Tail wags dog makes news

The downside of being a scriptwriter is that you mentally rewrite movies as you are watching them. Unlike a novel, a film script - as presented by the writer - is unlikely to survive in a recognisable form once it is handed over to the Producer.

This is because just about everyone working on a movie thinks the writing part is basically inspired day dreaming rather than a craft, and will add their two-cents worth if they get the chance. I once worked with a Producer who took a script credit just for changing the title!!!

Of course, there are movies that do not require much of a script. 'James Bond' is one that comes to mind. Everyone knows the story before they see it; it really a matter for the Special Effects dept to come up with the goods.

And as Animated movies have drifted away from simple storylines, there is more accent on SFX now, so it was with some interest I noted the article http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/2006/11/animation-glut-stories-is-there-glut.html which suggests the tide has turned, and that audiences have seen it all when it comes to 'All action No story' content.

But on the other hand another article at http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=6151 deal with Warner Bros merging its Special Effects dept with the main film units. The logic is that if SFX plays such a big part in action movies they are 'The Star', so there is a thin line between producing effects for a Production Company, and being the Production Company. The tail is wagging the dog, and it likely to continue.

Where will it end? The merging of Animation and Live-Action has passed the point where the audience is entertained simply by SFX. No doubt Production Companies looking for the next trend in blockbusters will - as a last resort - turn to looking for good stories. I can't wait.

Stan

Twinkle Twinkle little Star

If you work in an Animation Studio, there is a reasonable chance that you will eventually be transcribed to an animated character. Producer/Director Bob Godfrey would take it even further and name characters after you as well as imitating your voice when he did the voice-overs. It's more of an in-house joke than a quick way to becoming a Star, but that might all be changed.

For many years there have been children's book publishers who will insert your childs name in fairy tales, and run off a special copy for you. At least one took it further and would put your childs head on the illustrations in the book, but now Smart software can actually put a childs face on a character in an animated movie, and (I understand) do it inter-actively. You can read all about it at http://www.dexigner.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5777

And talking of stars - this time the real thing - a common animation job is making stars twinkle. It is now done by computer, but used to be done by having a piece of black paper covered in pinholes as a background, and another piece also covered in pinholes moving across it; quite a lengthy job for such a minor effect.

There are some people who do not like twinkly stars (cries of shame). They are astronomers who are using lasers, optics, and some single-frame techniques to stopping them twinkle so they don't have to 'wonder what they are' any more.

You can find out why at http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2006/061105_mfe_December_06_Laser_Beams.html

In the same article there is mention of a scientist who has discovered a whole new field of movies; taking pictures of your breath. It seems that our breath is an indicator of our health - which sound pretty reasonable to me - but taking pictures of it??? Yes, by using a laser to pick out the chemical content of your exhalations.

It may be the next step up from a Breathalyser test for drunken driving; how soon before the breathalyser shows up as a movie saying 'You're drunk, your ill, and your fined'. That would put a twinkle in the eyes of the Traffic cops.

Stan

Singing Chickens

The early Disney films had many characters that seemed to have disappeared from history. One was Horace Horsecollar - a Goofy-like horse - and another was Clara Cluck, a singing chicken.
You don't see many singing chickens around nowadays, so it was with some interest I noted the news item at http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=680&ArticleID=1875576 about animated chickens singing against keeping Battery hens caged up. Unfortunately the news item doesn't have a video to do with it.

But another news item does. Kentucky Fried Chicken has made the record books by having the first company logo that can be seen from Outer Space
You can see a pixilated version of it being built. No doubt to attract passing aliens to pop in for a quick bite. Let's hope that the aliens don't resemble chickens.

Though nothing to do with animation, but much to do with singing, I noted that Dophins can learn to sing, which means both vocalisation and rhythm. Apparantly the only other mammal than humans to be able to do so.
though Whales can sing, apart from the famous Disney one, they aint got rhythm.
It ocurred to me that with the computerised Air Guitar (yesterdays Blog) a dophin might be fitted with a Water guitar, and move around to accompany itself singing.
It may be a bit fanciful, but as I intend being reincarnated as a Dolphin, I feel it is something that might usefully be pursued.

Stan

Air Guitar

Happy Birthday World Wide Web - 16 today - and like all teenagers - confident of going onwards and upwards but not quite sure where. I was over 60 when the Web was born, but cannot now imagine what life would be like without it.

Just today I came across yet another marvel; A T-Shirt that you can don and play Air Guitar.
There have been other 'computerised' Air Guitars, which work on the basis of Motion Graphics as used for 3D animation, but this one uses Intelligent Textiles; similar in principle but more sophisticated. In this Blog of 20th October, I reported on a T-shirt with a built in screen, so we are getting close to becoming walking computers.

My interest in the Air Guitar is that I am a strummer myself and use guitar programs that teach by having animated scales and chords. I have seen robots that play piano quite well, and knew of someone who used a midi-keyboard to operate theatre lighting.

One of my pet themes is to be able to create movies in the way one can write scripts. It requires some form of visual input device rather like the above T-Shirt instead of the network of attached wires used in Motion Graphics. Perhaps future T-shirt will have on them 'Been there, done that, now watch the Movie'.

Stan

Is there a Doctor in the house?

I have a friend whose parents run a pharmacy. She tells me that they advise her not to take pills, creams, tablets etc. What good advice! as we all have medicine cabinets full of such stuff tried a few times and found either not to work, or we get better before it has any effect.

That is not to say that trying to cure oneself is a bad thing, but just that we often don't know what is wrong with us in the first place, and the pharmacist will helpfully sell us anything. My guess is that the drugs industry grows rich on what we throw away.

You will be happy to know that our doctors often don't know much more than we do; but that is about to change as they are now turning to Google to get their diagnosis sorted out, as you can see at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=415641&in_page_id=1774

I have been using Google for years to do this, and proud to say I have survived lots of illnesses I would not have known I had if it hadn't been for the information on the various websites dealing with medical self-help.

What has this got to do with 'Animation'?, well, many of those sites use animation to show how the body works. You can find quite a few good examples at: Diagnosis and with a good site at http://www.animatedhealth.com/?gclid=CPG3ocrFw4gCFRRZMAod4BsWDA

I have feeling that if this catches on Medical School will be little more than a computer and some holographic cadavers. It may well cut down on Medical costs and improve treatments, but what will happen to all those Hospital based TV Soaps?

Stan

Future Shock

How would you like to see what the future holds for you? Well you can - in a sort of way that is. A program with the springtime name of APRIL lets you see what you might look like at some distant time; the Christmas of your life.

Forensic animation has been used for a while to help visualise missing people and see what they might look like after some years. It's also used to see what dead people might have looked like alive. A gruesome subject but one that will play an increasingly useful role in changing our behaviour if the health authorities have their way.

The above program can indicate what you will look like in a few years if you choose a decadent life style. I recently saw examples of it on TV when certain celebrities who punish their bodies in various ways from drug taking to excessive fitness regimes were shown as they are now, and how they will be in twenty years time. I can image a sneering image of ones aged self staring back from the screen and saying "Look what you've done to me you idiot".

The program would have obvious uses in the Movie world to show how actors might age in a role. It might also have a slightly more sinister use if we secretly checked out how our partners might look in the future.

I know that similar programs have been used to morph the faces of parents to show what their unborn child might look like, but have never seen whether this actually works.

Of course this does put an emphasis on beauty, and we intuitively feel that two beautiful parents will produce a beautiful child, but apparantly not, though 'beautiful' parents do tend to have 36% more chance of having a girl child. I'm not sure what it all means, but animators looking for new directions in the industry might check out beauty salons or mortuaries for vacancies.

Stan

Being Funny

I understand that Science has seven big fundamental questions of the order 'How did Life start'. I can't remember what the other six are, but one of them must surely be 'Why are some people funny and others not'. I am happy to say that Science has now solved this problem, with the little help from its animation friends and a morphing program.

"The characteristics of a feminine face imply that the person may be agreeable and co-operative, which can be causal in our first impressions of comedians as being friendly and funny."
Dr Little used computer software to blend together 179 different facial aspects of 20 top comedians, resulting in the "perfect comedy face".

And picked Ricky Gervais as having the perfect comedy face - so that proves it.

Find out more at: "http://www.itv.com/news/entertainment_0e6a2a3f4a4578cb05bb63d81a59b4f7.html

I would like to see the system applied to Politicians, and a few others who we might put our trust in.

A recent study regarding 'Prejudices and what we look like' can be found at http://www.badscience.net/?p=219. It supports the obvious in that we are attracted to beautiful people, but that is partly because - as those of us in the movie business know - the good are beautiful and the bad are ugly. Disney made a mint out of it; and anyone working in the Animation industry is aware that a Cartoon's face is its fortune.

The constant reinforcement of what is Good and Bad stemming from the worlds of advertising, movies, and fashion may be conditioning our brains in a way that Religion did in history.

If computer games are making children violent then animation has a lot to answer for. On the other hand, if animation can define the 'Perfect Comedy Face' then perhaps there is a 'Perfect Tragedy Face', or a perfect face for any attribute you can think of.

It would certainly be handy for checking passport photos, Internet dating photos, and personal photos for our CV, but I can see the possibility of plastic surgery opening up new fields of expertise with body parts as yet unexplored.

Stan