create bonds among people. In other words, using humor helps diffuse tension to make

Transcription

1 Yoon 1 Ye Seul (Ashley) Yoon Prof. John Marshall /Prof. Marianetta Porter Jessica Goldberg/Math Monahan Integrative Project Thesis 25 th April 2013 PROVERB Humor has always been with humanity. It is an influential tool in the conversation to create bonds among people. In other words, using humor helps diffuse tension to make people feel comfortable and empathize with others more easily ( Why Humor Is Important to Conversation ). Through my project, I wish to figure out the way to create universally appealing 2D animation using humor and common phrases to create bonds with the audience and entertain them with comfort. Therefore, I am going to explore the humorous sides of common proverbs by exaggerating the ridiculousness of them. I will do this by simply replacing the nouns and the subjects within the proverbs, thus creating new sentences. I am planning to stick with animation for my project because its unrestrained way of expression has captivated me. I like the fact that animation can be created with few lines, so I can create my own worlds by drawing simple shapes. I have grown up with a dream of becoming an animator, so I used to watch various kinds of animated films, and got inspired by several humorous omnibus animations, such as Pingu. It has an omnibus style of animation, which means that each episode can stands alone separately. Moreover, the French animation Princes and Princesses has influenced me in the style of animation. The animation Princes and Princesses has a unique style of animation that uses shadows. It looks simple, but draws attention to the characters so

2 Yoon 2 the audiences can concentrate on the characters easily. Thus, this animation led me to use a simple line drawing. Figure 1 Princes and Princesses Moreover, while attending the University of Michigan, I have practiced lots of figure drawings to study figures and movement. Also, I learned some basic skills in Adobe Photoshop and Final cut pro to make an animation. That is, I used Photoshop to create images and Final cut to edit these images and add music and various sound effects to develop my piece. Additionally, I worked as an intern at two animation companies in Korea during summer vacations. This experience gave me a sense that people usually like cute little characters; thus, this is the main reason why I chose to focus on creating cute rounded characters.

3 Yoon 3 First of all, I began the project by drawing out a few circles. Then, I personified them with facial expressions, and the two simple circles became two peas, which are the main subjects of the first animation. Then, I recalled the old saying the early bird catches the worms, and made a climax in the story by letting a bird eat up the peas. After finishing this animation, I made a title the early bird to indicate the proverbs. Then, I searched for other proverbs to play around with, and to make a connection with the first animation that I made. These are three proverbs that I chose to use: The early bird catches the worm. A leopard cannot change its spots. Two peas in a pod. These are commonly used among people, so I believe the audience would recognize them easily. For the system of the animation, for example, I take out the word worm from the saying the early bird catches the worm, and replace it with the word two peas from last phrase, two peas in a pod, to create the new saying, "The early bird catches the peas." Then, for my second animation, the subject would be the worm from the previous animation and the spots from the saying a leopard cannot change its spots. I take out the word its spots and it becomes a subject of the next animation. I repeat the three animations with titles, so the audience would find out that each animation is related to the proverbs that we are using. Additionally, I made the titles with characters to give the audience hints. For instance, I drew a worm on the scene with the first title, the early bird to indicate that the worm is replaced with the peas.

4 Yoon 4 For the overall animations, I used wobbly lines to express the energetic and vigorous features of characters. I used black lines and monochromatic colors, which are white and grey, to make the subjects stand out as focal points. I also added jolly background music for all three animations to entertain the audience. Moreover, these three animations are in the same structure: setting, character, climax and the ending. Figure 2 The Early Bird Film 1: "The early bird" The first animation, The early bird starts with a pea farm in the sunshine. There are two delighted peas in a farm. They dance and sing while enjoying the sunshine. Then, the scene shifts and zooms out on two peas and a hungry bird flies in with a shadow. Without giving the peas time to react, the bird eats up one of the peas, and, satisfied, leaves the other one. The left out pea laments its friend s death. It is such a grim

5 Yoon 5 incident, but I tried to make the audience laugh by adding funny motions like burping, and by using a cheerful background music that contradicts to the tragedy. Figure 3 A Leopard Can't Film 2: A leopard can t The second animation starts with the setting as well. So, the animation starts with scattered showers in the forest. Then, three worms pops up from the ground to get rained on. They come out of the ground and enjoy the rain; one sticks out its tongue, the other two look up to the sky. Suddenly, a leopard with star-shaped spots appears and walks by the worms. The absurd spots of the leopard leave the worms dumbfounded. For this animation, I focused on the reaction of the worms to make it humorous. For example, I made two worms on the sides grimaced and drew the stars popping up on the eyes of the fat worm in the middle.

6 Yoon 6 Figure 4 In a Pod Film 3: In a pod The setting of this animation is a breezy day. Two Dalmatians with spots encounter each other in the forest. These two Dalmatians look the same; the only difference is a spot next to left eye on one of the dogs. Realizing that they are similar, the two Dalmatians have a light scuffle and chase each other. Unexpectedly, a pod appears and kidnaps the dogs in order. Then, it teleports with a sudden gleam of light. I tried to add humorous elements by adding a small fight between the dogs and unexpectedness of the pod s appearance. The final form of the work is 2 minute 30 second long 2D animations using Photoshop to draw and Final Cut Pro to edit. Each of these three different individual animations can stand alone, but they can also act as a single animation using the titles, which are

7 Yoon 7 extracted from the proverbs, as connections. So, the first title connects the first animation and the second animation. Through out these animations, I want to entertain the audience by using a sense of humor and giving them a sense of achievement by finding out the connections among the animations and applying different meanings to each animation. Figure 5 Work Gallery Furthermore, I displayed my piece in the Work gallery in Ann Arbor using a flat TV screen and DVD player. I chose to present my work with the TV screen to get high resolutions and to make the animation loop. At my senior thesis show, I found that many children gathered to watch my animation. Therefore, I thought that I might be able to use my animation or the techniques to educate children. For example, my humorous animation with proverbs would work as an educational video as children can learn about

8 Yoon 8 proverbs through this animation. Thus, I hope to use my animation in future career in education or advertisement with films.

9 Yoon 9 Work Cited American English Proverb. Santa Monica College Reading Lab. n.d. Web. 23 April Gorman, James. Scientists Hint at Why Laughter Feels So Good. The New York Times., 13 Sept Web. 23 April Ocelot, Michel. Princes and Princesses. Image. unifrancefilms. n.d. Web. 23 April The 50 Most Important English Proverbs. Phrasemix. n.d. Web. 23 April Why Humor Is Important to Conversation. Conversation aid. n.d. Web. 23 April Yoon, Ye Seul. The Early Bird University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Yoon, Ye Seul. A Leopard Can t University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Yoon, Ye Seul. In a Pod University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Yoon, Ye Seul. Work gallery University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.