Wall-E is a delight. It’s about a little trash compactor robot that goes on a romantic journey. One of the best things about the film is the lack of dialogue. There will be long segments where all you hear our sounds. It’s just a great example of visual storytelling.
If you stay for the credits, you’ll be treated to a mini art history lesson epilogue followed by 8-bit renderings of the two main characters: Wall-E and Eve.
Go Team Venture! One of my favorite shows on the Adult Swim lineup is The Venture Brothers. Each Sunday nite, I can be found cracking up on the couch while watching Doctor Venture and his family battle arch-villains.
On his blog, Jersey-based storyboard and design supervisor Stephen DeStefano gives a great tutorial series on how to draw the main characters. Learn how to draw the nerdy, teen heroes Hank and Dean, scragly Dr. Venture, and macho Brock. Thanks, Stephen!
Egon & Donci is a free for download CG animated movie. It’s about a an amateur astronomer, Egon and his pet cat, who discover a “map” to Earth.
The animation is pretty good. There are some nice shots and good use of the medium. The scenes in space are beautiful, full of color and atmosphere. Unfortunately, that’s really all that’s good about it.
There are so many times where the film feels like a really long tech demo. The camera flies around a little too much. The plot is mainly just a vehicle to show off the environments and animation. It takes too long to start and by the time any tension or drama comes in, you’re kind of bored.
To download it for free, you have to sit through a short ad before the link is served.
One thing I really have to give to the filmmakers is their willingness to put almost everything online for download. I haven’t had a chance to go through it, but they made all the sound effects they used in the film online. There are also texture maps and cloud sequences.
