Hasta La Motion!

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse promises something special. And in its latest international trailer, has officially introduced with all the six web-slingers that will join webs to save the world.

Further elaborating on the previous clip, Miles Morales could once again be seen going through the motions as he learns about being a superhero from another Spider-Man called Peter Parker, who’s from a different dimension than him. But soon, he realises there are more like him when Spider-Gwen shows up during their routine drill.

That’s not all, for there’s this mysterious, shadowy figure called Spider-Noir; the bubbly, robot-riding Peni Parker; and a swine called Spider-Ham to add to the lunacy. But together, they face a common threat in Goblin, Prowler and Kingpin who threaten catastrophe across all the dimensions.

To top it all off, Sony has also dropped an eye-catching teaser poster (see above) for the movie that features all six of them lined-up next to each other: what’s left is to witness the rollicking adventure unfold on the big-screen.

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swings into cinemas on 12 December 2018.

The post ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ extended trailer spotlights all the web crawlers appeared first on AnimationXpress.

A look behind the scenes at the Gorillaz G-Shock watch episodes, at Cartoon Brew.

Can you hate someone but also love them at the same time? If you are a sibling, you wouldn’t have to think too hard for an answer. Yes, you definitely can, because this is what this sweet bond is all about. From “Don’t you dare touch that television remote” to “Don’t you dare look at my sister”, the bond between siblings changes over time, only getting stronger through the years! Siblings have a love-hate relationship . You can scream, shout, argue and fight with each other, but in the end, you know you have got each other’s backs. Your sibling is your biggest secret keeper, your go-to person when someone tries bullying you at school, your shield and a friend for life.

This Diwali, let’s relive this fun, exciting, rival yet strongly knitted relationship. With many animated characters coming up with each passing day, we can be sure that this brother sister bond will always maintain its aura.

We have jotted down a few famous sibling troops which will always have a special place in our hearts.

Phineas, Ferb and Candace

The relationship between this trio is something we all can relate to. They end up in disagreements most of the times, but when everything is fine, the trio is inseparable.

Dexter and Dee Dee

Dexter’s Laboratory had the amazing duo of Dexter and Dee Dee, who shared a love hate relationship. No matter how much Dee Dee annoys him, Dexter always saves her in the end, making this duo stand apart from the crowd.

Violet, Dash and Jack Jack

The Incredible Parr family has this set of incredible kids who share a camaraderie like other normal siblings, but with a hint of incredibility! They fight, they trouble, they tease, but what binds them together is powerful love.

Shin Chan and Himawari

Shin Chan is just like any other big brother to his baby sister Himawari. They both share a love-hate relationship, with Sin Chan always complaining about Himawari troubling him with her naughty baby acts.

Bart, Lisa and Maggie

Siblings share love, commitment and a connection which holds the family together. The Simpson siblings are a perfect example to this and they stick together, no matter what.

Merida and the triplets

The movie Brave shows what love and care can do. With three mischievous triplets to share the royal palace with, Merida plays the role of an elder sister quite perfectly.

Are you feeling all the love for your dearest rival? Go give them a big hug and all our best wishes for many more happy moments to come your way. Brothers and sisters out there, may this new year add more love to your cute fights. Happy Diwali!

The post #FeatureFriday: This Diwali, let’s celebrate siblinghood appeared first on AnimationXpress.

How can you make a commercial celebrating Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday, without being able to feature the legendary character himself? You get clever.

We talk to Already Been Chewed‘s Barton Damer about their newest Nixon watch commercial featuring Disney’s Mickey Mouse.

Image via Disney / Nixon / Already Been Chewed.

Now you may remember Nixon’s 3D watch commercials from our previous interview and tour of the Already Been Chewed (ABC) studio in Texas. If not, check out or interview with founder Barton Damer here.

ABC had just launched the latest in their series of spots for Nixon watches, this one celebrating the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. It proved to be no easy task, as the team did not have the rights to use the character himself.

Since the watch features the familiar and iconic use of Mickey’s hands, the creative team came up with a point-of-view commercial that would feature the characters hands, only giving a glimpse of his true identity. Here’s a look at the final piece.

It’s a very fun project that is reminiscent of old cartoons, and I wanted to learn more about it’s creation. I reached out once again to Barton Damer to learn more. Here’s what I learned.

Michael Maher: This is a rather unique project, and I really dig the concept a lot. How did you overcome the obstacle of not being able to use the character?

Barton Damer: For legal reasons and licensing, Mickey could be used on the design of the Nixon watch, but Mickey could not be seen in the advertising of the product.

We decided to push that request a bit to see if we could get away with showing a POV where the hands (and feet) would play a big role in the spot.

Image via Disney / Nixon / Already Been Chewed.

MM: What lead to the idea of a POV piece, and how did Disney respond to the concept?

BD: The POV seemed like a natural solution. We already see the rise of VR content in advertising, and for this piece, it technically wasn’t showing Mickey. So it was a great workaround.

Disney’s feedback was great! They were thrilled with the POV concept and even suggested that they had never been presented something like that before. Who knows if that’s a hundred percent true, maybe at some previous time within Disney there’s been plenty of POV concepts, but regardless, our client, Nixon, and the Disney licensing team were pumped on the idea. They gave us the green light to do the POV, as well as show Mickey in the shadows.

Image via Disney / Nixon / Already Been Chewed.

MM: How did you develop the world surrounding Mickey? I love the dancing buildings, very reminiscent of classic cartoons. How did you go about creating and animating this spot?

BD: The spot was inspired by a few things. We wanted to make sure Mickey had a modern vibe to him but also stay true to both the Disney and Nixon brand. So the idea of the old original black and white / sepia toned Mickey cartoons was the first inspiration.

Image via Disney / Nixon / Already Been Chewed.

We also love what KAWS has done with Mickey-inspired characters by translating them into 3D resin statues. We felt we could pull of something like that, rather than trying to do cell animation. It would give the spot a more modern photo-realistic 3D vibe.

Last, the dancing buildings were inspired by Jay Z’s OJ Simpson video. We loved the vibe of it, and wanted to imagine what the POV of that main character would look like in a 3D resin environment.

MM: What tools were used to create and render this project?

BD: Cinema 4D, Redshift, After Effects

MM: Iconic characters, like Mickey, come with many specific animation rules. For example, I know that both of his ears must always be visible and the same distance apart. What are other big challenges of working with a legendary character like this?

BD: I think we were able to get away with a lot since it was just POV. I imagine it would’ve been really challenging getting signed of on full body/face, etc. We were a bit nervous about getting approvals on character animation from Disney. We’ve done character animation in-house for much smaller roles but didn’t want to risk it on this one. We reached out to Christopher Watson to rig and animate Mickey. He did amazing. Disney approved the character animation on the first try!

MM: Did you reference any particular Disney material to come up with any of the sets or movements?

BD: We did! We found an old plastic Steamboat Willie toy of Mickey on a boat. The entire thing was resin so we kept all of our scenes that way. Everything was Subsurface materials – which would normally be a nightmare to clear up but Redshift renders SSS super fast!

MM: And what about the music? Where did that track come from?

BD: We worked with a friend of mine, DJ Sean P, to create a custom hip hop track for the spot.

MM: Awesome. This was a wonderfully executed piece. Send my praises to the whole team!

Project Credits:

Client: Nixon Watches
Studio: Already Been Chewed
Creative Director: Barton Damer
Head of Production: Aaron Smock
3D Designers: Thomas King, Barton Damer, Lance Eckert, Bryan Talkish
Animators: Bryan Talkish, Lance Eckert, Christopher Watson
Soundtrack: DJ Sean P

The post Celebrating 90 Years of Mickey When You Can’t Show the Mouse appeared first on Greyscalegorilla.

HBO is all set to air a new animated retelling of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fable, The Emperor’s Newest Clothes on 15 November.

Written and produced by Sheila Nevins and directed by Simón Wilches-Castro, The Emperor’s Newest Clothes is a colorful and musical makeover of the tale. The whimsical 2D short was animated at Starburns Industries and features the voices of Alan Alda and Jeff Daniels alongside Alison Pill with original songs by Tony Award-winning composer William Finn.

Running 30 minutes, The Emperor’s Newest Clothes is set in an old kingdom where a great Emperor decides everything. Whether he tells villagers it’s sunny when it’s raining, or it’s raining when it’s sunny, the Emperor is the only arbiter who matters. Fearful of losing their jobs, the Emperor’s closest confidantes, Syco- the Jester and Phantic- the Advisor continually praise his decisions, however foolish.

When the Emperor declares a holiday celebrating himself, he orders Syco to round up the world’s greatest tailors to choose who might make him the “most beautiful, most exquisite” outfit ever and hires who promise to make the most elegant outfit that’s ever been made.

The tailors being con men presents an empty metal mannequin stand as real clothes which are so beautifully crafted that it’s imperceptible to naked eyes. Afraid to inform the Emperor about it, Syco and Phantic tell the increasingly impatient Emperor that the outfit is glorious and will be perfect.

Finally, the tailors are ‘finished’ and inspite of being skeptical in his heart, the Emperor ends up believing that he’s wearing the finest frock the world has ever seen. On the day of the parade, the Emperor marches before his subjects wearing only his underwear! The townsfolk hesitantly go along with the pretense, fearing the wrath of the Emperor but Thomasina, a perky young girl in the crowd who is too smart to join her elders in praising something that is not there, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all! It took a child to reveal the truth that no one else was willing to say out loud!

The post ‘The Emperor’s Newest Clothes’ coming on 15 November on HBO appeared first on AnimationXpress.