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Previous / Archived News
 03.29.08
* MAX
& CO.
: Why not nominated for Oscar? .....
A Stop Motion feature of the highest
caliber similar to Corpse Bride
and Aardman's
feature work. Or possibly I am mistaken, because I am not
sure if it was released in time to get nominated? I would think Max
& Co. should be strong contender against
any CGI
animated product. However, looking at the Max
& Co preview clips, I do not see subtitles or
dubbed into other languages like English. "Hey you, to
whichever Studio or Suits in France who produced Max & Co., why
don't you consider subtitles or dubbing it?" You know
how it is, we are USA-centric
and we have been trained
(by Suits here) to only absorb American cultured
entertainment. I bet that 90%
of people here and in Tinsel
Town have possibly not heard
of Max & Co? Anyway, some links
for you to check out, Variety: Max & Co, Max & Co. Website, or you can watch here, Making of Clips or smaller size clips
P.S. I just got the word that Max
& Co. has been dubbed into German
and released in theaters over there, this year '08.
It remains to be seen, if the French Suits
will consider English. Although, I do
understand their possible uncertainty about marketability
in America. I would like to remind our French friends,
that Les Triplettes de Belleville (2D animation), did achieve some
recognition & notoriety from the non-mainstream
USA audiences and was Oscar nominated. EDIT: 03.30.08
*
Rant @ You  .... What's
up with you people? Mysterious Ron, posted his first how-to tutorial, volunteering his own personal
time and he gets minimal response? Ron, do not get turned  off by the low feedback at message board. Most
likely, many at message board saw your tutorial. Your compositing
technique is very manual method and using minimal software tools,
however, you have demonstrated what can
be done with loads of resourcefulness, problem solving
& creativity! You also have a home at StopMoShorts and we can also post your
tutorials.
Another
beef: I always get a number of
email inquiries through
Stop Motion Works website. I do
read all of the emails, but I cannot reply to everyone.
I also get some questions that are already answered at this website.
Some people just lazy to put a little effort
to search. When I do
reply to some of the emails (you out there submit), why
is it that you have no courtesy to respond
with a simple Thank You? I spend my personal
time replying
and you out here, just vanish into
the Internet ether.
Do you do that in-person with people;
you sponge off them and then, just blow
them off? 
Update: Okay,
I am chilled out now. Just unfortunate that is
what the Internet has bred,
creating depersonalization
& especially anonymity to hide
behind. If you want good karma in your life,
you got to do right. You cannot
just take & take
for your ego selfishness & greed.
As the wise Captain Kangaroo says, "Remember
the magic phrase, Please
& Thank You"  EDIT: 03.30.08
____________________
03.22.08
*
Thinking Outside the Box .... Just a follow-up to last week's
commentary. That is what it takes, some entrepreneural
creative thinking for Stop Motion.
As I stated before, Do not judge
Stop Motion's success by only
mainstream Stop Mo features (which
are minimal) such as Nightmare Before Christmas, James & Giant
Peach, Chicken Run, etc.. Like I also said previously, there
are emerging different or new
niche markets
via other ways of distribution. I just received
this email feedback by someone:
"My
only comment about your article on stopmo money makin, is the absence
of any mention about the potential to start up small businesses of our
own. If there is to be (I hope) an upswing in the amount of stopmo in
the media at large, the number of companies that currently exist for
producing that product isn't enough ..... I guess my point is, that
sometimes we animators think in terms of somebody else giving us our
opportunities but, we should be thinking about giving those
opportunities to ourselves. Don't wait to be hired BY a producer... get
your own interested clients and hire a producer for it!"
I completely agree with those comments but only applicable to those
with true Stop Mo passion and
drive. Also, one has to have a strong willingness to learn
additional Stop Motion skillsets, to become somewhat,
more independent; or, one can establish
partnerships or alliances with others who can add
certain skills/services that you may not have. For the individual
Stop Motion practioner, making a living
at only Stop Motion is not consistent,
so, you must have other means of back-up income. However, there are
some professional studios out
there, a few in USA, and more Internationally,
that do offer some Stop Motion as part of
their production services. If you do not know already, Stop
Motion Works has listed some of them Studios & Artists. EDIT: 03.23.08
____________________
03.15.08
*
The Struggling Life of Stop Motion
....
In the mainstream biz that is. Even in Uncle
Ray's
days, he had a hard time selling Stop
Motion to the Suits. Even
though, Ray could produce lots of special effects bang
for the buck, 'they' still were cheap with
the budgets. He was lucky
in teaming up Charles Schneer and eventually Ray moved to
England as far away from Tinseltown, California, USA; which never
accepted Stop Motion (&
IMO, the prejudice against Stop Mo still exists today). Internationally,
many countries or cultures outside USA, usually have more of a history;
deeper roots, connections, and traditions with Puppets.
Sure, you see cyclical moments of Stop
Motion popularity in the mainstream
market, but as I have said in the past, do not look to
Hollywood for Stop Motion's success. It has always been
from the grassroots & independents
that has kept Stop Motion going. However,
the Internet now seems to be helping
Stop Motion stay in the public
consciousness.
Ahhh .... but you
say, "Look at the independent work
& success of Suzie Templeton's Peter & the Wolf." I say, you are only
seeing the Surface. Read the undercurrent Money
Politics about it, Rejected Peter & The
Wolf wins Oscar. To my surprise, P
& W struggled to
get investors & funds
and it was rejected many
times by the myopic Suits.
Then, there is this other Stop Motion project which seems to be in Perpetual
Limbo, The Fabulous Furry Freak
Brothers.
Their website feels abandoned or minimal
activity. I think the Furry Freak Brothers marketing
strategy could perhaps, be improved such
as re-doing their website,
include better behind the scenes info & more photos, and
especially, a cleaner quality Teaser clip,
instead of relying on the rough & pixelated flash video version
that they uploaded at the freebie YouTube.
For
the moment, CGI seems to rule and Suits
way more generous in dumping
loads of cash to subsidize the computer
stuff, however, we will see how long the CGI
flame will last. The
public perhaps getting jaded
with CGI Saturation & Homogenized
flavor. You, me, us; are the ones that
will keep the Stop Motion Torch
burning & alive; and it
will have its own unique popularity
and acceptance in other
niche markets.
Addendum: It appears that Lumenas Studios 1, based in the state of Utah,
USA, is no more. Lumenas
website is now only selling their DVDs. No money,
investors, or what? They were initially connected  with another group Evergreen Holiday Classics but they split-off from Lumenas.
It is confusing. Lumenas & Evergreen
have an almost identical animation style, look, & feel. No
announcement why they have terminated themselves.
See? It is your
fault . I
remember, Lumenas inquirying a number of times
that they were looking for people to hire.
See this 1 - 2 - 3. So what, if it is Utah!
Much less hedonistic than Sin City
in Southern California . EDIT: 03.16.08
____________________
03.08.08
*
KING KONG Forgotten
.....
Last week, I somewhat abstained from the message board. I also noticed, that a few of
the regular forum contributors,
seemed to be in withdrawal mode? However,
a very small minority
of others, attempting to fill-in
& help by doing some commenting
contributions. Good;
'they' will be blessed
with positive
Stop Mo Kharma
 . Some posters though,
strangely, dig up old
archived topics of some years ago.
I am taking a guess that they are not aware how old those topics were? Do
not do that! In hindsight, I flinch now , looking at some of my old
comments. Our News/Blog topic, now begins .....
I did an observational
message board Audit-Test this past week: NO ONE
mentioned or posted about the 75th King Kong Anniversary which was LAST
WEEK  . A deathly
silence from a Stop Motion message board? Duh?
You just forgot,
or maybe, you knew about it but did
not post it or share? You
will be going down into CGI
Purgatory ,
while a select few of us,
will be welcomed by Grandpa O'BIE, up
there, in Stop Motion Heaven  .
It was March 2,
1933 that King Kong premiered in New York City.
Actually, I am not much into celebrating anniversary or historical
milestone dates, but if you are; something for you to chew
on. Definitely, a unique,
very commercially successful movie of sooooo many years
ago, using Stop Motion special effects.
That Classic, still seems to hold
up.
Many do not criticize
Kong too much, but IMO, perhaps, a major
flaw in the original by
not including scenes, as to why the sailors
ran onto the log and so stupidly just
stood there (on the log) to be shaken off
by Kong? Of course, I am
referring to the Styracosaurus dinosaur
that chases the sailors, but is said, to have been cut/deleted.
Dumb, dumb mistake.
In the King Kong Collectors DVD, there is a very
good behind the scenes of how Peter Jackson & his crew
did a reasonable re-creation of the Chase
onto Log & Missing Spider scenes,
in which the special effects re-creation
where mostly true to the 1933 techniques
(no CGI fakery, but using real puppets
& miniatures). Long
lost scenes & re-creation. Some of you Kong
purists may think that this will be heresy,
but I think, that at least, some of the Peter
Jackson's 're-created' Stop Mo
Styracosaurus shots should be edited into
the original version as a Special
King Kong 1933 Fan Edition. Take a look. Also, maybe even
colorized! IMO, that would remedy
the most serious story point flaw of the original
Kong. So, how could you have possibly missed
King Kong's 75th Birthday? It was sooooo plainly in
front of you 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 EDIT: 03.09.08
____________________
03.01.08
*
Beowulf
revisited ..... Did you know Beowulf
is already out on DVD? Geez, that was Hella FAST (from theater
to a plastic disc). Also, in 3 different versions? In addition, Art of Beowulf book is available, which I
have not checked out yet.
In the mass media,
I have not noticed much regarding the Making of
Beowulf. Maybe  because it is so technology
& computer dependent and perhaps somewhat dry
and not as  interesting
compared to watching & immersing one's self in the ol'
traditional special effects behind the scenes??? Well, Beowulf
did not spring from just nothing. Someone
had to do concept character designs as real
hard copy tactile sculptures. One of them was Master
Sculptor/Character Designer (& Stop Motionist), Tony McVey, who worked for Doug Chiang's Ice Blink Studios, which did significant
contributions on Beowulf.
For your visual enjoyment, behold the beauty of Tony
McVey's character design sculptures. EDIT: 03.08.08
*
A couple of Stop Motion pieces .... I suppose, that I should have some
news or commentary about  Stop Motion?? Okay. The first one is a Stop Motion Ad opening
for the Adidas website splash page. It is
kind of interesting BUT, it seems that the Studio Ad Agency who created it, did not
have much experience with Stop Motion.
Read this seven page diary about the making of.
IMO, the Stop Motion is not extraordinary
or complex, and they even used live action reference footage for such basic
animation. Take a look at their website with the Adi Dassler commercial (you really need
broadband connection & latest Flash). Here is a smaller YouTube version.The finished work
looks professional, but maybe, the studio could have produced it with
less difficulty.
This other
Stop Motion
piece, at first, it got my attention but then it started feeling a bit
too long or repetitive. It uses Stop Motion (in computer) graphics animated
images of 'Foods' from specific countries
to
represent an abridged 'History of War'? Well, judge for yourself Food Fight (This is graphics animation.
NOT Stop Mo) EDIT: 03.03.08
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