OUAN601 - COP3:
Anxious Animation Review
To inform both my practical and dissertation, it was recommended by a friend that I watch Anxious Animations as some of the effects, subjects, and styles seemed very appropriate for what I wanted to achieve for this module. After taking it out of the library, my first impressions from reading the breakdown on the back of the case weren't at all positive. It seemed very pretentious and 'artsy' in a way that didn't seem it would make much sense in relation to mental health. The animations didn't look (at first glance) all that great. They seemed very rushed, and looked almost like a five-year-old had grabbed and crayon, chugged 10 gallons of caffeine, and gone out of control!
However, after sitting down with my partner to watch what felt like a lifetime of awful animations, we actually understood and began to even enjoy a few of the animations featured on the DVD. I have a habit of only seeing things at face value and not looking too much into things for deeper meanings. My partner on the other hand is very much connotation-wise and understood some of the morals and messages that were conveyed.
One of the animators, Jim Trainor, focused on an almost dosumentary-type genre of animation, featuring two animations - one about the life of bats, the other about a made-up creature called the "moschops". Albeit really weird, using a black and white style which I liked, but very sketchy, rough, thin-lined, and wobbly, it was really interesting to watch and was definitely something I hadn't seen before. The use of loud, uneasy sound effects like animals eating food in an overly-exaggerrated manner made my skin crawl a bit, and was a bit of a sensory overload. This could be a relevant feature for my animation as auditory sensitivity can be an issue for some people suffering with mental health issues and would be best explored.
