Category: Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

Critical Report:

Audio Visual Presentations File for 1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0LE4vbBRI

This week, I started working on the literature review, which means I need to read through many articles and select the ones that are relevant to my topic.

This is a challenge for me because, aside from some blogs, almost no one has analyzed the tattoos in Jibaro. Therefore, I need to search for literature related to tribal tattoos in Latin America, cultural identity, identity recognition, and colonial history, and then use them as examples to support my argument.

This is some reference I plan to use:

• Balvay-TattooingRoleFrenchNative-2008
• Indigenous Nationalism in Bolivian Tattoo Art
• Antillean Islander Space: On the Religious Beliefs and Representations of the Taíno
• People
• Catholicism and National Identity in Latin America
• Literature Review: The Taíno — Connecting Erased Histories and Contemporary
• Ethnographies Ken Chitwood
• Mestizaje and the Discourse of National/Cultural Identity in Latin America
• The Chicana Canvas: Doing Class, Gender, Race, and Sexuality through Tattooing in
• East Los Angeles

However, due to limitations, I had to keep narrowing down the literature selection, because I needed to focus on Taino culture, Latin American tattoos, so I ended up using only these documents:

1. Chitwood, K. (2015) Literature review: The Taíno — connecting erased histories and contemporary ethnographies, Academia.edu. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/12054494/Literature_REVIEW_The_Ta%C3%ADno_Connecting_Erased_Histories_and_Contemporary_Ethnographies (Accessed: 21 November 2024).

This article help me with the background of that time from a macro perspective, it reflects the Taíno people during the colonial period of the Great Voyage and discusses how the Taíno people’s history and existence were erased by Spanish colonizers.

2. DeMello, M. (2004) Bodies of inscription: A cultural history of the modern Tattoo Community. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

This book discusses the origins, past, present and future of tattoos in a very broad span, in which it explores the semiotic value of tattoos and explains how tattoos are associated with different social classes and hierarchies.

3. Haynes, N. (2022) ‘Inking identity’, The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology, pp. 381–394. doi:10.4324/9781003175605-38.

It explores how tattoos can serve as a medium for the fusion of urban culture and traditional culture.

4. Simons, J.W. (2015) Ink with meaning: What we can learn from the tattoos of our ancestors, CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/what-we-can-learn-from-the-tattoos-of-our-ancestors/index.html (Accessed: 03 December 2024).

It shows that tattooing is both a personal projection of self and a means of communicating deeper cultural meaning.

5. Trujillo, M.S. et al. (2021) ‘The tattoo as ancestral legacy and dichotomic element of national identity’, International Journal of Organizational Business Excellence, 1(2). doi:10.21512/ijobex. v1i2.7155.

This article explores the origins of tattoos, starting with the world’s earliest known tattooed mummy, the Tyrolean Iceman, dating back 5,300 years. It discusses tattoos as an ancestral legacy and how they function as a dichotomous element of national identity

Next, I completed the literature review and made revisions to the formatting issues based on last week’s feedback.

Feedback from teacher:

First, I need to remove the indent from all subheadings and add a new subheading: Content Page.

Second, I need to add space between chapter and 1.

And finally, I need to edit the reference format of the images.

This week is tutorial for our critical report, and some skills about how to write literature review.

This is a periodic summary of my critical report:

In The beginning, I planned to write The visual design and symbolic analysis in the short film Jibaro, after conducting my research, I realized that discussing the visual design and symbolic meaning in Jibaro inevitably revolves around the colonial background of the story. The historical context is deeply intertwined with the work, and the concept of “visual design” feels too broad. It can encompass color, costumes, character design, environment design, artistic style, props, lighting design, and storyboarding.

There are too many elements to analyze, so I decided to focus on a specific category of visual design.

After reviewing a lot of material, I gained a general understanding of the historical context and noticed something unusual—the knight’s facial tattoo.

In film or animation, facial design is often very important, and the author places the tattoo on such a prominent part of the face, which I believe must have a specific role. Since discussing this story inevitably involves the historical background, I decided to narrow my topic to

“The Cultural Significance of Tattoos in Jibaro: A Visual Narrative in the Colonial Background“

You can see that the circles in the top pdf represent the relationships between the various elements in the title. I plan to analyze the role of tattoos in Jibaro as a visual narrative tool, particularly from the perspective of the colonial background. I will explore how tattoos drive the plot and their symbolic meaning within the story.

Additionally, I aim to discuss the cultural significance of tattoos themselves and how they relate to the themes of the story.

During my research, I experienced both pain and enjoyment because it led me to explore tattoo culture and the colonial history of Latin America, topics I had never deeply considered before. This information gave me a new perspective on tattoos, and I even discovered that their origins are closely linked to tribal culture, with tattooing in the U.S. actually tracing back to South American tribes.

Although indigenous groups like the Taíno were nearly wiped out during the violent colonial process, many tattoos with tribal cultural symbols continue to be popular among young people and have become a trend. These tattoos are not only symbols of fashion but also carry deep cultural significance.

For example, the essay above mentions that Gus and other tattoo artists incorporated elements of “Bolivian” or “Andean” styles into their designs, using pre-Incan symbols, Bolivian folklore, and local flora and fauna. Through these tattoos, artists convey the culture of Bolivia and the Andes. Even though some ethnic groups have disappeared, their culture has been preserved through tattoos.

Feedback from teacher:

In format, I need to use “Chapter 1,” “Chapter 2” to label the subheadings in the main body, and categorize the images in the text into the Appendices section on the last page.

In content, I need to cite more references and complete the literature review. The literature review can support my Chapter 1 or Chapter 2, In this way, it can link the references with my topic.

Class Discussion question:

“•Kristin Thompson asserts that Hollywood realist conception of cel animation developed partly as a defense ‘against the disruptive properties of animation’ (p. 108). This trivializing of animation and adoption of the language of cinema made it palatable and recognisable to a classical Hollywood cinema audience.

•What properties does animation have that could potentially make it disruptive? What can animation do that live action cinema cannot? Make a list.

•How did cartoons such as Duck Amuck (Dir. Chuck Jones, 1953) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ofats differ from/or diverge from Disney realism and classical Hollywood cinema. Make a list. Consider things such as aesthetics, the sound, the performance of the characters, the style of animation and the ideology.”

——– From Week 7 powerpoint

I think the answer to this question should first start from the 12 rules of animation, animation has offsetting, aniticipation, overlapping, exaggerated deformation, and in most cases do not conform to the reality of the mechanics of imagination, based on the real but higher than the real. This is a valuable characteristic that I think animation has but movies do not.

I think Hotel Transylvania is a good example to compare to Disney animation.

The characters in Hotel Transylvania, especially Dracula, are more cartoonish and exaggerated. The character’s facial expressions, range of motion, and body shape are often exaggerated and distorted.

Moreover, Hotel Transylvania does not strictly follow the scale and structure of animals or humans in the real world, but uses geometric shapes to abstract and simplify the appearance of the characters.

This design approach makes the characters more distinct and expressive. For example, Dracula’s design, his body is often composed of simple geometric figures, such as a round head, triangular shoulders, straight limbs, etc. These designs make the role more cartoonish features, can visually quickly convey Dracula’s tall, thin, majestic.

Disney’s character designs usually go for a more natural look, trying to make the characters look like actual animals or people. Like Simba in The Lion King.

The animal designs in Hotel Transylvania are also like this, for example, this sheep is combined with some exaggerated shapes.

However, the animal character design of Disney animation is still restored in accordance with the real animal, although some cartoon stylization is done, but there is no bold deformation of shape. For example, Bambi’s fawn character maintains the basic physical characteristics of a deer.

Compared to Bambi, animated films like Hotel Transylvania use geometric shapes and exaggerated body movements more boldly, breaking the physical laws of the real world. For example, the animal characters in Hotel Transylvania like sheep are often designed with the basic characteristics of the animal highly simplified, and through exaggerated deformation to create expressive and humorous images.

I think the following animated works are different from the classic Disney style:

• Hotel Transylvania

• Ice Age

• Kung Fu Panda

• Helluva Boss

Animation Staging

• Character placement & composition
• The use of long. Medium and close up shots
• Background and setting

Screen Direction

• Screen Continuity

Mise-en-Scène, as a central concept in the art of cinema, involves the arrangement and placement of all the visual elements that can be seen in the frame.

I would like to analyze the combination of split-screen and Mise-en-Scène with narrative in the context of my favorite movie, Lord of the Rings.

Set Arrangements and Props:

For example, the strong contrast between the Hobbit village and Mordor in the movie is conveyed precisely through the set arrangement of Mise-en-Scène.

The warmth and naturalness of the sets and color palette of the Hobbit village expresses the peaceful, uncontested life of the Hobbits.

While Mordor is a gloomy, barren landscape with shades of black and gray, representing the power of evil.

Light and color

In the Mordor shots, the director uses a lot of low light and shadows to focus on the characters’ faces or key props, highlighting the sense of danger and oppression.

Rivendell（Fairy kingdom）’s lenses use brighter and more natural light, bringing more openness and serenity.

The picture below shows the white-robed wizard Gandalf, the Aragon, the dwarves, and the elves on the journey to Rohan for support.

The lens slowly pulls back as the horse moves to the left. This picture is very characteristic，which contains close-up, middle-range and long-range shots. The close scene is the nearby rocks, the middle scene is the grassland and the moving Gandalf group, and the distant scene is the boundless mountains and the twilight sky. When a scene designer constructs a scene, they will choose to do so, because the images with close-up, middle-range, and long-range scenes have more depth and space.

Shape the characteristic

For example, a very distinctive character in the Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Gollum has complicated personality traits, and his good personality often talk to the evil personality. “Gollum is a compelling case study on the internal struggle of good and evil all on his own. The Lord of the Rings provides an impressive blend of relatable individual struggles while simultaneously setting up a clear “good versus evil” scenario.” (Pak, J. (2020, December 04). Why the lord of the rings are the best fantasy films of All time. Retrieved December 06, 2021, from https://www.looper.com/289917/why-the-lord-of-the-rings-are-the-best-fantasy-films-of-all-time/)

One of the scenes was that the Gollum squatted by the water and talked to his evil personality to discuss taking the Lord of the Rings. When the evil personality speaks, the camera records the water surface, and when the good personality speaks, the camera records Gollum’s face. Objects with reflection function such as water surface and mirror are often good means for photographers to show the dual personality of the characters.

Shot and theme

This picture is from the third section of The Lord of the Rings. After Aragorn and the other people defeated Sauron and became the king, Aragorn and the people saluting the four hobbits who destroyed the Lord of the Rings.

At the beginning, the king and queen salute first, and then the people closest to the hobbit begin to salute. As the people gradually gave the respect to the four heroes, the camera zooms out.

The audience found that the small and humble hobbit was honored by so many people. This shot shows the theme: no matter how small you are, as long as you persevere with hope in your heart and never give up, you will be respected by others.

Before taking the course of animated documentary, I had a vague understanding of this category. Although I have been exposed to some documentaries in the form of animation, they have never been classified as a separate genre in my memory. However, through the study of this course, I began to realize that animation documentary is not only a form of creation, but also contains profound narrative intention and diverse expression styles.

Animated documentary is a form of media that fuses the art of animation with documentary narrative.

In my opinion, it can be mainly categorized into two types: macro-narrative and micro-focus. The former focuses on recreating historical events or restoring what happened, while the latter focuses on the experiences of individuals or small groups by focusing on them.

Macro-narrative type

The macro-narrative type of animated documentary centers on recreating the full picture of an event.

For example, Tower Official Trailer 1 (2016) – Documentary vividly recreates the University of Texas shooting through a combination of animation and historical footage.

The film not only relies on survivors’ narratives, but also utilizes animation to recreate the subjective feelings and tense atmosphere of the event so that viewers can more strongly vicariously experience the event.

This type of animated documentary is particularly good at conveying complex events, and can quickly attract viewers into the narrative situation through rich visual language.

However, I think animated documentaries also have certain limitations. Macro-narratives are difficult to balance between artistry and authenticity. Creators are sometimes unable to cover all perspectives and details, and certain narratives may appear one-sided due to personal choices. At the same time, grand themes sometimes sacrifice depth of detail, making it difficult to fully demonstrate the complexity of individual experiences.

Macro-narrative type

Unlike macro-narratives, micro-focused types of animated documentaries focus more on individual perspectives or the special experiences of marginalized groups.

For example, A is for Autism presents viewers with the sensory world and inner emotions of autistic people through their drawings and narratives. Based on real interviews and contributions from autistic people, the film breaks through the limitations of language and behavior through animation and deeply restores the feelings of marginalized groups.

I think this is a very great work because it deeply links the autistic community and the audience across the span of time and distance. While some other animated works may also reflect some of the issues and dilemmas faced by marginalized groups. Although this format has a high degree of authenticity, it also suffers from under-representation, I looked up the information and it seems that only 10% of autistic people in the author’s research were willing to be interviewed.

Class dicussion topic:

“There is little question that animated documentaries are animated films, whereas there is potential debate as to whether animation is a acceptable mode of representation for documentary’ (Honess-Roe, 3

Do you think that animation is an acceptable mode of representation for documentary? Why?”

In my opinion, animated documentary can be regarded as a form of documentary, the core of which lies in whether the creator respects the facts and creates with a serious attitude.

As a medium, the characteristics of animation will not naturally weaken the authenticity of documentary. As long as the creator aims to record objectively rather than deliberately distort facts, the legitimacy of animation as a documentary should not be denied due to the particularity of the medium.

Some people may think that animation documentaries lack the authenticity of direct shooting and are difficult to represent objective authenticity, but in fact, any documentary form will inevitably have a certain bias. This is because the documentary itself is not only a record of the event, but also the reflection of the perspective of the creator.

When the director chooses the object of record, material editing and narrative method, he will bring his subjective intention, which inevitably affects the content of the documentary. For example, in some Japanese teaching materials or documentaries, they tend to choose the historical narrative mode that is favorable to their country, and even deny the past crimes; In the Chinese documentary, we will interview survivors to tell more neglected historical truths. These choices themselves are not determined by the medium, but by the position and purpose of the creator.

Therefore, whether it is a live documentary or an animated documentary, the bias comes from the person, not the form. Animated documentaries express content through painting or animation, and are not more likely to deviate from the truth because of the creativity of the medium. On the contrary, it may be more helpful in some situations to restore facts or present a complex subjective experience.

In this week, I plan to research more information and academic references about my topic and write a small draft.

Next week I developed topic with Jibaro, and this week I choose my main topic as:

The visual design and symbolic analysis in the short film Jibaro

The reason I choose the topic:

“The visual design and symbolic analysis in the short film Jibaro.”

As a short animation without dialogue, Jibaro has unique and impressive design aesthetics and animation aesthetics. I personally feel that the missing information in the dialogue, such as the culture background of the story, and all the narrative is presented in the visual language, which puts a high demand on the director and animator, who need to use design, camera movemnet and charactor actions to show the plot, rather than relying on narration or dialogue to explain what happened.

Therefore, as a dialogue-free short film, Jibaro’s visual design and metaphor are worthy of further study. My topic would like to study how the director presents the theme and symbolism of the whole story through visual elements.

I also like another work of the director, that he combines 2d strokes with 3d model, and use film style to shot the animation.

At the beginning of the research, I need to search the historical background of Jibaro, with the historical background, it is easy to distinguish the forces and characters in the position and motivation, and how they use visual language to express these.

Culture background – Latin America was colonized by the Spanish period of great maritime history

Three main forces/characters:

In-class notes:

Critical Report Structure

• Title: Subtitle
• Acknowledgements – Optional
• Abstract – is really important
• Key Words
• Contents Page
• Introduction
• Literature Review – critical part – how these book comment, categorize these ideas and support my report – a critical and analytical approach
• Main Body of Text
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Image List

Eassy draft

(I used the outline of essay structure and paragraph tips uploaded by the teacher in ual moodle):

main topic: The visual design and symbolic analysis in the short film Jibaro

1.Introduction, statement on the Issue, topic to be investigated and purpose of report (200 words)

Introduction the main topic: The visual design and symbolic analysis in the short film Jibaro. And the reason chose this theme: has an impressive artistic style and is very metaphorical

2.Critical Review a of literature or gathering of evidence. Critical appraisal of research undertaken and how you used your sources to investigate the topic and achieve objectives or answer the question (250 words)

• History of Spanish Colonization
• Origin of the Word “Jíbaro
• Analysis of Visual and Symbolic Meanings in Jibaro
• Official Interview with Director Alberto Mielgo
• Different Perspectives on Jibaro’s Visual Design

3.Investigation of options based on evidence. Main discussion and findings with citations. Sub- headings are recommended (800 words)

Visual design: colour design, character, landscape, storyboard, postures

4.Conclusions or recommendations to the audience based on findings (250 words)

In-class notes, initial topic and research for 1500 words essay

In-class notes:

Reserch blog: write 1 blog per week, total 12 blogs, demonstrate research process, group works and individual exercises, how the topic and research developed.

Critical report: This is an academic study of one specific topic that demonstrate research, analysis, critical thinking, evaluation, reference and citation skills. It is important to analyze statements and ideas from other people with different perspectives, and critic their thoughts.

Research presentation: shot a video presentation with visual contents. It can be presented in a more visual way. Instead of reading the content of the report directly, I can add pictures and videos to the powerpoint.

Tips in researching topics:

Primary or original resources. Like a poem, a photograph, the records of an insititution, a dress, a interview…

Secondary or interpretative sources. Like papers, articlaes,books,text….

Choose authors in different standpoints and critic their ideas, do not blindly agree with all people’s opinions, as some ideas have limitations of time, environment, gender, and occupation.

Critical Report Structure

• Title: Subtitle
• Acknowledgements-Optional
• Abstract
• Key Words
• Contents Page
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Main Body of Text
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Appendices

Initial research:

Since I really like the short film “Jibaro” in Love, Death and Robot, I wanted to research the information related to this short film, and I used Pureref to summarize and organize my information.

• Theories and film analyse

Auteur Theory – a film demonstrate the director’s personal creative version

Auteur theory originated with French critics of Cahiers du Cinema, who believed that the director is the “author” of a film. It focused on how a director’s personal vision shapes the final product. The director plays an important role in film, even in collaborative media like film industry. Their choices in style, theme, and character development give the film its authorship.

Film can be very personal and artistic, not just entertaining.

Film can be very personal and artistic, not just entertaining.

The Iconic Shower Scene | Psycho (1960) – by Alfred Hitchcock:

Then another close-up of the shower shot, the water and showerhead connect the whole shot. Later, the camera turned to the ground, the lady was bleeding into the drain, the camera gradually zooms down the water mouth. Finally, it switches to her eye, which is long shot connected by circular elements.

A strong visual style is created from the showerhead to the water to the eyes. These elements smoothly transition from calm – shower to violence – assault. The water flows down the drain, followed by a close-up of the eyes. The camera pulls in close to her lifeless eyes, shows that her life like the water, has run out.
The showerhead is a metaphor for her vulnerable situation. She is enclosed in the shower and the circular elements around her trap her in this vulnerable state. Hitchcock’s camera focuses on the circular shower head and moves downward toward her.

Andrew Sarris’ Three Circles of Auteurism Modle in 1962

– influenced by Auteur Theory

• Technique: The technical skill that director shows in the film.
• Personal Style: A director’s recurrent themes and visual style, and the specific thinking ways across different films.
• Interior Meaning: The core, deeper, symbolic things behind the film.

Sarris argued that a true auteur must align with all three areas. While a director might be technically skilled, they may lack a personal style or deeper meaning. The combination of these 3 elements creates an auteur.

These three circles are interrelated. Directors must have technical skills (outer circle) in order to successfully express their personal style (middle circle) and through that personal style convey deeper inner meanings (inner circle).

Pauline Kael’s Critique of Auteur Theory

Paul Wells’ Auteurism in Animation

Paul Wells challenged the director-cantered theory of Auteur Theory. He applied these ideas to animation production, demonstrating that even in large-scale collaborative productions, like Disney, autochthony can still emerge through strong creative leadership.

Studio Auteurism:

• In some cases, a studio itself can be seen as the auteur, especially when it has a strong creative identity that shapes its output.Studios such as Studio Ghibli, Disney, and Pixar have unique aesthetics, recurring themes, and narrative approaches that extend beyond individual films or directors. Welles’ ideas about collective homemaking resonate with the idea that these studios operate like self-made individuals, even though there are many individual contributions to each project.

In – class question: what is that makes Hayao Miyazai an auteur?

I prefer to discuss this question with the film: The Boy and the Heron (2023).

This movie is in view of a young boy who has lost his mother, and tells the story of his strange adventure in his mother’s old house during the war. This was Hayao Miyazaki’s last work and explores the growth and choices young people make.

Grief and Healing: The protagonist, Mahito, is a young boy who loses his mother in a fire.

A few years later, his father marries his mother’s sister and her stepmother was pregnant. He feels deeply saddened because everyone else was moving forward, and his father won’t staying in the past due to his mother’s death.

As a result of the war, they move to his mother’s former house, Being from a wealthy family, his appearance was different from the other children in the village, making it difficult for him to fit into the new group. He faces the dilemmas that everyone faces when growing up.

And by chance, he discovers a heron and magical towers. In that fantastical world, Mahito is forced to confront the issues he has been avoiding, such as deciding what kind of person he wants to become, accepting his stepmother and her child, coming to terms with the loss of his mother, and repairing the relationship between himself and his father.

Style and characters:

His movie style is still 2D, although the main characters in the films are usually teenagers or young girls, they have more sincere feelings and delicate hearts than adults, and they grow up during the adventures.

And the roles of adults in movies are usually very stereotypical or even fixed. They are just a collection of some key words that plays in specific roles in plot.

Moreover, he has a unique style of dedicating extensive scenes to seemingly insignificant actions. One scene that left a deep impression on me is when Mahito, completely exhausted, lies down on a soft bed. Every movement, including the bed’s deformation, is drawn in detail. Typically, other directors might skip these details to save time, using a near-static shot to convey the moment. However, this sequence of actions plays an important role. Mahito has just arrived at his stepmother’s house, so he is being cautious in every aspect, feeling like he doesn’t belong. Even when lying down, he keeps his body half-curled, rather than stretching out fully and relaxing. These detailed actions portray the protagonist as a sensitive and introspective person, conveying more powerfully than an internal monologue could.

So, I think the emphasis on actions over monologues and dialogue is an important style in Miyazaki’s films.

Themes and ideology:

Growth: Like many of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, this one tells the story of a protagonist on the verge of maturity, grappling with the challenges of growing up. In fact, I personally think the Japanese and Chinese translations of the film’s title better reflect the theme: “What kind of life do you want to live?” This question, posed by the uncle to the protagonist in the film, is also a question for us. Everyone must navigate the troubles brought by family, relationships, and the social environment during their growth. In the film, each door represents a different time and space, corresponding to a different choice. In the fantasy world, Mahito encounters his mother, who is still a young girl. Even though she knows that becoming Mahito’s mother will lead to her death in the fire, she still chooses that path.