The clothes that the subjects in the Japanese scrolls were drawn with a lot of detail which can be seen in anime today. The clothes were also drawn with great texture up to the point where I can tell that they were wearing sokutai outfits that were worn by members of the Japanese imperial court. This level of detail and texture is what makes it possible to have anime shows solely based on food that looks better in the show than in real life. The way that the people in the Japanese scroll interact with the environment and the way that the background is drawn a little out of focus gives the scroll some depth that also shows up in anime as well.
Moy
12 posts
I believe Disney and other big studios stopped their 2D animation in the 2000s due to all the competition from animated TV shows and popular anime shows that were being distributed during this decade. It was a good decision from the perspective of executives and shareholders of these studios, they would be able to focus their resources on other projects that would bring in more profits. But bad for the employees that would have inevitably been laid off. Adult themed animations like The Simpsons (1989) and Rick and Morty (2013) are still very popular today. The next generation of shonen anime like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019) and Jujitsu Kaisen (2020) are proving that they can create great anime movies.
I would like to write my paper on the Naruto (2002) anime series. This is the first anime series I watched growing up and what really got me into anime. I would like to write about the shows popularity; it is regarded as 1 of the big three in anime. I’d like to discuss the debate over filler episodes which do not bother Japanese audiences and is mostly disliked by Western audiences. Finally, I would like to compare watching Naruto in dub and sub.
In the popular adult swim cartoon Rick and Morty, Rick drives up to a McDonald’s and orders some of their Szechaun sauce and states that it was a “promotion for the Disney movie Mulan”. This moment became so viral that McDonald’s actually brought back their Szechaun sauce that they had discontinued for a limited time. If product placement is done properly, it almost becomes imperceptible. If done poorly, like in Transformers 4 (2014), it felt as though the entire movie was a long commercial for all the brands and completely funded by ad money.
In 2017, Heinz Australia released a high production value 3 min 3D animated ad for their baked beans. The animation quality is comparable to a major studio animated film with stunning colors and a lot of detail given to the characters and background. All the characters have a very typical springy movement that you see in a lot of 3D animation. The product that Heinz is promoting is very well incorporated into the story-line. The story follows the main character throughout his lifetime during which he designs a can of beans for every stage of it. The advertising worked very well as it was entertaining to watch and included a very relatable story.
Western animated works after the war were much more modern looking compared to Eastern works as Allied countries that weren’t obliterated were enjoying an economic boom. Artists’ imaginations weren’t constricted and they were free to create works driven by capitalism. Some of the Western works had overall themes of peace and rebuilding. Eastern works were censored and tended to include animated works based on traditional stories. The animation styles looked very old-fashioned as well.
In each of the propaganda films, the enemy is depicted as weak and incompetent being easily defeated by the opposing side. In Bust the Axis, the Axis side is depicted with their negative racial stereotypes. In Momotarō no Umiwashi, the Americans are depicted as big and oafish, carrying bottles of booze with them which spill everywhere. The Allied propaganda film was animated with stop-motion and the Axis film was animated with tradition 2d drawing. In Bust the Axis, Hitler is an ignorant leader marching towards defeat and his allies are his dopey goons that follow him into battle. In Momotarō no Umiwashi, the Japanese are cute animals that are smiling and laughing all the time and seen helping each other. The Americans are depicted as clumsy and cowardly.
All of the dwarfs in Snow White are drawn very similarly from their round pudgy noses and drooping jowls to the style of clothing that they are wearing. They become more easily discernible when they start speaking or moving. Grumpy has a deep growly voice and is drawn mostly with a scowl on his face. He is seen folding his arms and reacts to something with irritation. Sleepy speaks slower than the other dwarfs and is drawn with half opened eyelids. He can be seen letting out a big yawn and being laid back.
I would like to focus on the short film “Mest’ Kinematograficheskogo Operatora” (“The Cameraman’s Revenge”). I am currently writing a research paper on using insects as an alternate source of protein to combat climate change. I am interested in why the creator ultimately decided to use insects as characters in his film.
I would like to research more about the creator Wladyslaw Starewicz and how he made films in the USSR during the Russian Revolution especially now with the war in Ukraine.
What’s similar about these 2 films are the low frames rates which kind of break the illusion of movement. Fantasmagorie was created with a solid background so the creator went with a more chaotic approach with his drawing compared to Gertie which has a background. Having a background and dialogue in Gertie helped add context to the story so the artist was able to present his film in a much slower pace.
If I was an audience member watching Phantasmagorie for the first time, I would have enjoyed it. I really like horror and the fear that is associated with it. A long while back when VR was first coming out, I purchased some of those foam VR goggles that you insert your phone into. I downloaded a bunch of horror VR apps that were pretty scary. But one of them really stuck out to me. It was a promo for a horror movie that had come out where you were placed in a scene from the movie. I remember I was so scared I wanted to rip the VR goggles off, but I continued to watch until the end. It wasn’t that long and I imagine that’s how those audience members must of felt.
An animated show that I really like is Jujutsu Kaisen. It has a good story, interesting characters and good action scenes. Their use of humor is well placed in an otherwise dark and serious theme. A litmus test that I like to use is if any of the main characters are killed off. If they do, you know that the stakes are real, otherwise the story kind of gets monotonous and mundane.
