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Show 8 THE SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE JUNE 13, 2001 WEDNESDAY, no p L r grafts17'7 h in computer land, then you go back into cartoon land." JEREMY MATHEWS Chronicle Feature Columnist takes energy and enthusiasm to work in animation. The creative team behind Disney's upcoming "Atlantis: The l ost Umpire" worked on the film for almost four and a half years before reaching the final product, opening It nationwide June 15. The result is a charming film in which Michael J. Fox voices an explorer named Milo who goes on an expedition to the lost city of Atlantis. n Combining the traditional, animated characters and backgrounds with digital special effects, the filmmakers create a stunning look. "That's what's great about our medium right now," producer Don Hahn hand-draw- said. can grab from a piece of paper and pencil or a paintbrush or a computer to create the effect on the screen. It doesn't really matter what tool you use; it's just what's appropriate for the "You Now, with the advance of computers, it's possible to seamlessly combine n and computer-generate- d elements. In "Atlantis," for example, there's a action sequence characters riding on involving hand-draw- fast-pac- ed 2-- D vehicles. "On one hand, people think that computers make the job easier, but as soon as one thing becomes easier, you want more," Trousdale commented. "Our appetite always grows, and we keep adding stuff to it." One of the most striking elements of "Atlantis" is the highly interesting look of the city. While computers helped elements move through it, the computers couldn't do anything without a lot of initial creativity. "We knew early on what wc didn't want," Trousdale said. "Wc didn't want the Roman columns or the Greek city with people walking around in togas that you sec in the last 50 years of movies." Atlantis Hahn explained that there are many accounts of Atlantis other than Plato's. "A U.S. senator from the 1880s had the idea that since there are pyramids all over the world, where did they all come from?" he said. "All these cultures, from China to South America to Egypt, somebody had to have this idea. He traced them all backwards and theorized that Atlantis was this mother live-actio- job." Hahn with directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise the team he worked with on "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Hunchback of Notre to make "Atlantis." "Beauty and the Beast" was one of the first animated films to use computers for more than coloring. The ballDame" room sequence had sweeping moverenderiment that was done with ng. "That was something really fun and exciting for us," Trousdale said, "but when you look back on it, you know the second you walk in the door you're 3-- D 3-- D n civilization. "He was mostly nuts, but we liked this idea, so we used it," he said. "That was pretty much how we researched the film." ifttWL Hahn elaborated, "It was the first, if you will, civilization from whence everything else emanated." So in addithe empire contion to tains elements of "Cambodian, Mayan, Tibetan, Indian, and Asian architecture molded into this one Tower of Babel kind of place. The architecture and language were both parts of that," Greco-Roma- tj n, he said. animators hand-drethe characters inhabiting the exotic city with care and consideration. "He's a solid, traditionally animated character, done much the same way as in the age of 'Snow White,'" said John Pomcroy, the supervising animator for Milo's character. Pomeroy, whose work includes "Pocahontas," the Firebird in "Fantasia 2000" and the upcoming "Treasure Planet" (based on the novel "Treasure Island",), found the three years he spent working on Milo "captivating." He added that Milo's attempt to get funding for science reminded him of his own attempts to get into animatioa "It was probably the most enjoyable experience I've ever had in my animation career, which has almost reached 30 years. It was a combination of a great story, a terrific character, a great crew and great directors and producer," he said. Pomeroy's job comes down to acting with his drawings. He studied Fox's mannerisms during the recording sessions and used them while developing Milo's movements. In creating Milo's various touches, Pomeroy also enjoyed the somewhat-angula- r design used in "Atlantis" to Hard-workin- w g L Gary Trousdale (left) and Kirk Wise (right) directed "Atlantis: The Lost Empire H hft ? 1, which all the parts of the film had to adhere. "Comic artist Mike Mignola came in and designed an overall graphic look for us, based on a lot of his graphic novels and comic books," Pomeroy explained. "My Milos would have a lot of the angularity drawn into him to marry him to the layout, background, hardware or truck he was driving." When all the elements were combined, the end product was a film with an excellent tone and characters with palpable emotions. Hahn is excited about what he'll be able to do in his next effort as the technology progresses, although he isn't as g chareager to attempt acters, like those in the upcoming ation of reality. I don't think that's ever going to be our goal because what's great about character animation is it's not reality. You can go see a movie or step outside if .you want reality," he said. Hahn points to art history after artists like Caravaggio mastered paint-ing- s 1 that looked like reality. cold and it turned "Eventually, painters began to do not real life, but their impressions and feelings about real life " he said. "I think that's what animation does best," Hahn said. "It gives the audience a perception of reality that they couldn't get with a photograph. That's what art is." "Final Fantasy." For a review of "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," check next vjeek's issue. realistic-lookin- lot of people are pressing toward doing making a recre "A photo-realis- live-acti- on 1 jmathewschronicle.utah.edu m, Exhibit Gives Glimpse! nolher Word KATHRYN COWLES RED Magazine Editor egg-shap- The similarities between an thick-groove-d, pot and a BEST USED SELECTION CD i H T story-tellin- bright-whit- earth-colore- d, g thick-layere- d, e, abstracted oil painting seem few and 0 m ft far between at first glance. To many, an art show coupling Joseph Ostraff with Edwin (Eru) Napia is a bit nonsensical. Napia, an professor at the University of Utah, is known for his wonderful clay pieces, influenced by his heritage and childhood in New Zealand's Ngapuhi Iwa Tribe. Ostraff's oil paintings are, visually, very different from Napia's works, not only in medium, but also in style and execution. And Ostraff teaches at ethnic-studi- es rival-instituti- Brigham Young University. 0J But after a closer look, the similarities between the two become striking and Art Access' reasoning behind the pairing obvious. Both artists represent culture and ideas with abstracted shapes and repetition. And both create works that seem to be hiding something mysterious and wild just beneath the surface whether that surface be layers of paint or leaf patterns in clay. ' subtitled Napia's t "Tini-A-Tane- "Children of the Forest God," is an elongated, pot. Growing from the top and bottom, broad leaves cover the smooth, circular inner shape. A space in between the two leaf bunches makes the world beyond almost visible. The tiny, ragged hole in the top of the pot seems a delicate connection to a different, more fiercely natural place, almost camouflaged by the greenery. Ostraff's "Seeing" lets slip a similar peek into a wilder world. Repeated,; hexagonal shapes, one overlapping! another to form layer after layer of at first. paint, seem But near the bottom of the painting, two hexagons are not filled in with the muddied paint, and through them, the world beyond the back of the painting; is visible, colorful and wild. In a departure from his characteristic, plant-lik- e pieces, Napia experiments with other forms of clay art in this show. Two pyramid-shape- d water fountains soundlessly spill water over their sides a work of art directly incorporating nature. "We the Colonized," one of few Napia pieces that doesn't have a Maori name with an English subtitle, seems to drop all the stylized, nature-base- d clay work in favor of a depiction of houses and huts. These colonized heavy, buildings seem to spread throughout the work, pressing down on the wild elements and taking over all available space and even the ," ' jam-pack- mmmmmmmmmmj dlL hot nw lUHiLt SUPPLIES LrtSF HUHRV. in LIMITED SELECTION GOOD I30Q ErIST LQCATiOn RELEASES GO SftLfc': Qnu 2 UNIVERSITY I life- - LOCATIONS -- i . 1 1 1 248 South 1300 East 281 SOUTH 1300 EAST M a m M m mm m. mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm will be fea- Art Access Gallery 1 Edwin Napia's pottery 1 turcd in 1 aa "i A the I ed ed title. Yet at the very bottom of the pot, water nearly pulsates under the pressure, and at the very top, wild mountains tower over the offending buildings. The wildness isn't lost; it's just hidden away from the colonization, ready to burst out. deep-groov- ed see ART, page 9 |
