Animations 1980's and Film Reboots

Opinion


A worse remake of a film?
Batman vs Superman 2016... after the Dark Knight films this film made this remake of Batman is pretty bad with regards to concept, story, costume, and just overall everything.

A better Remake of a film?
Movie Ben-Hur 2016 was much better with regards to cinematography, set design, casting.

One film that should be remade...

One film that should be remade is The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as I thought the movie was very poor compared to the book.

Canada

Gerald Potterton

• Created Heavy Metal (1981) an adaption of cult adult comic book of the same name.
• Film is composed of many psychedelic, sci-fi fantasy stories about sex, violence and rock n roll.
• Animation was divided between many different studios and directors. 
• A lot of rotoscoping human characters was used.

Nelvana Studio

• —Created Rock & Rule (1983)
• Similar style to Heavy Metal (1981)
• —Featured a post apocalyptic world where mutant animals have taken over.

—Richard Condie

• —Created The Big Snit (1985)
• Simple drawings, wobbly lines, and a refusal to take anything seriously

France

Paul Grimault

• —Formed a small animation company with Andre Sarrut and created many short animations.
• —Started making a film in 1948 with the title The Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep.
• —Sarrut screened an unfinished version of the film in 1952 and Grimault fell out with Sarrut and production was halted.
• —Grimault won the rights to the film in 1967 and the film was finished in 1980 (32 years after production first started) and renamed the film The King and the Mocking Bird.

UK

Dianne Jackson

• Created The Snowman (1982)
• Nominated for 1983 Academy Award for best animated short film.
• One of the most successful British family orientated animations, later to be superseded by Aardman Animations.

Cosgrove Hall Productions

• The Wind in the Willows (1983)
• Worldwide success of the stop-motion film led to a 52 episode TV series and a second film A Tale of Two Toads (1989)

John Halas 

• Created the short Dilemma (1981)
• Following the limitations of his previous experiment with CG used in Autoban (1979), Dilemma claims to be the first fully digitized CG film.
• Autoban (1979) and Tron (1982) also made this claim though it is unclear how much is actually cel animation made to look like CG.

Gerald Scarfe

• Created 15 minutes of animation for Pink Floyds film The Wall (1982)
• Film is about a mental breakdown of a rock star called Pink (based on former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett who suffered a drug fuelled breakdown)
• Film explores the feelings of isolation and alienation.
• Animated sequences were inspired by Gerald’s childhood memories of the Germans bombing England during World War II

UK/Canada
Steve Baron

• Directed Money for Nothing (1985) by Dire Straits (one of the first computer animated videos and a landmark in CGI) Animation was done by Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair.
• Steve Baron also directed A-ha’s Take On Me (1985)
• Video was animated by Michael Patterson, who makes the singer of the band come alive from a comic book using rotoscoping technique.

German/Canada

Frederic Back

• German by birth, his films are an examination of Canadian culture.
• Created Crac! (1981) A story of the life of a rocking chair.
• Early example of of the pastel shaded look that become popular in the 80’s

Czech Republic
Jan Svankmajer

• Created Dimensions of Dialogue (1982)
• A film about the how humans communicate and how this can go wrong.
• Also created Alice (1988)
• Mixture of live action and stop-motion.

The most boring TVC concept

This blog post shows the development of my pitch development. these things I found very helpful for engaging my creativity and focusing on what the client really needs.

Client: Toy Library

Promotional needs:   Attract members, give information

My Clients Problem(s): lack of awareness, lack of knowledge of services.

Target market: Parents 25-35


12 Keywords associated with the toy library:

Creativity

Toys

Family

Community

Kids

Development

Health

Play

Growth

Imagination

Enjoyment

Fun

6 words that are the opposite of what the toy library is about:

Boredom

Loneliness

Black

Dark

Sad

Death

Creation of most boring concept:

Writing this script certainly showed me what not to do... remembering things I learn from Duncan Sarkies about subtext I want to communicate information without causing the audience to cringe at the fake dialogue.

So far my ideas revolve around children's creativity and development... The main thing I want to aim for is to create an image that does not it sound like another dull community project run out of an underused community hall that has no appeal to a child... or parent for that matter.

1980's Film History and Sequels

Sequels
Sequels generally in my opinion are always worse...


Transformers 2007
Transformers 2 2009 Michael Bay


However if the story was written before and the move was designed from the start to have a sequel then it is almost always as good if not better.


The Bourne Trilogy 2000, 2004, 2007. directed by Doug Liman, Paul Greengrass
Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises 2005, 2008, 2012 directed by Christopher Nolan

Hollywood Blockbuster


1980's Introduced "High concept" films
Easily Categorized characters
Familiar plots
High and stylish productions
Aimed at mass appeal
Fast food promotional


Prototypes from 1970's: Jaws, Star wars, Alien.


Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer: Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun


Teenage comedy.
Porkys, Revenge of the Nerds


John Hughes
Sixteen Candles, The breakfast club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.


Sequels...
Many sequels were made which were mainly the same story.
Revenge of the Nerds, Revenge of the Nerds 2, Revenge of the Nerds 3, Revenge of the Nerds 4.


Horror also became very popular.


Action sequels
First blood (4)
Rocky (6)
Terminator (5)
Indiana Jones (4)
Die hard (5)
Lethal weapon (4)


Spoof films
Naked Gun
Aeroplane
Spaceballs
This is Spinal Tap


Animation
Tron 1982 used computer graphics with live action.
Who framed Rodger rabbit 1988


Science fiction
Blade runner 1982
E.T. 1982
Robo cop 1987


Drama
Field of Dreams
Cocoon
Dead poets society


War Films
Gallipoli
Platoon
Born on the fourth of July


Dance films
Dirty Dancing
Flashdancer
Footloose


Adventure
The Goonies
The Never Ending Story
Labyrinth


Howard The Duck 1986
Regarded as one of the worst and least successful big budget films.


Batman 1989
Made $411m and $750m from merchandise.




MTV played a big part in the rise of cable television in homes, but while it started it had many repeats as the reservoir of music videos was very small, Singles such as Billie Jean and Beat It from Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1982) not only showcased the strengths of the music video format but proved that exposure on MTV could propel artists to superstardom.

By the mid-1990s, the majority of MTV’s daily schedule was devoted to programming that was not related to music. Its sister station VH1 had been broadcasting adult-oriented rock videos since 1985, and the documentary series Behind the Music. MTV Networks launched MTV2 in 1996, with the intention of recapturing the spirit embodied by their “I want my MTV” advertisting campaign in the 1980s.

TV commercials

I have been Introduced to the world of marketing these things so far in preparation for coming up with TVC ideas for the Invercargill Toy Library.

Keep the message simple, straightforward, and don't deviate from the point of the commercial. stick to one thing if it is trying to get memberships, go for that, not memberships and volunteers and funding and this, this, and that.

Believe in the product you are trying to sell. If you are doing a TV commercial and you don't want to buy the product, no-one else will. So I must believe that this toy library is really the place where parents should bring their children. If people can sell water to New Zealanders for more than the price of petrol then a product/service that people actually want should be straight forward.

Sell an experience and identity, not a product... for example Suzuki sell good motorcycles but people tattoo Harley Davidson on their rear. The toy library commercial must sell more than just a membership to get toys, they need to sell healthy development or creativity for children.

Come up with a slogan if the company doesn't have a good usable one. that captures the identity the company is trying to sell. e.g. MacDonalds says "I'm Lovin It" and Nike says "Just do It" these three syllable phrases give a false sense of empowerment that is linked with the identity of the product. Apple says "think different" it captures the identity of the product.