Actual content! And Cartoons, people!

When talking about cartoons, one brings to mind the various colorful characters and situations that bring laughter to children everywhere. Entertainment is the purpose of such shows, and even cartoon violence can be be used to comedic effect. Yet, these exaggerated expressions and sounds remove their viewers from the reality and consequences of such actions.

Excerpts of work by Sheila M. Sofian.

Sheila M. Sofian creates stylized films using a mix of animation and narration, portraying social issues in a way similar to documentaries. She has up to date produced, directed and animated 6 independent works which have won international awards, and are distributed both educationally and in home video markets.

Ms.Sofian's graduate work @ Rhode Island School of Design was Mangia! (1985), a 2mins film with visuals created by photographing blurry paint-on-glass. It depicts swirly motions of landscapes & figures of her overseas exchange program to an Italian family, overlaid with dialog from each member, creating a sort of documentary to their daily lives.

Later she made Survivors (1997), featuring a similar graphic style, but tackles the much darker issue of domestic violence. The work journals the research and interviews she had with women & child victims, creating a visualization of their suffering through fluid paintings, real voice overs and music. It was extremely well received, winning several awards across many countries. Perhaps the highly expressive yet, subtly abstract visuals show, as well as allow viewers space to imagine the issue, in a manner more effective than real life interviews with DV victims (whom have their identities covered).

Thinking back to the Three Women video by Eric Maierson, despite having having different presentation styles, both contained a fake: fictional visuals - Survivors & scripted audio - Three Women. However, the meaning behind these 2 works are strong & undeniable when it is able to move & stop people, as well as change lives for the better.

I'm glad to have had the chance to attend the joint sharing session by Ms.Sofian and her husband, Mr.David B. Fain today, on a synopsis of the past 25 years of their respective careers in the animation industry. It was extremely nice of them to talk from their student projects (using archaic animation methods) to the differing types of work that these 2 wonderful people receive today, despite having graduated as animators/film makers from the same school!


Bio:
Sheila M.Sofian is an associate professor at the University of Southern California, where she teaches a popular Documentary Animation Producion course. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.

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Blog for CS8206 – Interactive Multimedia Journalism.
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