COP2 - Evaluation

For my COP2 essay I wrote about why Pixar are good at connecting to the audience. I learnt a lot of interesting stuff which has in turn helped my animation practice. In my essay I talked about how technical aspects of animation and emotional/psychological understanding of the human condition are both very important to the overall practice of making an animated film. What Pixar does so well is combining these two factors to create a seamless experience for the audience.

For my practical I made a facial rig. Rigging is my favourite part of 3d animation, although it is very technical. Combining this technical artefact with the emotional understanding is what happens when animating the rig, which I have done. This simulates the process Pixar goes through of combining the technical side with the emotional/psychological side.

Throughout COP2 I have learnt that to make anything work within animation there needs to be a blend of technical ability and psychological understanding. This is because the main objective of animation is to tell a story. Using just technical skills, there is no story to be told, whereas using only psychological/emotional understanding, there is nothing to make the story with.

For my COP3 dissertation I want to explore this field more generally and focus more on storytelling in general. This is because storytelling is everything in animation, everything stems from the story. Without a story, there is no animated film. However a good story doesn’t have to be formulised in the way most mainstream animated films are. A good story makes the audience entranced in a different world and makes the audience emote accordingly.

In conclusion, I have learnt that good storytelling is the key to every aspect of the animation and that having a balance between emotional understanding and technical skills is also very important. I will be exploring this field in COP3 and will hopefully learn a lot more about storytelling as a medium of expression.