Ace Attorney (Video Game)

Ace Attorney is a video game series for numerous handheld consoles and the Nintendo Wii. It's a rather unique video game, being a visual novel that stands out with its own gameplay elements. The animation is actually really good but basic. The investigation segments are in a first person perspective, and the characters each had a specific movement depending on how they're feeling. They are still rather appealing and full of character though, and they follow the principles of animation fairly well, considering the graphical capabilities of the original console they were released for. See, the first three Ace Attorney games are actually originally made for the Gameboy Advance, yet the cutscenes and animations are very well-done, with effective lighting and often film noir style imagery. They tell an effective story through the use of very basic animations, that hold up to the standards of many great visual novels, in fact it may have even set the standards of visual novel animation, seeing as lot have done it in this style since.

Adventure Time

I'm clearly not alone in saying that Adventure Time is a brilliant show. The loveable characters, surreal humour, cute art style, and brilliant story all make it an amazing cartoon. I would personally call it surrealist art, rather than just another silly kid's show though. For starters, there are a lot of dark aspects of the show that are hidden underneath the bright and upbeat atmosphere. It's no secret anymore that the show is set in a post-apocalyptic world, but before now, the only way to know that would be if you were to really analyse it and catch all the hints that were hidden in the background, or some major ones that would appear for one frame. Plus, even though the art style is cute and reminiscent of a child's drawings, and they spend a lot of time in the Candy Kingdom, a brighter and more up-beat setting but every so often they will wind up in a more darker location, like a cave full of monsters or an old post-war setting. Even with all these dark aspects, though, the show is still light-hearted and silly, and this contrasting tone is surreal to me. There is also a sense of growing maturity as the show progresses. The protagonist, Finn, grows older as the show goes on. In the first season he's more immature and is more of an excitable little kid, but the more he gets older, the more serious the show gets. Finn starts to discover what it's like to date a girl, the value of his friends, and responsibility. It seems to be a made like a dream-world, created by a young boy's psyche that matures the older he gets.

Jan Svankmajer

Jan Svankmajer is quite a unique filmmaker and surrealist in my opinion. He doesn't really rely on much of a narrative but his shorts do have some kind of story tell, and normally contain underlying themes that relate to the social politics of his country. They mostly revolve around the theme of system and routine, and how everything tends to fall apart once they are either changed in any sort of way, or taken away completely. Dimensions of Dialogue is a great example of that too. What I especially enjoy about Jan Svankmajer's work is that it can actually be viewed positively whether you understand them or not. They can be very humorous and the animation is brilliant, particularly for fans of pixilation.

Deadly Premonition

This is a strange game to say the least. It's in no way a 'good' game, it's enjoyable for some bizarre and complex reason. I'm not sure if the game is intended to be viewed this way, I mean there are some genuinely funny moments in it, and York is decent character too. But it is technically a horrible game, the graphics don't really match up to the standards of every other Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 game, the gameplay is pretty basic, plus in almost every possible way it rips off Twin Peaks. So why do I love this game so much? Well writing is very cheesy and the style is very quirky. The graphics are awkwardly over-the-top, I mean they're supposed to look realistic but the way they move is like a bad PS2 JRPG. That actually kind of suits the style of the game though, it's a dark story with a gritty art style, but that doesn't mean it can't be a bit silly. And who could go another a minute without seeing York's hilarious smile?

Pretty infectious. He's normally got such a straight face too.

Those graphics aren't the best but I can't help but love how bad they are, it fits in so well with the narrative. I still don't know if the graphics are supposed to be this bad, but if they are then kudos to Swery, the director of the game, because these graphics make this game heavily enjoyable. 

Oreo TV Commercial

Sick of those awful Oreo adverts we get over here in Britain, the ones with that little teaching her Dad how to eat one? Well this should be a more than refreshing change from that then. This is an advertisement from America that's done completely differently. The brand has a pretty cute jingle here and the animation works perfectly with it. The transitions between the characters' actions run smoothly and make the style a lot more effective. It makes Oreos seem a lot more creamy and irresistible. I also love how it makes fairy-tale creatures, vampires, and vicious sharks seem a lot more friendly, making this a really uplifting piece as well. This is a perfect example of advertising done well, and anyone working in advertising, especially in the UK, should learn from it.

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen has had a huge impact on my love for stop-motion animation. Ever since I was a child, I had this deep fascination in animation within my subconscious, an interest that eventually clawed its way out in the near present when I decided to pursue a career in that field, so whenever I'd see a Ray Harryhausen film was on TV, I would always be absorbed by my couch seat just from looking at the stop-motion monsters. It was funny though, I never knew why I had such a love for the monsters, but I think it was because they were so well designed and the way they moved made them seem even scarier to me. The famous skeleton battle from Jason and the Argonauts in particular stuck with me. I've never imagined skeletons moving any differently since I saw that film. As far as I know, this was how I was introduced to stop-motion, rather than Wallace & Gromit and the lesser-known Trap Door which I used to constantly. They had such an impact on me as kid that I even preferred those special effects over CGI, I've even grown to detest most CGI (most not all).

Pacific Rim: Special Effects

Do you know about Pacific Rim, probably the hypest and greatest film this summer? I just really want to talk about the special effects for this film because I have waited so long for a modern day mecha-film to animate robots with CGI and actually do it right! Because for the longest time we've had to endure the horrendously over-the-top CGI robots from Michael Bay's Transformers, and any other film that decided to emulate that technique of animating giant robots. Now, granted I am the type of guy that appreciates a film that goes over-the-top with its action sequences, but robots, let alone giant ones, don't move that swiftly! I don't care if the robots in Transformers are alien robots, as long as they are big and metal they will follow Earth's physical limitations! This is one disbelief I will not suspend, especially considering they got those physics right in the far lower budgeted and incredibly dumb mecha-show Power Rangers. So you can imagine my relief when I finally saw the film Pacific Rim. The robots not only moved realistically, but they also moved in sync with the actors as they were connected to all that tech. And yes, the set for the shots inside the jaegars were all filled with real honest-to-god tech. I wouldn't be surprised if they were what took up most of the film's budget, but it was because Del Toro wanted the actors themselves, and by default the characters, to really feel like they were controlling giant robots and really feel the aches and bruises from it. This is how you animate giant robots, people!

Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects

As I was editing my animation about Lateness, I started adding sound effects via the CD box of Hanna-Barbera sound effects we have here in college. Before then it was just some box that sat in corner to me, and yet as of now, after going through and listening to them, I suddenly got the importance of sound effects in animation. They aren't very realistic sound effects, in fact a lot of them are sounds that you wouldn't normally hear under the circumstances in which they made in cartoons; however, they make a world of difference once they are added. The sound effects themselves are surprisingly common. You'll hear them in almost every cartoon, video game, etc, after the shows they came from. Futurama, for example, uses a lot of sound effects from The Jetsons. Even the Resident Evil games have used the sound effects for growling dogs. Honestly there are far too many stuff to list, but that just shows how much of an impact their sound effects have added to animation in general. I'll definitely be using those CDs a lot from now on!

Reflections - by Bosmatt Agayoff & Alon Ziv

Reflections

This is a short I can relate to. It's about a grown man who plays with his window-reflection, that resembles him as a child, but is looked down on for it by everybody around him. The art style is cute and Disney-esque but works well when it the tone becomes more bleak. It very well represents society's reaction to a man who just wants to have fun, like the child still inside him. To me, it's similar to how it's looked down upon for grown ups to enjoy animation or video games because they are generally seen as a purely childish thing. I can also relate to it, having been tempted to play with toys many times before but been worried by how others would respond. One thing I appreciate, though, is that while this short does have a bleak ending, they didn't go overboard like most indie animated shorts tend to do (he doesn't somehow die in the end or something). The tone is as innocent as a children's animation, which is fitting for the protagonist. I also love the symbolism, such as his literal childhood reflection, also those two extras that pick him up and clean him up symbolic of society's need to basically be a parent to him. A truly well-made and brilliant short, that I'm sure anyone who's ever been picked on for being a "man-child" will appreciate.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

This is quite an inspiring show, if you ask me. It's animated using Adobe Flash, and really shows what you can achieve with a somewhat looked down upon animation software. It's got some of the nicest animation I've seen in kid's shows for years, actually. The bright colours match the uplifting tone of the show, and the art style plus the attention to detail really add character as well. What I especially love about this show is that they really put effort into, among other things, the writing and characters. It's not like some of the other Hasbro shows that were just phoned in to sell their products. They could have just made it like that but instead wanted it to appeal far beyond the aesthetics but also give it a deeper purpose. I highly recommend it to anyone who takes an interest in animation.

Lee Hardcastle

Lee Hardcastle (Youtube channel)

Lee Hardcastle is a claymation animator on Youtube who mainly does film/video game parodies but also does some original shorts. I really like his dark and quirky style, it really fits with his dark humour. These are really well-animated too, in fact it's probably some of the best looking claymation blood ever. You've probably heard of him before, this is his most famous video (and also his funniest, in my opinion):

It's one of the more comedic surreal animations on the internet. The designs on the aliens are both funny and translate pretty well the claymation. The fact that their expressions never change makes them seem all the more sinister, but that just makes their bizarre intentions even funnier, and the fact that they went as far as to bring in a giant too.

Mystery Sketch 2011: Bongcheon-Dong Ghost

Bongcheon-Dong Ghost (Warning Really Scary!)

This an interesting flip book type animation. It doesn't use a flipbook or is even on paper, but after scrolling down to a certain point in the webcomic it automatically scrolls the page down several times and as it goes through the panels the image appears to be moving. It's really effective at shocking its reader, because you don't expect a webcomic to be animated in this way.

Republican Space Rangers

There is a feature in Grand Theft Auto IV (and possibly in GTA V, I haven't played it yet) that is more fun than running down innocents. In every safe house there is a TV you can sit down and watch. If you do that you get a selection of funny shorts, fake advertisements, and other funny stuff. Republican Space Rangers is a particularly funny one. The animation is rather cheaply done but I think that adds to the comedic style. In some cases, animated comedy seems to work better for me if it focuses more on the writing and characters than the animation. This is an example of that, as well as other more renowned animated comedies like Flinstones and South Park.

Plague of Gripes (Youtube Channel)

Plague of Gripes is an animator on Youtube who generally creates animated shorts by taking audio footage from Lets Players, such as Two Best Friends Play and Game Grumps (Youtubers that record gameplay footage along with commentary), and uses their conversations to create little scenarios in animated form. They're extremely funny and the audio he uses actually fit in very well with the scenarios he creates. One in particular that I enjoy is Morons vs Wild, which manages to make audio of some guys having a laugh whilst playing a video game and completely re-imagining it to a little short about two guys having a terrible time in a jungle whilst getting laughed at in the background.

To better understand, here's the Plague of Gripes video:

and here is the original video that he took the audio from:

It's amazing how well it translates into animation.