Frame by Frame

Just started an animation class and it reminded me of this music video because I love the way it's done: the mix of video and animation, the range of colours, and the timing of movements to the rhythm. 

The superojective in this piece is life, as the video serves as a metaphor for the cycle of life, with the protagonist shown progressing from first development to the end of his life. This piece is highly successful in following the aspects of a making cuts that Walter Murch  names as the top three (out of 6) most important, Emotion, Story, and Rhythm. Although all scenes are created by the artist instead of taken by the cameraman, animation can be a great place to analyze shots, as each frame is carefully composed to convey the intended feelings and progress the story through proper flow. For example, the first shot gains the interest of the viewer through its slow growth into something recognizable, new life, introducing the story and theme of the piece in a way that makes the audience feel curious and wondrous, and flows gently to match the action of the scene. 

Here's my groups final cut of our documentary on Zijing, a foreign exchange student from China. 

- I felt that the clock on the floor at 0:57 was out of place, and that it was unnecessary as the worn and disheveled setting and choppy flow of frames already demonstrate the theme of decaying time 

Also well done in this video are the cuts, that at jump from image to image, usually maintaining the same position so that the viewers eye doesn’t have to move when the figure changes to someone else, like at 2:16-2:18 or 2:26-2:27. Occasionally though, something is placed differently to brake up flow and work off the fast paced beat like from 3:14-3:17, where the usual center location is broken for a split second.