Dear AWN Forumers,
This Saturday will be the World Premeire showing of the newest 2D classically animated 2D commercial project produced by Miracle Studios. This ambitious project includes a full 36 piece orchestra for background music which was written especially for this project. The traditional animation was done by ex-Disney and Warners artists and took several months to produce.
This project was meant to be used to familiarize the studio with the 2 main characters who are now being animated for Miracle Studios first 2D feature. It is our hopes that you will join us in the premiere by logging onto www.saveddisney.com or www.tomhignitesmiraclestudios.com this Saturday. The studio is currently putting on the final touches and,as always, is eager to recieve your experienced opinions on the end-results.
Blessings
Tom Hignite
The Miracle Companies Inc.
Countdown-5 days
3 More Days Until The Premire(in case you were counting)of Project 2 on www.saveddisney.com Blessings
This is the official 2-DAY countdown reminder for the Premeire of......SEE YOU SATURDAY.
Knock, knock, your nightly countdown to www.saveddisney.com Premiere of Miracle Studios new classically animated 2D commercial. It is 1 day away and counting. See you Saturday!
Yeah, I'm really curious! Looking forward for tomorrow.... ;)
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
If all goes as planned tonite will see 2 Big things happen at 12:01 just after mid-night. This will finally be the World Premeire unveiling of our 2nd commercial project which will be showen on www.hignitesmiraclestudios.com and www.saveddisney.com . At the same time, a new article( peppered with links and photos )about the history of our Miracle Mouse character will appear
as a "Hignite Report" expanded article on the sites. If all goes right(we have never done this before so we are keeping fingers crossed) we will also have sample pieces of several of our own orchestrated Miracle songs which have been done in the Disney classic styling. Thanks for the patience in allowing us to post this count-down to this commercials premeire and we all hope to get your opinions as to what you think.
As for the 2nd BIG piece of news for you... after tonite, you will not have to put up with any more of these count-downs.
Blessings from Miracle Studios
Merry Christmas everyone!
Very, very, very cool animated! I love it!!! MAKE FEATURES!!!!!!!
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
Thankyou Bandita. Have you had a chance to look at our supplimental material that includes a lot of video and audio(great custom music) which we also released today under the www.saveddisney.com homepage headliner article? We have had a good number of respondents on "another" big animation website forum. I am glad that you liked our finished product. Check out on the article how Miracle Mouse used to be animated(video footage provided) when we had his over-alls actually TALK with miracle. Many blessings and thanks
Tom Hignite
Tom, the other link does not work and i am unable to view anything. is there something wrong?
did u guys exceed bandwidth or something
According to my webmaster, we had around 6,000 hits to the www.SavedDisney.com site yesterday so apparently it seems to be working for most folks. Still , could you try it again. We have been tweaking it. I have yet to hear back from ANYONE who has told me they have actually been able to log onto the homepage Miracle Mouse article AND access the various cuts of music and streaming video clips. Again, if ANYONE HAS been able to access these items, we would really like to know. We put a lot of work into this partnering report to the Premeire of our 2nd animated project and just want to make sure it is accessible to you.
You all have been very helpful and accomodating . I intend to read all of the various forums replys about our project at our Monday morning staff meeting.
Sincere blessings to all
Tom Hignite
P.S. Off-topic but our on site Disneyland reporter called today to report that Disneys California Screamer roller coaster had another mishap this morning at about 10 AM. We will have a better report soon on Saved Disney.
Hello Tom,
The earlier URL doesn't work ...the URL posted later does work.
Really fine animation and BG 's. Great to see you are headed in the right direction- good production values.
I wish Miracle Mouse's head wasn't so - black. Iguess he will always be wearing hats.
In the "small world" catagory, say "hi" to Mike Lowery for me. He worked for me - he was our Art Director and Background Artist at Animation House, Inc. in the 80's. His work was ALWAYS STELLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
Larry
web site
http://tooninst[URL=http://tooninstitute.awn.com]itute.awn.com
[/URL]blog:
[U]http://www.awm.com/blogs/always-animated
[/U] email:
larry.lauria@gmail.com
I was able to view your 'extras' page. Strange how much you have changed Miracle Mouse in a relatively short period of time. The original design could not be confused with Mickey Mouse, but is not really optimised for animation. The 2005 version has the most appeal of them all, and by far the best colour scheme.
The redesign with the talking pocket in his pants was odd. The whole 'talking pants' idea is pretty out there. As far as I know it's an original idea, but where did it come from, and was there a reason for it? I was also able to view the clips of the 'talking pants' mouse and the various bits of animation from the ends of the commercials. How many of these have you done? I presume they were otherwise live-action commercials. Are these the sequences that you say were done by a storyboard artist and 2 students? The text gave me the impression that the first commercial (MM buys a house) was created by these first 3 artists, but going by appearances, I would have thought they had done the different looking earlier Miracle Mouse stuff. Have the first 3 artists gone their seperate ways, or are they still with the studio?
Hello AWN Forumers,
Thankyou so much LARRY for the URL update. I was really wondering why so many people had replied(on another site) that they were not able to get the tie-in article we posted on the www.saveddisney.com homepage(there, I got the www in!) which explained items about Miracle Mouse. I breathed easier when you said you had accessed them. Did you have a listen to our music tracks which we put into a link inside the article? I have yet to hear any feedback on the music tracks. The melodies(we do play them for background music for Miracle Homes) were created for the main themeatic music which will be in our first feature 2D animated movie. Does it sound Disney to you or just "enchanting" in an animated way?
It was good to hear from you again ANT-EATER and Miracle Mouse was originally created by me to be a more edgy character styling as you can see when I thought his pants should talk. Actually, his bib overall pocket was meant to act as his concious talking back to him. If he were to hang them up on a rack by his bed, he could "talk to himself". Everyone said it was odd and I had to agree. As you have said, Miracle Mouse has gone through many changes as you can see drawn in the article and on the animated older commercials. I like seeing Mickey Mouse change and there is a thought process that is seen in each incarnation. The commercial endings numbered only 6 and were done before I started our animation studio. The 2 that do not show on the comercial samples in the article were a christmas version where he carries a decorated tree which morphs into the square logo and one where Miracle Mouse "marches" in with a waving flag and then when he is in his position, he puts his fingers into his mouth and whistles as if for a dog to come. The logo then speeds out into position and Miracle leans against it as usual. These were all done by a studio I hired located in Racine Wisconsin called Karen Johnson Productions. They have sinced dramatically downsized to about 3 or 4 people with 2 as animators. I concepted the gags and drew crude storyboards.
As for the original 3 people we hired to begin the studio(it was only a year and a half ago) Greg and Sam are still with us and doing fantastic as far as I can tell. We parted ways with our third animator and because things did not work out long-term, I paid her enough in case she decided to make the move BACK to California but she ultimatly found a job here in the Milwaukee area that suited her. That person lasted until a month or 2 after Troy and Dan (ex-Florida/Disney) arrived. We have been interviewing and hiring slowly but steadily ever since.
Many Blessings
Tom Hignite
The Miracle Companies Inc.
Hi Tom,
I just checked out the music! It's great, I can just repeat, what I already said about the animation I LOVE IT!! They really sound like Disney-Soundtracks, and I really missed good music in the last Disney 2d features (maybe that's just because I don't like Phil Collins' voice...:( I bet you'll do great things in the future!
Good luck and best wishes!!!!
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
Dear Bandita,
Thankyou for being the first "Forumer" to give us some feedback on the very improtant subject of our features music quality. When I put together our (here it comes...) www.saveddisney.com homepage "Hignite Reports" article about the Life And Times Of Miracle Mouse, I was most interested in accomplishing a few things. One important item was to allow some of our upcoming features music to be heard for the first time by the public at large.
For this reason, we put a link inside the article where you could hear 8 different samples of the type of music which we intend to use as the base type of music for our animated feature. We hired 2 Wisconsin music composers with the mission to give me a Disneyesque set of melodies to set the tone. I worked with them by supplying many various samples of existing classic animation and live action music to give inspiration. We traveled to record music with 36 piece orchestras in both Indiana and Salt Lake City Utah. The piece of music called "Miracles Are Happ'nin" can be found in these trscks and IS the actual music which we are presently animating to for the first sequence of the feature. When you hear it however, you do not hear the various character voices which we have also recorded for this song in LA. I want our music to NOT just be in the movie because the movie should have a few songs. I want the music to be of the style which envokes the charm and endearment of seeing a classic great animated movie of the past. I want the music to be memorable enough that kids and adults will hum the tunes while exiting the theatre (as catchy as the Small World ride or Mary Poppins). Because I am so close to this project, I am not able to be completely objective as many of you might be.
For this reason, we have played this features music in the background at our model homes as well as putting them all on a CD for sale on our website. I did hear from one person who is a musician and bought the CD and we have sold many issues of the CD but have had no other feed-back to date until yours BANDITA. So far you have both liked it and I am soliciting other opinions from you Forumers as well. BANDITAS remark that the music sounds like a traditional animated movie(not her exact words) indicates we are on the right track but more input from others(Do you agree?), would be good. Is the music memorable enough or just O.K.? In short, to have a great 2D feature..... Is It Good Enough, or just good.
Continued thanks and blessings
Tom Hignite
The Miracle Companies Inc.
Here are my humble opinions:
The animation is awesome!!! The movements are great-- very believable and endearing. Of course, with the experience your animators have, it's no wonder!
The music (and I'm a musician, so bear with my music geekness here.... I don't know how else to talk about it) is okay. It is VERY well performed. Even professional orchestras have a tendency to play out of tune or frack a note once in a while, but not yours. They did an amazing job. As for the actual compsitions, they do call to mind old school Disney music.... but I feel it's still missing that something special. Maybe the dynamics (loudness and softeness) need to be pushed a little more, or maybe your compser just needs to add in a few more interesting chord progressions into the mix. It is possible to be old-school and still be fresh. Also.... it is possible that the orchestra was just TOO perfect. Believe it or not, that does happen. If it is rythmically exact and even.... and perfectly in tune, it can end up sounding almost synthesized. The fanfare part at the beginning is nice, but afterwards there could be a little more emoting or playing with the tempos. The flourishes would sound more fourishy and exhilirating if they started slow, then got fast... or even the other way around. Just something to make it sound a little more human or emotional. Also... there is something repetitive in the percussion (maybe a suspended cymbol being played with one of those brush mallet things) that is on beats 3 and 6 (if this is in 6/8, as I think it might be) that sounds a little cheesey. It gives a drumset feel to it, which I think generally sounds cheesey with an orchestra. The rest of the percussion (chimes etc.) sound nice. Don't get me wrong here... I think the music is nice, but it could be a lot better.
As for Miracle Mouse.... I think his design is cute. I like the colors a lot and the softness of his body. But I agree that there's something weird about his face when his hat is off. I think it is because the pale part of the face is so small and so round. It makes him look like he has a wet suit on. I'm sure you were trying to avoid him looking like Mickey Mouse... but if there was more shape to that contour between the black and flesh colors it would probably look better and more 3-dimensional. Look at Fievel from An Americal Tail. He looks nothing like Mickey but has a uniquely pleasing design on his face. Also.... Miracle Mouse's eyes aren't quite as cute as the rest of him. Maybe it's because they are so close together, so small, or not quite slanty enough. But I almost like the eyes of the 2004 Miracle Mouse better. I agree that having his overalls talk was weird.... but I liked the smile on his pocket during that phase!! It's interesting to see that stay as his design evolved.
I really like the design of Okey Dokey.... except I feel like I have seen him in many movies before. Although, somehow I get the feeling that's what you were going for.;)
I hope you do not take my criticisms the wrong way. I think you guys are doing great work, and I'm very happy to see that someone is actually doing something to preserve the old Disney tradition, instead of just complaining about it. We animators can only do so much. It takes someone who is in a position to create a studio and get people together to actually make a change. More people should follow in your footsteps. I would be very happy if I am ever a good enough animator to work at your studio. Nice work and good luck with all of your endeavors.
Hello MELEPONIE,
I was excited to get your feed-back but first....
Are you sure you cliked-onto the right pieces of music? Your comments are directed seemingly at only 1(?) piece of music. If you re-vist our homepage "Miracle Mouse" article on www.saveddisney.com, you will see the link contained in the end of a sentnece in a paragraph about 3/4 through the article. I am assuming that you only clicked-on the first part of that sentence. If you do so, you only get to listen to 1 song. If you click-on the last part of that sentence, you get to choose to hear 8 different songs of your choosing. The 2nd song selection is the overall thematic music for our upcoming feature and many of the others are also in the feature.
If you listen to the song entitled "Miracles Are Happ'nin", this (full length) 5.5 minute song is the soundtrack for the first segment we are presently working on animating. This song does not include any of the extensive voice talent that sings this song and has dialog. Before I comment in detail, which song(s) were you making the helpful comments about?
Many blessings
Tom Hignite
very nicely done. very disneyesque.
after watchin the commercial, it reminded me of the times i spent watchin the chip n dale.
i dont know why coz it seems a bit off. honestly i could def watch this all day (not the same thing :))
good job.