I recently came across a website with animated shorts that were made by the Rauch brothers in memory of those that lost their lives in the September 11th attacks. The individual stories told through the shorts really touched me, but I was also surprised at how well I was able to focus on the storyteller's voice and really hear what they were saying due to the visuals being animated. I believe this is due to how caught up a viewer can get with a really surprising/emotional visual element and that can sometimes take away from what is being said or why the story is being told. With animation, the visual can enhance the audio by putting a picture to the story, but doesn't allow the viewer to get too distracted from the audio because the animation isn't real. With the first short in particular, the sadness in the woman's voice is clear, but the viewer isn't watching her cry or go through the motions of that particular day in her life so it is easier to focus on her voice because the animation is easily accepted as simply a representation of her story.
There really is something to the idea of creating a world simply to express someone's story, though the idea of animated documentaries is highly criticized because it tests the limits of reality (due to the unlimited possibilities animation brings to the table) and people are less likely to spend money on a documentary that viewers might not believe to be real or true. Orly Yadin discusses why he believes animation was the right choice for his documentary on the holocaust entitled, Silence.
The Rauch brothers are also passionate about the art of animated documentaries and discuss their work below
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