International Journal of Film and Media Arts, Vol. 1, Nº. 1 (2016)
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Item Animation Documentaries and Biodiversity Issues – is ‘Plant blindness’ a concept worth keeping? Insights from the Portuguese animation documentary ‘Viagem a Cabo-Verde’ (2010)(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Lima, M. Alexandra AbreuFrom the contemporary panorama of creative media, the animation documentary A Journey to Cape Verde (2010, Viagem a Cabo Verde) is analysed in terms of its content concerning biodiversity and plant issues. The concept of ‘plant blindness’ is revisited, a term introduced by Wandersee and Schussler in 1998 (Allen, 2003) to describe “the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment” and their importance in the biosphere. Some future considerations are discussed. It is hoped this casestudy displays a picture of what can be done to improve collective knowledge about biodiversity issues and could inspire and help others to develop awareness raising projects about them.Item Notes towards the use of a documentary approach in the teaching of animation(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Serrazina, PedroSince its early days, animation film has always reflected its cultural context at the time of creation. Nevertheless, it is still widely perceived as kid’s entertainment. Reflecting on practical examples and teaching methodologies, this text argues for a practice of animation which, by adhering to documentary strategies, engages with real issues, leaving behind the traditional Disney/anime/fantasy/ game-inspired references that frame most of the animation students’ intentions at the beginning of their path. Rather than a matter of technique, and regardless of the much debated issue of realism, this text suggests that a teaching framed by a documentary approach, bringing questions of identity and social perspective to the core of the practice, reinforces animation as a thoughtful and participative role in the contemporary moving image debate.Item Animation documentaries and reality cross-boundaries(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Luz, Filipe CostaFilmmakers aim to deliver some emotional and aesthetic coin to their works, which makes it possible that the boundaries between fiction and documentary genres could be diluted artistically. The documentary is a recognized genre in film studies that is considered to move on one side of the boundary between fact and fiction. Michael Rabiger defends the objectivity and fairness of documentaries due to the expectation of the viewer to accept the photographic image as true (Rabiger, 1998, p. 6). Bill Nichols reinforces this idea evoking that the documentaries that best witness a certain theme are those in which filmmakers “don’t interfere”, classifying them as “observational documentaries”, as the examples from the images captured in World War II or the political TV news (Nichols, 1991, p. 38). Therefore, the challenge that we propose aims to relate the documentary live action characteristics with the animated images, where the veracity is just an animation reflection. To better illustrate the curious fusion of animation and documentary image, we will examine several emergent examples of this new “film genre”.Item Drawing the unspeakable understanding ’the other’ through narrative empathy in animated documentary(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Nåls, Jan ErikHow to represent the suffering of distant others? An international exchange program between Africa and Europe was set up in 2006 to tackle this issue with the help of documentary filmmaking. A result was A Kosovo Fairytale (2009), a case study of how animated documentary can provide insights in how to represent ‘the other’. Theories of narrative empathy inform the understanding of the process as well as the final film. This paper examines animated documentary from three distinct perspectives: as a pedagogical tool to enhance cultural understanding, as a process of narrative empathy, and as a coherent text which makes use of narrative strategies endemic to animated documentary in order to create emotional engagement. Conclusions suggest that animated documentary can be a novel way of representing the other, especially if narrative empathy is present throughout a production process, and that the process involves participatory elements where the subjects contribute to the narrative.Item Against animated documentary?(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Roe, Annabelle HonessAnimated documentaries have been written about in a mostly positive way that explores the way the form enhances and expands the documentary agenda. This is true of scholarly and academic writing as well as that in the popular press and film reviews. However, some authors have taken issue with the ascription of the term ‘documentary’ to animated documentaries. In addition, there are potential issues regarding audience response to animated documentary and the technical proficiency of the films themselves as they become more ubiquitous. This chapter explores the existing, and potential objections to and criticisms of animated documentary and suggests that a more ‘360-degree’ discussion of the form will enrich the scholarly discourse on animated documentary.Item Writing animated documentary : a theory of practice(Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2016) Wells, PaulThis short discussion provides some introductory remarks on writing for the documentary form in animation. Taking into account theories of the place of animation in utilitarian films, avant-garde works and the essay film, the analysis, based on auto-ethnographic insights, provides some methods and approaches to developing animated documentary work. These include ‘Making Animation Choices’, ‘Staging in Space’, ‘Using Attachment and Detachment’, developing ‘Episodic lists and Micro-Narratives’, and deploying ‘Transition and Associative Relations’. The analysis seeks to show that these approaches to the animated documentary reveal and evidence a theory of practice, and a practice of theory.