What is Noodles NOT Watching

Originally posted by Palynka
When I was young, there was this program in the cultural public channel (RTP2) only about animation from the Eastern Bloc. The guy presenting it was fascinated by Hungarian animation. Some of the stuff was quite good, to be honest.

I don't know why, but I think that it would have been quite fitting if you had watched them as a kid.

the soviet union actually built up a big scale animation studio system to compete with american animation, and they actually did very good stuff. too bad most of it never made it to western audience. if I remember right, the studios were built in either estonia or maybe latvia?

also a lot of the eastern block countries made a lot of clay and puppetry type of animation for some reason. enough so, that if you want to study such animation techniques with the masters, czech etc. are the place to go, not usa. the top cell animation has always been american though. as well as cg, because of pixar.

Originally posted by wormwood
the soviet union actually built up a big scale animation studio system to compete with american animation, and they actually did very good stuff. too bad most of it never made it to western audience. if I remember right, the studios were built in either estonia or maybe latvia?

also a lot of the eastern block countries made a lot of clay and puppetry typ ...[text shortened]... ot usa. the top cell animation has always been american though. as well as cg, because of pixar.

I thought Japan was the place to go these days for cel animation... They certainly get my vote.

Originally posted by Phlabibit
I believe RBM made an avatar at one time based on this show.

P-

...back from retirement.

Originally posted by Palynka
I thought Japan was the place to go these days for cel animation... They certainly get my vote.

I haven't seen a single (technically) good cell animation from japan. but maybe I'm just biased for the stretch & squash thing because of my training...

storywise japanese animation is lightyears ahead of american of course.


then again, the Old disney productions were way better than their modern ones. I tend to ignore the new stuff, because it's just... well poorly animated. maybe you're right about japanese animation after all.

Originally posted by rbmorris
...back from retirement.

Ah, I remember that!

Originally posted by Phlabibit
...guy and some robots who make endless ANNOYING comments on the movie as you watch it...

fixed.

Originally posted by wormwood
the soviet union actually built up a big scale animation studio system to compete with american animation, and they actually did very good stuff. too bad most of it never made it to western audience. if I remember right, the studios were built in either estonia or maybe latvia?

also a lot of the eastern block countries made a lot of clay and puppetry typ ...[text shortened]... ot usa. the top cell animation has always been american though. as well as cg, because of pixar.

Estonia, if I am correct.

No wonder Estonians have such a small but good animation movement, with sober but beautiful storytelling and clean lines, e.g. Lotte.

I have some good Estonian 60s political animation. It's sweet how good they learnt how to criticize the occupiers without doing it.

Originally posted by wormwood
I haven't seen a single (technically) good cell animation from japan. but maybe I'm just biased for the stretch & squash thing because of my training...

storywise japanese animation is lightyears ahead of american of course.


then again, the Old disney productions were way better than their modern ones. I tend to ignore the new stuff, because it's just... well poorly animated. maybe you're right about japanese animation after all.

Technique, technique...You're probably right. I just appreciate the "photography" of anime much more. They care about the style differently, and perhaps more to my taste.

I think Akira is a beauty but I recognize that it uses a lot of "short-cuts" from a technical point of view. I just think it works.

Originally posted by Palynka
I think Akira is a beauty but I recognize that it uses a lot of "short-cuts" from a technical point of view. I just think it works.

yeah, I also loved akira when I first saw it as a teenager. especially the soundtrack, which I still have and listen to every now and then. I also have akira comic album in portugese by the way. 🙂

but the thing that always bugs me in japanese animation, is the extremely short loops. often they just loop even as little as 2 frames for seconds. those angry grinning scenes, the 'flying' scenes and stuff like a tear glimmering in a close-up. it's just poor animating, and its only function is to produce animated seconds fast with least possible amount of drawing. because it's cheap. not to mention that they use too slow frame rates to create the illusion of movement. (that's a vocational hazard for all animators, you get very sensitive for jerky movement... sometimes even the 24 fps isn't enough)

Originally posted by Palynka
When I was young, there was this program in the cultural public channel (RTP2) only about animation from the Eastern Bloc. The guy presenting it was fascinated by Hungarian animation. Some of the stuff was quite good, to be honest.

In the 80s South Africa was under a cultural embargo, so tv was a mixed bag. Somehow Czech (I think) animation, probably from the 60s, made it onto the menu. Mesmerising.

Originally posted by Palynka
Technique, technique...You're probably right. I just appreciate the "photography" of anime much more. They care about the style differently, and perhaps more to my taste.

I think Akira is a beauty but I recognize that it uses a lot of "short-cuts" from a technical point of view. I just think it works.

Have you seen Ghost in the Shell 2:Innocence? That's a piece of anime worth watching. Speaking as an animation compositor, it's just beautiful and the story is excellent too.