Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

– I’m going to continue to defend Richard Linklater’s film A Scanner Darkly (at least until I see it next week.)

The director made one of my two favorite films of the last couple of years with Before Sunset. The rotoscoping technique will not make or break this film.

Like cgi or 2D animation, it’s just a technique. If it’s used to good effect, it’ll help the film; if it’s used to bad effect, it’ll hurt.

I read a letter on Animation Nation yesterday in which the writer was crazed over the idea of seeing a film in which they copy live-action. I wonder if he had the same problem with King Kong where a live action actor did all the principal motion for the gorilla. Motion Capture, to me, veers too far from animation to make it interesting solely as a technique. When the movie studio is trying to get an Oscar nomination for the live actor, I have to wonder if I should even call that technique animation. Yet, if it’s used in as good a way as those GEICO ads, where incredibly subtle motion just about makes the spots brilliant, then the technique is excellent.

Yes, I had many more problems with King Kong than the Motion Capture. The technique didn’t help or hurt my feelings for the film. The length, the direction, the script: these made me not enjoy the movie.

The same is true for A Scanner Darkly. I was totally mesmerized with Waking Life and found myself watching it several times in its repeat showings on television. What’s the film saying and how is it doing that. This is all I really want to know.

- At the box office the film did respectably well with $7700 per theater at only 17 theaters. Pirates of the Caribbean made $7600 per theater at over 4000 theaters.

- I doubt there will be a large outcry for the posts that were lost in my site’s glitch (The Letterman comics, the pages from my John Gardner illustrations), so I probably won’t rush to put them back up. Maybe when things get quiet.

- As a Yankee fan, I kinda enjoyed the Red Sox fighting against Chicago’s White Sox for 19 exhausting innings yesterday. Too bad they get a four day break after that game.

– We’ve had an enormous number of problems with our server, Shield Host. It’s been more than annoying. The site has had enormous problems over the past six months, losing a number of postings and a lot of work. It’s still not operating properly, so I’m not sure if we’ll go down again.

I apologize for those of you that haven’t had access to the site this past weekend. With any luck we’ll be operating normally now.

- For those who are looking for some imaginative art sites to view stunning images, take a look at the Fantastic In Art & Fiction site from the Cornell library. There’s a large range of pictures of devils, and monsters, and angels, and freaks. It’s a nice way to spend a few minutes if you’re searching for some medieval inspiration.

- Another site with some interesting imagery is designed for the person who loves comics or Roy Lichtenstein, or just would like to see where Roy Lichtenstein ripped-off those comic images, go to the Lichtenstein Project. There you’ll see side-by-side pairings of the artist’s paintings and the comic artists’ strip images. Decide which you like best.

David Barsalou, who put this site together, also has complete reference material for each of the strip artists at his flickr place.

- A Scanner Darkly opened to mixed reviews. Most animators seem dead-set against this rotoscoped-type animation. However, it still is animation (just as we call “motion-capture” animation), and a lot of work went into it. Since I’m a big fan of Richard Linklater, I’ll gladly take his brand of “animation” rather than none. There are a number of articles about the making of. One interesting one is at the NYTimes on-line site; it’s a narrated slide show with a lot of models displayed. Worth the three-minute tour.

- I also still like Manohla Dargis’ review best of all those I’ve read. Her last paragraph covers anything anyone has to say about this movie.

– Monsters Inc. will be screened at the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow, Sunday, July 2 at 2:00 and Monday, July 3 at 4:30.

It’ll give you a chance to compare this film full of bipedal creatures to the rubber-tired ones in Cars. Technically, Monsters Inc. introduced delicately flowing hair to computer animation; Cars introduced full-wheel traction (not to mention Larry the Cable Guy).

This is part of a program of preserved films from the Museum’s archives. The list of recent films to be screened is an impressive one. A good way to spend some of these rainy days in NYC. The Straight Story, The Man Who Laughs, and Avalon are among those to be presented over the next couple of weeks.

- Also a reminder that the end of July brings more screenings of their CalArts in Moving Picturesprogram. Keep your datebook handy. Films by Eric Darnell, Stephen Hillenburg, Doug Vitarelli and Craig McCracken can be seen on July 30th. Many other interesting films are also on the schedule including those by: Steve Subotnick, Joanna Priestly and Maureen Selwood. A lot of talent went through that school.