Post 4
Well’s chapter three looked at different aspects of narrative. He described symbolism and what relates to a world of story. He described sound, character traits, and how characters function. He also looked at metamorphosis in a story. I feel animation can be classified as many things and can branch out in different areas. I like that animation can go against the norm and be unrealistic. Some of the clips we saw from previous classes prove this such as Duck Amuck and Gertie the Dinosaur.
I’ve gone over some of these or similar narrative strategies in film analysis and film theory. It made me think of a few live action movies that share these elements such as the symbolism in Fight Club.
Animation is very good at breaking the fourth wall or have real people interacting with an animated character. Video games also break the fourth wall since in some cases a person can interact with a character, such as in Nintendogs where you take care of a pet dog and it responds to you.
I love to read and write. I’ve noticed there can be reoccurring themes in a piece of work but it also has individual traits. I don’t think it’s bad to classify something as just one thing but it would probably be hard to do.
Everyone has their own view about what they think of a piece of work. I feel Wells looks at animation as a whole. He does a fairly good job of breaking it down into components. However, I feel a certain style can have several layers as there might be more to a hero, villain, or someone in distress. Or there might be more than a standard beginning, middle, and end. Disney’s Fantasia would be hard to fit into a narrative category. It tells a story but not in a traditional way and has separate segments.
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I always found that Fantasia was as close to experimental film as Disney is willing to get. There is a type of plot device, especially with the orchestra director at the beginning, but overall it is all about mixing the animation with music.
ReplyDeleteGood observation about the fourth wall. While video games in particular have a sense of breaking it, there might be an interesting new perspective being developed between the player and the game. While most fourth wall experiences occur with the stuff on screen directly addressing the player, video games allow for the influence to be mutual. especially first person games like shooters or more recently Fallout 3.
ReplyDeleteI think an interesting part of Wells reading was in the section about 'choreography' or character movements. The animator has to take in to consideration so many details about subtle movements in cohesion with effort or desire of the character. With this attention to detail, one can achieve a certain emotion within a character just like in 'Gertie the Dinosaur'.
ReplyDeleteI know you posted on my blog and agreed, I do see your point here as well. To add on to this, don't forget that the forth wall is also active in live action as well. That goes for both film and stage. Anything visible for us is invisible to the character(s).
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