Peer Review (Annotated Bib)

Peer Review Annotated Bib

(Creating Lifelike Characters in Pixar Movies) MLA

Porter, Tom, and Galyn Susman. "Creating Lifelike Characters In Pixar Movies." Communications Of The ACM 43.1 (2000): 25-29. Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Tom Porter (known for his work on Toy Story), and Susman Galyn (known for her work on Pencil Test and Toy Story) as the members of Disney had to find a way to blend the reality and the science of creating a lifelike character in their movies. They seek to explain to the generation that grew up on these animated films the difficulty in creating a lifelike animation. It takes more than an advanced computer to be able to create a character that seems to be lifelike in comparison to “Controlling Physics in Realistic Character Animation,” by Zoran Popović. In their research they found that the ability to blend human emotion in their characters would help the audience look past the animation features in their creations, where as Zoran looked at the computer and physical aspects. In the case of Toy Story, it started with the eyes and the ability to blend and shape the environment around the main character “Woody,” to fit into his emotional appearance meaning if the studio could shape the environment to fit the appearance of the character it would take away from the idea that Woody was not a real person. By creating experiences in their animated characters and shaping the scenery around the character Pixar is able to create the lifelike appearance as well insert the believability in their audience. The article shows how I want to incorporate Pixar’s ability to connect with every generation leaving audiences wanting more and more.

(Controlling Physics in Realistic Character Animation) MLA

Popovíc, Zoran. "Controlling Physics In Realistic Character Animation." Communications Of The ACM 43.7 (2000): 50-58. Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Zoran Popović whom received a degree form Brown University in Computer Sciences shows how the study of the laws of physics can benefit animation computer to give motion to things that would be complicated to do by hand, things such as motion in bodies and clothing are simplified with the advancement of computer systems. Author Zoran Popović and advisor Andy Witkin sought out a way to give life to the unnatural movement of an animated character by finding a way to give realism to the motions of the animation. They wanted to explain how computers give the fans of animation a sense of human feature in each motion unlike the article written by Porter did. Popović explains the physical appearance of the character and not the emotional sense that goes into it such as Porter did, The difficulty behind the realism is the ability to place a character in a specific pose in order to get the right shot for the scene, but by using the laws of physics and animation the creators are able to give life to the animation. The article speaks of accessing the Human-Run Library a place where animators are able to limit the specific motion of any aspect of the character, whether it is the knee, foot, face, or so on in order to give emotion and human features to the character. The studies show that with physics and computers the creation is able to come to life. This explains to my audience how advancement in computers has changed in order to create realistic characters in the animation world.

(The Future According to Pixar)

Baker, Frank W. "The Future According To Pixar: A Wall•E Study Guide." Screen Education 51 (2008): 92-97. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Frank W. Baker President at Media Literacy Clearinghouse Inc, tries to create in this article a sense of time in the animation, by showing the audience the world in the near future. By grasping an audience that has grown up with Pixar Animation Baker speaks of how animation is able to capture the attention of the desired audience through non-verbal ques. With the creation of the movie Wall-e Pixar animations gives the audience a different look at the world through the eyes of a robotic character with little, to no verbal means of communication. The difficulty was to create emotion in the non-verbal aspects of the character in order to give it appeal over the audiences taste. The creators use a sense of poetry in their creation showing how something without a soul can find the true sense of life. Pixar tries to combine the sense of emotion in each character, by developing a scenario and scenery that fit to the characters emotions, which combines the ideas, that Porter and Popović spoke of in their articles. Critics see that the animation has a deeper meaning in each of its’ stories and that is what I want to show my audience in my paper, is how Pixar keeps us entertained with similar moral concepts.

(Human After All)

Markham, Elizabeth. "HUMAN AFTER ALL Pixar: 20 Years Of Animation." Screen Education 47 (2007): 50-54. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Author Elizabeth Markham (Ph.D. University of Cambridge, England) is an historical ethnomusicologist that writes about the different styles that go into making animation. She speaks of how audiences of all ages are able to attach to the characters by the appearance and the reality of the character. She goes into where it all begins, which is the pen/pencil and paper, but even deeper than that the artist’s mind to create the character. She quotes John Lasseter (known for producing Toy Story and Cars) saying, “What creates computer animation is the artist.” Elizabeth speaks of the upcoming from idea to creation on computer tying into what Porter and Popović speak about in their articles, but she takes it to the mind of the creator. She explains the difficulty behind physics and believability, which has been the key theme in each article. She attracts an audience of animation and art to grasp the difficulty of the animation world and I want to show that aspect in my paper.

(3D Cinema: The New Normal)

Cite:

Barbara Klinger (Ph.D in Communication Studies/Film, University of Iowa, 1986) speaks about the drastic effect that three-dimensional animation have had on today’s society. She talks about how it has grown and how it may continue to grow in the near future. This is a whole other debate in today’s society and I want to show how three-dimensional films such as animation have changed the world today. She explains how they are created not going into to many details, but how different films tell different stories. In comparison to Markhams’ ideas about believability Klinger explains the differences between each film and how they are created capturing the attention of a wide variety of audiences. She discusses the differences of how stories are created in each type of film whether it is horror or animation is growing or declining and I want to show the effects three –dimensional movies have had on the world today.

(Dynamics of Creative Play)

Power, Pat. "Ludic Toons: The Dynamics of Creative Play in Studio Animation." American Journal of Play 5.1 (2012): 22-54. ProQuest. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Pat Power writer of the “Lucid Toons,” discusses the issues that come with the intended audiences of animation films, saying that people see the films as kids tails or baby movies with no real meaning behind them except nonsense for children to watch. He goes into explain how there is no intended audience for animation films, rather the film is perceived by the person viewing it meaning that the “intended” audience may not be the only audience. He speaks of how Pixar puts a lot of thought into creating movies that are fun and playful for various groups and not just children. This article goes hand and hand in what Markham’s article was saying bout believability because he says that animation can have various meaning depending on what is perceived by the audience. This is what I want to try and capture with my paper, the idea that Pixar does a great job telling an appealing story to various age groups not just children.

(Steve Jobs And Apple Inc)

Finkle, Todd A., and Michael L. Mallin. "Steve Jobs And Apple, Inc." Journal Of The International Academy For Case Studies 16.7 (2010): 31-40. Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

Todd A. Finkle (Ph.D University of Nebraska Lincoln, 1993, Pigott Professor of Entrepreneurship) writes about the importance of the joining of Steve Jobs with numerous members of different studios to create Pixar. He speaks of how Disney Pixar Animations came to be and how important the affects back then have on today’s animation society. He explains how Steve Jobs of Apple and Steve Wozniak an Engineer at Lockheed Martin paired up to make an efficient pair for the creation of new technology. As Jobs produced with his career he came to the creation of Pixar through purchasing from Lucas Studios. The reason for the incorporation of this is because the audience needs to see where it all began in order to see where it could go in the near future.

(Disney-fying Language)

Rosa, Joao. "Discourse, Linguistic Production, And Subjectivity: Disney-Fying Language." Taboo: The Journal Of Culture & Education 10.2 (2006): 109-140. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

In the article, “Discourse, Linguistic Production, And Subjectivity: Disney-Fying Launguage,” author Joao Rosa, talks about Dinsey’s ability to communicate a message and find it’s way into every home in today’s society. Just as Porter and Popović talk about how Pixar is able to create lifelike characters Rosa explains how having lifelike characters has given Disney the ability to find it’s way into almost all homes. Disney has a distinct language that applies to all ages and genders, which allows it to generate such a buzz in the world. I want to explain how Disney communicates a message and in this article it explains the purpose of the style Disney uses in its animation. I want to determine how Disney possesses the ability to be found in all homes and apply to all ages.

Each annotation provides good background information for the authors and does an excellent job of summarizing the central theme and scope of the sources. All of the annotations also provide information of how they will be used with the intended audience. The citations are MLA and correct.

I think the only thing that is missing is notes of how the sources compare to each other. And also no spacing in between sources. Plus make sure you check you italics!!