Antikewl Daily » Movies

The Open Road: London filmed in colour, 1927

Trevor May — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:22:18 +0000

Between 1924 and 1926, Claude Friese-Greene filmed “The Open Road” — a documentary of the United Kingdom from Lands End to John O’ Groats. What’s most remarkable about this footage is that it’s shot in colour using a process called Friese-Greene Natural Colour, based on the Biocolour process originally developed by his father William.

This is an eleven-minute segment of that film, restored by the BFI, shot in London.

The Lost World Of Friese-Greene (2006) DVD at Amazon.co.uk (via Boing Boing)

A first look at How to Train Your Dragon

Trevor May — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:25:25 +0000

Dreamworks have released a teaser trailer for their forthcoming animated feature “How to Train Your Dragon” — although billed as if it’s from “the makers of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda” it’s no such thing!

Dragon is written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois. These were the guys behind the unjustly overlooked and under-rated Lilo & Stitch (which, incidentally, is right up there on my list along with The Iron Giant — the other other under-rated animated movie.) and, yes, that’s the same Chris Sanders who may or may not have been booted off production of Disney’s Bolt (formerly American Dog), who then went to work at Dreamworks where he directed an animated adaptation of British novelist Cressida Cowell’s book, How to Train Your Dragon.

I may have written myself into a circle…

Those familiar with Sanders’ work will quickly recognise his hand. The trademark big eyes and stubby noses are there, although he appears to have made a decision not to include any Viking girls in bikinis. Maybe he’s saving those for the sequel.

How to Train Your Dragon will be in cinemas from March 26, 2010. (via Ward)

Toy Story 3: Full trailer released

Trevor May — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:41:50 +0000

The first, highly anticipated, full trailer for Toy Story 3 has been released and is showing, in the US at least, before the Toy Story 3D double feature. It features a nice VHS-esque flashback of Andy’s childhood before he heads off to college, leaving Buzz, Woody and the rest of the toys behind.

~~(HD movie down, but it’s still on YouTube if you’re quick.)~~ It’s back again.

It’s quite staggering how much CG animation has progressed over the past 14 years… For the re-release the original Toy Story was rendered 86,400 times more quickly than it could have been done in 1995.

Also good to see drooling babies stuffing toys in their orifices. I don’t think Pixar have done that since 1988′s Tin Toy!

Watch in HD.

Update: Disney have, unsurprisingly, pulled the trailer. It will be back again soon — probably after its official web-wide release.

Home movies at Disneyland, 1956

Trevor May — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:11:15 +0000

Jeff Altman, an assistant film colourist, has been restoring a bunch of his grandfather’s old 16mm home movies — including this absolute gem of a family vacation to Disneyland in 1956, a year after the park opened.

What’s amazing is not only the image quality, but that they managed to capture Walt Disney himself (shaking hands with Jeff’s grandmother, no less). Superb! (via The Disney Blog)

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland trailer

Trevor May — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:24:23 +0000

If you follow our Twitter stream you would have caught a sneaky glimpse of the new Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer the other day. It somehow managed to slip out onto the net before Disney meant it to and was quickly pulled.

For the patient (and for those that appreciate a nice big picture!) it is now available, following its unveiling at the San Deigo Comic-Con, in full HD at the Apple Trailers site.

Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, will feature elements from both of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and is scheduled for release on March 10th, 2010.

Tron Legacy test footage: Now in 3D

Trevor May — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:12:53 +0000

Remember that blurry footage of the Tron sequel trailer from last year’s Comic-Con? Well, they showed it again this year — this time in 3D!

Technically it’s “test footage” and since then the movie has been given a name: Tron Legacy. The visuals are stunning enough to overshadow the fact it sounds a bit like a men’s aftershave.

Those visuals? No more squinting necessary! They’re up in various flavours on the viral site flynnlives.com — including full HD Quicktime.

Tron Legacy high definition test footage

Set in 2010, Tron Legacy follows Sean Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, reprising his role) as he investigates the disappearance of his father. Bruce Boxleitner will also reprise his role as Tron. Tron Legacy is due to be released some time in 2010. (via the Tron Facebook fan page)

Lou Romano and the Art of “Up”

Trevor May — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:23:26 +0000

I’ve just been browsing Lou Romano’s production artwork that he did for Pixar’s “Up” again — specifically the colour script work that he did — and wondered why I hadn’t mentioned it here before!

Lou was a production designer on the movie and he’s posted dozens and dozens of pieces of artwork as well as some After Effects tests and dioramas.

Up Color Script
Art of Up: “Here is some of the development & production work I did on UP (2005-2008).”

Be sure to check out the rest of his blog too for more superb artwork, including stuff for The Incredibles and The Powerpuff Girls.

Lou’s work also features in Pixar’s Art of Up (US) book.

Life imitates Pixar: “Up” in Seattle

Trevor May — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:49:36 +0000

I thought this to be a delightful photo in its own right, but then I read the story behind the house. Long-time resident of Ballard, Seattle, Edith Macefield, refused to sell up as the land around her one hundred year-old property was radically developed — even when offered a million dollars.

Edith sadly passed away last year but, recently, dozens of coloured helium balloons were tied to her home to promote Pixar’s latest feature “Up”, a story of a man who refuses to give up his own home after his own wife passes away.

The art of the WALL·E end title sequence

Trevor May — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:46:00 +0000

The Art of the Title Sequence interview end title sequence director Jim Capobianco and animator Alexander Woo about the end titles to Disney·Pixar’s WALL·E.

Jim Capobianco’s end credits to Andrew Stanton’s “WALL·E” are essential; they are the actual ending of the film, a perfect and fantastically optimistic conclusion to a grand, if imperfect idea. Humanity’s past and future evolution viewed through unspooling schools of art. Frame after frame sinks in as you smile self-consciously. It isn’t supposed to be this good but there it is. This is art in its own right. Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman’s song, “Down to Earth” indulges you with some incredibly thoughtful lyrics and, from the Stone Age to the Impressionists to the wonderful 8-bit pixel sprites, you are in the midst of something special.

More Alice in Wonderland concept art

Trevor May — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:01:47 +0000

Back in March I posted some links to scans from Disney’s 23 magazine about Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie. USA Today has just published some more beautiful pieces of concept art from the film’s production.

Also making a first appearance today are images of the Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as The Queen of Hearts, Anne Hathaway as The White Queen and Matt Lucas as both Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee.

Alice in Wonderland will be released on the 5th March, 2010 in the US and on the 12th in the UK.

Oliver Jeffers’ Lost and Found, Animated

Trevor May — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:37:13 +0000

If you’re a long-time reader of this blog you’ll probably already be aware of my respect for illustrator and childrens’ book artist Oliver Jeffers. This, however, managed to totally slip under my radar.

A 25-minute CG-animated adaptation of his second picture book Lost and Found won the TV Special Award at Annecy a couple of days ago. Apparently it was shown over here in the UK over Christmas but this is the first I’d heard of it!

I was rather concerned when I discovered that it was CG and not traditional 2D animation because of Oliver’s incredibly stylised art style but it appears London’s Studio AKA and director Philip Hunt have done a wonderful job of adapting it to 3D.

Here’s the trailer, and it appears that it’s already available on DVD in the UK!

2009 Annecy Award Winners

Trevor May — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:17:51 +0000

The Annecy International Animated Film Festival is an annual event in Annecy, France and a big part of it are their highly regarded awards.

The Crystal Award winners this year were:
In the short film category, “Slavar”, an animated documentary about child slavery. In the feature film category, “Coraline” and “Mary and Max”. Finally, in the TV production category, “Log Jam” which Aardman have recently secured the distribution rights to.

Here’s a full list of 2009 winners at the Annecy site.

I can’t find any of the shorts online yet, but here’s a interview with stop-motion animator Adam Elliot, whose feature Mary and Max went on to win the Crystal Feature award.

And here’s a charming moment with Adam and Coraline’s Henry Selick.

I’ll update this article as I find more shorts and clips. Drop me a line or leave a comment if you discover any!

Shane Acker’s 9: Tim Burton’s latest animated project

Trevor May — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:35:01 +0000

In 2005 an architecture student at UCLA by the name of Shane Acker released an 11-minute silent CG animated short film called “9″ that had been produced in his spare time over four and a half years. Another four years later and it’s been developed into a Tim Burton-backed feature length film (here, like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton is the executive producer, not the director).

In an interview with Shane in Frames Per Second magazine (check out the whole thing, it’s a good read), he names some of his favourite movies as Brazil, The Thing, Aliens and Delicatessen and you can certainly see the influence of those films come across, both in his original short and in the trailer for the new film.

Talking of the short, here it is:

9 Nine Shane Acker Short Animation
Uploaded by FrFKmeron – Arts and animation videos.

It’s interesting to note that the forthcoming film is a talkie — and an all-star voiced one at that. I’m always a bit wary when I see an animated film with so many A-list actors on-board, as if they’re being used as the pull to see it rather than the merits of the movie itself… we’ll have to wait and see.

Remote controlled DeLorean built with LEGO

Trevor May — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:15:22 +0000

Back to the Future fans should check out this fantastic remote controlled DeLorean car built entirely out of LEGO by Legohaulic. Makes me want to have a play with LEGO Technics and Power Functions again — I’m sure the components are way more advanced than when I was a kid!

Here’s a video of it in action and a gallery of photos.

First Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer

Trevor May — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:33:08 +0000

Pixar’s latest feature Up was released to cinemas yesterday and, with it, a teaser trailer for next year’s Toy Story 3.

Toy Story 3 will be released in June 2010.

Stunning Blade Runner Scene Recreated Using CryENGINE 2

Trevor May — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:55:06 +0000

It’s no secret that Blade Runner is one of my favourite movies so I’ve just been ~~salivating~~ looking through some superb images created using Sandbox 2 and CryENGINE 2, the video game engine used for the first-person shooter Crysis.

The images were created as entries to a movie-themed contest at game-artist.net and winning entries included sets from The X-Men, Aliens and I Am Legend. This Blade Runner set deservedly took winning place and you can view the process behind the construction on this message thread. (via N4G)

A Preview of Pixar’s Partly Cloudy

Trevor May — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:45:22 +0000

Update 10th June: Here’s the Partly Cloudy short in full.
Absolutely superb! Be quick though, I doubt it’ll be around for long.

Here’s a fleeting 30 seconds from Partly Cloudy, the Pixar short that will accompany their next feature, Up. Directed by Peter Sohn, the voice of Emile in the movie Rataouille, it tells the story of Gus, a lonely grey cloud who makes babies for storks to deliver.

From the Pixar wiki:

Everyone knows that the stork delivers babies, but where do the storks get the babies from? The answer lies up in the stratosphere, where cloud people sculpt babies from clouds and bring them to life. Gus, a lonely and insecure grey cloud, is a master at creating ‘dangerous’ babies. Crocodiles, porcupines, rams and more—Gus’s beloved creations are works of art, but more than a handful for his loyal delivery stork partner, Peck. As Gus’s creations become more and more rambunctious, Peck’s job gets harder and harder. How will Peck manage to handle both his hazardous cargo and his friend’s fiery temperament?

There’s a lengthy interview with Peter about the short at Animation World News.

View a higher quality version of the trailer. Partly Cloudy will debut with Up on May 29th.

(via Cartoon Brew)

“Where the Wild Things Are” Trailer

Trevor May — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:55:38 +0000

The long-awaited (for me, certainly) proper glimpse of the Where the Wild Things Are movie. Directed by Spike Jonze and based on the classic children’s book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

Spike Jonze is best known for his work on the films Being John Malkovitch and Adaptation — plus the awesome Beastie Boys promo video to Sabotage.

HD version also available on Apple Trailers. (via Ain’t it Cool News)

Star Wars Imperial March Performed with a Tesla Coil

Trevor May — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:16:07 +0000

The folks at ArcAttack use Tesla coils to “produce an electrical arc similar to a continuous lightning bolt which put out a crisply distorted square wave sound reminiscent of the early days of synthesizers.”

Here’s one, with another guy wearing a “Faraday Suit” to conduct electricity away from the coil, performing the Imperial March theme from Star Wars! Check out more videos on their site.

A first look at Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland

Trevor May — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:59:25 +0000

Update: If you’re looking for the new images, you’ll find them here!

You’ll find the trailer here.

The premier issue of Disney twenty-three magazine includes an article on Tim Burton’s part live action, part CGI-animated Alice in Wonderland movie which is due for release in Spring 2010. The article features the first glimpses of some wonderful looking concept artwork and photography and the Tim Burton Collective blog has some scans of the pages.

If anyone has any better scans of the images, do let us know!

(thanks Jenny!)

My Little Pony: Horror movie dress-up

Trevor May — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:55:55 +0000

Mari Kasurinen didn’t think My Little Pony was anywhere near interesting enough… so she’s modded them into movie characters like the Alien, Predator, Darth Vader and Batman. They’re also available to purchase, should your My Little Pony collection be feeling a little too cutesy. (via Boing Boing)

Tron 2 leaked trailer

Trevor May — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:37:44 +0000

Update: You’ll find the new high definition test footage from Comic-Con 2009 here

The new teaser trailer/test footage for the forthcoming TR2N movie starring Jeff Bridges was shown at the San Diego Comic Con the other day. It hasn’t officially been released to the wider public yet but it looks like someone’s managed to videotape it and stick it online. I’m only slightly wetting my pants with excitement. (via The Disney Blog)

UPDATE The video I posted earlier has been pulled from Vimeo. I’ve changed it to the same video on Youtube.

MGMT’s Electric Feel performed by animatronic animals

Trevor May — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:50:33 +0000

The Rock-afire Explosion were an animatronic band comprised of anthropomorphic animals that played in Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants in the USA through the 1980s. After closing down many of these setups found their way to enthusiasts. Here’s one such setup, performing MGMT’s Electric Feel.

Perhaps even more obscurely, a documentary is currently being produced about car-salesman Chris Thrash, a guy who recently purchased the rights to Rock-afire Explosion with an aim to resurrect them and the Showbiz Pizza Place. (via Penny Arcade)

Lightspeed Champion perform Star Wars theme

Trevor May — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:49:48 +0000

Ex-Test Icicle Lightspeed Champion performed their track Galaxy of Lost Souls in full Star Wars garb at this week’s NME Awards show. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a video of it online anywhere but did instead stumble across this gem. Lightspeed Chamption performing the Imperial March and Star Wars theme. Lovely.

Update: There’s now a video of them performing at the NME Awards on YouTube. Enjoy.

Star Wars plot as described by a three-year-old

Trevor May — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:42:06 +0000

“Artoo and the shiny guy.”

“Obeekenobee sometimes moves things around. Sometimes he disappears.”

I think becoming a parent has made me go soft… but isn’t this adorable? (via Geek Parenting)