The Picas Tower films were some of the darker animated films I’ve seen. And they used a lot of different techniques in order to achieve this. There were three things that stood out to me used in order to capture this dark, ominous tone. Firstly, the color scheme. Dark colors, basically all shades of gray were used to create this tone. I also noticed a very heavy use of shadows. This to me was the most prominent feature in the visual aesthetic of the films that helped to add to the edgy ambiance.
Sound effects were also used very deliberately, adding to the suspense. I found that the dramatic sounds kept me on edge and added to the films. For example, this really stood out in “Good news” with the water droplets hitting the ground, the creaking of the chains, and the slamming of the steel door. They were very abrupt and added the element of suspense to the films.
Other elements that added to the darkness of the films were the camera movements and the animation used. The animation was rough, very un-humanlike. It was creepy the way the characters moved, and this type of animation creating this creepy feeling for me. Lastly, I noticed many of the camera movements added an element of surprise, adding to the suspense. For example, having the shot look as though its upright and then moving the camera to reveal that the previous shot was upside down. And there were good uses of panning that revealed more as the camera panned out. It helped the story that the viewer cannot see everything at once.
I think these films were successful in reaching the aesthetic that they were going for. I enjoyed them and can always appreciate telling a story in a short amount of time.
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