Editorial: In Animation, Anonymity is the Brand that Sells

"From the creators of:" Disney and Pixar are big selling points, but the directors rarely get a mention
in animated film marketing. As opposed to what we see in live-action.

When you hear about an animated film, you don't hear who's directing it but rather the name of the studio that's doing it. Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky, among others, are studios that sell their films through the power of their respective brands but who rarely name the human talent behind the projects. For the record, I don't condemn that practice as people have come to expect a certain level of excellence when they hear a new film is coming from Pixar or Disney, but I think that this  kind of anonymity has contributed to the general disregard that animated films are an "easy" thing to do; leading to not taking the people behind them seriously.

Best of the Last Ten Years A113Animation Awards - Final Nominees

For the past month and a half, we've been running our very interactive "Best of the Last Ten Years (2001 - 2011)" A113Animation Awards. I'll be handing out the official A113Animation Award for that, but we've also been running polls to decide "The People's Favourite" too! Now, we've arrived at the final list of nominees for the two awards.

Check out the final lists after the jump break!

DreamWorks Animators "PUSH IT"

I really don't know what to say about the above video; other than that it's hilarious. Designed to keep the animators at DreamWorks in good spirits, particular comic highlights of the video are Jeffrey Katzenberg's hilarious cameos.

It's also nice to see that Pixar isn't the only place in the world that has a hoot making their films!

Enjoy.

Via Cat Hicks' Twitter.

Angry Birds Animated Series Due in Autumn - Film to Follow

Following the release of their latest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Space, gaming giant Rovio, the studio behind arguably the best known gaming franchise on the planet, has announced that they are to expand the Angry Birds universe beyond merely the games - with the announcement of an animated series and a feature film in development!

Speaking at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, Nick Dorra, head of animation for Rovio, stated Rovio are going to release "a weekly series later this year of shortform content". The series will consist of 52 animated shorts, set to be around the 2 and a half - 3 minute mark. The animated shorts, created in-house by Rovio's animation department, will likely resemble this kind of thing.

On the reasons behind the branching out of the Angry Birds franchise, Dorra said:

"It's about telling more engaging stories... and deeper thoughts, deeper feelings of the characters", "Angry Birds is not just about the gameplay, and will be in the future less and less about the slingshot, actually, and more and more about the characters."

When asked about the possibility of an Angry Bird feature film, Dorra stated "It’s in development, but it won’t be out in 2013 or 2014. You’ll have to bide your time and first watch all of our shorts!”. Rovio are also closely working with David Maisel, the former head of Marvel Studios, on the project.

Not one to forget their roots though, Rovio announced also that they will be releasing several new games as well, including new Angry Birds games and an entirely new game.

We'll have to wait to see how these animation projects work out - as gaming film adaptations don't have a great track record - but, for now at least, the prospect is very exciting.

Via The Guardian.

After 37 Years, Glen Keane Leaves Disney

After almost 4 decades in the employ of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Glen Keane, arguably the famed studio's most well known and respected animator and artist, has retired from Disney.

Keane, who began working for Disney in September, 1974 has been responsible for bringing to life some of Disney's most loved characters, including animating Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin in Aladdin, and having heavy creative influence over Rapunzel in Tangled.

Cartoon Brew have the text of the letter detailing his resignation to friends at the studio, in which he said:

Over these four decades I have seen so many changes, but the one thing that remains the same is that we all do this because we love it.

I am humbled and deeply honored to have worked side by side so many artists, producers and directors during my career here at Disney, and I am tremendously proud of the films which together we have created. I will deeply miss working with you.

With my most sincere and heartfelt good wishes for your and Disney’s continued artistic growth and success, 

Glen

One thing's for sure, Glen Keane will be sorely missed at Disney, but will remain a true icon and legend of animation, who will surely continue to excel at whatever he tries his hand at next.

National Film Registry Gets Two New Animated Entries

Two animated films have been inducted into the National Film Registry, being recognised as being of "cultural, historical or aesthetic" importance.

This included Walt Disney's fifth animated classic, Bambi. Bambi, which was originally released in 1942, has been preserved due to, amongst other reasons, "the movie’s resonating, emotional power. Treasured as one of film’s most heart-rending stories of parental love, "Bambi" also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation."

Secondly, A Computer Animated Hand, created back in 1972 by current Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios President, Ed Catmull, has been preserved for its foundational role in the basics of Computer Animation. The description provided by the registry says that the film "worked out concepts that become the foundation for computer graphics that followed."

This is a huge honour for both of these landmarks in animation history, to be preserved for all time and have their paramount importance recognised. The two animated features are amongst 25 to have been added to the registry, including Forrest Gump and The Silence of the Lambs, of 2,228 nominated (full list here).

You can have your say in nex year's addition here.

The Validity of Performance Capture Animation - What's the Actor and What's the Animator?

Motion/Performance Capture has always been a touchy subject, in terms of, how much of the final product is attributed to the actor's performance and how much is due to the actions and work of the animators. Each side has an opposing argument, animation buffs would argue that the role of the animator is the most important and that the performance is only outstanding due to being brilliantly illustrated and brought to life through detailed, animated characters. Whereas acting thespians would present the argument that animators only add the polish to it and that the powerful, raw performance and the emotion that endears the characters to us is the work of the individual actor or actress.

It's a touchy subject, and one that has been in the spotlight as of late - mainly since Avatar in 2009, but a lot more in the past few months as well - with two films in particular, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Adventures of Tintin. These two films have oppositional arguments; the Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise, is very much a live-action epic, yet, arguably the most important performance of it - in terms of the strength of the acting and the importance of the character to the plot and franchise - was that of Motion Capture veteran, Andy Serkis. Serkis, who rose to fame and public attention with his performances as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and as King Kong in Peter Jackson's remake, turned in an extremely powerful and brilliant performance - one of the best I've seen this year - as Caesar and has been in the awards limelight as of late. Due to his popularity and the strong performance, there has been a large push for Serkis to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor - I think he's more than deserving of a nomination, if not a win. The performance, more so than his work as Gollum, highlights his strengths as it captures his facial performance as well as his bodily movements (there's an interesting article here about his Oscar chances and the arguments for and against) - however, what, of what we saw in the film, should be attributed to Serkis? And what should be attributed to the animators?

Serkis says in the aforementioned article, of Performance Capture, and of Weta Digital (Peter Jackson's visual effects company) who carried out both the special effects on Rise and the animation in Tintin (which Jackson also produced):

“Weta is very loyal to the actor’s performance and are able to interpolate that through the translation process after the director and actors have shot the scene on set. They’re very conscious that when they apply the ‘digital makeup,’ it is to honor the actor’s performance; not to bend or enhance it.”

This seems to, not underplay the role of the animator, but, more highlight the work of the actor or actress instead. However, The Adventures of Tintin (also starring Serkis, as Captain Haddock, and involving Peter Jackson, as producer) plays to the opposite side, in its quest to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, it played up that, yes, they do use the performance of the actor or actress, but only as the basis for the still very complex and detailed character animation; highlighting the work of the animators over that of the actors or actresses.

Now, obviously the two cases aren't entirely comparable, but it still raises the question, who gets the credit for these films? Personally, I believe one can't work without the other; there's nothing wrong with traditional, frame-by-frame, animation, but if you're working with performance capture, the role of the actor is equally important as that of the animator, a weak character will come through if either the animation or the acting is weak. As a method of animation, I've never been all that fond of Mo-Cap, particularly because of the just plain creepy Uncanny Valley scenario, which takes you out of the moment, but if used right, it can result in sheer brilliance, as evident by all the films mentioned here. People just need to remember that, performance capture, like any film, animated or other wise, is a collaboration and a team effort.

Details on DreamWorks' Turbo

Following on from last week where we found out some more details about DreamWorks' upcoming film, Monkeys of Mumbai, we get details on yet another animated film from DreamWorks' very busy upcoming slate.

Today, we learn more about a film named Turbo. The official Facebook pages for DreamWorks and for Turbo provide the following synopsis of the film:

"The story follows an ordinary garden snail who dreams of becoming the fastest snail in the world. When a freak accident gives him extraordinary speed, Turbo sets out to try to make his dream come true."

Directed by David Soren, written by Soren and Darren Lemke, with Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character; Turbo is due out, as of right now, on July 19, 2013.

I, personally, am liking this slate of upcoming DreamWorks films, I'm looking forward to this, Monkeys of Mumbai and The Croods amongst others and DreamWorks have definitely been heading in the right direction over the past couple of years.

Cars 2 Review - It's Got a Lot More "Vroom" to it Than Most Reviews Say

Cars 2, the latest release from famed Pixar Animation Studios and the follow up to the 2006 original, has been received by very mixed reviews, which, for a Pixar film, is an incredibly negative response. If fans thought that the reviews of Cars 1 were below the usual lofty heights of Pixar films, reviews of Cars 2 have surely been shocking. Many critics cited that the spy theme was too complex, that the refocusing on the sidekick of Cars 1, Mater, was a mistake, even that he is Pixar's Jar Jar Binks, and that it is Pixar's first bad film - or certainly the closest thing from Pixar to being bad -, the box office run for Cars 2 seems to reflect these mixed reviews, certainly looking like it's on track to be one one Pixar's weaker films commercially. However, believe me, after just seeing the film which opened here in the UK today, all of these criticisms are unfounded, Cars 2 is not only NOT a bad film, it's a very good one!

Thotful Spots - Winnie the Pooh

Despite the fact that it was out way back in April here in the UK, Winnie the Pooh is still not out in America. The very touching film is due out two weeks from today, on July 15, in America, trust me, it will be worth the wait. To build interest in the film, Disney have created many 'Thotful Spots', lovely, touching 20+ second clips. They are all uploaded to Disney's YouTube page, however, you can see 4 of my favourites scattered around this post. They really are fantastic, wonderfully innocent and heart warming, A. A. Milne was, simply put, a genius and Disney have done a great job of continuing his work with this film.

The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2 Arrives

My complimentary review copy of The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2 has just arrived from Titan books. I'd like to take this quick opportunity to thank Titan books for their generosity and say that it looks absolutely stunning. I will have my review of the book up some time this weekend.

La Luna - First Clip and More

La Luna, Pixar's newest short film, has just debuted at the Annecy International Film Festival, but it won't debut to the rest of us non-festival-goers until next year (likely with Brave in cinemas), so to pacify us, Pixar have released the first 30 second clip from the 7 minute short. The clip comes courtesy of Animation World Network, also if you head over there you will see a new still from the film (below) and an interview with director Enrico Casarosa.

The clip looks great, the general feel of the film, the characters, the animation and the score all seem top-notch and I can't wait to see the full thing.

Gnomeo & Juliet Released on DVD/Blu Ray in the UK/Semi-Review

On June 6th (next Monday) Gnomeo and Juliet, a film several years in the making, that was originally planned at Disney before being shut down by John Lasseter after the 2006 Disney/Pixar merger and eventually picked up by Starz Animation, comes to DVD and Blu Ray here in the UK.

The film, based on William Shakespeare's classic play, Romeo and Juliet, came out in early 2011 here in the UK and was met with a quite good box office reception and a not bad critical reception.

Personally, I'd give the film about a 6.5/10, it was very funny and had a fairly sound story (as it was based on a play written by the genius that is Shakespeare), the film also had very solid voice acting (James McAvoy, Emily Blunt et al) and had really good music (from Elton John and Lady GaGa). However, it's not particularly great, the characters are so-so - nothing original - and easily forgettable, the animation is also a bit clunky and certainly is nowhere near the best I've seen this year ( *cough* Rango *cough*). However, there are enough laughs, jaunty tunes and Shakespeare/nerd references (i.e. the house numbers: 2b and not 2b and some glue labelled 'Taming of the Glue') to make this a wholly enjoyable - if not entirely memorable - film.

I'd probably recommend renting it as opposed to buying it, but the decision rests with you. It's still a good film.

The Simpsons Parodies Animation

In the latest episode of The Simpsons, Angry Dad: The Movie, in which Bart endeavours to turn his little animations about Homer from series 13 into an animated film. From there the episode turns into a veritable plethora of animated parodies.

The episode parodies Pixar (or as it is called here, Mixar, above) showing John Lasseter and co. turning up to the Golden Globes on the famous Pixar scooters, also parodying Randy Newman (below), who sings "You've got an enemy" to Bart. It also then parodies Luxo, Mr. Potato Head and WALL E (above). We also get a parody of a Pixar film, condiments, a film about what happens when food comes to life when people aren't around, I can't imagine where they got that idea from!

They also parody Aardman and Wallace and Gromit, with Willice and Crumble, there's even a special guest appearance by W&G creator Nick Park (above).

You can also see snippets of parodies of DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda and Disney's The Lion King (top). As well as a parody of Sylvain Chomet and The Triplets of Belleville.

The episode is hilarious and is definitely one of the best episodes of The Simpsons in recent memory. The episode also contains little digs at celebrities i.e. Ricky Gervais' somewhat questionable hosting of The Golden Globes this year.

Tangled Review - A Hair Raisingly Good Return to Form for Disney

Having just been to see Tangled, the day after it opened here in the U.K., I decided to do my first ever A113Animation review.

Tangled is the 50th animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, a studio that, in recent years, has embodied that oh so famous Forest Gump metaphor - Disney is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. However, I can say with some conviction, that Tangled is the best animated film made by Disney (and not Pixar) in over a decade. It was great to see a return to the magical Disney of the nineties to commemorate the 50th Disney Animated Film.

Cars 2 Goes to Japan

Following on from their massive win at the Golden Globes yesterday, Disney and Pixar look ahead to June and to Cars 2 and continue their massive stream of Cars 2 updates with the above image.

The main and overriding thought when looking at this is awe, it is astonishing how much better the animation looks here than in Cars after just 5 years, it's breathtaking.

Thanks to The Pixar Times to alerting me to this.

Also, remember you only have a week left to vote in the poll to the right to determine what film YOU think will make the biggest impact in 2011.

Toy Story 3, Comes Full Circle (7)

More details have emerged about Circle 7's planned version of Toy Story back in early 2006, the above picture surfaced on Bob & Rob's blog (2 screenwriters attached to the originally planned Toy Story 3). It actually looks really interesting. The first look at Circle 7's take on TS3 came online just over a week ago.

The article Bob & Rob write about their take on the film is really interesting, refuting Circle 7's nickname "Pixaren't" and shooting down the description of their films as "Cheepquels". The pair also go on to say that the producer on their version of the film was Roy Conli, recently the producer of Disney's Tangled.