Blog Specimen
May 6, 2010Post #9 Spielberg back in animation
May 6, 2010This article is about Steven Spielberg working on a cartoon miniseries. This is not the first time Spielberg has been involved with a cartoon series. Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toons Adventures, and The Animaniacs had Spielberg involved with all those projects, and they were very successful. An American Tale, an animated movie that Spielberg was executive producer made more money than the rival Disney movie that was released in the same year (The Great Mouse Detective). The movie would eventually have several spin-offs based off of the original.
Not everything Spielberg touches turns gold, however. His first animation project was a television series called Family Dog. Though the animation was considered high quality, and known voice actors were involved, only 5 episodes aired.
Spielberg also had his own animation production company called Amblimation. Then there was Dream Works short-lived Television Animation unit, headquartered in Encino on Ventura Boulevard. The ill-starred production group was the victim of bad timing. It jumped into television work just as the sector was cratering; a possible production alliance with ABC never happened when Jeffrey Katzenberg’s non-friend Michael Eisner purchased the network for Disney; lastly an ambitious animated mini-series entitled Invasion America did not take flight.
But now animation for the home screen appears to be back on the agenda. Like movies that portray the main character with father-son issues (Indiana Jones The Last Crusade, Minority Report),Mr. Spielberg has never lost his interest for animation.
Post #8 Ren and Stimpy
March 22, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv2LCSJcDaE
The Ren and Stimpy Show was one of my favorites growing up, watching it at the time, I always thought of it as an “off the wall” type of show. The Ren and Stimpy Show is a classic example of a kids show having very adult themes. Looking back now, I did not realize some of the subtle things in the show. Animation for Ren and Stimpy is simple and rough. The background will be an animated still in a lot of cases. Also the characters facial expressions will be the same in certain instances. Stimpy has a human butt, while Ren has pink eyes. In this clip, it shows Ren and Stimpy getting ready to go to bed, Stimpy is going through his routine in the bathroom, which includes taking off his nose to clean it, and taking out his eyeballs. Crude jokes like that made the show stand out from all the other shows on Nickelodeon, it also caused some controversy.
The clip also shows that Ren and Stimpy sleep in the same bed, one can simply look past this and say “it is nothing, one is a cat, and the other is a dog”. It would be naïve however, not to think that they are in a homosexual/abusive relationship with each other. Ren is the dominant one, he is always yelling and angry, and in some episodes he physically abuses Ren. Stimpy is the passive one, he is never upset it seems, and always sees the glass half full. The passiveness of Stimpy is shown in his dream, where Stimpy is breast feeding several cats, and when Stimpy is sleeping he has hair curlers in his hair. The clip shown is only a miniscule of some of the crazy things the show use to show.
Blog Specimen
March 22, 2010Post #7 Odd Ballroom
March 15, 2010http://www.theoddballroom.com/watch.html
The clip above is a short computer animated movie made by some college kids. The Odd Ballroom does struggle in some areas, it does succeeds in having an original story, and is very detail oriented in some aspects. The voice actors also play a very important role, for the narrator has a very deep, raspy voice. It fits well for the clip, because it is about freaks performing on stage. The clip does a good job to tell what it is about, and does a good job with the humor. Having the mimes fighting each other, and having the small kid bring out the massive man were the standouts. I thought it was funny as well that the janitor wished he was a freak, and at the end he finally gets his moment.
Obviously the quality in it is not on par with a lot of the computer animated movies the other stuff out there, the massive man’s breathing at times look unnatural as with his arms moving, and the water that came out of the fish woman did not look real. When the janitor falls, and spills the dirty water on himself, it looked very poorly dripping down him. I thought that the lighting was done very well, the light bulb would flicker in and out at times, which gave it a real look. The music in the background also went with the tone of the clip very well.It shows though, that you do not have to work at Pixar or somewhere like that to do computer animation.
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Monsters vs Aliens review
March 15, 2010Watching Monsters vs Aliens felt like I was watching a combination of different films, ranging from The Incredibles and Monsters Inc, to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. The plot in a nutshell, is a woman gets hit by a meteor, and becomes really, really tall. She then is taken by the government, where she is classified as a monster, and meets other monsters, and they become friends and have to stop an alien invasion. Giving that, the plot felt unoriginal, I had the feeling that I knew what was going to happen next.
With that being said, I think the film is a good movie, just not a rememberable one. There was quite a few funny parts, and it did feel like an animated B-movie. The lead female character at the beginning of the film, is very dependent on her boyfriend. Throughout the film, she finds out that she does not need him, and is stronger without him, and she sees the flaws that were in their relationship. These speaks out to the young female audience watching the film, it tells them that they do not have to be reliant on a man. With the exception of the blob monster, the characters for the most part, were forgettable. The movie does have it’s share of noticable voices though, Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Stephen Colbert, and Keifer Sutherland for example. Overal I felt the film seems to rely on familiar voices, rather than substance in the film itself.
Post #6 The boondocks
February 28, 2010The above clip is from the show The Boondocks. The Boondocks is a satire, and the clip above is a satire of certain films such as Soul Plane. The clip is saying that the perfect terrorist plot would be thwarted by idiosyncrasies of African-American people. Soul Plane 2 on a larger scale is making fun of certain aspects of black pop culture, for it’s use of highlighting and glamorizing stereotypes and ignorance. This is seen several times in the clip; when the man checking the x-rays for the bags becomes distracted by a lady, when the ticket taker is joking with the terrorist, and when the check in lady becomes upset at the terrorist and abruptly goes on her lunch break.
The show itself speaks about African-American society through its characters. There is an African-American character named Tom. Tom is a successful prosecutor, who primarily puts African-American people to jail, and is married to a Caucasian woman. His name “Tom”, is derived from “Uncle Tom” for he is a straight laced black man who has turned his back on his race. Another character, Riley Freeman, is an 8 year old who is obsessed with gangsta rap, and routinely references females in a derogatory way. In one episode his grandfather’s car is stolen, and he knows who did it, but refuses to cooperate with police because he is “not a snitch”. Riley is heavily influenced by what he sees on the media. His older brother Huey, on the other hand, is almost an exact opposite. He views himself as a revolutionary, he supports black causes, but sees black pop culture as a detriment to the greater good. While Riley tends to be rash in his decision making, Huey is the voice of reason. The show also has an anime influence, which can be seen in this fight scene, with the use of a speeding background . The characters also have large eyes, which is very common in anime. The people behind The Boondocks let it be known how they feel about certain issues pretty bluntly in episodes, but also mix in random action so it does not feel like they are beating a drum.
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Post #5 Parnoid Android video
February 22, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHiGbolFFGw
When I was younger, a music video that had always stood out to me was “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead. The animation of the video itself is rather unimpressive, but it follows the tone of the song very well. Most music videos that use animation use rotoscoping ,where the animators trace over live action movement from frame to frame. This video, however, is fully animated. The video does well emphasizing bold colors; like his friend wearing pink pants, or the the background will just be a single color during some parts.
The video itself is very dark, and humerus. It chronicles the day of two young boys, who first go to a spot to see a women topless, and last fly in a helicopter with an angel. I feel as the video for “Paranoid Android” and the flow the of the song match up well for each other. In the beginning of the song it starts out rather gloomy; and in the video it starts out with the main character lying on the floor of his house doing nothing, and then crying in the bathroom. Around 2:45 of the video when a heavy guitar riff starts in the song, there is a bar fight happening in the video. Then around 4:40 of the song, when the song is in a choral vocal arrangement, the main character is flying around in a helicopter with an angel.
The song changes tempo several times, and the video does so as well. I would say that the nudity, violence, and randomness of the video is very complimentary of the song, not because the song is particularly violent, but how the song is arranged. Even with all the effects they are able to do now with technology, sometimes the simplest things stand out.
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Post #4: Computer animated commercials
February 15, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVh0n03DnjQ
The video above is from a few years ago, back in a time when Michael Vick and Terrell Owens were in commercials. The commercial itself has a simple storyline, a fictional football team losing the game with one play left. The commercial illustrates the last play in high drama. This commercial has always stood out to me for it is very detailed oriented; from players breath’s showing, shoe marks in the snow, and random comments from players. It also captures the moment very well, a person can feel the desperation the players on each team are going through in this play, which is highlighted with someone trying to throw a gatorade bucket at Terrell Owens. The players that were used in this commercial may have been through embarrassing dilemmas after this commercial was aired, but I feel as the effects still stand out .
The part of the commercial that stands out most to me, is around the 55 second mark when Owens scores a touchdown, gets pom poms, and the camera pans up and it captures the fireworks going off, and the snow falling down and the stadium lights. This commercial I remember very well, I also remember that it is not the first of its kind. Coca-cola really paved the way for computer animated commercials, this one was made in 1993, over ten years before the Nike one was made. Animation has always been used in commercials, and with computer animation becoming more popular in movies and such, one could expect more commercials involving computer animation to be more common.
Post #3: A response to Up
February 8, 2010The excessive amount of snow over the weekend gave me the chance to catch up on Pixar’s latest movie, Up. This post will analyze some of the themes in the movie. A major theme in Up was of never giving up on your dreams. In the beginning, the audience is introduced to Carl, who always wanted to go to Paradise Falls. Eventually Carl gets old, and loses his wife, and seems to be living his life in regret. Carl decides that he will go to Paradise Falls, using balloons to lift his house up. The balloons are an ode to his wife Ellie, for she returned his balloon he lost in her house when they first met.
Another theme in the movie is of role models. Carl, Kevin, and even Dug have their own role models in the movie, and in the movie each of their role models lets them down. Carl has looked up to Charles Muntz his whole, and his voyage to Paradise Falls was inspired by Charles Muntz. When he comes across him, he finds out that he is not the man he thought he is (and Charles Muntz also wants to kill him), and he stops idolizing the man with the dog army. Kevin is a kid who seems to strive for his father’s affection, but his father is never there for him. Dug the dog is part of Muntz’s dog army, but becomes an outcast to them. These three characters though find what they are looking for within each other ; Carl wanted to be a father in his early life, but never had the chance, he gets a chance now to be a father like figure to a chubby Asian kid. Kevin gets the father figure with Carl, and Dug gets good masters, and people to take care of him through Carl and Kevin.
Overall I thought that Up was a very endearing film, and from a visual standpoint I felt it was stunning. I think Pixar has this whole moving making thing down a bit.
