Blue Umbrella Love is a 2013 animated short film by Pixar directed by German graphic composition artist Saschka Unselde. The film was nominated for the 86th Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, with a Douban score of 8.3.
For the inspiration for the short film, the director said: "On a rainy day, when I was walking alone on the street, I saw a discarded umbrella lying on the side of the road. This slightly sad scene suddenly gave me an epiphany, and I was thinking about what interesting stories could happen to a broken umbrella, so I had "Blue Umbrella Love". ”
The story is actually very simple, telling the story of the city at night, everything is given life, a group of black pressure and hurried umbrellas, there is a blue umbrella accidentally saw a red umbrella and triggered a romantic love story. Can you get an Oscar nomination for a simple and rustic plot? Obviously not, the surface of the film presents us with a romantic and warm love story of love at first sight, and there is a deeper connotation behind the romance.
Therefore, this article will deeply analyze the unique charm of this oscar-nominated best animated short film from two aspects: creative method and connotation expression. In the third part of the article, I will combine my own movie-watching experience and talk about the inspiration of the success of this short film.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01, through realistic style, anthropomorphic techniques and peculiar perspectives, to create the film's unique stylistic charm</h1>
The appearance of "Blue Umbrella Love" confirms the classic saying that art comes from life and is higher than life. An umbrella that seems to us to be common can inspire the director, coupled with his imagination, and a romantic love short film was born.
(1) Realize realistic style visual effects through global illumination, depth image synthesis and other technologies
The director initially wanted to shoot on location, but had to give up the idea because it was very difficult to implement, but the idea of realistic style was retained. Therefore, although "Blue Umbrella Love" is only an animated short film, the picture presented is extremely realistic, and the scenes seem to be like the real scenes around us. To achieve such a photorealistic visual effect, Pixar used technology that had never been used before:
Global illumination: simulates how light is emitted and reflected to the surface of an object;
Depth image synthesis: You can get data from three-dimensional layered images.
The time cost per frame rendered is very high, sometimes even more than a day, taking an average of 20-30 hours. Usually the film is shot at 24 frames per second, but in order to simulate the real rhythm of raindrops falling, the shooting speed is reduced to half, using 12 frames per second. Slow work out of the work, so that the short film can perfectly present those vivid anthropomorphic scenes, when the first raindrops arrive as promised, as if the conductor of the orchestra wields a baton, sleeping sewer pipes, manhole covers, traffic lights, awnings and other items receive the conductor's signal and play the music of life.
The visual effects brought about by the new technology are also obvious to all, and each picture is rich in light, depth of field and shadow, almost to the point of being fake. If you change to the usual programmatic animation, there is definitely no such realistic visual effect.
This is a post-animation rendering, is it the same as mistakenly thinking that it is a live-action shooting?
(2) Objects in daily life not only retain visual intimacy but also reflect personalization through anthropomorphic techniques
Anthropomorphism is a rhetorical technique that personifies things, turning things that do not have human actions and feelings into the same actions and feelings as people.
Anthropomorphism is one of the common ways of portraying characters in animation, and in short films, some objects that are common in daily life are vivid through anthropomorphic expression techniques. In particular, the protagonists of the short film, blue umbrella and red umbrella, have their own personality with a simple expression.
Using anthropomorphic expressive techniques to narrate has three benefits:
The first is the familiarity of everyday objects that makes the audience interested in further viewing;
The second is that familiar objects are given life, and each item has a unique personality, which is intimate and eye-catching at the same time;
Finally, it is the human emotion that is poured into these objects, and it will make the viewer experience a strong sense of humanity.
These are some of the things in life that are easily overlooked by us, and the director chose to anthropomorphize them, reminding us to pay attention to the bits and pieces of life. Even the most ordinary things have their own unique shining points.
(3) Under the peculiar perspective, inanimate objects transcend reality and possess emotions.
At the beginning of the film, the background is first explained through the omniscient perspective, the bustling city streets, and suddenly the wind and rain fell. Passers-by who were in a hurry held up umbrellas. Then switch the inner perspective, a blue umbrella, which is one of the protagonists of the film. As the plot progresses, the perspective switches back and forth between two umbrellas, blue umbrellas and red umbrellas. After a chase, the blue umbrella lies alone on the side of the road, and different objects under the city have become the perspective of the film.
One of the highlights of the film is that the perspective adopted is not the living people under the city, but a group of inanimate things under the city. Everything under the lens recovers, and does his best to assist the blue umbrella, contributing to the warm ending of the two umbrellas. A look, an action, and a detail all reflect the director's brilliant ideas. It has a sense of fantasy beyond reality, and because of the gripping perspective of different perspectives, the audience can't help but look forward to the next plot.
Thanks to the director's brain opening, with superb animation production and rendering technology, a scene close to reality and beyond reality has been created. Whether it is the blue umbrella and red umbrella as the protagonist in the film, or a group of common objects as supporting characters. The simple and truth-seeking, fearless, good and beautiful spirit of love and friendship that is displayed after being endowed with humanity is worth learning from our contemporaries, and at the same time reminds us to be good at observing the beautiful things around us and discovering the value highlights of ordinary people.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >02, the courtship journey of the blue umbrella is a metaphor for rebelling against universal rules even if you can't control your fate</h1>
The main narrative thread of the film revolves around the blue umbrella. The ignorant blue umbrella is attracted by the dazzling red umbrella at hand, depicting a romantic love story that has gone through thousands of rivers and mountains. The emotional expression of the story relies on the courtship journey of the blue umbrella, which conveys a profound connotation.
(1) As a metaphor for man, we are all bound by anachronistic universal rules
Aesthetically, externalization means that the work of art perfectly embodies the inner mind and concept content in the form of external sensibility, that is, the concept and mind are externalized and appear as perceptual images. — Aesthetics, Vol. 1
The umbrella is only an externalized performance, so the story of the umbrella world interpreted in the film is actually a metaphor for the story between the owners of the umbrella. In the bustling urban life, it suddenly rained, and people in a hurry held up their umbrellas, at this time the picture was filled with bustling umbrellas, and the umbrellas that were endowed with humanity had the same tired and numb expression.
This dramatic scene has a strong metaphor, borrowing the expression of the umbrella to reflect the psychological characteristics of urban people, we are all wrapped up in the modern fast-paced urban life, bound by some universal rules such as having a house, a car and a certain social status, under these untimely rules, we slowly become numb and lose our original intentions.
(2) The dilemmas faced in trying to break free from the barriers of universal rules
As the plot progresses, a group of mechanically forward black pressed umbrellas, a blue umbrella timidly emerges, like a newborn child curiously looking at the world. Here the blue umbrella is used to express the director's doubts about universal rules, and it is obvious that trying to break free is also facing many tests:
The first test stems from itself: the umbrella is controlled by the owner and cannot freely choose the direction of the way forward, metaphorically the master is wrapped in society and cannot freely control his own destiny;
The second test comes from the outside: the stormy weather, the constant flow of vehicles, and the noisy horn are all metaphors for the shackles imposed by the outside world.
The emergence of the blue umbrella is in strong contrast with the previous cookie-cutter black umbrella, one is a pioneer who is simple and innocent and brave to try new paths, and the other is a blind follower who has been immersed in universal rules for a long time. The appearance of the blue umbrella pins on the director's good hopes, and blind followers can get rid of the invisible locks given by universal rules.
(3) Even if you are shackled, you must fight back and strive to chase happiness
The blue umbrella is immersed in the happiness of love at first sight, who knows that when they reach the crowded street corner, the owners choose the opposite direction. When the owner is about to enter the subway station, seeing that the object of love is going to stay away, the blue umbrella suddenly has the courage to use the fierce wind to turn the disadvantage into an advantage. After experiencing a series of difficulties and obstacles, I fought hard and finally embraced happiness.
The director's act of borrowing a blue umbrella conveys a simple truth. People cannot be satisfied with the status quo and are limited by universal rules, and when universal rules run counter to self-pursuit, even if we are born ordinary, we must learn to question and resist. In the face of the storm on the road of adversity, show the courage to chase hard. In the end, the success of the blue umbrella obviously contains the director's approval and good expectations for perseverance and finally harvest happiness.
Maybe there was also a rainy evening when we met him and her in the bustling streets. Perhaps in life we have also been exhausted by the oppression of untimely universal rules, repeating a boring life day after day. Then the director obviously wants to convey to us through the experience of the blue umbrella that we cannot blindly follow the arrangement of fate to be solidified, and we must learn to think about our own lives. Have a child's heart, ride the wind when the opportunity comes, and find self-embrace happiness.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03, as a movie lover, combined with the perspective of my analysis above, talk about the inspiration for the success of the short film "Blue Umbrella Love" for us</h1>
As an animated short film with only 6 minutes and 47 seconds, "Blue Umbrella Love" is very popular and loved by the audience. Compared with many domestic animated feature films, although there is an interest in watching, it is often laughed after watching, and it cannot arouse the audience's thinking and resonance, which is lacking.
Below, based on my experience in watching the film, combined with the content and profound connotation, talk about the enlightenment of the success of this short film for us:
(1) Superb audio-visual skills, can enhance the viewing and fun of short films
The first is the color, through multiple contrasts to highlight the protagonist, through the color to suggest the character's personality:
The low saturated dark tone of the background contrasts sharply with the high saturated and bright tone of the protagonist's umbrella, and the bright and positive of the protagonist is highlighted through the dark and negative background;
Between the two protagonists, the blue umbrella and the red umbrella, there is another set of contrasting colors, which is a pair of classic contrasting colors in the design aesthetic, and many brand designs also use this set of colors, such as Pepsi;
The traffic lights and barricades that appear many times as supporting characters are warm colors, with the symbolic meaning of sunshine and warmth, paving the way for them to help the blue umbrella later.
The public often says that since ancient times, red and blue cp, "Blue Umbrella Love" adopts the classic red and blue color matching, which makes the moviegoer feel kind while increasing the sense of comedy and expectation. The film outlines a familiar and dramatic scene, and the bright tones of the protagonists and the warm tones of the supporting characters all hint that our story will have a warm ending.
Secondly, in terms of sound effects, the entire film does not use human voices, but through the interpretation of different sound effects, it perfectly promotes the plot:
Effect sound: the ticking sound of rain falling, the whistling sound of the wind, the honking of the car horn, the rushing sound of the sewer pipe, the dripping sound of traffic lights, etc. are vividly staged with the development of the plot;
Music: The soundtrack of the film is pure folk music produced by Jon Bron and Sarah Jaffe, with a Douban score of 9.4, and the brisk melody complements the plot.
The various timely effect sounds in the film add to the sense of realism and fun, which not only sets off the atmosphere of the rainstorm day but also shows its own personality. Although the entire film uses only a brisk folk song, the gentleness and briskness of its own tune are perfectly connected with the ups and downs of the plot, and the superb transition skills of the music just right to promote the development of the plot.
"Blue Umbrella Love" interprets a tortuous and moving love short film for us through superb audiovisual skills. Of course, audiovisual skills are certainly not only color and sound effects, but also aesthetic principles and sound effect techniques that not only render and sublimate the theme, but also bring the audience just the right rhythm of the film and appreciate the dual artistic enjoyment of visual and auditory. Because of this, it is easy for the audience to immerse themselves in the joys and sorrows of the characters in the film.
(2) Good short films often have profound connotations, triggering the audience to ponder and reminisce
First of all, the director takes inspiration from common things in reality, which leads us to be good at discovering the beautiful things in life, even if it is a slightly sad scene like a broken umbrella lying on the road, it can convey a positive attitude towards life;
Secondly, there must be a whimsical imagination, through a well-choreographed script, the ordinary objects in reality are anthropomorphized, so that it is both grounded and artistic, which will make the audience have a sense of novelty that is familiar and strange;
Finally, although the short film originates from reality, it must have an artistic processing that is higher than reality. It is necessary to give it a distinct practical significance and spiritual connotation, and through social phenomena, touch the pain points and memories of the audience, and trigger spiritual resonance.
The short film is full of life and has its own special artistry and profound connotation, wrapping the tortuous and difficult social reality under the positive and optimistic spirit. The warm ending of the film is also a place where every film lover enjoys it, and the contemporary urbanites who are forced by the pressure of life and constrained by universal rules see that as long as they work hard, they have the possibility of embracing happiness, which is why modern people are more and more willing to watch happy ending movies.
To summarize:
"Blue Umbrella Love" is a relaxed and warm romantic love short film, but it is not limited to telling a love story, but also conveys a beautiful vision of breaking free from the shackles with a metaphor. Its exquisite graphics, superb rendering technology, and melodious soundtrack are all worth a look, allowing you to find your original intention and discover the beautiful side of life in a slightly depressed reality. Thanks for your attention @ I am wishing to pick up a ZHU