Vox Clamantis

The Corpse Bride

I'll have a review of the movie later, but for now I just wanted to highlight some of the technological improvements made by the editors and creators of the film. First, the Corpse Bride is a stop-motion animated feature, much like Jason and the Argonauts [highly recommended] before it.

Second, following digital pioneers like Robert Rodriguez, the film was edited using Apple's Final Cut Pro [the first stop-motion picture to do so.] Tim Burton, not one to be outdone, has taken things a few steps further. Rather than boring digital video, he used 24 Canon EOS-1D Mark II's [Canon badly needs a new method of naming their digital cameras.] The results are astounding. It looks like CGI, only not the boring fake kind of CGI used in most modern action movies. No, the visuals are stunning. The movie comes out today and it promises to entertain.

For more on the making of the movie, see Editors Guild Magazine, which has published an interesting article on the animated feature.

Road Trip

Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. Both can stir enduring affirmations and discoveries, and can surely help the spectator in his search for identification with the vast world of natural beauty and the wonder surrounding him. -Ansel Adams

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is hosting an exhibition on Adams' photography. If you have only seen his work in books or online, or in generically reproduced posters you are really missing out. Seen in person, his work is alive and fully three dimensional. He was able to accomplish so much with his tools that despite having access to the exact same materials and being able to shoot in the exact same locations, no modern photographer can even copy his work, much less generate anything of the same caliber. This is not one to miss. You have until December 31.