Peter and the Bullfrog

This one had me my wife and I laughing pretty hard last night. This is Family Guy at its best. I love it when cartoons take the time to explore a joke in this way. Its so rare to see that anymore. It’s also a great study in timing.

By the way, dropping the box lid was a brilliant touch.

Scriptment for Annabelle’s Bistro (revised: 5-20-08)

I sat down the other night to write a finally write a treatment for my animated short: Annabelle’s Bistro. There was a Woot-Off going on while I was writing it and I ended up buying a Roomba. (That is a story for a different time perhaps.)

Anyway, 3 beers and 3 1/2 painful hours later I ended up with a treatment that was 3 pages long. Much longer than a treatment for a three minute short needs to be, yet not quite detailed enough to be what I would consider a script. So I have a hybrid here which I call a Scriptment. (Not a term of my own invention. James Cameron gets to claim that prize.)

I actually don’t think a full script will be necessary now. This is detailed enough that I can probably take this and go right to storyboards. And considering that dialogue is rather light, a full script probably wouldn’t do me much more good than this does anyway.

So feel free to read the first page of my Scriptment for my short film after the break! I am going to keep the other 2 pages to myself because I am not sure I want to give out spoilers just yet. Enjoy!

ANNABELLE’S BISTRO
Treatment by: Matt Forcum
5-8-08 revised: 5-20-08

EXT. SMALL FRENCH BISTRO

It is a crisp spring day. A warm sun shines down brightly on a small town in southern France. The town is awake and full of life. Windows are open and soft music fills the air. Birds chirp as they pass overhead and butterflies can be seen visiting small flower boxes.

A man sits alone in front of a small bistro reading a newspaper and enjoying a fine glass of wine. He is thin and smartly dressed wearing a nice brown suit. A handkerchief is carefully folded and placed neatly in his breast pocket. He is relaxed and there is a smile on his face, yet his heavy eyes are tired from stress. He is enjoying the calm, fresh air and the quiet afternoon. Clearly he would rather be left alone.

Sitting at another table just behind the Man is an Old Woman. She has a small birdcage containing a little red bird placed on the table in front of her. She is smiling and talking quietly to the bird as she carefully sips soup from a bowl placed in-between the two of them.

Abruptly, an overweight waiter bursts through the front door of the restaurant carrying a plate with a sandwich and a glass of wine. The waiter walks to the Man’s table and places the food down in front of him. The Man, delighted to see his food has arrived, folds his paper carefully and tucks a napkin into his collar.

“Will there be anything else sir?” The waiter asks politely. The man waves his hand in dismissal, and the waiter bows slightly and walks away.

As the waiter opens the front door of the restaurant to walk back inside, a small, purple basset hound pushes her way past the waiter and runs out the door in the direction of the man.

Lifting the glass of wine from the table, the man brings it to his nose. He inhales the sweet aroma then prepares to take a drink. Just as the glass touches his lips, a small “Bark! Bark!” startles him and he looks down to find the basset at his feet wagging her tail and staring up at him with a big, happy grin on her face. He smiles, pats the dog lightly on the head, and gently nudges her away…

-Matt

MUTO a wall painted animation

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone comes and shows you something new. An artist that goes by the name of blu has created a very trippy animation. Several friends and I have been trying to decide whether the super-shaky camera was a planned stylistic choice or whether it was just lazy and annoying. Personally, I am just watching the animation on the walls.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Speed Racer! Deconstructed!

CgSociety (one of my favorite sites) has an excellent article on the making of the utterly gorgeous Speed Racer film. There are lots of great deconstruction videos as well so take a moment to check it out!

-Matt

The Triplets of Belleville

Here is a brief clip from the film: The Triplets of Belleville. The unique nature of the film makes it just a joy to watch and the story is quirky and original.

Or so I am told.

I haven’t actually seen this film yet which is odd because it looks to be right up my alley. I have seen a few clips and stills here and there, but never the whole film. I just put it on my Netfix Que so it is now the next film I will be receiving.

The Triplets of Belleville was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Animated Feature but lost to Finding Nemo. Tough competition.

It also looks like it is going to serve as great inspiration for AnnaBelle’s Bistro. So…It has that going for it as well…

Shakespearean Geckos

My boss pointed this one out to me. One of the funniest commercials I have ever seen! Great find!

The tears in her eyes are both tragic and awesome.

Cartoon Brew Lays the Smack Down

Cartoon Brew Laid the Smack Down on Jeffrey Katzenberg Yesterday:

In this article Jeffrey Katzenberg talks about how little he knows about animation, which shouldn’t exactly come as news to anybody who’s seen the films that DreamWorks Animation produces.

Ouch! That one stung.

Early Concept Sketch of the Bistro

While sifting through an old folder of concept art I came across this early sketch of the bistro from my short film. I thought it was pretty cool so I figured I’d stick it up here.

Future Animation Supervisor!

I have blogged about the awesome Purple and Brown series by Aardman Studios before. See an example of the hotness below:

That’s cool and all, But what’s REALLY cool is seeing young animators find the inspiration to try their hand at animation for the first time. I think this guy has a very promising future.

(By the way, check out the comments for this piece…sigh..people are trolls.)

LAML Radio Episode #42

In which our heroes battle Skype, technology, and the language barrier to discuss LEGO as an artform. And as artists, do we build for ourselves or for others? And why the heck do we play with LEGOs anyway?

Check it out!