Thoughts on the Style of Yuri Nortstein and Jiri Barta

I found the animation timing of Yuri Norstein's style to be particularly interesting.  I cannot remember specific examples, but the style had a definite dynamism that made it far more expressive than the previous styles we have encountered.  With certain instances in Hedgehog in the Fog, the timing was so exaggerated that I even found it to be awkward, or at least confusing.  Some cuts and movements were so fast that I encountered difficulty in perceiving the animator's intention, whether it be the action itself or the emotional state of the character.

I absolutely loved the aesthetic style of Jiri Barta's The Pied Piper of Hamelin.  Though it could have been completed in other mediums like hand drawn 2D animation, I believe the wooden carvings enhanced the caricature of certain characters.  The sharp edges and highly stylizes forms depicted the particular personality of each character in a way I have rarely seen before.  Likewise, few moving parts existed on the puppets, and so the caricature had to sufficiently convey each character.

The untrustworthy, deceiving king - the form of his head resembles a rodent, which symbolize greed in the film

The greedy and materialistic - high, upturned chins convey pompousness

The brutal executioner - jagged, asymmetrical, harsh forms convey some brute nature