Tintin Movie

VFX World have a long article on The Virtual Rebirth of Cinema examining the background an technology of films such a Beowulf and the Tintin Movies.

The dawn of a new “virtual filmmaking” age is upon us. Sparked by the pioneering work of Bob Zemeckis on The Polar Express and Beowulf and amped to the extreme to create a realtime director-centric workflow by James Cameron, Rob Legato and team for the upcoming Avatar, this new evolution of the filmmaking process is energizing the Hollywood industry. Having worked on a couple of these bleeding-edge film projects (Avatar, Tintin) with many of the industry’s’ leading filmmakers, artists and technicians has allowed me to witness and contribute to the development of this new virtual filmmaking system that will likely lead the moviemaking process over the coming decades. The virtual filmmaking process is an amalgamation of traditional filmmaking, CGI, visual effects pipelines, previs workflows and realtime computer gaming technology. Virtual filmmaking combines the best parts of all of these previous traditions in a unique way to create something immensely useful and creatively liberating for the director and other artistic team members. Although I can’t elaborate on the specifics of any one system, I’d like to briefly touch on the technological progression toward the virtual filmmaking revolution in general and point out some of the innovations of this new system.

Check out Gazpachot’s blog for surreal imagery including this Tintin / Titanic comparison.

Meanwhile, On Jon’s Random Acts of Geekery, he has a a guide to drawing Tintin.

Two of my favourite characters going face to face.

This fantastic image was created by Malcolm McClinton who does a lot of fantasy and SF based art.

Kate Beaton is a comics creator with a very odd sense of humor and style. Check out her web site for lots more comics but this one jumped out.

Thanks to the Repartee in the LJ Boy Reporter community for spotting this.

Tom McCarthy’s 2006 book, Tintin and the Secret of Literature is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times.

In France in particular, Tintin became a cottage industry, his exploits fodder for philosophers, psychoanalysts and literary critics, all of whom McCarthy leans on in asking, “Is ‘Tintin’ literature?” He notes the “huge irony . . . that the ‘Tintin’ books remain both unrivaled in their complexity and depth and so simple, even after more than half a century, that a child can read them with the same involvement as an adult.” But the question of whether they’re literature is not as interesting now, given the ascendance of pop culture. McCarthy seems to admit as much when he tweaks his query slightly: “As soon as we ask if ‘Tintin’ should be treated as literature, we raise another question: what is literature?”

From: ‘Tintin and the Secret of Literature’ by Tom McCarthy

Alexis Peskine, a Parisian artist of Afro-Brazilian and Lithuanian Jewish background has done some very interesting work exploring the contradictions in French society. Especially the racism and prejudice against immigrants from former colonies. Inevitably he has tackled Tintin.

The work is called “Tintin and your Kids” and depicts Tintin as skinhead. In the background a Congolese flag lies barely visible on a large stack of tires.

Peskine’s inspiration is drawn from what he regards as an overarching paradox in French society that symbolically awards French identity to all those who accept its norms while at the same time harboring prejudice toward immigrants from France’s former colonies. “It is illegal in France to perform a census that collects ethnic information,” Peskine said during an interview in his studio in Hoboken, N.J. “This idea came from long before immigrants ever arrived in France. There is a denial that there is ethnicity and race within Frenchness.”

From: French-Bred

I found these painted metal 28mm(?) miniatures on Monday Night Adventures, a blog on war games and miniatures.

They are produced by Copplestone Castings who lists them as 1920’s Characters - GN9 Sleuths and describes them as Boy Detective and dog.

Taking a break from directing the first Tintin movie, Steven Spielberg has purchased another comic for adaption. This time its Ghosts in the Shell, the Japanese manga book and TV series. Its classic manga with robots, a futuristic city scape and great characters. I’m not sure if a non-Japanese director will be able to adapted it without turning into some cookie-cutter action film.

Chances are the film will be made using the same technology as the Tintin Movie and Market Saw is reporting that it will be made in 3D.

Source: There’s A New Epic In Town: Spielberg Buys Rights To Manga “Ghost In The Shell” - Will Be Live Action 3D!!

According to French film magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema, the character of Doctor Krollspell, the ex-Nazi scientist who works for Tintin’s enemy Rastapopoulos is to be played by Eric Stoltz. I’m not sure what to make of this. Krollspell only appeared in Flight 714 and isn’t included in the casting list. That list suggested that the three films being made were The Crab With The Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. Rastapopoulas doesn’t appear in any of them.

Either the directors have radically changed their minds about which films to make or are completely changing the plots of the books or the French magazine is completely wrong.

Source: Dr. Krollspell Meet Rocky…no, not that Rocky…

Sorry about the deviation from Tintin and the Tintin Movie but I wanted to tell you about this beautiful, art deco X-Men.

By Eric Tan