Mid-point of My Project #1

             

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Reflection of Homer 3D

The Simpson is recognized as a highly successful animated series. I really like it. It always makes ​​me feel very happy and relaxed.

The character design is really excellent I think. It created one kind of original and distinctive yellow people. Also, the character's personalities are very clear, everyone has everyone's features.

It always tries new things, and always able to cater to the trend of the times, like this Homer 3D. It combines the two-dimensional, three-dimensional and live action. We are used to watching the two-dimensional version. It is very fresh that the Homer Simpson becomes 3D.

And in this Homer 3D, it embodies a lot of usages of the three-dimensional technology. It is like to show us the interface of producing by using three-dimensional technology.

I liked texture of the pool, which is like jelly. It wasn't rendered as a very real effect. I think it is because the world is virtual. And these three completely different animation ways mix together, but don’t make people feel awkward.

Comment on Creature Comforts by Nick Park

I think very few people do not like the stop motion animation. It is sometimes a bit like using 3D technology, but has its unique charm. When I was looking at this animation, I can’t help think of the director himself. Nick park, almost all people who have some knowledge of animation will know him. He is a very low-key and quiet person. I think because of his personality, he uses animation to express his inner world. He likes to observe the animals and creates stories about animals, and his other two masterpieces, Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the sheep are well-known. So does Creature Comforts. Nick is different from Norman. Nick is more focused on the fun of the story and the characters, but this is also related to the limitations of stop motion animation. So in Creature Comforts, the range of movement is not big around animals, but even so we still feel very interesting. First, he gives the animals the personality of human. They have their own thoughts and can express, and some movements are like people, but they retain their own respective characteristics as animals as well. I initially thought it was done animation first and then dub the characters. However, I was wrong. After interviewing the ordinary people in the street, then made the animal characters, and put their words with these animals. Nick is really talent; the sound and the animation are perfect together. He also did well at many details, such as the animals were hesitant when thinking. This is where we need to learn. Details can make the story richer, and more vivid. The animation's interviewer from children to the old, it is about the animals’ opinions on the zoo on the one hand. On the other hand, the society is like a zoo, we are trapped in the zoo as animals. This animation is very interesting and meaningful. We laugh at it and start thinking at the same time.

Comment on Object Conversation by Paul Glabicki

Be honest to say I didn't understand this animation very clearly. It is very abstract, but I watched over and over again to try to understand the director's ideas. I think this animation is a very great attempt, whether in the past or now. He composed his pictures of various geometric shapes combined with the true shape of the objects and the real pictures and made the collage effect, also there are texts inserted. This form of animation even now is very rare. When I was looking at this video, I was amazed at his imagination and his talent and could make such a theme full of changes and abstract. He putted so much material together but feels concordant. I like him cutting black in frequently, which makes audiences think what happened. Also, pictures are related to the words of the woman and man in the background.

Comment on Dots by Norman McLaren

After watching this animation, I was attracted to see several of his other animations, and did a bit of investigation. Norman McLaren is a master, and I feel very ashamed that I've only seen one of his short animations before. He had a great influence on Canadian animation and even the world. He received numerous awards in his life, which every animator dream of. And he made more than 60 animations, which also makes me feel very surprised and amazed at his imagination and action. Norman McLaren became interested in cinematic techniques while studying at the Glasgow School of Art between 1932 and 1937 and spent his spare time making films and playing the organ. He thought "Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn". Many of his works were to study the motion and rhythm as the purpose, and did a large variety of experiments about materials and sounds, even using purely abstract graphics, color, coupled with the music to create visual effect. Dots is one kind of the works without character and plot. The whole picture is made by blue, black and red, seemingly simple, but with an unusual approach. Dots was made by drawing by hand directly on frames of film and sound track. This is why it is interesting. Norman was not like the others who animate on paper, he continued to try new technology in animation, so we can always learn from him.

My Project #1: Concept

By Researching Zeuxis, Plato, the Continuity Style and Castiglione, How I Feel About Mimesis.

In my opinion,

Animation has always been a kind of imitation of behavior. We cannot show the true nature of the world, but we are using an artistic way to express life. We can often see animated animals, which are like people living there. They cannot speak in the real life, but animators give them life to imitate human movement. Resonance is very important in the art. Impressing people is an essential element of a good work. We will laugh and cry when we are watching movies, because movies evoke our memories, or we have a feeling of being in the scenarios.

In Zeuxis's story, his and his competitor’s works deceived the public, they imitate perfectly. Animation in general has two types, one kind is very realistic, and one is created with the exaggerated shapes. But no matter what kind, need to make sense and be reasonable. I think, Zeuxis is certainly very great, but the animation as an art form of expression if it is intended to be close to the thing itself is boring. Like in the case of Plato, the bed as an idea created by god, craftsmen made beds based on the idea, they can be varied, but in the hands of animators it will be changed in imitation of the carpenter's which should be like the real in our life even though they look a little different. Castiglione was excellent that he imitated Chinese painting but added the Western painting. Western painting always focuses on the relationship between light and dark and actual situation and perspective, but the traditional Chinese paint didn't care about those. Therefore, his works reflect the reality and include the fun of traditional Chinese ink painting.

Continuity style is a style of editing that the directors try to make the film reality as much as possible. They use advanced technology to restore this world or to create realistic things. Many Hollywood blockbusters are using this way. By the visual effects with sounds and the camera switch, audiences watch it as real and enjoy the visual experience better which films bring.