Anomalisa

Last weekend I attended a special screening of the film Anomalisa followed by a Q&A with the animation supervisor for the film, Dan Driscoll. Written by Charlie Kaufman, the film is an incredible and beatuiful stop motion animation that has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Anomalisa tells the story of a man who is stuck in a mundane world, only to fall in love with the only person who can bring color back into his life. The narrative reveals the mysterious and dark workings of the characters' worlds around them but the film ends ambiguously, leaving me wondering and with numerous unanswered questions.

While the story itself was unique, the animation was the highlight of the film and Driscoll shared many interesting aspects of the animation process. I was particularly intrigued by the careful attention payed to the movements and mannerism that would be executed for each physical action taken by the animated characters. Driscoll revealed the very slow process of shooting only a few frames per day, which only was possible after months of planning for each various individual scene. This attention to detail was evident in the animation, bringing the figures to life and adding a sense of humanness to the silicone "people" that one would never expect.

One of my favorite shows on TV is CSI:NY. I have always been intrigued by the opening sequence. Every season, the title sequence changes, usually with an addition or subtraction of a character. The sequence itself rarely changes. However in season 7, both changes occurred. There was a change in cast as well as a change in the opening sequence. I know it is rather simple, but I like it. I like how the viewer first plunges right into the heart of New York city then we are introduced to characters, in order of importance. There is usually some sort of graphic that is in sync with the character. We first see Gary Sinise and surrounding him are numbers and characters from a murder case he solved in a previous episode. I also think the red blood cells we see before we are introduced to Anna Belknap are pretty cool. The 3-d model that Robert Joy, the coroner, is working on is also an impressive piece of craftsmanship. One last thing that I find cool about the sequence is the bullet fired right before we are introduced to Eddie Cahill. I like how the bullet is fired then tracked to its destination. Again, I understand this isn't really too impressive, but it is intriguing. I just wonder how they came up with the ideas they did or how they created them. I am not even sure if any of this was made with after effects, but I like the ideas presented and thought you might too.