Hands up who wants a Wii for Christmas...

Especially when you can do this with it.

Low-Cost Multi-touch Whiteboard using the Wii Remote

RE : Post below

I just re-read that and realised I got stuck on the history of "I am Legend" and completely forgot to talk about the most important part - the animatics. They are just brilliant. Goes to show that you don't need good effects and a high budget to convey a story and atmosphere. They are great examples of good film making I think. Love the style too.

Of course they are more animated featurettes than animatics, since the production values are obviously higher. But I found I was completely "in the story" while watching. I guess the audio has a lot to do with that as well. Great stuff.
Alex.

I Am Legend - Animatic gold.

A book, then a comic, to a film.

from Wiki : I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson about the last man alive in Los Angeles, California. "I Am Legend has so far been adapted to film four times. The more prominent of the two 2007 adaptations, now set for release on December 14, 2007, features Will Smith as Robert Neville. The book has also been adapted into a graphic novel titled Richard Matheson's I Am Legend by Steve Niles and Elman Brown"

Steve Niles is also the part creator of the very cool comic "30 Days of Night", which was also recently converted to a movie that I higly recomend. Simply a great movie.

But anyway, back to Legend, the earlier conversions were pretty lame, the first one stared Vincent Price - "The Last Man on Earth". 1964. Then in the 70's came "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston. which was actually pretty cool. Then in the 90's there was the unmade Ridley Scott version which was going to star Schwarzenegger. One can only guess as to how this would have turned out...I'm going with two thumbs up. The finally a straight to DVD "I am Omega" which I havn't seen but imdb doesn't make it look good.

The coolest part of the current version are the animated "trailers" that they have been releasing. That don't actually star Smith's character, but realy just add to the world that he will star in. I'm guessing that they will also fill in some of the blanks in the movie as well. Hopefully they don't depend on this and assume that we have all seen them. This never works! yes, I'm looking at you Matrix 3. Detention for you! I'm guessing since its a Will Smith movie and they've put millions into it, some of the corners will be shaved off so it will appeal to as many as possible. But I'm still hoping that it will be a good one.

You can find the trailers on quicktime, or just click on the links below. Alex.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/iamlegendisolation/

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/iamlegendawakening/

Beowulf Slays Competition

Beowulf has done quite well at the Box Office according to Variety, especially considering that the film isn't family oriented. Bringing in 28.1 mill over the weekend it's taken number 1 spot but the numbers are well down from last year where Happy Feet and Bond opened to $40 mill each. Interestingly Beowulfs Box Office result is 40% 3d cinemas showing that there's massive potential for full s3 stereo movies.

Rotten Tomatoes is rating the film at 70% although many people are still commenting on the obscure visuals mocap etc.

Terminus

A cool short film with a great Cunningham style. Very high production values.

See it here

Skin Flick

Jeff Lew makes 80 minute film

Jeff Lew after 4 years has made Killer Bean the Feature flim running at 80 mins. A pretty incredible feat for one man. Not sure how many people helped out but it looks like it was made with very few people. Check out the trailer at...

Killer Bean Forever

Rock Band - Passion Pictures

''Rock Band,'' the videogame competitor to ''Guitar Hero'' gets the cinematic intro treatment from Passion Pictures.

Thought it could of been much better, worth a look anyway.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24684.html

Darren Brown

Ok so not really script related but very interesting study on how the mind works. This youtube clip is amazing.

Derren Brown, expert in psychology, attempts to make a group of middle managements into committing reckless armed robbery...

Worth watching his other clips too. just search "Darren Brown" on youtube.

Jesus Camp

Saw this documentary on the weekend, well worth a look, very interesting and disturbing.

Kung Fu Panda

Dreamworks take marketing celebrity voices to a whole new level, in first Kung Fu Panda teaser... Here

video3000

Here's a fantastic short film about a dude with a remote control. Definitely one of my favorite shorts of the year. Great style direction and concept. It also kept me guessing if there were live action elements in the film. The carpet in the first shot looks awfully real. Either way great stuff.

http://video3000.de/

on Ratatatouille not being a smash

I don't give Jim Hill much credit but this is an interesting article on why Ratatatouille hasn't performed up to expectations at the US Box Office. According to Brad it's...

"I think we, with ‘Ratatouille’, have been more than a victim of a lot of fuzzy animal films that came out before us that just have a bunch of jabbering, wise-cracking practically interchangeable animals. People will take one look at our talking rats and think: ‘Oh! It’s one of those.’. And it’s true, they’ve not showed up. Even though it comes from Pixar. We’ve had the greatest reaction ever from people who have gone to see it, but the reaction to seeing it we’ve found surprising. And I think it’s partially down to that rack of animal films."

Gotta love Brads whining ways, but he does make a good point. For more click here

YEEEE HAAARRR

Just because you've started posting again. Doesn't mean I'm going anywhere Silke. Great little piece of 2 and a half D animation I found through a friend. Really nicely done and quite inspiring. Too bad about the little ads, but a really creative way to approach the problem.

Done by the good people at MAKE

Trip Down Memory Lane

A great black and white doco about Snow White

Jeff Skoll -- Murderball, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth

Found this talk on TED.com, very inspiring.

Jeff Skoll made his fortune as the first president of eBay. Now he's spending it at the movies. His company, Participant Productions, makes entertaining, issues-driven films that inspire real change -- Murderball, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth ... Here, he talks about the people who've inspired him to do good, and about some upcoming films that will open your eyes.

A post from me at last...

G you just might have saved this blog... I know I have been slack. Here's something that Gerrard was raving about, it's a new series on HBO that was made in Kiwi land.... bloody Kiwis...



Also saw that Astro Boy is getting remade into a cgi movie, pretty excited about this
as TMNT wasn't too bad and it's by the same Hong Kong Studio. Looks like they've nailed the look of Astro Boy although it seems they took they close up pic down.

And here's my latest training vid... lots going on for these the prototype launch is only 5 weeks away now.

Objects Video 3 mins

The Cold Rush

Beautifully animated short film from a French Animation Student. Worth watching with a great eye for detail. Not bad in the story department, but I felt the ending was a bit of a cop out. Anyway, let me know what you guys think. That is, if there is anyone still reading this blog... hello... helloooo.... (echoing around a large empty room.)

The Road to Petition...

Just got this in my Myspace inbox. Rather than being the usual friends request from a girl called 'Sindy' who has naked photos of herself outside her profile (just click here).

I got this... something worth reading and worth signing. Spread the word.

_____________________________________

Hey Gerrard! I saw you were a fan of Brad Bird. I am trying to get a 1987 cartoon he Wrote & Directed called FAMILY DOG, released on DVD though an awesome petition.

This cartoon stands as a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that combined Bird's ability for cinematic animation, concise storytelling, authentic detailed body movement & closely observed humour with Tim Burton's penchant for German Expressionism tinged with the Suburban Grotesque. Music was by Danny Elfman & Steve Bartek. With voices by Stan Freberg, Mercedes McCambridge & Annie Potts.

Universal currently "does not have any plans on releasing this title". Even though they've released Season 1 of "Amazing Stories" on DVD (the Family Dog episode appears on Season 2).

It takes a second & might just help get it released. Don't forget to spread the word to friends & family! Just copy & paste this e-mail to them. I need your help!!!


DVD Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/familydogdvd?e


Write Universal (who own the Rights) personally: http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/contact_us/con

tact_form.cgi?email_id=10


The Petition's 100% FREE. It may ask for a donation but that's completely optional. I'm not getting paid a penny for this (who would pay me to do this!!) & am doing it for my love of the cartoon.

I sent Universal a link when I got 250 signatures (& will do the same when I get 500, 1,000, 1,500, etc.)

Thanks so much for your time!


Cheers,

Griffin

p.s. If you'd like to watch it, you can on Youtube:

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=family+dog+network

Ratatouille

Well what can I say, what an awesome movie, I was left a bit speechless at the credits, we even had a round of applause in the cinema on a mon night, it's been a long time since I've heard that. Pixar have proved once again that they really are the undisputed champions of the animation world. Brad Bird has elevated himself yet again, the script kept moving and surprising, I loved the camera work especially, everything came together. Loved the Pixar short "Lifted" too a nice comeback for Pixar.

I do wish Pixar would take a few more risks and step out of the family safe genre, but you can't really blame em can you?

I also noticed a bit of a Brad Bird trend going on too. His stories always seem to be about special misunderstood characters, sort of autobiographical I can't help but think. There's a great interview at the spline doctors with Brad Bird which lends some info into why he'd want to make movies about talented characters being ignored by their worlds.

Brad Bird Interview Page

Advertising Dollars

Here's a pretty cool revamped Coke Commercial by Psyop. Sucks about the advertising, good inspiration nonetheless.

Coke: Happiness Factory: The Movie

Posted Yesterday

Coke reprises its popular ad from last year with an even more adventurous tale of what happens when you slide your money into the vending machine.

Chemical Bros Fish

Seems that Pablo's very own Store that sells Frames has just completed a very cool video clip for the Chemical Bros. Couple of former animals involved by the looks of it, Mike Mellor as an anim lead and Ben Falcone as a TD.

Lo res

Hires

Info here

Was only a matter of time...

http://www.11secondclub.com/

No! No, no, not 10! I said 11. Nobody's comin' up with 10. Who animates in 10 seconds? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.

That - good point.

11's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 11 doors. 11, man, that's the number. 11 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.

Why?

'Cause you're fuckin' fired!

Slow News

Anyone seen a good movie lately?

Here's a link to Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Movie. Weird? Yes it is.

Gentelmens Duel

Here's Blur Studios latest short "A Gentleman's Duel". Won't say much more, here it is...

A gentlemen's duel
Uploaded by nettouch

The Bohmian and Commercial Success

Was just talking to Christian and DP about transformers the other night. Dp was saying how the movie prayed on the current American (western) ideology. "To get the fast car, great looking chick and destroy the enemy.... yeah!!!" :)

Anyway I was reading this book by a philosopher Alain De Botton called Status Anxiety. It has this chapter on the Bohemian culture, a culture which tends to put feelings and art at the pinnacle of life. They also tend worship suicidal artists so it's not everyone's cup of tea, however I think this quote has some truth to it...

"According to the bourgeois ideology, a financial or critical failure in business or the arts must function as a significant indictment of one's character, given the ideology's accompanying assumption that society is essentially fair in distributing it's rewards.

But Bohemians have refused such punitive interpretation of outward failure by focusing on how often the world is governed by idiocy and prejudice. Given human nature, they reasoned that those who succeed in society will rarely be the wisest or the best, they will be those who can pander most effectively to the flawed values of their audiences. There may indeed - bohemians have suggested - be no more damning sign of a person's ethical and imaginative limitation that a capacity for commercial success."

Transformers anyone?

Zodiac

For 30 minutes I had a new hero - his name was David Fincher.

It has one of the slickest opening chapters to a movie I've seen in a while. The style, the editing, the shots. All beautiful. To be honest, it continued in this way for the rest of the film, but I found after about 30-40 mins it lost direction, then it just made embarrassing noises hoping we would look away while it scurried off.

To give David credit its based on a true story. We know they didn't find the guy, so you're going into movie knowing that the hero/'s arn't going to get a payoff. So as the audience we don't either. But I still felt that the end could have been delt with better than the exposition text - "John so and so went on to ...." "and he was never seen again!....?". *sigh*. It seemed like a cop out. and after the great direction and acting I felt ripped off.

Maybe it was just the DOP I should be thanking? there were some absolulty beautiful shots in the film. The pan away from the taxi - won't spoil it if you havn't seen it - was simple and amazing I thought. But it could only carry the movie so far. There is a huge amount of info on the Zodiac killer, so I think by trying to capture the entire 30 years it lost its relativity. Shame, since I really thought it was going to be one of my favourite movies from the beginning.

The acting was great. Robert Downey stole the show again, by playing himself pretty much, but alway entertaining.

Beowulf, Horton, Open Season rant and Microsoft

Things have been a little slow but all of a sudden there's some good stuff floating around the interweb.

Beowulf Trailer
First of all can you believe Zemeckis?? I need not say much more other than go and check out the Beowulf trailer, it's something to behold!


Hires Trailer (for higher res go to Dave's Trailer Page)

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who - Trailer
Here's the trailer for Blue Sky's next film. It's amazing how they inject a "bland Americana" feeling into Doctor Seuss.



Hires Trailer (for higher res go to Dave's Trailer Page)

Open Season Rant - Too Many Cooks


I'm sick of this idea of "let's make a movie with 5 producers 3 directors and 20 writers" rubbish. I went out and bought the art of Open Season the other day. I haven't seen the film but some of the artwork and design in the book is simply stunning. Everyone who's seen the movie seems to agree it's pretty plain which brings me to the rant. So I'm reading the pages of the book but between the lines it reads like corporate propaganda. Here's a snippet

"To achieve that vision, Landau recruited producing partners Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabbins, who started their career in live action and became two of the most respected leaders in animation. The two were instrumental in building DreamWorks Animation as well as producing or executive producing the company's slate of films beginning with The Prince of Egypt and culminating in the Academy-Award winning Shrek."

So it goes on to say how the cartoonist Moore pitched the treatment to the execs, they bought it then...

"In our first version, we had Elliot and Boog bonded together like brothers and the conflict arises whe Elliot gets the call of the wild and wants to leave town."

Many of the Animals that Elliot and Boog encounter on their journey back to Timberline were created by the artists who subsequently worked on the movie but were not part of the original treatment created by Moore and Carls. Still, the producers are more than thrilled by the changes that were made and with the way that the story evolved. "We set up the bones of the story and then Sony pulled in all the directing, producing, and animation geniuses and they made all the magic happen," says Moore.

Once Sony Pictures Animation committed to Open Season for their first feature, the treatment drafted by Moore and Carls was sent to Jill Culton, who is considered one of the most original storytellers of her generation in the world of animated features.
After honing her craft for more than eight years at Pixar animation Studios, working on blockbusters such as Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and A Bugs lifeCulton was ready to make her directorial debut.

One of the most original Storytellers? Yet she hasn't made a film?

She was soon joined by Anthony Stacchi, who came on as co-director of the film. Like Culton, Stacchi has an impressive resume. A story artist on Dreamworks' Antz, he also worked on ILM's 3D animated versions of Curious George and Frankenstien.

So now there's 2 directors

A year later, Roger Allers joined the team of directors. Allers made his directorial debut with Academy Award winning blockbuster The Lion King and has to his credit in various capacities such seminal animated films as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin, among many others.

An impressive resume but now the directors total 3. Then another Producer (they like talking up the producers in this book) Michelle Murdocca goes on to say this...

"In animation, we start with a script, but the storyboard artists work hand in hand with the screenwriters and story writers to develop the script to develop the movie. Everyone takes partial responsibility to make sure we're telling the story we need to tell. It's sort of like a big pot, and we all contribute to it."

Or... too many cooks spoil the broth? From what I've read Dreamworks follow a very similar process to Sony. And if it wasn't for Shrek, Dreamworks would be finished too. Does this seem like a mad way of making movies? What ever happened to strong leadership? What's with this making animated movies by committee?? At least Pixar had the balls to give Jan Pinkava a backseat to Brad Bird when Ratatouille was floundering. I know his is common process in Hollywood, to have 20 writers on a script, but it's disappointing to think of the bland muck that this sort of process delivers. I want to hear a voice in a film, a point of view!

(end rant)

Microsoft anti piracy animations
Gasket Studios animates four graphic novel style anti-piracy shorts for Microsoft.
I could only watch one of these but they're worth checking out. This one's for you Alex...
https://www.microsoft.com/piracy/genuinefactfiles/default.aspx

Angry American

It's been a while since a post so here's something Malik sent me the other day. It's not strictly scriptwriting but it's interesting. It seems youtube is building and underground political rep. This movie is a quite powerful edit of recent US politics...

Getting Paid Online Content

Aardman has a new series out, it's called Pib And Pog. So what's different about this series? Well it's completely online at Atom Films, you can watch it for free. It seems as though Atom Films has helped fund the series. The shorts are funded through ads at the start of shows, it's the way of the future!

The series is mature rated, the first show is about Pib and Pog watching Porn.

For more reading about how to get funding online for animations I found this site, seems there's quite a lot of sites funding online video now.

they've done it again...

pablo magazine says "it's the "inconvenient truth" of short films!"

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/lifted+pixar/video/x2k4i2_lifted

Crazy for Cult art show

Here's one for all you film nerds... how many movies can you name in this poster?

It's for the Crazy for Cult art show . Another related link here .

The future is heading straight at you

Katzenberg says the future is 3d...

Zapped Of Hope

Here's another animatic from my Wisdom Nuggets series. It's based on the real life experiments by Martin Seligman. He noticed that the dogs that were being zapped in 60s experiments were becoming conditioned helpless. So he decided to test out the theory in this experiment...

HOPE ZAPPED

3.4 mb Sorenson QT

The animatic took about 2 weeks to create. I even created my first soundtrack!! It needs a lot of polishing, sorry about the voice over, I would've loved to re write/record the dialog but I'm on a tight schedule.

From Wiki on Learned Helplessness
"A follow-up experiment involved three dogs affixed in harnesses. The first dog was simply put in the harness for a period of time and later released. The second dog was put in the harness, and given electric shocks, which the dog could end by pressing a lever. The third dog was wired in parallel with the second dog, receiving shocks of identical intensity and duration, but his lever didn't do anything. The first and second dogs quickly recovered from the experience, but the third dog learned to be helpless, and suffered chronic symptoms of clinical depression."

Nathan Barley

Al Ferg sent this round the other day I thought it was worthy of a mention. It's funny what can keep you entertained...



http://www.trashbat.co.ck/


(From Wiki)
Nathan Barley is a webmaster, guerrilla filmmaker, screenwriter, DJ and in his own words, a 'self-facilitating media node'. He is convinced he is the epitome of urban cool, and therefore secretly terrified he might not be, which is why he reads Sugar Ape magazine — his bible of cool.

In reality however his 'output' is of no real interest to anyone but him and his immediate friends. The website consists of stupid pranks caught on camera, photos of him with attractive women and photos of him standing on street corners in major cities around the world (purely to demonstrate that he has enough money to go there). He is of the belief that because he has a camera, some knowledge of web publishing and some webspace, this makes him talented.

The humour derives from the fact that since the rapid rise of the internet and the explosion of digital television, actual publishers and broadcasters think that such drivel is worthy of attention. Barley and his fellow idiots are often hired/published ahead of actual journalists and talented writers trying to make intelligent points, such as the earnest documentary film maker Claire Ashcroft, and her brother Dan Ashcroft, a jaded and apathetic hack who, having written an article for Sugar Ape entitled 'The Rise of the Idiots', is disgusted to find that 'the idiots' in question — Nathan and his contemporaries — have adopted him as their spiritual leader.

The Power of Story

Here's an lecture by Chuck Palahniuk. Author of Fight Club. Powerful stuff.

Sunset Boulevard

So in keeping with the Noir films I've been watching, I saw this one the other night. I'd seen it before years ago but hadn't remembered much. For a film that won 3 Oscars and went a long way to defining a genre I didn't think it held up that well. Ok, so it was shot in 1950, and is a character piece, but after a great start I felt it died in the middle.

For those who don't know, its a story about a down and out screen writer in Hollywood who comes across an actress who was the biggest thing in silent film but got left behind when the talkies started. She wants to make a comeback and hires him to edit a screenplay she has written to start herself. From the outset you realize she is mad and seeks the attention of the public again. But since he needs the money he agrees to sort out her ramblings.

Theres a great scene at the beginning with a monkey, and the opening shot of him facedown dead in the pool with the police standing over him had been used many times since. But apart from that I found it slow to watch. Pete's theory is since its a character peice - and defining characters have changed alot since then it becomes unidentifyable . But then the edit and the pacing were quite slow too. Especially after watching Fritz Lang's "M" filmed 20 years earlier which kept you gripped till the end.

It also has the monotone narration throughout the entire film. Anyone know which was the first movie to do this? The dialogue was great, that snappy 50's style - "Are you trying to be funny 'cause I'm all outta laughs". And the acting was amazing, espeically by the crazy Norma Desmond - I think become one of the influences for Cruella De Vil. But have to say I wasn't a big fan. I'd recommend watching it for its historical importance or some great over the top crazy reference. But would go with "M" first.

Great last line though - not a spoiler - but apart from Casablanca I think its one of the most recognisable - "Alright Mr Demill...I'm ready for my closeup".

The Wedding Crashers

Saw this on the weekend and thought it was great. It was like a Ben Stiller cringe movie crossed with a buddy scam comedy (don't know if that's a genre, but it should be). Really fun. The two leads carry it, and do a great job. I've never been a big Vince Vaughn fan, but they're a hell comedy duo, if you ask me.

It was predictable that 'the scammers ended up genuinely falling for girls, and they had to confront the fact that they were fakes and the girls didn't know who they were anymore', but it played out well. The support cast was strong too- Isla Fisher, the Fiance of the love interest, Christopher Walken, and Will Ferrel, who comes in about 10 minutes before the end and is awesome. They give him a great reveal too. That guy is a genius, and he makes it look so easy.

The only let down was the climactic scene, which was a really big jump in style/time/logic after the rest of it had been so together, but it was still great fun. It seemed like they had a mandate to cram everything that had been set up into the last scene, no matter how clunkily it had to be squished in.

For lightweight comedy, I highly recommend.

Designer/Slash/Model

A very polished video spoof of the motion graphics community. From Digital Kitchen, the people who've made openers such as the Six Feet Under title sequence.

"Just saying Z space add 10 points to your IQ"

Designer/Slash/Model Movie

Great Stop Mo Ad

Just got sent this link to a stop mo ad for the new xbox...

The Ad...
http://moostudios.com/mouse/prxbox/

Making Of
http://moostudios.com/moo/xboxtime/moo/

Thorns and All

Last week I was invited to a 2 day workshop with 5 other artist/designers at The Powerhouse Museum . We were to make a 2 - 3 min video for the True Design exhibition. The brief was to use photos to tell a story about our work and or process. Thanks to Gabrielle Eade and George Verghese for helping me out.

Here's my video...

Thorns and All 52meg

Ratatouille Rates High Numbers Low

Ratatouille has open with numbers below most estimates at $47.2 mill. The only Pixar movie to have opened more poorly was A Bugs Life. But it looks like the Rat movie will have legs with its joyous reviews. Over at Rotten Tomaotes Ratatouille is rating 95% fresh.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Saw Pan's Labyrinth again on the weekend. It was a joy to watch second time around. The camera work was fantastic, much like how GM would shoot, and the design inspired too. I especially liked the 'eyes in his hands' monster (below) , that scene sent chills down my spine. Some people argue the movie's a little heavy handed on the violence. It's violent, but strangely I found the movie very calming. It's brilliant Guillermo del Toro was able to make the movie he wanted without pandering to a safe audience. Truly a breath of fresh air. I read an interview of his a while ago and he was big on Joseph Campbell too, seems like he'd have a lot to talk about to GM. Here's an interview with Guillermo which also shows some picks from his sketch book, looks like he did a lot of the design work too.

BTW, big welcome to Dave Smith, and I've invited Tom Taylor too. I think that just about includes everyone from the old story meets.

Video Interview

Guerrilla CG Training

I've finally got one of my training videos ready to watch. Keep in mind this one's aimed at people who have never touched a 3d program before. Think your mother!

There are some obvious mistakes, I'm going to redo the audio and try and get rid of the unnecessary pauses, lots of things to fix up. But feedback now would be much appreciated, and and any ideas how to improve/make slicker etc.

I've got many more that are at various stages, they'll get more complex.

The Polygon

Sorenson QT 2mins 5.6 meg

Transformers

Ok, so for years I've been hearing people rant about Michael Bay ruining cinema blah blah blah. But plenty of people love his movies, and I figure, what's the problem?

Well, I saw Transformers last week, and I think movies like this are ruining cinema.

I'm kind of pissed that I think that, cause I think it probably means I'm getting old and snobbish at the same time, but I have my reasons.

I think Transformers is going to make squillions of dollars, and sell bucketloads of Hasbro toys. So by industry standards that would make it successful as a movie. Good on it for that- that's exactly what it's designed to do. Few in Hollywood would give the slightest shit about anything else, and from their point of view that's fair enough.

I also have the greatest respect for the fact the Michael Bay has the balls and stamina and gusto and know how to get a movie this massive actually made and as shiny as it is. Its daunting just to think about the physical logistics, let alone the politics and money and vfx and whatever the hell else he had to deal with.

The problem is that the movie is a mess, and because its (probably) going to make lots of money we're probably going to be stuck with a whole lot more in the way of messy movies in the next few years. People will validate/emulate the craft side of this film because it does well at the box office.

The story is thin and full of holes, but that's to be expected. Contrary to the underlying motive of this blog, most people don't go to blockbusters for the story. The problem I had is that the very thing a big action blockbuster is supposed to do well - big action - is just all over the place.

Transformers IS big. Staggeringly big. But: The choreography is totally, utterly confused. The editing is relentless- but not in a kinetic way, in a purely cover- the- fact- that- shots- that- don't- go- together- and- do-it-so-fast-that-nobody-can-catch-their-breath way. Each shot on its own is beatiful, but there's no sense of sequence design, no sense of space, no sense of developing rhythm, no sense of shot-to-shot momentum, no sense of DIRECTION. Its incredibly loud, incredibly fast, and incredibly confused and disorienting. Its like a firehose in the face. You leave the cinema feeling battered and confused. I've worked on my fair share of music vids, I'm used to fast cutting, but this movie gave me chronic cinematic indigestion.

My fear is that it's all that's going to be served up in years to come.

But, people will say, its FUCKING COOL. The thing is, I didn't think so, but even if it was, it could have been soooo much cooler if the action was directed well across sequences and not just within the individual shots. That's a Transformers that would really kick ass.

Adults embracing animation, film-makers say

ABC news reports that Adults are embracing animation more than ever.

ABC News

Fritz Lang's "M"

Cool, great idea. I'm into it. To keep with tradition of a blog, I'm going to talk about myself. I've been writing a short for a while now on and off, and only recently have come to realise that it falls into the Noir genre. Not the cliched "light across the eyes" and strong silloughettes, but the tone and style of the film. Actually, the "Dark" from the "Noir" refers to the subject matter, not the look.

But, my background in Noir is limited to a few classics, so I thought I'd start at the beginning and work my way up. So, since Film Noir is derived from German Expressionist films ( "Nostferatu", "Metropolis" ) I went out and got a hold of a copy of Fritz Lang's "M"

Great great film. Was completly taken by surprise as to how well it held up. I guess stupid to say that about a classic, but I've seen some classics that didn't and really enjoyed every minute of this film. For those who don't know - its set in Germany in 1930, a child serial killer (pedophile? was implied, not shown), is on a spree. The city falls apart and people start accusing strangers. Scary stuff. Finally the mob get sick of all the extra police around and decide to track him down themselves. There are a million sites dedicated to deconstucting this film - I'm not going to go into it.

The camera work was amazing. I'm sure Fritz Lang defined many styles and techniques with "M". Some parts lookes hand held, but coulsn't tell if that was what he was going for or just the lack of steadycam tech back then. Either way there are these really nice shots tracking through windows into rooms, close ups of old gnarley faces. nice. He did alot of still shots where he set up the cam over a street and just let the action play out in a single shot. would look lazy in a film today I think, but worked with the style.

The best part thoough was Peter Lorre's acting. It was almost a pantomine how tourtured he was by his "sickness", but it definatly worked. Infact, everyone in the film was a cliche - the hard cop, the cold crim, and they moved in a sort of Buster Keaton style, holding exagerate poses for ages. Great reference for animation. But Peter Lorre definatly stole the show. check him out

He acts it so well that its creepy. But even so, you end up feeling sorry for him by the end. Which is more or less the point. The end of the film - without giving anything away - implies that the guilt lies not with him but his victems and their parents. The last line stays with you for a while. Infact their are many scenes that stick. Once the city starts turning on itself, people accuse random strangers which the mob turns on without a pause. Brutal. Like the car scene in "War of the Worlds".

Like all movies like this, can't believe it took me so long to watch it, and almost everyone I try to convince to see it already have. Guess I missed the boat. Either way, can definatly reccomend it. Going to work my way through many more. The next one is "Double Indemnity" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/ again another definative Noir film, and again, one I havn't seen.
-alex.

p.s. found a great quote on the definition of Noir - " At the heart of film noir was an attempt to subvert conventional Hollywood standards of plot (happy endings), character (morally upright heroes), and narrative structure (chronological storytelling). By rejecting those standards, the filmmakers were by extension rejecting the values of postwar urban America, portraying that society as hypocritical and hopelessly corrupt. In so doing, they created a uniquely American genre whose films are still powerful today."

Speaking of "feeling good about yourself"...

Here is my first animation for my wisdom animation idea... Feedback welcome.

http://andrewsilke.com/movies/ThePlumSorenson.mov

It's based on the poem below. But please watch the movie first.

The Plum
You should learn that you cannot be loved by all people;
You can be the finest PLUM in the world,
Ripe – Juicy - Succulent
And offer yourself to all,
But you must remember there will be lots of people who do not like plums.

You must understand that if you are the world’s finest plum
And someone you like does not like plums
You have a choice of becoming a banana,
But you must be warned that if you choose to become a banana,
You will be a second rate banana,
But you can always be the best plum.

You must realise that if you choose to be a second rate banana,
You must remember that there will always be people who do not like bananas,
Furthermore you can spend your life trying to become the best banana
(which is impossible if you are a plum)
Or: you can seek again to be the Best Plum

Wall-E trailer

Well it doesn't give away much. A couple fo obserrvations from this creaky old ludite slowly assimilating to the many varied tools of the new digital world.

1) Pixar continues to push the "we are the warm and cuddly gods at the alter of story" line. God those guys (or their marketing people) really need to take their hand off it.

2) The small snippet of wall-E looked very exciting to me. I emmediately felt empathy for that little guy. Sci-fi hardware ta-boot.

When I first heard about this concept I was emmediately reminded of Chris Ware's tinman that pops up in his comic book compendiums. Does anyone out there know who I am talking about? He is an awesome artist and story-teller. He has a character who is a robot trapped in a deserted world. He wanders around slowly getting more and more bored and asking the very human question - what am I here for? The irony (and the iron) is palpable, poignent, depressing and poetic.

If wall-E captures just a small slice of what Chris Ware pulls off in his story's I'll love it. Although I suspect the boys at Pixar will have to adhere to thir own mantra and give us a story all about feeling ok about yourself regardless of who you are, yarda yarda.

Annecy Award Winners

The winners for Annecy Animation Festival have been anounced. Here's a snippet from Peter and the Wolf, which won the grand prize and audience favorite...

Blood Diamond

Gill and I watched Blood Diamond on the weekend. Turned out to be quite a watchable movie. And I've got to say (although I don't want to) that I thought some of Leo's scenes were outstanding. The movie was a little contrived but it delt with some gritty issues in an interesting way. The scenes with the child soldiers were particularly disturbing and very believable. Worth checking out.

Links

Football vs Rabbit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BcDOuP_tEo

Pixar has released a trailer of their new film WALL-E (which is a rip-off of an idea by Christian)
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/walle/

Also Ratatouille animation progression reel. The exposition came across as a little too strong for me in this scene.
http://au.media.movies.ign.com/media/834/834652/vids_1.html

And a cool demo of some new technology and image handling.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

Idea's for Blog Name

Mutant Story Devleopment...

Bored Animation Bums...

Scene's We'd Like To See

YOU CAN'T DRAW THAT!!!

Tell me a Tall Tale...

When You Wish Apon a Bar...

Stealing Brad Bird's Brain...

Lie Cheat Steal and Write...

I Can Draw, But I Can't Spell... Please Help!

That's Cool... But Let's Try This...

Random Musings from The Motovationally Challenged.

Andrew Silke for President!