Study Task 5- Practical Approaches

I will be investigating the connection between background and character design in assisting narrative- I hope this may lead me to the reasons behind the decisions artists make in animations and that it will influence my work to create stronger designs. This directly relates to my personal practice because of my interest in pre-production (character and background) and a desire to be a better character animator. I imagine my sketchbook will be a mix of formal research, combined with experimental work of character and background design as well as hoping to look into sentient space and anthropomorphism. These may extend from traditional drawing techniques to digital work.

My work may also be influenced by the research I do- starting at interviews and research into successful artists work and their creative decisions, and that of more academic theories relating to film and animation theory. I will try to explore why we empathize with animation and hope to show my findings in my sketchbook work. In order to benefit my practice, the outcome of my practical work will most likely include character and background designs or possibly short animations relating to my research.

Essay Research

Initial research notes- a collection of the research I collected, attempting to contexualise quotes and find links to focus on a theme before writing an introduction

Study Task 4- Introduction

The connection between Character and Background Design in assisting narrative, and the theories behind how their use can evoke greater empathy or interaction from an audience.

I will be exploring the concept that background design is no longer secondary to character design and that by utilising them together, you can create a stronger narrative. In the Art of Howl’s Moving Castle, Michiyo Yasuda says that “to determine colours[...]I always take into consideration the personality and emotional development of each character” which is why even when Sophie becomes young again, her hair remained white, because her character had moved forwards so greatly. This example shows the impact of colour theory, the connection between character and background; but I also intend on considering how different mediums, 2D/3D or technology can either inhibit or benefit their success. The character design in “Feast” is restricted by the rendering of its technology (https://www.awn.com/animationworld/chat-kristina-reed-creating-winston-and-disney-s-feast).

 Collectively, I will be looking at what improves character and background design, in turn strengthening narrative. The theory is that an audience will empathise more with the story if they can believe it could truly exist, meaning the worlds created must be detailed and authentic. Such as in Brave, where technology enhanced the surroundings ten-fold using specific software, returning to the consideration of technology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgLu48OPI2g  . I am very interested in researching deeper into the idea of creating a believable world, the theory is supported by the assumption that “film protagonists never look into the camera lenses so as to not collapse the viewers ‘identification’ with the camera’s point of view”, p.61, Hyper Narrative Interactive Cinema. 

I believe that I will find a strong link between this theory and design. I suppose it will also follow the route of the ‘suspension of disbelief’, simply accepting a premise is real in order for the narrative to take hold. All these ideas hark back to our history of cave paintings, showing that storytelling and communicating through art is inherent to who we are, as “the caves structure a landscape of dreams” (Animated Landscapes, Chris Pallant) in the same way that animation visualises what once once just an idea. 

Sophie's hair in Howl's Moving Castle

Seminar - Group brainstorming

Articulated thoughts from group brainstorming on the whiteboard

This session was really useful in bouncing ideas off other people to get an idea of whether my initial path of research is one of substance, and it concretes the ideas I already had. Speaking with Dan especially in the group was helpful because our subjects somewhat crossed over in discussing the psychology behind film and narrative where he recommended the book: "Hyper Narrative Interactive cinema".

I feel more assured about developing research on how Character (design) interacts with surroundings and background to further narrative, and evoke empathy from an audience.
The response of style, shape and colour.
Looking at what makes effective narrative- what brings out audience emotion and empathy.
Look at sentient spaces which are perceived in real life for context.

Study Task 3 - Images and Theory

Task 3 - Images and Theory

My research this week included the texts below:

 From Mouse to Mermaid

 Chapter: The Curse of Masculinity, Susan Jeffords

I found this extract very interesting in its analysis; addressing ideas of gender, the values that are attached to the archetype of a ‘hero’ and how contextual events can impact these values portrayed. It is very raw in how it deconstructs the presentation and progression of men between the 80s and 90s in films, drawing reference to race, male fragility and reasoning.

Jeffords poses the idea that the 90s man was shown to need family to be whole (presented in Kindergarten cop) and that violence he may show is him being self destructive and just doing his job; in turn it shows his frailty as family is his resolution of changing. 90s films are allowing them to always react to an outside force, be it jobs, nations or friends which put them in these violent situations, therefore eliminating the idea that the man be blamed for his own internal aggression. Whereas 80s action- adventure films are glorifying scenes of destruction.

I cannot put into any better words than Jeffords on her reading on Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) not being portrayed as lethal, the first shot of him being surrounded by loving family, and the idea that an African- American black man who only kills when provoked is the ideal archetype for a predominantly white audience who do not want to see him oppose US systems. Murtaugh’s “masculinity, has not been taken away from his family, largely because, such films imply, he has not been out saving countries... not, in other words, been carrying the white man’s burden, o, by implication, his masculinity.” This racial subtext is dangerous in ensuring that ideas of heroism and bodily integrity are centered in a white body. These films suggest that if there is a body that has been historically victimized by society, it is not a person of colour but the unloved white man who needs love and attention to reform, not criticism. 

'Masculine' roles played by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Cyborg Cinema, Sue Short

The following text was relevant in how Jeffords looked at the Terminator, and then reading how the archetype was to be perceived by a leading man in the 1980s. Calling it an ‘obsolete model’, this text looks at the success and longevity of the SF genre itself, and looks at the successful qualities for a cyborg, highlighting how female cyborgs are often deemed inhuman and disposed of.

Having a look into a different direction for my research, I began to look at sentient spaces, or how character and background interact together. As a first pit stop I skimmed The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle. This gave me a quick insight in to what I could follow on to in research as it touches on how background colours interact with the emotion and development of a character and the colour cues that we don’t necessarily consciously notice but are placed to aid the narrative and Mitsunori Kataama (Director of Digital Animation) said ‘now I understand what people mean when they praise character depth in a film’ and the importance of strong character design!

Howl's Moving Castle

Study Task 2 - Reading and Understanding Texts

Found text:

Freezing vs Wrecking: Reworking the superhero genre in Disney's Frozen (2013) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Eve Benhamou

I hoped this text would focus more on the archetypal factors of superhero films and their characters and whilst there were some interesting cross comparisons between film, animation and comics it continued in a way which focussed on the obvious gender constructions we see across all. This genre generally maintains the themes of fear, power, spectacle and control where the protagonist explores their powers; but the approaches differ with gender. Benhamou mentions how hyper masculinity and aggression tend to be celebrated in male characters, or used as a comedic tool known as ‘playful knowingness’ e.g. Hancock, to further the narrative. But with female characters the aggression is quickly neutralized, in Frozen it could be speculated that Elsa is domesticated by her Father, symbolising the patriarchy. A wildness cannot better a female character but instead she receives a make-over- her sexualised body create a spectacle, over riding her powers and allowing this change to be ‘a key ritual of female coming into being.’

An interesting point in this article is when it’s postulated that performance of a known actor/singer (in animation in this case), an extratextual element can combine with intertextual elements to add complexity to a character and therefore affect how the audience may perceive them in regards to understanding good and evil.

Study Task 1 - Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas

Establishing a Research Question

 

Initial responses to what my interests are in order to brainstorm for a possible research question, with after thoughts throughout the session
 

In groups of 3 we then worked together to formulate some initial points and research questions from the what we were interested in above. I have summarised what I think will be important to my essay below:

 

 

Preparatory Task

How do the cultural contexts and identities impact on the content and function of animation?

Joanna Quinn - Body Beautiful (1990)

• Rob Brydon worked on the script.
• The Cardiff Ely Bread Riots - racially motivated violence after a dispute between two shopkeepers over the selling of bread; in the suburb of Ely in Cardiff during the September of 1991.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Ely_Bread_Riots

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-37183995

• In 1990 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill made provisions to license and monitor the performance of fertility treatment clinics and any research using human embryos in the UK. (www.wellcome.ac.uk) The independent taxation for women was introduced. For the first time married women were taxed separately from their husbands. (www.woyla.co.uk)

Isao Takahata - Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

• Takahata is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 It is based on the semi-autobiographical short story Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka.
• March 13: Seikan Tunnel opens, connecting Hokkaido and Honshu by rail for the first time. This link had been considered since the Taishō period (1912–1925), but serious surveying commenced only in 1946, induced by the loss of overseas territory at the end of World War II (1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945) and the need to accommodate returnees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel
• The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is a US federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans (American citizens or legal permanent residents) who had been interned by the United States government during World War II, but not the ethnic Japanese that had been taken from their homes in Latin America regardless of whether they remained in the United States, returned to Latin America or were deported to Japan after the war. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans#Japanese_Latin_Americans)

Disney - The Princess and the Frog (2009)

• Directors Ron Clements and John Musker pitched the film to Oprah on a trip to Disneyland, just for fun. She loved the idea so much that she asked to be a part of it (she plays Eudora).
• [Country of origin in the time set of the film]: Harlem Renaissance, term used to describe a flowering of African-American literature and art in the 1920s, mainly in the Harlem district of New York City. Southern black musicians brought jazz with them to the North and to Harlem.
• [In country of origin in the place of production (2009)] Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.
• 2 April 2009, one of the main 5 stages of one of the most serious crisis’ to hit the global economy since the Great Depression. At the London G20 summit on 2 April 2009, world leaders committed themselves to a $5tn (£3tn) fiscal expansion, an extra $1.1tn of resources to help the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions boost jobs and growth, and to reform of the banks.

Jan Švankmajer - Jabberwocky (1971)

• The film is loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky; Alice reads this as a sequel to her adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
• Normalization refers to a time where the restoration of firm party rule and the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia's status as a committed member of the socialist bloc, the restoration of continuity with the pre reform period
• February 11- The US, UK, USSR and others signed the Seabed Treaty, which prohibited the emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and other weapons of Mass Destruction on the ocean floor.

ParaNorman (2012) - produced by Laika

• There were 178 individual puppets created for the film's 61 characters (the main character Norman had 28 individual full body puppets and more than 8,000 faces). https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/the-tech-behind-paranorman/
• February 21- In Maryland, USA, County Council passes a bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity. November 6- voters approve Question, or the Maryland same-sex marriage referendum in response to the enactment of the Civil Marriage Protection Act; allowing same-sex couples to obtain a civil marriage license after 1 January, 2013.
• March 1 — Malaysian High Court Judge Rohana Yusuf rules that police have the power to ban a gay arts festival that aims to fight discrimination. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-police-reportedly-ban-gay-festival-in-malaysia-2011nov03-story.html