Author: Chuhan Dai

I believe the animated documentary The Sinking of the Lusitania (Winsor McCay, 1918) was not made for entertainment. Instead, it served as propaganda, using animation to recreate a real maritime disaster that changed history. Its core purpose was strong political messaging.

The film is far from a simple record of the event. It was created during World War I (1914–1918). The sinking of the Lusitania, especially the death of many American civilians, caused great public anger in the United States.

Unlike the artist’s earlier works like Gertie the Dinosaur, this film aimed for a serious and realistic style. McCay used advanced layered acetate cel techniques for that time, drawing about 25,000 frames by hand. This was an astonishing amount of work. He also applied careful depth-of-field effects and multi-layer photography to vividly show the ship being hit by a torpedo, tilting, passengers falling into the water, and finally sinking，the scenes were very powerful. I believe they mean no warning before firing. Like a warning shot, a warning to the ship. (Not saying this is logical in a war zone)，The propaganda is absolutely the most obvious is gets though.

Moreover, text explanations were added throughout the animation to emphasize the truth of the event and specific data (such as the death toll). This strengthened its persuasive power as a “documentary” for propaganda.

This is not just an animation, but also a historical document—a necessary work for us to remember.

In personal understanding, the abstraction in animation is a kind of personality and animation style. It is needs auther’s aesthetic standards that is differenct with other people.

Everyone has their own abstract style( if they want to create), some artist will combine the sounds, lights, and illustrations performence. What impressed me most was the two sclpture stop motion animation in Nigel’s class.

I learned that early optical sound track technology recorded audio through light signals on the edge of film strips, converting sound vibrations into visible waveform patterns. Artists of hand-drawn sound experiments directly painted soundtracks onto film to create experimental sound effects. Meanwhile, the creation of abstract films used lines, geometric shapes, and rhythmic colors to explore the connection between sight and sound.

The short film I want to introduce is called The Little Poet, created by CalArts student Justine King. It won the 2023 Annie Award for Best Student Film. This is an experimental animation that is finely crafted in both its aesthetic and conceptual approach.

The overall mood of the film is dreamlike and carries a touch of melancholy. It tells a story of one-sided love that remains out of reach, with emotions flowing between poetic romance and quiet sadness.

As a student project, time and budget were limited，but that actually sparked creativity. Instead of meticulously recreating every famous painting, the film uses stylization and abstraction. This idea of “brushstroke worlds” turns the medium’s unique traits—the brushstrokes of painting and the lines of animation—into the central theme of the work.

The opening composition emphasizes the confinement of the picture frame. As imagination unfolds, the frame is broken, and the space becomes fluid, irrational, like a surreal scene. When the artist shifts between different art styles, the composition also jumps between a 2D decorative style and a 3D sense of perspective, directly reflecting the visual characteristics of different art movements.

Color acts as a marker of style: the color scheme changes dramatically as the character moves through different paintings—shifting from the soft tones of classical art to the bright palette of Impressionism, then to the high contrast of modern styles. Here, color isn’t just decoration; it’s a core tool for driving the narrative and transitioning between scenes.

Perhaps the connection between love and art is something profoundly pure. Shakespeare, in his sonnets, wished his beloved to live as long as these immortal verses，a tribute to the brilliant stars in the long river of art history, where animation too can shine with the splendor of a May summer.

Van Gogh, David, Seurat, Mondrian… accompanied by the inherent beauty and emotion within masterpieces, a “little poet” narrates a story in tender, slightly nasal rhymes—a tale that crystallizes sincere longing and the true heart of art into a poetic chapter. Or perhaps one could say… art and love together compose the greatest poem ever written by humanity?

No beauty lasts forever without fading or perishing, but as long as humans keep singing its songs, beauty and the memory of beauty，can be passed on.

Film analysis aims to answer: “What does this film really mean?” It is not about simply saying “what happens in the movie.”

I think editing is like camera language. But it uses the rhythm of cuts to build the story’s atmosphere. Great editing can lift a story and a film. Bad editing can turn a good story into a messy video with no rhythm.

In Nigel’s class, we learned about “long takes.” The audience gets clear plot information from the shot. But the shot keeps going. Things keep happening without any cuts. We also learned about “shot transitions” and “continuity.” This includes: 1. The graphic relationship between shots. 2. The rhythmic relationship. 3. The spatial relationship. 4. The temporal relationship.

I really like Montage Editing. But it feels like looking at visual art. When I try to make a montage myself, it feels too complex. Sometimes I watch other people’s montages and don’t understand what is happening. Simply put, it is too abstract.

Techniques like Cuts, Fades, and Dissolves look very artistic in camera language. They have great visual value.

Through this course, I’ve learned about key parts of visual language, Elements and Principles.
For example: color, form, line, shape, space, texture, and value are visual elements. Space can guide the viewer’s eye, while texture adds personality and style. Sometimes an artist organizes these elements to create rhythm, movement, or even uses the Golden Ratio (1:1.6). Strong contrast can create powerful visual impact, and blending multiple elements together makes the composition more beautiful.

But actually there is an principles I cannot understand ,is Value, what is the value in visual language? So I find the imformation from teacher give us ducument :” The word “value” is used a lot around this website. And with good reason.  Value is one of the seven elements of art. Value deals with the lightness or darkness of a color. ”

Value refers to tone and lightness/darkness. For example, in Léon: The Professional, when Léon and Mathilda first meet in the hallway, light and shadow split them into bright and dark sides. This is not only a visual composition but also a metaphor for their fate and circumstances.

The overall tonal style of a film，such as the Blade Runner 2049， sets its aesthetic and emotional atmosphere. In character portrayal, specific lighting， like the shadows across the face in The Godfather， can shape personality and inner state.

I didn’t read the whole writing but in my understanding《Film Art: An Introduction》 made me realize that film is not just a story presented naturally, but an art form organized through elements such as narrative structure, cinematography, editing, sound, and value. Much of the audience’s understanding and emotional response is actually guided step by step through the arrangement of these formal principles.

Meanwhile, Color Theory: A Critical Introduction taught me that colors do not inherently carry fixed emotions or symbols. Instead, their meanings are constantly shaped within historical, cultural, and power structures. For example, golden yellow symbolized imperial power in ancient China. Our understanding of color often reflects socially constructed experiences and visual cultural norms, rather than pure perception itself.