Spirited Away

The animation viewed this week was different from the usual animations that we view.  We watched more about the making of the animation, through the storyboard process and such.  The actual animation, is a full length animation created by Hayao Miyazaki, and is called Spirited Away.  Although we didn't view the actual animation, just from watching how the storyboards are made you get a lot of information regarding the process or animation and various techniques that are used.  Since a lot of the time we do animation using flash, we miss a lot of the in-between steps that are used with hand-drawn animations.  Here we see how all the main scenes are drawn and then how the animators have to go back and do the in-between scenes.  It is twice as much work as it would be on the computer, but it creates an amazing piece at the end.  The other interesting aspect about the process of story boarding and animation, is the use of the real world to create this imaginary world.  For one instance, in order to see how they would draw a dragon opening its mouth and using its teeth, they actually went to study a dog and how his jaws open and how his teeth clamp down.  I hear alot of animators doing this, such as with the Disney movies studying the savannah for the Lion King, and studying the Great Barrier Reef in Australia for the Finding Nemo movie.  Now, even with this animation that is done half way across the world, the same techniques are used which really shows how beneficial it is to study the things around you in order to get a real understanding of how to create this imaginary world.

The Moon and the Son Animation

The animation viewed this week was created by John Canemaker, and was title The Moon and the Son.  It was a longer clip than most of the others viewed, and therefore, it presented alot of ideas as to how animation can really tell a story unlike a film with live action.  The whole animation was a documentary between John and his father, and he mixed together pictures and video of his real life with animation to develop this story of how he perceived his father throughout his entire life as a child.  The use of style in which he animated really helped understand the point of view that may not be able to be achieved using life action. For one example he made the images look as though they were drawn with crayon and not exactly in the lines, such a child would have made the images which helped to reiterate the idea that this is what John has seen as a child.  As the story progressed animation was used to deliver the literal meanings of metaphors and especially the color that was used.  Most scenes started out with warm colors and quickly changed to dark colors or reds to express this change of emotion.  The way in which he showed how animation can be used within someone's life to help them express their thoughts, along with this own techniques he used to deliver his own story made for a very effective and amazing final animation.

The two animations viewed this week consisted of Billy Plymptom's The Fan and the Flower, and Adam Phillips Bitey Castle Animations.  Both of them portrayed the personalities and stories of characters in unique ways but without the characters really talking in any way.  In The Fan and the Flower, we see a story of forbidden love being played out by a fan and a flower who love each other but can never really touch.  We see the "personality" of the fan come through in the way it spins it's blades and the actions it does to attract the attention of the flower.  The flower we see portray the characteristics of a typical girl in a relationship, and is the only object in color in the whole animation perhaps to show beauty or differentiate herself from the other objects in black and white.  Although it looks like a simple animation it is able to give a lot of information about a story through color, narration, and shadows.

Adams Phillips Bitey Castle Animations are a lot more in depth with color and style, but still portray characters on the same level as the first animations.  We get a sense of the character Bitey who comes across as an instigator and somewhat of a teenage boy.  Although all the characters are fictitious, they all come alive in their own way and come together to create this amazing short story that looks almost real in a sense with the way light, color, and the details that are used.  Both are extremely interesting pieces showing the portrayal of characters and events that take place in very different ways.