"Merry" Project Review

I'm unsure what the project requirements were, I'm assuming that there had to be some sort of voice incorporated into the animation. Though, the animation was very cute, it was incredibly sad.


Merry from McKenna Harris on Vimeo.

Vibrant/Colorful

Dull/Sad

The animation style in this video was very sketchy, which I enjoyed, it made it seem a bit more artsy to me. I don't know why, but I thought that the style fit well with the story and what the creator had in mind for the animation. I also really enjoyed how, in the beginning, the colors were very vibrant and bright, while after they had grown older, the colors seemed dull and gave off more of a sad aspect.

Realistic Expressions

The story was about this family, two girls and their father, who are going to get Christmas Trees for Christmas (hint the name). Though, the family sings a song on the way to get the tree. In the beginning we hear this song, with the family singing. Though, in the next few scenes, it's just the two daughters after they had grown up, with Piper, the girl on the left, singing the song that they used to sing as a family. But, the girl on the right is upset that her sister wants to sing the song and disagrees to her sister's claim that their father would want them to sing the song due to his death. The sister tells Piper to sing a different song, which causes Piper to begin to cry and walk off to hide in the collection of trees. Then, the sister becomes guilty that she yelled at Piper and attempts to find her. When she does, she sings their father's part of the song to try and make up to Piper. This, in return, causes Piper to respond with "I love you too", ending the animation. The story was told in a very cinematic way, it reminded me a lot of those clips you see before a Pixar movie. It was told through a variety of cinematic shots and emotions, along with very in-sync voice acting. I thought that the character's facial expressions were amazing, they were incredibly realistic with a more cartoony feel to it.

Sketchy/Cartoony Style

I would love to incorporate the style of animation into my own, though I don't want to copy their complete artistic traits, I would like to put the sketchy lines into my own animations and overall make it more cartoony. I also would like to learn to make my own lip-syncing look as amazing as theirs does.

We learned in class about squash and stretch, which the animator uses efficiently, more in the expressions and the placement and movement of the characters' bodies. Though, we haven't learned much in 2-D animation, so squash and stretch is really the only animation element that we have learned in class.

Emotional Connection to the Characters

I believe that the creator did incredibly well on drawing the characters' proportions that actually fit and don't look funky, like my anatomy. I also thought that the creator did well in making a story that was entertaining, as well as emotional. The creator also was incredible in creating an animation that fit the story well and created a emotional connection to the characters and the plot. I honestly don't think there was anything the creator could do to make it better, I feel as though it was an incredible animation and I couldn't do anything to make it better in any way.

Ending Credits

Overall, I absolutely loved this animation. It tugged at my heart strings, which almost made me cry in class while I was figuring out what animation to do for my blog post, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic in the way that it caused my emotions to get the better of me. I was entranced by the style of the animation, along with the cinematic shots. I aspire to make an animation like this.