The first animation I have chosen to analyse is this opening titles video. I know this is a lot longer than the animation I will be producing but I think the way it starts off so slow and steady and then changes half way (approximately at 1minute 20secs) really relates to the storyline of a lot of Agatha Christie stories where the peaceful nature of a countryside village is interrupted by a dramatic murder. I think the movement of the images fits well to the sound, at the beginning when the music is slower, the shapes move, appear, twitch or flicker on the distinctive tapping and knocking sounds. The frame changes as if the camera has moved on distinctive noises as well, it is as if the animator has wanted it to look like the music is having a direct effect on the shapes involved, just like a speaker would move if it was playing really loudly. When the music gets louder and more intense, so does the imagery, things move faster, there are more colours introduced in larger blocks and more shapes exist within the frame at one time. The music calms again at the very end and finished on silence, the imagery also tones down here and moves a lot slower until it is stationary at the end to match the silence.
The second animation I am analysing is very different to the first. This has more of a narrative and is a similar length to the sting I will be producing. I chose this because of its themes of mystery and drama which fit in with the themes in my project. This soundtrack is more about sound effects rather than music which is something I need to consider depending on what I decide to focus on in my animation. The sound of the rain is constant and the sound effects of footsteps, the car passing and the speech of the alien character are in time with the movements taking place on screen. There are some very agitated sounds between the 8 and 12 seconds mark - each frame is only visible for a split second here creating tension and fitting in with the unsettled music. A lot of flashing of colours and unrealistic movements take place here too. Overall, this animation is quite abstract, I only realised what was actually happening by reading the video description (two aliens manipulate life on earth and fight over controlling the planet which ends badly). Considering that the characters are aliens, the sounds that have been used appropriately sounds quite electronic and 'sic-fi'. In regards to my animation, I need to research music from the time when Christie's novels were set and think about what sort of music the characters would have listened to or been familiar with. Getting music from the correct genre and time periods will help to set the context of the animation even more.
The Voynich Manuscript from Ignacio Osorio on Vimeo.
I thought I would include this animation in my analysis as well because it looks a lot more hand crafted and analogue than the others I have researched. I think the softness of the music reflects this delicate handmade effect we see in the imagery - this has made me understand that the music needs to work with the tone of the imagery itself, not just the movements that occur within the animated sequence. The contents of the frame change at the beginning of every set of four beats which gives it a regular and steady pace and then the final frame lasts for 8 as the music fades out and brings the animation to an end. Also within each set of four beats, there are constant movements occurring; subtle movement of the background textures, objects and lines appearing, disappearing and moving. Scale is used a lot here in a subtle way which keeps things flowing all the time. The music is very peaceful and relaxing and this is enhanced by the colour palette of the animation and the speed of the movements that are occurring. It is very abstract which links to its subject 'The Voynich Manuscript' which is an illustrated scientific work from the middle ages written in an unknown script which code breakers can still not understand to this day. Something like this would be very intriguing and mysterious if it contained the visual symbols and clues relevant to my topic but didn't actually spell out the meaning of it. If the sting I am creating is going to be used as a trailer for a documentary, I don't want to give too much away so maybe this is the direction to go in.
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