8mm Forum: Pixar's Wall-E and Presto

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Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on June 24, 2008, 02:24 AM:

I attended a premiere of "Wall-E" yesterday night. The guys at Pixar have done it again. It's an incredible film, quite ballsy (no dialogue for at least a good third of the movie, alarming messages...) and fantastic characters.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: these talented people have gone beyond making cartoons from day one. They do know how to make films.

And "Presto", the short opener is once again absolutely hilarious. On par, if not better, than "Lifted".
(And, yes, it would make a good super 8 short, providing a lab agrees to convert a pillarboxed image to full frame).

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 24, 2008, 07:02 PM:

Ya know Jean, (as well as everybody else) ...

CGI animated films have a small charm and in some cases it works well, (as in the case of Toy Story 1 & 2) ...

But I have really become rather dis-enchanted with them. Granted, I'm 42 and not a kid in this modern computer age, but I'm really bored with CGI and don't even check them out on DVD as a general rule. So I'm happy that they haven't done a lot of Super 8 CGI feature releases.

I do absolutely love hand drawn animation.

Perhaps because it's actually done by a living person ... by hand, and not from some program on a computer. It's been so sad to see hand drawn animation have such a quick death (for the most part, and when I see one advertised, I'm more inclined to go see it, as I'm seeing the ending of an era dying a slow but beautiful death.

Posted by Larry Arpin (Member # 744) on June 24, 2008, 11:52 PM:

Just to let you know someone at our work, a former animator, doing dustbusting went back to Disney to work on Princess and the Frog. He said he will first work on the trailer. So you will soon see another drawn animated movie.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on June 26, 2008, 03:39 AM:

Osi, I am older than you are, I have worked in animation in the early 90s (art director for the french studio of the Ninja Turtles, among other things) and comic books (Marvel and Topps) and always considered the computer to be a fantastic tool. No more, no less. It's not because you have Photoshop installed on your machine that you a/ know how to use it b/ know how to draw. Computers can't make films by themselves. If you don't have talented people using them (and most off them knowing how to draw and how to make films) what you just get is a stream of soulless images. And this what makes the difference between the great (Pixar) and the others.
And if Disney is reverting to classical hand drawn animation (I was too devastated by the news of the mouse house decision of doing only CG), it's thanks to John Lasseter.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on June 26, 2008, 06:41 PM:

Wall-E has not yet been released here yet but if the trailer is anything to go by its going to be a big hit. The Scope trailer is fantastic, I like the touch of them using some of the music from "The Great Escape" 1963 with Steve McQueen anyone old enough to remember it [Wink]

I have the "Madagascar" trl on 35mm picture and sound is great on my 80yr old Ernemann 2 might add Wall-E after the film has finished its run, ideal trl for a Super8 Scope release.

PS. Has anyone got a copy of "Knick Knack" on 8mm or 35mm [Cool]

they might want to part with?.

Graham. [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 27, 2008, 12:05 PM:

I have to admit that Wall-E has an interesting trailer. I'm just not enamored with CGI as a general rule.

at least I'm not as anal as those people who gripe about CGI used in such films as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on June 27, 2008, 04:32 PM:

Wow, Wall-E is looking to be the best reviewed film of the year, so far. It will be interesting to see how much the word-of-mouth helps it now that opening weekend is here.

[ July 03, 2008, 12:20 PM: Message edited by: Bill Brandenstein ]

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on July 02, 2008, 09:02 AM:

I just saw Wall-E and I agree. Great film!
In regards to the CGI vs. Hand drawn, CGI has come so far now that the novelty has worn off and the only thing that will really make you take notice of a film..is its story. And Wall-E is storytelling at its best. A film like this would have cost 10 times as much if it was done live and probably take 10 times longer. CGI is now a viable alternative for telling a story in film. Love the Mac startup chime! (**spoiler**)

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 02, 2008, 10:43 AM:

I like hand drawn, I like CGI. I don't mind seeing them blended. They are different artistic tools for animators to choose when telling a story.

-what I do mind is when Accountants do the choosing and even kill off choices permanently.

Of course even artistic companies need to make sure that nobody's robbing the cash register, but creative choices should never be made on economic grounds alone!

I am itching to see Wall-E, and will probably get there next week. Even the poorest Pixar is still a great movie!

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on July 03, 2008, 12:23 PM:

Dittos aplenty.

Why is it that accountants and executives are taking so long to see what is obvious to us? If "Princess and the Frog" has a great story, my kids (and I!) will gladly get in line to see it. I'm glad Disney has some faith in the traditional way. And I guarantee you that my kids don't care.

Have you seen the state of Saturday morning/Cartoon network animation lately?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 03, 2008, 09:22 PM:

As the Dad of a very Media Savvy five year old I certainly do!

This stuff is just awful! Very one dimensional and annoyingly educational/preachy at times. I usually try to help him out by threading up a few Bugs Bunnies after dark. As long as my kid takes Yosemite Sam as a bad example, he'll do just fine!

Let's be honest, I like accountants just fine. I dated one before I met my wife, and I'll have to say her assets perfectly balanced her liabilities, so to speak. A dearly departed friend was an accountant and a good one, and I miss him plenty. (I miss HER too, here and there...)

The problem with our friends with the adding machines is sometimes they are so focused on the bottom line they fail to see the really big picture.

I came very close to losing my job once because even though it was established that I was actually a very valuable guy (-based on other people's opinions: I just try to show up every day...), there was no room for me in the budget. It was only resolved when the President of the company told the Director of Accounting it was HER job to "make room".

Once again, we appreciate our Accounting Brethren (or "Sistren", where applicable), just as we will certainly enjoy WALL-E!

-Somebody has to keep an eye on the strongbox!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 10, 2008, 09:54 AM:

We finally got to see Wall-E last night. It is a definite step forward for Pixar.

The animation has reached the point where for most of the movie it simply looked like live-action footage. The only place where this failed was whenever human beings showed up. This is Pixar's one weakness: people. In my opinion they have an edge on everybody else in pretty much every respect, but for example Dreamworks' human characters are much more photorealistic. The human characters in Wall-E are much like the ones in The Incredibles: they look like they are made of vinyl. They have come a long way from the more doll-like people in "Toy Story", though.

Pixar's strongest suit has always been story telling. This one is no different. There's a depth of feeling to a lot of the characters, and it's shocking the range of emotion they pull out of a robot whose "face" is basically a pair of "eyes" on a "neck"; all the more so when he loses them after a forced reboot and you sense he really is just a machine. It is as much an action movie as a comedy, as a drama. Some people have griped a little about the "environmental message" in it. If there is a "message" at all, it's simply that if you make a mess and don't deal with it, it will eventually come back to haunt you. Any adult should know this. If they taught my kid this message, then the price of the ticket will become a great investment!

The action is a little intense at times, so much that my almost first grader got a little scared here and there. Overall he still enjoyed it. Bring a 3 year old to see this and you may be sorry.

A little unusually for Pixar, there is a sprinkling of pop-culture references, but they are very subtle on a Shrek scale of things.

"Presto" was absolutely great. As a sign of how much the Pixar people are cartoon fans it was even titled in a vintage Disney style. I would not fight the idea of having this one spooled up in my Elmo in the near future. (“Mr. Derann”, are you listening??)

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on July 10, 2008, 05:17 PM:

Hey Steve, if I'd known, I'd have invited you to join us!

Really, it's a pretty simple parable wrapped in a very abstract, sophisticated sci-fi movie. I like the emphasis given to the importance of relationships over electronics. But I'm still not sure what my kids got out of it given the "abstraction layer." Is the target audience the parents rather than the kids?

It's disappointing to me, on a technical note, how many so-called first-rate theaters have such a steep rake to the auditorium, that when showing a scope film such as this only a third of the screen can be in razor-sharp focus. Of course, this is because they're targeting only the bottom portion of the screen, which in some cases begins at a lower height than the lens...

It's also getting harder to figure out who's going to give you a good chest-thumping, wide-around-surround sound experience. THX and digital sound are rarely advertised any more, and some of the best results (for me) have turned up in some of the unadvertised spots. On the other hand, last night we were in a THX room but it sounded like the subwoofers were nearly off.

Well, I agree with Steve's comments and think that Wall-E and Presto deserve unqualified recommendation!

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on July 10, 2008, 05:50 PM:

That film is not in scope is it? I think its the full 35mm Frame just masked to look like Scope. I saw "Matchpoint" at a theatre here in NYC and the film was out of focus on the right side of the screen. Everytime a character walked across from right to left he would be blurry..and then in focus. I complained...others complained...the theatre finally got it right 15 minutes into the feature! Grrrr!!!!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 10, 2008, 10:42 PM:

IMDB 'sez 2.39:1, for whatever that's worth...

The film-collector's curse was going full force last night. at one point my eyes wandered over to the right edge of screen and there they were: two or three parallel lines! Usually when this happens my eyes stick to the defect like glue and I can't enjoy the movie. I kept repeating to myself "it's not my print, it's not my print..." and got my eyes back to screen center again for the rest of the movie.

What a crime! How old can this poor print be: a week and a half? This is a beautiful theater: clean, comfortable, modern yet furnished a lot nicer than our most local one. The floors are carpeted yet still not sticky! Still the same, they must take pretty poor care of their projection equipment. I have yet to see a film there without a line.

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