Analysis of existing animations (P1, P2, M1, D1)

P1: Explain the different techniques for animation

Animation is the form of media which is used to create unique characters and worlds. This form of media is used in advertising, gaming, cartoons, films and TV. It is done through these forms because it allows companies to create exactly what kind of picture they want, whiles also being able to make realistic characters or even realistic, CGI is used to do this. CGI is the way in which everything in a form of media is created through specialist software such as Blender, these softwares provide materials to be used in which you can create unique characters, landscapes and even locations.

The two techniques that I have planned to be exploring for producing digital animation will be Claymation / Stop motion and CGI. 

CGI was first developed in the 1950's when mechanical computers became repurposed from their old tasks to create patterns into cel-animations which were then made into films. That first film which used CGI was 'Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958)' However it wasnt until 1972 when Alfred Hitchcock developed a 3D animation that 3D imagery was really used. this was produced when Edwin drew 350 triangles and polygons in ink on his hand and then digitized and laboriously animated the data in a 3D animation program. This was the first ever 3D animated film of its time and type.

CGI is one of the most poplar types of animations that has been used within films and different forms of entertainment such as TV, Games and more. An Iconic company to follow the CGI demand and trend is Disney, this is likely due to the amount of expenses and money they have to be able to invest into creating such high quality productions and therefore is taken advantage of by them as a unique selling point to audiences. Typically, you will see Characters being produced at a high quality level with images and graphics as this allows for them to make the animations a much more improved level. 

One of the most expensive things about CGI is the amount of money which goes into creating the effects that make the film unique and interesting. The usage of such affects such as the pollen that flows in the bee movie creates an engaging environment and thus engages the audience and creates more interest to the film. Typically Disney is a big placeholder for effects as they have the finance to afford top quality effects as well as graphics for their films. 

Disney is also known to be using Presto which is a proprietary software designed and used internally by Pixar. There are other softwares such as Blender, Auto desk Maya and many more which can all be used for CGI. These tools create a lot more convenience than having to make the whole scene in person in something such as a hand drawing or claymation / animation. 

Some advantages of the Usage of CGI on animation styles is the efficiency of having a system generate all of your images to the upmost perfection and exact design. This specific detail in the animation style such as the hairs on one of the characters allows for fans to really appeal towards the films. Some disadvantages however of using CGI is that getting CGI to work can be tricky and time consuming depending on the engines and softwares you are using, this is because some source materials may not be valid in one engine or software compared to another, so it can make transfering CGI work difficult.  

CGI Mainly impacts static scenes and characters specifically to create a more quality product as a whole, this is because even within films that want to target a specific audience. You have the option with CGI to create any kind of character you want. You can using this, create characters which can target all audiences for the film and therefore have more success. 

Companies such as Disney will use this to create a unique style of characters such as talking cars in the Film 'Cars'. Doing this is extremely time consuming as creating these characters is expensive and not easy to do, therefore they must follow the same style of animation through all their films to create as well as techniques and conventions. This typically becomes the companies house style and is the case for Disney. 

Another company which are well known for their usage in CGI are Pixar animation for their work with the film 'cars' for example

Following this another company who use CGI is Studio Cannal who produced the films 'Paddington 1' and 'Paddington 2'

 

The most well known early on clay mation film was Chicken run, this was created in the year 2000. It was developed because film makers wanted something that could really refine their interests for detail in films, Cel animation was used originally to do this with drawings, however by molding 3D clay into pieces you can create extremely detailed models of your most wildest and wackiest characters. However one of the earliest claymation films to be created that is still standing is 'The Sculptor's Nighmare' from the year 1908.

Claymation is the form of animation style which allows for models to been taken frame by frame in order to create scenarios. Characters are created from clay and used to create these scenes. Each character has to be moved bit by bit per photograph taken, so if you wanted to record a scene of the characters running, it could take up to 20-30 shots maybe depending on how fast you make the characters seem.

Stop-motion / Claymation is also one of the best and most popular options for animations. Its commonly used over television animations and Movie productions as a whole, however this form of animation is extremely time consuming however the end result typically is at a high quality. It is the process where the team producing the animation will create props such as inanimate characters which will be used to create and give life into the characters. This is done by the process of slowly one by one moving the objects and taking photographs of these images. Chicken run is a perfect example of this, as the whole film was made in stop motion and clay motion at 24 FPS.

An advantage of using Claymation as your choice in animation style is that for beginners, clay mation can be the most affordable and easy method of animation to create, this is because you only have to take snap shots and photographs bit by bit of your animation and put them together in order for the magic to work. As well as this you get to really create your characters and world by hand. A disadvantage however of using Claymation is that it can be very time consuming with all things considered, characters can get broken or destroyed and then that takes time to remake, as well as this the actual process of taking a picture and then slightly moving your characters is extremely boring and time consuming, therefore the job at hand can be unappealing to most.

 

Typically companies such as Dreamwork in this case will use stop motion and claymation to get a more realistic and authentic theme to their work.  This creates a more rustic animation however still is very targetable at younger audiences due to the characters themselves. For example, in chicken run the chickens are able to talk and be goofy whiles still looking rustic environmentally. However this is extremely time consuming as when producing claymation and stop motion you need to specifically move each object within the scene and therefore it takes a long time. Thats why typically it is done in tv shows such as shaun the sheep or Wallace and Gromit. Typically they wouldn't be used in films due to how long it can take. 

Another example of a company that has used Claymation in its films is Sony pictures animations with its film 'The pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!' 

As well as this many other companies such as Aardman studios who produced the 'Shaun the sheep movie'  which is a widely popular stop motion as well. 

Overall companies will tend to choose claymation over CGI for example as the amount of money that is put into it is much cheaper. Therefore, there is more money to invest into other properties of the film such as the staff.

P2: Describe the uses for Digitised animation in the media 

Two of the best examples for genres that have been frequently used within animations are Comedy and horror, these genres whiles predominantly used within films and TV can also be used in other areas such as Advertising and Video Games. An example of a media product that uses comedy is the TV show 'The Simpsons'. An example of a media product that uses horror as its basis is the horror video game 'Outlast'. 'The Simpsons' Is based around the usage of Line drawings, whereas the Video Game 'Outlast' uses motion capture as well as CGI. 

The TV series 'Simpsons' uses line drawings to create all the movements, actions and animations within their drawings and shows. They do this because they want to make each character and environmental object as realistic as possible and best matching how fast they want each characters movements to be. Later on this ends up allowing for the quality of the animations and motion of characters to be the best quality production, therefore resulting in a good project overall. The comedy of the show is illustrated through the usage of powerful line drawing and timings, the main introduction of the Simpsons is a clear example of how pacing characters movements in line drawings and having efficient motion sequences can make characters funny, goofy and comedic. As well as this they have a consistency to use a wide variety of unique introductions every episode to make the audience want to watch each introduction to see whats new and funny because they have gained a recognition for their introductions being hilarious. 

The power of line drawing and 2D animation with a show like this is that they aren't limited at all by what they want to do, they can add lots of zany wacky character movements and effects with nothing to stop them as its simply changeable. Unlike something such as claymation which has its limits due to the physical clay not being able to potentially perform the way it needs to. 

Line drawings also allow the production to create a wide variety of props and locations from the real world with immense accuracy, for example one of the locations shown in this trailer is Venice, this is represented in high quality standards and would have been used to make the world of 'Simpsons' as real as possible as this can be done simply on line drawings and therefore refined to be perfect. Line drawing has a simplicity and neivity to it which allows for humurous childlike drawings to be created and this adds to the humour to the world, characters like Krusty the Clown is a good example of this.

 

Another genre that is often used in media is horror. Specifically focused around films and video games such as 'Outlast' this genre engages its audiences through the intensity of the scenes and therefore animations as well. The way animation works within games such as 'Outlast' is through the usage of motion capture as well as high intensity graphics to capture a real world scenery as well as extremely detailed character movements. Following this the usage of CGI allows for the images and animations to be clean and therefore creates high intensity experiences of excitement and horror for the player as a whole.  

 

Because CGI is such a sophisticated style of animation, it allows for the creation of other worldly characters and monsters to be made with extreme realism. An example of something like this is the mutated canabals in the first level of the game resembles a demon due to the violence and blood used.

 The usage of jump scares and sound effects such as intense rigid crackling noises in the floorboards has been some of the most iconic features of a horror game known to date as supernatural / satanical plots. Using tools such as CGI has allowed for jump scares to be truly graphic and terrifying to watch as we see the main storys character progress through what seems like a neverending labrynth of death, suffering and pain. It it important for the producers of the animations of these games to be able to understand these points as it allows them to really refine the quality of their horror games and therefore create the best animations that they can. 

CGI Has also allowed for artists to really flex their muscles due to the plots of the games they are working for. Such satanic creatures such as demons as well as canibals can really be worked on to look especially horrorfying to the naked eye and this in turn gives the games that much of a better feel to it. 

 M1: Assess the suitability of animations for the target audience

'The Simpsons' has a predominant primary target audience of 10 - 15 years old. However they also have a strong secondary audience of 30+ who also find alot of enjoyment in watching the show. This is because of the animation style that has been chosen by the producers to be used being Line-drawing 2D Animations. This style of animation has been argued to be the best due to the relevance of cartoons in younger audiences lifes and how they can be fun and interesting. As well as this however, the producers of 'The Simpsons' have been around with the show for so long that the secondary audience also grew up watching the show. Therefore they typically use Line-drawings here as well in order to make more adult themed content in line with younger themed content. Typically alot of adult humor will be shown in the episodes as well as a large amount of childish humor to balance out and appeal to both audiences, allowing for themselves to build a bigger audience as a whole. 

Some other shows that are very relatable to 'The Simpsons'  and its style of humor is 'Southpark' and 'Family Guy'. The typical degree of humor that is shown and represented through these shows is absolutely brutal in its own degree. They are all extremely comedic shows whiles they completely make fun of the whole world and it is because of this they are so popular. Whiles the simpsons does do this alot, it is argued that the Simpsons is a much more layed back version as they dont specifically go after any set topic they more create gentle adult humour around adult humour. The simpsons do this in a very specific way, by creating characters that look unrealisttic and goofy to appeal to the younger audiences whiles making crude jokes about things whereas there is also a good amount of adult humour engaged in the show as well. However the show typically avoids things such as politics due to the discrepancies that could follow from this. 

 Initially however, the major content of the series was focused around bart, however producers quickly realised how huge of a character Homer was rather than bart, as alot of the jokes were getting old and repetitive. This led to the audience slowly moving in favour of Homer due to the adult jokes and situations that associated with him. This was one of the major factors deciding the future of the show as a whole. 

Overall, the usage of these Line drawings as well as 2D Animation has allowed for the show to create a world where goofy pain was funny to both adults and younger audiences whiles ensuring to keep a strong balance between them. As well as this the show managed to keep a strong interest in itself because of this formation of comedic jokes targeted at the appropriate audiences. As well as the producers using line-drawings can be more flexible with their work and therefore perform at a higher quality. 

 

The usage of CGI within media is also one of the most prominent techniques for animation to be used and can be aimed at all ages and people. This is because with CGI, you are pretty much able to do whatever you want as it is computer generated imagery. This means that the team working on and producing the content for a show, film or video game for example can specifically create whatever they want and need and therefore it is the perfect candidate to target all audiences.

 Specifically, production teams will use CGI to add unique and powerful effects and qualities to the product they are working on, thus resulting in a higher standard of produciton and overall quality of proudction. These kind of affects can specifically appeal to an older audience as well as somewhat younger audience of 16-25 as it can become graphic. The game 'Outlast' for example uses extreme effects to create a gory scene and extremely violent setting which is targeted for an older audience, whereas something such as the film 'cars can be very relaxed animation wise and childish appeal is vibrant here compared to adult appeal. 

As well as this the environment of the Outlast world is located in the middle of the country in an abandoned forest. Nobody knows where they are and is stuck venturing through an endless hellhole of a deserted mental asylum filled with canibals and monsters. The use of environments such as abandoned run down assylums in the middle of the woods through the night portrays the horror and realism of CGI and the potential it has. Something such as the eerie lighting of a half broken light outside the front of the asylum indicates imenant danger, things such as these are conventions of horror, and will appeal to the horror target audience.

Overall, the animations that have been presented can come down to be suitable for their target audiences due to the care and specific details that go into ensuring they best fit their purpose. As well as this following the proper conventions of their genres allowed for them to take full advantage of their audience and therefore directly appeal to the target market they are trying to look for. This therefore will likely lead in these methods being the most efficient and successful for the respective target audiences.

D1: Compare digital animations from two different countries from around the world.

Different countries tend to have different takes on the styles of animation that they use. In the US, one of the main styles of animation is CGI. Where as in Japan for example one of the main forms of animation us the uses of anime. 

Some examples of differing forms of animation across countries is the Japanese film made by Studio Ghibli "Spirited Away" and the film made by Pixar known as "Toy Story" 

In "Toy Story" Pixar have taken an extremely creative situation that every child could dream of and made it fun and interactive. They took children toys and brought them to life in an incredibly realistic yet goofy manner. Pixar have done this to bring the senses of enjoyment, excitement and uniqueness to their films. This is because it gives audiences a chance to interact and identify themselves with unique toy characters they like the most such as "woody" which they can engage in a fun interactive and family friendly way. 

The cartoonist and unrealistic use of soft colours allows for a wide target audience to be created for younger audiences as well as older audiences, this is due to the reliability parents would have of playing with toys from their childhoods and would be interactive to younger audiences due to the comedic scenes of characters such as Mr Potato head and woody who have wacky and zany attributes such as woody's voice lines and Mr potato heads body parts being detachable. His general attribute is also that he has a very strong personality. He has a lot of attitude which could be relatable to people from NYC for example as they are very tough. 

One of the most typical differences of American animations compared to Japanese is that they don't stick to a niche of themes. American animations use a variety of different themes, for example they can go from heartwarming themes to exciting and intense themes incorporated all together to create what could be known as a mega-theme, this mega theme is a usage of a wide variety of themes created all into one to create lots of different audience appeals. This is extremely important to remember when in American animation production as this mega theme doesn't limit the production team to specifically appeal to one audience, it allows them for much more flexible room to work and therefore it results in their products being viewed by a mass of different niches and audiences, therefore popularising their work much more than one specific theme would. 

The main theme of Toy Story is the importance of friendship. Throughout the first film two of the main characters Woody and Buzz lightyear are at a constant war with each other. Put simply Woody was the main character who everyone loved and then the "all new Buzz Lightyear" showed up to take the spotlight which Woody hated. Slowly as the film progressed Woody began to realise how important friendship is and that his hate to Buzz was pointless. 

The environment of Most pixar films as well as Toy story is set in a suburban area which is portrayed through the typical locations such as loads of houses and grassy areas. The location is also based in suburban America as we can see by the location having main roads which leads to shops and moterways. The idea of the Propp theory is also portrayed through the characters. We have the hero for example being Woody the toy who has a sense of equilibbrium with his world being perfect and loving Andy who owns him, then the disruption of this being Buzz Lightyear who is initially portrayed as a propp villain takes the spotlight, part of the story is Woody overcoming this sense of hatred and becomes friends with Buzz.

One of the sub themes that is presented in the first Toy story film is the theme of change. Woody and the other toys in Toy story deal with the coming of change the only way they know how to, by completely freaking out and panicking over everything. However over the period of the film they all gradually learn that not all changed are bad and some can even lead to good things such as the change of Buzz arriving and now in all the films they are all great friends. An important point to think about is that the characters are in theory inanimate objects which don't really have control over their lives. And the changes that Andy the young boy has affects all their daily lives significantly. Its because of these changes that Woody and his friends begin to realise they can make their own decisions and be independent and unique for themselves. 

The American animations are similar to Japanese in comparison, as typically Japanese films are mostly mythical and unrealistic however American films are similar in this sense. This allows for a wide range of animation types which appeal to a wide range of individuals. Toy Story specifically is set within suburban America in a typically American family home. 

This kind of environment and setting will appeal to peoples past childhood homes as well as family homes and will allow for people to have a lot of relation to the joy of childhood and having toys in your life. 

American animations typically follow similar, bold and bright colour schemes to appeal directly to younger audiences. This works well as the colours within toy story as well as vibrancy allows for the film to perfectly target younger audiences resulting in more popularity and higher grossing. 

One Important note to point out is how the Toy Story film heavily follows the Todorov narrative theory. This is because of the problems that arise with the psycho boy named Sid who destroys toys and breaks the equilibrium and the characters must overcome this issue and create a new equilibrium. 

Overall to conclude, American animations need to create and follow the codes and conventions relevant to an American production. The specific type of animation is popular in America and appeals to their target audiences well. 

Anime became one of the most popular animation styles in the west during the 1980s, As time passed on anime slowly became influenced by more and more older generations interests and appeals, which an older appeal it essentially means that the creators have to create unique characters that are likely sexualised and meant to appeal to the audience in a set fashion. Anime is typically known in this manner for having a lot of sexualised content, characters and violence without managing to make it an unpleasant experience for younger viewers, its because of this that the target audience for most Japanese anime even the more graphic ones are much lower that it would be in America. 

The characters that are based in the series 'Spirited Away' match the typical conventions of anime characters, the features and characteristics are specifically designed to be unique and eye catching. As dong this allows for the production team to add a wide variety of options for characters and therefore be extremely creative. 

Anime such as 'Spirited away' is specifically known to not convey sexualised content, not to say it doesn't follow graphic content because at times it can be very disturbing. However the series directly appeals to younger audiences through this as well as older audiences through the uniqueness and creativeness of the characters such as the Dragon shown here. This character for example is one of the more creative of the bunch and allows for a strong comparison between the typical real world characters such as Chihiro which is the younger girl and Kohaku the dragon which presents a much more mythical and creative side to the animation style. This animation style follows the conventions of Japanese art and work which has allowed for audiences to be more appealed to the characters being presented. 

Similar to Toy Story, the Spirited Away series follows the themes of childhood. The main reason behind this is the main creator Hayao Miyazaki wanted to portray the importance of having a childhood and living to the fullest all of the fun and creativeness that you have whiles you are young, this likely explains the wide usage of creative characters as well as following typical character conventions to relate back to the real world. 

*Studio Ghibli is rural where toy story is suburban.  

One thing to point out is that studio Ghibli is known for creating fantasy worlds in well known rural areas of Japan, the animation genre itself is Japanese Anime however is a unique form of this. The world is portrayed to follow traditional areas in Japan such as Tokyo but mostly rural areas, however takes their own spin by adding fantasy characters and magic. For example, 'Totoro' from the anime 'My Neighbor Totoro' is the supporter for the main character Mei Kusakabe who is the hero of the series.

A sub theme of Spirited away is the line between Good and Evil. In Spirited Away, every character has to constantly face a battle between doing what is right and what is wrong. Its this theme that reminds audiences day in and day out of the importance of doing what is morally correct and by showing this through Japanese work has allowed for this to happen. 

The environment of Spirited Away as is most Japanese animations is set majorly in the world of Japan as well as suburban Japan. This is because Japan is so widely known to have extraordinary locations and scenery as well as general places to go its the perfect setting for all Japanese animations. These forms of scenery have become iconic for all Japanese forms of animation. 

Also within this typical anime world of Japan you will find the strong usage of bright and bold colours as well as high vibrancy to contrast to this theme. This is because it really helps to keep all audiences watching fully engaged to the environment and scenes. 

Spirited Aways fantasy settings conveys with traditional anime forms as across all of Anime you will find often the stories are located in Japan / mythical locations. This is because it gives each story a layer of complexity, separating themselves from the rest of the world and becoming unique. This is likely due to their overdramatic scenery and settings set. 

The overall Narrative of Spirited Away is a commonly used structure across all animations, following the complexity of the Todorov narrative theory as well as propp theory. All typically successful films will tend to follow these conventions as well as story plots even in Other forms of animation. This is portrayed due to the animation being started as calm and relaxed but reaching an equilibrium as well as reaching a problem to arise over and find a new equilibrium. The point overall of these narratives is to face your problems and try to resolve the issues which usually allows you to accept what has happened and move on. 

Because of this, this has made Spirited Away extremely appealing to anime enthusiasts as the show follows the conventional structure of anime. Overall the Japanese animations appearance, locations and character choices follow the standard choices of Japanese animations. 

Overall I can conclude that Whiles Japanese animations follow the typical Japanese conventions, similarly the US animations can interpret codes and conventions for Japanese animation whiles mainly using US specifically animation styles to be unique and both Appeal fully to their audiences.