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New Wallace and Gromit Shorts

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the stuff-to-get dept.

disco_stu00 writes "Aardman Animations has produced 10 new one-minute Wallace and Gromit shorts entitled Cracking Contraptions in preparation and training for the upcoming feature length film. BBC News has the first short available for download."

9 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm looking forward to the movie... by Pike65 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's the thing, isn't it?

    Wallace and Gromit should have been stale when it first came out (regional English accents and dogs that are smarter than their owners?), but the sheer quality of the animation and clever direction made all three some of the most loved short films ever.

    --
    "If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
  2. NO CGI! by scrod98 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So glad they are producing the feature in the same medium and not moving to the computerized version of W & G. Stop motion animation has such a great feel to it.

    --
    LETS DECOMPOSE & ENJOY ASSEMBLING
    1. Re:NO CGI! by doi · · Score: 5, Insightful
      So glad they are producing the feature in the same medium and not moving to the computerized version of W & G. Stop motion animation has such a great feel to it.

      I totally agree! I think George Lucas needs to sit down with Nick Park and learn from Nick how to infuse an animated character with personality and performance in a way that engages the audience. Simply using CGI to show off the latest whiz-bang Flame/Maya/Photoshop plugin that renders Yoda's hair with the appropriate translucency is not a substitute for character...especially considering that Frank Oz made the "old technology" Yoda puppet far more convincing than the CGI version was.

      --
      A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's an erection for?
    2. Re:NO CGI! by gaudior · · Score: 5, Insightful

      CGI, in and of itself, is not the problem. The problem is George Lucas, and his lack of artistic taste. There are good examples of CG characters that do engage an audience, and display life and personality. Pixar and Big Idea come to mind. CG is just a tool.

  3. Ditto... by Gruneun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People in real jobs often have to perform cost analysis, which usually includes a study of potential client demographics, etc.

    Exactly. I worked for a VoIP dot-com a couple years ago. Netscape was getting to be such a hassle that when we saw less than 6% of our users were on it (the absolutely horrid Netscape 6 had less than 1%) we just said, "forget it" and moved on.

    Don't get me wrong. Linux was the OS of choice for most of our developers, but when it came to making money, we had to go where the money was. It isn't in Linux.

  4. Re:Ooooh, Aaaaahhh!!! by JimPooley · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think "Crime and Punishment by Fido Dogstoyevsky" is a good runner up in the best book category...
    (It's the book Grommit is reading in prison in "A Close Shave")

    --

    "Information wants to be paid"
  5. Nobby Stiles vs Norman "bite yer legs" Hunter by fantomas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Surely as a good Yorkshireman Wallace would have gone with Norman "bite yer legs" Hunter, as a Leeds United and England hardman rather than our Nobby who was a Manchester United player even though in the 66 Final team.. :-))


  6. Re:Linux Locked Out of New Formats by fruey · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Unfortunately, you are mistaken about RealOne. With the release of RealOne, Real has dropped support for Linux.

    Real never supported their player, but RealOne is available. I have it running here. The support is not there, but at least there is a binary that kinda works for most RealOne content.

    The same is true for the latest version of Flash

    I can live without the latest Flash improvements. It's the streaming I want. I'm sure Microsoft is paying these people to support Media Player above all. Arrrgh!

    --
    Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
  7. Wait just a minute there by markt4 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, if they follow the same general methods as they did in Chicken Run, there will be some CGI, just not for the characters. In Chicken Run they used CGI for shots such as the explosion of the factory. It is very difficult (if not impossible) to do good stop motion plasticine models of exploding liquids.