Contemporary: (choose 2 or identify your own)

Tim Burton – Tim Burton is an American Film director who is well known for his weird and wonderful design of characters and mood. His most famous films are ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Frankenweenie’. Tim Burton is a very successful director who has won many awards throughout his career for his films like 'Hugo', however the most substantial award that he has won is the Empire Legend Award. He has been awarded this because of his outstanding directing skills and the pieces of visual entertainment that he has made. I believe Burton aims for a slightly younger audience however his art style convinces me that his target audience is mid-teens, for example 14-16 year olds. The reason why i believe this is his target audience is because of the contrast between his character Jack Skellington and Nick Park's Wallace. the way he has created Jack is in a very eerie way which makes it much more intimidating for the viewer. However Nick Park makes his characters very plain and colourful, making it more suitable for younger viewers. This is demonstrated in the age ratings of their films, for example Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' was rated a PG due to his art style, however Parks 'Wallace and Gromit' was rated a U due to his simple childish designs. He targets both genders because he uses rather dull colours to make his characters, therefore destroying any gender stereotypes that may occur with colour e.g. girls favourite colour is pink. The reason why his style appeals to his audience is because it is childish. Although it is childish, there is an eerie sense to his films as characters like Edward Sissorhands gives the impression of madness, while having an undermining sense of humour. Burtons style reminds me of Svankmajer’s work because he expresses his emotions in his art style by giving his work more unique look than other directors.

Nick Park – Nick Park is an English animator who is extremely well known for his incredible stop frame animations. He is most famous for making ‘Wallace and Gromit’ however he has also made ‘Early Man’, ‘Shaun the Sheep’ and ‘Chicken Run’. Park is an extremely successful animator, director and producer as he has won many awards for his incredible creations. His most cherished award is the academy award for the best animated feature film. This just gives you an idea of how good his work is and how big of a breakthrough he has made in the industry. Personally I believe that Nick Parks work demonstrates the best and most advanced example of early film techniques, in particular The Persistence of vision and Stop Frame. During the production process they have huge sets with a whole team working on one scene. This allows their film to be incredibly smooth and look like it is a Computer Generated animation to younger children. Park has used the knowledge of early techniques and implemented them into his work as he takes so many individual frames that when they are put together, it looks like one fluid movement. Park aims to the younger audience, specifically children because he uses a lot of colours in his work and his art style is very similar to a cartoon drawing, making it appealing to younger viewers. These stop frame animations have become very successful as ‘Chicken Run’ earned a huge $225 million, all because of how well Park has made them. His work reminds me of Willis O’Brien with King Kong because it is appealing for children to see those objects (a gorilla and then sheep) become animated.