3D animation

wow, my art history and animation history class just collided pretty much in the same week. I had just learned about Giotto in my art history class. He created wonderful paintings trying to create a since of depth with bigger foreground and smaller background, but the biggest thing was he overlapped his figures which before was unheard of. I'd never thought about the realism in 3D with depth. It's a common sense thing but hard to achieve. I was watching trailers and clips from Tron. I have to say that some of the stuff they were doing was really advanced. It's interesting to see that this movie possibly influenced one of the top animators of our time. Indeed 3D movies are the present because they can create realism far beyond what an ink backdrop can do.

I think, however, many of the movies now are overkilling the digital media. I'm not saying that Pixar should drop its productions nor Dreamworks (which I still have yet to see How to Train Your Dragon) but there are the other companies that pop out cheap movies without a good story or something to engage the audience. They also have a more cartoony look about them unlike the realistic Pixar, Dreamworks, and some of the CGI only movies. I'm more of an artist that prefers drawn animation, i don't know if that's because I was raised to appreciate it or I've always liked art in general. Regardless, I wouldn't be surprised in 20 years if all the movies would be made like Avatar and we all get chronic headaches for 3D glasses.

Which is another thing are we striving for realism so bad that everything is turning into 3D?

animation and its audience

Although there wasn't much to say about the controversial t.v. that appeared largely in the 90s. I agree that those paticular shows were widely for teens and adults. When I was a kid I remember disliking Bevis and Butthead because it didn't have action. I was used to watching the superhero cartoons on saturday mornings and whatever animated movie I could get my hands on. I'm sure it was also that I didn't understand the adult humor. I found the section about the various audience and their Disney experiences to be interesting. It made me think about my thoughts on my first remembered Disney film. My mom said the first disney movie she took me to was Beauty and the Beast. I don't remember that experience at all but I do remember seeing Lion King on the big screen. I can relate to some of the things the people were taking about as well. I remember seeing my dad choke up when Mufasa died because my grandpa ( his dad) passed away 3 years prior. The music and story moved me and I enjoyed it. In a strange sense, Lion King was the movie that ultimately inspired me. I started drawing the characters, acting out in imagination to certain scenes. I love that movie and will forever. I'm not saying it's the best animated film I've seen, nevertheless, that movie will always stay close to my heart because of an impacted it had over me.

Stop Motion

I will always consider this to be a strange animation and yet so common. It was probably one of the first types of animation done with a moving tripod. It's amazing how all of the stop animation advanced to feature movies involving complex stories and intriguing characters. Nightmare Before Christmas is a good example of the complexity of stop motion. After reading the section about how they were able to do the movie in so many sets yet keep it smooth by ways of drawing out every single frame. I bet they could take all of those frames and make a 2d version of the movie. I did enjoy Norman Mclaren's 'The Neighbours' for it's artistic motive of stop motion. It must have been difficult for the actors to jump up the same height each time. It's all worth it in the end when everything is pieced together. Hopefully no fingerprints on the clay and all of that.

Japanese

It was interesting to read about how Disney, Warner Bros. and Japanese animation differ. It's something i never thought about. Like Warner Bros. always being the meer 'toons' whereas Disney is so focused on realistic animation. I like them both, Disney for the moving stories and WB for the laughs. I've always had an extra fondness for japanese animation because of the extra 'violence' that the characters showed. It wasn't meaningless violence like the violence of some of the american animation. It was all about moral, fighting bad people for honor and protecting yourself and others. Even the movies or shows today are like that. The unnecessary violence we can see being taught to the children are by tom and jerry, warner bros as well. Elmer fudd just wants to kill the rabbit yet there never was a specific reason,and bugs is usually displayed as the trickster good guy. Astroboy is described as being a robot boy that goes after the bad guys.
I like anime also for the story value. One of my favorites is Full Metal Alchemist. The story is so heartfelt and moving that you really bond with the characters. It's deep and very disturbing at times because it deals with magic, and that magic is darker than the Disney pixie dust. I would recommend it to everyone.

Stop Motion Animation

Don Storm and Myself's Stop Motion animation project.

'Cartoons' wk. 9

I'm debating on which animation has made more impact in our lives. Limited animation came before the full features, at least that's what i'm concluding from our class. I guess using the same jokes and gags would tire after a while. Now it seems like all limited animation does have a story value. Simpsons produces a logical thought out story in just 30 minutes. The humor is mixed between slapstick and jokes which gives it a family value if not more of everyday occurrence humor. I think Nickelodean produced cartoons strictly for teens. The jokes were dirty, disturbing, and almost scary. I remember watching a Ren and Stimpy show, I was around 10 and never had any interest in the show. At one point they re-enacted a Repunzel and Ren was climbing up the 'hair' to reach Stimpy as repunzel. Once to the top the 'hair' is revealed as a long nose hair. I never quite got over that scene or gain interest in the show. While this is a later show of what the chapter describes as limited shows for older audiences, I'd just thought I'd bring up the Nickleodean kids. I'm sure most of college kids now remember old nickelodean with crazy cartoon shows like Rugrats, Ah! Real Monsters, Doug, Ren and Stimpy, and many more. These shows had more joke humor and situations of real life problems that was reflective of kids. Some other shows held a gross humor that was unseen in many limited animation before, like Ren and Stimpy. Even the art was drastic. There would be a pause and extreme close up of the distorted character with all of it's.. disgust. Like bulging eyes, pimples, blisters, gross teeth, etc. It was bizarre.

I miss some of the old shows though, they were different, and I enjoyed them to the sugarcoated artistic style like Disney.

Disney for wk. 8

I think Enchanted (2007) is a good satire example of Disney's characters. Reading the part about Grimm's fairytales, I've always thought that Disney told the true tale. When I was a kid, I assumed everything was that kind of fluffy fairytale like Snow White. NO, red hot shoes, the choking corsette, or the poison hairpin. Yes, I read my grandmother's copy of Grimm's fairytales and was surprised by all the censored stories. Enchanted takes that idea of ridiculous Disney princess censorship to mock and actually bluntly express how cartoon and unreal it is. When Disney made realistic full featured movies, he wanted to show animation in a more realist way. Yet, it seems like it is all unreal and a fairytale.

As for the censoring, I remember as a kid we had a read a long book of Song in the South. I never knew it was a movie for the longest time. It was so demeaning towards African Americans that they never released it since. Yet, we still can see clips of Zip e doo dah and hear the song so much. It's quite sad that they didn't find a way to either get rid of it completely if it's that horrible or just let it be released. There was also a part in Fantasia that can be seen on youtube ( Fantasia Cut) about misrepresenting blacks at the time. This was cut when it was rereleased in the 70's and forever after. Definitely a good scene to remove. I still love the movie regardless, especially the whole ancient greek mythology.

Week..6? Representation and Digital Animation

I never had a real concern with how animation was represented because I can see it isn't real. However, there are things that bothered me in older cartoons like female characters only giving off that 'sex' connotation. Like Pepe Le Pew always chasing after the black cat, or damsels in distress kind of cartoons (betty Boop). The presentation of man supposed to be body builder types does have a impact as over the top but I don't believe people were bothered by it. That representation of man dates back in the ancient greek/ rome period when all the statues were of build figures.

Cross-Dressing and the Like.

Haha. Yea I never understood that as well. But thinking about the theater, cross dressing was needed for female figures. I guess thinking about it too much might draw nothing. I grew up watching cartoon crossdressing and even Monty Python, it's just taboo that few people can act through, let alone is drawn about.

Digital Animation.

I've had a cold shoulder to the digital animation when I was younger. I think it was because it was too easy? I'm actually not sure. Thinking about my grudge now makes it seem foolish. But I watch older movies with puppet effects and backdrops that it does feel like it is too easy. People would spend probably days to make this elaborate sets and now it's all computer made. Yes it looks real but from what the readings say, some things just became more expensive and unnecessary. With the technology now, things look real. Like the 80s when all the computer effects were extremely pixelated. I still liked the puppets though especially in Jurassic Park (90s).

I have seen the Tin Toy short by Pixar as well as their other early stories. The baby is a very scary looking design but I was impressed by how good it looked then in the 90s. The other early shorts they had previous also looked top notch and their first one was in the 80s.

Abstract, wk. 5

I enjoyed the readings for their psychological drill about abstract animation. Although I'm more drawn to narratives, the points that they make strikes as a truth. Abstraction is much more of a deeper meaning, or maybe not necessarily a different meaning, but you have to watch it a different way. Kandinsky seems to sum it up perfectly, "There are no characters with which to identify,...no diegesis... and when the animation is over, the viewer does not have a complete 'understanding' of its meaning as he or she would with narrative structure." Any kind of artwork could also follow this description. Abstraction is made up of no real direction (although that could be questioned) but I think it's more of something to have the viewer make up for themselves.

I've seen a couple of Norman McClaren's films and I felt like I was being hypnotized almost. The series is called Animated Motion (1-5). I watched two of them. The animation was interesting, fast and moved with the music. I expect Cannon to be as such, a rythmic abstraction to make the mind wander and explore. I've always like how music and animation went with each other. It's like that experience that some people have when they listen to music, they see color. I've yet to experience it, but it's an interesting brain stimulation.

Narrative wk. 4

So far we haven't gotten to any fully narrative animation, besides the cut out last week. Narrative has always been the basic teachings of anyone who is going to be a storyteller. I guess the animations we did see did have a story, but not of their own. Many were real and then the creator would then do the drawings. Then again, sound didn't enter the age of creation for the animations to gain their full freedom. With animation that freedom can be easily achieved and the characters can do anything that creator wants them to do. The chapter talks about the diegetic world, and really it's open for all possibilities.

I wonder if narration is a must for everyone to appreciate this type of art. Looking back at all the things we've watched and then thinking about the abstract animators like Norman McLaren. I think his stuff is interesting but some of his other things throw me out of the loop. I think it's like watching a fast slide show without any real start, middle, end. It's interesting, yet I need something for my mind to grasp.

At least I now have an answer for comics...

So I guess comics were the first forms of storyboarding in a sort of sad way. I think there was a time when I questioned about the use of comics being visually the storyteller to the film now. I wondered how long comics were in existence. I know that ever since printing, there were ads or comical pictures used to display current events. I guess I never knew how much comics and film balanced each other? if that's the correct word.

The Before Mickey article (I don't see an option for underline) goes into details about lightning sketches. I think we've seen some of these types of drawings before, if not it was present in the article about McCay and his work with Nemo and Slumberland. McCay's animation was set up first as bet on whether he could make his characters move and you do see him draw them. It's a strange way thing to call these lightning drawings animations. I don't see them as a type of animation but more of a layering process. Perhaps I don't understand fully how it would be considered animation if the canvas is blank to color.

Lotte Reiniger, the first cutout animator. It was interesting to read about her imaginative ideas and concerns about the 'modern' world then. She loved the ideas of fairytales just as much as I do. Her placement of homosexually and views were quite simple matter of fact in her description and she was very open. It kind of makes me sad that she didn't get more publicity, at least in America. The movie sounds brilliant, like many of the first animations do.

Rethinking the Seriousness of Animation

Theory was never something I would consider when watching animation. However, I think from the chapter, I most enjoyed the depth of "Duck Amuck". The reason for my liking is perhaps the understanding. I've seen this cartoon a few times without really analyzing it.

I like the part of explanation given by Jones (the creator of Daffy Duck) about how no matter how much daffy was erased, changed, or whatever. The audience can still associate that it is daffy by the sound of his voice or his catch phrases.

Sound does play a big role in cartoons like the chapter goes on explaining. I agree totally. By watching what we've already seen in class, the atmosphere is determined by the sound in the background, whether the animation is cartoonish or realistic. Like Silly Symphonies vs. Waking Life. I've seen many animations in my life, some serious themes and others just aimed for children. Sound has played a big role in them both.

Watership Down was originally watched by myself because of my love for nature and at that time rabbits. This movie was more on the realistic aspect and with serious tone. Simon and Garfunkel was used in the middle of the movie. Their song 'Bright Eyes' was sad echoing what was going on with a young rabbit searching for his brother, the leader, who was shot by a farmer. The artwork is beautiful with a very realistic drawing of these rabbits, even animated blood. Even though as a child, the blood and the violence frighten me, now I can appreciate the story.

First Homework

It's funny how in all animation classes, things have a way of repeating. We were discussing animation quote by McClaren," Animation is not the art of drawings that move, but rather the art of movements that are drawn. What happens between each frame is more important than what happens on each frame. " We discussed how between each frame is the set up of reality to make an animation. But of course the idea of realism in animation is a specific topic.

I was interested in the descriptions of McCay and his works. I went to find his stuff on youtube andI was able to find some examples of Nemo and others. It felt as though McCay was ahead of his time. The backgrounds of his work, I think, are actual photographs. I was watching "The Centaurs" although it wasn't talked about in the books, I was amazed by how he created the creatures to move through the photo. I think he Rotoscoped the people and created the horsebody, however, it's hard to tell by watching. It was really amazing to see how natural the horse and person movement eyes like real almost. I think he wanted to create realistic animations with his characters much like Disney.

Disney back in the day of his direction was inspiration to all animation, and his realism in animation was brilliant. Of course some may disagree with such movies like Bambi, and others. The art was beautiful then, painterly and gorgeous to look at. I did enjoy the battle of realism and Pocahontas. I'm glad I now know the reason why that scene was cut.

In the first chapter of Art in Motion, Maureen Furniss goes into detail of animaton, it's the movement of anything in film. She uses Jurassic Park as another example. She goes into detail of real vs. abstract. I guess I could agree to that and the chapter is more of an introduction.

Started up a Blog

This is my blog specifically for my 2D animation class. I will post my first entry tonight. I'm testing the waters at the moment.