I just finished this chapter of Understanding Animation, and the first thing I would like say is that I appreciate the vocabulary developed in the beginning of this chapter. Something that I always found difficult when talking about animation in film theory was the lack of defining terms in describing animation vs live action film. Here, we see a set of terms and conditions that we are able to use to describe traits unique to animation. For instance, the idea of configuration in describing the formal qualities of characters or narrative objects. Because an animation's mis-en-scene lacks actors, and animated characters act differently from true to life people, it's necessary to describe them from their formal qualities.
The same goes for the idea of a set, or setting. These are constructed illusions, not actual objects in real time space. Therefore, when talking about narrative animation, it's necessary to describe the evolution of context, the building of a logical, imaginative world as opposed to the colors and materials that make it up.
I'd also like to point out a few animated pieces that seem to straddle the line between Orthodox and Experimental. There was an anime released several years ago called "Gankutsuo." It was a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo (in exaggerated anime fashion, of course). But something unique to this series was it's use of traditional 2D techniques, coupled with a digital coloring that is difficult to describe but very unique:
Watch The Count of Monte Cristo: Gankutsuou - Box Set Trailer in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
They were experimenting with many different techniques, the two most noticeable being the combonation of 2d and 3d animation and the use of static textures/colors that were used to fill and color the characters. When the characters moved, the colored patterns on their clothing would stay static, allowing the patterns to shift and move as the characters interacted. This technique is very materialistic, clearly calling to attention the fact that what we are seeing is artificial.
As a side not, I also couldn't help but notice that this kind of speech and investigation is exactly what is missing from modern video game analysis. Something I find extremely irritating is the lack of a vocabulary for describing and talking about video games. How are games supposed to be analyzed and treated as art if we still don't know specifically what a game is?
Well, some of the terms described in this chapter could be used to describe video games as well. In the case of "evolution of context", when speaking about video games, a game world that is created to be realistic and imersive would be one that strives to be constructed, while a game that calls attention to it's mechanics and graphics would be materialistic. Though it's not perfect, I think that when investigating animation, I'm one step closer to understanding game analysis as well.
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I agree with your conclusion that studying animation brings you closer to an analysis of video games. After all, it is the animation itself that allows video games to be enjoyable and immerse in the first place. Animation is combined with the ability of the player to interact within the world of the game, in a sense somewhat giving the player control over the frames of animation.
ReplyDeleteThe player in part determines how many times an action is executed and how a character works its way through a level or world. Although the player did not necessarily create the animations of the game, the player chooses when they are used. Personally, I always felt when playing a game that I was like some kind of a director as I got to choose the actions and places where the main character went. If video games are to be compared to animation mediums such as film and video, video games could be interpreted as movies that a human being can play and control.
If there is to be work toward a theory relating to video games, interactivity definitely cannot be ignored. It is, if anything the sole reason why people play games in the first place. A discussion of video game theory would probably examine and define the notion and idea of interactivity as well as its appropriation. Perhaps video games may be defined to have several different types of interactivity as some argue that there are different types of realism. Realism itself would most likely be covered as well. The list of possible similarities between animation and video games goes on, and modern video game analysis will develop and expand as these similarities are studied.
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