The animation, “The Cat Came Back” was a very successful and entertaining animation. The animators made use of background, scenes, and various tools and principles of animation in order to make it such a great animation.
The backgrounds of each scene helped to reinforce the story. For example, the animator changed the appearance of the sky in order to indicate the time of day. Indicating the different times of the day with the color of the sky to show night, morning, afternoon, and evening helped to show how the man had attempted to get rid of the cat all day and the events went on all day rather than in a shorter period of time. This helped to better demonstrate how the man grew wearier and more tiresome as the day progressed on.
Scenes were used to aid in the storytelling of the events. After each scene where the man makes a wild attempt to leave the cat behind, the next scene would return back to the setting of his home. Each time that this happened the house and the man himself were more wrecked, beaten down, and destroyed. This allowed for you to follow the story throughout the day and get a better sense of the man's frustration and desperation to finally get rid of the cat for good.
There were various tools and principles of animation that were used in order to help make the animation so effective:
The camera angles that were used were panning, zooming out, and close-ups. Panning was used to follow the action of the scenes such as in the scene when he was running through the woods trying to place the cat as deep into the woods as possible and he was chasing the cat as it ran back in the other direction towards his car. Zooming out was used to examine not only the character’s actions, but more of the surrounding scenery as well. For example when the man became lost in the woods after chasing the cat, the camera zoomed out to show how far into the woods he had gone and stopped when the entire view of the scenery of the woods was in view. Close-ups were used to focus on specific actions of the characters as well as facial expressions. For example, there were close ups on the cat when it was destroying various objects of the house and there were close-ups on the man’s face to show his facial expressions when he became angry at the cat.
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Timing was used when showing motion of the man crashing onto the ground or into objects. This helped you get a sense of the extreme pain of it. Less in-betweens were probably used when creating such motion effects to show the severity and significance of the motion and make it even more noticeable and effective.
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Hyperbole was used at the end of the animation when the cat dies and his spirit follows the man's spirit into the sky, there are 9 cat spirits that follow playing on the expression that a cat has "nine lives." Also, all of the actions taken by the man in order to rid himself of the cat were extreme. For example, he attempted to put him in a hot air balloon and also he attempted to blow up his house and the cat with dynamite. Hyperbole was also used in the physical appearance of the man. His features were drawn similar to those in a caricature. His nose, chin, and body were all excessively large.
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The color palette that was used was neutral colors combined with complementary colors. Warm colors such as red, orange, and yellow were used to stand out against a background using cool colors such as blue, purple, and green.
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Movement was used to show the weight of objects. Using slower movements showed the heaviness of the anchor in the boat scene. This is because slow, struggling movement indicates that the weight of the anchor is bigger and heavier than the man himself. When carrying smaller and lighter objects such as the cat, the man’s movements were swifter and quicker in order to indicate that the cat was light and easy to pick up and carry.
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Rhythm was used to help with the flow of movements and timing in the story. Repetition of shapes in scenery helped create rhythm. For example, repetition of hills and trees gave a sense of visual rhythm. Instrumental music was used to give the movement rhythm. For example, more frantic music indicated a faster pace as crazier scenes of attempting to get rid of the cat occurred. Slower music indicated slower pace when scenes first began and there was less frustration with the cat. Also, slower music was used after the man grew tired from getting beaten down from the events of the day and he could not move at a quick pace anymore. Rhythm was used to indicate the man’s frustration as well as show the downfall of pace of the man as he grew more tired. It helped set the mood and energy of the scenes.
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Point perspective was used to show the settings of scenery. For example, in the opening scene and setting of the house on the hill when the sun is rising, the road is drawn so that the lines converge at one point indicating how far away the house is on the hill. Also, perspective was used to show the man walking up the hill and to show how he appeared smaller as he walked further away. His entire body appeared to grow smaller. This showed distance.
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Sound was used in various ways throughout the animation. "The Cat Came Back" song played every single time the man got back to his house and saw that the cat was there again. The lyrics of the songs narrated the story and what was going on. Sound was also used as actions became more intense and the character became more frantic in scenes where he was trying to get rid of the cat. There was frantic and climactic instrumental music playing in the background to heighten the sense of intensity and frustration that the character was going through. Also, there were sound effects for various actions and motions. For example, the man bumping into things, the man playing his instrument, the man falling, the hot air balloon deflating, the rattle shaking, and the curtains tearing. Also, his anger was enhanced through yells and screaming. There was very limited dialogue except for beginning scene when the man first yells "WHAT?!" to the excessive knocks on his door and when he yells "CAT!" when he is in the well with the rats.
Overall all of the techniques, tools, and elements that the animator used came together in an effective way in order to create a successful animation.
Bibliography:
Besen, Ellen. "Timing and Rhythm Structure." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://books.google.com/books?id=GLETXWuIQ4MC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=rhythm+principle+in+animation&source=bl&ots=BfMf_8NAhs&sig=cZz8O_v7oZDMxGkwY1brTsNWfxI&hl=en&ei=vSCATveCLomdgQeUsqlE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
"hyperbole." © Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. 26 Sep. 2011. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hyperbole>.
Lasseter, John. "Tricks to Animating Characters with a Computer." 13 March 1999, n.d. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/character_animation/principles/lasseter_s94.htm>.
Lightfoot, Nataha. "12 Principles." Animation Toolworks. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://www.animationtoolworks.com/library/article9.html>.
Owen, G. Scott. "Timing and Motion." N.p., 14 March 1999. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/character_animation/principles/timing.htm>.
Strong, Brad. "Extended Principles of Animation." 3dCognition.com. 3dcognition, 2011. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://www.3dcognition.com/animationextprinciples.html>.
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