Innovations in Animation - Part 5 - Fever The Ghost - SOURCE (official music video)

 

Here's some amazing work by Felix Colgrave. Born in Tasmania, now based in Melbourne, Colgrave blows the viewers' minds in the most unexpected, and dare I say it, charming way. Felix has a background in TV ads, music videos and video game cinematics, but he presently is focused on his own work. Pulsing to the music of the band Fever The Ghost, this little old man and his dragon, "Long Morrison", travel to the center of the earth. Their mission: turn the world into a party planet! But then, it looks like it's just their job, day in and day out.

https://www.facebook.com/fevertheghost

From what I've read, Colgrave uses After Effects to animate his fantastic art. Virtually all of the exposure of his independent work comes from using the world wide web. As far as I can see, no TV, film or DVD gave his work any publicity. There's some Monty Python surrealism, with even a touch of Moebius in this short. While there's nothing really groundbreaking in Colgrave's techniques, or use of animation technology, I'm putting his work down as an innovation simply from his use of the internet, and the fearlessness of his ideas.

All of which has gained him an audience!

https://felix.film/contact

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6150785/

Innovations in Animation - Part 4 - Gorillaz

Hello folks, this article has been giving me trouble for a while. I've been an on and off fan of the Gorillaz for some time, and they've seemed to have fallen off the pop culture radar. Their music and graphic style from the '90's is still interesting to me, but I've had trouble collecting info on the artists and writers on this unique and outrageous virtual band. Been working on this since the pandemic started, so it's kind of slopped out down below. Publishing it "as is" may provide the spur for me to tighten up my writing here. We'll see.

(original copyright Jamie Hewlett and "Zombie Flesh Eaters")

The virtual band members: Murdoc - bass, "2D" - vocals and keyboards, Noodles -guitar and vocals, and Russel - drums, percussion.

I first heard the Gorillaz while riding along in my sister's truck over the Holidays on a dark winter night years ago, as we rumbled over the snowy back roads in Amish country. "Dirty Harry" came on her truck's sound system, and I was delightfully haunted by the whole bizarre experience. 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLnkQAeMbIM

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6841646/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm

 

This track had an enticing trance-dance-pop feel, with some killer rap that came in to break the spell. Later, when I picked up their DVD debut album set, Gorillaz Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, I was struck by the graphic underground comics style of Jamie Hewlett, who created these four bizarre misfits, streetwise, sort of rough and tumble characters, resembling his character designs from his Tank Girl comics.

 

(Gorillaz Phase One: Celebrity Take Down features the animation of director Pete Candeland, Dave Antrobus, and Chris Hauge.)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0474700/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm

Who were these bizarre, even frightening characters? They seem to be some sort of gang, or part of some criminal underworld. Again, comic artist Jamie Hewlett oversaw the dark, sinister stylized limited animation, with some 3D CG elements, mostly backgrounds or characters with vehicles.

 

Blank eyes, bad teeth, and some character designs that flirt with racial stereotypes. There's some demonic possession too. But they were also politically aware in a sardonic, but progressive way, and technologically adept as well. Just what EMI, Parlophone, ‎Virgin‎ and later ‎Warner needed to present what is essentially Damon Albarn's studio band work, with rotating members who provided the real music. Sort in method that was used by the Archies, or the Monkees. And yet, their music has polished, professional level of production quality that gives the Gorillaz a successful multi-media foundation.

Musician: Damon Albarn

Artist: Jamie Hewlett

Passion Pictures, animation studio for the Clint Eastwood video

 https://www.passion-pictures.com/project/gorillaz-clint-eastwood/

https://aminoapps.com/c/gorillaz/page/blog/the-evolution-of-gorillaz-art-and-music-videos/MQ1o_7XpckugKn4DeGEYqek83gr6omgMkga 

 But, to sum up: It's good, "clean" dirty fun. The Gorillaz give me a chance to be a vicarious hoodlum. From time to time.

 

(Tank Girl original copyright
Jamie Hewlett - Dark Horse Comics)

Innovations in Animation - Part 3 - The Peanuts Movie

(copyright Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation, United Features Syndicate, and of course "Sparky" Charles M. Schulz)

Late to the party again, I finally borrowed the The Peanuts Movie screener DVD from work. After virtually growing up with all the original Bill Melendez animated TV specials from the 60's, I was hesitant to face a possible "South Park" kind of treatment of my childhood heroes. 

 But this film wasn't bad. As a family film, The Peanuts Movie is a nostalgic romp going through the key story points of the entire Charlie Brown saga: the childhood torments of grade school, his love of baseball and his longing for the distant, seemingly unattainable attention of the Little Red-Headed Girl. And of course, Snoopy relives his never ending aerial battles with the mysterious and relentless Red Baron. And then there is the actual design of the movie itself, and how the director Steve Martino and crew strove to stay faithful to style and charm of Charles Schulz' original comic strip.

 Looking back on my last entry, I'm beginning to notice how studios having been making big strides in creating 3D polygon models to resemble flat, cartoon shapes. As with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Blue Sky Studios worked overtime to take Charles M. Schulz' beloved Peanuts comic strip into the CG world, and then make it "flat" again. I used to think that the studios are using 3D animation in ways that it was "not meant to be used", in as far as the usual process of modeling, rigging and animating CG characters.

But The Peanuts Movie is a nice reminder of how CG can do virtually anything, and should not just be shoehorned into mimicking alternate concrete looking realities. Director Steve Martino described how their first attempts with traditional modeling and rigging just didn't cut it, and eventually switched to a stop motion style to maintain the illusion of Schulz' and Melendez' art and animation styles. On a smaller scale, shows like South Park and the Olive The Other Reindeer Holiday special may have solved similar issues in the past with these techniques.

To sum up, The Peanuts Movie is worth a look, and can be a warm, fuzzy torch to pass on to a new generation.

•  
  https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/charlie-brown-and-snoopy-the-peanuts-movie-animation-cheats/ 
   
  https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/the-tech-of-the-art-of-the-peanuts-movie/ 

 https://mashable.com/archive/making-the-peanuts-movie

 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/06/movies/review-the-peanuts-movie-curses-the-red-baron-in-3-dimensions.html

c • C • ɔ

 

Innovations in Animation - Part 2 - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

 It's been a hard year. As we start to dig out from under the horrors of 2020 and the Covid pandemic, let's take a moment to get back to my topic of Innovations in Animation. After my first entry from the 1980's, ("Twice Upon A Time") I want to jump forward to the 21st Century. Through the years, Sony Pictures was not my top pick as far as animation or superhero film studios go. But Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for the studio. I finally saw it on Blu-Ray, and it definitely caught my attention.

(copyright Sony/Marvel/Disney?) 

Comic book style! Other attempts have been made, with dubious success.

Hand drawn effects over 3D, far advanced from old cell shaders.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4633694/

https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/spider-man-spider-verse

 https://www.foundry.com/insights/film-tv/into-spiderverse 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXUG_vN540

https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-7/art-of-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-part-1?fbclid=IwAR1iIrNQ4S-zKVtUY0NEt36ya6HTwBJd1dfF6s8C4k-8EGVT5UupxSUXr4E

 Art Direction by Dean Gordon, Patrick O'Keefe

Production Design -  Justin K. Thompson

Danny Dimian - Visual Effects Supervisor

Directed by
Bob Persichetti     
Peter Ramsey     
Rodney Rothman

Writing Credits  
Phil Lord     ...     Screenplay
Rodney Rothman     ...     Screenplay
 
Phil Lord     ...    Story

Paul Watling - Head of Story

 

While it's not a direct part of the MCU, Kevin Feige's hand still seemed to be felt.

Innovations in Animation - Part 1 - "Twice upon a Time"

With 2020 coming to a close, and to deal with the stress of being shut in, I've started on my list of the most innovative animated films through time.  I'm tired of the year end "top ten" countdowns, so this list will be in no particular order, and having no ranking as far as popularity, but as landmarks that influenced the animation business in regard to new techniques and execution. 

The problems of 2020 will carry over well into 2021, and probably longer, so I want to focus on the achievements of the past, and discuss how technology, business, and the Covid pandemic will shape animation as time goes on. The game has certainly changed with Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon streaming entertainment over the internet.

(copyright Warner Archives)

 My first pick is John Korty's quirky but subtle "Twice upon a Time". I finally broke down, and bought the DVD after watching the film for years on a bleary, old VHS tape.

Where executive producer George Lucas stumbled on the "Howard the Duck" and "Willow" features, Twice upon a Time is definitely a unique film. Directed by Korty in a painstakingly difficult backlit, cut-out style called Lumage, I can see why Twice Upon A Time had trouble finding an audience. Even though it's not a blu-ray, the DVD is a cut above my old VHS copy. Korty was assisted by Charles Swenson and stop motion genius, Henry Selick. (Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach).

Twice upon a Time is a fun, underdog story of misfits becoming heroes with Ralph, the shape-changing "All Purpose Animal" and his friend Mumford, a flighty, distractable mime. Lorenzo Music, voice of Garfield the Cat, stars as Ralph, while Mumford is "voiced" only by some original, interesting sound effects. Twice Upon A Time is also chock full of some eye opening visual designs that became obscured on my old tape over time, some of which are not suited for younger children. 

The film had trouble finding its niche. College age test audiences were put off by the cute, frilly layouts of the good guys' world, "Frivoli", where sweet dreams are created for regular human beings rushing about in a black and white world called Din. The villain, "Synonamess Botch", lives in a dark, twisted Hollywood-type dimension called "The Murkworks" where nightmares are created from the screams of Botch's victims. 

The background artists make the villain's world much more engaging with backlit art and some diabolical collages from photographs both mundane and suggestive. The heroes are tricked into helping Botch take control of the Cosmic Clock, by which the villain hopes to control time itself, and subject the "Rushers of Din" to endless, eternal nightmares. Ralph and Mumford get "help" from some whimsical comrades they meet along the way, including a cynical, smart-mouthed Fairy Godmother ("FGM") who guides the heroes with her version of "tough love".

The commentary with Director John Korty and company is a nice recounting of their battle to create this unusual film, and their stories behind the subtle technical achievements they devised to pull off some remarkable effects. Korty and his team used original cut-out art, black and white photography, and water tank effects to create a surreal world where we normal humans are oblivious to the magic going on all around us.

The choice of audio tracks is also a nice feature, although I still prefer John Korty's original witty dialogue over the cruder, profane tracks that were snuck in the last minute. Overall, Twice Upon A Time is nice little gem for animation fans seeking something besides the usual Disney/Pixar releases.  

Twice upon a Time, definitely worth checking out!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086489/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast