Author: lilylai98

In class 7, we watched many cartoons which is made by Warner Brother and Hans Fisherkoesen. I believe that Warner Brother’s cartoons are the part of the childhood memory for everyone. We never get bored of watching those characters’s fun interactions and crazy twist and turn even we are adult now. 

My favorite character of Warner Brother’s cartoon is Bugs Bunny. I really love watching the interaction of him and his friends Daffy Duck. Although the story of each epsiso are very similar .The character A is always pick on character B ,and they are trying kill each other with and scene design and visual style are always the same. However, their exaggerated action and expression of the character make everything different with other episode. 

When I was doing some research of Warner Brother’ cartoons, I found many cartoons and movies that were favorite when I was a kid and I almost forget them. They reminds me the good old days and hope I can watch them again after mid-term.

Lily Lai

In class 6, we talked a lot about the history of Walt Disney, how he started his studio and become one of the best and well-known animation studio in the world. It is amazing that he created the very first animation which has sound and music —Steamboat Willie(1928) and many famous animations that people still recognize these days .

Walt Disney Studio always create high quality animation that people really enjoy to watching it. Especially, the film of the very first Disney’s princess Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) , even though this movie is made in 1937 , the visual style ,storyboard and the character design are still the best example for us to learn.

My favorite early animation of  Walt Disney Studio is the serie of Silly Symphony (1929 to 1939). I love how the team exaggerated the movement of the character and the dreamy and vintage use of color. It is one of the old visual style I love and I would like to develop for my own drawing style.

In class 5, we watched many animation created by different shape and line in class. They are very abstract and hard to understand. However, compare to the animation we watched in previous classes , they have sound and music. The movement of the shape and line were following the rhythm and the beat of the background music , it feels like the creator show the music and what we can hear into visual art. It is very different from the general animation and cartoon we watch.

Those animations opened my eyes, it shows that animation can be more than just storytelling. The simple movement of the shapes and line with different color use can express emotion and something invisible. Additionally, it also remain us the basic of visual elements colors, line, pattern and shape are already the best and simple things to express our idea in visual way.

At the beginning, I have no idea why those creator would make those nonsense shape animations and started wondering that it is because I am not born in that age so i didn’t understand those animations. However, after I keep  watching those animation, I realised that actually those animations are very similar to the motion graphic these days, and they are widely used in many music video and advertisement. It make everything more vivid and interesting.

During class 4, we watched a couple of animation which used cut-out technique to create all the the movements . Most of the story and the visual style are exotic, each of them show different story from different regions.

Especially the animation Lotte Reiniger and Prince Achmed (1926) it is full of Middle East style, it depicted several famous folk tales of Middle East country and all of the characters and props are performed  by silhouette. it reminds me Chinese shadow play which is an old way of storytelling and entertainment. It is good to know how people use different form of storytelling in past . Cutout is a really simple way to create animation and telling story.Watching old animation always reminds us (especially animation students) the importance of “less is more” this concept. In Lotte Reiniger and Prince Achmed (1926) , the audience can only see the silhouette of the characters, without seeing their facial expression and many colour to decorate the scene, we still can understand the emotion of the characters and the changes of the environments.

Lily Lai

In class 3, we watched Felix the Cat and many cartoons from the early years. Although all the animations are simple and some of them don’t even have sound ,the contents are very funny and engaging as the cartoons these days. 
My favorite animation I watched in class 3 is Dancing On The Moon(1935). I love the way they combined music and the animation together. Plus, I love the visual style in this cartoon. The designs of characters are very simple ,however you won’t get bored as their body language and facial expression are exaggerated. I really like the idea that although the story dosen’t have a hugh background setting, you can start watch in from any episode.
It was very fun to watch animations from early years and understanding how people create animation back in the day.They are full of Academic value for us to learning the animation history. 

Lily Lai

In class 2, we watched many rare clips and studied many informations of the animation history, more specifically it is all about the history of film and moving image. Back in the day, people created many animation toys that allows people to perform and enjoy animation by using the material they had , like Phenakistiscope, zeotrope and praxinoscope. I was amazed by how could they invent those things by only using spinning and light to create animation .Compare to the animation these days, we need computer , mintor and lot of electricity to make an animation. I really appreciate the effort they made, it contribute a lot for the present we have.

For the film we watched in class 2, I really like the movie The Trip to The Moon. Actually, that was the second time I watch this movie, the first time I watched this film is in summer break. I was fascinated by the moon of the poster. It looks very odd but interesting for me. Although , this movie doesn’t have sound, you can only guess what is happening in the movie.However , it gives the audience much room for imagination. 

Lily Lai