jan svankmajer

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Czech Animations – a lot of them uses stop-motion and a variety of different objects, allowing for more experimental and unexpected movements.

Two, out of many, highlights:
Ruka the Hand (1965) by Jiri Trnka had heavy symbolization within its simple story plot. An interesting character – The Hand; represented many things, including the aspect of control. The message is relevant to everyone who has experienced some sort of control or manipulation, therefore, the audience would be able to relate to it.

Jan Švankmajer
Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) – looks at miscommunication, irresponsibility, inability to work together, and disagreements, portrayed in such a visually appealing way. It uses suitable pairings, such as a pencil and a pencil-sharpener or bread and butter, to help understand compatible communication, yet then starts mixing it up pairings (e.g. pencil-sharpener plus bread), giving us a visual image of what miscommunication looks like.
It is such a smart way to convey an issue we all experience, that I feel like people could learn, or at least be aware of their actions, from watching this.

Extra Class Notes:
Hermina Tyrlova – Czech director, animator, writer.
Ferda Mravenec
Jiri Trnka – Master of the wooden puppet style, was previously a famous illustrator.
Fyodor Khitruk – Russian Animator
Ostrov (1973)
Yuri Norshteyn – Russian Animator
Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
Miyazaki mentioned his works to be one of his fave.