Catch Me If You Can and Saul Bass

This weekend I re-watched Catch Me If You Can for the first time in a while. The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is a 2002 drama about a boy who lives a fake life using fake checks and creating many different personas for himself. What I didn't realize the first time I watch this movie was the amazing title sequence. It's an animated sequence that tells a tiny bit about the movie, but mostly alludes to just the title of the movie itself and the main characters. The transitions between each animated scene and the style of drawing stood out to me as being very impressive. The title sequence was created by Saul Bass, who I went on to find out is a master of title sequences. I will definitely be looking for inspiration from these as I continue to work on my title sequence project.

Some more of Saul Bass's title sequences:

A Plethora of Animation Styles!

Hey, do you guys remember Chalkzone? It was a rather obscure cart that aired on Nickelodeon in the mid 2000's. The thing that always interested me about this show was the shift in art styles when they left the natural work and when into the “Chalkzone”. Granted the main characters never changed they appearance but the world around them after they the charted go through the portal turned into this chalk drawn world.

Although this show has been on for a while and is for children yet again, The Amazing World of Gumboil is surprising with its animation style. Although I would assume the set style is that of the main character, each secondary character carries their own animation style with them, ranging from flat 2-D to 3-D and everything in between. The great thing about The Amazing World of Gumball is the way they incorporate as many different animation styles as they can and the result is somewhat disorienting as well as charming! (But again keep in mind this is a children's show so yeah be wary.)

Flatbush Zombies x Trash Talk -- "97.92" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

This music video by Flatbush definitely sparked my interest when I saw it for the first time because I really had no clue how these camera angles/ effects were being done. Ive watched it a bunch and Im guessing that they used a  several fish eyed cameras or GoPros attached to a drone but I'm stumped when it comes to the post editing or that even took place. The angle in the video is hard to explain but its almost like they're giants onto of the globe and earth looks like a tiny ball. the best is when they're on a boat at 2:00 in.

Boom! Explosions!

This is an informative after effects tutorial about how to make realistic explosions in after effects. I can't see there being a ton of use for this tutorial but it a cliched thing to make it silly videos. I think it is a cool and fun tutorial.

Onirik

While going through different animated videos posted on Vimeo, I came across a very beautiful animation. The video was made by two animation companies, Fink and Colts. The video is described as a "surrealistic journey through the minds of creative people". This video is a way to show the creative processes of different artists and how they can truly make their animations come to life. It's very entertaining and gives us a different perspective to animation. Check it out!

https://vimeo.com/154579371

Onirik from Fink on Vimeo.

The Ballad of Mr.Steak

Last semester I stumbled upon Kishi Bashi, while I was looking for some new music. The clip above is a very unique music video for their song The Ballad of Mr.Steak. While I had a hard time finding any information on this video and its animator, I thought it would still be an interesting animation to share here.

I really enjoy how well the animation lines up with the music, especially in the very beginning when the axe comes down on the cow. I'm also a fan of the stars at the beginning, which seem to have a bit of meat texture. Since it was difficult to find information on the animation specifically, I don't know exactly how it was made. Judging from my own observations, it looks like the meat was animated using stop motion. The whole video was probably created using a variety of animation techniques, as as certain elements (like the light, stars, and clouds in the beginning) don't look like stop motion.

Overall, I  have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this animation. I find it original and well done, but at the same time, the "booty shaking" meat can be a little freaky!

Music & Motion

Bringing imagery to your favorite song is always interesting to see. It can completely change the song for you and make you love it or hate it. The stop motion and animation that is used in the video below is one of my favorites. It is so colorful, loud and interact. I would love to make something like that someday. The different materials that it uses and the motion of it all brings another type of psychedelic story and trance of "always going backwards." Its very well done and a great inspiration.

Typography & Motion Graphics After Effects Tutorial

This is a basic tutorial on typography that I thought is really easy to follow along. Typography is such a fascinating use of animation, you can create and do just about anything with it. The way it all flows together is almost like creating its own story, its so interesting! There is so many examples of it on YouTube that I definitely recommend checking out.

Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burgers is an animated sitcom that centers around The Belchers -- a quirky family composed of Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene, and Louise -- and their ownership of a a burger restaurant on a seaside. Their misadventures have to do with family issues, school issues, neighboorhood issues, and trying to keep their restaurant on their feet while competing with the restaurant across the street. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is 2014. The series was created by Loren Bouchard,

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home is an animated short film directed and created by French filmmakers Romain Mazevet, Pierre Clenet, and Alejandro Diaz. Winner of multiple awards in its 2013 debut, Home Sweet Home features the story of a house as it embarks from its desolate suburban location into a grand adventure across the world.

The most notable aspect of this short film are the visuals. It's opening scene makes it hard to tell if it's a work of animation or not. The environments vary tremendously and are always lush and full of life. The film definitely gives a Pixar feel through its animation and lively characters. The team working on this film implemented innovative ways to make a seemingly normal looking house full of life and character. Windows and doors are used for eyes and mouths and hedges and overgrown bushes are used for facial hair. Different kinds of houses, from dog houses to mobile homes, are used throughout the film and add a lot to the story and environment.

Overall, Home Sweet Home is the most original and charming animated short film I've seen in a while. Every minute of the ten minute feature is brimming with gorgeous visuals and creative ideas. You can check it out for yourself :

Home Sweet Home from Home sweet home the film on Vimeo.

Processing

Arutro told me about a really interesting program that is worth exploring, especially if you have any interest or background in programming and computer science. The site describes the program as: "Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts. Since 2001, Processing has promoted software literacy within the visual arts and visual literacy within technology." Basically it is a program that allows you to create art, motion graphics, among hundreds of other applications. The site contains a variety of examples of some of the basic uses. This is one that changes the hue as you drag your mouse across it. Below, you are given the code that makes it work, and it is often surprising how simple the basic stuff is. The language is based on java so if you are good with that program you should feel right at home. Download the program and try entering and tweaking some of the sample code if you are interested. It is a really cool concept and the possibilities are endless. Here are some exhibition examples of work people have done.

Dragon Ball Super

Last July, the anime Dragon Ball Super premiered in Japan and quickly found its way over to the U.S. Fans of the immensely popular Dragon Ball series were understandably excited, as this was the first new story in the Dragon Ball universe since the last show aired its last episode in 1997. The series is known for its very well animated and ridiculous, over the top action sequences, and many were wondering what new show would have in store for them this time. However, during the first big fight scene of the show, which was currently telling a story arc that mirrored a recently released Dragon Ball movie in which Goku, the show's protagonist, fights the universe's strongest being, there was a noticeable drop in the quality of animation that fans expect from the series.

 



These are stills taken from the 5th episode of Super, and they contain some of the worst animation in the history of the Dragon Ball franchise. Quite a lot of outrage was thrown in the direction of the shows's animators, all of which I believe was justified. With such an iconic, almost revered series as this, it's very difficult to imagine that the show's producers would be okay with this kind of sloppy work. Since this point, though, the quality of the animation has continued to be on and off, with some episodes lacking many, if any real glaring issues and some not being pleasant to watch. The most recently aired episode, episode 39, has actually had some of the best animation that I have seen in all of the various Dragon Ball shows I have seen, which I hope means that the animators learned from their mistakes and that this will be the standard for the show moving forward. When such a large group of people have these kinds of expectations for what they consider to be an acceptable product (expectations that have, up until this point, been consistently met), a disappointment such as this can have serious ramifications.

Her Morning Elegance

Stop motion is one of the most time consuming animations to make but the visual result is worth the effort. Stop motion has been used in music videos before, most noteably on MTV, this one in particular worth sharing. "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie and produced by Michal Dayan took over six weeks to script and storyboard and then 48 hours to shoot all the pictures. I have, along with the orignal video, shared the "making of HME". Enjoy.

SleepyCabin Animators

http://sleepycabin.com/

Sleepycabin is an animation company started by a bunch of Newgrounds animators I used to follow back in the day.  It interesting to see them all working together now and what kinds of projects they have moved onto.  It's pretty NSFW

Thinking About 3D Space and Installation: Locomocion

Locomocion  is essentially an animation festival in Mexico City, started by a group of young people interested in experimental animation and creating an intimate space for the sharing of this art.

Last year (2015), Locomocion invited 13 animators and visual artists to come together and collaborate on a single piece. Titled The Heart of the Visual Alchemists, this piece takes a step back from the nature of mainstream cinema by making it a 3D experience and transforming the physical space through animation, sculpture, and music.  The sculpture at the center of the room was a 118 inch tall paper heart that was covered with animation at 360 degrees.

In the piece you can see the artistically unique styles from each animator that participated.

The piece itself also represents the mission of the festival itself. As Locomocion said that the goal of the festival was to create "a space to create, experience, and enjoy experimental animation."

Watch the installation here!

Making Progress on My Stop-Motion Animation

I am so close to being done with my stop-motion animation! In the beginning I had such basic drawings and now I have a piece of production that I think looks pretty cool. Of course I had a couple setbacks like not knowing how to light any shot, accidentally making my project 4K (literally have no idea how I did that), and struggling to hide the paint marks on the bottle cap. A number of people helped me solve each of these problems as they came up (thank you Arturo!) and now I have this:

Ta-da! I'm still working on the sound design and the LMFAO song that's in there right now is more of a placeholder than anything. I'm hoping to get an original track from a friend to swap in for it. Let me know what you think.

Animation in Sitcoms and Films

It is relatively popular to have a scripted television show or film throw in bits of animation throughout their series or movie. I personally don't know how I feel about it. There are many examples, such as in season 2 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in the Disney Channel show, Lizzie McGuire, or in the movie Enchanted. All of these scripted shows and films have actors and sets and a true script, but sometimes animation actually enhances the plot. In Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, it is only used once, when we are looking inside Kimmy's mind, and we are able to see an animation where she turn into a princess. In Lizzie McGuire, it is used much more frequently and offers an enhancement to the plot in every episode, and in Enchanted, the main problem in the movie is trying to get back into the animated world, so mixing the 2D and 3D world is a key point of the movie. Personally, I think that it should be one or the other, but critics offer that this popular choice actually plays pretty well with audiences. 

Breakdowns of the Force Awakens

Obviously, the CGI in Star Wars is pretty good. They practically made the industry what it is today. This is a pretty cool video of the edit breakdowns in the force awakens that shows a lot of the layering and compositing that took place to make some of these shots. I can only imagine how long some of this took to make.

Color Scripts in Animation

After taking the color grading minicourse a few weekends ago, I started to wonder how color correction and color grading played into traditional animation and how if might be different to the process that its used for live action films.  Color correction and grading are actually used quite frequently for animation in the same sense as live, to give the director more creative control on the final image and adjust each scene accordingly for the perfect emotional tone and to relate to the story.   In a sort of non-computerized form, animation films have their own version of Lookup Tables (LUTs) in the form of color scripts.  An LUT is essentially a way to modify the original image shot to the intended image to be displayed, and color scripts are sort of a way for animators to determine what kind color needs to be changed when the time comes for the process.  Color scripts are a way to map out the colors and saturation for each scene in order for the director to have a clearer vision of what the final product will look like, and possibly make more changes along the way.  Big-studio films like the works of Disney and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs use color scripts that are developed early on, and go hand-in-hand with the story development, as when some scenes change the emotion and color can change as well.

Color Script for The Incredibles shown above, mapping out each scene chronologically

Script for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, providing a palette of colors above 

to correspond with the specific scenes, not necessarily in chronological order

As much as I still need to practice color correction and grading with live action first, I find the techniques for color in animation quite fascinating, it's essentially another kind of storyboard to develop in the preproduction process in order to have a more solid vision of your final product.  Definitely something I'd like to try on some of my projects in the future.

Female Representation in Film

More recently than not, especially in this day and age where superhero films dominate the box office and Marvel receives extreme positivity from critics, however one of the biggest problems reviewers have is the lack of female characters in these films. Now I'm a big fan, and I do agree that it is a fault. Luckily they've heard fans crys and in the new movie coming out in May, Captain America: Civil War, there are three key female characters in the story. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Sharon Carter/Agent 13. It's really exciting to finally see such a strong presence of females in these movies, the comics there are so many powerful women that it's quite remarkable to finally see them on screen. Little by little they are diversifying. Check out this women in Marvel featurette that showcases Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Agent 13