Shrek Storyboard.

Today, i drew up the scene from Shrek which i would base my animation from.
The scene is where Shrek and Donkey go to Lord Farquaad's castle, and receive the task of rescuing Princess Fiona from her curse, in the castle guarded by Dragon.

Critique - Tim Burton's Vincent.

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The technique used to create this short film animation, was stopmotion.
Burton, along with Disney animator Rick Heinrichs, stop motion aminator Stephen Chiodo and cameraman Victor Abdalov, worked on the project for two months, just for this one 5 minute short film.

It was shot in black and white, to give a more ‘horror’ like effect, which went well with the theme of the animation.

Vincent is the story of a boy, Vincent Malloy, who thinks he is like the actor Vincent Price (who narrates the film). He is obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe and his dark stories. When he reads the stories, it detaches him from his real life, and it leads into his delusions that he is in fact a tortured artist, deprived of the woman he loves, which is very similar to certain parts of Edgar Allen Poe's ‘The Raven’. The film ends with Vincent feeling scared of being tortured by his make-believe world, quoting from ‘The Raven’ as he falls to the floor in, believing himself to be dead.

The character in the animation, Vincent Malloy, was created to bear a resemblance to Tim Burton.

Most of Tim Burton’s style of film is influenced from watching horror films as he was growing up. He also took influences from his childhood heroes, like Edgar Allen Poe, and Dr. Seuss.
Originally, Tim only had the idea to release Vincent as a poem for a children’s short story book, but it had received interest from his friends working for Disney.

The intentions of the film were met.
To show how successful it was, the film was theatrically released for two weeks in a Los Angeles cinema. As well as that, it received several critical accolades when it was played at films festivals in London, Seattle and Chicago, where it won two awards. It also won the Critics’ Prize at the Annecy Film Festival in France.

As one of Tim Burton’s first animation films, it succeeded well, and showed off the early developments of how his skills were to be used in the future, for films such as Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride.

The weaknesses in Vincent were that it was very short. I feel that if the film had been carried out more and made a bit longer, it would have received more awards, and been more well known.
However, as a positive, I like how Burton created Vincent to be a ‘different’ child. In the film, his mother has a set idea on how she wants her child to be, like to ask him to go out and play, but he refuses to do so. He is seen different to societies’ standards, and I like how it proves a point that not every child is the same.

Character Biogs.

Mufasa
" Simba, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars."

Played by: James Earl Jones
Film: Lion King

Why he's my favourite character: Mufasa's great, he's like that really cool dad that everyone wants. His character remains the same throughout the whole film. His words are wise, and he's always there to protect his son Simba, which leads up to his untimely death. I still cry when i watch the film, and he dies. Worst moment of my childhood. Even when he's dead, he still guided Simba back into becoming king, by his ghost appearing in the clouds. Everything about him makes him seem like a great king; he's strong built, the colour of his mane, his protective sense of character.
I think, along with Simba, and without this sounding too cliche, the life lessons in this film are probably why it's my all time favourite film.

Finest hour: He ran down into the gorge to save Simba from a tree, dragging him to safety. However, to get himself to safety, he pulled himself up a sheer cliff, where his brother Scar was at the top. Scar grabbed Mufasa's claws, and lunged him off the cliff, leading to his death.



Shrek
" Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers."
Played by: Mike Myers
Film: Shrek

Why he's my favourite character: Shrek is so sarcastic, it's unreal. At first, he's perceived to be this grumpy, nasty ogre who doesn't want anything to do with anyone. But later in the film, you find out that he's actually not like that at all; he's peaceful, and not caring to hurt anyone, and all his wants is to live his life in solitude. He's so nice, he went to Lord Farquaad's house to accept a quest, so all the fairytale creatures could go back to their original homes, instead of Shrek's swamp. During the quest with Donkey, he has to rescue Princess Fiona, who he would later fall in love with, and helps to turn her into an ogre.
Also, he's got a Scottish accent, who doesn't love that?

Finest Hour: Shrek and Donkey broke into Lord Farquaad and Fiona's wedding ceremony to save her. Fiona begins to turn into an ogre as the sun sets, making Farquaad disgusted and orders them both to be killed. However, Dragon bursts in and saves them, giving Fiona and Shrek time to admit their love for each other, and they kiss.
Shrek then marries the ogre Fiona in his swamp, and they live on in the next series of films.