Author: lilylai98

In class 19, we watched a couple video of the early years of computer animations. Ever since the computer was invented,digital animation has developed a great thing that affect the whole movie industry . The filmmakers started add animation and visual effects in the movie to show their imagination world. And the computer animation technique reduced a lot of work for traditional animation. Plus the 3D animation these days are becoming more and more realistic . And there is less 2D animation release in recent years. It seems like digital animation have taken over the whole animation industry.

However, I think traditional 2D animation cannot be replaced by digital animation. Especially the hand-drawing visual style irreparable, hand-drawing can be have more vitality and change than digital animation. Additionally, the hand-drawing has more human nature compared to digital animation. When you are watching traditional animation,you can see the brushstrokes and line weight of the artist and that is the thing digital animation can’t show.

Nevertheless ,technology is advancing everyday, maybe one day AI can really really animator. I don’t know,but we’ll see‍¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lily Lai

As a person who raises upin Hong Kong ,Hong Kong local animation are also an important part of my childhood memories . Although those animation films are not well-known internationally and the quality is not good as Hollywood animations, those characters and the stories from Hong Kong animations connects most of the Hong Kong people from different generation.

McDull is one of the famous animation character in Hong Kong.  I still remember when I was young I have a serval book of McDull and the memory of going to the cinema to watch McDull ,Prince de la Bun (2004)after school(kindergarten). Never forget those stories ,songs and the crazy dialogue . It is funny that when I was young I watched McDull movies as a comedy, but when after a grown up a little I realised that the story actually is more emotional and there are more messages the creator wants to express in the movie.

Lily Lai

Japanese animation  is such a big part of my childhood. I can’t remember which one is the first Japanese animation I watched when I was young . But I remember I love Ghibli animation so much. Especially, Totoro and the cartoon of Osamu Tezuka. 

The animations of Osamu Tezuka are part of the childhood of me and people who grow up in 50s-90s. I am not sure do the children these days now know the Astro Boy and Black Jack or not , but those characters are for true that they are one of the signature of Japanese animation. Personally, I like the cartoon of Black Jack the most , in my memory he is the character who is very knowledgeable and kind although he personality is a bit odd however he will help everyone who need help even the person doesn’t have money to pay him. Each story is very meaningful each episode points out different meaning.

Lily Lai

In class 14, we watched few animation which made in China. Most of story of them are based on the folk talk and fairy tale in China which very familiar with some of us. Although I didn’t read the book or watch any cartoon of The Journey to the West, but I have already understand the story and the story roughly. Animation is such a good way to promote different culture from different countries. And the visual style is also full of Chinese drawing element.

From all the short films we watched in class , I like the animation of  Te Wei. I like the artist combined the Chinese painting with animation and it is hard to imagine how the team finish this animation by drawing every single frame. Plus the story is like a story for kid and the narration is incredible that she can voice over all the characters appear in the animation.

Lily Lai

In class 13 , we watch a couple animation which is combined life-action.All the the context and story have hidden message and very surrealism. Although some of them the visual style and story are kind of difficult to understand, I still enjoyed watching them so much. His Animation “Food(1992)” is a very interesting , it divides to three part which is breakfast , lunch and dinner . Each part have a unexpected ending , and they all have pointed out a irony situation of the society.

Especially the animations of Jan Svankmajer, the use of color of the whole short film give me a very practical and depressed feeling,however the story is crazy. Before this class , I have already watched the work of him “Alice(1988)” which is one very fun animation. And the way his show the well-known fairy tale Alice in Wonderland is very different. It is like a surrealism version of Alice in Wonderland. 

Lily Lai

n class 11,We watched many animation which is created by hand drawings and sand.They are very inspiring  that the movement and the media they used are very different to the traditional animation.I like the animation of Jacques Drouin. Mindscape(1976) , the visual style is very unique and everything is like a painting. All the action and the transition of the scene are also work like a impressionism painting which is very impressive.

For the animation of Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker, the story of  Le Nez (1963) is very funny. It is about a man find his nose Although , when I was watching this animation , I was confused by the scene a few time. However, I was amazed by the drawing technique of the artist.Plus,  the music keep remind me the chinese opera and feel like it combined asian culture element in the soundtrack and it is very impressive for me.

Lily Lai

In class 10, we watched many animations which is created by small puppet and toy and I enjoyed those animations very much. Puppet animation is such a big part of my childhood. When I was watching those animation which used toys and puppet as the characters , they remind me the old cartoon “Pingu” which is a super fun cartoon of a little penguin live with his friends and families that I watch all the time when I was young.

In the animations we watched in class, I really like the animations of Ladislas Starewich’s “ The Ant And The Grasshopper  (1911) ”. Although it is a black and white movie with no sound , the story is very fun and the characters is very cute. I love how the stage is setted , everything is like fairy tales. They also remind me the first project we did in this class, the red hearted sweet potato.

Lily Lai

In class 9, we studied the works of Mary Ellen Bute, Len Lye, Norman McLaren, Jules Engel. They works share one similarity that all of the works are very experimental . Compare to the general animation, some of them they don’t have a narrative story . The visual is the main object of their. The audience get the feeling from the visual  that the artist wanted to show instead of a story.

For  Mary Ellen Bute’s work “Spook sport (1940)”, this work is a very interesting. compare to the other animation from that age and the color and story is not that complicated and detailed. However,when I frist watch this animation. They remain me the motion graphic these days from those simple sharp and line as character with simple movement. However, I like those kind if animations because they very different from the animation generally we watch and create. Those works show that animations  can be more than just narrative story and the visual element can be the first thing that catch people eyes. 

Lily Lai

In class 9 , we studied a new word called “pixilation animation” which is one kind of animation that created by live actors and stop motion.

During the class ,we watched a couple pixilation animation which very interesting and some of them combined video game element into the animation.Those animation are very inspiring ,especially the one which applied the elements of “Mario Kart”. Although the team didn’t use real racing cares to create this animation, the movement of the actors and audio recreated the scene of the original game.

Here I would like to share another pixilation animation which is created by a few Japanese high school student almost 10 years ago. I am amazed by their wonderful camare moment and the plot. I can’t believe how talented they are that they were only a high student when they created this video. And it is also a goog reference for our next project.

Since I didn’t want to school for class 8, so the only thing I can do is research from the internet resources.So here is it the things that I understand about UPA and The Hubleys:

When I research for the Hubleys and  UPA studio.I found that all of the animations of those artists share the same similarity. Most of the design of the characters and the scene were combined many modern abstract artwork. it feels like I am watching a moving abstract art, the characters’s shape is very exaggerated , compare to the general character from Disney’s animation,although they are also created by using simple shape .However, the characters from the animation of the Hubleys and  UPA studio , shape is the main focus.

I think it is very fun to watch some animations with different visual style sometimes. Those animations tell us we should always try using different way and style to create new artworks including animation.