jormajorma’s blogblog
Just another AnimationBlogspot.com weblog

I am a big fan of John Kricfalusi’s blog.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

He is a big fan of extreme cartoony cartoons.   He feels that modern cartoons are missing the “fun factor” that his cartoons and many old ones possessed.  Here are some examples: 

old “fun” cartoons (maybe not that old) 

Mighty Mouse

New “not so fun” or (more based in reality)

Pocahontas

Now I am a fan of both styles though I didn’t really care for Pocahontas as a movie.  The question I have been asking myself is if it is possible to have something as cartoony as mighty mouse in a feature length format?  I agree with John K, that animation should be used for things that are only possible with animation.  Otherwise we may as well be filming live action.  Also animation is very good at stylizing life and caricaturing situations and personalities.   Very cartoony animations like Mighty mouse or Popeye are good at this.  I just can’t see myself sitting through an hour plus time watching a linear story unfolds in that style.  Why is that?  Is it me?  

Well I think the answer is ”Suspension of Disbelief” 

Dictionary.com says “Suspension of Disbelief” is a willingness to suspend one’s critical faculties and believe the unbelievable: sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment. 

We apply suspension of disbelief when we watch cartoons and I figure the longer the running time of the cartoon the more in danger of breaking suspension of disbelief you become.  That is why shorts are so fun and you can do really crazy stuff and it is believable.  Longer running cartoons can still stylize and enhance life but you have to tone it down as not to break that trust with the audience.  It seems to me that this suspension timeline is only applied to the length of the cartoon. So watching several shorts in a row does not break suspension of disbelief because at the beginning of each cartoon the rules, world, and characters all start again. 

So that is my current thoughts, I have a tendency of changing my opinions so feel free to respond and give me your take.  Thank you John K for many hours of pondering. 

I am currently number 7 in a google search for Jorma. This lands me on the first page of a search. This may seem silly but 9 months ago I was on the 4th or 5th page. I have tried to keep things up to date and I guess it is finally working. Well my lucky number is 6 so I would love to move up. Nothing against the guy, but don’t check out his site as I want his spot. He is also the reason I am JormaJorma.com. I am named after Jorma Kaukonen one of the founders of Jefferson Airplane. I understand why he would be in the first spot.

I am a big fan of Keith Lango. I am a current subscriber to his VTS. If you don’t know what I am talking about please check out his site. You won’t be dissapointed.  Keith Lango 

Anywho, Keith has been posting recently about trying to find a style in 3D that is not pixar or that is based on any other predefined media. This has intrigued me and I have been thinking a lot about it. It seems that there has been a pretty big movement in the past years to emulate the best of 2D and to mimic that technique in 3D. I myself have followed that path. Lately people have taken a keen interest in mimicing the look of stop motion in 3D. Though interesting and pleasing it is once again trying to make 3D look like something else. The goal is to find out what 3D does that no other medium can do. Is that why we are creating movies that look more and more photo real. Because if there is one thing the computer can do well, that is really precise detail. This seems to be the problem. This inherent ability of the computer to spit out complex shading, shading, lighting and texture has trapped artists into reproducing life. This is cool, but animation and cartooning is the medium of carituring life and taking something complex and boiling it down to the simplist element. This does not mean that we should not do detail because that is what the computer does best, but maybe recreating reality is not the only road to follow.

Enter Ryan

This film by Chris Landreth achieved what I believe Keith is looking for. Or at least it is something that I have been looking for. It has been a long time since I have seen it, so I bought it from Itunes and was blown away by what he was doing. It wasn’t so much the animation quality, but the style. He used the power of the computer to render detail and used it to convey ideas and emotions that in any other medium would have been impossible. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think. I don’t think this is the answer but you have to give the guy credit for thinking outside the box and trying something new. It has made me do a lot of thinking.

Ryan part 1 

Ryan part 2

Anyway, my first post so I bet there are tons of mistakes and formatting poblems. Thanks for reading.