Evan Tapper - Listening Portrait Booth

          I thought this was a very interesting and clever installment. It reminded me of street vendors in New York City who draw caricatures for money. But the special elements in Tappers installment was the hidden identities of the participants and the conversations he had with them. Those elements, in a sense, seem to make his work more meaningful and unique. This installment definitely worked for me. Even if the drawings didn't come out the way the person actually looked, i feel as though even just conversing with the participants, for someone like Tapper, who's had experience drawing people face to face before, that simple gestures can be assumed through language. And ultimately I think that the valuable part of this installment is the spontaneous and element of surprise that makes this impressive.

Cold Hard Flash - Guy Collins

          I really enjoyed Collins' latest animation titled "Rage". I love the whole concept of how someone's reaction to frustration can lead to someone else's misery, which can then lead to another person's reaction to frustration, and then again lead to someone else's misery. In essence, a big domino effect. The ending was definitely my favorite part. Everything in this animation was drawn and the drawing of President Obama was on point. I like the animator's choice of colors by only providing colors to the object(s) that causes havoc and chaos around the city. This highlighted the main focuses of the animation. On the other hand, the characters were simply black and white which i thought worked out fine. Overall, i thought this was a very clever animation that really relates the world at large, particularly, in my opinion, people in New York City.

Mark Fiore's Animated Cartoon

          Fiore's animation is an alternative way to create political satire for all ages. Particularly with cartoons, I would imagine it would be suitable for children, except there are some R-rated content. Yet, its something everyone can watch and easily understand. The style of animations definitely works for his topics of works. And this form of medium should be used more often in raising awareness on current issues. It would probably be more effective in terms of reaching a larger audience. Fiore's style of animation is common and seen in popular cartoon shows. Most of the actions or animations simply come from the eyes, arms and mouth. All which create the gestures or emotions that the creators are trying to tell. Whether there are big eyeballs to show shock or slanted eyebrows to represent anger, a majority of the expressions derive particularly from the eyes.

I Met the Walrus

           The animations in the video was very neat. It reminded me a lot of what you would see in documentaries when they bring up statistics and mention important facts from different studies. The use of those form of animation supports the message in the video with very clear and simple images. It included many drawn figures, actual footage, and possibly images from photographs. The background color definitely went hand-in-hand with the old recording that's being played in the video. Overall, I enjoyed the images and different styles of animation in the video, but other than that I thought it was very dull, probably only due to the poor quality of the recording and the overall sound.

"Creep" Animation by Low Morale

           This animation video was definitely an eyeopener to the possibilities in Adobe Flash. I enjoyed it. The characters fit very well with the emotion and meaning of the song. The use of an unusual, odd-looking, "creepy"  man helped emphasize the separation and loneliness in the message of the song. The techniques used in the video went well with the overall mood of the song. The gradual changes and creations in the video was a great technique to show the time lapse in the video. It portrayed how the main character in the animation seemed to be bored and misplaced in an environment he later escapes from. This was done very well through the use of the masking technique.

Narratives


Activity 2.4 

          Some perfect examples of an ad that shows a strong narrative are the Apple vs. PC commercials. As mentioned in the reading, Propp suggests that ads also “build a sense of character as like real people”. There are only two distinct characters in the commercial, one being an older man, as “PC” and the other, a younger man, as “Mac”. All the commercials begin and sort of just stops. In the beginning, the commercial automatically construct the characters by distinguishing who is “PC” and who is “Mac”. The story and plot is built up in relation to the actual products being sold, a Microsoft Windows PC computer versus an Apple Mac computer. The narrative and script in the advertisement is very straightforward. The characters imply who is, what Propp calls, the “hero” who carries the plot. The older individual, who plays “PC”, implies that PC computers are outdated and functions with many problems. Where as the younger individual, who plays “Mac”, suggests the Mac computers are new, simple and intelligent. Since this is a commercial developed by Apple, the hero is Mac. In addition, the ads always consist of an issue that PC is dealing with. On the other hand, Mac is always portrayed as a character with no issues. There is never a solution in this ad that solves any problem. It stops on a note that exploits the lacking abilities of a PC computer, yet still suggests to audience that the solution, in fact, lies in the Apple Mac computer product itself.


Activity 2.6


          I do believe that the style of the animation influences the content. First, the animation in The Simpsons are 3-Dimentional. The movements are more realistic and there is more volume and depth in the animations. On the other hand, South Park is closer to a 2-Dimentional animation style. The characters look flat and the movements are fast and sharp. With The Simpsons' style of animation there are more possibilities for different kinds stories and plots. The characters are able to do certain movements in a more expressive way like actual humans can do, such as putting arms around someone or wrapping fingers around a hammer. Where as South Park animations show very stiff movements and very limited capacity for exaggerations. The Simpsons and South Park tell stories that are humorous but share a different sense of humor. The Simpsons cover stories about everyday life, such as family, jobs and school. South Park, on the other hand, has narratives tease or mocks certain situations in the news, whether it relates to politics or celebrities. Now in terms of big, marketed, animated movies such as The Incredibles, it has a large capacity to cover any kind of story and plot. The narratives in movies with this quality animation has greater possibilities to tell a wider range of stories due to its life-like portrayals and voices of Hollywood actors.

Norman McLaren - Neighbours (1952)

My initial feeling towards the video was like, "oh, what a nice, cute little stop motion video about two neighbors". And then as the video progressed it became, "um, why is this so creepy and violent". The use of stop-motion animation definitely fit well with the theme of the video. Although it was about two neighbors who did not get along and things became physical, the animation style gave it a little bit of humor, which I enjoyed. In addition to that, the soundtrack in the video also gave it a sense of funniness. The music reminded me of particular scenarios in the Super Mario Bros. game. Lastly, I thought the ending was a little over the top when they both apparently killed one another. However, the separation of the flower was clever and nice touch to end the video.