Tim Burton
Burton's career in the artistic industry began when 'Stalk of the Celery Monster' caught the attention of Walt Disney Productions' animation team, who offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship in the studio. He worked as a storyboard, concept artist and animator on films like 'The Fox and the Hound' and 'Tron', but his concept ideas never reached the finished films. Whilst he worked at Disney, Burton made his first short which he called 'Vincent'. The short was a six minute long black and white animation, based on a poem that Burton had also written. the short was the story young boy who dreamt of being his hero Vincent Price, who also the narrator. The film was produced by Rick Heinrich's, a friend Burtoon had met whilst he worked at Disney. The film was first shown and released at the 'Chicago Film Festival'. The short was followed by Burton's first live action production 'Hansel and Gretel', which was a Japanese themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for 'Disney Channel'. The film was aired once in 1983 at 10:30 at night on Halloween, prints of the film are difficult to find which added too rumors that the project never existed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8uQzu0IL0
Burton's first live action film 'Frankenweenie' was released in 1984 and it was the fourth stop motion film that Burton produced, and it was also the first that wasn't a musical. The film payed tribute to 'Frankenstiens monster', but it was also a carefully constructed parody of the earlier film. It had a dark narrative and it tells the story of a young boy trying to bring his dog back to life after it was unfortunately hit by a car. After 'Frankenweenie' was released, Disney fired Burton, because he spent the company's resources on doing a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see, however Burton claims he "got bored" of working with them. On October the 5th 2012, Burton released a remake of the film that was in partnership with disney. The cast of 'Frankenweenie' uses around 250-300 puppets, and each one was individually made and costumed. The puppets would need to be able to used for filming for roughly a year so many of them would need to be individually repaired too. The process begins when Burton submits his drawings, showing what he wants the characters to look like. The team start working on plasticine models that will give a rough idea of what the finished product is going to look like. After that, the models are made, and the Plasticine models are made into a resin. Each model has specific mechanisms, which allow them to change facial expreessions and use a range of body language to communicate emotions. Sparky the dog uses roughly 300 mechanical parts, allowing him to do basic actions such as sitting. 'Frankenweenie' earned $35,291,068 in North America, and $46,200,000 in other countries, the film had a worldwide total earning of $81,491,068 In its second weekend of release, the film dropped to number seven grossing and earned an additional $7,054,334.Furthermore, In its third weekend of release, it dropped to number nine grossing with an earning of $4,329,358
Burton played a significant role in the development of children's animation because most children's animation at the time was cheerful and friendly, Burton changed this up by creating Gothic films that would appeal to the younger generation. Burton has clearly been influenced by the work of Ray Harryhausen, who also created realistic puppets for his animations, although Burtons puppets are much more sophisticated due to the wide range of technology available It is Burton's dark nature and unique style that makes him so popular in modern cinema. His gothic style and dark natured films created a new cinematic experience that could be enjoyed by children and their parents, bringing families together.
Burton played a significant role in the development of children's animation because most children's animation at the time was cheerful and friendly, Burton changed this up by creating Gothic films that would appeal to the younger generation. Burton has clearly been influenced by the work of Ray Harryhausen, who also created realistic puppets for his animations, although Burtons puppets are much more sophisticated due to the wide range of technology available It is Burton's dark nature and unique style that makes him so popular in modern cinema. His gothic style and dark natured films created a new cinematic experience that could be enjoyed by children and their parents, bringing families together.
Peter Firmin
Peter Firmin was an English puppet maker and and artist. He was the founder of Small films, together with Oliver Prosgate. As a pair they created many children's TV programmes including iconic children's TV programmes such as 'Clangers' and ' Bagpuss'. Firmin made the puppets, sets and background for their productions, and he would would often contribute to sound and visual effects during filming. Aswell as his work with Postgate, Firmin had made other children's programmes and puppets. In 1959, in collaboration with his wife Joan, he created a programme based around nursery rhymes, he titled 'The Musical Box', . The programme used live cardboard animations and puppets and it was presented by Rolf Harris and later by Wally Whyton.
The 'Clangers' was a collection of short films about a race group of creatures who live on and inside a small planet like the moon. They speak in whistles, and only green soup which can only be supplied by the Soup Dragon, and blue pudding. Prosgate was the shows animator, writer and illustrator and Firmin was the model maker, he designed the figures and his wife dressed them, he was also an illustrator. The programme was first broadcasted on BBC1 between 1969 -1972, and they were followed by a special episode, released in 1974. A third series was aired in the United Kingdom on the 15th of June 2015, broadcasted on the CBeebies TV channel. The new episodes were still made using stop motion animation instead of the computer generated graphics which can be seen in children's TV shows, such as 'Fireman Sam', 'Noddy' and 'The Wombles'. One of the most well remembered aspects of the show was the use of sound effects, using music written by Vernon Elliot under the instructions of Prosgate. When the music was being recorded by the pair in a village town hall, they often left the window open which would mean that the sound of tweeting birds could be heard in the finished product. The clangers also made a distinctive whistling sound, made using swanee whistles and became and iconic characteristic of the much loved characters. The creators say that the creatures live in vacuum, so they communicate in a type of nuclear magnetic resonance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsAyyOKoTik
'Bagpuss' was a children's TV series, made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Despite only releasing 13 episodes, bagpuss is is remembered by the nation. The series was repeated in the UK for 13 years, and in 1999 the show won a BBC poll for 'the UK's favourite children's TV programme'. The series was first broadcasted from the 12th of February 1974, until May 1979. The title character was a soggy old cloth cat, baggy and a bit loose at the seams. Each episode began in the same way, beginning with a series of sepia toned images. The viewer is about a little girl named Emily, played by Firmins daughter. She owned a shop that gave lost and broken things a home and displayed them in the window, so their owners could collect them however the shop did not sell anything. She left the large, saggy, pink and white striped cat named Bagpuss at the front. Firmin had originally intended for Bagpuss to be a retired Indian Army cat, who entertained children in the hospital. His "visible thoughts" would appear in a "thinks bubble" above his head. Postgate and Firmin were asked to develop this character for a BBC programme, it was decided to place Bagpuss in the shop with other characters and to use his "thinks bubble" as a way to illustrate the stories and fix or explore the objects that Emily found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpwhohWhrEE
I believe that Peter Firmin had a significant impact on the development of using stop motion, because despite using puppets, he warmed a nation to his characters and this has been mirrored in later years in children's programmes such as 'sooty', as he never actually speaks but squeaks instead. The work of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen can be seen as Bagpuss is realistic, and mimics the body language and characteristics of a real cat.
Burton uses carefully developed puppetry and gothic narratives to appeal to the darker side of childrens entertainment, despite Disney dropping him because they thought he had "wasted money" on a film that was too dark for children to see. His puppets are skillfully developed using techniques the enable them to perform enhanced facial expressions and movements, which convey emotion clearly. Burtons work in comparison to Firmins is done to a higher quality, the puppets are developed so they move smoothly. The puppets that can be seen in work like 'Bagpuss' and 'Clangers' appears clunkier, and less realistic. At the same time Firmins work appeals to the softer and more innocent aspect of children's TV, using animals to connect with children. It could be argued that Firmins work was more skilfull than Burtons as he was able to communicate emotions through characters that cannot speak, however this can also be seen in Burtons work with characters like sparky the dog in 'Frankenweenie'.
No comments:
Post a Comment