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Amazing Tribute to Hayao Miyazaki

This amazing tribute to Hayao Miyazaki is from dono on Vimeo. He built it using Blender (3D modeling and animation), Gimp (graphics/painting creation/editing), Octane (real time 3D rendering) and Natron (matting, masking, and compositing). I will point out that all of them except Octane are free, open source software that rival any of the commercial software packages which do the same job. I am sure everyone will be surprised that the music he used is by Joe Hisaishi. It looks like he modeled and rendered the scenes, sets, and backgrounds in 3D but composited the original 2D characters into those scenes, including scenes they were never in before for some of them, creating a wonderful visual effect. Many thanks to Nerdist for the heads up on this one, and my only problem now (as someone else said in the comments) is deciding which Miyazaki masterpiece I want to re-watch tonight, after watching so many old friends on the screen together after all this time.

Tribute to Hayao Miyazaki from dono on Vimeo.

Janis Skulme, Olga Korsak : Behind Closed Doors

The animation was created by Janis Skulme for the music video of Olga Korsak’s Behind Closed Doors, and filmed at the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The paintings and statues were brought to life using Crazy Talk 7 and an array of painting, video editing, and compositing software. To give you an idea of what’s involved in a project like this I have included his Video Effects Showreel 2014, which includes a number of instances of the original footage, and the steps they went through on their way to the final product. The fact that the song and performance are so powerful go a long way to making this a memorable video.

Olga Korsak – "Behind closed doors" from Janis Skulme on Vimeo.

Janis Skulme VFX Showreel 2014 from Janis Skulme on Vimeo.

Only Yesterday Finally Has US Release

The Studio Ghibli masterpiece Only Yesterday is finally being released in North America 25 years after its Japanese debut thanks to the folks at GKids. Rather than the fantasies of Miyazaki which Studio Ghibli is famous for, this one is one of the sumptuous slice of life presentations of co-founder Isao Takahata. GKids financed a whole new English dub of the film, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley to voice Taeko, the heroine of the story. It is on the big screen today, January 1st, in NYC, and come February it will get a wider release to the rest of the continent. I can not think of a better way to start off the New Year than with a Ghibli film I have never seen; what a treat!

Happy New Year, Zootopia Trailer 2

2015 was a great year with some excellent films, and 2016 looks like it will do just as well. Zootopia is an example of one of the ones I am waiting for, filled with the kind of animals-as-humans animation Disney is famous for and looking quite tasty in the second trailer for the film. This will be hitting the big screen on March 4th, and has an amazing cast doing the voice overs. Other movies worth checking out in 2016 include La belle et la bête, The 5th Wave, Ip Man 3, Kung Fu Panda 3… and that is just in January!

Something to Do: Movies

If Anomalisa waits for Friday it will not be eligible for the upcoming Academy Awards round, so it is launching on Wednesday, the 28th. As far as I know it is not genre, but it is animated and it has gotten some excellent critical reviews. I have every intention to see this one on the big screen so I will know whether or not to cheer it on for the award.

Something to Watch: Discs

In Movies we get 2 great choices; Ant-Man is another Marvel masterpiece, this time bringing founding Avenger Henry Pym to the forefront, although at the point he has to pass the mantle on. The other selection is the Blue Ray version of Minions (the DVD version came out just before Thanksgiving), one of the very best animated comedy’s of 2015, or perhaps the best. TV also brings us 2 quality choices, The Transporter Refueled for a glimpse of the characters younger days, and Under the Dome: Season 3 for he Steven King fans in the audience.

Anime has Rail Wars – Complete Collection, a great series that balances out the Otaku with the MIT Hacker versions of railroad fandom. Riddle Story of Devil: The Complete Series + OVA has twelve female assassins going to a prestigious boarding school for a competition; to be the one to kill fellow student Haru Ichinose, and win their deepest desire. But the one who gets to her first ends up trying to protect her from the others, making life much more complicated for everyone involved. The Irregular at Magic High School – Yokohama Disturbance Arc brings the third and final piece of that series, and while it is quite good, they should just release the complete series with no concern about money.

Let’s not forget Aura: Koga Maryuin’s Last War, a movie which has one formerly delusional student now in charge of another equally delusional person, both of them trying to find their way out into normalcy. Finally this time around we have Haganai: I don’t have many friends, about the misfits who form the Neighbors Club, because they have no choice, on so many levels.