Category: 1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language
One of the most important concepts to master is mise-en-scène, a French term meaning “placing in scene,” which refers to everything that appears within the frame. The 5 main elements are –
1. Setting and Props
The setting is the environment in which the action occurs, and the props are the objects that are part of the scene. In order to fully immerse the spectator in the story’s universe, both set the tone, context, and time period. For instance, whereas a comfortable space with soft furnishings communicates comfort, a dark alley with dirty props may imply danger. The inner states of the characters or the story’s themes might also be reflected in the location.
2. Costume, Hair & Make Up
These components establish a character’s emotional state, personality, and social standing. While makeup and hairstyles provide more personal information about characters, costumes aid in character differentiation by emphasizing their roles or purposes. While a character wearing shabby clothing could signify hardship, a character dressed in elegant gear might suggest professionalism. Exaggerated features can highlight symbolic roles or personality qualities in animation.
3. Facial Expressions & Body Language
Without using words, characters’ emotions, ideas, and reactions can be inferred from their body language and facial expressions. Tension, dread, or grief can be conveyed by a slouched posture or a furrowed forehead. These components are frequently amplified for dramatic effect in animation. Whether a scene is tight, relaxing, or humorous, the way a character moves or holds their body affects the tone and directs the audience’s emotional reaction.
4. Lighting and Colour
The mood, ambiance, and visual tone of a scene are determined by the lighting and color choices. While shadows and harsh lighting may imply danger or mystery, bright, warm lighting may create a pleasant atmosphere. Blues imply serenity or melancholy, while reds might convey danger or passion. Color selections can have symbolic meanings. The emotional effect and thematic depth of a scene in animation can be greatly impacted by the way light and color are manipulated.
5. Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
Character and object placement within the frame affects the scene’s emotional dynamics and directs the audience’s attention. Characters toward the periphery may imply fragility or loneliness, while those in the center can communicate significance or authority. Characters’ spatial interactions might reveal their power or emotional dynamics; for example, close closeness can suggest intimacy, while distance can convey estrangement or tension. The capacity to adjust visual storytelling in animation is enhanced by the flexibility of positioning.
Types of Shots
Extreme Close-Up: Draws attention to minor elements, such a hand, eye, or small object, to accentuate the focal point or express symbolic meaning.
Close-up: Draws attention to a character’s face or a significant detail, highlighting significant objects or actions in a scene, or expressing emotion.
Medium-shot: Character and background are visible in a medium shot, which frames the character from the waist up and is frequently employed for discussion or interaction.
Long Shot: Presents the character from head to toe, maintaining them as the main subject of the scene while giving background information about their environment.
Extreme Long Shot: This technique creates a big setting or scene, frequently displaying the figure in juxtaposition to a vast world, either a bleak wilderness or a sweeping urban.
Over-the-Shoulder Shot: This shot, which is frequently utilized for stressful situations or talks, places the viewer behind a character and lets them see what they see.
Point-of-View Shot: Provides intimacy or subjectivity by allowing the viewer to see the scene through the eyes of the character.
High Angle Shot: A high angle shot looks down on the subject and is frequently employed to provide a scene’s overview or to make the subject appear small, helpless, or vulnerable.
Low Angle Shot: Often utilized for dramatic emphasis in animation, this shot is taken from below the character, giving them an air of dominance, strength, or imposingness.
Further shots can be categorised in context of number of characters in a frame namely, one-shot, two-shot or group-shot. Or for a moving camera Pan shot, Tilt shot, Traveling shot (dolly shot) or Crane shot.
Legitimacy of animated documentary
Poltical commentary in visual media often focuses on themes like race, gender, equality, disability, ethics, and ecology, which are portrayed differently across documentary films, cinema, television, games, and advertising. These formats can either challenge or reinforce social norms based on political context. Animated documentaries raise questions about authenticity, as Bill Nichols suggests documentary images are linked to reality, while animation’s departure from realism complicates this. Honess Roe argues that animated documentaries don’t fit traditional molds, challenging the belief that documentaries should be objective and realistic.
Animated documentaries are an evolving form that challenges conventional notions of truth and reality in non-fiction storytelling. While documentaries are often associated with realism and factual representation, animated documentaries break away from this by using stylized visuals and creative techniques. This format opens up new possibilities for expressing complex ideas and emotions that may be difficult to capture with live-action. By offering alternative perspectives on reality, animated documentaries can deepen the viewer’s understanding of social, political, and personal issues, expanding the boundaries of what non-fiction media can achieve.
Issues of Diversity and Physical challenges in ‘Blue Eye Samurai’
Above: Still from the animated show ‘Blue Eye Samurai’, www.netflix.com. (2023). BLUE EYE SAMURAI | Netflix Official Site. [online] Available at: https://www.netflix.com/title/81144203
The animated series Blue Eyes Samurai explores themes of social injustice, gender, physical disabilities and discrimination. The series focuses on the protagonist’s struggle for acceptance and vengeance in a world that shuns them for their mixed heritage. Born as a biracial individual with distinctive eyes, the protagonist faces ostracism, symbolizing broader issues of marginalization of “others” in homogeneous societies.
The protagonist who is a samurai and skilled fighter, also hides herself initially in the guise of a man, to be accepted by the society. The series enforces this issue of gender-based oppresions through another character of a princess who struggles the patriarch norms, forced into a marriage to unite two clans. The series also presents multiple character who overcome their physical disabilties in their story arcs. Throughout the series the protagonist is supoorted by physically chalenged characters, like an old blind man who is a master swordsmith and a boy with no hands who is a cook and friend.
Blue Eye Samurai beautifully captures these social issues with an engaging story, which challenges and influences the viewer’s understanding of these social and political issues.
The auteur theory, traditionally associated with film, states arguments about who is considered the author of a piece of work. In animation, this theory takes on unique dimensions due to the collaborative and multi-disciplinary nature of the medium. While Paul Wells argues in ‘Animation : Genre and Authorship’ that animation may be consdered the most auteurist of all film formats.
On the contrary, there is a challenge in attributing singular authorship within animation due to its collaborative framework. Wells mentions that recognizing an auteur in animation often involves analyzing their recurring themes, visual aesthetics, and storytelling approaches across multiple works. Very specific themes and genres are observed in the works of animation directors like Hayao Miyazaki and Junji Ito, making them the ‘auteurs’ even with the huge production team and studios involved in their works.
Wells further explains the auteur theory through the case of Disney of whether he can be considered an aurteur or not. While Walt Disney was barely involeved artistically in major Disney works, he shaped the studio’s brand and vision. Many directors of Disney studio downplayed their contributions to promote the ‘Disney’ name. This complicates the auteur theory as it aligns with a ‘studio-driven authorship’ model. It is not always the director who is considered the auteur, rather any producer or visionary leader that guides the production team in a specific style, genre, or theme.
Through his analysis, Paul Wells raises points for further discussions about authorship in animation, which is often a less regarded field of film practices. Animated film can be collaborative at larger scale and individualistic at smaller scale, making it complicated to define the true auteur of a piece.
I picked the music video “The Wolf” by Siames, directed by Fer Suniga & RUDO Co. Analysing it within the 4 criterias, it was evident that the animaiton is a ofrm of conceptual abstraction, representing the lyrical theme of music.
Above : stills from The Wolf music video, SIAMES (2017). SIAMÉS ‘The Wolf’ [Official Animated Music Video]. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX44CAz-JhU
1. Categorization
The music video is a narrative-driven conceptual abstraction. The animation has a unique storytelling style using minimal designs of characters and visually appealing transitions which complement the musical rhythm. It tells a loose story involving a group of characters haunted by a wolf-like manifestation of their internal fears or desires. The tone is dark and suspenseful, blending noir and thriller elements.
2. Form and Function
The video’s objective is to visually amplify the song’s themes using stylized animation and metaphorical storytelling. The animation functions to complement the music’s rhythm and lyrics, emphasizing tension and release. The limitations are inherent in its abstract approach, which leaves much open to interpretation, allowing each viewer to derive their own meaning.
3. Process
The director uses 2D animation with a graphic novel aesthetic, marked by sharp contrasts, bold lines, and minimal character designs. The animation uses dynamic camera angles and flowing transitions to intensify the music’s emotion. The ‘wolf’ is represented in a free form, with multiple limbs and solid black color with red eyes. Its movement is stylized to represent an uncontrolable impulse or rage, creating a direct relation the lyrics of the music.
4. Formal Elements
The use of space and composition is cinematic, creating tension through tight framing and dramatic perspectives. The color palette relies on high contrast, dominated by blacks, whites, and reds, reinforcing the ominous tone. Movement is fluid and energetic, mirroring the music’s rhythm, with pacing that syncs perfectly to the song’s beats. Transitions are sharp yet cohesive, matching the shifts in tone and energy. The audio and visuals are tightly integrated, each enhancing the other’s impact.
This music video exemplifies experimental animation through its conceptual storytelling, stylized aesthetics, and effective fusion of sound and image.
‘Animation’ has a broad meaning which has evolved over the years. As mentioned by Paul Wells in ‘Understanding Animation’, 1998 the term to animate is derived from the Latin verb animare, which means ‘to give life to’. Translating this to the context of 3D computer animation, the act of moving inanimate objects in a virtual space to create an illusion of life is animation.
Some artists changed the methods through their experiments with different mediums, while technology acted as a catalyst to rapidly transform the techniques and styles in animation. The oldest device of Phenakistiscope, using a series of images on a circular disk or the Praxinoscope, using a cylinder and mirrors, was rotated at fast speed to create the illusion of movement. These were the earliest bricks for the massive structure that animation has become.
The avant-garde movement embraced animation as a medium for experimenting with abstract shapes, space, and time, offering more freedom than traditional painting. Many artists transitioned from painting to animation to break away from classical art rules. Movements like Futurism used animation to explore political and ideological themes, paving the way for Dada and Surrealism, which adopted film as an artistic form, strengthening the connection between art and cinema. Ultimately, avant-garde artists used animation to push creative boundaries and challenge traditional artistic conventions. Now, animation includes frame-by-frame animation, flip books, stop motion, claymation, motion graphics even virtual reality and visual projections. While some people refer to animation as ‘cartoons’, and the Japanese animations are called ‘anime’. They are all included in the broad umbrella of animation.