footnote episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Chris and Alex return to the Footnote format for this latest episode on “twice told tales” - a term that, following its Shakespearean origins, has been applied by writers of fantasy to refer to fantasy’s relationship to oral literature and fairytales. Topics include the fairytale’s codification of oral culture; legacies of literary structures and the power of (re)telling the beats of a story; shifting narrative templates and the act of adding one story ‘on top’ of another; and the spectatorial pleasure of receiving the fantasy of twice told creativity.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 16, 2023NARRATIVE, FANTASY, AUDIENCE, STORYTELLINGComment

Footnote #34 - Science Fiction (with Mark Bould)

Chris and Alex are joined once more by Mark Bould, Professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, for this Footnote episode that explores the origins and definitions of science-fiction storytelling.

Footnote #33 - Can Colour Blind People Work in VFX? (with Chris McKenna)

Special guest Chris McKenna, current Head of Creative Operations at the VFX studio Moving Picture Company, joins Chris and Alex for this latest Footnote episode on the VFX industry, with a particular focus on artists with colour blindness and advice on the best avenues for getting into animation lighting and design.

Footnote #32 - 3D (with Nick Jones)

Fresh from their discussion of Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts, 2021), Chris, Alex and special guest Dr Nick Jones (Senior Lecturer in Film, Television and Digital Culture, University of York) return for this short Footnote episode on the marvel and magic of 3D technology.

Footnote #31 - Claymation

From the invention of Plasticine by William Harbutt in Britain in 1897 to the use of malleable materials in the earliest stop-motion ‘trick films’ of Edwin S. Porter, J. Stuart Blackton, and the Fleischer Brothers, the application of clay in animation has a history as long as the medium itself.

Footnote #30 - Franchises

The economy of the Hollywood franchise is the focus of Footnote #30, where Chris and Alex examine the multimedia conglomeration of the U.S. cinema industry in the blockbuster era of the 1970s, and the subsequent impact on the post-2000 phase of Hollywood film production and its intensified franchise mentality.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMay 29, 2023HOLLYWOOD, INDUSTRY, FRANCHISES, SEQUELSComment

Footnote #29 - Transmedia

Drawing on the seminal work of scholar Henry Jenkins, this latest Footnote episode engages the question of transmedia storytelling, industrial organisation, cultures of appreciation, and the consumption of media in an era of convergence. Alex takes the lead in discussing how contemporary entertainment experiences involve the dispersal of content across interacting, co-ordinated, and co-dependent media platforms.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMay 15, 2023INDUSTRY, HOLLYWOOD, STORYTELLINGComment

Footnote #28 - Adult Animation

Animation’s rude and crude history is the topic of Footnote #28 of the podcast as Chris and Alex take up the complex issue of adult animation.

Footnote #27 - Surrealism

Following up episodes on hyper-realism and photorealism, this latest instalment completes the unofficial Fantasy/Animation ‘realism’ trilogy (!) by focusing on the history, politics, and aesthetic concerns of surrealism.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantApril 17, 2023SURREALISM, HISTORY, PSYCHOANALYSISComment

Footnote #26 - The Cinema of Attractions

The tension between spectacle and narrative is investigated through the seminal work of Tom Gunning and his formulation of the “cinema of attractions” in this latest Footnote episode, in which Chris and Alex hold cinema’s propensity for exhibitionist visual display and its later development of story in delicate balance.

Footnote #25 - Photorealism

Fresh from their discussion of hyper-realism in the previous Footnote episode, Chris and Alex discuss ‘photorealism’ in this latest instalment - a term that denotes the aesthetic mimicking of lens-based media to create the appearance of a world as viewed through a camera.

Footnote #24 - Hyper-Realism

The podcast's first engagement with questions of ‘realism’ in animation takes centre stage in Footnote #24, where Chris and Alex historicise and interrogate the function of realism and hyper-realist traditions within a multitude of media and aesthetic traditions.

Footnote #23 - Phantasy

The story of phantasy (with a ‘ph’) forms the basis of this latest Footnote episode, a term that is as muddy and complex as its more familiar ‘f’ counterpart. Whereas ‘fantasy’ is associated with carefree, escapist enjoyment in the imagination, phantasy describes a process of meaning making within the human psyche, and is a psychological act that is a regular part of our engagement with - and understanding of - the world.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantFebruary 13, 2023PHANTASY, FANTASY, PSYCHOANALYSIS, IMAGINATIONComment

Footnote #22 - Boiling

The second Fantasy/Animation footnote of the year sees Chris and Alex discuss boiling, an often-unintentional aesthetic effect involving the visibility of undulating animated lines that surfaces due to slight deviations within repeating drawn images.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJanuary 30, 2023LABOUR, CEL ANIMATION, CRAFT, CREATIVITY, MOVEMENTComment

Footnote #21 - World-Building

The Fantasy/Animation Footnote podcasts return for 2023 with this 10-minute discussion of world-building, which examines both fantasy and animation’s ability to create believable and credible ‘worldly’ spaces. Chris and Alex wrestle with a number of ideas related to the appreciation of cinema beyond character and narrative, drawing on V.F. Perkins’ influential writing on film’s many fictional worlds to discuss the question of art’s relationship world-building, worldliness, and worldhood.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJanuary 16, 2023WORLD, FICTION, FANTASY, ANIMATIONComment

Footnote #20 - Christmas

What makes a Christmas film, and why are fantasy and animated films so popular during this festive period? How is cinema consumed and ‘used’ at Christmas by both the popular film industry and families as a source of comfort? How is Christmas is narratively and thematically presented in our favourite festive-themed films?

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 19, 2022CHRISTMAS, REPRESENTATION, HOLLYWOOD, POPULARComment

Footnote #19 - Morphing

Animation’s potential for quick change is the focus of Footnote #19, as Chris and Alex go through questions of transformation via a 10-minute look at morphing.

Footnote #18 - Studio Ghibli (with Susan Napier)

The latest Footnote episode of the podcast sees the return of Professor Susan Napier (Goldthwaite Professor of Rhetoric, International Literary and Cultural Studies at Tufts University), who straight from her guest turn on Chris and Alex’s discussion of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2002) chats about the animated works and philosophy of Studio Ghibli.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 21, 2022JAPAN, ANIME, FANTASY, STORYTELLINGComment

Footnote #17 - Metaphor

The power of symbolism and the creativity of the metaphorical are the focus of Footnote #17, which seeks to distinguish Metaphor through animation’s identity as a ‘metaphorical’ medium and, as a consequence, its fundamental rhetorical and symbolic potential.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 7, 2022METAPHOR, RHETORIC, IMAGINATION, CREATIVITYComment

Footnote #16 - Dual Address (with Noel Brown)

Recent podcast guest Dr Noel Brown (Senior Lecturer in Film and Programme Leader for Film and Visual Culture, Liverpool Hope University) returns for this Footnote episode on Dual Address, and the ways in which children’s fiction (and cultural products more broadly) might engage a double register and include meaning for both child and adult audiences.

FOOTNOTE PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 24, 2022HUMOUR, AUDIENCE, CHILDREN, SPECTATORSHIP, FICTIONComment