The Circle of Life

Globalisation of Culture and the Relationship Between Japanese and American Tradition

I was glad to see Totoro in the lecture because it's one of my favourite anime from my childhood. As a child I grew up on a mixture of eastern and western animation with Disney classics like 'the lion king' (which itself is mostly taken from 'kimba the white lion') and Miyazaki classics like 'Laputa'. This makes me appreciate the differences in the eastern and western animations due to my childhood affection toward both. While Anime tends to become more farfetched and zany, Disney was always centered around a key protagonist who goes on some sort of adventure.

'Andre and Wally B' was revolutionary as it was the first 3D film to incorporate motion blur. It also made extensive use of particle systems for the environment and shape deformation for the fluidity of characters movement.

I Move, Therefore I am

Art vs Commerce

Whilst 3D animation may be the main method of animation, there is still traditional 2D and stop motion that are still used extensively in the industry. It's easy to see why less studios utilise this method as 3D has more tools to make it easier for the animators to get their work done more quickly and efficiently.

An interesting example of a range of styles used in one video would be 'Ryan' which shows an interview with Ryan Larkin before he died.

The incredible thing about this animation is how vibrant and expressive each part of the video is, even though it's an interview.

A real arty film that uses frame-by-frame animation over camera footage is 'A scanner darkly' which really jumps out at me as one of the most visually adventurous films of the modern era as the film could've quite easily been just filmed with cameras.

Shoot and Cut

Violence and Media

Violence in media generally comes under fire regularly from the press as it's an easy target. Videogames seem to be the form of media that garners the most attention with titles such as 'Modern warfare 2' and 'Manhunt' taking centre stage as perveyors of violence in unnecessary ways. These titles were constantly criticised on the internet and on news shows as it was teaching children that murder was ok.

Even though these games both have an '18' certificate on their covers they will inevitably become the possession of a small child by some means. However when relating violence to CGI models is there any way of suggesting that this is any different to real life killings?