Welles

Today, in my screenwriting 1 class with Chip Hackler, we watched the 1998 animation feature The Iron Giant.  It is one of the first movies by Brad Bird.  Brad Bird has done a few other Disney animation features and made bank, most likely.  Like most of the kids in our class, I grew up on Disney animation.  I remember them being excellent in quality and story.  I believe that the stories are a little weaker, now that I have gone back and watched the majority of them over again.  Shannon always used to talk about how they were complete propaganda.  I'm starting to see that as being true.  This is story, The Iron Giant, looked like Cold War propaganda to me.  The quality of high-budget animation has come a long way in a short period of time.  The other day I watched the classic The Rescuers.  The picture quality was so bad I almost turned it off.  Bob Newheart was very funny, like always.  Anyways, the more I look into Disney animation the weaker they appear, just like Shannon said they would.  So there goes my childhood but I guess that is okay.  Chip and I talked about your new animation short and he couldn't stop praising.  He said you just won some award at the Black Maria Film Festival or something, so congratulations.  I know some of my facts are wrong on that but anyways.  The article discusses the different forms of animation and it's history in American movies.  The first animation appeared in movies as a intense relationship between animation and live action.  Welles writes, "The early development of the cartoon form was characterized by an overtly signified tension between animation and its relationship to live-action.  This resulted on many occasions in films combining animation and live-action, of depicting the creation of animated character by the artist who drew it, and the activities of the animated character within the working environment of the artist."  Animation has split into two ways.  There are major pictures of full animation movies that have become large teamed projects (orthodox) usually complying with the realist range of movement and time.  Not much imagination if you ask me.  Richard Linklater made a movie based off a Phillip K. Dick story that was Rotoscoped.  That was pretty cool, but Kenau Reeves was in it, so it was ruined.  Welles discusses the distinct styles of animation and the theories behind it.  He is for experimental animation.  Instead of speaking the language of movies it speaks the language of art.  It is understood through rhythms, colors, sounds, and in-fluctuations.  Most orthodox animation follows a narrative structure where experimental animation is more on an interpreted path.  Continuity is less of a problem for abstract animation.  It doesn't matter if you play by  the rules because you are creating your own world.  The process of animation is explain a little in the beginning.  Today, pencil and paper is used much less than computers, amazing right.  For orthodox animation configurations is very important.  Welles writes, "Most cartoon figures 'figures,' i.e. identifiable people or animals who corresponded to what audiences would understand as an orthodox human being or creature) despite whatever colourful or eccentric design concept related to it, i.e. Donald was recognizable as a duck whether he wore a sailor's suit or khaki togs and a pith helmet!."  It was very important to keep things understandable and boring to sell.  My guess is that Welles is Canadian because he spells his words strangely.  The orthodox animation must have specific continuity, a narrative form, evolution of context, unity of style (boring), absence of the artist, and dynamics of dialogue.  If you want to create art but make it like a factory processes cheese, then animate in the orthodox style.  But if you want to create great art and put your stamp on everything you create then experimental animation is the way to go.  I just saw the movie Igor.  It is an animated movie about the hunchbacks of the world.  I thought the story and animation was quite bad.  It had John Cusack in it so I expected big things but got little.  I was very upset and still have a little fire inside me from the experience.  I will make animated better than that tonight.

Sundance