How much i love Pixar

ATTENTION: I HAVE A NEW BLOG!
Check out www.mountcg.com where i write down my thoughts and opinions on the industry!

Today a coworker sent me these two videos...






everyone knows how crazy i am about Pixar... but well... it got me all weepy and i had to tell someone, so i messaged the videos to another amazing friend here...

i wanted to share that little breakout...

Its hard to find words for how much i love my job already.
And if you think im too fixated on Pixar, i can tell you... i have questioned myself a lot. Trying to find some other place that might be as cool... and i found some amazing places that id like to work at... but then i watch Nemo or Wall-E or the Pixar Story again... and BAM... nothing else gives me these amazing tickling in my guts than Pixar and what it stands for.

These guys really touched me... with amazing stories and characters, but even more with amazing art and craftsmanship...
There is no other place like Pixar.

Serious topics in animated films

ATTENTION: I HAVE A NEW BLOG!
Check out www.mountcg.com where i write down my thoughts and opinions on the industry!

I had to get sick to finally watch The Incredibles again... And while watching it, i noticed something i hadnt noticed before.

But let me start somewhere else first... over a long time ive been complaining about studios not having the balls to put more adult material in their movies. That was one of the things that "disappointed" me the most in Brave... that there wouldve been a chance to make it much darker.

Anyways... while watching Incredibles, i realized that Pixar had already done it.
There is LOTS of pretty adult stuff in there which would, shown in a live action movie, most likely make the movie not very suitable for kids.

But somehow Pixar (and Brad Bird) packed a plane crash, a father thinking he has lost his family, a woman who thinks her husband is cheating on her, open street violence and much more in a movie... and its absolutely suitable for Kids...
My admiration for Pixar (And Brad Bird) just grew even more when i realized that...

Go, try to watch Incredibles, and imagine some of those scenes in a live action movie...

Man Pixar... you just rock... :-)
You guys really just rock... i hope theres gonna be more of that in future (Like in Toy Story 3 f.ex.) and i hope the company doesnt get too corporate...
My hopes are high, especially for "Inside out"

Please dont disappoint me :-)

My favourite parts - 6 - Nemo

Stanton at its best...
He is an amazing storyteller, and nemo is such a complete film, you just have to love it.
The sondtrack is probably my favourite out of all Pixar films... and its filled with lots and lots of details.
Ive just recently bought the art of finding nemo and all the amazing drawings... specially simon varelas stuff is just stunning!
Its also one of the few movies that has a very good german version. Wich is also something pixar manages to do quiet well overall.

The part that stands out to me in particular for this movie is this here:

finally Nemo and Marlin are reunited.
But the very special thing about it was to see doug sweatland talk about it on the pixar story.
There you see how deep he thinks into the shot, the subtext, what every gesture means.
Doug is a genious anyways and this part shows how every animator should think...
I feel it brought my own work on a completely new level when i really started to think about the character, the subtext and really tried to figure out what every gesture will mean. That was one of these moments when it somehow clicked for me...

Geesh i love animation! :-)

My favourite parts - 5 - Wall-E

Were getting to one of my all time favourites...
I just love the characters so much... i love the setting, the story... everything... the only thing i was a bit disappointed about was that the movie is a bit split into these two parts... its just some kind of bump more in the visual style that disappointed me because i was so amazed by that post human world... the axiom is much more cartoony... but anyways... the story is beautiful and as i mentioned... wall-e is my favourite pixar character of all time!
You have to know how to animate first to be able to give him that robotic moves but still give him sooooo much character...
The part that stood out to me the most... is probably the one that stood out to everyone the most...

beautiful...

:-) so full of detail... i love how the cockroach is walking up and down... looking at them... then going again... like in a hospital... so perfect... then... 2:29... how eve holds him in the moment she gives up hope...
and then the kiss...
 ok first... i have never ever experienced something that was quiet as this moment at a theatre than on this movie... no one dared to breathe... dead silence... and then comes his questioning "evaa?" (im having goose bumps again) its just perfect...
And again... its not just the whole scene but how deep they go here... not all the new parts made him whole again... its that little kiss from eva... the love she feels when she kisses him goodbye... thats what truly revives him... awesome also because they established the strength of her kiss and the influence on him in the space/dance sequence where it overloads his system and lets it crash... but now that much energy/love was needed to revive his soul... awww... so beautiful...

btw... go to carlos baenas website to see what he did here... the broken wall-e is just awesome... 

:-) i love writing about animation... :-)

My favourite parts - 4 - Up

In preparation for this post i watched the intro sequence again and... well... watch it yourself first...

I really had to wipe a tear away... BEAUTIFUL! Amazing! And what a build up for a movie in the first 10minutes... oh i love it so much... thank god its friday... so i can watch it again this weekend...
This sequence makes me feel sooooo unworthy of even dreaming of working at pixar someday...

This film proves another thing... well actually pixar proved this much longer ago but this here is special i think...
It proves that they make films with such a depth that its definitely not just for kids anymore... the beautiful thing is that there is something for everyone... kids will love it because all the fun stuff like speaking dogs... a funny bird etc, but there is so much going on, on deeper levels that appeals to grown ups... im saying it again... pixar films are plain and simple... pieces of beautiful art.

But... im getting off topic (again).

The first thing that made me laugh out loud from excitement about the amazing animation is at 0:59 when carl places his hand on the arm of the chair and ellie grabs it... this moment... (oh my god im having goose bumps just by thinking of it again!) its so subtile... like its the most natural thing for them... perfect...

The whole sequence of course could be a short film in itself and is a masterpiece in every aspect (not just animation)

Next thing...

again... carls animation is just beautiful... how he rubs his eyes... how he gets up etc.
And there is that shot when he comes down the stairs in the "elevator"... (wich is storytelling wise also very very amazing... he got that elevator... and later in the film he is doing all this physical stuff... that elevater really shows how much he had forgotten to live...) in that shot, there are so many subtile moves... nothing forced, basically just overlap from the elevators movement... i just love that subtile stuff! :-)

There are lots of other things thats are very outstanding to me (as always) for example the scene when muntz kidnaps kevin and sets the house on fire... carl goes to extinguish the fire and russel accuses him not to care about kevin... the way carl turns around in his reaction... the lighting... that huge emotion in his face... thats another very very unique and incredibly strong moment.

I could go on and on again... but ill leave it for now :-)

My favourite parts - 3 - Incredibles

To me visually this wasnt the most appealing pixar film, and in times where i didnt know anything about movie making or animation... i actually wasnt that impressed by it when i first saw it. But as i started studying animation, and watched it again... i realized how amazing this film is... the visual style (specially of the environment) still isnt that appealing to me, but the animation is just another milestone in animation history. I recently just watched it with the animators commentaries wich just opened another level of excitement about the film.
It has an amazing story and every character develops in its own special way... its just amazing how everything is worked out perfectly. And of course there is the world famous edna mode... wich just rocks the house! And knowing that brad bird did her voice just increases my admiration for him.
He is actually the only reason why i will go and watch ghost protocol... :-)

But to come back to my favourite parts in the film...
For this one its actually just two little parts that just show pixars greatness... i like elastigirl/helen a lot... she is so confident, but vulnerable on the other hand... and that elastic stuff must be awesome to animate... but apart from all the funky stuff they did with her, there are a few moments where they showed her "powers" in a more subtile way.

Timecode 2:29 and 2:50


Specially at 2:29 there is no awesome stretch going on, but her main pose is just perfect... and amazingly beautiful. Her SL leg is bent in that amazing arc wich as i mentioned shows her flexibility without showing it off because in that moment she has to act subtile so she doesnt get seen... thats the way to keep a character like her consistent.
Same at 2:50... ok there is much more S&S going on, but its so fast that its almost not visible... and the way she squishes when she lands is just pure animation awesomeness :-) again... you dont have to turn her into a parachute to jump down from the ceiling... she doesnt need that here... its just perfect (hehe i gotta search the dictionary, i guess im using a lot of superlatives over and over again) :-)

Thats it for Incredibles... to me this film is a real phenomenon... everytime i watch it, i see something new that amazes me... well this happens with every pixar film, but incredibles hits me off the chair everytime i see it.