Here are some character designs I drew from 5 different shapes:
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Animation Trends
The top rated show on Cartoon Network:
According to IMDB, and many other sites I have come across, 'Adventure Time with Finn and Jake' is the most popular TV series on Cartoon Network, with a rating of 8.7 on IMDB and from 24,961 ratings and reviews.
Also Ed, Edd, and Eddy, The Amazing World of Gumball, and The Regular Show are other popular TV shows aimed at a young audience. What is noticeable in these shows is that the main protagonist is alway quite thick, so the audience learn from their mistakes.
The three most successful animated feature length film at the box office released in 2013:
1) Frozen, with a gross of $396,581,728
2) Despicable Me 2, with a gross of $368,061,265
3) Monsters University, with a gross of $268,492,764
2012
1)Brave
2)Madagascar 3
3) Dr Suess Lorax
2011
1)Kung Fu Panda 2
2)The Smurfs
3)Cars 2
The trends found in these films is that a lot of them are either sequels, or franchise, which shows that a lot of people go to see the sequel to a film they know was good, and enjoyed. A lot of them appeal to a family audience, and there for more tickets are sold, and the genre for many of them is Adventure and Comedy. Almost all of them have Hollywood stars in them, for example, Steve Carrel, and Russel Brand star in the Despicable me sequel, and others include actors such as Michael Caine (Cars), John Goodman (Monsters University, and Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda 2).They also are 3D, and can be screened in 3D, and are computer generated.
The most watched animation on YouTube:
The Gummy Bear song with over 409 million views, and Tootin' Bathtub Baby Cousins, are two of the most watched animated YouTube clips, which most likely appeal to a younger audience, who probably watch it over and over again, where as the most watched animated short film on Vimeo is Muto, which only has a few million view in comparison to the popular youtube videos. The different between the most popular animated clip on youtube and Vimeo is that the Vimeo clips are more artistic and experimental, and the animation is more impressive, where as the YouTube clips animation is not so impressive, but the clips are humorous to a lot of people.
According to a few sites I came across, an animation called 'Fallen Kingdom' which is a Minecraft parody of Coldplay's song 'Viva la vida' was the most popular animation in 2013, with over 70 million views, although this year, with over 146 million view is a cover of a musical scene from Disney's feature length film Frozen, which was released in 2013.
From inspecting the genre, animation style, content and target audiences from each animation, I notice both similarities and differences. The similarities are that almost all of them are aimed at a young audience, and are bright, enthusiastic and positive. There is a range of both 2D and 3D animation, although the majority of the popular animations are 3D. The genres are similar, which are Adventure and Comedy for almost all off them, and the characters are all over exaggerated and have surreal features (excluding Frozen, which for an animation isn't that exaggerated in comparison). Lastly almost all of them appeal to both the female and male audience. The only one that doesn't apply to most of these similarities is the Mindcraft, as it is more popular with males, and aimed at a slightly older audience who play on the game.
Sources:
http://vidstatsx.com/youtube-top-100-most-subscribed-film-animation-channels
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=animation.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305826/?ref_=nv_sr_3
According to IMDB, and many other sites I have come across, 'Adventure Time with Finn and Jake' is the most popular TV series on Cartoon Network, with a rating of 8.7 on IMDB and from 24,961 ratings and reviews.Also Ed, Edd, and Eddy, The Amazing World of Gumball, and The Regular Show are other popular TV shows aimed at a young audience. What is noticeable in these shows is that the main protagonist is alway quite thick, so the audience learn from their mistakes.
The three most successful animated feature length film at the box office released in 2013:
1) Frozen, with a gross of $396,581,728
2) Despicable Me 2, with a gross of $368,061,265
3) Monsters University, with a gross of $268,492,764
2012
1)Brave
2)Madagascar 3
3) Dr Suess Lorax
2011
1)Kung Fu Panda 2
2)The Smurfs
3)Cars 2
The trends found in these films is that a lot of them are either sequels, or franchise, which shows that a lot of people go to see the sequel to a film they know was good, and enjoyed. A lot of them appeal to a family audience, and there for more tickets are sold, and the genre for many of them is Adventure and Comedy. Almost all of them have Hollywood stars in them, for example, Steve Carrel, and Russel Brand star in the Despicable me sequel, and others include actors such as Michael Caine (Cars), John Goodman (Monsters University, and Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda 2).They also are 3D, and can be screened in 3D, and are computer generated.
The most watched animation on YouTube:
The Gummy Bear song with over 409 million views, and Tootin' Bathtub Baby Cousins, are two of the most watched animated YouTube clips, which most likely appeal to a younger audience, who probably watch it over and over again, where as the most watched animated short film on Vimeo is Muto, which only has a few million view in comparison to the popular youtube videos. The different between the most popular animated clip on youtube and Vimeo is that the Vimeo clips are more artistic and experimental, and the animation is more impressive, where as the YouTube clips animation is not so impressive, but the clips are humorous to a lot of people.
According to a few sites I came across, an animation called 'Fallen Kingdom' which is a Minecraft parody of Coldplay's song 'Viva la vida' was the most popular animation in 2013, with over 70 million views, although this year, with over 146 million view is a cover of a musical scene from Disney's feature length film Frozen, which was released in 2013.
From inspecting the genre, animation style, content and target audiences from each animation, I notice both similarities and differences. The similarities are that almost all of them are aimed at a young audience, and are bright, enthusiastic and positive. There is a range of both 2D and 3D animation, although the majority of the popular animations are 3D. The genres are similar, which are Adventure and Comedy for almost all off them, and the characters are all over exaggerated and have surreal features (excluding Frozen, which for an animation isn't that exaggerated in comparison). Lastly almost all of them appeal to both the female and male audience. The only one that doesn't apply to most of these similarities is the Mindcraft, as it is more popular with males, and aimed at a slightly older audience who play on the game.
Sources:
http://vidstatsx.com/youtube-top-100-most-subscribed-film-animation-channels
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=animation.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305826/?ref_=nv_sr_3
Animation Products
FILM: Belleville Rendez-vous
Year of release: 2003
Which companies produced it: It was an international co-production animation made by 5 production companies with the help of 14 other companies. The companies were all based in the United Kingdom, France Belgium, and Canada. The film screened at the 2003 Cannes film festival, and won two awards for 'The Best Animated Feature', and 'The Best Original Song'.Les Armateurs
Production Champion
Vivi Film
France 3 CinemaRG Prince Films
Who directed it: Sylvain Chome (also directed The Illusionist)
Animation style: 2D (was praised by the audience and critiques for uniqueness)
Target audience: Adults, (rating 12A)
Purpose: To entertain, and bring a new style to animation
My opinions on the film: Loved the originality of the over exaggerated characters, as although animation is all about exaggerating the characters, this film takes it to a whole new artistic level, for example, the bodyguards and the Mafia leader being literally stuck together. I also admired the colour grading, which adds to the vintage style of the film, and also the dirtiness of the environment.
SHORT: Knick Knack
Year of release: 1989
Which company produced it: Pixar
Based in: California, USAMade14 other short films:
Andre and Wally B.
Luxo JR.
Reds Dream
Tin Toy
Geri's Game
For the Birds
Boundin'
One man band
Lifted
Presto
Partly Cloudy
Day and Night
La Luna
The Blue Umbrella
Who directed it: John Lasseter (also directed Luxo JR, Tin Toy, Reds Dream, Toy Story, Cars, Bugs Life and many others)
Animation style: 3D
Target audience: Children, 3+ (rated U)
Purpose: To entertain (still often played before Pixar feature screenings)
My opinions on the clip: When I first saw it in the cinema, being screened before a Pixar film, I found it very entertaining, humorous and sweet. The animation is well done, the three dimensional artwork is in brilliant and the colours are bright and cheerful.
TV SERIES: Gravity Falls
Year of release: 2012-
Which company produced it:
Disney Television Animation
-Airs on the Disney Channel
Also produced series such as:
-Phineas and Ferb
-Kim Possible
- Mickey Mouse
Based in: Burbank, California, USA
Who directed it:
Created by: Alex Hirsch (also involved in Pineas and Ferb)
Directors:
John Aoshima
Aaron Springer
Joe Pitt
Created by: Alex Hirsch (also involved in Pineas and Ferb)Directors:
John Aoshima
Aaron Springer
Joe Pitt
Animation style: 2D
Target audience: Teen audience
Purpose: To entertain
My opinions on the TV Show:
From the few episodes I've watched, it stood out to me from the usual animated TV series, as the stories were wacky and unique, and I thought the location was brilliant yet spooky, and each episode had an original and crazy twist. The artwork has a very simplistic style, which works for its audience, and also means its not to busy. The colour grading is great, as its overly colourful (like Phineas and Ferb for example), and adds to the spooky atmosphere of the woods, and strays away from your usual animations aimed at a young audience.
Year of release: 2012-
Which company produced it: Frederator Studios
- Aires on Cartoon Hangover (youtube)
- Also produced My Fairly Oddparents, and Adventure Time
Based in: the USA
- Aires on Cartoon Hangover (youtube)
- Also produced My Fairly Oddparents, and Adventure Time
Based in: the USA
Who directed it:
Creator: Pendleton Ward (also created the popular and successful Adventure Time)Directors:
Breehn Burns
Jason Johnson
Animation style: 2D
Target audience: Teen audience
Purpose: To entertain
My opinions on the episode: From watching episode 1 from the first series, I found it entertaining, silly and humorous. Like Gravity falls, the artwork is very simplistic, which works even better, as due to the colours being so bright, there's no need for the image to be any busier. Unlike Gravity Falls, the lines are a lot lighter and less thick, which works well as there is a distinct difference from each object/person in the frame due to the diversity and exaggeration of the colours.
Year of release: 2005
Which company produced it: Gorillaz
- A British Virtual band
-Alternative Rock
Based in: the UK
Also Produced:
- Dare
- Lil' Dub Chefin
- A British Virtual band
-Alternative Rock
Based in: the UK
Also Produced:
- Dare
- Lil' Dub Chefin
Who directed it:
The creators of Gorillaz: Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett
Brian Joseph Burton (stage name - Danger Mouse)
The creators of Gorillaz: Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett
Brian Joseph Burton (stage name - Danger Mouse)
Animation style: 2D
Target audience: Late Teens + (17 - 21)
Purpose: To entertain, and promote and suit their music
My opinions on the clip: I love the originality and craziness of the characters, and how they look as though they may not even be human (the green skin, black eyes etc...). The animation is fairly slow, although this suites the lyrics and message of the song. I love the dark colour grading, as it gives the music video a zombie and dead feel. My only criticism would be that at some points, the mouth doesn't sync with the lyrics.
Year of release: 2007
Which company produced it: Lloyd's TSB
- A British retail bank
-Based in Birmingham, UK
Also produced adverts such as:
-The Train for the Summer
- For the Journey part 2
-House in the Sky
-Starting a New Business
Who directed it: Mark Brown
Animation style: 3D
Target audience: Any one who is old enough to join Lloyd's bank (16+)
Purpose: To advertise their bank (each animated advert is done in the same style, with similar characters, so when ever some one sees the characters, they associate them with Lloyd's bank).
My opinions on the clip: Love the unique three dimensional style, and the trademark all of the characters have, being their features (the extra long nose, eye brows and tiny eyes). The colours are bright and cheerful, which suits the advertisement, as people want to think of Lloyd's Bank as a bright and cheerful place.
Pixar
The History of Pixar:
The successful animation studio currently known as 'Pixar', first began in 1979 by a millionaire named Alexander Schare, who at the time was the president of the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). He was searching for someone to help him make an animation from a sound recording he had in mind. Schare and a man named George Lucas, who had his own production company 'Lucasfilm', recruited a man named Ed Catmull who was a computer science, to head the Lucasfilm's computer division. The film was called 'Tubby the Tuba' and never got made, but they got settled in a studio in West coast in the same year to start the division of Lucasfilm Ltd.
The successful animation studio currently known as 'Pixar', first began in 1979 by a millionaire named Alexander Schare, who at the time was the president of the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). He was searching for someone to help him make an animation from a sound recording he had in mind. Schare and a man named George Lucas, who had his own production company 'Lucasfilm', recruited a man named Ed Catmull who was a computer science, to head the Lucasfilm's computer division. The film was called 'Tubby the Tuba' and never got made, but they got settled in a studio in West coast in the same year to start the division of Lucasfilm Ltd.
In 1984, the division made their first short film 'The Adventures of Andre and Wally B' which then was premiered at 'SIGGRAPH'. As the division became more known, Steve Jobs in 1986 brought the computer graphics devision from George Lucas, and renamed the company 'Pixar.
They then finished making their short three dimensional film called 'Luxo Jr' shortly after. This then won an oscar for The Best Animated Short Film, which was the first time a 3D film had won.
The company then went onto creating more short films such as Red's Dream in 1987 which brought new aspects to the mood and atmosphere of animation (the rain effect and lighting pose), Tin Toy made in 1988 which received an Academy Award, and finally Knick Knack in 1989 which was the first film in the company to be made in stereoscopic 3D and won 2 CLIO awards. All three films were screened and premiered at SIGGRAPH.
Then the company agreed to make their first full length feature film collaborating with Disney in 1991. This was when the extremely successful three dimensional animation was released 4 years later, in 1995 called Toy Story. Toy story was not only the companies first animated feature film, but the worlds, and was the highest grossing film in 1995.
They then went on to producing films such as: A Bugs Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters Inc in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003, The Incredibles in 2008, Cars in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007,WALL-E in 2008, UP in 2009, Toy Story 3 in 2010, Cars 2 in 2011, Brave in 2012, and their most up to date Monsters University released in 2013. It has now become a routine for Pixar to release one film per year, as their team has increased and they now have enough people and money to get a movie made in the space of a year.
The company is currently based in Emeryvill Califorina, and has won 26 Academy Awards, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammy Awards, and many more.
RenderMan
The company is not only known for its brilliant and successful animations, but the software it uses to create these computer generated animations. Pixar is known for its CGI animated features made with PhotoRealistic RenderMan and other products such as Pixar image computers and Marionette.
According to Wikipedia, RenderMan is a software used by Pixar and an API (application programming interface) for network distributed rendering of complex and ray-traced 3D views. According to Joe Letteri a VFX supervisor at WETA Digital, "RenderMan is the ultimate creative tool. It's the easiest and most flexible way to create a picture from an idea."
Some of the features of RenderMan include: Hybrid rendering, which allows people to easily control CG camera work, and two of the most important features are monition blur and depth of field. It offers advanced features such as a versatile re-rendering system, physically plausible shading, deep textures, and many more.
Another feature RenderMan has, which is described as on the RenderMan's website 'the secret of RenderMan's success' is the outstanding performance. It is described to a be fast, efficient, and configurable program. It offers an exceptional amount of memory and storage, which can save a large amount of textured maps, geometry and shaders. It can render with REYES, send the geometry to REYES, can split the geometry, dice and shade the geometry, and finally voilal the final picture. Lastly, due to it being built around REYES its really good at rendering displacements.
More about Pixar
Through out the years, and from the beginning Pixar has produced all of their films in the three dimensional style. This was extremely impressive, as at the time, 3D animation was just being introduced. This brought a whole new level to their characters, brought them to life and made the films more life-like and realistic.
The Genre Pixar tends to stick to are adventure and comedy, and these are a common pattern in their films. These suit their light hearted style, as Pixar tends to have some comedic characters (Mr Potato Head, Mike Waszowski etc...) which could add to the comedic element, and also bright colours which suites their target audience. Almost all of their films are rated 'Universal', or 'Parental Guidance', and their target audience was originally to a younger audience, although they have also attracted a much older generation. This is due to the original and entertaining plots, which both young people and older people can enjoy, and recently an older audience have been going to see Pixar films due to sequels of the films they watched years ago when they were young, for example, Toy Story 3.
Recently they have been earning an enormous box office profit from the sequels they're been producing, for example, the new Monsters University film, which is a sequel to the Monsters Inc film made in 2001, made 80 million US dollars. This was the biggest opening for an animation since Toy Story 3. They've also made a re-make of cars, which made a gross of 200 million US dollars.
They're currently makeing a sequel to the popular 'Finding Nemo' film, made 11 years ago in 2013, which is called 'Finding Dory' and will be released in 2015.
Sources:
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/renderman-products
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RenderMan
http://pixar.wikia.com/Pixar_Animation_Studios
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/30/toy-story-3-pixar-animation
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/renderman-features
http://www.pixar.com
The company is currently based in Emeryvill Califorina, and has won 26 Academy Awards, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammy Awards, and many more.
RenderMan
The company is not only known for its brilliant and successful animations, but the software it uses to create these computer generated animations. Pixar is known for its CGI animated features made with PhotoRealistic RenderMan and other products such as Pixar image computers and Marionette.
According to Wikipedia, RenderMan is a software used by Pixar and an API (application programming interface) for network distributed rendering of complex and ray-traced 3D views. According to Joe Letteri a VFX supervisor at WETA Digital, "RenderMan is the ultimate creative tool. It's the easiest and most flexible way to create a picture from an idea."Some of the features of RenderMan include: Hybrid rendering, which allows people to easily control CG camera work, and two of the most important features are monition blur and depth of field. It offers advanced features such as a versatile re-rendering system, physically plausible shading, deep textures, and many more.
Another feature RenderMan has, which is described as on the RenderMan's website 'the secret of RenderMan's success' is the outstanding performance. It is described to a be fast, efficient, and configurable program. It offers an exceptional amount of memory and storage, which can save a large amount of textured maps, geometry and shaders. It can render with REYES, send the geometry to REYES, can split the geometry, dice and shade the geometry, and finally voilal the final picture. Lastly, due to it being built around REYES its really good at rendering displacements.
More about Pixar
Through out the years, and from the beginning Pixar has produced all of their films in the three dimensional style. This was extremely impressive, as at the time, 3D animation was just being introduced. This brought a whole new level to their characters, brought them to life and made the films more life-like and realistic.
The Genre Pixar tends to stick to are adventure and comedy, and these are a common pattern in their films. These suit their light hearted style, as Pixar tends to have some comedic characters (Mr Potato Head, Mike Waszowski etc...) which could add to the comedic element, and also bright colours which suites their target audience. Almost all of their films are rated 'Universal', or 'Parental Guidance', and their target audience was originally to a younger audience, although they have also attracted a much older generation. This is due to the original and entertaining plots, which both young people and older people can enjoy, and recently an older audience have been going to see Pixar films due to sequels of the films they watched years ago when they were young, for example, Toy Story 3.
Recently they have been earning an enormous box office profit from the sequels they're been producing, for example, the new Monsters University film, which is a sequel to the Monsters Inc film made in 2001, made 80 million US dollars. This was the biggest opening for an animation since Toy Story 3. They've also made a re-make of cars, which made a gross of 200 million US dollars.
They're currently makeing a sequel to the popular 'Finding Nemo' film, made 11 years ago in 2013, which is called 'Finding Dory' and will be released in 2015.
Sources:
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/renderman-products
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RenderMan
http://pixar.wikia.com/Pixar_Animation_Studios
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/30/toy-story-3-pixar-animation
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/renderman-features
http://www.pixar.com
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