Abstract Colour Fields

‘Abstract Colour Fields' (2023) by animator Sabrina Schmid, is an experimental computer animation created through digital painting frame by frame, using abstract form, experimenting with colour fields and expressive painterly marks. The animation is set to original techno synth music by the composer and musician David Allardice and a voice improvisation by Ines Castro. (A second version of the film features the music only for the film's soundtrack.)

The film was selected for screenings by the following film festivals:

2023 | 2D computer animation | 2'52 | Ultra HD 4K and HD1080 | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2023, sabrina schmid, melbourne, australia

Abstract Iterations II

This abstract animation combines direct-on-film painting and collaging on 35mm film where the resulting images were then scanned digitally and manipulated further. The iconic image of a square is reiterated and transformed in an abstract environment of colour and texture imbued with movement.

The atmospheric soundtrack by Des Coulam, a Paris based sound recordist and sound designer, is an original location recording where random sounds, fragments of conversations and lively street music merge, creating auditory-visual associations.

The concept was developed through an earlier version of animation sequences that were in a different format, silent and of shorter 3 minute duration, which work was created as a three-channel site-specific animation for ‘Animation Goes MSU!’. This was a projection screening on the LED media façade of the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) held 26 May – 14 June 2015. The arts museum screened 16 site-specific animated works selected competitively from around the world including works from Australia, France, USA, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Hong Kong, Great Britain, South Korea, Germany, Slovenia. The prestigious screening was part of ‘The World Festival of Animated Film – ANIMAFEST Zagreb 2015’.

The animation played across three screens simultaneously as a series of sequential frames. Link: http://www.animafest.hr/en/2015/program/animation_goes_msu_media_facade_26_05_14_06/1

‘Abstract Iterations II’ is based on the animation sequences, completed as a longer short film in a cinema format with an original soundtrack.

The film was selected for screenings by several international film festivals:

2015 | 2D computer animation | 4’21 | HD1080 | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2015, sabrina schmid, united kingdom

Interior

Within a short one minute, this abstract animation explores the basic forms of rectangles and circles in animated movement to suggest an interior space continuously changing and mutating. Computer animation and moving-image art allows an almost unlimited opportunity for re-interpretation of the heritage of abstraction in experimental animation. Music by Andy Stokes.

The film was selected for screenings by several international film festivals:

  • ‘Punto Y Raya Festival Collection’ at Melbourne International Animation Festival 2015, Australia

  • Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games, 2015, UK

  • Media Canvas, at Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival 2014, South Korea

  • Melbourne International Animation Festival 2014, Australia

  • Animation Revelations 2014, Auckland, New Zealand

  • Reykjavik Visual Music Punto Y Raya Festival 2014, Reykjavik, Iceland

    View the PyR 2014 Official Competition Trailer

  • California International Shorts Festival Winter 2013, USA

  • Women's Independent Film Festival 2013, California, USA - received ‘Award of Merit’

2013 | 2D computer animation | 1’00 | HD1080 | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2013, sabrina schmid, united kingdom

Coincidence 1

This is a playful animation where varied geometric forms rearrange themselves endlessly into changing abstract patterns, either by intention or by chance. This abstract animation reminds you of looking through a kaleidoscope in animated form. Music by Andy Stokes.

The film was selected for screenings at:

  • KALEIDAEYE reflections on infinite systems, curated by Sarah Klein at Peephole Cinema - A Miniature Cinema, San Francisco, USA, 24 May - 4 July 2016

  • Media Canvas at Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival 2014, South Korea

  • Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival Winter 2013, USA

  • Women's Independent Film Festival 2013, California, USA - received ‘Award of Merit’

2013 | 2D computer animation | 1’00 | HD1080 | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2013, sabrina schmid, united kingdom

Abstracted Reflections

This short experimental audio-visual work explores visual abstraction by animating a series of still photographs which were image processed to abstract their forms and manipulate colour. Two observations were photographed for constructing the sequences: one is an observation of light reflecting on water, which creates a moving pattern of circular shapes. Another is an aerial view of a mountain terrain displaying a distinct pattern of lines. The visual transitions and changes of colour intend to reflect the moods and tones of the electronic music soundscape 'Stairs' by Ren Reii (Igor Markov) from the composer's EP 'Faraway Times'.

The film screened in the official international competition at:

2011 | 2D computer animation | 3’35 | DVD | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2011 sabrina schmid, united kingdom

Evariations

This abstract computer animation experiments within the basic parameters of just dots and lines as abstract non-representational imagery that has been hand-drawn digitally. The method of 'frameless' or 'cameraless' animation and frame by frame drawing is transposed to digital means, and aims to give a handmade aesthetic to the computer animation. The animation is set to an excerpt from ‘Tiresias' Prophecy’, and original music piece composed by Sebastian Castagna. It is a 'song without words' exploring the ways in which vocal sounds produce meaning when the semantic level of the words is removed. Viols, other early-music instruments and electroacoustic soundscapes 'orchestrate' the vocal lines.

The film screened in the offical international competition at:

2009 | 2D computer animation | 2’22 | DVD | colour | sound

Produced, directed, animated, edited by Sabrina Schmid

Copyright © 2009 sabrina schmid, united kingdom