2nd Animation Hall of Fame

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But here's the thing: I'm not convinced that the choice to use animation actually added anything to it. In fact, there were multiple times when it took me out of the film, especially when color animation was overlayed on black and white footage.
I watched Tower yesterday and had similar issues with its aesthetic, so I decided to read up a little on its production. Apparently they only decided to rotoscope their re-enactments because they were unable to film at the University itself. Animation allowed them to film in the director's backyard instead. So it was more of a necessity rather than part of the original concept.





Tower (2016)
Directed By: Keith Maitland
Starring: Violett Beane, Blair Jackson, Reece Everett Ryan

Tower was a difficult watch for me, but unfortunately not because of it's subject matter, but rather the manner in which the story was told. I will very rarely watch a documentary on my own accord. They need to have an incredibly interesting subject and break free from typical documentary film-making practices in order for me to consider watching it. I especially avoid ones about real tragedies, because my disinterest and inability to engage with the narrative usually makes me look like a heartless monster. So a documentary about an actual shooting was always going to be a struggle.

The animation used throughout is very inconsistent, which didn't help with the film's presentation. When the camera is steady and the rotoscope artists included a lot of detail, it was actually quite beautiful. However, more often than not the animation looked more like sketch work, and during moments when the camera moved frantically for dramatic effect, it made me dizzy and slightly ill. The mix of documentary footage from the time of the shooting was originally quite jarring, but I didn't mind the aesthetic when the two were kept separate. It only bothered me when the animated images were drawn over the real film footage.

On the positive side, the actors did a fantastic job recreating the unfortunate events and subsequent interviews that the film draws its content from. And even though I had issues with the animation, it did a good job during the moments that really mattered, and succeeded in capturing the actors' emotions. Towards the end I could feel myself finally starting to get drawn in, but then the focus shifted to interviews with the real people involved, and I quickly snapped back out. That's not the film's fault, and I actually thought the transitions were handled well; I just can't seem to connect with documentaries for some reason.


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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.


Tower (2016)
Directed By: Keith Maitland
Starring: Violett Beane, Blair Jackson, Reece Everett Ryan

Tower was a difficult watch for me, but unfortunately not because of it's subject matter, but rather the manner in which the story was told. I will very rarely watch a documentary on my own accord. They need to have an incredibly interesting subject and break free from typical documentary film-making practices in order for me to consider watching it. I especially avoid ones about real tragedies, because my disinterest and inability to engage with the narrative usually makes me look like a heartless monster. So a documentary about an actual shooting was always going to be a struggle.

The animation used throughout is very inconsistent, which didn't help with the film's presentation. When the camera is steady and the rotoscope artists included a lot of detail, it was actually quite beautiful. However, more often than not the animation looked more like sketch work, and during moments when the camera moved frantically for dramatic effect, it made me dizzy and slightly ill. The mix of documentary footage from the time of the shooting was originally quite jarring, but I didn't mind the aesthetic when the two were kept separate. It only bothered me when the animated images were drawn over the real film footage.

On the positive side, the actors did a fantastic job recreating the unfortunate events and subsequent interviews that the film draws its content from. And even though I had issues with the animation, it did a good job during the moments that really mattered, and succeeded in capturing the actors' emotions. Towards the end I could feel myself finally starting to get drawn in, but then the focus shifted to interviews with the real people involved, and I quickly snapped back out. That's not the film's fault, and I actually thought the transitions were handled well; I just can't seem to connect with documentaries for some reason.

My only issue with the mix of archive footage and animation was whether or not Tower should have been eligible for an "animation" HoF. If the movie is not fully animated, should it be eligible? Would a movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Disney's Song of the South have been eligible for this HoF?
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Tower (2016)
Directed By: Keith Maitland
Starring: Violett Beane, Blair Jackson, Reece Everett Ryan

Tower was a difficult watch for me, but unfortunately not because of it's subject matter, but rather the manner in which the story was told. I will very rarely watch a documentary on my own accord. They need to have an incredibly interesting subject and break free from typical documentary film-making practices in order for me to consider watching it. I especially avoid ones about real tragedies, because my disinterest and inability to engage with the narrative usually makes me look like a heartless monster. So a documentary about an actual shooting was always going to be a struggle.

The animation used throughout is very inconsistent, which didn't help with the film's presentation. When the camera is steady and the rotoscope artists included a lot of detail, it was actually quite beautiful. However, more often than not the animation looked more like sketch work, and during moments when the camera moved frantically for dramatic effect, it made me dizzy and slightly ill. The mix of documentary footage from the time of the shooting was originally quite jarring, but I didn't mind the aesthetic when the two were kept separate. It only bothered me when the animated images were drawn over the real film footage.

On the positive side, the actors did a fantastic job recreating the unfortunate events and subsequent interviews that the film draws its content from. And even though I had issues with the animation, it did a good job during the moments that really mattered, and succeeded in capturing the actors' emotions. Towards the end I could feel myself finally starting to get drawn in, but then the focus shifted to interviews with the real people involved, and I quickly snapped back out. That's not the film's fault, and I actually thought the transitions were handled well; I just can't seem to connect with documentaries for some reason.

My only issue with the mix of archive footage and animation was whether or not Tower should have been eligible for an "animation" HoF. If the movie is not fully animated, should it be eligible? Would a movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Disney's Song of the South have been eligible for this HoF?
Yeah I was wondering that too.... I mean, obviously this is an extreme example, but technically you could have movies like Annie Hall and Mary Poppins for animation if the rules were to be more relaxed.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
My only issue with the mix of archive footage and animation was whether or not Tower should have been eligible for an "animation" HoF. If the movie is not fully animated, should it be eligible? Would a movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Disney's Song of the South have been eligible for this HoF?
Yeah I was wondering that too.... I mean, obviously this is an extreme example, but technically you could have movies like Annie Hall and Mary Poppins for animation if the rules were to be more relaxed.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that Tower should be disqualified, or even voted down because it's not fully animated. I was just wondering if it should have been eligible for this HoF.

Tower was basically an unknown movie to most of us prior to this HoF, so other than the person who nominated it, nobody really knew that it wasn't fully animated. If somebody had nominated one of the other "hybrid" movies, would those movies have been eligible for this HoF?



Just to be clear, I'm not saying that Tower should be disqualified, or even voted down because it's not fully animated. I was just wondering if it should have been eligible for this HoF.
It's 100% the host's decision. When people join an HoF they agree to follow the rules as set by the host. If Raul allowed it, then it's OK. He's the host, he sets the rules.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
It's 100% the host's decision. When people join an HoF they agree to follow the rules as set by the host. If Raul allowed it, then it's OK. He's the host, he sets the rules.

I understand that it's the host's decision, and I'm not disputing whether or not it should have been eligible. I'm just curious if Raul knew in advance that the movie was a "hybrid", would it have been eligible?

The reason that I'm curious is because I considered joining this HoF, and one of the movies on my potential nominations list was Roger Rabbit, but I crossed it off almost immediately because I didn't think it would have been eligible.

I don't even know if there's a right or wrong answer. It's possible that everyone has a different opinion about this. (I'm not even sure what my own opinion is about this.) I'm just curious what people think about it.



https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5116410/
Tower (2016)

TV-14 | 1h 22min | Documentary, Animation, Crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_(2016_film)
Tower is a 2016 animated documentary about the 1966 shootings


https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tower_2016

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ht=Mofo+awards

Best Animated Film
Zootopia
Moana
Kubo & The Two Strings
Tower
Finding Dory
Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Wikipedia all classify it as an "animated" film. It was nominated in the Animated film category a few years ago on this very site


I don't if you guys are trying to knock the film out on a technicality or whatnot but I was hoping someone would nominate Who Framed Roger Rabbit I like different styles and expanding tastes



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5116410/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_(2016_film)
Tower is a 2016 animated documentary about the 1966 shootings


https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tower_2016

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ht=Mofo+awards



Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Wikipedia all classify it as an "animated" film. It was nominated in the Animated film category a few years ago on this very site


I don't if you guys are trying to knock the film out on a technicality or whatnot but I was hoping someone would nominate Who Framed Roger Rabbit I like different styles and expanding tastes

As I said earlier, I'm not trying to get Tower disqualified, or even suggesting that anyone vote it further down on their list. I'm just curious what people think about it being a "hybrid" movie in an "animation" HoF.

For the record, I didn't join this HoF so my opinion about this shouldn't matter to anyone in this HoF anyway, but I've watched several movies from this HoF, and if I made a list, Tower would easily be at the top of my list. I thought it was a terrific movie, and a great documentary.



I don't care that Tower is a hybrid and wouldn't have objected if someone had nominated Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Actually I probably would've been happy if it had been nominated because it's a long time favorite.

I had more of an issue with it when I was hosting the countdown as that was something that represented the forum as a whole rather than a small group of people. In any case, as I said in the discussion leading up to the horror countdown, if I were to do the animation countdown over again I'd let people decide with their ballots rather than disqualifying hybrids officially. Hindsight is 20/20 afterall.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I seriously doubt gbg is looking to downgrade or seek out a technicality but is merely raising a conversation about hybrid films and the shifting lines of "animation".
Roger Rabbit was also on my consideration as well. So was Scanner Darkly which simply colored over live-action into an animated form.
The same query could go to other films that rely on rotoscoping as well as, back in the day when Computer Graphics or 3D art began to insert itself into what was hand-painted animation.

Back in the late nineties, I co-ran an art forum where both 2D and 3D art was showcased. There was plenty of great discussions on whether people who used computer apps such as Poser, Bryce and the like to create people, clothing, backgrounds and the like could still be considered artists as one would consider anyone who painted, drew, sculpted and so forth.

So, as a discussion, I hesitated on hybrid or a rotoscoped film out of personal preference, though I would imagine should a discussion had been raised in the beginning, there most likely would have been an "open door" or at least a selected gap in said door for making choices.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I seriously doubt gbg is looking to downgrade or seek out a technicality but is merely raising a conversation about hybrid films and the shifting lines of "animation".
Ed is correct. I am NOT looking to disqualify or downgrade Tower.

When I mentioned that I had considered nominating Roger Rabbit, but didn't, it wasn't a complaint. I was never told that Roger Rabbit or any other hybrid movies weren't eligible. In fact, I never even asked about it. I made my own decision to cross it off my list, and that had nothing to do with why I didn't join this HoF.

I was just curious what other people thought about these hybrid movies being considered for an animation HoF.

@rauldc14, Please do NOT disqualify Tower over this discussion. That was never my intention for asking about it.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
And now you have to join and nominate Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Thanks, but I have some personal stuff going on right now, so I just don't have the time. I just joined the Comedy HoF, and that's about all I can handle right now. But I'm trying to watch some of the movies in the HoFs when I can, even when I don't join them. (I already watched 4 movies from this HoF.)