The Jungle Book

I thought it was about time that I posted the bit from my dissertation about 'The Jungle Book' and what I learned from looking at the differences between the three versions by Kipling, Peet and Disney. It is a long post but I hope that it will help myself and others when they come to creating their own animation based on a book or when making an animation with anthromophic characters.


I have chosen Rudard Kipling’s, ‘The Jungle Book’ against Disney’s animated version to see how they are different and why. This is to see how someone would create an animation based on a book and what he or she should look and avoid.

The reason I chose, ‘The Jungle Book’ is because it is a good example of anthropomorphism and has two characters that are cats, Bajeerah and Shere Khan. I also loved the film as a child so I was interested to see what the differences are and why Disney chose to do so.

The Rudyard Kipling story, ‘The Jungle Book’, is actually part of a collection of stories about Mowgli and his friends. I had never read the story before doing this paper but had seen the Disney film so I was really surprised to find out just how different the two are.

'No one can say at this late date, but the finished Jungle Book, according to animator Eric Goldberg, “bears very little resemblance to Rudyard Kipling’s original, but I don’t think that’s what Walt wanted.”'
(http://bezalel.secured.co.il/zope/home/he/1209439536/1211516902)

For instance, the beginning of each story where Mowgli is found and rescued by the wolves it shows the different ways Kipling, Peet and Disney took it. Kipling wrote that Shere Khan attacks a camp of woodcutters and during this Mowgli wanders off and enters the wolves’ cave. Shere Khan comes to kill Mowgli but the mother wolf bravely protects him.

Peet did not seem to think this had enough drama and tension so gave this scene more action to thrill the audience. Peet had Mowgli carried off by a river clinging to a log; Bagheera tries to catch him but fails. The wolves watch him head for the edge of a waterfall when Mother Wolf saves him just as he goes over.

Personally I liked Kipling’s version and found it was an interesting start to the story although Peet’s version did have a lot of excitement, possibly too much for an opening sequence; I am sure it would have grabbed the audience though!

As you probably know Disney simplified Peet’s version and simply used some amazing paintings of a wrecked canoe with Mowgli inside. Bagheera then carries Mowgli to Mother Wolf for her to care for him.

There are actually three versions of ‘The Jungle Book’, Kipling’s, Disney’s and Peet’s. This is because Disney and Peet had a falling out over the film. Disney did not like how Peet was turning the film dark and sinister; he wanted to mainly focus on the characters and entertainment with the story coming last, which explains the poor plotline that barely exists!

‘Disney's insistence on fun and character also overrode what he discomfortingly called "the icky-sticky story stuff," meaning most of Kipling's dark, smart story elements got trounced in favor of singing, dancing, and slapstick.’
(Online Newspaper - http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/10/jazz_in_the_jungle_or_if_you_d.php)

As they could not reach an agreement, the two of them fell out and Peet left the studio and Clemmons took over. It is really a sad ending as they had been friends for years and never got to make up, as Disney died of Cancer towards the end of production.

The greatest change from the book has to be the actual storyline, the journey from the jungle to the man village. This storyline that Peet created was what Disney and the story team turned to when they had difficulties after he left. Kipling did have Mowgli go back to the man village but he went back and forth from jungle, the idea of him going and staying at the village was a completely new idea by Peet and Disney.

One change that really surprised me was that Baloo and Bagheera’s personalities had almost been swapped. Baloo was sleepy and bossy to Mowgli and was a proud teacher, who taught Mowgli the law of the jungle and the secret words of the animals. Kipling’s Baloo was in every way like the serious teachers you had at school although he was still caring like Bagheera in the film. Bagheera was more of the joker in the book although he did still have some sensibility about him.

(Figure *** - http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/10/jazz_in_the_jungle_or_if_you_d.php)

Peet decided to make Baloo a lazy, easy-going bear but it was not until Phil Harris was cast as Baloo that they really knew what they had. Harris really made Baloo who he is and actually got Disney and their team out of the problem they had with Baloo who was originally destined to be a cameo part.

‘Phil Harris’s performance added sincerity in a colorful character that gave new interest to everything he did, but, most important, this bear suddenly had great warmth, something the picture needed.’
(Thomas and Johnston,1997,p.80)

All three versions do have a similarity; they all included the scene of Mowgli being kidnapped by the ‘Bandar-log’, Kipling’s name for the monkeys. In Kipling’s book, the monkey’s pretend to be men but without a law or a leader. They kidnap Mowgli so he can teach them to be men and to weave sticks so they can make shelters. Peet wanted to pretty much stick to the way Kipling had created the ‘Bandar-log’ but by kidnapping Mowgli to teach them how to rebuild their city and to teach them the secret to mans ‘red flower’, fire. Peet wanted to bring slapstick comedy in to this scene, as did Disney so they created an entertaining and funny sequence of Baloo and Bagheera coming to save Mowgli from the monkeys and King Louie. In Kipling’s, Kaa was a friend and mentor of Mowgli’s and came to help too!

Peet also made the story more like Kipling’s later in his version of the film but Disney did not approve of where the story was going so it was dropped. Peet had planned for Mowgli to return to the man village and be adopted by a woman called Messua, who is believed to be Mowgli’s mother. He stays in the village learning to be a man but is plagued with difficulties because of a hunter called Baldeo who thinks Mowgli is a sorcerer and a man wolf.

During the monkey scene Peet had included a bit about there being treasure under the monkey’s city and Baldeo, the hunter finds out about this and forces Mowgli to show him where it is. Once they arrive, Mowgli distracts Baldeo as he sees Shere Khan coming who eventually kills Baldeo. Mowgli then uses Baldeo’s gun to kill Shere Khan. Mowgli is then a hero to the people of the village and the animals of the jungle and decides to live in the village but visit the jungle as he pleases. As you can see this is an exciting version of the story but due to the darkness of it Disney dropped it as his film was aimed at adults, and children. He also wanted to stick to the plan of Baloo being responsible for returning Mowgli to the village and to concentrate more on the characters, something I do not understand his reasoning for. Yes, characters are important but so is the story. If Peet’s version was made less sinister then I believe ‘The Jungle Book’ would have been even better and I am sure it would have more fans, especially today where fans look back and admit to preferring Disney’s more story based films such as ‘The Lion King’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘101 Dalmations’. I believe it was mainly the catchy songs such as ‘The Bare Necessities’ that saved ‘The Jungle Book’ and made it successful.

Due to dropping Peet’s ending and him leaving, Disney and his team were stuck for an ending but Disney urged the story team to not look at Kipling’s book and to just concentrate on personality and entertainment. Disney however did not take his own advice and used the book to get ideas. He finally got his inspiration for an ending from two passages; one from the end of ‘The Jungle Book’ and the other from ‘The Second Jungle Book’. These passages are shown below.

‘So Mowgli went away and hunted with the four cubs in the jungle from that day on. But he was not always alone, because, years afterward, he became a man and married.’
Tiger! Tiger! In The Jungle Book. Page 107.

‘Mowgli was going to answer when a girl in a white cloth came down some path that led from the outskirts of the village. Gray Brother dropped out of sight at once, and Mowgli backed noiselessly into a field of high-springing crops. He could almost have touched her with his hand when the warm, green stalks closed before his face and he disappeared like a ghost. The girl screamed, for she thought she had seen a spirit, and then she gave a deep sigh. Mowgli parted the stalks with his hands and watched her till she was out of sight.’
The Second Jungle Book. Page 155.

After finding this all out I watched the film again and it is fascinating to see how much of Peet’s original work was used and inspired from. Even though Disney broke it down to the very basics it was still taught you the differences between man and animal and we should get along and be friends even if it was a basic story it was still a highly entertaining, musical journey.

From this I have learned that if you truly believe in something that you should follow it as you may be like Disney, who stood up for what he believed in and made a film that became a great success but due to people not liking the poor storyline; I have learned that you should always listen to people’s advice even if you do not take it. Also, that you should have great characters and give them time for your audience to fall in love with and be entertained by but to also have a good story. Catchy and entertaining songs also seem to be a popular way of making an audience fall in love with a film, although I already knew this from my love of ‘The Lion King’ songs. One of the most vital things I have learned though is that anthropomorphism is something that Disney uses to bring their animals to life. It makes you love the characters even more, as you can understand them, feel for them and be brought into their world; an animal kingdom filled with love, friendship and fantasy.

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation Quotes

I have been going through the book, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by the amazing Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. I had marked a few pages with quotes I wanted to take note of a while ago but never did so here they are. They are realy helpful quotes and back-up my reason for doing my animation about a cat. Some also help with making my animation better :)


‘In our own lives, we find that as we get to know people we share their experiences – we sympathize, we empathize, we enjoy. If we love then, we become deeply concerned about their welfare. We become involved in their lives.
We involve the audiences in our films the same way. We start with something they know and like. This can be either an idea or a character, as long as it is familiar and appealing. It can be a situation everyone has experienced, an emotional reaction universally shared, a facet of someone’s personality easily recognized, or any combination of these. But there must be something that is known and understood if the film is to achieve audience involvement.’
The Illusion of Life, page 18-19.


‘“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” Walt Disney’
The Illusion of Life, page 71.


‘That all changed in one day when a scene was animated of a dog who looked into the camera and snorted. Miraculously, he had come to life! Walt was quick to appreciate the difference and so was the audience. The year was 1930 and the animator Norm Ferguson.’
The Illusion of Life, page 74.


‘As he thought about it, Ben decided that the key ingredient must be “realism.” In his own experience, he had found that much of the material in cartoon films was lost on the viewers; they could not understand it or relate to it. Walt had bridged that gap with realism, or a caricature of it. His situations were understandable, clear, and funny. His personalities were based on someone you knew.’
The Illusion of Life, page 80.


‘The scale of the characters to the things around them, and to each other, is an important part of making them believable, as well as giving them charm and appeal.’
The Illusion of Life, page 239.


‘If an animal in a film is wearing any kind of costume, he can be handled with human attributes and the audience will accept him. In contrast, if an animal in his natural fur should suddenly stand up and start gesticulating, the viewers will feel uneasy. Put a cap on him, or a tie, and he can swagger around, gesturing and pointing like any ham actor.’
The Illusion of Life, page 331.

A good example of this is in ‘The Aristocats’. The kittens all wear a small form of human clothing such as Marie wears bows and Toulouse has a bowtie on. The geese even follow the same rule and wear bonnets and Uncle Waldo wears a top hat.


‘Of course natural animal drawing or realistic action will always add sincerity and interest to this type of film, but it is not truly needed to tell the story. On the other hand, if the story is man’s view of what the animal world is like, as in ‘Lady and the Tramp’, ‘101 Dalmations’, and ‘The Jungle Book’, the animals must be completely believable or the whole premise will collapse.’
The Illusion of Life, page 331.


'When we say “real,” we mean only what the audience accepts as being real, for obviously a real animal cannot act or emote as broadly as animators require. The more an animator goes toward caricaturing the animal, the more he seems to be capturing the essence for acting. For example, if we had drawn real deer in ‘Bambi’ there would have been so little acting potential that no one would have believed the deer really existed as characters. But because we drew what people imagine a deer looks like, with a personality to match, the audience accepted our drawings as being completely real.'
The Illusion of Life, page 332.


‘Ears are an important part of the attitude on any animal.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘Hair can be a key to personality, and many times will show how a character feels. Scraggly hair gives an unkempt, irritable look. Smooth and sleek fur is soft and feminine.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘Tails can do much to show the mood of an animal. They can give a perky feeling, or show dejection, or affection. They should not rest on the ground without a reason. They must have life too. Watch out for “dead” tails.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘The neck is often passed over when considering parts of the anatomy that can help show an attitude. It can be arched for belligerence, show alertness, be cocky with chest out, or indicate anger.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.


‘A cat’s eyes are extremely expressive and change shape radically as they convey different emotions. At times they are mere slits, lost in a puff of cheeks and brows, or they are half closed in complete contentment, or wide with curiosity.’
The Illusion of Life, page 450.

The Lion King DVD

I've just watched the Lion King as I haven't seen it for years. It is a great film and still my favourite Disney film.

After watching the film I went onto the second disc to watch the making of the film in all aspects. While watching I am writing the notes below.

When they started The Lion King it was the B movie (Pocahontas the A) as they didn’t think people would want animals and wanted people characters. The team being the under-dogs pushed themselves to prove them wrong and that The Lion King can be a great movie and they believe that it was really shown when they started working on the Mufasa in the clouds scene.


Their insperations were African art, tapestries (for the bright colours int the film) and visiting Africa. Hamlet, Moses and King Arthur are also mentioned as insperations.


On the 2nd disc there is a section about animals and looking at the real animals they based their characters. This section is not all about the real animals though. There is a section called 'Disney & Animals'. This section is about Disney and their use of animals.

It did after all start with a mouse. Walt inspired his artists to make their drawings of animals better and more realistic with every film. Walt "It's always a challenge bringing a great story classic to the screen, giving visual form to characters and places that have only excisted in the imagination".


It goes on to mention how Disney always brings animals in or go see them in the wild. It also mentions Seal Island. Also the True Life Animal Kingdom at Disney World. Its also talks about the Disney films that involve real life animals such as The Shaggy Dog.

Roy Walt, says when commenting on the opening of 'Disney's Animal Kingdom', "This atrraction garrantees the longstanding union of the worlds of Disney nature fantasy and animal for generations to come."

Walt said after a hard meeting 'Sometimes I prefer Animals to people'.

The section on Character Design for Scar was very interesting. The Supervising Animator for Scar does actually keep calling him a person and makes a lot of anthropomorphic references. I will try and write up the large section where he does this as I am sure it will be helpful.

Disney observe animals & people before animating

Animators have studied, observed and animated animals for many years. Walt Disney actually thought observing people and animals was essential in making characters come to life.

Disney still does this today, most recently frogs were brought in for animators to sketch and observe for the frog characters in ‘The Princess and the Frog’.

“It’s really helpful for all the artists to study the real thing. That’s the basis of Walt Disney Animation, is you take the real thing and you caricature it and you observe it and you study it and then you reduce it down to its essence, and were really learning a lot, I think by looking at these creatures and these are really beautifully designed and so delicate.
We’ve got both the animators and clean up artists and storyboard artists and I think it’s helpful for all of them to really observe the real thing.
See how they move and see how their anatomy works.”(John Musker and Ron Clements - Directors of ‘The Princess and the Frog’ – accessed on 3rd Dec 09 - http://media.digisynd.com/AQAAAGUwOk2VYybTmM5Ap0ACo64n1xNn______ew0d3GH4DxoRgO5gvLQUGFp1h1/play;frame=AQAAADkROLWvBZN5l0DfUP3YqYcn1xNn_____wZugl5h__r_tzC363swRO1bw7gP/)


Many animators start animation by animating humans so it can be hard for them to animate animals without their previous knowledge of animating humans having an effect. This is can be a reason why animation has a lot of anthropomorphism.

My main question for dissertation

I spoke to Tracy and she agreed with the main question for my dissertation, Why is anthropomorphism so popular in animation and why is it used?
This week I've been really focusing on that question. I've started reading, 'Thinking with Animals: New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism by Lorraine Daston and Gregg Mitman' as it has a lot of information about anthropomorphism and why its used in other times and places, in evolutionary biology, in daily life and in film. So far it has been really helpful and I've made some notes from it, just have to get them into what I've done already. Its proving harder than I thought. I just can't seem to think right to do it.

My Dissertation Abstract

I've just rewritten this. As far as I can tell an abstract is basically explaining what my dissertation is about in very few words. Basically sounds like a cut down version of my introduction but oh well.



Abstract

This dissertation will focus on the use of anthropomorphism and specifically its use in animated cats.

This is will be done by looking at how anthropomorphism can and has been used in the past and present in different cultures and styles of animation including any opposition to the use of anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphised cats cannot just act well and like a human but also have to retain cat’s emotional and physical features so the study of acting, cat behavior and body language is a key area of research in this dissertation.

This study also looks at a book based on anthropomorphised animals and a film based on it, specifically, The Jungle Book. This is to look at how and why Disney changed the story and made the most of their characters using anthropomorphism.

My new dissertation Introduction

Below is my new introduction for my dissertation. I feel it's a lot more informative and clearly explains what is in my dissertation. It may need a bit of a less personal feel but I will work on that. I'm also starting to wonder is this is more of an abstract than an introduction so I will have to find that out.



Introduction

Anthropomorphism is when a non-human being, object, phenomena or element is given human characteristics and qualities. Anthropomorphic characters have nearly always been used in animation from Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) to The Aristocats (1970) and even in recent animated features such as Ratatouille (2007) and The Princess and the Frog (2010). The anthropomorphic characters that have always interested me are cats, from The Lion Kings, Simba to O’Malley from The Aristocats. That is why this dissertation is going to cover animation, anthropomorphism and cats. It is also so I can find out everything I should know before creating an animated short starring an anthropomorphised cat.

I am going to look at how anthropomorphism can and has been used throughout history and its uses in different styles of animation and the reasons for its use in animation. During this I will compare the advantages and disadvantages. I will also be looking at the oppositions to anthropomorphism try to relate it to animation.

Then I am going to look at how books have been changed when made into an animated film specifically looking at The Jungle Book. This is to see how and why Disney brought the characters to life with anthropomorphism and how they changed the story and why.

Finally, I will look at real cat behaviour, breeds, and body language and compare it to human qualities and acting to see how to give a cat, human qualities but still show cat characteristics, as this is the type of anthropomorphism I am after. I believe there are four kinds of anthropomorphism so I will also be covering what I they are and give examples. A lot of this will involve studying acting and the owner/pet relationship to bring my character to life and make them believable.

Quotes for Dissertation

Sorry that its been a while since posting but been working on my dissertation and character designs. Will post some more sketches soon. Any way, below are some quotes I have found recently that I think would be good in my dissertation. Just not found where to put them yet.

******************************

"They carry the physiognomies of humans, and at the same time, keep their own lovable and honest animal faces."
(Balaz, B, 1952. Theory of the Film. Translated from the Hungarian by Bone, E. London:Dobson LTD)


"One of the most remarkable features of our domesticated races is that we see in them adaptation, not indeed to the animal's or plant's own good, but to man's use or fancy."
(Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species)


"Something we’ve never seen, an entirely new category of computer-enhanced acting. With not a word of dialogue, he brings to life a close cousin to man with whom we can empathize, yet is never too human-like"
(Covert, C. 2005. What the Critics are saying about Andy Serkis as "Kong" [online]. Available at: http://www.serkis.com/kingkong/reviews.htm [accessed 10 January 2010)


"Humans use animals to transcend the confines of self and species; they also enlist them to symbolize, dramatize, and illuminate aspects of humans’ experience and fantasy. Humans merge with animals in stories, films, philosophical speculations, and scientific treatises. In their performance on many stages and in different ways, animals move us to think"
(Daston, D and Mitman, G. 2005. The How and Why of Thinking with Animals In: Daston, D and Mitman, G, Thinking With Animals. USA: Columbia University Press, 1-14.)


"To imagine that animals think like humans... is a form of self-centered narcissism, one looks outward to the world and sees only one’s own reflection mirrored therein."
(Daston, L. 2005. Intelligences: Angelic, Animal, Human In: Daston, D and Mitman, G, Thinking with Animals. USA: Columbia University Press, 37- 58.)


"Anthropomorphism with Anthropocentrism, that is, when humans project their own thoughts and feelings onto other animal species because they egotistically believe themselves to be the center of the universe."
(Daston and Mitman 2005)


"When we consider a new project, we really study it... not just the surface idea, but everything about it"
(Thomas, F and Johnston, O, 1981: The Illusion of Life. Italy: Walt Disney Productions)


"Disney animators knew well that the large eyes of Bambi would elicit an emotional response from audiences more akin to the affection displayed toward a human child than if they had drawn the deer’s eyes to scale"
(Gould 1979 cited Daston and Mitman 2005)


"The thrust of the limbs starts from the vertebral column and consequently moves to the pelvis, shoulders and legs. The spine reacts to every foot-fall."
(Pisk, L. 1975. The Actor and his Body. London: George G. Harrap & Co.)


"The walking of men is always after the universal walking of animals with four legs"
(Pisk, L. 1975. The Actor and his Body. London: George G. Harrap & Co.)

(Pisk is known for observing the walk of four-legged animals particularly cats)


"Study the creatures involved, film and analyse their movement, examine the texture of fur and muscle, even investigate the skeleton, But sometimes they are inspired by the personality of an actor who is performing the character’s voice"
(Platt, E. 2000. How Disney Makes Magic. The Sunday Times Supplement. Date not printed. Volume 1. 7.)

"Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality a story cannot ring true to the audience."
(Platt, E. 2000. How Disney Makes Magic. The Sunday Times Supplement. Date not printed. Volume 1. 7.)


"The magic of Disney is based on anthropomorphism"
(Platt, E. 2000. How Disney Makes Magic. The Sunday Times Supplement. Date not printed. Volume 1. 7.)


"The mapping of human motion to a character with nonhuman proportions doesn’t work, because the most important things you get out of motion capture are the weight shifts and the subtleties and that balancing act of the human body"
(Richard Chuang (vice president of PDI)


"Anthropomorphism rules because, for most people, any other interpretation of the animal’s behavior- any suggestion that it might be motivated by other than human feelings and desires- would instantly devalue these (human and pet) relationships and place them on a more superficial and less rewarding footing."
(Serpell, J. A, 2005. People In Disguise: Anthropomorphism and the Human- Pet Relationship In: Daston, D and Mitman, G, Thinking with Animals. USA: Columbia University Press, 121-136.)

Imaginary Friends and Tristan.

I've been writing about Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends in my dissertation and I was thinking of the character designs and how they look like their personalities and skills. This got me thinking about my youngest brother, Tristan who had an imaginary friend called ‘Halfie’ (pronounced hal-fee) when he was younger, (I always imagined that he got the name from Halfords where I worked at the time). Tristan told me that she was a great mechanic who helped him fix stuff. He also described her as very pretty, blonde and nice like me. With how he described her I imagine that if she was one the friends on the show that she would be tall like a model, curvy, a warm sun yellow for the kindness and hair. She could also have tools for fingers such as a hammer, screwdriver, wrench. Etc. for the mechanical skills Tristan gave her. Of course Tristan outgrew Halfie and she was forgotten just like most of the friends on the show.

Oh and its funny how Mac looks so much like Tristan! Look below!

Craig McCracken (Foster's Home)

Ok, seen as Simon Tofield is too busy at the moment to reply I have been thinking who else I could ask questions and recieve advice from. My first thought was Craig McCracken who created Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Just need to find some contact details for him now! In the meantime below are some quotes he has said.

• Anything you see on the screen was at one point approved by me.

• Basicly I'm in charge of all creative aspects of the show.

• Basicly what I had to do was do a 7 minute board and pitch it to a room of big wigs from the network and based on that they determined if I would get a short or not.

• But to me what seems to be missing in a lot of portfolios is Cartooning.

• First, there was 2 Stupid Dogs. Then, Dexter's Laboratory. And now, Powerpuff Girls. There were a lot of little things in between, but those were the main ones.

• For a long time I wanted to be a comic strip artist but when I started doing them in my teens they were getting really elaborate with tons of poses and a lot of information.

• I started working at Hanna-Barbera in '92 on 2 Stupid Dogs.

• I'm a geeky toy collector, and to have toys of your own characters is unbelievably cool.

• I'm always thinking about what I might want to do next, but there's still things I want to do with Powerpuff - so I can keep going with this one for awhile.

• I'm hoping that word-of-mouth on the film - people seeing it and liking it - that that will drive more people to the theaters, because I haven't seen the billboards or the posters or anything.

• I've been drawing since I was about 3 and I come from a family of artists.

• It really just gives you a sense of when you need to have dialogue and when you don't, and if your pictures are telling the story, you don't need to have all this talking.

• One of the main things I do is focus on ideas and what stories we decide to tell, but probably the biggest part of my job I'd say is working on the storyboards.

• So what I do is supervise the boarding process trying to get the shows the way I'd like them to be. And in some cases I've completely redone a board myself even though I'm not credited for it.

• The reason they look the way they do is that the first drawing I did of them was really small so I didn't draw fingers, nose, ears, etc and this drawing had a certain appeal that I really liked.

• The shows are either 11 or 22 minutes and they move pretty quickly, and that's part of the charm of them - so it was just trying to keep that in mind and keep the energy of the story moving, even though we were dealing with a longer format.

• The storyboard artists job is to plan out shot for shot the whole show, write all the dialog, and decide the mood, action, jokes, pacing, etc of every scene.

• There's a lot you can do without words.

• We chose the actors thru a series of auditions when we started the show.

• Well, for one thing, the executives in charge at Cartoon Network are cartoon fans. I mean, these are people who grew up loving animation and loving cartoons, and the only difference between them and me is they don't know how to draw.

• Yes, it's a prequel. It tells the story about how the girls were born with superpowers, but they weren't necessarily heroes at the beginning of this movie, so the movie is about the events that happen in their life to make them decide to be heroes.

(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/craig_mccracken.html - accessed on 14th Dec)

Interview with Hayao Miyazaki from Ghibli Studios

Below is a link to an interview with Hayao Miyazaki. It is a very interesting read.

http://www.angelfire.com/anime/NVOW/Interview1.html

Please click on the link to do my Questionnaire!

Please click on the link to do my questionnaire. I have created this Questionnaire to help me with my final year project and dissertation. Well explained answers will be greatly appreciated.


Click here to take my Online Questionnaire

My questionnaire to give people

Below is the questionnaire that I plan to ask people to fill out for my dissertation as primary research. I believe that what I have asked will give me helpful advice and quotes for my dissertation and project. If you wish to be helpful then please leave a comment on this post with your answers.

To view a larger version of the questionnaire you need to click on the image of the page you wish to view.

Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield - Great video about it!

Brilliant video by Simon Tofield.
He talks about the insperation, the style, how he does it, the soundtrack, ideas, the book and new characters. There is even a quick sketchbook flip too! Would love to slow that bit down to have a look :D

Quote could also be taken from this video.

BBC News - Simon's Cat is an internet phenomenon

"Simon's Cat is the most watched video ever on YouTube with over 45 million hits. Creator Simon Tofield talks to us about the inspiration behind his quirky cartoon cat."

Really interesting interview and definitly can get some quotes from this for my dissertation. A lot of good advice from Simon Tofield to help me with my animated short and the questions asked are helpful too.

Click here to see the Simon's Cat interview

Simon's Cat Book

Tofield's creations have reached a wide audience over the last few months, drawing more than 20m hits on YouTube and winning a number of awards, including Best Comedy at the British Animation Awards and YouTube's Blockbuster Award. The animations – simple line drawings in black and white - depict the ever-hungry Simon's Cat in various attempts to get his owner to feed him.

Canongate editorial director Nick Davies said: "The humour is refreshingly innocent which gives the characters the broadest possible appeal. I think we have a major new comic creation here—something to rival The Bunny Suicides, Purple Ronnie, and maybe even one day, Wallace and Gromit."

The first book has been published in hardback and the second book will be published for Christmas 2010.

The Bookseller reports that agents have already started talking to a number of film, television and merchandising companies about the Simon's Cat brand.

http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Simon-s-Cat-cartoons/Simon-s-Cat-to-feature-in-books.html

The insperation for Simon's Cat is...

37-year-old Simon Tofield, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, has won praise from cat lovers worldwide with three short animated films, Cat Man Do, Let Me in and TV Dinner, with Cat Man Do picking up the best comedy award at the 2008 British Animation Awards.

In the films, a loving, but frequently exasperated cat owner watches while his cat demands to be fed, let in and groomed.

In Let Me In, the cat is desperate to come indoors while in TV Dinners, his feline resorts to increasingly concerted measures to gain his owner's attention. Finally, in Cat Man Do, he goes to extreme lengths to wake up his owner – much to the amusement of the viewer!

Simon, who works for London-based Animation Studio Tandem Films, explains that the films are based on three of his cats, all moggies.

“Jess is a tiny seven-year-old cat, who I bought from an ad in the paper, in Clapham Common. Maisie is a gi-normous five-year-old rescue cat, while Hugh is a one-and-half-year-old cat from Cats Protection.

“It all started when I wanted to set myself an new animation project last year and one day, I had Hugh climbing all over me and I thought: ‘That’s perfect!”

Simon's actual cat!


Hugh goes on to be the main inspiration in the films, though the action on the sofa in TV dinner is mostly taken from Jess.

“I think it’s so popular, as the cat mannerisms result in well-observed comedy. People enjoy identifying with them and are reminded about their own cats and their own quirky behaviour.”

And for die-hard fans of the series, there’s good news as Simon is already planning more clips featuring the hapless cat owner. “I’m looking for new scenarios for future films and the garden is something I’m considering, as well as feeding time!”

http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Simon-s-Cat-cartoons/Simon-s-Cat-is-revealed.html

Quotes

“By associating with good and evil persons a man acquires the virtues and vices which they possess, even as the wind blowing over different places takes along good and bad odors.”

http://www.famousquotesandauthors.com/authors/the_panchatantra_quotes.html
(accessed on 4/11/09 at 7.48pm)



"Most scholars since the time of the English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626) have agreed that the tendency to anthropomorphize hinders the understanding of the world, but it is deep-seated and persistent."

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/27536/anthropomorphism
(accessed on 4/11/09 at 7.55pm)

The Panchatantra tales

The Panchatantra tales are an one of India's most influential contributions to world literature and another example of anthropomorphism, the Panchatantra (also spelled Pañcatantra or Pañca-tantra) consists of five books of animal fables and magic tales (some 87 stories in all) that were compiled, in their current form, between the third and fifth centuries AD. It is believed that even then the stories were already ancient. The tales' self-proclaimed purpose is to educate the sons of royalty.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/panchatantra.html

Opposition to anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism has a varied application to religion and religious matters.
Certain religions and religious leaders throughout history have actually condemned it, for example Xenophanes, a Greek philosopher during 570–480 BC, said that God could not be limited by portrayals of anthropomorphism.

"The greatest god" resembles man "neither in form nor in mind."
Love to Know 1911 (2006)

Both Islam and Judaism reject physical portrayals of God; Judaism further rejected this antagonism to the idea after Christian’s claimed that Jesus Christ is the physical manifestation of God.

Many people believe that anthropomorphism can help people feel closer to God and do not see any harm in it. If God truly understands and loves us he will accept what helps us believe and cope with the theory of a mighty being watching over us.

Anthropomorphism is not just a religious debate but also a literary debate, for example in 1911, in China's Hunan province; Lewis Carroll's novel ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland’ was banned. They believed that "animals should not use human language" and it "puts animals and human beings on the same level." GDFL (2009)

Later in the twentieth century George Orwell's novel Animal Farm used anthropomorphism to satirize Stalinism, as voiced by a pig in the famous passage below.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".


This is a good example of how using anthropomorphism of animals can help make much broader and complex political statements accessible and interesting to the general public. This is because people can relate to the animals and absorb the message easily whereas if the message were presented in another style they would not listen as intently.