This is a look back into 1912. The Titanic is getting ready to sail across the great Atlantic and set a new crossing record, while Teddy Roosevelt is upset that his erstwhile protégé William Howard Taft is ignoring him and is preparing to run for President on the Bull Moose ticket. There hasn't been a major European war in thirty years, and folks are talking of a time of perpetual peace. But people are still people, and sometimes they are tempted to do bad things.
We are in Russia, where the real action in film-making is taking place, and that eccentric cutting-edge auteur Ladislaw Starewicz has created his new film, "Cameraman's Revenge." It is all done with dead bugs, and it is captivating.
If you have the patience to sit through this simple morality play, it's pretty interesting to see how cleverly everything is being done. While "Cameraman's Revenge" is about love and loss, the entire sexual dimension is removed because, well, they're dead bugs. This allows us to focus on a tale of what is right and what is wrong. The story is still as pungent as it was the day Ladislaw started filming, a universal story of what goes around, comes around.
Ladislas Starevich
It comes as a bit of a shock when you see the signs in Russian - there's nothing else to suggest the origin of this stop-motion animation. When you see the name of the scene of the Lover's Tryst - the Hotel D'Amour - it's just perfect, with French being the universal language of what is going on and easily understandable to us now even after 100+ years in a film made for Russian audiences. The scene of the film screening takes us back to a time when there were no movie palaces for the great unwashed - films were shown in living rooms or lounges when someone put up a simple screen, set to cranking the camera, and then took it down afterwards.
At some point, if you pay attention and just focus on what is going on, you will forget that you are watching bugs and you will follow the story of deceit and betrayal. That, my friends, is the magic of the moving pictures, 25 years before "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
"Good Grief" is a serious 7-minute documentary from Fiona Dalwood about grief.
Most of the animation on this site is about animation as entertainment. However, life is not just about laughs, and neither is animation.
If you aren't in a serious mood, don't watch the video. We're not trying to bring you down. However, these animations can and do help ordinary people cope with catastrophic issues in their lives.
This features a series of conversations about losing something irreplaceable (death, dismemberment) and tries to make us see that people must march on regardless. These are real people talking about real issues. They are not seeking your sympathy, they just were asked to tell their story, and they tell it. There is lighthearted stop-motion animation, and we'll let you draw your own conclusions as to why this is appropriate in such a serious subject - and it is.
The animation is simple and straightforward. As with the best animation, it is the message that is important, not the theatrics. Claymation makes us realize that these are basic, fundamental issues that are part of life, like childhood.
"Good Grief" is an educational animation that we are showing, among other reasons, to continue our exploration of the many important and unexpected uses to which animation can be put these days. If our showing it brings it to the attention of one person who can draw any benefit from it, that is worth the effort.
"Spook Train" is a stop-motion animation horror film. Lee Hardcastle of Missing Head Ltd (who created the short film “T IS FOR TOILET” from the feature film "The ABCs of Death") describes in the above video what is going on better than I can, so I will leave it to him. The plot: three kids discover the remains of the amusement park ride Spook Train that was closed “by a moral panic.” Bad things happen.
"Spook Train" looks pretty violent, so if you don't like that sort of thing, perhaps you don't want to watch the little promo video above. If that's your cup of java, though, glad to be of service.
Hardcastle is doing a kickstarter campaign for this in order to shoot it as both a Ultra High Definition 4k and 3D feature length film. I assume it is legit but take no responsibility, and I'm happy to spread the word with that caveat and wish this creative guy all the best luck.
Tim Burton almost single-handedly revitalized the use of stop-motion animation after a long dormant period following the classic Rankin/Bass specials such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." "The Corpse Bride" (2005) from Warner Bros. continued that effort. Like "The Nightmare Before Christmas," this film was a big financial success and paved the way for further films in the genre like "Coraline." Here, for the first time, Burton actually directs (with Mike Johnson) a stop-motion film, and he shows a sure hand and deft touch using standard Canon digital cameras.
Emily and her caller
It is the Victorian era, and Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) and Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) are about to be married. The union is beneficial to both families and has been arranged to benefit everyone but the couple themselves, who barely know each other. When they do get to know each other, though, they quickly fall in love.
You don't want that look from your girl, living OR dead
Victor messes up his wedding rehearsal and runs in shame to the forest, putting the wedding ring on a tree root as he practices his vows. The root comes to life and transforms into the finger of a girl clad in an old wedding gown, who claims that placing the ring on her finger means they are married. Victor is transported to the "Land of the Dead," where Victor learns that the girl, Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), was murdered while in the process of eloping.
The Land of the Living is so dull
Victor doesn't want to stay and makes Emily take him back to his own world. He then finds Victoria, tells her what has happened, and asks her to marry him right away. Emily feels betrayed and takes Victor back to her world, while Victoria's parents don't believe her story and lock her away. They decide to marry her off to someone else, Lord Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant), but she pines for Victor.
A dead family
Victor and Emily reconcile, and Victor finds out about Victoria's new betrothal and decides that he might as well marry Emily instead. Emily now insists that Victor must return to the Land of the Living with her and marry her there, then drink poison so that they can be together forever in the Land of the Dead. Victor agrees, so they return to the Land of the Living with deceased members of the townspeople. The living and the dead have an initially awkward, but ultimately joyous, reunion.
Welcome to the Land of the Dead!
Victoria rejects Lord Barkis because he is only out for her money. She is hurt when she sees Victor about to be married to Emily. It turns out that Lord Barkis is Emily's former love, who murdered her for her money, and now he only is interested in Victoria for the same reason. Victor and Lord Barkis have a duel, and the fate of both men and the two women hangs in the balance.
Lots of work went into this production.
The plot is based on Jewish folklore, with a dash of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" thrown in, and is quite clever. The set-up is perfect for Burton's creepy animated figures, and Danny Elfman once again provides suitably dark music to accompany the action. It took over a year to film, and the effort is shown in the extraordinary attention to detail throughout. The facial expressions are very realistic, and the realism extends down to a reflection in a tear drop.
Emily dancing in happiness
While you might think that this is only a dark, creepy story, it is more of a love story. The set designs and costumes are Gothic and in that sense reflect Burton's earlier films such as "Batman" and "Beetlejuice," but the settings do not indicate the amount of heart and sincerity in this film. There are philosophical ruminations on the difference between life and death and the slight differences that sometimes exist between those states.
Emily is so giving
The biggest drawback is that the plot is thin and is wrapped around a very simple conceit, that the living and dead inhabit separate but equal worlds which can interact pretty much at will. It is a one-joke environment that you either buy into or you don't. There are some really odd witticisms and bad puns based on that dichotomy ("Why go up there when people are dying to get down here" and "Can a heart still break once its stopped beating") that are corny and perhaps a bit precious but surprisingly effective in context.
General Bonesapart
The film is dark, though, no question about it, and in more ways than one, with the living world filmed in shades of gray that make it seem deader than the Land of the Dead itself, which is lit in bright, creepy Halloween colors. You almost get the impression that the dead are happier, which, who knows, may have been the truth in Victorian times.
The Land of the Dead is very colorful
It may not be the best choice for small children, who may take its scary themes a bit too literally. But some kids will love it, no question, so it is more a question of personal maturity levels than how chronologically old a child is. The film certainly seems directed more towards adults who know not to take its tropes literally than at children who may have nightmares about dead people coming back to life.
Bonejangles is a fan favorite
Some fans really relate to the characters of this film, especially for some reason to Emily (Victoria gets a lot of grief from Emily fans for interfering with her union to Victor). If you like this film, then you might want to follow it up with "Coraline," which has a similar look, albeit with characters that are even creepier.
