During my History of Animation class last tuesday I realized a few odd things about the award nominated, animated, shorts we watched. The first oddity that I noticed was that they were both almost silent. I am almost positive there are plenty of talented animators out there who had worthy additions to the field, so I sought to determine why these two shorts "The Lady and The Reaper" and "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" between what I have seen in typical animation.
The most obvious difference between these shorts than what I normally see is the dialogue, mainly that there is none. Besides a few "humms" and "grrs" many of the characters make no sound at all. The second thing I noticed within the differences was a similarity. Most, if not all, of the text was in English, with a few spots of French in the flying books. This is especially important to mention in "The Lady and the Reaper" which is a Spanish film.
So why? Why are the "silent" movies so successful where plenty of animations with great voice actors are out there. Accessibility and clarity. Without voices, without the vocal cues and tones the stories are forced to stand on their own accord. This provides a strong clarity of purpose within the story telling that is impossible to hide with the complex world of dialogue. Accessibility to award shows, I mean audiences, is the second reason. Most of the big award shows are here in the US, and unless you want to ruin your chances completely you need to make the show accessible to an american audience.
Hey, Carolina from History of Animation class!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to note that I also realized how the animated shorts nominated for an Oscar were basically silent films. In my blog, I also wrote about how many animated shorts that I have seen, have been short films. It's amazing that with so many voice actors, it ends up being an animated short with no voice or form of communication can be nominated for such a prestigious award. Then again, I do agree that with the lack of dialogue, the audiences and critics are forced to recognize the talents of the cartoonists and their creations. It also takes a certain skill to create a film with no dialogue, but to some how keep the flow of the movie going. With that, I believe these two films are deserving of an Oscar nod.
I'm not sure how I feel about your statement regarding nominees from a specific country, but it definitely looks like a clear coincidence that many of them came for the US.
Hi, Colin from HIST 389!
ReplyDeleteWith the evolution in technology where media has become a multifaceted tool to appeal to all of our senses, it is amazing that some animation shorts are still silent, solely appealing to our visual senses. While it would be beneficial at times to add some audio cues, I compare the short animation films that we viewed to a good book. They both allow the viewer/reader to choose their own path on the story and allow an element of escapism to imagine, especially in the instance of "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" to put oneself in that situation.
In this day and age of a global economic union, it is interesting to see that many Oscar-worthy films are still American based. I think it would be different if such films were nominated for Golden Globe awards, as those are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign press. Maybe the Golden Globes should have more animation categories to allow some more foreign influence?