The main aim of conducting a survey is not only to highlight which elements of animated documentaries successfully engage audience’s, but primarily underscores how the re-enacted subjective can either be detrimental or beneficial to the animated documentary genre. By looking at viewer engagement it could ultimately determine what is defined as an effective documentary, and could be in support of the argument regarding animated documentaries validity.
Assessing ultimate conclusions based on the survey plan, I predict that viewer engagement will inevitably be tied to specific subjective experience and audio. The film It’sLike That (Southern Ladies Animation Group, 2005) provides a great example of this as animation is utilised to exaggerate the real, creating caricature colourful birds to juxtapose and compliment simultaneously the innocent voices of refugee children. With the grounding foundation of a direct child talking, it could potentially stir more viewer empathy overall. The Videos of Syrmor, I believe, have the same effect without the inherent performativity of animated films. By seeing people in a seemingly ‘unprofessional’ and casual environment such as the video games, it adds a further level of authenticity.
Sybil Delgados ” If truth be told, can ‘toons tell it?’ (1997)
Looking at the key text, ”If truth be told, can ‘toons tell it?’ (1997), Sybil Delgado goes on to argue that, in light of Bill Nichols description being “too abstract” and has tendency to ” lose sight of other issues” (Nichols, 1994,pp.95) , the “reflexive” is the most self aware and “utilises the devices of other documentary, foregrounding such devices in an effort to empathises them” (1997, pp.191). This gives implications that perhaps in relation to the subjective translation, the reflexive mode offers an interesting stance tied to viewer association with other documentary forms. Nichols also goes on to state how ” Reflexive techniques, if employed, do not so much estrange us from the text’s own procedures, as draw our attention to the subjectivities” (1994, pp.96). This further insinuates how to reflexive documentary mode can be beneficial when representation subjective stories and opinions.
Delgaudio also discusses ethical dilemma with representing’s versions of factual evidence through animated documentary. They state that the film Evolution (Max and Dave Fleischer, 1925) “provoked Wrath of Fundamentalists who objected to a Darwinian view of creation ” (1997, pp.192). This anger could perhaps stem from the accessibility and popularity of the animated cartoon, especially companies such as Fleischer, and how in the eyes of such fundamentalists, this could lead to mass spread of ‘misinformation’. Delgaudio goes on to discuss how the reflexive mode of documentary is best suited for animation in its form of “metacommentary”(1997,pp.192), and how the reflexive mode can underline the “epistemological doubt” that is seen in the presentation of scientific theory through artistic mediums (1997, pp.193).
Delgaudio’s main arguments surrounds that despite what the film is portraying, all film creators are aware that the film itself is a fabrication.
Paul Ward’s “Animating with Facts: The Performative Process of Documentary Animation in the ten mark (2010)”
An interesting ’documented’ piece Ward brings attention to is a stop motion animated feature called ”The Ten Mark” (Sheehan, 2010) which references the murders of John Christie. Its evocative, still and silent nature brings to attention, in my opinion, Bill Nichols mentions of the performative documentary in which there is more atmospheric implication than overtly stated fact (Nichols, 1994). While the piece does not inherently inform, it provides evocation for its context. This expands on Bill Nichols “Fantasamatic subject “as the empty spaces highlights how ” a lost object haunts the film” (2016,Pp.38). The presence that is missing says more to the viewer than what is shown to them, and the ‘re-enactment’ of a reality tinged with horror that “take on a meaning that is not their usual meaning” (Nichols, 2016, pp.35).
References
Delgaudio, S. (1997) If Truth Be Told, Can Toons Tell It? Documentary and Animation. Film History, 9(2), pp. 189-199. Available at:https://www-proquest com.arts.idm.oclc.org/docview/2191209/abstract/3E9AC3D7CE22475 6PQ/1?accountid=10342# (Accessed 15/06/2022)
Ward, P. (2011) ‘Animating with Facts: The Performative Process of Documentary Animation in the ten mark (2010)’, Animation, 6(3), pp. 293–305. doi: 10.1177/1746847711420555.
Partaking in both qualitive and quantitate research methods, I wish to create a survey which will aid in the findings of viewer engagement with animated documentary.
Survey Design
My survey has two potential designs which could be combined if time allows. The first is to place my own animated re-creations of live action interviews I have taken against each other and see which of the two versions engages and/ or informs viewers more effectively. The second idea is to categorise several documentaries within the different documentary modes defined by both bill Nichols and Paul Wells. This includes the “Expository”, “Performative” mode (Nichols, 1994), and in regards to animated documentary “Imitative” and “Fantastic mode”. These documentary’s will be ones that either particularly express the subjective or have cultural relevancy within the animated documentary medium. One of the core things beings assessed is participants overall awareness of performance and re-enactment with the material. The other core thing being assessed is the participants ability to recall information from the clip/ documentary they witness. There may be potential issues in gauge emotional engagement due to contextual investment that is created by longer form films.
Considering a previous study conducted by Annette Hill, There are several factors to consider. Hill assesses her participants within different class brackets and has a more restricted range of people. She states in her conclusion that perhaps the shortcomings of her study is that there is not enough range of cultures being tested against different documentary elements (Hill, 2008). These are things I will consider going into the survey building. For this I will try to gain as much research from various different ethnicities and cultures residing within the United Kingdom to help me get a more well rounded general opinion withing stretching the participants to a significantly larger amount of data to handle.
When assessing the aesthetic values of a documentary, I predict smoother, and more imitative forms of stylised animation will be preferable due to the audience associations with Disney animated features. However, generally animated documentary tends to drift away from that aesthetic; In examples such as Waltz with Bashir (Folman, 2008), Tower (Maitland, 2016) which are key academically praised films within the animated documentary genre, oppose this. I intend to try to use this opportunity to gain and create exposure, however, to less academically dominating films, and use a variety of cultures where I can within the subjective experience.
References
Hill, A. (2008) ‘Documentary Modes of Engagement’ in De Jong, W. and Austin, T. (eds) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices. Buckingham: Open University. Pp. 218- 231
In order to effectively shape and style my animated documentary, it is imperative to hone down on a particular style and overall theme to match my documentary topic and address it with an ethically correct yet thought-provoking standpoint.
Interview in Documentary
Traditional documentaries such as ‘The Social Dilemma” highlight the use of interviews and animation in their way of conveying the dangers of online social media presence. the documentary itself uses re-enacted scenes that depict serious scenarios of being overtly online and I think this draws to attention an interesting relationship between the tonality re-enactment can provide within context.
Subjective Experience in Documentary
Some Protection (1988) Could use jerky, not animated frames to convey ideas of things that are occurring in time and space.
Some Protection
The Expressive and hyper stylisation of both some protection and Yael’s Story is something I want to consider utilizing for my documentary while having ‘rudimentary’ art styles that replicate pencils, pens and mediums that can be associated with childish natures, they both take themselves seriously and do not make light of their topics. Due to the serious nature of my own, I want to adopt this.
Taking this into consideration, and comparatively looking back at my portfolio there is a particular drawing I created in which I would like to see how I can develop this style, given its bright colourful and fun nature and see how I can use this in a more serious context.
Adapting this to my Three interviewees
Taking on some of my old pieces of conceptual art, I wanted to translate the different interviewees into stylised animated characters that I could translate into 3D models or 2D rigs later date. I wanted primarily wanted to explore shapes, and differentiate between the characters and their environments.
Animation Test Style
In order to explore the 2D to 3D translation, I created a quick 2D animated gif that visually represents a speech bubble, giving a visual and graphic indication of which character is speaking at any given moment. Due to the graphic and sketchy nature of the style produced here, I found it an interesting challenge to try and produce this in 3D.
3D Development Tests
My first very rough and initial test for this style was produced by using polygons with manipulated vertices to try to make them appear like a line-drawn piece of art. However, I feel this rendition looks particularly lacklustre and does not have the same graphic feel to it. Researching further into this, I found I could use an Arnold shader called the AI Toonshader, which I intend to explore in the following weeks to see what effect I can create.
My ideas surrounding the ‘looser’ and floating pieces of mesh were that they could metamhorpsise into various shapes that are contextually relevant to the speech. For example in one of my interview auidos, a person states how they packed and bag and made a very long road trip to go and spend lockdown with a specific person. In this light, the speech bubble could turn into a bag. However, I do not think this will be the most effective method when using 3D software, as it complicates the way in which mesh is formed. I am potentially thinking, however, that I can utilise blend shapes to create this, and model two separate meshes that blend into one another to create the smoothness of a 2D transition.
In order to add a further level of realism to my environment, and expand on passive animation further, I wish to make cloth simulations out of the theatre stage curtains that will rustle slightly in what would be a slight breeze caused by movement and general atmosphere. In order to achieve this, I need to make sure I effectively understand colliders and wind strength as well as constrain types for Ncloth simulations. If this is not achievable, I am considering creating an opening sequence in which the curtains open and introduce the audience to the scene.
Using a Transform Constraint to Make the Top the Simulation Leader
Below is the first example test of the curtain opening simulation, however, there are several issues with the cloth weight and stiffness that feels unrealistic, despite the desired ‘heavy felt’ feel of the intended curtain models. This proved to be due to a lack of correct subdivisions that would provide better and more detailed deformation in the mesh.
Next, I wanted to test its collision with objects in place of the rope I intend to model and added a passive collider to a polygon torus to explore how the simulation would fall and settle. As seen in the example below, the mesh deformation does work however in order to improve this I will need to somehow get the cloth to be contained within both sides of the torus and use the actual rope mesh so that I can get an accurate idea of the shape in which it needs to fall within.
Collision In Place of Rope
N Cloth Lessons and Considerations:
. The transform constraint works effectively and will prove useful in creating an animated curtain movement scene, and could very well be utilised to introduce the scene and characters going forward.
. The additional idea of creating passive animation in the curtains (if time and rendering allow) for an extra realistic touch to my project.
Rope Modelling
My initial rope models from the previous week felt very flat and not detailed enough to be hugely discernible as rope, so in order to fix this, I researched several different modelling techniques to try and recreate the ‘braiding’ effects present within real ropes.
My initial ideas were to create an editable curve trail to extrude four polygons around and apply a twist effect to it. However in practising and attempting this method (with the use of locators” the path followed made the rope look very square and deformed the mesh in an undesirable way.
Moving on from my initial method, I followed the referenced tutorial below to achieve the desired ‘twisted’ effect of rope within the model. I feel that this created a simple lower poly rope that worked with the overall aesthetic intentions of my simplistic stage model.
Step 1: The initial step was to create four polygons in a chain and multiply these upwards to create a long tube, ensuring to connect the vertices afterwards to create a smooth piece of mesh.
Step 1
Step 2: The next step was to take the piece of mesh and apply a non-linear twist deformation to get the appearance of a braided piece of mesh.
Non-Linear Twist Deformer
Step 3: Next step was to create a CV curve, and after selecting to rope and the curve, create a curve warp so that the mesh adapts to the curve shape.
Rope Creation
While not perfect and beautifully accurate, the effect will suit fine considering what I want to achieve within the time limit provided and looks a lot more effective and realistic than the former approach.
Applying this method directly to my modelled environment, I created a CV curve and used my previously created rope set-up to apply and deform around the specific shape.
In doing so, and by enlarging the rope, I was able to cover and create an effect that works well with the curtains and is ready to be tested as an N-cloth passive collider.
NCloth Application Tests
Considering passive animation testing, I then utilised one of my models and converted it to a Ncloth material while adjusting the present and thickness to match that of a heavy curtain.
Creating a spherical passive collider, I was able to test the reactivity and weight of the cloth and how it would react as a passive animated piece to accentuate the overall realism of my film. I feel the heaviness and weight of the cloth is correct, however, there is some clear mesh collision issue that implies the thickness of the curtain mesh is not wide enough. However, in the context of slight wind simulations, I think this would work effectively.
Material Test Render
The next essential step for the accuracy of the curtains is the texture. Exploring various Arnold shaders, I found a velvet preset that I blended at 75% with the aistandard surface and accentuated the weight and changed the specular colour to add a ‘purple’ sheen to contrast the highlights with the rest of the cloth and help add an exemplification of the cloth mesh deforms. This will assist the process later on when translated into black and white.
Considering colour theory in relation, in various black and white Hollywood films they used specific colours to accentuate and contrast versions of elements within the show. By having a red curtain and a purple or ‘violet’ sheen to them, the drapery will be more accentuated when edited in post-production.
https://dustyoldthing.com/makeup-tricks-of-old-hollywood/Arnold PresetVelvet Texture Development Render Test
To get an understanding of spatial considerations in my production, I have placed an updated version of my skeleton model within my complete environment to get an idea of the staging. As seen below, there is not enough space for both of the skeletons to dance and perform efficiently which leaves me with the options of scaling the environment up or creating a scalable rig.
Rigging
Beginning the rigging process, I have begun to place the joints within the skeleton mesh and think about various ideas on how I will create them in a way that detaches. Researching I found a forum on the Autodesk website which addresses exactly the method I could use to create this effect, which aligns well with my initial plans and ideas of execution. I will explore this rigging process further in the next week.
Primary and Secondary Research: For the critical report the last term I had to find more information that expanded outside the general arguments for the validity of animated documentary as a genre. I also had to expand my research into areas such as traditional documentary and re-enactment.
The research for both of these subject areas was secondary and qualitative research as I was finding theories that are already pre-existing to understand the fundamentals of animated documentary film-making and arguments.
Getting Started with Research
an online article I found recently was the following link: 10 Great Animated Documentaries | PBS | Independent Lens. One of the initially attached imagery is the Disney created film Victory through airpower. The Film originates in 1943 and was created as a form of war propaganda about the strategic ariel bombing. The original film can be watched at these archives here: Victory Through Air Power: Walt Disney Studios: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive.
Where to Look
Exploring the UAL library there are several key authors that are relevant to the field of filmmaking, documentary and animation which will assist in the theoretical development of my thesis writing. Arguably the most essential author for my thesis will be Annabelle Honess Roe who has written extensively on animated documentaries but also in areas of the film due to her background in traditional film studies. This also applies to authors such as paul wells, who has written about ost areas surrounding the practice of animation and delves not only into an animated documentary but all animation practices which can be useful to apply when assessing the value of an animated creation. Brain Winston is also an author to consider for my thesis writings as he has written about traditional documentary filmmaking without ignoring the existence of the animated documentary and CGI’s relationship around this subject.
My literature review will span across these various different categories in regards to the animated documentary: Enactment and re-enactment, interview and its relationship to animated documentary and empathetic engagement. Scanning and assessing these works should assist in the exploration of animated documentaries’ viewer engagement.
Enactment and Re-enactment
The most essential and key authors’ work which will engage this are the works of Honess Roe and Bill Nichols’s expansion on the ‘Fantasmatic’ subject when discussing documentary. He regards this with a case study about Mighty Times: The Children’s March (Houston, 2004) which arose controversial opinions due to its near imperceptible recreated live-action footage with historically archived footage (2008). This can be similarly contrasted with Honess Roe’s account of using Chicago 10 (Morgern, 2007), use of motion capture to create contradistinction between the archival footage and the motion-captured, computer-generated imagery used in the recreation.
Interview
An essential part of gaining perspective on the subjective documentary will be the investigation of the animated interview. This may perhaps be one of the most important sections to consider for my thesis. Key author for this section will include Judith Krieger, Paul Ward, Paul Wells, Honess Roe and Nea Ehrlich as they investigate various different cases of animated interview and issues surrounding them. A key example of this is the comparison of Its Like That (Southern Ladies Animation Group, 2003) to Slaves (2008) in their utilization of childrens audio with different aesthetic choices. There is also the aspect of criminal anonymity found in both Going Equipped (Lord, 1990) and Some Protection (Rimminen, 1987) as they potentially are more effective in animated form as they create a confessional aspect for the interviewees.
Empathetic Engagement
Assessing the relevant neuroscientific papers such as Patrick Powers ‘Character Animation and the Embodied Mind—Brain’ will help ground an understanding of how humans perceive animated bodies on an empathetic level and gain an insight into areas such as the ‘mirror neuron system’. This will be essential to ultimately analyse my survey findings later on at the end process of my thesis.
Bibliography Regarding the Literature Review
Ehrlich, N (2013) Animated Documentaries: Aesthetics, Politics and Viewer Engagement in: Buchan, S., eds. Pervasive animation. New York [etc.]: Routledge, pp.248-268.
Power, P. (2008) ‘Character Animation and the Embodied Mind—Brain’, Qualitative Health Research, 3(1), pp. 1518–1533. doi: 10.1177/10497323211012384.
Ward, P. (2007). ‘Animated Interactions: Animation Aesthetics and the World of the ‘Interactive’ Documentary’. In: Buchan, S.(ed.) Animated’ Worlds’. New Barnet: John Libbey & Company, Limited.
Associating with Bill Nichols’s expansion on the treatment of ‘Performative’ Documentary, I aim to try and expand the documentary idea to be more than simply facial performance. Considering this, this leaves the potential for aesthetic inspiration in a multitude of areas of films created previously.
Film Noir Inspirtaion
Due to film Noirs association with crime and detective stories, I thought it might be a good idea to play into this and create a scene that is inspired by film noir. A name vital to the film noir scene is Louis Feudillade, whose “Crime films in the silent era are a productive venue to explore as the genre’s predecessor” (Pettey and Palmer, 2014, pp.16). Looking at the below episode of ‘Les Vampires’ (1915), there are many cuts to black screens to showcase the spoken word, and letters that showcase the plot visually. As Pettey and Palmer state in reference to Allan Sekula how “the photographic image has ling been at the centre of the crisis of bourgeois culture, which simultaneously claims that the world is a collection of visible, ‘knowable and possessable’ objects'”, which in their eyes “transform the alienating machine of science/ rationality and its economic handmaiden, capitalism” (2014, pp. 17). By acknowledging this and that imagery is associated with the middle class in film-noir history, it extends itself to a particular aesthetic. This includes particular associations with men in suits and heavy detective coats and hats which indicate wealth.
Considering this for my documentary, I would take aspects of the film noir culture, such as lighting, the faded look of real film and lower quality of voice recording, but transport it into the modern world. What I enjoy aesthetically about these films is due to the dated technology there is an ambiguity created by the overall black and white tonality which is still present in the genre today.
1980’s ‘Tone Poem” Documentary Films
An interesting documentary film that uses referential techniques and imagery to convey the effects of modern technology on the earth is Koyaanisqatsi (Reggio, 1982). It uses juxtaposing and contrasting imagery o create and set its tone that documents the world’s demise with only the use of a soundtrack. It provides an excellent example of Bill Nichols’s performative documentary’ in the way it “stresses subjective aspects of a classically objective discourse” (1994, pp.95). It is described as a visual tone poem that as it utilises moving images and sound to create the language of poetry in a visual format.
Aspects of this interpretation of representation I have considered for my own documentary are questioning people on various key objects that were vital to their experiences in lockdown and recreating and rendering these in a way that accentuates them over direct mimetic performance.
In a similar light, the documentary ‘Night Mail 2′ makes reference to the original “Night Mail” (1936) but with updated technological influences such as trains and planes. It appears to utilise music and sound in a similar way to Koyaanisquatsi (1982), in which it directly times with the imagery presented. This documentary behaves in a way that references the “expository documentary” (Nichols, 1994, pp. 95), however, utlising some artistic impression with the inclusion of Blake Morrisons’ poetry. This documentary is reminiscent of the works of Grierson in its focus on working-class society, who has important historical influence over the documentary movement within the UK (Hardy, 1946).
Considering this, it makes me think about which group of people should be highlighted within my film, as the different social classes and ethnicity will change the perspective and experience of lockdown. This coincides with the overall Bourgeois of film noir as its overall aesthetic creates a particularly visual implication of class standing.
References
Nichols, b. (1994). Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Hardy, f. (eds) (1946) Grierson on Documentary. London: Collins
Pettey, H. B. and Palmer, R. B. (eds) (2014) Film Noir. Edinburgh University Press.
