This survey of the annual Spike & Mike Festival of Animation is illustrated with frame grabs, rare production stills, original artwork and behind-the-scenes photographs, and features interviews with a number of the top underground animators.
First Published in 1998. Understanding Animation is a comprehensive introduction to animated film, from cartoons to computer animation. Paul Wells' insightful account of a critically neglected but increasingly popular medium: * explains the defining characteristics of animation as a cinematic form * outlines different models and methods which can be used to interpret and evaluate animated films * traces the development of animated film around the world, from Betty Boop to Wallace and Gromit. Part history, part theory, and part celebration, Understanding Animation includes: * notes towards a theory of animation * an explanation of animation's narrative strategies * an analyis of how comic events are constructed * a discussion of representation, focusing on gender and race * primary research on animation and audiences. Paul Wells' argument is illustrated with case studies, including Daffy Duck in Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck, Jan Svankmajer's Jabberwocky, Tex Avery's Little Rural Riding Hood and King Size Canary ', and Nick Park's Creature Comforts. Understanding Animation demonstrates that the animated film has much to tell us about ourselves, the cultures we live in, and our view of art and society.
Secrets of Digital Animation sets out to demonstrate and showcase a range of cutting-edge work, new techniques, and influential practitioners within all forms of contemporary animation, from anime to flashware, and from animated shorts to machinima, offering creative hints and tips from the genre masters. This book offers young practitioners, and those interested in broadening their skills, an insider’s view of the fast evolving work of animation; showcasing professionals and their creations, working methods, and inspiration, along with jargon-busting explanations and easy to follow demonstrations. Stunning examples of finished work are shown alongside conceptual drawings and works in progress. The book contains practical advice and case studies that explore the professional techniques behind designing innovative characters and fantastical worlds, and bringing them to life.
Going beyond the box-office hits of Disney and Dreamworks, this guide to every animated movie ever released in the United States covers more than 300 films over the course of nearly 80 years of film history. Well-known films such as Finding Nemo and Shrek are profiled and hundreds of other films, many of them rarely discussed, are analyzed, compared, and catalogued. The origin of the genre and what it takes to make a great animated feature are discussed, and the influence of Japanese animation, computer graphics, and stop-motion puppet techniques are brought into perspective. Every film analysis includes reviews, four-star ratings, background information, plot synopses, accurate running times, consumer tips, and MPAA ratings. Brief guides to made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video releases, foreign films that were never theatrically released in the U.S., and live-action films with significant animation round out the volume.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A riveting, adrenaline-fueled tour of a vast, lawless, and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas. There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation. Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways—drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world's economies rely. Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching.
Animation was once a relatively simple matter, using fairly primitive means to produce rather short films of subjects that were generally comedic and often quite childish. However, things have changed, and they continue changing at a maddening pace. One new technique after another has made it easier, faster, and above all cheaper to produce the material, which has taken on an increasing variety of forms. The A to Z of Animation and Cartoons is an introduction to all aspects of animation history and its development as a technology and industry beyond the familiar cartoons from the Disney and Warner Bros. Studios. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, photos, a bibliography, and over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on animators, directors, studios, techniques, films, and some of the best-known characters.
From the concert stage to the dressing room, from the recording studio to the digital realm, SPIN surveys the modern musical landscape and the culture around it with authoritative reporting, provocative interviews, and a discerning critical ear. With dynamic photography, bold graphic design, and informed irreverence, the pages of SPIN pulsate with the energy of today's most innovative sounds. Whether covering what's new or what's next, SPIN is your monthly VIP pass to all that rocks.
Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons is intended to provide an overview of the animation industry and its historical development. The animation industry has been in existence as long (some would argue longer) than cinema, yet it has had less exposure in terms of the discourse of moving-image history. This book introduces animation by considering the various definitions that have been used to describe it over the years. A different perception of animation by producers and consumers has affected how the industry developed and changed over the past hundred years. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on animators, directors, studios, techniques, films, and some of the best-known characters. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about animation and cartoons.