Right behind you.
As this semester winds down and comes to an end, the time has come to reflect on my animation class as a whole, and how it has influenced how I look at animation as a tool for communication.
Animation is a powerful tool. It can be used to accomplish many things that standard film or radio could never hope to. In this light it can communicate messages in new ways and touch many more minds and hearts. At the same time, however, it requires a different mindset than the filmmaker. To create a completely fictional world from scratch and populate it with completely fictional characters who have to look and behave in a way that is believable or true to the world and to the audience takes skills that are very specific to the medium.
Throughout this semester I have seen many different forms of animation. From simple cell and drawing animations to CG work and forms that combine CG and cell drawings. From for-profit to artistic works. Recreations of classics, such as the Robotech series. All of these works featured various styles, techniques, and principles. Some utilized the ideas of Disney while some went in completely different directions. Animation in this way opens up in nearly infinite possibilities. It is similar to looking at a blank canvas, but at the same time it is very different.
In drawing and painting, you have the canvas. An infinite white expanse before you to create whatever you want. But once its created, you have a picture. An image, a veritable snapshot of a world. Sadly that's all you can achieve in painting and drawing pictures, snapshots. Animation on the other hand can create the world and have creatures and people move around in it, interact. In a sense it's like adding the dimension of time to the work. People experience their lives as the animators portray it. Time passes and the world can evolve. From this infinite expanse the message of the writer or director can be expressed in a way that is more true to the audience. They can relate to the world and can see themselves in the personalities, the expressions, even in the sounds of the characters and environments of the animation.
In conclusion, animation is an extremely powerful communication tool. I feel that its method of expressing messages through the experiences of created characters in a unique world is more true and meaningful than any other method. I can only see it becoming more advanced and intricate as time passes and new dimensions of expression will be explored within the medium.
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