#i had to pay homage to a classic

[hurricanes-art]

how much do you think itd cost to get antonio banderas to voice act this for me?

[inkykeiji]

watching willy’s wonderland (finally!!!) and i am absolutely loving the 1930s—1950s B-movie horror vibes!!! like the wooden acting and horrid script + the cheap practical effects and prosthetics are all great, but oh my god,, the cinematography n editing are by far my favourite. like the nonsensical camera angles and the shot compositions and the jump cuts and the shot/reverse shots with nic cage vs the animatronics???????? brilliant i loved it so much

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"I think that's more than enough raspberries for me!" Dorian laughed, quite liking this solution-the raspberry in the center would make for a pleasant surprise when the cake was sliced into, and the blueberry frosting, a lovely pale blue shade, made for a lovely, picture-perfect cake, with the blueberry and raspberry garnishes topping them a welcome addition.

(What a shame they wouldn't actually get to eat any of it!)

"But is it enough blueberry for you, my dear?" he asked her teasingly, enjoying the game they'd made of this, bantering back and forth with one another, their banter (however platonic it was at heart) seeming much more romantic to those around them-they must've looked like the sweetest pair of lovebirds in all of New Orleans to everyone (oh, if only they knew)!

He had to say, Emily was an excellent actress in her own right; she made a great show of appearing as the happiest bride in all the South, a performance everyone was falling for, hook, line, and sinker! He couldn't have asked for a better co-star in this endeavor, his smile genuine as he made a note to compliment her on her performance later...

[marsmarbles]

I’ve fleshed out Scar and Sausage’s designs for my Chained Life au

I go a little bit more in depth on the designs under the cut.

Originally I had Scar in his classic outfit because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I decided I wanted to give him a robin-hood/Peter Pan vibe.

The feathers in his hat are meant to resemble vex wings, much like his hat in HermitCraft.

I think Scar would start out more Allay on his green life but then progressively gain more Vex features as he looses lives. Since I imagine this being Scar’s green life, I’ll probably change the hat feathers to look more like Allay wings.

Sausage didn’t change a lot for his initial conception. I wanted to do something more interesting with his eye scar, so I made it super messed up with a flower shaped iris. The eye’s really loose and can roll past the limits of a normal eye. It could probably roll to the back of his head as well. Other than that I gave him a lot of sunflowers to pay homage to Empires Sausage and Santa Perla.

I think Imma have the freaky eye carry onto my general design for Sausage.

Im hoping to do more detailed designs for all of the characters in Chained Life and redesign old ones with my current skills. I also love seeing fanart so I hope more concrete design references will be helpful to those who want to do that.

[pickypickypeak]

So I FINALLY got the art of wish book which is so so good and? I’m honestly a little surprised that the only things that got leaked online were the starboy and evil amaya concepts when it’s literally filled with gems? Here’s a few but first let me tell you, the art alone makes it worth it. It’s amazing

THE HAMLET! LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE HAMLET!! Apparently in an early draft Asha and her community had left Rosas and started living hidden in the forest so their wishes could be safe from Magnifico. This hidden place was called “The Hamlet” and it still exists in the final movie, though it’s just a part of Rosas and doesn’t have the original lore. I really hope this trope gets reused for a future Disney movie because it’s a really cool concept!

Live action Valentino??

Some Sakina dump because I love her (also meet Tomás)

Oh and you know the wishing tree in the movie? It’s based on Walt Disney’s own actual wishing tree?? Wtf???

Also there’s a whole 2 pages about Dahlia explaining how much effort and care were put into her creation as a character with a disability. They actually had consultants making sure that ANY form of representation felt authentic and positive. They did not just made the cast multi-ethnic, they actually did their research so that any culture was well portrayed, all the way to the littlest details like textures on their clothing or even each character’s way of greeting.

And about the animation not being fully 2D… Haters conveniently forget mentioning that the movie is expressly made to celebrate both the past AND future of WDAS. Then like it or not, but you can’t possibly celebrate all of Disney without CGI animation. CGI is also Disney. Tangled and Frozen and Moana became instant Disney classics. I would die for a traditional animated movie, but when you put it this way, it makes perfect sense to me that they went with hybrid style for this movie specifically. It just feels right.

Also going through these pages… you just feel the love the producers and animators put in every single reference to older classics. Animation techniques were literally inspired by actual frames from Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan. So were coloring techniques, lighting, cinematography… There was a breathing effort of paying homages to these movies with tremendous talent in them, while also creating something new. So hate on this movie as much as you want, but mind you calling it “AI-made”. It’s not. It’s made by humans.

Oh, and finally, Starboy. Well, yeah, I fell for it. People literally made it all up. There’s zero indication that he was gonna be Asha’s love interest, let alone be the one singing At All Costs instead of Magnifico. From what the book says (there’s literally two short paragraphs about him, before Star comes in) I think they didn’t even have a plot then, they were just exploring ideas and made some brainstorming sketches deciding how Star could have been. Same with evil Amaya! That one pic that leaked of her with Magnifico is all we got. There’s no indication that it was gonna be “a better movie” because there is no plot for that lol

[positivexcellence]

Is there garlic on this pizza? An oral history of Supernatural's 'Monster Movie' episode

THE BEGINNING

What started as a simple enough idea — a black-and-white episode — was then put into the hands of writer Ben Edlund, who’d already crafted some of the show’s more creative hours, including “Hollywood Babylon,” which marked one of the series’ first meta episodes, and “Ghostfacers,” which was shot like a cheesy ghost-hunting reality show using handheld cameras. Alongside Edlund was director Robert Singer, an executive producer on the series and a massive movie fan himself.

ERIC KRIPKE (Creator): I was an obsessive fan of The X-Files and in their prime, they got really bold and adventurous with their format, and they had a black-and-white episode. I was always hoping that we could start taking those same kinds of swings. I remember saying, “I want to do a black-and-white episode where Sam and Dean are up against the classic movie monsters.” But I think Ben came up with the shapeshifter. We were trying to figure out: How do you get a mummy and a werewolf and a Frankenstein and a Dracula in the same episode? That makes no f---ing sense. So this idea of a shapeshifter who loved those movies and was ultimately just a fanboy was the secret to cracking that one open. 

ROBERT SINGER (Director): I think that script was Ben at his best. I was really happy that I was in line to direct because I really loved those old movies, so it was fortuitous that I got to do it. 

JENSEN ACKLES (Dean Winchester): It’s all just paying homage to the old-school ways of doing things, which having Bob at the helm, he’s seen all those movies time and time again, so he was the perfect guy to direct this episode. 

KRIPKE: Bob has an encyclopedic knowledge of movies, especially older films. He’s a classicist and his directing style is a lot of that kind of beautiful, elegant Hollywood style, and I think he just really relished it.

SINGER: I shot generally with wider lenses than I would normally do with Supernatural to try to give it some of that old-time feel. I really took pains to make it look as old fashioned as I possibly could. I’m a big fan of James Whale, who had done Frankenstein, and there are a lot of great crane shots in those movies, so I did a lot of crane work in this. We did a lot of shadow play. 

JARED PADALECKI (Sam Winchester): You put Ben Edlund on writing and Bob Singer on directing and magic is bound to happen.

But there was another piece of the puzzle that needed to come together for the magic to truly work: Who would play the shapeshifter (and therefore spend the episode doing their best Dracula)? The answer was Todd Stashwick.

TODD STASHWICK (Dracula): They wanted a full-on replication of Bela Lugosi’s performance. I had the DVD of the 1930’s Dracula, so I was watching that just to get the mannerisms and vocal intonation down so that I wasn’t doing a Xerox carbon copy but rather actually trying to get that Hungarian dialect that he has. I went in [to the audition] and just swung for the rafters.

SINGER: We had him do one of the Dracula scenes and then do the speech where he’s telling her how he became the way he became and Todd just killed it. That was an easy call to cast him.

STASHWICK: They wanted to know that you were going to be able to bring both sides to it, the full-on studied Dracula performance and then to let that mask drop and see the wounded man that is the monster. 

KRIPKE: We needed someone who could stick the landing on the Dracula part and that’s really hard. It’s hard to do it and have it not come off like a bit. Todd is a remarkable mimic of Bela Lugosi and brings humanity and soulfulness and depth to it. There’s something in his eyes that made it deeper and sadder than had you cast someone who was just going for an impersonation.

PADALECKI: That episode belongs to Todd Stashwick. He’s so damn good. 

Alongside Stashwick was Melinda Sward, whose character Jamie, a local waitress, caught Dean's eye and marked a first for the show. 

KRIPKE: At the time, there was a young female fan named Jamie. She and her mother would write us letters and they were super fans, and we were still early enough that we’re like, “I can’t believe there’s fans.” Jamie had medical issues, so when the season was coming up, I wrote her a response and said, “If you concentrate on getting better, we’ll name a character after you.” And she responded and said, “That’s amazing, but can you just do me a favor? Can you make sure it’s a character that doesn’t die?” So the female lead in this one we named Jamie. That was one of the only times we ever named a character after a real person and a fan. The happy ending is she was thrilled and she grew up healthy and now tours around with a replica of the Impala. 

ACKLES: Jamie was one of my favorite Dean Girls. Melinda was so good and so fun.

From the instant the episode began, fans knew they were in for something special as the old black-and-white WB logo kicked off a very old-school credits sequence.

SINGER: Right from the opening of the Warner Brothers shield, you know where you’re going. It set the tone perfectly.

KRIPKE: That and “Changing Channels” are the only two episodes where I’ll sit down and just watch the credit sequence. The font, the way you list every crew member, and it just goes on forever. And [composer Christopher] Lennertz wrote real orchestral music for it. I just love the opening of that episode and the way we did that title sequence. But changing subjects, what that reminds me of is the singular genius of Ben Edlund to set this episode during Oktoberfest. Suddenly everyone looks like European villagers and everything becomes a real monster movie.

SINGER: And that location was a party site, but it worked perfect for us. 

PADALECKI: It was like an amusement park in the outskirts of Vancouver that we rented out. It ended up unfortunately getting torn down and turned into condos or something.

THE MIDDLE

With the setting and the cast locked, the brothers set out on their hunt, arriving at Oktoberfest to help solve a murder. And when the investigation made Dean late to his first date with Jamie, he found himself face-to-face with Dracula. So naturally, Dean punched the shapeshifter in the face. A fight ensued, one that ended with Dean holding an ear and Dracula ... riding a vespa?

ACKLES: I believe one of the many reasons this show lasted as long as it did is because it can be scary but then at the same time, you throw something like the scooter in and it layers in comedy with horror, with drama, with romance. It touches it all. Bob said it early on and it became a mantra of ours: “No joke is too cheap.” 

STASHWICK: That’s the infamous assault scene. I’m in full crazy mode and I’m supposed to clock Jensen in his beautiful face with my elbow, and for whatever reason in that moment — I perhaps leaned in, he perhaps leaned in — we closed that gap and I clocked him. So what you see on the DVD extras is me being all Dracula and then me being mortified that I just hit their billion dollar baby in the face.

ACKLES: He caught me with an elbow but he probably thought he hit me harder than he did. It was a mix between a good shot and a graze, but he immediately broke character. He was like, “Are you good?” And I was like, “Yeah, that one woke me up.” [Laughs]

Dean made it through that fight, but the shapeshifter had already planned its next move: While Sam checked out an eccentric local that they thought was the killer, Dean and Jamie shared a drink back at the bar where she worked. Her friend Lucy (Holly Elissa) then showed up just in time to spike their drinks. By the time Dean woke up, he was wearing Lederhosen while strapped to a table in a dungeon.

SINGER: Jensen was like, “Oh god do I have to wear this?” So to make him feel better, I put on the Lederhosen top. I didn’t go with the full shorts but I did direct that day in the Lederhosen top to take the edge off it a little bit for him.

ACKLES: I remember that! He directed in that shirt. [Laughs] Those were authentic leather Lederhosen from Bavaria. Only the best for Dean.

PADALECKI: When Jensen’s first getting strapped to the table, cause he’s a big guy, I remember them talking about how for the visual's sake, they wanted it to be like he’s a quote-unquote damsel in distress, so if they used a normal-sized platform, it would’ve looked comical, but not in a good way. So they had to make it a little bigger cause he’s kind of big.

Dean wasn’t in the dungeon long before Dracula left him to go answer the doorbell. It seemed the shapeshifter ordered a pizza … and he had a coupon.

KRIPKE: I just love how there’s the monster lab in the basement but then you go upstairs and it’s this mid-century ranch house. That’s almost a direct ripoff of the Steve Martin movie The Man with Two Brains.

SINGER: [Set designer] Jerry [Wanek] did a great job in building the dungeon set, and then when the doorbell rings, you realize it’s in the bottom of a suburban house with a pizza guy showing up at the door. 

KRIPKE: When Ben wrote the script, we talked about that scene more than any other scene in the episode. We were so specific about how we wanted the Dracula shapeshifter to react to the pizza guy and the way he’s scared when he says, “Is there garlic on the pizza?” And then the way the pizza guy’s so bored and over it: “Did you order garlic?” And then he says, “No!” It’s the way that he’s so bored of this Dracula at the door.

PADALECKI: I think Jensen and I must’ve watched this episode together in 2008 because I remember us looking at each other and going like, ”Oh my god, [the pizza guy] is way better than he needs to be!”

ACKLES: That line, because of the way that Todd delivered it, we used that line on set many, many times. Whenever somebody asked a question that had an obvious “no” to it, it’d be like, “Hey, did you want the big light on in the distance?” And Bob would be like, “Is there garlic on it?” So that became a little ism on set.

STASHWICK: I’m a Second City guy, so “yes, and” is drilled into my head and yet the two memes I’m most known for, I’m saying the word “no,” and that is Supernatural and Star Trek. I have the no's that are heard around the world. 

In the end, the brothers came out victorious and another monster was dead, but not before this one made you feel a little something (and gave one heck of a final monologue quoting King Kong). 

KRIPKE: Ben gets all the credit, and rightfully so, for writing the crazy episodes, but where I don’t think he gets enough credit is what a disciplined screenwriter he is in terms of character consistency and rule consistency and just the emotion and pathos he brings to every single story he does. No matter how crazy, he always has such a talent for capturing humanity. I wasn’t counting on the shapeshifter to have pathos but when he gives that speech at the end, it’s so sad. I give him all the credit in the world for that.

SINGER: Eric used to say, “Every villain is a hero of his own story,” so we always tried, as best we could, to give the villains something to do and learn more about them and give them full characters. So even with all this fun, we managed to give him something a little more to do. 

PADALECKI: He becomes an almost sympathetic character — I stress almost because he did kill a couple people — but what a great character arc all inside of one episode.

STASHWICK: Because this character wasn’t just a cartoon Dracula and he had that human moment, I think it made him stick in people’s minds more. This monster just really loved the movies. He was the ultimate cosplayer. It might be the thing I’m most known for outside of Star Trek, that one episode of TV.

THE END...?

Although Dracula didn’t make it out alive, the episode seemed to breathe new life into the series, marking perhaps its biggest risk yet, though not the biggest risk the show would ever take. 

SINGER: It kind of laid a template for other big swings that we took that were out of the ordinary, whether it was “Changing Channels” or “The French Mistake.” This was the first of our big swings of being totally different than what the show was generally week to week.

KRIPKE: I remember it getting a positive reception. I think people appreciated the swings we were starting to take. I just love that this small little supernatural show that’s arguably a Buffy ripoff on The CW got so experimental. I am really proud that we were doing legit avant-garde stuff, really experimental filmmaking, of which this was one, and then we just kept pushing it. 

PADALECKI: It’s such a great episode of television and I think we have a few in our 15 years that could stand alone as something fun to watch and out of the box, and it's certainly easy to argue "Monster Movie" is at the top.

ACKLES: This was really when we were hitting our stride. We were in the pocket with these characters, with the storytelling, with the writing. The first year was really finding our feet, the second was like, "Okay we somehow survived a network merge, let’s not mess this up." And then third season we started playing a little bit. So by the fourth season, we’re like, "Now we know where we need to be." This was the perfect time to do one of these outside-the-box episodes. This is definitely one of my top 10.

SINGER: I directed 48 episodes and if somebody asked me which is my favorite, I would probably say this one. I just had the best time doing it. 

Entertainment Weekly

[elitadream]

I was looking at screenshots of Showtime to see if anything new had come up so far, and omg- Super Mario World reference spotted??

Those bushes with the floating leaf pattern! I'm sure that's not a coincidence! 🤩🍃 I LOVE when new games pay homage to the classic ones in some way. It's always so nice to see! ^-^

[bkatlips]

Ranking and explaining my rankings of Mike Flanagan’s shows and how they make me feel in honor of spooky season and just finishing Usher!! Why not!! Everyone else is doing it!! I’m also going to give it a gay score based on how gay they are (which also includes how big of a role gay characters played).

Disclaimer: Every one of these shows is well-made in one way or another and deserves to be watched based on whether someone else finds the premise interesting and not whether I liked the show. Too often I see “that show was bad to me therefore you shouldn’t watch it” and I disagree with that line of thinking.

1. The Haunting of Bly Manor-I can already hear people screaming “Hill House is better!” In some ways, yes! In some very important ways, however, I disagree. The biggest being Bly Manor emotionally resonated with me a lot more. The themes, the found family (as someone who is an only child), and of course, the lesbianism. Dani’s story of compulsory heterosexuality may be one of if not the best in media and her love story with Jamie ended up being one of the best media has to offer, too. And really using a horror story and turning it into a love story is kind of brilliant (and annoying for the people who were just there for the jumpscares I guess). Don’t get me wrong the show has flaws (why the FUCK do Peter and Rebecca have so much screentime? was that eight episode really the best placement?) but the stuff that lands, really really lands. I’m still thinking about Dani and Jamie 3 years later. Hannah’s episode was very well done. The kid actors little Amelie and Ben were phenomenal. Upon rewatch you notice most decisions and dialogue in the show were made with some purpose and it usually relates to something thematic. Some people may say it doesn’t really have one defining central thesis therefore making it messy, but to me the fact it has many themes actually makes it more fun to think about. Gay score: 100000/10

2. The Haunting of Hill House-A horror classic that got me into Flanagan! This is Flanagan’s best series as far as making you pee your pants. That hat man is just scary! The character work is nice. Those first 6 episodes are incredible. Perfect. The thing that brings it under Bly Manor for me is honestly the ending. It left something to be desired for me. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but it just did not conclude in such an emotionally resonant way as Bly Manor to me. Shout out to the Newton Bros because the music on this damn show (and Bly too but that’s basically Hill House music continued) is so so good. Also the character work is masterful because Shirley Crain is kind of a bitch but you do come to love her. In fact, there wasn’t a Crain I didn’t feel for. They’re deeply fucked up, sympathetic people. It’s a great show with some great thematic work but it just doesn’t speak to me quite as much as Bly, that’s it. I know that’s unpopular but it is what it is. A great good show nonetheless. Gay score: 8/10

3. The Fall of the House of Usher-This show is wild and honestly I couldn’t decide between ranking this one or Midnight Club third. I went with this one because the acting and technical stuff was so phenomenal. I’m not really into gore horror so this wasn’t like my thing on the surface but I do appreciate what a homage to Poe it is in the very limited knowledge of Poe’s work that I have. It was fun to see all the cast from previous shows back again especially T’nia. One of the downsides to this show is it doesn’t really make you feel a lot and so compared to the Haunting shows for me that makes it inferior for sure. But it’s a fun watch and honestly I need to rewatch the final episode because I had a hard time paying attention for that one. Gay score: really fucking queer/10

4. The Midnight Club-Ah Flanagan’s little dud. This one is really not very loved compared to the others, seems to be just about nobody’s favorite, however personally I liked it. I think people are a little unfair to it and while it may not be Flanagan’s best, I don’t think it’s awful. It doesn’t really tackle anything new when it comes to themes. There’s some death, grief, stages of acceptance, and cult stuff. I think the way it has these kids telling stories to deal with their reality was really brilliant in a way. There was one episode (six I think) that dealt with depression and suicide that made me sob and I thought was super well done. That one stuck with me.I think it would have benefited from a more likeable main character and also from the second season that was planned! Gay score: 6/10

5. Midnight Mass-To be honest, I probably could have gone without watching this show. It just didn’t really resonate with me and didn’t really entertain me save like the very last two episodes. It’s technically well-made and I appreciate what Flanagan was trying to do and convey with the danger of cults and religion. It was obviously a very personal project and was him working through his own experiences but it wasn’t for me. It had a few too many monologues and I don’t think monologues make an interesting character piece. However, it’s a critically acclaimed work so I recommend anyone who wants to check out Flanagan’s work still check it out! Especially if you like weird vampire stuff I guess. Also the acting especially from the priest was phenomenal. So there’s definitely pros to this show, but it didn’t add anything to my life for me! Gay score: 3/10 :/

Also, shout out to Mike because every single one of these shows is queer to one degree or another. He loves the gays! Ally! Bisexual wife probably helps too!

[mask131]

There's still a haunt on the hill...

In my previous post, I dug through the ghostly chain of adaptations of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" starting by its various movie incarnations. But I am not done...

Because in 2018, Mike Flanagan released on Netflix his massively successful television series, "The Haunting of Hill House".

Flanagan's television series was strongly influenced by "The Shining", another major haunting-story of the 20th century, first marking American literature under the pen of Stephen King...

... Then marking American cinema by the movie adaptation of Stanley Kubrick.

Mike Flanagan never hid his passion and love for "The Shining", both the Kubrick and King versions, and it is for this reason he was the man behind the 2019 movie "Doctor Sleep"....

... an adaptation of Stephen King's sequel-novel to The Shining.

And fascinatingly, a lot of details and ideas of Flanagan's "The Haunting of Hill House" (or its sister-series, "The Haunting of Bly Manor") were reused for his Doctor Sleep movie...

But, speaking of Stephen King, did you know he made his own "The Haunting of Hill House"? Well, almost... He and Steven Spielberg worked on a project in the 1990s: a remake of The Haunting/a new movie adaptation of "The Haunting of Hill House". Unfortunately this movie never came to the light of day, as the two men split apart due to creative differences...

However this did not stop Stephen King from reusing the unused/unfinished script/concept for his "Haunting of Hill House" adaptation, throwing in a lot of elements from his own "The Shining", with several nods to the real-life Winchester Mansion, and tadaa! The result was 2002's mini-series "Rose-Red".

Stephen King has very often praised Jackson's novel. In fact, in his eyes it is one of the two greatest ghost stories of American literature... Alongside Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.

Do you recall Henry James? Sure you do! From the previous post... He wrote the "Ghostly Rental" story, that itself got adapted in 1999 into a horror movie called "The Haunting of Hell House" - confusing Jackson's "Hill House" with Matheson's "Hell House".

Do the links stop here? NOT AT ALL! Flanagan's "The Haunting of Hill House" was supposed to be the first season of an anthology series about ghost stories. This project got cancelled, but not before a sister-series to "The Haunting of Hill House" was made... a second season called "The Haunting of Bly Manor", which is a loose adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw".

AND THERE'S MORE! Because you see, before being re-adapted by Mike Flanagan, "The Turn of the Screw"'s most famous adaptation was a 1961 movie called "The Innocents". A movie which also became a classic of black-and-white haunted house horror movies, just like "The Haunting" that was released two years afterward... Film critics, cinema theoricians and movie enjoyers all agree that the two movies have to be compared, with something of a sibling relationship to each other.

"The Turn of the Screw" - and more specifically the 1961's "The Innocents" movie - also had a huge influence on one of the greatest Spanish moviemakers of the 21st century: Guillermo del Toro. In fact, it was to pay homage to both the classic of Gothic that was "The Innocents", and the behemoth of the traditional horror that was Kubrick's The Shining, that he decided to create his own Gothic horror movie... The wonderfully horrifying "Crimson Peak", released in 2015.

And not only does Crimson Peak unites The Turn of the Screw with The Shining (Guillermo also invoked the influence of other massive horror movies, such as The Omen or The Exorcist) - but this movie also is the final union, the ultimate blooming of Jackson and James' works. Because del Toro's original intention for this movie was to pay homage to the "two grand dames" of the haunted house movies... 1961's The Innocents, and 1963's The Haunting. The two ghostly tragedies finally united in one Gothic movie...

Well... To be fair, the uniting of "The Haunting of Hill House" and of "The Turn of the Screw" had already happened long before del Toro's Crimson Peak, but with a much less famous and successful movie: 1971's Let's Scare Jessica to Death... A cult piece (despite its lukewarm reception), it was created with only one goal in mind: recreating a psychological horror story with ambiguous implications, in the style of James' The Turn of the Screw, and Robert Wise's The Haunting.

(Think we're done? FOOL! Just you wait...)

[annymation]

With Wish, it's not *bad* perse, but as a supposed tribute to 100 years of THE defining animation studio, it's definitely a let down. I watched it when it was available on download and knew I was in for a rough time when I didn't laugh at the part I was hoping would be funny(that being the chickens dancing). Also "At All Costs" was originally meant to be a duet between Star and Asha I think? Just so much wasted potential, it could have been something incredible, but nope, it's safe and bland. I think the last good one Disney did was Encanto, that is my absolute favourite one as well.

I agree it was a big let down. For a movie that apparently was supposed to be purposely simple as to pay homage to their more simple premises of the past, the core of the story was far too complex, interesting yes, but not well developed because nothing felt like it was given the attention it should have, such as the characters and the lore.

It's like they couldn't pick between a classic simple tale or a modern complex plot, and in the end they had neither.

Though I will say, "At All Cost" was NOT intended to be a Asha x Star song. That's a misconception, the truth is worse. The song sounds romantic because Julia Michells, the song writer, wanted the song to feel like something Disney fans could play at their weddings, she said so herself in an interview. They've made the songs before fully developing the story, and that's a HUGE mistake when creating a musical, since the plot and the songs need to work in tandem, being intrinsically connected.

Indeed there's a lot they could've done better, and I can almost FEEL how much they wanted to, but the movie feels like everyone involved was being held back from creating something really fun, and we ended up with this mess.

I'd take Encanto as Disney's 100th anniversary movie over Wish any day to be honest.

[hkthatgffan]

NEW VIDEO ON MY CHANNEL!!

I recently had the chance to talk with Ethan Marak of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, about his work on the Gravity Falls episode Little Gift Shop of Horrors.

He shared some great new info on the stop motion process and never before seen photos from the set.

Below is a transcript of what I asked and his answers...

1. How did you get involved with Gravity Falls and were you a fan of the show beforehand?

I was working as an Animation Director at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios when this project came my way. The studio producers would cast Animation Directors to projects that were a good fit, and my known love of classic stop-motion animation in the Ray Harryhausen style made them consider me for this job.

2. Alex Hirsch mentioned in the GF box set that they contacted you directly about working on the show? What was that process like?

As I recall Alex was very into the idea of using stop-motion for this episode and he was very enthusiastic and excited visiting the set and seeing all the puppets and sets. When we translate an established 2d animation to stop-motion, there are a lot of creative considerations and decisions that need to be made for the designs and animation style to work. As I remember Alex trusted us to guide that process, and was flexible with any small limitations that came up. 

3. Additionally, he mentioned that Disney originally did not want to do stop motion due to the cost and so Alex said he inquired about frame by frame costs and looked through everything that was done to see if it would fit the budget. How did that whole situation affect the filming and in turn, what was it like working with Alex and the GF team?

I wasn’t involved in any aspect of the budgeting for the project so I’m not sure what give-and-take with Disney occurred to make the numbers work for stop-motion. I don’t remember feeling like the shoot was under-funded.

4. How much creative freedom did you have in regards to the episode? Were things planned out beforehand or did the crew let you come up with ideas for the stop motion as you went along?

The team from GF provided character designs, storyboards and backgrounds. It was our job to create the puppets and shoot the animation in a way that fit into the background plates convincingly. I can’t remember for sure, but I think GF did the final compositing themselves. Everything is meticulously planned out in stop-motion animation, so that we don’t spend time building or shooting anything that isn’t going to be on screen. We had a lot of freedom as far as the style of the animation, and we were going for a cartoony look that worked for GF but also paid homage to Harryhausen, which meant paying more attention to the weight and subtleties than we might on other projects.

5. Were there any scrapped/deleted or cut aspects of the animation that did not make it into the episode? These can be scenes either planned out or animated that never made the final episode.

Not that I recall, no.

6. Would you be okay with sharing any behind the scenes photos, videos, memories, stories or more from your work on the episode that would be okay to be public now? These can be of the shoot, interesting stories or trivia about it, crew reactions, set up, etc. I understand completely if that is not possible but it would be great to learn about/see the animation process for this episode, the sets, characters, etc.

I’ll let you know if I ever find the behind the scenes photos I took. 

Side note: Ethan did find a ton of photos to send to me that you can access here or as I shared below...

However, there were several I was asked to not share, such as behind the scenes images of the character designs and storyboards of the animated version of the monsters that was used to help map out the movement of the stop motion. Those are internal works that are not allowed to be shared and I will sadly not be able to. That said, @robertryancory shared these designs of the character publicly years back that look very similar to what I was sent. But what I was shown were colorized versions and almost final looks of the characters.

7. Do you still own the models or sets made for this episode? If so, what condition are they in (and if possible could a photo(s) be provided)? 

I checked with the studio and as far as I can tell the puppets were given back to Disney at some point. There was a brief period where I remember the puppets were displayed in the lobby at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.

8. Overall, what were your thoughts on working on Gravity Falls, the episode overall and the show later on? If Alex Hirsch or another GF crew member from it were to ask about helping in work on a new project, be it for GF or another show, would you do it?  

I really enjoyed working on the episode and it is a stand-out project for me! It came out really beautifully and the GF team was really kind and respectful to us, and genuinely interested in our process. I’d absolutely partner with Alex on something else if it came up. 

9. One extra question; Did you work on the mini stop motion bumper for Disney XD as well? If so, what was that like and what ideas were made for it that perhaps did not make the final promo?

Yes I directed that spot. It was another really cool project that gave us the ability to bring GF to life in stop-motion. The Stan puppet was amazing and looked so good- and our animators really brought him to life. We went though an extensive design process for the XD logo creature before deciding on the version you see in the spot. The goal was to make it look convincing as a taxidermy creation that Stan would have built, and to work in as many little eyeballs and body parts as possible that could move around.

BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE OF THAT PROMO!

A huge thank you to Ethan for sharing this info and photos with me. Please do go check out his personal work on his Instagram, as it's some really cool retro stuff that I really loved checking out.

[ninjakk]

The symbolic meaning behind A-Yuan's butterfly toys

There is such a beautifully poignant moment during the Yiling date chapter, where A-Yuan is playing with the two grass butterflies that LWJ bought him. The minute I read it, it made me smile at how sweet and innocent it all was. But it also pulled at my heartstrings a little, due to the symbolic meaning of the butterflies and what I felt like it foreshadowed.

Chapter 74

Knocking his bowl, Wei WuXian called a couple of times, but Wen Yuan was still looking down, holding two butterflies and mumbling. At times he pretended to be the one on the left, saying shyly "I… I really like you"; at times he pretended to be the one on the right, saying happily "I really like you too!" Being two butterflies at the same time, he seemed to be having lots of fun.

- ExR translations

To me MXTX uses the butterflies to express the unspoken feelings that WWX and LWJ have for each other. I think this small, yet sweet scene, could also show A-Yuan may have picked up on WWX and LWJs true feelings for each other - perhaps on a subconscious level. Children are incredibly perceptive and can pick up on things adults often miss. He may have only seen them together for a few hours, but he's spent a lot of time with WWX and could possibly see how he acts differently with LWJ. Either way, I don't think it's a coincidence MXTX chose to have A-Yuan play with the butterflies - he also has the clay dolls he could have used for his little directorial debut!

The fact A-Yuan is making the two butterflies confess they 'like' each other, echos how WX truly feel for one another. It's almost like the unspoken words they could have, and should have said so many times before. It is certainly allusive of the opportunity they had to confess their feelings during this particular scene as well.

The fact MXTX (or indeed A-Yuan) has made one shy and the other happy, draws parallels between LWJ and WWX's personalities. Much like the WX bunnies with their quiet and energetic personalities respectively. Personally I think it's quite clear MXTX deliberately made A-Yuan portray the two butterflies in this way. Especially if you take a closer look at the original version of MDZS, where the 'shy' and 'happy' personalities are not mentioned - so it's evident that MXTX later added this to enhance the scene, for a very specific reason.

If we look even deeper into this, there may even be more meaning behind the use of butterflies - as I said earlier, MXTX could have used the clay dolls instead. Butterflies are often used as a symbol of love in Chinese culture. More specifically, it can symbolise an undying bond between lovers. They can also represent death and rebirth. Which all fit with the theme of the novel perfectly.

MXTX likes to use little references and pay homage to poems and Chinese culture within the novel. And personally, I think the use of butterflies could be a nod to a particular classic Chinese love story. According to some, this is one of the reasons butterflies often symbolise love in Chinese culture.

There is a tragic yet romantic, Chinese legend known as The Butterfly Lovers (梁祝). Coincidentally (or perhaps not?), there are a few parallels between MDZS and the story as well. Much like our lovely WX, the two lovers in the legend met while studying together, where they develop an instant chemistry. The two main characters even experience misunderstandings that prevent them from becoming a couple. Eventually one of the star-crossed lovers tragically dies and the other follows soon after - which is where our duo obviously deviate, thankfully! The lovers spirits become butterflies and they fly off together, never to be separated again. Which somewhat echoes WXs own ending, where they elope and pledge to be with each other forever.

Something fell from Wen Yuan’s pocket. He called out, “Butter… Butterfly!” With him in his arm, Wei WuXian had already rushed outside the restaurant. Soon, a white shadow swept by him. Lan WangJi seemed to have followed them out as well, walking beside them. Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan? Why are you following us?” Lan WangJi put into Wen Yuan’s palm the butterfly that he dropped.

Personally, I don't think the above scene is just a means for LWJ to follow them, because he would have either way! It's also symbolic. The two butterflies are suddenly separated, much like WWX and LWJ are later, for some 13 years. Eventually (or two seconds later in the above scene!) they are reunited, just like the butterflies above. It also represents A-Yuan's loss. He loses one of his butterflies, just like he will soon lose WWX - only to have them both reunited, together with him, eventually. It broke my heart when I noticed this tiny moment.

Just like the two frisky male bunnies used as a metaphor for WWX and LWJs true feelings earlier in the novel. The butterflies are used to foreshadow the path their entwined fate will eventually take as well. MXTX's writing style is just absolute poetry and I can't get enough of it.

🦋❤️🦋

[cerastes]

The love they poured into Jiang Hu and Dusk’s animation, good lord.

What Dusk wields is a Jian, a particularly oversized one, in fact, in the style of a Han Dynasty-era design.

The Sui saga pays a lot of homage to Wuxia films and stories. The Jian, among classic Chinese weaponry, is considered “The Gentleman of Weapons”, and is usually the weapon of choice among many weapon-wielding Wuxia protagonists as it allows for sharp cuts, efficient thrusts, strong deflections, and elegant motions. What makes this straight sword effective at deflections is the fact that China, with its big territory and borders, had access to good quality iron ore (mostly through import or acquisition, their own reserves were not high quality), and thus was able to forge weaponry that was sturdy and durable without sacrificing flexibility, an incredibly important and often overlooked aspect of weaponry. 

Another staple in Wuxia is calligraphy and swordsmanship being intimately tied, as precision, focus, and your ‘tool’ being an extension of your body was fundamental. A brush or a sword couldn’t be a tool, it had to be a part of you, before you could call yourself a true calligrapher or a swordsman. “Hero” (2002) and “Crouching Tiger,  Hidden Dragon” (2000) both have iconic calligraphy-into-swordsmanship scenes, and the calligraphers in both of these settings are also the best swordmasters. I am deliberately using these two examples as some of the better known Wuxia in the West, if you look into more Wuxia, you’ll find this is a very common trope. Another trope is the calligrapher being coy or deflective about his or her skill with the sword, a trait that Dusk also embodies:

If asked about it, Dusk essentially replies “Brush and sword, at the lowest level, open the world’s truths to the wielder, and at the highest level, allow the wielder shape the world and its truths. Am I kidding or am I being serious? Don’t worry about it”. Fitting, given Dusk’s powers that allow her to create pocket dimensions and imbue life into her art, without getting into being able to draw the innermost emotions from within others to create worlds, dreams, and nightmares with these, in the same vein calligraphy invites deep, reflective thought in those who can grasp its essence and beauty. It’s the deflection one would expect from a calligrapher and swordmaster that prefers to splash ink instead of spilling blood. The hermit calligrapher swordmaster is, indeed, a beloved trope in Wuxia.

But in Jiang Hu, it seems Nian has somehow convinced Dusk to do something she doesn’t even do in her capacity of an Operator: Go wild with her sword for a bit. And the animators knew what they had to do.

A Jian is meant to bend:

During Dusk’s demonstration with the sword, if we pay attention, we can see that her blade bends beautifully with some of her more forceful motions. Some of these are merely motions added to the sword for the sake of dynamism -- a technique to better show motion in animation -- but those are exclusive to edgewise bends, akin to smear frames. Note above how the blade bends flatwise. This is deliberate, to mimic how a Jian looks like in reality, a beautifully inspired touch! It happens on certain frames when Dusk can’t deflect and is forced to block:

And this is what the blade ought to do! This is how one animates a good Jian! It’s a flexible, strong sword! (of course, if you can help it, you don’t block with a sword, you deflect!)

The presence of mind, precision and focus of the calligrapher and swordmaster, as stated, is important in Wuxia, as the true master can tear and sever when they have no other choice, but likewise, the true master must have completely control, as to not give in to the thirst of the unsheathed blade. A beginner can cut with a blade, a master can not cut with a blade. A bit esoteric, if you’re not familiar with the philosophy, but allow Dusk to demonstrate this control:

Those swings are not wild, they are motions full of intent, deliberate and meaningful, and the Jian in the hands of a master is often compared to the wind, and the reason it is considered the Gentleman of Weapons: It must simultaneously be a strong gale that severs, and a gentle breeze that doesn’t harm the world around it, outside of the enemy, not even a simple leaf.

As for the sparring session with her ink clone, it reflects Dusk’s passive nature, as the clone is the attacker for the most part, with Dusk preferring to deflect, dodge, and only occasionally counterstrike. Funnily enough, much like Nian, it seems one of Dusk’s techniques when she actually has to fight seriously is to manifest multiple massive weapons to attack. Perhaps it is because it resembles Nian’s powers to some degree that Dusk prefers not to do this. Just her clone is able to launch multiple greatswords and spears like it’s nothing. Sometimes a nightmare real is not enough and you have to cut someone open, it seems. All in high heels, because you gotta flex a little, you know?

The attention to detail and motion that they put into these animations shows the deep love Hypergryph has already shown for good choreography and Wuxia before in Who Is Real? and Invitation To Wine, and they even tell us a bit more about Dusk, to boot. You can check this gorgeous animation here, starting at 10:52.

But it does make you wonder how the conversation between the sisters went in order to get Dusk to participate in Nian’s movie. 

“I want you to help me in my movie!”  “No way. Your movies as garbage.”  “But little Dusk’s sick sword skills are the Formula X that will make it work, no one else will do...” *very covertly blushing* “Well, I guess I can at least read your script.”

[heartfullofleeches]

How would Elliott react to the reader giving him praise for his work?

The reader fell in love with his screenplays and wanted to support him in his dreams. They just want to see him succeed.

"It's not finished. I still need to be some spell checks and work on dialogue-"

"I love it.."

He wants to call you a liar. Elliot almost wishes you were like his parents to quell that feeling in his gut, but the sincerity and excitement in your tone snaps that cowardly hope in two. He had worked fine without positive feedback from those he valued before, but now that he had someone he loved and loved his craft he was addicted.

"Like you said, it needs some polishing, but your kill methods just keep getting better and better. It's always nice to see you paying homage to the classics too.

If only he had met you just a little sooner. Maybe his life wouldn't have gone down the twisted road it stroad through. He could have become a director by tradition means, rather that the heinous acts he had committed just to get the perfect shot. All that's in the past now. At least with how he ran his films now, he would always be able to make sure no one came between the artist and his biggest fan.

"I'm glad you like it. Your approval is all I need to keep going. Thank you, Y/n."

[gabessquishytum]

so Persephone Hades AU, but I am working on a classic studies degree, so I gave it a twist from the original original myth and added Dyspoina.

Hob finds a consort, and this being Greece where its socially acceptable to kidnap your partner, he does that.

Dream is none to happy about this and refuses the food of the dead, because once the gods hear about what happened, they will be looking for him, and he has no plans of styaing hell.

Well Hob is regretting his choices by kidnapping a spoiled prince for a new husband. But he's a bit shocked to see that despite Dream refusing to eat the food of the dead, Hell still seems to be accepting Dream as a new ruler and bending to his will the same as Hob's.

So for a while it seems to be a stalemate where Hob just wants Dream to accept the title as consort and Dream is just waiting until someone upstairs finally thinks to look in Hell.

Well Hob finds himself in Hell's library and the rules are simple, if a book or story is lost to time, it ends up in the library, which is where Hob finds a nifty little book where it explains that Dream is the child of two gods who were associated with death, and Dream at one point being so feared that his name has been forgotten to time because speaking it was one of those omens that brings Dream to the speaker.

But, because this is the lost library, Hob finds his name and goes to find his husband. He attempts to blackmail Dream as a sort of "imagine if people found out their little flower god was really a death omen"

but Dream is actually taken aback Hob isn't turned off by Dream's past Devinity. Hes lost countless lovers to it, and he had a hand in killing his name sense he was tired of people fearing him. He asks Hob if it really doesnt bother him that he, Dream, is an omen of death, and Hob says "What exactly will that do to me? In already the god of the dead. Its not exactly a work hazard to meet a death omen."

Dream practically tackles Hob to the ground and they are all over eachother in minutes. Dream finally (finally) met someone who doesn't fear him, and Hob got his consort.

Ahh this is excellent! Emo Omen of Death Dream feels very in character. He’s tried to reinvent himself as this harmless little nature god but he’s just… he’s very emo. Even before he was kidnapped he used to mope around being all sad and dramatic. It’s one of the things that Hob finds endearing about him!

So yeah, Hob isn’t entirely surprised by the revelation of Dream’s previous identity. It makes a lot of sense, and surely it’s a good thing! Dream will thrive spending time in Hell with the dead, who already serve him with great love and respect. Instead of hiding from his true nature, perhaps Dream can finally embrace and learn to love himself as he is?

Honestly Dream is just relieved. He finds Hob very attractive, despite the whole kidnapping thing. Hob has really tried hard to make the underworld a good home for Dream, and he genuinely feels like he can breathe for the first time in a very long time. So he gladly throws himself in Hob’s arms and agrees to become his consort. On the condition that he will be able to leave Hell and visit him family in the land of the living. Hob agrees readily enough, relieved that he’s finally persuaded Dream to stay (for at least some of the time).

As god of the dead, Hob also has dominion over everything that lies under the ground. He is, therefore, the richest of all the gods, and he can deck his new husband in freshly mined silver, and beautiful jewels. Dream’s crown glitters with diamonds, and he sits happily on his throne at Hob’s side while the dead pay homage to them both.

From then on, it’s always Dream who enters a room before Hob. He is an omen of death, after all. It’s his duty to let everyone know when his husband is on his way.

[bonefydskeleton]

Scratchen Schniff the Robotic DJ Dog!

I absolutely had to try my hand at designing a Digital Circus OC after watching the pilot. The animation is so gummy and stretchy and pays homage to some very classic toys. So I picked a few of my favorites from when I was a kid!

Iz, iDog, and those squishy balls you could bounce around and they would flash in fun patterns. Threw in some scratch n sniff stickers as decoration to give them a more “played with” feel. Not to mention it makes a great pun for a name that involves scratchin records to make funky beats and rhythms!