Conclusive Image
From the beginning, I was intrigued by the animations of Anime opening songs. How the visuals matched well with the impact and atmosphere of the song whilst not revealing the entire story plot, keeping it ambiguous yet interesting. Diving more in-depth in the realm, I looked into AMVs which was extremely popular for anime fans. First thought of it as a hobby and personal projects, I then learnt that there was a whole subculture revolving around AMVs; from conventions to contests. With that, I started to look into different AMVs, and the thing in common is that they all tell a story with the marriage of music.
I decided it wanted to look further into AMVs and to breakdown the artistic features and mechanics behind them. Examples that I looked into were both fan made AMVs as well as some original animated music videos. Both categorises into the same realm however are different in that AMVs are purely composed of existing Anime clips with a song, where as animated music videos are official animations for a particular song; which are mainly featured as music videos for artists as their single. Gathering from both types, I dove further into how those types are different in the terms of the origin of where they are made. Eventually learning that their origin is a significant factor as to how the method of storytelling is varied. Analysis on the method of storytelling, aesthetic and the methodology used in each type of AMV is explored upon on through secondary research, as well as a survey.
The practical work explored upon changing the audio and visual factor. How changing the type of music used and only showing a series of images will affect the effectiveness of storytelling.
As AMVs all use songs, I used music as my audio track instead, and as for the visuals, I made an animatic of a more adventure / fantasy twist on ‘The Red Riding Hood’.
Developing the animatic aesthetic was difficult as I wanted to make it simple yet effective. With that I thought of making the background in the style of a Manga, monotone with directional lines as shading. Using a limited colour palette to depict the protagonist and antagonist, creating a minor yet apparent contrast from the background.
I decided it wanted to look further into AMVs and to breakdown the artistic features and mechanics behind them. Examples that I looked into were both fan made AMVs as well as some original animated music videos. Both categorises into the same realm however are different in that AMVs are purely composed of existing Anime clips with a song, where as animated music videos are official animations for a particular song; which are mainly featured as music videos for artists as their single. Gathering from both types, I dove further into how those types are different in the terms of the origin of where they are made. Eventually learning that their origin is a significant factor as to how the method of storytelling is varied. Analysis on the method of storytelling, aesthetic and the methodology used in each type of AMV is explored upon on through secondary research, as well as a survey.
The practical work explored upon changing the audio and visual factor. How changing the type of music used and only showing a series of images will affect the effectiveness of storytelling.
As AMVs all use songs, I used music as my audio track instead, and as for the visuals, I made an animatic of a more adventure / fantasy twist on ‘The Red Riding Hood’.
Developing the animatic aesthetic was difficult as I wanted to make it simple yet effective. With that I thought of making the background in the style of a Manga, monotone with directional lines as shading. Using a limited colour palette to depict the protagonist and antagonist, creating a minor yet apparent contrast from the background.
Through editing the practical, I used various filters on different scenes to depict flashbacks or to set the an ominous atmosphere for the antagonist.
After completing the practical, I made a questionnaire to see the how people compared the style to the existing ones.
[Survey; https://forms.gle/7kHQRshYNaNpzFmm8]
[Survey; https://forms.gle/7kHQRshYNaNpzFmm8]
After conducing the survey, it is apparent that the professionalism of the animatic is a significant flaw. Some believe that the monotone background was dull and doesn’t really bring the characters out. Moreover, it was stated that the flashback sequences did not make a lot of sense and the crow character did not have a purpose. In the contrary, some believe that the simple aesthetic of the visuals with the limited colour palette did help create emphasis the protagonist and antagonist. For some, the simplicity of the visuals did go well with the soundtrack, however some thought it was inadequate and confusing. All in all, through this practical, I’ve learnt that aesthetically, simplicity may work for some, however not all as it maybe confusing at times due to the simplicity; as it lacks detail therefore breaking the narrative. As for the audio aspect, the marriage between the dark / monotone visuals did achieve the ominous atmosphere of the music.
