Documentary Animations

Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)

I was really impressed with this documentary, created from 25,000 individual drawings. Stylistically the choppy sea is very simple but I really like it and it compliments the detailed, almost photographic sky it has been put against. The silhouetted ship also fits with this environment, and for the most part its movements are very smooth. The events of that day are clearly conveyed through the alternating visual imagery and informative title cards. The under water torpedo scene, due to the camera angle, carries a lot of suspense, leading up to the explosion. Even though I'm aware the explosion was drawn, it still does not appear to be as it flows too seamlessly. Because there is no speech or even an accompanying piece of music, this does make the animation feel a lot longer than the others, however, for its time, this is a very impressive documentary. 

Creature Comforts (2018)

When watching this documentary, I couldn't help comparing it to the original 'Creature Comforts' from 1989. I first noticed that the sound quality and cuts between scenes are greatly improved from the original. The secondary actions are more complicated as well, such as in the frog’s scene – the young frogs are seen teasing each other, by flicking their tongues at each other, while in the original series, there was often only the one animal on its own. The characters’ crisp (smoother skin, more symmetrical) appearances however lose that stop-motion appeal that the 1989 version had, looking more like CGI configurations. It is mainly for that reason that I didn't enjoy it as much as the original series, as it has become something new in itself.

Amnesty International (2014)

This documentary creatively conveys the message for freedom of speech. It displays this message through distressing images of police brutality and petitioning to grab the viewer's attention. Another factor that grabs the audience's attention and becomes more obvious throughout is the fact that the animation is formed from thousands of pens. It promotes the power of signatures at the end of the film, which explains the use of pens throughout, creating a subtly powerful video. This shows off the power of CGI, and leaves me wondering how they went about producing this. The music in this animation is very intense as well, like something from the start of a James Bond film, it evokes a lot of emotion in the audience, with the intention that it will get them to help in some form.

Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

This documentary contains rotoscoped animated parts allowing glimpses into Kurt’s childhood. These are overlaid with recordings of Cobain’s actual voice, from recordings he'd left of himself, as well as covers of some Nirvana songs, such as a violin instrumental of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. These make the scenes emotionally very intense, from knowing the account is directly from Cobain. Aesthetically it’s very detailed and the rotoscoping means the motion is very smooth and perspective very accurate, which I like a lot. I also like how the colour scheme tends to match the mood, for example, the lighter scenes tend to be when he's writing or playing music. The background designs are also very well produced, for their detail and how they follow the rule of parallax.

The Driver Is Red (2017)

This documentary is about the hunt for one of the highest-ranking Nazi war criminals, Adolf Eichmann. It has been created with a real-time drawn effect, across a brown paper backdrop, which fits with the spy-theme. This is a nice effect, however it does means that the final format looks more like a storyboard or an animatic rather than a finished product, and can be slow at points. I'm not such a fan of this style but I got more used to it as the story went along, and I understand how this was a fitting style to use for a spy story from this era. While this should have made the documentary less interesting, the story is gripping enough that we get lost in it, and the drawings instead become a guide for us to carry on imagining the story with. It is partly so engrossing because it is a first-hand narration from spy Zvi Aharoni.