COP 3 - week 1

After my tutorial with Fred, I came to the conclusion that I should be focusing on what goes into an animated sitcom rather than the aesthetics. We also identified that US animated sitcoms are a lot more successful that UK ones, which is quite interesting to me. This has lead me to think that I could possibly make a pitch bible or even a short pilot of a UK animated tv show that juxtaposes US sitcoms. 

Fred advised me to identify 5 examples of US animated sitcoms that I could use as case studies.

5 Examples of US animated sitcoms:

• The Simpsons
• Family Guy
• South Park
• Bojack Horseman 
• The fifth one could either be Archer, Adventure time or Rick and Morty. These 3 options are quite different from my core 4 options, however they are still entertaining and modern and have that classic popularity that the core 4 have.

10 Key quotes

1 - Family guy takes a more fractured approach. relaxing or completely deconstructing the rules of narrative structure to allow for pop culture references and non sequiturs."

2 - "The pay off for the viewer is the pleasure that accompanies the "Knowingness" of recognising an obscure reference and the status elevation this can bring within a community of fans" - Plays on the viewers mind

3 - "Family guy has been accused of all the crimes of blank parody: meaninglessness, plagiarism, banality, laziness, and being formulaic." - " Oh Yeah!: Family guy as Magical Realism?" - Alison Crawford

4 - "Logic is at the root of all humour" - How to write for animation - Jeffrey Scott pg 132

5 - "We ought to make people forget they are watching a cartoon" - Matt Groening on realism in the Simpsons

6 - the idea of a "channel surfer" - "...channel surfer is actually an extremely savvy and aware individual, deftly skipping over persuasive advertising and assessing narratives in a short space of time.." - Douglas Rushkoff 

7 - "Family guy certainly provides many opportunities for viewers to exercise this kind of mental agility because program parodies and interruptions provided by characters from other shows come thick and fast" - "Oh yeah!"

8 - "The real vs fantasy debate has been central to all manner of cartoon criticism... The emphasis however, always falls on how physical violence affects the behavior of the child-spectator, never on the broader, social analysis of the effects of misogyny, racism, or classism." pg 134 - Cartoon and comic classicism: High-Art histories of Lowbrow Culture

9 - "Hank Hill is no victim. And he's not a clueless buffoon like Homer Simpson. He's the kind of guy TV usually makes fun of but Mike Judge, a Longhorn State resident, clearly has affection for. Not quite redneck, he's neither upscale nor downscale - more like midscale" (Marin). According to this critic, Hank was represented in a way that suggested audiences were likely to identify with him rather than against him. Pork rinds and barbeque grills are popular all across America, after all, though the TV taste makers might look past them at the gas station, and the Hollywood elite might dress up their barbeque pits and backyard patios." "I am not down with that": King of the hill and sitcom satire - Ethan Thompson.

10 - "Aiming for realism, the everyday and strong emotional resonance" - "Oh Yeah" 

Statements that I want to make:

1- I want to discuss what makes an animated sitcom successful, focussing mostly on the content and referencing the aesthetics of an animation as well. 

2 - The outcome I want to achieve is a "UK" equivalent to the typical animated sitcom. This is driving me to contemplate what the cultural norms are in a UK family setting. Even though almost every family can relate to the simpsons, whether that be in the uk or anywhere else, there isn't a distinct UK equivalent to an animated, family sitcom. 

3 - I also want to discuss what makes a sitcom funny and relatable in the sense of realism within an animation. 

4 - Does popular culture have a large impact on what people find funny?

5 - What role does "Magical Realism" play in animated sitcoms?

I still feel like my reading list is limited, so my next step is to study in depth the key points I have made through research. From the journal entries I've read, i need to find their sources as a lot of them quote other people and make relevant points. Also, after watching Rick and Morty, I think this is a good "sitcom" to reference as it is part of a new wave of sitcom animation that is at the same popularity as family guy was a few years ago, and it has completely different content to family guy.

COP 3 Proposal - updated

triangulating an essay - Laura Mulvey

Using Laura Mulveys Essay on Visual pleasure and Narrative Cinema as well as two other texts to either critique or support the points that Mulvey makes.

Key Points which Mulvey makes in her text:

1. Women have an erotic image that has been created by men.
2. A woman's main role within a feature is to be a sexual object.
3. A woman's presence within a film is distracting and has a negative impact on a films storyline.
4. Women are objects of the audiences desires as well as the men making the film.
5. In cinema, there is a drastic difference between the roles of men and women.
6. the idea of an active (male) and a passive (female)
7. Men project themselves onto characters on screen.
8. The Male Gaze.

Key Quotes

1."The determining male gaze projects it's fantasy onto the female figure."
2. "From pin-ups to strip-tease... she holds the looks, and plays to and signifies male desire."
3. "...her visual presence tends to work against the developments of the storying, to freeze the flow of action."
4. p.20 "In herself the woman has not the slightest importance." (Boettichair in Mulvey 2009 [1975]
5. p.20 "women displayed as sexual objects"
6. p.20 "...Bearer of the look of the spectator.."

Contextual Facts about Mulvey

1. tends to intersect film theory, psychoanalysis and feminism as a political weapon.
2. Heavily focuses on Classic Hollywood films and their structures and the roles which they portray.
3."The male gaze"
4. Professor of film.
5. Born in 1950's, grew up with women's liberty and sexual politics heavily surrounding her.
6. Feminist activist as well as a feminist writer.
7. Most well-known essay is centred around critiquing gender

Laura Mulvey attempts to combine and analyse feminism, film theory and psychoanalysis within her texts as a political weapon. She is an avant-guarde film maker, focusing mainly on the creative art cinema side. She is an academic professor of film, as well as a used-to-be feminism activist.

Mulvey focuses in on how women have an erotic image that has been developed and created by men, and how the male gaze impacts on how women are presented. A woman's role is to fufill the desires presented by men. "The determining male gaze projects it's fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly." The roles which women play are said to be distracting and negative from Mulvey's opinion. "...Her visual presence tends to work against the developments of the story line, to freeze the flow of action." Describing a woman's influence within a feature as distracting is a negative view...

The idea that women are aware and try to please men by playing the starring role in the males gaze is heavily focused in within Mulvey's essay. "...From pin-ups to strip-tease...she holds the looks, and plays to and signifies male desire." Woman are not only there to be looked at, but they are there to signify male desires as well as the audiences desires.  It could be said that a woman's key role in a feature is to be looked at, and to be a sideline character. Mulvey quotes Boettichair saying "In herself the woman has not the slightest importance." This is a strong suggestion considering women are often seen playing the same roles. Women are often seen as weaker, side line characters.

The active (male) and passive (female) concept seems to be a structure that is heavily present in a variety of Classic Hollywood films. The idea that a woman is a desirable object that needs to be "won" is a key aspects in a wide range of films that involve a male and female protagonists. A lot of the time women are "displayed as sexual objects" that live up to male fantasies, whether it be the opposing actor on screen, director or the audience themselves.

COP 3 Proposal

COP 2 - Creative Critical Response

For my creative response, I decided to challenge the ideas of aesthetics. It sounds quite pretentious (which it is) but I wanted to do it in a way that felt comfortable instead of forcing myself to create the typical "opposite" of what disney stuff like every other edgy creative. I decided to take inspiration from David O'Reilly, who I reference in my essay, who said that he gave himself limitations. I gave myself limitations in the sense that I has to create drawings/character designs/concepts that were made out up of things that ou wouldn't usually associate with character design. 

I drew character's that didn't take any inspiration from the sources i reference throughout my essay.

My aim was to challenge the concepts of colour, shape and placements of characters but in an expressive way.

At times I stripped down, and took away the typical elements that go into creating characters, such as building on top of shapes. instead I made the characters themselves the shapes I drew. I learned from this practice that adding nipples and other ridiculous elements that juxtaposed the "typical" designs associated with character design makes everything better. (imp)

at times, I challenged the aesthetics that have already been applied to certain iconic characters.

I also played around with concept art in the sense of stripping it all down.

I liked letting my idiotic mind take control and just design/ redesign characters in a way that wouldn't make my dad proud.

I enjoyed scribbling mindless stuff. I sort of made myself do the complete opposite to what the industry standard is which was pretty fun. however, I am completely aware that this practice would not get me hired at Disney anytime soon.

I understand that this seems like a lazy response, but what can I say. 

*Aesthetic.*

COP 2 Initial Research

After being briefed, I instantly wanted to focus on Aesthetics, but more specifically on how certain creative and visual aspects can affect content. I decided to do some initial research on aesthetics in animation as a whole and then research into key aspects and how these shape an animation and how it is viewed.

Basic Animation Aesthetic - David O'reilly

• http://files.davidoreilly.com/downloads/BasicAnimationAesthetics.pdf

I first of all found a text by David O'Reilly titled "Basic Animation Aesthetic". In his text, he discusses "Aesthetic coherence" and "Aesthetic harmony". He also refers to how Aesthetics in animation and film making are developed by following "Laws" that restrict the creative process. These laws come in the form of style, ability, budget, arbitrarily. O'Rielly also discusses his own work, and also how a film makers unconscious aesthetic preferences are what is natural and obvious to them. I feel as though this body of text could be a good piece to refer to in my response. Because he is an experienced practitioner that questions the authenticity and legitimacy of aesthetics in animation throughout his short paper, I feel as though his point are valid in my argument both for an against.

Art in Motion by Maureen Furniss

I had been reading this book for a while to understand what goes into creating an anmation. She discusses the development of technologies and demonstrates how aesthetics in animation has shifted over the years; Disney being quite a large focus in sections of the book. She discusses traditional storytelling. I feel as though the points in this book can support/ counteract the modern day animation aesthetics.

Animations to reference:

I decided to create a list of interesting and aesthetic driven animations and practices that have been creating over the years. I could discuss how and why they were pleasing as well as the audiences positions and understanding of animation at the time, whether they were intrigued because it was the first animation ...

• The magic lantern - developed in the 17th century, mostly used for entertainment purposes and then eventually for educational purposes. Quite a simple and early form of animation. Used two slides usually of an image that could be repeated and looped e.g, windmill. Phantasmagoria -  form of theatre horror where one or more magic lanterns projected frightening images like ghosts for entertainment purposes - utilising a form of animation for an immersive and frightening experience.
• "Classical-era Disney Studio" - wide spread - ground-breaking full - length animation. Aesthetics centre around their inspiration and live-action references in their productions. 
• With the limitations of a certain character (Mickey Mouse) that had been developed and influenced by the gags of silent comdedians, the additions of Donald Duck, pluto and other characters provided more breadth for storylines. Their unique personalities provided versatility for entertainment. The visual aesthetic of Walt Disney's early productions demonstrates the early stages of their over arching aesthetic...  - "Silly Symphonies" - not plot driven like Disney's Mickey Mouse - "Provided a place for experimentation" the use of different techniques and equipment could be employed without risking the popularity of a set of developed characters. - Snow White
• The amazing world of Gumball - successful multi-media animated television series on Cartoon Network. Lacks Stylistic unity - visually and narratively daring - unique - 2011
• Adventure time -2010 - linear, bright, engaging. -flat but a lot of dimension and depth