Vera Neubauer

I went to the Corner house yesterday where Vera Neubauer was displaying some of her animations and discussing her work, I will talk more about the discussion later.  

The Animations were titled:

"Cannon Fodder" 1971

"Lady of the lake" 1995

"The mummy's curse" 1987

"I dance" 1999

"Wheel of life"1996

Vera Neubauer was born in Czechoslovakia, her early life was spent studying applied art, she then went on to do Print Making at the Royal College in London.  After that she began to get involved with animation.  The most prominent thing about her work was her use of very loose linear drawings, childlike and playful.  Using this method she was able to express her animations in a very simple way so that the story could be easily understood.  

"Cannon Fodder"

This short 1 minute black and white animation was the introduction, I immediately liked her loose childlike style which carried on throughout her other animations.  

"The Lady of The Lake"

The second animation was drawn using inks and mixed with live camera action.  The story is about a mermaid who falls in love with a man who lives on the land.  She goes to live with him on the condition that he treats her well.  if he strikes her 3 times she would have to return to the Water.  He in time does strike her 3 times on the third strike kills her whereby she returns to the sea. 

"The Mummy's Curse"

This animation was about the domination that can happen within relationships.  

"I Dance"

This was a very short piece, again very loose line drawing.  The lines looked like ink drawings on paper and the imagery moved quickly in a rhythmic way.  

"Wheel of Life"

This animation focused on the old testament, visionaries of love hate and sin.   

The discussion panel.  

During the discussion I learnt that Vera Neubauer has a very open approach to the way she works.  she gathers inspiration from whats happening around her, she also has a keen interest in fairy tales.  She feels that people can take great morals from them.  I noticed that Neubauer's work has a very cultural and spiritual feel to it, she uses natural elements most of the time in order to depict her story telling.  "The Wheel of life" was animated by line drawing in the sand, other natural things were used like seaweed, shells and stones. She talked about using the sources that are around her and at the time she was living near the beach.  

In response to being asked about how her story developed she said "The film made itself as if  i was the medium" her approach seems to be spontaneous and unstructured which allows for ideas to flow more freely.  

Throughout her visuals she used music in the background which made the story feel much more powerful, I as a viewer enjoyed the haunting essence inside each of the story's, there were chilling beautiful voices and wind and bass instruments to help get the point across to the viewer.