Animation in all its glory, A converstaion devoted to all aspects of animation. Options

[Guest_shaggy breeks_*]

Hi shaggy breeks here, I am an animation student in England at the moment and as such figured a topic devoted to this art form would indeed be a nice idea.

So here goes . . .

I believe animation is not an art form but like writing a form of magic. Animation can make audiences laugh, cry, feel joy and sadness and envoke a whole myriad of other emotions. It can imply or express messages and meanings. But above all it can literally take a willing audience into another world entirely. And like writing and storytelling, all of these wonders are crafted from the most basic of tools. Words and pictures.

The fact that people are willing to believe and relate to a group of words or a drawing is not at all logical, it is then 'magic'. The magic that is the imagination and the power of the mind to be open to all possibilities.

The best example i have recently seen in the animation field is the film ratatouille by pixar animation studios.

For those who have not seen the film i shall endevour to review and analyse it for you.

In the mean time i would love to hear from like minded people or even people who cannot stand the animated film. It will be interesting to hear others views and beliefs.

thanks for reading

Shaggy breeks

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Ratatouille

The story begins in Rural France following the story of a young rat named Remy. He is, amongst his peers and his family, a few crumbs short of a complete biscuit.
He was born with an incredible sense of smell that eventually leads him on a grand adventure in pursuit of his elusive dream. To become a world famous chef and to create food that will warm the hearts and souls of his audience. Only two things stand in his way. The cruel judgement of the food critic Anton Igor. And the fact that to the humans he wishes to touch with his creativity, he is a rat.

The film itself is a visual feast for the eyes. It is suttle but spectacular. The Rural household for example, at the beggining of the film, is detailed to the point of wanting to reach out and pick the dandelions in the cottage garden. Paris meanwhile is portrayed as a city of light and heart. Every detail from the majesty of the eiffel tower to the water marks on the inside of the parissiene sewers is treated with the same respect and care. It is a huge leap forward then in terms of the capabilities of computer generated animation.
I feel the biggest achievement in particular though, was the ability to portray a working kitchen realistically. The steam from a cooking pot, rising in swirls and then floating to the side as someone walks past it. The sporadity and liveliness of a flambe dinner whilst it is being prepeared. The bubbles in the oil at the bottom of a pan as the onions sizzle. Not only is it a observational and technological masterpiece but it creates a belief that what you are seeing is real. You can almost smell the soups as they simmer on their hobs.

The narrative is of course excellent. But that is to be expected from a company that uses the slogan 'story! story! story!' It is common knowledge that Pixar will not release a film until they feel it is the best it can be storywise. Despite this however there are moments in the film when you feel yourself wanting to press the fast forward button. It does in effect drag in a number of scenes. A good example of this would include the 'coming of inheritance' scenes concerning Remy the Rats human counterpart, Linguini. This is eventually countered at the end of the film though, by a series of scenes that are, for lack of a word to justify them, superb. Definately worth the wait.

The character animation as well is on occasion lacking as much heart and soul as you come to expect from a classic Disney Pixar Film. There is a long standing tradition in Disney and Pixar that every character, no matter how far back in the overall mix, deserves just as much attention to detail as the main character. It is unfortunate that this film seems to have broken from tradition. Weather due to budgeting or scheduling it is difficult to say but it is noticible on subsequent veiwings.
However despite this the animation on the main characters is better than could have been expected from this studio. Not only do the characters have heart and soul, but they are humurously made. It is also clear that their back stories have been thoroughly debated and polished. Which means that any motive or action is instantly justified in the eyes of the audience.

Overall then the film Ratatouille is a phenomenal piece that will delight and please audiences of all ages and walks of life. It misses short of my 10/10 rating by a small fraction because of the defficiencies expressed earlier. But still, for a pixar movie it is hard to expect that this film could have been bettered in the production time alotted. With this in mind i have but only to say 'thank you' too Pixar studios and all the people who were involved for allowing a young animation student keep his faith in the magic that is the animated film.

9/10

[Guest_shaggy breeks_*]

Today it wis with great pleasure that i decide to bring to you a post devoted to the master Disney animator,

Andreas Deja.

Andreas Deja has been working at Disney now for over 20 years since the production began on the feature film 'The black cauldron'. However his inspiring story does not begin at Disney as you might expect. He was born in Austria in europe far away from the touch of Hollywood animation and in a metaphorical wilderness. He often says that he was alwyas into his comic books as a young boy but his first true encounter with the world of the moving image was with the release of the jungle book in the 60's. He says in a recent interview that he must have gone back and seen that movie atleast ten times before his mum put a stop to it. And living in Austria this was no easy feat, the local cinema was an hour and half train ride away. From that point on his dream was to work for Disney studios and make animated films.

Soon after he wrote to the studios, (with the help of his english teacher) asking what it took for a young aspirer like hiself to make it at disney. He soon got a reply stating that to make it as an animator he would have to make it as an artist. Study humans and life drawing where their instructions. Go to the zoo and draw the animals was their suggestion. And so he did, he spent many days at the local zoo just doodling the animals and studying the visitors. At first he was sceptical about how this would help him draw cartoon characters etc. . . but after the re release of Bambi he understood why he must become proficiant at drawing animal structures and body structures. Because even though Bambi is a cartoon, it is also a very accurate representation of a young deer.
Andreas Deja is reported to have grown up with a less than artistic family, they did like art but it was usually as he put it 'the typical german thing'. A stag standing on cliff with a dramatic sky etc. It was to his parents wonderment and bemusement then that he attended his first life drawing class at the age of 15.
Later in life he met through his highschool art teacher another film fanatic like himself. His art teacher at the time was also bemused by their fascination with film and animation and so recommended they meet up. This new aqquantence was going to germany to study art and film at degree level, and so Andreas Deja did the same. He moved to Germany with his new friend and studied fine art for 4 years. He didnt forget his dreams of course and in his spare time studied animation literally and also analytically now that the vhs had brought accesibility to all of these animated films. One day whislt he was at uni, he stumbled upon a book in a second hand shop that was all about the art of animation. At the time it was very rare for such books to exsist and so he treasured it. There was also a section in the back talking about a Disney training program for new up and coming animators.

This if course distracted him completely and upped his enthusiasm once more to get in touch with Disney studios about it. And so once more he sent a letter, asking this time about the Disney training program. He was lucky enough to get a response soon after from none other than Eric Larson himself. One of the famous 9 old men of Disney studios. . . to be continued :p