Blog Assignment #6

ESSAY:

            The first image is a still from season five of South Park. South Park is an animated comedy on Comedy Central. The content of the image is one of the main characters, Eric Cartman celebrating his victory over his enemy Scott Tenorman. The shows humor comes in large part due to the crude animation of the characters. The animation uses bright colors to keep the mood upbeat at all times and very little shading or depth is added to the characters. This is to keep the image as simple and basic as possible allowing for distinct facial expressions and character reactions. The movements are choppy and quick. There is very little overlapping in the images, as everything is 2D and as simple as possible at all times. The focus is centered on the faces, which is why they are the lightest color on the screen and the heads are abnormally large in comparison with the rest of the characters bodies.

            The second still is taken from the show DragonBallZ. This is an action adventure anime television show.  As you can see there is much more detail to this image than on South Park. That is because the show has much more story and character development. The plot is much darker and there is a lot more emotion than in South Park. This is illustrated by the darker colors and contrasts between them. There is much more shading to show the muscularity and the characters are drawn to a realistic scale.  There is more overlapping of images and excess details such as blood and wrinkles in the clothing to portray movement and action. DragonBallZ animation uses narrow, slitter eyes and facial expressions to symbolize the darker emotions and convey the characters anger. The movement is often parallel and the fight scenes are often repetitious.  This allows for the animators to take more time on each image but still have enough content to fill the duration of the show.  Overall, the amount of detail that goes in to DragonBallZ is immensely greater than that of South Park, and that all has to do with the type of show and the emotional content that each contains.

Blog Assignment #5

ESSAY

            In the first scene the director stays true to the 180 rule because the camera is dolling right to left. This doesn’t break the rule because Denzel is moving in the same direction and the camera never switches sides. It does not break the rule of thirds either because it is on a dolly so therefore even though Denzel may be in the center of the frame; he is in motion so the background changes and the image as well. As for the Rule of 30, it is one shot so there are no jump cuts. In the second scene the camera is in motion so the 180 rule does not apply and either way it never comes full circle around the actors.  The rule of thirds is untouched because it is in motion and neither Denzel, the car, or Ethan Hawke are in the center of the frame even when the camera ceases to move. Finally, the rule of 30 again does not apply because it is a single shot.  The third scene also stays true to the 180 rule because it stays on one side of Denzel and although the camera appears to be in-between Denzel and Ethan, Ethan’s location in relation to Denzel has already been established so there is no confusion. The rule of 30 is not broken because it is again a single shot, and the rule of thirds works because Denzel is not centered in the shot. The fourth scene does not break the 18 rule as it keeps both actors in the shot without moving or switching sides. The other two rules are not broken because of how abstract the shot is, nothing is centered and the steering wheel and the two actors each make up a third of the frame. The final shot also does not break the 180 rule because both actors are in frame so it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and does not switch sides or rotate. The rule of thirds is not broken although Denzel is centered because Ethan Hawke’s position in the shot counters it. And finally the rule of 30 is once again untouched because it is a single shot and there are no jump cuts as a result. The director, Antoine Fuqua is very talented. This is one of my favorite movies. The acting definitely drives the film and is the main reason it is so good, but credit has to be given to Fuqua for his shot selection and use of close ups to convey the emotion of the actors.