Hollywood and the Animated Movie

Once upon a time, Disney Animation was the only studio making blockbuster animated features. Today, animation is perhaps the most crowded of all the film genres in Hollywood. Disney Animation never used to have any competition, but in recent years Disney has been overshadowed by it's sister studio Pixar and other studios like Dreamworks Animation.

With so many studios producing so many animated films which studios and films are able to stand out, if any?

To start, we will start with the once dominant Disney Animation. Up until very recently Disney has been struggling. Ever since the end of the "Disney Renaissance" in the 90s, which includes the studio's films from The Little Mermaid (1989) to Tarzan (1999), Disney has struggled to maintain it's top dog status in the animation industry. For a while, that spot was taken by Pixar. However in the last few years it appears that DisneyAnimation may be making a come back.

Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and Big Hero 6. Have all been well received by both fans and critics alike. Many are calling this new era of Disney films the "Disney Revival" or simply a return to form for the studio. I would have to agree with this sentiment. The Disney films between the Renaissance period and these more recent films, such as Chicken Little and Home on the Range, seem to be missing the classic feel that most of it's successful films have. They were focused more of flash and flare than on the emotional stories, which the studio is famous for. These newest films are a return to form in that the stories one again focus on the emotional relationships between friends and family, and I think this has made all the difference in getting audiences to connect with them. If Disney continues on this streak they may very well have another Renaissance on their hands. I think that Disney, although it will probably never be as dominant as it once was, is still one of the few studios that stands apart from others in terms of it's style, storytelling, and over all quality animation.

Pixar, which has long been a fan favorite studio for many years,  seems to have stumbled a bit in recent years. Ever since it's first film Toy Story, Pixar had been consistent in producing quality, original animation. However, recently the studio has been releasing more squeals than new content, and the sequels have been lack luster at best. There is the legend that the founders of Pixar came up with all the ideas of all their films in one day and have been using only these ideas (aside from the squeals) over all these years. Is it possible that the studio is finally running out of those ideas?

I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say that Cars 2 was absolutely awful. Monsters University wasn't quite as disastrous, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as the first installment. Brave, while beautifully animated received mix reviews. Pixar's upcoming film Inside Out is an new franchisee for the studio. It will be interesting to see if they can redeem themselves and do their once flawless filmography justice with this new content.

Moving on to a Non-Disney studio, we have DreamWorks Animation. DreamWorks is arguably, and easily so, the only other animation studio currently that has as much brand recognition as Disney Animation and Pixar. DreamWorks has been extremely successful in recent years, with many popular franchisees including Shrek, How to Train York Dragon, and Madagascar.

Most of DreamWorks recent films have been well received by critics. Mr. Peabody & Sherman, received generally good reviews, while How to Train Your Dragon 2 received excellent ones. The studio has two upcoming films. Penguins of Madagascar is another installment in their already popular Madagascar franchisee, while Home is a completely new film. Home was originally supposed to be released this month, but has been pushed back until March, switching it with Penguins of Madagascar. It begs the question of whether or not there are problems with the production and if Home will be up to par with recent studio standards. 

 But these three studios aren't the only players in the field.

         

Illumination Entertainment has had huge success with their Despicable Me franchisee, while Blue Sky studios has long been successful with their Ice Age films and now their Rio franchisee. Animal Logic has had recent success with The Lego Movie, and is also known for the popular Happy Feet films. Sony Animation is probably at the back of the pack, their only big success has been the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies, but they have several films in the works now- including the cringe worthy Angry Birds.

With so many different contenders it's a wonder that the animation industry doesn't cannibalize itself. It may very well be on the way to doing so. As a fan of animation I can't help wishing that more of the studios would focus less on producing so many films, and instead focus on making the ones they do produce as high quality as possible. Unlikely that will happen, as this is Hollywood we are talking about, but come on a girl can dream.

Big Hero 6: Review

Hey guys, so guess what I saw last night. It's okay take your time to think about it. Did you guess Big Hero 6? Then you guessed right! I figured I would do a little review of this film for my post today!

Quick summary of the film for those you who don't know what it's about, much like me going in. The film revolves around Hiro, a young boy genius who teams up with Baymax, a robot designed for health care services (kind of like a nurse), and a group of college age teens- to fight an evil villain by using the advanced tech they design themselves. It's also based on a Marvel Comic book, which is a plus for me because you know how much of a superhero/comic book nerd I am.

I didn't really know what to expect going into this film. I had seen a few trailers for it and heard the song Fall Out Boy made for the soundtrack, but that was about the extent of my pre-knowledge going into the theater. This is also Disney's first Marvel film outside their extremely successful live action series the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" since they acquired the rights back in 2009, so I was interested to see how a different one of their studios handled the material.

I was actually extremely surprised and impressed by the film. For what sounds mostly like it's going to by a fun and goofy adventure film for kids, the backbone of Big Hero 6 is surprising the emotional relationships between Hiro and his brother, Tadashi, as well as between Hiro and Baymax. I found some of the best moments of the film to be those scenes in which these characters interacted and bonded.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this film was the setting and world building. The film takes place in the fictional "San Fransokyo", which is obviously a hybrid of San Francisco and Tokyo. The setting adds to the East meets West ideas of the film, and is brilliantly realized. All the shots of the city are interesting and intricate, and one of my favorite things about watching the film was discovering what was done to blend the cities together.

The only critique I can really give this film is minor, but it must still be said. I felt as the the secondary characters, Hiro and Baymax's friends and teammates, did not get as much time to shine as they deserved. That's not to say each of the characters were not unique or interesting, but we don't really get the chance to learn much about them other than their personalities. I know this is because the filmmakers wanted to spend more time with Hiro, Baymax, and Tadashi as they are the center of the film and it's message, but it would have been nice to learn at least a little more about some of the other characters who make up the Big Hero 6 team.

That being said, this was really fun to watch and overall a pretty great film. It's a fun film to go see with a bunch of friends. If you are a fan of Disney or animated films in general I would definitely recommend you go see it. I would give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

enliven

I remember sitting on our living room floor in Japan, drawing out Disney characters while the Little Mermaid was playing. At that time, that was my favorite movie. I never called a fork, fork. Instead, I would argue with waiters and anyone else who questioned me that it was simply called a dingle hopper. Animation movies and T.V shows were the things that I lived for. Growing up in Japan opened my eyes to all the anime cartoons and how magnificent the colors and artwork that came from these shows were. But there was one particular artist who was more than just an artist and a phenomenal storyteller who changed my life. His name is Hayao Miyazaki.

Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke

No one questions his abilities; he's proven time and time again that there's something about animation that takes us into another realm. The characters in his films all have this unique background, and they're characters that leave a lasting impression on almost anyone who sees the films. Growing up as a military child and moving so often, I never got the experience of having friends for more than two to three years. Miyazaki's films were like outlets for me to travel into another world with strange creatures, that it didn't really bother me (or I hardly noticed) that having friends was something I needed. Being so young at the time, re-drawing the characters from his films and running outside chasing after the Susuwatari was all that I really cared about.

Susuwatari

Although growing up will all his films impacted my younger life, Princess Mononoke is THE film that made me decide to pursue a career in the film industry. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do after high school. I loved to draw, but I never thought my skills qualified enough for college level. I sort of just started sinking into this dark void and felt like I was going to follow my father's footsteps and join the military as well. That, was my final decision. I plopped in a Miyazaki film trying to cheer myself up, and that's when my mind began to tell me something different. Now that I was older, I was able to understand his films. I watched Princess Mononoke and began to see the story line and feel emotions I didn't feel as a child watching the film before. I thought to myself, "I want to do that." I didn't really know what I meant by that, but I just knew I wanted to be doing something that could make people think. I wanted to create characters that people never even imagined before, but can relate to. I wanted people to wonder in their minds, what if the world was like that?

Never did I think growing up that a couple imaginary creatures could help me make a decision that would impact the rest of my life.

Kodama

Disney's Hercules

Hercules is by far my favorite Disney movie. I think that's the reason I became so interested in Greek and Roman mythology. I recently had to watch this movie again for my class. Although this movie is not even close to historically accurate according to the real myth, it still has quite the story line. I enjoyed how this version of a classic myth really takes into account what it takes to be a "true hero." They did a good job of incorporating the 12 labors of Hercules under a different base story. You get the stables and the lion snuck in there without you noticing. If you didn't know about the labors you might not notice them which I think rewards people who know the real story. It allows them to alter the story without upsetting too many people.

Of course the best part of this Disney animated film is the music! The songs are catchy and upbeat and straight to the point. They aren't just fluff pieces added in. They truly add to the story in my opinion. Plus the Muses are so sassy and fun!

Frozen

I recently watched Frozen for the first time (I know I'm behind on the times I'm sorry). Although I found the songs catchy and the characters endearing something seemed to be lacking for me. There wasn't that in depth of a story. For some reason it felt to me like things happened too fast. Christoph complains that Anna is going to marry someone she just met and then shortly after is in love with her and wants to marry her. There wasn't enough time for me to accept that character development. I also was disappointed with the lack of involvement of the two main characters Elsa and Anna. I felt like these two were playing minor roles. The movie focused more around the background characters that were there for pure entertainment purposes and did not particularly move the story forward such as Ol. Don't get me wrong, I loved Olaf as a character but I felt like he took away from the story that Disney was trying to tell. I also think a lot more could have been done with this story. The ending felt rushed and cliche even though the world was saved by true love of a sister as opposed to a significant other. It still felt a little forced. Perhaps I was just expecting it to be so much more than it was because of all the hype I'm not sure. But I don't know that I would agree with people who say Frozen is the best Disney movie. I definitely think the movie was beautifully done with catchy songs and a few interesting subtle risks taken by Disney. However I found the story lacking a little bit. It's not one of the Disney movies that I could watch over and over again. Maybe once in a while with my baby cousins but not repeatedly on my own like I would with other movies.

Pokémon: A Love Story

In class on Wednesday, I jokingly said I'd blog about Pokémon after I heard Arturo call it "nothing." At first the idea of blogging about it seemed silly, but I thought about it for a while and decided to just go for it.

Pokémon came to the great United States in 1998 via the Nintendo Gameboy. Released as two versions of the same game the handheld RPG swept the nation. Almost everybody — kindergartners to college students — were captivated by the Japanese wonder that was Pokémon. Nothing could be greater than exploring a world full of 150 unique creatures that you can raise as your own. I mean, who wouldn't want to be a ten-year old boy that gets to travel the world fighting with these awesome animal sidekicks? I'm as sure as Squirtle going to want to do that.

The following year, in 1999, an animated Pokémon television series made its way to the States. This too, captured the imaginations of people everywhere. The viewers followed Ash Ketchum as he attempted to become a Pokémon master. His adventures were humorous, and he makes friends along the way, finding them in both fellow trainers and in his Pokémon. Ash even made his way onto the big screen, with multiple movies. And to think this all started as a Japanese handheld game.

My personal story with Pokémon started with the TV show, then to the video game. I followed Ash's journey every Saturday morning when I was a child. I would struggle and cry as I had to leave for a soccer game before I found out whether or not he was able to get away from the evil Team Rocket. I would also cry when my Gameboy ran out of batteries and I couldn't play Pokémon Red any more. Car rides were so boring without my team of Charizard, Kadabra, Gyarados, Pidgeot, Nidoking, and Snorlax.

Childhood, so tough.

So what am I trying to get at here? I'm not trying to glorify a children's cartoon, and I'm not simply complaining that a professor thought my favorite game is silly.

Pokémon is a simple idea: a world is inhabited by "animals" that you can capture and raise as your own. We, as people, cling to this because it is both familiar and unfamiliar. We marvel at how absurd some of these creatures are, wishing we could have them as our own. We also see some of them as things we have here in our world: as birds, as fish, as plants, etc. Each of us take the Pokémon and give it a personality, allowing us to be a part of that world.

Something else I find amazing about Pokémon is its cultural impact. Starting 15 years ago in Japan, it has since morphed into Nintendo's second most popular franchise, only behind Mario. There are 16 seasons of the TV series, 14 films, dozens of video games, and a card game. The fanbase must be in the billions. Everything stemmed from the original video game. That's crazy. And I am glad I could be a part in the beginning of something so huge. I love it.

Real Steel

So I was watching baseball post season Thursday night, when a trailer for Real Steel came on.  How did I miss finding out about this movie?!  FINALLY, a movie about Rockem Sockem Robots!

So the plot is a rehash of Rocky (underdog boxer) no excitement there, and the cast isn't much to gloat about either.  BUT it's definitely a visually interesting movie, and a dream come true for all the rockem sockem robot playing kids out there!

The plot actually may be almost exactly the same as Kingpin, from what I can tell without seeing it yet.  Charlie (Hugh Jackman) is a fighter that lost big, and in training his son Max (Dakota Goyo) to fight, ends up fighting again himself. Evangeline Lilly from LOST is his estranged wife, and outside of watching LOST I have no idea if she can act!  But Hugh Jackman is always playing underdog roles so it probably won't be anything out of the ordinary for him either.

The Director is Shawn Levy, who hasn't done many action movies, but  I'm sure he did just fine with Executive Produceer Steven Spielberg working with him!



So I realize this movie is more geared towards a male audience, being a boxing/ robot movie, but just watch this clip and THEN tell me you aren't PUMPED to see this!

5 Trends That Make Every Movie Look the Same

I'll be the first to admit that I probably spend too much time online. But it's so hard to say no when there's such quality time-wasters out there! One of my perennial favorites is Cracked.com, a humor site known for their bitingly hysterical, yet informative articles. It may not be the most reputable source available for filmmaking theory, but there was one article that I just couldn't keep to myself:

5 Annoying Trends That Make Every Movie Look the Same

This article covers stylistic trends that Hollywood seems to be stuck in a rut with. Included are:

1. Movies that are color-coded by genre
2. The excessive use of orange and teal tones
3. Time ramping use in action films
4. Faking the look of a documentary
5. Using 3D in a way that degrades the quality of the film

Reading the article, I was rather dumbfounded to see how predictable Hollywood has become, if you only know where to look.

Granted, this article does stem from the view of a snarky pundit. There are understandable rationals behind these trends rather than the production staff becoming "lazy," as the author suggests. For example, the heavy use of orange and teal imagery is really just a side effect of filmmakers wanting color contrast in scenes with the flesh tones of their human actors. You can't change the color of their flesh, and the color wheel dictates a nice blue looks great with the slight orange of skin. There is not much leeway there.

Also, there are considerable commercial reasons behind many of the trends listed. For example, the "color-coding by genre" argument never takes into consideration the importance of playing to the audience's expectation. If an unprepared audience is presented with something completely foreign, then they will not accept it as readily. Could you imagine Dark Knight done in vibrant Technicolor?

Still, some arguments ring true, especially the one about lackluster 3D movies. Some filmmakers have used the technique to immerse their audiences in a visceral way. Others do it for the 15 dollar ticket price they can charge. Though unfortunate, that is the way things are.

The article gives a refreshing perspective for me as a filmmaker. I have made a mental note to try not to unnecessarily add my work to the evidence supporting this article. Still, I believe filmmakers should be free to make their films using whatever techniques they want, regardless of how trendy or worn out they are.

Trailers

So i think most of my blog posts have been trailers of movies i've really wanted to see, but i also wanted this post to be about how important the aspect of trailers could be. Trailers are what catches the attention of movie goers at first, because thats the first look they get. For me, trailers are what get me excited for movies, and the better the trailer, the more willing i will be to watch the actual movie.

So here are the TOP 50 movie trailers in the eyes of IFC.

IFC TRAILERS

Random 3D Question that has Nothing to do with Field Prod.

So, I recently saw a review for the movie "Rango" and when watching clips from it, I randomly had the thought "how do animators make feathers on birds." I know some preliminary stuff about 3D and know, generally, how modelers make hair, but do they use as similar concept to make feathers or not? I mean, hair, though organized, can be made random within certain areas and parameters, but because feathers have a precise function, placement, and position on birds (not to mention that they don't bend easily), would using a generator similar to that of hair work? Not to mention that feathers have "hair" on them (I don't know the technical name). I don't know, only that it must have taken a bit of time to make.

Toy Story 3

While watching the oscars last night, I was amazed to find out that Toy Story 3 was nominated for best picture. I loved the movie. We all grew up with Toy Story and the 3rd one was a great way to end it. What surprised me was that an animated movie got recognition as being one of the best movies of the year. I wondered if it was the first animated movie ever nominated for best picture. I think it is really awesome though that an animated movie got that high of praise and I'm glad it did because in my opinion it deserved every bit of that praise.