| |
Previous News
FEBRUARY
2004
02.27.04
* It is FRICKEN SLOW out here
with regards to Stop Motion or something related. I have
nothing. I could spend some hours seaching but I have to
make a living doing something else. So.... nobody has the
guts to send me some Gossip? Anybody
working on CORPSE BRIDE? Why are they so quiet? If the
apathy continues at this rate .... everyone so secretive
.... Stop Motion will certainly be buried soon.
____________________
02.20.04
* Please welcome Clay Animator website! A new
ally-partner in our battle against the ever encroaching
CGI Forces. I do not know who is behind this new
website but whoever it is, they have done the research. The
home page has a jazzy-inspiring opening. The
site is available in different languages (you don't need
translation site)! Designed to be fun and
interactive via Flash.
For modem users it might be slightly slow to initially
download each of the pages. Flash is not too bad if it is
not overused (most of the world still has dial-up). They
have lots of interesting links. No one website can cover
it all .... but each one of us can
"contribute to whole" to help spread the Stop
Motion Gospel across the Globe and keep it alive!
When you visit their website, please email Clay
Animator and say Hello & Welcome and that Stop
Motion Works referred you.
NOTE: Just a suggestion to webmasters .... When "you
borrow" pictures or material from other websites, it
is GOOD PRACTICE , to "ask" and/or give
"credit" to the source. We should be UNITED in
our struggle for Stop Motion's survival!
*
Perhaps some of you may not know the God
Father of Stop Motion .... Ray
Harryhausen. Before Computer Animation was
supposedly Cool ..... Uncle Ray was doing Creature Character Animation
using Stop Motion ....a pioneer in commercial stop motion
for mass public entertainment. His book is available at Amazon and listen to some MP3 audio of him Here
____________________
Special
Weekend Edition .... 02.15.04
* Well ...this is not about Stop
Motion but about our Traditional 2D Animation Brothers.
Even though they may have not had any interest in Stop
Motion Animation (which usually gets shafted in the biz),
I feel at this time, in this climate of CGI World
Take Over, we should UNITE with 2D.
Here is a plug for Triplets of
Bellville ....I found this, and reprinting here:
" TRIPLETS Goes Wide.
After nearly three full months of playing the art house
circuit, Sylvain Chomet's 'Triplets of Bellville'
is expanding into 470 theaters around North
America this weekend (February 13). In Los Angeles,
TRIPLETS will now be playing in nearly 40 theaters
compared to just 4 last weekend. An art house
film making the leap into the mainstream megaplexes after
three months of release is a fairly rare occurence and
almost unheard of for an animated film. Sony
Pictures Classics should be commended for having
the confidence in this film to push it into wider
release. TRIPLETS has a half-page color ad in today's
edition of the LA TIMES "
LIO Note: Doing web search, there are only a few minor
negative reviews but most seem to be positive .... here is well known film critic, Roger Ebert's review. At Yahoo Movies, see if you can find it playing
near you.
Special Weekend Edition .... 02.14.04
* King Kong re-make in Black &
White?
Director, Peter Jackson might consider it?
I think that is awesome, however, I am
guessing that the studio suits might crap
in their pants because it goes against their
supposed statistical formulas that all current
films have to be "in color"? Recently,
I was kind of bummed-out about the King
Kong remake .... see my comments below (scroll down to
02.06.04). Peter Jackson is going to do Kong as a
1930's period piece. Again, I think a Black
& White new King Kong sounds pretty exciting to me.
Black & White is now usually used by
photographers & filmmakers as an artistic/creative
tool to add surealism or a dream-like quality.
Another option might be to mute/flatten the
colors .... or kind of a sepia tone? I think Peter
Jackson should go for it! Also, throw in some hi-tech
Stop Motion for a few of the background creatures?
Do it for Grandpa
Obie and Uncle Ray !
* The
documentary Monster Road, about the Life
of Underground Stop Motion-Clay-Organic Animator, Bruce
Bickford, won the "Best
Documentary" jury prize at the Slamdance Film Festival, last month. I was informed that
it was a good time had by all. Bruce Bickford was there
to talk to people and hand out his unique business cards,
each of which contained a tiny clay figure! There will be
some screenings in the San Francisco area
.... April 2nd at The Sonoma Valley Film Festival and April 3rd at
the Other Cinema. For other screenings you can
check the producer's/filmmaker's website (they did the
documentary) at Bright Eye Pictures. Mark your calendars or enter in
your PDA's!
____________________
02.09.04
* I have commented in the past about
the irony, how supposedly, old
fashioned and out-dated Stop Motion is
being kept alive and in the public eye via the
"high-tech" internet communications medium.
Many arcane or esoteric things have a "new
life", thanks to the internet! From the Macworld website there is an article briefly
describing how to do Stop Motion. More
publicity and exposure for our art/craft! 
* What do you think?
Those attempting to imitate Stop Motion look and
feel with Cgi? That is what EyeBall NYC
thought with their promo spots for Cartoon
Network.
Here is quote:
"Inspired by the style of Rankin/Bass television
classics such as 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer' (1964)
and 'Frosty the Snowman' (1969), EyeballNYC designers
chose a low-tech, homemade, Stop-Motion feel"
Some still images here and you can read more here. Why don't they just use
the frikken REAL Stop Motion? IMO, it does
not look like Stop Motion. Today's digital-pixel
studios & the "suits" just DON'T
GET IT! I can only guess, that they
think, they can fake the Stop Motion
look and supposedly get away with it, doing it more
cheaply with computers. Well ...in my opinion
....NOT!
____________________
02.06.04
* It appears that the
Handwriting is on the Wall  with
regards to Peter Jackson's King Kong
remake. Alias, a Silicon
Graphics company (makers of Maya
animation software) confirming strategic business
alliance with Weta
Digital. Just my observation here: King Kong
remake may possibly be heavily digitally-pixel
created, and perhaps Traditional
Effects being restricted to
miniatures, maybe prosthetics makeup, props, etc. Lord
of the Rings was the showcase of Weta's
abilities, and now, Peter Jackson seems to be heading
towards predominately high-tech pixel route, like
George Lucas. Also, not too long ago, I heard
that actor Andy Serkis who was motion
captured and did Gollum's voice,
might be working on Kong remake. So .... Kong
might also be heavily motion captured? I really
feel like a jerk ..... pleading & begging on
the SMA.com board, 1--2--3, to perhaps include quick scenes of
state-of-the-art Stop Motion in the Kong remake. Perhaps
the background
Stop Motion creatures? It would be a homage to Willis
O'brien and Ray Harryhausen. They were the pioneers of
pre-cgi creature character special effects. What
a stupid dream I had and obviously, Stop
Motion will NOT even be considered by Peter Jackson.
* Included with other celebrities, Uncle
Ray receives the UK's Empire Award
* 'Kong' remains groundbreaking
chapter in American Cinema .... by Terry Price
* LATE BREAKING NEWS ....
"An Hour with Peter Jackson" , TONIGHT / FRIDAY
The Charlie Rose Show ..... check your local TV
schedule.
____________________
02.03.04
* Cuppa Coffee signs second season deal for JoJo's Circus the new hit pre-school show for
Disney. Cuppa Coffee now in production for A Very
Barry Christmas .... a one hour Stop Motion
Christmas special, directed by an Aussie, Andrew
Horne (Leunig). A new pre-school show called Bruno
to be unveiled at MiP-TV. Stop Motion TV series The Wrong Coast nears completion for Cuppa Coffee
& Blueprint Ent./Curious Pictures. Here is an older article about it. Debuts in
April in Canada. Seems like debut date in USA is still
not determined yet from AMC. It looks like Cuppa Coffee is
always in the process of expanding their studio
operations. As I said in previous news & comments, Stop
Motion and just general animation, seems to be
Hot in Canada! Here
is rumor but cannot confirm yet: With Disney's loss of
Pixar association, buzz is .... Cuppa Coffee to be the
Pixar replacement Studio? Stop Motion/CG Feature being
touted by the studio. If anyone has heard any
more information about this, please let me
know. As always
...anonymously & confidential!
* Die
hard Stop Motion aficianados, I am sure have heard of Mackinnon & Saunders. They don't do actual production
of Stop Motion animation but are behind the
scenes puppet fabrication studio extrodinaire!
Well .... the above website was almost non-existant ....
it was previously only one page ..... and perpetually
"under construction" for about two
frikken years! It looks like they finally
decided to work on their site. What took you so long M
& S? Come on .... get with it and start marketing
yourself! Lets keep Stop Motion in the public eye
and you certainly should advertise yourself! Hey
.... I say this with a good spirit and
I'm only putting a little flame under people's
butts!
* Our own
Marc Spess of AnimateClay.com is starting to promote himself now with his
planned project Zombie Pirate (pending
funding/project backers). He is featured at Short Filmmaker's Alliance . He wrote an article for them
about his project and included some cool behind the
scenes photos. His article and photos reminds me of the
articles from the ol' Cinemagic Magazines! Hey Marc .....
one of these days you're going to have to reveal photos
of yourself to the public, in order to promote your
project. You cannot hide in the closet forever!  Marc
did post a photo of himself a long time ago and I kind of
know how he looks.
____________________
|
|
