Animation

Investigations and activities (English Focus)

1. Discuss animated Western films that you know, for examples those from Disney or Pixar. In small groups, complete the following table:

2. Study the characters in the image ‘Animation’. Make predictions about their roles in Legend of Blue. Compare your predictions in pairs. Discuss the reasoning behind your predictions. Look at the images in ‘Korean Animation: Fighting Spectacle with Substance’, in the Spring 2003 edition of Koreana. How are these drawings similar to those in Disney and Pixar films? In what ways are they different? Make a list of the qualities which seem to appeal specifically to a Korean audience.
3. The article compares Korean animated films with those produced in Hollywood. The writer says ‘Korean animation is different from that of Hollywood. Korean animators achieve their best work when, instead of striving for spectacle, they make humble but solid works that appeal to the emotions.’ What do you think this means?
4. List films/TV series, which:

•  utilise spectacle as a major drawcard
• explore the emotional journey of characters.

5. Complete a PMI (Positives, Minuses, Interesting) chart for each type of film. For an example of a PMI chart, go to Global Education website.
6. Increased interest in animation came with the arrival of American forces in Korea in the 1950s. There is still an American military presence in South Korea. Read the article by American soldier Lori Shevokas ‘What I learned as an American Soldier in Korea’, from the Helium website. This article explores the experience of being a soldier in a foreign country in 2004. Use a double entry journal to respond to some of the issues raised in this text:

7. Australian soldiers work in a diverse range of roles in various countries. Use the responses in your double entry journal as the basis for a class discussion about the skills required by soldiers in a foreign country.