Speaking with Animation

An interesting piece of animation I found on the freerangestudios website is called Say No to Blood Diamonds by Amnesty International. This piece works for an audience because it is an informative animation that reveals the truth behind an everyday commodity (diamonds) and why we shouldn't invest in it. Although the color is flat, using three shades of grey for the background, silhouetted characters, and text it works. The only two images that has color and sticks out of the animation are the (conflict) diamond and the money that is exchanged for the diamond. This is a 2D animation with the use of mechanistic character articulation, but the story is conveyed clearly. The movement of the silhouetted characters are smooth and it doesn't look lifelike, but it still works. The artist's choice of including text to tell the story using dramatic music in the background is effective and I also enjoyed the way the artist used the "rewinding animation" effect to illustrate a linear story. Rewinding takes the audience story back to the beginning and exhibiting the actual brutal history of Sierra Leone and the development of conflict diamonds. I think that this short animation is great because it brings forth an ignored issue and what we can do to stop it in a minute and fifteen seconds. It is straight forward and the audience can easily interpret what the artist is trying to say.

Check it out below!