Not a Movie Review, but Industry News Nonetheless

Some interesting news posted on CartoonBrew.com. Apparently John Textor, CEO of Digital Domain, said some things about not only using students to help make their films, but actually having them pay DD for their work. So the students would be paying DD to work there.

Article here: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/digital-domains-john-textor-brags-to-investors-about-exploiting-animation-student-labor.html

I actually did know about Digital Domain's education program. Considering that I have been applying to get a job there for months, I've been receiving e-mails about the Digital Domain Institute for about just as long, and even got invited to an Open House. There was such a large response to the RSVP that they had to turn people away. However, when I read more into the programs offered, it had a stench of a money making scheme on it. Especially with the 10-week courses offered. You pay over a years worth of tuition for a certificate, which, if you don't already have a college degree, is not worth much in the industry.
The news that you'd be working on their films, and not just building your own portfolio is the shocking part. This means that you won't even be able to use the work completed at the studio until the movie was released, and if you had permission and access to the footage after the fact.

John Textor claims that this is a way to help the animation industry in America, and give students experience to compete in the world, but it might add to the problem. First off, the certificate and 3 year programs take no financial aid from the state, which means unless you have cash money, or take a direct loan from the school (if that's even possible) there is no way that somebody without a well paying job or well off parents will be able to take these classes. This reserves this for the rich, and not necessarily the talented.
Secondly, the program doesn't guarantee employment after you've taken their classes. Not even with them. That said, this structure will only help IF other companies bring jobs back to America so that the students don't waste their time and money getting a degree, and saturate the market with easily replaceable artists.
This is a problem not only with Digital Domain, but with all for-profit schools that add majors just to get students enrolled.

All I can say is I hope that Orlando's Creative Village takes hold and brings in all the companies they're hoping for.

The Muppets: Quick Review

Wow, over a year after creating this site, and I'm going to try my first movie review: The Muppets.

I know it's now animation as we think of it, but the term "Animate" means to bring to life, and that's exactly what they do with The Muppets in this comeback movie.

Last I checked, this movie had close to %100 rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many will attribute that to the fact that many fans were the first to go see it, and that we'll get a better rating after this weekend when most movie-goers will be out there. I don't think we'll see much of a change though. While I agree that this isn't everybody's cup of tea, I don't think the ratings are high because everybody is praising the movie. I think it's because nothing bad can be said about it.

While the muppets aren't popular, they've never quite been outdated. The movie presents those classic elements that were common not only in the muppet show, but in their movies too. They had musical numbers with choreography, classic slapstick physical humor, self referencing jokes, plenty of celebrity cameos, and they broke the 4th wall so many times the movie should've collapsed on itself. But it didn't.

And it never will. Because the Muppet movies are supposed to be silly, and make fun of everything in a way that kids aged 3 to 103 can understand. Thats what was expected, and that's what the audience got.

With a wonderful soundtrack, and plenty of humor to boot, I would recommend this movie to everybody looking to get a laugh over the holidays, and a nice serving of nostalgia.

Welcome!

Hello, and thank you for visiting my blog/review site.
My name is Rinaldo Stephens and I am a recently graduated animator/illustrator/cartoonist. As such I enjoy animated movies and TV shows alike, and while there are plenty of reviews about animated feature films, they don't really do it from an animator's perspective.
I hope to offer reviews of many animated films and TV shows with a new perspective, and hopefully, along the way, get you to go out and see some movies that you may have otherwise blown off.
It may take me a while to get things started here, but I hope you stay tuned as I put together this site. In the meantime, go out and see Iron Man 2, or How To Train Your Dragon.

Happy Movie Going!

-Rinaldo