Recently, I saw the ENO’s production of Madame Butterfly. The staging was exceptional, with use of lighting behind the stage to provide breathtaking silhouettes. The silhouetted style reminded me of Lotte Reiniger’s paper cut animations, and really highlighted the visual significance of achieving a clear silhouette in animated storytelling. It would be interesting to try …
Monthly archives: April 2020
Disney Animation Studies
I have been looking recently at the art of Disney studios early Pioneering artists, such as Milt Kahl and John Lounsberry. These artists placed a lot of focus in acting elements like held poses for dramatic effect to give the audience time to take in gags. The oval for eyes in early cartoons (credited to …
‘Ganzen Paradiz’
‘Ganzen Paradis!’ I have been giving more thought to possibilities for animated documentary production for my final year film. I was thinking about a radio programme that I heard a number of years ago about a Dutch monk who had dedicated his life to looking after geese – A niche interest! I reckon that a …
Triplets of Belleville
I recently watched the film The Triplets of Belleville, as I am keen to familiarise myself with the work of Sylvain Chomet. The film was beautifully made, with excellent character designs, and use of colour that reflected French comic art pallets. The film made excellent use of camera angles, and achieved close-ups that exaggerated the …
Informative graphics animations
Following on from the documentary based animations project, I have recently been watching short clips, either general knowledge or news-based, that rely on short graphic animations to illustrate points being made. These short films are increasingly common in popular media, and are either solely animations, or incorporate live action. For instance, the clip below uses …