Module 7 Blog

When the Wind Blows 

The animation that I watched, “When the Wind Blows,” was very different from what I had first anticipated.  The movie, made in 1986, is about a couple that builds a shelter to prepare for a nuclear attack. The director, Jimmy T Murakami, has also directed “Battle Beyond the Stars,” and “The Christmas Carol.”

From just reading the title, I thought it would be about a couple in the country living their lives, but it ended up being very different. I don’t know much about nuclear wars and the holocaust, so this movie gave me a good perspective.

Looking at the animation itself, I found it very interesting. What I think stuck out most to me was the different types of drawing and animation that was used throughout the movie. Some scenes looked real while others were very much cartoons. This is different than most typical cartoon animations that I have seen. Most Disney movies like “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid “ have one consistent type of animation. There is one movie, “Enchanted,” that came into my mind when watching this movie. In Enchanted, there is real life acting with actors and sets, and there was also animation with cartoons. Even though “When the Wind Blows,” was nothing like this, it was one thing that was sort of similar. In “When the Wind Blows,”  I couldn’t pick one specific type of animation. There was once scene where the camera is panning through the house and it looks like everything is made out of clay. Then there is the scene where the couple is laying with blankets and the blankets look real while the couple is still cartoonish. These two scenes stuck out to me because they were so different.  It was very back in and forth in terms of how I perceived the movie. One minute I thought it was a scene made of clay, and then next minute it looked completely computer drawn. At the beginning of the movie, it was real people and real cars, which compares to the movie "Enchanted." I remember thinking, "Am I on the correct YouTube video." I was confused at why there wasn't an animation until the actual story started. Of everything that I took away from this movie, that was definitely the most memorable. Being able to use different types of animation in one movie can bring a lot to a story line. If someone brought up this idea to me before watching this movie, I would have been confused and probably would have thought it was a bad idea, but after watching, I think it is a really cool effect.

I also took note of the camera angles and sounds throughout the movie. The camera angles were great and the way the movie was shot overall was great. I like how they changed the way you looked a one specific place, such as the kitchen, so that you got to see it from all angles. This gives the audience more to work with and think about. I believe that imagination is a huge part of making an animation great, and I was able to imagine a lot during this movie because it gave so much information. This goes along with sound as well. The sounds used and even the voices of the character fit the movie perfectly. During some scenes, I was able to close me eyes and imagine being there with the characters. It is hard for a lot of movies to do that, especially animations.

Overall, I though the use of camera angles, animation types, and sounds all worked very well for the movie. Jimmy did a great job of showing deeper sides of the characters, giving more meaning to the story!

Music Animation Thoughts

Olympics 2008 Monkey Movie - BBC Sport
Click Here for Link

I chose the animation “Olympics 2008 Monkey Movie.” I found this to be a very cool animation and when I was watching it, it reminded me a lot of my younger years. When I was young, I loved playing video games with my brother, and for some reason, this animation reminded me a lot of that. Between the music and the event taking place, it all seemed very “video game” like.

I thought the music was perfect for this story. It was definitely a different style of music (something I am not used to), but I still found myself interested in what was going on. I think my favorite part was when the monkey and the pig meet. The music starts to sound very much like a video game and this is where I think it first reminded me of one. Looking at the music overall, I think they did a good job. It fit exactly how I would have imagined it to.

The timing of the animation has a lot to do with the music as well. Certain parts need to be timed perfectly with the music to get the full affect, and I think that this was done just how it should have been. The music starts to pick up as the journey goes on, which I thought was smart. This made me more eager to see what would happen in the end. If the music was dull the whole time, I don’t think I would have been so tempted to watch the entire thing through.

Before I wanted the animation with music, I wanted it on mute. I wanted to compare the animation with and without music to see if there is a big difference, which there is. I had a very different feeling about the story when I watched it on mute, which I thought was very interesting. I never thought music would have such an affect on a piece of work. After watching this, I was thinking a lot about the idea of music in any type of scene, whether its real or animated. Music has such a huge impact on the way someone interprets what is going on, and can be the difference between a good and a great scene.

Now that I have made an animation with music, I don’t think I will ever want to make an animation without some sort of music or noise in the future. It adds so much to a video, making it so much more exciting for the audience.

Lastly, looking at just the animation (not music), I would say they did a great job with techniques, angles, colors, and perspectives. I knew exactly what was going on during the entire story and the different perspective and angles gave it depth and meaning.

Poetry Animations

Brenda Cardenas- Song
One of my favorite animations is “Song” by Brenda Cardenas. What I thought was unique about this animation compared to the others was how it was made. The animation looks like it is in layers. Some of the layers are different textures, which gives it even more of a layered effect. For example, the man looking at the sunset and ocean looks like he is made of clay while the background looks like it was made on the computer. Like all the other animations, I also like how each phrase of the poem is animated to match its meaning. For example, the phrase “I glimpse their backs, volcanoes rising out of the sea,” is animated with whales jumping out of the water. The man is looking out at the sea, and the whales look like volcanoes coming out of the ocean. It is really cool to see how many different ways you can perceive a phrase. For my poem animation, I want to be able to match phrases with an animation that gives it more meaning than just what it is saying.

Maurice Kilwein Guevara- Dona Josefina Counsels Dona Concepcion Before Entering Sears
This animation is different than “Song” in a few ways. First, it is done using almost all drawings, and second, the animation does not give a “different” meaning to each phrase of the poem. The words match what is going on in the animation exactly, unlike “Song” where the animations give the text an alternate meaning. For example, the phrase “that’s right, he’s baldy,” shows a drawing of a bald man. It is simple and follows the poem exactly. I also found it very weird that the entire animation used drawings except the end with the Sears background. This showed me a different way to use animations (the drawing technique). I had never thought of doing an entire animation in drawing. It gives the poem a different effect.