Wall-e : How to Tell a Story Visually - Pixar Video Essay
Steve K
Posts: 3,241
"Show, Don't Tell"
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thanks looking forward to watching it!
Thanks for the link. Can't view now because I'm in public and don't have my earphones. Ironic.
You're welcome. I've mentioned before that I avoid dialogue, partly because for the 48 Hour Film Contest its a hassle for an animation. You have to find a good voice, record the dialogue, then do the lip syncing. But also I find a lot of dialogue is just groaningly bad, mostly cliches:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/screencraft/35-most-overused-lines-in_b_9500594.html
http://kekbfm.com/the-very-best-of-hes-dead-jim-star-trek-compilation-video/
Director Stanley Kubrick was famous for crossing out lines of dialogue in screenplays, saying the actor could convey the line with expressions, body motion, etc. "At some point about halfway through 2001: A Space Odyssey here's what everyone should be thinking: 'WTF Stanley Kubrick? There's no more dialogue in this movie? I hate you.' No one thinks that because the film is a complete transfixing masterpiece." (Gizmodo)
The exception that proves the point is "My Dinner With Andre", an Ebert "Great Film". Its almost entirely a conversation between two people for almost two hours. Ebert: " Someone asked me the other day if I could name a movie that was entirely devoid of clichés. I thought for a moment, and then answered, 'My Dinner With Andre.' ” So if you can write dialogue like that, have at it. Otherwise ... show, don't tell.
Diomede ... "ironic", indeed.
that is was a good post Steve,
Ive been making animated films for years with out dialogue, mostly because i don't have access to any acceptable voice actors and honestly I can't stand robots voices, trying to watch a animation using robot voices that is not intended for robots is its like finger nails scratching a chalk board. it really detracts from the animation.. Ai voices just aren't there yet either and those that are acceptable tend to be very expensive and you mise will hire voice actors.
so over the years I learn to make films with out dialogue, it does take a nack for getting a story across with out voices . I would say 95% of my animations have no dialogue in them. But once you have a good storyline you shouldn't need much in voice acting. I seen a lot of student projects thats never use dialogue so after you watch & done a few of them yourself, you'll find it easier for creating animation when you don;t have to worry about voices.
These are are just a few I have done that don;t use voice dialogue
Ivy -
Thanks. Yes, I think we share the same idea on dialogue. Fun videos:
Fish Tank - We have a cat like that, a real trouble maker. No aquarium, thankfully, but lots of stuff hitting the floor at 5AM. Proof that the world is not flat, the cats would have knocked everything off by now.
Island Girl - Very good water simulation.
Involuntary Obedience - Sort of the "Pied Piper" updated to the office tower ... replacing the magic pipe and children with ... different elements.
Karate Girl - I've used the same idea with cell phone texts, and even Steampunk computer messaging. I've noticed a LOT of current movies and TV series rely heavily on cell phone communication, iPads, etc. Among other things, it avoids having to have characters in the same location to talk, anybody can talk (or text) to anybody else at any time. Kind of frees up the story flow.
Also I noticed the ambience creation with crowd noise, sound effects, etc., standard items I almost always dig out of my sound effect library (lots of variations). Again, no voice acting or sound recording needed.
Always a fan of Karate Girl !!!
Great posts, Steve and Ivy. As y’all know, I am a Buster Keaton fan. In an interview, he said the most title cards he ever used during the silent era was 1/5th the average for full length pictures. Pretty amazing what he could do without words or facial expression (stoneface).
Yup, Keatons's "The General" is an alltime favorite of mine, #18 on the AFI list of top one hundred films.
https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/9303
Fantastic, Steve K! Loved it!
...and in response to the conversation that followed... When I first saw this it killed me - made me want to animate!
Glad you liked it, I'm a big Pixar fan. And yes, a clever animation, the soundtrack adds a lot.
the most of softwares mentioned in this video is as old as carrara (sigh)
I've mentioned this one before, but a great example of visual storytelling (Short Animation Oscar winner 2014). The last minute or so with the credits also has some funny "outtakes", in the spirit of Pixar's outtakes for "Monsters, Inc.", some of the funniest animation I've seen (link below).
Some marketing folks weigh in on visual storytelling. I like that they mention Keaton and Chaplin.
https://medium.com/visual-stories/10-simple-rules-of-visual-storytelling-4ee868498447
Interesting article, Diomede. I recall reading that the commercials in a European country (France?) are all shown in a one hour time slot, and its one of the most popular slots. Also, the British Arrow awards for commercials are shown here in Houston every year, my wife & I always love them. Example:
On a sort of related note, I just finished the AMC series "The Terror" (2018, ten episodes, eight hours). Based on a true story, its about the British Navy's attempt in about 1850 to find the Northwest Passage using two very sophisticated sailing ships. They have ... problems. There is dialogue, but a lot of very visual scenes, and especially a great use of CGI with live action. Not the typical scifi world that cannot really exist, but showing a real world more convincingly than I think live action alone could do. More here (lots more on YouTube):
So you're Rod serling in 1961 doing "The Twilight Zone", and you decide to do a "silent". What's the first step? Easy, hire Buster Keaton to star. (Full epdsode below)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x114cvp
really interesting. One thing I find fascinating about Keaton’s old silent comedies is that he also strives to remain expressionless (face). So not only does he avoid the spoken word by minimizing the title cards, he also minimizes facial expressions. Yet, he always conveys the story.
There is a product in the store for G2M called slapstick that is a pretty obvious homage to Keaton.
https://www.daz3d.com/slapstick-for-genesis-2-male-s
Yes, "Old Stone Face" was as deadpan as they come. Roger Ebert (RIP) on Keaton in his "Great Movie" review of "The General" (#18 on the top 100 American Film List by the American Film Institute):
"Today I look at Keaton's works more often than any other silent films. They have such a graceful perfection, such a meshing of story, character and episode, that they unfold like music. Although they're filled with gags, you can rarely catch Keaton writing a scene around a gag; instead, the laughs emerge from the situation; he was 'the still, small, suffering center of the hysteria of slapstick,' wrote the critic Karen Jaehne. And in an age when special effects were in their infancy, and a 'stunt' often meant actually doing on the screen what you appeared to be doing, Keaton was ambitious and fearless. He had a house collapse around him. He swung over a waterfall to rescue a woman he loved. He fell from trains. And always he did it in character, playing a solemn and thoughtful man who trusts in his own ingenuity."
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-general-1927
...and lived a quiet life of agony and broken bones behind the scenes because of it.
Tragic, But fortunately, I think Buster lived long enough to get the last laugh, so to speak. His low points were among the lowest of the low, but he persevered through it all, and then ultimately re-emerged as a writer and character actor of the highest order. Keaton fans will enjoy the following blog post on an unlikely connection between Keaton, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, with a side trip to Red Skelton along the way.
http://streamline.filmstruck.com/2013/08/24/buster-keaton-red-skelton-and-clark-gable-together-at-last/
Keaton was in at least one of the Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon beach movies. Might track down which one and use it as inspiration for this month’s “Retro” theme in the Challenge. I have that Oskarrson ‘slapstick’ product from the store.
I mentioned somewhere here that I'm getting into some new video effects, including some from Boris FX Sapphire. One example is "Whiplash", basically a transition that blurs together some frames while adding motion in various directions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVUAM7sy4e8
I was watching some "Making Of" shorts about "Fringe", they mentioned they did a similar thing in a falling crane scene to get a pretty seamless transition from a live action scene to a CG scene of a falling crane (several, I think, e.g. ~2:55). They called it "Whip Pan":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_8dO1bUTVQ
I think I can find a use for this, even with all CG scenes.