Films and Media: Animated Films

Animation has been a staple of the filmmaking process since the early days of cinema. Animated shorts had been produced for decades, but not until 1937 did a major studio venture into animated features when Walt Disney produced Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Of the hundreds of animated feature films made since, many have proven their importance over the years while also entertaining generations of audiences. There are also many recent animated movies that promise to become classics in the field. Familiar favorites and lesser-known gems are included, making the book a fascinating journey for both the avid animation fan and the everyday moviegoer.

This book is the largest, deepest, most comprehensive text of its kind, based on the idea that animation is an art form that deserves its own place in scholarship. Bendazzi delves beyond just Disney, offering readers glimpses into the animation of Russia, Africa, Latin America, and other often-neglected areas and introducing over fifty previously undiscovered artists. Full of first-hand, never before investigated, and elsewhere unavailable information,

This book provides an enriched understanding of the relationship between two of the most unwieldy and unstable organizing concepts in cinema and media studies: animation and film theory. For the most part, animation has been excluded from the purview of film theory. This collection reanimates and expands film studies by taking the concept of animation seriously.

Recent advances in technology--such as high-quality, easy-to-use cameras, free film editing software, and the popularity of YouTube and other video-hosting Web sites--have led to a revival of stop-motion animation. Despite the growing interest in this versatile art form, there are few resources offering guidance on the process. That's where this book comes in. Here, stop-motion master Melvyn Ternan offers practical instruction for a range of techniques.

In this critically-acclaimed fantasy adventure from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, a young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship.

Realized through boundary-pushing, breathtakingly intricate stop-motion animation, this dark rendering of the fable of the puppet boy and his maker, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, daringly transfers the story to Fascist Italy, where the irrepressible Pinocchio gradually learns what it means to be human through his experiences of war, death, and sacrifice.

A courageous cat's home is devastated by a great flood. As the cat teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the crew must rely on trust, courage, and their wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet.

When all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. With the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

Two teenagers, Taki and Mitsuha, have never met before. Suddenly, they begin switching bodies. A complicated situation becomes even more complicated when the two decide to meet face-to-face.

A man visits the last hometown of Vincent Van Gogh, to deliver his final letter. Taking place in 1890 France, the man investigates what might have taken place in the last days of the painter.