I'm really liking your storyboard - but I want you to really get into the details here; remember that one of the prime challenges for the animator is to 'show' a character thinking - to show a drawn character having thoughts; this is absolutely pivotal to your audience connecting emotionally to the plight of your over-burdened hat-stand; we need to feel her 'self-loathing' and crestfallen mood; as importantly, when she she's herself in the mirror, her astonishment has to be BIG BIG BIG! You have to exaggerate in animation to stage an emotional response effectively, so I'd like to see you do more work around the opening and closing scenes of your storyboard - more nuancing and more detail and perhaps a greater variety of shots. Also, I want you to further refine your hatstand design; it's important that you communicate its gender somehow - and at the moment, it's rather gender neutral; think about its spine and the rotation of both its head and wrists; you might need to change the head-shape to give it a slight more feminine shape; it's all about refinement now - you've accomplished a lot in 2 weeks and your story has potential, so get stuck in to finalising the details that will make your story 'pop'.
Tom Beg's advice re. the real challenges of essay writing are bang on - wise words indeed - for some more general stuff, please see the following post.
Use your introduction* to state clearly the investigative intention of your written assignment and the means by which you are going to support your discussion; for instance:
‘This essay will investigate the animated films of The Brothers Quay in relation to Freud’s theory of the Uncanny - with particular focus on Street of Crocodiles (1986) and The Comb (1990)…
Or
‘The stop-motion animator, Ray Harryhausen is arguably the father of modern day cinematic fantasy. What follows is an investigation of his life and work in relation to the development of special effects…’
Stylistically, it is often clarifying to begin with a key-note quote or bench mark statement that sets the scene for the discussion… for instance:
‘… the Brothers Quay's works are independent of any definable genre; indeed, the imitation of their unique style which can be observed in films of other animators are a complimentary gesture to the auteur style they have developed. Throughout their opus, a continuity can be observed - Quays' devotion to the marginal, the nobody and the unnoticed, elevated into the sublime…’ (Buchan: 1996)
In her essay, Shifting Realities – The Brothers Quay – Between Live Action and Animation, Suzanne Buchan observes that other animators have imitated the unique style of the Brothers Quay. This investigation seeks to trace that influence by comparing their short 1986 film, Street of Crocodiles with Henry Selick’s Coraline (2009)…
* If you can’t provide a succinct introduction for your discussion, chances are you’re not quite ready to write the essay. You need to make your argument clear – without one, you are submitting a ‘blancmange’.
When referring to a film for the first time, always give proper title (with capital letters!), release date and director; after that, you can use title only. Please check spelling of film title – if it’s a made-up word, the spell check won’t know the difference!
When referring to a person for the first time, use full name – after that, use surname only.
You must use Harvard Method for quotations!
Use footnotes for ‘additional’ information that is important or contextualizing but ‘outside’ of the main body of the essay.
Final coloured version of my hat-stand.
Online Interim Review 23/03/10
ReplyDeleteHey Charlotte,
I'm really liking your storyboard - but I want you to really get into the details here; remember that one of the prime challenges for the animator is to 'show' a character thinking - to show a drawn character having thoughts; this is absolutely pivotal to your audience connecting emotionally to the plight of your over-burdened hat-stand; we need to feel her 'self-loathing' and crestfallen mood; as importantly, when she she's herself in the mirror, her astonishment has to be BIG BIG BIG! You have to exaggerate in animation to stage an emotional response effectively, so I'd like to see you do more work around the opening and closing scenes of your storyboard - more nuancing and more detail and perhaps a greater variety of shots. Also, I want you to further refine your hatstand design; it's important that you communicate its gender somehow - and at the moment, it's rather gender neutral; think about its spine and the rotation of both its head and wrists; you might need to change the head-shape to give it a slight more feminine shape; it's all about refinement now - you've accomplished a lot in 2 weeks and your story has potential, so get stuck in to finalising the details that will make your story 'pop'.
Tom Beg's advice re. the real challenges of essay writing are bang on - wise words indeed - for some more general stuff, please see the following post.
Use your introduction* to state clearly the investigative intention of your written assignment and the means by which you are going to support your discussion; for instance:
ReplyDelete‘This essay will investigate the animated films of The Brothers Quay in relation to Freud’s theory of the Uncanny - with particular focus on Street of Crocodiles (1986) and The Comb (1990)…
Or
‘The stop-motion animator, Ray Harryhausen is arguably the father of modern day cinematic fantasy. What follows is an investigation of his life and work in relation to the development of special effects…’
Stylistically, it is often clarifying to begin with a key-note quote or bench mark statement that sets the scene for the discussion… for instance:
‘… the Brothers Quay's works are independent of any definable genre; indeed, the imitation of their unique style which can be observed in films of other animators are a complimentary gesture to the auteur style they have developed. Throughout their opus, a continuity can be observed - Quays' devotion to the marginal, the nobody and the unnoticed, elevated into the sublime…’ (Buchan: 1996)
In her essay, Shifting Realities – The Brothers Quay – Between Live Action and Animation, Suzanne Buchan observes that other animators have imitated the unique style of the Brothers Quay. This investigation seeks to trace that influence by comparing their short 1986 film, Street of Crocodiles with Henry Selick’s Coraline (2009)…
* If you can’t provide a succinct introduction for your discussion, chances are you’re not quite ready to write the essay. You need to make your argument clear – without one, you are submitting a ‘blancmange’.
When referring to a film for the first time, always give proper title (with capital letters!), release date and director; after that, you can use title only. Please check spelling of film title – if it’s a made-up word, the spell check won’t know the difference!
When referring to a person for the first time, use full name – after that, use surname only.
You must use Harvard Method for quotations!
Use footnotes for ‘additional’ information that is important or contextualizing but ‘outside’ of the main body of the essay.
Please double-space your written assignments!
You must provide a paper-copy at time of crit!