Animation movies – the ‘sequels’ saga

A big line of sequels to animated movies are in the making than ever before. As far as I know, these are the sequels,

Shrek 3 - (release - May 18th, 2007)
Shark Tale 2 - (2008)
Madagascar 2 – (2008)
Ice age 3 – (2008)
Toy story 3 - (2009)

This has made me wonder why these studios are going crazy into making sequels. What’s the rationale behind this trend? Is it just the studios or does it have something to do with the audience?

A studio like DreamWorks animation has plans to make one sequel every year. That means, a sequel to almost every movie they make. That sounds terrible because sequels bank on the original release’s success. Making a mindless sequel to an insipid movie (Shark tale 2!) is a great risk. When we say ‘better luck next time’ after watching a flop movie, it doesn’t mean that they should try their luck with a sequel.

Since a sequel to a hit movie will already have an audience, the marketing cost will be less. In spite of having the main characters already modeled and rigged, and some environment that can be used again, with prior knowledge of character actions and lighting setup and dialogue style that form a great chunk of initial hard work, they manage to cost more, thanks to the voice talent. The voice actors/actresses demand a bigger pay check especially if it is a sequel. It is estimated that a sequel costs $20 to $40 million more than the original release.

People are ready to pay for what is tried and tested. If the viewers liked the characters in the original movie, it is more likely that they will be interested to know ‘what happened
next?’ and the expectations to a sequel are always high.

With more and more ‘talking animals’ kind of movie releasing every year, importance is given to awe inspiring graphics and animation laced with an awful story. As a result, the audience, rather than being awestruck, becomes dumbstruck. Only a few have all the qualities and reach a wider audience. Such movies are welcome to have a sequel. But endless sequels are not what we want.

Happy ending for ‘Happy Feet’

Happy Feet may have tap-danced its way to the Oscar, beating Monster House and Cars, but, without launching into full Pixar-fanboy mode, I genuinely think Cars earned that trophy.

The other two relied heavily on motion-capture, which is fine, but Happy Feet started to feel visually monotonous: penguins singing, penguins dancing, penguins everywhere. The constant white Antarctic backdrop looked cool at first, but by the end, my eyes needed sunglasses.

Monster House, meanwhile, feels like a film that didn’t need animation at all. With mostly ordinary human characters and a plot that could’ve been live-action, the only real justification for animating it was the house, and that could’ve been handled with VFX in a live film.

Cars, on the other hand, is born from animation. A world run by automobiles? That concept only works when animated - Pixar squeezed personality, emotion, and humor out of metal and headlights. The environments are gorgeous, the story flows, the emotional beats land, and not a frame feels wasted. What more does an animated film need to win - an unnecessary “message”? Hopefully not.

All respect to the teams behind every film, but if anyone deserved to ride off with the knight holding a sword, it was the crew on Route 66.

Animation tips

I am listing some of the animation tips I got on web recently, but some of them are old ones.......
I found them to be very useful...here we go

Jeff Lew's tip:

Happened to see the sneak peek of Jeff Lew's 3d character animation DVD. He advises not to have a bone joint in the chest area, and reasons it out very well. The rib cage is stiff and does not bend itself. Having a joint there will allow for bending which will look unrealistic and too 'spliney'.

Stefan Henry's tips :

It was good to dig this one out. Its a very old one, but definitely stands true till now and will stay that way for ever. In his article in Gamasutra titled Anatomically correct character modeling , he discusses the placement of bone joints effectively that will help proper posing of characters and will animate correctly, all explained with clear images.

Jeremy Cantor's tips :

His article over at Zaayats.com discusses various pitfalls in cg animation and offers solutions to them. Good one !

Pixar-ization of Disney

Image source : http://www.cartoonbrew.com/

There were/are apprehensions over the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. Most were concerned at the future of Pixar under the mouse house. But the news coming out of Burbank and Emeryville are more than encouraging. Disney is sure benefited under the leadership of Lasseter and Catmull, especially by the restructuring of hierarchy and the efforts to bring back directors who have left Disney recently.
Pixar had been on the right track and doesn't need much changes. In fact, the starting of recently dumped Toy story 3 after the merger has brought in a lot of positive energy into Pixar ( not as if there was a dearth of it before).
With both Disney and Pixar working together, they will surely stay on top.

Read Story HERE

A good animator vs a great animator

Carlos Baena (Pixar Animator):

So...between a good animator and a great animator. For me, it's the difference between a good actor and a great actor. The animation skills themselves, with time, you learn them little by little. The acting part of things...the choices you have your character do. That's where the true skill relies. I think it takes a lot of studying to get there. Not necessarily animation studying at this point...but acting/drawing/craftmanship/mime/comedy studying. Also your personality has to do with it sometimes. Something you think may be funny, may not be necessarily funny for other people. It's tough. But in the end, and to answer to your question, it's all on the acting. Some animators at Pixar, I don't think of them as animators anymore...I think of them as actors. Purely. Mark Walsh is a great example for me. He has done some of my favourite acting shots in this company, and the best part, his acting is sincere and comes from his heart and experiences. That's what blows me away personally.


Source : Shaun freeman animation tips

My Showcase page

Finally, I have set up a page to post my animation works ! Though it is temporary, I find it easy to use Google pages to quickly showcase works powered by YouTube

Find my works here ---> Animation works

Best Animated Villains of all time

A new thread has been posted at Cgsociety calling for the members’ choice for the best animated villain character of all time. I have tried to list some of the characters that flash my mind.

My ultimate choice would definitely be Davy Jones-the captain of the Flying Dutchman, in the movie ‘Pirates of Caribbean’. Perfection has never been so perfect. ILM has pushed all limits of reality in CG. DJ’s screen presence is absolutely terrifying. Hats off to Bill Nighy, who has done the acting for this character.

My next choice would be General Grievous from the movie Star Wars. Although I have seen the movie only once, for some reasons, he is fixed in my mind.

The Flame shaped hair-do villain ‘Syndrome’ from the movie ‘The Incredibles’ is also a well made character with villainous personality. Can Pixar go wrong !

I would also mention Marcus Carvinus from the movie Underworld Evolution just for the excellent CG work. This Luma pictures created model (thanks to Zbrush) has been made with amazing details. Technology has played a great role in the making of some of the stunning characters of 2006.

Nothing engages my mind as much as 3d animation. But still, it wouldn’t be complete if I don’t mention the villains in the 2d animation movies too.

‘Scar’ from the movie Lion King is one of the best. His sinister looks and sick attitude makes him one of the all time favorites.

Next is a little weird. He is the most entertaining villain of all time and the most harmless (!!!!) too. Meet Mr. Tom.