Independent Study Rationale and Plan

Rationale:

Animated films have a long tradition in film history since the early days of cinema – producing such classics from Disney’s ‘Snow White’ – to its first computer-animated blockbuster ‘Toy Story’. Different film industries have turned to traditional film genres as the basis for their feature-length animations, but even though the genres may be familiar to us, the cinematic approach used is very different.

In this documentary, I will compare how the American and French films ‘Shrek’ and ‘Dragon Hunters’, interpret genre and narrative themes in a distinctive way and how this relates to the cultural and commercial factors behind them. 

Plan:

Audio	Video
Page 1: History and evolution of animation
Traditional vintage Mickey Mouse music playing in the background and as narration moves on, music changes into more epic music	Archive footage of early stages of animation progressing up to more sofisticated forms of animation Stop motion, mickey mouse black and white, snow white,
Page 2: American and French tradition of animation (main theme of the documentary is presented)
Mainstream American pop music in the back while narrator speaks about American tradition Stereotypical French music in the back while talking about French tradition	Montage of American culture and its influences over animation, same with France
Page 3: Present the two films that are going to be discussed (Shrek or Tangled and Dragon Hunters) and their relevance to the topic
Narrator voice over Talking heads	Footage from both films Talking heads
Page 4 and 5: Mise-en-scene from both films in relation to genre
Narrator voice over Talking heads	Footage from both films Talking heads
Page 6 and 7:Effect on audience
Narrator voice over Talking heads	Footage from both films Talking heads
Page 8 and 9: Cultural background and its overall effect on both films
Narrator voice over Talking heads	Footage from both films Talking heads
Page 10: conclusion
Narrator voice over Talking heads	Footage from both films Talking heads