11 posts tagged “animation”
today i saw what is now one of my new favorite stop motion works, komaneko: the curious cat, at the sf international animation festival. it is the first major japanese feature-length stop motion film and is quite endearing.
Komaneko is a burgeoning animator. She creates puppets and sets, then films them stop-motion style. She has a series of adventures with her friends Radi-Bo, a ghost and a Bigfoot-like creature whom she tries to document with her 8mm camera. Featuring a sweet soundtrack with little dialogue, except a few strategically placed “meow, meow, meows,” Komaneko: The Curious Cat depicts new friendships, creativity and the conflicting emotions that accompany a childhood filled with wonder. Director Tsuneo Goda has created Japan’s first major stop-motion animated film. It is a delicate, beautiful and undeniably cute work enlivened through brilliant technique.
i need distraction. i need the seratonin flowing. just when i needed the porny, seductive sounds of 5.1 surround DVD-A, i catch a citation in one of my millions of computer UI windows open this morning that there is a plaid 5.1 DVD i hadn't known about, a collaboration with bob jaroc: Greedy Baby.
Developed over 4 years, Greedy Baby has evolved out of a relationship between Plaid and filmaker and animator Bob Jaroc, touring and continually developing their live audio-visual show to audiences from Buenos Aries, to Tokyo, Istanbul, London’s Imax and beyond.
The creation of this new album and dvd was made with tracks and video passing back and forth, inspiring and informing either parties in creative exchange.
Greedy baby is a moody body of work that is at times angry and haunted and other times, warm opulent and lively. This is a true creative exchange so darkness (inspired by these dangerous days) in the animation is fleshed out with light in the music and visa versa, so a balance is struck.
For this soundtrack Plaid's music is very rich, with a classic soundtrack feel, Plaid's electronics fleshed out with thoughtful arrangements with strings, choral voices, thembe and bossa piano. What is more the album was written in 5.1 surround sound specifically for the audio visual experience, which makes it a unique piece of work and an incredible experience for the eyes and ears.
the album isn't simply a 5.1 implementation -- the album was written for 5.1. swoon. shipping from the UK couldn't be too quick.
Video: Show us a clip from your favorite cartoon.
GUESS WHAT JUST SHIPPED!
i'll tell you anyway: bitter films volume one: 1995-2005 - remastered in hi-def from the original negatives. rawk.
at last, all the landmark animated films collected together for the very first time on DVD and lovingly remastered in high definition from their original negatives. with alarming clarity and squiggly detail never before seen outside of theaters...
the special features...
- watching grass grow: animating "the meaning of life"
- the animation show trilogy cartoons
- the bitter films archives: exhaustive history of hundreds of rare materials:
- rare footage from don's earliest cartoons
- original pencil test footage
- deleted sequences
- abandoned "spanky the bear show" footage
- sketch to scene comparisons
- never before seen photos!
- before seen photos!
- "lily and jim" deleted dialogues
- "rejected" trivia captions
- "the meaning of life" special fx audio commentary by don
- "ah, l'amour" bonus 2005 soundtrack
- "lily and jim" reunion commentary with robert may and karin anger
- preview of "everything will be ok"
- "animation show" featurette
- 16 page retrospective booklet
- original animated menus and transitions
/me rubs hands
