Meindbender Animation studios

http://www.meindbender.com/index.html


許久沒看到如此讓人耳目一新的動畫 CG模擬stop motion做得天衣無縫
比起現在無聊的feature animation 這東西精采多了

回到原點

不論我對於公司的製做流程跟品質有多麼不滿....不得不承認她們對我真的很好
這次又是靠我的manager解救我的visa 危機

所以 我一月份開始又要回去上班了
現在先回台灣一陣子躲避美國政府

creature animation reel 2009

Creature Animation Reel 2009 from Kevin Lan on Vimeo.

lay off time

it happens in every animators' career, and it is happening now for me.
You start wonder why you choose to be like this......

Memories from my late 90's - SPEED

They slip out of my memory for a long time, now they are back

animator is a pathetic animal

Rightnow I am really busy, got tons of shots on my plate. And I don't feel those pain anymore!
Suddenly I am passionate about my work again, I stop complaining because I get to do some cool shots. How pathetic I am, they feed me some good shots and keep me busy and now I work like a crazy dog.

極度的悲哀

還有甚麼比被強迫做爛動畫更悲哀的事情呢?
在這家公司待了兩年多,每況愈下
supervisor跟director除了對客戶搖尾巴外,早就失去最基本判斷好壞的能力

無意義的動作, 為了shape change而shape change, 根本不問這個acting感覺對不對
我到底還要出賣自己的靈魂多久? 一家人在這裡陪我這樣荒唐度日的目的到底是為了甚麼?
現在做的動畫已經到了可恥的地步, 完全無法想像這種東西可以從我手中誕生.

可恥啊我!

偶像劇

最近又突發奇想看起了痞子英雄這部電視劇,說實在的簡直是一看就入迷.
我以前想都沒想過會看偶像劇或電視劇,可是這幾年台灣的戲劇進步非常多.
誰不愛看帥哥美女演戲呢? 周渝民演的好...張鈞甯的變化太少....但是那陳意涵...實在是太美了

去年的我在墾丁天氣晴, 也是讓我跟老婆非常入戲. 是因為那墾丁的藍天白雲嗎?還是鈕承澤那個浪漫寫意的鏡頭風格? 抑或那青春徬徨與熱情呢?

跟老婆一起看Youtube那模模糊糊的畫面,可是說是我們解鄉愁的一種方式.

近期觀影短評

Up (2009) 7/10

老實說我很討厭自己對電影吹毛求疵,然後每次都不滿足的走出戲院,
Up算是有可看之處,但是以更高標準來看仍是力有未逮.

這次Pixar在角色塑造下了很多工夫,不再有前幾部電影角色動機不明的問題,
但是電影後半部太過算計的橋段,以及失控的節奏重創了好不容易建立起來的氛圍.
前半部敘述Carl從小認識他老婆一直到失去摯愛的段落實在觸動人心,
大概沒有幾部動畫電影敢做這類內容與手法. 至於後半部似乎是要傳達失去摯愛之後,人生還是要積極地過下去的主題. 結果被那一連串沒有重點的追逐戲跟笑點給稀釋了.

也或許是我自己價值觀跟西方人差距太大,很難認同所謂life has to go on
然後放下舊愛的依戀去開始新的人生.

歸鄉 Vozvrashcheniye (2003) 8/10

角色刻劃深刻然而卻很難明說這部電影到底要講的是甚麼.
父親的突然間降臨,讓兩個兒子經歷了成長的苦痛,男人的試練,以及生命和死亡.
最後父親的遺體隨浪漂流而去,他們在岸邊哭喊的畫面的確是讓人一輩子無法忘記的觀影體驗.
男孩子渴望著父愛,卻又反抗,要逃離父權的陰影,可能是人性最大的矛盾吧.

在對於劇中的兩位童星致上最高敬意,查看資料才發現其中一位在電影剛拍完後就因為戲水而死....

Valkyrie (2008) 6/10

基於對歷史事件的好奇還是看完了這部其實沒有拍好的電影,
導演似乎也只是想呈現一段歷史而並沒有更多的企圖, 我在主角身上看不到心路歷程與衝突.
我想最有趣的地方,還是看到政治與軍事權力核心的角力以及政變後選邊站的一念之差吧.


Gran torino (2008) 8.5/10

其實是好幾個月前在上班空閒時看完的,
I have to say Clint Eastwood is one of the best US film director in our time, if not
the best!

Inland Empire (2007) 8.5/10

我還是必須說, David Lynch是當代美國最好的導演之一,如果不是最棒的那個....
恩 我剛剛也說過同樣的話.

所謂的天才大概就是如此,運用電影手法將所有毫無邏輯的橋段整理出數段夢靨般的場景.我完全說不出故事線是甚麼, 但是前後串聯起來又是如此的熟悉....那些你的夢境 你的恐懼 幻想.
整體說來是比前作墓荷蘭大道更抽象了.
看他指導演員以及工作人員的自信精準....即使根本沒人知道這部電影在拍甚麼...
Lynch的大師風範的確無庸置疑.

demo reel 09

demo reel 2009 from Kevin Lan on Vimeo.

Happy 1st Birthday to Ivan!

Last year he was born in Cedar-Sinai medical center. Birth weight 4 pounds.
At that time TsuiChun had already spent 1 whole month in bed, and several short stays in Garfield hospital and ER rooms.....Definitely the hardest time ever in out life.

But we made it. Ivan was born healthy and grows strong everyday.
Happy Birthday my baby! We love you sooo......much!

Gobelin Annecey openings 2009

OK, maybe I'm spoiled by the high quality of their work so I am not very impressed by these....
Story and characters are still more important than the technique.

Ivan's trick

random find

They're so beautiful I have to share:

Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Sigur Ros - Við spilum endalaust - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on

Some white ass American should fuck themselves

It's hard to believe even at today, there are still American thought they were better than others, or white were better than any other color.

This fat American white ass who drove Chrsyler cruiser plate CA 5ZDL709 just proved how rude, under-educated, low-class they are.

Uzak 遠方 (2002)

土耳其導演Nuri Bilge Ceylan 的劇情長片


沒有甚麼具體的故事 但是角色飽滿 每個鏡頭都美極了


這是一部關於生命狀態的電影
觸不及的迷戀與目標 對舊愛的難捨 表面的理想光鮮與暗處的自私猥褻
我們對生命的無奈最終都凝結在Maumut那一個遠方的凝視中

第一個鏡頭從雪地里遠方走來的Yusuf開始 透過由遠而近的透視變化 給足了這個鏡頭的空間感






































接著角色出鏡 鏡頭旋轉帶到一條公路 角色再度入鏡
導演在同一個鏡頭內將所有序事交代完畢















這個鏡頭也是經由極端的景深 讓角色自然表演出敘事:Maumut對Yusuf抽菸不關門的不滿

CalArts producer show '09

I was lucky I had a chance to attend this event again after'07.
Overall the work is not as impressive as in '07. But there are some solid films got really unique design and technique in it. Like this one:

This one time... from nelson boles on Vimeo.

and this one:

Low Oxygen from Dylan Forman on Vimeo.

這是來自台灣的David Chao的作品!


Like Andrew Gordan mention in SplineDoctors blog, the animation in this year's film are not the top notched. But hey,I am just a lazy 3D animator I give all the students the highest repect. If I were student again and they ask me to do a film in a year, I will probably kill myself real soon.

Back to work today

Luckily I don't have anything to do today, keep working on my own stuff.
Really, I want to finish my reel and find another job this year.
This is a good company, but I just can't stay here seeing myself decaying.....
TsuiChun said my work stops improving...that's really a shame. I have worked on several films and I still feel like I haven't done anything meaningful.

瘋狂星期八 by TT麻亞

Yesterday was my last day of vacation. Our food hunting trip lead us to 鼎泰豐 in Arcadia.
The food there tastes exactly the same like in Taiwan. The whole plaza are very Taiwanese, unlike those occupied by mainlander in Monterey Park or Alhambra.

And, I happened to find this book in the book store there.

It's been out of print for 13 years. I never got to see any image about it at all, only words from internet saying TT麻亞's ultimate talent.

I met her once in book festival around 98 or 99, when Jo Chen published her first comic in Taiwan. She is very kind and friendly. For us(me and my sister), she is just the legend in TW's comic world. We were so excited like fan boys just for talking with her.

I hope she can still drawing for comic world in Taiwan.

我的部落格真的是多餘的