The UPA film I chose is a short one by the name of “The Magic Fluke”. It was one of UPA’s earlier releases and tells the tale of a fox and a crow duo that have a nightclub act, but the fox gets offered a better job and takes it while he leaves the crow behind. The crow becomes poor, but gets a magic wand and gives it to the fox during one of his shows and things begin to go wrong. The film wraps up with the crow swooping in and saving the show so that he can get his job and status back.

The cartoon modern style in this film is effective because it combined with some of the more realistic backgrounds creates a fun but experimental environment that UPA is known for and is widely received. I believe that the film would succeed the most with this style- it contributes to the vibe and plot of the film, like the theater atmosphere and the night backgrounds.

The second film I chose to contrast this is called “Song Of Nature” made by Elin Lynn on YouTube. It’s very short, but made from a mix of beautiful watercolors and soft digital drawings. I picked this film specifically to contrast against The Magic Fluke because it’s EXTREMELY different and if this film was made in cartoon modern, I believe that it would take away from the overall pastel vibe and cute story that the short film is trying to portray. I believe that both films used styles that are very fitting for what they’re trying to tell a story about in their own respective ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0P-l0hsHM

CITATIONS:

Elin Lynn. “Song of Nature 1 | Watercolor Animated Short Film by Elin Lynn |Art|Aesthetics.” YouTube, 20 Jan. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0P-l0hsHM. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

“The Magic Fluke (Short 1949) – Plot – IMDb.” IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/title/tt0041618/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

‌Julio55. “The Magic Fluke (1949).” YouTube, 21 May 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgVr4ez8P1A. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

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Here is the Slide show that I used in my video:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TWUn7lSzo1oqJppSia1PvLZkr2X0R7BVLyHfZNdkor0/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the book on Cartoon Modern for you to enjoy. This is out of print and was made available for free by the author.

Persepolis is an adult animated film released in 2007, based on the autobiographic graphic novel series by the same name. Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and  Vincent Paronnaud, Persepolis is a coming-of-age film following Marjane Satrapi and her upbringing against the tumultuous backdrop of the Iranian revolution. It tells the story of a Marjane’s childhood to adulthood; her relationship with family and politics, her struggles with sexism and personal identity, and how she struggles to find a place in this world and without sacrificing her integrity as a person.

Produced collaboratively between the US and France, Persepolis premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, co-winning the Jury Prize alongside Silent Night. Satrapi made it clear that animation was her first choice for the adaptation. “With live-action, it would have turned into a story of people living in a distant land who don’t look like us,” Satrapi says. “At best, it would have been an exotic story, and at worst, a ‘third-world’ story.” (http://’Persepolis’ in Motion | Animation World Network) However, co-producers Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Regault were opposed to creating an animated movie at all because of the difficulty and complexity of animation. Luckily for everyone, Satrapi’s intended depiction of her life story as in her novel won, and thus Persepolis was animated. The film design was created by art director and executive producer Marc Jousset, and animation is credited to Perseprod studio and two other specialized studios, Je Suis Bien Content and Pumpkin 3D.

According to Jousset, “Marjane had quite an unusual way of working … Marjane insisted on being filmed playing out all the scenes … it was a great source of information for the animators, giving them an accurate approach to how they should work”. (https://www.filmeducation.org/persepolis/persepolis-interview.pdf) She had a clear vision of how she wanted her novel to be translated to film, and worked with the visual and animation team closely to communicate that.

The animators used more traditional techniques and focused on characters’ being natural and imperfect, as per Satrapi’s vision and guidelines. The choice of using black and white as the film’s dominant colors was intentional, to continue their choice of using traditional animation techniques.

https://www.filmeducation.org/persepolis/persepolis-interview.pdf

https://letterboxd.com/film/persepolis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(film)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/apr/25/animation.drama

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/movies/21hohe.html

https://www.awn.com/animationworld/persepolis-motion

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.

By Charlie Zuo

The documentary animation chosen is OverSimplified’s take on Napoleonic Wars. This video would guide you through Napoleon’s rise from his childhood to becoming one of the most influential military figures in history. The documentary re-creates key events like Napoleon’s campaigns, his eventual defeat at Waterloo, and his lonely death. OverSimplified does an amazing job for condensing complex historical events into short, entertaining animated videos while still maintaining factual accuracy.

This documentary fits into the category of “Re-creation of reported events” because it visually represents well-documented historical events. The portrayal of Napoleon’s life events stays true to the historical timeline, using animation illustrate battles and political changes. While humorous in its presentation, the core facts such as dates, battles, and major decisions remain accurate. The dramatic exaggeration of Napoleon’s and many other figures’ personality doesn’t alter the historical truth.

Sources