Cartoon Museum "Laughter Lab" Opens

Last night was the opening of a new exhibition at London's Cartoon Museum, titled Laughter Lab: What’s So Funny?, which seeks to "uncover the science behind funniness".  

The exhibition invites visitors to contribute to a science experiment which hopes to find out what makes a cartoon funny. 

The experiment is being conducted in collaboration with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. What makes us laugh? It's a complex question, with some surprising science behind it. 

Visual Storytelling with Buster Keaton

This week at Escape Studios our second year animators are completing a pantomime shot; creating a fun, entertaining piece of animation without words or dialogue. It's harder than it sounds. Without dialogue, you have to use camera, body language and facial expressions alone to communicate your story.  Of course, the masters of silent comedy faced the same problem, which is why animators can learn so much from the silent comedy stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  In the eight minute video above you can see why Keaton was a master of the visual gag.  Why should animators study this stuff? Because animators are actors, and we have to make our acting work on a visual level.  If your scene doesn't work with the sound turned off - it isn't working.