Disney Pixars- ‘UP’

UP
Distributed by- Buena Vista
American release- 29th of May 2009

Directed by Pete Docter and the Pixar team

Budget– $175 Million
World wide marketing budget- $150 million

Gross (as of 25th oct 2009)
Domestic- $293 million
Foriegn- $214 million
Worldwide- $507 million

Opening Weekend

The fil totaled a release of nearly 4,000 cinemas in the US and grossed $70 million.

Reviews Advertising and Promotions
(summary)

One of the main achievements and most highlighted success of the launch of this film, was its airing at ‘The Cannes Film Festival’ Disney Pixar creation ‘Up’ was the first ever animation to open the festival. This is a massive achievement for the animation teams and directors, a new step in the world of feature-length CGI. John Lassester the creative mid working alongside most of the films, is now credited for another step in the world of CGI. John Lassesters influence on animation in my opinion is massive productive and revolutionary. This is what in my opinion makes him and Auteur in the film industry. He has taken the use of CGI animation from the likes of ‘The adventures of Andre and Wally B’, to Toy Story the worlds first feature-length CGI animation. Now obviously Disney had been around for years creating animations, but this market was getting stagnant and out dated, the films were becoming conventional and repetitive. Pixar to animation to a new level, and now are rewarded with the opportunity to open one of the most renowned film festivals across the world.

Review
http://www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk/lifestyle/79951/review-disney-pixar-s-up.aspx

5/5

“WHILE Disney Pixar seems to have lost some ground to Dreamworks in recent years, the studio’s tenth computer animated release, Up, puts them back on top of their game.

Up tells the story of Carl Frederickson (Edward Asner), an old man who – as a boy – idolised an heroic and intrepid adventurer. Whilst out adventuring in his neighbourhood he meets another would-be adventurer, the goofy Ellie.

The first act of the movie is a whistle-stop tour of Carl and Ellie’s lives as they grow up together, fall in love and marry.

With your cinema seat barely warm, however, things turn less rosy for the couple as their dreams of world exploration fade, they succumb to the ravages of age and are eventually separated as Ellie dies.

Carl becomes something of a shut-in, and as developers begin building around the couple’s lifelong home – pestering him to give it up for a place in retirement home ‘Shady Oaks’, Carl gives in and agrees to move out in the morning.

Mementos of his life with Ellie and their dreams of exploration prompt him into action though, and with the bulldozers at the gates – Carl pulls the rug from under their feet as hundreds of helium-filled balloons emerge from the roof, lifting the house from its foundations and carrying Carl off for the adventure he and his love had dreamed of.

Accompanied by scaredy-cat and would-be do-gooder boy scout Russell (Jordan Nagai), the two set off in their helium propelled house to South America – the place where Ellie had always wanted to explore.

As you’d imagine their adventure features enough colourful characters, talking animals and hi-jinx to keep kids and parents alike interested for the film’s 96 minute run-time.

After the film’s romantic, albeit tragic opening, what follows is hugely uplifting and often hilarious.

Once again Pixar impress with beautifully rendered characters and landscapes. The character design is as fresh as ever, with Carl having more than just a passing resemblance to the house he seeks to defend so fervently.

The visuals are complemented by superb voice acting and a suitably Disney score.

In a time when movie studios seem oblivious to the short attention spans afforded to children, Up is merciful in pace and length.

With half term approaching, Up is a perfectly cheery and funny film for the kids and charming and sensitive enough to capture older audience members’ interest.”

CONTINUE TO TALK ABOUT INTERNET AND HOW ITS USED TO ADVERTISE. AND SYNERGY.

Actors, Locations and Costumes.

In further planning of the film i have looked into ways of handling my actors, locations and costumes. With our film it’s only really the location that is a major issue, the film only contains 2 actors for a maximum of about 10 seconds and still, this particular part is still in planning and may not be included. Again with costumes, there isn’t much we really need to plan other than set design and mise en scene. If we do decide to include actors they will be dressed in a ‘smart casual’ manor, nothing to smart and nothing to tacky. The reason we have decided this is mainly due to the mise en scene and overall setting, it will fit with the style of the location having them dressed fairly smart.
The location was a major issue to get around in the beginning we had a very good idea of what we wanted, we just weren’t sure where could actually do it. We had the idea from the start of having a dark, low lit room room with a table set up for a romantic meal but finding somewhere to create this was a problem. We did eventually find a small room at college that we have been given permission to use as our setting, we are planning to place black sheets all around the room to counter the white walls and create a darker more romantic setting. With this room now available we feel confident that we can create the setting and mise en scene we aimed for. We still have some props to purchase to make this room into the location we aim for but we were well aware from the start that our budget may prove to be an issue.

The Adventures of Andre and Wally B

But you were a lone animator in a world of programmers.
Yeah, the computer animation world at that time was primarily in university research labs. It was mostly TV commercials and mostly quite awful.

Everything was made of stone and glass and very reflective and all that, because most of the stuff being done was by people who’d created the software. I thought to myself, ‘You know what? I can make an object move around and give it personality and emotion through pure movement.’

I thought our powers were complementary, that I wasn’t gonna learn what they can do. I’d just sit next to them and co-operate! That became, I think, the single things that set Lucasfilm and Pixar apart: the idea of making tools for filmmakers to use.

Because there’s no software solution for entertainment; it comes from people, from the artists who uses it. So from the very, very beginning I really viewed the computer as just a tool for artists to use.

That logic presumably fuelled your first project, The Adventures Of André And Wally B?
Yeah. It became the first real animation that the computer had ever done – there were some attempts before by other people – but Andre & Wally was very cartoony, and people loved that.

I remember one guy, who worked with a computer graphics company, coming up to me after a screening to ask what software I used to get the humour in!

It really brought home to me how much it was seen as science at the time. No one realised that there were these animation principles that had been developed for like 50 years and I became something of an evangelist, speaking at animation festivals and at computer animation conferences on how computers are just tools you can use to entertain an audience.

This small extract from an interview with John Lasseter details the very start in Computer Generated Imagery, there was obviously examples of CGI in previous films but nothing had every been created purely using CGI. The animation was made in 1984 and to my knowledge was the first short film made using entirely CGI. It was made by Lassester for boy and although the film scared his son, it became revolutionary in the way the film industry viewed computers, technology and it’s potential uses in films. This is a perfect example for my project and my research, this is the proof that John Lassester changed animation, creating a new style. Lassester never stopped dreaming and always pushed with the idea of making a feature length animation.
In my opinion this was one of the main stepping stones in the development of CGI and how it was viewed. A development that was under main control and inspired by Lassester with the help from the team at Lucas film. This is a key aspect to the reason i believe that Lassester is an Auteur.

Key Details:
The idea and direction was done by Alvy Ray Smith
Animation was done by John Lassester
Tom Duff contributed in the technical lead. This was the man who designed the animation program ‘MD’ Motion Doctor

This Short film was groundbreaking at the time, it was the first film to use CG motion blur, creating a more realistic look for motion in animation. And at the time is was the recognized for it’s complex 3D backgrounds. According to Wikipedia Lasseter was known to push the envelope and asked for manipulated shapes able to achieve the squash and stretch style. This was a new angle seen as earlier CG models were basic stable geometric shapes, that were rigid and and constricted.
It was rendered on a Cray X-MP/48 supercomputer and ten VAX-11/750 super minicomputers from Project Athena.

Sources:

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/interview-john-lasseter/page:6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Andr%C3%A9_and_Wally_B.

Production Log 15.10.09

Today i looked a little further into my target audience and existing media, i have discovered from my research that my video will fit into the ‘Viral media’ style short video, it contains many of the same qualities and ideologies of other short films show on the main community i shall be looking to reach, youtube. I have taken a lot of useful information which i shall apply into the thought of my film from today’s session, i have looked into some of the statistic of youtube and how the viewer figures are broken down. This has given me a good idea of what i will be approaching with the film. ‘Community’ and the concept of online virtual communities is key to the the film, knowing hows these communities work will allow me to understand what angles to approach and how to attract my audience. This is something i shall investigate further.

Treatment.

« Newer Older » September 16, 2009 • 2:26 am Treatment What if your romantic meal wasn’t just romantic for you?… A stop-motion animation based on a romantic dinner for two, however instead of the couple being the focus,the cutlery, meal and other objects on the table are the main focus, using these utensils we will create the romantic essence. Using stop-motion we will be able to tell a story through the movement of the objects on the table showing the romance there instead of between the couple. The story will develop as we follow all the different objects on the table creating the romance in the scene. The main examples are the salt and pepper pots dancing, the knife buttering the bread and many other things. We aim to keep the film looking classic and romantic and avoid all cheesy/corny elements. The main characters will be our props and the film will focus on the salt and pepper pots, these will dance, hug and create a story and emotion for the viewer.
The setting will be kept simple, we will film entirely on the table using all objects as props and a setting. We aim to create a low lit romantic setting, candle light and 3 point light to keep visibility. The film will be between 3-5 minutes each second of the film will contain approximately 24 images, this is the standard for most films and stop motion should contain the same. The genre will be mostly romantic, we will try to avoid comedy as this could make it seem slightly tacky. The mood and overall feel to the film is to create a positive reaction from the audience getting the ‘Aww’ reaction is something we mainly trying to achieve.
The main movement in the film will be from the salt and pepper pots, following them dance around the table, distancing and the rejoining. We will also use the same effect with the food, knives and forks and wine glasses, as well as many other utensils. We aim to create a fluent motion in the film, taking influence from many old black and white romantic dance scenes.
In terms of mise en scene the main colour theme will be black and white, keeping some red to keep the impression of passion and love. Keeping with the theme of a classic film we have opted with 50’s style music, Taking influence in the film from artists such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinartra.
Equipment will be a DSLR camera, a canon 500D keeping video available to use as well. 3 point to get the best mood and setting and we shall be using tripods and other equipment surrounding those 2 main aspects. Editing will take place in final cut pro, we would like to edit in I-Stop motion but we don’t have the available budget to obtain this software, in terms of overall budget we are limiting to around £25. This will be used to buy most of our props, for example the table covers and black cloth to create the setting.

“Little Band Of Revolutionaries”

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/interview-john-lasseter/page:5

John Lasseter, Gorge Lucas and Ed Catmull, described in this interview as a band of revolutionaries talking about Lucasfilm and how he came into the world of CGI.

So you were like a little band of revolutionaries.
Well, we were a very small group, led by Ed with a visionary – George Lucas – funding it. It was remarkable. I’m the very first traditionally trained animator in the world who worked with computer animation. And I just blossomed!

After my experience at the Disney Studio of just being squelched, Ed had gathered together the world’s greatest young minds in computer animation. I asked him, ‘How did you get all these amazing people?’ And he said, ‘Oh, it’s easy, I just try to hire people who are smarter than myself.’

Early Examples Of CGI

http://www.your3dsource.com/earliest-computer-animation.html

This site gave me an amazing insight to the world of CGI and it’s history. Knowing where it all began is an important thing to understand, CGI has been around for more time than what people may think. Animation started in ’71 with a short example ‘Andromeda Strain’ according to the web site it is arguably the first example of ‘Computer Generated Imagery’.
The main part of this history that caught my attention was its relevance to Lassester and how he may have been influenced. In 1977 The well known movie ‘Star Wars’ was released and this was one of the first films to use CGI, the film was directed by Gorge Lucas who had already had his taste in special effects. What intrigues me is that this was one of the first companies and institutions to this and also then go onto creating CGI for other other films (Young Sherlock Holmes 1985). At this stage John Lassester was now a part of Lucasfilm and contributed to this animation creation, getting his first taste for CGI. You can that this environment, being around the technology helped adapt and develop he’s creative mind edging him slightly closer to he’s revolutionary change in animation, giving the world a new niche.

Production Log 08.10.09

Today was a very productive and gave us a good sense of what we are approaching, int terms of filming and our challenges. In the process of making some very short demo’s we saw a variety of different obstacles that we shall be encountering. We made a small demos trying out different techniques, ranging from panning to focus pulling. We knew this would be difficult as we were using still images and stop motion. One of the main difficulties with panning was that keeping the movement and motion smooth, the tripod we used had a full motion tilt head this made it a struggle to keep the camera level whilst panning. From this we know understand that we need to acquire a tripod that has multi-movement functions that are separately controlled, this will eliminate the the problem of the camera going of level.

The problems we had with focus pulling only really came around when we wanted to have objects moving during the focus change, we had lots of things to think about and it will take a lot of planning to get right. Normal focus pulling with stationary was very simple an fairly quick to do.

One of the main obstacles we encountered today was camera movement, we are aiming for a fluent motion. So practice and new skills will have to be applied to gain the best effect and quality we aim for.

Videos from today’s session will be uploaded and embed into the post.

Target Audience- Stop motion

Most examples of stop motion animation that is contained on the internet keeps to a light entertainment suitable for most ages. Our film will not feature any explicit or foul language along with anything else that might change the allowed viewing age. An institution such as ‘PES’ uses some of their short animations for advertising.

This film is particularly popular on youtube, a Web 2.0 interactive social networking community site. The video has aired and been viewed nearly 3.5 million times, making its one of the most popular stop motion animations on this particular site. The video has no real story to it and has a main purpose to entertain to the viewer as apposed to selling them anything.

The rating for our stop motion short film will be PG, as we see it fits all ages. From our reactions from the test, all ages had a pleased and entertain reaction. We are hoping that this will be the same reaction from our full feature length.

This video is an e-bay stop motion viral add, made with the main purpose of advertising e-bay and their services. Again i wouldn’t say it was aimed at an exact age but more to just who ever see’s it. As its purpose is to advertise, they want to keep a versatile add that will please all ages and catch the eye of most ages.
Most industries and companies set out with a specific audience in mind, using common codes and conventions to attract this audience. For example if you wish to make a film to attract the female teenage audience, you can use common conventions that this audience would be attracted to. In relation to a major industry such as Disney, their attempt to attract the older audience as well the younger is the use of a male actor who would appeal in an ‘attraction’ sense. This then helps get them more audience and more success. It’s the same principle with music videos, if you’re making a music video for an metal band you would struggle to see them same conventions as you would in and r ‘n’ b band. Setting, location, actors, props all of these things would have a vast difference in the videos.
With our animation it is difficult to select a certain audience, we are making the film for general entertainment. A very wide overview observation from my research of stop motion animations i have discovered would suggest that many of the highest rated short films don’t have much purpose other than to entertain, acting of more as a short story or advert. So from my research i have gained a good understanding of stop motion and their purposes, many of the most popular videos on youtube aren’t aimed to an audience and don’t have any advertising purposes.
So the aim for my video will be to attract an audience of all area’s, the genre of the film will be Romance which normally has more of a female attraction but i have a small feeling that this film will attract more than females.

This video is a good demonstration of the style of video we aim to create, obviously the genre differs vastly but the whole aim of the video is similar. This video in my opinion is a youtube viral, a video that becomes aware to many viewers by a community, an online web 2.0 community. My aim would be over all, to achieve this sort of status with the short film. To appeal to a community is hard, seen as this is a large and contrasted group of people according to internet statistic (http://www.quantcast.com/youtube.com) male to female ratio is 50:50. The highest percentage age gap is 18-34 which is 35% of you-tubes viewers, followed by 13-17 years of age. This is is a small surprise for me as i would have guessed that the majority of user would have aged between 15 and 22, but obviously the age gaps used by that site are different. I think a key thing to remember when appealing to the You-tube community is ‘Niche’, if you can find that small gap in an area of entertainment or an idea that is original then you can gain your audience. I do feel our idea has this potential but i am fully aware that it wont be simple or easy and we are going to have to make it look as professional as possible.

Stop Motion Animation (Test)

Here is a very short test animation featuring two of the main subjects we shall be using for our feature film.

Please comments and tell us you reaction.