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.