Manchester Animation Festival - Day Three

Day Three of Manchester Animation Festival brought more short films, including a few of my favourites from the show.

The first thing I saw was a celebration of the work of Ray Harryhausen. Though I wasn't very familiar with him, I was certainly familiar with his work, and it was highly insightful to be able to delve deeper into his work and see what he had created in his lifetime, told through the eyes of John Walsh, who knew and worked with Harryhausen closely. I found the discussion very enrapturing, as they went over his process, and it was delightful to be able to see his concept art for characters - something that is close to my personal interest.

I also enjoyed the collection of commissioned films, though I felt some were stronger than others - I guess that is the curse of being paid to create, that you must fit the brief. Still, I felt inspired after watching them. They are the reality of animation, and even though a few of them felt a bit stifled, they are what I hope to pursue.

I attended the Masterclass of Studio AKA, which I found surprisingly good. It was very interesting to see professionals discuss their craft and what it is like to work independently vs working for other companies to create adverts vs creating a feature film. Even though they are all animated works, each of them has their own pros and cons, and allows the company to open up different channels of creative flow.

Finally, the last thing I saw at MAF was The Red Turtle. The feature film had been hyped as "the next Studio Ghibli film, previewed at MAF", but it fell incredibly short of my personal expectations. For one thing, as a big lover of Studio Ghibli, it was disappointing to realise that actually, the studio's involvement was fairly minimal, and certainly didn't match the magical realism of their other famous films. Additionally, I found the characters lacking. As someone who prefers a good character over a good story, I found it difficult to connect to any of the characters (that could also be due to the lack of dialogue - the movie only used shouts and noises, rather than any kind of conversation). I never fully understood their motives or personalities, and didn't gain much of an emotional connection, which made the "tragic" moments less hard-hitting.

I'm very glad to have attended MAF, and I really would love to go back next year, if not as an attendant then as a volunteer, as the volunteers there were fantastically helpful and cheerful.

Manchester Animation Festival - Day Two

Day two at HOME began with Student Films 1, a collection of 11 shorts by graduate students.
The first of these was called The Wrong End of the Stick, and was interesting, to say the least. Though graphic and often surprising, I found it to be one of my favourites - it was exceptionally well animated, and the characters were believable despite circumstances (the protagonist struggling with his identity as a human). It was also exceptionally British. There is something to be said for a film that can show two characters conversing awkwardly about unusual sexual behaviour, while also having tea and toast. I also just adored the way that 2D characters were integrated into a live action, three-dimensional world. I would love to know how the students who created the film were able to get props - such as cups of tea - in the real world to move and interact with the characters.

Another animation that stood out to me from this showcase was a short called Wildfire. Though I found the story a little confusing, the animation was gorgeous, especially the character and scenic design. The scope of the fire felt so real, and you could almost feel the heat. The main character's obsession with the fire, and her addiction to it, was shown so effectively. I also loved how the main character, while female and a mother and wife, was not typically feminine. She has a square, masculine jawline, and is large, but not fat. She wears a hoodie when she's not working, and is shown as powerful, yet still emotional. Her design was inspiring, and I would love to create characters like her. 

I also saw a VR film on Wednesday called Hoodoo by a company called Blue Zoo. I have a small amount of experience using VR, but this was unlike anything else I had ever done. It was amazing - even though I knew it was only a film, and none of it was realistic in terms of animation, it still felt so real in terms of being in the scene. To be able to interact with the environment certainly added to the illusion of reality, and (spoiler) when the ground around me fell away to reveal land far, far below, I felt a slight lurch of vertigo. As amazing as the VR experience is, I can see it become almost addictive as it gets cheaper and more mainstream. I didn't really want to leave the world of VR - it was colourful, friendly, and safe. I think it would also be good in allowing people to overcome their fears - especially heights - in a "safe" reality. 

Manchester Animation Festival - Day One

At the painful hour of 5:30am, I got out of bed and got ready to go to Manchester for MAF - Manchester Animation Festival, the place where hundreds of short films and a handful of feature films are shown over three days, accompanied by various talks, workshops, and masterclasses. 

Once we arrived on Tuesday, the first thing we headed to see were the Shorts 1, a collection of short films produced in a variety of styles and techniques. What I found most enlightening about this trip was discovering just how wide the scope of animation really is - anything can be animated, with live action being integrated too. It isn't as confined as a I originally thought.

One animation that stood out to me from Shorts 1 was a four minute film called Parade. It had no dialogue, and instead the music acted as the driving narrative, as well as the images of a happy troupe juxtaposed with the bleakness of war and conflict. The hand-painted style appealed to me as someone who enjoys clean, block colours and a simplistic style, and the use of music throughout to almost act as a voice for the characters was highly effective.

It also reminded me of another animated video I had seen a few months ago, called MitchiriNeko March, a cute and colourful Japanese animation about cats in a happy marching band. In comparison, while MitchiriNeko is playful and innocent, Parade begins with the air of similar happiness which soon turns to a dark reality as the horrors of war are explored in the same colourful manner.

 

Another impactful animation I saw on the first day was called My Life as a Courgette, a French stop-motion feature film. When viewing this, it struck me how tame mainstream animation is, and how also that animation (meaning Disney, Dreamworks, etc) is the mainstream - what most people think of when you talk about animation. There are stories being told elsewhere, important stories, but they don't get the same amount of recognition as the more popular stuff. Additionally, since My Life as a Courgette addressed the hard-hitting issues of abuse, alcoholism, and even suicide, it would be difficult to say this is a kids film, even though it is about kids. Still, it is in the same colourful style as most children's animated movies, which really throws into perspective the depth of the children's hardships. 

My Life as a Courgette was my favourite feature film from the festival, and I would love a chance to see it again, having already watched and become familiar with it. 

Finally on Tuesday we got a chance to watch Aardman get presented with the Fellowship award and reflect over the history of Aardman. Having grown up on Wallace and Gromit, as well as other Aardman animations, it felt almost comforting to watch these and inspiring to see how far a company can go. 40 years of hard work, as Peter Lord put it. They were not as big 40 years ago as they are now, and it was amazing to see where a company and individual can go by dedicating themselves to their work. 

Kina Grannis - In Your Arms

The first time I saw this music video, I couldn't believe that it was all stop-motion, all done by hand. But yes, it really is. To me, even though the song is a bit cheesy and eh, I really do love how much work went into this. It is a labour of love, and certainly worth watching. Two years of work went into it, to convey a narrative for the music video. The use of colour is fantastic, with rich warm tones transitioning well into icy cold blues and greens. And even though the complexity looks to be in all the jellybeans, it is also worth noting how much effort and time went into getting the singer to look smooth through the video, instead of jerky and awkward. Simple things like eyebrow lifts would have taken painstaking concentration and intense focus, in order to get the whole thing to look natural. This method of pixilation is highly complex in a context such as this, but it certainly pays off. 

"I want" - Analysing song in animation

A couple of weeks into term, we watched a documentary called "Waking Sleeping Beauty", which followed the journey of Disney during the later half of the 20th century, as it struggled financially and in success. One part that resonated closely to my personal interests was during the segment that focused on the musical side of Disney - the careers of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, two huge names in the music of Disney that is still so iconic today.

I have a big interest in musicals and musical theatre, and some of my favourite animated movies are those that also involve song to help drive the narrative.

For this post, I will look at the "I want" song in certain animated movies - the song where a character, usually the protagonist, explains what it is they are searching for and what they dream of. The difference between animation and live-action when showing this song is often the song can bring in elements of fantasy - a way to physically show what the character is yearning for.

My personal favourite is Journey To The Past from Anastasia. Even though it is "simple", in that it doesn't have huge flourishes of animation, the subtleties are what make this so magical, I think.
The little loops and flurries of shimmering snow echo the main character's yearning for something more, something special, and also allude to the fact that she is more than she believes herself to be. In addition, the personification of the dog and other animals hints to curiosity, youth, and a taste for adventure - something that might come across as hokey or false-looking in a live action film.

Finally, the reveal of Saint Petersburg at the end is made all the more dramatic and fantastic through the detail of drawing and use of colour. By contrasting the golden spires of the city with the cold white of the snow, the film exaggerates the glamour and hope that Saint Petersburg holds for Anastasia.

Another "I want" song is Jack's Lament from Nightmare before Christmas, which differs from the tradition by introducing a male protagonist (the trope is often employed by female characters), and showing it in a more miserable, depressive tone than the hopefulness in other "I want" songs. Jack mourns over the seemingly inescapable status quo, and questions his position within it through the use of song. Instead of looking forward to change and the possibilities the future holds, he wishes for something - anything - to change, to free him from the cycle he feels trapped in. The animation is beautiful and highly symbolic. Jack silhouetted against the full moon establishes his role as a nightmare "spook", who comes out at night, as well as his skeletal figure. Not to mention the fact he is surrounded by graves, ghosts, and ghouls. It is enthralling, both technically and emotionally, as we see Jack through the eyes of Sally, who hides behind a grave while watching him. 

Song can drive both story and character in animation, and I wish it was employed more often in a wider breadth of animation, and not just Disney.