Episode 193: Animation in Documentary Filmmaking – A Partnership Re-emerging

In this episode Jason Rugg, our loyal host and trusty dusty button pushing guy, is our guest guru on animation and how animation in documentary filmmaking is making a resurgence.

With Jason’s extensive background in animation, Christian questions Jason about how animation works and they discuss the history, as well as the pros and cons of using animation in documentary storytelling.

Referencing this article, Christian and Jason unpack how the animation revival mentioned is still relevant in today’s filmmaking. Additionally, they dive into the various aspects of animation and motion graphics within storytelling and film making with these various examples:

The Sinking of the “Lusitania”

“Ryan” a short by Chris Landreth (2004)

They also discuss costs of animation referencing these films:

“A Head Shorter” by Sasha Bortnik

“An Inconvenient Time” – The Story of Ruth Ravina

“Chicago 10“ by Brett Morgen

DocuView Déjà Vu:

Jason: “Ryan” a short by Chris Landreth (2004) IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414469/?ref_=fn_al_tt_12

Christian: “MH370: The Plane that Disappeared”, Series, 2023, IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26739535/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Timecodes:

02:20 – Jason Rugg’s Bio

04:19 – Motion Graphics vs Animation

06:00 – Motion Capture vs Live Animation

10:20 – Math & Animation

12:55 – The rebirth/resurgence of animation in documentary film making with examples

23:00 – The cost of animation, examples and styles such as “parallaxing”

30:57 – Striking the right balance between animation and story asking questions like do you have an art director or an illustrator?

40:06 – Advice from Jason about where to start with animation if you are interested in using this medium in your storytelling, including finding the right style of animation to compliment your story

45:43 – DocuView Déjà Vu

47:46 – Update & Wrap up