I was talking with a pretty well known Hollywood producer a few weeks ago. He is responsible for a number of popular live action movies most of us have seen. He cornered me one afternoon in Hollywood after walking out of Hamburger Hamlet. We had been introduced a couple of weeks prior by a mutual friend, he asked if I had a few minutes to sit with him while he would eat.
I really did not want to. This guy is an arrogant SOB. He is the prototypical Hollywood producer and I really didn't want to deal with his attitude, not to mention, I had just eaten. However, a large part of me was very curious. After all, he is a big shot, what would he want with me?
I watched him stuff his face full of food and not bother swallowing as he spoke. Before he emptied his mouth, another handful was pushed in and puffed his cheeks out even further. I could barely stand it. I kept looking at my hands, the walls, anything to get my eyes off that disgusting pie hole. As his fat belly started filling up, there was less food and more talking. I could finally concentrate on his words.
As it turns out, I really think this guy just didn’t want to be seen alone. It probably had little to do with wanting to talk with me specifically. Whatever the case, we did have an interesting conversation. Evidently, the guy is involved in a new venture with some others. It was clear that he didn't want me to know very much. What I did gather is that a new movie studio is being conceived and he is somehow connected with it. He had a real gift for diverting a question that he didn’t want to answer. It was quite amazing actually. Unfortunately that meant I didn’t get much information. Anyway, this new studio would also have an animation division to create CG features.
He explained that the reason he wanted to talk with me was to get opinions on a few animation topics. I couldn't help but wonder why he was asking me. I thought that maybe he didn't know too many people on this side of the business. However, I think it was just sheer luck that I bumped into him outside when he had this on his mind.
He was very curious about animation schedules. It was clear he knew absolutely nothing about the subject. It sounded as if he had a discussion with someone and he just couldn't believe what they had said. He was looking for verification. The point of telling this story isn't really the conversation itself, but what it made me think about afterwards.
What I gathered is that this guy, someone very familiar with the live action way of producing a movie just couldn’t grasp the animation process. Why does it take 4 years to make an animated movie? The whole film is storyboarded? It takes how long to complete 10 seconds of footage??!
I tried to explain the reasoning behind the lengthy production schedules. He just didn’t understand or was playing stupid. He was used to shooting hours of coverage based on a script and then making the movie come alive in the editing room. In live action, it is important to shoot as much footage as possible so that they could cover their asses if something wasn’t working. The director and editor sit down and assemble the film. The real magic happens in editing. They have so much footage, they hope that any changes or ideas that they have will be covered. Because of this, there is an extreme amount of waste in live action, however, this is accepted practice and is part of the process.
After we parted ways and I went back to my office, I sat down and thought about our conversation. It quickly became obvious why motion capture is getting popular with producers and directors that come from the live action world. It gives them an opportunity to shoot a lot of coverage, they can review stuff immediately without having to wait a week for an animator to deliver work, they can use multiple camera angles, etc, etc. Some of these guys just cannot wrap their head around the slow process of traditional (non-mocap) animation, where everything is so pre-planned and spelled out before any animation is made.
Unfortunately, I feel that too many live action producers and directors are moving into animation for the wrong reasons. It isn't for the love of the artform. They are looking at the dollar signs. And because of this, they try as hard as possible to adapt animation to what they are familiar with. Right now, motion capture is currently the best way for them to do it. Motion capture will continue to be the flavor of choice for these people. It isn’t as if mocap is better looking or provides a different look that appeal to them. It simply is because it is something they can relate to. It is closer to their experiences for immediate gratification. Instead of learning to appreciate animation for what it is, and understand the bonuses it provides, they cop out.
While this is not a new realization, it really hit home after this lunch discussion. The problem is that while companies such as Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney continue to stick with keyframed animation, too many of these newer studios are using live action people and they are bringing along what they are more comfortable with. They are afraid or unable to work in the traditional way of making an animated film. They refuse to see the benefits of animation. I'm convinced they really don't want to be making animated movies for any other reason than making the money that can come from it.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Opus Dead (Again?)
The rumor is that planned "Opus" has died once again. The comic strip based CG film has seen its share of ups and downs, and if you believe the rumor, it is down once again.
As far as I can recall, the project originated at Wild Brain studios in San Francisco. There was some sort of falling out and the project was taken away from them and thought to be dead. The Weinsteins brought it back to LA for another life in the recent months. Development had restarted and animation tests were in swing. For unknown reasons, the W's decided to pull it again. This is ofcourse a rumor and should be treated as such until something confirms or denies it.
There was an interesting story posted several years ago that outlined some of the problems that Wild Brain went through trying to get their CG feature studio started. Within this story was some interesting information about the Opus project. I'll try to dig it up, as it sheds some light on what this penguin project has gone through.
As far as I can recall, the project originated at Wild Brain studios in San Francisco. There was some sort of falling out and the project was taken away from them and thought to be dead. The Weinsteins brought it back to LA for another life in the recent months. Development had restarted and animation tests were in swing. For unknown reasons, the W's decided to pull it again. This is ofcourse a rumor and should be treated as such until something confirms or denies it.
There was an interesting story posted several years ago that outlined some of the problems that Wild Brain went through trying to get their CG feature studio started. Within this story was some interesting information about the Opus project. I'll try to dig it up, as it sheds some light on what this penguin project has gone through.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Animation Is NOT a Democracy
I'm sure most of you that read this blog are familiar with "Miracle Mouse" and this chap from Wisonsin that wanted to follow in Disney's footsteps. His dream was to create a traditional feature studio when almost everyone else (at the time) had given up on it.
I won't bore you with another recap of the saga. However, there was an article from a low-rent-newspaper regarding the whole debacle. You can find the migraine inducing scanned text over on AnimationNation.com. The yet to be published story started another emotional thread on that very same website. Previously quiet, some artists that claim to have worked at Miracle are now speaking up and telling their tales.
Update: Link to good copy of story.
That is all great and everything... However, as I read the replies, I can't help but get a little agitated by these people.
[disclaimer]I will say that I really don't know much about the story other than what has been said on Animation Nation and a couple of other websites. [/disclaimer] Attention anonymous Miracle posters. Studios aren't and shouldn't be a democracy. They are not setup so everyone that works there can drive the direction of the company. Sure, a competent boss/manager/investor can ask for opinions or advice, but it is not his responsibilty to consult with the people that he is paying.
After reading these comments, I became a little sick of hearing something like "if Tom would have listened to us, Miracle Mouse would of been a success". That drives me bonkers. Since when is a company (as misguided as it may be) required to check in and get direction from its employees that are paid to make art? Granted, I haven't read any contracts or didn't sit on any interviews. But, I doubt that Tom Hignite hired them for their studio management skills. I've got news for ya, not many companies are going to ask for a vote on how the business side of things should be done. Tom sounds as if he was the director and the producer. Maybe he did not deserve those titles because of his lack of industry experience, but considering he is also the investor/owner, he is the guy in charge and he doesn't need to listen to the crew. Gotta love backseat management.
I know I'm over reacting. I just got a little ruffled when some of these guys assumed that if they were able to steer the ship, they wouldn't have run aground.
I won't bore you with another recap of the saga. However, there was an article from a low-rent-newspaper regarding the whole debacle. You can find the migraine inducing scanned text over on AnimationNation.com. The yet to be published story started another emotional thread on that very same website. Previously quiet, some artists that claim to have worked at Miracle are now speaking up and telling their tales.
Update: Link to good copy of story.
That is all great and everything... However, as I read the replies, I can't help but get a little agitated by these people.
[disclaimer]I will say that I really don't know much about the story other than what has been said on Animation Nation and a couple of other websites. [/disclaimer] Attention anonymous Miracle posters. Studios aren't and shouldn't be a democracy. They are not setup so everyone that works there can drive the direction of the company. Sure, a competent boss/manager/investor can ask for opinions or advice, but it is not his responsibilty to consult with the people that he is paying.
After reading these comments, I became a little sick of hearing something like "if Tom would have listened to us, Miracle Mouse would of been a success". That drives me bonkers. Since when is a company (as misguided as it may be) required to check in and get direction from its employees that are paid to make art? Granted, I haven't read any contracts or didn't sit on any interviews. But, I doubt that Tom Hignite hired them for their studio management skills. I've got news for ya, not many companies are going to ask for a vote on how the business side of things should be done. Tom sounds as if he was the director and the producer. Maybe he did not deserve those titles because of his lack of industry experience, but considering he is also the investor/owner, he is the guy in charge and he doesn't need to listen to the crew. Gotta love backseat management.
I know I'm over reacting. I just got a little ruffled when some of these guys assumed that if they were able to steer the ship, they wouldn't have run aground.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Here and There
I really do have a hard time keeping this blog updated. It was so easy in the beginning. My, how things change. There is plenty to talk about, I just can't find time to type it out. Luckily, there are probably only 5 or 6 of you reading this garbage, but for you few people, here is something (albeit, not much!).
A few films have come out since my last additions. Most of them didn't do all that well, Happy Feet being the exception. Although I haven't seen this movie yet and I only have an eventual interest renting it, I’ll still send out my congratulations to those that worked on it (even though parts of it were made with motion capture).
Speaking of recent releases, Flushed Away has been declared a failure by DreamWorks. Okay, they didn’t use those words. But, they might as well of. My often wrong gut instincts are telling me that this was said only as an excuse for the Aardman/DreamWorks split that recently took place. These two forces seemed to be at creative odds and after the expensive experiment, it was just too much to handle for both sides. Aardman didn’t care for the story decisions from DWA, and Katzenberg didn’t care for the unShrek-like BO numbers. After talking with a couple of people over in the UK, it sounds like Jeffrey put his dirty paws all over everything and ruffled a few feathers in the process. So much so, that at least a couple of people left the project in protest. I wish Aardman the best. Although I don't think their humor always works in the US, they do have talent. Maybe they will get some distribution deals over here to allow them to make movies (not settling for DreamWorks visions of their films) their way. I bet the Weinstein's would love a crack at them.
Disney is set to start dropping more people as Wilbur wraps and the other CG films in development or pre-production are getting negative feedback from the Pixar boys. Plenty are upset about the layoffs, but unfortunately, this is the way it goes in animation these days. That doesn’t stop some staffers from having a few choices words about the Pixar guys coming in and shaking things up. My personal take is that they are going to strip WDFA to its core and make sure that Pixar remains king of CG, while Disney goes back to a hand drawn film every 4 or more years and a CG film at about the same pace (i.e. some of these CG films in development are going to get the axe). It sounds like the honeymoon is over for some of the people down here.
Small studios with big dreams…
I’ve heard rumblings of the CG “Opus” feature gearing up here in LA. I don’t quite know what studio is doing the production yet, but it is safe to say it probably isn’t Wild Brain in San Francisco. Although they were going to do it at one time, I heard there was a falling out. I wonder who is directing the film or if it is even greenlit. Whatever the case, it is in development with animation tests being done.
Whatever happened to “Ollie the Otter” in San Francisco? I haven’t heard a squeak in a very long time. It should be in production by now, right? They made an awful lot of claims a long time ago. I also wonder about this project and if it is even still alive.
A story came out a few months ago about some new motion capture technology, and there were some quotes from the director/producer of “Food Fight”. I can’t remember exactly what was said. It had something to do with releasing the film in February, yet it hasn’t even gone into production yet. Yes folks, a feature film animated, lit, and rendered in just a few months time! That mocap technology must be fantastic!!
Lastly, a friend in the Bay area said that rumors were stirring that Sony was to open an animation studio in Novato (N. of San Fran). Now that I've heard the rumor from two different sources, I wonder what this is all about. Sounds like a goofy idea.
A few films have come out since my last additions. Most of them didn't do all that well, Happy Feet being the exception. Although I haven't seen this movie yet and I only have an eventual interest renting it, I’ll still send out my congratulations to those that worked on it (even though parts of it were made with motion capture).
Speaking of recent releases, Flushed Away has been declared a failure by DreamWorks. Okay, they didn’t use those words. But, they might as well of. My often wrong gut instincts are telling me that this was said only as an excuse for the Aardman/DreamWorks split that recently took place. These two forces seemed to be at creative odds and after the expensive experiment, it was just too much to handle for both sides. Aardman didn’t care for the story decisions from DWA, and Katzenberg didn’t care for the unShrek-like BO numbers. After talking with a couple of people over in the UK, it sounds like Jeffrey put his dirty paws all over everything and ruffled a few feathers in the process. So much so, that at least a couple of people left the project in protest. I wish Aardman the best. Although I don't think their humor always works in the US, they do have talent. Maybe they will get some distribution deals over here to allow them to make movies (not settling for DreamWorks visions of their films) their way. I bet the Weinstein's would love a crack at them.
Disney is set to start dropping more people as Wilbur wraps and the other CG films in development or pre-production are getting negative feedback from the Pixar boys. Plenty are upset about the layoffs, but unfortunately, this is the way it goes in animation these days. That doesn’t stop some staffers from having a few choices words about the Pixar guys coming in and shaking things up. My personal take is that they are going to strip WDFA to its core and make sure that Pixar remains king of CG, while Disney goes back to a hand drawn film every 4 or more years and a CG film at about the same pace (i.e. some of these CG films in development are going to get the axe). It sounds like the honeymoon is over for some of the people down here.
Small studios with big dreams…
I’ve heard rumblings of the CG “Opus” feature gearing up here in LA. I don’t quite know what studio is doing the production yet, but it is safe to say it probably isn’t Wild Brain in San Francisco. Although they were going to do it at one time, I heard there was a falling out. I wonder who is directing the film or if it is even greenlit. Whatever the case, it is in development with animation tests being done.
Whatever happened to “Ollie the Otter” in San Francisco? I haven’t heard a squeak in a very long time. It should be in production by now, right? They made an awful lot of claims a long time ago. I also wonder about this project and if it is even still alive.
A story came out a few months ago about some new motion capture technology, and there were some quotes from the director/producer of “Food Fight”. I can’t remember exactly what was said. It had something to do with releasing the film in February, yet it hasn’t even gone into production yet. Yes folks, a feature film animated, lit, and rendered in just a few months time! That mocap technology must be fantastic!!
Lastly, a friend in the Bay area said that rumors were stirring that Sony was to open an animation studio in Novato (N. of San Fran). Now that I've heard the rumor from two different sources, I wonder what this is all about. Sounds like a goofy idea.
Steaming Piles of BS
With all the press articles sounding off about talking animal movies and the glut of CG animated films, Happy Feet comes along and makes $42 million this opening weekend. Will this change anything in these so called reporter's eyes? Will a retraction come? Will they come to their senses and realize it is the stories that have been sucking and not the number of films? Yeah, right!
My guess is that they had a horrible childhood. Their parents probably did something really terrible to them, so they strike out at everything that may remind them of those younger years. Or maybe, they are one of the many failed film students that took up a career as a film critic and are looking for every chance to lash out at animation - the bastard child of Hollywood.
The first two articles to start all of this nonsense and got the ball rolling were from a pair of gay lovers living in West Hollywood. They each wrote VERY similar stories and sent them off to two separate publications. It is obvious that they sat down and wrote them together, or else they both had the exact same horrific childhood. Whatever the case, don't confuse this hatred for these inept writers as some kind of stance on their sexual orientation. I could care less and to each their own. This is purely a jab at them as writers. After all, they are the ones that started this craziness, and the other lemmings, I mean writers, latched onto and rehashed the same garbage over and over again.
I really think that the ambiguous gay writing duo were responsible for these unneeded steaming pile of articles that have come out recently. Have to hand it to them though. They both sat down and wrote the same article together, but sold it to multiple publications under their two different names. Genious!
And that brings me back to Happy Feet. Another talking animal CG film that did well over the weekend. Thank you Happy Feet. Maybe these guys should focus on the real problem. Storytelling. Not who or what is in the story or how many we may see a year.
My guess is that they had a horrible childhood. Their parents probably did something really terrible to them, so they strike out at everything that may remind them of those younger years. Or maybe, they are one of the many failed film students that took up a career as a film critic and are looking for every chance to lash out at animation - the bastard child of Hollywood.
The first two articles to start all of this nonsense and got the ball rolling were from a pair of gay lovers living in West Hollywood. They each wrote VERY similar stories and sent them off to two separate publications. It is obvious that they sat down and wrote them together, or else they both had the exact same horrific childhood. Whatever the case, don't confuse this hatred for these inept writers as some kind of stance on their sexual orientation. I could care less and to each their own. This is purely a jab at them as writers. After all, they are the ones that started this craziness, and the other lemmings, I mean writers, latched onto and rehashed the same garbage over and over again.
I really think that the ambiguous gay writing duo were responsible for these unneeded steaming pile of articles that have come out recently. Have to hand it to them though. They both sat down and wrote the same article together, but sold it to multiple publications under their two different names. Genious!
And that brings me back to Happy Feet. Another talking animal CG film that did well over the weekend. Thank you Happy Feet. Maybe these guys should focus on the real problem. Storytelling. Not who or what is in the story or how many we may see a year.
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