Song of the Sea is an Irish animation that tells a heart-warming story with dreamy images that seem to tell of a dream world. The film is well composed and has a comfortable colour palette. There is a great deal of geometry in the images.
The repeated use of the golden mean is also a major source of harmony, as seen many times in this film with the spiral staircase.
Symmetrical compositions are used very often in the picture, but they are not completely symmetrical and differ in detail. The small distinctions bring a particular dynamic and rhythm to the picture, breaking up the staleness of the symmetrical structure and providing a hidden ripple in the balance created by symmetry.
And the extensive use of circular patterns and structures brings a balanced, harmonious and stable aesthetic.
Colour is the language of silence.
The film has a blue tone that brings a sense of melancholy. Especially at the beginning of the film, the sky at night, the dress of the oceanic sister, etc.
The colours also change from moment to moment as the storyline changes: the ordinary narrative uses calm warm colours with a small proportion of blue; as the story progresses and the siblings come to live in the land town, the overall colour palette turns grey, showing the change of environment and reflecting the children’s desire not to stay in the city.
Overall the animation gave me a stunning feeling, from the composition to the colour scheme to the music, all of which are important factors in its success.
In November I joined the Visual Communication department at UAL China and around Chinese New Year I was given my first assignment: to produce an illustrated story on my own. I needed to do everything by myself, from deciding on the theme, story content, layout, to editing the text and publishing. It was a big challenge for me as a novice. I am glad that I completed the assignment successfully and of course onn time.
First 2D class, drew emotional shadows and flying bee:
Trying to show emotion through shadows I find is very difficult. Through today’s experimental exercises I found that sadness is the overall character shading tends to be downwards, while anger and open lines tend to be upwards.
This is my first time making a little animation. It’s really fun.
From this week, I started to prepare the presentation
WEEK 7(2021.11.8-11.14)
8/11/2021
Basic walking
Basic running
Walking and running look simple and are the most basic of animation exercises, but when actually drawing them, I found it difficult to draw a common action not in a strange way.
9/11/2021
Another day of drawing, so happy. Today, I found out that I am still not proficient in PS and could not complete the full animation in class, but most of the students seemed to be similar, so I think I need to practise more.
When I was drawing the piggy bank, I realised that I couldn’t draw the broken ceramic frame by frame, so I think I need to put it on my practice list!
Here are the results of the class:
Because of limited time and unfamiliarity with the software, I was only able to draw the cat’s tail.
WEEK 8(2021.11.15-11.21)
Mood Change Walk
2D turn head background
WEEK 9(2021.11.22-11.28)
Horse Walk
2D turn head
Week 10(2021.11.29-12.5)
Complete the full horse walk animation
Redrawing the Mood Change Walk
I created a character based on my own image: tall and thin, with a long, thin neck
When I started working on the character design, I found a very obvious problem with me, I always draw the character like she was on a piece of paper: it is flat. Although this is a 2D character, I still wanted her to have volume. That’s when I remembered what I had learned in my life drawing course: how to make objects have volume in the easiest way possible. As well as catching the keyframe of the action, I found another important role for life drawing for me. I hope to take the life drawing course offline next term, so that I can get some guidance from the teacher.
When I was looking for a presentation topic, I drew a lot of mind maps：
And here I show you is the main mind map (it has been organized)：
So I decided to make a presentation about the different Monkey Kings, so my next step is to list the animations related to the Monkey King:
《铁扇公主》 Princess Iron Fan 1941
《大闹天宫》 Uproar In Heaven 1964
《金猴降妖》 Monkey King Subdues Demons 1985
《西游记》（TV动画） The Journey to the West（TV animation） 1999
《宝莲灯》 Lotus Lantern 1999
《美猴王》Monkey King 2010
《大圣归来》 Monkey King: Hero is back 2015
I have chosen four of them for analysis; the period setting, the creative team, the content of the story, the influence and the image of the Monkey King and so on.
Specific analysis
Princess Iron Fan 1941
The story
The story was adapted from a short sequence in the Journey to the West. Princess Iron Fan is the main character. Specifically, the film focused on the duel between the Monkey King and a princess, whose fan is needed to extinguish the flames that surround a village.
The period
It was directed in Shanghai under difficult conditions during World War II by the Wan brothers and was released in 1941.
The film caused an uproar in China at the time, not only because it was an animation, but also because the deeply felt image of Sun Wukong as a resistance figure in the context of the anti-Japanese war of the time certainly aptly conveyed the author’s intention to resist the invasion. Many years later, Wan Lai-ming, the chief director of the film and founder of the Chinese animation business, said in his oral autobiography that he had mixed feelings about the popularity of the animation at the time, because on the one hand he was eager for the spirit of resistance hidden in the animation to be seen by the audience to boost morale, and on the other hand he was afraid that such a spirit of resistance would be seen by the invaders and thus prevent the film from being released successfully.
The influence
Osamu Tezuka, the director of the Japanese animated film “Iron Arm, Astro Boy” and the originator of Japanese animation and manga, decided to pursue a career in animation after seeing this animation and giving up his medical studies.
The film later influenced the development of Asian animation, including Japanese and Chinese animation
The character
By comparison, we can clearly see that the Monkey King in this film has a strong shadow of the American animation from character design and the movements. But at the same time, we can see that the director is trying to incorporate the style of classical Chinese painting.
Uproar In Heaven 1964
The story
The story is based on the earliest chapters of the Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West. The main character is Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, who rebels against the Jade Emperor of heaven.
The influence
Uproar In Heaven is a colourful animated feature film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio from 1961-1964. The film as a classic of Chinese animation has influenced many generations, and won many awards both at home and international:
-Won the outstanding film award at the 1978 International London Film Festival. -Won the 13th Special Interest award at the Czech Republic Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. -Won the best art award and children’s literature award at the 2nd Chinese film “Hundred Flowers” festival.
The period
It was produced in 1964, but because of the Cultural Revolution, the film was banned after its release. And It was not released until 1978. At that time, China went through the 10 years Cultural Revolution, which damaged the culture and economy. Everything had yet to be restored, so there was a great need for something to inspire cultural confidence.
The style analysis
In terms of character design, we can see that it incorporates the classic peach heart make-up that is used in traditional opera.
The stylized animation and drums and percussion accompaniment used in this film are heavily influenced by Peking opera traditions.
The character
In terms of characterisation, nothing could be more in keeping with all Chinese fantasies of the Monkey King, a mythical hero who dares to love and hate, who dares to fight, who is pure and brave, and who represents a spirit that is not afraid of power and strives to resist, a very classic image of the Monkey King.
But it’s the fact that he fits perfectly into so many people’s fantasies of the Monkey King that makes it a bit out of reach, like a real myth.
The Journey to the West（TV animation） 1999
The story
After Uproar In Heaven, another more widely/ˈwʌɪdli/ distributed Sun Wukong comes from the 1999 animated series/ˈsɪəriːz/ The Journey to the West. Apart from the fact that it is an animated series, not an animated film, it has another special point that it’s specifically for children.
The period
In the 1990s Chinese animation entered a trough, and here are 3 main reasons.
First, the Change of economic system: from the planned economy to the market economy. Moving from a planned economy to a market economy, where animation production had to be self-financing and the state was not unified in buying films for broadcast, the animation industry, which had not yet fully adapted to the new economic system, was unable to use the original production model and thinking, and new methods were still being explored.
Secondly, a lack of good animators, because of the cultural revolution. There was a lack of good animators. During the 10-year Cultural Revolution, education in animation was completely banned, which caused a gap in animators.
Thirdly, at the same time, a large number of Japanese and American animations have entered the Chinese market.
This all makes the Chinese animation industry difficult to survive.
The analysis
This version of Journey to the West is to a large extent a more child-friendly adaptation while restoring the original depiction, achieving a relatively complete reproduction of both the main and branch stories of the novel Journey to the West. In terms of portrayal, the Monkey King here, in addition to the classic Sun Wukong image we have been talking about, is cynical and bold in his rebellion, less monkeyish and more human than the Monkey King in 1964’s The Greatest Showman. The character as a whole is also sunnier and his emotions are handled more delicately.
Monkey King: Hero is back 2015
The period
After 2000, during the development stage, although there were many Chinese animations, the quality was difficult to say, and not many could be called excellent. At that time, people preferred to watch foreign animation films. Until “Monkey King: Hero is back” in 2015 that people began to pay attention to Chinese animation once again.
The story
Monkey King: Hero is back is a very bold/bəʊld/ adaptation of the original. It brings the Monkey King and the young monk Jiang Liu’er together to experience a story, which can not be found in the original. It is from the classic, but different.
The character
This version of the Monkey King differs in that he doesn’t wear the classic Monkey King cloth, but has a more varied costume. He also looks more like a monkey and stronger than before. And he is known as “Horse Face” because of the size of his face.
The characterisation is also no longer the classic one that never gives up and is against evil, but rather like an ordinary person who maybe wants to give up when he fails or feel life is just not worth it. But it is because those “not perfect” points make him closer to everyone. The Monkey King is no longer that perfect or myth Monkey King, but like a friend around everyone, or even ourselves.
So at the end of the story, when the monkey king 孙悟空 retrieve his aspiration, it really encourages everyone.
Conclusion
So in general, we can see, The Iron Fan Princess in 1941 mainly shows the spirit of resistance; Uproar In Heaven in 1964 shows national culture; The Journey to the West animated series in 1999 highlights functionality – children’s education and Monkey King: Hero is back in 2015 remain true to our original aspiration.
And these stories all fit the political, cultural and economic needs of the times in China: during the war, to encourage resistance; after the Cultural Revolution, to boost national self-confidence; during the trough, to find a new function; and during the development stage, to not forget the original aspiration.
Influenced by the period, the story of the Monkey King has different representations at different periods. This reflects that the functionality of Chinese animation is changing with the needs of the period.
In my opinion, there are two sides to this: following the need of the period certainly will get more recognition. But at the same time, it is much easier to get stuck in only one pattern.
Wan Lai-ming, the founder of the Chinese animation industry, made a similar point in his autobiography: “As soon as cartoons appeared in China, they were completely different from the West in terms of subject matter. China, still at war, had no time for jokes, making the animation very different from foreign animation. In order to emphasise the sake of edification, creativity is highlighted, but humour and entertainment are ignored, which should be there. This is an advantage, but objectively creates certain limitations for the later developments.”
PPT
I wanted to make a small video with images of each corresponding sentence, but time was an issue, so I simply planned small animations and designed Q-tips of each small character to help to understand.
Every black and white character that appears in ppt is an image that I designed based on the character’s personality and the description in the book.
Here is a video of the PPT export:
Bibliography
Sean Macdonald, Animation in China: History, Aesthetics, Media (London: Routledge, 2015)
Alberto Bendazzi, Animation: A World History, Volumes 1-3 (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2015)
Pamela O’Brien, Princess Iron Fan: Asia’s First Full-Length Animated Feature, April 16, 2018:
I have finally started to learn animation officially. Every day, my practice was drawing or learning about animation, which made me feel like I was in heaven.
To me animation is a kind of magic, creating a whole new world with just pen and paper. Now, I’m going to start learning this magic.
Here is my daily record of learning magic.
Week 1(2021.9.27-10.3)
Arriving in London on the day of the start of the school year, everything was a bit of a rush, but amazingly, I didn’t feel strange.
I was pleasantly surprised by my first Animation Workshop on Wednesday. We played different characters to shape a story together and felt how different people would react in different situations.
I was unable to attend an offline event in isolation and missed the karaoke night prepared by Steve, but I think there will be another opportunity afterwards. The first week was a bit busy with adjusting to jet lag and settling into life, and I didn’t pay much attention to animation other than the usual life sketches. Oh yeah, about the sketching, I think I’ll start a new site to document my whole process.
Week 2(2021.10.4-10.10)
Still in Self-isolation, so I continue to live in online classes.
This week in Animation Workshop we worked on the classic bouncy ball, drawing 5 different ball movements falling from a height. This was my first real formal study of the fundamentals of animation, as my original subject is not animation. In order to show us the realistic and concrete movements of the different balls, Steve brought balls of different materials and showed them to us live. After practising on my own, I found out that animation fundamentals are not as easy as I thought, but they are more fun than I thought!
For the 5 different materials of the bouncy ball, here is my video work:
When I first finished drawing it, I thought it was perfect and very true to the real world. But in conclusion now, when I uploaded the animation, I found that many parts were very stiff and not at all realistic and natural. It turns out that watching a piece for a long time can create aesthetic fatigue, and in turn, you can’t see what the problem is. After that, I need to look back at my previous work regularly to find the problems and then correct them.
Week 3(2021.10.11-10.17)
follow animation
Week 4(2021.10.18-10.24)
diving animation
Week 5(2021.10.25-10.31)
Lift puppy animation keyframe
With the limited time, I only finished the keyframes, but it is really helpful to be a reference when I redrew the lifting.
