Diary Animations

"I had sex today. Holy shit."

I loved Diary of a Teenage Girl the first time I saw it, and I appreciated it even more upon second-watching over the course of 3 nights this week. My favorite aspect of it, I think (there are so many), is its inclusion of animation throughout. By animating the protagonist's thoughts, the audience is able to relate more quickly and emotionally to her experiences, which are typically far from average (e.g. losing her virginity and subsequently falling in love with her mom's boyfriend; embarking on a drug-fueled lesbian relationship, etc.)

This is Monroe. Seeing this helps us feel what Minnie feels when she looks at him early on: butterflies, blossoming love, etc.

Curious about the point of production at which it was decided to include animations, I consulted the script online. Turns out these animations were written in from the beginning. "Animated Minnie," it describes, as she towers through the cartoon-y streets of San Francisco after first discovering the power of her sexuality, "meets different boys along her journey. She keeps walking, morphing. Sometimes she has big thighs, sometimes her head is very small. Sometimes her breasts bulge from her shirt. She keeps walking." The animations were clearly planned to serve a creative purpose.

Erica and I are toying with the idea of including animations in the ultimate iteration of our documentary. There are scenes described by our interviewees which would lend themselves very well to being animated (because we can't feasibly reenact them, nor do we feel live-action reenactments would fit the tone of our piece). As I explore animators' works online, I'm careful to remain critical of the tone conveyed by each's work and whether such would make sense in our piece. Not all animations are created equal, and I believe it crucial for an animation to carry on the mood of the live-action scene it extends from.

Diary of a Teenage Girl's animations successfully enhanced the whimsical humor of the rest of its script. By giving us a glimpse into Minnie's head, we are able to experience with and relate to her young life. Simply put, it makes the film unique, memorable, and good.

What time is it ???? Adventure Time !!!!!

Adventure time, 
C'mon, grab your friends, 
We'll go to very distant Lands 
With Jake the Dog, 
And Finn the Human, 
The Adventures'll never end, 
It's Adventure Time!



I have forgotten all the shows that provide me happiness throughout the stressful life of a college student. Adventure time is my escape from the real world, and into the imaginative world of Fin and Jake.

Adventure Time is an animated children's television that aired on cartoon network in 2010.  The series was created by Pendleton Ward.  The series is about a human body Fin and his adoptive dog/best friend/brother Jake. Jake is no ordinary dog, he has the ability to change shape, grow or shrink as he pleases.

According to Ward a single episode takes almost eight to nine month to draft , storyboard and complete, however multiple episodes are worked on at the same time.

Although the shows, run for about 11 minutes each they bring extreme laughter and developing stories to the table. It has been running for five seasons , currently in it's sixth and already renewed for it's seventh.

It's exciting to think that this 11 minute show is so to be considered for a feature-length film. For there are never enough episode to satisfy the boredom I go through when I have nothing to do for the summer.

THE ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR BOBS BURGER, BURGER?

All honesty I think I might have fallen for a different late night cartoon sitcom. Its not Simpsons, its not American Dad and lastly I have fallen out of love for Family Guy. I know I know, the shows that you have been loyal to for almost your whole teenage life. Well, now all of thats changed and Bob's Burgers is where its at!

Bob's Burgers is an animated sitcom that was created by Loren Bouchard. The show is based on a family known as the Belchers--- we have Bob and Linda (the parents) , and their children Tina, Gene, and Louise. The family runs a hamburger shop that is named "Bob's Burgers" (what a coincidence)!

This show is not afraid to go all out it. There are so many moments in each show that are just so memorable to the audience. Bob's Burgers show the more realistic situations but all and all it brings laughter to people with every episode.

In every aspect each character is different and has there own set style. For example my two favorite character are Tina and Louise. Why?  "Duhhhhhhh"... Is Tina's most famous line. Tina is not afraid to be herself in many ways she is weird but she is weird and cooky in her own way. She is never afraid to tell lit like it is. Not matter how it sounds after she says it. If you ever need a confidence booster--- just look inside and find your inner Tina! She knows the way.

TINA IS GREAT! SHE ADDS JUST A LITTLE MORE LIFE TO THE SHOW!

Louise is amazing. She gets me with every episode. She is mostly t

he brighter of the three Belcher children. She is funny, evil, manipulative and we rarely ever see her nice side. EXCEPT when someone takes of her hat. Even when they do she continuously plans her revenge for every mission.

In every way BOB'S BURGERS really nails the idea of family and its importance. Maybe, this is why I feel more connected to this show then many of the other animated sitcoms I watch on FOX. This show is a keeper!

A History of Animation: Pocket Version

I signed up for ACP: Animation next semester, and I've just been curious about animation as a whole ever since. I know that I have quite a few cartoons that I've consumed under my belt, but that doesn't mean I know the first thing about animation or it's complex histories. How long is the "history" of animation anyway?

Turns out, the first animation came out fourteen years after the first film (Fred Ott's Sneeze, 1894). Straight out of France, Fantasmagorie is known as the first animated short film by Emile Cohl. (1908)

Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed in class next semester and want nothing more than to throw in the towel, I am going to remind myself that when Walt Disney was my age (20) he had begun his first animation company. He called it "Laugh-O-Grams" and it crashed and burned very shortly after taking off. Four years later good ol' Walt made Steamboat Willie which featured the famous Mickey Mouse for the first time. It may come as no surprise that Walts newest creation took off big time. I know it may be cheesy to see Walt Disney as an inspiration, but we all know how easy it is to give up when things don't work out. And personally, I'm pleased as punch I have a plethora of animated princesses that pranced their way through my childhood. I'm going to try and let the fact that he didn't let Laugh-O-Grams discourage him, to get me through learning new and complicated software.

Speaking of Disney, did you know that The Looney Tunes was originally a spin-off of Silly Symphonies; an animation produced by Disney? However, it just so happened to grow into it's own giant franchise and life of it's own like wildfire.

I also had no idea that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first official feature length animated film to be released. That's less than 80 years ago!

The biggest game changer to the animated world was easily when Apple computers created 3-D films. In 1995 Toy Story was released as "Babies First 3-D Film" and it's done so well a fourth one is rumored to be released. The animated world has never been the same since. It's debatable as to which reigns supreme (3-D or 2-D?). What's undoubtable is how incredibly far animation has evolved in less than a century. 

The Life & Times of Tim

One of my favorite tv comedies of all time is The Life & Times of Tim. The often overlooked HBO comedy is a cartoon featuring a character named Tim who works in an advertising agency. The film is loosely based off his experiences working in the advertising agency for Omnicom. The animation is amateur, but for adult-targeting cartoons when has that ever been an issue? South Park essentially is made from construction cut-outs. The show is very sarcastic and feature a lot of dead panning, but I absolutely think its hilarious. The show is made up of two 15 minute episode each week, and to start off I’d definitely recommend the pilot – its hilarious! Unfortunately, I haven't heard much about the show entering a third season, so I'm not sure if its been renewed or not. 

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.

South Park

One of my favorite shows of all time is South Park. What started as an immature middle schooler laughing at little kids cursing and doing other stupid stuff developed into a deep rooted love and appreciation for the genius production that this show has become. They are now half way through there 16th season, a mile stone that most shows don't make it to these days but they have made it this far because they have been able to adapt into a brilliantly written show that stays extremely current with the current state of affairs in the world.

In South Parks earlier seasons, they were more focused on shock humour and poop jokes. Most of there episodes were centered around the four main characters cursing there way through weird school days and crazy situations that not only didn't make sense but would never actually happen. It was a show considered to be a horrible show for kids to watch and was on the brink of being canceled in its early days. As the show went on however the writing starts to evolve into a more clever style. They start to lampoon current events and modern day celebrities.

This is where the show really starts to shine. The way that they go about making fun of current events is hilarious. They also always found a way of making fun of these current events in a very ridiculous but very cleverly written way. One of the other wonderful things about the way this show is written is that they use very common logos and color schemes of very popular products but then they slightly change the name so as to dodge having to pay for the product placement costs. They do this with everything from Dr.Pepper to the made up snack food cheesy poofs. From top to bottom, I think that there are few shows out today that are as cleverly written as South Park is nowadays and that is why it is one of my favorite shows.

Happy Earth Day!

Cartoon by my good friend and amazing artist Rich Powell. You can also check his blog which shows great current work in progress and his shop where he sells prints and originals of his artwork. He also publishes a hilarious weekly cartoon call Dixie Drive, talk about a productive artist:-)!

Space Jam

So I was listening to the Space Jam soundtrack yesterday and began to wonder how they shot the movie. The cartoons play such a big role in the film, it must have been difficult for the actors to play their parts with no one there. I also began to think, how exactly would you be able to get the looney toons to look active and natural within a scene. The concept intrigued me, I'm not sure how you would go about doing that. The movie came out in '96 so they couldn't have used anything very high tech.