Animation Project

Blog 6- Animation

The two animation pieces I have chosen are an episode of South Park, and the Pixar movie Up.
These are both from very obviously different animation genres). South Park is a very flat, 2D piece with very little differentiation, while Up is a visually beautiful movie with a much more 3D look (plus the fact that it was shown in 3D.)


Color
The color of both is quite vivid. South Park uses bright colors in a sort of irony (a children's show that's not for children) while Up uses bright colors for a few different reasons. Up is a sweet story, that is visually pleasing in its own way. The old man has dreamed of this beautiful place all his life and is finally going there. So, bright colors fit the adventure scheme quite well.
Both use a variation of hues (red, yellow, green, peach...) which make for a colorful piece. However, the saturation is where they greatly differ. South Park uses solid colors with no difference in saturation, while Up has a lot of variation in saturation, making it a little more realistic. Also, as I stated, the difference in brightness of Up makes for a deeper surface while South Park is a very flat surface. For example, as you can see the farther objects in Up (the trees) are less bright and vivid, while everything in South Park is solid.

Lighting
The lighting of Up is much more realistic and painterly than South Park. For starters, Up actually utilized lighting and difference in shadows while South Park does not (except for the photo on the wall). In this way, it almost looks like South Park was drawn by a 5 year old, while Up looks a lot more sophisticated. Up held to realistic standards with space and shadows, while South Park has no sense of realism whatsoever.
The mood of both are very different, due to the lighting. South Park is very sarcastic and does not care about realism, while Up tries to conform more to realistic standards in order to be emotional and more deep.
This shot of South Park doesn't really have any symbolism in terms of lighting, since everything is lit pretty evenly. However, Up is choc full of symbolism. For example, the old man is very dreary looking and is dressed in drabby colors, which represents cynicism while the bird is brightly colored and brightly lit, which represents happiness and vibrance.

Movement
South Park portrays very little movement, while Up definitely portrays a lot more. For example, the little boy is in the middle of running over to the dog, who looks like he is about to get up. Also, the old man is walking over to the right, and the bird is leaning down to look at the dog. However, South Park seems pretty static, and portrays almost no movement. Cartman looks like the only one who is moving in that scene, and even he is pretty still.
As stated, Up has a lot of overlapping movement. I can tell just by looking at that shot that a lot of things are happening at once. South Park, however, has almost no overlap and Cartman looks to be the only one even slightly moving.
The weight is distributed evenly in the South Park scene. All of the boys are positioned evenly straight across the frame, with no weight leaning one way or another. Up, however, has most of the weight centered on the left side of the frame. this is because that is where most of the action is taking place, where the bird and the boy are both looking. Also, the most vibrant colors are weighted over there, that being the bird and the dog. In this way, my eye almost certainly goes to the left side of that picture, while in South Park my eye isn't really directed anywhere and kind of settles in the middle.

Blog 5- Storyboard

**The overhead scenes are before the storyboard just because of the silly way Blogger uploads images.


The 180 degree rule was pretty strictly followed in this scene. If you draw an invisible line down the center of the ship, the camera always stays on the left side, or directly on the line. There is one slight exception to this, and that is in the second shot, where the camera pans over to reveal Rose walking up to Jack in the background. The camera goes just slightly over the 180 line, but since it used camera movement, that is okay. Then, it cuts away to Rose and the line is established back where it was.

The rule of thirds is also quite strictly followed in this scene. In close-up shots, both Jack and Rose's eyelines are perfectly placed on a left or right intersection, or if there is camera movement, their eyelines at least stay on a horizontal 1/3d line (the top line). In wide shots, like the shot where Rose moves in closer to Jack, the camera follows her so that her body stays perfectly on the left vertical 1/3d line. Sometimes there are neutral shots, like the close-up of their hands holding or when the camera cranes over them, but for the most part this scene is fairly textbook when it comes to the rule of thirds.

The 30 rule is also followed strictly, as every shot pretty religiously cuts to two "shot sizes" away. For example, when there is a wide shot of Rose walking up to Jack (from head-on), it cuts into a close-up of her face. Cutting into a medium shot would have caused a jump cut, which they avoided by following the 30 rule.
In terms of camera movement, there is certainly 30 degrees worth of movement, as the camera typically totally changes places or drastically pans or cranes.


I think that James Cameron chose to stick to the textbook with this scene is so as not to divert attention from the action. The entire movie is pretty textbook, likely due to the fact that when James Cameron was studying film early on, he learned all the textbook rules, so he is putting them into action (hence the practice meets opportunity lecture.) The only time the camera broke any of the rules (180) was during camera movement for a brief second, and it showed a new character entering, which is an exception to the rule.

Blog 4- Song Deconstruction

The two songs I have chosen for the assignment are "Someone Like You" and "Rolling in the Deep" both by Adele.

*I chose the live version of "Someone Like You" because it is both more popular (except for radio) and more soulful than the original version.


These two songs are quite different from each other. The lyrics of "Someone Like You" are quite sad and emotional, as it is about a difficult breakup. The song details the relationship between her and someone she used to date, and how he has moved on. It also speaks about how they have become estranged, but she is determined to move on and "find someone like him."
The lyrics or "Rolling in the Deep" are certainly more angry and powerful. She uses words like "fire", "scars," "burn", and "sorrow." The song is about the anger that comes with a breakup, along with regret and despair. Similar to "Someone Like You" it is definitely a song about a breakup, however "Someone Like You" comes with more acceptance and sorrow, while "Rolling In The Deep" is certainly an angry song. The two songs can quite possibly have been written during different stages of her own breakup (I think they are based on real events.) Typically, the first stage of a breakup is anger and regret, while acceptance comes later.

The melodies of both songs fit the lyrics very well, as the melody for "Someone Like You" is slower and more emotional, while the melody of "Rolling in the Deep" is much more powerful. She strains her voice a lot in "Rolling..." and sings with anger, while she sings with a kind of sorrow on "Someone...".

As the graphs show above, the music quality of both songs is where they differ the most. "Someone..." has a sort of smooth, wavy structure to it that adds to the emotion, while "Rolling..." has a structure that drops up and down very often. The chorus adds a powerful punch to it, and the verses seem to always build up to the chorus.

The timbre of both songs is, as I've said much, much different. "Someone..." contains only a piano in addition to her soft vocals, while "Rolling..." layers many powerful instruments together to add more power. This makes for a much more intense song, while "Someone..." is much, much less intense.

The organization of both songs is similar in the way that they go verse-chorus-verse-chorus (x2) and drop off. This is a typical song structure in the way that it leaves a strong framework for the song.

The speed of "Someone..." is very obviously slower, while "Rolling..." is faster. This goes along with the rhythm, and what drives the rhythm. Drums tend to be faster and more powerful, while piano tends to be (but not always) slower in speed and rhythm.



I personally prefer "Someone Like You" because of the timbre and instrumentation. There is a certain authenticity that I typically associate with songs that only contain vocals and piano, which I really appreciate. It is much more raw than "Rolling in the Deep" and I really enjoy the soft melody. "Rolling..." is much more a song for an upbeat energy, but to me seems a little more formulaic than "Someone Like You."