Screen Arts - Week 6


18/03/2019


 Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki took on a entry-level animation at Toei Animation in 1963

 His father ran a airline, which influenced his choice to have flight in a lot of his films.

 I have never seen any of his films, but I have heard of My Friend Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, which are films I would like to see at some point
His admiration for adventure genre is shown in Puss in Boots.
He wasn't happy with working in television by 1983 and left for the film industry.
Ponyo is believed to be influenced by Disney's The Little Mermaid.
It's been hard for Miyazaki and the animation studio he worked has had difficulty find new and  young talent in creating anime.

 I like the vibrant colours and fantasy and fairy tale-like concepts for his films

 Richard Williams
Williams, the creator of the Animators Survival Kit book. He met Walt Disney when he was 14.

 Williams did the animation for The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Dormer, M. (1982). Richard williams & the thief who never gave up [Documentary]. United Kingdom: Thames Television.

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 10). Richard williams: the thief who never gave up pt 1 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpavhSO5W60

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFOfBVAFIg8

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 3 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvDhn70GBEU

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 4 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeayVYjezaQ

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 5 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD89TIG_64o

 Documentary notes



  • The Thief Who Never Gave Up was influenced by art and folklore of the middle east
  • Williams grew up around commercial art studios
  • He won an award for his animation work in a television adaption of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
  • A hated character he designed for Vincent Price was based on two people he hated
  • He was quite effective in telling stories, when really it was television commercials. Having his animation made them seem less commercial.
  • Figuring out the physics of skating for an animated polar bear television commercial got him carried away
  • Williams found commercial work in animation was becoming hard to come by
  • He couldn't wait to see the completion of The Thief Who Never Gave Up

20/03/2019

Dr Strangelove

Kubrick, S. (1964). Dr. strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures

 Opening titles remind me of Men in Black (1997). The music sets a tone that seems more conventional than most of Kubrick's films. Both Dr Strangelove and Men in Black were films released by Columbia Pictures.

 MacDonald, L., Parkes, W. F., Place, G., & Sonnenfeld, B. (1997). Men in black [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures






The black and white in the scene where there is a phone call between Ripper and Mandrake, it communicates to me a bureaucratic tone.'



Themes - patriotism, anti-communism, hate

Dramatic zooms - Close Up to Extreme Close Up 






21/03/2019

Other characters doing stuff while the main scene is underway



I was surprised to learn that Peter Sellers portrayed Mandrake (the British officer). I did know however, that he portrayed both the US President and the titular character in the film. At one point before seeing the film, I actually though Sellers also portrayed that a US general in this film.

 General Ripper (the antagonist) seems clearly delusional about communism and bodily fluids

 Ripper later has a clear sense of guilt and 'what have I done?' moment

 Air Force pilot in this film, Major Kong is depicted as a right-wing, redneck hick, which could be part of the film's satirical tone.

 In the end, you realise this film is really an apocalypse movie, rather than a satirical comedy.

 Did the Soviet diplomat trigger a nuke or take photos like he was accused of earlier in the film. Use of foreshadowing?


Story flaw - Did Mandrake get in contact with the US President or didn't he? As the audience, I am to assume he didn't.

The music and aerial cinematography in the ending ties in well with the opening credits. Use of foreshadowing?



Overall, Dr Strangelove is a good satirical piece of work on the Cold War, but not as funny as many boast. The comedy hasn't held up well with age.

 My understanding of what Dr Strangelove is about is; that it's a film about American government and military dealing with a looming nuclear apocalypse after a US general goes insane and provokes the Soviets.
Before watching this film, I only knew about the plot being a social / political Cold War satirical comedy.

I was expecting a lot more of the titular character in the film, but he's only in the film for roughly 20 minutes in total.





Harlan, J. (2001). Stanley kubrick: a life in pictures [Documentary]. United States: Warner Brothers.

 SCHWEPPES SMASH 7. (2017, April 19). Stanley kubrick a life in pictures [Video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqmgW79JvPM.

FilmMasterKubrick. (2010, March 20). Stanley kubrick; a life in pictures, ending/filmography. [Video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZac2p24R6w.
According to Martin Scorsese, the music and cinematography in the opening credits of Dr Strangelove shows you that anything could happen in the film's story.

Critics saw the film as a 'sick joke', but the youth demographic in America like the movie. However, the negative response wasn't abnormal for a Kubrick film. Films by Kubrick were controversial at the time of their release, but become a classic after a decade.

22/03/2019

In the original trailer, there was interesting use of film editing by having quick glimpses of dialogue from the film (usually one word) and large- bold words. All put together to hint the film's plot to the audience. The original trailer was included in the DVD bonus features.



A day after finish watching the film, I realised that Dr Strangelove is a film I would definitely watch again at some point in the future.
I never thought before watching the film that I would find the ending so bleak.
Naylor, D. (2000). The art of stanley kubrick [Documentary]. United States: Columbia Tristar Home Video.
Kubrick's short films was an extension of his photojournalism.

 Kubrick's approach to making Killer's Kiss is similar to how I have approached my filmmaking and videography in the past, in which he was director, editor, and DOP.

 Paths of Glory trailer quoted critical praise.

When Oswald Morris was DOP for Lolita, the first thing he asked Kubrick about was 'how he thought the film should look'. Kubrick saw the film as a risque story with a glossy look like in MGM films at the time. Morris found out that MGM used special filters for their black and white films and managed to get a set of them for Lolita.

 Kubrick thought during the making of Dr Strangelove that narration is much easier for exposition to be communicated to the audience than explaining it to them visually, which he believed would take longer. He called it a 'shortcut'.

Van Sijll, J. (2005). Cinematic storytelling. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
It's believed that shapes can be used to suggest emotions;
Rounded shapes - confusion, repetition, time, indirect, passive, romantic, pertaining to nature, soft organic, childlike, safe and flexible
Square shapes - direct, industrial, ordered, linear, unnatural, adult, and rigid.
Triangular shapes - Aggressive, dynamic, family, and harmony
Rectangular shapes - logic, civilisation, control

 Using shapes in film for the sake of suggesting emotion has a lot to do with and be achieved through production designed like in Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 film, The Conservation.

 Split screen was commonly used in the 1950's and 1960's
It's a film technique that is not limited or specific to any particular genre, but it had been notably used in classic horror.

23/03/2019

Dormer, M. (1982). Richard williams & the thief who never gave up [Documentary]. United Kingdom: Thames Television.

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 10). Richard williams: the thief who never gave up pt 1 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpavhSO5W60

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFOfBVAFIg8

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 3 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvDhn70GBEU

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 4 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeayVYjezaQ

 TheThiefArchive. (2010, June 30). Richard williams- the thief who never gave up pt 5 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD89TIG_64o

 Documentary notes
I went back to watching the documentary again because I didn't complete understand it while watching because of the sound quality when it was being shown in class. Watching again, but with earphones made me understand it better.


  • Even after spending 1.5 to 3 million pounds (British currency), Richard Williams has only completed 10 minutes of animation and needs 10 million pounds to complete his animation film project to a feature length total of 90 minutes. 80 minutes of animation to go.
  • Williams believes you can do anything with animation. You have flexibility; you can improvise or plan.
  • He would save money from his commercial work in animation to finance his personal projects, instead of using the money as disposable income. He reckons he has done 2,500 animated commercials.
  • He prefers to do his own independent projects because he doesn't like doing commercial animation as a career. He only does commercial animation for film and television to finance his independent projects. I guess he would also like the lack of a looming deadline when it came to his independent projects.
  • His method of self-funding is similar to Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. Jackson worked as a newspaper photoengraver to finance his film and would film it on weekends. It took him four years to complete.
  • His mother was a commercial illustrator.
  • He started as teenager who would casually produce cartoons, illustrations and paintings. 
  • He was put off by the world of fine art painting because he appreciate the upper classes, which was the demographic that bought paintings.
  • He had a real personal dilemma on the decision pursing commercial animation after leaving the world of fine art painting.
  • In his first personal animation project, he became a 'starving artist' type of animator to finance it while working in commercial animation. He lived off peanut butter, fish and chips, and milk.
  • He was encouraged to give his all when creating commercial animation.
  • He is not satisfied with work he was satisfied when he started to give it his all.
  • He applied perfectionism when managing a small of group of animators for animating opening titles and chunks of animation for a feature film. However, they only just managed to complete the work in time.
  • He collaborated with expert Hollywood animators when creating animated opening titles for a Pink Panther movie.
  • One of the animators he collaborated with on a Pink Panther movie, Ken Harris worked as a teacher and animator for Williams' independent animated feature film project 14 years prior to the documentary (roughly 1968).
  • Williams highly respected Harris because of his own passion to animation.
  • Anyone could do animation if it was mechanical.
  • Animation is dovetailing one image with another.
  • Being skilled in animation is about applying timing and personality into it.
  • Animation essentially imitates life.
  • He reckons King Kong could be animated better with a computer.
  • You need great skill to apply animation, otherwise it may come out robotic. He believed at the time, computer animation could not replicate great skill and would produce robotic quality animation.
  • Williams had a epic vision for his ongoing independent project, The Thief Who Never Gave Up.
  • Williams certainly had attention to detail.
  • Animation equipment and technologies didn't really start to become available to independent animators until sometime between the 1950's and 1970's.
  • Williams' way of thinking conflicted his boss' way of thinking when making a polar bear animated TV commercial. He wasn't treated with respect, but he clearly had problems with authority figures in commercial animation.
  • Producing great quality content almost guarantees success with attracting funding.
  • He had a history of failing to meet deadlines for his commercial animation work, but does deliver in the end.
  • He had to work hard to pitch himself to advertising companies.
  • There are aspects of Williams I would compare him to Len Lye and Stanley Kubrick.
  • Some people in animation only perceived The Thief Who Never Gave Up as a hobby for Williams.
My thoughts on Richard Williams' perfectionism
I believe the Richard Williams' level of perfectionism is pretty normal for someone with the years of expertise he has and I would almost compare his level of perfectionism to Stanley Kubrick. 
Kubrick spent years on his film, but the difference is that Kubrick didn't get in trouble form Hollywood studios for taking so long. I believe because Kubrick had a much more established, popular, famous reputation and career compared to Williams.

 Do I feel it was fair to have his film taken from away him?
In a way, I don't think it was fair his project was taken away from him since it was his creation, his life's work, and he was the one who spent decades on production and self-funding, not the Hollywood film studios. 
It's not fair they would be patient for Kubrick, but not for an Oscar-winning animator like Williams.

 What could have been done differently during production to ensure the film was completed on time?
Williams could had potentially continued to create his film independently for a while longer and then just went for the Hollywood system for distributing the film, somewhat similar to what George Lucas did with Empire Strikes Back. 
It's possibly an option that Williams couldn't afford to do. Another option could been he should had not followed through with so much self-doubt about the perfection of the scenes he wanted to remake.
What makes a Studio Ghibli film distinctive?
The aspects of Studio Ghibi films that I like is possibly what makes their films distinctive, which is the vibrant colours, and fantasy and fairy tale-like concepts.

 Hayao Miyazaki filmography

 IMDb. (n.d.). Hayao Miyazaki. Retrieved March 23, 2019, from Internet Movie Database website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/

 Yuki's Sun (1972)
The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Conan the Future Boy: The Big Giant Robot's Resurrection (1984)
Castle in the Sky (1986)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Porco Russo (1992)
Chage & Aska: On Your Mark (1995)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Spirited Away (2001)
The Whale Hunt (2001)
Mei to Koneko basu (2002)
Koro's Big Day Out (2002)
Imaginary Flying Machines (2002)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
The Day I Bought a Star (2006)
Monmon the Water Spider (2006)
House-hunting (2006)\
Ponyo (2008)
Pan-dane to Tamago-hime (2010)
The Wind Rise (2013)
Boro the Caterpillar (2018)

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