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.

My favourite parts - 2 - Toy Story 3

Ok... I wasnt a huge fan of the toy story franchise... even though i remember how eager i was to see the first one all those years ago... but it was not until i saw TS3 that i really got amazed by it.
All the characters are so incredibly beautyful animated, and integrated into an amazing and much more complex story than i had expected... and with so much attention to detail and nice additions to the animation that was already established in the first two films.
Apart from all that, there were two things in this film that just cracked me up and really showed that animation (not just since TS3) has grown up.
The first scene i was amazed by is of course the reactor scene...
(dont get distracted by the title... it just cuts out earlier... but the actual footage im talking about is the same)



Beautiful... Pixar proves that there are no words needed (like the f.ex. cheesy stuff in Harry Potter 7.2) to show the moment when someone realizes he is going to die... the characters just look into each others eyes, hold hands and go into their end together... This moment is incredibly strong! Everything weve seen in all three movies comes up again...
accompanied by an amazing soundtrack this scene to me is movie history...

I also admire how they cut everything together... the chain starts and ends with the two leaders of the gang... the first who grabs someones hand is buzz... and the last one is woody... the one who always kept fighting the longest and always had to fight the hardest comes crawling back, ready to fight on... but this time his friends just look at him and tell him... let it be... this time he has to accept that there is no way out... and like a true leader... he sits in front of all others, his arms spread out protecting them till death... beautiful...
Hehe and then they of course get saved in a way only pixar can do it :-)
Love it :-)

The second thing that made me go overboard at the theatre was... of course... the world famous spanish buzz... I loved it so much that i felt bound to do a little hommage to carlos baena as i came on stage to get my AM diploma in summer 2010... (i wouldnt have done it if carlos himself wouldnt have been on stage of course) :-)





I cant point out anything that appeals to me in particular because these are the most complete piece of animation ive ever seen.
To me the special thing while watching it was, by knowing who did it (i know there are some credits to give to other animators who have worked on those pieces too... check out carlos' website to see which stuff he did), i could almost feel how much fun and joy carlos must have felt while animating it and how much of his heart and soul are conserved in it...
I guess its already pretty obvious and will become more clear when i move on, that carlos is one of my biggest idols... not just because his work is just breathtaking but also because he is such a natural and amazing person...

Again, there is much more stuff in this movie thats simply stunning but these two things stood out the most for me.

Hehe... i really have to go home... recalling all those moments makes me want to work on my own stuff :-)

My Favourite parts - 1 - Ratatouille

Ok starting off here...
In this movie there are so many amazing parts that its really hard to say what stands out in particular.
But to me the whole skinner character is the highlight...
For example in this sequence here (sorry no sound but maybe its even better like that):

Its amazing how much detail is in the animation... i love how he grabs and pulls linguini at sec 14, then we only see his hat at sec 31 but thats all we need to see... his hat bumping around and everyone can imagine whats going on... he is so into his own rant that he misses that the "bad juju" guy is getting the soup.
And then my idol carlos baena comes into play :-) sec 51... need i say anything more? Its just pure facial animation awesomeness... sec 56... What a pose... 1:00 that detail how he pushes himself up on his tiptoes... so he can see through the window (wich is so nice working together with the following shot) thats just... aaaaah... stuff like that is what makes animation great... its not just puppets moving... its art...
The next part of the sequence is also really amazing because it reveals another part of skinners bad character and how very insecure he is on the inside... how he points at linguini in a its not my fault matter at 1:18... and then straightens himself up... suddenly not as pompuous and superior as before... tiny steps... a straight walk and a face wich just shows how dead scared he is inside but tries to act as calm as possible... great great great stuff!

There is another scene when skinner reads the letter from linguinis mother... I couldnt find the clip online (and maybe its even better like that... so people will actually buy the dvd) but im sure if youve seen the movie you know what scene im talking about.
We had a lecture about this whole sequence at Animation Mentor... and it just cracks me up again every time im watching it... its just amazing to see exactly whats going on in skinners mind just by seeing his eyes dart around and his frown getting bigger. Great great stuff...

Ratatouille is one of my favourite Pixar films ever... I simply love it... It looks beautiful, the animation is of course over the top... but also the story... i love the story... Brad Bird is a genious!

Thanks... next film might follow soon :-)

I got inspired...

Yesterday the new Brave Trailer came out...
At first i didnt want to see it because ive become very careful with watching trailers since despicable me... just because i dont want the first 20min of the movie spoiled by the trailer...
But after the whole office talking about it and mails going back and forth i just had to watch it... and ended up forgetting everything around me and going through it frame by frame...
And after that the day couldnt end fast enough so i could go home and implement some of the stuff ive seen into my own work.
There is one thing i noticed in it wich just cracked me up... they hid a small but AWESOME hommage to Beauty and the Beast in it... (or at least i think it is one) :-)
Know what im talking about?

I love stuff like that...
And because the trailer inspired  me so much, im gonna post some of my favourite moments from pixar films in the next few days... just to add a little nerdyness to this blog :-)

until then...
To infinity... and beyoooooond! :-)

I was hoping for this... rebuttal for the dark knight chase sequence

http://josephkahn.blogspot.com/2011/09/analyzing-action.html

Someone puts that chase sequence from the dark knight in a better light.
Another incredible learning experience just by readingit.
Unfortunately he gets a bit rude from time to time... but what ever... its a nice rebuttal to the original also very negative video.

my first workflow tip... keeping the "feel" of your blocking

Ok fist off... after animating professionally for only 4 months i feel not the slightest qualified to teach others how to animate, but on one of my last acting shots i did in my spare time, i started doing something i never have heard from mentors or someone else, and id like to share this because to me it works pretty well.

Im talking about that well known moment when you come out of blocking in stepped and turn your awesome looking piece of animation into spline (or in my case plateau).

Suddenly everything looks funky, floaty and completely terrible... i used to go back and set more breakdowns but i dont think thats very efficient. Dont get me wrong, i dont get out of blocking without the feeling i have set enough keys to define all my transitions and all the key movements, wich is usually when i have a key on every 4th - 5th frame.

But then it still looks terrible sometimes. So what i did on my last shot was simply, keep a playblast of my awesome looking blocking and have it open during my first few passes of splining. And constantly go over it an check if my animation still feels the same as my blocking. I found this extremely helpful and it was one of these moments where i wondered why i hadnt done this earlier.

I dont know if everyone else does this but no one thinks its worth mentioning but i find this a nice little trick to hold on to if you feel lost when your splines go crazy :-)

Cheers
Luke