Transcription: Inspiring Animations (What makes them work? )

I've been looking up some various animations that I thought would be useful to pin point what exactly is it that makes them successful. All of them have interesting character designs, good working stories and editing. I am hoping to follow their logic alongside my own project.

Ride of Passage works very well as an animated short. The opening sequence of the silhouettes explains in a quick way what is the purpose of the main character an what could happen to his new friend. The character design is simple and the boy's performance is believable with its expressive face and body movements. The music also serves well to the mood of the story as it builds up whenever the situation gets intense.

The Monk and The Monkey makes great use of its editing. There is a great number of shots where you just see silhouettes, yet they work very successfully in the editing. The colour palette and lighting also help to reflect the mood.

Another animation which is successful in editing and story telling is the Defective Detective. Although thhe story is simple in its content- a detective thinking that his upstairs neighbour is being murdered when she's only cooking tomato soup- it is a proof of how a simple story can be straightforward and and exciting for the audience. There are also a few short animations used for the detective's dream sequences, which are more 2d-like. I also love how exaggerated  the characters are, especially the old lady.



Even if Alma is lacking in Dialogue, her facial expressions and body language tell everything. She is a curious child, and her curiousness is what led her to become a china doll. The use of editing is very grasping as the camera follows the naive child's eyes, even at the parts when the doll disappears when she turns her head to something else. 

Oxygen is an educative animation based on chemistry. Again the characters here are simple shapes as the most important thing in their case is to show their actions more than their looks. The environment is just simple shapes which is all the animation needs.


Ormie is an adorable animation of a pig trying to reach the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator. All the animation needs is a good character, the mac-guffin which is the cookie jar and a few props to help it out. There is no environment but a white canvas with a watercolour smudge. The use of a blank environment in this animation was a wise choice as it would have taken the attention of the character away.



Each animation works well as they don't have unnecessary detail. Just a good story with simple characters and environments (if needed). I am hoping to take in their methods and make something successful.