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. 

IDD 301 Post 1

IDD 301 Post 1

I am Casey Farricielli. I am a senior at QU. Public Relations is my major and IDD is my minor. I am from Milford, CT.

I enjoyed the screenings on animation. The animations our class viewed were all very different and each one unique. Some of them I liked more than others. I enjoyed the silhouette animations more than the basic cartoons. The vibe I got from the animation depended on the type of cartoon it was.

The Winsor McCoy animation was very different from the rest of the animations we watched. Wow, we have come a long way since this cartoon! I forgot how cartoons used to look--black and white and not much detail. The background was very plain. The attention was completely on the funny-looking dinosaur dancing around the screen. The dino executed simple movements like eating, dancing, and smiling. I did wonder how this is made? The movements were most likely drawn because of the repetitive movements. I enjoyed this animation for a short time. After a couple minutes of this screening, I was no longer interested.

The next screening was "the Adventures of Prince Achmed." The characters' movements were superfluous as each shape forms into another. There was room for interpretation because it lacked speaking parts. The cartoon was unusual because all the characters were black with a bright background and the frightening music added emotion without using words. One character stood out the most. A creepy handed character lurking around the screen hinted that he was the enemy.

Zumba Kamera made a creative colorful cartoon. I admired the background colors of this one because it reminded me of my favorite childhood cartoon--The Lion King! The mixture of orange, yellow, and red reminded me of lion features and sunsets. The plot was action-packed compared to McCoy's lonely dinosaur. The characters in the animation knock down a temple and destroy other characters and then a new temple makes eyeballs. When we viewed this in class, the class was  mesmerized! The plot was a far cry from the previous screenings because it was more violent and action-packed. There were little to no speaking roles just like "The Adventures of Prince Achmed." However, there were funny high-pitched voices screaming. The loops of animation in this animation provided nonstop movement. This cartoon was not choppy like the McCoy's cartoon because this cartoon uses silhouettes. These loops of animation make this screening more lively and advanced.  There is illusion but still flat and 2 dimension.

On the contrary, the trailer we watched by Makoto Shinkai was unlike the others. Shinkai used detailed facial expressions and unique lighting for sunrises and sunsets to create an extremely advanced and colorful animation. This animation mainly differed from the other screenings because it contained a complicated story-line. The lighting and shadows made the animation look 3D. I would like to emulate the brilliant sunsets in my projects.