Animation Analysis 3!

‘For the birds’ is just about birds who sit on the telegraph wire together. Then a different bird, unlike the rest fly’s over and sits near them . The new different bird is trying to be friendly with these birds but the group of birds just laugh and make fun of the new bird. The new different bird fly’s over and sits in the middle of the group and the group do not like that and try and kick the new different bird off the wire. However just before they make him fall of they realise that when the new different bird lets go they will be launched into the air. The new different bird falls off and the group of birds get flung into the air inly leaving only their feathers behind and then they all fall out of the sky nude with no feathers on. 

Mise-en-scene

·         Bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds

·         Telephone wires

·         Title of the short film

·         One bird fly’s in

·         More birds fly in and join him

·         A completely different type of bird fly’s in

·         Wheat field in the background

·         Fence to separate the wheat field from the path

·         Feathers are all left in the same place but the birds are gone (to show they have moved very fast)

·         Grass and plant to reinforce they are in the country side (no buildings)

·         Nude birds drop down into the scene

Cinematography

·         Track following the telegraph poles

·         Long shot of the bird landing on the wire

·         2 shot when the second birds joins him

·         Zoom out to show the amount of birds that are now on the wire as well

·         Extreme long shot of the new bird (shows he’s a loner and left out)

·         Long shot of the birds looking at the new bird

·         Medium shot of the new different bird

·         2 bird long shot of the birds looking at each other

·         4 bird shot zoom out to show more of the birds laughing

·         Medium shot of the different birds.

·         Extreme long shot of all the birds, showing them all walking away

·         Long shot to show the birds reactions

·         Extreme long shot to show how far away the different bird actually is

·         Long shot as birds get moved

·         Medium shot of different bird looking at the birds

·         Long shot of all the birds together

·         Close up of the birds planning

·         Extreme long shot to show the problem

Editing

·       Text/film title on the screen fades off

·         Straight cuts between different camera shots

·         Varied sound affects

Sound

• Birds tweeting in the background

• Non diegetic sound

• Squeaks as the birds noises (different pitches to create different moods)

Mise-en-scene is a very vital part in any film as it sets the location for the short film. In this short film it is very clear that it is in the country side. The opening scene is a tracking shot following the telephone wires along with the title. Other than seeing the telephone wire all you can see in the background is a very blue sky with some white fluffy clouds. There is not one skyscraper or high building in sight reinforcing the fact that it is in the country side. In the whole short film you only see the wheat field behind the fence, the tree island in the middle of the field and a dirt track below the telephone wires, this suggests that they are in the middle of nowhere.  When the bird fly’s in, it’s not like any natural bird you would see today, however you can clearly see that it is a bird. To make the bird see more friendly and make children like the bird more, the creators have given these bird huge eyes and a huge beck and no body. This makes the bird look a lot more friendly and cute as these the big eyes make it look friendly and not scary. Overall I think the simple idea of keeping the background as plain and simple as they have really works as there is enough in the background to give you an idea where the short film is taking place, but also it doesn’t draw your eyes away from the narrative. 

Within the short animated film you get a wide range of camera angles and shots to reinforce the narrative. The very first shot that we see is a tracking shot following along the telephone wires with the title hovering above it. The way they have done this mimics the actions and the speed that a bird would have flown at, suggesting that the title is meant to be a bird to reinforce that this short film is about birds.  When we are introduces to the bird for the first time there is a long shot of the bird. What this shows us is how alone the bird is in the middle of the country side and that there is none else around. But as we have a zoom out shot of the bird, another bird joins him and as it zooms out more you just see more and more birds on the once empty telephone wire. A completely different bird has now joined this telephone wire and there is a long shot to show all of the birds reactions to this which then leads to a medium shot of the different bird to show what the birds are looking at. This then jumps straight to a two shot of the birds to show the audience that the different bird has caused disequilibrium. This style of long shots to short shots ect.. are used to help the director tell the narrative. Without all of these different camera shots and tracks, the audience would be unsure of where to look on the screen meaning that they miss vital parts of the story.

There isn’t very much editing in this short film as conventionally short films don’t actually have very many transitions between shots. Throughout this whole short film, the only transition edit was a straight cut to the next shot. This is done to show that the story is moving in a chronological sequence to help the audience get a sense of timing. At the beginning of the short film, when the text is on the screen, that is a form of editing. Also not only do we have the background noise in the background, but the sound effects like the wire bending are over exaggerated, which is normally one in the editing part of the production.


Sound in animation is a tricky one as it is done in the editing part of production as the animated bird don’t talk in real life, so they get someone/ thing else to make the noises. But in this short film there is still a non-diegetic background music throughout the short film to reinforce that it is a happy film and it also gets louder at the happier parts in the short film. The birds do make noises but they do not talk. They make squeaking noises to reinforce that they are still birds, but they have different pitched squeaks so that you can tell if the bird is happy or sad ect...

I would say that this animations main target audience were 5-10 year olds. This is because of the very cartoonised, very friendly bird characters that the children will find fun to watch and may even relate to better then an older audience. Even though I do think it is aimed at the younger children, I still think adults would like it as it is fun to watch and the humour is suitable for both younger and older audiences.