Animation Deconstruction: The Iron Giant

These are sample images from the animated film The Iron Giant, released in 1999.

In this blog, I will compare and contrast the two pictures' color and lighting elements.

The first image utilizes a wide range of color. By using very high saturation on Hogarth's jacket, the creator ensures that our eyes are drawn to him. Our attention ping-pongs between Hogarth and the robot. The creator uses a very bright sky to further emphasize the dark colors used on the robot. Silhouetting is a great way to draw attention to a subject, and that technique works beautifully here. Using two different elements (saturation and brightness), the creator draws our attention to both characters in the shot.

The next image uses a more narrow range of color. Saturation has been almost completely stripped from this image, further emphasizing the cold, sad mood of the shot. The first shot matched its visuals with the narrative feel of the scene (funny, happy), and so does this shot; by using mostly gray tones and a uniform level of lighting, this shot gains a very dreary, cold feeling.

The lighting in the first image is very interesting. There is a bright background and bright foreground with a large, dark robot in between the two. Not only does this make the robot look intimidating, but it creates a lot of depth along the Z-axis. This shot would not be nearly as powerful if it showed the two from a side angle; by creating depth along the Z-axis, we are put into Hogarth's point of view and become intimidated by this huge, dark robot.

A general lack of lighting in the second shot keeps the viewer's eyes from wandering to the background. It creates emphasis on the robot and Hogarth because they are basically the only visually interesting things in the shot.

This is a great movie with a lot of really great compositions.