Ed's Newsletter - November 2003

LOOKING FOR ANIMAL REFERENCES?
Look no further. "The Animal Motion Show" is a two-disc reference set
that is blinking wonderful. Let me try to tell you what director Rob
Kim has accomplished. "The Animal Motion Show" is a two-DVD database
of over 2000 animal video clips and photos neatly categorized under
the general headings of Locomotion, Behavior and Visuals. Disc 1
includes Chimpanzee, Kangaroo, Squirrel, Ostrich and Tiger. Under
the heading of Locomotion for instance you'll find clips for walk,
jog, run, eating and close-up. Under Behavior, you'll find clips of
eating, grooming mating (Yes, I immediately looked up Ostrich mating.
It is not a pretty sight. <g>), fighting, baby and subtle. Under the
heading of Visuals, you have both video and photos of head, body,
close-up, legs and texture. And if all that isn't enough, each
animal reference comes with a list of Facts. Did you know that "
ostriches are the fastest creatures on two legs and can run 64km per
hour (40 mph) maintaining this speed at least 30 minutes."? Disc 2
is labeled "Special Guests" and includes action footage of nineteen
more animals, from the wolverine to the lynx to the lemur. You'll
have to look up your own Facts on that disc but it contains a heck of
a lot of live-action footage and reference. This is a must-have for
your reference library. The Animal Motion Show DVD is $39.95 ...
www.rhinohouse.com

WANT TO SEE A SNEAK PEAK AT "THE INCREDIBLES" PROMOS?
Check out this link:
http://www.themoviebox.net/trailers/incredibles/preview.html.
I've been waiting for three years for this movie. Go, Brad!

ED HOOKS ARTICLE IN DECEMBER
"Game Developer" Magazine will run my article, "Chasing Gollum: How
to Bridge Acting and Mocap to Create Compelling Performances", in its
December issue. Take a look! If you go to their website, they'll
tell you how to get a hard copy of the magazine: http://www.gdmag.com.

THANKS TO THE COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES!
I had a wonderful time with the animators at this excellent Detroit school In particular, thanks to Gary Schwartz and David and Chai for making the class
happen and for being such wonderful hosts.

ED HOOKS'S UPCOMING SCHEDULE
November 8 Cineme, Chicago's first International Animation Film
Festival (http://www.Cineme.org) 3 PM - 4 PM, DePaul University
Lincoln Park Campus, 2250 N. Sheffield, Room: 314-B, Chicago.

November 19-21 Projector Animation Festival, Dundee Scotland

November 26-29 Swansea Animation Days, South Wales, UK
(http://www.sand2003.org.uk/)

January 26-30, 2004 Animex 2004, Teesside, England

CRAFT NOTES
"BROTHER BEAR"

This is the kind of movie that, after the closing credits and final
fade-out, the star character comes back on screen to assure us that
there were no actual salmon injured during the making of the film.
Heh. The movie, directed by Alan Blaise and Bob Walker, is in fact
chock full of this type of attention to nuance, and I enjoyed it a
lot. So did the kids that were sitting all around me in the noon
Chicago showing last Sunday. The first time Kenai-Bear shook his
bear-tail in wonder that he had become a bear, the children squealed
with delight. And I grinned at the kids. It was a good moment.

Everybody that reads this newsletter probably already knows the basic
plot of "Brother Bear" so I won't repeat it here. The promotional
line will suffice: "A boy learns how to be a man by becoming a bear."
That is, in a nutshell, the movie. Whoever wrote that line should
get a gold star.

Set back in the days of Wooly Mammoths, shifting glaciers and
northern lights, the movie is full to the brim with wonderful
character animation. Bryon Howard was the supervising animator on
Kenai (voice by Joaquin Phoenix), the character that had to go
through the most emotional twists and turns. Ruben Aquino was the
supervising animator for the middle brother, Denahi. Being a human
character, the challenge is immediately steep and of course Aquino
was up to it. Denahi's arc from his happy-go-lucky beginnings to the
fiery-eyed revenge sequences is animation at its best. The little
grizzly cub, Koda, was Alex Kuperschmidt's baby. The moment when
Koda learns the truth about his mother's death is heart breakingly
excellent acting. When the DVD comes out, I'll be studying that one
in slo-mo. I asked one of my many psychiatrists some years ago how
many emotions a person can feel at once. His reply has always stuck
with me and I think Koda in that moment is a case in point. "How many
emotions?", he said, "All of them. That's called shock." The
characters that most consistently made me laugh out loud were Rutt
and Tuke the sibling moose (meese? Mooses? Moositi?) Those guys are
nuts from banging their heads together and just are a crack-up.
Thanks to Tony Stanley and Broose Johnson for a masterful duo.

And there were more, too many to enumerate here. I liked all the
animals a lot, the big ones (wooly mammoths) and small ones (mountain
goats), and the backgrounds were beautiful enough to hang on your
wall. The entire team at Disney Feature Animation Florida deserves a
huge round of applause for their work.

Those of you that have taken my workshops know I teach that actors
and animators are shamans. If you draw a circle in the dirt, the
tribe will gather, and you had better have something more to tell or
show them than how well you can animate fur and water. "Brother
Bear" has something on its mind in the best Disney tradition. It
contains a worthwhile and important lesson in life, especially today
when the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. This movie
is not only technically excellent, but it is shamanistic. I have no
doubt that from a business point of view it will make money. It will
get good word of mouth, especially parent to parent.

The execs at Disney seem bound and determined to kill 2D for reasons
that are still a mystery to me. The problem is not 2D vs. 3D. All
the computers in the world won't deliver a hit movie if you don't
have a story worth telling in the first place. Story and Character
are to animation what Location, Location, Location is to real estate.
"Brother Bear" is a terrific animated flick and it speaks to your
heart.. Walt would have been proud.