Please note I did NOT understand the parameters of this assignment.

UPA… who’s behind it?

Upa, aka United Productions America is a production company centered around animation that arose in the 1940s (1941), and was formed after the Disney Animation Strike when long-time animators at disney went on strike to demand higher pay and better working conditions, as well as proper credit and better treatment in general. The artists who led and founded UPA were tired of Disney’s formula, and the painstaking process of imitating real life through animation. Creative lead at UPA, John Hubley explained that he didn’t want his animations to be imitations of live action, but rather to be something that live action couldn’t make in the first place. He, amongst others, (them being: Bobe Cannon, Henry G. Saperstein, Zack Schwartz, David Hilberman and Stephen Bosustow) were the founders and key members of UPA.

ROOTY TOOT TOOT

I know I wrote about this before, but Rooty Toot Toot is genuinely one of my favorite animated pieces of media at all time. Produced by UPA, directed by John Hubley, this was one of (in my opinion) UPA’s best films. It is directly inspired by the cartoon modern style with limited color pallet, exaggerated features and basic shapes. It is a really well executed film, because stylistically it was new, it was bold, it was unapologetically artistic. Exactly the goals of the animation? To tell a fun dark-musical story- but knowing the goals of the studio to push for artistic expression, artistic freedom and stylization, this style is absolutely the perfect style for this short. IF it were to take a more Disney approach to make the movements hyper-realistic, the music would end up feeling less like the story, and rather an addition to the story. It wouldn’t be as punchy, which would make the tone fall flat.

TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

The Triplets of Belleville, or Les Triplettes de Belleville is a french animated feature film directed by Sylvain Chomet. If you have seen the Illusionist, you may recognize his name! Or at least the style. The Triplets of Belleville has a style that is much like UPA in the sense that the actions of the characters are exaggerated, however the approach to how they do so is different. With UPA, its stylistically, whimsically creative, whereas with this film, I would call it Grotesquely realistic. The characters move much like humans, even when they don’t. They twist and turn and warp around- having a very clear skeleton, however their joints articulate in such bizarre ways. For this movie, this style absolutely makes sense. It is supposed to be a bizarre and somewhat unsettling film, it isn’t supposed to be infused with a childlike wonder or a humorous lawyer who is more nose than man. The fellows who are more nose than man look that way in a comfortingly odd way. Everything down to the camera angles makes it feel unsettling. Which totally works with this style!

SOURCES

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286244

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043980

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Productions_of_America

https://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=3020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triplets_of_Belleville

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-09DbxHBU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMF2i6WTqHo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2jg1RrneJ4

https://wherecreativityworks.com/united-productions-of-america-upa/