Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Week Ten: Mirror Mask
Due to unpopular demand Volume Two of last week's short animations has gone back to the film warehouse unwatched. This week let's take a look at Live Action + CG Animation as seen in "MirrorMask". How is this film different from "Roger Rabbit" and/or "Howl's Moving Castle" how is it similar? What do you think of this combo world it creates?
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The Mirror Mask. Here is a perfect example of why animation should only be used if it furthers or exemplifies the story. We all seemed to agree that while the models were cool, they did little in the story. Or they seemed disconnected from the story. The main problem I had with the film was not the special effects or composting of the real and the animated, it was with the story itself. No one in the story goes through any character arc or changes really in any way. Even though the main girl fights with her Mother before her Mother goes to the hospital, she sees her mother in the hospital and apologizes. Their conflict is resolved. There is really no reason for her to go into the Mirror Mask world. And once she is there, she is never really trying to escape it like in Alice in Wonderland. The bad characters stays bad, the selfish characters stay selfish, and the noble girl stays noble. No one really waivers from their two dimensional character archetypes. Some scenes were confusing in a non intellectual way. Other concepts that were interesting, such as having to throw books to the human faced cats, was never explained or explored further. The significance of the library is lost in the muted grays and browns.
If I were to complain about the compositing, it would be that the filmmaker is intentionally trying to put you to sleep. My theory is, in order to match the CG and real elements together, they put a filter over both elements to blend them together more. The problem is they used some fading in and out muted color that lulls the viewer to sleep. At least our class.
Another problem is the story is about a girl who wants to run away from the circus and draws weird pictures. I just don't care. I know that is the wrong thing for a filmmaker to say, and I know I am supposed to find value in every creation, but this film for being as long as it is, and for being independent but with a big budget, I just couldn't find it.
I thought I could add more to my own comment later, but I had to start a new one.
This section is to compare Mirror Mask with some of the other films we have seen. If I had to choose between watching the Mirror Mask again and watching 10,000 B.C. again I first would protest. Then I would demand to know what heinous crime had I committed to incur such a devastating punishment. Then I would Oedipus Rex my eyes and try to explain that I can no longer see any film ever again. But then I would choose 10,000 B.C. The reason being because I don't felt I missed anything in Mirror Mask. It felt like it was four hours long. This again goes back to no character changing (even though this works in some films like Sin City, to some degree in 300 and in some novels like Moby Dick...and arguably the Bible) and no conflict. If you take the time to compare this film to Alice in Wonderland, you have way too much free time and should be doing something to help out your community. But if you have to take the time to compare this film to Alice in Wonderland, you can see the some of the major flaws. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice too is wondering around in a strange world. And much like Mirror Mask, Alice has to discover the weird workings of this wondrous world to wiggle her way out (Alliteration in Wonderland). The problem is, in Mirror Mask, there is no white rabbit. What is the significance of this? The book Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll is one of the first books in a movement called literary nonsense. The reason it was called this from what I understand is there is no central theme or plot. It is a book of puzzles and math games and a mockery of all the things little girls had to memorize in grammar schools. The reason I would argue that it isn't nonsense is because there is a central theme and plot that begins with Alice following a white rabbit. Even though the rabbit disappears for a few chapters and is seen again in the end, the rabbit has led Alice to the final scene in the story, she must testify correctly for the queen. I think here in lies the point of the story, Alice (or any school girl) is taught all these mathematics and grammar "nonesense" and has to go through all of her school for what ultimate goal? To appease the queen. If she doesn't testify the right way, then off with her head. It could be a commentary on the British judicial system which now implements a "jury" who ultimately have no say in the outcome. The point is, the Story of Alice in Wonderland is rampant with themes and symbols and motifs and even a central plot even though it is entitled by some as literary nonsense. Even the Disney film has a central plot and theme and motifs and symbols. It could be argued that the story is about growing up, she eats the phallic mushroom from the phallic caterpillar and her body changes, she grows (puberty?, pregnancy?). These films and stories are interesting to discuss because they are complete works and full of so many symbols and motifs and weird situations that they are open for interpretation. The reason Mirror Mask fails so horribly is because there is no white rabbit leading the main character. No string through the entire story. No point. Who cares that if you throw the library books down they float to the library? Is there a point? No, there is no point. No defendable argument can be made because there is no evidence in any meaning because there is no meaning that I can discern from the film.
Okay, I didn't really hate Mirror Mask that much, I just found an opportunity to discuss the main reason films fail. It's because no one understands Alice in Wonderland except for me...when I'm on 18th Century shrooms.
Mirror Mask is the worst fantasy kingdom film I have ever seen. I must say that the film has become an irrelevant piece in the history of animation. I feel bad making a statement like that because I believe almost any rendered animation is worth paying close attention to, however, Mirror Mask has completely failed to captivate the fantasy reality. It really broke my heart when I found out the release date. Any movie released this century must have a certain quality and significance as to how it will contribute to animation or become relevant to our society.
Mirror Mask is a film that sets us back 30 years of technological advancement of visual effects development and it broke my heart to witness. It seemed to be more like someone trying to recreate a movie from 20 years ago, using a similar look and feel and thinking it will have the same effect. Some people have a positive response to the film, but I think that it should be rewritten with more developed interesting characters. It also seemed diverted from the usual ‘Henson’ production type of films. After seeing Mirror Mask, I immediately began to think about older classic movies such as Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland. These two movies have definitely made impact in my life because each story felt so real and the characters were so believable and scary.
I know Mirror Mask was a brief combination of different animations and puppetry; however, most of the Labyrinth film was composed of puppets and live sets. What sets these two films apart? Time…maybe. The question to that answer would be the visual fantasy. Most of the time what you see is what you get, but it has now become what you get is what you see. I didn’t get Mirror Mask and that made the rest of the visuals throughout the story become irrelevant or somehow misplaced. Some of the characters could have been created by first-time animators and placed sporadically throughout the story. It really didn’t make sense why and how things were, it just kept moving forward and made it increasingly difficult to enjoy. I do believe that they tried to parallel Mirror Mask and Labyrinth’s storyline by using a 15-year-old girl on a journey to get back home from a fantasy world. The story of Labyrinth was a little more interesting because the girl wished her baby brother off and must get him back home by completing the very interesting place of trickery and funny looking puppets. Mirror Mask was all about trying to get a mask and save the kingdom. It really has nothing to do with her in my opinion. She should just go back to the circus and finish her shift.
I will always believe that there is something special about all types of animations, but you have to figure out what motivates you about that piece in order to really impact the art form and add to the on-going development of animation. I just believe that Mirror Mask should have been released during its time, which is around 1980. When you expect more from a film because of its release date, it’s much easier to be disappointed.
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