“I wanted them to actually be there, I think as a kid I wouldn’t imagine it as a cartoon. I would imagine they were in my world. There’s a danger with Max being there on a real location. Dangerous and exciting.”
“I never thought of it as a children’s movie. My intention was to be true to how it felt to be 9 years old. Maurice’s whole thing is to be honest. You can say anything to kids as long as you are respectful and not pandering.”– Spike Jonze
-Not a teaser, full 3-min trailer, scored to ‘Wake Up’ by Arcade Fire (it fits beautifully, and is either the 3rd or 4th time the band has agreed to license their music, won’t be in the actual film obviously)
-Try as I might, I can’t verbalize how I felt about the trailer beyond the most grandiose superlatives: ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ and ‘breathtaking’, making me sound like Pete Hammond. The environments in particular (there’s a sequence of cutting between 4 shots of Max running through different environments that is absolutely magical) are a work of incredible vision, especially in light of the production methods Spike opted for. It does feel like a ‘kids movie’ (not pejorative): the trailer repeatedly made me about eight years old, over and over again. Unless I’m an idiot, and you’ll see yourself in a week or two, the finalized monsters are some kind of incredible technical achievement.
-Much of the VFX work went to detailed facial animations on the monster’s eyes and faces to give them a functional expressive palette. That remains the only post work left before release. They look nothing short of real and feel very alive and very, very huggable.
More:
History of the Batman logo
from 1939 to present by Todd Klein
Something about the modern version for Nightfall 1993 is really interesting to me...
During development, it's also important to keep certain trusted people away from the story, so they can review it objectively at some point later in the process. This "brain trust" can see the story with fresh eyes and offer their honest perspective to spark further refinement. There is no back-stabbing, no political wrangling or jockeying. No one is worried about losing their job or spoiling their relationships. It's liberating and refreshing to get constructive feedback in such a mutually supportive environment. Everyone's focus is on helping to make the best movie possible.
Here, then, are some of Pixar leaders' foundational tenets:
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| Story artists Jim Capobianco, Ronnie Del Carmen and Jason Katz (left to right) are paid to listen to the voices in their heads. |
David Smith is one of the contributors to the Thinking Animation Book and is a great animator and story teller. He gave us quite a few stories an antidotes for the book but has many of his own as well. He has started a new blog and just placed a beautiful entry about Mary Blair. 
He also has some samples of his own amazing boards!
Independent animator Dave Redl has won my heart. He has created a mini-franchise with his show called Family Pants. Even though this show is not exactly "new" - it's new to me, right now, and might be new to you! Dave is the director, creator and animator for Family Pants. He does all the voice over for his main character - Frank Mueller. Even Dave wife's does the voice of Alexandrea. I think this stuff is so entertaining and way better than most of the crap on TV today, but that is just me.
What I love about Family Pants is the creator pulls from his own life experiences. Great story and characters are all about real life. He talks on his blog under the making of how he uses his home life, childhood, his brother, his ethnic background....just everything. This is why you empathize with the characters. It also adds attention to detail and little nuances that make the whole scene more believable. I love how he has one thing in each set that he really built the whole design around like...a fire hazard in the kitchen where paper towels are hanging right above the toaster!
He also has a whole breakdown of behind the scenes and how Family Pants is made using flash...for you indie animators chomping at the bit to make one of your own!
The thing is...in ANY industry that make a lot of cash and can be streamlined by mass production and globalization - its gonna happen, no doubt. So where is it "at "for the animator? IT IS the creative side of things.
Just keep clicking and soon you will find his army of toy soldiers. This guy is one of the most creative people I have seen out there in a while and a marketing genius! And his music is so much fun! Explore this mad toy makers fun universe and listen to his mission for toys and our future!! Join Dr. Steel's Army!
I can't help it. Eddie Kline makes me laugh!
Hiya - Angie here again...Jamie says hello too, but is drowning in the murk of storyboards at the moment.
He also animated and supervised 3 sequences on Iron Giant.
He also worked on Pocahontus with someone I have always wanted to meet - John Pomeroy.
Finally, Richard has a film he completed on his wacom called The Journal of Edwin Carp. You can view it below. He also has some great wacom tutorials where he shows how he used the wacom to create this film. Links provided below as well. 
