I have been contrastingly thinking about films, docs and animation over the summer (plus placements..) Anyway I was wondering did anyone saw the doc on 14th September, Last Train Home by the talented Lixin Fan.
This documentary was set before the Beijing Olympics 2008 and is based upon migrant family and their each year struggle against other 130 million migrant workers and the rush to get home for Chinese new year.
This captures not just the society hardness of working and living in factories to make money but the camera doesn't stop when the family has arguments, which creates the audience feel a little uncomfortable.
I was thinking that I should go into the real world with my own website but as I don't know anything about this process...where to get one...which one is best....but looking for something I can add flash animation. If anyone got idea where to purchase a site all ideas welcome...thank you.
Also does anyone know if we are in any other days this week or next :?
At the weekend I thought it might be time to go through the degree work and sort it, and I came across this postcard advertising the Noise festival.
Heres a little about it:
NOISE Global Creative Community.
NOISE is a global creative community, offering emerging artists their own online galleries to showcase their talents, as well as opportunities to have their work viewed by industry leaders across many disciplines.
NOISE offers a space for artists to shape their own online creative communities, building support networks, and exposing artists to like-minded creatives from around the corner or around the world. NOISE recognises and rewards outstanding talent across many fields of creative endeavour, so NOISE artists benefit from the feedback of their peers and industry professionals.
I don't know if there is an age limit as it says young emerging artists, and on the postcard says 25 and under
anyway its good place to get noticed and its world wide.
My fellow bloggers, I know there was some buzz about a comp brief to create a advert but for those who missed out I found out there is a new brief for those passionate media seekers.
Virgin has launched a comp (supported by the uk films council) to find the next best thing since slice bread.
the deadline 28th June so theres loads of time to correct and work on this brief.
Here's what's up for grabs: 12 film makers win a chance to show their work on 214 cinema screens nationwide 1 lucky winner lands £30,000 to make their next film. 1 People's Choice winner takes home thousands of pounds worth of new film kit. Plus, we reward the college or school with the most entrants with loads of shiny new kit, too.
Did anyone by chance catched the BBC four programme on Wednesday night about Oliver Postgate....
Well as I need to do more reviews I thought this might be a good chance to do one about this programme because it was interesting.
Firstly, who is Oliver Postgate and secondly, what did he do and finally, why should we know about him today?
Oliver Postgate was bus driver...(only kidding) was an animator but if you look at it another way he was the driving force behind trying to create more animations for children for T.V in the late 50's. Postgate in his make shift studio (his bedroom) produced many simple (low budget) stop-motion animation some only lasting about 5 -10 minutes. This was also produced using low standing equipment and wiring a camera with a motor then wiring to a control to allow the person the capture single frames and later going on to set up Smallfilms animation company. Being able to write scripts, do the filming and being able to do the voices animations could be produced quickly. Works he created is Ivor the engine (below), The Pogles, Noggin the Nog, Bagpuss and (very annoying) The Clangers.
So why is he still important today? simple answer he was and still is a genius, the scriptwriter, the animator and the man with many ideas. Many if you look around today at small animations you find similar style, which can be classified as new contemporary. I think work such as, Ivor the engine I think is very inspirational and influential to animators today as the animations shows a strong force to push and experiment with equipment and not to rely heavily on one thing because you might get it done quicker but it might not be unique in style or language.
Hoped you enjoy.... P.S I am not that old to be asked did I enjoy them as a kid....
For my project I decided to create a short info graphic piece about shining a positive spotlight on spiders and aiming in it at a young audience. I spent most of Thursday afternoon trying to get a book on spiders, trying all good book shops in Manchester, libraries, charity shops and a book store just outside the Arndale. But with no luck ... :( anyway if any body has any idea please reply... Anyway I decided to maybe create a stop motion animation and found this interesting video in a pop up style.
As I missed last Thursday afternoon lesson on posters, I spent a few hours making up for lost time so here is my first poster for The Silence of the Lambs, hope u like...
I have been watching the TV this week and noticed this advert for green flag:
This advert is created in a style that is similar to illustrations in a break down owners handbook. The main text is block green and creates the idea fixing together.
Hello All, Sorry I haven't been in all last week I have been feeling poorly with a cold, I bet I was missed...lol. Anyway I have printed out the new brief and it got me thinking, then remembered an health and safety animation about Never play with Lighters (warning it can be long winded you have been warned). Moonlighters, 1987
Hi everyone I been so busy with the title sequence brief that I forgot about a designer I been looking at, She called Yulia Brodskaya (http://www.artyulia.com/). She created hand made Papergraphs typography, which is just amazing and just worth a look.
After typing in title sequences into Youtude I saw some interesting stuff...
Like "Casino Royale: James Bond", I think it's a great example of how the opening titles sets an atmosphere and mood for the film and I really like the use of vector graphics and line. Having Daniel Craig in every little bit of the thing makes me want to scream at him to go away just until the film starts because we understand that he is the main character by the way his name was before the title...sorry about that...and the run time for the title bit is 3 minutes 14 seconds and a brilliant music to run with it.
This is a nice simplistic opening title with the film "North by Northwest", the grid line thing reminds me of a building drawn to its simplistic form with the titles moving in and out in the opposite direction.
Finally after soul searching I have pick a film for the new brief "To Kill A Mocking Bird", that was until after I went through each film I know and watched such as, each of Stephen King films or other films.
"To Kill a Mocking Bird", is a film based upon a brilliant book by Harper Lee in 1960 (nearly 50 years), the release date of the film 1962 (info by Wikipedia) I don't know, which theme it fits into for the brief Period drama or Courtroom (because Atticus Finch in a courtroom for some of the film) The reason why I picked this film because I think this film shaped me into the person I am today and teaching me a lot. This is only the trailer as I can't embed the opening credits, the opening titles is lovely for the time but the play of naivety and childhood memories and time I think I could work with the imagery. With this film I may want to keep it to a linear opening and keep the simplicity of the titles to blend in with the film. The original opening also takes about 2 minutes and 55 seconds, which for the brief has to finish 1 minutes or under, which I will try...
Well I has everybody got ideas for the title sequences brief I have been looking at films, which has made an impact on me for one reason or the other and decided on two possibles that are:
Stigmata
This is my first thriller film I brought having seen it numous times on the TV, so I know alot about this film and enjoy it. The beginning is very simplistic, which opens on a setting sun, as the title sequence displays the names this is entangled with the use different languages written in a script type this is used to compliment of typography. The reason for maybe picking this is the themes within the film, are religion, corruption within the church and the stigmatised (the marks of Jesus on the cross) and might create interesting opening sequences and the use of different typograpy
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet
The second film is the cheesiest movie in the 90's Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet I thought about the film not because it was the worst film ever made or because it could of won the crappiest unacting but the metaphoric imagery such as, the opening on the TV in a dark room, the crosses, the guns with the words dagger on them I think might also improve it a little bit. I am positive that I will make my mind up soon before the deadline ...
This is going to be my second review (yes my second maybe my tenth well be in next ten years or so but...) as I forgot if I can review adverts (pitch folks at the ready...) anyway "The Girl Who Didn't Wear Clothes", or the advert from Think! Road Safety advertisement. We have gone from the days where we have singing hedgehogs teaching the green cross code "Stop, Look and Listen"and now we are in the days where scaring little kids is much better. This animation was made by the company Nexus Production in 2d and 3d computer animation.
The narrative is set out in a poem and told as a tale about the girl who didn't dress bright. The advert reminds me of a Tim Burton animation with use dearm like surreal backgrounds and flash backs of what happened.
This is a simple but I think effective advert as its done a creative way to not terrify a young audience but would make a impact into thinking.
During last week I came up with the basic story line but the cartoon effect that I thought I wanted wasn't going to fit within my style of working. So talking to Stíobhart about wanting to add collage to the story he recommend looking at the Monty Python titles, which I had and can't get out of my head because it's really good animation for the 70's and I think might work today...
My first review I'm so excited ... I really don't know how I got into seeing the film "UP" knowing that the animation company (can I really say it) Disney/ Pixar produce it but after trapping my finger in the door of the cinema I really wasn't in the mood to be bored with a rubbish storyline with graphics that make me sick ...but I didn't leave feeling that way.
First of all there was a short animation, "Partly Clouded" My first thought was "great a cheesy cartoon" but the different elements such as, the story, the characters and perspective of the animation made the short film easy to follow and me want to see it again...
"UP" started off with a lovely tale of a couple growing up together and never really fulfilling their dream together, which really was depressing at the start of the film with the woman dying and the old man about to be put into a retirement home he decides to fulfil hes and his late's wife dream of going to Paradise Falls so he lifts the house off the ground with balloons (did I mention he sold balloons throughout his life...) Well as this goes he realises that its not the past that matters but the here and now and help to save Kevin (who is a mum) from his once hero. This film is a great animation, developed into the unlikely friendships between the old, young and different animals and how in the end they were lonely in their own ways and how they helped each other. The storyline is very well told and captures the imagination of audience, the usage of the colours are used to tell the mood from using somber tones of brown, blues to describe the mood to old mans loneliness. To sum it up I enjoyed so much better than the 5 - 7 year olds in front of me that it must be good ...lol.
After lecture in the fine arts of critical studies I headed down to the Granada TV studios just for a laugh with someone to see the recording (and be in the audience) of Outtake TV, presented by Rufus Hound (not Ann Robinson) but by the script who could tell the difference. Sitting on the forth row I really enjoyed just looking at the stage, which was really wicked... the many different coloured lights that hung above and the different cameras that hung in the background. Not been one of those things before I constantly thinking what this would be like on a miniature scale maybe set for an animation, considering the position of lighting, cameras shots (being a live set there were 4 and everytime he looked in a different one it really scared me) and how they looked. After a while being force to laugh or I wouldn't be able to go home, I realized to keep the audience attention you need to engage with them and create a script that is bearable (and also the BBC needs better writers...sorry easy shot ).
Thought I better put some good stuff within the blog so, to those who haven't seen this advertisement for last years 2008 Olympics here's Jamie Hewlett's Monkey's Journey to the West (and why I found the Olympics so interesting in the beginning).
Also as I think... well I don't know what to think with this short film that Jamie Hewlett's Journey to the West made, but it makes me think of a less colourful version of "House of Flying Daggers" or something along those lines but saying that its got some kind of mystic to it.
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