Animation

Character Sundays: Pepper Ann

Animation, Character Sundays /

Via: Brad Goodchild’s Postfolio Site

Today’s character is Pepper Ann, star of her eponymous TV show that aired on Disney/ABC from 1997 to 2001.

Pepper Ann is a 12 year-old who has a bit of a runaway imagination. Akin to a bit of a dreamer, she imagines scenarios developing in seemingly bizarre and fantastical ways. Despite this, the series is very much grounded in reality, with Pepper’s friends Milo and Nicky acting as her rock throughout the series.

Strong characters were the hallmark of a series that was the first to bring in some of the more complex aspects of life into Disney entertainment. Case in point is Pepper’s absent father, whom she hopes will someday come home, but with the realities of divorce, that is unlikely to happen. This article from the New York Times in 1997 provides a good overview of the series.

Such an unfortunate situation could have easily been pawned off by the creators but instead it is made a main tenant of the show and gives kids watching a sense that characters can also have complex lives.

Pepper Ann is generally very easy going, but displays a steely determination to solve problems and dilemmas. In that regard she consults her conscience, who often appears out of nowhere and whose advice is mostly (?) correct.

As a show, Pepper Ann remains somewhat unique in the realm of animated TV. The show features a lead female protagonist but at the same time is surprisingly gender-neutral. Even though Pepper Ann is a girl, we rarely see her engage in all the stereotypes of one, or act as a tween for that matter. While this is certainly welcome, it is also unfortunately surprising, especially in this day and age, when 12 year olds are practically treated as adults.

Although a bit dated by the use of late-90s slang, and most definitely an American show from that period, Pepper Ann remains a great show with a fantastic lead.

Fun fact: A certain Mr. Warburton worked on the show, and random stuff has been known to pop up over on his blog.

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Michael Sporn Needs To Kickstart An Animated Film on Edgar Allan Poe

2 Comments / Animation, Independents /

Independent animator and widely respected blogger, Michael Sporn announced on Wednesday his plan to use Kickstarter to fund a feature-length film on Edgar Allan Poe. Michael is hoping to raise $21,500 and in the space of only a few days has manged to raise almost a quarter of that!

This project serves as a reminder that animation is much more than just the big boys. Independent projects like this are (in my opinion) the future as traditional channels become obsolete thanks to the internet. The connection of creators and fans is becoming ever stronger and the best way to show your support for a project like this is to fund it, and for as low as $5, for a lot of folks, that’s less than a Starbucks coffee!

Embedded below is the video on the Kickstarter site. Watch it before heading over and pledging to a great project.

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Vote Bender B. Rodriguez for DC School Board!

Animation, Futurama /

Via: Nerd Bastards

Such a slogan may not be as outrageous as it sounds.

Via Techdirt, researchers testing an electronic voting system in Washington DC were able to breach the system’s security arrangements and above all, install fictional candidates on the ballot, one of whom happened to be Bender.

Choice comments from Slashdot include:

Why not Zoidberg?

If elected I promise to KILL ALL HUMANS! Hey, you said there’d be hookers at this convention.

Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?

 

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Analysing Animation With My Little Pony

2 Comments / Animation /

YouTube user gbaudette has been posting analysis of scenes from, er, My Little Pony. While some may deride the show and its concept, the fact remains that there are more than a few industry veterans either behind or formerly behind it, so it does make sense to look at it from a technique perspective.

Thus far, gbaudette has posted videos on walk cycles, camera moves and the one below, a complex throw shot.

The nice thing about these videos is that they break things down into their elements, and prove that complexity is not necessarily all that it appears.

The series is relatively new, but has racked up over 50,000 views in just two weeks and is well worth checking out if you’re a budding animator.

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12 Years of Putin in 2 Minutes

Animation /

We generally try to stay away from politics on this blog (there’s plenty of time for that down the pub), but I couldn’t resist posting this video by egorhzhgun which takes Vladimir Putin and mashes the last 12 years of his political career with the Simpsons and the original “Noah Takes A Picture of Himself video). At almost 1.4 million views, it’s proving pretty popular.

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Some Choice Quotes From The 2011 Disney Annual Report

Animation /

Disney has finally managed to get their 2011 annual results online, and as always, it includes letter to sharholders and the necessary financial documents as well. Seeing as this is something that animators and animation fans would not normally read, let’s see what kind of stuff they’re saying in there. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to DreamWorks as soon as they get it online)

It kicks off with this piece of marketing fluff:

 Fiscal 2011 was a year of great accomplishment for The Walt Disney Company, marked by creativity and innovation across our businesses globally, record financial results and numerous important steps to position the Company for the future.

In other words, we did our job the same as always and hope to continue doing so in the future.

From there we get to this statement:

Our financial and capital strength has allowed us to make important near and long term investments, two of the most significant being Pixar and Marvel. Animation is the heart and soul of Disney, and since becoming part of the Company nearly six years ago, Pixar has greatly advanced Disney’s animation studio with incredible creativity and technological innovation as well as bringing us beloved new characters, magical stories, and an unprecedented number of hit movies. With Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, we have just begun to mine Marvel’s rich roster of characters and stories, and leverage them across our businesses to create all-important franchises.

I’m quite curious as to why a deal made 6 years ago needs to be included in the annual report like it happened this year. It also basically admits that animation at Disney was broken beyond repair.

Moving along:

And nearly 20 years after its debut, last fall’s extraordinarily successful re-release of The Lion King in 3D reminded us of the magic of Disney storytelling and how it touches people’s lives generation after generation.

I’m sure the fact that you’re still in business helps in that regard.

There’s the new releases:

 Two new animated features debut in 2012, starting in June with Disney-Pixar’s Brave, featuring a feisty heroine on a grand adventure in the Scottish highlands. Then, in November, Disney Animation Studios brings us, Wreck-It Ralph, a journey across the arcade through every generation of video games.

I’m just trying to imagine Bob Iger saying “feisty heroine”.

From there, we move into the 10-K, a substantial document that lays out the company’s business, how it does business and how it was conducted over the past year. It’s a lot of boring numbers for the most part, but there are still a few nuggets in there.

On the Disney Channel in Russia:

On November 18, 2011, the Company acquired a 49% ownership interest in the Seven TV network from UTH Russia Limited (UTH) for $300 million. The Seven TV network will be converted to an ad-supported, free-to-air Disney Channel in Russia.

On the company’s theatrical business:

We generally produce and distribute live-action family films and full length animated films.

So here, finally, after 23 pages do we get to animated films. What this represents is just how far down the list of priorities animation really is for the company (the TV stations and theme parks came first don’t you know). This should be a reminder that for Disney, animation is only a small part of doing business, despite what Bob Iger says in his letter.

Then there’s the risk factors (emphasis is their’s):

The success of our businesses is highly dependent on the existence and maintenance of intellectual property rights in the entertainment products and services we create.

The value to us of our intellectual property rights is dependent on the scope and duration of our rights as defined by applicable laws in the United States and abroad and the manner in which those laws are construed. If those laws are drafted or interpreted in ways that limit the extent or duration of our rights, or if existing laws are changed, our ability to generate revenue from our intellectual property may decrease, or the cost of obtaining and maintaining rights may increase.

The unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights may increase the cost of protecting these rights or reduce our revenues. New technologies such as the convergence of computing, communication, and entertainment devices, the falling prices of devices incorporating such technologies, and increased broadband internet speed and penetration have made the unauthorized digital copying and distribution of our films, television productions and other creative works easier and faster and enforcement of intellectual property rights more challenging. There is evidence that unauthorized use of intellectual property rights in the entertainment industry generally is a significant and rapidly growing phenomenon. Inadequate laws or weak enforcement mechanisms to protect intellectual property in one country can adversely affect the results of the Company’s operations worldwide, despite the Company’s efforts to protect its intellectual property rights. These developments require us to devote substantial resources to protecting our intellectual property against unlicensed use and present the risk of increased losses of revenue as a result of unlicensed digital distribution of our content and sales of unauthorized DVDs, Blu-ray discs and other products.

With respect to intellectual property developed by the Company and rights acquired by the Company from others, the Company is subject to the risk of challenges to our rights in intellectual property by third parties. Successful challenges to our rights in intellectual property may result in increased costs for obtaining rights or the loss of the opportunity to earn revenue from the intellectual property that is the subject of challenged rights. The Company is not aware of any challenges to its intellectual property rights that it currently foresees having a material effect on its operations.

While this essentially lays out why it is important for the company to be able to control its content (and thus charge money to do so), it does not take technological an societal advances into account, and as an investor, this rearward looking view should be of some concern.

The rest of the document is filled with lovely numbers and ratios that I would love to share but would ultimately bore you to death with.

Once DreamWorks gets their 10-K up, we’ll have a look at that, and compare Disney with a “real” studio.

 

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Why FOX Can’t Seem To Get Animation Right Again

2 Comments / Animation, FOX /

FOX is well known for being the only consistent purveyor of animation on broadcast TV. Ever since 1989 when The Simpsons burst onto our screens, the network has been the only maintream network where animation has found success. The others do not lack for want of trying however, they’ve just never been able to crack the nut in the same way that FOX has.

It’s also well known that FOX has had problems over the years moving outside it’s traditional animation strongholds. Besides the Simpsons, the network has had only two other bona fide animated hits in King of the Hill and Family Guy. There were other shows, better shows, but none managed to last more than a few seasons (we’ll get to the McFarlane spin-offs in a minute).

Naturally, FOX hasn’t been resting on its laurels but has been actively searching for potential replacements for its incumbent shows. Its success in that regard has been lackluster to say the least. Family Guy is the only show to have come close to toppling the Simpson’s strangelhold on the network, and even then it was canned before it was brought back to life after a year and half.

Since then it has become a massive success, which has lead to the two spin-off shows in American Dad and The Cleveland Show. However, all three shows and the Simpsons are essentially the same formula in that they revolve around a family. Now that’s not to say its a bad thing, but it does tend to limit your audience if you do that. Besides, the McFarlane children exist only because of Seth’s midas touch and his accute wisdom to stay within his safety zone; unlike Matt Groening, who went beyond with Futurama and got burned because of it.

Secondly, FOX is broadcasting shows whose formulae are well out of date. The Simpsons is 20+ years old, Family Guy is almost a teenager. Yes, the shows have kept ‘up-to-date” but they are still rooted in those eras. Things just aren’t the same as they were back in the day. Styles and tastes have moved on. Admittedly FOX has attempted to catch up but its efforts with Futurama and Sit Down, Shut Up were pathetic to say the least.

Lastly, we need to ask ourselves if big-budget scripted animated shows of the caliber of the Simpsons and Family Guy are even worth creating any more? The historical context is that broadcast networks drew a much larger audience than cable. But everyone and their wife knows that broadcast ratings for even the highest shows are perilously close to those of cable. The fractitous nature of the viewing audience has resulted in a proliferation of networks that cater to more nuanced tastes. Thankfully some of those tastes have included animation.

So the question is not really why can’t FOX get another animated hit so much as should it even bother trying?

My position is that it should not, at least not on the scale that it currently produces. If animated shows are to survive in “broadcast” TV they need to be leaner and smarter and sadly FOX is searching for neither.

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When Chris Rock Pissed Off Some Real Voice Actors

3 Comments / Animation /

So you may have seen Chris Rock present the Best Animated Feature at last week’s Academy Awards (I did not, sleep was more important to me at that stage of the day), and you may have noticed that he apparently loves doing voice work in animation. If you didn’t see it, the clip is here, but before you click, please take a moment to admire the idiocy of the Academy for putting it online but disabling embedding.

What I’m sure Chris meant by all of this was to slag off the live-action folks who go into animation thinking that it’s an easy gig. We’ve all seen it before, where in the “making of” you hear said actor gush about how they can show up to work in jeans or shorts or hotpants or whatever. The only problem is that Rock comes off as a bit self-congratulatory when he mentions he earns a million dollars.

What you may not have seen or heard was the aftermath of his speech, which took place over on twitter in the days following the awards, when respected voice-actor Maurice LaMarche had this to say:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/174532519457329154″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/174732544145764352″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/174752694488154112″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/174834448792158208″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/174839487661228033″]

So Maurice was pretty pissed, but how about Tara Strong? She decided to take the humorous route instead:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/tarastrong/status/173979076258832386″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/tarastrong/status/173989067535564800″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/tarastrong/status/173992141775839232″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/tarastrong/status/174003560881725440″]

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Wired’s Geekdad on Mo-Cap

Animation /

The article may be a week old, but I can’t help writing about it.

It’s a regrettably misguided article that makes a few presumptions about animation and motion-capture while simultaneously rounding on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for failing to see technological advancements when it’s staring them in the face.

Let’s start with this paragraph:

Ever since the Lord of the Rings films, it seems the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn’t quite know what to do with this technology, which translates an actor’s movements into the digital realm. Is it animation? Special effects? Trickery? Do performances have to be “live” to qualify as acting? And what exactly defines animation?

Well, let’s see, performance is generally defined as including much more than just movement. It is the expression, tone of voice, the setting. All of it goes into a performance, whether it is live-action or animated.

What mo-cap purposes to do is take live actions and transfer them into a “virtual” space where they can be dressed in layers of clothing, settings and yes, movement.

The article continues:

I’d argue that most voters in the animation category probably find something intrinsically fake or cheap about motion-capture-generated cartoons, that they’re a shortcut compared to old-school, animate-each-frame-of-movement cartoons.

Well, yes, they are! Traditional animation depends on the animator to create movement. Now you could argue that rotoscoping is no different. And you would be right, except that even rotoscoping was done frame by frame. Mo-cap is not; the entire performance is transferred intact to the virtual space.

Lastly, we get to the final paragraph:

The only question is, when the Oscar is someday awarded for a motion-capture performance — and some day, it will be — does the actor accept the award solo? Or, accompanying him or her onstage, should there also be the team of animators, artists and technicians who made the entire performance possible?

Let’s put it in simple terms. The Academy does not recognise animation as it currently exists as being “acting”. That just isn’t the way it is. And as for having any animators up on stage? Forget it. The only way for an animator to get on stage at the Oscars is to do a short film.

That is where the whole idea of including mo-cap falls short. The Oscars (and awards in general) are all about individuals. Individual actors, directors, technicians, etc. Yes, they all worked as part of a team and they had a multitude of people supporting them, but in the end, they had a degree of responsibility that enabled them to take the credit.

You simply cannot assume that an actor using mo-cap is any more deserving of the performance than the entire team that worked with them. On the other hand, animators can be more deserving because they can assume the degree of responsibility necessary to take credit.

Mo-cap as a technology is fascinating, but to infer that it is deserving of inclusion into an existing category or even a category of its own is a false belief. Until mo-cap can be distilled into a single talent, it is likely to remain on the fringes of performance recognition.

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What Don Bluth Did After He Left Disney

Animation /

Ah the fun stuff you discover by accident.

So Don Bluth left Disney in 1979 and set up his own studio. However, his first commercial production wasn’t a film. Nope, it was the video below, which, unfortunately, blended a great soundtrack (from Electric Light Orchestra) and animation with a film that was roundly panned. Anyways, enjoy this full-on example of 80s culture from Xanadu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6IaURfFpLQ

And as a bonus, here’s a choice comment that I just had to share:

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