It was nice seeing the footage from Ratatouille, especially that sequence with the main character preparing a meal, that looked expertly choreographed.

Though, I couldn’t help but grin at the big difference between morning news spots like this and the podcast featuring Brad Bird that was posted a week or so ago. When the lady on the news spot said things like “Today animation is computerized” and then telling the audience for the umpteenth time that animation takes longer than when you’re working with actors. I guess the thing about most news spots like this is they’re not in anyway focused. In total maybe 20% or less actually dealt with the making of or the plot of Ratatouille. The rest of the spot dealt with quickly educating the audience about what animation is or the neat things that go on inside Pixar studio. Reports like these are why people can get away with calling some-new-3D-trick the next “breakthrough” technology; featurettes like these do little to nothing to attempt to educate people about what animation really is.

I am curious about this live action Brad Bird movie that was mentioned at the end of the spot.

Based on what i heard in the segment, Brad’s next film will be “live action.”

Pixar really seems to prove that “all work and no play” won’t make one very sucessful in the movie biz!
Like everyone else, I’m very curious what Brad Bird has in store for us next…

Definitly an interesting clip. Here’s what imdb says on Bird’s next film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832278/
Perhaps somebody’s read the book?

No disrespect to Bird (I’ve always been a fan of his), but this entertainment news segment seems to come around every few years. And every time, they love to push that whole ‘those crazy animators have toys and can eat during business hours’ angle. Of course, the big difference now is they have to stress that creating animation by hand is a bygone practice once utilized by wizards and cavemen.

I guess I shouldn’t complain, at least this time it’s about a movie I want to see and a man I respect.

i liked when the reporter at the end was trying to tell us how those tricky animators make han solo and peter pan believable…she’s gone and let the cat out of the bag!

These segments are always lame because the interviewer is usually clueless about the film making process. It’s the same old, “you wacky animation people have so much fun!”

In spite of this, Brad came off very well. Better than most in a silly, contrived situation like this.

[...] para los amantes del cine, después de la entrevista a Brad Bird, hay otra entrevista con el diseñador de producción Rick Heinrichs (Frankenweenie, Vincent, Pee-wee’s Big [...]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Brad’s going to do a live-action flick next (he co-wrote a screenplay to a film that was my fav 20 years back called “*batteries not included”), I have faith in him.

This is a very nice blog. I am a student in aniamtion and I guess I’ll have to follow this blog to gain some information.
Really, there is so much to learn and so little time.

What an insipid reporter. Shouldn’t interviewers have a bit more background knowledge than that? I’m not asking for much, just stop making those “light jokes” that make everyone who knows a little bit more than you cringe in embarassment.

Maybe this is why Hayao Miyazaki almost never does television appearances?

Brad Bird came off as well as you could expect, though.

With the exception of the newscasters, I was totally thrilled to see the film clips. I have tremendous admiration for Brad Bird and how he works. He firmly believes that animation is an art form, and not a genre. And I am totally with him on that. I am looking forward to RATATOUILLE very much. The first trailer really gave a good vibe.

Man, the animation on the Rat is so nice and flexible - without being rubbery. It feels drawn. I can’t wait to see this.

posted below is the synopsis for the novel 1906. it also exists as a dvd documentary, i think.

Every disaster has a backstory, none more thrilling than this one. Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning tale of political corruption, vendettas, romance, rescue—and murder—is based on recently uncovered facts that forever change our understanding of what really happened. Told by a feisty young reporter, Annalisa Passarelli, the novel paints a vivid picture of the Victorian-era city, from the mansions of Nob Hill to the underbelly of the Barbary Coast to the arrival of tenor Enrico Caruso and the Metropolitan Opera. Central to the story is the ongoing battle—fought even as the city burns—that pits incompetent and unscrupulous politicians against a coalition of honest police officers, newspaper editors, citizens, and a lone federal prosecutor. With the appeal and texture of The Alienist, Carter Beats the Devil, and the novels of E. L. Doctrow, James Dalessandro weaves unforgettable characters and actual events into a compelling epic. Movie rights to the novel have been bought by Barry Levinson/SpringCreek Productions/Warner Brothers. The movie will enter pre-production soon.

To be fair to the reporter, she probably has to put two or three of those segments together each week, on unrelated topics, for an audience she must presume has zero background knowledge. She can’t be an expert on everything but as a surrogate for the audience she is asking the questions that “everyman” might ask if he had 60 seconds to talk to Brad Bird. If we want the audience to be truly knowledgeable about animation we need to send them to animation school. But do we want them to be? I think it was better when they thought it was all magic.

- Of course, the big difference now is they have to stress that creating animation by hand is a bygone practice once utilized by wizards and cavemen.

Those are the type of little news reports I often hate having to be told over and over. The problem I have with reports like this is that often the media assumes the average joe is oblivious to art or the aethetics of it (let alone appreciation thereof), and doing anything by hand is seen as tedious (such as with animation). They obviously wanted to hype up more the aspects that these guys get to do these leisurely fun stuff at work than wanting to mention the film itself.

- Maybe this is why Hayao Miyazaki almost never does television appearances?

Perhaps (is the Japanese media that way too). Being reminded there was a 6-hour long documentary on Princess Mononoke alone a friend send me a copy of!

Being reminded the brief clip from The Simpsons they showed of Brad’s directorial effort, “Krusty Gets Busted”, showed the opening where his “directed by” credit is on the screen, though the crappy ABC banner had to cover that up!

And of course they had to gloss over “Iron Giant” too (though I wouldn’t put it passed them anyway, let alone the side mention that Disney owns Pixar like we haven’t already heard, my local ABC O&O has to do that too to annoy me, as to why I stopped watching).

Being reminded, there’s a really GOOD panel discussion/Q&A session that was held at the Computer History Museum a few years ago that Brad Bird, Ed Cathmull, Andrew Stanton and a couple others guys attended that should also not be missed too from this link!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4617804532425813974

It lasts a good 100 minutes and Brad gets to field out a lot of good questions at the end.

[...] link: entrevista ABC (vía: cartoonBrew) [...]