Haydn Spencer

BA2a: Film Language for Animators

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Bioshock Infinite (2012)

First person video game

Wonderful beautiful world and setting, floating city. Set in the early 1900s, keeps the grimness of the time but presents the city in a wonderful way.

Very violent, never really into things this violent. The transition into the violence was sudden as before that I had been exploring a fairground and generally having a nice calming time.

I like how the mystery is unfolding at the moment as to who the characters are, and if I am actually playing as the bad guy.

I think the character of Elizabeth is very endearing, you feel for her and when you upset her you can feel the trust breaking since you are playing first person.

It is also quite scary in places, such as the Raven enemy who comes out of nowhere and can teleport at random, the giant animatronic robot man and a part where you come across a cult, they all halt their actions and turn at the same time to attack you.

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Seqeunce Analysis

Disney’s Treasure Planet (2002)

Introduction to John Silver 0:00 - 1:22

First shot of the clip: every shot is framed in square shapes and vertical lines. The characters walk down a staircase and are framed by the walls, and Mr Arrow (who himself is made up of rectangle shapes) joins them. The shot feels cramped and uncomfortable - neither character wants to be in the galley, mirrored in the framing and the staging.

Colours are also quite muted, previous sequence was in a wide captain’s office in golds and yellows, now we are in a working space below the ship, browns and deeper shades to show this. Eyes are drawn to the center as the colour of Mr Arrows red jacket and Dr Doppler’s spacesuit attract the eye and are the brightest things in shot

Second shot is framed circular with an orange glow to it. Roundness is welcoming and friendly. The depth of shot is welcoming too compared to previous shot. The orange is warm.

Mr Silver has face mostly obscured in shadow and looks quite small and harmless. The character turns after being called ‘off screen’ - room to his right for him to move into. His mechanics are kept obscured and out of view so there can be a bigger pay-off reveal.

Next shot we see of him, he’s bigger. His mechanics are revealed as he genuflects

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Research 5

From “Cinematic Storytelling” by Jennifer Van Sijll

“The use of the circular is greatly augmented when its opposite, the linear, plays alongside.” - pg 34

“Foreshadowing sets up expectations in the audience.” - pg 86

“Realistic sound, also known as diegetic sound, is sound that would logically exist in the audio world depicts on the screen.” - pg 92

“Lyrics of a song can act as the voice of a character. They can reveal the inner thoughts in a way that can be more interesting than a simple ‘talking heads’ scene” - pg 102

“The closer we get to a character, the more sympathy we are likely to feel. This is because the close-up gives us a physical proximity usually reserved for those allowed within a character’s intimate space....The close-up can also be used to evoke fear or revulsion when the audience is forced to be in close proximity to a character already established as a hated antagonist.” - pg 148

“(Extreme Close-Ups) calls attention to the subjects, making them more memorable visually” - pg 150

“Low-angle shots makes objects appear larger-than-life.” - pg 162

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Research 4

From “The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media” by Bruce Block

“The basic visual components are space, line, tone, colour, movement, and rhythm” - pg 2

“The audience’s attention will usually be drawn to any on-screen vanishing point.... Here, with the actor repositioned at the vanishing point between the two walls, the viewer’s attention goes to the actor. The vanishing point helps keep the audience’s attention to the actor.” - pg25

“Warmer colours seem closer to the viewer and cool colours appear farther away” - pg 40

“fully saturated  means the hue is extremely vivid...desaturation involves a saturated hue and it’s complimentary colour” - pg142

“Continuum of movement deals with two concepts.

- How the viewer’s point-of-attention moves within a shot

- How the viewer’s point-of-attention moves from shot to shot” - pg 184

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Film Language Lecture Notes 10

Scenes progress in a predictable manner, a pattern, they move inwards towards the subject

Establishing shots can be used for interiors too

Continue to move in if there is something for you to move into

Framing the shot = showing the viewers the most important thing

This pattern mirrors how we see things every day

The Tease - Anticipation by starting off on an extreme close up of object

SCRIPT BREAKDOWN

- Mapping out elements - relating colours to them, of what is needed for each scene

- Breaking up a scene into eights (eight segments of a script page) gives a sense of how long the scene is and helps start the breakdown small and on important details

- Breaks down props and stunts, what has to be built and created

STORYBOARD DRAFTS

Draft 1 is usually the design progress, figuring out what works and where

Draft 2 is more technical and accurate

Draft 3 helps you sell it to people, a little more polished to the previous versions

Use all available methods

START WORKING ON TRICKIER SCENES TO PIN DOWN FIRST - this will allow better distribution of time and effort compared to the smaller and easier to animate sequences (start with the action scenes than the opening exposition)

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SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Clash at Demonhead perform

- Transition into next shot is a wipe courtesy of someone walking across the frame

- L-cut of announcer’s “And then it was time...” - words appear on screen, matching comic origins, stylistic choice

- The announcer goes from non-diegetic sound to diegetic sound. Narration into actual announcer introducing the band, echoy vocals over screams of excitement

- The announcer, screams and ringing noise of the drums build excitement and anticipation in scene, but also creates a very uneasy feeling

- The band itself is cloaked in shadows, and only small details of them are revealed at a time (Envy’s boots before her face, the gleam of Todd’s bass over his face, the shine of the drummer’s shade) - they are made to look ominous

- Ramona is dead center in a crowd who are also mostly in shadow. She stands in the center of the shot and also the divide between light and dark. Her blue hair is the brightest thing in the shot. 

- Reaction shots of the crowd looking up at Envy as she arrives, we still only see her red shoes. Red is an evil colour in this shot, the music waves and text are red, Envy’s lipstick is red, symbolic of an evil counterpart to our heroes.

- When the music starts to play, the bassist plays first. Lights start gleaming on, slowly revealing more of the character

- Two levels of dialogue happening. Scott talks with Ramona about Todd, Envy interrupts with ‘oh yeahs’, sets up how her character is trying to put a wedge between them

- “I know - oh yeah - you know? - OH YEAH - oh no” realisation hits Scott as the musical intro hits its loudest point

- The oh yeah/oh no match up in reactions - one positive, one negative

- Lights all switch on when Envy starts singing, face reveal. The lights pulse with the base. The bass also makes the shot intense, as it is one chord repeating like an alarm.

- As she sings, she is looking towards where Scott and Ramona are standing in space. She isn’t looking AT them, her head would be tilted, but towards them in space. She is singing at Scott and Ramona - “hello again friend of a friend”

- When the drums and bass match up, the shot splits between Envy, Scott, Ramona and Todd. Shows a quick shorthand of what the relationship shape is. Cuts on the beat

- The shots of Envy get closer with ever second set of lyrics. She’s controlling the crowd and how close we are to her

- Long shot from behind Envy and Todd at Ramona and Scott. Both of their original partners are facing them, and they are framed by their silhouettes. 

- Pans across as the band performs

- Shot in between Envy’s leg, you can still see Ramona’s blue hair

- Song ends abruptly, lights cut, fade to black, with red lyrics still on screen. The band is back into shadow again as soon as they had started

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Borrowed Time (2016)

I thought this was really cleverly told story. Really liked the contrast between the two settings (modern day is grey and full of sorrow while the past is gold and warm)

We are led to believe that the accident was a crash off a cliff at the start of the short film, but over the course of the animation we realise the main character isn’t so blameless.

The cuts that trigger the flashbacks aren’t obvious, they just quickly cut into them.

I like how the brief moment of hope ends up falling apart to tragedy. Very strong stuff.

Nice use of imagery and devices, such as the pocket watch and the light shining through the clouds.

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Film Language Lecture Notes 9

Black or White - Michael Jackson - Music Video

Interesting use of transitions, jumping between different cultures. Jackson leaves one shot and ends up somewhere else. Horses and cars act as wipes across the screen. Snow enables a smoother transitions between road in India and Russia. Russian segment dances stand still and transitions into a snowglobe.

The most worrying transition is from the two babies sitting on the world to everything on fire behind the singing Jackson, making it look like Michael Jackson destroyed the world.

Faces morphing into other faces was pretty clever towards the end too

Around the World - Daft Punk - Music Video 

Sounds are given characters that represent them. The set is round like a vinyl record and like the world itself. Motions are cyclical, like the world. Around the world, all around the world.

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Film Language Lecture Notes 9

Sequence Analysis

UP - Married Life

Series of tableaus and images that are repeated (such as the house, the hill, balloons, ties, the zoo and the money jar, the matching chairs, Ellie adjusting things)

Quirks of life, such as the hands on the mailbox.

Planting the use of balloons for the rest of the movie. It establishes that balloons can lift usually heavy things, which is a huge part of the film’s narrative fabric

At the hospital, the characters are trapped in a dark doorway, sterile white light shining out, colourless compared the the rest of the sequence, makes the audience know how to feel

Series of jump cuts showing time pass as the money jar fills

The jar is smashed three times, rule of three, popular storytelling technique

Tie motif shows the personal connection the two character have, as well as where Carl’s bowtie is from. Shows what Carl can’t do Ellie can do, she fills the space in his life.

Wonderfully emotive slow shots of them as they dance together, lingers on the money jar.

Change of pace as the mood changes (Carl realising they haven’t gone to Paradise Falls is slower as a sequence compared to the fixing up the house sequence)

The hill, the hospital and the church are all locations revisited in the film, but to heartbreaking effect. The hill where the two go on picnics is the same one where Ellie collapses, the hospital room is shot in the same way as the shot where Carl breaks his leg and the church is where they got married and where Ellie’s funeral service takes place.

Wipe across from hill to hospital

The whole sequence is wistfully cyclical, we see where the main character has come from and how he’s in the place he is now. We see Carl and Ellie’s life fly by, and we get to know them before one of them dies and the other is left alone.

Like, really alone. The one shot of him alone in the dark church with a solitary blue balloon is really saddening. How long has he been there for? The lighting implies he’s been there for a long time. Where Ellie once would be there is now an empty space and the audience feels it. Carl is framed in vertical lines, he’s alone and trapped.

And all he has is one solitary balloon, which harkens back to when he first meets Ellie as a child.

The background fades out as Carl gets up and turns from church to house. 

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Film Language Lecture Notes 9

Sequence Analysis

How To Train Your Dragon - Forbidden Friendship

- Establishing shot, introduced to Hiccup from behind shield. He’s cautious, shots are longer to represent that.

- After getting the shield jammed, Hiccup looks down at the fish then cuts to him picking up the fish. No travelling time is used, he goes from one location to the other in an edit

- Side long shots to show relationship between elements

- We see Toothless behind Hiccup before he sees, builds tension. The shots are also quite slow and lingering, also building tension

- Cuts between knife and dragon, building tension, shows the correlation between the two, Toothless doesn’t trust armed Hiccup. Friendship starts to build when the knife is gone. Toothless relaxes and is more comfortable.

- Toothless’ acting relies a lot on eyeline since the character can’t talk. He gestures and looks at things with his eyes, and indicates his mood (eyes become more human when relaxed, eyes are much more snake/cat like when agitated) He also uses his eyeline to indicate things Hiccup should do, ie eating the raw fish

- Back and forth for the long awkward silence, makes viewer feel uncomfortable

- Very fast cuts when Toothless ‘teeths’ up and eats the fish, meant to make the audience jump

- Toothless is being filmed looking up at him, Hiccup is being filmed looking down on him. Toothless is in control - he has more power in a shot that Hiccup

- Camera whirls with Toothless as he sprints off

- Bird flies out of shot, we follow it as Toothless does, into a different shot

- Mix transition shows a passage of time, as does the lighting suddenly turning to evening

- The drawing sequence is animated like a dance, the camera starts to swirl and the music builds

- Overhead shots give context to show what Toothless has drawn

- Time moves slower when Hiccup holds his hand out.

- Toothless looks down parentally at Hiccup, having just ‘trained’ his human. Trust built in their fledgling forbidden friendship.

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Sequence Analysis

Sequence from Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure (2015)

Establishing shot. Long shadows, orange lighting, clearly early evening. High angle looking down at farm. Children looking up. The only hint we have of what they are looking at is the shadow. The angle is canted slightly from the fence and the field.

All action stops as the crows nest of the ship is revealed. Shadow dwarfs the people below. Child shouting “Pirates are coming!” which can be told from the flag that is at the top of the mast

The music is slow and sweeping, matching the speed of the ship’s movement. Despite it being a pirate ship, a tool for villainy, its portrayed wondrous and majestically. It is made to feel magical in its presence, capturing everyone’s attention.

Cut to town where people are going about their business watching a brass band, low action shot

Much like before, all attention turns to the shadow of the ship. The shadow builds tension, anticipation and intrigue to the full reveal of the ship. Their eyes are all drawn to the thing and the audience wants to see it too

The ship’s mast is framed by the buildings, making the ship almost dead center. Eyes are drawn to the area of highest contrast (the blue sky in among the brown and grey buildings). Lady’s arm points towards the ship, characters are facing towards the ship and we all look towards it. 

It is also made clear the sails aren’t open, which makes the audience wonder what is making it move.

The music also rises louder and grander as the idea of what the ship looks like becomes clear.

Reaction shot. The band looks on in confusion, literally overshadowed by the ship. It is also quite clear that this is not a usual occurrence in the sequence given that it has attracted all the attention off the band. The man in the middle drops his cymbal, he’s in the center of the shot for the action to take place.

Pan with Donald, the engine. Humorous reveal that it was in fact an engine pulling the boat. The scale is also made clear. The boat is huge compared to an already huge engine.

Reaction shot of Donald. His eyes are looking up at the boat (towards top right). Clearly proud and excited about pulling something that gets attention. The soundtrack swells as the train slows to a stop.

Train reaches engine of dock. The scale is made even clearer, first shot where the ship is fully visible. Pan out from the train to the sailor on the boat. His telescope looks up towards the ship, eyes are attracted towards the ship. Area of high contrast attracts eye.

Sailor is striking a strong pose. Dominant line of action in first screenshot. Hands on hips shows power. Foot on top of the face of the boat shows their relationship, one in in charge of the other. Both are looking up at the ship which is now off screen. First shot that doesn’t focus on the ship, shows a change in focus. He is also in the center of the frame = dominance

Shot dissolves into a new sequence. Night time. Focus on the moon. The clouds make a skull face. This suggest that the Sailor might be quite villainous, given the association with pirates = skull and crossbones = villainy. 

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Film Language Lecture Notes 8

DEXTER INTRO

- Opens on a mosquito, XCU, uncomfortably close up on insect. Jump sut to a wider shot - pull focus on Dexter’s eye. Mosquito gets swatted, surprising action out of frame.

- XCUs of Dexter’s body as he goes about, uncomfortable. Out of focus, makes him less human

- Jump cuts throughout make you feel uneasy

- Focus on the colour red (blood, mosquito, bacon, blood orange.

- A lot of use of violent imagery (knives, shaver) referencing his serial killing

- Use of shape cuts, specifically circles (blood spatter, drain, eggs, hob)

- Visual parallels, making the mundane violent (the shoelaces and floss which cut to his neck matches strangulation, t-shirt in face matches smothering)

- Dexter stares directly at the camera at a low angle. Makes the character menacing and threatening directly to audience.

- Dexter outside is different from character inside. The colours of the background matches the colours of his clothes. He looks normal on the outside, blends in

- The music is upbeat and doesn’t match the imagery - use of contrapuntal sound

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Parallel editing

- Misleads the viewer with three story strands happening at once

- Makes the viewer not quite know what is happening where

- Uses annoying sounds such as a dog whining, echoes, bangs and an alarm bell ringing to create unease

TOY STORY 2

We stay on one side of the characters so we always follow the direction they are heading in

Buzz looks to the left at the traffic lights and in the direction of the cones.

We get overhead shots whenever the characters stop in their cones to see where they are in space as well as the trouble they are causing

When then start crossing, we see the traffic far away, sets up the danger and builds the tension

We enter the cones and see their expressions, some nervous, some cautious

Shots cut faster as the action gets quicker. Cuts slow down when Mr Potato Head gets stuck, builds tension. Time slows, had it been realistically played, he would have been hit with the pipe

We see the shadow of the telegraph pole on the pipe as it rolls in its direction, sets up the punchline of it falling down

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Film Language Lecture Notes 7

Why cut between shots? Compressing time or stretching time. Shows what’s important in the story. Controlling the pace and time and atmosphere.

Fades, dissolves and mixes are all different transitional effects

FADES: usually goes to a solid colour ie black or white

DISSOLVE: soft change, slows pace

MORPH: one thing turning into another

Controlling the movement and the colours to work with the music.

TYPES OF SEQUENCE

MONTAGE: take a sequence of different but related things and cut them together, shows the passage of time quickly

PARALLEL: two bits of story happening at the same time (crosscutting between the two scenes) IE: a bomb in room, shots of people running, the heroes and cutting between them

- Created tension, shows the comparison in between where everyone is respectively

JUMP CUT: a cut in time but not in location, this can create a sense of unease

L CUT: audio overlaps from new scene into previous scene, makes the cut invisible as the audience expects it after hearing it

CUTAWAY: a shot of something outside of the normal frame, moving to another shot

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TYPES OF CUT

MATCH CUT: take two similar images and cut from one to another (such as the iconic 2001 Space Odyssey bone to space base cut)

SHAPE CUT: doing that with shape

CUT ON ACTION: audience’s eye are on the movement

http://mentalfloss.com/article/21028/5-film-transitions-worth-knowing

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Research 3

Scriptwriting for Animation by Stan Hayward

- It must be remembered that movements in animation have no paralell with movement in the real world....The use of animation movements is to continually bring the relevant information into the screen at the rate it can be assimilated, No movement should be used for the sake of itself, nor should movements conflict with each other by straining the viewer’s eye either by speed or location. - pg62

- A transition shows the end of one scene and the begining of another. It is comparable to punctuation, and shows to what degree each scene is related to the next. pg 66

- Fade means fading off the image altogether - usually to black. It is like the break between paragraphs. A whole statement has been made, and there is a feeling of resolution - pg 66

On The Use of Colour - pg68

- It is better to use the bright colours for the moving and key images rather than the background and incidental animations.

- The foreground colours should not clash with the background

- Colours are relative in their dominance. In a very brightly-coloured scene, the eye would look for a restful spot, and in a low key scene the eye would focus on the moving or brightest spot.

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Research 2

Marc Hendrey’s animation analysis 

These videos have some very interesting bits of analysis about the framing and body language of characters in animation.

CATS DON’T DANCE

THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER

DUMBO

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Research 1

The Animator’s Eye by Francis Glebas is about the animation process and the way animator’s think to create their work.

It was amazing to study  a small sequence in frame-by-frame detail. That’s the only way a film will yield its secrets. The first time you watch a film you are under the spell of its story... it’s only during the second and third viewings you can see how it’s put together - pg1

ANTICIPATION FOR CLARITY...you have to let the audience know what is going to happen and where it is going so they know where to look. ... This preparation also tells us as viewers where to look - pg 104

Negative space is an important but often overlooked aspect of the staging process - pg123

Reds, oranges and yellows are usually considered warm colours. They have the quality of feeling warm and they appear to approach us in a picture. Greens, blues and purples are considered cool and they feel cooler and recede from the picture plane. - pg130

USE SHOT FRAMING TO LEAD THE EYE: A static formal shot doesn’t lead the eye anywhere; it’s a self-contained closed composition that circulated within itself. That’s the function of composition in painting to lead the eye into the picture and prevent it from exiting the frame. -  pg173

SOUND BRINGS LIFE AND MUSIC BRINGS EMOTION ... Make sure you can tell your story without words, totally silent. Once you’ve accomplished that, the every sound added brings life. Music brings emotion. - pg178

Chases are exciting visual dramatisations of our striving for goals against obstacles. Real life is a series of our striving for goals and facing obstacles. Sometimes we’re chasing. Other times we’re the ones on the run. They’re great in movies because they’re full of action motivated by a character’s desire, and that’s fun to watch - pg187

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Black Mirror

“S1E1: The National Anthem”/”S2E2: White Bear”/”S3E1: Playtest”

I had watched the first episode of Black Mirror back when it first came out, but I think I was too young to full get it/understand and appreciate what was going on

The National Anthem: quite funny, played everything remarkably realistic despite being a deliberately strange premise, ironically life imitated art when similar scandals came to light a few years ago

White Bear: the twists towards the end of the episode made the episode, ends up blurring the lines, you sympathise for the main character but also are made to hate them, and it becomes difficult to take either side of the conflict as being ‘in the right’ - I did feel like the message it was delivering ended up being a bit heavy handed, but I think the delivery needed it to fully exploit the concept

Playtest: much like White Bear, but I feel like this was more appealing. the twists at the end are very haunting, the main setting playing on horror video game tropes, the main character’s backstory was relate able and he remained sympathetic throughout

All together, I think these were well shot and edited, especially Play Test, which plays on both the main character’s and the viewer’s perception of what is real in the story.