Why does Dinosaur Ballet make me so happy whenever I watch it? I just rediscovered this video after many months…
Tag: animation
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The other day I watched Fantastic Planet (La Planete Sauvage), and I highly recommend it. This 1973 French animation is like the surreal alien lovechild of Dr. Suess and Salvador Dali.
A band of humans — known as Oms — are kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue humanoid giants called Traags in director Rene La Loux’s animated sci-fi classic, said to be based on the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic. The story centers on an Om named Terr, who escapes his subjugation with a Traag learning device and eventually uses it to educate other Oms and incite them to revolt.
It was incredibly interesting to watch a depiction of human beings treated the way we treat our tiny pets (I wish people would be more careful handling little animals!).
I tried to find some good screencaps, but none of these do justice to the fantastical creations in this film.
If you like strange, wonderful things (and old school animation with visual pencil cross hatching!)…see this movie.
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I received links to the I Am A Paleontologist video by TMBG at least three times when it first came out, due to my love of animation and science. When Steph suggested that I check out Sean McBride’s animation projects, I was unaware that I had already seen his work in that video.
I’m a big fan of Dreamscapes, a montage of animated narrations taken from the dreams of many different people. I’ve created many physical objects from dreams, but since I don’t have the skills to produce an animation I really adore this.
And since my delight in the imagination of children never ceases, I enjoyed Why Did Yoda Fight Count Duku? Here, he grants his five year old cousin’s wish to make a movie about Star Wars (using cousin’s art work, story and voice). Okay, so maybe it’s not about Star Wars, but really…does it have to be? (If you answered “yes,” you have no soul, by the way)
There is also a whole series of short animations featuring Sean and a character based on his best friend Tony. Great dry humor. A favorite:
Sean has so many other fun projects that I promptly got sucked into his website, clicking and clicking, until I had no idea where the time had gone. I look forward to seeing more by this talented guy.
Go check out more on his website, or Youtube channel.
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Today I had the pleasure of seeing a truly lovely claymation film: Mary and Max.
Based on a true story, Mary and Max chronicles the friendship of two unlikely pen pals; an eight year old Australian girl, and an old Jewish atheist with Asperger Syndrome.
The film was accompanied by a Q&A panel put together by the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association.
Although showing this movie is a wonderful way to expand awareness, it is in no way didactic or clinical. The main character has Asperger Syndrome, but the condition integrates with pathos and humor while remaining delicately informative. The story achieves a balance of innocence and purity without naivety.
Mary and Max is, above all, a movie about being human, “warts and all.” The quirks, insecurities and foibles of the characters are common. It’s the story of a personal connection with all of its ups and downs as life goes on.
The cast of peripheral characters is small, but each has depth and dimension. From Mary’s father, a tea bag factory worker obsessed with taxidermy, to her “wobbly” mother who tells Mary countless lies about her shoplifting and alcohol habit, to the veteran amputee and pompadour-sporting neighbors…everyone has a story implied in a glance.
Mary and Max was done entirely by hand, beautifully designed, constructed and animated without any CGI. There is heart and soul in every scene, engaging the viewer from the first frames. I highly recommend this movie if you ever get a chance to see it. I rarely purchase DVDs (thanks to Netflix), but I will definitely buy a copy of this when it’s available.
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Some of you are probably sick of me writing about the soul-less characteristics of modern popular animation. I do give kudos for technical prowess, but animated characters are becoming increasingly homogenized. My fellow children of the 80’s may be disappointed to see how our classic cartoons have been made over recently.
Take Strawberry Shortcake, for example. It appears she has lost weight, and lost her signature curls, freckles and bloomers:
Rainbow Brite is another example, seen here sporting a more slender sophisticated look:
Oh Hello, Dora the Explorer. I know nothing about you since you were not part of my childhood, but at least you look just like everyone else (save for the slightly darker skin tone):
Even TROLL DOLLS, the epitome of ugly, follow the formula.
Then:
Now:
Haven’t had enough? How about a dose of sex appeal in your raisins? Check out the progression of the Sun-Maid Raisin Girl over the years:
So it appears that there is only one look for females in popular culture nowadays: very thin, huge eyes, small nose, lustrous straight hair, clear skin, large breasts, narrow waist…and no discernible personal characteristics. I hate to think of the message this is sending to young girls. In my opinion, uniqueness should be celebrated, not systematically erased from popular culture.
I miss the days when characters had…character.
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Here is a fantastic little short film from Humble TV.
Conceived of and directed by Sam Stephens, Homunculus is a dark and twisted fable of spontaneous generation and untrammeled id.
Taking its title from the Latin word for “Little Human”, the piece is an associative mashup between the two concepts behind the word: The first being middle-age alchemical beliefs that “little men” could be spontaneous generated from dead or decaying matter. The second being Carl Jung’s usage as a personification of pure id. These ideas, combined with our love of Dutch still life’s “beautiful decay,” sowed the seeds for this unique little monster of a film.
I can’t wait to see what else these guys come up with!
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On any given night, I’m liable to stop what I’m doing and just churn out something like this. Here is a quick Hubert Cumberdale sock puppet, based on the character in the delightfully creepy Salad Fingers cartoons (originally posted on Fat-Pie with other David Firth cartoons).
My speedy, off-the-cuff rendering looks lumpy, but such is the nature of socks…he can be smoothed. If you haven’t seen Hubert Cumberdale in action, I won’t spoil anything. Watch the cartoons!
Hubert was quickly adopted after his creation. I do hope he’s enjoying his new home.
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I’m pretty excited about Tim Burton’s upcoming MOMA exhibit (I love his aesthetic sensibilities). The museum has released a new promo video:
The exhibit begins November 22nd and runs through April 26th.
Anyone else plan on going?
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Now for something considerably LESS creepy than the last post, I give you “Midnight Dance.” This video made the rounds on some Halloween countdowns (my apologies for not remembering which blog I saw it on first).
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Something about this video is profoundly disturbing. I found it in a search while wondering about the new Fantastic Mr. Fox movie (specifically, whether they were using pure stop-motion or CGI).
One thing is for sure: THIS one is pure stop-motion. It pulls off the amazing feat of being incredibly creepy without anything gory or horrific. Wait until it gets going a minute or so into the video.
SheWalksSoftly 