Angela Salerno's animations
Above are the links for a couple of my peer's animations, which I will critique, beginning with Andrew Sewell's.
In Andrew Sewell’s group, they used color very well to depict the motives of their hero and villain. For the hero, the hue they used was a blue and orange with low saturation for his costume. The setting is a bright environment, lending a nice feeling to the character. The villain on the other hand, was set against a darker background, with more saturation in his costume. The outfit is monochromatic green, with shadows, looking ripped and tattered. This serves to give the audience a darker feeling about this character.
These characters were well thought out, especially in the animations. The way they moved depicted their intentions. When the text showed that the villain was flipping over a car because it was in his way, the subtext told the viewer that he was evil. With this kind of animated violence, the audience the creators would be going for would probably be older kids who have started reading cartoons and playing violent video games. The same would go for the hero, who can fly and has a force field.
Both of Andrew’s animations are laden with tension and release. The hero flies and flies, until you finally see a cloud come and there is action with the lightning and force field. The villain walks and walks, until there is action with the car, and then he walks and walks again until there is action with the building. This was a very effective use of tension and release, as it keeps the viewer guessing about what’s going to happen next, and it keeps them interested.
Angela Salerno’s group’s animations are also well done. With the hero animation, it is evident that there is parallel movement. As the character is flying from left to right (as shown by the action lines flowing behind her), flowers and clouds go by from right to left underneath her. This serves to show how fast the character is moving, and in what direction. Also, as the character is moving, there is overlapping movement in the tutu she is wearing. When one moves, the clothing they are wearing isn’t completely still; it moves with the person. By making the tutu move as well, it helps to show that the wearer of it is moving as well, and not just remaining completely still.
The same thing goes for the cape of the villain. As he is flying, the cape moves, showing his movement. The action lines around his knees show the weight of his movement as he lands and bends to absorb the impact. The follow-through shows that it was a heavy action that required physical impact.
In both animations, the theme is quite artistically shown. Angela and her partner combined active and didactic methods in such a way that it allowed the viewer to be able to see which character was the hero, and which was the villain. In the hero animation, when a monster comes up on the right side of the frame, the character punches it, didactically showing that the character will have none of that monster. The audience then actively makes up their mind that the big, ugly thing was bad, and the character is a hero by knocking it out. With the villain, the creator of the animation showed the thoughts of the character, didactically showing that he wants to destroy the world in a big ball of fire. When the character goes down and throws a fireball, the audience is allowed to actively decide that he is evil.
In Brandon Reid’s group, they also used good design tactics on their characters to convey what they do. The villain, whom they dubbed “Eyesore,” is quite obviously alien, with a triangular head, showing that it can’t be trusted. The hues they used were all dark colors, with varying values, but the lightest color is a grey. This coloring, along with the ugly alien physicality, allows the viewer to just get a bad sense about this character.
The hero, on the other hand, gives the reader a good feeling. His head is square, showing that he has power and can overcome the evil he fights. His coloring is all bright colors: red, blue, and yellow. These are split complimentary colors, and the fact that they go well with each other lends to the idea that the character blends well with his powers.
The fact that the hero is holding a lightning bolt is an allusion to Zeus, who is an all-powerful god. This even further implies his power as a fighter of evil. His smile implies that he enjoys doing what he does, which is also another characteristic of a hero. I mean, who wants a hero that doesn’t like helping people? That’s not a very effective hero. All this subtext is stuff you can get by looking at the hero and villain (aliens are evil people, which is obvious because of all the movies that are out about aliens wanting to destroy the world as we know it).
These animations were very well done in such a way that it showed the intentions of the characters.
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