Animation Analysis 1

This video is about a young child who goes for a bike ride through a forest. He comes across this tree that he really like and attempts to climb it but cant. So he gets some rope and makes himself a tree swing, where he swings on it all day. When he goes back the next day, he discovers his tree has been chopped down and the rope just left on the floor.

Mise-en-scene:

• Trees on the hill for background
• Tree silhouette to show depth
• Bright light blue sky
• Bright light green colours
• Simple block shapes for the bike
• Tree that he likes the most is brighter than the rest
• Rope swing
• Black silhouette for trees and yellow sky to show dawn
• Sky has more dark blues to show it unsettled (trees been chopped down)

Cinematography:

• Zoom out from sun to see the full background (establishing shot)
• Close up of boy peddling (shows movements)
• Medium shot of boys happy face to zoom out to see the trees
• Pan down to show the height of the tree
• Tree in background goes from blurred to in focus
• Pan from where is stood (looking) to the tree

Editing:

• Jump Cuts
• Fade cuts to show different times

Sound:

• Non Diegetic sound all the way through

Within the short animation the mise-en-scene is reflecting the content/ narrative theme.

The reason that I like this is because it is a simple 2D animation. I liked the use of simple bold colours but with a good use of colour to making it look like there is shadow. The fact that it doesn't speak was another reason that I liked at is all these conventions in this animation are the same conventions that I aim to put into mine. The story about a boy on his bike going through a forest and liking a tree before it gets chopped down is a very simple narrative however is 3 minutes long which shows how a use of camera angles can fill up the time.

Due to the simplicity of the animation, there isn’t that much exciting cinematography. I don’t know whether this was done to make the animation simpler or actually done on purpose. The effect that the simple camera shots is giving me is, is that just like the simple camera shots, it’s just as simple to plant a tree. For the whole short animation there are around 5 different shots used. Even the shots done are very simple things such as zooms for an establishing shot, close ups to show the boys emotions and pans to show the scene. They use the establishing shots so they can tell the audience were the scene will be taking place so they can get more involved in the short film. The reason that they do the close up shots is so you can feel what the boy is feeling. For example if the boy smiled in the close up, it reinforces that his happy so the audience can really feel for him, getting the involved. The pans as mainly used to show the audience what the boy can see of is looking at so we can be involved in the processes. In this short film there are also things such as out of focus shots. These are mainly used to create a background for the narrative, in this short film there is a shallow depth of field as all the action is happening in front of the background, and the background as out of focus to create depth and to make the foreground set more obvious.

With animations it is sometimes hard to do fancy cuts between shots especially when it’s as simple as this one. So there are only two different cuts. These are straight cuts and fades. The reason straight cuts are used to show that the story is in a chronological order and there’s no jumping around with the time the story is taking place. There relatively fast straight cuts to as the story just needed to flow to make it’s the joyful feel instead of slow edits if it was sad. You also get the fade edits in this short film. These are to show the change in time. They are done because they are slower than a straight cut so it represents a long period of time going by. You also get some sounds in the short film made louder such as the light bulb, rope and the bike noises. These are to draw awareness that he is doing something and not just to be ignored by the audience.

Throughout the short film there is a constant calm non diegetic sound track been played. The music does match the action as when things are tenser or there is a change in the mood the music does the same thing to reinforce the mood to the audience.

Because it is a simple animation, there isn’t much on mise-en-scene. This is because the animator probably wanted to keep it simpler as everything you see in the animation has to be drawn making it a lot more complex. So the main features you see are trees, to show that you in the forest, a bike, to show he’s biking, a swing, to show he’s swinging and the clouds and sky to show that it is day time. The colours of the short film have been chosen to reinforce the mood of the scene. For example, when it’s a positive atmosphere, all the colours in the scene are bright and colourful to connote happiness and joy, but when the trees are been chopped down, the colours become more bitter and gives of negative vibes therefore reinforcing that what is happening is bad.  

The message that this short film is trying to get a across to you is, is the awareness of the trees been cut down. They make you aware and feel for them by the narrative. This is because they make you feel for the character and connect with him by the use of close up shots, so that when the boy is upset by the trees been cut down you feel sorry and angry for him because a simple things such as a trees has been taken away from him and now he as nothing. This is a very strong message that you are trying to get across to you as it’s a growing issue so this short film will be very effective as many people can sympathise with the younger boy. 

In my opinion the target age for this animation is between 7-15. This is because of the style of the animation. This animation is a much simpler animation with basic 2D shapes and bold flat colours. For those reasons i would say it would be a much younger target audience as it looks a lot  more child like. If the animator wanted to capture the eye of an older target audience then be would either need more complex and detailed animation as that would interest an older person or to use human actors instead to engage the audience. The character within the animation is a younger boy. This may be so that the target audience of younger people could feel they can relate to the charter