Man in the Frame

Man in the Frame is an animation in the collection of Masters of Russian Animation, it was produced by Fyodor Khitruk in 1998. It implies the journey of a man climbing up in a company with his communicative and relationship techniques. It is presented in the way of people in frames, like paintings. At first the man framed himself with wooden sticks, which is a metaphor of people follow rules and restricted themselves from straying out of path, which on the other hand, restricted the imagination and the joy of exploring life, instead of following perfect path that's made for you. Also it is an very unique way of introducing characters in form of paintings.

Apply - FEAR Storyboard

The storyboard of the Apply animation after I have decided on which idea I am going to use, I have altered some of the scenes in the final piece of animation while I was making it, as I think it produce a better outcome.

Apply - Development

The idea for the theme Fear, is what I finally decided to use, and to animate it in Adobe Flash CC.

Spirit - Here I Am

Spirit is the only film I cannot remember how many times I have watched it. I have included a few panels of the storyboard of this movie in my previous blog, and it's worth look at it through a different point of view.

The communication successfully presents horse characters to the audience without any dialogues but just expressions and movements. The main character, Spirit the horse king, is introduced a bold and uninhibited personality, through his actions. It explored the meaning of freedom and used the experience of the horse to compare to the freedom of Indians under the invasion of America around that time. The theme song and the background musics used cooperated with the theme of the film perfectly, again with the subject of freedom.

Unfortunately I am unable to link the movie, but here is a music video made for the movie, with the theme song.

Chainsaw Maid

This video contains blood and violence element. It is the first stop-motion animation as in my memory that I have ever watched a long time ago. It first introduced me how stop-motion animation works and the dramatic and unbelievable effect it can produce. Such in this piece of animation, it tells a bizarre story which probably is done because of self interests. It is well crafted and the frames flows smoothly, therefore clearly shows what's happening without too much misunderstood. 

Regarding to the purpose of this stop-motion, a complicated story is not necessary, it communicate well with clear shots. The background music might be simplified on purpose, but I still think the animator could improve on the audio track of this piece of animation.

The old man and the sea

It is a re-narrating piece of the book the Old Man and the Sea written by Ernest Hemingway, the animation is directed by Aleksandr Petrov. 

The oil paint style perfectly work with the theme of an old book, create a surprisingly comfortable effect. Its audience is people who read the book and have interests viewing a recreated version in animation, and people who have not read it in order to recommend then this book. It presents the whole story told in the book, with well planned details, such as the scene when the old man fight with the fish near the end of the animation. The audio is in an oldish style as well, dialogues are altered to demonstrate that historical theme, and cooperates with the animation itself perfectly.