Blog #13: The End

I would just like to take a moment and write this final blog on my feelings about this course. I never expected myself to take a class on animation... but I'm so glad I decided to see what it was all about. There's a certain nostalgia I've had about cartoons (I'm sure many feel the same) since I was a little girl. They make me happy. But I had this concept as I got older that they were made for children... just funny stories to make you laugh. Now, however, I've realized that there's so much involved in the production of animations. Some may be considered a form of art, others purely slap-stick, and still others serve a unique educational quality. It's interesting to me that many animations are tied to politics. Quite honestly I never really paid much attention to a cartoon like Rocky and Bullwinkle before. I suppose I viewed all animations as being timeless, not thinking how far back they dated (the example here being to the Cold War).

Apart from our viewings of the animations in class, I enjoyed my individual gain that would occur when I would flip on the television and simply watch a classic cartoon to see what I could learn. My classmates helped introduce me to some very interesting concepts, as well. Blogger, while I had never before heard of it, turned out to be a fabulous way of learning from my peers. For this, I thank you all.

To end, I would just like to share my appreciation of this course... it has opened my eyes to a different perspective of something I used to charish so much - and now I do again. Many thanks, Professor Petrik!

Blog #12:Toy Story 2

After our class viewing of the film Toy Story 2, I was again overcome by the ability of animators to envision the idea of bringing to life the small world of childhood toys. The amount of creativity that has gone into the animation seems endless. A great deal of consideration has been taken in considering how toys use their individual features to interact and how they utilize their own environment. It is this imagination of animators that causes non-stop laughter in the audience.

"Fun" is the word I would use to describe Toy Story 2. As the film begins, viewers are delighted with a scene of toys playing video games in the same manner of humans. It is humorous to observe Rex the dinosaur as he tries desperately to work the controller with is tiny arms. Similar to Rex, other toys must find ways around the makings of their own bodies. The piggy bank, for example, mumbles about how he must drag a bunch of change around. In addition, The slinky dog's body easily gets caught on the conveyor belt at the airport because of his extreme length. The enjoyment continues in watching an army of GI Joes waddle across Andy's bedroom floor. Their size (and the fact that their feet are attached) doesn't deteriorate their commanding presence.

I was so amused throughout the film as characters also tried to work within their surroundings. How funny was it to watch as a group of toys marched across a busy highway, using traffic cones as a sort of camouflage!? It was also a great idea it was to have Slinky lower his fellow toys to the ground with the use of his springy body. Two other great scenes included the elevator and the airport. It was interesting to watch how the toys conquered the challenges of their size here. Rather than getting inside the elevator, they found their way into the vent shafts and climbed onto the roof of the elevator to lift them up. In the scenes within the airport, it was fun to watch how the toys ganged up and ran along the conveyor belts to save Woody. In both of these cases fate definitely seemed to work to their benefit!

The ability of working with the personality of toys created some unique opportunities for animators. I thoroughly enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear duo. When the second Buzz took the screen, it brought back some great memories of the original Toy Story in which Buzz had unsurpassed confidence in his abilities as a space commander. It was also great to see the mass of barbies as they enjoyed their pool party in the toy store! One unexpected character was Stinky. I would have thought that a boxed collector's toy would be a rather boring choice of characters. Instead, by making him the bad guy who is capable of sneaking out of his box, animators created a toy that definitely seemed to surprise viewers.

To conclude, it is a film like Toy Story 2 that truly shows the creative abilities of animators. The ability to imagine the small world of toys is was truly added a great sense of humor and endless gags.

Note: To view my comments on the blogs of fellow classmates, look at the archives for September.