COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA [2000] [DVD] [USA Release]
Featuring 17 Stunning Computer Animation Short Films!
Odyssey Productions, creators of the internationally renowned ‘THE MIND’S EYE’ series of computer animation videos, proudly presents an all new collection of short films from award-winning computer animation artists and visionaries from around the world. ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ is from the producers of some of the most well-known computer-generated imagery around the world comes this new collection of shorts which showcase a dazzling computer animation medium. Some of the artists involved in the making of this special include the makers of ‘ANTZ,’ the creators of ‘THE MIND'S EYE videos, and the Academy Award® winning studio which created the digital effects in ‘TITANIC.’ The future is now, my friends.
Director: (Uncredited)
Producers: Steven Churchill and Tonya Davis
Composer: (Uncredited)
Image Resolution: 1080i
Audio: English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: None
Running Time: 55 minutes
Region: NTSC
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Image Entertainment / Odyssey Productions
Andrew's DVD Review: ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ [2000] is brought to you via the Odyssey Productions that was formerly Odyssey Visual Design and is a California-based photography and 3-D computer animation company founded in 1983 by Steven Churchill. It was the first San Diego Company to produce 3D computer animation and its clients have included Coca-Cola, General Dynamics, Union Oil, Southwestern Cable, Metrocast, Honda, and a number of TV stations across the country.
While Odyssey Productions focused primarily on 35mm back-lit motion graphics and special effects for the first 3 years of its existence, its production of the world's first computer animation film festival in 1986 brought about a shift in focus to 3D computer animation. That exhibition was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, California, followed by a second CGI film festival at the same venue in 1987. In 1988 nation-wide distribution was arranged with Landmark Theatres, showcasing the best of those films. The purpose was to raise public awareness of computer animation as an art form.
In 1988 Steven Churchill produced the award-winning release of the world's first home entertainment video of computer animation, State Of the Art of Computer Animation. The video won the “Best Video Art” award from the American Film Institute at their American Video Conference Awards Show that year. The accolades and sales successes achieved by State Of the Art Of Computer Animation prompted the 1990 release of The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey, a title that would become the first member of the successful The Mind's Eye series. The next decade (1990 – 2000) would be taken up almost entirely with the production of 19 feature-length 3D computer animated package films for home release.
With this ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ you get to view some amazing Computer-Animated Shorts that are totally inventive which gives you a real colourful “Eye Candy” extravaganza and this latest collection offers more than just the standard narrative-less modelling computer animated short films that characterized much of the output of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Of the 16 entries included, the opener “Tightrope,” in which a jester and a malicious figure duke it out on a tightrope is the best, followed by several strong pieces, such as the humorous “Teaspoon” and “My Lucky Day,” and then we have the sublime "Migrations" (in which a stone figure attached to a building literally breaks his concrete restraints and takes wing).
Then we have the sly “Tribu” (in which otherworldly beings discover that one of their own is pulling a “wizard of Oz” power play, and then lose their purpose once the imposter is revealed and their political/religious system breaks down). The other 11 pieces vary in quality, from the strained humour of “Ronin Romance Classics” (in which a housewife daydreams of bawdy adventures with pirates and thieves) to the one-note joke of the Halloween-themed “Hollow.”
To sum up ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA,’ I can definitely recommend this amazing and inventive DVD to anyone who appreciates amazing inventive computer animation visuals and has a very tongue in cheek sense of humour and wonder. Some of these animated efforts, mostly done by college-age students, are very inventive and fun to view.
The DVD contains 16 segments that include the following:
01. Tightrope [1998] (Director/Written: Daniel Robichaud) (Producers: Edward Kummer, Scott Ross and Val Runolfsson) (Screenplay: Daniel Loeb and Daniel Robichaud) (Composer: Robert Miller)
02. Ronin Romance Classics [1999] (Director/Producer/Animator: Bruce Pukema) (Composer: Paul Hartwig)
03. Fiat Lux [1999] (Director/Producer: Paul Debevec)
04. Pings [1997] (Director/Animator: Pierre Coffin)
05. Teaspoon [1998] (Producer: Ecoutez Voir)
06. My Lucky Day [1997] (Director: Ian Maslen) (Composer: Will Garner) (Narrator: David Colson)
07. Un Temps Pour Elle [1998] (Director/Writer: Erwin Charrie) (Musique: “Swimming” – B.O. Waterworld))
08. Migrations [1997] (Musique: “Concerto en Si” by H. van den Budenmayer)
09. Fat Cat on a Diet [2000] (Director/Animator: Raman Hui) (Producer: Judy Conner) (Music: Marco D'Ambrosio)
10. Ombre Portee [1997] (Musique: DAG)
11. Hollow [1998] (Director/Animator: Jason Shulman) (Producer: Ringling School of Art & Design)
12. La Stele [1997] (Musique: “Fever” by Davenport/Cooley) (Intreprété: Peggy Lee)
13. Tribu [1998] (Directors/Animators: Franck Clarenc, Nicolas Darques and Thomas Lecointre)
14. Apples and Oranges [1999] (Director/Producer/Animator: Christopher De Santis) (Orchestration: Barbara Rosenthal)
15. Playground Zero [1997] (Director/Producer/Animator: Michael J. Spring
16. Butterflies in the Rain [1997] (Composer: Sherman Myers) (Lyricist: Erell Reaves) (Arranger: M Ewing)
BONUS ANIMATED SHORT: The Smell of Horror [1998] [1080i] [1.37:1] [7:26] Flip, a good old southern boy, drives to a strange dark house to test for toxic fumes. An eager little man answers the door, starting Flip’s unusual day. (Director/Producer/Animator: Mitch Butler) (Music/Sound Design: Mitch Butler, David Alan Earnest, Jim Stoner and Flip Perkins) (Voices: Jim Stoner ad Flip Perkins)
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DVD Image Quality – Image Entertainment and Odyssey Productions presents us the spectacular ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ with a wonderful colourful 1080i image and some of the animation shorts come near to 3D image, especially the first animation “tightrope,” that is very inventive and ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ is one of the best DVD for demonstrating these particular computer animations are the best visual presentation, and the entire package is very, very sharp. Each computer animation detail is spot on, delivering a sharp, detailed and highly impressive presentation throughout, looking perfect during even the numerous fast moving and heavily populated sequences with quite the plethora of activity occurring on screen. Overall, this is an outstanding high definition video presentation especially for a DVD presentation and the images you view will not disappoint you.
DVD Audio Quality – Image Entertainment and Odyssey Productions brings us the amazing ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ with a really nice 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio experience and will give your speakers a good workout. As expected from a purely digital source, small detailed sound effects are crisp and background noise is unnoticeable and the composed music has a terrific range of highs and lows that'll keep your ears very engaged. Overall, this audio soundtrack for each computer animation is quite impressive and contributes to give you a great deal of fun to this highly enjoyable animated feature.
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Finally, ‘COMPUTER ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA’ is brought to you by the amazing and extra ordinary Image Entertainment an Odyssey Productions and you are presented with 17 individual computer animated films that are a very interesting and unique collection of short films and are well worthwhile viewing because some of these short animation films are very inventive, some are very funny, some are very mysterious and some are very dreamlike and all in all you will not be at all disappointed what you view as you get view a very unique experience and the time they were released were ahead of their time. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
