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Kung Fu Panda 2D-Animated Sequences in HD
 October 7, 2008 11:21 pm
The website Art of the Title has posted the 2D-animated Dream and End Credits sequences from Kung Fu Panda along with production notes from producer Hameed Shaukat. I know we’ve posted about this before on Cartoon Brew, but these new HD QuickTime files are higher quality than anything that has appeared online and merit a second look. 20 comments posted in Feature Film 
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Amid–
This is a godsend! Thanks for the heads up!
Also, is it just me or is it really refreshing to see something animated like the actual designs. Often while browsing through “Art of” books I find myself wishing that the films looked just liked the production designs.
In this case it was a dream sequence. I would love to see a feature made like this… (sigh)
Seriously, can we not do this? Before everyone gets all gushy about this title sequence *again* can we just not? I’m seriously sadenned and embarrased by everyones clinging desperately to these little sparkles of 2D hope, be it the Kung Fu Panada titles, the five minutes at the start of Enchanted or some newfangled Goofy cartoon.
This is the most pathetic sort of animators stockholm syndrome and it is NOT going to bring about a 2D american renaissance. Those of you who take these tokenistic gestures as positive signs are seriously on the wrong track. Its destructive, unhealthy and regressive to think that way, either for yourselves or for the art form.
Seriously. Those titles have about an accumulative minute of sequential animation in them, which would not have been a big spend for the studio and it is indicative of a swinging trend towards approximately b*gger all. Please, just find another way.
Was this done with traditional 2D animation or a vector based software? it looks like a mixture to me. Does anyone know? Please someone answer as it has been bugging me for ages!
According to the website Amid has linked to, the sequences were done using a mixture of traditional hand drawn tequniques and motion created by Adobe After Effects (ie manipulation of still images over time).
And it works really well!
Yes Tony, you’re right. We should all ignore good work when we see it, because it might give someone false hope of a 2D resurgence. In fact, let’s pretend it never happened and move on to the glorious future.
After reading Amid’s post and the one post that followed, I don’t see anyone pinning their hopes of a 2d revival on these end credits. It just seems like they enjoyed what they saw.
And as far as the impact these end credits have had at the studio, they lead to the creation of 5 2D shorts, which will be released along with the KFP dvd. The shorts were created in house and employed a lot of artists.
Tony,
Not everything can be done in Legos, dude.
The first comment had absolutely nothing to do with any nostalgia for 2D or “clinging” or any such thing; the guy simply said it was refreshing to see original designs so well used/adapted.
Talk about the log in someone’s eye!
Wow, that dream sequence is quite beautiful. I haven’t seen the whole movie yet, but if the film had been done in that style, I’d have been the first in line at the theater. I do intend to watch the film on DVD when it comes out.
If it were 1939, Dreamworks Animation might make ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in sepia tone, with just the opening and ending scenes in Technicolor. Just sayin’.
Thanks Angry Anim, for dragging a broad cultural criticism down to a personal level. Sure makes me glad that I made the effort to care about something enough to have an original opinion.
And for anyone not paying attention to their surroundings long enough and just posting the first retraction that comes into their head, my comment was clearly in no way in reference to the first comment, it was in reference to the whole of the rest of the internets.
Pure classic! Looks great!
Awesomeness!
PS-The (hee, hee) internets (hee, hee, snort).
“these new HD QuickTime files are higher quality than anything that has appeared online and merit a second look.”
Wow, Amid! —that almost sounded like a compliment. :-)
Whether or not this sequence is a sign of things to come is beside the point. It’s fresh, it’s artistically and technically brilliant, and Dreamworks deserves wide praise for their achievement. Thanks for posting it!
Dream sequences may be a bit of a cliche, but they undeniably give free reign to creativity and push the medium in fantastic directions. This ranks with the best of them: “pink elephants” in Dumbo, Dali’s work in Spellbound, and that great piece by the Bros. Quay in Frida. I’m sure there are many others. Oh, yeah: The rabbits are coming, hooray hooray!
Then there was the dream sequence in “Heidi’s Song”…
Tony makes a valid point, whether you agree with him or not. It seems like every 2D post that shows up on here garners a lot of “man, that’s awesome” and “why didn’t they make the whole movie like that”. At the same time, most 3D posts get slagged with “everything in 3D looks the same” and “it would have been better in 2D”.
If you look carefully, he’s not ripping the work – as some apparently concluded – but on the hopes pinned to it. He’s right when he says it’s unhealthy.
Overall this movie was really a big surprise, I actually had alot of fun watching it.
Dreamworks hit it the nail on the head…for the first time in a long time maybe?
So showing enthusiasm for some fresh 2D is considered “unhealthy”?
There’s some of us in the industry who have stuck it out because we just love traditional animation. That’s it. It has nothing to do with wanting it to make a come-back or anything. We love it, we love doing it, and we love studying the history from where it came from.
Anything new is exciting, but to see something of the caliber of
The Kung-Fu Panda titles or the Jamie Hewlett Passion Pictures spots is nothing short of inspiring.
And I don’t think feeling that way is destructive, unhealthy or regressive.
Way to completely miss the point, AA. Or is it ignore…
All I know is this—KUNG FU PANDA came on while I was on a plane, and I was totally smitten by the opening sequence. Then the “real” movie started, and I went back to my book.
Tony- It isn’t really all that bad to show enthusiasm. No one can predict the future so we don’t know what could happen.