Surf's Up

Surf's Up trailer.

It's a shame what Hollywood has done to CG animation. They have made the same film about 10 times now. Taken a creative art-form and moulded into a stuck record of a money spinner. It has to be the least innovative category of film ever. Unlike most movies which are made from a varying mix of many clichés, this genre is built out of just one! (That is, until Pixar periodically come along and add to it.)

On the Surf's Up trailer, check the Sony Animation Studios logo at the start… It is very Pixary - big, clean, widely-spaced type sitting on a white background, with stylistic shadows. Sony have simply bought up a load of animators and chained them to computers with instructions to remake a load of derivative crap. Actually, 'derivative' implies more originality than is due. And they have paid some PR firm to create the illusion that they have heart and and charm by mimicking superficial traits of others that do. [Revere the gorgeous Pixar title].

I can imagine a scenario in which Big Corp. hires some management consultants to find out why employee-owned Fun Co. is so successful. The management consultants spend 3.5 billion dollars on a 5 year research plan in 18 countries, and discover that things like 'enthusiasm' and 'smiling' are "like an international language" and can increase sales.

They then hire some another multi-million dollar company who will use the cutting-edge research findings to train Big Corp. workers in how to strain muscles on the front of their head to emulate being happy. And other things, like at what elevated frequencies to speak at to emulate enthusiasm. In my imaginary scenario, people buy suits to make presentations that include graphs that show a positive correlation between mood-enhancing behaviours exhibited and customer satisfaction. Of course, the presenter does not leave the matter on such an altruistic note, he will then go onto explain that the reason you care about whether people are satisfied or not is because it can impact profits.

That's what comes to mind when I see the Sony Pictures Animation logo… something that looks like it looks tasteful but isn't quite. Like the difference between the genuine and the fake smile. Reading into it too far most likely.

On a related note, even having ethics and integrity is now a marketing gimmick. For fake decency, take the insurance company More Than. It has now got the innocent smoothies ads. They avoid the unpopular 'corporate' vibe by paying a company to make them an advert that looks like it was made by a couple of play-school kids. The whole world is taking the piss!


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And the new Shrek trailer is not better. It just reveals loads of new, ugly shots with no colour palette - a palette of murky grey. The people look like a bad impression of the SIMs - and to create the impression of uniqueness, the cloned extras are assigned a randomised murky hue and facial distortion [pic]. The shot of Shrek throwing a bottle at a boat is staggeringly flat and lifeless [pic]- especially considering the subject matter - although most other shots are equally uninspiring. Shrek 3 already looks like the inevitable, crap, videogame spin-off it will later become.

I am just dissing the art here, not the script. I am saying the film is not made by people that love the visual image.

For a great example of a lack of care and quality in matters visual, look at the word 'THE' in title 'SHREK THE THIRD'. It has just been been scaled down and stuck in the middle. This destroys all the sense of scale and material of the type. Even their crummy shrek texture has been shrunk on that word. Is the word farther away? What possible explanation is there? If this operation had been done by somebody that cared, then the serifs on the text would not simply by shrunk like that - the features of the type should be on the same scale, with the effect of the smaller type seeming more rounded than the larger type. The brutal shrinking has also made it look higher contrast.

Minutiae like that make such a big difference. The difference is simply, quality. The Ratatouille trailer is the perfect antidote to the shrek blues.

Another long one, sorry. If you read all the way through, post a comment citing issues raised, to flout your industrial-strength attention span in front of other reader(s). Non-topical issues are also fine. I'll take whatever I can get.

Some new audio skits, all very similar.

[crashhat - 1.9mb] Drum progression followed by two notes on a synthesiser that get repeated 16 bars later.
[crashhatv2 - 1.6mb] Same drum pattern with some synthesiser bass alternatives. Not sure why I am posting this.

[roombeat- 1.1mb] Drum progression followed by some kind of intro involving clavinet.
[roombeatgroove - 1.5mb] Then a clav groove played with a 'groove' version of previous drum pattern.
[roombeatkeyboards - 1.6mb] Then some brief and really aimless keyboard playing over previous groove.

Got my wacom back on sunday. Spent hours noodling!

At first on two stills from Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I copied them as best I could, imagination firmly switched off. The game was to mix the colours as accurately as possible; drawing-accuracy second priority. So no colour-picker or tracing or anything like that, all the data went through me. It's very therapeutic!




Followed by a couple sketches from the head.