As part of our assignment work for this blog, we've been asked to analyse certain aspects of animation, or scenes from animated films.

I've decided to analyse the 'Minotaur Scene' from the film 'Tekkonkinkreet' (2006). I've chosen this scene in particular from the film because it shows some important themes within the film, as well as some character development from the two central characters. Below is a clip of the scene I will be analysing:

I'll begin with a quick overview of the scene. At this point in the film, the two brothers Black and White have been separated. During the time they're apart Black slowly starts to lose grip on his sanity. Black wanders into an amusement park, pursued by some assassins, after being attacked, a personification of the darkness within him: The Minotaur, rescues him and kills the assassins.

From this point onwards, everything begins to get a little surreal and strange. 

Now I'll start my analysis!

The sound design in this scene is very interesting. There's not actually that much background music, and if there is, it's very low and sinister. This really adds to the atmosphere of the scene, especially when The Minotaur shows up and begins talking. With only his dialogue and a few sound effects audible the scene becomes unsettling. The shift from near silence to sudden, loud sounds like the explosions work really well.

Similarly to the sound shifting, the movement/action speed also shifts. Throughout this scene there are quite sudden shifts between slow motion and sudden action. For example, when the assassins shoot Black's doll (0:57) and it falls to the ground in slow mo, it's immediately followed by fast action of  Black freaking out and jumping into a fight with them. Another example is when The Minotaur appears (3:10) and runs towards the assassins, it transitions to slow motion and then as the attack connects with the assassin, it speeds back up to real time. 

These shifts in speed are reminiscent of an action film. Tekkonkinkreet utilises this effectively and makes all the action sequences that much more exciting and fast paced. This is also supported by fast switches in camera angles. The switch from an angle like this:

to a much wider angle like this:

makes a fight scene much more interesting to watch, and also adds a much more chaotic feeling to the scene.

Overall, this scene is very interesting, with the sudden shifts in speed and angles, it's very dynamic. Combine this with the sound design, and the scene becomes unsettling as well. It really helps to show almost how desperate and frantic Black has become, in comparison to the start of the film where he's pretty confident. This feeling of urgency and desperation also applies to White as well, being kept in Police Custody and freaking out whilst Black fights the assassins, it's almost as if he knows Black is in trouble.