For the animation as non-storytelling presentation, I started to have a look at the book, Animated Realism: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Animated Documentary Genre, and I found information on an animator called Paul Fierlinger and researched some of his work.
(Kriger, Judith. Animated Realism. Oxford: Focal, 2012. Print.).
“Their cartoons are set to a “soundtrack” of recorded interviews with real people who tell their personal tales of alienation and melancholy and the epiphanies they achieved. The stories include that of Domingo D’Achille who recalls how lost his sense of his true self in his teens, amassed and squandered a great fortune, lived a skid-row existence for a time, and found peace one night when realized he was just as insignificant and just as important “as the next speck of stardust.” Most powerfully, perhaps because he is so well known and successful, there is film director Milos Forman’s candid remembrance of the loneliness he experienced after the bizarre death of his closest companion, a beloved dog, and how in his grief and denial he played solitaire for hours on end.” (http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/a-room-nearby).
My personal favourite of his pieces would be Still Life With Animated Dogs. It’s about the dogs Paul Fierlinger has owned and how they helped shape his evolution as a man and an artist. We meet Roosevelt, Ike, Johnson, and Spinnaker, all of whom share journey’s and experiences, shown in this animation, from Paul’s 40 years of despair and wonder.
Abigail Gelston 