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!

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

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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