Title
How can Stylistic Variation be used as a narrative device in an animated production?

Brief
When every object in an animation relates to other similar objects in a unified way, then we have unity. Variety on the other hand is the difference between objects. Too much unity can create boring animations and too much variety can make things too chaotic. Animated films that have employed a balanced combination of both is the primary focus of this paper. How is the balance achieved? What does the balance add to the narrative?

This paper seeks to explore balance from a purely stylistic aspect and investigate the contribution of the balance to the narrative. Is the narrative enhanced by the use of variety? Does it contribute metaphorically to push the narrative ahead or used purely as an aesthetic device?

For the purpose of this paper,
Style will be defined as a way of doing something, especially a way regarded as expressing a particular attitude or typifying a particular period.

Balance in spite of its subjectivity will be criticized on the level of contribution of the varied elements to the narrative.

This paper will center its investigation on films that have used variety in a visually apparent way, rather than a subtle manner. It will keep out of discussion films that have used different techniques harmoniously to make one look and move like the other; eg Iron Giant, The Book of Pooh (which apparently used puppet animation on 3d backdrops)

For the purpose of investigation, ‘style’ in context to this paper would be judged on the basis of the appearance of an object which would be dictated by the following
+outline quality of an object
+shape and form of an object,
+technique adopted in rendering an object
+motion and timing of an object.
The object however in context to this paper is defined as any visual element (animate and in-animate) within the screen space involved with a character and is required for the narrative to be staged; example, a carton at the corner of the room, river and mountains, pet dog, a pimple on the end of the nose.

This paper explores stylistic variety both
within shots ( eg; Who framed Roger Rabbit? and Flat World )
and between shots ( eg: T.R.A.N.S.I.T pic1|pic2, Dragon Half pic1|pic2, Koncertissimo )

Rationale
This paper will try to engage in discussions related to using mixed media and mixed styles in narrative story telling from a metaphorical point of view. On the basis of these discussions, this paper seeks to highlight an approach to animation that serves as both an art-form and a narrative device.

Methodology

Background

+This paper will briefly investigate theater and Puppet Theater as a precursor of animation and explore the use of variation between background and foreground objects. How it was used and whether there were any attempts to vary the style in which the objects on stage were depicted. Did it service the narrative in any way or was it purely an aesthetic choice?

+This paper will site Gifted as a case study in which strong emphasis was laid on integration to conceptualize the normality of the world, whereas the variation in style between background and character may have been used as an analogy to conceptualize the abnormality to follow later in the film.(pic1|pic2|pic3)

+This paper will highlight early animated films that used stylistic variation.
(example; Talk-Ink kid starring Bosko by Rudy Ising pic1|pic2|pic3)

+This paper will investigate the effect of the studio system of animation and its role in promoting animated productions with a cohesive look and establishing a production house brand style rather than the animator’s own independent style
(George Griffins essays and articles in which he sides heavily with the aueteurist approach to animation and criticizes the studio setup )

Design of Work
+This paper will question the importance of integration in a narrative and highlight productions that have achieved such integration and will also site animators and production houses that have specifically considered integration as a part of their art direction. (Giulio Gianini, Folimage’s Raining Cats and Frogs and Sylvain Chomet’s Triplettes of Belville )

+This paper will suggest stylistic variation as a technique that can be used in films to represent story and simultaneously represent the inarticulable feelings of an animator.

+ This paper will draw conclusions from films (independent and commercial) that have deliberately used a variety of styles in favor of the narrative and attempt to establish a thread connecting the context in which such a stylistic variation has been popularly used.
(example; James and the Giant Peach, Osmosis Jones, Monkey Bone, Allegro Non Troppo – snake film )

+This paper will investigate films from different cultures and seek to explore the variation from a cultural context
(example; the variation in the style of rendering males and females in anime)

+This paper will highlight the fact that animation is an abstraction of the real world and will seek to explore whether an added level of abstraction such as style variation contributes simply to the art of animation or the industry of animation.

+the paper explores stylistic variation in a narrative animated production as an auterist approach to animated filmmaking.
(example; Yoram Gross’s Dot and the Kangaroo that exhibits his signature style of using Live action backgrounds overlaid with flat rendered animated characters)

Results
+This paper will try and use the films discussed as case studies to conclude whether stylistic variation is suitable only for montages, dream sequences and depicting subconcious experiences as they have been popularly used so far, or can be used effectively as a device to add a layer of meaning to a narrative.

“The more removed animation is from representations of the real world the more its texts are subject to ambiguity..” – Paul Wells; Understanding Animation
This paper will provide a careful study of the films stated in the bibliography to assess and evaluate their degree of ambiguity.

Conclusion
Whatever it is… when i get there… i’ll be a happy man

Bibliography
Books:
Animation in the Cinema by Ralph Stephenson
Kaboom – Explosive Animation form America and Japan by Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, Australia)
Film and Reality by Roy Armes
Animation and America by Paul Wells
Understanding Animation by Paul Wells
Cartoons – One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation by Bendazzi
Of Mice and Magic by Leonard Martin
The History of Animation; Enchanted Drawings by Charles Solomon

Websites:
www.awn.com
www.spicycricket.com

Films:
Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay
Koncertissimo by Josef Gemes
Dragon Half by
Who framed Roger Rabiit by Robert Zemeckis
Yellow submarine by George Dunning
The Thief and the cobbler by Richard Williams
Japanese by Renzo Kinoshita
Dojoji – temple by Khachiro Kawamoto
Hell Bent for election by UPA
Sexylinea by Osvaldo Cavadoli
Allegro Non Troppo ( Bee and Snake Films )
James and the Giant Peach by Henry Sellick
Red and Black by Witold Giersz
Mary poppins by Disney
Flat World by Daniel Greaves
T.R.A.N.S.I.T by Piet Kroon
Manipulation by Daniel Greaves

Svankmajer Films
Spanish Dance Troupe by William Brown
My life as McDull
Kataku – The house in flames by Khachiro Kawamoto
Dot and the Kangaroo by Yoram Gross ( pg 423, Bendazzi )
Kachofugetsu ( japan’s four seasons)
Bottom’s Dream by John Canemaker
Adventures of Tom Thumb by Quay Brothers
TITAN A.E by Don Bluth
METROPOLIS by …
Daddy’s bit of Dresden China
Duck Amuck by Chuck Jones

Ok…. so i think i am finally comfortable about the idea of doing my research on stylistic variation in narrative animation. How this relates to ‘gifted’ ? Wellll….. i figure that in both my major and my minor i tried really hard to achieve an integrated look, and i wasnt able to achieve that level of integration to my satisfaction.

In the minor it was the watercolor bgrounds that didn’t quite work well with the character renderings and i tried techniques like putting a grain on top of the entire film to texturize and flatten the space.. .but it ended up being too distracting

In the major it was the damn outline that stood out distinctively amidst the soft edges of the background. I tried treating the character drawings but spending 8 minutes per frame for coloring wouldnt have given me a finished film.

Undoubtedly with more time at hand i could have achieved the look i was after but all that effort leads me to question WHY ? FOR WHAT? What would happen if i were to consider going the other way and purposely made the characters different from the background…?? How would it effect the narrative ? Would it have effected the narrative ? Could it have been used in favour of the story to contextualize the unexpected outcome of gifted? Maybe the style in which the prosthetic leg and the background was rendered could have been simmilar and henceforth projected the fact that they both are nothing but a form of support for the boy? Maybe, i am going a little cuckoo and over analyzing ? Maybe John Howard and Mark Latham will stop fighting and the aussie troops will really come back home for christmas ? Maybe, i just missed the tram …. again ?

Anyway, the point really is stylistic variation.. how can it be used in servoce of the narrative? how has it been used in previous productions. Kirrily pointed out to me that ‘My Life as McDull’ had certain sequences that had mixed styles and techniques in it….. so am curious… If anyone of you know where i can get a copy of the film – it will be much appreciated.

My Life as McDull Snippet

This business plan thing is just giving me the shits! Been exploring all these possibilities of business opportunities and the only one that i was feeling comfy about for a while now seems to have taken a nose dive. While i was working out the external value chain, i realised that my risks outweigh my returns, there is a high possibility for the client to surpass me and approach the supplier and the amount receivable as a part of commision was just enough to buy a carton of pencils for the company. In other words, whew !!! i am sooooo glad i dint invest my last million on this business.

Did a little research on PDA technology and coincidentally came by a site that i had touched on earlier when i was researching Mika Salmi – Interview with Mika Salmi . He raises some very interesting potentials (which only seems obvious, after all he is the CEO of Atom Films). However, considering the fact that www.atomfilms.com is blocked by the Etisalat (i.e;sole telcom and ISP provider for UAE), gives anybody from the UAE an advantage in marketing a simmilar product.

I was planning to sit down and get some reading done when Kirriliy called up today with an proposition i couldnt refuse -
Raining Cats and Frogs and Triplettes of Belleville – both playing back to back at some place on Fitzroy St.

They were great films, although i must say i enjoyed ‘Raining Cats and Frogs’; aka La Prophetie des Grenoulles ) directed by Jacques-Remy Giererd who also the founder of the studio Folimage.
I guess, since i was totally unprepared for this film, i dint have any expectations from it and i took it as it came. Nonetheless, the beautiful use of space, light and shadow, color and use of chalk drawings for both background and characters would have been a treat no matter what expectations i would have had. In a way this also feeds back into what my research has been concerned with – integration and nonintegration of foreground and background elements in animated films.

In the book by Jayne Pilling – Animation and Beyond, its said that Folimage’s commercial productions have always been distinguished by their insistence on using a graphic style – for both characters and backgrounds – that is unlike conventional cartoon animation.

Taking into consideration all the productions that have come out of Folimage there is a sense of cohesiveness and homogeneity of styles between background and foreground. This makes every frame of their production (Tragedies Minuscules, Au Bout Du Monde, L’Enfant au Grelot, La Grande Migration and La Propetie des Grenouilles) stand out as a beautifully illustrated image from a childrens storybook. It might just be worth it to send an email to Michael Dudok and ask him about what his opinions are regarding ’stylistic variation in an animated production’ ? or maybe i should wait till i get a more specific question at hand.

AWN website : Raining Cats and Frogs

Triplettes of Belleville was pretty good, the deformed perspectives and over exagerration of shapes were so beautifully handled that it made me want to stand up and clap while i watched the movie (but i didn’t). Elongated Block shaped Mafia characters who walked in unison all throughout the film and the huge funnel shaped steamliner were such a graphic delight to watch on screen. Aesthetically, again this film was awesome – the lines on the characters weren’t cleaned up and this made the efforts of the animator so much more apparent. Infact, from what i have read, the same dual rough line qualities were given to the 3d models that were used. ( Something that Paul could look into for his research )

Les Triplettes de Belleville – An Interview With The Filmmakers

Remember asking kirrily before the film if it had subtitles in english….. hmm… what subtitles ? –

Went to my first ever synagog with kirrily to see a comic exhibition by an artist named ART SPIEGELMAN. Din’t end up seeing the exhibition, cuz of the speeches – they just kept talking and talking and talking and talking….. guess my arab muslim friends would freak out if they knew i went to a jewish gathering… oh well… boohoo!

Duncan decided to take us on a fishing trip today morning and came banging at our doors at 6am, packed us into his van and varooom. It ended up being a pretty fun day… i caught a rainbow trout that weighed atleast over a kg – beginners luck !

( ok! so it was in a fishing farm, but nobody else around the farm caught any that day – so i am entitled to feel a little pride)

Anyway, i didn’t eat the fish… it just dint look right!
who am i kidding… i wouldnt have eaten it even if it did.

Isn’t it just amazing when you get that feeling that you are in sync with the rest of the world, nobody is ahead of you, everyone is walking at the same pace, all is good ?
….. its just a pity that the feeling doesnt last too long.

Been trying to get myself onto reading Tim’s module and his email titled week1 and then before u know it, BAM !!! email from tim: week2
Where is this semester going? Where am i going ?

The session yesterday was very thorough and i think everyone walked away with some good references and a clearer head. Hope the same goes for me when i present on the 1st.

Anyway.. had a little chat with Jeremy today….well…it was more like he walked and talked around me… and i got a few good leads + the videos he showed me yesterday have got me thinking a little clearer than before…..

i realized that i wasn’t doing this research to find out what the audience likes and what the audience doesn’t … primarily because there are a zillion factors at play when it comes to audience feedback and review about a film? As Jeremy pointed out – the film might have failed because the story wasn’t right, or the message wasn’t appropriate. In order to come to a conclusion, i would actually have to find an audience who would have to collectively say what i want to hear – i.e this film worked or did not work with us because of its style. Frankly, that sort of an approach just seems too convoluted to me. So i kinda figured that, it makes sense to ask the question ‘ HOW?’

+HOW can Stylistic Variation be used as a narrative device in animation?
+CAN style or technique in which a character is depicted be used as a metaphor for external manifestation of the interior state ?
+CAN the overall style in which an environment is rendered be used as a device to reflect political-social conditions that form the setting for the film?
+CAN the style in which a character is animated (eg; rubberhose v/s limited v/s full animation ) be used as a metaphor for their characteristics?
+CAN stylistic variation between and within shots be used to move the story ahead?
+HAS animated productions used this? If so to what extent ? feature length ? short film? animated tv commercials ? music videos ?
+WHAT extent can we push these stylistic variations in a world where the medium by nature calls for suspension of disbelief?

Well! yea thats it for my thoughts for the day.. and it was actually really good to hear Andrea telling me some of the stuff that i wanted to hear in her email. Thanks Andrea! – that helped, although the debate about look v/s style continues.

I better run and catch me self a tram right now, before i have to blow 15$ on a cab to get home.

Investigated the difference pointed out between ‘look’ and ’style’ and this is what i came up with based on Encarta dictionary definitions.
Look – an impression conveyed by manner or quality
Style – a way of doing something, especially a way regarded as expressing a particular attitude or typifying a particular period

Therefore, this leads me to agree that they are definitely closely related but at the same time different in the sense that ‘look’ is subjective and ’style’ is objective.
Also, it seemed that ’style’ indicates a process, whereas ‘look’ was a more superficial term that only indicated towards the perception of the finished product.
Since the point of this research is meant to be objective – i will be referring to style in animation rather than look.

Stewart’s comment on ‘Suspension of Disbelief’ has allowed me to articulate a previous idea about showing physical human handicap in an animated medium in a slightly better way.

At this point, i have two potential topics that deal with the same thing more or less (well… atleast different ways of looking at the same thing)
1| Research questioning the aesthetics of character and environment integration in narrative animation.
2| Research questioning the effect on a narrative with the application of stylistic differences between character and environment.

The first one appoaches the research from an angle where i would deal with different methods and techniques of attaining character – environment integration

The second one investigates the extent to which character and environment can be made to look different from one another and still hold the narrative in place.

Almost feels like 2 sides of the same coin and i wonder if they are two seperate papers or they could be combined in some way at all.

In both these cases, the research would have to be directed towards ‘cell animation’ in particular and i was contemplating whether i should start with citing the ‘Disney look’ as a prime model of non integration ( in case of proposal 1 ) or ‘as integrated as it can get’ ( in case of proposal 2 )… i wonder if i am losing myself here in all these choices….

Came across this website (while surfing spicycricket.com) that had some great tips for getting your first foot through the door in a production company.
Jeremy Cantor’s Website
http://www.zayatz.com/

After moving to Prahran, i have been absolutely amazed by the stencil & graffiti art scene. Peter, my housemate is a big fan of the artform and he led me on to a couple of names worth looking into – Banksy and Sheppard Fairey.

One amongst many rather colorful graffiti’s on chapel st.

The stencil artworks on the other hand are quite ordinary and the imagery is probably not as impressive as their placement. I remember being quite amused by Banksy’s use of the cut-out lines and scissors stenciled onto the part wall-part ceiling of a pub. His website too is humorous with tips and personal accounts of his street side stencil art making experiences.
http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Also came across these interesting articles about stencil art in melbourne
http://www.stencilfestival.com/home.htm
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/13/1060588454223.html

At this point, i would be lying if i said ‘i would never do something like this’. I am definitely very tempted to make a mark on the walls of melbourne before i leave.

Havent quite researched ‘SYNC’ (Adelaide) and Sheppard Fairey (UK) yet, but am already curious about the growing appreciation of this underground art form.

Will be looking into ‘jeffery smart’ out of curiosity as well… saw one of his pieces at a gallery on Chapel St – very cooool!

Ever wondered what would happen if Dali and Escher worked together, well…. Ernst Fuchs puts that curiosity to ease with his beautiful (yet haunting) collection of etchings and paintings. Worth the look..
http://www.ernstfuchs-zentrum.com/galde1eng.html

Also came across Hans Bellmer and his disturbing doll art. However one of his pieces La poupée (The Doll) detail. Paris: Editions G.L.M., 1936. is quite interesting. I enjoy the simplicity and the diagramatic approach to showing what he calls ‘male sexual curiosity’. Its definitely the only piece that i like out of his body of work.
http://www.artic.edu/reynolds/essays/taylor.php

Anyway, Back to the —-> RESEARCH DESK
Spicy Cricket Animation ( http://www.spicycricket.com/SCA/SCA_char_style.html ) a site i came across while searching for “animation styles” made an interesting distinction between ’style’ and ‘look’ of a production pointing out that although they are closely related, they are different things. So that brings another area to look into – ‘ the look ‘ . The site also says -

“Computer Generated Character Animation has now broken out of the mold of what CG “looks like”. When at its best, it no longer looks like a computer created it. As animators get a better command of their tools and craft, the style and approach to animation will look less and less like it was generated by a computer and more and more like a TRUE ART FORM.”

My concern really is – does it matter ??? so what if it looks like its made on the computer ? Its just another tool that brings with it, its own feel and look and has every right to be a TRUE ART FORM by its self.

This totally brings me back to the point i was trying to make earlier about history repeating itself. The trend towards realism with CG Animated films today echoes Disney’s attempts of attaining realism in their films since yesteryears. The difference is that todays CG animation tools are more advanced.
*anyway, i would love to hear others opinion on that*

Still distinguishing between style and look, i visited Maurice Nobles website – www.nobletales.com and i noticed that the word ‘look’ was used with regards to his contribution to animation i.e backgrounds

hmm.. i guess i might have just been using the wrong word all this time.. i have to do some more research on that bit and see where that goes.

i dint quite bitch enough about Disney today, so i think i’ll just end this log entry by pointing to a link i came across. Its a copy of the alleged ‘testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committe on Un-American Activities’
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst203/documents/disney.html

Something here to take my mind off the research for a while…. been gestating an idea for fragmented time lapses where different sections of the composition seem to be affected by different conditions and different times of the day.