Presented by Northwest Film Forum’s Local Sightings Film Festival and the Interbay Cinema Society

This workshop – with options to participate either in-person or online  – provides a fun, hands-on experience, combining washi tape with scratch animation on 16mm film to create experimental motion graphics. Washi tape is a richly patterned adhesive tape made from Japanese rice paper. It is also a handy material for creating abstract, cameraless animated movies on 16mm film leaders, which interacts with the tape’s patterns and textures in magical ways when the film is projected. Participants will use 16mm clear and black film leader, Japanese “MT” washi tape, a special serrated-edge tearing tool (safe for younger participants, although adult collaboration is recommended), and other art supplies to create unique handcrafted movies. Online participants will be mailed a kit (one per household), which will include a prepaid mailer to return your results. All film from the workshop will be spliced into a collaborative group film to be shown at the Engauge Experimental Film Festival in a special performance at the end of October. Any workshop participants younger than 15 should be accompanied by a responsible adult co-animator. All in-person participants will be required to verify fully vaccinated.

Workshop Description

We’ll begin with a brief overview of 16mm film to orient everyone to properties of the medium, then show some sample short camera-free handmade animation films that use washi tape and scratch graphics on black film leader. Next we’ll demo some tips for maximizing the wonders of washi tape stuck directly onto film, followed by a quick demo of tricks for scratch animation. Then we’ll cut everybody loose for hands-on lab time, with intrepid instructors hovering to help as needed, both in-person and remotely on-screen. Once some in-person participants have made enough footage for a loop, we’ll project it right away to see the results. Our plan is to also immediately do a quick shot-off-the-screen digitization of the experiments in progress, and put it up on Vimeo right away so remote participants can better see the animated motion – this whole hybrid workshop is a big experiment in itself, so we’ll see how it goes and remain nimble as we adapt to what works best. We’ll take an hour or more of hands-on lab time, with participants taking breaks as needed. Then we’ll set an afternoon time for all to reconvene and see all the results so far, with Q&A for all the makers. After the workshop concludes, remote participants will have one week to finish their footage and mail it back to us in the prepaid mailer provided in kits. All the workshop footage from both in-person and remote participants will then be edited together (note: some footage may need to be cut out for equipment safety and time issues) and taken to LightPress for a professional digital transfer. This transfer, plus the original footage, plus some new footage will then be shown at Engauge Experimental Film Festival in a uniquely immersive installation happening &/or expanded cinema event at NWFF performed by instructors Avida & Devon, hopefully for an in-person audience of some sort or another. All of this adds up to a never-before-attempted multifaceted feat of direct animation bravery, we hope you will join us for the adventure!

Workshop Materials

Both in-person and remote participants (the latter mailed ahead) will be provided a toolkit with: clear and black 16mm film leader, MT washi tape, and a small magical stainless steel combination multi-scratching and serrated edge washi tearing tool. Participants may also use their own tools for scratching variations & washi tape manipulation (such as xacto tools, razor blades, arrowheads, etc), and other direct animation techniques – use of these additional tools will be provided for in-person participants.

If you have questions about the workshop, you can email Derek Edamura at derek@nwfilmforum.org or Interbay Cinema Society at team@interbaycinemasociety.org.