Following on from Richie’s recent blog about there being too much talking in animation, it kinda got me thinking about the way voice overs have changed….how they are used and more importantly, how they are cast.
Traditional voice artists can not only act using just the voice to convey emotions, but they know how to use it to its full potential. Many started out doing a lot of public radio drama/commercial spots whilst also going into TV & film. Although we didn’t know it at the time, guys like Mel Blanc (who is said to have voiced over 400 characters in 5000 cartoons throughout his career, including pretty much every Loony Tunes character) and Daws Butler (Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear) were the voice of many a childhood. (more…)
The trailer for Fantastic Mr. Fox has just been released. I was quite surprised at what I saw. It’s the first animated film from director Wes Anderson and he’s clearly going for a very retro feel with this.
The movie seems to stray a little from the original Roald Dahl book but I’m optimistic and hopeful he does his best, with such a great cast and a quirky design I’m sure it’ll be great, but after the excellent Coraline, our expectations are that much higher.
I’d love to be have been a fly on the wall in the production meeting before they started this film…”Stop motion! Miniature sets! Fur!”
We’re always interested in new research relating to our core audience; children, and how they experience visual and aural stimulation. CBC Canada is currently airing a radio series called ‘The Hurried Infant’ on just this subject.
According to the website, ”Part of what is fuelling the billion dollar baby industry is brain science. Studies over the decades claim that a baby’s brain is a vast resource that can be enriched through stimulation. So a young child can learn colours, count and even read earlier than ever before. The explosive growth of baby learning products has sent parents scrambling to ensure their baby is as bright as bright can be.
So, are the scientific studies behind this social force real or exaggerated? In this radio series, IDEAS producer Mary O’Connell explores what some are calling a brave new age of infant determinism”
Listen to the first two episodes at CBC’s The Hurried Infant ’s website.
Since the launch of Brown Bag’s blog a few months ago our team of animators, directors and producers have been posting about all aspects of animation. We’ve been really stoked to receive kudos and referrals from loads of cool animation blogs, design showcases and inspiration sites, including an appearance in Smashing Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful Blogs!
Here are some of the great design sites that recently linked to Brown Bag’s website & blog, which was built by our buddies at Syn Creative: (more…)
In Brown Bag, we’ve made many a commercial. But for every one we actually made, there’s been those pitches that never got anywhere beyond a few doodles..
Here is one of those pitches, for a brief which revolved around mobiles. (more…)
Every so often when someone is looking through an archive box, they find things that were best left hidden away. This week we came across some photographs of Brown Bag Films when we were just a start up company back in 1994. Given the laughter that these photographs provoked in the office, I thought I would share a selection of snaps from Brown Bag Films back then.
It all kicked off when Darragh and myself first went to the Galway Film Fleadh with a short film. We went back together every year afterwards with a new short, and this photograph shows the two of us having our first board meeting discussing our master plan to establish an animation studio:
When people mention a Warner Brothers animated feature film that they missed on theatrical release, ‘The Iron Giant’ is always it. Luckily for ‘The Iron Giant’ it was popularised much later on DVD release.
There is however another film in their back catalogue that is truly a gem, and just as criminally unknown as ‘The Iron Giant’ was.
I recently had the pleasure (?) of waking up at around 7am on a Saturday morning. The only reason I could think of that vaguely warranted getting up this early was having to go to work, but this wasn’t the case (at least on this particular weekend). Then a vague childhood memory slowly crept into my subconscious that some may be familiar with….waking up early on a Saturday, creeping down to the living room and watching hours of Saturday morning cartoons whilst consuming your own body-weight in cereal. Sound familiar?! (more…)
The weekend saw the annual Brown Bag pilgrimage to the Galway Film Fleadh. Brown Bag has had a presence at the festival for 16 years now. It was here at the screenings of our first short films in 1991 that Cathal & I decided that we would try to do this full time! It’s always a good time to kick back and watch some cool shorts and do a bit of socialising! (more…)
