Author: lizzy oleary

The animation I chose is “Street of Crocodiles” by Brother Quay. The Brothers Quay are identical twins Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay. They are independent filmmakers from England. In the animations, the fears that are being portrayed are the fear of the unknown, death, and unnatural transformation. They create an uncomfortable atmosphere with a sense of mystery which can create anxiety. The main character goes through a physical transformation with uncomfortable imagery where he has his body replaced with doll parts. Something unique about Brothers Quay’s work is their use of stop-motion animation with their puppets made out of doll parts and organic and inorganic materials. This adds to the sense of how uncomfortable it is. The lack of dialect and use of sound and haunting music also add to the atrophy that they have created. They have left a lasting impact on the animation industry with their unique styles of animation and thematic exploration.

Paprika is probably my favorite “horror” animation that I have seen. It does a great job of having uncomfortable scenes that make the viewers uneasy. I don’t tend to watch a lot of “scary” animations because I feel as though a lot of the more popular ones that I have seen are for younger audiences, so when I saw this I was impressed with how it made me uneasy.  

Works Cited

“The Brothers Quay: Top 5 Most Influential Works.” Tongal, 27 April 2022, https://tongal.com/blog/community-guest-post/the-brothers-quay. Accessed 28 October 2024.

Magliozzi, Ron, and Brothers Quay. “Brothers Quay.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Quay. Accessed 28 October 2024.

Śliwiński, Rafał, and Shingo Tamagawa. “Paprika lover.” YouTube, 6 October 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsPILwHFHs0. Accessed 28 October 2024.

“Street of Crocodiles (1986) clip | On BFI Blu-ray on 10 October | BFI.” YouTube, 4 October 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW3dW4yMLfE. Accessed 28 October 2024.

Totaro, Donato. “Stephen and Timothy Quay.” The European Graduate School, https://egs.edu/biography/stephen-and-timothy-quay/. Accessed 28 October 2024.

I choose The Unicorn in the Garden and Charlie the Unicorn for this assignment. 

The Unicorn in the Garden written by James Thurber and directed by William Hurzt is an animation about a man who follows a unicorn into his garden and happily tells his wife about it. She doesn’t believe him and thinks he’s gone crazy, so she calls a doctor to tell him about her husband. When she went to the doctors to tell them in person they thought she was the crazy one and when they asked the husband he said he didn’t know what she was talking about. So they sent her away. The point of the story is to show that what your original intentions are may not be the outcome you hoped for.

Charlie The Unicorn. a short film made by an independent company made by Jason Steele. It is about these two unicorns who convince their “friend” Charlie to go to Candy Mountain with them. He agrees after a lot of begging, once they get to the candy mountain they convince Charlie to go into the mountains with a song that promises great things. Once he goes in he passes out with his kidneys taken out.

I chose these two to compare because they are both unicorns involved but not only that but the stories have a similar theme to each other. They both convey the theme that even if you think you’re doing something that would be harmless and couldn’t affect you actually can.

I believe the animation for both these films did a good job getting the message and idea of the story across to the viewers. I do think that Charlie The Unicorn could have used a different animation style rather than the simplistic style it has, however, I do think that the simplicity of it does add to its charm and silliness. 

Works Cited

FilmCow, https://www.filmcow.com/. Accessed 17 October 2024.

“Charlie the Unicorn.” YouTube, 11 January 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY. Accessed 17 October 2024.

Steele, Jason. “Llamas with Hats.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llamas_with_Hats. Accessed 17 October 2024.

Thurber, James. “The Unicorn in the Garden (film).” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unicorn_in_the_Garden_(film). Accessed 17 October 2024.

“The Unicorn in the Garden.” YouTube, 8 May 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1teJjX-smdE. Accessed 17 October 2024.

The animation I choose “Brief History of Chess” by TED-Ed, would be categorized as a recreation of reported events. I chose this category because the video goes over the history of how and where chess originated and briefly as to how it has evolved over time into the chess we know today. The animation takes us through a history lesson with fun visuals and entertaining story telling. The animators Remus and Kiki are a animation directing duo who are from london. They have been working together since 2014 and have been working together ever since. They have also worked with many companies including TED-Ed, Adultswim, Warner Bros, ect. I believe that the animation did an amazing job with portraying and the storytelling of how chess came to be. I think they covered what needed to be covered with in the short amount of time they had. They choose great visuals that corresponded with the narration to help the aduaunce be able to understand and keep up with whats going on and made it easy to follow when moving on to the next thing with flawless transitions. Over all I think they did a fantastic job with the engaging visuals and entertaining storytelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB-1F-UKO0



Works Cited
Remus & Kiki | Animation, https://www.remusandkiki.com/. Accessed 10 October 2024.
Gendler, Alex. “A brief history of chess – Alex Gendler.” YouTube, 12 September 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB-1F-UKO0. Accessed 10 October 2024.

The animated music video “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”, music by Tame Impala and animated by many people including Joseph Pelling, Becky Sloan, Azusa Nakagawa, Theo Nunn, and many others, is a clay animation that follows the story/message of the song. It is to show the feeling of being stuck in a loop and feeling as though you don’t go anywhere. In my opinion, the unique and psychedelic visual style and approach to storytelling have left a lasting impression and mark on the animation and music video industry. Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling in particular are very noticeable for their work on don’t hug me I’m scared, the reason why they are so impactful because they are one of the brightest examples of youtube animators/creators that started out with youtube and with their success from youtube were able to move up in the animation industry and build their career from starting out independently. This is even more of a reason why this was a big impact on the industry.  Their work not only captivates viewers but also to be able to inspire more people to create more experimental animations. I also think it is interesting how they used the repeating of patterns to reinforce the concept of the song only going backward and creating a feeling of being stuck in a loop, however, they also show although we feel stuck there can still be joy and beauty in the journey. The bold colors create a sense of joy and sadness to show a message about love and loss. This animation is important to me because I can not only relate to the message of feeling stuck in a loop, but i also see it as a inspiration for me , and it is so interesting to see all the possibilities as to where it can be taken. This animation inspires me to practice and become better at claymation to someday be able to create something to this skill level. 

Works Cited

Amidi, Amid. “”Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Becky & Joe.” Cartoon Brew, https://www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos/feels-like-we-only-go-backwards-by-becky-joe-73447.html. Accessed 19 September 2024.

“Becky Sloan.” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5355336/. Accessed 19 September 2024.

“Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared press pack interview with Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling and Baker Terry.” Channel 4, 23 September 2022, https://www.channel4.com/press/news/dont-hug-me-im-scared-press-pack-interview-becky-sloan-joe-pelling-and-baker-terry-0. Accessed 19 September 2024.

Glover, Donald. “Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Official Video).” YouTube, 8 November 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes. Accessed 19 September 2024.

https://www.channel4.com/press/news/dont-hug-me-im-scared-press-pack-interview-becky-sloan-joe-pelling-and-baker-terry-0. Accessed 19 September 2024.

Glover, Donald. “Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Official Video).” YouTube, 8 November 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes. Accessed 19 September 2024.