Case Study 05 - "Anna and Bella"
"Anna and Bella" by Borge Ring
My first thought on this animation, from an animation perspective more than a character performance one, is that the characters move with so much joy and life. There is also a tremendous amount of squash and stretch.
As for the character performance, you must first know that the animation follows two sisters where we see them as children, young adults and old ladies. The character design obviously helps to distinguish these characters from each other but also, the character's performances help to establish a clear difference in personality. The sister with the glasses seems to have a better opportunity for me to analyze in terms of character performance. There is a change in her body (literally all her body parts droop, including her glasses)
This physically shows the audience that she is upset at her boyfriend running off with her sister. Her body movements completely change though after the car crash when she is trying to save her sister. That scene is particularly interesting because as the sister is trying to save her sister after the crash; the scene changes to them when they are older and reminiscing over old photos. When the scene cuts, the sister is still in the motion trying to save her sisters life then the sister (who is dying in the scene before) still has her upbeat tempo carried over from just before they crashed and is still laughing over other photos with fond memories. This can be seen in the GIF below. It starts with the sister with glasses trying to put her dying sisters soul back into her body. The dying sisters attitude stays the same from before the crash, to after the crash, to when they are old ladies again.
This will be a better description below. With the next series of GIFs I invite you to first look at the performance from the character with the glasses and then look through them again but looking at the performance of the other character.
The set up is that the sister with glasses knows her boyfriend has cheated on her with her own sister. This is evident in this scene because one sister is super relaxed while the other is super rigid. These are clear indications of their different moods at that particular time.
This is the change in the character with glasses when she realizes her sister is dead. Her body suddenly becomes more expressive and animated as she becomes crazed, trying to save her sister.
Here the dying characters soul seems to keep her original mood from the scene before. This is a form of continuity in character performance. This combined with the realistic animations just help to make the overall character performances more believable.
Here is the character with glasses frantically trying to save her sister, again, this is a complete change from the first GIF when she is mad at her sister. You can tell while watching the animation that in the moment she realizes her sister is dead, she has almost forgiven her since what caused the crash is something petty compared to that of death.
This is the final GIF where the "dead" sister still has the same mood as all the rest, further contrasting with her sister who changes through out them. The way that the one sister stays the same throughout all this lets the audience focus on the emotional changes of the other sister going through the life threatening situation of her sisters death.
In conclusion, the two characters are shown from childhood right up to old age and their personality seems to carry through all the way through the animation. This is a piece of successful character animation in my eyes.
This will be a better description below. With the next series of GIFs I invite you to first look at the performance from the character with the glasses and then look through them again but looking at the performance of the other character.
The set up is that the sister with glasses knows her boyfriend has cheated on her with her own sister. This is evident in this scene because one sister is super relaxed while the other is super rigid. These are clear indications of their different moods at that particular time.
This is the change in the character with glasses when she realizes her sister is dead. Her body suddenly becomes more expressive and animated as she becomes crazed, trying to save her sister.
Here the dying characters soul seems to keep her original mood from the scene before. This is a form of continuity in character performance. This combined with the realistic animations just help to make the overall character performances more believable.
Here is the character with glasses frantically trying to save her sister, again, this is a complete change from the first GIF when she is mad at her sister. You can tell while watching the animation that in the moment she realizes her sister is dead, she has almost forgiven her since what caused the crash is something petty compared to that of death.
This is the final GIF where the "dead" sister still has the same mood as all the rest, further contrasting with her sister who changes through out them. The way that the one sister stays the same throughout all this lets the audience focus on the emotional changes of the other sister going through the life threatening situation of her sisters death.
In conclusion, the two characters are shown from childhood right up to old age and their personality seems to carry through all the way through the animation. This is a piece of successful character animation in my eyes.
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