Glen Keane News & Discussion

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Rumpelstiltskin
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Glen Keane News & Discussion

Post by Rumpelstiltskin »

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post it, but considering that it's impossible to mentioned Glen Keane without thinking about Disney it can't hurt:

At Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, we believe in the power of storytelling, so we’re building new stories made specifically for mobile. Not stories made for the big screen but shown on a small one. Not flat content. We’re building interactive, immersive stories made for your smartphone.

So we’re excited to announce that Glen—the artist behind so many classics—is working with us to push the future of animation with an original Spotlight Story.

Expected to release the middle of 2014, in this third Motorola Spotlight Story, Glen is going back to the drawing board. Literally. Together with the engineers who unlocked the graphics technology that made our first Spotlight Story, Windy Day, possible on the Moto X, we’re pushing new edges. The raw emotion of the hand-drawn line brought to life in our technological world. And yours.

What will happen when a master animator of the big screen jumps to an innovative, mobile canvas? We’re excited to see.

http://motorola-blog.blogspot.no/2013/1 ... joins.html

Another reason why this could be of relevance for Disney, is because Keane will use this opportunity to push the evolution of hand drawn animation. Maybe it can be used together with the Paperman technique.
Personally, I wasn't completely happy with Paperman. It felt like there was too much procedural animation involved (used on the in-betweens among other things). But the reason for that could be because the team who made it was restricted in both money and the number of people involved. With better software, a larger crew and more resources, those problems could be solved. Just look at the test animation for the computer animated sequel of Roger Rabbit Disney planned to do some years ago. The animation looks just as fluid as if it was done by hand, unlike Paperman where some of the character animation clearly indicated computers had been involved. There is no such thing as cheating if the result looks just as good or better, only if it looks less good and shortcuts are taken. If Disney can pull it off, it's gonna be exciting to see the results.
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Patrick
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Patrick »

So at first I was a little irritated that Glen was hooking up with a mobile company (that I don't own :P) to produce work that he was inspired to do. My thought was that he left Disney to push animation and work on his own craft. To think that he would then just turn aruond to work for another big company, with similar execs to please seemed strange.. but then I start looking into the phone. The Windy Day augmented reality project is amazing. Their Tumblr (http://motorolaspotlightstories.com/) has tons of concept art from Tadahiro Uesegi and "behind the scenes", "making of" type stuff for the app. Annnnd now I'm excited to see what Glen gets to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur-GQbQOGuQ - Phone unboxing (awesome)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lszHEu7oxE - Recording of the agumented reality, animated Windy Day app
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Rumpelstiltskin
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Rumpelstiltskin »

Well, he said he wanted to push the evolution of hand drawn animation further, but he can't do that on his own. At Motorola, he cooperates with engineers, gets the chance to develop new tools and can take his time with his own projects as long as they are relevant for the Motorola’s Spotlight Stories initiative. For me it sounds like its not so much about coming up with new stories, but to experiment with the possibilities technology can do for animation. What he and a handful of other animators are doing is pioneer work, which is usually small in the beginning. As we know, Pixar was once a hardware company who only made a few shorts the first years. What this work eventually will lead to is impossible to predict, but I find it exciting. Partly because of the concept, but also if Keane is able to come up with some methods that allows his to move the genre in the direction he is eager to explore.
And since it's only shorts for now, Keane don't have to work on the same story for years like he did at Disney. If I should guess, I would say he feels a lot more free and less stressed where he is now. I doubt it feels like working in a traditional feature animation studio.

Unfortunately, we still need to wait some months before we see what he has been doing.

Thanks for the links.
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by robster16 »

You can watch Glen's new short "Duet" online now, it was premiered today through google and an interactive version will be presented online later. There is a full press conference with a behind the scenes look at the process, but here's a few stills and a quick link to the video itself, in full:

http://youtu.be/cV8JDSO1NS8?t=54m20s

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Old Fish Tale
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Old Fish Tale »

That was magnificent.
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unprincess
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by unprincess »

Oh My God...

Gorgeous! the man just has an incredible grace when it comes to human anatomy & motion.

at the end, didnt it kinda look like Pocahontas was kissing Prince Adam? :lol:
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Musical Master
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Musical Master »

Glen Keane's got the old magic touch alright! :D
unprincess wrote:Oh My God...

Gorgeous! the man just has an incredible grace when it comes to human anatomy & motion.

at the end, didnt it kinda look like Pocahontas was kissing Prince Adam? :lol:
:lol:
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2Disney4Ever
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by 2Disney4Ever »

I liked it.
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Sotiris
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Sotiris »

Needless to say, the animation is superb. Detailed and disciplined in some parts while raw and visceral in others. A rare visual treat. Miles above Disney's recent shorts. It's a shame Disney has abandoned 2D animation. This could have easily been a Disney short.

Here's a Glen Keane sketch from the short's production:

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Source: http://www.animationinsider.com/2014/06 ... onference/
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DisneyEra
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by DisneyEra »

Sotiris wrote:Needless to say, the animation is superb. Detailed and disciplined in some parts while raw and visceral in others. A rare visual treat. Miles above Disney's recent shorts. It's a shame Disney has abandoned 2D animation. This could have easily been a Disney short.

Here's a Glen Keane sketch from the short's production:

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Source: http://www.animationinsider.com/2014/06 ... onference/
A nice short by the Legendary Glen Keane, but these recent Disney shorts were better:
http://s2.stliq.com/c/m/b/b1/22163289_p ... scar-0.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ixJbMW8zlrI/U ... os+(1).jpg
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DisneyEra
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by DisneyEra »

Sotiris wrote:Needless to say, the animation is superb. Detailed and disciplined in some parts while raw and visceral in others. A rare visual treat. Miles above Disney's recent shorts. It's a shame Disney has abandoned 2D animation. This could have easily been a Disney short.

Here's a Glen Keane sketch from the short's production:

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Source: http://www.animationinsider.com/2014/06 ... onference/
A nice short by the Legendary Glen Keane, but these recent Disney shorts were better:
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2Disney4Ever
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by 2Disney4Ever »

DisneyEra wrote:A nice short by the Legendary Glen Keane, but these recent Disney shorts were better:
http://s2.stliq.com/c/m/b/b1/22163289_p ... scar-0.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ixJbMW8zlrI/U ... os+(1).jpg
The Little Match Girl wasn't very recent. It was included as an extra on the Platinum Edition DVD for The Little Mermaid and was produced some time ago for another Fantasia sequel.
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DisneyEra
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by DisneyEra »

2Disney4Ever wrote:
DisneyEra wrote:A nice short by the Legendary Glen Keane, but these recent Disney shorts were better:
http://s2.stliq.com/c/m/b/b1/22163289_p ... scar-0.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ixJbMW8zlrI/U ... os+(1).jpg
The Little Match Girl wasn't very recent. It was included as an extra on the Platinum Edition DVD for The Little Mermaid and was produced some time ago for another Fantasia sequel.
Still, it was released 8 years ago & I consider it one of their modern shorts. Still, Paperman & Get a Horse are 2 of Disney's best short films, Paperman winning the studio it's first Oscar in the short department in nearly half a century & Get a Horse, a great combination of original black/white 2D animation mixed with modern cgi.

And here's what Feast will be like:
The film uses some of the same non-photorealistic rendering techniques that were explored in the studio’s earlier Oscar-winning short Paperman, but the effect this time is more lush and immersive. Unlike Paperman, which relied heavily on character outlines, Feast explores an aggressive stylization, minimizing the exterior line and steeping itself in the possibilities of color, shape, and form. If you’ve ever looked at the concept art in an ‘art of’ book and wondered why the finished film couldn’t look like that, you’ll wonder no longer. This film is concept art come to life.
TsWade2
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by TsWade2 »

Sotiris wrote:It's a shame Disney has abandoned 2D animation.
Oh good lord! Please don't say that! I was getting better of not obsessing about 2D animation and then someone has to say disney is done with 2D animation forever all over again.:(

By the way, that was a beautiful short. :)
ce1ticmoon
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by ce1ticmoon »

Beautiful short. Really embracing the medium of animation through those transformations and transitions. Not to mention the character animation itself.

I agree that the recent Disney shorts are nothing to sneeze at. Paperman was very beautiful in its own right, and I'm really looking forward to Feast.
DancingCrab
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by DancingCrab »

Was almost in tears during "Duet". There is just such a magic about Glen Keane's style that stands apart from the rest.
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blackcauldron85
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by blackcauldron85 »

DancingCrab wrote:Was almost in tears during "Duet". There is just such a magic about Glen Keane's style that stands apart from the rest.
I completely agree!

Also, there's a making-of video at the bottom of this article: http://thedisneyblog.com/2014/06/27/gle ... more-24406
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Semaj
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Semaj »

Disney was foolish for ever letting Glen Keane leave.
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"OH COME ON, REALLY?!?!"
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Kyle
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by Kyle »

Holy... there are no words.
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supertalies
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Re: New Glen Keane short

Post by supertalies »

Wow.

That was stunning.
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