The Fan and The Flower

The fan is the center of attention in this animation. I like that the fan is such an ordinary object yet it is the main character. The fan has human characteristics. The fan can dance, fall in love, and bat its eyeballs. The fan and the flower grow fond of each other and try to get closer. What a cute idea for a plot! There isn't much in this animation. The plain white background allows the audience to focus on the simplicity of the plot and characters. There is humor in the narration. The narrator says the fan brings motion to the plants life. The narrator uses noises like bugs buzzing and doors slamming to make the animation feel more alive. There is not much music in the background of the animation. Occasionally there are trumpets or piano sounds. The climax of the story is the best part. The fan kept spinning and finally sets himself free. This allows the plant to get water from the ceiling. The creative plot of this animation is so simple. I could see why the animation was nominated for an oscar. It was a good animation to learn from. I found interesting details and comic relief in this story. There is just a little movement in this animation. Most of the energy was spent on keeping the plot simple.

William Kentridge

William Kentridge is an inspiration to me. He amazed me with his talented pieces of art. His revolutionary art works are inspiring. I admire the way he put together these drawings. First he filmed a drawing. Then he made changes and erased parts. He finished his work by filming it again. I think this is a good method of creating. 


William Kentridge's first animated movie came out in 1989. It was called Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris, in the series Drawings for Projection. The charcoal drawings Kentridge uses make the animation unique. He includes a self portrait in many of his works. He generally focuses on political and social themes. 


In his film, Monument, Kentridge uses charcoal to create the images. The images look surreal. They appear and slowly disappear. The story line if interesting. There is come political rivalry occurring. Some character is in a cage. The plot is a bit harsh and frightening. Kentridge uses a great deal of detail in this animation. The wrinkles of the faces of his characters pop out at you. 

Littlefoot

This colorful animation is more light-hearted than The Moon and the Sun. I enjoyed the green woods background in each scene. Since the background doesn't have much movement going on, the objects moving in each scene are the center of attention. For example, I focus on the scared character running from small insects in forest landscape. However the background creates a perfect setting. The green trees and moss look realistic. The sound in the animation adds a unique aspect. There are many character noises and not much background music. Funny gas noises come out of the blob-like character. I pay extra attention to the characters in this animation. They're design is very different. One character is human-like with a bear head with white eyes. What the characters do in the story is also interesting. The plot is funny and lighthearted. The smaller orange character runs from the bigger animal then attacks. The humorous situation ends with the father of the smaller orange animal yelling at the bigger animal to protect the child. The story is realistic in how a father protects a son. The detailed characters are fictional but have human-like bodies. I hope to create really different characters like the ones used in this story. The characters in this story are similar to Avatar characters because they both have human-like bodies and strange faces.

The Moon and the Sun

This story about a son's relationship with his dad is a great example of a portrait animation. The way he chose to tell the story is extremely unique. I enjoyed the use of black and white pictures and animations to tell a story. The narrated voices made the story come alive. The father's broken English tells more about where he's from. There are many details like this that bring realism to the story. The camera views kept changing to keep the audience attention. The serious tone of the story is what makes it seem realistic. However, the narrator still manages to tell the story colorfully. He couldn't express his feelings of his dad any other way. He sounds upset with his dad. He speaks highly of his mom. He used simple kid-like drawings, still pictures, and videos to portray his story. I admire the use of all these forms. I think this is what made the story so interesting.

Radiohead Creep Video

The background scene of the video was the office space. The windows portrayed the moving sky. The computer blinks a word document to show that the scene is progressing and the water cooler bubbles to represent changes in time. The fan activates the whole animation by its movement. You see a reaction from the movement when the papers fly all around the office space. What a cool effect!

It is interesting to note that you get a different perspective from the outside view during the short film. When the screen play changes from inside the office to outside, you are now looking in at the main character from outside the office. Then you watch him as he jumps out the window. This adds to the drama in the video. Then he is all alone with flying bugs by the dumpster. The bugs add some visual to indicate smell and filth.

I liked how the video has one scene without changing the angle view. The video also did a great job of including small details to add to the entire scene. The background stayed mostly the same because everything that took place in the film was in the office. The main characters act to commit suicide was the drama in the film. Great video! Overall I learned alot from it!

IDD 301 Post 3

IDD 301 Disney Animation

This Disney animation brought me back to childhood! It was an interesting film that included an enormous amount of detail. While viewing the animation, i noticed the differences in backgrounds, music, and characters.

The background of the short film varied. At the beginning of the film, the background was a hazy blue color. This background set the scene for the happy charcters. The background was not a bright blue color because it should not compete with the colorful depiction of the charcters. The background changes to sunset and remains the backdrop of the scenes that proceed. The background changes to a gloomy dark color at the climax of the film. The weather changes to become more severe with a shift from a calming sunset to a dark thunderstrom. There is thunder, lightning, and wind in a dark sky. The film ends in a blue early morning sky background.

The music in the Disney movie increases the emotional aspect of the plot. First the music starts out serene with violins playing. It switches to a disaster themed music with a rushed melody when the characters are running around in the thunderstorm. Finally the tune returns back to the sweet sounds of birds chirping, violins playing, and characters humming.

The charcters play a huge role in the Disney film. The bright colors of the animals contrasted with the dull backgrounds. The frogs light up one after another creating a nice visual effect when they are bouncing on the lilly pads. I watched the characters go blissful to frightened throughout the scenes in the film. They worry when the objects start to fly around making loud noises.

The Disney film effectively portrayed the theme, emotion, and plot of the animation without dialogue. Each of the variables I mentioned contributes to the overall plot. The backgrounds provided perfect backdrops to the scenes without covering up the vibrant colors used in the characters. In addition, Disney paired the short film with fitting melodies. The animators also did a great job in creating detailed facial expressions of all the charcters. I felt that the mixture of background, music, and charcter development really made the short film memorable. The Disney film exercises the saying action speaks louder than words!

IDD 301 Post 2

IDD 301 Assignment 2

          The animations we viewed were all about movement and surrealism. They each had this element of surprise and weirdness. For this reason I was intrigued and kept watching. The music portrayed the theme of the animations.  Dimensions of Diaglogue part 1 was not as interesting as part 2 because the music was not as upbeat and the plot was extremely repetitive. I enjoyed part 2 because the sounds of the sweet violin gave the animation more of a human feel. It was more realistic but still surreal. 

Prague Clock Tower

It is no surprise to me that Jan Švankmajer was from Prague. When I visited Prague last fall, I admired the many examples of beautiful architecture and artworks. For example, the center of Prague had this beautiful clock tower that I included above. This medieval clock is a huge tourist attraction of Prague because of its mystified beauty.