The Secrets of British Animation

Task 1

I had never realised British animation had such a rich history until reading the BBC article on it, which I expect is only a glimpse into the full depth of modern and 20th century animation.

My main take-away from the article was that money does not have to a limiting factor in animation, or any form of art for that fact, and can actually improve the art you are trying to make. As well as this, the article just highlighted the fact that not everything does have to be art. A film they mentioned in the that highlighted this was "Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires", a film made on $20 million, which is pennies in terms of creating a feature length animated film, and whilst this film did not receive critical or commercial acclaim, there is a point to be made about it and that is that if you are having fun and making what you want to make, then it does not matter the budget or whether people will enjoy it or consider it art because as a creative that is one of the few things we can do: create what we want to create and create needs to be created.

Task 2

The first animation I chose was the three crow boys by Tom Adriani. I chose this animation as the screenshot of the art style seemed interesting and I like stories with dark twists and it succeeded on both fronts. The animation style fits well with the theme of the story and makes it feel like a dark children's story, which in many ways it is. The twist ending was also very successful as it was very dark without being grotesque and was also surprising enough that I didn't predict it but didn't feel unearned.

The second animation I chose was //_sleeper by Jordan Buckner. I chose this as the title alone was intriguing as it implied some use of technology but nothing much more. The story of the animation was also mysterious as only one line of dialogue is spoken throughout the seven minute film and most of the key story elements are implied from things we see in the protagonists room. Although I don't normally enjoy a lack of conclusion such as the one in the animation, the fact that there isn't really a story to be concluded means that the ending, whilst not necessarily satisfying, does feel fitting. I did really enjoy the unique style of animation which used a combination of 2D and 3D, almost completely i black and white which was complementary to mystery f the films story.

The final animation I chose was Childhood Memories by Mary Martins. I chose this because it sounded exactly like something I would hate from the description. Whilst it is not something I would conventionally find interesting, I did end up really film. At first I thought it was going to be very pretentious but it ended up just being an expression of the artist's emotions about her acceptance of becoming a single mother through the medium of art which felt very personal and genuine. Its not necessarily something I would recommend to others or rush to watch again but when looked at as a piece of art, I did enjoy it a lot.