YouTubeing - The World of Golden Eggs

Bruce Baird baird at asianlan.umass.edu
Thu Mar 15 14:11:05 EDT 2007


Dear Jasper,

I regret that I can't help you out with the background of Golden Egg,  
but I wonder is there a good visual resource out there for being able  
to understand more fully the point you are trying to make about the  
Toon Shading animation?

Best,

Bruce

On Mar 15, 2007, at 10:13 AM, J.sharp wrote:

> Since this list is meant to be about all aspects of Japanese visual  
> culture,
> not only film, I wanted to ask a little about the background of a  
> program
> called The World of GOLDEN EGGS that a friend of mine alerted my  
> attention
> to on Youtube:
>
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgjBIcGc9bM
>
> Set in South Park-style American suburbia, it is something of a  
> curio. It
> seems like the intent of these brief skits is to teach English to the
> Japanese. I gather its been quite a popular phenomenon over the  
> past year,
> migrating onto other platforms such as iTunes podcasts and mobile  
> phone
> downloads, although it originally surfaced on cable TV.
> One interesting aspect is its use of CG for the animation,  
> particularly the
> expedient method known as Toon-Shading.
>
> Toon Shading means the models are animated as 3d objects, and then  
> rendered
> to give them the finished look of a traditional hand-drawn cartoon.  
> Using
> software developed by the company SoftImage by Michael Arias, the  
> technique
> was first used to animate the opening Boar God attack in Studio  
> Ghibli’s
> Princess Mononoke (1997), and is often used as a shortcut for the more
> challenging work of the traditional animation, with which it is often
> combined. The most obvious use if for the 2003 film Appleseed.
>
> Anyone caught this?
>
> Jasper Sharp
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
> www.midnighteye.com
>
> ===
>
> Available now in bookstores everywhere:
> The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (Stone Bridge Press)
> by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
> http://www.midnighteye.com/features/midnighteye_guide.shtml
> "Easily one of the most important books on Japanese cinema ever  
> released in
> English."
> - Newtype USA
>
>
>
> --------- Original Message --------
> From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> To: KineJapan <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> Subject: Mainichi Concours 2006
> Date: 19/01/07 18:29
>
>>
>> The results of the 2006 Mainichi Concours, one of the last of the big
>> yearly film awards, were announced:
>>
>> Best Japanese Film: Yureru
>> Best Director: Negishi Kichitaro (Yuki ni negau koto)
>> Best Screenplay: Kato Masato (Yuki ni negau koto)
>> Best Actor: Sato Koichi  (Yuki ni negau koto)
>> Best Actress: Nakatani Miko (Kiraware Matsuko no issho)
>> Best Supporting Actor: Sasano Takashi (Bushi no ichibun, Nezo no ban)
>> Best Supporting Actress: Aoi Yu (Hula Girl, Neji no megami,  
>> Hachimitsu
>> to Clover)
>> Best New Face Award: Tsukaji Muga (Mamiya kyodai), Dan Rei (Bushi no
>> ichibun)
>> Tanaka Kinuyo Award: Kusabue Mitsuko
>>
>> Award of Excellence in Japanese Film: Hula Girl
>> Best Cinematography: Kawakami Masato  (Kiraware Matsuko no issho)
>> Best Art Direction: Taneda Yohei (The Yuchoten Hotel, Hula Girl)
>> Best Music: Kako Takashi (Hakase no aishita sushiki)
>> Best Sound: Shiratori Mitsugu (Hula Girl, Yureru); Onodera Osamu  
>> (Yuki
>> ni negau koto)
>> Best Technical Award: Koike Yoshiyuki (editing for Kiraware  
>> Matsuko no
>> issho)
>>
>> Best Documentary: Edward Said: Out of Place
>> Animation Award: Toki o kakeru shojo
>> Ofuji Noburo Award: Tekkon kinkurito
>> Fan Award: Death Note
>>
>> Best Foreign Film: Flags of Our Fathers
>>
>> Special Awards: Imamura Shohei, Kazami Shoko
>>
>> Forgive me if I got any of the name readings wrong. The original
>> Japanese article is available at:
>>
>> http://www.japan-movie.net/news/?i=223
>>
>> As I mentioned the other day, the Mainichi tends to be fairly
>> conservative, but they are one of the few major awards that also
>> focuses on the technical staff and other genres like documentary and
>> animation. Ofuji Noburo is one of Japan's great animators, and the
>> award named after him commemorates some significant contribution  
>> to the
>> art of animation.
>>
>> Aaron Gerow
>> KineJapan owner
>>
>> Assistant Professor
>> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
>> Yale University
>>
>> For list commands, send &quot;information kinejapan&quot; to
>> listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> ________________________________________________
> Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
>

Bruce Baird
Assistant Professor
Asian Languages and Literatures
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Butô, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History

717 Herter Hall
161 Presidents Drive
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003-9312
Phone: 413-577-4992
Fax: 413-545-4975
baird at asianlan.umass.edu




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20070315/2f69bd54/attachment.html 


More information about the KineJapan mailing list