OUAN404 - Study Task 2 - Father and Daughter

The short Dutch animation, Father and Daughter was made in 2000 by director Michael Dudok de Wit. It's represents almost a fact or life type story, featuring a girl and her father. As the father says goodbye to his daughter and leaves, Dutch landscapes are shown going through their seasons as time goes on. As this happens, the daughter character is shown getting older, becoming a young woman and eventually becoming old before having a family of her own. Throughout the animation she is shown to have a longing for her father.

The tone of the piece is very washed out and rather serious in this respect. Based on the narrative that runs throughout showing the natural progression of life and relationships it is clear that the the director didn't want to take away from the ongoing story and kept the animation style to a very minimalist one. Bright colours are nearly none existent as dull shades of brown, orange and black are used to depict shadows and light, with hints of blue occasionally on clothing for example. The use of these colours in particular give the piece a very unique, almost sepia tone, which almost makes it seem like we're looking into the past or through time due to the washed out look. Space is used very well through out this feature, long panning shots take us across vast open landscapes and the sense of scale is present always through the use of the environment and nature. Hills, trees and mountains are used repeatedly to show scale, and depict the Dutch landscape; but may also hold a deeper meaning, as we often see characters struggling up hill in different scenes, perhaps being a metaphor for the hardships of life. Skies and backgrounds feel very vague as if they are hardly existent, because of the lack of definition and colour. It works very well however and gives the animation an elegant feel because of the lack of detail and clear imagery. The incorporation of traditional techniques into this animation gives it a nice texture, the rustic hand drawn quality that this permits adds to the visual depth of the animation and adds a certain detail that wouldn't be there if it was made with block colours. The composition is heavily character driven almost every shot features a character in the centre of the frame to move the story forward with their actions, which means you are focused on action at all times. Overall the visual style and combination of character and environmental driven story telling is very well done in Father and Daughter with the minimalistic style and colours combined with an exceptional use of space to use the landscape as well as possible it's a fine example of appropriate decision making when crafting an animation to coincide with an honest story.