Kurosh ValaNejad; Research Artist: September 2026

INSPIRATION

Technical Innovation & Methodology

Analog Metaphor and Digital Interconnection

This project introduces a novel animation methodology that bridges historical avant-garde cinema with modern computation, transforming a difficult and grueling manual task into an act of meditative, ritualized creation. I am deconstructing and expanding upon the camera-less, direct-to-film techniques pioneered by early animators like Len Lye. While Lye's hand-scratched 16mm frames in Free Radicals masterfully captured energetic motion, maintaining volume and repeatability by hand must have been an exhausting hurdle. To streamline this process, I utilize an 8-step pipeline that leverages procedural repeatability to achieve fluid, three-dimensional motion.

For the bilingual countdown, the rotating numbers are modeled, animated, and rendered in black and white within Maya, 3D software. Sequenced onto a Super 16mm template in Photoshop, vectorized in Silhouette Studio, and mechanically scored before being layered and colored by hand.

Crucially, the physical handling of the film leader acts as a metaphor for structural restoration. I am developing a custom embossing process that utilizes a 3D printer to fabricate form-fitted embossing folders. Stamping traditional cultural iconography directly into the film substrate to represent the progression through the seven spiritual valleys allows the medium itself to carry the weight of our shared history. The computer does not replace the human touch; rather, it provides the repeatable structure needed to weave seven distinct artistic contributions into a seamless visual continuum.

In 1958 New Zealand Artist Len Lye used a direct-to-film technique to scratch ‘figures in motion’ onto 16mm black film leader to make Free Radicals, a 5 minute visual music set to bongo beats.

Isolated and Oscillating Y

Title and Credits Sequence

He used various scribes, from dental tools to arrowheads, (and I'd bet a comb) on the very small 10.24 mm x 7.49 mm frame of Super16 film.

The surface area of Super 16 film (`92 mm²)
is about 1/3 of a US penny (~285mm²).

I was in awe when I realized his crude marks were rotating in place, and seemed to be dancing in a 3D space. Maintaining volume in 2D drawings is very difficult when done by hand.

Rotating in Place and Dancing in a 3D Space

ARTIST STATEMENT

When deconstructing the analog processes developed by the pioneers of early animation, I inevitably find myself reconstructing them using digital technologies, while identifying opportunities to expand, and dare I say, improve them. With its affordance of proceduraily and repeatability, computers and computer--driven devices can make the tedious process of frame-by-frame animation less grueling.