Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Lorenzo


I love Disney’s 2004 short film Lorenzo. It was the last project Disney’s French Studio animated before closing. The award winning film showed where hand-drawn animation could go in the future. The idea of taking rich, fluid hand-drawn character animation and change its traditional look with the help of the computer is extremely exciting to me. Leave the cel-painted look behind and aim for something like rough brush strokes, watercolor or pastel. Anything is possible now, Lorenzo proved that.
At the time of the film’s brief release my excitement was shared by Disney, Pixar and other studios. For some reason that enthusiasm has faded within big studios. So has the love for organic, personal, hand crafted paper animation.

Luckily I see Lorenzo’s potential being played out in many extraordinary student films. And I know that it’s only a question of time until a commercial pencil animated feature film will be produced that could bring to the screen a new, breathtaking mix of drawing and cg. When you draw your animation first, then use the machine to help invent a new world, the level of magic and wonder can hit the stratosphere.

Image Disney/Heritage Auctions

16 comments:

  1. I love this film. Sad that it's never been released on a DVD/BluRay with other Disney shorts . It is now almost a "lost film" . (was it ever released theatrically even for a short run ? I saw it at a couple of times at a special screening at the Disney FL studio , but never saw it released with any other film for a theatrical run) .

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    1. It was released with the Touchstone film "Raising Helen". I never saw that film (heard it's not that good) so I missed out on seeing "Lorenzo".

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  2. Does anyone know where to watch it? I only heard about Lorenzo a few years ago, but I've not been able to find it anywhere. Everyone speaks so highly of it, it's a shame its not easily accessible. Is there a reason it was never released on DVD?

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  3. I really hope it shows up on DVD or something soon. It's exciting to see drawn animation have more options than the cel look with lines and flat colours. Have you seen how good fake watercolour can look now? http://vimeo.com/97200093
    Even in the few years since 'Ernest & Celestine' it's gotten way better.
    American studios are really dropping the ball by not using the medium. The technology and talent are ready to blow everybody away with something that's never been seen before.

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  4. I'm hoping for the same thing. That traditional 2D will surge back from obscurity. James Lopez efforts with "Hullabaloo" just might do it! I couldn't help but to contribute during the group funding portion of the project!

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  5. This short was going to be a segment to Fantasia 2006, a Fantasia project produced from early 2000s to middle-2000s, right?

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    1. I believe that's correct. Four of the segments were completed and were all released in different ways.

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    2. At least they were released at all instead of simply left uncompleted or stuck the vaults for decades to come.

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  6. It is impossible to see this short anywhere. This is how Disney encourages piracy.

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    1. And yet nobody has come forward with a copy or I would've saw it by now.

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  7. Pure Poetry Andreas. I know that I feel like my magical animation spark is just starting working on concept art right now. By the way, I was looking at The adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad today while getting ready for Halloween. I happen to notice the scene when Toad and his friends fighting to get the paper to toad hall, they used the same animated sequence used in the Jungle Book when Baloo tries to rescue Mowgli. Did you ever notice that sequence before?

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    1. Of course I did. Jungle Book director Woolie Reitherman applied the same staging and timing from that sequence in an effort to cut costs. I wonder if it did.

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  8. The trailer can be found on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXBw8Hkm-_M

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  9. A nice breakdown of Lorenzo can be found on the Animation Art Conservation page here:

    http://www.animationartconservation.com/?c=art&p=lorenzo

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    1. That's amazing. I've always dreamed of a software that could use painted keys with inbetween drawings to make final painted animation like that.

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