The Codes and Conventions of Anime
Case study description
Project Summary
There are many codes and conventions of anime such as fancy backgrounds, nose bleeds, uwu faces, and other various tropes that make up the majority of anime we watch today. I intended to utilise my research to investigate how anime codes and traditions may be applied to generative art, with the objective of making some myself.
Project Question
What are the codes and conventions of anime and how can they be used within Generative Art?
Initial Research and Ideation
The basic concept was to investigate the emotion of anime, as this may be interpreted in a variety of ways using interactive illustration and music to enhance the emotional effect.
The early idea was a website with a “Random Media Generator,” which originated from the frustration of not being able to locate a show that fit your emotional state. After more work, the concepts of interactive illustration and music better fit the mould of anime’s codes and conventions, which include tropes, cliches, and distinctive visual signals.
This was pursued as part of the ongoing experiments using the medium of generative art because it is more intriguing than a simple website and there is a lot to learn f rom additional investigation into it.
Initial Experiments
The first set of experiments was focused on the introduction to p5.js by following various tutorials that would help with the further production in the future experiments.
These experiments resemble various ideas from the codes and conventions of anime such as speed lines, exaggerated imagery and flashy colours, which are some of the easier conventions to display within this medium.
Further Development
After reflecting on the previous progress, new ways to apply the codes and conventions were brainstormed f rom what I’d previously developed by sketching out other ways speed lines or exaggerated background colours could be used and expressed within generative art.
From this, the next idea was to incorporate the concept of perlin noise and flow fields with randomly placed vectors to give the speed line effect that you often see in faced paced moments in anime.
Final Artefact - Generative Art Website
The codes and conventions of anime have become more clear as a result of the research and experiments that have been conducted. This, however, does not detract f rom the subject; comparatively, it provides material for further discussion or development through various aspects of UX and UI-based mediums, rather than the animation itself.
It’ll be interesting to watch what happens when you apply conventions from one medium to another, and it’ll be even more intriguing to see what more you can do with this concept.
