Before the Next Semester Begins

Hey guys!


I thought I would make another post before the semester starts.

I'll start off with the Princess and the Frog. As of today I've seen it 4 times: Once opening day, another at the Disney studio(CalArts students were invited!), once with my family, and also with a friend. Every time I see this movie I sit in awe of the animation. There are a few wonky bits in the animation, if there was one part I noticed it was the Tiana's father. But something tells me that the problem may have been rooted in his design- he was too stiff for me. As far as design goes most of the humans were kind of stiff, except maybe Facilier. I do love how Naveen as a human moves though, and just the overall shapes in his design. He's built thicker than a lot of other Disney princes and I think this might help his design move a little better.




But as far as how the animals/insects moved, I loved it. Naveen is so charming as a frog, Randy Haycock did a fantastic job. At first I didn't like Tiana's design as a frog but its begun to grow on me. Louis strikes me as a bit cliche when it comes to cartoon gators, but I do like the way he's animated.

If there's one thing that blew me away in this movie, it's the colors. Dr. Facilier's song is one of the most amazing sequences I've ever seen using such bright colors. I get chills every time I see it. I wish he got a bit more screentime.

What would I have done if I could of given input on this film? More character development. Everything happens so quickly and I've found that the characters that I wanted to see the most didn't get a lot of screen time or even much information on their background. There's too much going on at the same time and not enough screen time to explain everything. I'm not saying this in the way that it makes the movie hard to comprehend, but rather that the movie leaves me a little unsatisfied when it comes to developed characters.

For example, perhaps Naveen and Tiana should of had a bit more screen time together, of the two falling in love. The mincing mushrooms scene was a good example of what I'm talking about. I just think there should have been more of that sort of character development.

Overall it's a good movie though. It doesn't tread any new ground- which is to be expected of Disney's "return to 2D" in a cautious attempt of reintroducing the medium- but maybe we'll see something new in Disney's future 2D features.

Meanwhile semester 2 of CalArts will be beginning shortly. I can't wait to get back into the flow of things, it'll be great. I've improved so much this semester, I can't wait to see where I'll be at the end of the year. :)

Here's a quick before and after photo of my cube. I'm sure it'll look even more messy after films are due.

That's all for now.