Week 8: Mark Fiore

We watched a couple of Fiore's animtions in class, and I liked them because they were a good example of the simple animations we can create in this class. For the most part, the drawings in his animations are still, and there is once character that moves its face (eyes, eyebrows, mouth, etc) and sometimes moves its body a bit. These shorts are mainly for sending a quick message about something relevent in the news, and less about the complicated/extravagant animation. This is just another example of how meaning can come across in a strong way even if the way it is portrayed is not spectacular. Simple effects like a glowing light from a computer monitor give the shorts life and personality.

Week 7: I Met the Walrus

This is one of the cooler text animations I've ever seen. It is fairly simple in the sense that the text and hand-drawn animations match up exactly to what the interviewer/John Lennon is saying. It creates some nice visuals to accompany the statements that John Lennon is making. For example, when John Lennon discusses the idea of trivial v. profound, there is an animation of a Trivial Pursuit Card. This isn't actually relevant to the interview, its just a word translated into a drawing. I love the rotoscope effect - I think it works better with the time period in which the interview was conducted as opposed to a real life recording. There aren't any elaborate colors or really complicated drawings, but I think it is more effective this way. Simple and to the point.

Week 6: Creep - Low Morale

This animation is a very interesting take on Radiohead's Creep.The main character is a simple, thumb-shaped man who stands in one spot for most of the music video. As he sings, the environment around him constantly changes to reflect his meaning of the lyrics. In class we learned that this animation is composed of hundreds of individual drawings that are all compiled into one frame. I think this works well because it gives the viewer the opportunity to watch the environment unfold and transform, and since the character isn't really moving, he isnt a distraction from his elaborate surroundings.

Week 5: Jan Svankmajer - tma/svetlo/tma (Darkness/Light/Darkness)

I think this may be my favorite piece that I have watched so far. The entire stop-motion animation takes place in a small, empty room, and different body parts enter the room one at a time. It starts off with just one hand and two eyeballs, and then another hand, a pair of ears, and so on. The body parts rearrange themselves as each new one enters the room, and it gives the viewer a fun way to see how body parts would work if they were put together differently. There is a real struggle to get the bigger body parts (such as the head) in the room, and I like how each limb reacts in a unique way. The limbs and organs have a distinct personality, and when two or more parts join together, they turn into one united being. The development of the body and the pace of the animation are perfectly timed, and the lights being turned out after there is a whole body is a nice touch. Almost like the work that needed to be done is done, and its time for the man to rest peacefully.

Week 4: Stan Vanderbeek - Science Friction

Science Friction is a cut-out animation that I feel is ahead of its 1959 production date. The animation is very complex and jumps from image to image rather quickly. It is a good representation and criticism of the American conformist culture that was present around the Cold War. The music is fast paced to compliment the rapid movement of the animation. I really like the way Vanderbeek combines different images (such as a dogs head on a human body), and he is extremely successful at keeping the viewers attention. The combination of real life film, cut-out art and hand drawn animation work together better than I could have ever thought possible.

Week 3: Max Fleischer - Out of the Inkwell

I loved the interaction between the artist and the animation in this particular piece. At one point, the artist is holding the clown onto the piece of paper to stop him from moving around while he is trying to draw. This gives the clown a real sense of character as opposed to just being a blob of ink on a sheet of paper. My favorite part was when the clown takes the ink off of his head and throws it onto the artist - it created a surreal and humorous feel to the animation. I can't imagine how much effort was put into this to make the people interact perfectly with the clown and the environment. The backrgound music gives the entire video a light and entertaining mood.
　

Week 2: Norman McLaren - Dots

I really enjoyed how simple this short animation was. It consisted of a red background with various green dots moving throughout the screen. It took me a little while to appreciate it because I had to look back and realize that this was made in 1940. The cute and quirky sound effects fit the movement of the dots well, and I liked how as the dots got more complicated, so did the sound effects. I viewed this as some sort of retro poster art come to life. There wasn't really any story, more just an entertaining combination of shapes and sounds.