COMM 3560 Assignment 9

COMM 3560 Assignment 9 | Tulane University

Thomas Lamarre’s “Cinematism and Animetism” outlines the difference betweenanimetism and cinematism.  It is easy to spot animetism because rather than moving into thelandscape, you move across it.  Lamarre uses a metaphor that instead of having a bullet shoot atyou, in anime, you are the bullet shooting at an object.  The viewer is on the Z-axis goingforward and backward in depth.  Lamarre likes to talk about bullets and trains when focussing onthe rapid control of animation.  It is not that animetism is high tech and that cinematism is lowkey.  They are both technologoical modes.  It is the “entremetic interval” or movements betweenplanes.  The multi-planer camera made this process doable.  Each shot has multiple cell layers hecould move on top of one another.Animated films are not always an either or, often you’ll find a mixture betweenanimetism and cinematism in a single shot.  They are two aesthetic forms which contrast eachother.  This can be used by the creators in different ways to build tension.  Lamarre argues theyintervene in Japanese animation culture more broadly.In ​Castle in the Sky​, the viewer sees examples of both.  There is a feeling that the entirecastle is floating.  The image gives the viewer an aesthetic response of the clouds movingbeneath the castle.  By having a continuously passing cell beneath the castle's cell, the animationdoesn’t give up on presenting the castle as a floating object.  This animatism provides a sense ofdepth.  The cinematism is in the battle and crash sequence.  The camera displays the different

Scott 2ships viewpoints.  And then, after they land, they run to the end of the cliff where the film slowsdown and reveals clouds floating through.  The sense of depth makes the audience think there isalways more to the world.  It’s a 3D experience.  The cinematism is associated with action shotsor the camera looking over the shoulder shot.In ​The Incredibles’s​ action sequence, the virtual camera takes many cinematic angles,such as, over Mr. Incredible’s shoulder.  When the family is yelling at each other the camera isstraight on.  It is like they’re moving towards the camera.  It is very much cinematic.  In part ofThe Incredibles's​ scene, the camera pans from character to character as they yell making theaudience feel like they’re in the action.In Katsuhiro Otomo’s ​Akira​, ​Akira​ opens with a panning shot of a still city drawing.  Thetechnique of multiple cells is pretty clear.  Later, the audience sees a bike race ensure. In thebackground, the city’s building slide together and over one another to build up.  The animationshows depth.  Again later, a soldier exit the helicopter and runs towards the camera.  The cameratakes the point of view of the main character.  The mixture between types of shots adds to thedepth of the film.  When Lamarre associates cinematism with bullets and trains, it is because it isoften associated with these type of action sequences.  It puts the viewer in the action not lettingthem sit back and just watch.