Elements of Literature in Animation

Mood

Homework Assignment #2

Relevant Content Standard - Students will analyze scenes from animated films and television shows to identify how visual effects, physical appearances of characters, music, and word choice (imagery and figurative language) express the mood of the story.

Mood is defined as the emotional atmosphere or feeling a piece of writing creates for the reader or for a viewer in the case of an animated film or television show. The mood influences how an audience (of readers or viewers) interprets events and connect with characters in a story. Story and screenplay writers can let members of an audience know the mood of the story in at least four different ways – by the setting or the visual effects, by the physical appearances and the names of the characters, by the sound of the music played in the secene, and by the words they choose to use in the story (imagery or figurative language) or in the character’s dialogues.

Example #1 - Cinderella (1950) To analyze this scene for the mood, we first realize that there is more than one mood. We notice that the mood changes in the scene so that there are at least two moods. The scene starts out with a conversation or dialogue with Cinderella’s evil stepmother letting someone from the Prince’s palace know that she is not important. Cinderella’s evil stepsisters agree with their mother. Her stepmother begins to look mad when Cinderella comes down the stairs and gets his attention so that he has to return. The mood at this time is of surprise and you feel that they are incredibly evil as they try to get him to leave and to ignore Cinderella. The background in the house is dark gray and colorless, giving the appearance of misery and sadness. However, when the Prince’s attendants check to see if Cinderella can fit the glass slipper, the music then sounds expectant and happier. We also notice that the palace attendants are dressed in colorful clothing, which contrasts with the dark gray, lifeless-looking background of the house. We are shocked and made to feel hopeless when her stepmother trips the attendant so that the glass slipper breaks. However, we feel happy and triumphant when Cinderella shows that she has the other glass slipper and proves that she was the one that the Prince was looking or.

Example #2 - Bambi (1942) Bambi is an American animated coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures, loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods. It is about how life begins for a young male deer whose father is the revered Great Prince of the Forest. Raised by his mother, the young deer learns about the dangers of the open meadow. After his mother is tragically killed by hunters, he is forced to grow and mature alone with his friends Thumper, Flower, and Faline. The animated film was released in August 1942. A follow-up, Bambi II was released direct-to-video on February 7, 2006. A photorealistic computer-animated remake has been discussed but never finalized.

The mood in this scene starts out light and happy with innocent, childish sounding music. We notice a very young deer who looks like he is just learning to walk. We feel interested in how he begins to explore his surroundings and walks through a thick layer of newly fallen snow. Even though he is in the forest, there is no indication of danger from other wild animals or hunters. Bambi runs and jumps from snow that falls off the tree branches while he is exploring, but he finds out that the snow will not hurt him. He meets his friend Thumper who shows him how to slip and slide and walk around on a frozen ice pond. The mood is still happy but now it is more playful as Bambi and Thumper play on the ice.

Example #3 - Pinky and the Brain television series Pinky and the Brain is an American animated sitcom created in a collaboration between Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Animation. The characters are genetically enhanced laboratory mice who live in the fictional Acme Labs research facility. In each episode, Brain thinks of a way to take over the world with Pinky's assistance, which ultimately ends in failure. The series is a fictional satirical drama-style cartoon that includes humor about science and the irrational desire for absolute power, which is told in a dramatic and serious tone.

The mood of the introduction is dark and foreboding as the singers all sound like men with deep, “monster type” voices. The lyrics of the song talk about how two mice work together and one of them is insane. Each episode evidently takes place at night, so the physical appearance of the background is dark. It alludes to how vampires are only able to live in the open at night. There are pictures of them conducting experiments and electrocuting themselves, blowing things up and doing dangerous things that just don’t work. Also, the lyrics of the song make it seem that if they succeed in their incredible quest, that the world will be doomed and/or destroyed because they are only small insignificant mice.

Instructions – Watch the scenes from animated films and television shows in the following videos. Answer the five following questions about each scene: 1. What is the mood of the scene? 2. Does he mood change? 3. How does the physical appearance of the background influence the mood? 4. What (if anything) do the characters say that influences the mood? 5. How does the music make a difference with the mood in the scene?

1. Toy Story (1995)