Hello everyone,
Long time no see (...write).
I just want to begin this thread by asking you all animators a question:
¿What's the live-action movie that you consider it's been the biggest influence on your animation?
I ask this to you because lately I've been discovering a lot of really amazing filmmakers (Antonioni, Bergman, Resnais...) and now I can't help thinking how many things animation (since it's the most flexible and inventive audiovisual media) could use, learn and assimilate from them. I know that there are lots of animators that like Woody Allen because it's comedy (smart comedy, of course); but couldn't there be more than just that in animation? Does it all have to be about making people laugh or about martial arts (since it apparently seems that networks are interested only in plagiarizing anime and making comedies about losers)?
What do you think: Can animation learn anything from arthouse movies?
P.D.:I'm not being pretentious, perhaps it's just the fact that i'm young and an idealist and impressionable and right now I'm discovering cinema...
Seven Samurai
The Brothers McLeod
[SIZE=2]brothersmcleod.co.uk[/SIZE]
To digress a little - what about live action directors who came to it via animation, like Frank Tashlin ? - so there may be a two way thing going on.
Even live action directors will not dispute the influence of comics on film making in general - in terms of staging, parallel action, time distortion and so on, and its almost not surprising that in a country like Japan ,where the graphic arts are highly developed, they should have a direct influence on film making.
Early cinema for the most part imitated the conventions of theatre, with the screen being a proscenium arch, until cameras became more mobile - Citizen Kane was way ahead of its time in terms of breaking out of the conventions of locked off camera & literal framing, which it derived to some extent from European expressionist cinema - Metropolis is probably a good example of a film which influenced across the board.
Hello, again.
I'm sorry, but I haven't ever heard of Frank Tashlin, Zucchini (I guess there's a lot more for me to learn...), could you tell me soomething more about him? It kinda interests me, the only case I know about a live-action filmmaker who began with animation it's the most famous of them all: Tim Burton.
Hey, I must also say that once I read that the beggining of Citizen Kane was inspired by the opening sequence of Disney's Snow White. Had any of you ever heard that?
And I love Seven Samurai too.
Monty Python, The Strike, 8 1/2, Last Year in Marienbad...
By the way, the last episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion are VERY Alan Resnais :)
danielpoeira.org
It's quite likely Snow White influenced lots of filmmakers - hardcore animators complain that there's no point in animating realistic characters, but Disney did it with his first feature - at the end of the day it's the story that counts.
I suspect this reaction is a response to Disneys supposed philistine attitude to the arts and experimentation - but then he went & made Fantasia...
Frank Tashlin was an animation script / gag writer and to some extent a director of Warner Bros Daffy Duck / Bugs Bunny shorts, and had honed his skills on this type of crazy humour - he made a few noteable live action features - specifically "The Girl Can't Help it", which starred Jane Mansfield.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/tashlin.html
I couldn't agree more with you, Daniel: Last Year in Marienbad it's an amazing movie, I saw just a few days ago for the first time and I've seen it like six times since then; there are so many nuances to grasp in there... I haven't seen Evangelion completely, but if you tell me there's some Resnais in there, now It's become a must-watch for me. :D
I don't think that only Woody Allen's humor is the only live-action influence in animation. I think as storytellers, it is our job to look to the ~70 years of film making history in order to figure out how to tell a good story in a sequential medium such as film. A camera cut is a camera cut and a closeup is a closeup whether in Citizen Kane or Monsters Inc.
As it stands, I seem to have more contemporary influences on my work than some of you other guys. Personally, I'm influenced a lot by the Coen Brother's work (O Brother Where Art Thou, Man Who Wasn't There) as well as Wes Anderson's (Rushmore, Royal Tennenbaums) in both subject matter and shot direction.
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, so I guess mostly German Expressionist live-action.