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Previous News
07.30.05
* Artificial
Stop Motion .....
As always, mainstream movie biz has
never really recognized or respected the Stop
Motion technique and in recent past years, the CGI
juggernaut just about killing-off Stop Mo. We
are now being more in sulted. How? You
may have heard, read or seen, the possible trend of some
in CGI now trying to simulate, emulate or putting it more
simply; faking some of Stop
Motion's characteristics. Could there be a CGI
glut? Is it becoming soooo homogenized,
cookie cutter similar and now "they"
are desperate and running out of originality and
creativity and they need to hijack or parasite-leech
off our Stop Motion Legacy?
What specifically, has gotten my stop motion shorts in a bunch? At
message board, a brief thread about Tim Burton
collaborating with CGI artist Shane Acker on a project
called "9". Press releases, articles 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 alluding to Shane's stuff looking
like Stop Motion and even Acker, is quoted. You can watch the movie clip
at Acker's Site.
"9" is interesting and
certainly surreal but to my eyes and
senses, it is CGI; it has feeling of
"too controlled and exacting" (hard to
explain), maybe some floatiness, its airbrushy look, and
it just does not look tactile real and does not
have the undercurrent energy
of real Stop Mo. However media, film
festivals, & Sea of CGI 'ists go gah-gah about "9".
It could have been done with Stop Motion
and I think would have provided much more
textural richness and visual impact, BUT,
would a real Stop
Motion "9" received as much media
or movie biz attention? CGI pushers
might con some of the public with their fake
Stop Mo, however CGI will never-ever
capture the animator's direct hands-to-puppet
control & spontaneity (not filtered by
computer), the "one take, live
performance" nature, the imperfections, the imagery elements of real
tactile puppets, real
objects-props-sets, real
light & shadows, etc.. Is an airbrush
illustration an oil painting? Is a soyburger, a
hamburger? Let CGI be CGI and Stop Motion be Stop
Motion! Upate: Not
necessarily critical of Shane Acker's work.
There are also others attempting to fake Stop Mo and I'm sure
other studios trying it too (commercials, music videos,
etc.). Mostly pointing out, as I have said often, how the
mainstream CGI Powers That Be; studios,
the "suits", their publicity machine, or
whoever; myopically think "CGI" is the
supposed panacea cure-all, and any other
cinematic or special effects methodolgy, visual style or
aesthetics is inferior.
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07.27.05
* Paint
Specialties Lab .... Leo Bergman Passed
Away July 25 .... details Here
* Laika
Entertainment
& "Coraline" Update ..... This is follow-up to previous
news posting. In the media, previous info about Coraline
has sometimes been vague; it was not clear if Coraline
was going to be Stop Motion or CGI. Sometimes press
releases or article authors unintentionally are not
accurate. This is from a reliable source directly
from Laika and it looks like good news: Coraline
is being planned as Stop Motion & C GI. Two
worlds will be represented. The normal
one will be CG and the fantastic world
will be Stop Motion. It would be about 50/50
in terms of screen time. Also, the Laika contact
informs me, if Corpse Bride and Wallace
and Gromit are big successes, then all of Stop
Motion gets a boost. You may have heard about The
Fantastic Mr. Fox to be directed by Wes
Anderson which has previously been mentioned in
the media. I am told directly by Laika
that this project is definitely happening
and it is planned to be all Stop Motion.
Well, I apologize to Laika for being
skeptical, but someone needs to be a thorn, probe, ask
questions, and unfortunately, I have to do the dirty work
Laika Entertainment apparently will not abandon
Stop Motion and where ever feasible, will
promote Stop Motion; of course it all depends on the
client or director, and on the entertainment biz market's
up & down trends. Thanks Laika for your
continuing efforts in keeping Stop Mo alive in the new
millenium!
____________________
07.23.05
* Laika Entertainment? Hmmmm ..... so this is the new
name that Nike head honcho, Phil
Knight has bestowed upon the ol'
Vinton Studios.
The press release feels like it's written by the "suits".
Their direction looks like CGI Feature work.
How much more CGI will glut the market and audiences
"yawning" even more? George Lucas intends to
get into the all animated CGI game and
major studios including Disney, Fox, Warner Bros. and
Sony; then you have to consider the overseas outsource
production of CGI. All Pixar wannabies and having nocturnal wet dreams of
$mega-zillion blockbusters$? Good choice
though, Phil selecting Henry Selick as
sort-of an overseer up there in Portland, Oregon, but I
am guessing, he must follow & obey his bosses orders. A missed opportunity
by the Laika corporate "suits";
no Stop Mo passion & abandoning it? Coraline was previously hinted that it was going
to be done Stop Motion, but now Laika
are saying it will be all CGI? Yes,
ol' Vinton / new Laika associated with Corpse
Bride BUT serving as
one of "producers" (not doing the
actual shooting/animation). Why was CB not done
here in the USA, in Oregon? Let us go back in time
and see the Stop Motion produced by the ol' Vinton
Studio's talented artists: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 -Some
early Henry directed Stop Mo 1 - 2. I hope the formerly known Vinton
Studios now resurrected as Laika,
will achieve success, but I think a BIG MISTAKE
to diminish or discard the importance of Stop
Motion and I do not sense a commitment by them
to continue or promote this unique animation
art/craft. UPDATE: I got some feedback
about this. Sometimes information on the internet
is wrong or the press releases are not
accurate. I am just observing, commenting and
asking questions! With new information
we just received, I can assure you you
that LAIKA is in good hands
with Henry Selick up there! I may comment some
more in next news installment.
* The Wizard of Speed & Time .... a somewhat underground
semi-cult small film from some years ago , by Mike Jittlov (his site seems deserted & not
updated). Brief looking online and apparently, Wizard
difficult to find. I do not think you can buy it as a new
video release. A quick search and these are the only rare
online clips I found of Wizard
1 - 2 and a fan site with some good links. It was kind of hokey
story but fun, and for us special effects techno nerds, Wizard
was an educational course of home
brew classic special effects; pixillation, stop-motion,
cel animation, photo cut-out animation, and lots of in
camera special effects. What I really dug,
is the photo cut-out animation effects of the cityscapes
and mountains as the wizard blazes through at hyper-speed
(all done with flat artwork, cels, photos, on animation
stand).
* Rubber Johnny ..... a recently released abstract short
by Chris Cunningham. Mostly
online promoted and sold through internet! It is
not Stop Motion. Definitely a strange or unique one  for the general public. At the Rubber Johnny Website there is a very brief movie clip
(flash) and here is a very short RJ Quicktime micro-teaser. I could only find this more lengthy
clip excerpt RJ Flash version. Rubber Johnny goes
against all the current Hi-Resolution trend and in
your face CGI & Digital flavor du jour excess.
Rubber Johnny imagery very rough, grainy, in
black & white, and very documentary stylish.
Technically speaking, LOW TECH special effects but that
is irrelevant and does not matter within the context
& visual style here. IMO, highly creative
work and good example of
"Less is More" which contributes to
its creepiness because you cannot
clearly see it or it teases you and your subconscious
then comes into play and enhances the experience;
what you do not see can be more frightening.
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07.16.05
* Go ahead
.... spend $8000.! .... As some of you may already know, the craze,
or maybe a better description, the"
trend" for some practicing the
Art-Craft of Stop Motion, is the adaption of Digital
Still Cameras to capture High-Resolution
Still-Frame images for the potential viewing of
the their finished animation works in the future, on High
Definition TVs and some even contemplating
transfer to 35mm film (who can afford
that? ). There are endless discussions
at SMA.com about Digital Still Cameras and
unfortunately, there are no clear-cut answers
and one has to do much trial & error
to set-up a functioning Stop Motion
digital still cam workflow. With DV
Camcorders, there is more standardization, it is more
straight forward, and easier to set-up for Stop Mo.
However, for some Stop Motionists on the Hi-Res
bandwagon .... Digital Video's 640 x 480 max
resolution, is not good enough anymore? With digital
still cams, the issue is with the shutter/aperture....
these cameras were never designed for
the very high volume of shutter cycles
(that animation requires) and so the DSCs at some point
will wear-out and need to be repaired
or a new camera needs to be purchased.
Camera manufacturers are usually vague about shutter life
expectancy. Also, because of the DSCs
Shutter/Aperture, there can be introduction of
flicker or exposure variances. At this time,
these glit ches seem to be a trade-off
for animators and they perhaps tolerate
these bugs with some workaround
remedies, in their quest for high
resolution nirvana  . If you do not know already,
there has already been the use of digital still
cams in some of the limited Stop Mo
professional work (in this CGI glut), such as
television commercials and some Stop Mo TV series such as
the recent cult hit, Robot Chicken. Also an independent feature
length Stop Mo parody adultish movie Disaster. The upcoming release of Tim
Burton's Corpse Bride, has used Digital Still Cams to shoot all the Stop
Motion, specifically the EOS-1Ds Mark 2 at a wallet busting retail
price as high as $8000. (USD) each  .
Sheeeesh .... a little overkill
with these mega-million $$ flicks .... but if "Studio
Suits" giving you
all that $Cash$ .... what the hell .... right? Because
Corpse Bride will be a more high
profile Stop Motion project, this will perhaps publicize
more, the digital still cam methodology
to the News & Entertainment media and the Public.
One of the promotional hooks
for marketing the movie.
In my own
opinion and my observation ..... perhaps the use of Digital
Still Cams for higher end professional Stop Motion
applications, could be an interim or temporary
non-Film solution to grasp that holy grail of high resolu tion. In a later
edition of Stop Motion Works News, I
will mention a few alternatives to maybe shoot
High Resolution Stop Motion "without" the use
of Digital Still Cams and it might not
be that costly!? (compared to Canon IDs
Mrk 2) Some of you can possibly already guess what those
alternatives might be, so stay tuned to see if you are
right! Those who currently develop Stop Motion
Software should also pay attention! The evolution
or progression seems to be high
resolution animation capturing, and if you are forward
thinking, there could be a niche growing
market here for developing High Res Stop
Motion programs that capture direct to
computer's hard drive and also including the necessary
Stop Motion tools such as onionskinning, instant
preview, frame flipping, etc.
____________________
07.09.05
* New Corpse Bride trailer ..... Some forum comments about it. Obviously, it will be riding
on the coat-tails of Nightmare Before Christmas and the trailer even briefly
borrowed  some of
the original music from NMBC. 12 years ago, NMBC
premiered same year as Jurassic Park
(triggering the CGI juggernaut). Corpse Bride's animation
is verrrrry silky smooth. Also, the overall
look of the sets and the puppets appear softer.
Maybe the images (animation shot with digital still
cameras)
were tweaked in post production? I would guess, perhaps
attempts to give Corpse Bride a hint of CGI
qualities .... the very fluidous animation and
especially the airbrushy appearance. If it is
so, I am not sure what I think about that .....
Stop Motion trying to kind-of look like CGI?
Although, I may understand them doing this, because the
public have been sooooo Pavlovian Conditioned by mainstream movie biz's constant
bombardment upon the mind's of the masses, of only one
kind of visual flavor via CGI. Stop Motion's more crisper
tactile look, feel & snappier style
(compared to CGI) should stand on its own,
but the "suits", as always, shut-out
other visual aesthetics, creative styles, &
sensibilities. I have ranted before ..... do not
look to mainstream movie biz for Stop Motion's survival.
They are only doing Corpse
Bride because of Tim Burton's CLOUT! Stop Motion will live
on in other
venues and niche
markets. BTW, I am not
necessarily criticizing CB, but merely giving my initial
impressions. Edit:
With so friggen much of homogenized CGI &
Digital Special Effects eye candy, hopefully Corpse
Bride will make some impact or perhaps provide a
little reminder to the audiences, studio
"suits", and movie reviewers, that Stop
Motion is still
sort-of kicking around.
* Cam Motion
Animation ....
Just had a flash thought earlier this
week for doing cool and offbeat animation
exercises and practice sessions. Misha Klein aka Mish-Mash triggered this in me when h e posted last week at SMA message board a brief test animation of a
Moving Camera (.avi movie download). It looks fricken
amazing and can even produce a puking
state because of the motion! Misha used
a hot little tripod head that some of us
animators are getting (I have one too) .... the Manfrotto 410 geared tripod head.
Misha animated the head/camera by feel
and it has a natural hand-held camera look to it!
So I says to myself ..... Why not just do regular
exercises of animating-moving the camera! You really do
not need a puppet. Just animate panning, tilting,
dollying and tracking camera moves through any kind of
table top setup .... it does not have to be a finished
set. Just place a bunch of objects on table top. The more
practice you acquire animating the camera .... the better
& faster you'll get! Okay it's weird .... but it
floats my boat! This might be going into my
To-Do regularly list with the additional aids of
some brewski refreshments and puffing some fine
pipe tobacco whilst undertaking the relaxing camera
moving animation sessions Here
is 410 Message Board discussion. Note: Make sure you bookmark
Mish's BadBullets Blog. It is getting interesting and
more deeper revelations of the inner workings of the Mish-Mash-Mind
____________________
07.02.05
* New teaser
Kong Trailers
.... Some posting activity at StopMo Forum about recent teaser clips of Peter
Jackso n's version of the
upcoming King Kong to be released this year, Dec. '05.
As I have said in previous blogging ..... very
early promotion campaign that the studio
suits are allowing or giving Jackson
permission such advanced exposure of Kong to
public via the online diaries. At this time, all I can
say ...."I am not sure what I think of the new Kong
yet". I know that many of the passionate
devotees of the original iconic 1933 King Kong have sentimental & nostalgic
attachment to Willis O'brien's classic
masterpiece. Some of my tentative comments about
the Kong teasers:
1) I just don't know about the casting
of Adrien Brodie & particularly of Jack Black. I think though, Naomi Watts will work  A positive plus
.... Peter Jackson did not choose any big
name actors. GOOD! I
think, $20 million is obscene for supposed
"name-draw actor". Should be quality
story and characters as solid foundation of
film. Maybe Kong will excel here.
2) Dizzying camera movements
seems to be the flavor du jour of most
contemporary movies. Will this gimmicky style over
substance camera technique be rampant in Kong? I
want to absorb the scene and not be
excessively jacked around or robbing
& cheating me of what I want to see, by
plethoric barf inducing camera motion. Moderation
maybe okay but many times it can be a
distraction when abused.
3) Hmmm ..... CGI, Motion Capture and
the new Kong basically a gigantic copy
of a Silverback Gorilla. I would have hoped for
a slightly different Simian hybrid version..... more
battle scarred, more leaner (not so chunky-buff), and
maybe more orangutanish brownish-greyish fur.
4) New Kong will include Jurassic
Park-populated Dinosaurs. Hey .... it's
CGI! Why not clone the Dinos and have whole herds of
them!?
5) A big PLUS though .... the new Kong
will be a period piece set in
depression-era 1930's ..... atmospheric
and kind of film noir'sh. Also good ..... some
preservation of traditional special effects,
using plenty of very detailed miniature and model
work.
I am guessing .... some content aspects of Kong
have been included to please the "Suits", i.e.,
movie product merchandising and perhaps
that's why all the Dinosaurs and making
Kong a very
recognizable Gorilla? "Suits" maybe
unecessarily paranoid that the masses cannot accept a
non-typical or unique simian type creature? I do not
think the Kong production will ever admit to  that but the $Bean Counters$
putting up the money must certainly have some influence. Lord
of the Rings did it's share of merchandising but
it seemed a little more moderate. With the last Sith
Star Wars ..... even Darth Vader and
Yoda were hawking products on TV. IMO, it so
cheapens the specialness of the characters
by reducing them to the mundane. Thank God, with Lord
of the Rings .... Gandalf was not selling
Pepsi! In conclusion .... I would have
been reeeaally
happy if P. Jackson just allowed one measely throwaway
cameo background Stop Motion creature in new Kong .... as
homage/tribute to Willis O'brien and Ray Harryhausen.
With digital tweaking .... the audience would never
notice. Kong's estimated budget is about $150
million . If money was the issue for Stop Motion
inclusion, I would have given them a discount on a custom
made killer Stop Motion Armature!
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