I was planning to sit down and get some reading done when Kirriliy called up today with an proposition i couldnt refuse -
Raining Cats and Frogs and Triplettes of Belleville – both playing back to back at some place on Fitzroy St.

They were great films, although i must say i enjoyed ‘Raining Cats and Frogs’; aka La Prophetie des Grenoulles ) directed by Jacques-Remy Giererd who also the founder of the studio Folimage.
I guess, since i was totally unprepared for this film, i dint have any expectations from it and i took it as it came. Nonetheless, the beautiful use of space, light and shadow, color and use of chalk drawings for both background and characters would have been a treat no matter what expectations i would have had. In a way this also feeds back into what my research has been concerned with – integration and nonintegration of foreground and background elements in animated films.

In the book by Jayne Pilling – Animation and Beyond, its said that Folimage’s commercial productions have always been distinguished by their insistence on using a graphic style – for both characters and backgrounds – that is unlike conventional cartoon animation.

Taking into consideration all the productions that have come out of Folimage there is a sense of cohesiveness and homogeneity of styles between background and foreground. This makes every frame of their production (Tragedies Minuscules, Au Bout Du Monde, L’Enfant au Grelot, La Grande Migration and La Propetie des Grenouilles) stand out as a beautifully illustrated image from a childrens storybook. It might just be worth it to send an email to Michael Dudok and ask him about what his opinions are regarding ‘stylistic variation in an animated production’ ? or maybe i should wait till i get a more specific question at hand.

AWN website : Raining Cats and Frogs

Triplettes of Belleville was pretty good, the deformed perspectives and over exagerration of shapes were so beautifully handled that it made me want to stand up and clap while i watched the movie (but i didn’t). Elongated Block shaped Mafia characters who walked in unison all throughout the film and the huge funnel shaped steamliner were such a graphic delight to watch on screen. Aesthetically, again this film was awesome – the lines on the characters weren’t cleaned up and this made the efforts of the animator so much more apparent. Infact, from what i have read, the same dual rough line qualities were given to the 3d models that were used. ( Something that Paul could look into for his research )

Les Triplettes de Belleville – An Interview With The Filmmakers

Remember asking kirrily before the film if it had subtitles in english….. hmm… what subtitles ? – :)

Went to my first ever synagog with kirrily to see a comic exhibition by an artist named ART SPIEGELMAN. Din’t end up seeing the exhibition, cuz of the speeches – they just kept talking and talking and talking and talking….. guess my arab muslim friends would freak out if they knew i went to a jewish gathering… oh well… boohoo!