Week 14 and Semester Wrap-Up

One final e-mail will go out with parting thoughts, but I wanted to officially close the blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and logging in each week. Enjoy the summer.

-Tim Finn

Week 13 postgame

One last suggestion for your papers. You can list your films and television shows in your Works Cited. Yes, the very films and television shows you're writing about. After all, that's a source you're consulting, either on YouTube or on DVD, right?

I look forward to your final drafts.

-Tim Finn

Week 12 postgame

Hello students.



Nothing big this week, just a small description of "House of Flame" that didn't Xerox well on your screening list, from the Kino website:

"A Japanese 'Drama of the Absurd.' A young village woman is torn between two suitors. Out of anguish, she decides to destroy herself. Although her intentions are pure, her death reverberates with shocking consequences."

If you want to read about Japanese animation, and a bit on Korean and Chinese, try:
Bendazzi 103-106, 181-186, 410-418
Beck 30-31, 52-53, 76-77, 112-114, 142, 174, 196, 236-241, 260-261, 294-301, 320-335, 366-375

-Tim Finn

Week 11 postgame

Another formatting idea for your final paper: Quotes shorter than 3 lines get set off by quotation marks and fit into your essay like normal. Quotes longer than 3 lines are single-spaced, get tabbed in once from both the left and right margins, and are not set off by quotation marks. Like this:


Also, that contraction in the final sentence ("who've") is too informal, and should be "who have" instead.

Good luck with your drafts.

-Tim

Week 10 postgame

Hello students,

The point of the blog was to expand on class discussion, and for you to sharpen your writing skills in anticipation of the mid-term and then the final. I'm pleased with the results, and so as to not divert your attention from researching and writing, I'm ending the weekly posting requirement. No more questions here. But I will take the opportunity each week to post a small suggestion for your paper, or perhaps provide a link to a very small piece of reading.

This week, a possible structure for your final. If you're not sure how to outline your compare/contrast (and most of you are writing on two films, so I'll use that as a template), try this:

-Brief intro
-First film: Summary and general info
-Second film: Summary and general info
-How they are similar (internally-- story, style, character, or externally-- creator intention, audience reaction, context of the day)
-How they are different
-Your analysis: Why they are significant/how one's influenced the other/how they've been influenced by other works

That's one option. Here's another:

-Brief intro
-First film: Summary, general info, AND significance
-Second film: Summary and general info, AND significance
-How they are similar (internally-- story, style, character, or externally-- creator intention, audience reaction, context of the day) and analysis of why similarities are important
-How they are different and analysis of why differences are important

A reminder: quotes get quotation marks, while titles are italicized:

Author Jerry Beck asserted that "G.I. Joe was a milestone yet to be surpassed," (Fake 283) while noted fan Tim Finn devoted an entire chapter of his book G.I. Joe and Me to the supposition that the 1996 series GI Joe Extreme was indeed superior to its 1983 counterpart.

-Tim

Week 9 Discussion

If you could show any one film from this week's screening to a friend or family member who is not an animation fan, which would it be and why?

“The Great Toy Robbery,” Jeff Hale
“Walking,” Ryan Larkin
“Hunger,” Peter Foldes
“The Street,” Caroline Leaf
“The Sand Castle,” Co Hoedeman
“The Bead Game,” Ishu Patel
“Every Child,” Eugene Fedorenko
“The Cat Came Back,” Cordell Barker
“When the Day Breaks,” Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis

Please don't forget to sign your post.

-Tim Finn

Week 8 Discussion

Since not everyone got around to posting last week, I'm reposting Week 7's discussion as Week 8's. If you posted last week, you're off the hook for this week.

Question of the week: Pretend you get to run part of class. You have up to 20 minutes to show anything animated (or partially animated) -- a whole piece, an excerpt of a larger work, or even a commercial or promo -- but just one piece. What will you show and why?

-Tim Finn

(edited 27 March 2010, 12:20pm)

Week 6 Post Game

No need to log in and comment, as I'm not posting a question for this week since I've already asked you to do normal HW reading and work on your mid-term over Spring Break. That said, here's some George Pal material, should you feel like investigating further.

Collier's article on George Pal, January 16, 1943:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/1943-article-on-pals-puppetoons.html

The blog linked above, Cartoon Brew, is a great resource for what's new in animation, and the list of "Sites We Like" (scroll down on the right side, big brown column) is pre-approved as reference for your writing. I'll talk more about this after Break.

Photos from the making of another Pal short, Jasper Goes Hunting:







Here's today's film should you wish to view it again.
Philips Broadcast of 1938
http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/fiche_technique.htm?ID=272

This isn't necessarily an endorsement of Pal for your writing projects, just a reminder that there's a lot of information out there on some of the directors and films we cover in class if you know where to look.

Enjoy your week off.

-Tim Finn

Week 5 Discussion

A few options this week. Choose one question.

-What is the significance of "Education For Death"? Why did we watch it? What's going on? (Like normal discussion in class.)
-Is "Red Hot Riding Hood" appropriate for children?
-Is "Education For Death" appropriate for children?
-Is "Bimbo's Initiation" appropriate for children?

-Tim Finn

Week 4 Discussion

Pick a film we've screened in class and write a short description for a catalog, or for someone who's never seen it. Look at the "How To Discuss Films" handout for ideas and categories. Start with the title and director, mention some technical specs and the genre, and consider the author's intent, sound design, and historical significance, if any.

No repeats, though. If someone has already blogged here about a work, you'll have to pick another.

Keep in mind my comments from class today. Avoid conversational writing, titles go in quotation marks, watch out for repeated words, and proofread. Misspelled words and typos are embarrassing.

Your choices are...

“March of the Movies"
“The Pictures”
“Matches: An Appeal”
“The Automatic Moving Company”
“A Trip to the Moon”
“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces”
“Fantasmagorie”
“The Cameraman’s Revenge”
“Gertie the Dinosaur”
“The Tantalizing Fly”
“Felix All Puzzled”
“The Mascot”
“Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation 1900-1920”
“The Adventures of Prince Achmed”
“The Idea”
(Skipping the Alexeieff pinscreen films and McLaren's pinscreen doc)
“Ghosts Before Breakfast”
“Rhythmus 21”
“Diagonal Symphony”
“Study No. 7”
“Muratti Marches On”
“Composition in Blue”
“Trade Tattoo”
“Free Radicals”
“Begone Dull Care”
“Neighbors”
“Blinkity Blank”
“Le Merle”

-Tim Finn

Week 3 Discussion

A quick note: The weekly blog question may relate to our in-class screenings, but I'm trying to keep them separate from the homework reading, so feel free to log on here and type before you read Beck or Bendazzi.

Week 3 Discussion:

Pick a film or television series you've seen in the last year and write a short description for someone who's never seen it. This can be live-action or animation, and it can be something you've seen outside of class. Start with the title and director, mention some technical specs and the genre, and consider the author's intent, sound design, and historical significance, if any. Look at your "How To Discuss Films" handout. It's your friend.

No repeats, though. If someone has already blogged here about a work, you'll have to pick another.



"Fish Tank" is a new film about a girl who hates her mom. She dances and meets a guy, he's older, and another guy, who's about her age. It's like "Precious" because both are about girls who hate their moms. It's also got no jokes, it's just a serious movie. It's present-day, and the girl likes to dance, and wants to get a job.



"Fish Tank" is a British feature-length, color, narrative film directed by Andrea Arnold and released in 2009. With no father figure, and little hope in her poor neighborhood, 15-year old Mia constantly fights with her family while harboring a secret love of hip hop dancing. Along the way she meets a boy her age, notices a flyer for a dance audition, and becomes intrigued with the older man her mother is dating. This dramatic film features no traditional orchestral overscore (as in "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" films), but instead relies on long stretches of natural, on-location sound and the occasional hip hop song played through a stereo. "Fish Tank" draws some parallels to Academy Award-nominee "Precious," another film about an oppressed young woman with only a small chance of bettering her life.

Remember, you only have to write one description. I wrote two to offer a contrast.

-Tim Finn

Week 2 Discussion

Today we saw an abbreviated evolution of the concept of character in early animated film, from the changing visages of Blackton's Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, to Cohl's Phantasmagorie, to McCay's mosquito and dinosaur. Additionally, in those same films we went from no background, to minimal background (more graphic than spatial), to a fully realized physical space.

That said, pick a character you know from animation and describe how this character is engaging or unique.
-Or-
Pick a work of animation that has a strong setting (location/time/environment) and describe what makes this setting engaging or unique.

Try and do this in six sentences or less. If you have a hard time keeping it short, try typing your long version, setting it aside, and coming back later to include only what is most important.

And be sure to read the other post from this evening, a little addendum from today.

-Tim Finn

Note on missing screenings

Class,

Should you miss class, it will be up to you to get the screening list and watch the films on your own. While some are online, I think we can all agree that YouTube, et al, may not be the ideal format, and it's not always a sure thing that the version you're watching hasn't been tampered with by whoever uploaded it.

Many of the films we screen in class are on DVD at the AIB Library. You can't check out discs from the Library itself, but you can watch them on your laptop there or in the media room in the back. Mosey behind the circulation desk for a closer look at our selection. The sMFA Library also has a decent collection of animation DVDs, some that overlap with ours, and some that don't. These are available for 3-day loan, I think.



Individual film titles may not appear in FLO (Fenway Libraries Online), but you can probably pull off a director search, or filter by DVD and animation, cutting out books and magazines. Sometimes googling the film title and the word "DVD" will tell you what (if any) DVDs it's available on. But FLO is your friend, too:
http://endeavor.flo.org/

Also, here's a tiny introduction to Max Fleischer. Just watch the first 80 seconds:
http://www.inkwellimagesink.com/pages/cartoons/MaxFleischer-OutOfTheInkwell1.shtml

Week 1 Discussion

Some questions to ponder:

-What is animation?
-Is "A Trip to the Moon" animation?
-Is "Avatar" animation?

I'll start, using a definition that comes from an 8th grader: Animation is drawings that move.

Have at it.

(And remember to sign off with your name, and to check the previous post about taking notes.)

-Tim Finn

Ideas For Taking Notes

Hello everyone,

I didn't fully explain how you might approach note-taking in class, so here are two samples for what good notes from today, Week 1, might look like.

One option:


Another:


And here's why they are good notes:




Ultimately, you take notes how you take notes, and my methods may not work for you, but you should write down things that you see, that come up in discussion, your reactions, or your questions for later. This keeps you paying attention, and helps you remember the films later. Look at the cheat sheet I handed out on "How To Discuss Films" with that big list. Anything from there is game.

-Tim Finn

Welcome to Spring 2010

Reading will come from two books:
Jerry Beck's Animation Art, and selections from Bendazzi's Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation.

At minimum, I expect you to pop up here and join in the discussion once per week. This can be an observation from class or the HW reading, a response to someone else's post here, or a comparison of something from class to the outside world of art, animation, and commerce. It will be particularly important for those of you who do not raise your hands much in class.

After each class I will post a question, a comment, or a short additional piece of reading to kick things off.

You must sign off your post with your name, as I will in the next line.

-Tim Finn