Computer Animation Arts

This video by Tony Zhou ( Every-frame-a-painting ) explores the silent and physical comedy of Buster Keaton. This film neatly captures Buster Keaton's thought process and expertise for creating humour using his physicality, his facial reactions, a static camera, and clear staging. Watching this film will help you clearly understand what it is that you are trying to achieve in your current project. In addition, I've included links below to more on the history of film making, the Hollywood studio system, and the silent era. Each film is under 10 minutes long... Episode 0: Introduction Video (above). Episode 1: Pre-Cinema History Episode 2: The Rise of the Studio System Episode 3: The Golden Age of Hollywood Episode 4: The Foreign Wave Episode 5: The New Hollywood Episode 6: Contemporary Cinema

While browsing the corners of the internet, I found an interesting article titled "The Pixar Theory" created by writer, Jon Negroni . Could there be more to the Pixar movies than you think? His theory argues that every Pixar production is interlinked into one overarching story that begins with 'Brave' (2012). I thought it was highly implausible to begin with too, but in the end was perplexed by this fun yet crazy idea. The full article can be found on his website linked below. Be prepared to dive into this weird theory! The Pixar Theory, Jon Negroni And of course, video-bloggers have had a say on their own opinions relating to this theory too. Below is a video from user 'TMGsIRL' that audio books Negroni's article while incorporating his own analysis and involving supporting images.

An interesting feature of animation (of all kinds) is the control it gives the creator over "reality".  In particular, for the non-physical techniques (2D drawing, 3D CGI), the rules of the animated world are determined totally by the animator; this offers all kinds of opportunities for artists. Playing with Scale Once you start getting down to the small scale (say, under 5" tall), the world starts to behave differently; the interplay between viscosity and surface tension in water for example, or the ratio of surface area to volume. Water, in particular, is notorious in VFX circles for its refusal to scale - many otherwise excellent miniature shots are marred by over-sized water droplets (see Thunderbirds for many good examples). Conversely, films like Honey I shrunk the kids (1989), which use special effects to make the audience believe that the actors have been shrunk down, are unable to produce this effect.  Animated films, on the other hand, c...

Thanks to Steven Benedict for putting together this stirring, passionate overview of Spielberg's cinematic syntax.  It just made want to watch all of Spielberg's movies again.  There is magic captured in these reels - no question, and it's always inspiring to hear someone give voice to their own delight and admiration. You should find ten minutes to watch this. The Passions and Techniques of Steven Spielberg from Steven Benedict on Vimeo .