Author Archives: Jerry Beck

“Mural Man” by Patrick Jean

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No doubt inspired by the graffiti animation of artist BLU, Patrick Jean (Pixels) directed this commercial for UK’s Passion Pictures, for client Credit Confidential. The live action was shot on location in Buenos Aires.

Credits
Director: Patrick Jean
Producer: Anna Lord
Live Action: Producer: Debbie Crosscup
VFX Supervisor: Neil Riley
CG Production: Manager Aline Ngo
2D Animation: Jerry Forder, Edward Hall
2D painting: Steven Lall, Alan Henry, Tony Clarke
Modelling: Ian Brown
Editor: Jamie Foord
Mural Design: Matt W Moore
Character Design: Yann Benedi and Celine Desrumaux
Music: Eclectic TV
Voice over: Kenneth Crannam

“George the Hedgehog” (Jez Jerzy) trailer

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Here’s what looks like the Polish version of Fritz The Cat: Jez Jerzy (aka George The Hedgehog). It’s based on a comic by RafaÅ‚ Skarżycki and Tomasz LeÅ›niak, and is now an adult feature directed by Wojciech Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski and co-creator Tomasz LeÅ›niak. Animator Leah Shore saw it at SXSW in Austin and couldn’t believe her eyes:

“Its crazy. It used to be a comic book but they turned it into this weird graphic insane feature. Basically its about a hedgehog that drinks a crap load, skate boards, and does a lot of women. Then there’s this neo nazis that work for a scientist that want to kill and clone George to make the ultimate superstar. It bizarre. There’s a lot of bouncing boobies, pustular things and humping of intimate objects.”

Here’s the NSFW trailer:

“My Last Day” by Studio 4ºc

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Here’s something a little different for fans of violent anime: My Last Day, a nine minute animated short commissioned by The JESUS Film Project and animated by Japan’s Studio 4ºC – the production house behind The Animatrix, Genius Party, Tekkon Kinkreet and Mind Game – depicting the crucifixion of Christ through the perspective of one of the thieves killed with him. Anime News Network says this was written by Barry Cook – the director of Disney’s Mulan and Aardman/Sony’s forthcoming Arthur Christmas. It’s a far cry from Cook’s previous shorts, Trail Mix-Up and Off His Rocker.

(Thanks, Aleks Vujovic via Twitch Film )

“Rio” talkback

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Congratulations to our friends at Blue Sky. Bravo! Well done! 72% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, nice reviews in the New York Times and the L.A. Times – and I personally think it’s the Connecticut studio’s best film since the first Ice Age. Carlos Saldanha’s Rio opens today in the U.S.

It’s a traditional audience pleasing adventure comedy, with an assortment of colorful characters, set in a spectacular location. The art direction, voice acting and animation are first rate. The use of 3-D is pretty good too. Is it the most important animated film of the year? Probably not, but I had a few laughs and enjoyed the ride. What did you think?

As usual, our talkback section below is open to those who have seen the film. C’mon, let everyone know what you think.

“Junk” trailer

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Here’s the exquiste trailer for Kirk Hendry’s new short, Junk, which has been selected for competition at Annecy this year. The film was produced at London-based commercial studio th1ng, where Hendry works as a house director.

The film took two years to complete and tells the story of a boy with an obsession for junk food – literally – and the importance of following your “gut instinct”!

A Letter from Grim Natwick (1931)

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Collector Martin Almeyer sent me this curious piece from his animation collection: a 1931 letter (in a Fleischer Studios envelope, above) by Grim Natwick to his Toledo, Ohio friend Matt Zimmer, about his plans to leave New York and join a studio on the west coast. Natwick would land at Ub Iwerks shop and later went onto Disney (on Snow White), back to Fleischer in Miami (on Gulliver), then to Lantz and UPA in Los Angeles.

The letter, posted below, written on a piece of Fleischer animation paper and dated “Lincoln’s Birthday”, isn’t significant – but to animation history junkies like me, its just one more piece of the puzzle and another sliver of insight into the real person behind the pencil.

Hand-drawn “Abilify” commercial

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Feelin’ down about the state of hand drawn animation? I was watching my favorite news channel and spotted this modest, but nicely animated, commercial for the anti-depressant prescription drug, Abilify – and it perked me right up! It was apparently produced out of th1ng (pronounced “thing one”) in London and directed by Neil Boyle (Roger Rabbit, Space Jam), with animation by the talented team of Mike Shorten (Arthur Christmas, The Illusionist), Geoff McDowall and Sam Taylor. Forget the drug – watch this and maybe the animation will cheer you up too:

Credits:
Director: Neil Boyle
Animators: Mike Shorten, Geoff McDowall and Sam Taylor.
Assistant animators: Alan Henry, Ange de Silva and Ed Roberts.

Variety reviews “Winnie The Pooh”

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I would have noted this earlier, but I just spotted it myself. Hollywood trade paper, Variety, posted the first review of Disney’s new Winnie The Pooh feature on its site April 1st, and it appeared in its weekly print edition this past Sunday (issue dated 4/11-17).

The review (by Justin Chang) is luke-warm, but positive. In case you can’t get past Variety’s pay wall, here are a few of the relevant parts:

“This soothingly short 69-minute picture boasts a few touches that, if not exactly crass, have been applied with perhaps too knowing a wink, resulting in a slightly condescending aftertaste.

“Misled by Owl’s iffy reading-comprehension skills, (Pooh and friends) come to believe Christopher Robin has been abducted by the Backson, an ugly, ill-mannered monster that looms ever more fearsomely in their imaginations in “The Backson Song” (the most memorable of the original tunes penned by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez). Performed over an inventive montage of quick-moving chalkboard drawings, this interlude is one of two musical sequences conceived and animated in a bolder, more fanciful style, the other being “Everything Is Honey,” in which Pooh finds himself in a golden-hued wonderland where everything is made of something sweet.

“(The directors) stick to a visual palette that, under Paul Felix’s art direction, retains the two-dimensional, watercolor-based style of the classic Pooh adventures, albeit polished to a high-tech gloss that in no way compromises its retro charm. The desire to stay true to what was lovable and enduring about the originals is palpable throughout, down to the amusing storybook conceit of having the characters interact not only with the narrator (voiced by John Cleese), but also with the letters and punctuation marks on the page.”

The film opened today in Europe. If you’ve seen it, tell us what you think (a U.S. talkback post will be here on July 15th).

Oh, and the photo above was snapped in the hallway of Disney Feature Animation (in the “Hat Building”). It’s a full-length mural, painted on the wall, I suppose to inspire the production staff to think 60s style… and, for the record, Disney never released any film in “Deluxe Color” which was owned back then by 20th Century-Fox. Disney of course, had a long term deal with Technicolorâ„¢ (though they did strike an Eastman Color print on rare occasions), but I digress…

“A Kaffa” from Supinfocom

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Another great film from the French CG university Supinfocom. A Kaffa is the graduation project of Joan Baz, Lionel Caruana, Margaux Demont and Bastien Martin and deals with tyranny, megalomania and a people’s revolution.

Synopsis:
Ruling a land based on a coffee plantation, a megalomanic leader is overcome by paranoia, as he predicts the future of his empire by reading the marks in his coffee cup. He is shadowed by an illusory second self that visits him, warning of an exterior threat. Succumbing to his alter ego, he builds a fort around his people who finally rise up against their ruler.

“Black Sunrise” trailer by Nick Cross

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Nick Cross is one of the most exciting independent talents working today. He’s currently hard at work on his most ambitious project yet – a feature length film called Black Sunrise. Nick’s just completed a trailer for it (below) and is writing a companion book documenting the film’s production. I’m particularly excited about this film, and the footage looks incredible. For more information on this epic project-in-progress, I refer you to the Nick Cross Animation blog. Go Nick!

“Superjail” Season 2

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We are big fans of Adult Swim’s Superjail which has just begun airing its second season each Sunday night at midnight. This Sunday’s episode introduces us to “Lord Stingray”. Series co-creator Christy Karacas tells us:

“He’s kind of a super-villian dude who has his own army, kinda like Cobra… He washes up on Superjail after his base is destroyed and the warden loves him, sees him as an equal and tries to be buddies… but Stingray has other plans for Superjail. This was actually the first one we did but we didn’t air it first… Stingray appears in other episodes later in the season.”

Christy also sent us this sneak preview (thanks, man!):