Animation Session 2: Round-up

The topic of this week's session was the genre and narrative of animation. To come up with a starting point for the concept of our animated piece, we were asked to consider our backgrounds and our cultural heritage, as well all the animation that has influenced us previously. I came up with a quick brainstorm of the elements that might influence my initial concept based on what we learned in class.

We discussed genre in animated films, and each had to offer our own favourite type up to the class in discussion. We learned that any story we tell must have a narrative structure of a beginning, middle and end. The protagonist is introduced in the beginning, and the scene is set. Conflict is present in the middle, which may lead to a confrontation. The turning point that creates a resolution is at the climax, between the middle and end, and then finally everything is tied up in the conclusion.

We discussed a few different plot types that might be present in the narration:

Energetic/ Action/ Goal Oriented: protagonist strives to attain a goal

Ensemble: when multiple protagonists are present

Daisy Chain

Repeated Action: eg. Groundhog Day

Character Driven