Channel Frederator Blog

On the heels of yesterday’s post about Henry Selick and Coraline, I recently came across a two-part interview on Ward Jenkin’s blog (from last year) about the obscure animated feature Twice Upon a Time, directed by John Korty and Charles Swenson. (Click here for Part One and Part Two.) Selick worked on this way back in 1983 as a “sequence director”. Ward interviews Taylor Jessen, who wrote an article on the subject for Animation Blast #9. (An online version can be found here.)

Twice Upon a Time was created with an animation technique called “lumage”: stop-motion using translucent 2D objects photographed against a backlit background.

Some other interesting people who worked on this: Marshall Efron and Lorenzo Music did voices; director David Fincher (Fight Club) was responsible for “special photographic effects”. Oh yeah, and George Lucas was the producer!

Additional info is available at this site devoted to “the most unusual animated film of the 1980’s”.

Since there are no [Read more…]

The stop motion fantasy feature Coraline will be released February 6, 2009. Directed by Henry Selick, based upon the Neil Gaiman book, produced by Laika (formerly Will Vinton Studios), this promises to be an oddball animation classic.

It’s got a super solid voice cast that includes Dakota Fanning, John Hodgman, and Jennifer Saunders. And music by They Might Be Giants.

How much talent can you stuff into one animated film?

Anyway, a slew of sneak peek material has recently been released to the net. I thought it would be a good idea to round up the links for you:

Coraline photo gallery from LA Times

Sneak peek videos from Rotten Tomatoes

Oregonian article.

Image Gallery from IGN

Video gallery from IGN

Shock Til You Drop set visit and Selick interview

Original sculpted models for the movie displayed at Comicon here.

And a fun flashback: Selick’s Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions (1990) for MTV:

—Anne D. Bernstein

Ghibli World has posted an extensive interview and studio visit with French animation director (and writer and production designer and etc.) Michel Ocelot, creator of the films Kirikou and the Sourceress, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, and Azur and Asmar. (Why on this site? Studio Ghibli is responsible for releasing his films in Japan.)

Some choice quotes:

“All my heroes are me, but much better. It is obvious that Kirikou is telling what I would like to tell. He is ideal. Not giving up. I never gave up and, in the long run, I won. But I had a very hard life, having been a jobless person most of the time. I refused mediocre TV series I was proposed. This kind of things. Kirikou is very honest. He never thinks about lying. He has sharp ideas. That’s what I like. He loves people…”

“I do my work as best as I can. That is all. Now, dear spectator, try and like it. I did my job, it is your turn. I am endeavoring to charm you and do good to you, whatever your age, nationality or gender is. I never thought of doing a film for children…but that is the way it is…Kids do not want any more than grown-ups to be treated as babies, and their fresh brain is here to take in all kinds of information.”

More Ocelot news: In October, a DVD collection of Ocelot’s short works will be released in France. In November, the Weinstein company will release an American DVD version of Azur and Asmar.

Here’s an excerpt from his very first film, Les Trois Inventeurs, where he animated elaborate paper cut-outs; it will be included on the French DVD:

After the jump: “Earth Intruders”, a video he made for Bjork in 2007… [Read more…]