Admiration for actor T.S.Balaiah

I’ve always admired the histrionics of yesteryear actor T.S.Balaiah and Kadhalikka Neramillai shows him at his sharpest.

There’s a scene where he guides Nagesh aside - the whole stretch is a masterclass in calibrated performance. He mixes subtle shifts with sudden bursts of exaggeration: the little toe-walk, the raised heels when he declares “Samuthiram da, samuthiram!,” and that dramatic turn when Nagesh exits. It’s playful, theatrical, and completely controlled.

Another well-known moment is Nagesh narrating a story to Balaiah. Nagesh owns the spotlight, but Balaiah’s reactions are pitch-perfect. At around 0:56, watch how he nervously fidgets with his fingers. Between 1:23 and 1:33, his eyes dart around with frantic energy, and the breathlessness that follows pushes the scene into a different gear. He never steals focus, but he elevates everything.

It’s always refreshing to revisit performances like this - craft you can feel in your bones.

Monkey Animation in Krishna

One of those very few shots that I have animated in the 'Little Krishna' series developed at BIG animations. Nice to note that it was part of the 'making of' videos available online.

Acting references

14 Actors

Some excellent acting stuff. I quite like the Javier Bardem and Matt Damon ones. It is difficult to do the James Franco stuff in front of the mirror and the Robert Duvall stuff without the mirror! The subtlety in Michael Douglas clip is amazing. I dont know why, but there is something sad about all the clips and none tried comedy which is very tough.

Making of 'Little Krishna'

Big Animation studio has published a video on the 'making' of their flagship product - Little Krishna. It is available in several parts in Youtube. I stumbled upon the videos only a few days back. It was interesting to hear from all the people who worked on it.
Watch the videos from the Big Animation Youtube channel.

I have more reasons to be excited about the videos as some of my shots have been featured in the video(Part-05 linked below).
Making of Little Krishna - part05

It will soon go into my showreel...yay!

WassUP?

Been sometime since watching Disney Pixar's UP. I wanted to write my afterthoughts of the movie but somehow it didn't happen so far.

I read a blog post on UP and thought of sharing it here since I agree with most of the points.

Sunny Kharbanda's blogpost on Pixar's 'UP'

Adding to that, I did love Ellie more than Carl at the beginning. The Silent part was the best in the movie. The adventure of Carl seemed to have been forced on him than done with passion.
And the villain didn't appeal much to me. I also thought something was not in place, probably because I wasn't expecting Muntz at that point of time on his legs and the talking dogs never enthused me.

I felt the Pixar magic missing a bit in UP. It was definitely a let down!

I came across this interesting animation clip posted by one of my favorite animators Richard Lico. It was so brutally comical, that I laughed my heart out. Apart from being technically brilliant, it was so very tastefully created.

Here is the link -----> Mouse tale

Can wait to see the completed project, but I am not sure if it has not already been completed.

Animation Cake

Shawn Kelly, Animator at ILM and co-founder of the online animation school 'Animation Mentor.com' has given this recipe for the "Animation Cake" in his newsletter. Its quite funny to read but at the same time very useful. Here it goes-

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ANIMATION CAKE:

1 gallon of rough thumbnail ideas
2 quarts of video reference (created and/or found)
1 quart of thumbnails derived from the reference

*Note to chef: Be sure to include timing notes! Exaggerate thumbnail timing and posing to personal preference

Mix contents thoroughly and pour into a pan
2 tablespoons of saving key poses based on your thumbnails
1 heaping cup of breakdown poses, again based on your thumbnail poses and timing notes
Season breakdowns with anticipation, weight shifts, eye animation, and rough arcs
Mix with original contents and stir until terrible computer-created in-betweens are completely dissolved
Add contents to baking pan, and place in oven until ready

If possible, allow animation to cool before decorating, to have a fresh eye

Once cooled, polish Animation Cake with Arcs Frosting, Overshoot Sprinkles, and top off with Secondary Animation Candles!

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Sweet!!....... isn't it ?!

For further reading, go here --> 'Recipe for Success: Baking Your Animation Cake'

Ghajini Special Effects

One of my all time favorite visual effects artists is Pete Draper. His tutorials are quite famous among 3d artists. Here is an interesting article about the making of the title sequence animation for the movie Ghajini; Pete Draper has done the special effects and is quite stirring.


Read the production story --'Gajini title animation- Makiing Of'

Animation Reusability

Here is Disney's way of reusing animation. Though the animations have not been used as such, the timing and poses are the same cel to cel. It would have greatly reduced the production time. Purely, it is the economics of success !

BIG's Little Krishna

BIG animation studios has finally completed their flagship project 'Little Krishna,' and it's ready for broadcast(telecast/webcast/podcast and so on). The 13-episode Action, Adventure, animated series will be a milestone in Indian animation.
Read the synopsis here and watch the trailer.

I consider myself lucky to have worked on some of the episodes of 'Little Krishna'. It was great to have worked with some of the most talented artists and animators in the country. I am sure this project will be a blow-away success.

Animator on a killing spree !

Warning! Warning! …Look out for this ‘One Man Army’ who has let loose his imagination and is on a killing spree. Not in real life but in an animation movie. Jeff Lew, the lead animator of 'Matrix Reloaded', has finally finished his movie ‘Killer Bean Forever’ and will be releasing it soon in DVDs. He has just released the release date(June 2009).

Jeff Lew has made this movie all by himself, well…. almost. He has spent around four years from concept to completion of this movie. Gutsy!

His yesteryear animated short ‘The Killer Bean’, an action comedy was a blast. It was a series of two episodes…

Episode 1 was made in 1996 and is 2:41 minutes long

Watch Episode 1

Episode 2 was made in 2000, this sequel is 7:21 minutes long

Watch Episode 2 - The Party

Download trailer of ‘Killer Bean Forever’ from HERE

Jeff Lew is currently working on Transformers 2. Surf over to his site for more info.

Weighty stuff

Found an absolutely cool tutorial on weight shifts in animation. I have been longing to get some material on this subject. This fantastic article is supported with some awesome video references.

One of the Videos

Weight_Legs_Front from DJ Nicke on Vimeo.

Here is the link to the tutorial

http://animationsalvation.com/free_tips/dancinghip-hop/135

Really Cool !

Panda – Pure Awesomeness!

There is no price for awesomeness! That’s what the Panda replies to his awe struck admirers……in his dream . The awesome 2d animated dream sequence at the beginning of the 3d animation movie Kung Fu Panda is in my opinion the best opening for any animation movie I have ever watched. In fact, the movie also had a great opening at the box office!

The starting sequence was a hint of what was to follow. It was hilarious to the hilt. The dialogues, the acting, fight sequences were simply superb. Apart from the voices of Jack Black(Panda), Dustin Hoffman(Shifu) and Ian McShane (Snow Leopard), others didn’t appeal much to me. I have no clue as to what Jackie Chan had to do in this movie. I thought the animators need better recognition than those who lent their voice. The animation of Grand Master Oogway was a certain highlight. The fierce antagonist Tai Lung, the snow leopard, was fantastically portrayed and is now in my list of best animated villains! At last, DreamWorks animation studio has got the pulse of movies that would work for a larger audience. Kung Fu Panda is awesome and attractive; easily the best animation movie of the year. I am saying this after watching Wall-E.

Looking forward to more stuff from Dreamworks animation studio.

Pixar's next stop

Before the news of Ratatouille winning Oscar could sink in, there are some great news about Pixar's next flick. What if mankind decided to leave the Earth and forgot to turn off the last robot ?!.... thats the tag line for Wall-E, Pixar's 2008 release directed by A Bug's life and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton.

Read this note on Wall-E presentation at Wondercon

http://www.firstshowing.net/
2008/02/24/wondercon-pixars-wall-e-
presentation-incredible/

Watch the trailers at
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=17343

Latest trailer
http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/12/17/
must-watch-next-new-wall-e-trailer/

Another clip showing Eve- Wall-E's girlfriend-
http://wall-e-trailer.blogspot.com/

Don't miss out the wonderful vacuum vignette animation in HD. It was animated by Victor Navone. I am keeping a tag on his blog hoping to get more info on Wall-E.

Oscar Mania

When it is this time of the year, its time for the Academy awards aka Oscars. Come 24th Feb, the curtains go up for the awards ceremony at the Kodak theater,CA. All I am concerned about is the animation category. Last year year was a disappointment for the Pixar fan in me, as Cars lost to Happy Feet, leaving me not so happy. This year, I keep my fingers crossed for the Pixar movie Ratatouille that is in contention for 5 different categories. Three films compete for the Best animated feature, they are, Ratatouille, Surf's up and Persepolis. Ratatouille and Surf's up are 3d animated movies, while Persepolis is a black and white 2d animation feature.

All the three movies are unique in a sense. Surf's up is kinda usual talking animals movie, made with finesse; its documentary type making makes it unique though.At times I felt like watching a Discovery channel program The water simulation for the waves is the best CG creation ever made; So much of details has gone into its making.

Ratatouille is one of the best if not the best animation movie ever made. The movie has been made with broader audience in mind and stands to its expectation. With a fresh storyline, that doesn't warrant a fanfare at the first instance, the movie has actually tasted phenomenal success wherever it was released. Brad Bird, the director, has come up trumps yet again.

Persepolis is completely different from the other two movies. This 2d animated B/W classic from Sony picture classic, is directed towards mature audience. This movie based on a novel about an Iranian woman in the backdrop of the Iranian revolution is the hottest contender for coveted trophy.

If Persepolis takes home the statuette, it will be a recognition for the animation medium as a story telling medium, breaking the current mind-set that its a medium to make stuff for kids. It will also break the barrier between animated feature and live action feature films.

On February 18, the Chinese New Year was born. According to the Chinese calender, this year is the 'Year of the Rat'. I wish it is also the 'Year of the Rat' at the Oscars.

Just one day, and we'll know it!

Inside Pixar !

There are definitely good reasons why Pixar animation studio does things right always. Apart from engaging some of the best talents in the world, there are more to it, SEE it yourself.

Inside Pixar
Part- I:


Part-II:


Part-III:


Wish I could be there....alteast as a tourist!

Beowulf: Unbelievable realism!

Yes…that is how I would describe Beowulf movie- Unbelievable Realism! But then, when I think again, that’s a paradox within. Realism should be believable isn’t it?!
Beowulf is packed with exemplary art work. The main models are detailed to the core. The textures and lighting are just perfect; can’t say much about the animation because it is motion captured. I said models and not characters because there was something still missing that made me look at them as 3d models and not as real humans. Though they managed to make awesome wet looks (Angeline Jolie rocks!), the models lacked any sweating, even when the golden dragon was spitting fire around them. This might be nit-picking, but can’t really help it.

Robert Zemeckis, the director, has taken a great leap from Polar Express to Beowulf, in terms of visualization and cast.
There is a question mark hanging around somewhere in the mind. Whey did they make this movie in 3d. It could have been done as a mix of live action and CG. That said, 3d has had a great role in converting the thoughts of the director into visuals and in the process converting a 50 year old 5’10” actor into a 6’3” hunk!



Sony Imageworks’ cutting edge graphics shows all that they have learnt from making Polar Express and Monster House. Now, the ultimate question is…..will it beat the ‘Rat’ at the Oscars? I don’t think so. Ratatouille caters to a larger audience unlike Beowulf which has gory monsters and some real hot nudity (Angelina Jolie again, ruthlessly seductive!)- definitely not for kids. While Rat is an original script, Beowulf is an adaptation of an old epic English poem. Well, that might not be a hindrance on its way to the awards. Whatever it is, Beowulf is a great step ahead in 3d movie making.

Ratatouille - too good !!!

The wait is over. I saw Ratatouille last week with thirty others from my workplace. This is one helluva movie! Pixar’s story telling has hit an all time peak. Apart from the articulate animations, awesome dynamics (cloth, water) and incredible lighting, the story itself is in an all new premise. The ‘Anyone Can Cook’ theme has worked so well in this movie and there is something in it that makes us believe that it could happen in our kitchens too!
It was wonderful to see kids bursting out with laughter when Remy trains Linguini blindfolded. Nobody is always right and nobody is always wrong (hmm….except Skinner) in this movie and that lends so much ‘character’ to all the characters. With all the twists and turns, this movie is one journey worth traveling.
On the technical side, I really enjoyed the water dynamics in the ‘Remy in the gutter’ scene. The cloth simulation on Gusteau (Remy’s figment of imagination) and wet cloth on Linguini were really cool. They must have had one damn rig for Linguini and that showed in many places, one of them was where Remy tries to wake up Linguini. The visualizations for tastes were a great effort, something never tried before!
In a nutshell, Ratatouille is Yummy!

Transformers - After effects

“This is a must see if you're in the mood for a strong, loud summer movie. Fans of the Transformers and newcomers alike are going to have a lot of fun.“

This is what a review of the movie ‘Transformers’ screamed. Not that the reviews break or make my decision to watch movies. I have been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer involving the Beagle and I finally did it last week. The actual movie was so different from what I had imagined. But that had to do with my knowledge (or the lack of it) of the Transformers comics. But boy did I like it!

Every time a robot transformed, I felt something running down my spine. It was just amazing. Hats off to the animators! The action scene in the desert was fantastic. The CGI integration with the real videos was just perfect. Some fast editing helped pace the action scenes, but sometimes got me lost in it as I couldn’t find who was getting hit.

I also liked the performances of the cast crew, especially Shia LaBeouf.

On the negative side, the excitement created at the introduction of the team of autobots that come down to save earth is not maintained throughout. Not all of those autobots were fully utilized in the movie.

On the whole it was thoroughly enjoyable!

Promoting a promotion

In my previous post, I discussed sequels. Eventually, this is the year of the ‘thirds’. The talk is all about Spider man-3, Pirates of Caribbean- the world’s end (third in the order) and Shrek -3. Each of these films has their own audience and they are all critically acclaimed. The makers consider them a safer bet because sequels don’t have the scare of losing at the box office easily. Marketing them is easier what with the previous versions doing really good and a lot of people already are familiar with the characters and have some idea of the plot to expect. It is better to have very high expectations rather than none at all.

Now, what is the stake of movies that are to be released without prior introduction? How are the makers going to create the expectations for them, competing with the sequels that are to be opened at the same time around? They really have to scream hard to get some attention and that is exactly what Disney and Pixar are trying to do for their latest release Ratatouille (pronounced as rat-a-too-ee), an original animated movie releasing in June.

Right from letting people familiarize the pronunciation of the title, to the plot line- (a rat called Remy wants to become a chef in a famous French restaurant. Rodents and restaurants-something that can never be together), extending to the challenges faced by the crew at the production and the crew itself, Pixar has left no stone unturned. The extent of their promotion strategies are none too familiar. They have to do it to stand amongst the giant sequels all of which are expected to have a cake walk.

To top it all, Pixar will be releasing a nine minute clip from Ratatouille to give the audience a glimpse of what to expect from the movie. Desperate move from the great story tellers, but the Pixar fans will only be too happy to see it. Come May 1, the clip will go public at Apple.com. What is more interesting is that, Disney will run a 90 second promotion material at prime time on American televisions, that will drive the audience towards the trailer that is to be released; a promotion for a promotion! Never heard of anything like that!

Come what may, we could only hope that the Disney-Pixar combo will entertain us as well as they usually do.

Some Images:

Image 1

Image 2

Videos:

Technical Ingredients - 48 mb

Trailer

Brad Bird-Podcast

Allegedly leaked out clip

Ratatouille contest and video player

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