ANIM223 – HISTORY OF ANIMATION – FALL 2019

Documentary animation is a genre of animation that is seamlessly part of the film industry. Documentary animation defies the more commonly known form of documentaries that usually consist of live people being filmed and interviewed. It is different from both the conventional documentary and narrative animation as animation is used as a tool to present the ideas of a documentary in an effective and more interesting way. Documentary animation opens new doors to present the ideas presented in a documentary in a new form that may even reflect the thoughts of the interviewees in a more accurate manner.

Using animation as a tool to convey the content of the animation can result in a more fluid, storytelling like film. This can be seen in the use of paint on glass animation in the documentary animation Truth has Fallen. The flow of the documentary is supported by the animation, and therefore the fluidity of the ideas are easier to process.

Eunhae Mary Park

The development of the Japanese animation industry is quite particular in that it started with the military. Although the first, developing animations were not influenced by the government, Japanese animators looked often at European and American animations. As Japan entered war with China in the 1930’s, however, and Japanese militarism grew to dominate politics, propaganda films were set to be more successful in the animation industry because they would be funded by the government.

However, after the war, unlike China with the cultural revolution, Japanese animators became free to create any creation they wanted leading to a generation of animators free to experiment with style and content.

Osamu Tezuka’s works were particularly crucial in bringing Japanese animation into a new age and larger commercial market as he marked a key point in producing the first Japanese animated television series, Tetsuwan Atom which aired from 1952 to 1968. Tetsuwan Atom was the beginning of the Japanese television animation industry which maintains international popularity to this day.

Eunhae Mary Park

During the guest speaker talks on October 29^th, we were able to see works of animators using animation as a contemporary art form. Instead of creating narrative films that have a story, like the general view of what animation is, they use animation as a method to show their thoughts, feelings, emotion and even their subconscious manifested through dreams in non-narrative films. Both artists, in the process of creating animation art works use music to enhance the piece and the experience of viewing the piece.  

Zhong Su uses sound that supports the distinct aesthetic of his works. Several of his works are set in a rundown, abandoned city (seen often to be set in Hong Kong), and the audience is led through the city via a camera. The sounds that play during the films strongly support the setting of the world as a creepy and dystopia-like.

Cao Shu uses sounds that push further his films that replicate his dreams. The sounds of the surrounding environment, such as the waves near the ocean, keep the audience aware of the setting. But the sounds that really push the dreams is the narration. Instead of simply voicing the narration, Cao Shu has the narration whispered. The whispers combined with the secondary sounds allow the audience to more fully experience the work as a dream.

Eunhae Mary Park

I never really gotten invested into watching anime, and that would be my only recollection of Japanese animation. I’ve watched a few anime’s out of boredom, but other than that I never got too invested like my other fellow animators. I did watch a few of the Studio Ghibli films because my family had them on tape, and really liked the storyline behind them. I especially like the cute characters in each of the films. Anime then became a huge social euphoria today to watch anime. All my friends are very invested in anime, purchasing merchandise, going to anime conventions, you don’t have to be an animator to really appreciate the art behind it.

The featured films shown in class today were familiar when it came to recognizing the characters, such as Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy. I’ve seen him plenty of times when I was younger, as figurines or snippets of the show. It was nice to see the variety of animations from japan other than anime, such as Mt. Head (2002) Koji Yamamur or The Demon (1972) Kihachiro Kawamoto. Mt. Head was probably my favorite of the films shown in class because of the unique camera angles that was shown, as well as the storyline in general was really trippy and entertaining. From the start, the audience really doesn’t know where the story will end.