Reading: Understanding Animation - Chapter 3

I was stuck when coming up with an idea for the ending of my narrative. Paul suggested that I read Understanding Animation which discusses alternative narratives used within animation. It analyses the way in which animation is able transcend the boundaries of reality and uses symbolism to explore this. This is particularly useful for my own narrative which is set in an alternative, dystopian reality.

Once Upon A Time: Narrative Strategies

• Different ways of storytelling: linear; parallel series of related scenes; past events (memories, dreams, etc) retold as present; etc.
• "Animation possesses the capacity to create new modes of story-telling often rejecting the notion of a plot with a beginning, a middle and an end, in favour of symbolic or metaphoric effects" p. 68
  This is useful to bear in mind, as I could decide to reject the traditional narrative structure if it works better for my story

Metamorphosis

"Metamorphosis is the ability for an image to literally change into another completely different image" p. 69

• Possible to create a fluid linking of images
• Creates unusual correlation between images

The Street (1976) Caroline Leaf

• Created by using ink on flat glass
• Images flow from one to another using the same shapes in different ways
• Blurs the lines of visible transitions

Betty Boop's Snow White (1933) David Fleischer

• "Disrupting the rationality of a scenario and challenging the very premises of a stable environment" 
• Inanimate objects are brought to life - e.g. The Queen's mirror
• Shapeshifter - one of fairytales dominant characteristics

Metamorphosis is basically used in animation to seamlessly transform images from one to the other.

Condensation
"Animation predominantly occurs in the short form, and manages to compress a high degree of narrational information into a limited period of time through a process of condensation"

• Can be done through elliptical cut and comic elision 
• Use various transitions to shorten/move through time: dissolve, fade in/out, wipe etc
• Prioritises the most important movements "may be called the narrative premise and the relevant outcome"

Home On The Rails (1981) Paul Driessen

• The main character fades into the scene and moves to different locations
• "He deploys a faint transparent illustration of the train as a set of anticipation lines before the train actually passes through the room. This heightens the predictability of the piece and, most importantly, calls attention to the banality of everyday events"

Jumping (1984) Osamu Tezuka

• Text bounces up and down 
• The 'camera' bounces up and down and paces forward to appear like a point of view shot of somebody jumping
• These "jumps" increase in size as the camera plays with scales in ways that aren't true to real life
• "As the figure ascends and descends the viewer sees different events which signify both a temporal and spatial progression"
• Cyclical structure - ending takes the protagonist back to where they started
• Condensation allows animation to manipulate time scales in order to convey a great amount of movement during a shorter space

Synecdoche

"A device by which the depiction of part of a figure or object represents the whole of the figure or object"

• Metaphorical with narrative
• To signify a narrative event

Use instructions (1989)

• Shows a small amount of action then zooms out to reveal the whole imagery
• Drawings look like bums excreting but represent other objects for example a tap and faucet
• "The film operates as a catalogue of the ways in which humankind abuses itself and its environment. This is symbolised by the use of an excreting bottom as the 'part' which best embodies the 'whole' of humankind in its more inappropriate endeavours"

Synecdoches are used as symbols representing an alternative message within animation

Symbolism and Metaphor
"An animated film may be interpreted through its symbolism, whether the symbols have been used deliberately to facilitate meaning or not."

• Doesn't necessarily have to be related to the real world
• Different to a sign which just "duplicates" it's meaning
• A symbol is more "precise" and acts as a "substitute" for another meaning  in a more beneficial way

The Hand (1965) Jiri Trnka

• Represents "free expression in the face of totalarian regimes"

Balance (1989) Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein

• I believe that the film symbolises trust as the different characters have to work together to stay balanced
• One of the characters finds a box. Subsequently "cooperation becomes a necessary requirement if the box is to be equally enjoyed by all the figures"
• The ending symbolises greed as one character eliminates all the rest to selfishly enjoy the box on his own. Yet his selfishness is left at a price
• Wells argues that this film is open to alternative readings

Fabrication

"An alternative version of material existence, recalling narrative out of constructed objects and environments, natural forms and substances, and the taken-for-granted constituent elements of the everyday world"

• Bringing material objects to life  
• Often used in 3D animation

Jabberwocky (1971) Jan Svankmajer

• A made up world created through the use of images for example a wardrobe moves through a forest
• "Jan Svankmajer's Jabberwocky uses fabricated modes to create related but distantiated worlds, perhaps half-remembered, half-imagined, but certainly reconstructed through the repositioning of objects and materials from a fantastic past"
• 
  

Associative Realism

"Apparently impossible relationships are created through the fusion on contrary figures and forms, placing formerly disjunct or unrelated elements into new conjunctions"

Tale of Tales (1979) Yuri Norstein

• "Tale of Tales refuses all obvious signposts of plot, preferring instead a system of leitmotifs, recurring images that play out their own subtle difference and development as part of a wider scheme of recollection"
• Uses a combination of live-action film tropes and animation language

Sound

In film:

1. Voiceover [omnipotent narration] (non-diegetic);
2. Character monologue (diegetic)
3. Character monologue (non-diegetic)
4. Character dialogue (diegetic)
5. Character dialogue (non-diegetic)
6. Instrumental music (diegetic)
7. Instrumental music (non-diegetic)
8. Song (music with lyrics) (diegetic)
9. Song (non-diegetic)
10. Sound effects (diegetic)
11. Sound effects (non-diegetic)
12. Atmosphere tracks

• Early Fleischer Brothers films similar to music videos - visuals followed lyrics
• Music creates sense of "present tense"
• Voice suggests agenda
• Argues Warner Brothers better at sound effects than Disney

Gerald McBoing Boing (1951) Bob Cannon

• Dr Suess story - uses rhyming couplets
• Minimalist visual style - solid colour backgrounds, shapes left unfilled with colour
• Upbeat backing track; "perky flute music"
• Onomatopoeic - Gerald only speaks with sounds
• Actions are emphasised through the use of sound effects
• "The film successfully foregrounds the language of sound as a narrative tool"

Beauty and The Beast (1991)

• Fairytale-like piano music
• Atmosphere sounds - birds chirping, waterfall, to emphasise forest setting
• Omnipotent narrator non-diegetic

Overall I found this reading to be very insightful as it made me realise there are more ways to animate other than just trying to replicate real life. I found it especially useful to watch all of the examples listed within the text alongside reading Well's accompanying essays, as this gave me a greater understanding of the definitions.

I'm especially inspired by the use of metamorphosis, synecdoche and associative realism and would like to experience with using these techniques within my own narrative.