Critical Review: Planet Paranoid

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SIGGRAPH Video Review:Siggraph 99 Animation Theater Program Part1, Humor. "Planet Paranoid", made by Wolfgang Morell at the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden in 1998.

For my Critical Review I choose "Planet Paranoid" by Wolfgang Morell which is a humorous animation about the possible discovery of the Voyager Spacecraft by Alien beings." Planet Paranoid" is also an allagory of the misunderstandings that can occur across cultures. It is a parable about cross-cultural communications, and what can happen we people make rushed judgements about the meaning of a message, in this case a visual message. I will review each part of the animation looking at the principles of animation and cinematography used, the sound and music, and the plot and storyline. Some principles of animation to look for in a critical review are: timing, anticipation, staging, exaggeration, appeal, personality, and secondary action. Cameras angles and shots are also important to look for. How does the camera view advance the story, or highlight a character or actions taking place? What transitions are used between cuts, are they fades, dissolves, straight cuts or stylized transitions? Many of the significant advancements from the history of computer graphics such as texture mapping, lighting, atmospheric effects, and reflections can seen used in this animation. These advancements where incorporated into the SoftImage application that Wolfgang used to create this film.

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