iKITMovie Blog

New Look Cartoon Network Looney Tunes

One of the worlds largest cartoon publishers “Cartoon Network” are planning to breathe new life in to the classic Warner Brothers Looney Tunes shows. Just last month Cartoon Network during its upfront presentation, announced a number of new animated shows including an animated version of the Mad magazine.

The new Looney tunes shows which will included the ususal suspects of Daffy Duck , Bugs Bunny, Sylvester , Yosemite and more will see a new format. Rather than the original 7 minute cartoon the network is planning half hour slots for the animated series. Also Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny will be moved out of the woods and placed in a suburbian neighbourhood.

However the half hour episodes will be interspersed by cartoons within the cartoon. There will be two-minute ‘Merrie Melodies’ music videos — original songs sung by such characters as the Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzalez, and Marvin the Martian – and two and a half minute Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote shorts, which will be computer-animated.

However Cartoon Network modern take on these originals does not go down well with some of the original fans of the format. For example Fatty Fat comments ..

I just plain don’t get the need to tinker with Looney Tunes at all. It’s just more reinventing the wheel. I’m nostalgic for the originals that were around in syndication all during my childhood, and if I can be nostaligic for cartoons that were made 50 years before I was born, so can/have/will others. It’s not like I was sitting through Bugs Bunny cartoons thinking, “I’d be interested in this if they’d just make this character edgier…maybe Rastafarianize him by, say 30%…now that’d be a totally outrageous paradigm!”

For me I welcome the reviving of these old cartoons for a whole new generation by Cartoon Network. Us old folks should just move on and hand over the good times to the next generation.

I came across this stop motion animation on YouTube of an episode of Star Trek ( The original series ) :

It was created by man called “John”. I will let the description speak for itself as follows:

“My brother created this project in 1978 when he was 18 years old . He built the model of the Starship Enterprise bridge. He made all the clothes ect. for the dolls and spent tedious hours animating the characters. He dubbed in the audio after he copied the super 8 footage on to a beta tape The animation was done from his memory of the episode because VCRs were not invented when he did this project. My hope is that this gets the recognition it deserves. RIP John.”

The puppets were made from 1970’s GI Joe action figures. John made all the costumes and the set himself. Some of the comments on the video are justifiably complimentary.

stoneman127 What’s so fantastic about this is that the dolls/figures of the characters move so smoothly, lively, not stiff. You can tell a lot of work went into this. This is really top class stuff. And this was done before all the high tech camera equipment and special effects were available. It’s truly an amazing piece of work. This is really great!

grandehillusion Very impressive !!!
your brother had a lot of talent, worthy of Ray Harryhausen.
It is a very beautiful tribute has its work that to diffused it on YouTube.
Thanks for sharing.

I have started watching the original series again recently having received a gift of the Complete Blue Ray DVD box set. They have enhanced some of the original special effects and cleaned up the images. It has been done with sensitivity and does not spoil the overall feel. Recommened as is John’s fine work above.

We had a very pleasant surprise last week to find Disneys’ FamilyFun magazine recommend iKITMovie animation software!

Disneys' Familyfun - iKITMovie

It was Recommended by FamilyFun digital manager Samuel Mead and kids, Ruby, age 8, and Finn, 5 (plus  cousins Cedar, 15, Silas, 11, Matia, 12, and Noah, 9) – Their tips were ..

Our Tips

Stop-motion animation programs are compatible with most digital video cameras and some digital still cameras (check before you download). I had to adjust my camera’s settings from HD to DV before beginning.

For a more professional look, we set our camera on a tripod and shot against a flat, brightly lit sheet of white paper.

To inspire my young animators, I showed them some of the many finished works posted online. The kids were particularly jazzed by a short called “Western Spaghetti” (eatpes.com).

Also we got an really nice article by Karin Piper author of “Charter Schools – The Ultimate Guide for Parents” about us on Examiner.com.

Karin is a speaker, school choice advocate and author of award winning Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents. Karin provides communications and tools necessary for parents to become informed decision makers in the expanding world of education options. She also works with various organizations in engaging with surrounding communities and creating dynamic relationships with families. Karin can be contacted through Karin@theeducationchoiceexpert.com or visit her website at charterschoolmom.com.

I came across a really nice gentle stop motion advertisement called “Clean it Up” made by “Evolution Bureau” for Orbit (the chewing gum brand) recently.

It’s described as: Clean It Up. A stop-motion video featuring animated lips that clean up a rundown home. The art work was done by a street artist in Chicago called Goons. His style is primitive cartoon like characters with exagarated lips!

GoonsArtAce Norton - Stop Motion Director

The stop motion animation was directed by Ace Norton. Ace grew up in Venice, Los Angeles. He father and grandfather were both screenwriters in the movie business.  Ace was prolific in his short film production while at high school winning an award for his short “Cherry Coke Rage” at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
The mellow music used in the video is  Keep It Clean by Camera Obscura. They are worth checking out actually if you are looking for some laid back female vocal led sounds.
The stop motion short was sponsored by Wrigleys Orbit clean it up campaign. The film is part of their promotion of disposing of gum responsibly.

“Orbit: Clean It Up” features over 500 unique drawings created by Goons. It tells the story of a paper ball rolling down dirty street cleaning as it goes. It culminates with the ball cleaning the front of an old house restoring it to its former glory. The ad promotes the “clean” image of Wrigleys gum!

How to Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks animation will be in theaters March 26, 2010. Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller are the voice actors in the film. It’s directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. The trailer is below for your enjoyment. I hope they improve on the graphics for the main dragon, as it currently stands it looks out of place with the other characters and background. While it may well be worth going to see if only for the 3D experience it does not look as good as Pixar’s recent offerings.

NEWS : The UK’s famous art gallery, the Tate and Aardman studios have teamed up for an ambitious project to create a feature movie made entirely by children. Aardman will spearhead this 3Million pounds sterling project by organising contributions from children in the UK to create a movie which will be launched as part of the 2012 Olympics celebrations. Aardman will hold workshops around the UK hoping to directly involve thousands of children’s hand drawn animation cutout backdrops and characters as well as recording sound effects , voices and ideas.

“In this age of the creative economy where ideas are the driving force, discovering and nurturing creative ideas in children is of vital importance,” said Aardman Chairman Dave Sproxton.

“We want children to be involved at every level and believe that the spontaneity and creativity of the children will create a film that is as inspiring as it is entertaining.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate, said: “We’re giving children the opportunity to work at the coalface and really use their own creativity. This is about stimulating creativity among young people. It is a natural way of extending the education work that we do and capturing the interest of young people in the visual.”

Conclusion

I don’t like reading film reviews normally because the authors drag out the conclusion to the review until the end. So here is my conclusion on UP 3D the movie.

It was excellent. Well worth going to see (expecially in 3D). Suitable for all ages. Our group ranged in ages from 8 to 44 years old. All agreed it was brilliant. Everyone took something different from it. Now read on if you would like to know a little more. Otherwise just plan a night out and go and see it in 3D.

Synopsis of the story

Carl Fredricksen, the main character is introduced in the opening scenes as a young boy watching a black and white movie in the cinema about a heroic adventurer called Charles Muntz . He dreams of going on such an adventure as he follows his balloon in to an abandoned house some days later. It is here he meets his future wife..Ellie who shares his sense of adventure. They marry later and the first few minutes of the movie runs through their life together in montage form up to the point where they are old and Ellie dies without every going on their adventure to South America.

So we are left with a 78-year-old balloon salesman about to be forced in to a retirement home by aggressive city developers encroaching on the once abandoned house ( as seen in opening of the movie)  that he and Ellie renovated and lived in all there lives. But rather than give in to them he decides to go on that adventure to South Africa ( Angel Falls ) and bring his house with him by lifting it in to the sky with hundreds of helium balloons. Once in they sky floating over the city he discovers he has a passenger in the form of an 8 year old boy scout type character or wilderness explorer as he calls himself on the front porch. The boy “Russell” accompanies Carl to south America where they are joined by a talking dog called Doug ( and then dogs) and a twelve foot tall bird which they name Kevin. During their adventure they meet with Charles Muntz, Carl’s boyhood hero. Charles soon disappoints as a hero. It quickly becomes evident that Charles Muntz has become obsessed with capturing this mysterious bird “Kevin” in order to rebuke an earlier humiliation by his peers and the scientific community who claimed such a bird never existed. In his relentless 50 plus year search , Charles now discovers that Carl and Russell know where the bird can be found. Needless to say Carl and Russell try to hide and protect the bird from Charles Muntz and his shotgun.

Carl , Russell and Doug

The adventure picks up pace in these scenes which result in Muntz’s timely demise and the return of Kevin to his family of baby birds!  Carl get’s Russell back home in time for his senior Wilderness Explorer badge presentation and all is well.

While this animation seems like a very well executed adventure for children it has very deep threads running thr0ughout. From the first ten minutes you are left in no doubt about the animations deeper messages on life and meaning. Sounds like I’m getting heavy here.( or even worse ..”arty” lol ).but it is surprising to find this depth in a 3D animation. And I, as all of our adult members in our group where taken back by its sophistication. Themes such as “loss – as we see Carl loosing a childhood sweetheart after 70 years of marriage” , “not seizing life , adventure and opportunities”. “Being dissappointed by lifelong hero’s” when Muntz turns out to be a self centered mean spirited egomaniac. Phew..that’s heavy going alright.. but its real.

Anyways..enough..go see it. It’s real.

Back To Our Site – Animate Yourself

Cartoon Animation software is a generic term which can be used to include stop motion software. We think of cartoons as “Tom and Jerry” in the broadcast media or as comic strips in the printed media. But the term “Cartoon” can extend to all visual media that depicts caricatures of life. Cartoons have their roots in printed media going back over 150 years. A magazine called Punch appeared in England in 1841 and is reputed to have given us the beginnings of cartoons in modern life. It was a humorous satire on society and politics at the time. It ran until 2002. It had an international reputation for a witty and irreverent take on the world.

Even in early cinema stop motion and cel animation were used to create cartoons. They proved very popular with audiences. The original black and white drawings of Mickey Mouse are treated as works of art by historians of cinematography. A cel from the 1928 “Mickey Mouse – Steamboat Willie” with sound! is shown below. The Disney empire grew from these humble beginnings.

Mickey Mouse - Early Cel Animation

Stop motion ran in parallel to the printed media from the early 19th century. With the advent of home personal computers, everyone could now use animation software to create cartoon strips or cartoon animations in any form. Cartoon animation software can be used to create cel animations or stop motion animation with sound, music and voice overs all from the humble PC or Mac at home. Video sharing sites are full of excellent examples of homemade animations with cartoon animation software. All ages can get involved with the very easy to use cartoon software from WapitaMedia to advanced 3D animation software from Daz studio to our own stop motion “cartoon animation software” called iKITMovie.

I have been asked many many times by those new to stop motion for advice on what web camera to buy when starting out with animation. We have reviewed a number of web cameras on our site in the last year and in general we have been happy to recommend Logitech® and Microsoft®.  So as a gift to new customers we are giving away Logitech C200 webcams with our flagship software iKITMovie 1.6.  The Logitech C200 is very new to the market and signals a real coming of age for affordable webcams. For stop motion it is most comfortable at 640×480 at 30FPS (image refresh that is ,not the capture frame rate). It can capture images up to 1.3 MP with software enhancement. What is best about Logitech cameras however are the drivers. They give excellent control of brightness, contrast, White balance etc, all essential to getting the best quality possible with the lens supplied. There is manual zoom on this model which works very well for close up work.

So if you are looking for a complete kit for stop motion it is a very good package indeed.

The first trailer for the Classic story the “The Princess and the Frog” and just been released on Youtube.

While I am more a fan of stop motion animation I have a soft spot for this story. It is an enduring favourite of mine since I was young. This version according to Disney’s Press releases for the movie takes a more modern look at the classic and extends it’s basic concept to examine what happened after the princess kissed the frog Prince. So in that sense it is loosely based on E.D. Baker’s version of The Frog Prince.

The movie will be in cinemas on December 24th, 2009. Disney describe it as an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. The prince named Naveen from Maldonia has been turned in to a frog by a voodoo magician, Dr Facilier. The frog mistakes Tiana for a princess and asks for a kiss to break the spell.

The Princess and the Frog

As I mentioned the story surrounds a beautiful girl named Tiana and her interactions with a frog who wants to be human again. However after that fateful kiss ,Tiana finds herself turned in to a frog! In another twist the princess for the first time in history in this story .. is black (about time!).

The animators behind The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, the famous team of John Musker and Ron Clements return to the hand-drawn animation form in this movie. As a result it definitely has the look and feel of the original Disney animations.

The music is composed by Oscar®-winning composer Randy Newman. Worth a visit to the cinema for the nostalgia alone.