IDD Week 12

A few years ago I first watched Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away for the first time. At that time I knew that I saw something different and in my opinion something better than any other animations I was used to. I went on to see Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle and again I was hooked on the beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. Watching this film again recently later reminded me of the reasons I liked Spirited Away in the first place. But this time I also find myself looking at the film from a very different perspective. I have become aware of the camera movements, the music and mostly the amazing artwork and colors. I also found myself interested in learning more about Hayao Miyazaki and curious about his inspirations.

Hayao Miyazaki has been a world-renowned director of animation and manga since 1963. He has won numerous awards for his works including an Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Spirited Away at the 75^th Academy Awards, 2002 Best Film and Best Song Awards at the Japanese Academy, 2002 New York Critics Circle Award and a Golden Bear for Spirited Away at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.  He directed and wrote the original Japanese screenplay Sen and Chihiro no kamikakuhi which was released in Japan in July 2001. Because of his reputation, Walt Disney Films with Pixar’s Director John Lesseter were eager to translate this film into an English version Spirited Away which was released in North America in 2002. Miyazaki’s film received raved reviews and has grossed more that $274 million dollars. It is the highest grossing film in Japanese history.

Spirited Away is a Japanese fairytale that centers on a ten year old girl Chihiro. Chihiro because of love is transformed from a sulky and unadventurous girl to a brave, hardworking and compassionate one. Chihiro and her family find themselves in an abandoned theme park where Chihiro’s parents gorge on food that was meant for the gods. The abandoned theme park turns out to be a bath house for the gods, where humans are not welcome. Because of Chihiro’s parents indiscretions they are turned into pigs. Chihiro is now alone in a strange world where she is not wanted. She needs to not only protect herself but to rescue her parents. Along the way Chihiro shows feisty determination and an unselfish love towards her new friend Haku and other members of this strange world. Not only is she transformed but they are transformed as well. Disney Pictures released along with the DVD of Spirited Away a second disk explaining some of the background of the making of Spirited Away. In this disk the narrator explains that Miyazaki takes inspiration from people he knows. I learned that Miyazaki’s inspiration for Chihiro was a ten year old daughter of a friend. Miyazaki wanted to put this girl’s feisty nature down in a film before she matured and changed.

For me the storyline was a typical story of self transformation. It centered on unselfish love and self confidence. It reminded the viewer of the importance of not losing themselves and to never let anyone take away their identity. It was a good storyline that kept moving at a quick pace.  The music kept the story moving as well. The quiet piano keys and the more sweeping orchestra music were timed perfectly. The camera movements driving through the bushes and tracing the eel moving up towards the sky gave the film energy. Those camera angles along with the tight close up of the character Yubaba’s wrinkled and bird-like face were some of my favorites. I also liked the movement of the car passing telephone lines of the city. It seemed to show the movement of Chihiro from one world into a new one. What I think made this film so effective and better than most animations was its artwork. The drawings of the old style Japanese buildings were beautiful and had so many incredible details. From the drawings of the stone steps leading up to the buildings to the wooden floors everything looked very authentic. The drawings that struck me the most were the flowers on the bushes. Not only were they incredibly detailed and authentic, the colors were so vibrant they made the scenes beautiful to look at. Most of the scenes particularly the outside shots had spectacular colors. I also noticed that the color purple was very prevalent in the film and was used a lot in darker inside places such as the boiler room. For me the artwork and the color palette became a separate character in this film.

Spirited Away is an extraordinary animation that can be enjoyed by many generations. It is the type of film that can be watched over and over again. Different amazing elements will be spotted after each viewing. To me Spirited Away is more of an incredible piece of artwork than a story.

Works Cited

imbd. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://IMDB.com/‌title/‌awards>.

imdb. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://IMDB.com/‌name/‌bio>.

Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki. 2001. Buena Vista Home Entertainment. DVD.

notable biographies. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://notablebiographies.com/‌newsmakers2/‌2006/‌Miyazaki-Hayao>.

IDD Week 9

I like anime and find them to be good stories that have a lot of details. I appreciate the artwork and facial expressions of the big-eyed characters.  The biggest difference between anime and children’s cartoons is the smart storyline and dialogue.

Today I watched the anime Nichijou (Japanese for “My Normal Life”). Nichijou is a series about a High School surrounding a group of friends where very strange things happen.  It reminded me of some non-animated stories about High Schools found on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel (And just like those shows, this one also lies about how high school is really like). There is the smart girl who wears glasses, reads books, and rarely ever shows any emotion, the girl who is energetic but has no motivation to do her schoolwork, and the common sense girl who happens to have blue hair. The school has the nervous teacher who kids prank and a Principal that tells corny jokes. This story also has a robot that has a wind up key in her back but is trying to hide the fact that she is a robot. She lives with an eight-year-old girl who apparently built her and can invent other things, and a cat with a handkerchief that allows him to talk. In the first episode there are a few story lines happening. One is that the robot collides with a boy and an explosion occurs. In another scene the robot is seen trapped on a roof. The episodes all have a cliffhanger. All of these characters provide good story lines.

Many things struck me as I was watching this anime. First, I realized the importance of good characters for good plots, and second, the effectiveness of camera angles.  In Nichijou the camera angles move from aerial views, to upward shots and to close ups. I particularly like the way the creator stresses emotion. I would like to use in my animation techniques like characters turning white or growing large when angry or the drop of sweat on the back of the characters’ heads when they are anxious. 

In some ways Nichijou’s drawings reminded me of Pixar’s Toy Story’s drawings. They were simple and realistic looking.  It also occurred to me that in Toy Story, characters like Woody and Andy share the same big eyed features as found in anime (except Woody has an excuse for that since he’s a toy). Mostly what Anime and Pixar have in common is their wide appeal to people of all ages.

Works Cited

Nichijou Part 1. animefuel. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://animefuel.com>.

IDD Week 8

It is so exciting to me to see how the web continues to evolve. Using banners as a form of product advertising is one that I believe to be genius. Banners not only are an effective way to advertise a product it is also an effective way for free websites to make money. Banners on the internet are essentially the new television commercials. The difference is that banners cater to a new interactive generation of consumers.

I viewed several of the banners on bannerblog.com. After watching each banner a few times I believe the California Almond banner is the most effective. The banner does not have the Mission Impossible music or the interactive shark for me to avoid or the opportunity to choose the story plot. However, it made me want almonds. And unlike some of the other banners I was always aware of the product being advertised. The banner was not obtrusive but was eye catching. It very simply asked a person who perhaps has been working for some time on the computer, “What are you craving?” The colors used were effective in describing the various types of almonds. Orange is a good visual for a spicy almond just as avocado green is a good visual for a savory one. With the click of the mouse a new word was spun. Clicking the mouse was like pulling the arm of a slot machine. It was fun. This banner is effective in suggesting that almonds are what you are craving. Once the banner got the attention, the user would be surprised with a few simple mouse clicks how much they could learn about California Almonds.

When designing a banner I will keep in mind these techniques. I would keep in mind that my banner must be appealing to the consumer. I would keep in mind the importance of color choose, font style and wording. I would keep in mind the importance of keeping the focus on the product. With the ability to use buttons I would be able to manipulate the consumer into viewing a lot of information on my product relatively quickly. If successful my banner will make the consumer need my product. Because the consumer can at any time stop viewing the banner I will keep in mind the importance of making it fun to click the mouse.

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/

IDD Week 5

Animated poems recited by the poets themselves brought me a whole new appreciation for the genre. The talents of both the poets and the animators come together and create something wonderful.

A particular favorite of mine is Chris Amhaus’s animation of Lisa Jarnot’s Poem Beginning with a Line by Frank Lima. I should say “how terrific” it is, since that is a line repeated again and again. The poem talks about how “terrific” it is to be able to dream whatever you want. Chris Amhaus makes you feel like you are in a crazy dream. He makes you feel as if you are sailing through the sky, walking down a street alone at night and then free falling from the sky, just like the feeling of a dream. Cows that are slightly misshaped jump across the scenes. On the Poetry Everywhere website there is a quote by Lisa Janot as saying about poems, “I think poems are always collages on some level. Collage is a way to force awareness out of the random flow of information that’s constantly bombarding us.” I think that may be true to some extent for animation as well. I believe it is exactly what the animator brought across. He created a collage of images showing the stream of sub consciousness a person may experience while dreaming.  The camera’s movement and angles make the viewer feel that they are moving along with the character. The camera movement is why this animation worked. With the help of the color palette mostly black and white with pops of color, and the fast camera movement I felt like I was in this dream.  The pace of the animation and the soft music was timed well with the poet’s voice. The music did not overwhelm the piece but gave it a light happy dreamlike quality. What I really like about it is how it combines stock-motion and 2-d animation to display it. I found it pretty cool to watch because the different styles of animations helped make the character that I believe was dreaming stand out. I would use this method to do just that. I think it is a great way to differentiate the character from the background. The clay makes the characters soft looking and very likeable. I would also use the same camera movements to make the characters move from one frame to the next. I would also pace the movement of the character timed with the movement of the music.

Another animation of a poem that I liked was animator Tommy Simms’s Branch Library, narrated by Edward Hirsch. This had probably the most fluid animation out of all the animations I watched. The drawings were simple but the movements of the boy flying through the stacks of books and out into the blue sky gave the sensation of flying like a bird.  I believe the poet may have written this about himself. I would have liked if the balding man narrating had a beak-like nose too. I think that if I were the animator I would have drawn him that way, leading the viewer to believe that the man is talking about his younger self. The animator chooses to make the boy fly like a bird, emphasizing the limitless adventures and joy the books brought to him. What makes this animation work for me is the use of color and the simplistic drawings. The primary colors pop from the page and remind me of children’s picture books and cartoons. It gives a happy childlike quality to it, reminding the viewer the innocence that only a child has. In my own work I will keep in mind the importance of the color palette. In this animation we see the boy flying through the book-stacks like a bird with his shirt shaped like wings and his nose shaped like a beak.  I would use this method of giving humans animal characteristics to show what the character can be. I also like the movement of the older man’s mouth and eyes. It is very simple. His very small upward eye movement directs the viewer’s eye to the next scene. That was very simple yet very effective. I would use this to move my animation along.

The animations of poems that I viewed were all fun to watch. I have not read this many poems in a very long time and I have never enjoyed poetry like this before.

Works Cited

Amhaus, Chris. “Poem Beginning with a line by Frank Lima.” Cartoon. Poetry Everywhere. National Endowment for the Arts, 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 8 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org////>.

Simms, Tommy. “Branch Library.” Cartoon. Poetry Everywhere. National Endowment for the Arts, 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 8 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org////>.

IDD Week 3

In telling stories, an animator must use many tools to connect the audience. The goal of the animator is for the viewer to understand the story he or she is trying to tell as well as to understand what the character is experiencing. The tools and techniques the animator uses all help to reinforce the story. The four shorts I viewed this week were all different and all successful. I watched each one several times and every time I came away with new insight and new appreciation for what the animator created. My favorite was The Cat Came Back.

 The Cat Came Back reminded me of all the cartoons I love. Some of the things that I appreciated the most were the animator’s use of hyperbole, music and perspective in each of the scenes. The character Old Mr. Johnson holding his breath turning blue in the bottom of the sea, the dynamite that the viewer knew would not work out well and the nine lives of the cat were all examples of extreme exaggeration that I believe makes great animation. One of my favorite parts that I found to be classic cartoon was the railroad track scene. Mr. Johnson is able to pass over the people tied to the tracks, jumps over the cow but is derailed by the bug. To me that is funny. The railroad tracks were fast and it helped moved the story along. The aerial camera angle looking down as the character falls into the pit helped tell the story of this pathetic character. Just like the panoramic camera angles panning Mr. Johnson’s house in the first scene showed a tidy and orderly life the rest of the camera angles stress his total loss of control in the rest of the scenes. The camera angles also tell the viewer a little about Mr. Johnson. The close up shots of the character looking at the cat showed the personality of the character. It showed his happiness to let someone in his lonely life. His facial expressions when the cat broke his rattle showed something about Mr. Johnson’s attachment to his childhood. Mr. Johnson’s facial expressions were a big part of telling the story.

The animator’s use of music also told the story in this short. The slow paced but cheerful tuba music with the teacup keeping in time in the first scene told the story of this content and orderly character living alone. Once the cat showed up havoc began to strike. The singing with the faster tempo and catchy tune helped with the feeling of chaos and helped narrate the story. Whenever the character left the house the music changed. In scene that the character got on the boat trying to get rid of the cat for example, the music became a nautical, quick paced music. This fast paced music helped speed along those scenes. The music changed again when the character was down trotted and exhausted going back up the hill to his house. The scenes back in the house the singing returns, reinforcing that the cat came back and Mr. Johnson can not get rid of it. This music made it apparent that this was no longer Old Mr. Johnson’s house. The music kept the rhythm of the story.

The animator gave perspective to the character and his surroundings by the simple drawing of hills and roads. It showed the little house up away from town. It also stressed the distances the character went to rid himself of the cat.  The lines helped with the movement of the characters and aided in the rhythm and timing of the scenes. The close up of tree trunks showed Mr. Johnson deep in a very large forest, for example. These tall trees dwarfed Mr. Johnson, again going to great lengths to get rid of the cat. In his own house he was quite big. The animator showed Mr. Johnson as taking up most of the doorway to his house. Perhaps this was to show there really was no room for anyone but him there. All of the different perspectives the animator used for the character helped in telling the story.

I watched this animation many times. I am in awe of the animator’s creativeness.

Works Cited

Barker, Cordell. “The Cat Came Back.” Cartoon. NFB.ca. N.p., 1988. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://nfb.ca//cat-came-back>.

IDD Week 2

You know? I have been hearing a lot about how people feel discouraged about doing animations when they are not good at drawing. What they don’t seem to realize is that you do not have to be a good artist to make good animations. The animation “These are the Boring Bits,” is a prime example of this. This fifteen-minute clip about a man trying to decide if he should leave his current job just to see what else he can do with his life had what might have been some of the simplest drawing I have ever seen in an animation (well, not really but still). All of the characters were faces with no bodies and the only time you saw their hands was when they were picking up something. The backgrounds were also very simple with only a window or a poster in most of the scenes. However, what makes this animation so effective is because of what little it has (to me at least). The characters having no bodies gave the clip a very unique feel to it. I also loved how some things changed into different things like when Morgan’s (the main character) headset turns into an eye patch and pirate hook or when Morgan’s friend Caroline’s hair turns into a plant when she talks about how she wants to be a weed. Having these things helped make these scenes more interesting (which was good because without them they would be the most boring scenes).

Another example of simple drawing having an effect with animation is the short “Bendito Machine.” In this clip, we see what happens to a village that takes a machine created through some sort of religious like way and uses it for profit. With all the characters being silent, having shadowy designs and the only other color being the color of the sky, we are given a very interesting tale of what happens when you mess with nature only for your own gain.

I hope this shows you that you do not have to be good at drawing to get into animation. As long as you give it a unique feel to it, you can keep the audiences interests.

IDD Week 1

For IDD this week, we were assigned to watch a selection of animations and pick one to write about. Out of the ten animations I was given, I’ve watched two of them years before this assignment. One is “This Land,” and the one I picked was “Strong Bad Email #58- Dragon.”

The “Strong Bad Email” is a feature on the website homestarrunner.com. It stars Strong Bad who is a man with a Mexican wrestling mask for a face and boxing gloves for hands. In each episode he checks an email sent by an actual fan asking him something which he responds to while mocking the spelling errors of the sender. In this email, he was asked to draw a dragon. We then see him draw an s-shaped dragon with tiny wings and a big bulky arm and named it, “Trogdor the Burninator.” Then we cut to some of the other characters of the website making their own dragons. First was Coach Z, a tall skinny green man who wears a baseball cap sideways, who is drawing his dragon, which frankly looked more like a snake with a large head as apposed to a dragon. Next was Strong Mad, Strong Bad’s older brother who looked like a rectangular pro wrestler (sorry, that’s the only way I can describe him). Instead of drawing a dragon, we see him carving the word “DAGRON” into the table with an x-acto knife. Then we cut to Strong Sad, Strong Bad’s younger brother who has elephant feet (or hippo feet. No one knows for sure). We see him draw a much better-looking dragon than Strong Bad’s cartoony looking Trogdor. Strong Bad then burns it (hence the name Strong Bad) and walks away saying, “Trogdor strikes again!” Then we see a Trogdor theme song music video, which has become an Internet phenomenon.

When it comes to the artwork and animation, the creators make good use of it, especially when they move Strong Bad’s head when he’s in front of his computer to imply that he’s talking. Although the background for most of the cartoon is a dull blue wall, the designs for the characters more than make up for it, giving them a very cartoony feel to them. I also loved in the end when they showed a Trogdor music video where everything was presented like it was on a scroll from the medieval times giving it a good atmosphere. This was done better than in some of the other animations such as “Laid Off: A Day in the Life,” where the characters had very (and I mean Very) little animation and coloring which I found to be very boring. Back in the days of early animation, the creators of some cartoons such as Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes were more focused more on how fluid the animation was rather than the design of the characters, which is why I admire this animation so much.

I picked this animation because it was what introduced me to a great website. What got me had me hooked was the funny and cartoony looking characters and very funny writing. Strong Bad is hilarious in every email and this one is no exception. Since watching this show, homestarruner.com has always been one of my favorite websites of all time. (Even though they haven’t updated in almost a year.)