The quality that stuck with me the most from Gogol’s “The Nose” was the story’s silliness. I was amused by the possibility of a nose with legs and my dreams came true when Shostakovich’s opera was able to bring the nose to life. The sight of the nose prancing around the stage was forever etched into my mind because it was just so….silly. Because of this, my animation pays tribute to the prancing nose because I want to share the elation and thrill that my mind experienced when I first saw a person in a nose costume skipping around. I know…it’s weird and quirky. But hey, I dig quirky.
As if a nose running around wasn’t silly enough, I decided to make the animation reminiscent of a classic “Scooby-Doo” chase scene. I picked out a background with a passageway that led to multiple doors, allowing the nose to prance in an amusing manner by entering in one door and coming out the other. This shows the struggle that Koaloff experiences in his pursuit for the nose. The nose’s presence eventually becomes overwhelming, so as to mock Kovaloff that his pursuit is futile. Even though Kovaloff can see the nose, he can do nothing about it since no one believes that there is a nose on the loose. The only thing that he can do is utter the word: “nos” which is the Russian romanization for nose. The way the word is pronounced is blunt and simple so it sounds like a random grunt, showing his frustration.
Midphase
Now as an added bonus, I also have a gif that loops perfectly! Enjoy!
Very well done animation! Your transitions are so fluid! I never really looked at the story in the way you have, silliness was never an impression I had for this story. However you do have a good argument furthering your point. I guess silly and absurd border each other fairly closely. When I read the short story I had trouble imagining the scenes, your animation has really changed my perception of the short story permanently, by introducing a far more comical approach to such a strange story. Even before reading your paragraphs on your piece, I recognized the Scooby Doo chase theme! I think everyone would agree that your piece is amazing.
I like the way your animations flowed so smoothly, while most of the other animations (including mine) just had pictures pop up and disappear. This movie like quality makes it entertaining to watch. The mocking of Kovaloff by his own nose is clearly demonstrated by the playful stalking of the nose, in and out of the doors.
I agree with Kevin your animation is fluid. I’m trying to figure out how you made the characters come out of the doorway. Your portrayal of Kovaloff’s situation with his nose is spot on. He does run around town trying to find his nose and enlist other’s help without revealing his loss. All of Kovaloff’s effort went to waste in the end, instead the police bought back his nose for him.
I’m sure everyone recognizes the “Scooby Doo” theme before reading your description. In the actual “Scooby Doo”, the characters run around, but never seem to catch their target. The answer was obviously to wait in the center of the hall until their target crosses the hall. Kovaloff should have done the same, this effort was fruitless and his correct choice of action should have been to wait until the officer shows up at his door. Overall, I enjoyed your animation.
I love how your GIF is really smooth in terms of transition. Also, your reference to “Scooby-Doo” makes it more relatable to us as most of us are familiar with the cartoon! Your animation gives a “silly” impression, but it’s not silly at all. It’s interesting how you transformed Major Kovalev’s loss of the nose into the prancing nose and a clueless figure going after it. The man is still clueless even when there are tens of duplicated noses in the background! I also like how you later “erased” everything with a black brush tool and ended your collage with the word “nos.” It reminded me of couple of scenes at the opera when the actor screamed out the same word.
This is really cute and creative. It’s definitely interesting to look at the theme of silliness because many of us simply took the nose wandering around as strange and extremely unusual. It’s nice to see you take on a more playful, fun topic. Also, the way you made your characters move is really cool, you can barely tell it’s a collection of pictures, nice job! Your gif helped me focus on the chase throughout the story because I realized that I was focusing a lot on the distinct array of characters. It really is quite comical and silly to take apart the chase throughout the novel.
I think your animation was not only amazing and smooth, but also very relatable because I felt the story’s silliness too especially when the nose came on stage during the opera. I definitely enjoyed your animation and I can’t stop watching the nose hopping around on my screen. Also I immediately recognized the Scooby Doo chase scene and I really liked how you were able to incorporate that into your animation. Your animation clearly portrays how Kovaloff became frustrated from searching for the nose and how he eventually loses hope and gives up. I think your concept was very unique and creative and your animation was so smooth that it could fake for a video!
Your animation is by far my favorite created for a multitude of reasons. First, I admire the seamlessness of the transitions within your animation. Secondly, I love how you, through your gif, developed an entertaining scene and not just a collage of changing pictures. Lastly, I appreciate how you identified the silliness of The Nose. In my mood diary I had stated that although I knew the libretto contained humor, I did not understand it nor find it funny in the least. Therefore, I allocate you kudos for finding inspiration in The Nose to conjure up this amusing animation.
nor found it funny*