mohg-lover

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Clone High(2002-2003)

Clone High(2002-2003) or Clone High USA in the United States was the breakout creation for now prolific filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it was directed by Ted Collyer and Harold Harris, spanning 13 episodes. The series was developed while Phil and Chris were studying at Dartmouth College and was purchased by MTV in early 2000. The concept itself was an easy sell for the duo, Clone High is a satirization and parody of teen/highschool dramas of the time, with the group of adolescence being composed of teenage clones of past historical figures. The main characters are clones of Abe Lincoln, Cleopatra, Gandhi, Joan of Arc and JFK and the drama that is consistent throughout the series is a love triangle between Abe, Cleo and Joan. Aside from the Love plot the show goes in any direction it pleases while loosely fitting around subjects featured in the programs they are parodying, such as episodes covering drugs, littering, makeovers and prom. Its wild storytelling is accompanied by an uncompromising art style. Utilizing traditional cel animation sharp, shapely and lively characters fit together in a style comparable to UPA(“United Productions of America”, similar to Canada’s NFB) animations of the 1950s and 60s. 

The series was planned for a second season after but was pulled from MTVs broadcasting after receiving poor reviews and a serious controversy over the depiction of a young Gandhi in the show. One of the baseline jokes of the series is the clones of the historical figures showcase the opposite traits of their real life counterparts, for example, the clone of Abe Lincoln is indecisive and unable to resolve conflict in most cases. In the case of Gandhi, he is a party animal that craves acceptance and is the comic relief character of the show. This raised a huge controversy in India, causing more than 100 people to go on a hunger strike, forcing MTV to cancel the series at the risk of losing their market in the region.  

This setback would not keep the duo down as they would continue producing animation, now moving onto feature film with the release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 2003. They would have their hand in writing and co-writing many other great animated films such as The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. the Machines.

References:

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Vincent(1982)

Vincent(1982) was Tim Burton's proof of concept as a writer and director being his first short to have a substantial budget and influential producer. Stalk of the Celery Monster was a short film made by Tim while he was a student at Cal Arts and would catch Disney’s eye as because of this work he was offered an animators apprenticeship by them. Tim would be traded around all sorts of positions in the studios but nothing seemed to stick, it wasn’t until he became a concept artist when he met Rick Heinrichs. Rick offered to produce a short based on a poem Tim had written and he was given a budget of $60 000 to showcase his hidden talents(his work was good, but it was, quote “not Disney material”). The short recites the poem Tim had written, originally meant for a possible children's picture book, the story follows a young Burton look alike who is a seemingly good-natured and polite boy who dreams of being a malicious mad genius. The film flashes between reality and fantasy in a Jekyll and Hyde like fashion showcasing all his evil plans which could never be performed by a boy so young. After digging a grave in his mother’s flower bed, Vincent is locked in his room where he is tormented by his past atrocities and declares himself to die laying upon the floor.

The short showcases Burton’s now iconic style,(which at the time was compared to the German Expressionist cinema of the 1920s)with characters having impossibly exaggerated proportions with stripes and hard edges filling the high contrast black and white picture. Along with featuring earlier designs for characters from Burton’s later works the poem recited in the film would quote Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven”. The narration of the short was done by an idol of Tim’s early years, Vincent Price; they would remain good friends until his passing. It would take Tim and two other animators two months to create the six minute stop motion picture and their hard work paid off. With such a definitive style Tim Burton would continue as art director and director for many projects hence force.

References:

[mohg-lover]

The Hand (1965)

Ruka, better known as, The Hand(1965) written and directed by Jiří Trnka, sometimes called “the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe'', this film, was his masterpiece. Born in 1912 Austria-Hungary, Trnka was driven to pursue art by his love of puppet theater, he graduated from Prague School of Arts and Crafts in 1936 and attempted to start a puppet troupe of his own before World War II broke out. The group was dissolved because of this and Trnka was hired to be an illustrator for children's literature. After the war had passed he would reignite his passion for theater by producing experimental short animations. He is most known for his signature implementation of carved puppets animated with stop-motion but he would also create traditionally hand drawn and cut-out shadow puppets. Eventually, Trnka would have little involvement in the actual animation process as he would primarily craft the puppets, direct and write the scripts for his later works. As his career progressed Trnka would become disillusioned with the world of art, following the start of the sixties, his films would take on a heavy degree of pessimism, shown by his writing taking on a satirical and introspective lens. Even though he got his start in the industry working on children’s literature, Trnka’s films were mostly intended for a more adult audience and his final project was no exception. 

Showcasing the versatility of his film making technique, Ruka would be a multimedia project. A carved puppet, sculptures, models, clay, a human hand, cutout illustrations and pulsating electronic backdrops are all present in this 20 minute short. The main and only carved puppet, bearing resemblance to a harlequin, is a pottery sculptor, creating pots for his favored flower, watering it everyday and caring for it in his own little world. His routine is interrupted by an ominous white glow who sees his creation and encourages him to make something different by shaping the pot into a hand. The puppet refuses but the glove continues to try and persuade him with gifts and then propaganda. The puppet tries his best to resist but is eventually tricked by the hand and is put into a birdcage. Puppeteered by strings, the harlequin is forced to craft a marble statue for the hands, lifeless and defeated upon its completion he is awarded medals and fancy objects by the hands for his service, which he has no reaction to. Once the hand leaves he quickly burns his strings with a nearby candle and pushes over the statue to make his daring escape. Tumbling through an endless dark void the puppet finally makes it back to his home. After experiencing the horror of the will of the hands he takes apart his bed to barricade himself inside but in his haste he knocks over his coveted plant from the top of a dresser, it hits him right on the head, sending him tumbling backwards and ending his life. The hand easily breaks down his barricades only to find their little artist motionless. They give him a proper burial, sending him off with his flower next to his candle lit coffin, the flower finally budding, growing to completion, despite the circumstances. The subject matter of the film showcases a universal truth that all true artists fear, the silencing of one’s vision, being forced to create something that brings you nothing but shame as it takes hours of your life from you. Without a doubt, Trnka would have experienced compromise of his visions working within art studios and with parties that he would need the approval of to receive funding, as long as another person to approve your work for it to exist, compromise is present. The silence of this project speaks louder than any words could, much of an artist's suffering is silent when dealing with parties much larger than the themselve. The true greatness of this short is that its story is not exclusive to the art world, though that is where I assume Trnka got the inspiration for this work, its message speaks on the whole of the dangers and lengths powerful entities will go to, to enforce conformity. With such a powerful message the film has been universally praised, winning 2 awards the year it was produced and another in 1966 and 1990. It will remain a timeless classic due to Trnka's contribution to the world of film and animation. Ruka was however banned from public display in the country it was produced in, Czechoslovak, for two decades, as it was considered a protest towards the current the countries communist state towards artist works. 4 years later Trnka would die from heart complications. Leaving The Hand(1965) to be his final film.

References:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hand_(1965_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji%C5%99%C3%AD_Trnka

[mohg-lover]

No Longer Human(1948)

人間失格 / Ningen Shikkaku / No Longer Human was the last complete work produced in 1948 by Osamu Dazai before his before his double suicide with his wife, Tomie Yamazaki. No Longer Human is a semi-autobiographical masterpiece of Osamu Dazai’s (born Shūji Tsushima) life, it is not a complete autobiography due to it starring fictional characters but the events mirror the man's life in broad strokes. The story depicts the misfortunate life of Oba Yozo and shows his journey of growing up in a world he does not understand, Meiji’s era Japan. Oba is convinced he is living in hell, not due to any material hardships as he is born into a wealthy family who all live together in a mansion, but due to his fear of humans. He holds no understanding of other people and dreads making people unhappy, so begins his “clowning”. Describing himself as a "mischievous Imp” Oba takes on this persona of an uncaring clumsy buffoon who couldn’t have a care in the world, whose foolish blunders make others cheer in delight as they witness such comedy. Of course in reality Oba cares what others think about him more than anyone, he studies hard to get good grades to impress his classmates and satiate his father, he is constantly pulling gags and finding new ways to make people laugh, picking up a knack for manga in his early years. His scheme is flawlessly letting him hide all his vulnerability from the world until, later in his schooling he meets a boy by the name of Takeichi, who is able to peer past the veil of which Oba had harnessed, this terrifies Oba more than anything. He befriends Takeichi to keep his lips sealed and with the time they spend together Takeichi sparks Oba’s desire to be a painter, as he describes Obas self portrait as “a Painting of a Ghost”. Over the next coming years Oba would lose interest in his studies and try to pursue art school, where he meets Horiki. Horiki would serve as a poor influence in Obas life. Obas fear of people only grows with his age, he turns to many dissociative pleasures to cope, mainly heavy drinking and affairs with women, which come easy to him as he believes they are easy to fall for him because they are attracted to his disturbed loneliness. Even though he has had many negative experiences with sex, as he was sexually assaulted by multiple servants of his family’s mansion in his youth, he still engages in it, as an escape from people but also sometimes due to his fear of displeasing the women who fall for him. After many failed attempts at a normal life, with countless women, multiple suicide attempts and a dependency on Alcohol and morphine, Oba is institutionalized. He leaves an empty shell, now completely numb to the pleasures and hardships of the world. He lives the rest of his days in complete isolation, from the world, people and emotions. He feels nothing. He failed at living and thus, he is No Longer Human. “Good-Bye” would be the only other piece of fiction written before Osamu Dazai and his wife drowned together in the same year No Longer Human was finished. “Good-bye” remains unfinished. Osamu was a very prolific writer of his time and No Longer Human is his final masterpiece, being highly praised in Japan and receiving an English translation in 1959. Though it is written in a specific time period and place, they remain background elements to core themes of the story, it is a brilliant commentary and reflection on the intricacies of the human condition and will remain a timeless classic because the experience it describes will be lived again in one form or another. Osamu was clearly suffering from mental illness, like Oba, he had already tried to end his life several times before writing this, we are very lucky to have this window into the head of someone so disturbed. 

I was first introduced to No Longer Human through its Manga adaptation by Junji Ito, a horror mangaka whose work I collect, and is by far my favorite book he has published, he does a brilliant job of showing the world through Oba’s warped mind, showcasing how peoples emotions can seep through every pore of their face and being, turning them into terrifying, animalist creatures. This book absolutely floored me on my first read and made me very emotional. Oba represents the spirit of humanity being torn to shreds and patchworked back together to exist as an empty husk, it’s an extreme that I believe anyone can see a piece of themselves in, as to show what it means to be disqualified as human, the book subsequently first undergoes an exploration into what it means to be human. It’s a story which promotes philosophical analysis and begs the reader to self-reflect on their life and the purpose of their wants and desires.

 References:

[mohg-lover]

Neighbours(1952)

Neighbours(1952) was made by Norman McLaren, a groundbreaking animator and filmmaker, who directed, wrote and produced this short for the National Film Board of Canada. The short film utilized a new experimental technique for the time, pixilation, a technique which uses actors as models in frame-by-frame stop motion animation. The first recorded use of this technique was in Hôtel électrique(1908) The term wouldn’t be coined until Grant Munro would allegedly coined the term after producing many shorts utilizing the style, though he was a featured actor in McLaren's Neighbours(1952) and they worked closely in the production side of multiple films using the technique, so it is left ambitious to time who named it first. This short was not a complete pixilation film, as it combined live movements with frame-by-frame ones to create a more dynamic style and most likely to also save time. To coincide with the bizarre movements of the actors, McLaren utilized graphical sound. First developed in 1926 in Moscow, Graphical or drawn sound involves directly printing soundwaves onto film by hand for the camera system to read back in play as audio. McLaren’s Neighbours(1952) was his second film experimenting with a completely graphical soundtrack, Pen Point Percussion(1951) being his first use of it. The short showcases a simple struggle between two neighbours. It begins with them smoking on their lawns peacefully, sharing matches, until a flower blooms directly between their two properties. They take turns comedically enjoying the smell and feel of the dandelion until they both begin to become possessive of it and break out in a full on brawl after one of them proposes building a fence, cutting the dandelion off from the other neighbour. The short ends after they have beaten each other to death, graves grow overtop them and a dandelion sprouts on the top of each. Shown next is a montage of the phrase “Love Your Neighbour” in different languages, ending in English, concluding the film. The moral of the short is clearly spelled at the end, taking inspiration from the Bible’s quote, “Love Thy Neighbour”. Even though this message seems extremely positive and straight-forward, Neighbours(1952) is considered “one of the most controversial films the NFB ever made” as McLaren fully admitted that its conception was inspired with a political narrative in mind. The film was created to be anti war and militarism as a response to McLaren witnessing the start of Mao’s revolution when he was staying in China and as he returned to Quebec, the Korean war broke out. To create a film he believed would deliver a message to maintain peace to audiences worldwide, he made the decision to keep the film silent and translated the text at the end into 14 different languages(including English). The true controversy of the film arises in a scene nearing the end of the fight sequence where each neighbour is shown breaking into the others house and murdering the others wife and child. An edited version of the film removing this last scene would go on to win an Oscar due its technical achievement, though the higher ups at NFB let McLarent know that was out of his depth trying to deliver a message like this, as his commentary on current politics lacked nuance and subtlety. NRBs founder, John Grierson, when asked about Neighbours(1952) would say “I wouldn't trust Norman around the corner as a political thinker. I wouldn't trust Norman around the corner as a philosophic thinker. That's not what Norman is for. Norman is for Hen Hop. Hen Hop. That's wonderful. And so many other things. That's his basic gift. He's got joy in his movement. He's got loveliness in his movement. He's got fancy in his changes. That's enough."   References:

[mohg-lover]

Working with Disney by Don Peri

In this blog I will be analyzing interviews from Don Peri’s Working with Disney to get a general overview of what the companies employees were like in an early time period to my own. Bill Justice Born in Ohio, 1914, Bill went through art school to find little success in his hometown. In 1937 he sent in drawings to Disney in response to an ad he found in a magazine which led to them sending him an invitation to attend a month-long program to see if he was fit for the part. He got the job and worked as an in-betweener for the last five months of Snow White. He worked on many other early Disney films including Bambi, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan before directing some experimental films of his own. His career with Disney continued as he was tasked by Walt Disney to help WED Enterprises to bring the audio-animatronics of Disney Land to life. Retiring in 1979, Bill Justice was later commemorated as a Disney Legend in the year 1996. Lance Nolley Born in Texas, 1902, Lance got his start doing illustrations for newspapers and was a freelance commercial artist until he was picked up by Disney during their artist shortage in 1937. Joining the company after the production of Snow White Lance would work as an animator on many Disney features and expanded to layout artist and art director in 1953. He would continue to work in animation until 1980. Lance would go largely unrecognized as he was never one for the spotlight and was difficult for the interviewer to locate in the heart of Texas. Lance grew accustomed to the humble lifestyle and was often stretched for cash, but nonetheless a talented artist of Disney, more representative of their common employee.

[mohg-lover]

Blitz Wolf(1942)

Blitz Wolf(1942) was one of the first films directed by Tex Avery at MGM. Out of the 15 cartoons produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (MGM) Blitz Wolf was the only one created as American World War 2 propaganda. Like many animations of this time, it was shot in technicolor. The story uses the framework of the classic three little pigs story, substituting the smart pig for a sergeant who tries to convince the other pigs to purchase war bonds and the big bad wolf representing Hitler. The other pigs are not convinced that the wolf will attack them because they signed a peace treaty, the wolf attacks anyway. The short ends when the wolf is blown out of the sky, falling all the way to hell. The film was heavily praised at the time, only losing out to “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, another anti-Nazi cartoon from 1942, for an Academy Award. Even though the anti-Nazi message still holds up today the short contained anti-Japanese imagery, causes re-releases to be censored. Signs are shown in the cartoon proclaiming “No Japs allowed” along with Tokyo is shown being bombed, replacing their Rising Sun Flag with the American stars and stripes. Another more innocent censorship closer to the time of its release was in the first half of the short where the two silly pigs are taunting the sergeant pig. There is a pause before the end of their chant, which in the original cut contained the word “Bitch” which was deemed inappropriate for commercial releases at the time. References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OckdIvGZ_vw&t=32s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz_Wolf

[mohg-lover]

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor(1936)

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor(1936) directed by Dave Fleischer was a short film based on the American Popeye comic strip and the Arabic stories of Sinbad the Sailor. This 16 minute feature was one of three Popeye films created by Fleischer Studios and Paramount Pictures to showcase the classic character in technicolor. In the short Sinbad kidnaps Popeye’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl, with a giant bird. Sinbad and Popeye have an all out brawl until Popeye eats a can of spinach and defeats him, ending the cartoon. The film was shot in technicolor which was becoming widely used with animation and film of the mid 20s to 30s and would become standard for the majority of Hollywood film after the Great Depression. It was a two-reel film, since one reel of film was equivalent to about 11 minutes, longer films had to be stored on multiple reels of film in this time period. Several scenes in the feature showcased the technique of animating on sets or model backgrounds. This technique was useful for larger scale backdrops and helped to provide proper perspective and extra depth for the environments that the characters would then be animated onto after the models were shot. The film makes decent use of looping animations as well to keep its actors feeling lively, the voice acting also helps to give these characters plenty of personality. This feature was highly acclaimed at the time and nearly won an academy award in 1936 for Best Short Subject: Cartoon, only losing out to Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony The Country Cousin. In 1994, the feature was voted #17 in The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals and in 2004 it was placed in the Nation Film Registry for being culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93sdrfBbceY&t=399s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_the_Sailor_Meets_Sindbad_the_Sailor#Release_and_reception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye#Characters_originating_in_comic_strips_by_E._C._Segar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinbad_the_Sailor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor

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Little Red Riding Hood (1922)

Little Red Riding Hood (1922) directed by Walt Disney was one of the first animated films Walt Disney produced by his short-lived independent studio, “Laugh-O-Gram Studios”. The 6 minute short follows the later established trend of Disney by adapting a fairy tale of the Brother Grimm. The short starts with the depiction of the soon to be first named recurring character in their films, Julius the Cat, blowing holes through doughnuts with a shotgun. Right from the start this establishes the somewhat comical and lively nature that Disney would showcase even the simplest action within their stories onward. The doughnuts are given to Red Riding Hood to deliver to her grandma, similar to the original tale. The wolf in this short is replaced by an evil top hat wearing goon, who drives ahead of Red Riding Hood's car to beat her to the house after she rejects his flirting. The short ends when a boy in an airplane lifts up the house with a hook, saving the little girl from the goon, he picks her up and then grabs the goon and his car, dropping them in a lake, ending the short. Being the first real animated film produced by the studio, the technique for creating the shorts was still under development. For Little Red Riding Hood, no animation cells were used, instead, it was made by simply photographing inked lines on paper which explains why the whole project is subjected to constant shaking. The animation can appear quite stiff throughout the short, with little to no in-betweens for most motions, but it still presents readable motion and understandable story. Laugh-O-Gram Studios would only make 11 shorts in their 2 years(1921-1923), most of which were seemingly lost after the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy leading Walt to leave Missouri for Hollywood. Little Red Riding Hood was one the 4 films to survive after the studio fell to ruin. References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwb2bxk6Eo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood_(1922_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh-O-Gram_Studio#Filmography

[mohg-lover]

top 3 animated things

loved by @mohg-lover

my name is elias g. i'm a big fan of mohg,

but also a lot of animated media.

3.

coming in at number 3 i have to pay respects to a new classic, i'm talking about team cherry's, hollow knight! releasing in 2017 it's hard to pick this game over the animated marvel that is cuphead, which spent years in the oven to perfectly bake a platforming action game with the style calling back to the rubber-hose animations of the last century. for me though, i'm picking hollow knight over cuphead due to its world having a much more seamless atmosphere. it's not as much of a technical achievement but ari gibson's art direction completely makes up for it, creating a desolate underground haven of mystery and danger. the game is also very fun too!

2.

in second place i have to pay respects to one of the classics, hirohiko araki is one of the greatest mangakas of all time and the adaptions of his works to anime do jojo's bizarre adventure true justice. a lot of animes these days just aren't worth your time especially when you compare them to their manga counterparts. it can be difficult to compress or stretch out the content of a serialized story to fit into the rigid structure of television programming, which leads to a lot of adaptations either cutting story beats or slowing down the pacing to a crawl. the dilemma becomes: why am i wasting my time watching something for so long when i could read it in a quarter of that time and witness the author's vision in full? already out the gate jojo avoids both these problems, not only is the pacing of the first two parts kept razor-tight by putting both in one season, the art direction takes araki's unique artistic quirks and brings them to life in a flashy, colourful, over-dramatization that just can't be found in the pages of a book! Instead of one being obviously superior, the anime is on equal ground when it comes to experiencing araki's work.

1.

and for my favourite piece of animated media, i chose secret of kells, directed by tomm moore and nora twomey. i have a lot of bias towards this irish-french-belgain classic, as it is one of the films i saw at a very young age that made me fall in love with animation and film. being of irish blood myself and having spent a lot of time visiting the united kingdom, i have a huge appreciation for this film's ability to truly bring classical european art to life. like my number 3 pick, this pick is somewhat tied with another animated film that really influenced me, the iron giant. the secret of kells comes out on top for me though because of its more abstract themes in its story and unique style.

this concludes my favourite animated things, thank you for reading!