DISNEY!!!....and Pixar, Anime and Manga.

In our last lecture we looked at Disney, Pixar, Anime and Manga animation with Bambi being the chosen Disney movie. We talked about how much of a breakthrough Disney was in film, with real foliage and live deer being brought in so that the artists and animators could observe and perfect all the specific movements and details. They also used the same process for The Lion King. Such time and effort was put into creating these movies (the stampede scene in The Lion King took 3 years to animate). Growing up watching Disney movies, they, to me, represent perfect animation and stories.


Since it began in 1979, Pixar has taken animation to a whole new level. I remember seeing Monsters Inc (2001) for the first time and being absolutely amazed by Sully's fur!

The way it looked and moved was so realistic. It blew me away. The detail was astonishing and I remember wondering at the time what else they were able to achieve. The possibilities were infinate.

And of course they didn't disappoint. Take the film Up (2009) for example. A brilliant film with characters that are extremely human-like. Everything from their appearance to their emotions and mannerisms.

This was another film where I instantly thought 'wow' when seeing it for the first time. The similarities to real humans was uncanny.

My first experience of anime was Pokemon. I didn't really 'get' this type of animation as its a world away from what I was brought up on. The characters are very different and seeing anime and manga for the first time with its edginess and the shapes and angles they used for the characters seemed very alien to me. I still find it slightly difficult to connect with the characters.

 

Its very clear that English and American animation differs greatly from Japanese. As I mentioned previously, English and American animation takes inspiration from real life, bringing in animals to draw from. With Japanese animation however, it seems to be the other way round. Japanese animation seems to be inspiring people reather than taking inspiration.

For example, special contact lenses are now available in Japan to give you the large eyes you see in the characters. They were also featured in Lady Gaga's video for Bad Romance.

                              

By looking at how animation has progressed you can see not only how far the animators have come by creating characters that greatly resemble humans, but also how it has gone on to effect its audiences. The fact that women in Japan are going crazy for this fad says a lot about how influential animation is in today's culture.

Are You Game?

Continuing on with the violence theme we also looked into gaming. Not being a big fan of computer games myself I must admit I may have let my mind wander slightly here, but thinking about the violence that is featured in games you notice it is very similar to the violence featured in film. The range of gaming has definately progressed greatly over the last 30/40 years; we were shown an early depiction of violence from the 1970's game Deathrace. Seeing how much gaming has improved with characters now looking very realistic, it also makes the violence seem more real.
Sticking by what I said in my previous post I don't believe film violence really influences people, however game violence differs slightly. Insted of watching a person hurt or kill someone in a film, you are actually able to personally control the character to do this within a game. You're the one who has the ability to cause pain. It seems much closer to the real thing.

A film I watched a few months ago on this topic was Gamer, starring Gerard Butler.


 


Set in the future, it shows a world in which people are placed in a gaming environment with their actions controlled by other humans. To involve real people in violence for entertainment I feel is definately a step too far.

And yet the popularity of these types of games seem to be soaring. A scary possibility perhaps? Or just harmless fun?

Violence:Is It All That Bad, Really?

Well I never thought I'd say it but I quite enjoyed our lecture and seminar on violence! When thinking about violence that you see on screen you notice that it can be portrayed in many different ways, such as through assassination, war, torture and moster movies to name but a few. I find some of these types of violence are much easier to handle than others, for example I love watching big battle scenes in films like Gladiator and Braveheart, yet I can't bring myself to sit through any of the Saw films because of the torture. I think its purely down to the amount of suffering you see.
One film I did manage to sit through that includes this sort of content is Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ. I felt totally sickened throughout the film because I just couldn't believe the amount of hatred and brutality shown towards one person. Not only did the violence shock me but it was also extremely upsetting. No one has the right to cause another human being such pain and The Passion Of The Christ really pushed the boundaries, causing outrage and backlash when released, with Slate's critic David Edelstein describing it as "the Jesus Chainsaw Massacre", and hearing numerous reports of people fainting in cinemas due to the sheer amount of brutality that was shown. It wasn't easy viewing.




Like it was stated by Ivan, stabbings and beatings etc are much more personal than gunshot and therefore harder to watch. Its continuous and very emotional, this type of violence usually being carried out by someone you know or are related to rather than a stranger.


During our seminar we were asked what our personal threshold for violence is. For me its cruelty shown towards both humans and animals and also anything specifically directed to the brain. And the latter is all down to Hannibal Lecter (which has, by the way, scarred me for life). The particular scene I am refering to is when he cuts open a mans head and removes part of his brain to cook and eat....urgh...its just way too much. I think we'll stop there, just thinking about it makes me feel sick.
Heres a picture from the film showing the exact the scene I'm talking about:




Moving swiftly on.....
Looking back at movie releases over the past year there has been one film that has stood out from the rest, namely Kick Ass. Using a child to portray an assassin was always going to be a risky move, especially with bad language thrown in to boot, but the way it is filmed - its based on a comic book - and showing the characters committing these violent acts as superheroes, they have made it seem funny and silly in a way and by achieving this they have managed to detract from the initial shock of seeing a child kill numerous people. Its more of an action adventure comedy rather than a serious depiction of what happens/could happen in normal society.




The truth of it is we were all brought up watching violence on t.v, this is obvious if you have ever watched the likes of Tom And Jerry or any of the Warner Brothers cartoons. Over the years the violence has got worse, with film makers desperate to produce something to truely shock you but I don't think showing violence in film is particularly a bad thing. Violence happens in real life whether we like it or not and has done since the evolution of man, and if someone is going to commit these acts they don't need movies like this to set them on that path. (If that was the case then how can you explain the violence that was commited hundreds of years ago?)

I think the scariest thing about this topic is purely that humans are capable of committing these crimes, that we are all capable of it, regardless of whether you actually do anything about it. But in a situation where we are pushed to the edge to protect the people we love, how far would we be willing to go?

New Media

Well, Bill's first lecture was erm...interesting. Not much in the way of special effects, character and model, more to do with gaming. I did however enjoy watching the three early film clips; An American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903)and Broken Blossoms (1919), and seeing how audiences of the time had only one viewpoint. For the modern audiences of today the thought of watching a film in this manner seems quite restricting. These days we get multiple cut-scenes and even such things as flashbacks, flashforwards and flashsideways - yes I an talking about Lost! By creating complex scenes like this the viewer is able to ascertain more from the situation along with the history of the characters involved.
Another good example of this can be seen in Vantage Point (2008). The film tells of an assassination attempt and repeats the incident over and over again from many different viewpoints of the characters involved. By witnessing the event happening from various perspectives you catch details that you would otherwise have missed. This way you are able to see the big picture and understand how and why certain things are happening.

Guillermo Del Toro "Masters of Horror"

The genius that is Del Toro



After re-watching the masterpiece that is Pans Labyrinth and searching for more of Del Toro i found this interview on You Tube and thought I would share. Interesting info on his early experiences of horror and how he created his own special effects.