Essay

To what extent does music/a soundtrack enhance the experience of viewing animations?

This essay will discuss the relationship between sound and animation/film including music, sound effects and musicals, and how the use of sound helps to drive the narrative. Examples will comprise of silent movies such as Charlie Chaplin’s Lions cage (1928), animations such as The Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005), Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney, 1928), and Nausicaä of the valley of the wind (Hayao Miyazaki,1984), and live action films such as Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) and The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)


‘Film music whether it’s a pop song, improvised accompaniment, or an originally composed cue, can do a variety of things. It can establish setting, specify a particular time and place; it can fashion a mood and create atmosphere; it can call attention to elements onscreen or off screen, thus clarifying matters of plot and narrative progression; it can reinforce or foreshadow narrative developments and contribute to the way we respond to them; it can elucidate characters’ motivations and help us to know what they are thinking; it can contribute to the creation of emotions, sometimes only dimly realized in the images both for characters to emote and for audiences to feel.’ (Kalinak, 2010, page 1)

Music has always been a major part in films right from the first ever silent movie in 1891. Live music was played by a full orchestra to accompany the silent movie to engage the audience and help show what is happening in the story. For example in Charlie Chaplin’s The Lion’s Cage, (see link 1) the music matches his footsteps to show that he is creeping, not wanting to wake the lion. The high-pitched long note as Charlie finds himself face to face with a tiger helps portray his shock and fear, as we cannot hear him gasp or scream! The music becomes more frantic as he cannot find a way out and the lion is waking up.

In comparison to this good use of sound, we look at another silent movie Un Chien Andalou (1929) (see link 2) In this film, with input from Salvador Dali, there are many different shots, said to have lots of meaning or no meaning at all depending on the way you look at it. The use of sound here is very different; it does not particularly seem to be a description of the action but more a motif of emotion. There are two melodies played alternately, both sounding quite romantic in style. The melody with staccato notes and a tango rhythm (Ole Guapa) seems to be used where the man is going after the woman we think to kill her as there is a visual in the movie with ants coming form the mans palm which comes from a French phrase “ants in the palms” which is said to mean that someone is itching to kill. (IMDB) So this melody describes passion, fear, wanting, and action. The other is a more slow paced French style melody (Leibstod and Vorspiel by Richard Wagner) used to describe everything else, the less dramatic scenes. Many would say that this is over used in this film and another piece of music should have been used in scenes like when the man falls off his bike as the music seems too relaxed for this event. However when this was first made there were two physical records and one record player so they had to be switched over. Having another record might have made things even more complicated.

In 1928, Walt Disney animation studio created Steamboat Willie being the first animated film to have a soundtrack composed specifically to synchronise with it. (Disney Wiki) It was played by a couple of people in another room, piping the sound into the room with the screen. Apparently the synchronisation was actually pretty accurate!

In 1937 we were introduced to the first full-length animated musical that came in the form of Snow white and the seven dwarves. Although this was a big step for its time, being the first feature length animation, ‘it was only in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, and 1991 with the astonishingly successful Beauty and the Beast- the only animated film to ever be nominated for an academy award in the best picture category-that the animated musical became a truly mainstream genre again.’ (Coyle, 2010, Page 25)

An example of this is The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). This movie deals with a lot of issues for example, being cast out, bullying, physical differences, cultural differences and more. In The bells of Notre Dame, which is the first song we hear, there are some quite cruel things said and the visuals come across as quite scary. “Just so he's kept locked away, Where no one else can see, Even this foul creature may, Yet prove one day to be, Of use to me”

Arguably, having this description of how the Hunchback came to be up in the bell tower as a song rather than just acted makes the story easier to digest and less shocking to a younger audience. This is sometimes the aim of a musical. Much like animation can be used to portray things that are hard to watch in film but as animation they seem to be far more digestible. This may be because on both accounts, the narrative we are seeing does not seem quite as real.



Since then, many other companies other than Disney have made animated musicals. For example Tim Burton has made a few. One of which was The Corpse Bride (2005). There is a particular ticking motif in The Corpse Bride. Everything moves in the same rhythm using a harpsichord- a mechanical sounding instrument to show the pace, 'which adds to the sense of things here being mechanized and ordered rather than lively and spontaneous.' 'The dead, freed from this constraint, are far more vigorous as a result.’ This motif is used to differentiate between the living and the dead. When you hear this ticking motif, even if you cannot see a character, you know that someone alive is or will be in this scene. This helps the audience engage with the movie. (Coyle, 2010, Page 33)

However it is not just the songs that help drive the narrative in these films. Sound effects are also very necessary as you are creating an alternate reality that does not have its own background noise so it is necessary to provide these to make it seem more real. ‘The use of sound effects in film helps give weight to a large boulder that may only be made from papier-mâché or even millions of tiny pixels animated through CGI. It can give a sense of impending doom via a ticking clock that tells the audience that time is running out. Sound effects build character to a spaceship the size of Delaware that is, in fact, the size of a skateboard. On a psychological level, a sound effect can invoke fear, such as a chilling whisper or breathing sound coming from the next room of the camp counsellor’s cabin nestled in the woods of camp crystal lake.’ (Viers, 2008, Page 3)

An example of this is A Fox Tale by 4ADesertanimtion (see link 3), the use of sound effects really helps us feel like we know where this film is set and that we are there too as we can hear the birds singing and the crickets and the wind blowing. We hear every movement that is made from steps on the ground, to brushing past leaves, to water dripping from a body. All of these things help us to believe this animation. We relate to it because we are hearing everything we would expect to hear if it was real life. Nicolas Titeux did a fabulous job in creating realistic sound effects that not only work well with the animation, but actually improve it and make it an art form in its self. Without these sounds, the film would be empty, unrealistic and nowhere near as engaging no matter how beautiful the animation is.

A very good quote that shows the importance of sound effects and music in animation is-‘If animation is the process of breathing life into a character, then music infuses emotion into that life’ (Beuchamp, 2005, Page 43) As we all know, emotions make things believable, much like facial expressions. The sound effects used are also to make things believable. If you were watching a live action film where a man was sweeping the floor, you would hear the bristles scraping across the floor and the footsteps of the man and possibly his breathing if he is working hard. In animation, this does not automatically happen because it is not real, but we still expect it, therefore we need to add this in. This makes the scene more believable.

‘The early animations of Warner Brothers and MGM studios utilised sight gags to great effect. During this period, musical instruments were often substituted for traditional SFX in a design approach that is sometimes referred to as effects scoring. Chords of varied volume and dissonance were often used to exaggerate actions while also deemphasising any implied violence. Melodic themes followed the up or down motion of on-screen objects or actions (isomorphism)’. (Beuchamp, 2005, Page 45) Isomorphism is widely used across more exaggerated comical sound effects like in animations such as Loonytoons’ Wile E Coyote and the Roadrunner. Very often in this cartoon Wile E falls off a very high cliff. The sound effect that always goes with this is a high pitched squeal that gets lower in pitch the further he falls. (see link 5) This shows that he is falling a very long way especially if the sound goes on for a long time. This enables us to show Wile E at different angles, even ones where we cannot see the floor, and still know he is falling from a great height.

As well as Isomorphism, we have directed sound, which can equally give us sense of space and help us know where things are in a scene. For example if you can hear an explosion closest to your left ear, that means it is happening to the left of what we can see on screen. This works best in a cinema when you have surround sound but can work just as well through headphones. This can work so well in fact that sometimes we do not even need visuals to understand what is happening for example very simply, if you are listening through headphones to footsteps that go from your left ear through to your right ear, you get the impression that someone has just walked right by you.

‘Sound effects often represent a characters outer world, whereas underscore often signifies that character’s inner world. Underscore invites the audience to perceive and respond to the emotions suggested by the narrative’ (Beuchamp, 2005, Page 45)

Some sound effects, often entwined in the music, can create intense emotions such as shock. The shrieking violin sound effect that evokes terror in its original use in the shower scene in Psycho worked so well that it is now an ‘iconic musical creation of terror’ (Kalinak, 2010, Page 15) and this sound has now become ‘a convention for terror itself, evoked in countless horror films, parodies of horror film…’ (Kalinak, 2010, Page 15) They found this representation of terror to be such a success that it is now commonly used and recognised. Such can be said for many sound effects, such as the sound for magic being an octave of glockenspiel or chimes being struck in an ascending order. Many of these types of sounds have been recognised and reproduced countless times and that is how we now have collections of sound effects such as the Hana Barbara sound effects.

‘the emotions we experience in response to music involve structures deep in the primitive, reptilian regions of the cerebellar vermis, and the amygdala-the heart of emotional processing in the cortex.’ (Levitin, 2006, page 87)

Although these sound effects that evoke emotions are highly useful and effective, silence can be just as effective in creating things like suspense, tension, loneliness and fear. The absence of sound here creates an eerie feel and you feel like something is wrong and something is going to happen. For example in The Shining when Danny is roaming around the halls in his trike. (see link 4) The only things we hear are his wheels. Although this is not complete silence, it still feels unnaturally quiet. This shows us that the house is almost empty, Danny is alone, and there is nothing to do and that something does not feel right about this place.

Soundtracks can be subtly composed to evoke specific emotions using clever musical techniques for example in Nausicaä of the valley of the wind (1984), A little girls song entitled Nausicaä Requiem, composed by Joe Hisaishi ‘used as a sub-thematic melody to suggest Nausicaä’s nostalgic recollection of her early childhood and her realisation that she could not return to this secure and happy time of her life’ (Koizumi cited in Coyle 2010, Page 64 ) this is achieved using a binary structure ‘(a-a’-b-a’) this is characteristic of nursery rhymes or some folk songs.’ Using techniques like this evoke specific feelings like nostalgia as it makes the audience subtly think of nursery rhymes without even realising it. This is a clever technique as no one consciously thinks about why the music has been composed the way it has but subconsciously their brain is remembering all the songs from your childhood, making you, at that moment, in the same mind-set as the young girl in the movie, connecting you to her and making you feel what she is feeling.

Music can also be used to create tension as described by Beauchamp (2005, page 22), when you sing a scale from the bottom up and stop at the 7th note, the note wants to ‘resolve upward. An unresolved scale is a powerful means of creating tension’ this is because the phrase seems unfinished like we are waiting for something. In the same passage we are informed that tension can also be achieved by using one instrument instead of another. ‘For example a distorted electric guitar seems to produce more tension than an alto flute. Melodic lines that are jagged rather than smooth produce more tension’.

Music in animation can also be used to describe culture. For example films like Brother Bear or Pocahontas both have Native American sounds using drums and mostly percussion instruments. And Mulan (1998) has very Chinese sounds with the use of a specific key. And Lion King (1994) has its very soulful accapella and lots of harmonies and drums like zulu choral music . It is very important that music of the specific cultures is fully explored and researched to give the best authenticity.

On the other hand, “a piece of music is not itself a narrative, for music is a non-representative art form.” (Rondolin cited in Larsen, 2007, Page 206) This asks the question: then how does it help to drive the narrative? Which in some cases, seems like the music’s purpose. Well it does however possess ‘certain formal characteristics that are reminiscent of the structures to be found in narrative texts” (Larsen, 2007, Page 206) Which is arguably how we get the illusion of narrative from music. Music can definitely add to the narrative and help explain things but also from a director/creators point of view, they have made this film and they want you to interpret it in a certain way. To do this they work with composers who will compose a score to create this mood “in certain situations, however, the music can actively shape the mood of the narrative or, more precisely, indicate to the spectator how a particular scene is to be understood and experienced”. (Larsen, 2007, Page 206) This helps the viewer know what is going on in the story and understand it the way it was written.

However, music’s function in a film is not just to contribute to the narrative. It can also function as an ‘additive’. In this case, the music is helping the construction of the film rather than adding to the narrative. Examples of this are when a piece of music is played as the main sound as we see multiple different shots played, which helps show the passing of time. This is therefore reinforcing the structure of the film.

‘the animation film-more than any other type of movie- is characterized by its construction of worlds in which the audience routinely encounters the unpredictable, the surreal, the illogical, the impossible, and around which the opportunities for imagination and invention are infinite. In such circumstance’s, a reliance on existing tracks seems undesirable since as wright has commented ‘pre recorded music is, in essence, a ‘prefabricated’ element…It enters the process already formed and the options for manipulating it are limited’ (2003:9) And yet as was demonstrated in Walt Disney’s Fantasia) (James Algar et al. 1940) the crafting of images to music, rather than music to images, can be successful and memorable. (Ian Inglis cited in Coyle 2010,Page 80)

There are many more examples of crafting images to music for example, Silly Symphonies. There are many versions of these. They allowed the animators to have fun with their animations, as there were no strict guidelines. The prefabrication of music here just gives the animators something to work with. As we have seen, these were very popular and they created more and more, using these shorts to test out new animation styles such as creating colour animations and the multiplane camera.

In conclusion, Film music and sound effects are both very useful as they help describe what is going on, the emotional side and the practical side. Sound effects are a very important factor in animation as it is not real and to believe in the animation we need it to seem real. Although film music is very important in both film and animation, we have seen that silence can be just as effective in creating different emotions and conveying feelings of emptiness and loneliness. Sound design actually has a lot more theory and process in it than at first glance.














Bibliography



Kalinak, K, (2010) Film music- A very short introduction, Oxford University press

Coyle, R, (2010) Drawn to sound: animation film music and sonicity, Equinox Publishing

Beauchamp, R, (2005) Designing sound for animation, Focal Press

Sonnenschein, D, (2001) Sound design- the expressive power of music, voice, ands sound effects in cinema, Michael Wiese Productions

Donnelly, K.J, (2005) The spectre of sound: music in film and television, British Film Institute

Levitin, D, (2006) This is your brain on music: Understanding a himan obsession, Atlantic Books

Larsen, P, (2010) Film music, Reaktion Books

Viers, R, (2008) The sound effects bible: How to create and record Hollywood style sound effects, Mivhael Wiese Productions







Sound in animation, Morgan Ames (2004) http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs294-7/sp04/sp_04_presentations/Sound_In_Animation.pdf

[Accessed]: 8/02/15



Open research online (2015) The non-diegetic fallacy: film, music, and narrative space

http://oro.open.ac.uk/29647/2/15A73DFF.pdf

[Accessed]: 16/02/2015



The encyclopaedia of Disney Animated shorts, (2015) Silly symphonies

http://www.disneyshorts.org/miscellaneous/silly.aspx

[Accessed]: 24/02/2015





Mind bites, Brittanie (2008) Importance of sound effects

http://blog.mindbites.com/importance-of-sound-effects/

[Accessed]: 24/02/2015



Kees van den Doel, Paul G. Kry, and Dinesh K. Pai (2015)

FOLEYAUTOMATIC: Physically-based Sound Effects for Interactive Simulation and Animation

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~pai/papers/foleyautomatic.pdf

[Accessed]: 24/02/2015



Tom Troscianko, (2015) The influence of sound effects on the perceived smoothness of rendered animation

http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Publications/Papers/2000391.pdf

[Accessed]: 24/02/2015



Roles, Significance, importance of sound/audio in animation,Meryll, (2012) Sounds/Audion: An important tool in animation

http://soundsupervision1.blogspot.co.uk

[Accessed]: 24/02/2015



IMDB (2015) Un chein andalou plot summary, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020530/plotsummary

[Accessed]: 17/03/2015



The Disney Wiki (2014) History: Steamboat Willie, http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Steamboat_Willie

[Accessed:17/03/2015]









Links




Link 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79i84xYelZI

Link 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIKYF07Y4kA

Link 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piH5_aP0fY8

Link 4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy7ztJ3NUMI

Link 5:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8ROhH3_vs

Text analysis

In this text analysis i will be talking about the book 'Drawn to sound'  by Rebecca Coyle. I found this book really useful for my essay about sound and its relationship to animation. It contained lots of different examples from lots of different genres giving me a very diverse range of research including animation, film, things from a long time ago, and more current things. It provided me with a fair few quotes for my essay and also gave me a good insight into lots of different uses of sound and different examples. I really enjoyed reading it and actually read most of the book instead of just flicking through. I particularly liked the part about The Corpse Bride by Tim Burton where she explained about how motifs are used in music to convey specific meanings. In this case it was a ticking motif 'which adds to the sense of things here being mechanised and ordered rather than lively and spontaneous.' 'The dead, freed from this constraint, are far more vigorous as a result'. I really enjoyed this part. 

A good thing about this book is that although it has some technical aspects, it is not heavily technically based so you do not have to have a deep understanding of musical composition to understand what Rebecca is trying to say. It is more theoretical based and explains how and why things are done. Unlike  Sound design by David Sonnenschein which has a lot of technical based reading. Although i have studied music a little bit in the past, it still doesn't make as much sense as an explanation on the theory behind why the composers did what they did. This is also more helpful for my essay because that too is more about why things work the way they do and what they show. 

I also liked this book because it didn't just talk about film music like most of the books i found, it talked about animations and sound effects as well which was actually quite hard to find and what i was specifically looking for. It meant i could still write about what i had intended to for my essay and get enough quotes for it. The way it was written was easy enough to keep up with and understand for me as it wasn't  written overly academically. 

In conclusion i believe this book helped my essay immensely and I don't think i could've written my essay without it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about how sound and animation work together. I really enjoyed this book so much so that i read almost every page even if the page contained nothing that would work for my essay.

COP2 animation

I have now finished my animation. I decided to just use sounds from the internet on freesfx for speed and ease to help me progress faster with this because there is a lot to do this month. I think it works fine and gives the effect i wanted pretty much. I just wish i was better at stop motion but i have decided after this that it isn't particularly something i am interested in pursuing.

COP 2 animation

Today i re did my stop motion animation. It turned out SO much better. its amazing what the right lighting and a bit of practice can do! heres how it turned out:

Next comes the hard part...trying to figure out how to do the sound! I think this animation is definitely going to help me improve my range of abilities as I am doing things I have never done before. After making my claymation I don't think I'm very hooked on it...I think i prefer digital animation like 2D and 3D!! It does create a cool effect, I just don't think its really my thing. I probably wouldn't do it again if I didn't have to. It would possibly be different with an armature and a more refined character like the ones in corpse bride as theres not so much that can be changed drastically and not look like the original and it has little keys that can change things minutely which I think is a great idea.

COP animation 1

I decided to go straight into animating today, so i made my little model and set up my space. Unfortunately i hadn't realised that the camera wasn't charged so while i waited for that to happen it was getting later and later and by the time i started animating it was sunset and the light was changing dramatically so unfortunately I will have to do it again. It is always good to have a practice run though, i learnt a lot like how i can keep my camera still, what kind of gaps i need in the movements, what angles i need, remember to check the focus...etc...So overall its probably a good thing because tomorrow I can make it better.

COP animation

For my COP animation, I have decided to create a stop motion animation because I haven't done one yet and it will give me chance to have a go at it, also I think for what I am doing, not only will it be quick but it will hopefully give a nice aesthetic. 

My idea, that we had to put on a proposal form, and that Mike has said is okay, is this:

I will be creating a short animation of around 10 seconds that will be played over twice with two different sound tracks that I will also be creating. They will hopefully be a mixture of music and sound effects. The two tracks will be quite contrasting showing that music and sound effects play a big part in how we perceive a storyline. Using clay stop motion I think will be good for this and simple shapes too because it means I don't have to worry about facial expressions so it won't affect the mood of the piece and I can leave that all to the music.

I looked at a few different shapes to use, I wanted them to be quite simple for speed and ease. 

The first was quite a squashy shape that moves like a caterpillar/ slug and scrunches up. I liked the idea that the top half was almost like a head, I thought it looked quite emotive.

The second was just a ball and it would roll to move and it would have lots of squash and stretch to show emotion but i didn't think it had as much narrative potential in it.

The third was a cube, i thought it would be cool to do an awkward roll because it is square, it would squash and stretch a little bit but not much. I thought this wouldn't work as well because theres not enough movement in it to show a good reaction.

For these reasons I went with number 1.

This character will be made out of modelling clay.

 Next I created a short storyboard showing roughly what is going to happen in this very short animation. Basically it will move across the screen and come to a box where it will react to a toy dinosaur appearing. Depending on the music, this will seem like a scary thing, or a surprise.

I think this will work okay but it is only short so I will look through it afterward and decide if it works or not, if not I will re write the storyboard and try again.
I think the music is going to be the most difficult part. But i have a fairly good knowledge of film music as i did it in GCSE and i have read about it a lot for my essay. I will use a mixture of things like garage band, sound effects from the internet or hana barbera and audacity possibly. I will use after effects i think to put this all together.

Ideas for COP essay

I quite like the idea of talking about globalisation and how our country is better for having things from all around the world. this also goes for animation like we have Pokemon which is anime like Japanese but Americanised so its all mixed and brought into our culture. But there are also down sides like our country is not our country anymore.

COP 2 lecture-what is research

process is more important than the outcome
research is what i do when i don't know what I'm doing

primary research-developed and collected for a  specific purpose to solve a specific problem. it hasn't existed before
secondary research -data that already produced but for a different reason
quantitative- generated numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers.
qualitative research- describes events people, not statistical nut about perceptions or views.

information is something that has been processed from data.
information should be sufficient, relevant, useful,

knowing that (there are 50 people in the room-you can't count it)-theoretical
knowing how (know how to do something)-practical
knowing where (knowing a place or a person exist)-contextual 
between theory and practice you form a synthesis. 
paradigm shift- when you believe one thing for a while then later on something happens and your belief changes
what is there to study? ontology
how can we know about it? epistemology

ontology- philosophical analysis of what is or can be known
theoretical analysis of facts properties and process that forms knowledge
the conceptualisation or categorisation of existing knowledge and what can be known.

epistemology- the philosophical analysis of the scope and nature of knowledge and how we can know something
the theory of knowledge and how it related to concepts such as truth believe and justification
distinguished between knowing and acquaintance knowing that and knowing how.

how do we study it? methodology
methodology
how will you find out what you are looking for
identifies who will be involved and how
specifies how you will turn source material into evidence
consider how you will generate
methodology approaches-what do i do
 literature review
case study
longitudinal survey
ethnography
experimental
action research
activity theory
techniques-how do i do it
interviews
observation
questionares
drawing
making
recording

once you have decided on this and come up with data you have to process it to turn it into information
evaluating, reflection, justification, claims,inferences, application, communication

what do it show?
what does it mean?

decide when you are going to stop researching and start doing

the purpose of your research should be formulated into research question


start with what you already know
identify what you want to know more about
plan how you are going to find out about it

COP2 lecture-what is research

Where good ideas come from  by Stephen Johnson
idea driven research

stimulated approach
conscious or sub conscious search for inspiration from an external repertoire:in the surrounding media, in discussing, libraries etc.

systematic approach
this is based on the systematic collection and modification of components, characteristics and means of expression such as by structuring, restructuring, replacing, adding, mirroring, reproducing.(a process)

intuitive approach
this is the development of thought process which is primarily based on internalised perceptions and knowledge, that is to say an internal repertoire. this type of thought orioles may occur spontaneously, without being evoked especially. this is actually a systematic...

research is the process of finding facts. facts lead to knowledge. research is done by using what is already known 

research is driven by questions

collecting information, variety of sources including books, journals and the internet. also by carrying out experiments and talking to people and the analysis of this information.

primary research
research that is developed and collected for a specific end use to generate or solve a specific problem
research that involves the collection of data that does not yet exist
new stuff that you find that doesn't exist yet

secondary research
published or record data that have already been collected for some purpose other than the current study
the analysis of research that has been collected at an earlier point in time for reasons unrelated to the current project.
using things that have already been found

quantitate research
deals with facts figures an measurements and produces data which can be readily analysed. measurable data is gathered from a wide range of sources
generated numerical data or can be converted into numbers
the gathering and analysis of measurable data
red arch that is objective and relies on statistical analysis such as surveys

qualitative research 
explored and tries to understand peoples believe experiences, attitude, behaviour, and interactions. to generated non numerical data. the best known methods of inquiry included in depth interviews focus groups documentary analysis and participant observations
non numerical data. through interviews, conversations,
capturing peoples thoughts and emotions and being involved and document it.
a way of studying people or systems by interacting with and observing the subjects regularly.
gives and idea about the perceptions or views.

information is the result of processing manipulating and organising data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.

information should be sufficient competent relevant and useful
need a breadth of sufficient information


methodologies

start anywhere. just get started.

COP seminar

globalisation

-americanisation is sort of good because it has brought new things over to our country and opened our eyes to new things.

-also bad like taking german grimm tales that are quite dark then americanising it and making it all cute and princess needs a prince kind of thing.

-America trying to re do british tv shows to make them more popular to american viewers.

comunism
-in Berlin they have trabans which are a specific type of car and you can't have it in different colours but only that car.

-lots of countries are quite westernised but there are parts of the country that aren't.

- series 9 episode 14 -american dad

COP 2 seminar

-Sigmund Freud, bernays, books in library
-Persuasion - a deliberate and successful attempt by one person to get another person by appeals to reason to freely accept beliefs, attitudes, values, intentions, or actions.
-you don't expect animated films to give  political message so you watch it more openly

-matches the appeal-propaganda?

-the sinking of the lusitania -Windsor McCay
persuading that germans are bad because they bombed a ship full of americans

-raft of the medusa (painting) french. represents the spirit of survival. promoting the idea of evil forces that you rise up again. 

-Momotaro vs Mickey Mouse
Mickey mouse represents America

Der feuhrers face (Donald duck in nazi land)
-makes hitler look stupid basically.
-can get away with it because its a cartoon.
-more refined than Japanese one as better animation inducts in america at that point

-Leni Riefenstahl 
- german film maker and photographer
-made films in 1930s
-olympia

Victory through air power
-once we got the issue of the propeller in the way of the gun, the aeroplane became a weapon of war.
-more positive saying how good they are making the machinery whereas the others we have watched are looking at the negatives

COP2 seminar 3

Subcultures in animation eg Simpsons, south park, making fun of them almost. 
presepolis 
tim burton adopted the gothic style in his animation but its not made FOR goths you don't have to be a goth to like it.

posers of subculture- wearing things you know nothing about because other people are wearing it like band t-shirts of bands you have never heard of or  like wearing star wars pyjamas when you've never seen star wars.

psychoanalysis
.look at where and why psychoanalysis emerges
.identify key concepts and terms:ego, super ego, id, abject, objet relation
.look at object relation theory with regards to are and design
.look at abject.
Freuds deffinitions
.a discipline founded on a procedure for the investigation of mental processes that are otherwise inaccessible because they are unconscious
.a therapeutic method for the treatment of neurotic disorders
.a body of psychological eta evolving into a new scientific discipline

the third category comprises frauds work on culture which is largely based on the view that culture is a product of the diversion or sublimation of sexual energy. 
sublimation- the conversion of sexual drive and energies into creative sexual energy
psychoanalysis seeks to analyse and structure our consciousness through careful dissection of the unconscious mind.

sigmund freud 1856-1939
id- governed but the pleasure principle desires and drives, sex, death, pain, fascinations
ego- the side we show the world
super ego- moral conscience
we repress them because society would allow/like them
to live in society we must repress instinctual desires- sexual or aggressive usually the taboos of society

We watched 'Un chien andalou' which is a very strange black and white film that seems to draw attention to pain, fear and sex. Maybe cause they are things we usually try to cover up.

COP 2- lecture 4

Identity

Zygmunt Bauman
physiognomy- the study of physical features. 
the closer to the vertical your brow, upper lip and chin line up, the more intelligent you are. (racism)

Hieronymus Bosch- christ carrying the cross, oil on panel. Jewish people that have condemned him to death are portrayed as ugly-anitisemitism.

Chris Ofili, holy virgin Mary- deals with black identity in his work. uses lumps of elephant dung in his work. shown in metropolitan museum in new york. outrage at the fact he portrayed the virgin media as black. 

Douglas kellner- media culture:culture studies, identity and politics between the modern and post modern 1992
.pre modern identity- personal identity is stable defined by long standing roles

.modern identity- modern societies begin to offer a wider range of social roles.
possibility to start choosing your identity rather than simply being born into it

.post modern identity- accepts a fragmented self identity is constructed.


post modern identities- secure identities. farm worker, land worker, soldier the state, factory worker industrial capitalism, housewife patriarchy, gentleman patriarchy, hunsband-wife marriage/church

modern identity
Charles Baudelaire- the painter of modern life- introduces the concept of the 'flaneur' (gentleman stroller) never writes about a 'flaneurse' (female version) woman is always his accessory on a mans arm not the object. Walking around in the middle of the day for no reason shows they have time on their hands means your rich enough that you don't have to go to work. 

Gustave Caillebotte (1848 - 94), 

Le Pont de l’Europe, 1876

Gustave Caillebotte (1848 - 94), 

Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877

Thorstein Veblen- theory of leisure class- conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentlemen of leisure. 

Geor Simmel- writes about fashion in a term of defining identities, trickle down theory, emulation, distinction, the 'mask of fashion' 
people want to align themselves with the upper classes so they wear cheaper versions of what the rich people wear. Then the upper class start wearing something else so the poorer people follow. no longer trickle down its bubble up.  - street fashion being re made into something they sell for hundred of pounds.

'the feeling of isolation is rarely as decisive and intense when one actually finds oneself physically alone, as when one is a stranger without relations among many physically close persons at a party, on the train, or in the traffic of a large city.'- Simmel
'The separation of the subject from the object of life'

Michel Foucault- discourse analysis
 identity is constructed out of the discourses culturally available to us.

possible discourse- age class gender nationality race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, 

discourse- a set of recurring statements that define a particular cultural 'object' (e.g. madness, criminality, sexuality) and provide concepts and terms through which such an object can be studied and discussed' Cavallaro

martin parr, new brighton, merseyside, from the last resort,1983-86. , ascot - lower classes pretending to be upperclass.

identity page 52- Bauman- society reminds one of a particularly shrewd cunning and pokerfaced player in the flame of life, cheating of given a chance flouting rules whenever possible. 
nationality- think of England, think of Germany. english perceptions of germans.

much of the press coverage centred around accusations of misogamy because of the imagery of a semi naked, staggering and brutalised women in conjunction with the word 'rape' in the title but McQueen claimed that the rape was of Scotland, not the individual models as the theme shows was the jacobite rebellion- Alexander McQueen, highland rape collection, autumn winter 

Vivian Westwood anglomania collection. uses tartan. 
las vegas- Venice, New york, Egypt, Disney land, mini versions of different countries, do you even need to go anywhere else. 
'i didn't like Europe as much as disney world. at disney world all the countries are much closer together and they just show you the best of each country.'

race/ethnicity, chris ofili, no woman no cry, - murder of Stevie Laurence- black hate crime. racial stereotypes white people might impose. 

captain shit and the legend of the black stars. no black super heroes. He realised there were no black superheroes so he thought how would white people portray a black superhero so came up with that. 

from signs that say what you want them to say and signs that say what someone else wants you to say- gillian wearing. 

its a jungle out there- some people thought this migh thane been racist because he put a black model in animal skins and put horns of her etc. he made a pout he was drawing attention to the fact theres not a lot of black models.

Emily Bates was abused for having red hair. She believed that people saw nothing more than her hair. So she decided to make a dress from her own hair. 

 saint mary magdaline -titan-had red hair and she was thought to be a prostitute- maybe that is where all the stigma comes from.

gender and secuality- wilson E 1985, adorned in dreams:fashion and modernity, london IB  taurus page 94. secret hatred of women but forcing them into exaggerated ridiculer hideous clothed.
flapper, 1925, frowned upon to show knees and short hair. la gar cone women vs man
androgyny 1920s style from punch magazine. 
masquerade and the mask of femininity, Cindy Sherman, untitled film stills 1977-80. stereotles of femininity in films 

post modern theory- identity can be constructed through our social experience
Erving Goffman, the presentation of self in everyday life
Goffman saw life as theatre made up of encounter sand performances
for Goffman the self is a series of facades

Zygmunt Bauman- yes identity is revealed to us only as
introspection is as disappearing act faced with moments alone in there cars on the street or at supermarket checkouts more and more people do not collect their thoughts but scan their mobile phones for shreds of evidence that somebody needs of wants them. 
i think therefore i am- i shop therefore i am. what you buy where you go. sponsored Selfridges sales.  

Visual analysis

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting two short animations. These are "Bottle" by Kirsten Lepore and "The dog who was a cat inside" by Siri Melchior.

"Bottle" is a Pixillation animation so it's made by putting a series of photographs together in a timeline. In this animation there are two characters, one is made of sand and the other from snow as they live in different parts of the world. They Send bottles across the ocean with different objects in them and they stick them on themselves like pen pals and friendship bracelets. One day, the guy made out of sand sends a drawing of himself and the snow girl meeting under the ocean. So that is what they do. Unfortunately when they go underwater they both disintegrate because what they’re made of cannot survive underwater.

This could have been about long distance relationships and saying they don't work as they are in contact for a long time before they actually try to meet. It also could be about social media and trying to portray yourself as something your not on your profile like they are sending each other items and they become different people but when they go to meet each other all the fake stuff comes off and they look like themselves again and that’s why it doesn't work because they fell in love with the fakery. This is the same in real life when if you start talking to someone online and pretend to be someone else then you go meet up with them and they see who you actually are and don't like it.

"the dog who was a cat inside" is a 2D hand drawn animation that looks really simple. In the story, there is a dog and inside there is a cat. The two appear not to get along at all. The cat would try and stop the dog from doing what he wants and visa versa. They are both very unhappy to the point they have a big fight and fall in the river. Where somehow they learn to get along a little better and work together. When they get out they find a cat with a dog inside!

This animation can be taken in a number of ways. One thing could be transgender. Like humans sometimes feel that they should have been born a girl and there actually a boy, the dog feels he should have been born a cat and he constantly fights himself saying no that’s silly.

Another issue this could be facing is homosexuality- The dog is a dog so he should like other dogs but inside he actually really likes cats. He feels people will think he is weird so he suppresses the cat inside him. When he finds a cat that is a dog inside he realizes he is not so weird.

It could also be tackling the issue of split personality disorder. Where you have another voice inside your head and sometimes it tells you to do things that perhaps you don't want to do. Like when the cat is interacting with another cat.

I think its nice that it doesn't clarify what issue it is trying to portray as it gives us opportunity to figure this out for ourselves and put our own take on it.

I think both of these stories work well through animation as it makes you think more about the issue but it's not right in your face so you actually feel more comfortable watching it. Also a child could watch this and just think it's a sweet animation but when they’re older that might be still in their heads and help them to understand things. I think if this was done in a film/ documentary kind of way it would have been a lot less engaging and you would probably turn it off.


These animations are executed in quite different ways. One is photographs and one is hand drawn. The sound track is also quite different. In "Bottle" there is just sound effects like the ocean and the sound of sand moving, but in "the dog who had a cat inside him" it is a sound track playing over the top and the sound effects are secondary. They both work though. The soundtrack shows us that time is passing by staying constant while the images change. It also tries to make it more emotional.

I like how ‘the dog who was a cat inside’ used simple 2D animation because it makes such a complex issue seem rather simple and your just concentrating on that rather than the beauty of the animation. However, perhaps people that actually have one of these issues might feel a bit offended by the fact that it has been simplified.

I think both stories work well just as stories and can be enjoyed whether you are reading into them or not.

In conclusion I think these are two very good animations that both portray a human issue using animation which gets the message across in a less in your face way which is easier to take. I think ‘the dog who was a cat inside’ did this more and also had multiple things you can read into it.