Animation has been used as a medium for nonfiction storytelling almost since its inception. The very first use of animation for documentary purposes is in the 1918 Windsor McCay film ‘The Sinking of the Lusitania‘. This served both as an accurate depiction of the sinking of the passenger ship and as an effective piece of…

The opening of Waltz with Bashir uses a rich audio tapestry to set the scene. Thumping techno plays in the background as the snarls and pants of the dogs come into the fore and carry the sense of danger from the screen to the ears. 102 different sound channels were used in this film, so…

In terms of animated style and finesse, Waltz With Bashir takes a very different approach to other, more cartoon-oriented studios such as Disney. In Waltz you don’t find exaggerated cute facial features or slapstick body movements, such as in the Frozen sequence of Olaf and Sven. Instead in Waltz you find a more restrained and…

Waltz With Bashir primarily uses two main color palettes, to describe different types of sequences during the film. For action sequences, deep reds, golden yellows and blacks are used, whereas during the more quiet sections we see more pale greys and blues. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that warm colours tend…

In his paper, Waltz with Bashir (2008): Trauma and Representation in theAnimated Documentary, Joseph Kraemer uses the visceral opening scene of Waltz With Bashir as an example of how the film highlights the complex and often hazy relationship between trauma, memory and truth. Kraemer points out that the very first shot depicts the empty streets…

In short, this scene is a small masterclass in execution of the 12 principles of animation. Shot by shot analysis reveals that at every moment at least one principle is being used to great effect.

In his piece Screen Memory in Waltz With Bashir, featured in Film Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Spring 2010), Garrett Stewart breaks down the stylistic decisions that director Ari Folman and his team made when creating Waltz With Bashir, and the impact these decisions had on the narrative. Stewart first pays reference to the fact…

The opening scene begins with this shot of the street. Immediately striking is the colour palette, which consists of desaturated greys and blues in stark contrast against a lurid golden sky. This wide angle shot immediately sets a tone of neglect – Bin bags line the street, there is discarded litter. Everything is sodden from…

Balance 1989 I chose to analyse this stop-motion animated short because it is quite unique insofar as it is comprised of only a few elements. The entire film takes place on a square plane which rocks back and forth, depending on its weight distribution. On top are five identical characters. Each of them has long,…

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