Skip to main content

Something to Watch: Discs

The one western program I am excited about this week is 12 Monkeys: Season Two, the Syfy channel show with a great cast and story line. Roger Cormen is still making workmanlike films on shoestring budgets, and his Death Race 2050 is the latest to be released direct to disc. The animation Long Way North has been winning awards on the Film Festival circuit for the last year or better, but it never got a wide theatrical release, and also comes out direct to disc this week. And then there is Surf’s Up 2: Wave Mania, which I have also found no theatrical release for, but it might have been on TV at some point. This is a joint project between Sony Pictures and the WWE, with a number of their star wrestlers doing the voice actor work for the surfing penguins.

We don’t have much in Anime this week either. Nothing new, and just the latest box set each for two returning favorites. Naruto Shippūden Set 29 has episodes 362 through 374, while Fairy Tail: Collection 6 gives us episodes 121 through 142. Both of these long running shows are well worth following.

Ghibli? Mary and the Witch’s Flower trailer

Studio Ghibli is in hibernation for the moment, largely shut down although Hayao Miyazaki has said he plans to do another feature length film, this time a documentary about making the animation Boro the Caterpillar. But a bunch of former Studio Ghibli talent have gathered together under the brand new banner of Studio Ponoc, and have released the first teaser trailer for their first animation, Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Producers, directors, animators and writers of some of the most iconic animations of the last 40 years have placed their bet that people will want to continue watching what they can do. I certainly look forward to when this one makes it to the theaters next year, and we find out if they retain the magic touch they developed at Studio Ghibli. For a more detailed look at the new studio and project, watch the Tokyosaurus video after the trailer.

Something to Do: Movies

There are several excellent choices this week, starting with Passengers, where two people wake from cold sleep 90 years before their starship arrives at their new colony planet. Starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as the wakees, this may be the best choice for the weekend. We also get Assassin’s Creed, which started life as a game but seems to have translated to the Big Screen just fine. If you prefer something a bit lighter and more inspiring, Sing should be just the animated treat you are looking for.

Rigger Kate

I just watched Moana, and out of it’s short list of animation riggers, a name caught my eye: Kate Kirby-OConnell. One of the hardest jobs on an animation project is to take a 3D Character Model and Rig it, meaning give it a bone structure you can embed inside its flesh and use to animate every aspect of that character. Yes, that bone structure does exactly the same thing as the bones in a human body, giving it a structure for the action to take place on. Emotions and actions being obvious expressions of that process, props and costumes less so but still tied tightly to the rigging. Think about it; if the character moves, but the characters clothing or coffee cup doesn’t, just how believable would that be? Kate created a number of examples of her skill set while in school, as every animator does, and the first one amounts to her Demo Reel, showing off what she can do. I think the others show both that plus her inspiration or perhaps motivation. I loved Moana and the earlier Disney works Kate was involved with, it is nice to learn something about the creators of world-class animations like this.

Kate Kirby-O'Connell Rigging Reel – Summer 2013 from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.

Project Faces from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.

Jack of All Shapes from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.

Building T.rex from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.