The Power to Persuade

10 Animated Advertisements

1) Ford Trucks Commercial (2018)
Zombie Studios, Sao Paolo and Brazil

3d Animation. I picked this because of the emotional pull instead of thrilling technical stats used to persuade the viewer.

2) Coca-Cola "A COKE IS A COKE" (2019)
PSYOP and Sun Creature, USA and Denmark

2D animated.  Inspired by Andy Warhol. For the 2019 Superbowl. Togetherness. 

3) BBC Sports "The Tapestry" (2018)
Blinkink, UK 

Embroidery and digital. Seven meter long tapestry for the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia. Stylised from influence of traditional Russian tapestries. I picked this for impressive technique. 

4)  EDF (Electricite de France) "The Race" (2017)
Mathematic, France and Canada

3D.  Mostly done in the Paris office but also tested the VFX pipeline capacity with Montreal office. Complex and expensive. Cinematic. 

5) Spike TV - Ink Masters "Return of the Masters" (2018)

Shotopop, USA

Combination of 2D cel animation and After Effects puppet tool animation. 10 weeks, seven actual production time. Series 10 opening.

6) Uber "Boxes'" (2017)

Swiss International, Sweden

VFX needed to create extras for the crowd scene and for the boxes to overflow, etc.  Software used: Maya, Houdini, Substance Painter, Nuke, Flame.

7) Xiao Zhu (Small Pig) (2017)

Velvet Mediendesign GMBH, Germany

CGI 3d Animation. Two- day shoot followed by two and a half months for pre and post production work. Actors were partly rigged (flying or supporting rig). Moving elements played on perception. Projection map for dog and children, modelled into shots after. 

8) Oppo - Mobile phone R11 advert (2017)

Somei Deisgn, Shanghai

3D and VFX. Focus on colour story and fashionable visuals. Completed in under a month.

9) Tatung (Taiwanese appliances brand) (2018)
BITO, Taiwan

Mixed media. Aim was to revamp the company's image to better connect with a younger market. 

10) Hello Play "The Future of Music" (2016)

Blinkink and Digizik, UK

Aim to be an advert that read like a music video. Animation largely in post production. 360 degree interactive.

The reasons I picked them:
I chose the majority of the above examples because of the interesting techniques they used such as modelling characters or objects into the advert in post production or the use of interactivity. Another reason I picked some of them is the impressively short amount of time they were completed in.

Visual Journal And Reflection

Visual Journal
I started off my visual journal with mindmaps and visual imagery to illustrate the basis of my ideas as I planned my first essay. After the first essay, I went on to expand on my criticism of poor character design through redesigning Queen Elinor from Brave and Quiet from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Reflection
Throughout this project, I have developed my research skills to enhance the credibility of my work. In my first essay, I found it difficult to weave together a fluid, concise structure that supported all previous points without becoming confusing. My first draft had an awkward structure as I rambled and had to refer back to earlier phrases in order to tie in all my thoughts. In my second draft, I streamlined my argument to get rid of the unnecessary ideas that distracted from my core statements. Then, I reordered the layout using topical sentences and buzzwords to link each paragraph to the one that came next. I think it is important for each point to feel organic as part of the essay otherwise it won't be convincing to the reader and will feel poorly researched. My second essay went much better and I think it was a success.

However, I did go over the word count on the first essay which is to do with my editing skills. I also had a couple of distracting run on sentences that derailed the rhythm of my writing. I want to improve on being concise and explaining myself simply rather than relying on overwhelming information to be convincing.

Overall, I think my triangulation skills have improved the most noticeably as I feel comfortable stringing together multiple sources to push an overall idea. I enjoyed writing my essay and exploring the visual journal.

Triangulation

Ageist Stereotypes in Film
Inequality in 900 Films

Furness, in her article (2016) for the telegraph, explores the consequences to health that a lack of positive representation induces. Without the elderly being provided with positive and diverse depictions of themselves, they are left with a “defeatist attitude” (Furness, 2016) which goes on to reaffirm the film industry’s ageist depiction of “frail old women”. The 2017 film study Inequality in 900 Popular Films reveals that the lowest percentage of women (below pubescent children) to be shown in a sexual light with nudity between 2007 and 2016 are women between the ages of 40 and 64. The infantilisation of elderly women by removing their sexual appeal devalues and reaffirms negative ideas of women’s health and desirability as they age which could be internalised.

Triangulation is a useful way to easily pull two sources together to give evidence to a larger idea. Above, I have used ideas about ageism and sexism to signify the importance of representation on multiple levels. I will develop my skill to connect multiple sources in order to advance my point fluidly in a way that is easy to follow.

Horror Genre

I presented what I found in my research above.

I was most significantly inspired by what colour schemes are used in horror- particularly, the neon in Suspiria and the blue tint to the films of SAW and The Ring.

The typical tropes such as isolation, grey tones and sounds will also inform the way i approach the rest of my project.

Bibliography of Study Task One 401

Nostalgia

Bibliography

Research Papers

1.    Dr Smith, S, Choueiti, M , Choi, A, and Dr Pieper, K (2019) Inclusion in the Director’s Chair: Gender, Race & Age of Directors Across 1,200 Top Films from 2007 to 2018*, Available at: http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/inclusion-in-the-directors-chair-2019.pdf  (Accessed 23^rd January 2019)

2.    Dr Smith, S, Choueiti, M, Dr Pieper, K, Gillig, T, Dr Lee, C and DeLuca, D (2015) Inequality in 700 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race & LGBT Status from 2007 to 2014, Available at: file:///C:/Users/laura/Downloads/Inequalityin700PopularFilms8215FinalforPosting1.pdf  (Accessed 23^rd January 2019)

3.    Denzer-King, A (2016) Effects of Stereotyped Representation in Television on Female and People of Color Viewers’ Self Esteem Available at: https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2704&context=etd_hon_theses  (Accessed 23^rd January 2019)

Books

1.    Pilling, J. (1992) Women & Animation: a compendium. London, British Film Institute

2.    Cheu, J. (2013) Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability. North Carolina, McFarland & Company, Inc.

3.    Holmlund, C. (2002) Impossible Bodies: Femininity and Masculinity at the Movies. London, Routledge.

Articles

1.    Puig, C (2018) Latino Artists and Cultural Leaders Weigh In On How ‘Coco’ Got It Right LA Times, Available at: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-coco-latino-culture-20180222-story.html Febuary 22^nd (Accessed 24^th January 2019)

2.    Nickolai, N (2018) ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Team Talks Diversity: ‘Modern Heroes for a Modern World’  Variety, Available at: https://variety.com/2018/film/news/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-jake-johnson-brian-tyree-henry-1203071359/ December 2^nd (Accessed 24^th January 2019)

Film

1.    Mulan 1998 (Animation) Tony Bancroft. Dir and Barry Cook. Dir. USA: Walt Disney Productions

2.    Brave 2012 (Animation). Brenda Chapman. Dir and Mark Andrews. Dir. USA: Walt Disney Productions / Pixar

3.    Fantasia 1940 (Animation). Wilfred Jackson. Dir, Hamilton Luske. Dir, Norm Ferguson. Dir, David Hand. Dir, James Algar. Dir, Ben

4.    Peter Pan 1953 (Animation). Clyde Geronimi. Dir, Wilfred Jackson. Dir, Hamiliton Luske. Dir and Jack Kinney. Dir. USA: Walt Disney Productions

5.    Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018 (Animation). Peter Ramsey. Dir, Robert Persichetti Jr. Dir and Rodney Rothman. Dir. USA: Marvel Entertainment / Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Animation / Marvel Animation.

6.    Coco 2017 (Animation). Lee Unkrich. Dir and Adrian Molina. Dir. USA: Walt Disney Productions / Pixar

Presentation

The topic we received was 'Random words'

My group was made up of three other people. At first we researched online to see if using random words as part of a creative process had any defined history or major significance. Unlike some of the other topics like mind mapping we didn't find any real history to reference or to help our understanding. Since the subject is rather abstract we decided that practice-based research would serve us better. We knew that sometimes creators will use random words to help prompt ideas and break away from formulaic habits that could be formed when producing episodic series. To put this process into practice, we used different online word generators and then made character designs, concept art or experimental pieces inspired by them. 

I got: egg rocket spirit hen
I also created some storyboards revolving around the random words being the visual gag of the scene.