The subject of Animated Documentary isn’t something I had ever considered or seen before, but it was interesting to learn about the controversies and how to effectively use a creative medium for a medium based on facts and truths.
Why is there controversy in combining Animation and Documentary?
The main issue with the documentary style in general is that productions inherently take on a persuasive form, but then we have to ask does this influence benefit or hurt what we are trying to communicate? The idea of Documentary is supposed to comment on and showcase facts, being informed on topics without too much interference so that we as an audience can understand the subject and make our own minds up about.
When we look to combine these facts with a more creative medium, there are a couple points of contention: The subject is downplayed to favour the individual experience; Audiences will struggle to understand what is real and what is just used to supplement the fact. On the other hand there are supporters that will mention: The intimate stories can reveal a lot ignored importance and help encourage sympathy and feeling about the facts; Audience should be given more credit, we can tell what is and what isn’t real and that the animation is there to create verisimilitude instead of just showing us what happened.
Why do we use Animation with Facts?
Animation can help us to present supplementary information without directly addressing the moment (this is particularly useful with sensitive topics that Documentaries cover, War, Violence and other Graphic topics can be talked about and are more accessible so that more people can understand the world around us). It can help us visualise the feelings of the participants and help us to visualise the unseen being described so that we can feel more connected to the topic at hand, and the subtext that comes with it.
This combination is seen with PSAs and Information films (particularly in the US) around the 20th century, making sensitive topics more approachable to younger audiences.
Drawn From Memory-Paul Fierlinger
This uses animation to present a story from memory, the subject is not objective, but it is honest and comes from the person so it still has validity in its facts. The animation of this also allows for creative elements to play and change the setting, like with his misremembering as a child of the volcano and how this disappears fluidly to match the actuality of the moment. It creates a fun experience that is more enjoyable to watch than if it was just the live action, it is more engaging and we get into the mind of Paul Fierlinger himself.
Waltz with Basir (2008)-Ari Folman
This was a reflexive documentary aimed to present his memories of the 1982 Lebanon War, it is not about the facts of the war, but instead the individual feelings and memories that helps us get into the mind of those who experienced it. The way animation is used here is to recreate the most authentic events without sensationalising or over dramatizing them, then they are combined with live action footage to prove the validity of the emotions and tone. The animation servers to remind the audience that memories are prone to distortion so they can’t be inherently true, just like how people thought animated films couldn’t be 100% fact. This also means that the audience can be eased into the subject matter, unlike real footage which is raw and unfiltered, thus not as easy to watch for some sensitive audiences.
Creature Comforts (1989)-Nick Park
This is a lot more fun of a documentary, in the sense that it uses the information in the same way as a standard documentary would with interviews of real people, but it then re-contextualises these into a more comedic and fun way, by quite literally making them animals. Context matters as well as the style of presentation, and by experimenting with real footage and audio you can tell stories in a unique way.
This short in particular takes audio from talking to regular people from council estates and retirement homes and the natural way they speak works to create this blunt and funny short about animals instead. The most important thing to note with this experimentation is that it isn’t making fun of the people from these places but instead is creating humour from the fact that they are animals.
Never Like the First Time (2006)-Jonas Odelle
In this, the animation is used to elevate the stories, focussing on the individual emotions and perspectives. The style of animations are tailored to the particular tone of the interview and used to heighten the feeling of these, the first one is playful and the colour and linework reflects this, while the third one was more serious and frightening to the more mature palette and style reflected this.
The way that the documentary style influences animation is quite enjoyable, and while i don’t know if this is an area that I enjoy a large amount in I can see the power it holds as well as how playful you can still be when presenting facts by changing elements about. I can also see the benefit of learning these different genres and how this information can be applied to my own future products.