Commercial animation

One of the tasks in this course is to discover the ways in which the worlds presented in animation reveal a point of view about the world—what the world is, what the world could be, what the world should be, what the world shouldn’t be, and even if it’s possible for the world to be anything other than the way it seems to be. You’ve already discovered that this point of view can sometimes be hard to disentangle from what’s going on in an animated film, because it’s often based on unspoken assumptions on the part of those responsible for making the film. To make things more complicated, the filmmakers may be unconsciously assuming you have the same point of view as theirs. Some of these worlds express their makers’ points of view more clearly than others, however. Among these are the kinds of worlds presented in commercials. SO—your assignment is to take a commercial from the list I’ve provided at the end of this document, and offer an alternative to the point of view it presents. This could mean changing any or all of the following: An assumption about a particular aspect of society or human behaviour Some aspect of how the material is presented (tone, style, characters, language, etc.) An assumption about the subject matter of the commercial You don’t necessarily have to change this point of view to something you think is “better”. You’re free to imagine any alternative point of view (within the limits of reasonable and respectful discourse) which expresses a different way of looking at things. (For example, imagine making a commercial for ketchup during the 18th century, when many Europeans considered tomatoes to be poisonous. How would you sell ketchup to that audience?) You can frame your assignment as if you were either the maker of the commercial or a member of its audience. Here are some possible approaches for both: As a maker, think of yourself as an animation director or creative director working for an ad agency who’s been hired to change the campaign that the commercial is part of. You could give your client a pitch in the form of a memo or a letter, telling them what needs to be changed, why you think it needs to be changed, and how you’re going to change it. You could also do a storyboard in which you break down the film you’ve been given one sequence at a time, while rewriting and/or redrawing it. (Notice I say “and/or”…for the visual part of the storyboard, you don’t need to be a great artist—you just have to make it clear what your pictures are about.) As a member of the audience, you could write a letter to the maker or sponsor of the film, write an email about it to a friend, write a review of it or record yourself reviewing it…these are just a few ways that you could express what could be changed about the commercial. Whichever role you choose for yourself, remember—it doesn’t necessarily have to be “you”. You can adopt a persona with values that contrast with the ones you have…just make sure that your persona is civil and respectful of others. As a ballpark figure for the length of this assignment, think of 500-750 words. (That’s between 2 and 3 pages, double spaced, 12 point font size.) Something like a storyboard or a recording might be on the lower end of this—just make sure you cover all the key aspects of the assignment: What do you think needs to be changed? Why do you think it needs to be changed? What change(s) are you going to make? Here are the commercials for your consideration...each one is from a different director with a film featured in the lecture portion of the course: Tex Avery: Pepsodent ad Fred Crippen: Blue Cross Preferred Care ad Gene Dietch: Piels Beer ad with Bob and Ray as Bert and Harry Dave Fleischer: Let’s All Go to the Lobby! Friz Freleng: OK Used Cars ad Richard Williams: Jōvan ad