Cory's blog

Final Blog Specimens

My two blog posts are Post #12 and Post #11.

Post #13: Anime and Animation

    I feel I've given my fair share of time to both anime pieces as well as "traditional" animations, at least in the way that I will use it (Animations that just aren't anime, more Westernized), despite my bias against most forms of anime.  I don't mean bias with any negative connotations, I merely am not a huge fan of the style.  Despite my preconceptions, there is still a nice host of anime films that i enjoy and suggest to other cinema-goers, though this number is much less than the amount of traditional animations I've seen and support.  Realizing this trend in my own opinion and tastes, I decided to delve more into the world of animation and see why it is as popular as it is, and why this just doesn't click with me on a large scales, be it because of mostly cultural differences or something else.

    The first aspect of Japanese culture in the realm of art and literature that I noticed was the interconnection between anime and manga.  For those who don't know, and this included myself for a period of time, manga is the graphic novel equivalent, and anime is simply an animated series or feature.  The United States does have both a graphic novel and an animation industry like Japan, but they exist mostly independent of each other.  Comics often make the transition to screen, but many films or comics exist without even a taste of another medium.  This can be because of the authors choice, but can due to the difficulties in making the actual transitition.  Both media are art in their own right, with different techniques, styles, and timings which keep them separate, but the right creative minds cooperating, graphic novel heros can make the jump to cinema.

    In Japan, on the other hand, manga and anime are two industries that do not, and most likely could not, exist independently of each other.  'Akira', one of the first big animes to hit the states, was adapted from a mammoth manga almost 2000 pages long.  The manga was published in the early to late 1980's, and, like the its filmed successor, was one of the first of its kind to be translated to English and sold in the States.  The film was undoubtedly  and understandingly shortened, but still remained a fine relationship between the anime and manga subcultures.

 

    The most obvious difference between the Japanese and Western styles is the style itself; the character models and the visual presentation.  While traditional animations use the "squash and stretch", arcs, and wholly rounded exaggerations, animes use sharper lines, and quicker more jarring movements and cuts.  The lines of Japanese animations seem to be more focused on, flickering during scenes of tension.  Japanese animations are also a lot simpler than the work of some prominent Western filmmakers, like Disney for a quick and easy one.  Anime is very cheap to produced, like its written counterpart, as frames will show only slight movement and limited animation with short bursts of quick action.  Some anime can be a bit jarring visually, but Japanese television in general is lightening paced and all over the place.  American viewers aren't as accustomed to that, so anime is not nearly as popular in the US as it is overseas in its birthplace.

    I commented on Brittany Alberry's and James Scutari's blogs.

Post #12: The Place Promised in Our Early Days

    Now I'm not normally an anime fanboy, and I'm not usually one for sentimentality in movies; not that it bores me, I just find most examples to be a bit formulaic; but one movie in both sections has been in my mind for a few years now; 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days'

 

     This beautifully directed and animated anime follows three friends in Japan and the changes that happen to them and between them over time.  The setting is Japan in the 1990's, but in an alternate universe where Japan was split up sometime around WWII; the South being controlled by the US and the North still being wholly Japanese.  A provoking philosophical concept, and one that the director could use to stand on its own.  This is also an ambitious idea, or would be if the political and social set-up were the main focus in the movie, but this is simply not so.  The reasoning for the national split is never fully explained, but merely acts as a thought-provoking backdrop to a portrayal of realism in the characters, Hiroki, Takuya, and Sayuri, and their relationships.  Sayuri mysteriously disappears over a summer, and Hiroki and Takuya, the two boys, drift apart after her disappearance.  What results is a surreal combination of "reality" and dreams where Hiroki dreams of and eventually tries to find and free Sayuri from a looming, distant, government tower.  This film proves in a way that many anime's attempt that real human interaction and connections are not limited to a "real" world or scenario.  The human mind can suspend disbelief in setting and still draw feeling from the relationships on screen, and the director, Shinkai, recognizes and fully exploits this.

    This film, on the surface, could be seen as a science fiction piece, with the differing and coinciding realities (we later find that Sayuri's dreams have some sort of link to other dimensions that scientists are trying to exploit), but this aspect never really becomes the focus.  The director gives the viewers just enough have a plausible setting and situation, at least plausible in the movie's realm, and lets the characters take the foreground, using realistic dialogue and beautiful art direction woven together.

    Outside of the complexities of human interaction, this film shines in its pure artistic sophistication, both in the character models and in the backgrounds.  Here are some examples of boards that were used as backgrounds throughout the film.

 

    The film has a certain ambient feel to it; a timelessness that brings the viewer into the world and feelings of the film's central characters.  The movie follows them at the prime of their life, but in repose, so it carries with it a certain nostalgia that the director instills.  The characters long for their past and the beauty that was inherent in it, and the art direction certainly transmits that. 

    This film isn't without its flaws, of course.  The reasonings of the Japanese split are never fully realized, and the workings and scientific aspects are always left a little bit vague.  Also, the emotion can seem a bit melodramatic at times, but that's the film's way so it takes a bit of disbelief.  The first time through, it's a little difficult to read the ins and outs of the story, but with a little research and interest, it's not hard to see the director's intention.  However, it's up to the viewer as to whether or not his vision really came into its own.  Some could argue the film embodies style over substance, but when the style is so good, its hard to get too caught up in that attitude.

I commented on Ian Crawford's and Carlyn Pocalyko's blogs. 

Post #11: Earthworm Jim

    
 

    This is my first video-game related post, and it's on a gem that all but got me through my hollywood.  The Earthworm Jim Series was a spin of the typical platformer, with an arsenal of various guns and weapons and a protagonist that sticks in its players' minds for years to come.  Jim, the series namesake, our hero, is an earthworm that was a normal dirt-eating worm until he stumbles upon a powerful suit aptly named the "Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit."  This game was all about excessive, from the junkyard dogs Jim shoots into nothingness, to the cows he launches and the weird animal bosses he has to fight, and that's what really made it memorable.  I hadn't seen this game played for a while, so i went back and played it, paying close attention to what techniques made it so effective in the first place.  Using the 12 Principles of Animation as a standard, I will discuss which principles the 'Earthworm Jim' series adhered to and flourished under.

    Since this series was released in the early 1990's it was limited to the graphics of the day, 2D levels and models couples with bright limited colors (I mean limited in terms of today's capabilities).  For an already cartoonish idea, this was hardly a limiting factor.  The games thrived under the simplicity of the animations and the limits inherent.  

    1) Squash and Stretch.  This series was not one that strove for realism, as a crow fighting, gun-toting, earthworm superhero is not quite the pinnacle of reality.  In order to keep with the nonsensical edge the game had, the animation style had to do the same.  The result is a fine example of the squash and stretch technique.  As Jim jumps from tire pile to tire pile, his body compresses down and springs back up, giving him the same feel as a ball would have bouncing around the same stage.

    2) Staging.  As with any film or game, the setting can either work with or against the underlying mood.  The mood of this game is very non-sensical and fantastical, so a ridiculous setting is in order.  Earthworm Jim succeeds in this regard, putting Jim in junkyards piled high with tires and teeming with villainous crows and junkyard dogs.  The music adds to this, overly intense for such a character, giving it the mood it strives for, one that intrigues and entertains.

    3) Arcs.  Much like the Squash and Stretch aspect, a good animation often uses and arched trajectory for movement.  EJ keeps with its organic feel and the feel of a platformer by giving Jim an arching trajectory when he jumps or moves a limb.  Without this effect, not only would it seem a stiff example of animation, but it would fail in playability, which is the most important factor for any video game.

    4) Exaggeration.  Nothing about this game is tame.  It's a great lesson in ridiculousness.  

    5) Appeal.  When this game came out, it was in a time when Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong ruled the video game industry, and shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Max had the television realm.  The demographic was there, all the developers of this game needed to do was make a good, fun game, and kids that were already interested in weird, animal-esque heroes would flock to it.

    Some of the other principles, such as timing or anticipation, have more to do with the game's story and structure than the actual animation.  Since video games work on the player's time, anticipation has to deal with advancing stages or finding the next boss.  So in that regard, these principles were used in this game, and in every game.  The other principles don't apply so much to a video game, not just this one in particular, but they do fine without them.  Using the principles that were necessary, Earthworm Jim ends up being an effective, interesting, memorable, and, most of all, fun game. 

    I commented on Amanda Cole's and James Davis' blogs.

Post #10: The Gift

    In 2009, Philips Electronics released a movie theater screen proportioned 21:9 LCD set, with a different sort of advertising campaign.  The company had Adam Berg direct a short called Carousel, a one-take variation of stop animation.  The short really had nothing to do with the company or product itself, but rather highlighted the quality of the TV's screen as well as showcasing some amateur film-making talent.

    This was a successful campaign, so in early 2010 Philips began a project called 'Parallel Lines' in which they showcase the talent of 5 different filmmakers, out of some 45 submissions, from Ridley Scott Associates' umbrella.  The short films fit 5 different genres and were filmed on location in Uruguay, London, Moscow, China and South Africa.  Philips hopes to boost both sales on TV's, as the shorts are in a player made to look like a Philips TV, as well as awareness in up and coming talent.

    Of these five shorts, one in particular became increasingly popular after release more that two months ago, already garnishing some major studio interest.  This short, The Gift, shows the complexities and realism that futuristic animation entails, even on a smaller scale than a major studio picture.

    The Gift, is expertly made, with a 5 conflict arc that many full-length pictures can envy.  The quality is there in everything, the facial expressions, setting, the mood of Moscow, and of course, the animation effects.  The robotic dog and the butler both move with an almost human fluidity, but it is undermined by the inhuman strength that both entail.  This is highlighted by the scene where the butler is running with the box; he does so with perfect form, it's just a little too perfect.  The quality and sophistication of the animation allows for emotional resonance, having the viewer feel for the butler's unfortunate end.  The animation ends well, openly setting up conflict with another generation of characters.  It ends so well, in fact, that several studios have shown interest in extending The Gift into a full length film.

    I do have some reservations, underneath some excitement, with this becoming an eventual feature film.  The last animated feature that was brought to the big screen in the same way, a silent or almost-silent short that was turned into a full length motion picture was the film 9.  This Tim Burton-guided, in my opinion, bomb came from a really neat 10-minute silent short.  This wasn't to say that the short didn't have potential to be expanded and injected with some dialogue and more conflict, but the final product just didn't come to fruition.  I blame this on Focus' feature's allowance of the director of the short to make the feature film.  It wasn't necessarily impossible for the guy, but a full-length animation is a bit of a jump from a career inhabited primarily by short films.  9, however, did go to a less-than-major studio, who allowed for more creative control.  I, for one, am all for that sort of control, but if someone can't do the job well, it's fair to everyone else involved to move the project on to someone that can handle it.  With Carl Erik Rinsch's close ties to Ridley Scott, and the studio interest that The Gift is already getting, there is hope that it can be expanded to a great feature film.

    I commented on Hayleigh Allingham's and Victor Koski's blogs.

Post #9: Yes, some more Adult Swim

    I thought i was done reasoning with the nameless nay-sayers of Adult Swim, having pointed out the absurdism inherent, and some social commentary on top of that.  However, my friend got me thinking when I showed them Metalocalypse for the first time.  He said, "I liked it, and i thought it was really funny.  I just kept wondering the whole time how a show like this exists."  That seemed like a very good question, and I will try to answer it in 2 parts. 

 

    For those of you that don't know, Metalocalypse is a half hour show (it used to be 12 min or so, but was expanded due to popularity) that follows an alternate reality where earth is unofficially run by a metal band called Dethklok.  The band members, like many other protagonists on Adult Swim's (AS) line-up, are very stupid, but despite this, their popularity is enormous.  Their fanbase is global and rabid, willing to follow Dethklok to the death if need be, which usually ends up being the case.  Hundreds, if not thousands die every episode, and in the most brutal ways possible.  During all of this, Dethklok travels the country or sits around in some sort of ridiculous vehicle that encompasses the heavy metal vibe.  
     Now, as to why it exists:

    1) For the fans.  Adult Swim started in 2001 with an episode of Home Movies as a late night section of its parent network, Cartoon Network.  The name came from the practice in public pools of kicking kids out for a time so that adults could use the pool by themselves.  AS carried the same idea in that a late night section, once a week, was added so there were some cartoons not just for kids.  Since then, it has expanded to 7 nights a week, with one set aside for anime.  The time slot is now 10pm - 2 am, so the demographic they reach is quite unique and dedicated.  Not too many people stumble on to a vulgar cartoon after midnight and keep watching.  With that in place, the shows' fans, who are about my age, with interests in cartoons, video games, and music, were "spoken" to directly, and their interests are the same as the creators of the shows.  With such a specific audience, it was only a matter of time before a show came out that spoke to the heavy metal subculture, one littered with weapons, blood and violence.

    2)  For everyone else.  Despite being so violent and specific, Metalocalypse is a smart and legitimate in its own right.  A good portion of American society is enamored with celebrities and the media of course follows that trend, so it's really a destructive cycle.  This show is a commentary on that, and how fans will blindly follow famous people they don't even know, just because that celebrity managed to reach out to them in a song or a movie that was just doing its job, entertaining.  Dethklok fans do the same things, but to the extreme, often ending bloodied or faceless, or, in one case, boiled alive by millions of gallons of boiling hot coffee.  A show like this needs to exist in a world where Vh1 and MTV latch onto whatever celebrity reality show they possibly can.  

    I commented on Scott McCarthy's and Bradley Schoolfield's blogs.

Post #8: Princess

    The first thing that really caught my attention was the cover, and poster, that I saw on Netflix.

 

    

    The second was some of the first reviews I read, claiming it to be a moralistic vendetta and revenge piece on the level of Taxi Driver.  What I found, instead, was a lot of good ideas, but either poor directing, or bad post production, had turned them into a mess, unsure of the message that it was trying to send.

    The film revolves around the return of a missionary, August, to the town where his very recently deceased sister lived.  His sister, we find out very quickly, was a very successful pornstar, and August has returned to take her daughter, Mia, so that she can grow up in a better environment.  As the story unfolds, both the viewer and August find out that Mia was been sexually and physically abused, and the protagonist takes it upon himself to get revenge for Mia, and destroy any trace of his sister's films in the 'Princess' line.  This is where the film starts to lose its focus and the sense of credibility that a fictional animated piece can have.

    The rampage that August goes on is undoubtedly awesome, and does hearken the attitude of Taxi Driver in the coolness with which August approaches and attacks some of his victims.  However, from what we can see of him, the brutality that he takes under his wing isn't really fitting.  Towards the end, we find that he feels responsible for getting his sister into porn, which makes it sensible in some fashion, but August was either not explored enough, or this factor was entered too late.  What I thought was a problem at first, but have decided is intentional, is the double standards that his blood-lust has.  He takes Mia, who is only about 5 or 6 years old, to the house of the man that sexually abused her after he finds out who it is.  Then, he lets Mia beat the guy in the testicles with a crowbar.  The sheer violence that he involves her in is just as bad or worse as her abuse, but of course he doesn't realize that until the end, when a botched bomb in her teddy bear takes her life as well as August's intended victims'.  I couldn't tell if the film was anti-violence or anti-porn, and I believe it doesn't take a stand.  We get these really powerful images, like Mia unzipping August's zipper, or August killing someone, but without a stance, they end up being the same exploitative drivel that they denounce.  Drivel may be a harsh word for it, but if the filmmakers didn't have a clear intent, I'm left wondering why I watched it.

    The other thing about the film that first intrigued me, but then ended up bothering me, is that it is filmed in about 80% animation, and 20% live action.  It's an interesting idea, but the way its employed doesn't seem to have a clear purpose.  The animation is great, with strong colors, realistic and caricatured character models and a good sense of perspective.  Some of the shots were fantastic, ones that a live-action director would envy.  The live-action segments were all home videos that August had made in the past that he watched during the course of the movie, and then the final scene.  It almost seems like the director started the movie as a live-action idea, but after realizing the content involved, switched to animation.  The combination doesn't work for the movie, it works against it.  Showing the "real" versions of the characters pulls the viewer out of the suspension of disbelief, and makes the film not flow as much.  Having the final scene in live-action made no sense, as it was just August looking at the graves of everyone that died.  

    I didn't hate Princess, I just think that the filmmakers were either lazy or unsure of what stance or route to take.  Therefore, the finished product is a tight sucker punch of a plot with a lot of thematic weight that never really takes off because it doesn't know where, or why, to fly.

 I commented on Manon Butt's and Chuck Soo-Hoo's blogs.

Special Post: 2 Blog Specimens

I decided to select the following;

    Post #5: Aqua Teen and Squidbillies; Absurdism at its best

and

    Post #2: Satire at its finest

Neither of these two posts are revised.

Post #7: Archer: Cartoons for Grownups

    As a comic book fan boy, though i may have regressed a bit in recent years, I'm all too aware of the social stigma that my beloved comics get.  I'm not one who describes my comics as "graphic novels" in an attempt to remove the notions that usually follow the normal "comic book" title.  I know what I'm reading, and there's no reason to have to change the nomenclature just to get a better look from people that know nothing about it.  What bothers me is that last part, that people know nothing about it.  The same is true with cartoons, and they share the same sort of history, progression, and connotations as their literary counterpart.  There are many adults out there that look at cartoons like they look at comics; a child's work in a child's medium.  Over the years, a couple of shows have tried to counter this, but many consumers aren't willing to push their prejudices aside and check them out.  For those willing to check out a more mature, but still absurd animated show, 'Archer' is the perfect choice.

     

 

    Archer is the perfect example of a show that is smart, edgy, has quick and hilarious dialogue, is a great social commentary, and very self aware.  The creators worked on a host of other shows on Adult Swim, including Frisky Dingo, and Sealab 2021.  The AS line-up usually begins at 11pm or midnight, and their viewer-ship is smaller and more concentrated because of it.  Because shows like these are one at such a late time, and on Cartoon Network at that, they can get away with edgier material;  their watchers are less likely to get offended or watch them by accident.  Over the years, the viewers for Adult Swim have gone up, and with recent success of cartoons like Family Guy and South Park, FX decided to take on Archer and catch up.  This is quite a leap for anyone from AS; from a 12 o'clock time slot to one at 10pm, and on a major cable channel at that.  Those factors, along with the 30 minute time slot instead of the 15 that Adult Swim normally gives, gave Archer a chance to make a very smart, plot driven, and character driven show.

    The result is a great show, one with believable characters, even in their ridiculousness, and a convoluted set of plot lines akin to the late great Arrested Development.  Any that remember this show remember the running gags, from show to show, the little jokes you catch the second time around.  Part of this similarity may have to do with the voicing talent of Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walters, and a few other Arrested Development cameos.  Archer is the same way, with great dialogue between characters in a workplace environment.  

    The show takes place in a 60's-ish spy agency, where a drunken mother, Malory Archer, is the head of, and her incompetent son, Sterling Archer is somehow the top agent in the field.  This is a situation everyone is all to aware of; a lackluster son that is spoiled by a rich, drunken single mother, and is given a job at her place of work.  Sterling is the best example of a man who doesn't get what he deserves, but all this happens in a spy agency, so the reverberations are hilarious.  I can't even begin to give some great examples of what he gets into, there are too many to choose from.  To add to this terribly dysfunctional family, the other characters in the show include Lana, a sexy, black, brilliant, and kind of crazy agent that dated Archer, and now is dating someone else; Cyril, a boring office worker that Lana is now dating, but sleeps with another girl at the office; Cheryl, a really really stupid receptionist that tries to sleep with everyone; Pam, the pudgy head of HR; and Woodhouse, Archer's servant whom he berates and abuse constantly to hilarious effect.

    Archer operates off of the viewer's knowledge of an office environment, the character traits that are embedded in the crazy characters, spy movies, and social commentary.  Combining all of these is the difficult part, but Archer manages, and in doing so, creates a great multi-faceted show that can be enjoyed by my demographic  and beyond.  For those of you with my sense of humor, or those just curious about the show, here are a few fantastic quotes.

Pam: "Not now, Archer, I'm dealing with the break room problem." 

Archer: "Oh, I had something good for this...he's the Pita Predator. You know what? Let's just call it what it is...food rapist." 

Archer: "Haha, Karate? You mean the Dane Cook of martial arts?" 

Archer-"Lana's blackish." 

Lana-"Blackish!?" 

Archer-"Then what's the right word 'cause you freaked out when I said Quadroon!?"

Archer: "No, please don't.  You look ugly when you cry."

    I commented on Scott Bell's and David Dinnison's blogs.

Spring Break Post: Persepolis and the Nakedness of a Good Memoir

    For those of you that don't know, Persepolis was a graphic Memoir that came out in the mid-2000's.  Marjane Satrapi chronicled her years of growing up (split between Iran and France predominately) set against the strife in Iran at the time.  A few years later, a film version was made in the same sort of artistic style and a whole host of English voice actors including Sean Penn and Iggy Pop.   

     

Film

 

Comic
       

      The comic was great, and I read it at a time where I was swamped with so-so memoirs, so it seemed even more powerful by comparison.  The main aspects that set a good memoir apart from a bad one, are how believable the narrator is, the tone of said narrator, and just how much of him or herself (her in this case), she is willing to bear.  In Persepolis, the story is told with a voice of someone much wiser than the Satrapi in the time line of the book.  She is self-reflexive, but not overly so; instead, she gives the thoughts of her younger self and intersperses a voice in a sort of repose.  Her new voice doesn't overshadow the old, it simply passes judgment when needed.  For the most part though, Satrapi leaves it up to the readers to make sense of her actions and feelings of her adolescent self, so that they may find some sort of greater sense in the world or themselves because of it.

    Satrapi isn't afraid to show the bad in herself or in Iran, and the film stays with that throughout.  One of her darkest moments was when she was being targeted by a guard in Iran and instead made him believe that some random guy near her had harassed her, and the stranger gets hauled away.  What's worse is that she laughs when she tells this to her grandmother, who doesn't look at her the same after it, at least for a long while.  It's necessary to show the good with the bad, because withholding history, for any reason, sleights it to make it untrue.  A story from one individual is inherently unreliable, so a narrator that shows herself in every light, maybe because she wants to but because she knows she needs to, is quite believable.  Without different sides to the story, be it from friends, family or recorded history, a memoir loses impact and credibility.

Film

Comic

  The film was an average adaptation of a great novel, but it stayed fairly true to the original.  The artwork is similar enough, but has been changed to suit the story's new medium.  In the comic, the panels are just two-toned black and white images, a basic unit of art that allows the story to really come through without being bogged down.  The film is still black and white, but there are gradings of grey, and the backgrounds are much more detailed.  The film cut the memoir short, as most adaptations do, and therefore didn't do the comic enough justice I feel.  The quality of the film was great, with good voice-overs and crisp hand-drawn animation, but having read the original, I just think the film seemed rushed.  The comic goes over so many different little idiosyncrasies of childhood and puberty, along with the overarching horrors in Satrapi's motherland of Iran, and a two hour block just doesn't suffice in my opinion.