Animation
Amy Chong
Candidate No: 0242

Introduction
My intention in this essay is to analyse films that inspires me to create my own five minute video. I have been watching a variety of short animated films and anime to help me develop my ideas. For instance, I have researched on stop motion and CGI animation. I have analysed the film language and included examples.

Influences
I have also been researching about the early animations created by Walt Disney. Early in the 1930’s the animators drew storyboards which told a story.
The animator/director that I have decided to research is called Hayao Miyazaki. He directed many films. However, I have decided to analyses ‘Howl’s moving castle’

Shot types
They have also used a variety of shot types. For instance they used a subjective point of view, long shots and close ups.
Firstly, the long shots used allowed the audience to have a deep understanding of the setting and atmosphere.
Next, the close up shots allowed the audience to understand the feelings and the emotions of the characters in the scene.

Shot types
Finally, the subjective point of view shot allows the audience to engage with the film, as it makes the audience feel they are a part of the scene.

Shot types examples

Shot types
In my animation, I will be testing and using a range of shot types. I would like to include, extreme long shots, close up shots etc...
I want to use long shots because it will allow the audience to have a view of the setting and layout.
I will be using close up shots as it will allow the audience to see the expressions of the characters.
My proposal
After watching Howl’s moving castle it has inspired me to do...

Editing
What type of editing does the filmmaker use? 
How does this create an emotional response in the audience?
How will this influence your production?
Use video clips where relevant.

Howl’s moving castle is an adventurous fantasy. The sequence and the transitions flowed smoothly making the story feel more adventurous and magical. I have noticed that, during the film the dissolving effect was used quite often.

Visual effects and editing from the film

Here is and example of the visual effects and editing used. This clip shows the editing is done at high quality. The transitions joins smoothly and flows throughout the movie.

My proposal
After watching Howl’s moving castle it has inspired me to do...

Editing
In my stop motion animation, I would like to use the iris editing. I have noticed that it is popular in cartoons and some animation. It is normally used near the end of the film to close down and end the scene. I also want to use this is because I want it to emphasize on an object.
I feel that it will be quite hard and challenging to use other editing techniques from Howl’s moving castle. This is because I will be making a paper stop motion and it is 2D. I will be using after effects to create this iris edit.

Visual effects
Consider and comment on the visual effects used in the works you have seen.
Such colour-grading, use of After-effects etc.  Why are they used?
How will colour be part of your production.

In this film, the editor uses after effects to make the colours look more vibrant and vivid. The editor colour-graded the film which makes the result have a higher quality and shows more detail. After effects was also used to create particle effects such as smoke and fog. This made the animation come to life and look very realistic.
Instead of having jumping scenes, fog was created and was used in this film to lead us into the next new scene. This has made the final production flow smoothly and created a sense of wonder.

Visual effects
This short clip from the movie shows that throughout the movie, a lot of editing and visual effects such as after effects was used. There were particle effects such as smoke, dissolving and burning of the paper. This has made the film more entertaining and magical.

Mise-en-scene
Comment on the way the director has used mise-en-scene effectively.
How will you use mise-en-scene

The colours used showed the atmosphere and the feeling of the characters. For instance when Sophie reaches Howl’s castle it was dull and gloomy. This suggested that Howl has a depressing life compared to his handsome and jolly appearance.
I feel that the mise-en-scene in this film was used really effectively. Howl’s moving castle is about a magical adventure. In Howl’s castle, when the dial near the door is turned the out side and the location of the castle will be changed too. It changes to various unique locations. It varied from a delightful place and a depressing area. It switched quickly and the mise-en-scene in the scene helped adjust the audience’s mood really quickly and it easily adapts us to that new atmosphere and feeling. This is why I feel that mise-en-scene was used effectively and it has achieved the correct outcome.

Mise-en-scene used

My proposal
After watching Howl’s moving castle it has inspired me to do...
Visual effects and Mise-en-scene

My aim is to make the audience feel happy after watching the film. My intention is to complete my production in high quality and I want the colours to be enhanced so that they are more vibrant.
In order to achieve this, I will be using after effects to do some colour grading. This is because the genre is adventure and fantasy. I want the audience to feel content and positive afterwards. Having the saturation of colours higher would produce the positive feeling.

Production Format
The production format that the film maker decided to use was 35mm, and the projection format was 1.85:1. The format of this

For my production, the video would be in HD format.

Sound

There was also a range of sound tracks used to create or change the atmosphere. Music was used to build tension when the evil spirit appears and attempts to attack Sophie. As the characters were speaking the sound and audio was very clear and easy to understand. Foley was used in the whole film. There were voice acting for the animated characters and digetic and non-digetic sounds used. The non-diegetic sounds appeared when the magicians preformed tricks and for instance the diegetic sounds used were the sound of foot steps.

Sound- My proposal
In my production I will to use the Foley technique and record sounds for my short animation. I will use both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to create life and atmosphere to my piece.
I will be using Logic Pro, to create my own music for the animation. I want to achieve an adventurous feel in my stop-motion. For my animation, I feel that it should contain a limited amount of speech and narration. Instead, I have decided that It should contain waltz tracks. This is because the ¾ time signature gives a dance feel which fits in with adventurous feel.

Proposal
After watching Howl’s moving castle, it has influenced me to create my own paper stop-motion animation. The main objective of my animation is to entertain and it is targeted at a young audience as the genre is adventurous and fairytale.