an animation project about the city and use the opportunity to teach the kids new skills.
Stop motion animation is a fascinating and creative way to bring inanimate objects to life. It involves capturing a series of frames with slight variations and then playing them in sequence to create the illusion of movement. Teaching teenagers this art form can be an exciting and enriching experience, allowing them to explore their imagination, develop patience, and enhance their storytelling abilities.
With the kind support of both institutions’ administration the workshops were hosted in the Panevėžys Youth Centre and PAVB Atvira Jaunimo Erdvė. Me and Artihost team would like to express our gratitude to the administration for their assistance and help during the time of the project.
During the first workshops, we stared off with talking about different techniques in animation, sharing our experience and knowledge in the field of animation. We brainstormed the idea of our common work, talked about the favorite places in the city and and attempted to create our first animation puppets.
A few sessions were dedicated to exploring the city and learning how to use cameras and stands for photos, animation and stop-motion techniques . We visited the Panevėžys Local Lore Museum in order to gain a deeper understanding of the city and gather more information. We captured footage of the library, the oldest bookshop of the city, the theaters and a number of other sights. Our focus was on mastering stop-motion shooting techniques while searching for captivating locations throughout the city, paying attention to beautiful details, which surround us.
We then moved on to creating backgrounds for our future animations and crafting paper cut figures for the short film. We also created a map of the city and animated it, using stop-motion technique.
Throughout several sessions, we researched and discussed notable individuals who once resided in the city of Panevėžys, crafting storyboards based on these historical facts. Additionally, we constructed puppets of these individuals and ultimately incorporated them into a stop-motion animation.
The final step involved recording sound based on a pre-written script. Finally, we combined the animation with the sound and I edited the project to completion. The end result will be presented and showed in the Panevėžys Youth Centre.
Project co-financed by Lithuanian council of Culture.
