Reflection
For our assignment, we were tasked with analysing a short animated film in a small group. I was assigned to Group 6 which was given the short “I’m a Pebble” created by Esmamovies.
I was rather nervous when given the brief as I’m not too familiar with film analysis and I wasn’t very confident that I would be able to talk about what I saw in enough depth. My nerves were eased somewhat when talking to my group as they had previous experience and helped me out whenever I had questions about the assignment / analysis in general.
After we were assigned our groups, we created a group chat on Discord to keep each other up to date and keep track of links that we found useful for our analysis. Most of our discussions were done in class where we decided on what each of us would cover in the presentation and how the slides were to look. We had decided to each cover a film language in the presentation to even out the workload and cover more from the animation. I chose to cover Mise-en-Scene / Staging as I felt it would be easier to cover than Editing or Sound.
For my research, I used a mix of “Behind the Scenes” interviews with the crew who made the short,notes from the lectures we were given during class, and articles that went further into depth on Mise-en-Scene to back up my claims. I don’t think I covered my research correctly in the presentation and will be focussing on improving this for the next time we are given a task similar to this assignment.
Overall, I feel as though I struggled to correctly complete this assignment as I found film analysis to be quite difficult to understand and explain. It has, however, highlighted an area that I will need to improve on over the coming weeks before we move onto the next semester which is supposed to go more in depth into analysis.
Research
For my research I began looking into the “Behind the Scenes” of the short that Esmamovies had posted on their Youtube channel. By watching this video, I gained an insight on what the team had hoped to achieve and why they chose certain things. In the “Making of”, they explain how they moved towards “naïve and innocent” designs to be more expressive and to give off the look of a children’s book. I also began looking into their website which had a showcase of concept art and technical W.I.P’s, these gave me a further understanding of what the team wanted to do.
After taking a look at the “Behind the Scenes”, I began researching more into what Mis-en-scene was as I wasn’t too sure if I fully understood it. I read over “Staging – how to use this powerful tool in animation” (Staging – how to use this powerful tool in animation, 2021) and “The Language Of Animation – Mise-en-Scène” (Caprio, M. (n.d.).) to brush up on exactly was included in Mis-en-Scene and began taking my own notes for “I’m a Pebble” using these as a reference.
Body Language
The body language changing throughout the short pairs well with the lighting and colour as they change at the same time. At the beginning of the short, we can see Bubbles having quite fast and fluid motions when having fun with her family and how this changes to a stiff and turned-in demeanour once she experiences distress regarding her identity.
Lighting and Colour
In the “Behind the Scenes”, the team mention that they wanted to link the colours and lighting to emotions and use it as a story telling tool through out the short. We can see this in various scenes in the short where we can tell how Bubbles emotions have shifted and how this has affected her surroundings (colour and lighting wise). In the first screenshot, we can see how the colours are warm and bright when Bubbles is enjoying her time with her pebble family and how this changes to cold, dark colours when Bubbles is going through some internal conflict regarding her family and identity.
Character Designs
In the short, we can see that all of the characters have soft, rounded designs with large eyes. This fits with the teams idea of making them look “Naïve and innocent”. Our main character, Bubbles, stands out from the rest with her thick-outlined eyes and expressive face. Bubbles expressive face helps the audience understand what she is feeling during the short and relies on it to help understand the narrative that is being told.
Reference List
- www.youtube.com. (n.d.). I am a Pebble / Je suis un Caillou – Making of. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/JKKEW2s5rt4 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2023].
- Darvideo Animated Explainer Video Production Company | Animation Studio. (2021). Staging – how to use this powerful tool in animation. [online] Available at: https://darvideo.tv/dictionary/staging/. [Accessed 7 Mar. 2023].
- Caprio, M. (n.d.). Week 4: The Language Of Animation – Mise-en-Scène | M.Caprio lcc 3D Computer Animation. [online] Available at: https://marianna3dcomputeranimation.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/10/29/week-4-the-language-of-animation-mise-en-scene/. [Accessed 7 Mar. 2023].
- www.youtube.com. (n.d.). CGI Animated Short Film: I’m A Pebble // Short on the way to Hollywood ? | CGMeetup. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/h6PVe1YBQh4 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2023].
- ESMA 3D (2021) PressKit_Presentation – I’m a Pebble. Available from: The World Of Animation (Accessed: 7 March 2023)