Ladies and gentlemen, let me announce right here, on this blog, that 2010 IS THE YEAR THAT CELLULOID DIED. Yes, all you physical-analog-film-lovers, I said it. Touch the smooth plasticky emulsion one last time and relish the memory. Both these two digital cameras simply blow film out of the water. Period. Here's a short report of our test of the new ARRI Alexa and RED MysteriumX cameras.

 

 

The Transformers may be raking in the box office gold and G.I. Joe battled COBRA in the multiplexes, but while those once-upon-the-eighties Hasbro cartoon shows made the leap from TV cartoon to big screen live action, the diminutive equines collectively known as My Little Pony have returned in a new animated series that has surprised a lot of people.

To put it simply, The Hub Channel’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is one hip show.

MLP:FiM is the creation of Lauren Faust, an animation veteran whose career began as an animator on 1990’s features like Cats Don’t Dance and Quest for Camelot. After directing a stack of Powerpuff Girls episodes, Faust hit her stride as Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends’ head writer and supervising producer. (And in all likelihood, the visual inspiration for Frankie, the show’s red-haired teenage problem-solver.)

 

There are films that have blitzed my senses into giddy, drunken stupors of delirium and bewilderment, riotous exhalings of creativity, desperation, and experimentation. Too often, these voices expire as rapidly as they respired, brief greetings before vanishing into the crowded darkness.

 

There’s no point lamenting. It is what it is. We all go hoping

Three of those films come from an Tie Domi-looking punk named JJ Villard. In the early 2000s, he exploded onto the festival scene with three beat up beauts: the creepy 9 in a Chimney or 10 on the Bed or Hates a Strong Word (2002), Son of Satan

a raw, urgent punk scream against the pain of abuse, bullying and the cyclical nature of violence, Chestnuts Icelolly (2004) is sadistic little tale about a scumbag who lures children into his icelolly machine/

BOOM. Three years plus of great student films that took animation down  a whole other path of filth aint encountered since Ralph Baksi.

As I sat, picking my balls (pre-2011, hence balls), nothing arrived. There were no more villard entries. Again, the next year, NOTHING.

I heard rumours. JJ finally settles the talk... 

Special Guest:  JJ Villard

 

FFAF continues its Salutation to Tinselville this week with more animation conversation from the Heart of Hollywood.  This week's special guest and lovably evil animator-innovator, JJ Villard, scratches the true grit of the LA animation underbelly as he devles into discussion on his films, animation career prep, dirty-dogs, the worth of the festival-hussle, the subtext of the Walk of Fame, choice Starbucks beverages, Shrek, major studio lunch-spreads, and how to charm the evil of it all.  

© Warner Bros.

If you want to write animation—or if you just want to produce or direct it—it’s important to know the difference between live action and animation writing. First the similarities: 

Animation stories are developed pretty much the same as in live action.  You come up with a concept, sometimes called a premise, describing the basic beginning, middle and end of the story.  The next stage is an outline, laying out each scene, including action and gags.  The final step is the script, with full scene description and dialogue. 

The script form in animation is virtually identical to live action. 

It’s the differences that are important to understand.

 

The major hurdle with the unionization of visual effects artists is that we would need to gain support within the walls of the studios. Unfortunately the studios have long since written off our welfare.

Several years ago an article in the Los Angeles Times an unnamed producer was quoted as saying “If I don’t put a visual effects house out of business, I haven’t done my job.” Visual effects folks all over the business found themselves searching for the name of this offender and a rope. The honesty of the statement combined with the fact that we could not register our offense at this statement face-to-face with our assailant only oiled the injustice. Of course he was only saying publicly what producers have been saying amongst themselves for years. The visual effect group finds itself weaker every day. The lack of a union combined with the low cost of entry into the visual effects arena has conspired to pith our business locally....

 

 

Tuesday night proved to be a big highlight of Autodesk University.  The Media and Entertainment keynote featured the first public screening of footage from James Cameron’s highly anticipated 3D feature “Avatar.”  

Simply put, “Avatar” was as stunning as it was rumored.  The 3D works incredibly well, but what impressed this animator more was the level of realism in the virtual characters.  The facial animation/capture was impeccable, the faces no longer looked like rubber masks as they have in so many movies that use facial capture.  In Avatar, the characters truly came to life and were believable in every way.  The audience identified with the characters and that made the story work on a much deeper lever.  The characters inhabited a world that was just as believable.  Much of it was lush jungle with fantastic creatures.  Some of the little details I noticed were highly realistic water, mud, and other subtle effects that helped to make the world that much more engaging.

 UPDATED!  

 

If you are familiar with screenwriting software such as Final Draft and Screenwriter, you know that they make it easier to write scripts by automatically formatting script elements such as character names, dialog and description. But I’ve used Microsoft Word to write hundreds of scripts and actually find it easier to use than expensive screenwriting software—and in most cases just as good.

Follow my instructions, below, and you can turn Word into an effective screenwriting program.

Chinese artist Li Songsong is showing new paintings at The Pace Gallery in New York until August 5, 2011.