Animation

When this series first hit the airwaves in 1997, I checked it out due to sheer curiosity. I liked the cast -- Jerry Doyle from Babylon 5, Malcolm McDowell, Michael Dorn, and you can't go wrong with James Avery, among others. I absolutely fell in love with its humor and pop culture references.

If given the chance, I would totally love to revive this series. Maybe develop it into one that utilizes the same technology as Planet of the Apes.

Has anyone else seen this show? Or am I the only one?

Do yourself a favor, and check out CAPTAIN SIMIAN AND THE SPACE MONKEYS (streaming on Tubi): https://tubitv.com/series/300001563/captain-simian-the-space-monkeys

Back in the 90's in the midst of wacky animation and the rise of superhero cartoons, Exosquad blew me away. Exosquad was set in the future about a war between humans and a race created for labor purposes who rose up. The show only lasted two seasons on Fox (in the US) but tackled some of the realities of war, the effects on families, slavery, racism, and so much more that was not common in essentially a kids show or live action television at the time. The show's ability to blend entertainment and provide action and maturity was, to me, ahead of its time. The animation was pretty decent and the world (or solar system) in which the series lived was pretty cool. I had the fortune of finding the series bible online at one point and it was pretty cool to explore how they developed their characters. It is one of those shows that pops up on occasion but for the most part has been forgotten in the world of streaming. If you come across it, give it a watch.

Hi all,

PLANET SHE was written as a live-action feature, and that's still how I envision it being made. However, I've been wondering whether a simple animation or motion-comic style presentation of a few key scenes could serve as an effective pitching tool by helping convey the mood, atmosphere, and cinematic feel of the story.

What I'm sharing here is a work-in-progress version of the opening sequence of such video. It's still under construction, but it should give you a good sense of the direction I'm exploring. It uses still images with audio to communicate the feeling of the opening rather than to serve as a polished proof of concept.

The production quality is modest because all of the images and other materials were sourced from free online resources. The goal wasn't to create a finished product, but simply to communicate the tone and visual style of the opening in a way that's difficult to achieve through the written page alone.

https://www.stage32.com/media/4107741577567284532

Do you think including something like this as part of a screenplay pitch package could strengthen a pitch, or could it actually hurt my chances by making the project seem less professional?

If the feedback is positive, I'd consider developing it further and expanding it to cover the first two or three minutes of the screenplay.

Hi Everyone – a friendly reminder about Pixar’s animated film UP (2009). Years later after its release, it still stands out and works as a film that explores the full life-course of an older person, and makes him the heroic lead.

It’s the story of an elderly widow, Carl, who travels to South America to fulfill a promise to his late wife, Ellie. Except he travels from his house, which he converts into his aircraft by tying multiple helium balloons to it that carry Carl and a young boy named Russell.

The shape language in UP’s stylized character design is modeled after geometric shapes that reflect the characters personalities – e.g., Carl’s body is tiny and his head is designed as a large square, conveying his rigid, box-like, and closed-off nature.

UP’s opening montage is particularly impactful because without dialogue it successfully conveys the couple’s life story and establishes the emotional baseline. Throughout the film, the story effectively combines emotional universal themes, (love, loss, grief, aging, and human connection), with adventure and humor.

So, here’s a friendly reminder to check out UP, if not the entire film, then it’s opening sequence which is widely regarded as a masterpiece of visual storytelling. Film Trailer: https://www.google.com/search?q=trailer+to+UP+animated+film&oq=trailer+t...

I'm deeply moved and inspired by Encanto. It's a movie that I didn't see right away, and I never had the pleasure of watching it on the big screen, but I really wish I had prioritized it. When I finally saw it for the first time, I was completely blown away by the relatable and deep emotional themes, the characters, the music, and the animation. I cry almost every time I watch it.

What gets me most is how the film uses every element of the medium (the color, the movement, the music, the visual metaphors) to tell such a specific story about generational trauma, family expectations, and the pressure to be "the strong one." It's the kind of story that could have been made in live-action, but I don't think it would have hit as deeply. The animation itself is what makes it soar.

My Encanto anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQwVKr8rCYw&list=RDtQwVKr8rCYw&start_rad...

It's so hard to pick one... I love BTAS (Batman: The Animated Series), 90's Simpsons & Futurama, Family Guy, South Park, Looney Tunes, Home Movies, ATHF (Aqua Team Hunger Force)... The list goes on! But, if I can only pick one, I'd choose the short-lived series "The Critic" starring Jon Lovitz. I found it had its own unique brand of humor, and as a film nerd, I really appreciate the film references!

My animation palette is just as large (if not slightly larger) than my live action palette, so this is a fun prompt. It was incredibly difficult to do, but I've narrowed down the "Big Three," so to speak, of animated films that have impacted me the deepest and really helped solidify my artistic pursuits as an aspiring writer and filmmaker. These films have made my top ten list of favorite films of all time (ranked 7, 6, and 5 in case anyone's curious), and in the years following, have not given up their respective positions to other films I've seen in the following years. They are:

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OX3KE6Vb7w

Ghost in the Shell (1995): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADTX6CmIx4

and Akira (1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA8KmHC2Z-g

I'll never forget the first time I viewed each of these films. I was just a kid then, and up until that point, most of the movies I'd seen were live action. The only animated film I'd known was the Land Before Time, which does hold a special place in my heart, but didn't dazzle me like these films did. Watching them for the first time felt like I'd reached an entirely new world, and they really opened my eyes to what films could be. There are two things these films have in common that struck me at the time: expressive visual style, and genre blending, both to such a degree that only animation can achieve.

The level of detail in conjunction with the smoothness of the animation, the saturation of the coloring, the stylism of the world and character designs so perfectly meshes to create something so visually striking it holds up better than a lot of things produced today. The mixing and mashing of different genre elements, utilizing horror, science fiction, and fantasy, to craft a story that's unique and fresh, set in the backdrop of expansive worlds that blow your mind away when you're dropped into them. Words really don't do it justice. They have to be seen and experienced to be understood.

Where is the next Ghost in the Shell going to come from? Who has that vision?

One animated film that's inspired me the most is Toy Story. Beyond being a great film, it's one I've gone back to while learning about screenwriting. Michael Arndt's breakdowns of storytelling and scene construction completely changed the way I think about writing. They made me realize how much work goes into making a story feel effortless—every scene has a purpose, every character choice pushes something forward, and the emotional beats are incredibly well earned. As someone writing features, it's been a reminder that strong storytelling principles apply regardless of the medium. Looking forward to seeing what animated films have inspired everyone else!

If you want to talk about an animated film worth studying for its visual language, Wall-E is the one I keep coming back to.

What makes it remarkable is that Pixar brought in Roger Deakins as a visual consultant specifically to give the film a live-action feel. His influence shows up in ways that are subtle but immediately felt -- lens flare, barrel distortion, and camera movements that feel imperfect and humanlike rather than the clean, fluid motion typical of animation. The result is a film that feels like it was shot rather than rendered.

The first act in particular, with almost no dialogue, is pure visual storytelling. Directors of photography Jeremy Lasky and Danielle Feinberg executed a look that holds up against any live action film from that era. The desolate Earth sequences have a quality of light that feels genuinely cinematic -- dusty, warm, and lonely in exactly the right way.

For anyone writing or developing an animated project, Wall-E is a great reminder of how much the camera itself can carry emotionally, even before a single line of dialogue is spoken.

Worth a rewatch with fresh eyes.

As a 3d animation artist there are many big studio films that inspire me, like “Ratatouille,” and “How to Train your Dragon,” but certain short films stand out for their sheer beauty, artistry and mastery of method. One of those is Alexander Petrov’s finger paint/oil on glass production of Hemingway’s, “The Old man and the Sea.” (1999) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfAv6-IwmQ&t=189s )

The astonishingly beautiful rendering, accomplished by manipulating colored bicycle grease on glass, frame by frame, creates a dream-like effect that perfectly brings the film’s first sequence, of the old man’s dreams of Africa, to life, and sets the visual tone for the later life and death struggle on the open sea.

This year I have friends that took a group of us on a journey over the last 5 months to re watch all the Toy Story movies so we all were refreshed on the history before Toy Story 5 came out - it was such a great reminder of how wonderful this series of movies is. I have not yet had a chance to see Toy Story 5 but I know it's going to be as heart warming and clever as the rest so look forward to going back into that world. There are so many though that I love. Up, Shrek and more.