Narrative Film Screening 7

The first film we watched today was called 'Double King', by Felix Colgrave and it was about a greedy King who wants all of the crowns. He wants them so much so that he kills a Queen and then murders other King and Queens. His mass murders result in him committing suicide to get the crown off of his finger. Finally even in death this creature will not take no crown for an answer and he fights with a skeleton to get his crown. I liked the contrasting colours used throughout this animation as the scenes really draw your eyes in.

Finally today we watched 'The Yellow Submarine' by Lee Minoff. This film was filled with bright colours and great songs including 'Look at all the lonely people' which I found particularly catchy!

I really enjoyed watching this colourful film, featuring the Beatles as the only ones who could return colour to a magical place called 'Pepperland' with their powerful music and battle against the 'Meanies' who had taken over. Their only way to get to Pepperland of course is on the 'Yellow Submarine'.

Narrative Film Screening 6

Today we watched 3 films shown below:

1) Mr Hublot - This charming animation tells the story of Mr Hublot who has OCD and must overcome his fear of going outside in order to save a dog from harm. The dog becomes Mr Hublots companion and saves him, in helping him face his fears. I really like the 3D animation used in this beautiful film!

2) The Monk and The Fish - This quite comical short animation works really well in terms of the music matching the movements of the Monk and the Fish. The Monk desperately tries to catch the Fish much to the dismay of the other Monks at the monastery.

3) The Red Turtle - This was a 2D animation, in which a man washes up on a desert Island. He makes several rafts but every time he tries to escape, a mysterious force destroys them. After a final raft attempt he realises that a huge Red Turtle is the cause of his rafts destruction and when it comes ashore he flips it over leaving it to roast in the hot sun. When the man finally comes to his senses, he returns to the Turtle and its shell cracks. Its body then disappears, but the shell remains and a woman about his age appears. The couple have a son together who grows up and leaves the island. Then, when the man dies of old age, the woman returns to the Turtle that she was and continues her life in the ocean.

Overall this film is about a man who finds true love in the strangest of ways and how once he is not alone on the island and he has a family, then he sees no need to leave it. It shows that all we need to be happy in our lives is our family and love.

Narrative Film Screening 5

The first animation we watched today was called Glens Gloves by Mikey Please, it is a Stop Motion animation about a miner who digs down into the ground and who ends up in a strange world, where a giant with one hand crushes a building.

Secondly we watched an animation called Eagleman Stag also by Mikey Please. This is a Stop Motion animation about a man who discovers a Beetle that can re-grow its head and he calls it the 'Eagleman Stag'. The man however decides to retain this knowledge for himself. This is a brilliant animation made using a foam material as shown below:

Finally today we watched an animation entitled 'It's Such a Beautiful Day' by Don Hertzfeldt. This 2D animation was about a stick man called Bob who tries to come to terms with his life. He questions how many days he spends doing the same tasks, for example cleaning and brushing his teeth. As the film continues it is a mixture of 2D animation with real backgrounds and one of the main quotes that I took from this film is that the "Passage of time is an illusion as all of infinity is actually happening all at once". Overall I did not greatly enjoy this film but it contained some good quotes.

Narrative Film Screening 4

The films we watched today were called 'At the Ends of the Earth' by Konstantin Bronzit and 'When the Wind Blows' based on the book by Raymond Briggs.

'At the Ends of the Earth' is a 2D animation in which people live in a house at the very tip of a mountain, meaning that it tilted from left to right depending on which side of the house was heavier. Overall this is quite a comical animation which ends with the house falling down the mountain and becoming flat.

On the other hand, 'When the Wind Blows' is an animation based on the lives of husband and wife James and Hilda, who are a retired couple living in a cottage. James makes a shelter using the doors from his house in preparation for the drop of a Nuclear Bomb! This story follows the weeks leading to the drop of a Nuclear Bomb, in which James follows ridiculous instructions for a shelter that clearly will not save them from the effects of Nuclear radiation, e.g. rest doors at an angle of 60˚ to create a shelter, in preparation for a 'Nuclear Holocaust'. This emotional film results in both James and Hilda surviving the initial bomb drop, however they then both die from Nuclear radiation.

Below are some of the scenes from this film, as well as some shots of the scenery. This film is a mixture of 2D animation with 3D backgrounds:

A key line from this film is when Hilda says "If you can't see it and can't feel it, it can't be doing any harm." This is a fateful line as it shows that neither Hilda or James truly understand radiation. Also I feel that a really heart wrenching part is that even when the bomb has dropped and they start to feel ill from radiation poisoning. They continue to have hope and talk as though their lives will just return to normalcy tomorrow and they will be able to pop to the shops again and see the blue sky.

The film ends with them both praying to God that they will survive, but we know the devastating truth.

Narrative Film Screening 3

The first film we watched today was called 'Shave It' which is a 3D animation. It is about a Monkey whose home is destroyed by humans, so he shaves off his fur and disguises himself as a human. He then learns hows to make a machine that will bulldoze down buildings and replace them with the jungle, recreating his home with human technology.

Next we watched a French film called 'Delicatessen', which involved a hotel above a Butchers. There are food shortages and the Butcher kills off the new residents and then hands out their body (meat) to other residents of the hotel, who are all in on his devious and horrific scheme. The Butchers daughter fall in love with the new victim and this film shows how they escape and put an end to the killing.

This film uses some great camera angles, for example in one scene the camera takes us through the pipes of the hotel (I have added red circles and arrows to show what I want you to look at:

Overall the colours throughout this film are quite dull(shown in the top two images below), however they grow brighter at the end, when the two lovers survive and live happily together(shown in the lower image below):

Narrative Film Screening 2

The short film we watched today was the first episode of the Road Runner and the Wile E. Coyote entitled 'Fast and Furry-ous'. This animation is great in showing that dialogue is not necessarily needed for amazing animations. As well as this we were taught that it is good to think of the environment as the third character because the characters and the environments they are in are just as important as each other. Finally it is key to note that characters have to stick to the rules of the world they are in, for example 'All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters - The Southwest American Desert'.

Additionally we watched a 2D film called 'Belleville Rendezvous', in which a cyclist was kidnapped from the Tour de France, by a Paris Mob Boss. He forced the cyclists to cycle on bikes that were connected to a machine with cardboard cyclists riding up a mountain. The mob bosses would then bet on who they thought would win the race. What the Mob Boss did not count on was that the cyclists Mother would find him and come to the rescue. 

Overall the music in this animation is quite catchy and the film uses vintage colours throughout, switching from sepia to then brighter colours:

Narrative Film Screening 1

Today I watched the short film 'Bobs Birthday'. It is a 2D animation looking at the life of a Dentist called Bob who questions his lifestyle and whether or not he should have an affair with the dental nurse. He doesn't but then his wife throws him a surprise party, inviting friends around. Bob arrives home and talks badly about each guest, not knowing they are there, waiting to jump up. The animation ends where all of the guests are left in the house and Bob and his wife go out for a meal.

The scenes are very good in showing what the characters are focusing on meaning we can insinuate what they are thinking. This just goes to show that words are not necessarily needed to communicate with the audience within an animation.

Additionally today, we watched an animation called 'Mary and Max'. This is a stop-motion animation which focuses on the relationship between an 8 year old girl called Mary who lives in Australia and her Pen Pal Max who is a 44 year old man with Asperger's syndrome living in New York. This film tells an emotional tale, as Mary and Max both seek friendship which they find in each other. The colour scheme throughout this film is key to showing the mood of the characters. It starts off with very dull, brown colours as shown below:

However as the story continues, more colour is brought into each of the characters lives:

Mary and Max never have the chance to meet and experience a few bumps in their relationship along the way, but when Mary finally goes to meet Max, she is too late. She finds Max dead on his couch staring up at the ceiling. When she looks up though, she finds that Max truly valued their friendship as he spent his dying moments staring at the years worth of letters Mary had sent him, which he had stuck onto his ceiling.