Final Fantasy VIII with Enya’s ‘Anywhere Is’..

I found this on youtube and fell in love with it!

xtimrs  —  February 08, 2009  — I’ll tell the truth, in general I don’t care for AMV’s. I really hate searching youtube for some clip I wanna see to see a line from a game or something and all I can find is people putting the video to some Linkin Park song. This video however I found on a forum sometime around 2000. It was a Final Fantasy forum, and the last second credits a “Fei Ayanami” which I think was his screen name on the now gone (probably, google yields no results for that SN) message board. His real name is listed as Erik Madsen. I can’t find this person anywhere online, so if the one who made this video ever sees it, hopefully you’ll just be flattered I loved the video enough to save it for almost 10 years now on 3 different computers.

I really loved this game, and while I’m not a big Enya fan, something about this video was just beautiful to me. The game’s videos combined with the lyrics and the progressively building music.. the explosion of Rinoa’s sadness over finding Squall’s limp body. It’s touching to me, like the game was, and a very well put together video.

So I have decided to put this on Youtube after having it on my computer for maybe 10 years now.. Like I said, I didn’t make it, I just liked it enough that I saved it forever and this seems to be the last copy I can find online. Note that it was made before there WAS a youtube, probably before there was a FFIX.

Note: This uses video from the game Final Fantasy VIII. All rights go to Square-Enix for that one, I do not make money or make any claim to any property of theirs and this video I imagine is protected under Fair Use.

Blog Post #13 – My Short Life as an Animator

When this class started I had no idea how much work animation entailed.  My first thoughts for my project was to do a flip book.  Of course, I thought.  I can do that — my daughter has done them since she was able to hold a pencil!  But my artistic genes are not in drawing.  Since pen and paper was out I looked at animation programs and found one that I thought would work — Animationsish.  It was simple — actually a child could do it.  After reading comments on the program, the recommendation of using wacom tablet sent me to the store to buy one. As the semester progressed and my life became more complicated I decided to ditch this idea because the learning curve was just too much for me to deal with.  After all — the Wacom tablet still entailed using a pen!

I finally decided to do stop-motion animation.  I was a lot more comfortable with my digital camera.  My subject would be the  Leggo Empire State Building.  After purchasing the last leggo kit Barnes and Nobel had in stock, I found a gorilla to climb it.  The next decision was to choose a program to help me build the animation.  I downloaded a trial copy of iStopMotion.

I loved my first series of pictures!  They were all in focus, good placement and because of the tall building shot vertically.  To my dismay when I dumped the pictures into iStopMotion it cut them all in half because it only accepted horizontal pictures )c:

I don’t think that the free download version had all the features of the original program.  Plus my learning curve was too steep and I had to reshoot the sequence.  After a lot of frustration I finally ended up with a 22 second animation, “I Love New York.”

Of all the animators that we have studied my favorite is Lotte Reiniger.  After putting together my class project with today’s technology, I am amazed at the patience and fortitude she had to create Prince Achmed.  I know that being an animator is not my calling in life, but I now fully appreciate those who are. Creativity abounds in their life!  And speaking of creativity …. my daughter ended up with the Wacom Bamboo pen and tablet (c:  

I have commented on the posts of Myca Taylor and Michael Morse.

Blog Post #12 – Moby Music Videos Revisited

In my Blog Post # 9 I told of the music video competition that was being held by Moby for his song Wait for Me. He ended up having over 500 entrants and on April 15, 2010 announced the six finalist in the competition.  Two of the six finalist were animated videos that were at very different ends of the creative spectrum.  I was very impressed.

Maik Hempel of Australia was one of the four finalist who were chosen by Moby and genero.tv.  His description of the animation was ” a small, 16 bit computer game character experiences the worst day of his life.”

The submission by Sergey Kazakov and Alexandr Lishnevski of Belarus was one of the two entries that were chosen as a finalist by votes by viewers votes.

This animation was my favorite because of its clean lines and spot use of color while showing a wonderful depth of field through out.

The Wait for Me competition winners were announced on April 19, 2009 and Maik Hempel’s animation was chosen runner up to the non-animated winner by Nimrod Shapira from Israel.

Maik shared the following about the creative process he used in the production of his video:

“it wasn’t until a couple of weeks after i heard about this competition through a mailing list, that i had the idea for the video. the song is very melancholy so i figured doing it in a computer game style would make for some nice juxtaposition. that’s right, juxtaposition. its different to anything i’ve animated in the past, because essentially the whole clip is made of two-frame cycles. i played a lot of super mario world to get the right look for it. it’s always easier to make a music video for an artist/band if you have a preexisting interest in them. for example, i probably wouldn’t make a video for zz top. but i remember when my sister first introduced me to moby (not him, just his music obviously) in 2000. i loved “play”, which was one of the albums that got me interested in electronic music. so, to be able to make a video for moby is a nice way to salute him for the deliciousness his music has brought to my ears over the years (excuse the rhyme).” – maik

I have commented on the blogs of Kristina Wade and Hayleigh Allingham.

Blog Post #11 – Preview: Waking Sleeping Beauty

As a patron of the local Cinema Arts Theatre, I receive an email update of films that are currently showing, what films are leaving and information on the choices the theater owner is making for future showings.  My last email had some intriguing information:

“Interesting this week — Please note we are trying to get the Disney documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty by the end of the month.  There is no marketing support, so word of mouth has to work.  The wish it to start April 23, but that is not confirmed.  We hope to be exclusive with downtown!!”

I was somewhat surprised because I had not heard about the documentary and considering the fact it goes hand and hand with our study of animation, I thought I would see what information I could find.

IMDB did not have a lot of information on its website.  It did show limited release dates, mostly Film Festivals:

September 5, 2009 – USA Telluride Film Festival

Sept 15, 2009 – Canada Toronto International Film Festival

October 2009 – USA Hamptons International Film Festival

October 18, 2009 – USA Heartland Film Festival

January 2010 – USA Palm Springs International Film Festival

April 10, 2010 – USA AFI Dallas International Film Festival

It is slated for limited 2010 USA release.

The Art Center College of Design, Film Department tells us “Waking Sleeping Beauty tells the story of Disney’s unparalelled success with animation during the halcyon years of 1984-1994. The film features amazing behind-the-scenes footage, shot in defiance of strict Disney company rules, documenting the intense power struggles between Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and others. The guerilla cameramen capturing the drama include former Disney animator and current Pixar chief John Lasseter!”

In the Feb. 15, 2010 blog of Chad Sellers, Animator for Disney, the film was described this way:

“Director Don Hahn (producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King) and producer Peter Schneider (former chairman of the studio), key players at Walt Disney Studios feature animation department during the mid1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the animation studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next 10 years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box-office flops, and warring studio leadership create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Steven Spielberg, Richard Williams, John Lasseter and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney animation’s darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance.”

Unfortunately, as of April 26, 2010 Waking Sleeping Beauty has not been released to any theaters in the metropolitan DC/NVa area. I will definitely be on the lookout for it as I believe it will give us an in-depth look at how Disney evolved to what it is today.

I have commented on the blogs of Rebecca Townsend and Michael Taylor.

Animation: I Love New York

Blog Post #10 – Bunnies!

Yes, Spring is in the air and we all love that big basket of goodies from the Easter Bunny.  While reading some of my tweets this week I came across a link to some animation that sent me in to hysterical laughter … parodies of movies enacted by animated bunnies!  These 30 second animated movie shorts by Angry Alien are funny and actually capture the essence of each movie movie they parody.

Jennifer Shiman started Angry Alien Productions with her creations in 1998.  She uses Adobe Flash for coloring and animation after scanning her hand drawn characters into Adobe Photoshop.  She originally sketched a range of characters for her classic movies in 30 seconds …kittens, beavers, mice, elves …but the bunnies struck her as the perfect actor.

There is a large collection of movies that have been bunnified for your entertainment: new movies, old movies, horror, comedy,  action/adventure, drama.

Angry Alien Productions has produced Bunny Shorts for the Starz network.  In 2008 the 30-Second Bunnies Theatre won two Webby Awards for Online Film and Video/Animation, plus the People’s Voice award in that category.

You can find more of the 30 Second Bunnies Theater Library  and information about Angry Alien Productions on their website.

I have commented on the blogs of Christopher DeMarco and Gerard Thomas.

Blog Post #9 – Moby Music Videos

Most music videos these days are either filming extravaganzas or are shown on CMT.  MTV and VH1 seem to have gone out of the music video business except for a Top 20 or a rehash of the Best of (insert decade here) videos. One of my favorite musicians, Moby, seems to have some of the most interesting animated videos set to his music. For his new album Wait for Me (2009) Moby had some of his friends create videos giving them complete creative control to illustrate his music.  Here are two of the results — very different from each other.

Shot in the Back of the Head – David Lynch

David Lynch is an American visual artist and director.  He has a ‘distinctive and unorthodox approach to narrative film making.”  He is recognized by audiences and critics dreamlike and sometime nightmarish images.

Mistake – Katy Baugh

This was Katy Baugh’s first music video!  The stop action short cost $400.00 to make.

It is refreshing to see that Moby allows animators and other visual artists to use his music for their creative endeavors.  His music can be used for free as long as it is being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.  He currently has a video competition for  his album Wait for Me giving video artist a monetary prize.  Information regarding this competition can be found in the film music gratis section of his website.

A great selection of animated and non-animated videos set to Moby’s music can also be found on his website video list.

I have commented on the blogs of Christopher DeMarco and Megan Pettry.

Blog Post #8 – Shane Acker’s 9 : Better at 11 or 79?

While looking for a more ‘adult’ animation to watch, I decided to rent Shane Acker’s 9.  This post apocalyptic story is really not for children.  It does have a PG 13 rating …. only one of four computer-animated films to receive this rating.  The others were:  Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), Kaena: La prophet, (2003) and Beowulf (2007).

Even though I thought that the artistic animation was beautiful, I found that the storyline ended up being just another end ‘of the world/fight the machines’ story that we have seen many times before.  As I watched all I could think of was Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines!

Watching the Special Features section of the DVD, I found that Acker had first made 9 as a short film in 2005 when he was still a student at UCLA.   After watching the original animated short of Shane Acker’s 9 my question was: Did the expanded story of 9 at 79 minutes give us more artistically than his 11 minute short film?  I don’t really think so.

The  animated short was based on visual story telling and pantomime — the story was brilliantly told without dialog.  The CGI animation used a narrow color pallet with earth tones and a painterly saturation.  This is different than most CGI animation that is usually more photorealistic and uses a broad spectrum of colors.  It took Acker four years to bring his vision of a primitive culture evolving from scavengers to life.  It was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 in the Best Animated Short Film category.

Shane Acker himself tells us that the biggest challenge in expanding the animated short into a full length feature was the storyline.  He had to conceptualize a larger story that he could easily incorporate the shorter story into.  He did not want to redo what he and already done.  His focus on 9 helped him do this.  The expansion of the story did answer some questions regarding how the world ended up the way it did but other than that the introduction of more monsters and chase scenes were the core of the expanded time.  Acker did start the film with an absence of dialog for the first 10 minutes…giving it some of the feel of the original animation.

The animated short gave us the story in a visually perfect nutshell.  The search for others, the confusion of the unknown, discovery of scavenged tools, fight and flight with a monster and the spiritual release at the end of life were all shown to us in 11 minutes.

References:

9, DVD, Focus Features Spotlight Series with Special Features.

IMDB

I have commented on the blogs of Bradley Schoolfield and Jeannie Hilleary

Blog Post # 7 – The Beat Generation and UPA Style

At the end of class last week when we watched Ernest Pintoff’s The Critic all I could think about was the Beat Generation of the 1950’s and the subsequent counterculture of the 1960’s.  The newly emerging UPA style of animation could be seen as a mirror for the Beat Generation’s continuous challenge of free expression.  The ‘Beatnik’ era culture of the late 1950’s – pre Hippie 1960’s encompassed not only literature but music and dance.  Poetry, jazz and modern dance were all influenced.

Before Ernest Pintoff won the Oscar for the Best Animated Short for The Critic  he directed another animated short in 1961 entitled The Interview. This animation is an interview with a beatnik character named Shorty Petterstein, a jazz musician, that was created by Henry Jacobs.  Jacobs was a sound engineer/artist who worked in radio and hosted one of the first ‘world music’ radio programs.  The Interview showcases simplistic UPA style – bright color, textured background, partial movement animation, characters with large noses and angled shapes.

I also found a more recent animation, Beatless Nick,  that is also in the 1950’s UPA style telling the story of a beatnik with no sense of rhythm.

Dan Meth also capture’s the feeling of the Beat Generation with his contemporary animation of the same name.

References:

Wikipedia: Ernest Pintoff

Federatorblogs

I have commented on the blogs of Emily Witt and Megan Pettry

Blog Post #6 – The Sword in the Stone

Disney’s 1963 animation of The Sword in the Stone was the last full length animated feature that was released while Walt Disney was alive.  The film is based on the 1938 novel by T.H. White of the same name.  This animation was a part of the ‘English Cycle’ of Disney films that included Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Robin Hood and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  Even though Disney followed the general plot of T. H. White’s original book, much of the substance of the storyline was changed.  Both T. H. White and Walt Disney made changes to the original  White manuscript storyline of the Arthurian Legend of The Sword in the Stone.

The original 1938 novel chronicles early life of a boy named Wart who is befriended by Merlin the magician.  Merlin tutors Wart to prepare him for the time when he would become the king of England.  The setting is medieval England and White includes in the story his vast knowledge of medieval culture, especially in hunting, falconry and jousting. Many of Merlin’s lessons for Wart consisted of  being turned magically into animals. Wart also had human adventures, including meeting the outlaw Robin Wood (Robin Hood).

T.H. White substantially revised the original 1938 stand alone novel when he published The Sword in the Stone as the first part of a 1958 four part series, The Once and Future King.   The new version included several new story lines, one of which included a strong pacifist message.  In this story Arthur is turned into a wild goose that files so high that he cannot determine national boundaries.  The new version also leaves out some of the passages that were in the original and were used for the Disney film, such as the battle between Merlin and Madam Mim.

Both Walt Disney and T. H. White used The Sword and the Stone to portray their unhappiness with the political and professional problems they were encountering.  Walt Disney identified himself with the Merlin character and it has been suggested that he felt that Merlin’s battle with Mim portrayed his personal battles with critics.  T. H. White’s revision of his original story reflected the more somber mood after World War II and his dissatisfaction with the wartime censorship and delay in the publication of his 1941 The Book of Merlyn.

References:

The Sword in the Stone DVD, 45th Anniversary Edition with Bonus Features

Wikipedia:  The Sword and the Stone (Book), The Sword and the Stone (Film), The Book of Merlyn

I have commented on the blogs of Victor Koski and Alissa Potter.