Spirit Away

Spirit Away

I thought that this animation was really well done. The details throughout this movie were great. Some details that were good were the shadows of the people and the ghosts. These ghosts were well created and the shadows had an creepy sense to them. Going off the ghosts the way that they are created shows a lot about them. The opacity is dropped down so one can see through them unlike the humans in which the opacity is all the way up and they are solid.

Another detail is the water when the main character goes down the steps. This water splashes onto the steps and creates wakes that are being produced by the wind that is occurring.

With the water the is coming to show there is a reflection. This reflection is of the city in the distance. The lights form the city are beaming down onto the water. The lights are not solid thought, they have a glimmer because they are being distorted by the water. This makes the reflection more realistic.

The final detail that I enjoyed was when the two characters were running. The running was shown with everything around them as a blur. This helps to create the sense that they are moving at an extremely high pace and that no one can catch them.

Images are not the only thing good about this animation. The sound that is added helps everything come to life. For example the rain which is down excellent hits the buildings and makes the sound that rain should make. This helps the audience understand what is happening and gets a sense of the surroundings.

This movie seems like it is a good one and has a lot of interesting elements to it.

Bathtime In Clerkenwell - Aleksey Budovskiy

Bathtime In Clerkenwell

This animation was an interesting one in my mind. I thought the music went well with the animation. If there is a beat then the entire image bounces with the beat. I think that this is interesting because it engages the music with the animation.

I thought the details with the water coming out of the shower were great. The reason is that it sprayed everywhere when the person go into the bath. Also, I liked the birds who were drumming. They were militaristic which was interesting, along with that on how they were hatched also was militaristic.

I also thought that the usage of the clocks were nice. Going from a bird in the clock to the human since this shows that the birds actually successful in taking over the human world. The taking over can also been seen with the flags that are waving in the air. They are clock faces in which represents the birds. It is interesting that they use a famous clock, Big Ben, to get their point out that the birds wont take anymore from humans.

At the end I think it is interesting when the bird falls off the clock into the water and creates a splash. And an aerial view of London is shown to distinguish where it has taken place. Then at the end the entire animation was in the television and the birds actually rule the world in which case the human is in the clock.



Commercial for Converse

This animation is simple but shows a lot through the movement of the person in the animation. The animation gets its point across with the help of simple shapes. These simple shapes can not be manipulated by any ordinary shoe but when converse are added to the mix then that shoe can do anything. I like that he used color only for the shoes. This helps them to stand out and show the audience the product that is trying to be sold. Rather then hiding it and making the audience guess what the commercial is about. I think the commercial was a good, well made one.

The Fan and the Flower

This animation was a good one. I thought that the usage of shadows helped a great deal. The reason is that it shows the passage of time on a day by day setting. Also, by a time with the lady who owned the house getting older and older. The lady was shown to get older by going from a cane to a wheel chair in the shadows. Another aspect of time passing was with the fan when a lot of dust accumulated on it. This shows that it had not been tended to. Shadows can be very helpful if one does not want to create a person and deal with colors. Also this animation had something really interesting which was camera movements.

These movements were used to show how far away the fan was to the flower. These gave the animation depth to the location which was an empty room. The movement that the fan did was very interesting because not only did it do the regular fan movements but it would mimic other characters outside the window. An instance of this is when the bird came to the window. The fan tried to do the same thing that the bird did. This gave the fan more of a realistic feel because it wanted to have characteristics that it did not have. This was also shown when the flower came into the picture. The fan tried to win the heart of the flower by using its lights. This gave the appearance that the light was being manipulated when the fan rotated. This in turn cased shadows onto the flower. The shadows throughout this animation were good because it gave the idea that something more was happening without actually showing it.

As for the flower I thought it was interesting that it was the only thing to have color in it. Even when it reflected in the fan it was the fan who had the color it was the flower. I think that is interesting that there was not other color not even it the house. I can see that he wanted to keep things basic and then once the flower decided to accept the fan created the other aspect of the flower with colors coming out of it.

Some movements that I thought were nice is when the fan was trying to intrigue the flower with the various speeds it can go. When this happened the flower first blew in the wind and then once the fan got really fast the flower had to hold onto the table. So it would not fall off. I thought this was well done because it gave the flower some more life. The other movement was when the flower tried to reach the fan. This movement was with the flower and the table. I thought this was interesting because the flower basically wobbled the table over.

This animation was a good one and showed a lot with the simplest movements and the simplest color pallet.

The Moon and The Son by John Canemaker.

I thought that this animation was very well done. Very complex with different elements such as video, and pictures which were integrated into the animation. This part of the animation I thought was the best part. Because the animation would start with a picture then transfer to the animation and then start to move. I felt that these parts gave the animation more feeling that he was bring is real life images to life. Another transition that I like is when he takes animations that are already formed such as the moon and he turns them into another character. Following the moon the father turned into a snapping turtle. This is great to see that even though these are two different things that one can turn into the other. Another transformation is when the father goes from a cockroach to a bald eagle. This transformation is from something known not to be good to something that is respected in America. The final integration is when he used himself when he was forming the actual animation toward the end. I thought that this was important and interesting to see how far he has come as a person to be doing something that he likes even without the help from his father.

That was just how the integration of different elements were used in the animation that were nice and made the entire story able to follow. There are other parts of this animation that were nice to see that used symbolist elements. The cuff that were put onto the father became vicious animals that were biting the wrists of the father. I thought that when the family visited the father in prison and they could see him through a police officer who was there to visualize a pane of glass but with authority. Also to show that mob bosses that they were better then other people and had power by making them bigger then everyone else.

Overall I think that this was a really good animation. Told the story very well and had good details in the animation. It brought in outside sources; video, pictures to enhance the story. I enjoyed it.

Adam Philips - The Yuyu

I think that this movie is a good one. The reason is that there is a lot of movement with the main character. Since he is running away from the black cloud. Also there is a lot of movement with the black cloud. This give the viewer a lot to look at with both topics having so much movement. The characters do make up this video but the music that goes along with it helps out a ton. The gets faster when the chase begins and stays consistent when it is actually happening.

The main characters main features that help the viewer see that he is going fast is his hair. His hair is going to the back to make it look like he is traveling at a high speed. Along with the movement of his legs gives the appearance that he is running fast. Also when the main character is running he stops quickly and leaves a skid mark on the ground. This mark would not happen if he was moving slow. Some other features that he has during his run is when he swallows a bug. He gags and seems like he is uncomfortable with what just happened. This gives the reality like everyone when they swallow a bug it is uncomfortable with the result. The eyes of the main character are a good way to see what he is thinking. When he sees the black cloud appear they open up like moons. This gives the audience a representation that he is shocked at what happened. All of his features are good because they are over exaggerated so the audience can see what is happening and follow.

The other character the black cloud has features too. The movement from going slow to fast which was being a big cloud then forming into a tighter narrower stream has shown that it gathered speed. Also when the cloud was getting broken up by the goat thing it would break up into many different pieces. The little characters are running around. These characters are using the walk cycle but to a fast degree since they are being chased and in the end stepped on.

I like how it ended with the main character and a shot looking up at him. The reason is that it gives the representation that he is dominate over the little black guys.

Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer and Radiohead: Creep

Sledgehammer: This music video is interesting on how it is filmed. The scenes are cut to make it look like the main character is jumping from scene to scene. I think some good scenes are at the beginning. These scenes are parts of the face of Peter Gabriel. This gives the audience a sense of who this person is. The scenes give the audience a brief understanding of what the animator is trying to do. In my mind they are trying to show a unique display of the person along with the song. I like how the face goes to different themes. One being cotton candy hair to the face turning into fruit and vegetables and also having the face going on a roller coaster. I think it is interesting to see how the face transforms to different images that create a face in general. I like when the background goes to the roller coast because Peter's hair becomes disheveled to represent the wind. This is also very detailed because the hair is slightly out of place. One thing that I like is the video starts and ends the same way. They both end with starts on the screen. What I like in the end is Peter transforms into stars and walks off. This is a great because it shows that the song has ended and Peter is done singing. I think this video is good and it shows a lot about how a video can be shot.

Creep: I like the music video and how the entire thing is created in flash. Even though it is a flash project there are many details in it that show the audience how the singer is feeling. The details are not just with the main character but also the surroundings. The surroundings help to tell the story of what the main character is going through. Starting off with the main character and all the details that he goes through. His hand expressions. These are a huge part of what he is trying to show. The hands can be either relaxed or at times clenched. There are other characters in the video besides the main character. These characters are in the background. The way that two of these characters are formed by the inside to the out. This means that the bones show first then skin and clothes form over the bones. This is interesting since one never really looks at people first at their bones. Then to their clothes. It gives the characters a differ feeling since they are shown as vulnerable and then once the skin and clothes comes on they are yelling at each other. Some other details that are in this music video is the background in the window moves to show that time is going. Also with this the clock on the wall is also moving to show passing of time. This is nice because it shows you that the main character is basically in his own world. Some other one of the computer monitors has the image as if a web browser is up and that it is flickering. This shows some details with the smallest creation which is nice to realize that less might be more. Also when the fan appears it cause there to be wind. So the blinds and the cord is moving around to represent that there is a breeze that is being caused by the fan. I like that when the main character runs out the window pieces erupt out and then fall. Then when the character falls his tie floats up and his image is blurred in the outline so make it look like he is falling. Once he falls the trash in the front has flies and there is a cigarette that is still slightly lit and has some smoke coming out of it. I really like this music video there are simple graphic that make this video so great.

Surrealist Animation

The animation that was done by Jan Svankmajer were very interesting. I like how the different stories connected with each other when one ends another picks up. They are different but I like how the different heads move and then eat each other which turns the other into a finer head and getting to clay head with not visible marks. I think it is interesting what they did with the animation. Creating an image out of either food or kitchen utensils and having them eat each other. The movement of these are unique because they do not move smoothly but they walk with a bobbing movement. These were interesting and cool.

The Brothers Quay are unique looking brothers. Their style of animation is one of a kind. Their documentary show a lot about who they are with their animation. I like how the characters move. The character's movements are a little jerky. I think this movement helps the audience understand how the characters move. The main thing is the movement. Even though it is weird it is interesting.

The final collection is by Geoff Lillemon. His website is unique. They are unique because of the colors that are used. Along with the colors that he uses the movements of the animations are different. He brings to life some different things with movement or by putting a moving image in a box that does not move. I think that the color is what makes the animations so bizare which is good. It wants the viewers to see more creations that he did.

All of these animations that were viewed were different from the norm, but when it comes to animation who says that there is a norm and someone should stick to it. Animation is opened and that it what is seen in these. I think that is nice that no one is stuck doing the same thing. Animation is different and that is what makes it nice.

The Danish Poet

The Danish Poet is a good animation. This about a young poet who has writers block. He decides to take a trip, psychologist suggests he take, on this trip he wants to meet a famous writer so he can get some ideas so he can start to write again. During this trip he meets a girl who is going to wed this other man but he still likes her. He asks her but she says no. In the end her husband dies and she waits for the poet and will keep growing her hair. The famous writer who the poet was going to see earlier on had died. At the funeral both the poet and the young woman meet up. The poet hears about the death and sees that this is a sign. They wed and during their marriage the woman decides to cut off her hair since by then it had grown a ton.

This animation is a good one. The reason is that there are simple designs that bring out the detail. One example of this is in the house roof at the beginning. The shingles give the illusion that the shingles do exist which I like. I also think that at the point 2 minutes and 22 seconds when the animation goes in to talk about the story and it goes to black and white is a good transition. It gives the viewer a chance to understand that the animation is now in a different time frame and talking about something else and not the main character. Then at the end of the story telling the pull out and going back to color is good. This is all good.

The story is and background are not the only things that are good. The characters are good too. the psychologist is good. He had a main theme of smoking his cigar and his wild hair. This give the audience a chance give this character a main feature. Another is the boat. It always has the same people on it. From the poet, to the hikers, to the drunk people and the mailman. These people always have the same movements going onto the boat then leaving the boat. Another is the mean dog. The dog is aggressive and and always bark to the poet. I like how his mouth is a light shade which shows the inner part of the mouth. Finally the character who has a main theme is the farmer across the valley. This character always has a hat pulled over his face. This gives the character a sense of mystery to the audience. The audience never sees the face which I like.

I like the color of this animation. It has a theme of begin bright and not really dark. Even during the small storm the colors are not really dark. This was a good animation and I liked it.

Old Mill

The Old Mill video is good for several reasons. The way that the movie begins and ends has is the same. This is good because at the beginning there is an establishing shot which helps the viewers see what the movie is about. Then at the end it is the same shot since the storm hit it shows the cobweb ripped. This give the viewers a sense of what happened and how violent the storm was.

Also, the detail in the animals make it a good movie. The shading on the different animals gives the views a sense that they are alive and really interacting with each other. Along with the shading the interaction between the frogs is good. The interaction when they are croaking is good. The reason is when they croaking the lily pad moves which moves the water and makes a ripple. This is the small things that makes this a good movie. The croaking is not the only thing that is good. When they learn other frogs are near they smile and begin again. This is a good way to keep everything going.

The storm is also a good place where the detail is good. The reason is the the music that is playing picks up and when the storm is at its peak so is the music. The music gives the feel that a storm is happening. Another part of the storm that is good is the lightening. This is good because when the light flickers it gives the appeal that lightening happens. The flicker happens outside and also inside the mill which is good. Since there are holes in the mill light should be coming in.

Old Mill is a good short movie that gives a lot of detail with the simplest desgin.

Observation on Watched Work

There are many differences between the three different works. The four different works are "Gertie the Dinosaur," "How a Mosquito Operates," "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" and "Beyond the Clouds." These all are great designs of animation even though they are made in a different way.

The first one that will be talked about is "Gertie the Dinosaur." This is about a dinosaur and how it interacts with the creator Winson McCay. The good parts of this animation is that it is drawn frame by frame which in itself is good. The way the dinosaur moves has good detail. The reason is the there are shadows on the feet. This even though is something small gives a lot of detail and also shows that there is depth to the field. Also, when the dinosaur eats something it's throat expands as to show something is going down to the stomach. Another good dpart is it's mouth. The mouth has a black part to it which shows that there hole and it is dark because one usually can't see what is in someone elses mouth. Another good part to this animation is when the dinosaur cries. The tears fall down and splash on the ground. This gives the idea that when they hit the ground they fall apart. Also when the dinosaur interacts with the elephant. The big part is with the water. When the elephant splashes the dinosaur it shows that the elephant gets wet. Also that the rock that the dinosaur throws is also wet. The viewers can see that with the drops falling off when the rock is thrown. This is a good animation with a lot of small items that brings out the details.

The next one is "How a Mosquito Operates," which is also made by Winsor McCay. This animation is about a mosquito who is drinking blood from a man trying to sleep. This animation is a good one which has simple draws to create detail. A good part in this is when the mosquito sharpens his pincher. The good part for this is that chips fly off to make it look like it is getting sharper. Another part of the movie that is good is when the mosquito actually drinks the blood. The reason is that a line in the back of the mosquito goes which represents the blood going from the man to the mosquito. Another good part of this is the man's face. How he reacts originally then slowly falls asleep. Also when the man actually makes a move to kill the mosquito and slap the part is that there are marks that fly off his face. These represent the action that was taken against the mosquito. The final part is that the blood pouch on the mosquito grows and grows when it drinks blood. Then finally at the end the blood pouch bursts since it grw up could not take anymore.

The next animation is "The Adventures of Prince Achmed." This animation is about a prince and how he interacts with other people. He is on an elephant riding along and meeting other people. This is a different kind of animation. The reason this animation is different is because it was created with silhouettes. This is an interesting way to create an animation. The reason is that this too like the first two are very hard to create. The reason is that a person has to go step by step through this animation. The animation has has great detail. These are made by just with a silhouette. But the detail on what is casting the silhouette is nice.

The final one is called "Beyond the Clouds," this animation was done by Makoto Shinkai. This animation is different from the others. The reason is the animation was done in a computer based program rather then drawing out everything. Also everything is in 3D rather then 2D. The 3D gives a different prespective. It gives the audience more depth to look at rather then looking at 2D animation. In the "Beyond the Clouds" the animation is good because the it gives the representation that this is actually living people. Whether it is the interaction with one another or the interaction with nature such as wind. Another simple animation that was put into this animation was when one of the characters was buffing out smoke. The reason that they were buffing out smoke is that it was cold and when one breathes in cold air the air mixes. This is a simple animation but helps the viewers understand what is happening

All of these animations are good from the first to the last.

Introduction

My name is Tommy Ruth and I am a Media Production major IDD minor. I was born in Guatemala City and came to the USA when I was 18 months old.

First what I expect out of this class. I would like to learn the program Flash and be able to animate images to create small movies. Also I would like to learn how to bring flash files into dreamweaver. This would then enhance my website designs and make them more interactive.

There are many different mediums where creativity can come to life. These can be seen in art, design, film and animation. All of these have a unique style. When I hear that word art I think of paintings and how the brush stroke can make a painting stand out more.

With design I think of logos for different companies and how when you see a certain logo you instantly think of a product. The thing I like about designs is that they can represent a company or they can be creative and mean something to one person and something completely different to another. It all depends on the prospective.

As for film I like how they are put together. There are many ways a film can be put together either with a ton of post production or very little. It all depends on what kind of film is being created.

Then with animation I like how the smallest detail can help the audience get a grasp of what is going on. The detail is really key to distinguish what is happening. All four of these categories can be made into something special if one really cares to put in the time. The end result can always vary which is what is so great about these different categories. The imagination is the driving force with all of them.