Animation is a complicated and miscellaneous subject, which is difficult
to categorise. In the book ‘Understanding
animation’ (P. Wells, 1998), Paul Wells categorises
animated form into two opposing groups, which are orthodox and experimental
animation. Later he mentions a third group, developmental animation.
Orthodox and experimental animations are defined by a simple diagram,
where he writes that it uses: configuration, specific continuity, narrative
form, evolution of context, unity of style, absence
of artist and dynamic dialogue. Experimental animation, according to Wells,
uses the exact opposite: abstraction, specific non-continuity, interpretive
form, evolution of materiality, multiple
styles, presence of artist and dynamics of musicality. Developmental animation
unites elements of both, orthodox and experimental animations, and creates a
style, which combines both approaches ‘representing the aesthetic and
philosophic tension between the two apparent extremes’ (P.Wells, 1998).
Wells describes orthodox animation as ‘cheaply
produced, highly industrialized cel
animation’ (P.Wells, 1998), where he hints at animators such as Disney or
Warner Brothers, who made animated cartoons for masses of viewers. I agree that
orthodox animation is made mainly for commercial use and entertainment, but I
think its value is as significant as any other type of animated form. In
orthodox animation are used figures, people or animals, who corresponded to
what viewers would understand as a character, ‘despite whatever colourful or
eccentric design concept was related to it, i.e. Donald Duck was recognisable
as a duck whether he wore a sailor’s suit or khaki togs and a pith helmet’ (P.Wells, 1998). This is how Paul Wells defines
configuration in orthodox animation.
As we can see in the animated cartoon, by
Disney, ‘Steamboat Willie’, Mickey Mouse is clearly a mouse even if he is
highly stylised, wears trousers and walks on two legs. It is obvious that
Steamboat Willie is made for entertainment of viewers, because there are not
any hidden meanings. We can see Mickey Mouse teasing the captain of the boat
and getting into troubles which are depicted playfully and absurdly.
On the other hand, experimental animation
uses abstraction, which means that there is absence
of a character depicted as a human, animal or another creature. More than figures
often are used different shapes and colours,
which make abstract films ‘more concerned with rhythm and movement in their own
right as opposed to the rhythm and movement of a particular character’
(P.Wells, 1998). According to William Moritz, historian, non-objective
animation ‘is without a doubt the purest and most difficult form of animation’
(Moritz, 1988). He suggests that anyone can learn how to animate the illusion
of life, but the true form of art is to create abstract shapes, interesting colours and new expressive motions.
‘Lapis’ by James Whitney is undoubtedly an
experimental animation. The absent character is replaced with shapes creating
kaleidoscopical movements within music.
While a cartoon is composed of three parts
– beginning, middle, ending – experimental animation doesn’t use any specific
continuity. In my opinion, it is because
the cartoon, as an example of orthodox animation, is supposed to be narrative,
which is also one of aspects of orthodox
animation, while experimental animation
is not bound to tell the story but it
shows animator’s thoughts and emotions through shapes and colours. As Paul Wells quoted in his book: ‘I
will animate my painting. I will give it movement. I will introduce rhythm into
concrete action of my abstract painting, born of my interior life… I am
creating a new art in time, that of coloured
rhythm and of rhythmic colour.’ (Quoted
in Russett and Starr, 1976: 36).
The difference is distinct when I compare
‘Steamboat Willie’ and ‘Lapis’. ‘Steamboat Willie’ is narrative, there is a
beginning, introducing the main character, a middle, which is the conflict
(Mickey Mouse having fun and going through some troubles) and ending, where
Mickey is forced to go back to work. ‘Lapis’ doesn’t have a specific story. It
expresses Whitney’s emotions through abstract shapes and movements.
Another difference between the orthodox and
the experimental animation is that the orthodox animation usually doesn’t want
its viewers to look at the construction, like colours,
design, and materials, but its purpose is
to concentrate the viewer on constructing a character,
its development and the story itself. It doesn’t mean that these aspects are
not important in the orthodox animation, but they only complete the narrative
and create the aesthetic part of the cartoon. Experimental animation is focused
on its materiality and the evolution of materiality, which means shapes, colours and materials, their movements and
transformations. They intended to depict moods, emotions,
and ideas without being bound to a specific story or meaning.
For orthodox animation is typical absence of artist and unity of style,
which means that even if the work of an individual
artist is acknowledged, in a cartoon typical animator’s style gets lost,
because the unity of ‘studio’ style is more important than styles of people who
created it. ‘With the emergence of the industrial cel-animation process, the
role and presence of the artist was essentially removed and, consequently,
cartoons/orthodox animation prioritised
narrative, character, and style, rarely
privileging the signification of their creation, unless as a system to create
jokes.’ (P. Wells, 1998). It is crucial for an animated story to look like it
had been made by one person, while it had been made by many animators. It is
evident that ‘Steamboat Willie’ was created to keep the unity of style, because
we can’t tell which parts had been made by different artists. It looks like a
work of one person, which allows us to focus more on the story and characters.
Experimental animation is defined by
multiple styles and presence of artist in
animation. It usually combines different styles and methods to ‘facilitate the
multiplicity of personal visions an artist may wish to incorporate in a film, to challenge and re-work orthodox
codes and conventions and to create new effects’ (P. Wells, 1998). These
animations are personal and individual
expression of the animator and, in my opinion, they are meant more for the
artist himself than for the audience.
Dialogue is very important part in the
orthodox animation because it does not
only tell the narrative, it also helps to define
the character itself. Even if the character is not human, the speech gives to
the animal or the object human personality traits which make it closer to the
viewer.
Because the experimental animation is on the
other side of the spectrum of animation, it has ‘replaced’ the dialogue with
music. It does not mean that there is no
music in orthodox animation, but experimental animation uses shapes and colours to visualise
the music, which have emotional relationship between each other. ‘It
may be said that if orthodox animation is about ‘prose’ then experimental
animation is more 'poetic’.’ (P. Wells, 1998).
Developmental animation is difficult to
characterise, because it can contain different amount of elements from both,
orthodox and experimental animation. I think ‘Revolver’ by Jonas Odell could be
an example of a developmental animation. It has its story, although it’s not
very clear, characters, but in my opinion those characters also act like shapes
because they are made in cycles. There isn’t any dialogue, only music and it’s
definitely not made for masses of viewers.
In conclusion, I think animation can be
categorised into orthodox, experimental and developmental animation. However in
the present it can be still more and more difficult to determine into which
category an animation belongs, because animators are experimenting with
animation and then a lot of animation would fall under developmental animation,
even if they don’t have anything in common.
While I generally agree with Wells’s
categorisation of animation, I can’t agree with his opinion on orthodox
animation. I do not think that orthodox animation is inferior to experimental
animation and I consider orthodox animation to be as necessary and valuable as
other types of animation.
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Bibliography
Odell, Jonas.(1993) Revolver, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2HEgnlmfss
(Date Accessed - 5.12.2016)
Whitney, James.(1966) Lapis, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzniaKxMr2g
(Date Accessed - 5.12.2016)
Walt Disney Animation Studios.(1928) Steamboat Willie, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4&spfreload=10
(Date Accessed - 5.12.2016)
Wells, Paul.(1998) Understanding Animation
