My Favourite Cartoons
- reflection -
Growing up, I was a real sucker for for cartoons and animations. Starting from sitting down in the living room and watching the same DVD of Pingu over and over again with the same feeling of excitement every time, the world of animated characters living unpredictable lives have really played a key role as the fuel of my vast, endless imagination. Of course, over the years my interests have grown and changed. My love for Pingu isn't as strong as it once was before. However, my love for cartoons and animations still remain the same! Under this small, yet wordy, introduction, the cartoons, or pieces of animations, that stood out the most to me during the different phases of my life will be listed below!
early childhood
Like I mentioned previously, I was a total Pingu fan. If you aren't familiar with children series, don't worry! I will just hold a personal, secret grudge for you. Pingu is a stop-motion children tv series about a 5-year old penguin whose name is featured as the title. In each episode, Pingu is shown in different situations, from meeting his new baby sister, Pinga, to playing out in the snow with his best friend, Robby the seal.
The show was created by Otmar Gutmann, who was known as a German television producer, animator, and director. His most popular work was Pingu, although he was also involved in animating Lucy the Menace of Street. Pingu was a very successful series, having been displayed in about 100 television stations all over the world. It has also won 18 prizes and awards, such as the Kleiner Baer at the Berlin Film Festival
and the French Prix Jeuness. The show was produced in Trickfilmstudio, an animation production company founded in Switzerland in 1986. It is responsible for not only the works of Pingu, but also for Koki, and the Little Hippo. However, the company ended up closing in 1998, 5 years after the passing of Otmar Gutmann. In a German interview video with Otmar Gutmann and his crew, it features how Pingu is animated. It begins with many different models of Pingu in various movement styles. The model is then placed down in a scene, a picture is snapped with a camera and that model is replaced with another model, but instead in another similar pose. The method is repeated, until after, the images taken by the camera is played at a fast pace to imitate movement. Here's the video if you'd like to see for yourself. From the looks of it, it seems super hard and tedious to make everything look smooth and I wished the video was in English so I could understand what they were saying.
The show was created by Otmar Gutmann, who was known as a German television producer, animator, and director. His most popular work was Pingu, although he was also involved in animating Lucy the Menace of Street. Pingu was a very successful series, having been displayed in about 100 television stations all over the world. It has also won 18 prizes and awards, such as the Kleiner Baer at the Berlin Film Festival
and the French Prix Jeuness. The show was produced in Trickfilmstudio, an animation production company founded in Switzerland in 1986. It is responsible for not only the works of Pingu, but also for Koki, and the Little Hippo. However, the company ended up closing in 1998, 5 years after the passing of Otmar Gutmann. In a German interview video with Otmar Gutmann and his crew, it features how Pingu is animated. It begins with many different models of Pingu in various movement styles. The model is then placed down in a scene, a picture is snapped with a camera and that model is replaced with another model, but instead in another similar pose. The method is repeated, until after, the images taken by the camera is played at a fast pace to imitate movement. Here's the video if you'd like to see for yourself. From the looks of it, it seems super hard and tedious to make everything look smooth and I wished the video was in English so I could understand what they were saying.
|
beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep pingu pingu |
The real reason I love Pingu was that everyone in my family loved it just as much as me and I carry so many happy memories because of that show, but that's irrelevant to this course. Animation-wise, Pingu was my introduction to the world of stop-motion and clay. It made me realize my love for creating things with clay and creating a plot and strong connection with my little creations! However, that love was tragically short-lived as soon as I discovered that I was allergic to clay dust and Play-Doh. Despite the roadblock, it didn't stop my strong appreciation for stop-motion animations from growing. I liked how flexible they made the characters, creating the illusions that they all lacked any bone structure. Even with the simple art style, the creators gave each character a certain feature that made them distinguishable from the rest and with the uncomplicated style, it's easier for the younger audiences, such as my four-year old self, to follow along with the story. Overall, Pingu was a crucial part of my childhood and the beginning of my adventure of the claymation world.
some great screencaps of the show:
an episode of Pingu!
added bonus: listen to this REAL BOP, pingu's season 3 and 4 theme song:
elementary
Years later after growing out of my Pingu phase, I immediately fell for another great animated piece. Instead of the typical children's cartoon tv show aired on YTV or Treehouse, it was a DVD of the American-Japanese film, Digimon: The Movie. It was the first time I was introduced to the dynamic anime-like art style. It was cute, yet realistic so the style had really appealed to me. The movie, released in 2000, is about a group of kids who discover these creature called Digimons. Together, they try to save both the human world and the Digimon world.
Digimon: The Movie was directed by both Mamoru Hosoda and Shigeyasu Yamauchi, and animated by the production company Toei Animation, which is an animation studio based in Japan. This company created many pieces of animation, most famously known for the production of Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball GT, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, and many more. Most of their pieces are 2-D traditional-drawn animations made on a computer. Although the company is known for making animes, Toei Animation has also worked on American cartoons.
The movie itself is actually made of four different short films, all put together with transitions to create a smooth story that connects and makes sense. To tackle the different time frames of each short film, title screens referencing the change in time are played. I really enjoyed this movie because of the cute creatures and characters. Watching this and shows similar to Digimon, such as Pokemon, made me want to have my own animal-like companion. It left me fantasizing about a world that will always remain fictitious. From time to time, I like to revisit this movie and now that I'm much older, I can finally understand its deeper plot. The animation may not look so special and it's clear that it is an older film. The character designs and movements associated with them are super cool since they help build how the character is portrayed! It helps bring in the atmosphere and give you this sense of immersion, or at least that's how I feel. After all, I am a die-hard, biased Digimon fan :D.
Digimon: The Movie was directed by both Mamoru Hosoda and Shigeyasu Yamauchi, and animated by the production company Toei Animation, which is an animation studio based in Japan. This company created many pieces of animation, most famously known for the production of Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball GT, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, and many more. Most of their pieces are 2-D traditional-drawn animations made on a computer. Although the company is known for making animes, Toei Animation has also worked on American cartoons.
The movie itself is actually made of four different short films, all put together with transitions to create a smooth story that connects and makes sense. To tackle the different time frames of each short film, title screens referencing the change in time are played. I really enjoyed this movie because of the cute creatures and characters. Watching this and shows similar to Digimon, such as Pokemon, made me want to have my own animal-like companion. It left me fantasizing about a world that will always remain fictitious. From time to time, I like to revisit this movie and now that I'm much older, I can finally understand its deeper plot. The animation may not look so special and it's clear that it is an older film. The character designs and movements associated with them are super cool since they help build how the character is portrayed! It helps bring in the atmosphere and give you this sense of immersion, or at least that's how I feel. After all, I am a die-hard, biased Digimon fan :D.
some cool gifs!
the entire movie!
the movie too long for you? no problemo! just enjoy this short fight scene instead:
present
I've watched this show just as many times as I've rewatched the Office so of course this fantastic cartoon will make this list! This show is known for being one of the most popular shows on Nickelodeon.
my lovely sources, mwah:
- http://pingu.wikia.com/wiki/Pingu
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0349642/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-otmar-gutmann-1512111.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digimon:_The_Movie
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toei_Animation
- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/ToeiAnimation