Movie and more after the break!

Below you’ll find my little movie. It came out ok, even though it makes no sense. . . Silly thing is that the animation looks pretty bad to me now (2 months later). But then again, it was my first try. I guess I’ll just have to keep practising.

Somehow it shows up rather dark here in the browser, not sure why. It looked quite a bit lighter on my computer.

Pictures after the break!

And this is the result. Now lets see if you can spot the hidden Discworld reference ^_~

Here’s the list with all the episodes:

• Great Brains
• Inventing the Future
• The Paperback Computer
• The Thinking Machine
• The world at your fingertips

When I first started working on this project, I had only one medium in mind: the graphic novel. And since web-comics were in at the time, and it appeared a very suitable distribution model, that’s what I was going for. Now the years have passed, and the project has began to grow a lot beyond my humble intentions back then. In the meantime, people have kindly agreed to join me in this effort, and inevitably at some point we found ourselves pondering about the medium.

As a matter of fact, at some point there were serious plans to move to the medium of computer games. Very serious indeed. In the end we went back to the graphic novel, not because the technical challenges of making a game were too daunting — as a matter of fact we even made a prototype with quite some success. The point is, that with this project I feel we have to concentrate on the story, and the story is all about the main characters. Now, since the story involves more than one, and this character does evolve significantly throughout the narrated events, the medium of a game becomes less feasible. Mainly because if I were to make a game, I would want the players to be allowed to “be” the main protagonist as much as possible, making their own choices. That clashes with a story where there is a particular place where I want the protagonist to start, and a very well defined spot I want him or her to get to. Doing that in the extents I’m thinking of in a game is, I believe, impossible. And anything else would not only miss the point I want to make, but would also result in something that would feel just odd and maybe even wrong as a game.

So there you have it. We have thought about it. And we’re sticking to the graphic novel medium. For now.

I’ll be the first to admit that there is a good amount of rather decent animation out there, where the mere content can be summed up in two sentences.  Maybe one.  But there are also lots of works with more complex stories and themes, and as Japanese animation has already been showing for many, many years, there is no other limit to the degree of “depth” one can put into a plot for an animation production. Sure, rather than “the sky” being the limit, it will always be “the audience”, but bear with me for a moment here.

If we look at some Japanese productions, we’ll very soon find ourselves in the reign of “violent, sexy pics”.  True enough.  But let’s just look past that for a moment.  Take Neon Genesis Evangelion.  And now please leave away the violence and the gratuitous expositions of female anatomy, just for the sake of argument.  I believe we can all agree (to a certain extent, of course) that the plot of the story reaches certain depths that are not even common for Japanese animation.  Personally, my favorite moment is in the last episode, where pondering about the concept of “freedom”, the main protagonist is put into a completely empty space, and the “creator” (aptly voiced by his father) tells him “here you go, you’re free, nothing restrains you”.  At that point the protagonist complains that like that, there is nothing he can really do, at which an imaginary pencil (with sound-effect!) draws a line under his feet, and the creator announces “I made the earth for you.  Now you can walk around, but you lost some of your freedom, because you have to stand on it.”

Never mind the deep philosophical discussions I could get into from such concepts, it remains quite clear to me, that these are complex, intricate themes certainly not fit for a young audience.  Not because they are appalling, shocking or plain rude, but rather because they deal with complex and often very abstract things, which to a ten year old would be just plain boring.

The above example thus shows — in my opinion — a brilliant application of the medium of animation to a challenging subject and theme.  Basically, the way the matter was approached completely justified and endorsed the chosen medium, by having a hand-drawn character stand on a (quite literally) hand-drawn line.

So the question is, why don’t we see this more often?  Admittedly, the themes don’t always need to be so deep and existential as the one in the above example. Generally speaking, though, I believe there are many interesting stories which treat themes much more appropriate for a “grown-up” audience,  that could successfully be told through animation.  So why don’t such projects show up more often?

I blame stereotypes.  ”Animation is for kids”.  That’s what many are convinced of, so if anything is made with animation “it’s for kids” and thus the kids are dragged to see it and if it does not fit the audience, it’s always the maker’s fault.  Inversely, if it really, really is meant for “adults”, that very often narrows the audience to teenagers closing in to “adulthood” and craving for little more than violence and sex.  Don’t ask me why.

But if “the audience” could be convinced that there can also be animation for “average” grownups, without “shocking” content but rather with “interesting” or even “challenging” content … who knows, maybe the limit could really become “the sky”. 

The first movie I remember seeing in the theater is The Little Mermaid. I remember because I was 5 years old and the final battle with Ursula freaked me out. It surely wasn’t the first animated movie I ever saw, but it’s the first I remember. Throughout my childhood, animation and in particular Disney animation was an inspiration for countless games, drawings and afternoons singing with my little sisters. We adored those films and knew half of them by heart.

The older I got, the more I started appreciating the art of animation and the effort that goes into making it. By now I find that more than 2 thirds of the movies I own are animated and my closet is filled with books about the subject. I always regretted that I don’t have the patience nor talent to become an animator myself.

It’s not easy to be an animation fan. In this part of the world it usually means being a Disney fan and when I was 12, I thought that meant I couldn’t be a fan of anything else. Even though I had enjoyed movies made by others before, it started feeling wrong to compliment the competition. It also meant it was hard to critisize the movies Disney was making, because that felt like betraying them. It’s funny how a kids mind works.

As I got older my loyalty to Disney faltered, especially as the movies they made became less and less magical. I realise that it wasn’t just because the movies became worse, but also because I became older and less easily impressed. But in general I started getting anoyed by the stories, the style and the endless train of bad sequels. It provided a problem: could I defend being a Disney-fan on basis of everything they did before the Terror Of The Sequels even though I totally disagreed with the direction the company was taking? In the end I decided to push the issue to the background and focused myself on Japanese animation. I refound my love for western animation in Pixar Animation Studios which I had avoided a bit, because of their Disney affilitation. They were brought to my attention by Neko and I’ve become a big fan ever since.

When Disney announced they wouldn’t do any 2D animation anymore it felt like my inner conflict had been solved by them. Especially when Pixar said they wouldn’t make more than the promised 5 films for Disney, everything seemed to have worked out.

I will always have a soft spot for Disney though and so I was extremely happy when I heard they aquired Pixar. Especially because John Lasseter would now be in charge of their animation department and I had a feeling he’d share my views (and indeed he started production on 2D animation again).

Since then though I’ve dived deeper into animation and the proceedings at Disney and Pixar over time. Through that I’ve realized that there have always been things at Disney I wouldn’t agree with and likewise at Pixar. I also learned that no situation is ever black and white. The animators I adored for their work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc, were also the ones who worked on Hercules and Home on the Range. A company is made out of many people and not all of them will always agree with the direction that the company is going, although they might not disagree enough to quit their job.

Similarly someone like Walt Disney, whom I greatly admire for many of the things he did, had many character traits and ideas that make him less likable. That however is part of being human and noone will be able to live up to the image of his admirers. Does that make them any less admirable? No, in the end I realised that you can be a fan of someone or something even though you don’t agree with everything about them. In the end you are almost never really a fan of the entire thing or person, but of some of their qualities, that have touched you in some way.

The inner conflict might never really dissapear. There’s so much to be said for and against liking something. But in the end it goes deeper than objective arguments. Like with my love for Disney which is so subjectively connected to my most treasured childhood memories. The conflict stems mainly from the fear of judgement by others, because it’s so difficult to defend your subjective feelings. But as I learned recently on a delightful evening out with my co-workers, when you surround yourself with the right people, it is never necessary to defend your preferences. Because the right people will accept you and your likings, just as they are.