Brave Creatures

Media Boss is a softwear synching tool for the PSP that connects it to a windows computer. As you would expect from the people at Mediafour, who brought us MacDrive and XPlay, this is a good solid application with some nice features, but sadly they have already been out gunned by some other players in the market, namely PSPWare from NullRiver.

I dont know about you, but I really dont want to be managing playlists in multiple applications and then trying to somehow get the whole thing synced up. I have an iPod, so I use iTunes, although I did try some alternatives before I settled. The first thing I felt was missing from Media Boss was the ability to pull playlist information from another application or better yet all of the big four media players - iTunes, WMP10, Real and WinAmp. On top of which it is missing the ability to create its own playlists. Since I have over 4,000 tracks on my computer to choose from, picking from an endlessly scrolling list is painful.

Moving on to the video area, again the endless list of video files to choose from is not the best user experience particularly since the app doesnt give the option to view the files internal "title" tag. Since PSP's want to use a clunky file name structure it makes it a little hard to remember which is which. I did not try the video conversion tool as I have tried a few others and that all ended in tears, I will stick to PSP Video 9 thanks (even if its documentation and online support is unhelpfully geeky).

The Photos area is again fine, but again the endless list of files or even thumbnails is problematic. It would seem to make sense to either refine this a bit and/or allow it to hook up to photo managers, like Adobe's Photoshop Elements (as iTunes does). From all of this it would appear that the application was designed with a small number of files on the master computer in mind. Given that most people (me included) are not good at keeping things organised, and most of them have something (like a media player) doing some of the work already it would make sense to me to leverage that and not try and recreate it.

I will admit it, what I really want is a single sync app that will let me coordinate all of my tools and toys (eg phone, ipod, pocket pc, online calendar/address book etc and now my PSP). Surely there is a market for someone to build a basic app that allows plug ins for other systems to be developed.

On the positive side of Media Boss, the Games backup freature is a good idea and well implimented. Podcasts are also a good feature (although why not just use itunes or ipodder). The skin for the app is good looking. The program is stable and works well but all up its not that much smarter than the new Windows Sync tool. If you have a small number of files you want to manage, this is a good tool but as you start to build files I think it rapidly becomes quite limited.

Tweet This Post

I think at last I understand why all those American boys have such sparkly white teeth - its all about the Cosmos. A study by the sensible Dr Hyuan Koo at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York has found a compound in Cranberries that can stop bacteria from clinging to the teeth, blocking the formation of damaging plaque deposits.

So all those Cosmos I was swigging in the early noughties may help me prevent tooth decay and cavities. On top of which cranberries also fight bladder infections, is there no end to the reasons to be drinking them. Of course my schmoozy cocktail party days are behind me, for the time being at least. Although if some of my friends in LA and London have their way, this will only be a temporary set back in revenues for the alcohol and fruit growing industries.

Truth be told, while I might play it up a bit, I have never been much of a drinker - being drunk isn't that fun and I really don't enjoy hang overs. I do however vividly recall the first time I got spectacularly inebriated. It was with my first serious boyfriend, Steve.

On a hot summers day in Melbourne we had enjoyed a great lunch with a couple of bottles of wine and had then headed home to experiment making frozen strawberry daiquiris. The combination of my good sense being wine-blunted, super yummy delicious strawberry goodness and the heat of the day making us particularly thirsty meant we drank FAR too many FAR too quickly.

A remarkably short while later I was flat on my back, watching the room spinning wildly around me and praying for quick death. In the end, Stephens medical bag came to the rescue but I have to say that I never looked at a strawberry daiquiri the same way again.

And those little umbrellas, still make me feel green.

Tweet This Post

In 2001 I went to London to work on a project for KPMG. I was lucky enough to be traveling with another person from my office, Sharon, who was a real sanity saver. After a somewhat crazed roam around London over the Easter weekend Sharon and I came up with the following observations on London.

1. Don't believe all you read in tourist brochures; London Wall is not a wall - it is a road; 'The Tube' is not a tube - it is a train; a weather forecast that says 'fine weather' still means freakin' cold!!!

2. Fluorescent vegetables in supermarkets have far less flavour than their colour would otherwise suggest.

3. Non-fluorescent vegetables do not exist.

4. You pay extra for the privilege of having fluorescent elements in a vegetable.

5. Salt is not a flavour. Neither is butter. No matter how much you put on things.

6. You can never have too many TV documentaries about the royal family on any given night.

7. You can never see too many editions of the news in between TV documentaries on the royal family in any given night.

8. A waste disposal unit (oooh, don't have one of these at home!) is a one-way blender, and if the documentary on the royal family is a repeat, almost passes for entertainment. Especially if you have nice leftovers with fluro vegetable chunks that blend to produce white light as they spin round on the way down.

9. When you accidentally catch the train to Cockfoster in the Northern Hemisphere, it's surprisingly funny. (It's not at all funny when you're in the Southern Hemisphere - but then, Australians would never name a place 'Cockfoster'.)

10. When you are on the train to Cockfoster and get the giggles, you sometimes feel like you're in a Benny Hill episode and have to do a silly run and hum the 'Dah-dah da-da-da' Benny Hill theme song as you do your silly run.

11. This is unavoidable if you are traveling with a fellow Australian.

12. Locals do not seem to understand the Australian sense of humour.

13. Which is odd: Benny Hill laughs at Cockfoster; Locals laugh at Benny Hill; but not, it seems, at good humoured Australians on the Tube (which is really a train) appreciating Benny Hill and doing a silly run, maybe humming, and obviously simply enjoying 'The London Atmosphere'.

14. A Black Cab is like the Tardis, but built by someone who forgot to include the time-travel buttons. Anything that big on the inside should not fit down a one-chariot-wide alley. Ever.

15. When you witness a Black Cab doing a U-turn down a one-chariot-wide alley, you are tempted to slap one of those stickers on it that says, 'Magic happens' and write 'here' in it - just to clarify for other passers-by who my not immediately recognize the miracle.

16. You are also reminded that a huge percentage of London cab drivers are unlicensed.

17. And possibly blind.

18. When you travel through 4 countries in 40 hours, and you go through many, many duty-free shops and you are traveling with $600 of excess luggage, you may decide that cheap yet heavy-to-carry alcohol, while attractive, is not a priority purchase right now.

19. When you travel through 40 suburbs in 4 hours in sleet and don't find a single supermarket, you will live to regret that decision.

20. When you eventually give up, you will find a 24 hour quickie mart with tinned tuna in thousand island dressing, tinned soup, bruised fluro vegies. . . and alcohol.

21. Advanced stages of starvation can cause you to reassess the five food groups, and it is quite likely that vodka will be recategorised into at least one of the five.

Tweet This Post

Even though not a lot is going on right now, I figured it was time to send out a newsletter to friends.

Link to it from here.

Tweet This Post

I have recently finished watching the new series from the maker of Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock. The new series, "30 Days" is based on the same kind of premise as the film - take someone and put them in a stressing situation for 30 days and see what the hell happens. This time, Morgan is addressing a wider range of issues than just obesity, he is digging into minimum wage, Islam in America anti-aging, binge drinking, living without technology and homophobia.

Morgan takes real Americans out of their comfort zone and follows them for 30 days to see what they learn and how they cope with it. Clearly some of the events are managed, but these appear to be real people, dealing with real situations and in some cases dealing with real learning curves. And they don't always make it through the 30 Days, which is good to see.

The series is fairly fast paced and follows the same sort of format as Super Size Me, reality tv camera plus well researched (and amusing) statistics. Its interesting and informative, and most importantly its actually educating without being preachy.

The episode that got me was the first one on the US minimum wage, which of course I watched last. In it, Morgan and his girl friend Alex head to Columbus, Ohio with $400 between them and attempt to live for 30 Days on $US5.50/hour, or there about. They have to find a place to live, get low paid jobs, eat, pay rent and survive with no money from the outside. And while they do manage, its a close thing and only works because they take their hospital bills (yes they both get sick and they have no healthcare) back to their real and better paid lives.

While I assume a certain level of acting up for the camera, the two do a credible job of exposing their difficulties and fears as they creep along on what a disturbing proportion of the "richest country in the world" calls a living. As with Super Size Me, some of the most disturbing parts of the piece are the statistical factoids - the minimum wage has not been raised in the US since 1997, Senator Ted Kennedy has introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage every year since 1997 and it has always failed to pass, the argument against it is that it will decrease employment and in the 7 years since the last cost of living increase, Congress has passed its own cost of living increases to the tune of $27,000 / congressman.

All of which is pretty sad.

Interestingly, Spurlock manages to not be shrill or whining. He sets up the situation, provides some explanatory commentary and allows the audience to see the results for themselves. The message of the piece is self creating and largely undeniable.

For some contrast, and because I was on a documentary role, I rented Michael Moore's TV series "that Awful Truth". What a contrast, although not a surprising one. While I really enjoyed both Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911, the Awful Truth just gave me too much of Moore's shrill and demanding rhetoric. I get his points, I largely agree with him, but his deliver put even me off. I am not surprised that the series was cancelled, but I am surprised that it got two seasons out. Morgan Spurlock's delivery and approach is gentler than Moore's and as a result much more digestible.

30 Days on the other hand is an excellent series and one that should be required viewing for just about everyone, but certainly for school age children. What Super Size Me has done for awareness on obesity and dietary issues, this series has the capacity to do for tolerance and social justice.

30 Days is a product of the US cable channel "FX" and screens in Australia on Channel 10.

Tweet This Post

People have occasionally, and I must say somewhat unkindly, accused me of playing games. I cant really say that I agree, unless of course they are talking about something as wonderful as the new Sony PSP in which case I am going to completely agree.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a prize that got me a couple of hundred dollars worth of equipment from Sony and rather than get a camera, I thought I would go for something new. The ad campaign for the Sony PSP had been EVERYWHERE so I was well aware that it had just been launch and, well, lets face it. I am an early adopter. And its been a LONG time since I bought myself anything new.

So this little, sleek, black piece of technology came into my life. And BOY am I glad it did! I don't think any new piece of technology has changed how I do things since my first CD Walkman or my first mobile (cell) phone. This little puppy has not only a game console, but also a portable video player, a music player and a picture viewer with a few other bells and whistles hidden under the hood.

Games

The most obvious of the PSP's features is that its a portable gaming console, and its a winner.

To start with its 4.3 inch, 16:9 Wide screen TFT LCD  running at 480 x 272 pixels in 16.77 million colors is clear, crisp and brilliant. The screen actually takes up the vast amount of the surface area, leaving just the edges for the game controls. It does a great job in just about any environment, although like all TFT's its not at its best in direct sunlight. But then if its that sunny you should not be playing computer games.

In play the system is fast and responsive, which is a credit to both the console and the game designers. To date I have four games and they all rack up really well. The controls look like they are going to hard to handle, but in fact they are not. The console fits well into your hand and everything is easily reachable - and very playstation-ish, so if you are used to the larger console you will fine this a snap.

On the downside for the games department, load times can be a little long and there is no way to drop out of games and into another area (say music for the walk home from the train) and then back to the same point in the game.

I have also read some criticism that there are not many games available, but to be frank I feel like that's a little whinging. the console is brand new, so lets give them some time. And at launch there were some GREAT games available. My two picks would be WipeOut Pure (and I am NOT a racing game person) and Medievil Resurrection (a port from a GREAT PS1 game with a few new pieces for the PSP).

One amazing feature of the console is that game updates are available for download. I had heard of this through XBox live, but never seen it in action. WipeOut Pure already has a bunch of them and they have been great. It certainly extends the reach of the games and gives them a much increased re-play life.

An interesting feature which sounds hot, but I havent yet tried, is wireless gameplay - multiplayer gaming over an 802.11b link. Sounds fun, but I need to find some other geeks to play with. Seemingly I spend too much time at the pool or the gym for the other geeks to like me.

I have had a couple of portable consoles, notably the Gameboy Advance, and while it was kind of fun it really didn't come up to the standard of the PSP.

Video

Now I have to say that I have been very cynical about portable video players. They seemed like a fine and pleasant idea for traveling, and as a film maker I am interested in the technology but as a day to day use item, I was not convinced. Who wants to watch TV or a movie on a 4.3 inch screen.

So let me say this nice and clearly. I WAS WRONG

The screen is fantastic and given a reasonable quality of movie file the experience is amazing. And I have found myself watching interesting shows in the oddest of places - most especially on the step machine at the gym while doing cardio. BYO Cardio theatre.

There are some obvious issues with acquiring content, but with the release of videos on iTunes music store, and the inclusion of a DRM management engine in the PSP I am sure its not going to be far off that we will be seeing video services for the PSP. In fact TiVO recently announced in the US that they are adding a connector to allow recorded show to be sent to the PSP as well as the new iPod video. Clearly someone is paying attention to the volume of traffic on Bit Torrent. And given there is already an iPod video specific torrent site, clearly there is a demand for content.

In the meantime there are inexpensive and easy to use pieces of software, like Smart Ripper and PSP Video 9, that will allow you to make copies of your DVD's in a format that will work on your PSP. Of course one would only make these sorts of copies in strict accordance with the copyright arrangements.

On the negative side, the video format requirements and the file naming is a little fussy. While miraculously not a Sony proprietary for.mat (its just .mp4) it does have some quirks. PSP Video 9 is the best way I have found to solve all of this and transfer to the device. There are a million options in the program, which makes it seem complex, the basic 0-2hr film format does the trick nicely.

Just as a side point, an interesting comparison on the screen of the PSP to the iPod Video.

The iPod wins out in portability (size) and battery life, but not on quality of video display.

Music

As a music player, the PSP is really pretty good. It supports playlists, ID3 tags (in some file formats) and does a great job of playing the music. It even supports some file formats (like AAC) not explicitly mentioned in the documentation. It is however a little bulky for a portable music device, particularly if you are used to an iPod. Likewise the file storage on it is dependant on Memory Sticks so its a little light on for storage for my tastes. It does a good job, for what it is, but I am not giving up my iPod as my music device.

And realistically given the size of screen you need for gaming and how big I would want a music device to be I am not sure that particular convergence is going to happen any time soon. As much as it would be nice to have a phone-music player-PDA/Organiser-game console-video player-photo viewer all on one handy, dandy package, there are some technical requirements for each that make it hard to merge them completely or well. Until we get to the point of something like roll out or foldable screens I suspect it wont happen.

If you are going to use your PSP as a music player and you do use iTunes, I would REALLY recommend PSP Ware as your connector. It allows you to just select your itunes playlists and sync them.

Brilliant!

I cant stand having to try and keep multiple sets of playlists in multiple applications. Its painful and seems unnecessary.

While I don't like PSP Wares handling of video sync, it is great for all the other things it does.

Pictures

Interesting choice of additional functionality, and this one works well in line with a/ the strengths of the product (e.g. that wonderful screen) and b/ some of Sony's other product lines, namely camera.

This is simply a photo viewer that reads pictures off the memory card and displays them. The plus here is that if your camera uses Memory Stick, you can just plug it straight in and go. Very sweet. Otherwise you can just load them from your computer onto a card and show them from there.

The thing that I see as missing here is a good sync tool. PSP Ware is ok, but it just syncs from a specified folder or folders. What I feel it needs (in addition)is the same sort of hook up the iPod has to Adobe Photoshop Album or iPhoto so you can manage your pictures there and sync them from where ever they are in your photo library.

Again, I don't really want to be managing my photos twice.

It has the usual zoom and rotate tools and is a snap to use, so its a good handy add on. And if you were doing business where you needed to show clients photos all the time (say real estate) I can see a good argument for using the PSP daily.

Other Toys

The PSP also comes standard with a few other little tricks and toys that really do make it an outstanding piece of hardware.

The first of these is the wireless network link (802.11b) which allows it to connect to the internet for firmware updates and to browser the web. Sadly you cant sync via the wireless link - yet. Hopefully that is coming.

The on board web browser, is pretty much what you would expect from something with no mouse or keyboard, but if you were in a land of common public WiFi (e.g. San Francisco) this could be a great little email checker. For me at home it has come in handy as a portable remote control for me Sqeezebox.

The last toy to mention is a connector for the Sony "Location Free" player. This is a networked TV server for your house to allow you to view content from your computer on any TV. Now you can also stream it to your PSP. I didn't even know that Sony had one of these doohickies, but it appears they do. Not a deal clincher for me, but neat. Most interestingly, this was added with firmware upgrade 2.5 - which shows they are actually proactively improving what the system can do.

UMD

An interesting, although not very surprising choice on Sony's part, is that the PSP uses a proprietary standard mini-dvd type disc, a UMD (Universal Media Disc). A Universal Media Disc (UMD) is capable of holding 1.8 gigabytes of data on a medium a little over 60mm wide and 4 mm high complete with protective plastic sleeve, similar to the Sony Minidisc format.

To date, a UMD burner is not something that can be purchased for home use so I suspect that they are going to try and hold onto that piece of copyright protection for as long as they can.

It was hacked pretty much right away and the extracted games were on the internet for download, but cunningly Sony built in a firmware upgrade facility that means they have been able to block the hacked holes AND as new games are released they require the most recent firmware.

I am usually one for a little quiet hacking of things (strictly to understand how they work), but in this case I am perfectly happy to let my PSP be.

It seems like a good format for games, but to be honest I am not wrapped in it for movies. Sure the quality is great, but I am not paying AU$20-AU$40 for a movie that only plays on one device. Now if the soon to be released PS3 came with a UMD drive for movies, i would think it made more sense, but alas no.

Negatives

I have given the PSP a pretty good rave, but I think I should also flag the things I don't like about it, and there are a couple.

The internal speakers are a little crappy, although I am not sure you can get something that small and have good quality. Certainly a good set of headphones works really well with the unit.

Currently there is no dock that connects power, sound and USB connection out of the unit, so it ends up sprouting wires everywhere.

Proprietary disc formats SUCK. They make me feel like Iam being ripped off. Fortunately it seems to be well supported at this point, but it would be good to see Sony playing nicely with the other children for once. With their recent embarrassment reguarding spyware MAYBE they will get down off their high horse.

The detractors are actually right, there is not a HUGE range of games available, but more are being released regularly enough to seemingly keep up with most of the demand. hopefully the platform will remain a good revenue earner for the publishers and the producers so they keep churning out good titles.

No internal storage, you need to have a Memory Stick to store even game saves. This kind of sucks given the size and efficency of the micro hard drives in the iPod Nano, but in the interests of keeping the cost down, I can understand Sonys strategy. Just remember to budget a couple of hundred for a good sized card. My advice, get a 2 gig, its worth it.

But thats about it for my gripes, and for a new piece of technology thats pretty good.

Wrap up

All up, this has to my great purchase for 2005, not that there have been that many given I am a poor student at the moment. I have loved using the PSP and do something with it pretty much every day. If you enjoy games and have down time to watch television when you are not near a set, this is the christmas gift for you.

Tweet This Post

My-oh-my summer has come a gang busters here in Melbourne. Phew-ey. Even on the days they forecast as being overcast and showers have been TER-RIF-IC!!! And I love it.

Growing up in Queensland, I was raised to think that a tan was normal so the last few years where I have been careful of my skin, SPF 45's and moisturized like there was no tomorrow have been good for my skin, but have felt weird. So this year I am kicking it to one side (a little). My friend Joe says I am tan-orexic, but its nice to be brown again.

The weather has been great and in the seven years since I moved to Melbourne (yes folks, 7 years) I have really seen a change in the weather patterns. Its warmer and dryer here, the summers are more consistent and a little hotter. The days of four-seasons-before-lunch are fewer and further apart and Melbourne's reputation for shitty weather is rapidly fading into (just) sour grapes from the northerners.

There is something about Australia. The sky is bluer, the sun is warmer and the people move at a gentler pace, not so much slower, but taking the time to enjoy the beauty of the summer around them. There is much to enjoy here. So the dwindling weeks of my freedom from serious employ are being well spent reclining in the sunshine.

Tweet This Post

After a bit of drama, I have finally got v2.0 of this puppy up and running. While I was fairly happy with the last layout, I wanted something simpler and cleaner. I also wanted a blog that was able to deliver content in categories.

I know, I know. Why dont I just leave well enough alone? The truth is, I kind of like messing around with this stuff. its a bit of a challenge to get it all working, looking right and himming along. Its funny. And as geeky as that might seem, its how I am.

Go figure

Tweet This Post

This is one of the assignments for my screenwriting class at school. I had to produce a letter to someone from the past to whom I could no longer speak. Writing it was a really wonderful experience, so I thought I would share it here.

------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Alan,

I remember telling you, in about 1990, that it was too late for us to have the same sort of relationship anymore. That it had to change – or to end. I remember being really clear with you on it, and you taking it surprisingly well. Given how much of a change I was expecting, it is surprising to me now that you took it so well. And knowing what I know now, knowing how much I miss you, I regret not trying harder.

I still remember the day you called my in 1995 with the news. It was January 15th, the day before my birthday. Why do things like this always happen on, or around my birthday? You called out of the blue to tell me that you had to go into hospital for another operation.

ANOTHER?

After the first cancer scare, you had promised to never leave me in the dark on something like that again, so here you were with the news that you were going back into hospital (BACK) for another operation (ANOTHER). You always were the king of the fucking understatement.

Two previous operations for cancer – why is it ALWAYS cancer – and NOW you are thinking to tell me that you are dealing with it again. I guess that should have been the tip off, that you were finally telling me, that you wanted to talk. I should have guessed that there was more to it and that you were actually worried this time.

So rather than going to see you just in case, I stayed home, I stayed in Sydney. And you never woke up. That was the last time I talked to you. Sure I got to see you, but you were in a coma and while I am sure you knew I was there I couldn’t hear you. I couldn’t talk to you. I couldn’t tell you how I felt.

In truth you and I needed to change our relationship, but I think that point always comes for two men like us. We need to change and grow and find new ways to relate, but at the heart of it how I loved you didn’t change.

I am sorry I didn’t come and see you more, now that you are gone – really gone – there are so many things I wish I could share with you.  So many things I would like to say and so many stories I wish I could hear from you. But I cant, writing this is about as close as I can come.

So let me say it one time, clearly. Thank you for being who you were Alan and for helping me become who I am now; the good and the bad.

I love you and I miss you. You did become my friend and probably one of the best ones I ever had, but you were more than that. You are more than that. You are my father.

Tweet This Post

I have long listed Tim Burton as one of my favourite directors. His visual style and eye for detail is challenging, beautiful and engaging.  He seems to see the world in simple and brightly coloured way a child does. And I love watching it. I have been able to ignore Big Fish and Planet of the Apes, because Nightmare before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks are simply so wonderful.
So imagine my delight when two Tim Burton films come out in the same year - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and another stop motion confection (like Nightmare), The Corpse Bride.

While I wasn't at the opening weekend, I did go the following one and while I did enjoy the film, I wasn't floating out of my chair.

The film tells the story of Victor (Jonny Depp), the sensitive son of the nuevo riche, social-climbing canned fish tycoons Nell Van Dort (Tracey Ullman) & William Van Dort (Paul Whitehouse), who is being forced into an arranged marriage with Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), the daughter of pompous, aristocratic but poor nobles.

When Victor can’t remember the lines for his marriage at the rehearsal, he wanders miserably through the woods and by a stroke of misfortune finds himself wed to a corpse bride (Helena Bonham Carter) who takes him off to the underworld to meet her family.

Simple enough plot line.

Actually it is pretty simple and after I recovered from having my optic nerves pumped full of Burton’s and (co director and animator) Mike Johnson’s incredible visions I found the story to be a little light on. Most of the plot movement was fairly predictable, excluding the final resolution which was beautiful, but felt a little out on its own plot wise.

I have to say that I also have a beef with the current trend in over voicing animations. Animations houses seem to feel the need to fill the cast with “known” voices, presumably to gain some marketing leverage but on the whole I feel this is of little effect.  Nightmare has no really recognizable voices and is a fantastic film. In comparison, this film has some great talent as the voices (Joanna Lumley as the repugnant Maudeline Everglot), but they are lost. I can’t see that it is really worth the effort.

Another sad thing for this film is that the Danny Elfmans music, while still excellent,doesn't come up to the toe tapping standard of Nightmare, some of which I can actually sing from memory. The music, or more accurately the musical numbers, not so interesting or memorable. The incidental and orchestral music however is fresh and inspired, without relying overmuch on the themes that Elfman has used in the past.

Those gripes aside, all up this is a good film, with out being great. It’s visually BEAUTIFUL with an ok story. Worth seeing on the big screen if you like this sort of thing.

As a little bit of trivia on this film, the puppets used neither of the industry standards of replaceable heads (like those used on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)) or replaceable mouths (like those used by Aardman Studios in Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)) but instead used precision crafted clockwork heads, adjusted by hidden keys. This allowed for unprecedented subtlety, but was apparently even more painstaking than the already notoriously arduous animation. One animator even reported having recurring nightmares of adjusting his own facial expression in this fashion.

Tweet This Post