Month: May 2019

‘Alike’ is an animated short created by Lafiesta PC that I’ve recently stumbled across. Although I have seen it multiple times before (on social media), I still find it just as gripping and engaging as the very first time.

The story:

Alike tells the story of a father and son who live in a world of mundanity. The story begins on the son’s first day of school. He is alive and excited; bursting with colour and energy. This is represented by his character visuals which is bright orange. His father, who is a lot more accustomed to this world of normality is represented in the colour blue.

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As both school and work drive them to conform to the norms, the pair both lose their colour, life and energy. The father who used to rely on the son to bring him colour, found that this no longer occurred.

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This story ends happily as the father realises the importance of living true to oneself and he decides to bring back the spark in his child by showing his own creativity.

The Message:

This emotional tale carries the message of how our education system may be limiting intelligence of all kinds in the younger generation.

It’s a wake up call telling us that the traditional way of ‘education’ should not have to sacrifice creativity.

The Animation:

This short is created in 3D. The creators have skilfully captured a world of their own while minimising production costs. The world of mundanity where everything reflects pattern and replication means that the producers could use multiples of background props and characters, without making it too noticeable.

The characters are somewhat abstract in that they are not human. This allowed for the simplification in various aspects; such as the elimination of character hair or clothing.

The performance is really convincing and the use of body language was powerful as the entire animation had no use of dialogue. This was something I found particularly impressive. The creators managed to capture the emotion of the audience and also relay a tale with such a powerful message without one single use of dialogue. To me, that says that the performance was very strong. This is my favourite element of this short.

References:

LaFiesta PC (2017). Alike. [ video ] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UATPH44jRSw [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].

This month, one of my favourite girlbands BLACKPINK released their new single. I have looked forward to their comeback for a while and it certainly did not disappoint!

Most of the music video (MV) is live action, paired with some green screen editing and enhanced effects.

The group consists of 4 members: Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie and Rose. The composition of the song means that each member have their own solo parts to sing / rap.

The MV has used this structure to give each member a different story when they sing their solos.

The first one is Jennie’s:

Jennie’s scenes include her dancing and singing in front of 2 swans that make a hear shape. One is black and one is a white swan; where the black swan may indicate the individual that is causing harm to the relationship or that her and her partner are opposites.

Lisa’s Solo:

Lisa’s story involves her singing after entering a bright room full of cereal. This represents her entering a place where she wants to be. The fact that she enters by kicking the door down represents her will in grasping her own happiness, rather than relying on happiness found in a relationship.

Jisoo’s Solo:

Jisoo’s solo involves her seeing her reflection against the Sun set; a very abstract scene.

Rose’s Solo:

Rose’s solo involves her driving with heavy emotions. This is assumed to be a result of her reaction to a love that is hurting. The words written on her car ‘ego’ which hints that she is trying to let go of her ego and chase her own happiness.

 

In the chorus where they all sing, the MV shows them dancing the choreography together.

Meaning of the song:

The co-writer of the song mentioned that this song is all about empowerment. It explains how love can sometimes be unhealthy, and if it is, we should let it go even though it may be difficult. It’s a song about loving yourself.

Technical Aspects

Use of Lighting:

This video is dark, but highlighted with pops of colour. The use of lighting created very different feelings and portrayed the dance in a different way. It gave the performance a contrast. Paired with the sharp jaws they’re surrounded by, the use of red lighting created a real sense of danger, not to be messed with.

Overall, the MV was very engaging. It was packed with stories, bright visuals, synchronised choreography and impressive backgrounds. I personally really enjoyed it and thought that the concepts really fitted in well with the dance, the beat of the song and the meaning of the song!

 

Until next time,

Katie

 

 

References:

BLACKPINK (2019). BLACKPINK – ‘Kill This Love’ M/V.

[video.]

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S24-y0Ij3 [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].