MD6002 Week 13 - Ryan Power documentaries

Ryan Power is an autistic young man. He has appeared in two animated documentaries: Snack and Drink (1999) and The Even More Fun Trip (2007). He also appeared in a live-action documentary called Ryan's Capitol Tour (1999).

On his way to a 7-Eleven convenience store to buy the said snack and drink of the title of Snack and Drink, he recites the names of the episodes of the Fievel's American Tails television series. When in the store he fills the cup with a mixture of all fizzy drink flavours and he also purchases a box of Rainbow Nerds. On the way home he mentions the music he likes as well as the then-upcoming live action Inspector Gadget (1999) film that is based upon the cartoon of the same name. Whilst watching the documentary I could tell Ryan had autism due to his style of speech, his preference to fill the cup with all soda flavours and wanting to drink it and eat his Nerds alone when he arrives home. The animation consists of various styles of rotoscoping. This documentary influences me for my major project due to its theme and its use of rotoscoping. In my public information film about Asperger syndrome awareness I intend to include two rotoscoped sequences; one of myself going from happy to sad while I am dressed in a way my mother found funny but I did not and another of me making a fishtail rubber band bracelet on a Rainbow Loom Mini Loom because I thought it would be easier to rotoscope than making a single chain or a triple chain bracelet on an original Rainbow Loom.

Honess Roe writes about Snack and Drink and The Even More Fun Trip in her book Animated Documentary (2013). Here are the key points I have learnt from each film:

• Snack and Drink was part of the animated documentary evolution in the 1990s alongside A is for Autism and others (p. 13).

• The technology for rotoscoping had significantly developed in order “to create a more detailed, and relatively, photorealistic representation of the interview scene.”

• The style of Snack and Drink is referred to as “vibrant psychedelia (p. 62).” It also has an “abstract, expressionistic style” and was the first short colour film to be made in Rotoshop, a type of rotoscoping software (p. 81).

• The fluctuating animation style coincides with Ryan's repetitive button-pressing at the drinks machine (p. 85).

• Paul Ward (2006a, p. 120) has described the drinks machine sequence as 'an amusing and strangely touching visual rendering of just how obsessively focused an autistic person can be.' (p. 85).

• While I have already made my assumption of Ryan having autism due to his style of speech, Honess Roe also claims "We might discern quite quickly in Snack and Drink that Ryan has an autistic spectrum disorder from the way he delivers his responses in response to Sabiston's questions and his patterns of vocal tone." (p. 100).

• During the closing credits of Snack and Drink, Sabiston talks to someone in Ryan's apartment (p. 64). This creates the sense of eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

• In The Even More Fun Trip (2007), Ryan visits a theme park in Texas alongside Sabiston and a group of friends (p. 62). An excerpt of the film can be found on this link: http://www.flatblackfilms.com/Flat_Black_Films/Films/Pages/The_Even_More_Fun_Trip.html

• Both this film and Snack and Drink were produced in the Austin, Texas-based studio Flat Black Films (p. 61).

• In this film Ryan displays autistic traits such as reciting the rides at the park on the way, repetitive speech, wanting to buy a drink after two rides as part of his routine and finding the train that passes through the park pointless as well as having a big imagination in terms of picturing Superman standing on top of a rollercoaster loop and then imaginging himself as a superhero (see Fig. 1)

Fig. 1: Ryan imagines himself as a superhero.

Fig. 2: Ryan on The Rattler

• The opening car scene is in sepia tone but the animation is in full, vibrant colour as soon as Ryan arrives at the theme park. This is similar to a technique used in The Wizard of Oz (1989) in which the scenes of Dorothy at her Kansas home are in sepia tone but the majority of the film is in colour. This technique in both films could be used to represent the change of narrative.

• The sense of presence “is captured in the roller coaster sequence (see Fig. 2)” by allowing the viewer to “get a front row view, alongside Ryan, of the hair-raising swoops and drops of the ride.” (p. 64). Sound effects such as wind and screaming passengers also create the sense of presence and the multicoloured lines as shown in Fig. 1 could represent the wind.

• The background music overpowers the dialogue in the fast food restaurant scene (p. 64). This could represent sensory overload that many people with autism experience.

In Ryan's Capitol Tour, Ryan takes a tour around Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. Autistic traits he displays in this are reading the signs by the doors, repetitive speech and filling his cup with all the different fizzy drink flavours, just like in Snack and Drink. There are also a couple of interior car shots in this that are similar to the one in The Even More Fun Trip.

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