Another Star Wars review from Red Letter Media. If you haven’t seen the Phantom Menace review, check that out first. This one kind of covers all the prequels, but mainly the third. They’re extremely long and kind of messed up, but there’s a lot of good film making nuggets in them that make them well worth the watch. This is part one, click here to find the other parts.

Going to the movies this year was a lot of fun. There were so many good films released in 2010, more than I remember in many recent years past. I don’t know if were in for another year like this in 2011, but I hope so, I had a blast. I figured a top ten list would be too easy to make because of the sheer quantity of quality, so I’ve challenged myself to do a top five. So here’s my top five favorite films of 2010. There’s a noticeable absence of some of the most critically acclaimed films of the year including The Social Network and The King’s Speech. As good as those movies are, I found they weren’t anywhere near as good as those listed below. I also haven’t seen some films like, The Fighter. I’m not a movie critic (and don’t ever want to be one) so take it or leave it. This is my blog and here’s my two cents.

Yep, it’s as good as I hoped it would be. Black Swan was amazing. Natalie Portman was incredible. And no, I’m not tired of Aronofsky yet, not when his films entertain me like this. Every single one of his films features a self-destructive antagonist in a psychological battle they ultimately lose. Yeah, they’re all biopic tragedies, but every one of his films also immerses me in an unfamiliar world through solid film-making and further grounds it with acting talent that is borderline genius. I was particularly looking forward to this one because I’ve been a huge Natalie Portman fan since The Professional. This film is visually stunning, emotionally traumatic, and a completely satisfying piece of entertainment.  There are some scenes that made me cringe, some that made me wince, and some that made me cry. The entire cast was brilliant. Go see this film.

What a beautiful film! Way better than I thought it would be. The animation was superb. Mind-bogglingly good. Literally blew my mind with some of stuff they pulled off, especially with Maximus, the horse. One thing that really stood out to me was the quality of posing and expressions, especially in the hands. Watch the scenes with Flynn and Mother Gothel gesturing with their hands. Brilliant stuff. Nice to hear some Menken songs again, though the Mother Gothel songs really echoed Ursula singing to Ariel.

What was with the previews early in the year? They setup a completely different expectation for this film. Anyway, congratulations to everyone involved. You must be so proud! Disney has really made a leap here. This is the closest I’ve seen the traditional aesthetic transformed into CG. Bravo!

What did you think?

Recently I’ve been enjoying reading Jim Korkis’ latest book, The Vault of Walt. It’s entertaining in as much the same way as Walt’s People and Working with Walt (A new volume of which will be released soon), except it reminds me more of the stuff that doesn’t make the final edit.

Having had a bit of an insider’s look at the process of putting these kinds of books together, I can tell you ( based on the interviews that I’ve transcribed for Walt’s People) that there’s a ton of little anecdotes, and casual conversation points that don’t usually make it to print. Didier often tells me just to transcribe the really interesting stuff for Walt’s People (sometimes he’ll give more specific instructions). But the problem I have with this is that I find it all so interesting, and usually just end up transcribing everything and let him choose what the edit out. As I said, a lot of the really casual stuff gets edited out, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s often just as enjoyable to hear/read as the stuff that makes it into the final published volume.

This is why I’m enjoying The Vault of Walt so much. It’s such an easy read, and the stories are so enjoyable. Having read dozens of books on Disney history, it’s always amazing to constantly find new stories to read. I look forward to any subsequent volumes from Korkis and thoroughly recommend this to everyone interested in Disney Animation History.

Since a good Disney book review is not complete without a good Walt Disney quote, I’ll offer up this one from The Vault of Walt. This quote is one of the parts in the book I have read elsewhere, so I guess if you want to see the “new” stuff, you’ll have to get a copy.

By nature, I’m an experimenter. To this day, I don’t believe in sequels. I can’t follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things. So with the success of Mickey I was determined to diversify. We kept fooling around with The Silly Symphonies until we came up with The Three Little Pigs. I could not possibly see how we could top pigs with pigs. But we tried, and I doubt whether one member of this audience can name the other cartoons in which the pigs appeared.

I know I can’t. Make sure you check the posts by Didier Ghez and Mark Mayerson concerning this book.

Marcos Mateu-Mestre is a veteran animation visual development artist with twenty years of experience in the field. He’s worked on some great feature films, including The Prince of Egypt and Surf’s Up. He’s currently working at Dreamworks Animation, and recently sent me a copy of his newly published book, Framed Ink, to review here.

Now I could belabor on and on about this book, but I prefer to get straight to the point when I review things, so this review will be short. Marcos seems to share the same ideal when it comes to teaching, that is, getting straight to the point. But more on that later, before I mention anything about Framed Ink, I’ll point out the pink elephant in the room: There’s already a ton of fantastic books on the same subject of composition and sequential storytelling as it pertains to film-makers and artists in general. Chances are you probably already have at least one.

There’s Will Eisner’s Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist, which are both fantastic. Don Graham’s legendary Composing Pictures was recently re-printed. Then there’s Steven D. Katz’s amazing, Film Directing: Shot by Shot, and Film Directing: Cinematic Motion, to name but a few. So why on earth would you need another book on the subject?

Well, since I have all the aforementioned books (among many others), and have read each one multiple times, I can tell you that none of them get to the same point as quickly and clearly, and in fewer pages, as does Marcos Mateu-Mestre’s, Framed Ink. He covers every base and clearly illustrates every example in his fantastic graphic style. As I was reading, I would say to myself something like, “Ah, but you forgot to mention leading the eye through a cut.” Sure enough, on the next page, there it was. It’s all here. This book is the best of all those books without all the filler. Framed Ink sets the ground rules from the first pages. Instructing the student not to tell, but to feel.

Let’s tend to use simplicity, shadows, and silences, as opposed to an avalanche of detail…What’s more faithful to reality, the literal image of something, or it’s spirit?”

Marcos instructs the reader to choose what’s most interesting, citing that when you make exact copies, everything is just as important, and thus demands the same amount of attention. We must use contrast to tell the story effectively by simplifying and, “skipping visually non-existant details…whatever is not contributing to the visual impression of what we see.” Here’s a great example from the book:

Here’s one of my favorite examples from the book. Marcos explains the key ingredients of the tension he’s created between these two panels on this page:

After a thorough explanation of the principles of visual storytelling, there’s a great section on graphic novels where all of the concepts he’s just explained come into play. Here’s a great example of creatively leading the eye through a page of panels:

Conclusion

What more is there to say? I told you this would be short. This is a solid book full of solid examples. Marcos is a highly skilled, experienced artist, with a clear teaching style and incredible artistic flare. At $16.50, Framed Ink is a steal, and should be on your Christmas wish-list this year. I highly recommend it. For more of Marcos’ work, check out his blog here. For more images from the book, check out this page at Parka Blogs. If you own a copy of this book, and would like to share your thoughts, please don’t hesitate to do so in the comments below. All art artwork and images are Copyright © 2010 Marcos Mateu-Mestre.

I saw Megamind last night. It was a really fun movie to watch. I watched it in 2D, so any comments on the 3D version would be nice. Overall I thought it was consistently funny. It was predictable in parts, and unpredictable in others, an acceptable mix. Some of the shots in this film were masterfully animated, particularly a few with Megamind and/or Roxanne. I really felt the emotion in some of the Roxanne’s shots. I also loved the Brando caricature. This film was better than I thought it would be.

What did you think?

Here’s a cute little viral ad:

Parkablogs readers are starting to show off their own Disney book collections in the Parkablogs forums. Here’s a sneak peek inside some of the rarest Disney art books out there:

The Little Mermaid Sketchbook

Blanche Neige by Pierre Lambert

Les Heroines Disney by Christian Renaut

I’ve already posted about my ridiculous collection of art and animation books before. I was thinking it could be a good resource to review some of the rare and out of print ones kind of like how Parkablogs does, only just focus on the really good stuff I recommend. I won’t be posting a ton of scans like Michael Sporn does, I’ll model after the way Parkablogs does it because I like the way he gives you just enough of a peek and an honest review. I thought of it because I just got a nice copy of Les Heroines Disney by Christian Renaut (amazing book). Anyone who’s tried to find this book knows how hard it is. It took me close to two years and I got lucky. Anyway, that’s besides the point. I’m only going to do this if folks think it would be a good idea. Let me know what you think, and we’ll go from there.

This year’s festival was awesome for one reason alone: I got to go! Last year I didn’t because of surgery, and it really sucked because the line-up looked just as good as this year’s. I can only review the events I attended (duh), so I figured I’d talk a bit about each.

The Kickoff

The festival started with two documentaries I’d been eager to see for the better part of a year. Walt & El Grupo made its Canadian Premiere, and Waking Sleeping Beauty made its Vancouver Premiere right after as part of a double feature of Disney studio history. I’ll leave it up to you to Google for more information about each film, but I’ll just say I thoroughly enjoyed each and look forward to getting copies on DVD or Bluray soon. I’m a sucker for animation history, and one of the highlights of this year’s festival was meeting Ted Thomas (Frank Thomas’ son). Ted looks a lot like his old man, and it was weird talking to him because I kind of felt like I was talking to Frank in a way. I enjoyed our brief chat about old films. Ted was very gracious and interested in meeting again sometime.

The Visual Style of How to Train Your Dragon

Kathy Altieri, Production Designer, Simon Otto, Head of Character Animation, and Craig Ring, Visual Effects Supervisor at Dreamworks Animation Studios, gave a fantastic and inspiring presentation on the Visual Style of How to Train Your Dragon. All three were passionate and engaging, but I gravitated towards Simon Otto’s talk (being an animator) and really enjoyed learning how he got to where he is today. He showed a lot of pencil tests from Balto that  inspired him to pursue animation as a career. I must admit I hadn’t seen Balto, which I’ve since remedied, though I enjoyed the rough pencil tests more than the actual film. The audience was treated to a flurry of Nicolas Marlet’s work on the film, and the panel clearly communicated the studio’s status on Nico: “He’s a genius.” Not many people would argue with that. I still don’t have a copy of the Art of How to Train Your Dragon, but will make a point to get someone to buy it for me for Christmas.  After the event, the panel signed posters outside. The crowd was massive, so I passed on that.

A Morning with Pixar

The next two events were the most anticipated, and were packed out for this very reason. Carlos Baena, who for a long time has been a major inspiration for me, started the day off with a presentation on how he tackled Spanish Buzz in Toy Story 3. He talked about one shot specifically, which you can see here (Starts at 2:34 and goes to about 2:50). This shot really stood out for me when I first watched the film so I was delighted to get an in depth look at the thought process behind it. Not only is it funny, but the animation itself is full of such incredible patterns and timing. It’s got entertainment written all over it. The video below shows Carlos working on his shot, and shooting reference footage in the dance studio.

I’ve seen a lot of animators’ working methods through blogs and downloads, but it was great to see Carlos’ method as I’ve been following his blog for close to ten years now. I also got to meet him and talk to him a bit about Animation Mentor and film making in general, which was great. His process isn’t much different from most animators. The only difference I noticed is that he shoots a lot of reference footage throughout the process of completing his shots. Most animators just shoot reference at the beginning. He also poses and roughly times out a lot of variations he has in his head to see what’s working and what is not.  I’ve never seen another animator do that on purpose. Usually you try something and it doesn’t work so you learn from it and try something else. Carlos deliberately creates these quick poses tests and flips back and forth to see what’s working better. He’ll then combine aspects of each test to get the best result. That’s a time consuming, but assuring way of getting your best work out of you. Obviously you have to have achieved a certain level of confidence and efficiency at your craft before trying this method with a deadline looming.

The Making of Day & Night

Next on the schedule was a presentation by Teddy Newton about his innovative film, Day & Night. Teddy talked about the challenges of bringing such a unique idea to the screen and implementing it into a pipeline (at Pixar) that’s more structured for CG animation rather than a mix of CG and 2D that’s also essentially three movies in one. He screened the film twice, once before he started talking, and again after he had explained all his directorial decisions and his intentions story wise. This gave me a higher appreciation for the film, as there were a few things I didn’t pick up on, and probably wouldn’t have without his commentary . He also hinted that he’s working on another “crazy idea” for a short film at Pixar right now. Part of the swag I took home was a signed Day & Night poster which I’m sure I’ll frame some day.

Both Teddy and Carlos are highly skilled, thoughtful, and inspiring artists. I found them both to be extremely nice and encouraging. The morning with Pixar was the best part of Spark 2010, and I feel lucky to have been there. The afternoon with Disney was huge too, and it was up next.

An Afternoon with Disney

I skipped the noon panel to grab some lunch, and resumed at at two o’clock for an afternoon with Disney Animation Studios. Two presentations sparked my interests from a technical as well as a creative standpoint. Hide Yosumi, a Character TD, explained how Disney was able to design rigs to handle the seventy feet of hair on Rapunzel. Basically there’s two separate rigs, both with the same controls, which allow the animators to have the kind of control a 2D animator would want. It took Hide and his team roughly a year to rig it properly, which is insane if you ask me, but the results speak for themselves. The hair is literally got a life of it’s own, and isn’t just a seventy feet of automatic overlap. It’s amazing stuff to see how complex these CG rigs are getting, and a lot of the stuff shown in this presentation really blew me away. John Wong, Disney Animator, followed Hide with a presentation on the evolution of CG animation at the studio up to Rapunzel.

It’s common knowledge that hair, fire, and water are the hardest elements to re-create in the computer. Finding Nemo solved water as far as I’m concerned. The fire I saw in Up was some of the best I’ve seen in a CG film, and after seeing some of the exclusive Rapunzel footage in these Disney presentations, I would have to come to the conclusion that hair has also been solved. The artists at Disney did enough research to understand hair from a structural as well as visual perspective, and probably laid the foundation of what will become the principals of CG hair throughout the industry. John said there’s a ton of action scenes in the film, including underwater, which will be a treat to see in the final film.

Both presentations complimented each other in much the same way these artists do at the studio, and it was essential to see them as a tandem. I was really surprised at how many empty seats there were at both of these events. The Pixar and Dreamworks presentations were packed. Whether it’s people not being in tune with Rapunzel or with Disney as a studio right now, I don’t know, but it sure is sad. These artists work just as hard, and their product is impressive on so many levels. A lot of people missed out on some informative and inspiring stuff.

Conclusion

It’s really nice to have these kinds of events in Vancouver even if it is annually. I often get jealous of folks in L.A and N.Y because of the amount of options they have for festivals, exhibitions, and film-making events. Now that the bigger studios like Pixar and Sony are coming to Vancouver, and I’m sure many more will follow, we’re starting to get more events like this. Next year will be fantastic, as Siggraph 2011 will be here and it will be my first time attending. Keeping yourself up to date and informed on what your peers are doing in and around the industry is always interesting. I consider it pure entertainment because my interests are so diverse, and I can’t get enough of these. Obviously I’m a big enthusiast, and these things aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it is, then you’ll likely see me there.

2007′s, The Kingdom, was on TV last night and I was glued to the TV (a rare site) because my favorite part was on. I remember it so vividly from when I first saw it a few years ago and every time since. The scene or sequence I’m referring to is the entire chase that happens in and around the climax where Jason Bateman’s character is kidnapped and his team members have to chase after his captors through hostile territory and get him back. The stakes are so high: they know if they lose site of the vehicle ahead, their friend will likely die. And the emotional tension is so deep because of over an hour of character development in which the audience grows to really like every member of the team. The pace is so quick and the cinematography is so stunning that I really feel like I’m part of the effort to free this guy. The acting is pretty good too. This movie got bad reviews but mostly because of it’s supposed political agenda. I like it, and love watching the action sequences again and again because I always get so emotionally involved. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.

Parkablogs has done a review of Two Guys Named Joe. I find these are the best “reviews” as they’re more of a thorough preview. If you haven’t got this book yet, check out the review…And then buy it