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.