Hybridity Investigation

Hybridity Investigation

Chris Landreth "Ryan"
Chris Landreth studied engineering and worked as an engineer which developed into him doing animation as a second career. While being an engineer he designed, tested, and abused computer graphics software products. These products included movie grade animation software. The software intrigued him and his work got him familiar with the technology so much so that he started doing it as a hobby and then as a job. In 2004 he created and directed an animated documentary called "Ryan" about Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator living on skid row because of drug and alcohol abuse. The 14 minute film is an interpretation of an interview Chris had with Landreth. The baseline for the film was an audio recording Chris had of the interview. He animated around the soundtrack using his animation to illustrate the characters and emotions poetically. Instead of normal animation with "normal" looking characters Chris perceived his characters, including himself, with holes and chunks taken from their body. He uses this technique to portray the loss of ones self through life and how it gradually chunks away from who you are. He took what he felt the characters conscious and inner appearance looked like and put it on the outside so it was displayed to viewers the fragility of an artistic life.

Hybridity it the use of multiple art forms to create complexity and variety into a single work. This technique allows artist to explore the infinite possibilities and combinations art has to offer. Today the movement of ideas, capital and people is faster and wider than it has ever been before in history. The cultural dynamics of globalization have presented new challenges to the existing models for explaining the forms of belonging and the patterns of exchange that are occurring in the world. Because culture is no longer understood as the discrete and unique expression of activities and ideas that occur in particular places no culture can exist in isolation. Which means artist must branch out as well in order to satisfy the ever increasing cultural dynamic and convey its equally as increasingly complex concepts and ideals. Thats why hybridity is becoming so popular because artists are ditching single technique art work for the infinite possibilities hybridity has to offer.

Chris Landreth uses Hybridity in his film "Ryan" by combining the animation, photography, and a sound track. It might not be as apparent as some other artist's hybrid work but it relates to what I want to study the most. I want to make documentary styled films in order to show social issues and spread messages while also incorporating montage and outside themes. Landreth's does this by using hybridity to show what he believed his characters looked like on the inside and bringing it to the outside through
animation. Then he uses the actual recording of the interview he had with Ryan as the main soundtrack. The recording is art in its self because you can hear the real emotion Chris and Ryan express which makes the animation that much more real. Chris also uses real pictures to show what Ryan and other people looked like back then before life got complicated for him. He's doing this to show how Ryan was a real human being, a whole human being, which adds another layer to Chris's work.

This has inspired me to research different documentary styles and pursue the idea of using things other than film. I now express interest in animation, docudrama's, and interview style recordings all because of this work. I think Chris portrayed the interview beautifully and I hope one day I too can create such a well rounded piece of art.

Image addresses:
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https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nbkBjZKBLHQ/maxresdefault.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f7/Ryan_DVD.jpg/220px-Ryan_DVD.jpg