This time around, I decided to compile several Disney feature films, because after Bambi, Disney went into a crisis fueled in part by the World War II, and part by a workers' strike in the Disney corporation.
As WWII raged in Europe and the U.S. begun its campaign against Germany, Disney faced financial uncertainty when sales went down due to the war cutting all revenue from europe, and it also coincided with a animator's strike which where not being payed well. Because of this, and Walt Disney signed a deal with the U.S. government to make a sympathy trip to Latin America, to rally support to the Allies and away from the Nazis, and to create a film pro-Allies.
In Latin America, the group known simply as "El Grupo" absorbed as much as they could about the cultures they visited. El Grupo spewed out a well intentioned cartoon featuring donald, goofy, and a new character modeled on a stereotypical, but charming Brazilian parrot. The film itself is a combination of a classical 40s-50s style documentary, with fatherly voiceover, and an experiment in song, and color. It starts as El Grupo begins its adventure to Latin America, and how they got their inspiration. Afterwards the viewer is eased into the Peruan culture in the form of Donald as the american tourist (which apparently was held in high regard at the time) as he tries to struggle with grasping the culture around him, symbolized in the form of a lama. After another short of 'Pepe' a small airplane we are presented by another American diving in the Chilean culture, this time Goofy. With an americanized comparison between the cowboy and the gaucho. Little regard for a continuation of style from previous Disney films is given here, instead a more stylized form of rendering is favored that would favor color and form over line and realistic interpretation of life. This style was introduced by Mary Blair, an animator and spouse of Lee Blair, which was a ate invite to El Grupo, but at the end it was her style which was influenced by the culture in Brazil, Chie and Peru that in turn influence the style in future Disney films. In Aquarela do Brazil the film wraps up the full expresion of music and color (or at least tries to) with a free form expresion of color, shapes and music. combining Donald and Pepe with surrealist images of Brazil.
On previous Disney feature films there where instances when live action and animation where combined, but to a certain extent. In one of the sections in The Three Caballeros, in the 1945 feature film, a "Bella" was introduced as the love focus of Donald; with a live action set, Donald and Jose Carioca (the Parrot) dancing in between her in other courters. The film also introduces a new character, Panchito Pistolas, a rooster with Mexican revolutionary clothing. Which in turn introduces Las Posadas, a Mexican tradition, in the form of moving pictures slide show. Closing the film is a number of Donald falling to said "Bella." Donald's Surreal Reviere, a pure expresion of color, and live animation experimentation. Which had a taste of Dumbo's drunken nightmare, coupled with a strange mushroom trip. Not much in terms of stylization inovation was presence here, instead a sense of relief that animators can animate and Disney can continue is presence in these films.
The Disney crisis is perhaps best represented, and blatantly so, in the second short of Fun and Fancy Free, wich chronicles Mickey, Goofy and Donald in a crisis in which inspiration has been literally taken away by a giant goof to his castle in the heavens. This makes the valley in which they reside to become barren and dead, with only one cow to milk in the barn, the three characters begin to turn on each other. A very apt metaphor of was was happening in the Disney studio. The brown palette of the dead valley is transformed with the transition in the form of the magic beanstalk. which transports the Disney corp... ehem Mickey, Donald and Goofy to the heavenly palace, which is filled with Axis-airplane-sound-mosquitoes. It seems that the threat of WWII looms even in the world of Mickey. But at the end the harp in question is rescued and all animation, color and sound is restored where Mickey resides. A hopefull wish by Disney no doubt.
With Melody Time, disney seems to take a break from expresion and doing art for art's sake. or rather for comedy's sake.The audience is introduced to cute stories about winter, bumble bees and several other characters. Most notable are Jonhy apple seed and Pecos Bill. Two characters and stories that would be imposible to mass produce now. The former being on a christian fable about the boy who conquered the west with peace and God. The latter about the idiot gringo who conquered it with brute and dumb luck. Still funny and amusing stories, with a clear style that would dictate the visuals of upcoming classical feature films.
The last film the would lead up to another major animated Disney film is broken up into two stories. Both set in a colonial backdrop.Most likely to give a sense of mystery and enchantment, but still firmly set in reality. In Mr. Toad's adventures, human and animals are interchangeable, much like in Pinocchio's world, where animals are the literal form of the character's role, or actions. But now the action is more light hearted than a fable with a moral at the end. There is a strange court in which the film does try to be political, and it is satyrical to some extent. But mostly depends heavily in slapstick comedy. The second short is the adventure of Ichabod which tells the story of Sleepy Hollow. Again a comedy bid with a thin layer of morality stacked over it. Bot mostly the misadventures of two courters, a brute and a goofy intelectual fighting over a beautiful woman. The short is not well written, an end abruptly, but does entertain with flashy animation, and a comical set between Ichabod and his horse. Which anthropomorphic character is introduced and disposed of in the last few frames of the short.
While entertaining, these films where used as a sort of buffer to keep Disney from bankrupting. And the films did serve as a sort of training ground for the animation and style of future Disney films to be laid out for several years.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Disney Feature Films: Bambi or PETA: THE BEGINNING
Released in 1942, Bambi must have been a break from war and war propaganda. Bambi is a baroque painting in movement, taking directly from The Pastoral Symphony from Fantasia, this feature is truly the culmination of all the lessons learned from the first features. For a film that everything in it is beautiful, the introduction song "Love is a song that never ends" is an emotional piece that fits perfectly with all the "fluff" of this baroque film. With an Accented Analogic color scheme, Bambi is set to have a clear union of color and animation, it is a painting in movement more than its predecessors. Bambi was postponed a few films, it was supposed to be the second film after Snow White, but because technically it wasn't possible to fulfill what Bambi needed, it had to wait a few years for its release. The final product is a statement of the lessons learned from the previous films; the experimentation of effects in Fantasia, the rotoscoping and character creation in Dumbo, all applied to this moving painting.
Bambi starts more like a film from the time than a cartoon, as a series of beautiful paintings slide show passes in the intro credits, we pan thru the forest filled with greens and turquoise shades, gradually introducing increasingly complementary to the green forest animals. The exception being Thumper, which is a light bluish gray, most animals in Bambi are complement to the green lush of the forest background. Including the Owl, which becomes our friendly narrator at times. Much like a freak show spectacle, Bambi is introduced to the animals of the forest, all watching in anticipation as Bambi recognizes the animals as more than shapes. The Owl is seen as the weird uncle as he scares Bambi a little, then monitors the whole visiting of the animals. More fluff! as Bambi learns about the animals in the forest, he has several adventures all designed to make the viewer fall in love with all the animals in the forest. More so with the thunder sequence in which it is portrayed almost exclusively sans special effects, relying mostly in the orchestra to convey the mood of a thunderstorm. And although it is a scary thunderstorm for Bambi, the vocals and little critters running around manage to still keep the scene extremely cute. After the storm, Bambi and his mother head out to the meadow.
The introduction to the meadow is a very intelligent one; it's establishes that it is a very dangerous place, by the dark, almost monochromatic color scheme (with Bambi and his mother as the accent) and more obviously by Bambi's mother establishing it so. After the crescendo of music and birds lets us know that everything is okay, Bambi frolics in the departure of the color scheme from the forest. And the meadow is designed to feel like another world from the forest. Then, the viewer is again introduced to a new element exclusively from Bambi's point of view; another deer. After a playful interaction between the two, the colors in the meadow slowly turn to a more brownish tone, more like Bambi's to announce the coming of the steers. To me, this is the saddest part of the film, after Bambi sees the display of virility from the steers, we (including Bambi) are introduced to Bambi's father. And no other deer is more afraid of him than Bambi. This may be in part to establish a strong and dependent relationship that Bambi and his mother have, and in part to establish the patriarchal family expected in that time. After that small introduction, Bambi is then introduced to the villain of the film: Men. Which makes this film the first "green" film from Disney.
As winter slowly comes, the color scheme in the film turn progressively more monochromatic, as a warning to the viewer of sadder times to come. But first there is a sequence in which Thumper and Bambi play in a frozen lake, which seems to me to be a nod to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. After the viewer is introduced to a grueling, monochromatic winter, we come to a scene where winters seems to be ending, as a warmer light shines thru the forest. As Bambi and his mother discover the patch of grass, everything in the scene tells us to expect a happy scene; the music, the light, the colors, everything previously established. That is until a sudden crescendo of violins and a sudden desaturation of color clue us of the tragedy to come. The viewer is left with a complementary color scheme of blue and brownish orange. As Bambi realizes his mother's death, his father appears in whisks away Bambi into the blue hard winter.
A sudden break from the monotony of winter, the viewer is colorfully introduced to love. Yes, all the following scenes are design to explain the birds and bees to Bambi and his friends. as the color scheme erupts into all sorts of reds, and yellows. Bambi and his friends are slowly picked away by love (even his gay skunk friend). Which I must say that it was brave of Disney to acknowledge the feminine aspect of men, and although it does ridicule it a little, Flower is left to be his own. Until he finds a another skunk, which we are not really sure is a female, could be a high pitched male. Again, as Bambi falls in love, the viewer in introduced to that feeling by a surreal scene of the whole reality morphing into a literal fluff world. That is until the rival appears, which then the scene keeps its surreal motif, but borrows from the drunk scene in Dumbo, to have a very graphic looking battle. After Bambi triumphs, the love scene introduces again a color scheme reminiscent to Bambi's mother death scene, but set in violets and pinks, rather that exclusively blues. The scene goes from this subtle blue-orange complementary to a more stark contrast as men's danger is present again. After the fight scene of Bambi and the dogs, more reminiscent to demons than dogs because of the domestication of men, the viewer again is introduced to the real danger of men; negligence. As the fire spreads, the scene again becomes monochromatic, this time in the other extreme; red. We see a red monochromatic scene until Bambi and his father dive into the blue water. After which we see a slow restoration of colors, as it grows from still a subtle monochromatic, to complementary, to a full accented analogous color scheme. As the forest heals, the film loops to its begging, with Bambi's offspring born, and Bambi deemed the Prince of the forest.
Bambi starts more like a film from the time than a cartoon, as a series of beautiful paintings slide show passes in the intro credits, we pan thru the forest filled with greens and turquoise shades, gradually introducing increasingly complementary to the green forest animals. The exception being Thumper, which is a light bluish gray, most animals in Bambi are complement to the green lush of the forest background. Including the Owl, which becomes our friendly narrator at times. Much like a freak show spectacle, Bambi is introduced to the animals of the forest, all watching in anticipation as Bambi recognizes the animals as more than shapes. The Owl is seen as the weird uncle as he scares Bambi a little, then monitors the whole visiting of the animals. More fluff! as Bambi learns about the animals in the forest, he has several adventures all designed to make the viewer fall in love with all the animals in the forest. More so with the thunder sequence in which it is portrayed almost exclusively sans special effects, relying mostly in the orchestra to convey the mood of a thunderstorm. And although it is a scary thunderstorm for Bambi, the vocals and little critters running around manage to still keep the scene extremely cute. After the storm, Bambi and his mother head out to the meadow.
The introduction to the meadow is a very intelligent one; it's establishes that it is a very dangerous place, by the dark, almost monochromatic color scheme (with Bambi and his mother as the accent) and more obviously by Bambi's mother establishing it so. After the crescendo of music and birds lets us know that everything is okay, Bambi frolics in the departure of the color scheme from the forest. And the meadow is designed to feel like another world from the forest. Then, the viewer is again introduced to a new element exclusively from Bambi's point of view; another deer. After a playful interaction between the two, the colors in the meadow slowly turn to a more brownish tone, more like Bambi's to announce the coming of the steers. To me, this is the saddest part of the film, after Bambi sees the display of virility from the steers, we (including Bambi) are introduced to Bambi's father. And no other deer is more afraid of him than Bambi. This may be in part to establish a strong and dependent relationship that Bambi and his mother have, and in part to establish the patriarchal family expected in that time. After that small introduction, Bambi is then introduced to the villain of the film: Men. Which makes this film the first "green" film from Disney.
As winter slowly comes, the color scheme in the film turn progressively more monochromatic, as a warning to the viewer of sadder times to come. But first there is a sequence in which Thumper and Bambi play in a frozen lake, which seems to me to be a nod to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. After the viewer is introduced to a grueling, monochromatic winter, we come to a scene where winters seems to be ending, as a warmer light shines thru the forest. As Bambi and his mother discover the patch of grass, everything in the scene tells us to expect a happy scene; the music, the light, the colors, everything previously established. That is until a sudden crescendo of violins and a sudden desaturation of color clue us of the tragedy to come. The viewer is left with a complementary color scheme of blue and brownish orange. As Bambi realizes his mother's death, his father appears in whisks away Bambi into the blue hard winter.
A sudden break from the monotony of winter, the viewer is colorfully introduced to love. Yes, all the following scenes are design to explain the birds and bees to Bambi and his friends. as the color scheme erupts into all sorts of reds, and yellows. Bambi and his friends are slowly picked away by love (even his gay skunk friend). Which I must say that it was brave of Disney to acknowledge the feminine aspect of men, and although it does ridicule it a little, Flower is left to be his own. Until he finds a another skunk, which we are not really sure is a female, could be a high pitched male. Again, as Bambi falls in love, the viewer in introduced to that feeling by a surreal scene of the whole reality morphing into a literal fluff world. That is until the rival appears, which then the scene keeps its surreal motif, but borrows from the drunk scene in Dumbo, to have a very graphic looking battle. After Bambi triumphs, the love scene introduces again a color scheme reminiscent to Bambi's mother death scene, but set in violets and pinks, rather that exclusively blues. The scene goes from this subtle blue-orange complementary to a more stark contrast as men's danger is present again. After the fight scene of Bambi and the dogs, more reminiscent to demons than dogs because of the domestication of men, the viewer again is introduced to the real danger of men; negligence. As the fire spreads, the scene again becomes monochromatic, this time in the other extreme; red. We see a red monochromatic scene until Bambi and his father dive into the blue water. After which we see a slow restoration of colors, as it grows from still a subtle monochromatic, to complementary, to a full accented analogous color scheme. As the forest heals, the film loops to its begging, with Bambi's offspring born, and Bambi deemed the Prince of the forest.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Disney Feature Films: Dumbo or If Captain America had Bigger Ears
In the true sense of a Golden Era 1940s movie; released in 1941 Dumbo starts with a string of violins taking the viewer on a brief musical summery of the movie in the opening credits. Dumbo, obviously aimed to small children, and a 180 departure from its previous film Fantasia, is done with bright primary colors, and kid friendly (at the time kid friendly) character designs. Also aimed to boost national pride, Dumbo serves as a military promotional tool for the war front.
After the gorgeous effect of wind and rain, thunder and lightning, we (the audience) hear the distinct sound of a P-51 mustang war airplane (or any generic 1940s mustang motor) to quickly reveal a V formation by a group of storks. This must be the definite 180 degree departure from Fantasia; in Dumbo's world sex does not exist, at all: babies are delivered from heaven by storks. The storks sing in the style popular in the 1940s, and after a series of militar-esque formations the storks decent into a literal map of Florida, again going with popular trend of being overly literal in cartoons; no risks taken in dumbo.As the storks deliver their cargo, one by one the animals are presented, with a beautiful background the audience gets a glimpse of the cages and surroundings.And it is the background that stands alone as a free form artistic expression; those watercolor paintings is what gives Dumbo a uniqueness among other cartoon of its time. As the babies are delivered and the lone elephant fails to receive her delivery, the scene moves forward an introduces the mood setter; the locomotive is the one that gives the audience clues of what the main characters are going go thru. As the train leaves its station, and yells out "lets go!" the stork delivering dumbo is introduced; since it is the stork delivering the main character, it is the only one anthropomized. A very quick introduction of Dumbo's mother, the only shy "proper" female elephant, leads to the revelation of Dumbos unique ears. After this, the locomotive sets the mood for the next act, as the sun sets (with an array of violets, blues, and pinks) the locomotive is presented with a challenge, and she/he/it delivers the clue as to how Dumbo should take the upcoming challenge "I know I can, I know I can."
This brings the viewer with one Dumbo's use of light in dramatic scenes. Now I won't get into Dumbo's use of race, and the negative connotations that the movie's characters portray, but I will say that Dumbo is a movie about the underdog. And although it does stereotype the African American culture, at the same time it puts the culture in the forefront, as with Dumbo, equalizing the underdogs of the era. That said, it is a beautiful rendition of weather, man, and animals in the construction of the circus. Which is accentuated with a blue tint that seems to dominate the color scheme of the feature. Daybreak; and the circus parade is shown, and this is one of the few instances where we see people, which aside from the spectators, the only times that the audience sees full faces and people features is when the people are in costume, or in a performance role. In Dumbo, people are not important, and are seen just like animals might see us, passing blobs of color and light. By the en of the parade, the confrontation scene, where Dumbo's mother, defends Dumbo, and spanks the bully with the big ears. And in a break from Dumbo's propaganda of the American might, in this scene the bully is seen with the same feature of Dumbo's big ears as a form of saying that bullies are just covering up their own insecurities; the strong are not as strong as they appear.
After Dumbo is separated from his mother, and shunned by the elephants, he teams up with the little mouse, who is the voice that Dumbo lacks. And after the failed attempt of stardom, and wrecking the circus Dumbo is made a clown. And he fails by not recognizing his strength and tries to hide his ears. Ike, I mean Dumbo, then goes and sees his mom with the help of the mouse. And in this scene we get the calm before the storm. Dumbo then end up drinking tainted water and gets drunk. This next sequence was the most terrifying thing in my childhood. This was a total display of Technicolor and breaks completely with the soft, almost pastel palette of the feature an dives the viewer into a psychedelic lucid dream. More than discourage the audience from drinking, the dancing elephants manage to entertain Dumbo and the mouse, so much that they end up flying. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The use of lighting and special effects in the psychedelic elephants is impressive, with my favorite being the dancing sequence with the lightning rope thing.
After Dumbo and mouse are awaken in the top of the tree by the very stereotypical southern "crows" thing happen pretty quickly for Dumbo, and the conclusion is almost rushed. This is where Dumbo as the American war machine metaphor is brought to light deliberately; at one point the mouse shouts to Dumbo to "Retract your landing gear. Raise your fuselage." By the time when the circus clowns attempt to kill Dumbo by making jump impossibly high, dumbo gains his confidence and flies and all is well. The audience is then explained the success of Dumbo via a news reel and a song. Lessons where learned from previous features, and this one was done in an economic, but artistic way, leaning toward the economic factors. A classic now, but it was a movie made for marketing and propaganda in its time of release; Dumbo encouraged the American people to endure the difficult time that they where enduring, and did it effectively.
After the gorgeous effect of wind and rain, thunder and lightning, we (the audience) hear the distinct sound of a P-51 mustang war airplane (or any generic 1940s mustang motor) to quickly reveal a V formation by a group of storks. This must be the definite 180 degree departure from Fantasia; in Dumbo's world sex does not exist, at all: babies are delivered from heaven by storks. The storks sing in the style popular in the 1940s, and after a series of militar-esque formations the storks decent into a literal map of Florida, again going with popular trend of being overly literal in cartoons; no risks taken in dumbo.As the storks deliver their cargo, one by one the animals are presented, with a beautiful background the audience gets a glimpse of the cages and surroundings.And it is the background that stands alone as a free form artistic expression; those watercolor paintings is what gives Dumbo a uniqueness among other cartoon of its time. As the babies are delivered and the lone elephant fails to receive her delivery, the scene moves forward an introduces the mood setter; the locomotive is the one that gives the audience clues of what the main characters are going go thru. As the train leaves its station, and yells out "lets go!" the stork delivering dumbo is introduced; since it is the stork delivering the main character, it is the only one anthropomized. A very quick introduction of Dumbo's mother, the only shy "proper" female elephant, leads to the revelation of Dumbos unique ears. After this, the locomotive sets the mood for the next act, as the sun sets (with an array of violets, blues, and pinks) the locomotive is presented with a challenge, and she/he/it delivers the clue as to how Dumbo should take the upcoming challenge "I know I can, I know I can."
This brings the viewer with one Dumbo's use of light in dramatic scenes. Now I won't get into Dumbo's use of race, and the negative connotations that the movie's characters portray, but I will say that Dumbo is a movie about the underdog. And although it does stereotype the African American culture, at the same time it puts the culture in the forefront, as with Dumbo, equalizing the underdogs of the era. That said, it is a beautiful rendition of weather, man, and animals in the construction of the circus. Which is accentuated with a blue tint that seems to dominate the color scheme of the feature. Daybreak; and the circus parade is shown, and this is one of the few instances where we see people, which aside from the spectators, the only times that the audience sees full faces and people features is when the people are in costume, or in a performance role. In Dumbo, people are not important, and are seen just like animals might see us, passing blobs of color and light. By the en of the parade, the confrontation scene, where Dumbo's mother, defends Dumbo, and spanks the bully with the big ears. And in a break from Dumbo's propaganda of the American might, in this scene the bully is seen with the same feature of Dumbo's big ears as a form of saying that bullies are just covering up their own insecurities; the strong are not as strong as they appear.
After Dumbo is separated from his mother, and shunned by the elephants, he teams up with the little mouse, who is the voice that Dumbo lacks. And after the failed attempt of stardom, and wrecking the circus Dumbo is made a clown. And he fails by not recognizing his strength and tries to hide his ears. Ike, I mean Dumbo, then goes and sees his mom with the help of the mouse. And in this scene we get the calm before the storm. Dumbo then end up drinking tainted water and gets drunk. This next sequence was the most terrifying thing in my childhood. This was a total display of Technicolor and breaks completely with the soft, almost pastel palette of the feature an dives the viewer into a psychedelic lucid dream. More than discourage the audience from drinking, the dancing elephants manage to entertain Dumbo and the mouse, so much that they end up flying. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The use of lighting and special effects in the psychedelic elephants is impressive, with my favorite being the dancing sequence with the lightning rope thing.
After Dumbo and mouse are awaken in the top of the tree by the very stereotypical southern "crows" thing happen pretty quickly for Dumbo, and the conclusion is almost rushed. This is where Dumbo as the American war machine metaphor is brought to light deliberately; at one point the mouse shouts to Dumbo to "Retract your landing gear. Raise your fuselage." By the time when the circus clowns attempt to kill Dumbo by making jump impossibly high, dumbo gains his confidence and flies and all is well. The audience is then explained the success of Dumbo via a news reel and a song. Lessons where learned from previous features, and this one was done in an economic, but artistic way, leaning toward the economic factors. A classic now, but it was a movie made for marketing and propaganda in its time of release; Dumbo encouraged the American people to endure the difficult time that they where enduring, and did it effectively.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Disney Feature Films: Fantasia or I saw a nipple in a Disney movie
So much nudity in this film! but I'll get to that later.
Fantasia is the third major feature released by Disney released in 1940. It is a mashup between a PSA from the 50s and an opera; putting it in very simplified terms. Narrated by Deems Taylor; in a very typical 50's voice over. And the orchestra was conducted by Leopold Stokowski; which I always remember him from a bugs bunny cartoon (the one with the rude opera singer). This film felt to me more of a effects reel than an actual movie, not in a bad way, it was so artistic that it felt like it was made for art's sake. I look at Fantasia as a painting, starting with the simplified and ending with the detailed and the complex.
After the introduction, the movie starts as an orchestra concerto with the abstract. We are eased into the animation with more subtlety than in Pinocchio by contrasting high hues of primary colors; blue, yellow magenta, with every high note.
The first piece, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Very subjective in the animation, the music does conduct the animation; the visuals do not really have any cohesion, sometimes being abstract, sometimes mimicking the instruments themselves. This first piece really give a very nice intro to the world of music and animation, and a very nice effects reel. The next piece, introduced as a classic, but almost forgotten, Tchaikovsky's least favorite; The Nutcracker. Disney took here an established story and reinterpreted as an allegory for nature; a reboot" of the Nutcracker. Starting with the abstract theme, similar colors as the first suite, we ease into the fantastical and the fairies come out. an animation that might have been more suited for Vivaldi's four seasons, we transition from season to season (duh) with the fairies being the transitioners. What must be the cutest stereotypical piece of Fantasia, the mushrooms dance like "chinese men" (term very widely used at the time) with the little mushroom having as much personality as Pinocchio, really that little mushroom deserved its own feature. I always remember the bailarina piece as very creepy, with the flowers morphing into bailarinas, sill with an anthropomorphic way of seing animation, the flowers dance thru the water and flow into into the water, leading us into the underwater piece. What must be the most flawed animation in fantasia, the underwater piece looks more like an experiment than a finished cartoon. There are a lot of glitches, but it looks like animators pushed the envelope in this one. They took the idea of underwater animation from Pinocchio to a new level, but still sticking with the same style of animating fishes. And that is one thing I've noticed of the early Disney movies, they stay very consistent on style. Anyway, the flowers close the nutcracker suite, with a display of stereotypical idea of a culture; which seems okay by the standards of the time.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the most memorable and important piece of Fantasia, introduced as an ancient legend, retold with Mickey, it was the relaunch of Mickey into popularity. With this piece, Mickey regained his classic status and really steeped into pop conscience. Why? Simplicity. Form the featured filmes, this piece is the first time that a consistent color palet is used. A triad color scheme of blue, yellow and red, the piece stays consistent throughout, emphasizing a color in moments of where the action demands it. At one point, where Mickey shops down the broom, the animation becomes very graphic, only having the silhouette (in dark blue) of Mickey and the broom showing against a a yellow background. This, probably being a solution to not showing directly a very violent mickey, instead becomes an extremely powerful scene. Another thing about this piece is the animation of water is somewhat different from the Nutcracker piece; more refined, and now adding the effect of the shooting stars.
By the end of the piece, Mickey himself congratulates Leopold in the second combination of live-action and animation of this feature; again we are eased to this idea by way of Mickey's silhouette. This next one must have been my favorite piece when I was a kid, The Rite of Spring tell the story of evolution according to Disney. When introduced by Taylor, he really seems to have a hard time having a serious face, it seems a tho this was the most fantastical piece to him. Anyway, after the introduction of a fiery sun, a red palette is used for earth, with blue creeping in. a violent dance of cools and reds lead to the microscopic. With each evolutionary landmark transitioned with live action clouds, yet another introduction of live cation, time then slows down to show the very salamander-looking dinosaurs. This sort of grim-looking depiction of ancient times ends with the deadly battle between a stegosaurus and a demonic tyrannosaurus.As in Pinocchio,the mood is set by the weather and lightning substitutes the T-rex's roar. After the intermission, which eases the viewer to live action, then back again with primary colors and silhouette. Taylor then introduces the sound wave to the audience represented by a vertical line, interacts with the sound wave character (which is given a shy personality) and the audience is introduced to the animation via an abstract representation of music once again.
The Pastoral Symphony is represented by creatures of greek myth, animated in the style of a baroque painting, it narrates the day in this world as introduced by a young pegasus and his/her siblings. As the world expands, the story becomes more mature up to a point of introducing the audience to a mating ritual. And although there is no sex illustrated, it is very sexual. But this was a baroque painting, it is consistent with the style; thus the naked centaurs. The climax of this baroque "fluff" must be the introduction via two politically and morally incorrect (but very sexy) zebras of Bacchus, the god of wine. After an orgy between Bacchus and the lady centaurs, Zeus rears his ugly head and ruins the party just for the fun of it. Again, animators experiment with lighting, sound and wind effects. By the end of the day, which started pink, the blue night embraces the world, and stars illuminate the screen, much like the shooting stars from the mickey piece. The Dance of the Hours piece must have been the most traditional looking of the time. the elephants, ostriches, corcs, and hippos, are animated in a familiar 40s style. a beautiful piece n itself, but the selling point in its time I suspect. In any case, this piece is commanded by color: as the progression of day to night passes, so too the the color scheme goes on an analog progression. This purely comedic piece is accentuated by sudden bursts of hue in the crescendo sections, likewise the comedy is accentuated by the contrast of the weight of its characters and the "lightness" of the music. Then suddenly reaffirming the obvious by a sudden "thump!" here and there, afterward ending the day (and the world) when everything crushes down.
The last piece is an amazing achievement in animation, command of color, lighting, and storytelling (even tho there isn't much of a story, it still conveys a message). The story consist of two parts; it goes from hell, with Night on Bald Mountain straight to heaven with Ave Maria. It uses a tetrad scheme of: yellows for the flames of hell, blue-purple for the devil and most of its minions, red and a wee bit of cyan for the rest of hell and the rest of it minions. The effects of wind, light and sound all flow harmoniously with the tempo of the music and grabs the viewer by the throat (figuratively, no voodoo here). An the piece is very effective in delivering that sense of viciousness of the human sin, and the frivolities of dance, sex, and drugs (because there MUST have been drugs involved in this piece). As for the sexuality here, it is more blatant than any other cartoon aimed ad children in my memory, which as grotesque as it is display here it is an effective tool as a prevention to morbidity and promiscuity. And notice that nipples apear here for the first time in female characters, accenting the shock factor of the piece. After all the display in special effects, the experimentation of the superimposed panels when doing the effect of the ghosts, the piece slows down with the contrasting "holy" bells of the church. And as the piece slows down, so does the contrast in color and light, bringing a more pastel palette, accentuated only by the lights of the mourners, or mass-goers.
With a fashion of a gran orchestral evening, Fantasia ends in a reassuring and positive note. More than a comercial film, Fantasia was an expression of art and an experiment in animation techniques, that delivered an emotional journey.
Fantasia is the third major feature released by Disney released in 1940. It is a mashup between a PSA from the 50s and an opera; putting it in very simplified terms. Narrated by Deems Taylor; in a very typical 50's voice over. And the orchestra was conducted by Leopold Stokowski; which I always remember him from a bugs bunny cartoon (the one with the rude opera singer). This film felt to me more of a effects reel than an actual movie, not in a bad way, it was so artistic that it felt like it was made for art's sake. I look at Fantasia as a painting, starting with the simplified and ending with the detailed and the complex.
After the introduction, the movie starts as an orchestra concerto with the abstract. We are eased into the animation with more subtlety than in Pinocchio by contrasting high hues of primary colors; blue, yellow magenta, with every high note.
The first piece, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Very subjective in the animation, the music does conduct the animation; the visuals do not really have any cohesion, sometimes being abstract, sometimes mimicking the instruments themselves. This first piece really give a very nice intro to the world of music and animation, and a very nice effects reel. The next piece, introduced as a classic, but almost forgotten, Tchaikovsky's least favorite; The Nutcracker. Disney took here an established story and reinterpreted as an allegory for nature; a reboot" of the Nutcracker. Starting with the abstract theme, similar colors as the first suite, we ease into the fantastical and the fairies come out. an animation that might have been more suited for Vivaldi's four seasons, we transition from season to season (duh) with the fairies being the transitioners. What must be the cutest stereotypical piece of Fantasia, the mushrooms dance like "chinese men" (term very widely used at the time) with the little mushroom having as much personality as Pinocchio, really that little mushroom deserved its own feature. I always remember the bailarina piece as very creepy, with the flowers morphing into bailarinas, sill with an anthropomorphic way of seing animation, the flowers dance thru the water and flow into into the water, leading us into the underwater piece. What must be the most flawed animation in fantasia, the underwater piece looks more like an experiment than a finished cartoon. There are a lot of glitches, but it looks like animators pushed the envelope in this one. They took the idea of underwater animation from Pinocchio to a new level, but still sticking with the same style of animating fishes. And that is one thing I've noticed of the early Disney movies, they stay very consistent on style. Anyway, the flowers close the nutcracker suite, with a display of stereotypical idea of a culture; which seems okay by the standards of the time.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the most memorable and important piece of Fantasia, introduced as an ancient legend, retold with Mickey, it was the relaunch of Mickey into popularity. With this piece, Mickey regained his classic status and really steeped into pop conscience. Why? Simplicity. Form the featured filmes, this piece is the first time that a consistent color palet is used. A triad color scheme of blue, yellow and red, the piece stays consistent throughout, emphasizing a color in moments of where the action demands it. At one point, where Mickey shops down the broom, the animation becomes very graphic, only having the silhouette (in dark blue) of Mickey and the broom showing against a a yellow background. This, probably being a solution to not showing directly a very violent mickey, instead becomes an extremely powerful scene. Another thing about this piece is the animation of water is somewhat different from the Nutcracker piece; more refined, and now adding the effect of the shooting stars.
By the end of the piece, Mickey himself congratulates Leopold in the second combination of live-action and animation of this feature; again we are eased to this idea by way of Mickey's silhouette. This next one must have been my favorite piece when I was a kid, The Rite of Spring tell the story of evolution according to Disney. When introduced by Taylor, he really seems to have a hard time having a serious face, it seems a tho this was the most fantastical piece to him. Anyway, after the introduction of a fiery sun, a red palette is used for earth, with blue creeping in. a violent dance of cools and reds lead to the microscopic. With each evolutionary landmark transitioned with live action clouds, yet another introduction of live cation, time then slows down to show the very salamander-looking dinosaurs. This sort of grim-looking depiction of ancient times ends with the deadly battle between a stegosaurus and a demonic tyrannosaurus.As in Pinocchio,the mood is set by the weather and lightning substitutes the T-rex's roar. After the intermission, which eases the viewer to live action, then back again with primary colors and silhouette. Taylor then introduces the sound wave to the audience represented by a vertical line, interacts with the sound wave character (which is given a shy personality) and the audience is introduced to the animation via an abstract representation of music once again.
The Pastoral Symphony is represented by creatures of greek myth, animated in the style of a baroque painting, it narrates the day in this world as introduced by a young pegasus and his/her siblings. As the world expands, the story becomes more mature up to a point of introducing the audience to a mating ritual. And although there is no sex illustrated, it is very sexual. But this was a baroque painting, it is consistent with the style; thus the naked centaurs. The climax of this baroque "fluff" must be the introduction via two politically and morally incorrect (but very sexy) zebras of Bacchus, the god of wine. After an orgy between Bacchus and the lady centaurs, Zeus rears his ugly head and ruins the party just for the fun of it. Again, animators experiment with lighting, sound and wind effects. By the end of the day, which started pink, the blue night embraces the world, and stars illuminate the screen, much like the shooting stars from the mickey piece. The Dance of the Hours piece must have been the most traditional looking of the time. the elephants, ostriches, corcs, and hippos, are animated in a familiar 40s style. a beautiful piece n itself, but the selling point in its time I suspect. In any case, this piece is commanded by color: as the progression of day to night passes, so too the the color scheme goes on an analog progression. This purely comedic piece is accentuated by sudden bursts of hue in the crescendo sections, likewise the comedy is accentuated by the contrast of the weight of its characters and the "lightness" of the music. Then suddenly reaffirming the obvious by a sudden "thump!" here and there, afterward ending the day (and the world) when everything crushes down.
The last piece is an amazing achievement in animation, command of color, lighting, and storytelling (even tho there isn't much of a story, it still conveys a message). The story consist of two parts; it goes from hell, with Night on Bald Mountain straight to heaven with Ave Maria. It uses a tetrad scheme of: yellows for the flames of hell, blue-purple for the devil and most of its minions, red and a wee bit of cyan for the rest of hell and the rest of it minions. The effects of wind, light and sound all flow harmoniously with the tempo of the music and grabs the viewer by the throat (figuratively, no voodoo here). An the piece is very effective in delivering that sense of viciousness of the human sin, and the frivolities of dance, sex, and drugs (because there MUST have been drugs involved in this piece). As for the sexuality here, it is more blatant than any other cartoon aimed ad children in my memory, which as grotesque as it is display here it is an effective tool as a prevention to morbidity and promiscuity. And notice that nipples apear here for the first time in female characters, accenting the shock factor of the piece. After all the display in special effects, the experimentation of the superimposed panels when doing the effect of the ghosts, the piece slows down with the contrasting "holy" bells of the church. And as the piece slows down, so does the contrast in color and light, bringing a more pastel palette, accentuated only by the lights of the mourners, or mass-goers.
With a fashion of a gran orchestral evening, Fantasia ends in a reassuring and positive note. More than a comercial film, Fantasia was an expression of art and an experiment in animation techniques, that delivered an emotional journey.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Disney Feature Films: Pinocchio or Don't be a Jackass
For this second major feature by Disney Pinocchio (1940) starts with the same idea of the book, still as an introductory element in the movie, but this time it is all animation, unlike Snow White that the first shots where live-action. Another deviation is that the first character is the good character of the movie: Jiminy Cricket, who is mostly an analogous scheme. Pinocchio really is a morality story more than geared toward entertainment (although it is a lot more exiting than Snow White). After the introduction of Jiminy Cricket, we get the whole creepy dance sequence with Gepetto and the cat and the fish, Gepetto then, instead of praying to god, he prays to a star. Which is very angelic but really is a very basic theological concept, not confined with religion, maybe this was a way for Disney to try to appeal to a broader audience. The fairy (mostly monochromatic) grants the wish and brings Pinocchio alive. Really, Gepetto only has Pinocchio for an evening after falling asleep and sending him off to school before Pinocchio gets lost, so Gepetto was mostly in love with the idea of a son than with the son itself.
The next day Pinnocchio goes off to school, and we see the whole town dressed in a very deliberate complementary orange and green scheme. This is when we get the introduction of our first two bad guys. The fox and the cat dressed in opposite triad schemes, these to are the physical representation of their personality. And what I like a lot about Pinnocchio is that we go into this world were everything out of the ordinary, or fantastical, is explained. The film does explain that people become physical metaphors of their actions, so its not uncommon to see the fox and the cat running around most of the time. So, Pinocchio happily follows the dark side of the f.. sorry the easy path and does his thing and gets imprisoned by the very "tasteful" caricature of a gypsy.
After being helped by the fairy again, the very white fairy, he then goes back to his house but gets sidetracked by the bad influence again (even tho he was already told by Jiminy not to) and goes off to hell. Then again, after giving into temptation, he turns into what he is behaving as. After that, again, rescued by Jiminy, he goes off to find his dad which has gone looking for his idea of a son, and of course he takes the cat and the fish with him, which in a modern setting could translate into "friends" or "FRIENDS."
The next sequence, the underwater sequence, is my favorite in the movie. It must have been a groundbreaking animation achievement. It really looks like that was the foundation for Disney's next movie: Fantasia. It looks like it started the Pixar's tradition of introducing characters from their next movies (Pinocchio's little infatuated fish friend). And again, the movie establishes the rules of the world when Jiminy Cricket gets trapped in a bubble while in the ocean, the bubble starts to fill with water, the bubble pops, and Jiminy panics, but then remembers that he can actually breath underwater. It's those little details that make Disney fantastical worlds so believable. Then cut to Gepetto inside the whale Monstro's gut starving to death, but somehow breathing, but as established earlier, air must not be as important in that world.
After Pinnocchio and Jiminy get swallowed, and Gepetto fished them out, Pinnocchio gets the idea to sneeze their way out (he did have this experience when he got sick while smoking). And then, the whole wonderfully drawn chase by monstro, the effect of the water splashing all over, layed out on top of the original drawing (the precursor of digital ambient effects). After which, Pinnocchio dies. And like all good Jesus figures, the son of the carpenter resurrects because of his good deeds and becomes real. Gepetto of course celebrates with a dance.
The next day Pinnocchio goes off to school, and we see the whole town dressed in a very deliberate complementary orange and green scheme. This is when we get the introduction of our first two bad guys. The fox and the cat dressed in opposite triad schemes, these to are the physical representation of their personality. And what I like a lot about Pinnocchio is that we go into this world were everything out of the ordinary, or fantastical, is explained. The film does explain that people become physical metaphors of their actions, so its not uncommon to see the fox and the cat running around most of the time. So, Pinocchio happily follows the dark side of the f.. sorry the easy path and does his thing and gets imprisoned by the very "tasteful" caricature of a gypsy.
After being helped by the fairy again, the very white fairy, he then goes back to his house but gets sidetracked by the bad influence again (even tho he was already told by Jiminy not to) and goes off to hell. Then again, after giving into temptation, he turns into what he is behaving as. After that, again, rescued by Jiminy, he goes off to find his dad which has gone looking for his idea of a son, and of course he takes the cat and the fish with him, which in a modern setting could translate into "friends" or "FRIENDS."
The next sequence, the underwater sequence, is my favorite in the movie. It must have been a groundbreaking animation achievement. It really looks like that was the foundation for Disney's next movie: Fantasia. It looks like it started the Pixar's tradition of introducing characters from their next movies (Pinocchio's little infatuated fish friend). And again, the movie establishes the rules of the world when Jiminy Cricket gets trapped in a bubble while in the ocean, the bubble starts to fill with water, the bubble pops, and Jiminy panics, but then remembers that he can actually breath underwater. It's those little details that make Disney fantastical worlds so believable. Then cut to Gepetto inside the whale Monstro's gut starving to death, but somehow breathing, but as established earlier, air must not be as important in that world.
After Pinnocchio and Jiminy get swallowed, and Gepetto fished them out, Pinnocchio gets the idea to sneeze their way out (he did have this experience when he got sick while smoking). And then, the whole wonderfully drawn chase by monstro, the effect of the water splashing all over, layed out on top of the original drawing (the precursor of digital ambient effects). After which, Pinnocchio dies. And like all good Jesus figures, the son of the carpenter resurrects because of his good deeds and becomes real. Gepetto of course celebrates with a dance.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Disney Feature films: Snow White or Who did the Dwarf worked for?
I abandoned this blog for quite a while, I really did not had any consistent theme to have posting here in regularly. But in a stroke of luck, and faith, I recently read The Alchemy of Animation by Don Hahn; it really inspired me to re-watch the Disney feature films. After watching the latest Disney film, I thought, why not just watch all 56? So as of today, I will watch all of them, plus 14 pixar movies, in chronological order. Tall order, but should be an interesting one.
Note: this will be my thoughts of the films, not a review. And I will try my best to cast a light on the aspects I know about color, composition, mood, and cultural reflection of the time. again, to the best of my knowledge.
Starting with Snow White, released in 1937, it was the first feature film of Disney, and the first animation to win an oscar. Right from the start, Snow white introduces the viewer to the idea that this cartoon should be watched as a live action film. The first minutes of snow white is no animated, rather a real book, which welcomes us into the fantastical world.
I love the tridimensional effect of the moving camera, achieved I believe by placing glass panels at different levels and pointing the camera at them. After being introduced quickly to the plot , wich I find interesting that the first character we see is the evil witch (by means of the mirror), rendered in a complementary yellow-green/red-violet scheme, we then get quickly the love story and the reason of why Snow White needs to leave the castle (which seems to be populated only by three people and the wondering prince).
We see here the first attempt to have a more realistic and les Anthropomorphic quality to the world. It is only in the delusion and panic in the escape of Snow White that the plants take on a human form.
After Snow White realizes that she was surrounded by "friends" and got ashamed of being scared; which I don't blame her, after all, she just found out the queen wanted her killed (at this point, we don't know her relationship with snow white just yet). She then finds the house of the "little bachelor's men"she of course does what every woman (or mom) should, and cleans the house.
We are then introduced to the dwarfs, which are dressed in earth tones, and for the most part complementary. We get the whole bit of the confrontation and introduction between them and Snow White. At first the dwarfs seem smitten by Snow White, but she then quickly becomes a maternal figure (maybe the dwarfs are more like a different species like in Tolken's books). But in any case the dwarfs then ask her to tell a story and she tells them her encounter with the prince. She describes him and he basically is the opposite of the dwarfs, with the exception of them all being good. The dwarf even seem eager to learn that the prince is what they are not, but again, maybe they aren't really human.
I saw that the movie is more concerned with entertainment and simple basic lessons like be clean, don't talk to strangers, be kind, and vanity is wrong, and less with being politically correct. Which nobody was concerned about at the time.
After the queen learns the location of Snow White, and presumably imprisons and kills the hunter (I think the skeleton is the hunter) she goes and does her evil thing with Snow White. We get the confrontation with the witch, using weather as a visual and audio cue of violence, instead of actually showing any. The prince, absent for most of the film, comes and kisses Snow White to life. Incidentally, the only thing that the prince did was being really handsome, and singing very good. The prince and Snow White leave the dwarfs (who looked after her and were then abandoned) and live happily ever after.
Note: this will be my thoughts of the films, not a review. And I will try my best to cast a light on the aspects I know about color, composition, mood, and cultural reflection of the time. again, to the best of my knowledge.
Starting with Snow White, released in 1937, it was the first feature film of Disney, and the first animation to win an oscar. Right from the start, Snow white introduces the viewer to the idea that this cartoon should be watched as a live action film. The first minutes of snow white is no animated, rather a real book, which welcomes us into the fantastical world.
I love the tridimensional effect of the moving camera, achieved I believe by placing glass panels at different levels and pointing the camera at them. After being introduced quickly to the plot , wich I find interesting that the first character we see is the evil witch (by means of the mirror), rendered in a complementary yellow-green/red-violet scheme, we then get quickly the love story and the reason of why Snow White needs to leave the castle (which seems to be populated only by three people and the wondering prince).
We see here the first attempt to have a more realistic and les Anthropomorphic quality to the world. It is only in the delusion and panic in the escape of Snow White that the plants take on a human form.
After Snow White realizes that she was surrounded by "friends" and got ashamed of being scared; which I don't blame her, after all, she just found out the queen wanted her killed (at this point, we don't know her relationship with snow white just yet). She then finds the house of the "little bachelor's men"she of course does what every woman (or mom) should, and cleans the house.
We are then introduced to the dwarfs, which are dressed in earth tones, and for the most part complementary. We get the whole bit of the confrontation and introduction between them and Snow White. At first the dwarfs seem smitten by Snow White, but she then quickly becomes a maternal figure (maybe the dwarfs are more like a different species like in Tolken's books). But in any case the dwarfs then ask her to tell a story and she tells them her encounter with the prince. She describes him and he basically is the opposite of the dwarfs, with the exception of them all being good. The dwarf even seem eager to learn that the prince is what they are not, but again, maybe they aren't really human.
I saw that the movie is more concerned with entertainment and simple basic lessons like be clean, don't talk to strangers, be kind, and vanity is wrong, and less with being politically correct. Which nobody was concerned about at the time.
After the queen learns the location of Snow White, and presumably imprisons and kills the hunter (I think the skeleton is the hunter) she goes and does her evil thing with Snow White. We get the confrontation with the witch, using weather as a visual and audio cue of violence, instead of actually showing any. The prince, absent for most of the film, comes and kisses Snow White to life. Incidentally, the only thing that the prince did was being really handsome, and singing very good. The prince and Snow White leave the dwarfs (who looked after her and were then abandoned) and live happily ever after.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
how to live safely in a science fictional universe, or how to better yourself! YAY!
I just finished reading the aforementioned novel, which was Chrales Yu firts novel; my first reaction:
I liked the idea of the universe it was set in, because it created a universe that was there, and the character was very used to it and not awed by it. The universe was established on the better half of the book, but I did not noticed it because of how entertaining it was, and I hadn't really noticed that the plot had not really started yet. I liked the description of the universe set in, then; my second reaction:
Then the plot moves forward, and the character goes on a series of self discovery adventures throughout his past, his ideals, and himself, quite literally he does an introspective in his universe where everything happens literally, words become reality, grammar rules apply to real life, etc. Now this part should have been a part of the growing arc of the novel, where after that the adventure of the character should have started, should have...
My third reaction:
QUE CHINGADOS?! or WTF or WHAT THE FUCK or WHAT THE HELL (see, now I'm doing it, the book did this over and over to fill up more the book) It turns out, this book was a self-help book. Turns out that the character, when he comes out from this self discovery journey, all is right and what I thought was the plot of the story turns out to be... well forgotten, and the world is, forgotten also. It turns out that this was all bout growing as a person, and all this fantastical universe was an excuse to draw in another type of reader.
The book was ok, but it was a self improvement book, or at best a half novel. recommended? yes, but please change it to another section at the bookstore.
I liked the idea of the universe it was set in, because it created a universe that was there, and the character was very used to it and not awed by it. The universe was established on the better half of the book, but I did not noticed it because of how entertaining it was, and I hadn't really noticed that the plot had not really started yet. I liked the description of the universe set in, then; my second reaction:
Then the plot moves forward, and the character goes on a series of self discovery adventures throughout his past, his ideals, and himself, quite literally he does an introspective in his universe where everything happens literally, words become reality, grammar rules apply to real life, etc. Now this part should have been a part of the growing arc of the novel, where after that the adventure of the character should have started, should have...
My third reaction:
QUE CHINGADOS?! or WTF or WHAT THE FUCK or WHAT THE HELL (see, now I'm doing it, the book did this over and over to fill up more the book) It turns out, this book was a self-help book. Turns out that the character, when he comes out from this self discovery journey, all is right and what I thought was the plot of the story turns out to be... well forgotten, and the world is, forgotten also. It turns out that this was all bout growing as a person, and all this fantastical universe was an excuse to draw in another type of reader.
The book was ok, but it was a self improvement book, or at best a half novel. recommended? yes, but please change it to another section at the bookstore.
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