HEART, created by Erick Oh, is an animation which could be called surrealist, or expressionist, or avant-garde or even experimental by genre, and honestly, I can’t label it. However, I can’t summarise it either, as doing so would give the plot away in its entirety (it all comes together and makes sense at the very end- giving that away would spoil the story, and giving some of the start away would not make much sense until the end anyway, so I won’t do it), and as such, all I can do is merely recommend to watch it.
Stylistically, it’s mainly in monochrome, with a few key instances of colour for impact, and it all works very, very well together. As with the colour palette being a mixture between monochrome and colour, in favour of monochrome, the illustrations are primarily flat, with a few key objects being shaded for depth, in favour of flatness. In turn, this particular look created by the author adds impact to both, the story being told, and the action on the screen depicting the story itself; the lesson I learned here is just how important and how carefully balanced a visual style really has to be, in order to support the story rather than simply accompany it. It’s quite an obvious notion, however, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of including some visual eye candy here and there, rather than keeping the eye on the ball and working towards making the visuals convey emotion as best they can. I think it’s something definitely worth reminding yourself when working on anything, and I hold the opinion that it carries more weight than the ‘Keep-it-simple-stupid’ principle.
The camera work on this animation is also something very worth talking about. It’s restrained just enough to not make it obnoxious, making it as forceful and energetic, yet without ever overdoing it even once whenever it is calm, and without ever coming off as anemic, feeble and overly restricted when the pace really picks up. I think it’s balanced to a point as close to being perfect for this particular animation as possible, and definitely worth a mention.
I also really liked the sound here, much more so than in Invention of Love. It’s forceful and it feels weighty, without it ever seeming exaggerated or overdone in any way. I suppose it just ‘feels right’. It is mixed very well, too, something to take away for my project.
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