A long long LONG time ago (actually, about three years ago), I made a rough list of Yu Aoi films I had watched and ranked them on MUBI (then TheAuteurs). Since I’m way too lazy to bother adding films to their database, unless I really REALLY wanted the films to be on their database, I’m just gonna work on the ranking here, like I started with my Russian fandom love Chulpan Khamatova.
Archives For animation
Who grew up watching the Street Fighter II series?
I used to tape this every afternoon because I was never on time from school, they used to show it after Gargoyles on Frecuencia Latina, and then after we got cable for the first time- actually a few years after that, I think — Cartoon Network Latin America got all big on showing anime series, and among the Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin episodes they used to broadcast, they also had some of this.
I remember they also used to show Sakura Card Captor and Corrector Yui [1, with latino audio].
Around that time, it was when I was trying to google this song online but back then it was nearly impossible to find song information if you had very little info, especially if you didn’t speak the language. I did eventually find that this song was called Kaze Fuiteru (aka. The Wind Blows, 風吹いてる – by Yuki Kuroda), and that my friend had a CD with songs that were anime themes that contained the track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pOqYuKIGZo
Of course, the Spanish version they did [1] is not as good as the original. But I’m glad that they at least kept the original music, instead of changing it to something “hard rock” like in the American broadcast.
I have created a brand new tag specifically for S.H.E ~
Because, well~ this music video and the song are self-explanatory.
Despite being completely different, this brought memories of Viva Forever [MV] by the Spice Girls. I guess… I can see a tree in The Tree at that Time (那時候的樹)? Oh, and I guess… stop-motion mixed in live-action? xD
From left to right.- Laure Shang Wenjie, animator Bill Plympton, Crowd Lu, and Esteman.
For the past couple of months I’ve been able to interview some of these awesome people. But that you knew if you were following all my ramblings on YAM Magazine.
- Ode to the Doom: Briefing with Laure Shang
- Kickstarting Cheatin’: Interview with Bill Plympton
- Oh La La Hu Hu: Interview with Crowd Lu
- Aquí Estoy Yo: Interview with Esteman
For some other of my interviews, click here.
It’s crazy how technology has developed in the past 20 years. The latest consumer craze? 3D printing, of course! It hasn’t only been featured on shows (with a special mention on The Big Bang Theory), but it’s been used in a broad variety of ways [1]. Miniatures of yourself [1], your face in chocolate [1], miniature of yourself in gummy [1], or candy [1].
Its most striking use, because of its practicality, was how they used 3D Printing in the making of ParaNorman. Technically speaking, it was that usual “wow, why didn’t anyone else think of this before?” Printing the many faces needed to be able to animate your stop-motion movie. It gets the consistency so your animation doesn’t get blotches, and you get incredible detail (I LOVE THE LIGHT GOING THROUGH NORMAN’S EARS).
The question that arises is- if they print the faces needed to animate, once they’ve done the movements in a CG environment. Is it stop-motion? Mixed media is more common than ever. There was a lot of special effects in ParaNorman, especially in its incredibly visual last arc, but the film is still considered stop-motion. So how much use of the computer do you need to have for it to not be stop-motion?
Vancouver-based motion graphic studio, Giant Ant, took part in the making of an animation collaborative effort centered on the poem titled To This Day by Shane Koyczan, who was in charge of the We Are More poem used for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics [1]. To This Day focuses on the lasting impact of bullying on its victims, and though it feels heavy-handed with a +6min of running time with a narrative of negative lows in contrast to Koyczan’s climbing monologue, it’s still a project worth checking out because of…
it’s animation.
Giant Ant (which includes work by Jorge Canedo Estrada [1]) asked animators and motion designers to come up with 20-sec sequences to go along to Koyczan’s spoken poem, developing a wonderful mismatch of styles within its narrative.
You can check out more of the To This Day project on:
I want this (Dutch???) toilet paper!
The best toilet paper commercials we ever got in Peru were of Suave, featuring Luis Miguel’s hit song, Suave [MV] — that’s the only one that ever stuck in my subconscious anyway. That one, for the song, and there was another one of a little girl who wanted to go to the washroom at a mall or something, and she was only with her father. Obviously, he couldn’t go it to the ladies room, so she went in with her father staying by the door giving directions, where he spurts “ahora limpiate tu potito.” (now clean your tushy).
We aren’t any remotely close to having this kind of toilet paper commercial.
Some outstanding animated fanart from Derek Henriques and Victor Hugo from Brazil and their love for Street Fighter.
Derek Henriques
Direction, Screenplay, Animation, Project Management, Smoke and Fire FX and Editing
Lá no Estúdio
Music, Sound Design, Foley and Mixing
Lou Schmidt
Music, Mixing, Hugo’s Voice
Felipe Alves
Source Material Consulting
Victor Hugo Queiroz
Producer, Co-direction, Screenplay, Art Direction, Character Design, Modeling, Rigging, Texturing, Lookdev, Grooming, Lighting, Rendering, FX, Post-production and Compositing)
Over the years there has been some outstanding whiteboard marker illustration videos, like Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us [1], Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson, or variations like James & Amy’s Electric Fence [MV] (drawn by James Cooper).
Spanish artist Pablo Morales de los Rios takes a look at the history of music and lays it out all on the table.
It’s a thing of beauty.
