或る旅人の日記

或る旅人の日記,translated as 'The Diary of Tortov Roddle' is a rather unique animation series which tells the surreal encounters of a traveller in a magical world. The pictures have bluish green tints and distinguished paper texture like an illustration book. There're 7 or 8 short stories of 3min each. 'Voice overs' are presented in text boxes as diary entries. The general atmosphere is quiet and toned down, despite all the fascinating, bizarre things he witnessed. I find it pretty relaxing to watch.

Some screen shots from the first diary 'City of light'










More episodes here

Official site

Nina Parley's Sita Sings the Blues

http://www.sitasingstheblues.com

Trailer


Battle of Lanka


很可爱，风格上有点印度版蔡志忠。。。 用4年时间做出的flash，入围了Berlin International Film Festival。

官网上贴来的图片和简介

Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

Pixar: One Man Band

This's the most hilarious among all the Pixar shorts I've seen so far... And the characters are so cute!

From Wikipedia

One Man Band is Pixar short film. The film made its world premiere at the 29th Annecy Animation Festival in Annecy, France, and won the Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival in Bologna, Italy. It was shown with the theatrical release of Cars.

The short was written and directed by Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews and produced by Osnat Shurer, head of Pixar's Shorts group. The score for the short was written by Michael Giacchino, who also composed the score for Pixar's animated feature film Ratatouille.

Like many Pixar shorts, the film is completely free of dialogue, instead using music (played by the characters) and pantomime to tell the story.

On January 31, 2006 it was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation by John Canemaker and Peggy Stern.

Ponyo theme song

Ahhhh, the gold fish princess is SO CUDDLY AND CUTE!!

Miyazaki's gonna recreate the magic of My neighbour the Totoros!

Satoshi kon's Paprikia

Paprika Official Sony Picture Site



US. Theatrical Trailer


Paprika literally means a spice made from grounded red bell peppers (ref. wiki).

'You can't tell dream from reality' has been a signature motif of Satoshi's kon's films. Paprikia is a come-back of Paranoia Agent.

Skipping over synopsis and trivia, there's something else that interests me. I can surely smell Shinichiro Watanabe! But can it be he has anything to do with this film?? The old cast of cowboy bebop is back and I'm glad I can distinguish their voices without peeking at the credit. Dr. Chiba is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara (Faye) and Dr. Osanai is voiced by Koichi Yamadera (Spike). Take a close look at the character design of Dr. Chiba who looks like a female version of Jin (Samurai Champloo) =D The heavy appearance of parades and dolls, and extensive philosophical quotes draw you back to Ghost in the Shell. Deja vu?

The opening credit is absolutely enjoyable. You see Paprika dashing between dream and reality, blending into objects and appearing from thin air. Detective Konakawa's reoccurring dreams retold in slightly different twists and progressions is another notable highlight. His rendezvous at radioclub.jp bartenders who brought a final message from Paprika closed the film perfectly. After all, it's a Satoshi film which means it's another provocative approach to acute social problems and human emotions. Although I'm not sure with the term 'superflat', I think Satoshi's manipulation of animation to deal with consumerism culture is a forerunner of such motif.

And yes I'm very touched when the ghost of Chiba reveals her love for Tokita, a bear sized fat genius scientist who invented DC mini. Unconventional but sweet!

But again watching Paprika is a head spinning dream experience since psycho patients are talking gibberish and there're absolutely no rules in dream states. That's why animation's probably the best medium to express it!

All photos are taken from Paprika Sony official site. Credits go to the artists and sony picture classics. (This movie is rated R)


Konakawa's dream in which he was caged on a circus stage and a crowd bearing his face swarmed and screamed his name.


In the finale, a void appeared connecting dream and reality. The world was greatly disturbed.


Director Shima's subconscious world was invaded by a big parade. And look at that doll?! Doesn't it look similar to GITS the movie? I'm compelled to conclude Japan is a doll fetish nation...


more dolls and cyborgs


Paprika venturing into a deserted site


I love how Paprika's dressed up in spicy red with that classic oldie hairdo!


Dreams and butterflies ALWAYS go together. Talking about creativity people!!

我们这一家

Sherry介绍的一系列动画片叫“我们这一家”，超级搞笑的家庭笑话。那一家人姓“花”，花家有两个小孩，姐姐叫“橘子”，弟弟叫“柚子”。妈妈长得像恐龙，爸爸像狗熊。搞笑的不行，还蛮有生活哲理的。而且我觉得很多事情自己也都有相同经历，特别是剪头发，买衣服和备考那几集，哭笑不得。强烈推荐！！



Youtube上搜繁体的“我們這一家”，台湾配音，配的很可爱。

橘子的小睡时间（相信大家都有强烈共鸣）



================
动画资料存档 (原文 这里)



== 漫画==
《我们这一家》（あたしンち；ATASHIn'CHI）是日本一部以小家庭成员为中心，表现出日常生活中所发生大小事为题材的漫画与动画作品，原作者为Eiko Kera（けらえいこ）。

最初自1994年6月起，以多段四格漫画组成一回，每回共23格的形式，在《读卖新闻》的星期日版以全彩方式连载，直到2006年3月为止；作品受到不同年龄层读者的欢迎，并于1996年获得文艺春秋漫画奖，2002年获得手冢治虫文化奖。单行本自1995年开始由MEDIA FACTORY出版，目前出版至第12册（至2006年11月）。中文版由东立出版社发行，台湾、香港目前均出版至第12册（至2007年2月）。


== 动画与剧场版 ==
电视动画版于2002年4月开始在朝日电视台播放至今，每周六播出一集，目前已经播出208集（至2006年12月）；台湾的台视、东森综合台与中视，以及香港的无线电视儿童台与翡翠台（2006年12月起在《放学ICU》中播放）也先后播放过电视动画版。另外并由东映制作剧场版《映画 あたしンち》，于2003年12月在日本上映（不过由于票房不如预期，因此至今未有再次制作剧场版的计划），台湾预定于2007年2月9日上映。


== 情节简介 ==
花家，居住在东京近郊城镇，个性看似互异却又有著些许共通点的一家四口，就像是众多小家庭的缩影。不管是家庭当中的生活百态，与同学、友人…等周围人们的日常互动，或是个人的心情起伏以及对事物的各种感受…一个又一个贴近日常生活，平凡中趣味横生的大、小故事持续上演著…。


== 花家 ==
* 花妈（母　配音：日本→渡边久美子；台湾→王瑞芹；香港→雷碧娜）
九州人，标准的家庭主妇。个性相当拚命而固执，总是对一些鸡毛蒜皮小事极为在意，还会为此和橘子、柚子争论不休。坚持“能省则省”的原则，十分贪小便宜和讨厌浪费，不管是吃的、穿的还是用的都不例外。此外也经常将自己的行为合理化（特别是在被人发现自己言行不一时）；对于事物的情绪和动作反应有时也非常夸张。不过倒是经常表现出对爸爸特别在意或包容的心情。

* 花爸（父　配音：日本→绪方贤一；台湾→孙中台；香港→陈永信）
九州人，中年上班族。个性沉默寡言，我行我素，行事作风上有著传统的大男人风格。平日忙于上班与应酬，对于其他事情总是兴趣缺缺，不怎么关心。不过，对于妈妈的奇特或夸张行为，却经常抱持著看笑话的态度，当作娱乐看待，事情影响到自己的时候才会突然生气，而且变得没有耐性和暴躁。有不少怪癖，像是上厕所不关门、酒醉回家后随便打包家里的东西准备丢掉、喜欢把饭碗放在比饭碗小的东西（像是酱油瓶）上等等。

* 橘子（立花みかん（たちばな みかん）　配音：日本→折笠富美子；台湾→林美秀；香港→林元春）
高中二年级学生，由于个子比较矮小的缘故，曾被人误以为是初中二年级学生。个性大而化之又带有一点迷糊，有很多天马行空的梦想，也很喜欢自己一个人做白日梦。经常因为在一些小事上和妈妈意见相左而斗嘴，有时也会因为某些事情而被弟弟抱怨。因为喜欢泰迪熊，所以加入了学校里的“泰迪熊研究社”。

* 柚子（立花ユズヒコ（たちばな ゆずひこ）　配音：日本→阪口大助；台湾→雷碧文；香港→周文瑛）
橘子的弟弟，初中二年级学生。个性细腻、害羞而纯朴，有著深奥的内心世界而很少说话（没有说出来的“内心话”特别多），有著较他姊姊成熟的思想，不过也经常会被妈妈和姊姊有意或无意的行为、言语刺伤。看到妈妈和姊姊作出一些在他看来相当怪异的举动时，暗地里常会戏谑地说“没救了”，而相比起橘子，他是一个十分爱整洁的男孩。因为觉得同班同学石田百合的一些奇怪动作很好笑，所以对她有点好感。非常喜欢听音乐，也有一位喜欢的偶像，名叫丸野丸美。

== Links ==
MEDIA FACTORY我们这一家漫画单行本列表 （日文）
朝日电视台官方网站 （日文）
Shin-Ei动画官方网站 （日文）
Eiko Kera（けらえいこ）网站 （日文）
木棉花"我们这一家"介绍网站（正体中文 - 台湾）：第一季／第二季／剧场版
东森电视第一季介绍网站 （正体中文 - 台湾)
台视介绍网站 （正体中文 - 台湾）
中视介绍网站 （正体中文 - 台湾）
批踢踢BBS我们这一家讨论区 （正体中文 - 台湾）
香港Uwants讨论区我们这一家讨论区 （繁体中文 - 香港）

Walerian Borowczyk

Walerian Borowczyk (September 2, 1923 - February 3, 2006) was a Polish film director. He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988.

Keywords: European, sex and horror, erotic, satirical, surrealist,catastrophe,short animation

Representative works:
Był sobie raz (Once Upon A Time) (1957) and Dom (House) (1958, with Jan Lenica)

Links
Wiki
A review on his animation shorts (with video downloads)

From the 2nd link above:

“Matter is the most passive and defenseless essence in the cosmos. Anyone can mould or shape it; it obeys everybody. All attempts at organizing matter are transient and temporary, easy to reverse and to dissolve.” —Bruno Schulz

...

Rose petals are put to good use in female masturbatory fantasies. Female genitalia is so often compared to rose petals (e.g. Kane�s �Rosebud�) Here Borowczyk offers a literal on-screen deflowering!

Borowczyk Walerian-Scherzo Infernal (1984)

Jean-François Laguionie & La Fabrique

Came across this animator in a book... FLAT CARDBOARD STYLE? Hmm let's see...

Animator Profile
Jean-François Laguionie, born on Oct 4 1939 in Besancon, is a realistic animation film maker. Critically acclaimed and award winning, his work has been described as a kinetic combination of "naïf painting and René Magritte." He wasn't initially interested in animation but preferred theatre. It was through meeting Paul Grimault that Laguionie learnt the techniques of animation. Although the two were close, they did not work together.

Jean-François Laguionie made several short films, among which the famous La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame (crossing the Atlantic to the oar) was awarded by Cannes and César. During the production of 'Gwen', or 'The Book of Sands' in 1985, Jef (nick) founded the animation studio 'La Fabrique' (The Factory). However the film was met with critiques and did not achieve major success.It was not until 1999 that his second full feature film 'A Monkey's Tale' came out and in 2003, Black Mor's Island was completed.Currently, Laguionie is working on Le Tableau (Table), a full length film mixing animation and real graphics.

---

'La Fabrique'




Quoted from Official Site:
More than 20 years ago, Jean François LAGUIONIE, director of several short animation films, settled in Saint Laurent le Minier, in an old silk factory to begin work with a few artist friends on a feature film: "GWEN OU LE LIVRE DES SABLES", and from then onto a stream of short films destined for the cinema. All these artists stayed in the Cevennes and in 1987 the Fabrique Association became a production company (although the association structure is still operating in order to ensure the projection of the films and the functioning of animation workshops)

In 1995 the work area was enlarged from 330 m2 to 600 m2 to allow for the production of a second feature film "THE CASTLE OF THE MONKEYS".

And so the adventure goes on , with the goal of having a diverse production activity combining the making and distribution of author's short and feature length films and working on television specials of a top quality level. Animation services for the developpement and production of interesting projets are also available.

Today, La Fabrique counts about one hundred films in it's catalogue, films often coproduced with major television channels and other french and european studios.

La Fabrique Feature Films


La Fabrique Short Films > Refer here

---

Filmography & Awards (from IMDB)
Synopsis quoted from La Fabrique Official Site

Filmography (as Director)


Île de Black Mór, L' (2004)
... aka Black Mor's Island (literal English title)


Château des singes, Le | Castle of the Monkey(1999)
... aka A Monkey's Tale (UK)
... aka Kwom und der König der Affen (Germany)


Gwen, le livre de sable | Book of Sand (1985)
Behind the ramparts of a city , in the middle of a sandy desert, an ancient civilisation has left a monstrous machine which for centuries has continued to produce gigantic objects only to hurl them in to the desert.. Roseline, a 173 year old woman, like all the other nomades of the desert , does not understand the utility of these objects, sinks, telephones or coffee machines and so they are used in other ways, such as for shelter from the sun and the cold. The forbidden city, looming in the distance, is the haven of the dead and no one has ever come back from there. However GWEN, a thirteen year old girl will be the first to attempt the journey in the hope of finding her friend who has disappeared. Rosaline will be her guide and the journey,full of surprises, becomes a sort of initiation.


La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame | The Atlantic Crossing(1978)
At first it was only meant to be an ocean crossing, an exploit like any other. However, some journeys last longer than others…


L'Acteur | The Actor(1974)
In his dressing room a young actor makes himself up as an old man , but under his mask of youth , which is his real face


Une bombe par hasard... | An unexpected bomb(1969)
The town has been abandoned by it's inhabitants who fear the explosion of a diabolical machine. A tramp appears, unaware of the situation….


La Demoiselle et le violoncelliste | The lady and the cellist(1965)
... aka The Lady and the Cellist (France: literal English title)
Down by the sea, a musician unwittingly unleashes a storm which carries off a young fisherwoman catching shrimp.

Awards
1965 La Demoiselle et le violoncelliste (the lady and the cellist) - Grand Prix

1967 L'Arche de Noé - Silver Dragon

1969 Une bombe par hasard... - Special Jury Prize

1978 La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame - Golden Palm : Best Short Film
1978 La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame - Grand Prize
1979 La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame - César: Best short film - animation

2000 Le Château des singes (aka. A Monkey's Tale) - Hollywood Discovery Award: Best Animation

2004 L'Île de Black Mór (Black Mor's Island) - Adult's Jury Award : Cert. of Merit

Nominated
2004 L'Île de Black Mór (Black Mor's Island) - Starboy Award

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La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame (Crossing the Atlantic)

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


La Demoiselle et le violoncelliste (The lady and the cellist)


Other videos on youtube

J.F.Laguionie- Le masque du diable(Part 1)

J.F.Laguionie- Le masque du diable(Part 2)

J.F.Laguionie- Potr' et la fille des eaux(Part 1)

J.F.Laguionie- Potr' et la fille des eaux(Part 2)
----------
Reference
IMDB
Wiki (French)
La Fabrique Official Site
Jean-François Laguionie (pdf file in French)

The Marathon

Found this clip when I searched for 'Alexander Petrov'. A heart-warming short that tells you, animation is ageless. Your favourite heroes are ageless. The legend is ageless. And love for free spirit and creation is ageless. Reminds me of another quote by Chanel "Fashion fades, only style remains the same." In the world of animation, people come and go but imagination remains =D

Homage created for the 60th birthday of Mickey Mouse in 1988 by animators Mikhail Tumelya and Alexander Petrov.

Amazing nuts by Studio 4℃

My past entry on Studio 4℃

Reference
Bug Hole
Studio 4C Official Web
Studio 4C @Wiki
Animenewsnetwork

Amazing Nuts is a musical collaboration between Studio 4C animators and four artists under Rhythm Zone. It's available in DVD+CD release (2006 Dec.)

From Anime news network: Plot Summary> A compilation of four short animations from Studio 4°C. In which each is a mix of nice visuals and music. The first short entitled Global Astroliner, has an urban style with hip hop music by M-Flo. This is followed up by Glass Eye; where the animation is cell shaded with music by Ram Rider. The next is Kung-Fu Love, consisting of beautiful animation with background music called Twinkle (unknown artist). The last piece, Joe and Marilyn, is computer generated and music by Mink.

1. Global Astroliner (Daisuke Nakayama x M-Flo)
2. Glass Eye (Takashi Yamashita x Ram Rider)
3. Kung Fu Love (Yasuhiro Aoki x Twinkle)
4. Joe and Marilyn (?x Mink)

Studio 4°C - Global Astroliner (song by M-flo)


Ram Rider - Smile Again


Kung Fu Love (storyboards by Yasuhiro Aoki) | Full Version


Koda Kumi - Twinkle


Mink - Here by my side

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Other works by Studio 4℃

「音響生命体ノイズマン」（1997）
15min, Beyond C/BANDAI VISUAL
Noiseman Sound Insect
Director: 森本晃司
Character Design: 森本晃司,湯浅政明
Music: 菅野よう子 (trees make sees)
Lyrics: Tim Jensen
Song: Cristal Willams

Noiseman Sound Insect Part I


Noiseman Sound Insect Part II

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「マインド・ゲーム」(Mind Game)（2004）
Direct/Script: 湯浅政明
Original Story by ロビン西

Mindgame - Trailer

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「ディープ・イマジネーション創造する遺伝子たち」（2006.7）
Deep Imagination
Short feature films

[1]ダンぺトリー教授の憂鬱 (Direct: 小原秀一)
[2]End of the world (Direct: 小林治)
[3]COMEDY (Direct: 中澤一登)
[4]彼岸 (Direct: 村木靖)
[5]ガラクタの町 (Direct: 伊東伸高)

Punch 1 - Professor Dan Petory's Blues


Punch 2 - End of the World


Punch 3 - Comedy


Punch 4 - Higan

Ryszard Czekała

转贴浓缩铀

Ryszard Czekała
1941年出生，与家父相近。波兰。

主要动画作品
Ptak (the Bird, 鸟), 1968
Syn (the Son, 儿子), 1970
Apel (the Roll-Call, 点名), 1971
Czlowiek i chleb (Human and Bread, 人与面包), 1997

作品中沉郁、厚重的震撼力量撞击心灵。剪纸动画形式迸发出如此惊人的表现力，前所未有！其中首部作品-鸟，讲的是一个看管公厕的老头儿，省吃俭用，用节省下来的钱买鸟放飞的故事。故事太好了，表现形式也极为精彩，而且这竟然是他的首部作品！

秒速5センチメートル

官方网站:http://5cm.yahoo.co.jp/index.html




以下简介转自http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4b3c615c010006ql

片名：《秒速5センチメートル》- a chain of short stories about their distance
译名：《秒速5cm》- 有关他们之间的距离的连续短篇故事
监督/编剧：新海诚 (Makoto Shinkai)
制作：CoMix Wave
音乐：天门
主题歌：山崎まさよし《One more time, One more chance》
首映：2007年初春 涩谷CinemaRise影院

知つてる
樱の花のおちるスピ--ド
秒速5セソチメ--トル
どれほどの速さで生きれば、
きみにまた会えるのか

知道么？
樱花凋落的速度是
每秒5厘米

那，我要以怎样的速度生活
才能与你重逢呢？

——《秒速5cm》预告篇

新海诚2007年春季將推出新动画：《秒速5センチメートル》（中譯：秒速5cm。代表樱花掉落的速度）。电影副标题为“a chain of short stories about their distance”意为：有关他们之间的距离的连续短篇故事，片长为60分钟左右，。故事背景是[上世纪90年代后期]与[当代]两个时段的日本现实社会，以少年远野贵树为主轴，由3部连续短篇动画交织出男女主角两人的故事，分别为《桜花抄》（贵树与明里的重逢）、《Cosmonautコスモナウト》（他人视角中的贵树）、《秒速5センチメートル》（贵树内心的彷徨）。

新海誠的新作，07年上映。虽然不是很喜欢他的人物设定，总体还是满期待的。作为导演，新海誠的审美意识和岩井俊二的还蛮像的，取材青涩的青春故事，而且擅长用唯美的自然环境（樱花，雪，阳光斑斓的放学课堂等）来烘托年轻人的梦想和自我压抑。晦涩的甜美似乎更适合作为定格的画面来享受，故事情节方面并不算特别充实。之前的那部《云的彼端，约束的场所》也是这番感觉，科幻像是辅佐作用，增添了不少浪漫和命运的成分。背景设定一直都很强，非常协调的颜色搭配，光的处理也和岩井电影中的手法类似。官方网站上有不少壁纸照片，贴几张上来。

这个是新海誠早期的作品《彼女と彼女の猫》（她和她的猫），灰白短篇，关于心灵治愈的故事，朴素平淡。

More on Aleksandr Petrov

Brief biography from wiki:
Petrov was born in the village Prechistoye (Yaroslavl Oblast) and lives in Yaroslavl.

He had studied art, in particular at VGIK (State institute of the cinema and TV). He was a disciple of Yuriy Norshteyn in Advanced School for screenwriters and directors (Moscow).

After making his first films in Russia, in Canada he adapted the novel The Old Man and the Sea, resulting in a 20 minute long animated short — the first large-format animated film ever made. Technically impressive, the film is made entirely in pastel oil paintings on glass, a technique mastered by only a handful of animators in the world. By using his fingertips instead of a paintbrush on different glass sheets positioned on multiple levels, each covered with slow-drying oil paints, he was able to add depth to his paintings. After photographing each frame painted on the glass sheets, which was four times larger than the usual A4-sized canvas, he had to slightly modify the painting for the next frame and so on. It took Alexandr Petrov over two years, from March 1997 through April 1999, to paint each of the 29,000+ frames. For the shooting of the frames a special adapted motion-control camera system was built, probably the most precise computerized animation stand ever made. On this an IMAX camera was mounted, and a video-assist camera was then attached to the IMAX camera. The film was highly rewarded, receiving the Academy Award for the best animated short and Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. After this, Alexandr Petrov has maintained a close relationship with Pascal Blais Studio in Canada, which helped fund The Old Man and the Sea, where he works on commercials. He returned to Yaroslavl in Russia to work on his latest film, My Love, which was finished in spring 2006 after three years' work and had its premiere at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival on August 27, where it won the Audience Prize and the Special International Jury Prize.

Petrov's style (from the late 1980s onward) can be characterized as a type of Romantic realism. People, animals and landscapes are painted and animated in a very realistic fashion, but there are many sections in his films where Petrov attempts to visually show a character's inner thoughts and dreams. In The Old Man and the Sea, for example, the fisherman dreams that he and the marlin are brothers swimming through the sea and the sky. In My Love, the main character's illness is represented by showing him being buried beneath freshly-fallen snow on a dark night. There are many other examples as well.

Films

director
«MARATHON» (1988)
«THE COW» (1989)
«DREAM OF A RIRDICULOUS MAN» (1992)
«THE WATER-NYMPH» (1996)
«THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA» (1999)

script writer
«THE COW» (1989)
«DREAM OF A RIRDICULOUS MAN» (1992)
«THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA» (1999)

art director
«BY A WAVE OF THE WAND» (1984)
«THE TALE ABOUT THE SMALL FRY» (1985)
«WELCOME!» (1986)
«THE GUARDIAN» (1989)
«DREAM OF A RIRDICULOUS MAN» (1992)



Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose (wiki entry)
- 1986 paint on glass animated
- Directed by Alexei Karayev and art by Aleksandr Petrove
- Won Grand Prix at Ottawa International Animation Festival (1988)


THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA




My Love(2006), website from Ghibli Museum

Aleksandr Petrov exhibit in Ghibli museum

Ghibli museum will be hosting an Aleksandr Petrov exhibition, with his latest film 'My love'. Aleksandr Petrov!! I was really excited to be reminded again of his masterpiece 'The old man and the sea'. The animation consists of finger painted glass frames in oil. Can you imagine drawing tens of hundreds of oil paintings?? and the old animator did it all by himself. The pictures look fleshy and dreamy. He's a real romantic who knows how to capture the dream states.

wiki entry

Adventures of Tintin

Yesterday's wiki daily article is on Tintin which explains for this sudden spark of interest in researching into my vague memory. I once bought a T-shirt with the blue lotus cover imprinted on the back. Thought I threw it away after a house cleaning. I threw away a lot of things which I shouldn't. This's definitely one of the comics I'll appreciate much better as a twenty something. The wordiness and maturity of contents (maturity doesn't imply violence or sexual explicitness here!) were of little interest to me as a child. I can't quite imagine the amount of research behind the story telling if the author didn't in fact travel around himself. Here's some info from wiki. The full entry is here.

The Adventures of Tintin (French: Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of Belgian comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi (1907–1983). The series first appeared in French in a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle on January 10, 1929. Set in a painstakingly researched world closely mirroring our own, The Adventures of Tintin presents a number of characters in distinctive settings. The series has continued as a favourite of readers and critics alike for over 70 years.

The hero of the series is the eponymous character, Tintin, a young Belgian reporter and traveller. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful dog Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included Captain Haddock and other colourful supporting characters.

The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of albums, spun into a successful magazine and adapted for both film and theatre. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in over 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date.

The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire (footnote1) style. Engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy; mysteries; political thrillers; and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, offset in later albums by sophisticated satire and political/cultural commentary.

Online Links
Tintin official site
Tintinologist.org


1. Ligne claire (French for "clear line") is a style of drawing pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian creator of The Adventures of Tintin. It is a style of drawing which uses clear strong lines which have the same thickness and importance, rather than being used to emphasize certain objects or be used for shading (for this reason it is sometimes also called the democracy of lines). Additionally, the style often features strong colours and a combination of cartoonish characters against a realistic background. The use of shadows is sparse and all elements of a panel are delineated with clear black lines. The name was coined by Joost Swarte in 1977.

Hergé started out drawing in a much looser, rougher style which was influenced partially by the famous American comic strip artists of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was only after World War II that his drawing style evolved into ligne claire. For Hergé, the style was not limited to the drawings but extended to the story: the plot must be straightforward.

Tales of Earthsea Production Complete

Nausicaa News:
May 23, 2006 Animation Complete on "Tales from Earthsea"
The May 23 Production Diary announced the completion of animation on the film.

History of production:

Sep 06, 2005: animation production began
Jan 20, 2006: 149 cuts (12%)
Jan 27: 180 cuts (15%)
Feb 03: 230 cuts (19%)
Feb 17: 326 cuts (26%)
Mar 03: 422 cuts (34%)
Mar 10: 481 cuts (39%)
Mar 17: 517 cuts (42%)
Mar 30: 687 cuts (55%)
Apr 7 : 776 cuts (63%)
Apr 17: 844 cuts (68%)
Apr 25: 935 cuts (76%)
May 1 : 997 cuts (81%)
May 8 : 1,056 cuts (85%)
May 15: 1,176 cuts (95%)
May 23: 1,236 cuts (100%)

Animation production length:

Tales from Earthsea: 8 months and 17 days
Howl's Moving Castle: 17 months and 6 days (2/1/2003-7/7/2004)
Spirited Away: 16 months and 26 days (2/1/2000-6/27/2001)

《地海传奇》幕后班底大搜索

信息属南方动漫网中文专
2006-05-18 16:38　南方动漫网　作者：亚述
(编辑：唐)

背景一：动画制作班底

1．制片人：铃木敏夫（吉卜力总裁）

　　1948年出生于爱知县，1972年进入德间书店公司，然后在78年进入《月刊动画》编辑部。从1981年开始策划宫崎骏特集，次年开始大力推进《风之谷的娜乌西卡》的长篇连载；在《风之谷》拍成动画大片之后，一跃成为德间方的制作委员，十分活跃。1989年，转入今日如雷贯耳的吉卜力工作室（STUDIO GHIBLI），在此后所有的作品中都是以制片人的身份出现。同时利用此前作为编辑的经验，在出版界也开展得风生水起。在与德间书店成功合并之后， 1997年成为德间的取缔役，"吉卜力工作室"事业本部长，2000年9月开始成为常务。

2．导演&联合编剧：宮崎吾朗　(Miyazaki Gorou)

　　此人的身份当是本片最大的卖点之一：宫崎骏的儿子，38岁的宫崎吾朗。

　　1967年、东京生人。信州大学农学部森林工学科毕业后，从事建筑咨询行业，计划、设计公园绿地以及都市绿化。

　　自98年起着手设计三鹰之森Ghibli的总体造型，01年至05年6月任该美术馆馆长。

　　曾荣获2004年度艺术选奖文部科学大臣新人赏的艺术振兴部门奖

3．联合编剧：丹羽圭子

　　参与过吉卜力作品《听海》的脚本制作。

4．音乐：寺屿民哉

　　1958年4月10日出生在熊本县。

　　以独特管弦乐编曲而闻名的乐界天才，挎刀打造剧场版动画《地海传奇》音乐。

5．主题曲和插曲《特鹿之歌》演唱者：手茑葵

　　兼为歌手和声优，现住福冈，年龄--My God，1987年6月21日出生--19岁未满。有着模特身高：174cm；兴趣是芭蕾和读书。遗憾的是神秘新人的照片尚未披露……

　　新人手茑葵，在出任女主角Therru声优的同时，她悠远清澈的天籁之音打动了导演宫崎吾朗，被钦点担纲演唱影片的主题曲和插曲，被赞为"有着朴素,治愈系的歌声的她,是地海传奇中女神般的存在"。

　　相信大家都已经听到了她在预告片中的天籁之音了，那么我们一起期待这位呼之欲出的新人在今年7月份公映的《格德战记》中的美妙声线吧！

6．声优：

　　冈田准一、手茑葵、田中裕子、小林薰、夏川结衣、香川照之、内藤刚志、倍赏美津子、风吹纯、菅原文太……

背景知识二：

1．关于《格德战记》译名和内容：

　　《格德战记》的内容简介是这么说的：

　　"人与龙曾是一体

　　人选择了地与海

　　龙选择了火与风

　　这个夏天，人与龙将合为一体……

　　一名少年巫师的魔法之旅，他走的愈远，就愈深入自己的内心！

　　神秘绮丽的岛屿风情、巫术的奥妙、老术士寓意深远的智语、巨龙、创生古语真言、无所不在的黑暗势力、爱情的救赎、人性的试炼，在地海 (Earthsea) 的奇幻世界里波澜壮阔的上演……"

　　英文原著的书名是Legend of Earthsea--"地海传奇"，小说的繁体中文版以及早年改编的电影都译作《地海传说》，后来由人民文学出版社出版的简体中文版定名为《地海传奇》；在日文译著中书名改为《ゲド戦記》，原意译为中文是"格德/基德战记"；有如此多的版本，因此新片未出，片名先乱。然而既然是介绍GHIBLI的片子，本站从日版，从《格德战记》之说。

2．关于原著《地海传奇》：

　　《格德战记》根据美国女作家厄休拉·K·勒·古因《地海传说（Legend of Earthsea）》系列小说改编，这套小说常常被与托尔金的《指环王》三部曲和刘易斯的《纳尼亚王国》三部曲相提并论，在所有年龄段中都有这套小说的 Fans，曾经获得过五个雨果奖、五个星云奖和国家图书奖，《地海》系列小说已经被翻译成16种语言，总发行量数以百万计……有如此辉煌的原著支撑故事的骨架，想差都差不了了……

3．作画参考：シュナの旅（《秀纳之旅》暂译）

　　作者:宫崎骏
　　出版社/制作商:德间书店
　　发售日: 1983/06
　　媒体形式：文库

　　此书乃是宫崎骏大师以西藏的民间传说为原型创作的全彩图绘本。但没有拍成电影。在绘本的结束语里，宫崎爷爷深情地写道："将这个民间故事动画化是我的一个梦想……。"

4．原著作者：厄休拉·K·勒·古因（Ursula K. Le Guin）

　　勒·古因以从1968年到2001年横跨三十余载的《地海传奇》(Earthsea Cycle) 六部曲系列，奠定了她在奇幻文学界的崇高地位。六部曲被翻译成19国语言出版；其作品意涵颇富中国老子道家思想；并非强调善恶对立的二元价值观，而是传达 "平衡"、阴阳同源的理念；以阴阳相生的概念为核心，迥异于西方基督教的善恶二元对立观。

　　事实上宫崎骏作品中，从1984年的《风之谷》到2004年的《哈尔的移动城堡》）等，风格上都很受《地海传奇》的影响。但阴差阳错，大师最终还是没有将古因的作品搬上银屏，而这个历史性的工作则在这个夏天由他的长子完成了……

5．小说日文版译者：清水真砂子（しみず?まさこ）

　　1941年出生于北朝鲜。儿童文学翻译家?评论家。

　　毕业于静冈大学，现为青山女子短期大学教授。著作有《儿童读物的现在》、《学生发光的时候》（以上两本为岩波书店出版）、《幸福的写法》《儿童读物的视线》（以上为洋泉社）等。译著有《到天亮之时》《醒来、魔女！》《谈话?谈话E.L.克尼斯堡讲演集》（以上为岩波书店）等。因翻译厄休拉·K· 勒·古因的《格德战记》（岩波书店）的全6卷获得平成16年的日本翻译文化奖。

Over the Hedge - AWN review

Over the Hedge: Making The Leap From Newsprint To Pixels
Joe Strike chronicles the long journey Over the Hedge took to make the leap from comicstrips to the big screen.

May 19, 2006
By Joe Strike

---

DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge is unlike the competition: it manages to translate a property from another medium without destroying its spirit or alienating its creators. All images courtesy DreamWorks Animation SKG.

DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge, the latest star-powered CGI entry in 2006’s animated feature sweepstakes, opens this Friday on the heels of Fox’s Ice Age 2 and just ahead of Pixar’s Cars. Unlike the films bracketing it, Hedge is adapted from a pre-existing work — an 11-year old daily comicstrip featuring a cast of funny-animal characters observing and interacting with suburban sprawl and American consumerist culture.

The film succeeds in a rare-for-Hollywood balancing act — translating a property from another medium without destroying its spirit or alienating its creators — perhaps because they were heavily involved from the film’s conception. And while the strip’s critters have made the leap from newsprint to pixels, Hedge the movie is a different animal from Hedge the strip — a number of different animals, as a matter of fact.

Over the Hedge was born in 1995, the brainchild of writer/cartoonist Michael Fry and children’s book illustrator T Lewis. The pair had worked together on King Features’ Mickey Mouse comicstrip and tried to launch The Secret Life of Pigs, a strip of their own. “We thought it was destined for cosmic greatness,” Lewis recounts, “two pigs on a farm secretly observing humanity. We were told ‘it’s a great idea, but nobody likes pigs.’ Then Babe came out.”

Fry and Lewis tried again. They replaced the pigs with a trio of suburban animals — suave raccoon RJ, worrywart turtle Verne and manic squirrel Hammy. Instead of a barn, the critters lived on the outskirts of a suburban development rich in wasteful consumption and human absurdity. The retooled strip was snapped up by United Features Syndicate and today runs in some 250 newspapers, but back in ’95 it caught the eye of animation producer/writer Jim Cox. Cox, whose credits go back to Oliver & Company and include story development on Beauty and the Beast (and now co-producer of the Over the Hedge movie) contacted the pair via the e-mail address wedged between the strip’s panels.

A partnership was quickly born. Cox, Fry and Lewis put a pitch together and made the studio rounds. According to Lewis, “Fox, Henson and DreamWorks were the most interested. A bidding war actually broke out, we were really rooting for DreamWorks — look at the personalities involved, c'mon. Fox ultimately won, the power of sheer money won. It was only a year or two after DreamWorks formed and they were not able to throw the money around that Fox was back then.”

The project wound up on Fox’s shelf and stayed there — much to the frustration of Tim Johnson, its ultimate co-director. “I was aware of it, I knew it was sitting there. It was making me crazy. Even eight years ago when I was making Antz, I knew Over the Hedge was there and just the seed of a fantastic film. I loved the characters and the opportunity to comment on suburban living. When Fox let the option expire in 2001 we grabbed it at DreamWorks and put it in development right away.”

Michael Fry (left) and T Lewis are the creators of the comic strip Over the Hedge, and also served as creative consultants for the film.

Rumor has it that when Fox optioned Hedge, DreamWorks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg predicted, “those people will never make that movie, and when they don’t, I will.” Lewis attributes Fox’s failure to make the film to the fact that “Hollywood is wiggly — everything is always changing. We had a champion who brought us into Fox, Jon Jashni [most recently exec producer of the Poseidon remake]. Then he got shuffled somewhere. In a big studio system like Fox, as opposed to a boutique operation like DreamWorks, when you lose your champion, you pretty much get lost.

“We were at Fox when there was a lot of wringing of hands — ‘What’s going to happen to family films, what’s going to happen to animation?’ They were trying to break in with Anastasia and we were sort of this odd little duck. It was actually pitched back then as a Babe-like thing, where we were going to have live-action and then the animals would be computer generated, kind of like Garfield. When we came on board at DreamWorks for a month or two we were thinking Hedge was going to be a 2D movie. At one point they were talking about claymation because they had this contract with Aardman. Ultimately those were just ‘run it up the flagpole’ ideas.”

The original Fox story pitch (which Lewis describes as a series of set pieces “more or less strung together”) was refined into a “how it all began” tale, recounting RJ’s first meeting with Verne and the ‘blended family’ of animals he looks after — the excitable Hammy, a porcupine couple and their kids, a father and daughter opossum pair and a lady skunk with serious self-image issues. Other than Hammy, it’s an extended family that doesn’t exist in the comicstrip, whipped up for the purposes of the film’s feature-length narrative.

“The new characters are fine with us,” says Lewis. “We totally understand this was a story beyond the comicstrip and you had to add stuff. When we pitched the script early on we had this clan of animals — wasn’t exactly as it is now, but we had come up with more animals too, realizing the story more or less dictated it.”

Over the Hedge’s journey to the big screen took a circuitous route. Fry, Lewis and Jim Cox sold the pitch to Fox after a bidding war but it was quickly put on the shelf. DreamWorks, an original bidder, snapped it up years later.

Co-director Karey Kirkpatrick shares Johnson’s enthusiasm and respect for the original comicstrip. “Tim and I are both huge fans of the strip and what it has to say. Its point of view on society is what attracted DreamWorks to the project. We would constantly run stuff by [Fry and Lewis] to make sure we were in the right ballpark tonally and ‘Hey, do you have any jokes we’re missing?’” For her part, production designer Kathy Altieri praises the comicstrip duo too, “They were great, they worked with us a lot on potential ideas. They were really gracious about sharing our [version of Hedge] with theirs and finding the place in between where the match was perfect.”

According to Fry, writer of the Hedge comic, the filmmakers “mined the strip” for individual gags, working them into the script at appropriate moments. “They really got the sense of the characters and their spirit — I’m really pleased.”

Verne however underwent a not insignificant accommodation to the demands of the film’s narrative, one that met with Fry and his partner’s full approval.

“In the movie, it’s necessary for the characters to be rather innocent and naïve and for Verne to be their leader,” Fry explains, “whereas in the strip Verne is a leader, but more in his own mind. There’s a certain tension there between him and everyone else. Verne is the smartest turtle in the room and unfortunately no one appreciates that. They kind of, sort of ironed that out a little bit in the movie.” Lewis is even more unsparing of Verne, “He’s a lot more dysfunctional in the strip — he’s a mess. He’d love to be the leader of the group, he might think that he is from time to time and may for a moment be, but he’s lot more a boiling kettle of disdain and despair.”

Kirkpatrick credits Fry and Lewis for “keeping on us to make sure [the movie version of] Verne was smart and funny. What tends to happen in development is the character carrying the movie’s emotional core can be a one-note whiner if you’re not careful and all he’s doing is saying ‘let’s not go over there.’ They were really great about pushing us to not fall into that.”

Everyone involved with Over the Hedge credits the relationship between RJ and Verne as the heart of the film and the quality that set Hedge apart from any number of other talking animal strips on the comics page. “Verne and RJ are best friends in the strip; they’re such a great odd couple,” Johnson says. “Someone who’s always worried about tomorrow and someone who’s always ‘seize the day,’ the ultimate party animal. I loved that because all of us have that battle — do we do the smart thing and think about the future, or do we sit around and play videogames and eat nachos all day?” Kirkpatrick compares the pair to “Felix and Oscar, Lucy and Ethel… the man-child vs. the nudge… the id vs. the superego.”

Directors Tim Johnson (left) and Karey Kirkpatrick share an enthusiasm and respect for the original comic strip. They constantly ran stuff by Fry and Lewis and mined the strip for individual gags.

For Kirkpatrick (whose scripting credits include Chicken Run and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), the film was both a screenwriting job and his first directing assignment. “DreamWorks had approached me to write Over the Hedge months before, but I was busy with other scripts. They came to me six months later: ‘How about directing it?’ When I came on, two writers were already on board, Lorne Cameron and David Hoselton who were doing a fine job. I was actually a little tired of writing, my first thought was ‘this will be great, there’s no typing.’

“Len Blum was the first writer who tackled translating it from the comicstrip. Lorne and David came on and gave the film its current structure. When they were done with their contracted stuff they moved on. I was the typist, it was on my résumé so I assumed writing responsibilities.”

Kirkpatrick recalls that it was Katzenberg himself who asked him to co-direct Hedge, a challenge he was eager to take on. “After Chicken Run he’s been trying to get me to direct, he had no doubts. I was at all the Chicken Run recording sessions; I worked closely with some of those actors through Nick [Park] and Pete [Lord]. It really wasn’t that big a leap. Jeffrey saw me at meetings, working with storyboard artists. A lot of it is ‘how good a collaborator are you, how good are you at communicating your thoughts, how strong is your vision?

“Tim was already on the movie. We knew each other; we’d been consulting on each other’s projects. We’d been circling and wanted to work together. This was great for me because Tim had already directed a couple of movies; any rookie mistakes that I might make, he was there to fill in that void.

DreamWorks animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg brokered the directorial marriage between Johnson and Kirkpatrick and the pair found their skills and experience were complementary.

“In some directing teams you handle this and he handles that side of it, but for me and Tim it was a straight partnership/collaboration. We were both at 98% of the meetings. On occasion when you get into the heat of it you’ve got 350 people on crew and the day is broken into 15-minute increments. Sometimes you literally need to be two places at once and that’s when two directors come in handy. In those cases if there was something that required more tech expertise than I have, and Tim comes from a computer animation background, I’d say ‘you should take that one.’”

Johnson’s CGI background reaches back some 18 years into the dawn of the digital age when he joined the staff of Pacific Data Images, one of the very first computer animation shops and the company that would eventually become PDI/DreamWorks. (“That PDI badge means something, at least in our world, so they kept that name, which is great.”) While production of Hedge was based in DreamWorks’ Glendale studio, a satellite crew operating out of the original Silicon Valley PDI facility pitched in with additional animation, effects and lighting support. “We share everything, it’s really amazing,” Johnson enthuses. “We’ve all got the same software and the distance disappears once you get the video conferencing going. We had animation dailies and all the team would be sitting with us in a screening room and there’d be bunch of people in northern California synched up on a huge screen at their facility so we’re all watching the same thing.”

From Lewis’ perspective, the synergy between directing partners was to the film’s benefit. “Tim has a good story sense, but Kerry has a great writing background. When he came on and partnered with Tim the picture really started taking off. They really had a good chemistry, never losing sight of that sense of fun you need to bring to a project like this.”

After redesigning the strip’s 2D characters for CGI, Kathy Altieri’s next job was the film’s environment, recreating the world from the perspective of the film’s foot-high stars. “We were trying to create a world that felt like it was in our backyard. Every one of us has gone out, gotten down on our belly and crawled around with a camera so we can feel what we felt in the movie.” Meanwhile, Johnson and Kirkpatrick were wrestling with the film’s story and structure, and the evolution of RJ’s character from self-centered con artist to someone who cares about others. A turning point in the film comes when RJ is about to take off with a red wagon-load of goodies he’s tricked Verne’s family into helping him gather.

Johnson and Kirkpatrick wrestled with the film’s story and structure, and the evolution of RJ’s character (front) from self-centered con artist to someone who cares about others.

“We always sort of likened to RJ to Harold Hill in The Music Man, that he was a bit of a traveling grifter,” Kirkpatrick explains. “We always thought there’d be a scene called RJ Gets a Home, where the other animals would give him the thing he’d never had, a place to come back to. What we liked about it structurally was when they tell him, ‘RJ come here we want to show you something,’ had he said, ‘You guys go on’ and hopped in the wagon and left, he would have been home free. The fact that he let his guard down and was emotionally hooked further complicated things.

“What never worked about it, it used to be too maudlin — until we twisted it. Just as it’s getting a little sappy, that’s when we yanked the carpet out from his happiness.” The carpet-yanking consists of a barrage of TV soundbites on the subject of betrayal that triggers RJ’s dormant conscience while the camera stays on the raccoon’s guilt-ridden face. “We always knew conceptually we wanted something like that. I think it was David Soren, one of our storyboard artists who came up with TV idea, and I think I added the Dr. Phil punchline.”

A trio of high-energy slapstick set pieces punctuate the film — Verne’s traumatic initial foray into the suburban development ‘over the hedge,’ Verne and RJ’s encounter with a slobbering, extremely playful dog that ends in a kerosene-powered rocket flight and an apocalyptic battle aboard a runaway truck. While the first sequence was part of the film from its earliest days, the second originally featured a ferocious dog who swallowed Verne in one bite. “Then it was up to RJ to perform a canine Heimlich,” recalls Johnson. “That scene was in the film for a surprisingly long time, before we conceived a friendlier dog and funnier chase about 20 months ago. The truck battle entered the picture after several third act experiments; we only settled on that scene a year ago. The script was not written around any of them — they were all created to serve the overall story.”

Like all contemporary animated features, Over the Hedge’s voice cast is a mixture of high-profile stars and accomplished character actors, led by Bruce Willis as RJ. Johnson says “having Bruce voice the character meant you could have a con man, but there’s something he brings to it that keeps RJ sympathetic and lets you go on the ride with him. RJ was based on the character in the comicstrip, but when we approached Bruce we said we missed David Addison from Moonlighting. He said, ‘I kind of miss him too, I’ve been busy saving the world for the last 12 pictures.’”

Over the Hedge’s voice cast is led by Bruce Willis as RJ. The directors urged the actor to channel David Addison from Moonlighting to create the sympathetic con man character.

While acknowledging that name-brand actors are crucial in giving an animated feature visibility among higher profile “event” movies, Kirkpatrick admits that he keeps certain performers in mind from the get-go. “Who am I thinking of when I write this character? Coming up with an opossum who dies big — Shatner! Or you think Albert Finney — that’s what I want, Shakespearean. You kind of think of that voice while you’re writing it, and you wonder if he’ll do it. Then you call Shatner and he says yes!

“We have a powerful head of the studio in Jeffrey who can get anybody on the phone and get them to agree to be in one of his movies — but he won’t do it unless the voice is interesting separate from the face. There are some stars out there that we’ve listened to that just aren’t good voices. When you’re not seeing their face and just picturing the character, sometimes that voice just doesn’t work.

“We never do star for star’s sake. For instance, there was early inclination with the Verminator (the orange-suited exterminator pictured prominently in the film’s advertising) to do some stunt casting with a really big name. But I was working with Thomas Haden Church on Charlotte’s Web. He’s a big name to me, he was Oscar-nominated but he’s not on the Tom Cruise level. But when I heard his voice I said, ‘you guys have to hear this.’ He’s great, he’s perfect and he made that character. Or you take someone like Garry Shandling. No one’s used him, but he has a strong, distinctive voice and a phenomenal sense of humor. If we can tap into that we’ve got something really special.”

For his part, Fry offers special praise for Steve Carell’s voicing of the high-strung squirrel Hammy. “Steve is really incredible, he gave a great voice performance. The most impressive acting from him is the moment he says, ‘I’m not stupid.’ He says it once as Hammy and it just pulls your heart. Then he walks away and says it in his own voice. In that moment it gives you a little bit of the depth of the character — somewhere inside there’s this Steve Carell lurking about who’s really wounded.”

Steve Carell continues his break-out year with the voicing of high-strung squirrel Hammy (left). The comic’s creator Michael Fry was impressed by the depth of emotion in his performance.

Johnson denies that any of the characters in the film were deliberately drawn to resemble their voice actors, but suggests the impression may result from “the way we recognize motion in people. We videotape the actors recording their lines and some of the animators like to look at the tapes for how they’re going to do their motion. I think it’s amazing and a tribute to the animator’s art that even though none of the characters were designed to look like the actors, in a way they all do a little bit. I think Eugene Levy was captured very well by the animators and ended up looking just like him, although if you looked at the freeze frames [of his character Lou the porcupine] I don’t think Eugene would be very flattered.”

Johnson looks at his voice actors as collaborators. “They’re not just reading lines. They’re actually helping us design and discover the character. We mold and change and adapt the story, rework scenes around what we discover. It’s so important to match the performance to what the actors bring — it’s really like workshopping a play or a Broadway show, but in slow motion.”

That slow motion sped up near the end of the production cycle, with new dialog added as recently as the end of March. “We made a ton of changes,” Johnson recounts. “It’s amazing how you can fly in new lines of dialog. Garry saw the picture and wrote something like 12 new lines, things like, ‘I’d thought we’d be dead by step two, so this is going great!’ You can’t show him the whole film because you don’t have it, and when you finally have it it’s almost too late so you scramble to get these great ideas in.”

One of the most interesting things about Over the Hedge though, is what’s missing. In a film swimming with fast food and merchandise, there isn’t a single instance of product placement, and hardly any self-conscious pop-culture references. Johnson admits that the film “is making comment, not always flattering, about the world of consumer products. I don’t know if any company would’ve wanted to get involved with us. The other thing we realized the parody was part of the fun.

Like the best of Pixar’s films, Over the Hedge has the feel of a classic animated feature. Its directors hope the film to make animation whole family entertainment like live-action used to be before it became stratified.

“One of the first scenes to really come together was that Trail Guide Girl cookie heist. We had a little competition among the staff of who could come up with the funniest name for cookies. We ended up with Love Handles, Smackeroons, Neener-Neeners, great names. Kerry and I got really excited and remembered those old Wacky Packages stickers. We thought that’s where we’re going to go with this thing, we don’t want real products. The way to make a comment and hold up a funhouse mirror to this consumer culture is to make up all the names we want. It goes by so quick too. One of the things I want to put on the DVD is all the work that Kathy [Altieri]’s department put into the product design.

“The only product that’s in the movie? The THX logo [seen briefly on a TV set]. Do you know we had to pay for it? We had the joke and we asked Lucasfilm if we could use it. They said ‘yes, but’ and we said, ‘wow.’ It didn’t cost that much, though.”

Like the best of Pixar’s films, Over the Hedge has the feel of a classic animated feature, one where we eavesdrop on the animal world to see our own through different eyes. Unlike Disney’s overly literal The Wild, Hedge is replete with cartoon exaggeration — characters squash, stretch and speed so fast they distort time and space; they survive the worst sort of physical misadventures with only their dignity injured; and one classic cartoon image that hasn’t been seen a while, a turtle who wears his shell like a removable suit of clothes.

Johnson and Kirkpatrick look at Over the Hedge and other animated features as continuing a tradition that’s lost ground in Hollywood in recent years. As Johnson puts it, “Hopefully we’re taking animation to where I think live-action films used to be — whole family entertainment. Live-action films get so stratified — teen-slasher, superhero movie, big-budget special effects films — I feel animated films are now the general entertainment films you don’t see in live-action.” For his part, Kirkpatrick finds himself “upset a little bit when somebody says ‘I wouldn’t go see this, animation isn’t really my thing’ and it gets relegated to something just for kids. Some of the smartest, best archetypal storytelling out there in the movies is being done in animation, movies like The Incredibles and Toy Story and Shrek, they’re as good as any movie that comes out all year long.”

Regardless of what happens to Over the Hedge’s critter cast when they enter the multiplexes of the human world, their comicstrip counterparts will continue to go their own way. “We talked with DreamWorks about folding some of the movie characters into the strip,” Lewis admits. “We both very independently, very stridently thought no. The movie and the strip ought to be two parallel distinct things. The power the strip brings to this is that it has its own integrity; it’s its own separate thing. You start merging the two, it’ll look like the strip’s just shilling for the movie.”

Regardless of what happens to Over the Hedge’s critter cast in the cinema world, the comic strip will not add any of the movie characters. Lewis wants to avoid the appearance of the strip shilling for the movie.

Lewis’ art for the strip has evolved since its 1995 debut, due both to his desire to keep the strip’s look fresh, and the addition of computer toning to his arsenal of tools. When asked, he admits the characters’ big screen redesign has also influenced their look on the printed page. “Around 2000 when I started working on the movie a little bit [contributing concept art for new characters] the strip’s animals became more naturalistic.” (One character Lewis particularly regrets not making it to the big screen is an owl that would have been voiced by Gene Wilder.) “When I started doing those characters for them it jostled the illustrator in me because I come from that background. Ernest Shepherd, Winnie the Pooh’s illustrator, he’s like my hero, Tenniel, that late 19th, early 20th century is my style.

“That change was inspired by my work with the folks at the studio. There’s such high quality of work you’re surrounded with there. When you know your stuff is being looked at by these guys — and a lot of them would get our strips e-mailed to them every day by the syndicate — I’d say to myself ‘I’ve really got to be on my game here.’”

If Over the Hedge the movie achieves the success its creators are hoping for, will there be a sequel in the works? It’s a question one hardly needs to ask of DreamWorks, considering Shrek 3 is due out next May and a fourth Shrek is already in the works. However the studio may have already tipped its hand early on in the movie — when RJ shows Verne and company a map of the suburban development that’s sprung up around them, an arrow reading ‘FUTURE DEVELOPMENT’ is pointing to their small, unspoiled patch of green. Stay tuned for future developments…

Joe Strike lives in New York City and writes for and about animation. He has recently completed a children’s novel.

Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.