Blog Post #6: Disney Re-Micks

Although I am sometimes embarrassed to admit it, I love to watch the Disney Channel. However one day I was watching and during commercial they showed this cute animation. Take a look….

I was curious as to wether Disney actually created a new animation or, just as the title says, “re-micked” an old cartoon. After a little research, I found that Disney did indeed just take one of their original cartoons and made it relevant for the modern Disney watcher. Here is “Puppy Love” from 1933…

In this instance I think that Disney is a great example of how their work spans all generations, and how they can make their original work still be respected in a world where the most innovative technology is given the most attention.

Although if Disney were just to show “Puppy Love” in its original state on the Disney Channel it would not get as much attention, Disney is able to mix what is popular now with Disney, in this case a Hannah Montana song, and mix it with the original. Hearing the beginnings of that song make the kids who are watching the channel at that time look up to see what they are showing, and in turn expands their schema of what they know to be animation.

Disney is also the master of how to get as much out of two minutes as possible. Not only are they promoting and trying to bring back one if their old cartoons, they are also promoting Hannah Montana and going out and buying that song.

This isn’t the only “re-micked” video that Disney has done, they have also have done one to “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen that is pretty interesting as well!

I commented on Brittany Alberry’s blog and Danyael Hughes blog

Blog Post #5: Waking Sleeping Beauty

When thinking about my favorite Disney animations, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin are all on that list. Just recently, a documentary was made about the ten year period at the Disney Studios, 1984-1994, where Disney worked to rebuild itself and released these four movies, along with many others, that brought the Disney studios back to life. Check out the trailer….

What struck me about this trailer for this documentary was the question that was asked, “Can you really do what you want to do in animation?” and its subsequent answer “We have to do it in this company.”

Disney has always been at the forefront of the animation that I was exposed to as a child and is still one of the only animation studios that can truly capture my attention. As said in the trailer for this documentary, it is the legacy of Disney to have the best films in animation, and it is during this period where I think that Disney was able to cement itself into pop culture for all of eternity.

I do not know of a single person who has never seen at least one of the films that I listed at the top, let alone does not know a single character or song from one of the films. It is these four films that are the center piece of what people think of when Disney animation is mentioned. For Disney to have made these films in such a short period of time, and for them to be so successful, they needed to have had a great animation team of writers, directors, and animators.

I cannot wait to see this documentary and really be able to see how these films came into being.

ETA: I commented on Ian Crawford’s Blog and Myca Taylor’s Blog

Blog Post #4: Why Do Kids Love Cartoons?

I do not think I know a single person who growing up did not live for Saturday morning cartoons. This got me thinking about why it seems that children are drawn more to animation than live action. Is it because it sparks their imagination? Is it because they can relate more to the characters? Or could it be that they are just drawn to the music and effects? I think it is a mix of all three of these ideas and that children just love the world that animation presents.

Cartoons are first able to capture a child’s attention through the colors, movement, and the soundtracks of the shows. I personally couldn’t give you a single plot line to any cartoon I watched as a kid, but I could still sing you all of the theme songs. As a kid, you aren’t really paying attention to the dialogue of a show, but you are watching what is going on and just listening for those subtle music clues that give more insight.

What animation can do that live action cannot really do well is create characters that are about the same age, or can truly relate, to who is watching. A live action show cannot have five main characters, who can act for themselves, all under the age of 3 like the cartoon Rugrats can. Because of this, children are able to really see and learn about how the world works directly through their perspective.

Cartoons are also able to present funny scenarios and different plot lines that can spark a child’s imagination in many different ways. Just the simple drawings of kid’s animation can encourage a child to draw and place the characters of their favorite cartoon into new scenarios. The simplest thing can set a child’s imagination into play, and cartoons are a definite influence in that.

ps- going back to what I said about still knowing my favorite cartoon theme songs, this is my personal favorite (and I’m sure many of yours as well!)

ETA: I commented on Danyael Hughes’s blog and Brenda Weber’s blog

Blog Post #3: Defective Robot

In searching Youtube for some animation shorts, I came across this short about two robots that is cute. In this short, you see a robot that is marked as defective lose his hand. Another robot discovers the defective robot’s hand, and the two robots have a battle over who gets the hand. In the end, neither of the robots get the hand because it is destroyed. Although the overall feeling I get from this short is that it is fun to watch, there is a huge error and a missing part of the plot line that leaves me wanting to know more.

Although not completely noticeable, the hand that comes out of the defective robot shoot at the beginning of the short is a right hand. Although the metal of the hand is the same color of the robot, the defective robot is missing his left hand, as is the other robot. However, once the hand is on the silver robot, it has become the left hand that each robot needs. When the hand is flung into the air during the fight between the two robots, it is a right hand again. Only when the hand is actually on the robots were the animators able to get the sequence of fingers correct on the hand.

In the plot line, what leaves me feeling empty is the fact that it is never revealed why the red robot is defective. Although I may be missing something in the animation, from what I can tell there is nothing dealing with that plot line, although the title of the animation speaks differently. The animation itself does not necessarily need to reveal why the robot is defective, it would have just been a nice addition.

ETA: I commented on Chris DeMarco’s blog and Samantha Francis’ blog

Blog Post #2: Veggie Tales

In class this past week, we discussed the twelve principles of animation and used many different examples.  When watching the Owl series, it reminded me of  the cartoon I used to watch as a kid, Veggie Tales.  All of the characters in this series are a fruit or a vegetable, so the animators are able to use the shapes of the vegetables to give them each a distinct personality and while the animators are able to use some of the principles of animation to their advantage, there are some elements where they are not as successful.

The use of squash and stretch is the principle that they use the most to give the characters personality.  The characters are constantly being shaped and molded to show different ranges of emotion while still keeping the characters in their typical shape as a vegetable.

squash and stretch is not the only principle that Veggie Tales has going for it.  The feature that stands out the most on each of the vegetables are their eyes, and I believe that the animators do much with showing emotion in their eyes.  The animators, like with the Owl series, use the eyes to show the different feelings of sadness or happiness.  They manipulate the eyes to give the vegetables a range of emotions.

However, what the Veggie Tale animators do not do well is exaggeration.  Although there is some element of exaggeration in each of their episodes, I believe that more could be done to exaggerate the movements and emotions of the characters.  I think that this exaggeration could help fill the void that I am feeling watching this animation back as an adult rather than as a child.

ETA: I commented on Mike Morse’s blog and David Dennison’s blog

Blog Post #1: Carl and Ellie

One of my favorite movies of the past year has been Disney’s Up, a Pixar animated film. The first ten minutes of the film are the most heartwarming and heart-wrenching first minutes of any film, but I have recently noticed that there are a few details that the animators throw into these first few minutes that help to speed up time and offer a little foreshadowing into the story. Take a look….

A subtle way that the animators show that time has progressed during this clip is in the tie sequence.  At the beginning of this sequence, we see Ellie as we have been seeing her put on Carl’s tie.  After a few cuts of just the ties, there is a quick cut back to Ellie putting on Carl’s tie for him, but this time her hair has grayed.  After this cut, it goes back into just cuts of the ties.  The cut back to Ellie during this sequence is very subtle, but it is that quick cut, that you might not even notice, that places into your mind that a time shift has taken place.

Another subtle nuance is the difference in the ways that Ellie and Carl are seen going up the hill to have their picnic.  In the first scene of them climbing up the hill, Ellie has run up ahead and Carl is seen to be struggling a bit to get to the top.  After they have aged, you now see that Carl has made it to the top first and that Ellie is the one struggling.  It is in this moment also that the viewer knows that something is wrong.

There is also some foreshadowing found in the scene of Ellie in the hospital bed.  She is seen reading “My Adventure Book,” but what is not noticed is that there are scrap-booking tools on her bedside table: tape, an eraser, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.  It is not until near the end of the movie do you find why that is significant, but looking back after seeing the movie, it is fun to catch the little foreshadowing that the animators throw in.

After finding these little nuances in this short clip, I am curious to go back and watch the whole entire move again and see just how much more the animators throw into the story, wether subtle or not, that give more insight and direction into the story line.