BATMAN!

Earlier today, the first trailer for The Lego Batman Movie was released, and, as a fan of Legos, Batman and movies, I am quite excited. The Lego Movie, released back in 2014, was a surprisingly good and very fun movie, and Lego Batman was one of the best characters in it. I am also a fan of how the people responsible for making both of these movies were able to create a fully computer-generated feature that also sometimes appears as though they just used stop-motion with the actual figurines. The simplistic aesthetics of the Lego blocks and figures make the goofy behaviors and dialogue exhibited by the characters feel more believable, which might not have worked as well with real actors in a real-world environment.

Here's the trailer:

Batman or Gotham Titles?

Ok so for the next project (the title sequence project), the theme that I am thinking of is based on the Batman franchise, but I'm torn between 2 ideas.

The first idea is basically to recreate the Title sequence from Batman vs. Robin (aka the worst of the Batman movies). Now why would I want to recreate this? I grew up watching these movies and, while it is a bad movie, the title sequence was pretty good. Although not great. When I watched it back recently I was commenting on how static the camera movement was until the bat and robin symbols fly in. But otherwise, there isnt too much in terms of the motion. And I was thinking, may using sure target and some clever ideas, I can make a a much more dynamic title sequence. Also maybe change some of the color and style to make it feel less sci fi and more gritty like Batman should be (Schumachers Batman movies I always found looked too futuristic and sci-fi-ish for Batman). I'd also make this one a parody, using references to what fans hate about this movie, like Bat credit cards and the infamous batsuit nips. So thats one option.

But I had another idea. It still pertains to Batman, but its for a TV show: Gotham. Gotham just started its second season, and is actually a pretty good show that serves as a prequel to long before Batman started roaming the streets of Gotham, following the character of Jim Gordon and most of the popular villains before the Dark Knight showed up. Anyway, it is a good show, but there was one thing that always bothered me, and that was the opening graphic title. Its because its WAY TOO Simple, its literally text moving pass the camera in Z space on a background of dark clouds. Its actually really sad in my opinion. I was expecting much more from it. So I want to try to challenge myself with this option. I would want to make my own title sequence for this show, something thats much more dynamic, something that reflects the show very well.

So either way, Im thinking Batman, but I'm not sure which way to go. Right now I'm leaning more towards the Gotham option mainly because I can be as creative as I want. But I could also do the other one and have a little bit of fun with it. I could really go either way. What do you guys think? Leave a comment and let me know which bat idea you like better.

Batman v Superman

So anybody who has ever seen the wallpaper on my phone or computers can easily tell you that I am a pretty big batman fan, so I was obviously pretty excited when the Batman v Superman Trailer was leaked last weekend. While I'm still pretty hesitant about Ben Affleck taking on the role of the Dark Knight, I am really looking forward to the release of the movie in 2016. While the robotic suit/voice were a little weird and confusing, everything else seems really cool. Check out the trailer for yourself.

Batman '66 Cartoon

In recent years, Batman has taken on a much grittier, more serious persona with the Nolan Batman films and the Arkham video games. However, for a large generation, Batman was defined by the campy television series in the mid-sixties lead by Adam West and Burt Ward. Next year will mark the fiftieth anniversary of that television series, and DC has decided to celebrate by producing an animated feature film focusing on the batman universe in the television show. DC most recently had a comics run featuring West's rendition of the classic character, and are building upon that.

The new feature has confirmed voice acting from both West and Ward, as well as a few of the original cast from the sixties, including former Catwoman Julie Newmar. I'm very excited to see how this fits in with the number of batman films that are being produced over the next few years!

Fan Created Superhero Media

I'm a big fan of the superhero genre. I watch all the films, I read the comics, and I binge all the superhero TV shows. As I often peruse comic book websites, a big thing that they feature is fan created videos. Most of these are videos are mashups of various movies, cut to look like two characters exist in the same universe and, usually, fight each other. Although they're never spectacularly well-made, they can certainly be entertaining.

Every once in a while, there some really brilliant videos that play on the superhero genre and have some really decent animation and visual effects. The effects are cool and are fairly easy to do, I've found upon looking up various how-to videos. These videos just go to show how the market is drastically expanding, and how anyone can be a content creator. Here's my favorite one: It's Batman vs. Darth Vader.

The Dark Knight Rises

Everyone knows (and most love) Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy. While I'm personally not a major fan of most conventional comic book adaptations (i.e. Captain America, Iron Man, Superman), I believe this trilogy was captured extremely well both aesthetically and in terms of story structure - for that, I have a special place in my heart for it. Part of what made these films so pleasing to the eye was the balanced, yet spectacular use of special effects animations. Here is a fan produced title sequence that offers a unique approach to introducing the last film of the series. The designer is Dogan Can Gundogdu, a communication design student from Turkey. It was part of a class project, which is surprising considering how advanced it is. He started received job offers almost immediately after releasing it online. Here is the material rendering of the mask:

Happy Batsgiving or Happy Bat Friday!

This week we are taking a look at a video from CollegeHumor's BADMAN series. This series has been racking the views for quite some time now on their website with videos over 500,000 views, some even have over a million views. They take scenes from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and parodies them, turning everyone's favorite hero into the worst version of him yet (and that means worse than the time that Batman was also Green Lantern). Here's a clip:



Just the pits, ammiright? The series uses a number of effects to make it as close to movie quality as possible, including motion tracking with fire and eye color displacement. The series' visual effects are done by a group called Gloo Studios Inc. Based out of British Colombia, this post-production/visual effects/production group has worked with a number of producers and post-production managers of broadcast content for TV and Film. They work with all styles and genres of productions, from multi-million dollar productions to indie producers and filmmakers. Their collaberation with CollegeHumor on many videos, not just including the BADMAN series, has really taken humor to the next level of online videos.

 

Batman Gotham Knight.

    One of my best friends is obsessed with comics so being the great friend that I am I promised him I would watch this Batman series with him this weekend. It's not that i don't like comics I just never really got that into them however this series definitely might have turned me over to the dark side.
     There are 6 fast paced unique episodes to the series and what I love most is that they all are directed and written by different industry professionals  (Writers: Josh Olson, David S Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg and Alan Burnett; Directors: Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yashuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Jong-Sik Nam). This makes the series so interesting to watch. The reason being is that although there is a clear connection in between each episode within the story you really get to see how one idea (batman) being interpreted in so many ways. Its really quite beautiful and it really captures the essence of storytelling and how one story is unique to every viewer.
ENJOY