Animation is Inspiration: A friend Like Me Genie from Alladin

With my last post, on Animation is Inspiration I mentioned 3D Animation, this time lets get back into the traditional 2D Medium, a see how an animation can be pull almost to the extreme of Imagination. The scene is Friend Like Me, from the film Aladdin by Disney.

Genie " Friend Like Me" - Aladdin- Disney

Why I chose it?

The Genie character in the film Aladdin is by itself a great sidekick character which allows a lot of animation, being a non-human character it assumes non- realistic animation, and therefore it shapes its own personality. Indeed, the animation in the genie sets a new boundary of the squash and stretch principle, as well as it not only focus on character animation but also morphing. the character itself is a crazy, happy genie who is there to serve his master however is also a funny sidekick, therefore the main character for gags. Out of curiosity, the animator responsible for the Genie, and who animated specifically this scene is the great Eric Goldberg, his experience is almost infinite, He worked for adverts in London, under the direction of Richard Williams. as well as many other animation films, Who framed Roger Rabbit?, Fantasia 2000 to name some but also directed Pocahontas. Apart from his experience, he is one of the most passionate people about animation, and seems like a great person. For insightful tips and funny stories about animation, check his podcast on Animation Podcast. You won't regret it. 

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Animation is Inspiration: Scrat Animation from Ice Age

This Animation is Inspiration post, will talk about Scrat, a cute, funny little character from the film Ice Age. focusing on its type of animation.

Why I chose it? 

The design of the character itself it's great, identifying the character as a cute neurotic small animal who is crazy about acorns. With such a convincing character, the animation had to be also evoking the same. As you can see the animation in scrat is really jumpy, fast, and snappy. when the pose to pose jumps so quickly that your not there to see the inbetweens. this is great to evoke stress. being a really quickly and small character it does not have much weight, therefore it also allows more freedom to play around in the animation. The animator for Scrat was Aaron Hartline, A great animator which is currently is animating at PIXAR, you may know its work, from Up! or the tortilla scene in Toy Story 3( another big challenge).

You can check is blog at: http://aaronhartline.blogspot.com/

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Animation is Inspiration: Prince of Egypt, Dreamworks

Continuing the Animation is Inspiration thread, today I present a slightly recent 2D animation. Recently I have re-watched Prince of Egypt, a 1998 2D animation by Dreamworks studio. To me is one of the best animations alongside Iron Giant and Kung Fu Panda released by Dreamworks. It is the adaptation of the biblical story of two brothers, Moses and Rameses, that destiny will turn them enemies. Without further ado, here is the trailer as well as a sequence that to me standout the most.

Trailer- Prince of Egypt

All I ever wanted- Prince of Egypt- DreamWorks

Why I chose it? 

In this particular scene, Moses finds who he really is. I chose it because the different approaches to traditional and CG animation present. From cinematic viewpoints at the beginning, to a rather unusual use of 3D to convey a 2D surface. I do think the cinematic approach worked throughout the whole film, specially in Exodus scene, where a huge crowd was following Moses' path. The last scene, is something unusual seen in 2D Animation though, In my opinion it worked really well, and if the hieroglyphs tells  you a story with each image, this was a good approach to convey the same effect. Interesting enough, though the unusual approach, the story was delivered perfectly and its purpose to convey a dream was great. 

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Animation is Inspiration: 3 Little Pigs / Pigs in Polka

After a last week when i was trying to get on with the tutorials as well as the essay, I'm happy to present the new feature on this blog. I will often post animation videos which inspire me and will help me understand better animation as well as acting and story-telling. 

 So the feature on this blog will be labelled as an "Animation is Inspiration" post and it will be illustrated with the picture above. 

These new feature, will have videos from all mediums of animation, 2D, 3D, Claymation, etc. As well as, good acting videos, slapstick acting or simple animations with a good story-telling. 

Alongside, the video it will be a section 'Why I chose it?', just for explanation as well as self-reference. 

So to start with this I have a double dose. Two animations adapted from the same original story, though with two completely different approaches. 

3 Little Pigs - Silly Symphonies - Walt Disney

Why I chose it? 

 3 Little Pigs is a 1933 2D animation by the Walt Disney Studios and the predecessor of the 1st feature length 2D Animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. When these short animation, Silly Symphonies, were being produced animators were always pushing animation further to achieve what it is called the Illusion of Life. This period was crucial to establish the principles of animation, which later were adapted and improved.  3 Little Pigs was itself a groundbreaking experiment because it was the first 2D animation, in which characters assumed personalities and instead of being just animated, they were acting. 

Pigs in Polka- Looney Tunes - Warner Bros.

Why I chose it? 

With only 10 years apart, Pigs in Polka a 1943 2D animation by Warner Bros. was already a big improvement in animation. As you can see the animation was looking more fluid and it was good timing, weight, etc. Which enabled the animators at the Warner Bros. studio to push their animation techniques further. Warner Bros. was always known for they snappy, violent yet funny animations. And Pigs in Polka is exactly that, an exaggeration of reality and comedy with influences on slapstick animation. One of its high points is the score played all through the animation. And where the actions of the characters are carefully synchronised with the music and its variations. Is in cases like this, that an Exposure Sheet (x-Sheet) comes in really handy.  

In my opinion, I prefer the Looney Tunes version better, because of its snappy and incredibly funny animation, I do also like how in Warner Bros. animation, the political correctness is taken to the extreme. And it also just provokes really great gags that are never dated. On the other hand, 3 Little Pigs despite having some gags throughout the animation, it assumes a moral aspect. 

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