Friday, July 10, 2009

Tintin Goes Hollywood

Tintin Goes Hollywood by Jimmy li

In 1929, a French cartoon series appearing in a children's supplement in Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle would introduce the world to a unlikely hero. Written and drawn by Belgian artist Herge, the series focused on the adventures of boy reporter Tintin and his faithful sidekick french terrier dog Snowy. The stories followed the two on a series of globetrotting adventures as they uncovered mysteries in the post depression world. Tintin's adventures were infused with Hergé's charm and humor. A colorful cast of supporting characters such as Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and the Thompson twins rounded out the ensemble. Although Hergé may not have known it his beautiful art style and knack for adventure storytelling ensured that on January 10 1929, a star was born.

My earliest memories of Tintin come from reading the comic series as a child in the library. My parents would leave me for hours at a time at the local library while they went grocery shopping and I quickly became familiar with Tintin's adventures. The books possessed a swashbuckling adventure quality similar to Indiana Joenes which would translate quite well into film.

Recently it was announced that Tintin would be made into a feature film to be released in 2011. Spielberg first acquired the rights to Tintin after Hergé's death in 1983 and re-optioned them in 2002. The film was to be made into a motion capture 3-D feature (think Beowulf and Monster House) with live actors recording movement and audio to be translated into a digital model. The film is set to be a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson with hopes to become a trilogy. The first film tells of the tale of Tintin's first encounter with Captain Haddock as told in "The Crab with the Golden Claws" and "The Secret of The Unicorn.". Although it has seen a long development cycle and has already seen a delay in release date, the first film has wrapped principle shooting and is currently in post production.

I have mixed feelings about the Tintin books receiving the Hollywood treatment. Part of me is interested in seeing how Tintin is translated on the big screen. Another part of me fears that those same childhood memories will be sullied by another big budget Hollywood feature. The fear is that Hollywood will change the source material to make it more marketable to the masses. Tintin will be a relatively new character to the majority of moviegoers who see it in 2011 and I wonder if the original source material will be as charming in the 21st century. It is often tempting for filmmakers to alter characters, plot points and narratives to make it more stylized and appealing to the young demographic it wants to cater to.

With heavy star power behind the production and within the cast, I cannot see Tintin being anything but a commercial success. As Hollywood struggles to find original property to film, more and more source material will be mined from classic cartoon, comics, and literature. I realize I am being naive but sometimes I wish Hollywood would ask us for permission before filming our childhood properties. I may not have millions invested but I do have an emotional one. With movie technology as advanced as it now is, Hollywood can now make a movie out of just about anything they want. The question is, should they?



Jimmy Li has followed The Adventures Of Tintin. For further information on the Tintin series, please go to http://www.tintin-books.com


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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Making of the Tintin Movie - The Story So Far

The Making of the Tintin Movie - The Story So Far by Holly Franklin

Spielberg has been a keen fan of The Adventures of Tintin comic books, which he discovered in 1981 when a review compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to Tintin. His secretary purchased him French-language editions of each book, but Spielberg did not need to understand them: he straight away fell madly in love with its art.

In the meantime, the comics' creator Herge, who hated the prior live action film versions and the cartoon, became fascinated by Spielberg.

Michael Farr, writer of Tintin: The Complete Companion, recalled Herge "thought Spielberg was the sole person who could ever do Tintin justice". Spielberg and his production partner Kathleen Kennedy of Amblin Entertainment were scheduled to rendezvous with Herge in 1983 whilst filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in London.

A three-year long option to film the comics was finalised in 1984, with Universal as distributor. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) writer Melissa Mathison was chosen to script a film where Tintin battles ivory hunters in Africa. Spielberg saw Tintin as "Indiana Jones for kids" and wanted Jack Nicholson to play Haddock but was unhappy with the script, Spielberg continued with production on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989 ). After the three years were up Spielberg lost the rights.

Warner Bros. bartered hard and long for the rights, but they could not guarantee the "creative integrity" the Foundation found in Spielberg. In 2004, the French mag Capital reported Spielberg was intending a trilogy primarily based on Secret of the Unicorn / Red Rackham's Treasure, The Seven Crystal Balls / Captives of the Sun and The Blue Lotus / Tintin in Tibet ( which aren't single stories, but both feature the Chang Chong-Chen personality ).

In the meantime, Peter Jackson, who had long been fascinated with 3-D filmmaking, was incredibly excited by current advances in the format. By luck they came together and Spielberg and Jackson concluded a live action adaptation would not do justice to the comic books and motion capture was the most effective way of representing Herge's Ligne Claire style of Tintin.

A week of filming occurred in Nov 2007 in Playa Vista, LA, California, on the stage where James Cameron shot Avatar. Andy Serkis had been cast, while Jackson stood in for Tintin.

The film was broadcast to Weta Digital, who produced a twenty-minute test reel that demonstrated a photorealistic outline of the characters.

An official statement about the collusion was made in May 2007, though both filmmakers had to attend to film it: Spielberg was preparing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (which was due for May 2008) and Jackson was planning The Lovely Bones
(October 2009 ).

In October 2007, Steven Moffat was announced to have been brought in to pen the screenplays for two of the Tintin films.

Moffat asserted he was "love bombed" by Spielberg into accepting the offer to draft the films, with the director promising to shield him from studio interference with his writing. Moffat finished the 1st script, but could not complete the second thanks to the 2007/2008 Writers Guild of America strike. He then became producer of Doctor Who, leading Spielberg and Jackson (the latter of whom is big fan for the show) to permit him to leave and fulfil his requirement to the series.

It'll take 30 days to shoot each film; Spielberg will film his in LA whilst Jackson will film his in New Zealand. An online connection between Weta in New Zealand will permit Spielberg to view the animated version of his film whilst shooting in LA.

But in Aug 2008, a month before principal photography would have started, Universal turned down their option to co-produce the film, quoting the low ticket office of Monster House and Beowulf and the directors' common request for 30% of the gross. Paramount Pictures (DreamWorks' distributor) was hoping to partner with Universal on the project having spent $30 million on pre-production.

Spielberg was uncomfortable that Paramount would have to fully fund the Tintin Movie, because he was leaving the studio. He gave a ten-minute presentation of footage, hoping they would approve for filming to begin in October. Paramount offered to produce if the directors opted out of their gross percentage deals: Spielberg and Jackson declined and looked for new options. By October 31, Sony was in negotiations to co-finance and distribute the first film. Filming was rescheduled to February 2009.



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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Constellation Factors about Popular TV Shows

Constellation Factors about Popular TV Shows by Daniel spivey

TV shows have become popular as millions of people around the world watch TV series and also they rank the tv shows according to their priority. Popular TV shows Lost and Heroes have won the imaginations of millions of people. Popular TV shows makes people to leave the reality of day to day life. For example people viewed plane crashing and the aftermath. These tv shows stay fresh in memory year after year. Last and Heroes are evergreen tv shows. In spite of the development of internet, these tv shows glue people to sit at one corner of the room and watch the show. Casting plays a vital role in the success of popular tv shows. Each character is identified by the viewer. These tv shows dominate the lives of millions of people.

More and more reality tv shows dominate the world. Reality shows did not pop up in the late Nineteen Nineties and after the grand success of Survivor, number of reality shows came up one after the other. Shows like The Bachelor, For Love, Big Brother came up later and compete for prizes.
TV episodes can also be viewed online. Popular websites like You Tube, Google offer video facility to watch tv episodes online. Popular TV shows are uploaded in websites to enable viewers watch the shows online. Even if a favorite show is missed due to work schedule, the same can be viewed online. People can access channels like NBC, Fox, ABC, CNBC, with the PC Satellite TV software. There is no additional hardware is required to operate it. There is no need to battle for remote set to watch their favorite tv show between people, as online tv shows are plenty.

TV Channels are also conducting weekly reviews about tv shows and also survey among the viewers to know their priority among the tv shows. Some of the highest ranked tv shows are: Lost, One Tree Hill, Family Guy, Smallville, Heroes, Avatar, House, South Park, The Simpsons, Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural and Dancing Stars. A survey conducted in August, 2006 based on top 10 shows in 20 countries the American TV Show CSI: Miami stood first, Lost and Desperate Housewives are placed second and third respectively. Constellation factors such as great writers, producers, actors, good concept, a strong ensemble cast providing multiple story lines, proper time slot, comfort of audience, good net work support and of course the taste of public make a tv show last and popular.

TV shows “The Simpsons” and “60 Minutes” share the traits of reliable cast of characters, good writing, and comment on current events etc. These shows come as rescue to today’s TV blitzkrieg. Most of the TV shows are either concept driven or star driver or morph one into the other. These popular tv shows can be downloaded from iTunes website for a nominal fee and of course without the intervention of commercials. Some websites are offering free down load of these popular tv shows, but frequent interruption of commercials will be there. These shows can be watched on laptops and portable devices. The only disadvantage of downloads are they can not be seen as live programs and can be seen only when it is uploaded in the website by the producer.



To watch Lost and Supernatural online for free please check out watch lost online and watch supernatural online.

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