Documentary

Image source: IMDb

Today we watched a documentary called The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Editing that details the major cinematic film movements of the 20th Century in the west. The documentary covered many of the things we learned over the course of the semester such as Italian Neorealism, Soviet montage and early 20th Century editing techniques. The documentary also highlighted the influences of editors and included interviews of big names in the editing and directing fields such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

lip sync

"For the last time, the polarity's fine and the batteries are the right way round"

Made some lip syncing today. In ToonBoom, I made a new layer for each face element (eyebrows, pupils, eyes, mouth etc.) and drew a new drawing shape on each frame. The Drawing Substitution box (under the library tab, next to tool properties) saves the drawings made on each frame, so when a new shape is needed, I can cycle through the 'saved' drawings until I reach the right one. This method was how I did the lip syncing and eye movements.

I may make the animation more dynamic by changing the angle and direction of the character when they speak.

I did it! To make the movements of the character seem less sudden, I (manually) added blurs. There's probably a better way to do it, but at the time the only thing I really cared about was making the animation readable.

I also did a version with smears

The Bicycle Thief (1948) review

The Bicycle Thief:

 

The Bicycle Thief (1948) is a film following the struggles of a working class Italian family, the Riccis. The husband and father, Antonio Ricci, has managed to secure a reasonably well-paying job in a poor job market which requires a bike. After selling their family's bed sheets to purchase a bike, Antonio begins his new job, only to have the bike stolen. What follows is Antonio's increasingly desperate attempts, alongside his son, to find the thief and recover his bike. Eventually, Antonio gets desperate enough to attempt to steal a bike, after which he is caught. Upon seeing Antonio's son in tears, the owner of the bike lets Antonio off with a warning, after which both Antonio and his son walk home in tears.

This movie has been put on many top ten movies of all time lists, with good reason. It is well shot, has a moving story and had a poignant ending. The film was a reasonably entertaining watch, however was let down by it's poor sound quality and infrequent subtitles.

In the film, the bike could represent hope of financial stability for the family.
It was not evident that the actors were not professional, and their non-professional status added an element of realism to their character's emotions.
The father starts as an upstanding citizen, only to become more and more desperate over the course of the film, ending in him becoming a bicycle thief.
The son's opinion of his father initially starts as idolization, and becomes a form of betrayal as the father becomes desperate, hits him and steals bikes, and ends with a sense of camaraderie as they both walk crying down the street together.

Italian Neorealism

Italian Neorealism

Context:

Italy had been under the fascist regime since 1924, the neorealist movement began in Italy after WWII as a response to the political turmoil and desperate economic conditions afflicting the country at the time.
Neorealism criticizes the view of society as a collection of individuals who are indifferent to the suffering of others

In the 1930s, Melodramas were popular with Italian audiences. The film industry often showed Telephono bianco (white telephone) films, which often depicted the emotional turmoil of Italy's upper class and American cinema. Neither of these film genres appealed to the poor or working class Italians.

Neorealistic films appeared realistic due to the contrast of the films that preceded them

Neorealism conventions:

Neorealism often had a distinct visual style

filmed on location

non-professional actors

natural lighting

minimal or subtle editing and post-production processes

documentary style of photography

stories focused on the poor and working class