Don't Replace the Actor - Replace the Animator?!

The article posted below is very troubling -- I'm about to go on vacation so I can't write much more but I'll update this post when I get back from the UK!!

read the article here:
The "Avatar" Effect: Don't Replace the Actor - Replace the Animator


Here are some bits to chew on:

"To me, it's the exact opposite," Landau says. "Our goal on this movie was not to replace the actor, it was to replace the animator. If you think about it, what a great actor does and what a great animator does are antithetical to one another.

"A great actor withholds information. Dustin Hoffman in All the President's Men can sit there and do nothing. No animator would ever allow that, they would put in a twitch. So our objective was to preserve Sam Worthington's performance and have that be what you see in those characters."

The Making Of Dr. Strangelove

Here's a special on the making of 'Dr. Stangelove' -- awesome!!

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5

Brad Bird Presents Dr. Strangelove

Last night was a rare treat! Tiff and I got to see a brand new print of Stanley Kubrick's film 'Dr. Strangelove' on the big screen! And as the 'icing on the cake' Brad Bird introduced the film and gave a great Q&A afterward! He talked a bit about the legendary design of the 'war room' created by Ken Adam and explained how Kubrick was ahead of his time in his use of handheld cameras, comedy approach, storytelling, and production techniques. It was a fantastic night and very inspiring! Also, I found the 'making of Dr. Strangelove' and will posting those shortly!

'Where The Wild Things Are' art blog

http://www.terribleyelloweyes.com/

Acting Notes for Animators

I saw these notes the other day and found that some of them applied to animation. Despite being directed toward live action actors - many of the sample principles and directions apply to the animation industry. Most of the notes are common sense but it's always good to brush up on the basics. You might find a few nuggets of gold in there as well!

I took the liberty of editing these notes down to the pure meat so some sections might be out of order:

Disney's 'A Christmas Carol' - Italian Trailer

Here's the new 'A Christmas Carol' trailer via MovieWeb




Comic Con 2009 - 3D Panel with Bob Zemeckis

Part 1



Part 2

Gobelins - Annecy 2009 Animation Intro

The Gobelins School is something of an anomaly when compared to other schools that teach animation. There is really no comparison except maybe Cal Arts (on a good year). The short animated films that come out the Gobelins school are really fantastic and convey a look that is clean, professional, and polished. There is however a definite animation style the flavors most of these films. I remember when "Burning Safari" came out a couple of years ago and I loved the 'snappy' style of animation. But what seems to be a reoccurring theme in most of the Gobelin films is fast action and editing. In most all cases the animation is spot-on and so is the editing but it looses it's uniqueness when every other film is featuring these same themes. For example the film "Octopodi" has an immaculate chase scene at the end (which is finely animated I might add) but it still slips into that fast action fast editing mode that many Gobelin films feature. Don't get me wrong because I love the action and camera work. It just makes me wonder why so many of the films end up using these techniques as a major part of the story or as a crutch to help support the film when it lacks a story. Any thoughts?

Here's the 2009 Annecy Animations: