Saturday, March 1, 2008

School me: Hedgehog in the fog....


I will be the first to admit that I don't understand why the acclaimed work of Yuri Norstein "Hedgehog in the Fog" is an important film, it's OK, i like it, but for so long I heralded it as a masterpiece, not knowing why. I spoke of it because as an animator you're SUPPOSED to admire that film. But I just don't see it anymore. Maybe I'm stupid, and I don't get it, maybe I don't fully appreciate stop motion, maybe i'm too stuck on drawn animation(admitting biased). But I suspect, it's another piece of the brainwashing that goes on in art school, and I still have traces of it. At the same time, you will rarely hear about how brilliant the "rite of spring" is in fantasia. which, in art school, is quickly classified at disney stuff. There are several films like this that, after animating now for over a decade (i'm a friggin' child to this art form), i'm beginning to see an overstated value. again, nothing wrong with these films, they are quite good, but i don't get the pedestal they are placed on. Someone school me!