Visual Analysis Exercise

Visual Analysis Exercise

Kirsten Lepore, Bottle 2010

http://www.kirstenlepore.com/bottle

Bottle by Kirsten Lepore is a beautifully executed stop motion/pixilation. Which every time I watch never ceases to amaze me. I first watched this when searching for animations for our very module animation skills, and during summer it was shown on the aeroplane when I went on Holiday. It’s clear it’s been executed well when you wish you’d made it. It’s clear to see a lot of hours have gone into the production and preproduction by the lighting. There is a magic in the way shadows are cast, often when doing a stop motion if not filmed in a blacked out room lighting can be a nightmare to get smooth looking, so she was very adventurous to do this outside.

The big question that people could interpret from this short is to do the relationships between people of different places/cultures. It’s very sad in that the two main characters don’t get to hug. I think there’s a lot of challenges with people who are in relationships from different cultures, and I think more often than not the relationships do disintegrate but there’s always some that are destined to be together.

Another comment in society this film could question is how identity is questioned. Do you have to look like other people say you do? Neither of the characters asked for their accessories and just accepted them even though actually receiving a mouse would be pretty horrid. A bold statement could be made about when they go to meet it other the accessories float off them in the water like they are meaningless and shallow.

The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, is a completely different skill set in animation realm. It looks to be computer generated with hand drawn textures and facial features (maybe on a tablet). Yet still has strong themes and similarities to the bottle running throughout. Discussion on this animation made us as a group question whether the inner battle of the cat and the dog, represented a bigger issue of possibly, schizophrenia or other mental illness. Or was a question of gender? Does the cat represent female and the dog represent male? Is it a man who thinks he’s a woman? I did do some research into Siri Melchior, and she is a Danish women who has written an awful lot of children’s books. Therefore I find it hard to believe there’s a hidden concept other than to be super charming and loveable by all because it’s very clear that her target audience is children to entertain, and their parents. You probably wouldn’t buy a book for your child if it were about transgender. I think Kristen Lepore’s work is more likely to tackle deeper issues being a student project, generally student’s are pushed to convey messages in their work and challenge the audience.

However saying that, similar themes that make both these shorts so successful are how much appeal the main characters have. In Bottle, the shapes are round and are friendly, there’s no reason to dislike them. And in the other short the characters are kept very simple and are very playful giving them appeal too. I also think the biggest similarity is how they both end up in water to form a resolution in the narrative. It’s something I’ve never noticed in a narrative before. I really like how one resolves the issue in a positive way and the cat and dog learn to swim, where as the snow and sand man disintegrate. I think it sums up their similarities and difference in visually metaphorical way for there contextual way.