Animation With A Message

I feel that people sometimes underestimate the social and emotional impact that animation can have on viewers. This video is an animation that shows an extremely moving and somewhat sad message, but it’s a beautiful piece of work. The video is displaying the idea that people try to reach the unreachable and the “perfect face” behind the screen. The media causes people to have these desires. The artist, Andrew Huang, does an amazing job of creating a relatable piece of artwork that displays a meaningful significance through animation.

Just the Beginning

My background in After Effects? At this point, slim. My experience with animation? Unless you count the endless hours spent watching and rewatching Pixar's Classics as a child--not extensive.

I open with this statement, not to demean myself, but to express my excitement in the journey ahead. I'm already impressed (and admittedly a bit overwhelmed) with some of the intricate and interesting posts of my peers. I hope to learn a lot from you in the coming weeks.

So what do I know about animation? The first time I recall watching an animated piece from a analytical perspective was in high school. We'd been discussing the basic elements of production--specifically related to short film--in a media class I was taking, when one afternoon my teacher began class with this:

(This is just the trailer)

Now, I assume many of you have seen Paperman. At the time, it was a fairly new piece and most people in my class were not familiar with it. I can still hear the collective "awe" we each sighed as the credits began to role. Even the toughest of stereotypical high school boys couldn't hide their enjoyment.

As I pondered what I might write about in this first post, I came across a list (found here) of the top animated shorts that "define Disney's success." As a friendly reminder of that day back in Mr. Zayatz's class, I was pleased to see Paperman ranked at #1. Having been in the back of my mind already, I figured that was enough a sign to write about it. Not only did Paperman win an Oscar in 2012, but it was also the first Disney animated short to win an Academy Award in 43 years.

What is it about this piece that people can't resist? It's storyline is simple, yes. And yet the animation, combined with incredible sound composition, takes the viewer on a romantic journey--dialogue not even needed! I think animation in general has a way of stretching the parameters of film. And that's why I'm so excited to explore all this class has to offer.

Animation and Interactivity: The Future of Media Viewing

T_Visionarium is a 360-degree screen which animates several channels in front of its viewer at the same time, allowing you to select one or multiple screens by the gesture of your hard. T_Visionarium is not meant to be used as a way to watch one or multiple videos, but to use these videos as building blocks to create a larger visual landscape.

In this experiment, each video also carries data of the gender of actors, their positions, actions, emotions, and other aesthetic content. By using a special interface the viewer can select, rearrange, and link different clips based on relations of gesture and movement.

Basically, this is not a tool made to control the mediascape but a way of surrounding ourselves in a sphere of common media. In this way, T_Visionarium is a steppingstone in the history of new media. Some see it as a little more revolutionary then I do, but I still believe that this technology can be expanded upon, refined, and turned into something truly useful.

With it's organizational quality and ability to piece clips together, it could even by used as an interactive video editing tool... but I'm just spitballing ideas here.