Over Thanksgiving break I went to see Pixar's The Good Dinosaur. The movie was good, but it was the same as many other Pixar movies: the protagonist is somehow removed from their comfortable home and they must go on a long journey to get back to it, seeking help from some funny characters along the way. Eventually Arlo, the good dinosaur himself befriends the little boy who he blames for getting him into this mess to begin with, Spot. Their friendship grows as the movie progresses, and I don't want to spoil anything so I'll stop there.
Arlo and Spot agree to help Nash, Butch, and Ramsey along their journey, in return for their help.
SO PRETTY
The movie was BEAUTIFUL. It looked so realistic and definitely inspired me to go hiking. However, what really caught my eye was the short film that played before the movie, Sanjay's Super Team. For me, the short film had much deeper meaning than the movie.
Sanjay's Super Team is about the Patels, an Indian-American family. Sanjay's father prays to Hindu deities while Sanjay prays to his deities, the superhero cartoons he watches on television. Sanjay is annoyed when his father turns off the tv, takes away his action figure, and forces Sanjay to pray with him. Sanjay is distracted by his action figure during prayer when his imagination suddenly whisks him away to a Hindu temple. Inside the temple, statues of Durga, Vishnu, and Hanuman come to life and help him defeat an evil monster. This experience changes Sanjay, who accepts his father's religiosity and consequently joins him in prayer.
(L to R) Durga, Vishnu, and Hanuman
I thought the short was really cool for a couple of reasons. First, this is the first time an Indian character is the focus of a Pixar film, which is important in animation history. Second, I'm interested in mythology, and the portrayal of the deities brought me back to my high school English class, where my yogi storytelling teacher told us both the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Third, the juxtaposition between Sanjay and his father shows that people of different generations and cultures are more similar than we think. At the end of the film, it is revealed that Sanjay Patel, the creator of the short, based it on a true story.
Being sick is possibly the worst thing that can happen at this time in the semester, mentally i'm feeling strong but physically my body is just not having it (let's just say I've been very limited). I'm still pretty icky but now we all guessing that it may be an internal issue rather than just a really really bad cold. Hopefully all goes well, but on the bright side (in some odd way) being sick has given me time to devote to all my interests like sketching and animating. I'm actually really proud to say that there looking really good (pretty quirky and adorable actually).
I'm also excited to say that I'm back art directing and production designing for a student film back home. I've been working with the script for a couple of weeks now and I've finally developed the final color schemes and began sketching the costumes. I guess the reason why i'm so excited is because the writer and director have given me complete creative liberty, which is rare usually they want you to draw their vision. It's still in the early phases of production but I'm excited to be working on something that isn't a project or for credit, its purely just for fun. Not so fiction related news: I've began watching A LOT of Netflix documentaries, and for future reference if you're ever stuck in bed or have a long weekend, just skim Netflix and watch a couple!
This past Saturday, I took out the intermediate audio production studio (Park 143) for a couple hours to just mess around and practice doing some foley work. I had it all planned out, my files were ready to go on my external hard drive, and I brought snacks (of course).
Things started out totally normal: I went to master and got them to unlock the room, put my stuff down, and then headed over to PPECs to pick up equipment that I reserved. I had reserved one ME-66 Rycote shotgun microphone, and the rest of my order would be non-reservables. Pretty soon I realized that the mic I reserved would not connect to the mic stand, nor would I be able to remove the dead cat. Fine, I'll take out a different one. Turns out, I'm not authorized to take out many microphones. I ended up with a ME-66 K-Tek shotgun mic, which also would not connect to a mic stand. Instead of the stand, I got a boom pole, mic boom cradle, attached that to a grip head and then attached the grip head to a C-stand. It was a very awkward setup and it looked like this.
Not as low to the ground as I wanted it to be.
The whole thing took about 25 minutes because for whatever reason, the computer I was being checked out on stopped working. Obviously, it wasn't anyone's fault at PPECs, but it was still frustrating since I lost all that time.
Once I got all my equipment set up and plugged in to the right inputs, I was ready to solve the next series of problems. For whatever reason, the computer in 143 would not recognized my external hard drive. This was an issue because the file of the video I wanted to use was on it, so I ran to master control to get help. We couldn't fix that problem, but the computer would read one of my thumb drives, so I transferred the file from the external to the thumb drive and then I was good to go.
Nope. Not yet. I thought I had everything set up and ready but whenever I would hit record on any track that wasn't the first one, no waveform would display in the recording, which meant it was not recording any sound at all. I asked for help again and figured out that there was a setting turned on in Pro Tools that makes it so that every time you add a track, it automatically chooses the next input for you. So the first track would record from input one--that's where the mic was plugged in; since I only had one mic, track two would automatically try to record from a second input that didn't exist. Once we identified the problem, it was easy to go in and switch the input to mic one for every track.
After working out all the kinks I could finally begin. And let me tell you, foley is 100% at least a two man (or woman) job. I probably looked like an idiot to all the families walking around Park peeking through the window to 143 as I hit record and ran from the control room into the studio to record a couple times and then ran back again. But I don't really care.
This is the video I attempted to foley. It's a short animation of a guy getting up to dance to Pharrell's song "Happy."
My foleyed edit is by no means perfect. I know that there are sounds I missed or left out and that's because I had a limited amount of time in the room and because I only sort of knew what I was doing. Here's my edit. You will definitely have to turn up the sound and put on headphones to hear what I foleyed. (If it looks like its lagging a tiny bit, it's because I've uploaded the video directly into Blogger).
Overall I'd say this foley experience was a positive one. Now I know what sort of problems I will probably and definitely run into when I do post sound for our project for class as well as foley for the senior thesis film Scout's Honor.
So last night I had to go out and do a fundraiser for the Club Softball team, which I did not want to do. So when I got home at 1 am, and I was tired but didn't want to sleep yet, I wanted to watch a light hearted movie that. As I was scrolling through Netflix, I saw Mr. Peabody & Sherman on my suggested list. I vaguely remembered hearing that the movie was good, so I decided to give it a go.
I was hooked in the first 10 minutes. Not only is the animation beautiful and the color pallet very bright and pleasing, but the character design for Sherman is absolutely adorable. Not only that, but Ty Burrell is an absolute delight, and the story is actually very compelling and witty for a children's movie.
I am also a huge fan of historical anything in films, so I really liked that while yes fictional and intended to be comical, the history they brought in with the time travel aspect was really interesting to watch, and brings a little humor and goofiness to some very famous points in history. The script is intelligent, cute, and able to bring two generations together to enjoy one movie.
This week has been a pretty difficult one and while laying around in my grief hasn't gotten me far, I will say that I relied a lot of films to distract me from my sadness. Ironically watching the film Inside Out, was more therapeutic than any phone call or text. Inside out is the perfect animation film describe human emotions and development. There's joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear (all of which are characters in the film) and all of which make being a grown up extremely difficult.
Here is the trailer for anyone who hasn't seen the film, there's excellent animation and the story line is probably the best I've seen in any children movie. Plus: The animators and designers really put in an extreme amount of effort and attentiveness in the every aspect of the film, like the 'command center'.
I learned a lot re-watching this film but mostly that sadness is equally as vital to our well-being, as happiness.
As someone who is interested in going into the advertising industry, one of my favorite sites to browse is adweek.com. As I was browsing today, I came upon this amazing video created by Parachute.tv.
This video isn't an actual Tesla advertisement, but a fan-made one created by the Parachute team. Whats amazing is that this was created completely in CGI, from the realistically looking gas station to the electric fireflies to the Tesla automobile. Its crazy to see just how advanced computer graphics have become to actually be able to generate images that look this real.
Hey guys,
So we talked about Wire Removal today in class so I figured I would dig some stuff up to show you. It is really quite simple and is nothing to worry about. the only thing that would make it an issue is if the camera is moving and not locked down.
So if you dont know how something like this is done it is done in Adobe After Effects. In the Effects side panel you can find what is called a simple wire removal. It is a little tricky when you get into the key framing however the entire process can be completed in about a half hour if the shots aren't super long.
Here is a link to a video tutorial on how to use the tool.
Top Five Greatest Movies of All Time: Krystal’s Edition
Grease (1978)
Classic and personal favorite film. I can literally watch this film a million times, with all the singing and over dramatic scenes and be completely content. Had this film be of the 2000’s I would probably be annoyed and bored of the musical cliches. The characters have great charisma and the songs are addicting. But if nothing else- this film proves to be a great one simply off of the marketable aspect of it (example: halloween costumes). Although I must admit, I wish they would have never made a sequel.
Titanic (1997)
The hand scene, gives me life! I believe it is one of the main crystallizing images of the film other than Jack holding Rose on the edge of the boat. The storyline of two people from different backgrounds merging into one, to cover one of the classic tales of love in an historic tragedy-is priceless to me. This fictional story of Jack and Rose with real life occurrences was beautiful and remarkably believable. It is hard to imagine the Titanic without the thought of the film and the love story of Jack and Rose. James Cameron as a writer and director for this film was also astounding. Everything from the music, to the special effects, even down to the costumes was purely magical and extremely impressive.
Gothika (2003)
I’m not a big fan of thriller/crime films but the acting and storyline really draws you in and there’s a certain amount of empathy or sympathy (both) that can be felt! Every single time I watch this film I have an emotional reaction to it, my skin crawls/chills I become nervous and afraid (suspense), and as a result of those constant emotions the film has made my list. I do believe that in a year when romantic comedies were rolling out of the box office, this movie was underrated. I would even go as far as to say that Halle Berry had one of her best performances in the film!
Maleficent (2014)
The casting was phenomenal, and of course the storyline is great however the true reason why Maleficent has made my list is the outstanding art direction, and costume designs in the film. I believe great art direction can give you if nothing else a boost in ratings, so toast to disney for a great turn out of a new twist. Similar to the 2014 Cinderella art direction, production design, and wardrobe. Angelina Jolie performance as was phenomenal, she managed to make a traditional one-dimensional villain more relatable and sympathetic, as well as magical/ whimsical. I enjoyed how this film isn't classic Disney, but is a new found favorite for adults and kids.
The Lion King (1994)
Childhood favorite! Great animation, storyline was very impressive, and once again the overall attention the film can grasp from the audience is truly overwhelming. As well as the amount of repetitiveness this film has had over the years, in comparison to its overall likeness is also… shocking. Similar to Tarzan in overall likeness and disney adventure classic. This film has it all amazing animation, all star cast of voices, and great lessons! Its a huge part of my childhood, and a film classic.
Please note that this list was written with my humble opinion and that only, you are all open to your own interpretation/opinions!
It started as most trips did for my friend and I: half a tank of gas and a GPS that we suspected was secretly trying to kill us. It was the just the right mix of confused and justifiably concerned that we needed to get us anywhere. And on a particularly sunny morning in June we found ourselves crossing over into the land of maple leaves and no highway rest stops: Canada. We were sleep-deprived, listening to the only station that would come through clearly (a strange mix of jazz and 80s-esque rock and roll), and had long gotten over trying to read the kilometers conversion on our speedometer when it struck us.
We had actually just traveled to another country to meet someone who has been one of the biggest inspirations to us art-wise (and for me, film-wise). See, my friend and I have a strange sense of humor that consist of a series of half-assed miming and off-beat puns. It’s become a second language to us and it’s something that’s defined the things (of comedy) that we enjoy. That being said, we had had the amazing opportunity to stumble across the works of Natasha Allegri, creator of Bee and Puppycat, earlier in the summer and just so happened across this convention she was attending (the “Toronto Animation Arts Festival International”). Now, Natasha had been a well-known name in the cartoon-industry, for her work on award-winning shows such as Adventure Time and Cartoon Hangover-curated Bravest Warriors, but it was the unique style of her animation and writing that hooked us.
Bee and Puppycat premiered on Cartoon Hangover’s youtube channel in July of 2013. It was originally a quirky little short about a girl who loses her job, bumps into a dimension-skipping puppycat, and takes on a freelance job in Fishbowl space. Pretty ordinary, right? But the amazing thing about Bee and Puppycat is not only the visual style and natural flow of dialogue, but the process it has gone through (and the influence it has had on my own filmmaking) to become an actual full-length series.
With a kickstarter that launched back in October of 2013, Bee and Puppycat collected $872,133 by the end of its fund-raising period making it the most successful animation kickstarter in the history of the website. And after months of waiting, the newest and most re-vamped version premiered yesterday (November 6th).
And I remember sitting in the third row of a lecture hall, out in Toronto, watching the original storyboards for the first episode (of the newer version). It’s a weird and nostalgic feeling to realize that I was there witnessing the creation of something truly delightful. It was worth the moments of panic as we missed our exit more than once, and that one time that biker got mad at us and flipped us off.
Fast-forward a few months and everything that had been discussed was a completed thing. It’s gives me goosebumps, in a good way. Because what was Bee and Puppycat before was not what Bee and Puppycat was now.
For starters, the visual look of the series has changed significantly from its pilot-era. While it definitely threw me off for a few seconds, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, it just shows how much can change in the production process and how much power you (as a content creator) has to to change the things that you want. For me, this new style only helped match the ideals and characteristics that screamed Bee and Puppycat.
You look at how Bee is drawn, you look at Deckard, you look at Puppycat, and any of the other characters and you see diversity. And it’s sadly hard to find that in mainstream media. You know, a female character who not only looks like someone you’d see in everyday life but someone who has embraced this sort of can-do attitude for the things (that would be trivial to some) in her life.
And the dialogue of the series only attests to the sense of realness that comes with such a personality as hers (and the others). It’s like you’re physically in the room having a conversation with the characters, or at least observing in close proximity. It’s natural. It’s insanely natural and it adds to the atmosphere.
Bee and Puppycat at its base, is a very whimsical story but it tackles very serious and actual problems in our lives: unemployment, heartache, betrayal, budgeting, ugly work uniforms. Haha, well not every problem is a very serious one but you get my point.
Sure, it’s not what it was a year ago but that doesn’t make it any less of the show that attracted thousands. And sitting in the back of that mildly-warm room, in an unfamiliar city in Canada, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t make it anymore: as an artist, as a filmmaker, etc. Hearing how Natasha cried when she had run, sweating in an uncomfortable business suit, through the streets of California to get to a pitch meeting that she utterly bombed, was strangely inspiring. Because it had failed. She had failed. But that didn’t stop her. She pushed on and it pulled off because someone was interested. And that’s the best thing to keep in mind these days. That no matter what, there will be on person who will be avidly captivated by your work. So let yourself fail. Let yourself make that wrong turn, and get over it. Because you learn from it and you learn to pick yourself up and to find a different route.
So here’s me pointing a big arrow-shaped stick at this series. Hopefully you’ll give it a chance, if not a quick glance, because it did something great. Maybe not to you, but to someone.
And maybe you’ll find yourself traveling across the border with half a tank of gas and a GPS out to get you. Who knows? I guess the point of this entire thing is that you just have to create.
Ok I know that Popeye isn't the ideal cartoon character that you'd think of when making an eyebrow raising movie.
(His enormous forearms scare me too)
But, from the looks of the new animation test for the new Popeye movie, we might be changing our minds. Director and narrator Genndy Tartakovsky, who is known for making Hotel Transylvania, has had a life long obsession with the spinach addicted sailor and now will finally make a movie dedicated to his favorite cartoon character. Tratakovsky's style of physics defying animation from this video is well demonstrated. He has adapted the 1930's cartoon to have a more sleek and sharp looking design that makes the cartoon characters look almost lifelike. Follow the link below to get a look at the behind the scenes video about the process of making this new animation movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1lzJuwJD9k
Needless to say, this looks a thousand times better than the 30's and 40's cartoons, cartoon strips, and the 1980 Robert Altman live action rendition of Popeye. The movie doesn't have a release date but sources say that the movie should be released in the coming year.
Should I move the camera a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right?
You stand back and strike the pose of a renaissance painter about to carve into marble and, while it’s no Venus de Milo, what you’re about to do is equally as delicate. But you’re on a schedule and if you don’t get the shot in the next five minutes, you could easily find yourself scraping your feet as you look for another job. Harsh, but this is serious business.
This is composition.
For those who don’t have the time, the willpower, or the want to read for themselves: composition is basically how things are put together in an image (moving or not). We can look at articles like Chris Knight’s “The Ultimate Guide to Composition,” as a bouncing off point.
Images in their basic simplicity, are made of lines. Lines that form boxes, lines that intersect, and lines that draw the viewers’ eyes to where they need to be. Think of composition as a laser pointer. It's a subtle technique that filmmakers will use to get someone to subconsciously focus in on one aspect of the shot. But just talking about the technical jargon behind a film doesn't necessarily teach us what that means. Why should we use center composition? What's the difference between diagonal and horizontal arrangements? Is composition really that big of a deal?
And my answer is: yes, it is. But don't just take it from me. Don't just take it from Chris Knight. Take it from a physical product that was successful in its own right, that had this technique honed down to an art. Let's look at Pixar's The Incredibles. Directed by Brad Bird, and released back in 2004, the film is a cult classic (within animation). Really, it's a movie you either love or hate and I will be the first to say I had been the latter up until a few years ago. Honestly, I could go on forever about why this movie was one of the most well-put together films of its genre (writing and plot issues aside), but today we'll focus on its composition. For time's sake we'll look at its opening sequence:
Right away you'll notice these shots fall into what we call center composition. It's literally taking your point of focus and forcing it right into the middle of the scene. It's not something that most people recommend doing, and it's certainly not something that can be done well. But why? This in part, lies with how our brain takes in information. Yes, we have a certain affinity towards the symmetrical but there is something about focusing ourselves into the middle of an image that throws us off. Objects can be symmetrical, but an image has to have action. And that's the problem with centering your subjects. It immediately erases any depth around them and gets rid of the action in a scene. This is because your image has to literally stop in the middle. It's too abrupt for our senses to take in from a "two-dimensional" point of view. And it's boring. But this is why it can be such a powerful tool as well. As seen in the above video, centering the shot only works to really set up the feel of the interviews. While candid, they don't do much to give us insight into how these characters works. Yes, yes, we understand how they might feel but for the moment we are the interviewers. The common public that looks at these heroes in quite a two-dimensional way. And that's the problem set up, because these heroes are human. They make mistakes and they certainly aren't gods. For those who haven't seen it, the core of the movie is the dynamic between those who have superpowers and those who do not. For years, these heroes were idolized and put up on a pedestal. But through a series of events, their powers back-fire on them and they're forced to hang up the masks and gloves. They are forced to fit in. Yes, there's a lot more to the actual movie's plot but stay with me.
The above "interviews" only work because of the composition. The image is scaled down and positioned right smack dab in the middle of the frame. Adding to that, they've made it so every character is also put within the middle of their own shot. This gives us a layered centering of objects. They force us to look at these people as the movie looks at them.
As superheroes they are the center of attention. They own their surroundings in an almost arrogant sort of way. And because we've got nothing to look at but them, we feel uncomfortable. Obviously, this is old. Obviously, something isn't right. But in that moment, we are the public before the storm. All of our attention is focused on these people and we are literally watching their every move. But there's something about giving them all of our attention, that makes us feel uneasy.
Then it transitions to the sequence below:
While it may not be noticeable with how it was uploaded, but the composition changes in many ways. We've just faded out from the interviews and our perspective literally increases (meaning the screen literally gets bigger). It may not be what you consider composition but it is. It's creating invisible lines that expand our view and it adds dimensions.
Before, were were just watching the characters. Now, we are actually getting a glimpse at what they do. Immediately, the movie utilizes everything from golden triangles to the "Rule of Thirds." As the shots are set up, we can see that hardly anyone dominates the space and hardly anyone is centered in the middle anymore. This is a fantastic way to put action and life into the scene. From the skyscrapers in the back (during the car chase) to the sidewalk as the little old lady cries for her cat, the filmmakers are creating subtle lines that pull our attention inward to the points of focus (mostly Mr. Incredible in this case).
By not having him centered anymore, they also start to engage the audience. We are constantly moving our eyes to find the subject of the shot. And for an action-heavy sequence, this works delightfully well in keeping us focused on the movie. The constant movement confuses us just enough to make us want to notice everything. But it also makes us start to root for him. For the superheroes. And coming from those interviews, it feels good. Because we want to, don't we? I mean, they're superheroes.
Even in the last few shots, as she flings herself in to the sunset, we are left wanting more. We've come a long way from just staring at these people as they grin from the center of an interview to rooting for them as they do what they do best. And that's fantastic because it won't last. But by making us have to work to root for these guys, it nicely sets us up to become more emotionally invested as things start to crumble.
And this couldn't be achieved without proper composition. We, as an audience, don't want to just sit there and stare at something head-on. We need movement. We need depth. We need action. We need the characters to move: a little bit to the right, a little bit up, a little bit down, and a little bit to the left.
Wow to think this is my last post, how time flies. First off I wanted to say it was a pleasure to work with all of you throughout the semester. Additionally this class has been one of the most unique experiences in both college and life in general (especially due to the interesting stories and objective of the class). While some days there might have been stormy seas it is nice to know we will all be sailing into the sunset on calm waters after our screening this Saturday. In all seriousness this class allowed me to gain a true appreciation for the industry and taking myself serious as a filmmaker, I mean how can one not learn from such a seasoned veteran like Arturo. Lastly I wish you all the best in the future as you pursue your careers, good luck on your finals and have a safe break!
Now that I got all the sappy shit out of the way I would like to share my favorite holiday animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. This was actually the first prime-time animated TV special. The animated TV special is based on the comic strip, Peanuts created by Charles Schulz. For any of you that aren't familiar with Schulz or his work he was an American cartoonist that dedicated 50 years to his most notable work, Peanuts. A Charlie Brown Christmas was first debuted on CBS in 1965 and was switched to ABC in 2001 where it is currently aired on multiple occasions leading up to the Christmas. The animated TV special has received much recognition throughout the years and has won an Emmy and Peabody Award. The last reason this is one of my favorite of all time is the soundtrack and how it works in unison with the animation throughout the entire special. Additionally the music simply spells Christmas as it provides a magical feeling we have all felt at one point or another during the holiday season. Without further adieu here is the classic opening to A Charlie Brown Christmas...
So, you're walking through the grocery store, wal-mart, or anywhere fine cheap movies are sold. You look into the bin of cheap DVDs, and spot something familiar. You wonder to yourself, is that [insert big name animated movie here]? Upon closer inspection, you see that it is an impostor.
Enter the world, of Video Brinquedo, a company in Brazil that specializes in making rip-off animated movies. To put it bluntly, Video Brinquedo movies are terrible. The animation is bad, the character models are bad, the movies as a whole are bad.
Click the picture to experience Ratatoing. (Or at least the trailer)
All the Video Brinquedo movies re-use assets like there's no tomorrow. The rats in this movie? Get ready to see them in the other Brinquedo movies, along with all the other past models and characters.
Thing is, Video Brinquedo makes money from these. Enough that other studios are following their example.
Kiara the Brave isn't even a rip-off movie though. It's actually an original animated film from India.
Click the picture to see the trailer.
Having watched Kiara the Brave or "Super K" as it's actually called. I can say that it isn't very good, but it isn't a shameless Video Brinquedo-ter rip-off. The animation isn't nearly as bad either.
It's a shame that smaller studios have to rely on tricking people into seeing their movie. Hiding behind the guise of an established movie is downright pathetic. Cheapo animated movies aren't going anywhere soon though. So strap in, grab the popcorn, and get ready for The Last Flight of the Champion.
Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel,
"Frozen" is the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen.
When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist,
teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on
an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to
her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf,
Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the
elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.
I am still amazed at the progression of animation and what is has become.This adorable movie is getting rave reviews, from both critics
and their audience members. One critic claims Frozen is “Beautifully
animated, smartly written, and stocked with singalong songs, Frozen adds
another worthy entry to the Disney canon”. On RottenTomatoes.com Frozen
received a 91% overall rating for people who enjoyed the loveable film. The snowman featured in this film, called Olaf is hilarious and I wish he was real. This film has adorable characters that everyone, young and old, can relate to.
This film is a must see, as it has a great cast an adorable plot
line. If the winter weather has got you down, go see Frozen and warm up your
chilly bones!
For my show The Screening Room this week I had to review the new animated film "Free Birds" which tells the strange tale of Reggie, voiced by Owen Wilson, an unusually smart turkey who attempts to get the other birds of his flock to realize their farmer master is fattening them up for Thanksgiving dinner. The graphics are not that impressive, but the storyline is amusing. There are not a lot of Thanksgiving themed films, besides of course the classic "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving", so this one was intriguing and well timed. It has a great cast of Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler and the hilarious Woody Harrelson. Critics have been gobbling this movie to shreds, as they say it is"Technically proficient yet creatively moribund, Free Birds begs unfortunate comparisons with the dim-witted fowl that inspired it." Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a 19%. Enough said.
Yikes. Sorry folks if you were looking for an entertaining turkey movie! The only thing this movie ignites in the audience is hunger. Yum, turkey. This movie is also featured in 3-D which I literally don't understand. Why would this movie about striking turkeys need to be featured in 3-D? I personally don't like the whole effect in general but they are just going overboard.Overall, "Free Birds" should have never been set free to the public. It has all the right components but it just doesn't pull through. And Owen Wilson needs to stop being animated characters.
I grew up with Charlie Brown, as each holiday came my family and I would watch these classic films. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is the compelling story of Charlie Brown and his quirky friends coming together and sharing Thanksgiving dinner together. This film was made in 1973, 40 years ago! It is insane to think this was created so long ago.
I think it is very interesting how much animation has progressed. I believe Charles Schulz was ahead of his time and created descriptive and intriguing stories. He was the definition of what a real storyteller is and his stories were instant classics.
The picture above is a clear depiction of how animation has truly changed and evolved at a rapid rate. Animation movies today are so real looking that at times I forget that I am watching drawn characters. Compare this picture to this adorable picture of Puss in Boots:
This picture is so realistic, compared to Charlie Brown and is almost three dimensional. "I absolutely love the modern day evolution of Disney and other animated filmmakers these days. The animation process continues to improve with magical and colorful visual effects, sensational facial expressions, and remarkable scripts" This quote is from an article I read called "The Evolution of Animation" and the author expresses that he loves the classic animation films, but also enjoys the modern day animations as well. The classics of older animation include most Disney movies, such as the classic "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
The two pictures above are different styles of animation, however, in modern day we are using different and more advanced programs. The advancement of animation is incredible and amazing. I am excited to see what animation looks in another 40 years!
Over Thanksgiving break I went to see Pixar's The Good Dinosaur. The movie was good, but it was the same as many other Pixar movies: the protagonist is somehow removed from their comfortable home and they must go on a long journey to get back to it, seeking help from some funny characters along the way. Eventually Arlo, the good dinosaur himself befriends the little boy who he blames for getting him into this mess to begin with, Spot. Their friendship grows as the movie progresses, and I don't want to spoil anything so I'll stop there.
