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“The Brooklyn artist Maximus Clarke addresses a surveillance society in ‘Render,’ three panels with human figures that have to be viewed through 3-D glasses — and, in keeping with the theme, park rangers will be milling around.”
See it at the the old fort on Governor’s Island, as part of the Governor’s Island Art Fair, in September!
Now that Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful is a box office hit, let the Wizard of Oz remakes commence.Varietyreports that Clarius Entertainment will theatrically release the 3-D CGI pic Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return in the first quarter of 2014. We posted the film’s trailer last fall, back when the film was called Dorothy of Oz, and the reaction was tepid.
The film is inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz as well as an Oz book series written by his great-grandson Roger Stanton Baum. Daniel St. Pierre (Everyone’s Hero) and Will Finn (The Road to El Dorado, Home on the Range) directed the film through Summertime Entertainment, and Bonne Radford produced with Summertime co-founders Ryan and Roland Carroll. Indian animation studio Prana (Hoodwinked! and Disney’s Tinker Bell movies) handled the animation production.
Above right is a photo of me in Paris some years ago standing besides the grave of French filmmaker and visual fx pioneer Georges Méliès. I’d heard that Martin Scorsese’s new film Hugo incorporated the character of Méliès (portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the left-hand photo above), but I didn’t anticipate that the entire film would be essentially about him. More broadly, Hugo, which I saw in 3-D last night, is a celebration of filmmaking magic, the medium’s dreamlike possibilities, and true to Scorsese’s personal passions, the importance of film preservation. That Scorsese was able to package these themes into an entertaining family film is nothing short of miraculous.
The film’s strength is its visuals. I got a real kick out of the imagery, from the main setting of the train station and its cogs-and-gears innards to the intricate mechanics of the automaton who figured prominently in the film. The 1930s train station, which provides a warm and intriguing setting for the film, is almost a character in itself, but like most of the film’s characters, it suffers from broad caricature. In this case, it’s the cliched and tiresome American view of Paris, which was also seen in Woody Allen’s recent Midnight in Paris. The film’s freshest visual spectacles were the scenes that recreated Méliès’ films, appropriately so since the film was a celebration of his genius.
The 3-D must be mentioned. It was not offensive—an accomplishment in itself—but as usual, I’m left wondering how much it truly added. The opening shot of the film (was it all CG?), was contributed by ILM I think, and it was a fun use of 3-D in the roller coaster ride sense of the technology. In some of the early scenes, Scorsese showed motes of dust floating around the screen. The fact that I remember that, but not what was happening on the screen doesn’t speak well of the effect. To Scorsese’s credit, it appeared that he cut back on the 3-D trickery midway through the film, mostly recycling 3-D shots used earlier in the film or simply putting it aside in favor of more straightforward storytelling.
Final verdict: Hugo isn’t necessarily a classic, but it is a memorable children’s film with a refreshing lack of cynicism and lofty ideals.
A couple of animation-related notes:
* The film is an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s quasi-graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret. A film based on the book was announced in May, 2008, and was slated to be the live-action directorial debut of Blue Sky co-founder and Ice Age director Chris Wedge. That version, for reasons unknown, was canned.
* A hand-tinted color version of Georges Méliès’s classic “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) was discovered in the 1990s and its restoration was recently completed by French film historian Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films. Bromberg is better known in the animation world as the artistic director of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Here’s the Japanese trailer for a new CG 3-D film aimed at kids, Friends: Naki of Monster Island, being released in Japan on December 17th. Looks cute. More info, clips and posters at Twitch Film.
NPR loves The Lion King, but calls the 3D release a “cash grab”.
You know what I think. How about you? Intrigued enough to see a classic Disney hand drawn feature converted to 3-D? If so, share your thoughts with the rest of us in the comments below (Please respect our talkback rule and only post below if you’ve actually seen the 3D version).
Two years ago, at the big Hall H Disney presentation at the San Diego Comic Con – the year Miyazaki was there – John Lasseter presented a clip from the forthcoming Beauty and The Beast 3D conversion. I hadn’t heard about this project, but was strangely intrigued with the idea of 3D conversion of previously flat 2D cartoons. I always loved Disney’s Melody, and Paramount’s Boo Moon and Popeye The Ace of Space are two great examples of what a 3D cartoon can look like if done properly (I am not as impressed with Lantz’ Hypnotic Hick and Warners’ Lumberjack Rabbit). I even enjoyed the 3D aspects of the otherwise awful Starchaser: The Legend of Orin.
I was particularly enthused when Lasseter introduced the clip – but became less so as he discussed the process. Here’s how I recall his introduction, and what I was thinking during it…
Lasseter: “There were 3D cartoons done in the 1950s…”
My Thoughts: “Yes there were. And they looked great – like old Viewmaster slides come to life!”
Lasseter (in a negative way): “…but they were old fashioned and looked like Viewmaster slides…”
My Thoughts: “But… but… that was COOL!”
Lasseter: “Luckily, we figured out a new way to create 3D out of hand drawn cartoons…”
My thoughts: “But… but… it doesn’t need a “new way”. MELODY looked incredible…”
Lasseter: “Instead of flat art, we’ve figured out a way to round the edges…”
My thoughts: “That doesn’t sound good…”
Lasseter: “This isn’t your father’s 3D cartoon…”
My thoughts while watching the clip: “Oh. My. God.”
I don’t have problems watching 3D movies. I don’t get headaches, my eyes don’t tear… but watching this clip gave me a headache and hurt my eyes. Needless to say I was not surprised when the film didn’t open theatrically as originally planned.
Cut to 2011 – and this past week the 3D Beauty and The Beast opened at the El Capitan Theatre sans almost any publicity. I simply had to go see it over the weekend. I was also invited to a screening of the 3D Lion King at the Disney Studio yesterday. Here’s my assessment of how both fare in 3D form.
Beauty and The Beast – I’m not going to review the film itself, but suffice to say it was a pleasure to see it again on the big screen. The screenplay, direction, and vocal performances are even better than I remembered them. The animation was/is, of course, top notch. But there was something wrong here… the drawings of the characters, particularly in the first third of the film, looked awful. What did they do? Re-trace the animation to get the 3-D effect? There was a funky, scratchy-tracing “look” to the characters, particularly their outlines. It seemed to get better once we are in the enchanted castle – either that or I got used to it. The 3-D effect itself was pretty good. It was NOT the “rounded edge” version that Lasseter touted at Comic Con. In fact, unlike every live action or CG animated 3D film I’ve seen the past few years, the 3D “effect” didn’t wear off after the first ten minutes. It was quite a 3D Viewmaster version all throughout. Would I recommend seeing it on the big screen? No. The character designs of the townspeople and the overall “traced” look hurts the visuals. Somehow the 3D highlights these flaws… I went home a re-watched several scen
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Eighty-one-year old Fred Cohen, owner of Poughkeepsie’s Overlook Drive-In movie theater, is either clairvoyant or simply a grumpy old man. He offered his perspective on 3-D movies in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal:
“I’ve been in this business long enough to see it fail once. And I’ll be in it long enough to see it fail again.”
Cartoon Brew readers might have seen this coming a mile away, but not Wall Street. The business world is finally realizing that 3-D may not be the revolution that Hollywood’s snake oil salesmen promised it would be. Yesterday, shares in 3-D technology licensor provider RealD sank nearly 16% to $15.48. It’s significant because this is the first time the stock is trading below its 2010 IPO price of $16 a share. The stock was trading at over $35 just two months ago.
The stock plunged following the company’s first quarter report which topped analysts’ expectations but fell short of estimates on Wall Street. Analysts have already begun asking whether it’s game over for 3-D.
Another big loser in the film technology arena this week was IMAX. Its shares slipped 6% yesterday to under $19. IMAX’s stock is down a whopping 41% in the month of July, though some analysts are still bullish on the company’s future.
The problem with RealD’s approach (as well as IMAX’s to some extent) is that it up-sells movies without adding significant value to the experience. I’ve seen 3-D films only a handful of times and I’d be hard-pressed to recall which films they were, much less point out a moment where the 3-D made the film richer or more fulfilling.
If the Mexican Top Cat feature isn’t your cup of tea, here’s the slick trailer for Ana, a 3-D CG feature directed by Carlos Carrera currently being produced in Mexico. The production company Lo Coloco Films has a placeholder website for now. A Hollywood Reporter piece from three years ago suggested the film’s budget was only $3.2 million which I find kind of hard to believe. But even if it that number doubles or triples, it’s still a bargain compared to American and European animated features.
There’s not much to go by in this trailer, but Carrera has a strong track record as a director. He was nominated for an Oscar for his 2002 live-action film El crimen del Padre Amaro, and earlier he made animated shorts, like El héroe (below) which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Popeye authority Fred Grandinetti found this clipping in The Miami News (published on December 25th, 1936) in which Max Fleischer predicts a day when audiences will flock to theatres to see 3-dimensional cartoon feature films! Of course, Uncle Max was thinking more along the lines of his Stereo-Optical process, using three-dimensional sets and not computer graphics. Nor motion capture (despite his invention of the rotoscope). Still, Max was a visionary…
In 1941, the Fleischer Studio constructed this elaborate three-dimensional distorted perspective set for the feature Mr. Bug Goes to Town:
Built of balsa wood and plastics, it required architect-artists four months to construct. The entire set rests on a steel turntable which can both revolve and move up and down. Drawings will be photographed a full six feet in front of the set and the combination of the “set-back” photography and the “distorted perspective” of the set will provide the illusion of third dimension, according to director Dave Fleischer, who is seen moving the set.
Here is how the set appeared in the finished film:
* Eliminates 3D effect for more pleasurable movie viewing
* Converts standard 3D movies in to relaxing 2D
* Eliminates headaches and nausea associated with 3D movies
* Works with current 3D movies in theaters using RealD 3D technology
* View 3D movies comfortably with your 3D loving friends
Don’t get out your credit cards just yet—it’s an April Fool’s gag by ThinkGeek, but can the real item be far behind?
Last November we reported on a new 14 minute Imax film from director Ben Stassen (Fly Me to The Moon) and Belgium based nWave Pictures called Around the World In 50 Years. Since then, the film was apparently expanded to feature length (85 minutes), populated with an English language voice cast (Stacy Keach, Yuri Lowenthal, Melanie Griffith, Kathy Griffin, Ed Begley Jr., Pat Carroll, Tim Curry, etc.) and released in Europe. In fact, the film was just nominated for a Euro Film Award.
Will it be released in the U.S. and be qualified for Academy consideration this year? Is it any good? Does it remind you of another Oscar winner from 2003?
Beginning today, the Wall Street Journal reports that many major movie chains, including Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc. and AMC Entertainment Inc., are raising prices for 3-D movie tickets. It reflects the steepest price increase in a decade. 3-D ticket prices are rising by as much as 26% in some areas, though the average increase will be closer to 8%. The average increase for IMAX screens is 10%. Some theaters in metropolitan areas will be charging nearly $20 for IMAX admissions.
The WSJ article, which is behind a subscription-wall, acknowledges that movie studios are wary the price increases could spark a consumer backlash:
Some movie-studio executives expressed concern that the price increases might be too much too soon. “The risk we run is that we will no longer be the value proposition that we as an industry have prided ourselves on,” said a distribution executive at one major studio, who added that he was worried movies would become “a luxury item.”
But studios also like the increases because they split box office proceeds with theater operators. Dan Fellman, who is president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., a studio that can’t even be bothered to make true 3-D films, approved of the price increases. “The exhibitors are trying to push the needle on ticket prices and see where it ends up,” he said. “Sure, it’s a risky move, but so far charging a $3 or $4 premium has had no effect on consumers whatsoever, so I’m in favor of this experiment to raise prices even more. There may be additional revenue to earn here.” Warners will open Clash of the Titans, a regular film that has been retrofitted for 3-D screens, next week.
Related reading in today’s Wall Street Journal: a piece called Will This 3-D Fad Fizzle Too? In the piece, Peter Decherney, a professor at UPenn, drew a smart parallel to the first 3-D bust. He said that in the 1950s, “3-D died out when the studios realized that television was a boon for Hollywood, not competition.” He predicts the same will happen again. “As studios find ways to profit from Internet and mobile distribution, they will be less interested in competing with new technologies.”
Once again we take note of a new Popeye project, again in CG, and for the second time in his career - in 3D. Variety is reporting on Sony’s plans to bring the Segar comic strip classic to theatres in a big screen adventure. Avi Arad (Spider-Man) is producing and writer Mike Jones is creating a screenplay. Popeye will be made by Sony Pictures Animation, with Sony Pictures ImageWorks handling the CG. We cannot predict when this film will come out, but hopefully it will push Warner Home Video into restoring the rest of their Popeye cartoon library for DVD, perhaps persuade Cartoon Network will revive The Popeye Show, and maybe inspire Warner Bros. to attach the 1954 Popeye The Ace Of Space 3D animated short to one of their upcoming 3D features.
Continuing with the Gobelins animation (which I’m sad to say I’ve only now heard of!) comes this little gem from five students. It’s 3-D, but made to look as if it weren’t– and it really succeeds. I want to make every person working on 3-D blockbuster movies watch this. It doesn’t have to look like Shrek or Madagascar or any of those other copy-cats!
Er, I’ll get off my soapbox now. But I’m really enchanted with the world enveloped in this short and hope that les Manèges continue to make wonderful animations and show the world that there is a lot of life in 3-D animation– we just don’t know it yet.
Concept art by the team is also up at Alexis Liddell’s blog. Animation by Nicolas Athane, Brice Chevillard, Alexis Liddell, Mai Nguyen and Françoise Losito.
Have you ever heard of Augmented Reality? If not, Augmented Reality is a computer based software that uses 3-D tracking. To simplfy that even more, by using a sheet of paper with a desired icon, the camera can spot the icon, and replace it with a 3-D computer made icon. Some people even animate the icon, so that when you move the paper to it’s side, the icon will respond with some sort of action.
You may still be confused about what Augmented Reality is, so I will continue to explain what it is through out this article. Currently, there is a museum that uses Augmented Reality to show everything. Augmented Reality is currently being geared towards kids, so throughout the tour, kids can put on the special glasses and see the books come to life. How? Just like the computer, the glasses spot the icon, and then replay what is in it’s memory. Say for instance a child is reading a fairy tale, once they turn the page, that page’s story begins to play out before the child.
If you do a search on the internet and type in ‘Augmented Reality’ you can find many downloads where you can try it out. Many car dealerships have started using Augmented Reality as a marketing tool. They definetly got me hooked. If you are into 3-D modeling and animation, you can download the free trial of Augmented Reality to test it out.
Over all, Augmented Reality will be part of your future. This is not something you will want to miss out on. Check it out today!
I wanted to post this link about Shiba Productions earlier, but Blogger has been acting up. Shiba's founder, Kihachiro Kawamoto, created the sets and dolls (or "puppets") for those Hans Christian Andersen*/Golden books--the ones with the 3-D illustrations, and hologram covers.
Thanks, Rose! *But not only Hans Christian Andersen.
0 Comments on Shiba Productions as of 3/14/2007 12:30:00 AM
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. A film based on the book was announced in May, 2008, and was slated to be the live-action directorial debut of Blue Sky co-founder and Ice Age director Chris Wedge. That version, for reasons unknown, was canned.
Once again we take note of a new Popeye project, again in CG, and for the second time in his career - in 3D. 
