BOLT

My current mentor Mike Belzer has recently finished working Disney's new movie 'Bolt' coming out this Month. This is a story of a dog 'Bolt' who is the star of a kick-ass TV show in which he plays a dog with super human dog abilities. What happens when he gets lost in the real world thinking he is really a 'Super' ?

I saw the trailers and the chase sequence that is released is mind-blowing. Its so well crafted and created that it leaves anyone who watches it in a sense of amazement.

Click here for the trailers in iPod to HD resolution.

Pixar's UP Trailer

The Trailer for Pixar's UPcoming movie "UP" directed by Pete Docter is now online



No doubt, this will be an amazing story. The characters seem fun. Observe the 'Mr. Fredrikson' (the old man) character design. Its so squarish - the hands, the head. Seems a little different from the designs we have generally seen in recent Pixar movies.
Now hoping this one releases in India very soon after the US release.

Kung Fu Panda and Legendary Animation !

Kung Fu Panda !!
This latest movie from Dreamworks Animation is a hell of a ride ! The animation will blow you away. You actually feel the agility of the fighters and the weight of the beloved panda Po. The fight scenes are so full of strength and action, you just get hooked to it. The story is not something very different, the trailers give much of it away. But still, the movie is a must watch !

The opening sequence of the movie in 2d was done by James Baxter Animation. This sequence alongwith the music that accompanies it, sets the pace for the movie and makes sure your eyes stay glued to the screen for rest of the movie. The end titles in 2d were done by a collaboration with Shine studios and James Baxter Animation.
Here are a few clips out of the start and end titles sequences of the movie at kevin Koch's blog.
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=242
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=240
If you havnt yet seen it, you are missing out a lot of good animation treat for your eyes ;) I would love to see an entire movie animated like that :D
Now I am going to frame by frame through this piece of animation gold !

Horton Q&A !

Last week was a big opportunity for me to interact with Mike Walling, who is an animator who worked on Horton Hears a Who. On May 13th we had a special Horton &Q&A. That too, at 2:30 am after midnight ! How was I gonna miss it? No way! :D
I woke up early and joined the Q&A and maaan the server was so slow. That was very natural, because this session was open for everyone from class1 to class3. Everyone was jumping into the Q&A. It was a crazy time with all the video lag. Thankfully, the audio was working quite well.

All students were very enthusiastic and got all our questions answered. I got to asked about how did they think of the character Katie and whats that "aaaah" expression all about ?? :D
They said that Katie was one of the little characters in the forest. While story-boarding, the "aaah" expression was put in as a gag. They werent really sure how well it will work, but whoa! It became Soo popular, Katie has got her own videos on YouTube. About the expression, even they were confused about what it exactly meant. It was something wierd .. like a mix of happiness, excitement. Katie was animated by BlueSky animator Jason Martinsen whos also a mentor at AM.

The Q&A dint last long as usual mentor Q&As do as they had class4 to 6 to talk to. But that was one memorable experience I will never forget : )

Heavy Metal

Ok, confused about the title?


By heavy metal, I mean IRONMAN ! I got a chance to watch it last week. IRONMAN is one of the best super-hero movies, though I would rate Spider-man 1 and 2 more just because its been my favorite comic book since childhood. I havent read much of IronMan comics, but was keen on watching it because of great reviews it got and the VFX.

This movie has everything to be a super super-hero movie.. great visual effects, animation and cool acting performance by Robert Downey Jr. The VFX are fantastic.. ILM keeps coming up with ground-breaking stuff, still I feel Transformers was an even better treat. I would recommend to anyone into kick-ass action flicks.
Stan-Lee the maker of the ironman comics also makes the mandatory appearance though really small, as he does in movies on his characters just the way he has to appear in every Spider-man movie !

The main thing that makes this movie different is the story.. the way its staged. All the events happen in today's world. It has all the things that make you identify with today's situation about war and terrorism and arms race. The way they have approached the topic of how we are destructing ourselves for our short term benefits is great. The movie has not only action, futuristic technology, audis, glitz but some heart to it. This story definitely dares to be different.I just love the way the movie ends.. making it so much different than other superhero movies ! Go watch it if you havent yet.

I heard a "who" !

I got to watch Horton hear a Who , the weekday after it was released here in India. It was a movie I was waiting for because it was from BlueSky Animation Studios, the people who made Ice Age 1&2 ! Also another reason to add on top was that over 20 of graduates and past students of AnimationMentor have worked on the movie.



Horton is definitely a must watch movie. The animation is mind-blowing, the story is very humble, the composition and production design is beautiful and Amazing acting performances by animators !
Its a story of Horton, an elephant who one day finds a clover with a tiny li'l speck on it. He believes there are people on it as the speck makes sounds. Indeed, the speck has a world on its own full of creatures called "who"s who are a happy-go-lucky kind of people. With his perspective of "A persons a person, no matter how small", Horton sets out to save the world on the speck from the authoritative Kangaroo and other wild from the jungle of Nool.

Horton's acting is great ! The way he wraps, curls, stretches his ears to make funny hats and punk caps adds the fun to the main performance. No one will miss Katie the li'l yellow furry sheep-like creature in Horton's class. Whenever shes happy she does some crazy expression saying "Aaaaaaah" which cracks me up every time I watched her do it :D

I just love some of the scenes .. the one when Horton is searching for "the" clover in a sea of pink clovers, then the end scene is great too when the camera trucks out to show that even our world could be a tiny li'l speck in someone else's world reinforcing the thought that "A persons a person, no matter how small". So True !