Falling Sky

TFOF: 17 Aug - 30 Aug

The extra 'f' is for fortnight.  And with two weeks to march through, no time to waste!  (Click below to see the full post, since there's oodles in it)

It Is Your Destino

WOAH.  Fucking WOAH.  I can't see this staying available on YouTube for long, so watch it while you can.  It's the 2D/CG animated short Destino made by Walt Disney Animation in 2003, based around a planned coproduction between Disney and Salvador Dali back in 1945 that never made it beyond storyboard stage.  As far as I know, there's never been the opportunity to watch it in the UK (except for a couple of months at the Tate Modern in 2007), so I'm tickled pink that it's been sitting on YT for the last couple of months, but knowing the mighty powers of the Mouse it won't last.  According to this it'll be getting a DVD release next year which will be an absolute must-own, but until then make do with the six minutes of wonder above.  Pristine animation in both hand-drawn and CG form, astonishing surrealism, like a perfectly rendered dream, this mix of imagination, music and motion is exactly what I've always loved about animation.

Get Up!

Get on Up!

Spotted, appropriately enough, at Enrico 'Pixar story artist' Casarosa's blog.

Ooooh, LOVELY

New trailer for Coraline, linked from Neil Gaiman's Journal.  This really deserves to be seen in HD, you know.

Based on the splendid book by Mr Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick, him of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline is a fully animated film - and, like TNBC, that's 3D model animation by hand rather than CGI, though the movements are so fluid, so beautifully done that you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.  The source book is ostensibly for children but can be appreciated by anyone, a fantasy that gradually morphs into horror, effectively sinister yet PG-rated, helped along by illustrations from Dave McKean.  I've been looking forward to this film for some time, and the second half of the above trailer suggests they've not shied away from the spookier elements of the book.  When you've watched that, check out the Quicktime trailer - the content's not quite as eerie, but the picture quality is divine and shows just how superb the animation and art direction is.  If only us plucky Brits didn't have to wait until flipping May for it...

Now, about those eyes of yours...

UPDATE (24/1): Seen on Enrico Casarosa's blog just now - AWN has an interview with Tadahiro Uesugi who produced concept art for the film of Coraline, including examples of that work, and it's excellent.  The design is intriguing, reminiscent of Disney concept artwork for 101 Dalmatians or UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing.  Well worth a look.

Hayao Miyazaki Knows The Score

Ghibliworld has posted translated excerpts of a recent interview with animation god Hayao Miyazaki. My hunger for seeing Ponyo has been only temporarily sated by the majesty of Wall-E, but I'll be frothing at the mouth and gnawing my kneecaps soon enough, no doubt. And, as these quotes show, not only is he the finest creator of animated features in the history of the medium - he understands.

...Natsume Soseki once told that humans tend to have an autonomic imbalance when civilization progresses. Because we are always living in crowds, we need time to be alone. If we live alone and have a simple life, the autonomic imbalance gets better. By simple life I mean to cook and wash by myself, take a walk, read and sleep and repeating it everyday.
[...] All I could hear was the bush warblers tweeting in the woods and the engine sound of the fisher boats. Each boat had a different sound. So quiet.
[...] We live in a virtual reality like world. We consume things manufactured in backstreet factories somewhere in far away countries we don't know. Basically, we should eat things we make by ourselves. I do not believe a system like this can continue.
[...] In a certain sense, staying for 45 years in the anime industry is a very rare thing. Sorry to have spend so much paper. Seems I have spend paper and pencils mostly. Animation wastes a lot of resources. It’s not good. Looking around Tokyo from the top of the NTV building, I wish everything will sink under the sea. It is a useless apology that I'm making good films or working for children, I just happened to have a had job that has karma. All I can do is make animation. It is a kind of an atonement that I made a nursery. However, I'm not forgiven or have corrected any balance. I keep walking in the twilight (laughing).

Sings, Fall Apart

Radiohead's camera-free video for House of Cards went live this week, and by golly it's a treat, like the Matrix seen through a pinpression board:

There's a full page up at Google Code about this, including a genuinely interesting Making Of and details on how the data generated in the scanning-as-filming can be download for your own creative thrills. Now if I could just put that data into Manic Miner...

Any Chance Of A Bakery Franchise?

Just a couple of hours after I wrote the previous post, I see this on the GhibliWiki News page and it just makes me want to get the first train/ferry combo to Japan, all for the sake of some baked goods. I love living in a world where something like this can happen - if only it wasn't on the other side of the planet...

Mystery Cream Puff Shop

A shop named The cream puff studio of the white mustache opened on May 5. The following is known:
- The shop sells a single item, a cream puff of Totoro, and only sells about 100 per a day.
- This is the only shop which officially recognizes by Studio Ghibli.
- A single worker runs the shop
- It's located in a quiet residential neighborhood
- The picture on the site's opening splash screen appears to have been drawn by Miyazaki.
- The name of the Representative Director is Kyoko Miyazaki. According to shop, it is a secret who is she.
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.

The artwork on the website certainly has that Miyazaki feel and I curse my ignorance of the Japanese language for not having a scooby what the site actually has to say. Still, puffs! Totoro puffs!

In other Ghibli news, GhibliWorld has a cracking piece of concept art up from the upcoming Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea that's well worth a look for any fans of the mighty Miyazaki - check it out. You can lose yourself in those colours. Ponyo puffs anyone?

What's That Floating In The Water?

Not old Neptune's only daughter - it's a teaser poster for the next animated feature from Studio Ghibli by the godlike genial genius that is Hayao Miyazaki.

The film will be called Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo On A Cliff) and is reportedly about a goldfish princess who wants to become human.  There's an official website, but as it's completely in Japanese you may prefer to check out the Wikipedia page or Nausicaa.net, while keeping up with the news at GhibliWorld.  The prospect of a Miyazaki film using a distinct handpainted watercolour look is tantalising indeed, and could end up being the non plus ultra of the underwater-animated-feature genre alongside Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid and Help I Am A Fish, a film only notable for being translated into French as Gloups! Je Suis Un Poisson! which is exceedingly satisfying to say out loud, preferably in an outraged French accent.  Go ahead, try it!

Technorati Tags: ghibli, miyazaki

Ready, Steady, Django

Remember my March post where I pretty much disowned any future interest in Sylvain Chomet after reading that animation production for his CG-animated film had been shunted down south?  Well, turns out that a 2D animation is still going ahead in Edinburgh - and, after two years of absolutely sod-all web presence (googling 'django animation edinburgh' still brings up Falling Sky, which is frankly ridiculous!), a fully functional website.  Well, chuff me!  The following was posted on Animation Nation last week:

Django Films is proud to be in production on the feature film “The Illusionist”.

The film, directed by Sylvain Chomet and based upon a script by French filmmaker Jacques Tati, promises to be a visually stunning follow up to 2003's Academy Nominated "Les Triplettes de Belleville "(Belleville Rendez-Vous).

Django Films is currently looking for talented animators and artists for this production to work in our studios in Edinburgh, Scotland. We will be in Paris on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September to review portfolios and conduct interviews with candidates for all positions. If you would like to meet with us and show us your work please arrange a meeting by contacting 'Recruitment' at jobs@djangofilms.co.uk. This will be by appointment only.

Please bring with you a portfolio/ showreel and appropriate postage if you would like these returned.
Please see www.djangofilms.co.uk for more details.

So over to Django Films we look - and, behold, under 'jobs':

Senior Animators
Start dates: end of Oct/ early November/ early December 2006
Expected completion date: Late 2008
For this role, we are looking for animators with experience of working in a professional studio. This is essential. By senior, we mean at least 2 production credits on feature films as a lead animator/ animator. However, we do consider this as a guide only. We look at portfolios and showreels in their own right and are looking for talent and not just production credits.
Senior Layout Artist / Comic Artist
Start dates: Ongoing
Expected completion date: Late 2008
Talented artists with at least 3 years professional experience, able to work as a team with possible progression to animation.

For the l33t readers out there, they're also after an IT Systems Administrator.  So, somewhat belatedly, it's on after all.  And I'm, applying, right?  Er, no.

For one thing, I suspect my posts here may have burned any such bridges.  Even if they haven't (it's possible that Studio Django/Django Films haven't googled themselves over the last few years) there's that requirement for 2 production credits on feature films, whereas I haven't done diddly outside of a college/university setting.  And, ultimately, would I really enjoy the work?  Could I rely on it the way I can rely on the civil service?  Nah.  A couple of years ago I'd have said yes in a flash, but things have changed.  For anyone going for these jobs, I wish them all the luck in the world (and, yes, if you end up getting a job there thanks to this website, you DO owe me a pint or two, it's the law).  Personally though, I need a job with solid security, relatively easy-going responsibility and the chance to be creative in my free time.  Sadly, I've pretty much fallen out of love with animation and settled for paint and pencils instead.  If things had happened when they were supposed to, well, it'd be a very different story, but these days I've no desire to inbetween for a living.  There's multitudes of animators out there, some of which'll be happy to lurch over to Auld Reekie and become part of The Illusionist - there but for the grace of time go I.

Sweet Christing Chuff!

You think you've seen it all, then you sit down one evening and happen to watch this:

Someone sign this sick genius up pronto.