Comparing The Cinematic Style and Techniques Of The Animations

MICHELLE LEE IAT 343 – D104 #301097226 ANIMATION ESSAY The two three-dimensional animated films that are chosen are Pocoyo animation shorts and a music video by Genki Rockets. I am using music video and short animation for comparison is because they are wonderful at sending messages within a short amount of duration. Also, I will be comparing the cinematic style and techniques of the animations. Pocoyo animations is originated in Spain and targeted towards pre-school children. Their videos often present a certain moral or “lesson” in them.

In the animations, Pocoyo (the main character) and his friends often dance around and play. In an animation, physical actions and facial expressions brings audience into tense anticipation. The narrator talks throughout every episode and leads audience into the story. There are zero backdrops and environmental set design, which gives their targeted audience (pre-schoolers) a more room for endless imaginations on how the surroundings may look like depending their background. Hierarchical structures are within Pocoyo animation as some groups of 3D objects are more dominant than other ones.

For example, some characters are smaller/further than other ones, and their body structures. This defines importance of the parentschildren relationships. Color creates mood; bright colors flatter children in a content way. The composition of each shot and scene help audience to understand the characters in the story and their actions; keep in mind that their targeted audience are preschoolers, therefore it is more about the storytelling, and compositions will not be complex. In this series, diverse camera views are being lacked.

There is only one camera view throughout every episode. Therefore, emotions might not be able to present at its maximum potential. However, tilts and rolls is in there every now and then so it gives scene a stylized look that helps visualize the audience actions and scene tensions. Lighting is also on the minimal setting. It could be the sun being the infinite light, or in a room with fluorescent lights. The music video by Genki Rockets is called “make. believe”. Genki Rockets is a Japanese virtual band with non-existent musical band and a fictional ocalist. According to their webpage, the vocalist, Rumi who was born “in space” and has “never been to Earth”. Due to the fact that the vocalist claims to be from the future outerspace, most of their music videos are computer-generated. Various camera views are widely used and not only can those camera views deliver information, but also able to maximize the scene emotion. Backdrops are shown and surroundings are beautifully illustrated. Slow motion or sudden pause creates time being stopped and makes audience anticipate on the upcoming events.

The vocalist (girl in the music video)’s facial expression remains straight for the majority of the video gives 1 MICHELLE LEE IAT 343 – D104 #301097226 ANIMATION ESSAY the impression that she does not obtain human emotions and traits. Many 3D modeling were done in this video. Scenes like forest, outer-space, castle, desert, skyscrapers are implemented. Lightings play a heavy role in the music video, especially the lighting stimulations with ray-traced reflections, which create realism. Colored lightings always create dramatic in the video.

Because of the band and background nature, this video especially captures audience who are interested in space. With both being animations, different mood is conveyed in both of them. Both are created to cater their targeted audience with different compositions. Each shot aids the views to expand their knowledge of the story and characters more. Therefore, both videos have same objective but different results. References: Kerlow, I. (2009). The Art of 3D Computer Animation and Effect. (4th ed).

New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lee KJ (2011). IAT 343 Animations Lecture Notes (Week1 – Week11). Zinkia Entertainment. (2011) Pocoyo. http://www. pocoyo. com/ Granada International. (2011) Pocoyo USA. POCOYO – WHALES BIRTHDAY. Youtube Video http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=gh0KClm8w2s Sony Records. (2011) Genki Rockets. http://www. genkirockets. com/en/ Sony Music Publishing. (2011) Akatoubutudan (2010). Genki Rockets – make. believe. Youtube Video http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=tRDo13wthew 2