When Nigel gave me toturial, my thesis was not finished, so he could only ask about my progress, direction, and give me some suggestions. After listening to the topic of my thesis, the suggestion he gave was Paul Wells has written a lot of books on this subject and asked me to read it. I followed Nigel’s suggestion to find Paul’s book and found helpful information from it.
Nigel also asked about my FMP and asked me to contact Alan in time if I have any questions. Thank you for your tutor’s concern. After that, I checked my grammar, but my English ability is limited. If you find some grammatical errors while reading my paper, you can let me know.
Maybe my paper is not good enough this time, and there are many shortcomings. I hope to get feedback from the teacher so that I can write better next time.
After reading the writing guide that Nigel sent us, I have a clear understanding of the format and basic writing requirements. It introduces the format of citations and references, as well as not to use some oral expressions, and abbreviations.
So in writing, I also adjusted my format as required.
My research method is mainly the combination of theory and examples. In order to find examples to support my point of view, I have to watch a large number of animated films, although this is time-consuming.
Take Spirited Away as an example. There are many metaphors in it. I need to find the examples I need in the movie.For example, the old baths in Japan. The implication is that the baths have a cleaning function. Here the role of cleansing is transferred to concrete things. The bath not only cleans the body, but also metaphorically cleans the mind.
Parents are greedy and selfish, Yubāba’s obsession with money and indulgence of children correspond to some representatives of real people, making the image more real and full.
Lakoff & Johnson they proposed the third experientialist,It is believed that both subjectivism and objectivism ignore our interaction with the world. The human conceptual system is essentially metaphorical. One type of thing is used to imaginatively understand another type of thing, but the most imaginative understanding is also based on the conceptual system.
In the animation “The Prince of Egypt”, there is a scene of Moses’ dream. The camera shift did not take the picture directly cut into Moses’ mind, but pushed the lens into Moses’ eyes. The eyes are regarded as the window of the soul. Through this similar relationship, the audience is guided into the heart of Moses.
This is how I look for theories and examples at the same time to make my article more persuasive.
Through the analysis of time, space, perspective, and suspense settings in the narrative, the importance of metaphors to the story is obtained. Secondly, use the application of metaphor to understand the visual transformation process of metaphor in animation. Among them, some successful animation cases are combined with important views and theories on metaphor in philosophy, linguistics and other disciplines to find out how metaphor affects the audience.
Background
The characteristic of metaphor itself is to establish connections between different things, and animation is the art of transforming textual stories into visuals. In the process of conversion, metaphors will start to occur.
Application of Metaphor in Animation Creation
Story Selection & Story narration
1.Narrative time
2.Narrative space
3.Narrative perspective
4.Narrative suspense
Application of Metaphor in Animation Design
Application of Metaphor in Scene Design.
the use of metaphor in dialogue
Application of Metaphor in Character Design
the use of metaphor in the lens
1.scene control
2.Choice of angle
3.Similarity transition
4.Montage technique
How metaphors are interpreted by different cultures and their translation in the world
Cultural barriers
Obstacles caused by the uniqueness of metaphor translation
Conclusion
Bibliography & Filmography
Finally, I would like to thank Nigel for his care and suggestions.
In order to provide support for my argument, I have to look for theories in books and examples from animation works.
Nigel, recommended paul wells’ book, saying that he has a lot of views on animation or metaphor. I followed Nigel’s advice and went to read Paul wells’s understanding animation.
This is Paul’s theory “metaphor essentially grows out of symbolism and serves to embody a system of ideas in a more appealing or conducive image system. The use of metaphor simultaneously invites interpretation but insists upon openness. The meanings that may be determined from the use of metaphor resist specificity because they emerge from a second-order notion of representation. Metaphors make the literal interpretation of images ambiguous and sometimes contradictory because they invite an engagement with the symbolic over and above the self-evident. This second order of construction offers a parallel narrative to the specific one which merely deals with the construction of logically determined and contextualised events. Whilst the symbol invests an object with a specific, if historically flexible, meaning, the metaphor offers the possibility of a number of discourses within its over-arching framework”.
The definition of metaphor can have many definitions from different disciplines. Many scholars have put forward their own views. I will quote some scholars’ theories and combine them with actual animations to demonstrate.
As Luke said, it is already a clear animation field. I need to adjust it to make the thesis more unique. It is my main content to embody metaphors from different places.
Next, I continue to read a lot of books and papers, the main way to find is to check the bibliography of new books or papers. I also highlighted key sentences and recorded them. In this way, I can find the argument I want in the book by looking at the key words in the notes.
I watched a lot of movies and looked for what I needed.
Luke asked us to send him the subject of our choice, I think I am more inclined to do animation at the moment,and his reply was
Hi Lowe, I like your idea for your FMP and Thesis research. I think your thesis idea could do with a bit more development as to how you will research metaphor within animation. It is a well defined area of animation already so I feel like we could adjust this to be a bit more unique for your thesis. One way you could do this would be to maybe focus more on metaphorical story development and perhaps have the title of your thesis be “Metaphorical story development and its manipulated impact on an audience”. This title opens it up so you can look at the various different ways of implementing metaphor in to a short film. You can go in to character design, environment design, metaphorical dialogue, how metaphors are interpreted by different cultures and their translation across the world, followed finally by summing up the manipulation of metaphor to impact the audience member. I hope this helps”
I think Luke’s suggestion is very useful and pointed me in the direction that needs to be demonstrated.
So the title of my thesis is determined as “Metaphorical story development and its manipulated impact on an audience”
I will write from several aspects: character design, environment design, metaphorical dialogue, metaphor and world-wide translation.
The next step is to start looking for examples, read and watch the video to support the argument.
1.The concept of animation metaphor, starting from Aristotle’s concept of metaphor, defines the concept of animation metaphor, that is, using the voice and means of animation to express the meaning of a certain content. The so-called animation language and means include the characters, props, story plot, and screen colors in the animation. In the animation metaphor, these animation languages and methods are given a certain meaning, and the audience can achieve the most metaphorical cognition through its intermediary.
2.The use of metaphor in animation
Character modeling, whether the animated character modeling has distinctive image characteristics, is the key to whether it can be memorized and liked by the audience. Such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse-the perpetrators of Disney Kingdom.
Prop styling and prop setting as one of the key factors have an important influence on the entire animation. It generally refers to any decoration in the scene, the function is to reflect the atmosphere of the scene, the region and the characteristics of the times. Some props can also refer to people or things that appear in the screen. Some props have multiple meanings in the film, such as Doraemon’s pocket, which can always take out a variety of props. When the camera is in the pocket, the animation metaphor begins to work.
Story plot, the design and performance of animation plot contains animation language, animation skills and comprehensive mastery, and use plot to express and promote the development of the story. Animation metaphors add a deeper meaning to the design and realization of animation plots with powerful expressions. Let the work not only have limited visual communication, but also extend to the expressive connotation of animation. Take the 1998 Oscar’s best animated short film “Bunny” as an example, and “death” has been sublimated in the metaphorical performance. Create a beautiful sense of belonging with the unknown and gray death plot
FMP
Hello, I plan to give a speech on my FMP and thesis, which is about the exploration of metaphor in animation creation, which roughly includes an overview, sources of inspiration, story and references. My FMP, I plan to make an animated short film, about 140 seconds of metaphorical animation. My thesis will be combined with my FMP and put into practice in the process of exploration. I want to add some cyberpunk elements to this short film, and then through research, I want to learn the metaphors of masters such as Hayao Miyazaki and Jin Min to express the story. My inspiration comes from the current COVID-19. During the Lock down period, our lives have been affected to varying degrees. The virus is raging, but people’s attention is not as high as it should be. I hope that everyone can be aware of the existing problems. While reminding others, they can also realize the problem. In fact, the danger is always by our side.
My animation story is
An old lady was sitting on the side of the road looking at a high wall not far away. She always felt that it would collapse immediately. Seeing someone walking towards the wall, she kindly reminded: “That wall is going to fall, far away. Go ahead.”
The person who was reminded looked puzzled as she walked along the root of the wall in a magnificent manner-the wall did not fall. The old lady was very angry: “Why don’t you listen to me?”
Someone came again, and the old lady advised again. Many people walked past the wall without encountering danger.
The old lady felt a little strange and disappointed, so she couldn’t help but walked under the wall to take a closer look. However, at this moment, the wall collapsed and the old lady was buried in the dust and masonry, and died in desperation.
It is often easy and sober to remind others, but it is difficult to be able to remind yourself all the time
In my plan, I will first find a suitable style, then learn some lens applications, and then enrich the picture as much as possible based on the knowledge I have learned. I will learn the expression of metaphor from some representative works, such as Disney, etc., and learn some technical knowledge from Youtube and books.
