Animations of the movie ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ (1993)
Burton’s “Nightmare” is a dream come true movie which is built using stop-motion technique for the first time. This film won the Oscar Nominations for best visual effects. These particular effects are of surreal technique.
Story and Weaving
The story revolves around the Halloween town and its inhabitants – jazz-playing zombies, Four Tenor-like vampires, a wolfman, and a wheelchair-bound scientist. The Frankenstein-like scarecrow named Sally is an excellent piece of animation. Jack, trying to hijack Christmas Town to Halloween Town and pose as Santa was done with superior light and sound effects and extemporary animation. However once in a while, the depth is missing as well as consistency.
Animations
The cover art of ‘Skellington eerily silhouetted against a full moon’ is done with extreme craftsmanship. The coiled hill that overlooks a desolate graveyard is the peak of surrealism. Sally’s expression when being attracted to Jack romantically is well done. There is something about the creation and animation of the gifts as well-shrunken heads, Christmas tree-eating snakes. The Santa is well crafted to suit the movie.
Wonderfully original animation, fun & original songs make the movie outstanding. However, the lighting could have been better. As well as the focuses on the characters are not steady enough and the lingering effect is occasionally missing.
Angle of shots
The angles of shots are also wavering sometimes making the concentration of the viewers diverted. The number of shots per seconds and synchronization of same with the angle, depth could have been better. Possibly in 1993 the software for animations movies was not that developed as of now. Overall, the synchronization of the different elements and convergence of the main theme could have been better planned and executed. Even though projected as a family movie, at some point only kids can relish the jokes and actions.
Overall a considerable effort is made in the making of this full-length musical animation film, and it shows.
Reference URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas
Animations of the Movie, ‘The Incredibles’, 2004
The director of ‘The Incredibles‘ took his boyhood memories and actions into this movie. And it shows the genius in him; the superheroes forced to live in almost in exile. And Mr Incredible helps them in the fight of the villain and his coterie.
Cinematography
The Cinematography of “The Incredibles” is extemporary. So the animation followed suit as excellent too. The visual effects on the screen were meticulously crafted. In short, there is a total control of all elements that is required for a good animation movie. The three ingredients of a good cinematography- placement and movement of people, objects, etc. – for both moving and fixed frames are sweet. The visual composition with lights and shadows, as well as the angle, are worth mentioning. The synchronisation of layout and lighting is excellent to follow without strain.
Total control
The directors did use the control over the camera, lighting, and depth of field, perspective, and subject placement effectively. Faithful to the tradition of Pixar, they spent months and months on the visualisation. The ‘Incredible’ has every shot well planned A scene comprised of elements that are just there – allows the audiences’ attention to focus wander and lapse, but not in ‘The Incredibles.’
Homework
The homework in making the storyboards perfect reflects the quality. In a nutshell, all the parameters to make a good animation movie like Storyboard Sketch, Layout and Key Animation Surfacing, Set Dressing and Final Layout Simulation and Shading and Lighting all were correctly put in the right perspective and quality. A special mention of the shading -how the object reacts to light; how light is absorbed, reflected, or internally scattered by the form- is marvellous. This includes the shot composition and density distribution.
In the ultimate analysis, the team did use all the techniques and software needed to take an ordinary animation movie to an extraordinary level.
Reference URL: www.floobynooby.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-cinematography-of-incredibles.
Animations of the Disney Movie Ratatouille
The animation movie from Disney of 2007 was a box office hit. Would it be so if the release was this year: Afraid No, as the animation techniques used nine years back are almost outdated? In Ratatouille, Protagonist Remy is smiling nervously as he clings to a piece of cheese while he is pinned to a door by sharp knives and forks. That makes believe that film’s tagline is, “He’s dying to become a chef”. The dot on the ‘I’ is doubling as a rat’s nose adorned with whiskers. The producers could keep the suspense of the name till last and tell that was a French dish.
Theatrical release poster involving Remy, an anthropomorphic rat, was not up to the mark as Mickey Mouse. The producers could have taken care in colour combination and movements suitably. The fight for supremacy after the death of the chef could have been more dramatic. The alliance with a Parisian restaurant’s garbage boy to achieve the goal looks like the last-minute introduction. Hence the coordination did not make much impact.
Even though the food animation used in the film, the crew consulted chefs from both France and the United States; the excitement could not be translated. Ratatouille premiered on June 22, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Remy’s background as a clan made them flee does not look realistic. The conflict of Linguini to kill the rat, and Remy’s intelligence, was animated properly. Remy discovers that he can control Linguini’s movements by pulling his hair is well created.
Remy is freed by his brother Emile and Django was wonderfully animated. Gusteau’s motto, “Anyone can cook.” was carefully crafted and executed. The facial expressions of Ego, Remy and Emile, are excellent. Quite likely they used many frames and chose the best sequences. Ratatouille is intended to be romantic, but it did not take up much in that direction. The dish bald was not introduced by Ali. The computer-generated images of food that would appear delicious but not consistent.
The Animations of Aladdin (1992 Disney film)
Magic eludes from Aladdin’s lamp
The 1992 animation movie Aladdin from Disney camp was one of the most successful movies. But looking back, people expected much more from Disney by way of technical perfection and animation technique in their 31st animation movie. Something unnatural hangs around the mystic Aladdin.
Originality sacrificed.
The lack of creativity in animation haunts Aladdin. The film Thief and Cobbler by Richard Williams has a strong resemblance to Aladdin, but the question is who copied whom. Besides the plot, characters, sciences, sequence and the background design are similar if not duplicate. Even the resemblance of the antagonist Zigzag, in character design and other aspects to Genie and Jafar is glaring. The Abu, the kleptomaniac pet monkey of Aladdin, was right. The producers took time in San Francisco Zoo to find the right animation of monkeys. The good animation and voice of Rajah, the tiger, is worth mentioning. But the computer caricaturing is not that natural as it should be. Possibly in 90’s, the software was not this much advanced as of today.
Copycats
The success of Aladdin concrete way for a couple of more sequels, but they were lacklustre ventures. The facial expressions of Jasmine do not fit to be that of a would-be sweet heart. The design and caricature of the Genie are good. Jafar’s transformation to a giant cobra is done with right animation earnest. The animator tried to design each character with geometric precision. That was a misfire. The ageing of characters is illogical at times.
Coping with the swooping lines of Persian miniatures and Arabic calligraphy the caricatures were more or less presentable but not perfect. Since each character was animated alone, with the animators consulting, there is a lack of coordination which is evident.It looks like Disney cut corners to reduce the production cost and shed a couple of high paid actors. But the genie is making all animation faults straight?
Reference URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_(1992_Disney_film)
The Art of Animation 
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