MP14 | “Ryan” – a documentary by Chris Landreth

Posted on by Claude Lau

In 2001, Chris Landreth interviewed Ryan Larkin, award-winning Canadian animator and at the time of the interviews, a panhandler recovered from drug abuse and reliant on alcohol. Based on multiple recorded interviews, Landreth and his team at Toronto’s Seneca College created the visuals in Ryan, a 14-minute animated documentary that would go on to win Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars.  

It is indeed a brilliant work; Ryan is easily one of the films I found most interesting in this course. The majority of the film is presented in a mirrored reality, where perspective does not seem to be linear and the grotesque characters’ psychological scars are shown externally. The CGI and 3D animation is aptly employed to do this to a viscerally disconcerting yet visually arresting effect.

The most intriguing is Ryan’s model, his body skeletal and his head almost hollowed out. Little arms on his thermos distracting him clue in to his alcoholism, which is the climax of the film when Landreth brings up the subject, and Ryan reacts aggressively, red literally spiking out from his head. It also includes touching moments where Ryan’s face almost begins to reconstitute itself, such as being reunited with one of the frames of his animation and speaking to his previous partner Felicity whom he still regards fondly. The film paints Ryan’s figure as a once-successful and prolific artist, suck in his predicaments, as the film says “living every artist’s worst fear”.

The film references and gives background to Larkin’s two famous works Walking (1969) and Street Musique (1972), both of which were done with Canada’s National Film Board and won many awards and nominations. They are worth viewing for their whimsical mood and style, all painstakingly done traditionally with various media (including watercolor).

Ryan Larkin’s Oscar-nominated short Walking (1969)
Larkin’s film Street Musique (1972), using morphing techniques

References

Major Post 16 – Documentary Animation

Posted on by Julia Reymundo

One of my favorite documentaries in the class was “A for Autism” directed by Tim Webb and how it really shows awareness to people with autism. It’s a really important topic that people should be aware of. It reminded me of an advertisement that I saw recently. Where we are in the point of view of a child with autism going to a shopping mall. It really puts the viewer in the shoes of someone with autism. It features all the symptoms and shows how difficult it is to be in this situation. It is horrible that some people judge children that get overwhelmed in public. In addition, this documentary by Tim Webb was great, because of all the artwork featured by everyone that gets animated by the creator.

It features a clear message that everyone needs to be understanding of. That is what these types of animations try to do. Documentary animations are great and feature all sorts of themes. It is great to be able to create these sorts of animations and it is very interesting.

Julia Reymundo

Major Post 16: Documination

Posted on by Sammy Liu

The idea of Documented Animation primarily started off as short moving-pictures presented inside documentaries, for example, Winsor McCay’s The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). At this point in time, animation was more like a decoration for documentaries – accompanying the information.
Eventually, it developed into more freedom for Animators and Film Makers to be more experimental towards the input of their thoughts and ideas.

My favourite that screened would be Of Stars and Men (1961) by John Hubley. This is something that could have been screened in science classes (despite it being longer than 1hr). It reflects results of the curiosity from that era – where research of the world was in motion. The moon landing had yet to happen in 1969, but the possibility of being able to explore the outskirts was already in full experiment.

Of Stars and Men (1961) – John Hubley

As well as documenting findings, Animated Documentaries could address situations on such as political issues, illnesses, and other sensitive or complicated topics.

I was completely inspired by Tim Webb‘s A is for Autism (1992), it was informing and visually appealing; complimented with experiences of people that not everyone gets to spend time with. It showed how art-forms can be a way to channel information into chew-able pieces. Also, what professor said – The power is all there (The voices and drawings of the children with Autism), Tim Webb took it and articulated it to become something that blesses all sides that are involved.

Ryan (2004) – An animated documentary about Ryan Larkin, by Chris Landreth. It records Larkin’s difficult situations in his life, and also the encouragement from people around him. It includes mentions of his award winning creations, Walking (1968) and Street Musique (1972).

Sheila M. Sofian
Truth has Fallen (2013) – Puts into light of the twisted injustice in America, using animation as a tool to help viewers realise problems of the world.

Sheila SofianManga! (1985)

Major Post 15 – Animated Documentaries & Chris Landreth

Posted on by Julia Reymundo

On the day of class 18, we were shown all kinds of animated documentaries that tackled all sorts of subjects and events. The art style of these animations are much more free. There is no limitations, which is close to a more experimental style of animation. The creators of these animations use stories that are close to their personal life or someone has relayed that information. As documentaries are a documentation of a real life event or an occurance or even just to show awareness for a certain thing.

All of the animations featured in class was wonderful and very interesting. Although, I was more interested in the works of American animator Chris Landreth. His works Ryan (2004) and Subconscious Password (2013) were very unique view points on life. With Ryan, it was about a canadian animator named Ryan Larkin, whose work was Oscar nominated. This focused on the real life struggles Ryan had been going through in his life such as drug abuse, alcoholism and homelessness. The animated film won an Oscar for Animated Short. With Subconscious Password, we look into the inner workings of Landreth’s mind when it comes to trying to remember a friend’s name. It was dealt with as if it were an episode of a game show.

Animated documentaries are a fascinating way to experiemnt and relay a story to a much wider audience. I greatly am fond of the experimental style of animation when it comes to these topics. I’m also very interested in the process and the use of softwares and mediums in order to create a film, and use these mediums to fit the feelings of the artists by going over limitations.

Julia Reymundo

Major Post: 15 A is for Autism

Posted on by LeAnn Schmitt

In class we began watching animated documentaries and the one that stuck out to me the most was A is for Autism. The film has won multiple awards and is meant to give viewers a glimpse into the world of autism. While, I knew the narration and drawings were contributed by autistic people I didn’t know that the music as well as the animations were all contributed by autistic people as well. This piece that Tim Webb, the director, not only gave people a glimpse into the world of autism but it all allowed people with autism to have their own voice. I think it is very interesting how well this piece was made and how much thought and effort was put into making such a progressive and eye-opening film. I would hope that more animated documentaries come out in the future since it seems like one of the best medium to tell a story that will capture an audience’s attention. I have linked the documentary below again in case you would like to re-watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxt3FBVq8Jg

 

Major Blog Post 13- Animated Documentary

Posted on by Wendy Kong

Animated documentary is a combo of animation and documentary. It is widely used for teaching and giving social guidance. It can also create an imaginary situations or incidents happened in a subconscious level.

I like the “Animated minds” by Andy Glynne in 2003, it shows us how mental illness patients feel in their life. I think this is very educational since it visualizes the situation that the patients are suffering, and my reflection of the film would be we should show more care and love to them. I think people started seeing mental illnesses as serious issues in this decade, which makes me think that, it is possible that this video and other visualizing materials raised the consciousness of mental illness to the population. People will see the patients are not just “crazy”, but they are struggling with the stuff in their mind. Through the film, people can experience of facing mental health issues, which gives them a better understanding the problems rather than labelling and blaming them. This is a really good example of animated documentary educates the audience.

As the technology become more and more advanced, CG, complex scene background, and fancy costumes can make some impossible scenes possible, which leads animated documentary less common. In the 20th century, animated documentary was the technique to make the difficult scenes possible, this was one of an important stage for the documentary history.

Wendy Kong