Study Task 8 - Reflective Writing

Reflection on Practical Response 

My academic writing focussed on how the synthesis of character and background is important in animation narrative because the way they are incorporated can change the entire tone and message of the film. The catalyst to my practical work was when I explored an animation method whereby drawn characters are infused into real life spaces. This can be seen in the animation Muto (2008) by the artist Blu where hundreds of paintings make up an animated mural. It is a perfect example of how using a literal surrounding can influence the dynamic of animation- in regards to size, distance, and whether the building or wall may have a deeper connotation which could assist portraying the meaning of a narrative.

Moving forward, I applied this technique in a more illustrative way (see Figure 1) as pre production is where my personal practice is focussed. Thus, I took inspiration from two artists who illustrate over real life photos, on Instagram: @g_g.g (see Figure 2) and @subwaydoodle. The unusual contrast and interaction between real life and drawings used in these illustrations and Marty Cooper’s animation Aug(de)mented Reality is a vastly different style to that of Disney’s Music Land however both these animations utilise surroundings and character design to tell a story. Music Land, a sentient space, also allowed a look into how anthropomorphising an environment can further its storytelling capabilities.

This attention to background is why I honed in on background design development; my academic research into colour theory and associations and the Kuleshov Effect then allowed me to delve into a specific fragment of backgrounds. The practical development harks back to my writing as my experimentation is addressing how altering the medium and colour of background can affect an image’s tone, mood and narrative message. Looking at associations of colour palettes also helps the understanding of why a certain colour evokes an emotion in the audience, and therefore their interaction with the work because “Lighting and colour are part of the backbone of emotion” … (Torogovnick, 2017). Learning of The Kuleshov Effect was pivotal for my practical work- it is a theoretical understanding of how an audience may perceive work and says that… “the shot in film always has two values: the one it carries in itself as a photographic image of reality and the one acquired when placed into juxtaposition with another shot. He reasoned further that the second value is more important to cinematic signification” … (Cook and Skylar). This is why my work focussed on changing only one variable; I experimented by combining my understanding of colour and the Kuleshov effect with a focus on environment sketches, as well as addressing sentient spaces. The zine I created is a document to go alongside my academic writing, it is a visual explanation of how varying colour and medium of a background can change the perception and meaning of a piece. The outcome is focussed on storytelling through background design.

 

Figure 1

 

Figure 2

Seminar Study Task