Iron Giant and the Titanic

Over at Cartoon Brew there are a few of Brew Correspondent Steve Segal's notes from Brad Bird speaking at the San Fransisco Film Festival. Its this line that I love the best -

"In the Q & A he compared working on Iron Giant with being on the Titanic since Warners had already decided to close the studio, but it was as if they left the booze cabinet on the Titanic unlocked, “we could do anything we wanted, there was nobody around”. "

He also talks about the state of cinemas in the US and how their screens are getting smaller. Oh Mr Bird, if you saw the state of our Googolplexes :(
Except for El Grande at Monte ;)

Snow White and film reference?

Yesterday was Freedom Day here in sunny SA, and I spent it indoors watching Disney DVD's. You see it wasn't as sunny as it normally is, actually it was cold and windy. Winter is approaching and I am spending more time indoors. Which is great for my ongoing research (aka DVD watching). I watched two Disney features, the first was Snow White and the second Alice in Wonderland. I have no idea how many times I have watched these but they never cease to amaze me. However, while watching Snow White, I could not help but be stunned by the movement of Snow White, in nearly all the shots and the Queen/Witch, when she is disguised as the old lady, leaving the dwarves' cottage. The movement of the old lady/witch, hunched over and distressed as the dwarves approach. She looks one way and then the next, then runs off screen right.
MAN!!! Its too realistic! And thats the problem, it looks like a copy of a ham actor.
Well executed with the face of the old lady but still a copy, the dwarves on the other hand are brilliant. Each one acting with his personality.
In "The Illusion of Life", Frank and Ollie talk about the Film Reference they used and studied but never rotoscoped (traced). I think that scene of the witch is an example of getting too close to the reference. Check out what Keith says about todays Video Reference.

So I got back today to deiscover over at AICN there is an exellent report of Moriarty's trip to London and his vist to the "Corpse Bride" set at Three Mills Studio. If you are a Tim Burton fan then do yourself a favour and read the article.

Howls Moving Castle

Okay, why I did not post this earlier I have no idea.
Howls Moving Castle
I watched the trailer on Friday and recently read Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Brew saying how this is Hayao Miyazaki's best picture yet.
Here's what he says about the special screening he got to see.

"This film is totally in a class by itself. It’s an incredible, romantic adventure - with a storyline even more bizzarre (and accessible) to western audiences than Spirited Away. It concerns a young girl being placed under a magic spell causing her to literally become an old woman. The spell also prevents her from telling anyone about her predicament – so she packs up her things and goes off to seek help, moving in with a handsome wizard and his unusual companions, who live in an enchanted castle that travels between several war-torn dimensions. As you might already suspect, this is not your average Disney fairy tale.

Miyazaki has a way of pulling you into his world within the first few seconds of a story; taking you on a wild ride and dropping you off at the end, leaving anxious to experience it all over again. This trip is no exception.

Though filled with echos of past Miyazaki pet themes, Howl’s storyline feels fresh and exciting. There’s a new compelling idea or breathtaking visual in practically every minute of the film. The images, a combination of traditional anime, full character animation and dazzling CGI are lush and magical. I screened the Japanese language version, however I look forward to the U.S. release English dub being supervised by Pixar (Pete Docter is directing the voices - which includes Lauren Bacall (!) as the Witch)."

Check out Cartoon Brew - fantastic blog

Motion Capture - my thoughts

After reading this post a few months ago. Ward-o-matic I started thinking about motion capture and what else is there that gets me cringing when I see it.
This was also spurred on by two recent commercials I saw on local television, well actually three but Neil Blomkamps C4 commercial actually works, the other two have something wrong with them. I am not going to mention them but just their technique.

Animation is about staging and the silhouette of the character if it reads. Well in the first commercial the motion capture data is placed on the character and made to act. However the character is staged badly towards the camera and the movement cannot be read. The data is perfect, the character is actually doing what a man would do in the crowd etc but we cannot read this because the camera hasn't been taken into effect. The MoCap suite has twelve cameras recording the moves but the director controlling how the MoCap artist moves isn't taking into account that in the end, there will be only one camera. This is the first mistake, staging for MoCAP!

The second one and this comes from me reading Illusion of Life, I always page through a few chapters to study it a bit more when I have the chance.
In chapter 13 Ollie and Frank are talking about Rotoscoping the live action actors from the video reference:

"No one knows for sure why a pencil tracing of a live action figure should look so stiff and unnatural on the screen, unless there simply no reality in a copy. The animators had learned this in art classes, but, somehow, studying film of a moving model made them think that live action was different. The camera certainly records what is there, but it records everything that is there, with an impartial lack of emphasis. On the other hand, an artist shows what he sees is there, especially that which might not be perceived by others..."

And this is so true of MoCap as well. It captures everything that is there and every subtle movement that can actually distract from what the artist wants you to see. Every foot slide, arm move, head shake and shoulder shrug, just for a simple move. So as I watched these commercials, I thought of Ollie and Frank and how true their perception of rotoscoping fits todays Motion Capture debates. I dont think Motion Capture will ever replace animation because as the two best animators put it, there is NO reality in a copy!!

Aaaarghhh - REAR ENDED!!!

So today, after being sick all last week, I left home early and headed out on to work. I figured I could get in half an hour earlier and get some work done that I skipped on Friday afternoon. Travelling in bumper to bumper traffic only five minutes from work, I saw a lady pull in behind me into the traffic. Going quite slowly in a start stop fashion I was unaware what was to happen next.
I slowed down for the traffic and looked up in my rear view mirror. "Thats odd, she seems to be going rather fast" I said to myself one second before the lady that pulled in behind me smashed into the back of my little car.
I am sure my little car feels abused.
Its that loud noise and metal grinding sound that if you have been in a motor vehicle accident are familiar with, that is so annoying. I really thought by all that noise and the fact my car flew forward ten feet, that she had managed to squeeze her hood into my trunk. It wasn't that bad but I am sure easliy a thousand dollars damage if I am lucky :(

We did all the formalities of an accident. License, registration etc
Drew a little picture of the crime scene (it was a crime, she did bad things to my car) - after seeing the drawing, she asked if I was an architect or something.
Hmmmm, not quite but close ;)

Then to the police station to get my accident report number and off to work. In the end I was late for work and have a ding in my car, all because I wanted to get work done. So from this day forward I am going to be late for work!!

Sorry for lack of posts

I must apologise for the lack of posts since the last.
The main reason has been that I was taken ill by a cold recently. Trying my best to do work and concentrate on what I was doing, I spent seven days feeling awful but still going to work. I realise now if I had just taken of two days of work, the rest of the week would have been fine.
I am such a martyr ;)

Anyway, I am better now and should be back to the posting promptly.

Nu Metro = Bad service

After reading Jason’s blog here . A night Out, and the fact he mentions the cinema being a bit crappy, I was tempted to write about my experiences at Nu Metro Menlyn.
And all who read this must please complain as I do so that we stop enduring this bad service.

It sounds like the curse of the crappy cinemas has crossed the pond. Here in ZA we have two competing chains, Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor, who have dropped their prices to an insane R5 (about 90c) for anyshow, anytime but their service is still crap!

A short recap of what has happened at Nu Metro Menlyn -
Regularly the lights come on for no reason and stay on. The aspect ratio is off an the actors heads are chopped off. And sound comes and goes with impunity. The best is they cut the movie before the credits have fully rolled. I complain and say I have buddies (total disregard for the word - online chatting person) who have worked on the movie! I wanna see their names, dammit.

But the best was the other day when I found out that Menlyn was overcharging their Large OJ’s and Slush. Montecasino in Fourways always charges R10 for large OJ and slush and when after several times of paying R12 for the same at Menlyn, I questioned the F&B manager. He said the prices were R10 and they cashier made a mistake. The very next week I asked for the same and they once again overcharged. What the cashier does is rings up large Cokes at R12 and nobody is the wiser, so next time insist on a receipt and make sure it says what you ordered on the slip. I also complained to the main manager about all the problems so if you encounter bad service, go speak to Selbourne Prinsloo, he will help you out. Or bare the brunt of my mouth again :)

D

Started my short!

One good thing about 48 hours of rain, besides stopping famine and death, is that it keeps you indoors and makes you get back to work.  So as the rain fell I worked on my character designs for my animated short. The synopsis has been finalized but the overall story is still being worked. Here is a sneak peak at the one soldier... actually this is the general from the war room. Its going to have a toon feel like most things I do...