keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

"According to [Spielberg], the biggest challenge was 'getting it to look like the drawings in the Hergé books. We love the art so much that we used animation to get it as close to the art as we can.'" Full story here .

The trailer for the mocapped The Adventures of Tintin is now online . Note how little the trailer focuses on the characters and especially the faces. Are they hiding something?

The Wrap is reporting that Disney is closing down ImageMovers Digital, the studio responsible for the production of the motion captured films directed by Bob Zemeckis, including The Polar Express , Beowulf and A Christmas Carol . Disney purchased the studio in 2007. The article implies that Disney is still interested in going ahead with the Yellow Submarine remake, though it's unclear if the closing means that they will subcontract future motion capture or use other techniques instead. UPDATE : There are some interesting comments from the industry perspective at the Animation Guild Blog .

I'm a little surprised at Cartoon Brew 's insistence than Avatar be considered an animated film. I don't know if the reason is because it is the highest grossing film in history and they want animation to have some of the glory or if it's because James Cameron is so insistent that Avatar should not be tainted with the 'A' word. In any case, there are reasons (beyond whatever anyone thinks of Avatar ) why I don't think considering it an animated film is a good thing. Those outside the film business may not be aware of the distinction between production and post-production. In a live action film - one with no animation or special effects - production is the shooting of the film. Post-production is what happens after the film is shot. Those things typically include editing, music, sound effects, dialogue looping, the sound mix and titling. When a film does include special effects, unless they are done in camera during the regular shoot, they are consider...

As a follow up to my earlier post , here's James Cameron's take on what he's doing.

Updated at the bottom. (There are no spoilers below.) I saw Avatar and quite enjoyed it. Many people have pointed out similarities to Pocahontas , Ferngully and Dances with Wolves . There are also elements of Tarzan and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern . I'm sure that some enterprising person will set up a website showing all those references and many more. James Cameron's strong suit isn't originality; what he's best at is taking existing elements, weaving them into a solidly structured screenplay and then kicking it up a notch with his directing ability. Avatar doesn't break new ground from the standpoint of content, but it does deliver that content in a very satisfying manner. It's basically a fish out of water story combined with a romantic vision of simpler societies. Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of the Tarzan , John Carter and Carson of Venus stories) specialized in stories like this. In Burroughs' case, there was an underlying rac...