World Animation 1970-1975

World Animation in 1970-1975

France

Serge Danot

Danot created the pilot for the TV series 'The Magic Roundabout'. There were over 500 hundred episodes made within 1963-1970. The style of animation with this series was stop-motion with a narrator helping the story be told. Also, in 1970, a feature film called 'Dougal and the Blue Cat' was released.

Norway

Ivo Caprino

Caprino perfected the technique of manipulating character figures in real time. This technique was an early version of animatronics. Though perfecting the technique, Caprino later switched to stop-motion and created the film 'Pinchcliffe Grand Prix' in 1975. The film itself took three and a half years to create. The film was very famous in Norway, creating box office records that still stand to this day. The film was shown daily in some theaters in Norway for 28 years after its first release.

Hungary

William Feigenbaum & Jozsef Gemes

Feigenbaum & Gemes created the children's film 'Hugo the Hippo' in 1975. This film became a huge favourite with adults. This film was the first feature length animated film to get an international release from Hungary.

France & Poland

Piotr Kamler

Kamler created the experimental short stop-motion film called 'The Step' in 1974. Although it's about five minutes long, it mostly repeats the first few seconds over and over to a sound track.

Japan

Hayao Miyazaki & Isao Takahata

Miyazaki & Takahata created the Japanese TV series called 'Heidi' in 1974, an adaption of the children's book called Heidi. Both Miyazaki & Takahata went forward to form the very well known 'Studio Ghibli' to produce their own feature films (including 'Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle).

Renzo & Sayoko Kinoshita

Renzo & Sayoko created 'Made in Japan' in 1972. Made in Japan was an animation about the Japanese culture putting the economy of Japan before anything else. Renzo & Sayoko also created what is considered to be one of the most harrowing and disturbing animated shorts called 'Pica-don' in 1978. 'Pica-don' is an animated depiction of bombing of Hiroshima, ending World War 2.

France & Czech Republic

Rene Laloux

Laloux created 'The Fantastic Planet' in 1973, based upon the novel 'Oms En Serie' by Stefan Wul. The film was about the world in society where humans had been taken to another planet to be pets. The film alludes to the social concerns of fascist repression and war as well as alternative culture and eastern mysticism.

USA

Richard Williams

Williams, the creator of 'Animators Survival Kit', created 'A Christmas Carol' in 1971. The animation was made for TV film but was later released in movie theaters and won the 1972 Academy Award for best animated short film. This win caused controversy and led to the Academy Awards changing its rules, deeming that TV movies could not be considered for the Oscars.

Ralph Bakshi

Bakshi created the first X-rated American cartoon called 'Fritz the Cat'. Bakshi believed that with all the changes in society and the new social power, it was time to take adult animation seriously. So, Bakshi took a comic strip character that was created by Robert Crumb. Fritz the Cat lives an alternative lifestyle among students in New York who experimented with free love, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

UK

Bob Godfrey

Godfrey created 'Karma Sutra Rides Again' in 1971 during the early 1970s craze for adult animation. Karma Sutra Rides Again is about a middle aged couple behind closed doors, including sex and its many possibilities. Godfrey believed that animation should concern the surreal and fantastic, rather than imitate realism. The film was given an X-rated certificate and screened alongside Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' in the UK. Karma Sutra Rides Again was nominated for an Oscar for best animated short.

New Hollywood

New Hollywood

The Beginning

During the Golden Age of Hollywood (1930-1960), most film directors worked for one of the major studios. The first act to change started when some French film critics noticed that some American Directors made films that were their own personal visions and were "auteurs" (authors of their own films). Examples being Alfred Hitchcock and Orsen Welles.

The first American New Wave started outside of Hollywood by independent film makers in New York. A film from this new wave was 'Little Fugitive', made in 1953 by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel & Ruth Orkin. The film 'Little Fugitive' was a huge influence on the French New Wave, with Francois Truffaut stating - "Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn't been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with this fine movie".

New York New Wave

Lionel Rogosin

Rogosin made 'On the Bowery' in 1956. This film was a Neorealist view of New York, that had a mixture of documentary and scripted footage.

Robert Frank

Frank made 'Pull My Daisy' in 1959.

John Cassavetes

Cassavetes made 'Shadows' in 1959. This film contained improvised dialogue and a narrative which included interracial romance, which was banned at the time of shooting.

Shirley Clarke

Clarke made 'The Connection' in 1961. This film was a mixture of cinema vérité and French New Wave. Her films depicted drug addicts, sex workers and different races mixing together.

New Hollywood

A new generation of young filmmakers emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The studios lost the right to their own theaters (example, Paramount Antitrust case 1948) and the studios struggled to sell films to independent exhibitors and were losing their audience and money. They were also now competing with television.

In Britain, 1966, British films found success in America, examples being 'Alfie', 'Georgy Girl', and 'Blow Up'. The success of these films showed that the American audiences were open to films with more explicit content and different narrative structures to the Hays Code structure.

Jack Valenti was made the new head of the MPAA in 1966 and soon updated the outdated production code that had restricted film content. This allowed new freedom for filmmakers to make anti-authoritarian films which had appealed more to the younger audiences.

Robert Benton & David Newman

Benton & Newman (writers for the New York magazine) wrote a script for 'Bonnie and Clyde' in 1967 (based upon the American criminals who, during the Great Depression, robbed and killed people) and managed to get the script to French New Wave Director Francois Truffaut. Truffaut was supposed to direct the film but then pulled out to shoot 'Farenheit 451' in 1966. Truffaut then passed on the project to Jean-Luc Godard who also pulled out in favour of shooting 'Alphaville' in 1965. 

Eventually, the actor Warren Beatty read the script for 'Bonnie and Clyde' and decided to produce it and hired Arthur Penn to direct. The film was also funded by Warner Brothers. Jack Warner disliked the rough cut and gave the film a limited release. The film also received a lot bad reviews. However, the film was well received in England. Beatty managed to get Warner Brothers to re-release the film and it became a success and was then nominated for Academy Awards. The film is notable for its depiction of sex and violence.

Mike Nichols

Nichols created 'The Graduate' in 1967. The soundtrack consists of songs by Simon and Garfunkel. The film introduced the world to Dustin Hoffman. The Graduate is about Benjamin Braddock, who has just finished college and is unsure of what to do with his future, when he becomes sexually involved with a friend of his parents, Mrs Robinson.

Arm rigging

Today I learnt about one form of animation called rigging (puppet animation)

I have (for one arm) three different layers to rig: upper arm, forearm and hand.

Here are some pictures and notes of my process on rigging an arm

Cut-out Rigging

Round the edges to have no breaks

Never animate on the drawing, always a peg. Always.

To have a chain movement. Move the peg-drawing and link it to the other part

E.g. Hand onto the forearm. Forearm onto the upper arm

Cell replacement to achieve more detail

E.g. As arm flexes, muscle builds

 

Deforma Rigging

Set the bone with the green buttons

To get ‘bones’ click on the orange/brown box

Separate parts like hands and feet to connect to the bone with Kinematic Output

Can get a ‘noodle’ effect or more traditional.

Can stretch the part out

Can be good to use for eyebrows

Can be used to fake foreshortening for leg movement (walking forward)

Must move the ‘hand’ behind the ‘arm’ with the 3D function

First set of poses

I have drawn my two characters into the first set of poses.

From this, I can get started with asking different people what sort of relationship they have and why.

Back-to-back                                       Middle pose                                     Piggy-back

Others' thoughts when asked "Do you think these two are friends?"

• Yeah, they would be best mates. You should try drawing them sharing a bed together, friends have sleep-overs and share beds so you should try that to see what others think. You should also draw them wrestling and stuff. It'll be funny. - Age 20
• They're friends. When one person gives a piggy-back ride, they are two friends fooling around. The pose when they are back-to-back shows that they're two friends that have each other's back. The middle pose, is more so a funny joke or something but still friends. - Age 44
• It went from friendship, to bromance, to relationship. Back-to-back is more a friendship. The middle is kind of like an awkward friendship or bromance, more like a joke. The piggy-back one is more like a relationship to me with how close they are. - Age 18

Finished Stop-motion animatic

The animatic has been finished

I am happy with how Rebekka and I have come together as a team and created a cute little story for us to create with stop-motion. I look forward to working more on our work together. I hope to get better sounds for the lamb in a more quieter environment. 

Finished Animatic

I have presented my animatic to my class

This is the animatic they had viewed

They gave me advice to improve my work. This is what they said/mentioned:

• How did it get all cleaned up so fast?
• Need to make it obvious that it is completely different. (Colouring the scenery will help) - White walls, coloured bookcase.
• Line-work for characters thicker, background thinner. Bolder characters, grayer background.

Adding past context to their relationship

• Add in dialogue with a past mess. "Don't move THIS time!"

Adding future context to what will happen

• Just before Oliver leaves, Oliver looks around shocked and horrified. 
• After Oliver slams the door again, the room is messed up again.
• Make it clear that Silver is in BIG trouble later.

Relationship poses base

I have drawn up some basic poses that I can draw my characters in.

I have also created two other characters that I could possibly use to get a different prospective with the results. I don't think that I will use the two other character options.

Now I can draw my characters into these positions and see what result others will think about my work on if they are friends, romantic relationship, of other possible relationships.

Kuleshov effect

Apple's story

I have drawn up some different slides that all begin with an apple tree and a small child. I am testing to see if others will see if there is a 'story' shown though these different slides. If all separated, it makes no real story with the one image by itself. With the three slides, it creates new meanings without a narrator or words to show it. Here are the images I drew up:

From this, I created six different outcomes for a possible story that could be told.

Apple Building 

Apple Destruction

Apple Family

Apple Break-up

Apple Relax

Apple Splat

Stop-Motion Storyboard

I have finished the animatic storyboard. This animatic is untimed and has no sounds included.

I will also show my partner

Comic submission

I have submitted my Comic Assignment

I drew and coloured the comic cover, wrote up the basics of my story, and provided the thumbnails. I was not asked to include character biographies, but I included them anyway. I am happy with how my work turned out. I look forward to working more on the comic as time goes on.

First the comic cover

Then the basic story

Next the thumbnails

Finally I added the Character biographies

Stop-motion roles

Stop-Motion Roles

Rebekka and I have sorted out what roles we will have when working on and finishing the animatic.

I will be cleaning-up and drawing the slides on Storyboard Pro, while Rebekka will be finding the needed sound effects and (possibly) recording some sounds and dialogue.

We are still a team and will record sounds together (unless one of us cannot make it, then it's just one of us). We plan to meet up on Sunday to record and go though the sound effects we will use.

Film review

What We Do In The Shadows

This is a mockumentary about 'real' vampires living in a flat together in Wellington. The directors of this 2014 film are Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. It shows and exposes the habits of everyday vampires like drinking human blood, being hundreds of years old, and avoiding sunlight. Within this film, we are introduced to other creatures that also live in Wellington besides humans, like werewolves and zombies. Although the style of filming is like a documentary, there is drama that occurs with a climax, like when one of the main character's best friend is 'killed' by werewolves.

I would recommend this film for more mature audiences to watch. It is funny but not for children to watch as it contain adult themes such as death and torture. It's a funny film which shows a new view on how different human-like-creatures live and act normally. I did like how the different creatures could act like normal people with extra abilities. It was funny how they turned a normal kiwi man into a vampire.

Animatic sound

I have added the sound and dialogue to my animatic

I am yet to see if I need to do more rendering with my work and sounds, I'll re-post the animatic I hand in tomorrow, to be showed in front of my entire class.

This is the current video I have created

Animatic storyboard

I cleaned-up and coloured all of the characters in my animatic. Now all I need to do is the timing and addition of sound to my animatic.

This is all the animatic not timed

Recording sound effects and dialogue

I recorded the sound effects and my dialogue

I planed to find a quiet room at SIT to record my sounds and to use my laptop to record. I soon found with trialing that the sound that was recorded with my laptop was messy and inconstant. This was bad and I needed a plan 'B' fast. So I ran around to the shops that were open (on a Sunday with very little shops open) to try and find a recording device. I came up empty-handed and returned to my crew to try my plan 'C', using my phone to record the sounds. 

The sound that I recorded with my phone was much better quality, being constant and easier to record. So we recorded the sounds and dialogue I needed with my phone. With this completed, I now wondered how I would transfer my sounds onto my laptop and into my animatic on Storyboard Pro.

The sound files that can be imported into Storyboard Pro should be a WAV audio file. The sound files I had were not WAV files. So, I asked a tutor the next day (Monday) how I could transform these files into what I need. I knew it could be done as I have seen it be done before. I was then directed to use Adobe Media Encoder. With this program, I could change my sound files into WAV files. 

Now I could import the sound files into Storyboard Pro like I needed them to be.

From this, I learned that I should always have back-up plans so if my first plan doesn't work, its OK. Also, I learned how to use Adobe Media Encoder, so now I can create and transfer my files into whatever file I like.

My crew

• Chris Hayman
• Trinity Hayes
• Ashleigh Hayes

Artist Models in Depth

Artist Models

Frozen

More in-depth information

Notes about the film:

When Anna first meets Hans, she fell helplessly in love with him

Hans was first trying to have Elsa as his wife, but then moved on to take Anna instead

We think that Anna has found her happily ever after.

Notes about the creation of the movie:

·         Released on April 30^th in 2015

·         Directed by Chris Buck, head animator

·         Directed by Jennifer Lee

·         Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Snow Queen’.

·         Written by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Shane Morris

·         Produced by Peter Del Vecho

·         Production company Walt Disney Animation Studios

Quote

An interview with the two directors of Frozen:

What were the biggest differences in the story, from when you first conceived this to what you see now?

"LEE:  It’s totally different, in many ways.  It’s easier to say what stayed, which was the end.  Chris pitched a very special ending that no one has ever seen before.  When I came on, they said, “If you can earn that ending, this will be something special.  If you can’t, it’s gonna suck.”  And to earn that ending was a huge undertaking that changed everything, really, including Elsa.  She was a villain, and she’s much more complex than that now.  In a good way, things have to evolve.  You expect the complexity of that.                

BUCK:  The theme didn’t change.  It gelled more, and then Jen articulated it so well later.  But, there was the love versus fear thing. 

LEE:  It shifted from romantic love, as a throughline, to fear versus love.  That was the biggest shift in it.  So, we had that ending, but everything else changed.  But, all the qualities of what Chris pitched initially that resonated are there.  I wasn’t there when he pitched it in 2008 or 2009, but we just re-read it."

_________________________________________________________________________________

Radish, C. (2013, October 7th) Co-Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee Talks Disney’s FROZEN, Dividing the Workload, Creating a Grounded Princess, Changes to the Film, and More. Retrieved from  http://collider.com/chris-buck-jennifer-lee-frozen-interview/

Yuri on Ice

More in-depth information

Notes about the anime:

In the beginning, Victor had a loud and confident personality

Whereas, Yuuri had low self-esteem and a timid personality

Yuuri gains a lot more confidence in himself, while Victor become less self-absorbed
Very clear character development

Information about the creation of the anime:

·         The original TV series of Yuri on Ice aired on TV Asahi from October 6 to December 22, 2016.

·         The anime was produced by MAPPA

·         Directed by Sayo Yamamoto

·         Written by Mitsurō Kubo

·         Character design by Tadashi Hiramatsu

·         Music by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba

·         Figure-skating choreography by Kenji Miyamoto.

Quote:

An interview with the Director, Writer, and Character design artist of Yuri!!! On Ice:

“ANN: When you first decided you wanted to make an anime about ice skating, did you also know that you wanted to tell a love story? At what point in imagining Yuri!!! on Ice did you discover that element?

SAYO YAMAMOTO: My intent with Yuri!!! on Ice was not to be a "love story" in the narrow sense of a "love affair," or "carnal love." At least when you say "rabu sutorii" in Japanese, that would be the context of those English words. The whole answer to this question is answered by Yuuri in his speech at the end of episode 5, leading into the Grand Prix Series.

MITSUROU KUBO: Our idea about love in the context of Yuri!!! on Ice, as expressed by Yuuri Katsuki in episode 5, was already written before production began. So the theme has always been there in terms of what love means to the context of Yuri!!! on Ice as a whole.

TADASHI HIRAMATSU: This theme would not be in the context of coupling specific characters together, but the very general concept of what love is for each character.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Bridges, B. & Chapman, J. (2017, September 28th) Interview: The staff behind Yuri on Ice. Retrieved from https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-09-27/interview-the-staff-behind-yuri-on-ice/.120717

Comic Cover

I have created a Comic Cover

I drew up and inked a physical copy on paper, using my sharpie pens. Next, I used some ink that was 70% water, so it would be grey. This was fun to create.

I first inked up the lines

Then I added the shades and some sort of colour aspect

I plan to colour a digital version of this cover to use for my comic cover. I have already finished the shading, so I just have to colour on top of what I already have.

Storyboard stop-motion

Storyboard planning

Rebekka and I started and then finished our storyboard plan for our stop-motion project. We drew up the different slides on paper, scanned them, and put them onto Storyboard Pro. Now, (although really poor quality) we can see the basics, with no timing or sound, of what we will expect to see happen with our project. 

This is the storyboard plan we have:

Film Review

Cinéma Vértié and Direct Cinema

Cinéma Vérité and Direct Cinema are very similar. Both techniques aim to elicit a 'real' response from the public. An example could be that the filmmakers ask for a random person from the public to answer a question or give a reaction to an event that occurs. They are like actors who do not know they are being filmed or that they are even actors in the first place.

Cinéma Vérité is when the filmmaker can participate with what is being filmed on camera, they are not stuck behind the camera being anonymous. Whereas, Direct Cinema is when the filmmaker does not participate in the events or results in front of the camera, being like 'a fly on the wall'.

A good example of Cinéma Vérité is 'Nanook of North' (1922). Robert J. Flaherty lived with the Inuit Artic natives for many years before taking a camera into the community. He focuses on a man called Nanook, and his family. The end result of the finished feature is considered the first "documentary" (1)

A good example of Direct Cinema is 'Grey Gardens' (1976). Albert and David Maysles explore the daily lives of two women, mother and daughter. Both mother and daughter have large personalities and live together, alone on an island estate (2)

Forgotten Silver

Mockumentary

This film seems believable and was released under the guise of a documentary about Collin McKenzie, until revealed it was fake. Released on 11th of September 1997, this film made a lot of 'historic' claims that happened before the real pioneers created/finished their inventions.  For example, flying before The Wright Brothers, having sound in film before 'The Jazz Singer' in 1927, and having coloured films before 'Cupid Angling' by Leon Douglass. Also, Collin McKenzie apparently 'made one of the largest man-made cities in New Zealand on the West Coast', this being a large scale biblical set for a film. To make this mockumentary even more convincing, the creators, Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, even got a famous film critic and historian, Leanard Malin, to attest to Collin McKenzie's significance.

I would suggest that most people should watch this film. I, at first, thought it was real and factual. But once I figured out this wasn't the case, I thought the outrageous 'facts' were really funny to watch. It's a good film for (not just) New Zealanders to watch for some good humor with SOME actual history to it, like when it talks about the real pioneers and when they had their breakthroughs.

References

1) http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/10-essential-cinema-verite-films-every-documentary-fan-should-see/ 

2) https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/grey-gardens-1976 

3D in 2D

3D in ToomBoom Harmony

I have learned how to have some 3D aspects in ToomBoom Harmony. This is really amazing. I like these features and plan to use them to my advantage in future animations I do in the future.

Here is the little trial I created today to experiment with what I learned. It was fun to create.

World animation 1965 - 1970

World Animation 1965 - 1970

Japan

Toei Doga

The Toei Doga company made the Japanese series Cyborg 009 as first a film (1966), followed by a squeal, then a TV series in 1968, a coloured TV series in 1979 and again in 2001. Cyborg 009 was originally a manga comic about a famous athlete how, after an injury, got transformed into a cyborg, with a mission to fight all evil.

Hiroshi Sasagawa

Sasagawa made used the manga comic, Mach Go Go Go into an animated series (1967). This series was sold in the West as Speed Racer. The Western version was less violent that the original series, with the characters being stunned instead of killed. After Astro Boy was created, the market opened up in the West for the under-animated effects, heavy style of Japanese anime.

USA

Disney

Disney created The Jungle Book (1967). This film was commented upon for it being the first time animated characters' movements were based upon the filmed performances of the voice actors (this is now standard practice). This was also the last animated film that Walt Disney was involved in (he died on December 15th 1966 of lung cancer).

Marv Newland

Newland created the short called Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969).

UK

George Dunning

Dunning created the series Yellow Submarine (1968). This series is about the Beatles agreeing to travel in a yellow submarine to rescue the inhabitants of a land where music and happiness are banned by the meanies. Each song was animated into a different unusual visual, making full use of the new technology at the time.

Oliver Postgate & Peter Firmin

Postgate and Firmin formed the company Smallfilms. Smallfilms produced many animated children's series including Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and Noggin the Dog. Smallfilms worked out of a converted cow shed, their animation was basic, using handmade models like in The Clangers (1969).

USA and Japan

Jules Bass

Producer Jules Bass had MOM Productions in Japan make a stop-motion film called Mad Monster Party in 1967. This influenced the later work of Tim Burton. The cast in this film was famous monsters like Dracula and King Kong, but due to copyright issues, the character King Kong was referred to as "it".

Italy

Osvaldo Cavandoli

Cavandoli created an advertising film for the Italian TV show Carosello called The Line in 1969. The Line was then turned into comics and a TV series with 90 episodes being produced between 1972 and 1991.

Belgium

Belvision Studios

Belvision Studios adapted Asterix the Gaul, from the first volume of comics and graphic novels created by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, into 12 animated films (1967). The first film of Asterix was created without the consent or knowledge of Goscinny and Uderzo. By the time they found out, it was to late to stop the release. Goscinny and Uderzo forced the production of the sequel to be stopped, stating that the first film was cheaply made and did a disservice to the comics.

Canada

Eva Szasz

Eva directed the film Cosmic Zoom, which was based on the 1957 book Cosmic View by Kees Boeke, for the National Film Board of Canada in 1968. The film starts with live-action of a boy on a lake. It then zooms out into space, zooms back in to subatomic level, and back out to the boy on the lake live-action. Later, designers Ray and Charles Earnes released their film Powers of Ten in 1968, also based on Cosmic View.

Ryan Larkin

Larkin produced a sequence of award winning films in the 1960s in a free flowing, psychedelic, figurative style, one called Walking in 1969 which was nominated for the best animated short Oscar in 1970.

Croatia

Pavao Stalter & Branko Ranitovic

Stalter and Ranitovic directed an adaption of Edgar Allen Poe's classic horror tale The Masque of the Red Death in 1969.

Russia

Andrei Khrjanovsky

Khrjanovsky created There Lived Kozyavin (1966). The film was a commentary on the absurdity of faceless communist bureaucracy and despite the KGB interference in all Soviet film production, this film received approval for production. The other film Khrjanovsky made, The Glass Harmonica (1969) was not so lucky and became the first animated film to be officially banned in Russia.

USA & UK

Terry Gilliam

Gilliam is the creator of Storytime (1968) and Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Storytime was influenced by Death Breath (1964). Gilliam came up with his trademark anarchic animation style by using a mixture of cutout photos, Victorian imagery, surreal machines and strange illustrations.

Storyboard Hand in

I had to hand in my assignment on Friday.

I was not able to finish my work to the standard I wanted to achieve, with some images of the main character Silver Jewel unfinished and the background completely not coloured.

This has showed me that I must work harder and smarter on my work, that I can not achieve every aspect that I would like, and that I should instead focus on the aspects which are most important. I hope to use this lesson with all my assignments that I work on in future. This is what I submitted to be made into a booklet: