MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN ANIMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF AESTHETIC UNIFORMITY A Master’s Thesis by FERİDUN GÜNDEŞ Department of Communication and Design İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara January 2017 dudakpayı’na MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN ANIMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF AESTHETIC UNIFORMITY The Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by FERİDUN GÜNDEŞ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN MEDIA AND VISUAL STUDIES THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND DESIGN İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA January 2017 ABSTRACT MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN ANIMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF AESTHETIC UNIFORMITY Gündeş, Feridun M.A. Department of Communication and Design Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Andreas Treske January, 2017 This thesis analyzes the uniformity in animation aesthetics within the framework of convergence theory. The sources of aesthetic diversity in animation art are demonstrated along with the process though which these became precarious over time as realism became an end in itself. It is suggested that the diversity is due to the independent use of such elements of the screen image as the line and the form, and such elements related to movement as the motion and the time. When these elements are harnessed to create a realistic image and movement, the diversity is lost, and there occurs uniformity. This has been aggravated with the emerging computer technology which made it possible to create highly indexical photorealistic images and videorealistic movement. This process can be interpreted as a special case of digital and technological media convergence, which brought together previously separate design activities, and merged their aesthetic principles. The result is an hybrid aesthetics prevalent over separate domains, including animation. Due to industry related reasons, this realism based aesthetic approach became so dominant that it pushed all the others to obscurity, causing a decrease in diversity and increase in uniformity in animation aesthetics. Keywords: Aesthetics, Animation, Convergence, Realism iii ÖZET ANİMASYONDA YAKINSAMA: ESTETİK TEKDÜZELİĞİN İNCELENMESİ Gündeş, Feridun Yüksek Lisans, İletişim ve Tasarım Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Andreas Treske Ocak, 2017 Bu çalışma yakınsama kuramı bağlamında animasyondaki estetik tekdüzeliği konu edinmektedir. Animasyon estetiğindeki çeşitliliğin kaynak ve unsurları incelenmiş, gerçekçi bir görselliğin benimsenmesi neticesinde bu çeşitliliğin azalmasıyla meydana gelen tekdüzeleşme ortaya koyulmuştur. Animasyon estetiğinde çeşitliliği sağlayan dört unsur tespit edilmiştir. Bunlardan çizgi ve form resme dair, zaman ve hareket ise akışa dair unsurlardır. Çeşitliliğin, bu unsurların görece bağımsız ve kendi başlarına işlev görmesi ile meydana geldiği varsayılmıştır. Bu unsurların gerçekçi bir görsel mantıkla kullanılması neticesinde çeşitlilik azalmış, gelişen bilgisayar teknolojisinin gerçeğe oldukça yakın hareketli görüntüler üretebilmesi ile de tekdüzelik yaygınlaşmış ve derinleşmiştir. Bütün bu durum, görsel tasarım boyutu olan ayrı alanların süreç ve estetik kâidelerini birbirine benzeştiren teknolojik ve dijital yakınsama sürecinin bir parçası olarak değerlendirilebilir. Sonuçta ortaya çıkan, bütün bu alanların görsel mantığını birleştiren ve hepsine şâmil, gerçekçi estetiğe dayalı melez bir yaklaşımdır. Piyasa koşullarından dolayı bu yaklaşım çok yaygınlık kazanarak diğerlerinin etkinlik alanını kısıtlamış ve neticede hâlihazırdaki tekdüzelik hâsıl olmuştur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Animasyon, Estetik, Gerçekçilik, Yakınsama iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Asst. Prof. Andreas Treske for his generous help throughout this study, and more importantly for the initial inspiration he gave me. His positive and critical attitude was a true blessing from beginning to end. I would also like to thank Asst. Prof. Ahmet Gürata and Prof. Yaşar Eyüp Özveren for attending my thesis jury and supporting this study with their valuable comments and questions. So much would be missing without their contributions. I would like to extend my gratitude to my family and friends for providing me with support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to past and present animation artists all over the world, first and foremost Lotte Reiniger, who helped us with our dreams through their devotion to their art. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………..……………………………………………….iii ÖZET……………………………………………………………………………………..iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………...v TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………….…...…vi LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………….....................................................................1 1.1. Organization…………………………………………………………………….…….7 1.2. Perspectives and Ideas on Animation Aesthetics………………………………........10 CHAPTER II: SOURCES OF AESTHETIC DIVERSITY IN ANIMATION……….…18 2.1. Animaton….............................................................................................................…18 2.2. Animatons in Live Action Film……………………………………………………..20 2.3. Live Action Film vs Animation in Terms of Animatons………………………..…..22 2.4. Movement in Animation………………………………………………………...…..25 2.5. Creativity in Animation and the Sources of Stylistic Diversity………………..……27 CHAPTER III: ELEMENTS OF AESTHETIC DIVERSITY IN ANIMATION……….30 3.1. Animating the Screen Image: Line and Form…………………………………….…30 3.1.1. Line…………………………………………………………………..……30 3.1.1.1. Line as the Basis of Drawing in Cave Paintings………………...31 3.1.1.2. Line in Painting……………………………………………….…34 3.1.1.3. Line in Animation…………………………………………….…36 3.1.1.4. La Linea…………………………………………………………37 3.1.1.5. Line vs. Form……………………………………………………41 vi 3.1.2. Surface and Form………………………………………………...……….43 3.1.2.1. Shadow………………………………………………..........……44 3.1.2.2. Shadow Play..................................................................................45 3.1.2.2.1. Aesthetics of Shadow Play………………………...…..48 3.1.2.3. The Adventures of Prince Achmed………………………………50 3.1.2.3.1. Silhouette Animation………………………………….53 3.1.2.3.2. La Linea vs Prince Achmed……………………….…..55 3.1.2.3.3. Metamorphosis & Depth…………………………...….56 3.1.2.3.4. Narration……………………………………………....58 3.1.2.3.5. Perception and ‘Essential Realism’…………………...60 3.2. Animating the movement ………………………………………………………..….63 3.2.1. Time: Tango……………………………………………………………….63 3.2.2. Motion: Stop Motion Animation and Puppetry……………………….…..66 3.2.2.1. Food……………………………………………………………..68 CHAPTER IV: VANISHING DIVERSITY, INCREASING UNIFORMITY………….71 4.1. Illusionistic Animation………………………………………………………...…….71 4.2. Disney and Industrial Animation………………………………………………...….74 4.2.1. Disney’s Aesthetics of the ‘Assembly Line’…………..……...……….….75 4.3. A Retrospective Parallel: Perspective Painting…………………………………...…79 4.4. Dominance of Photorealism and Videorealism in Animation………….……..…….82 4.5. Animation in the Age of Computing……………………………………………..…84 4.5.1. Aesthetics of CG…………………………………………………………..86 4.5.2. Automation and Fabrication in CG Animation……………………………91 4.5.3. The Uncanny Valley……………………………………………………....96 4.5.4. Different Aesthetics with CGI………………………………………….....99 vii CHAPTER V: CONVERGENCE……………………….…………………………..…101 5.1. Digital, Technological Media Convergence……………………………………….101 5.1.1. Industrial Ownership & Consumption………………...…………………103 5.1.2 Aesthetics of Convergence & Convergence of Aesthetics…………….....104 5.2. Convergence Animated…………………………………………………………….105 5.2.1. Hybridization Between Animation and Other Media……………............107 5.2.2. Visual Aesthetics of Uniformity: Convergence of Animatons…………..112 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………...118 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………123 viii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Cartoons before 3D-CGI……………………………………………………………….3 2. 3D-CGI films…………………………………………………………………………..5 3. La Linea, Episode 108 (1978) by Osvaldo Cavandoli….…………………………….38 4. Animateness in Javanese Shadow Theatre…………………………………………...46 5. Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reiniger………………...…….....51-52 6. Tango (1981) by Zbigniew Rybczyński……………………………………………...64 7. Food (1992) by Jan Švankmajer……………………………………………………...69 8. Mise-en- scène and camera movement in 3D-CGI Animation…………………...87-88 9. The Uncanny Valley………………………………………………………………….97 10. Mise-en-scène and camera movement in video games…………………………….115 ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION One of my most prominent childhood memories is my mother telling me stop watching ‘those’ cartoons and get back to doing homework. Each time she gave me this warning, she added an adjective or some sort of explanatory phrase before the word ‘cartoon’. I distinctly recall how this adjective changed over time. When I was at primary school, they were ‘time consuming’ cartoons; at secondary school they became ‘useless’ cartoons; at high school, they were ‘childish’. She did not even make any comments when she saw me still watching them when I was at college and later; she only rolled eyes. Lest she would lose all her hopes on me, I have not told her that I am writing about them now. In any case, though, there are two points to make here. One is that I have been into animations for really a long time. Second point is that my mother’s perception of them has changed over time as I aged. When I was little, they were just time consuming. It was all right for me to watch them as a kid, after all they were for kids, but she would simply prefer