Rango: CHAT map
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Rango, directed by Gore Verbinski and released in theaters in 2011, is an animated film featuring a chameleon, voiced By Johnny Depp, who fell from his terrarium out of a moving car, straight into the Mojave Desert. Rango the chameleon, who had been living his whole life in solitude, begins his journey into the Wild West where he discovers what it means to be a sheriff, or in a broader sense, a hero. Rango has been generally renowned by critics for its exemplary cinematography and screenplay, creating both a PG rated movie for kids and as well as a complex and humorous film for adults. The film’s strengths lie in its ability to effectively offer entertainment and allegorical stories of power, greed in the form of natural resource consumption by humans, heroism, and in the case of Rango the chameleon, identity. Analyzed as a text, Rango is valuable demonstrating how the different aspects of the cultural historical activity theory can be united to create a financially successful film.
Rango has garnered praise for its cinematography (computer graphic imagery and shot sequence) and the artistry featured in the film that complements the unique plot featuring the adventures of Rango and his host of animal friends. Yet, what made this film unique and financially successful were its production quality and its ability to cover a variety of genres and entertain a range of audiences from the simple to the sophisticated.
Gore Verbinski, the director, stated in an interview last year from Film School Rejects that the film is, at essence, a western. Rango, the chameleon, journeys into the unknown with no belongings, and much like the explorers and travelers of typical western films, develops a concrete sense of identity through his hardships. However ,the twist of this film lies in its portrayal of these complex western themes through animation; effectively creating a film visually pleasing for the younger crowds yet with enough plot and character development to yield a generally good rating from the film critics. What truly made Rango stand out in the animation film world that can be directly attributed to the director’s abilities was the mirroring of the animated film to real-live action film-making. In other words, the film employs camera movements generally only found in non-animated films, such as bumpy camera movements and lens flares.
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/interview-gore-verbinski-rango.php
Verbinski stated that the development of Rango from storyboards to computer graphic imagery was a completely new process for those involved according to the interview from Film School Rejects. Verbinski had never directed an animated film, the production company which funded Rango, Blind Wink had never produced an animated film, and the studio responsible for the computer graphic imagery, Industrial Light & Magic, had never created an animated film. From this perspective, the creation of the film was a risky one, but in the end, the animation came out sound with few noticeable animation flaws.
The illustrations were a tricky task but were accomplished and perfected by more than accountable artists. According to John Bell, the art director for Rango in an article for the New York Times, the artists strove to make the art pieces look vivid and real that may represent what things in real life would actually look like. Bell stated that most of the initial drawings were done in pencil sketches by a whole host of artists with modifications done with technology afterwards.
Also, according to a digital supervisor from Industrial Lights & Magic in the same New York Times article, the art sketches were developed into video with a host of different technological resources. For example, the use of high-tech image capture studios combined with art sketches combined to form the video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/movies/awardsseason/rango-oscar-nominee-from-industrial-light-began-in-pencil.html
The conceptualization of Rango was bizarre in its own right. According to an interview from the New York Times, the basis for the film developed from a volley of ideas between the director Verbinski and a close friend of his named David Shannon. Together they created the idea of Rango, a mythical story outlining the themes of the adventurer’s journey to heroism and self-realization yet in a modern fashion. What materialized was the initial outline of a lonely pet chameleon, an aquatic creature; thrown into a desert forced to wander into uncharted territories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/movies/27rango.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
Verbinski developed a twelve page outline and only until 2007, did the story boarding and development of Rango begin. According to Firbinski in the aforementioned New York Times interview, the planning and development of the film was unorthodox. In general, animated films are comprised of artists, cinematographers, and the director who work separately from the voice actors only to collaborate for a succinct time period. However, for the development of Rango, actor Johnny Depp and the cast met frequently reviewing ten pages of script each day.
Verbinski and his team also spent hours of research exploring the art of western genre cinema according to a 2012 article published by The Hollywood Reporter. Rango is genuine western that embodies the hardships visualized in the Wild West. However, Verbinski had limited experience directing in the western genre thereby pushing him into having his team study western masterpieces by esteemed director’s Bob Hope and Sergio Leone. From films such as Son of Palence and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Verbinski and his screenwriters were able to sculpt a film reminiscent of the classics.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/rango-film-review-162566
Released in 2011, Rango was immediately a box office success. Rango grossed an estimated two hundred and twelve million dollars in theaters, making it one of the most successful films of 2011. Originally released on March 4th, 2011, and due to its enormous success, Rango was rescheduled to come back to theaters last January according to Entertainment Weekly. Rango was also released for DVD during July of 2011.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/03/06/the-top-six-rango-riffs-on-classic-movies/
Despite the film’s now obvious success, the initial production and distribution of the film was deemed a risky step from certain analysts. Analyst of Cowen & Co stated in an interview last year from The Hollywood Reporter that animation films such as Rango are declining in popularity as well as quality and may be a risky investment for production companies.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/analyst-rangos-success-could-upset-165396
As previously discussed, Rango can almost be classified into its own genre of an animated western, rated for an audience teenager-age and younger, yet with a screenplay written to be understood by only the greatest film movie buffs with allusions throughout the film to classic films ranging from Star Wars to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Director Gore Verbinski stated in an interview last year conducted by Ed Douglas that there was no strict, purposefully intended audience, and added that the film was made for the figurative kid living in him. Movie theaters playing Rango attracted scores of kids who if nothing else were impressed by the 2-D animation and artistry rather than the plot and its dozens of sophisticated dialogue facets. This feature of Rango can be interpreted as both a fault and refreshment in the animation film industry.
http://www.slashfilm.com/interview-rango-director-gore-verbinski/
Rango has been very popular among the movie fans. There are multitudes of positive reviews from sites such as Internet Movie Database (which rated Rango 7.4/10) and Rotten Tomatoes (which rated Rango 88%/100%). There are a few negative reviews but, in general, most critiques were in favor of the film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1192628/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rango/
According to film critic A.O. Scott of the New York Times, “Feature animation currently finds itself in a golden age of mediocrity.” Yet he elaborates on Rango saying that “Much of the time you don’t quite know where it is going, which is high praise indeed given the slick predictability that governs most other entertainments of its kind.” Rango is full of eccentricity which is perhaps what sets it from the other animated films today. This unconventionality without a doubt surprised many critics who saw it as strength, yet also as weakness. The film employs many surreal techniques, such as the inclusion of the spirit of the Wild Wild West, who guides Rango through his mystical journey. Furthermore, the characters featuring different animal species in the film were grotesque with extreme and artistic detail emphasizing those imperfections. One of Rango’s posse was a chicken with matted feathers and an arrow sticking straight through his head, an attribute that the chicken himself did not seem to notice. Furthermore, the antagonist of the film, Rattlesnake Jake, was terrifying for anyone. Last year, Eric D Sneider of MovieFone in his critique that “I have no idea what age level it's appropriate for, and I'm glad I don't have to worry about it.”
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/movies/04rango.html
http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/04/rango-review/
Rango is not a text produced from the efforts of just one person, but rather from a whole team, each person inspiring creativity and ideas to enhance the film. Verbinski, the director, originally produced the outline and then collaborated with the writers John Logan and James Byrkit, voice actors, and seven artists to slowly sculpt the film.
Voice actor Johnny Depp voiced the protagonist Rango and faced many setbacks perfecting the act. According to voice actor Ned Beatty in the aforementioned Hollywood Reporter article, Depp almost went off the deep end trying to keep up with the films complex and fast dialogue. According to the previously mentioned interview with the New York Times Verbinski said that he had the entire acting group act out their parts on stage to make the voicing sound as real as possible. Verbinski also noted the frustration for some of the voice actors who, rather than speaking into a microphone at the studio, had to dedicate hours to acting out the scenes to obtain what Verbinski called “emotion capture.” This unorthodox practice for animation films was used because of Verbinski’s desire to create an animated film as similar to real life as possible.
What Verbinski and his team essentially accomplished was to broaden the spectrum of what animated film includes and to remodel the formula used to guide typical animated film production. Through the writer’s collaboration with artists, they added fine detail to every character and illustration, turning each character into a story of its own; all in live action with each character moving throughout each scene as you would see in real life. As Verbinski summarized in the same Hollywood Reporter article, he wanted to make the animated film feel like real life by adding imperfections or accidents usually seen in non-animated films. Last year, As Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert wrote in a review, “Its brilliant colors and startling characters spring from the screen and remind us how very, very tired we are of simpleminded little characters bouncing around dimly in 3-D.”
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110302/REVIEWS/110309997
The creation of Rango consisted of positive interactions between all members of the production team. After the development of the film’s premise and the persuasion of producer Graham King for funding, the production crew set out to a peaceful house in Pasadena, California to develop the film. Director Verbinski stated last year in an interview with Edward Douglas that this 18-month interval was “the most fun I’ve ever had.” The team would work throughout the day, recording the soundtrack, drawing the characters, developing the plot with short interspersed activities such as grilling and foosball to relax. Verbinksi explains that the leisure that accompanied the production of Rango was a bonus of the nature of animated film making. Unlike Verbinski’s most popular film series The Pirates of the Caribbean, producing Rango allowed the creators to settle down in one space without “asking for permission or pitching the film.”
http://www.slashfilm.com/interview-rango-director-gore-verbinski/
The production of Rango was relaxed which fostered the team’s large capacity for creativity. At its core, Rango was an experiment for all the major players involved; Verbinski, the production company, and the animation house Industrial Lights & Magic. There was nothing limiting or preventing them from creating an entire new formula for creating this unconventional animated film. According to Verbinski last year in an interview with Jack Giroux, “We just did not approach it (Rango) like an animated movie.”
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/interview-gore-verbinski-rango.php
The funding for Rango was easy to come by to. Without having to worry about arrangements and accommodations due to lack of money, the production team could feel free to push their imaginations as far as they wanted. According to Verbinski in Edward Douglas’s interview, Producer John Graham was hesitant about working with Verbinski due to both of their limited experience in animation, but was ultimately convinced.
http://www.slashfilm.com/interview-rango-director-gore-verbinski/
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This CHAT map is very detailed in explaining every aspect of Rango. I like how you sometimes elaborate complicated terms, such as cinematography, for those of us who did not know what it means. Not only does it provide a better understanding of the material, but it makes the CHAT map easier to understand by explaining jargon. Your citations seemed to be very well placed. They broke up the paragraphs and made it more pleasing to the eye. You included excellent grammar. It seems that all the information was accurately placed in specific aspects of the CHAT map. One piece of information that really caught my eye was that the movie was played as a children's cartoon movie but also had some adult concepts. This seemed to largely affect the success of the movie for children and for critics. Some advice I would give for improvement is to really proofread the sentences. In the Distribution section, "making it one" is all together with no spaces, which detracts from the actual information. Another typo was the spelling of Johnny Depp in the title slide. I also would have preferred the bulletins on the slides to be more central instead of the pictures because I feel that the bullet points, rather than the pictures is what you as an author are trying to convey to the audience. Just a few minor details to be fixed but overall I found it very interesting and well put together.
I was very impressed with the amount of information you were able to convey. The order of the slides flowed nicely together and the presentation was very capturing. I thought you did a nice job at highlighting the western feel of the movie with pictures and in your descriptions. Something I found interesting was how much the film had been inspired by other movies. I especially found the representation slide helpful for understanding the movie because it talked about how the director didn’t really have a background in westerns so he studied others to make it as realistic as possible. The pictures stood out on the slides and really enhanced what you were trying to say in your descriptions. One that I really liked was your socialization slide where your bullet point said “emotion capture” and the picture was different facial expressions of Rango. Along with the pictures I liked the color of the slides, it worked well to make all of the pictures standout. I appreciated that you tried to make the slides more interesting by placing the text down below instead of just right next to the picture but it seemed a little awkward at times. It worked well when you had bigger, wider pictures but for some of the smaller photos it made a lot of empty space. Overall I think you portrayed the movie well and your presentation was very informative.
Production- This CHAT map is filled to the brim with information on Rango. It was very clear that you did your research on this film. I have never seen Rango, but after reading your hub on the movie, I will definitely see it some time in the future. You took a very different approach to the production of the film, which I kind of liked, but I also wanted to know more of the basic aspects of how the film was made, like how the writers put everything together. I liked that you talked about the cinematography in this film and how that was special for an animated children's movie. Its cool that they used camera shots and angles normally used in live-action movies in an animated one, which definitely added to the success of the film. I thought it was really funny that none of the major people involved, including the director and production company had ever done an animated film before Rango; and it was still a huge success. I would have liked for you to go into more detail on what went on at the storyboard and computer graphic imagery stages of production because I think it would have given everyone a better understanding of how this movie was actually physically made. Overall, it was a really good CHAT map with lots of great information on the film and I learned a lot of cool stuff from reading this!
Great CHAT map! I've never seen Rango and did not know that much about it before reading your slides and thought you did a great job of explaining things so that someone who has not seen the movie can still follow along. You did an excellent job of explaining that the movie can appeal to all audience types and not just children like normal animated movies. Explaining how the different aspects of the movie appeal to different audience types, like the animation for children, the dialogue for adults, and the references back to great classic western films for movie buffs, really helped me as a reader understand the point you were trying to make. I also liked that you included that even the creators are not sure which audience type they intended the movie for. I was a little confused though when you said that investing in Rango was risky because films like it were declining in popularity. What about them exactly is making their popularity decline? You could also expand a little more when you said that the film covered many genres. To make this more clear you could name the genres that the movie covers and explain exactly how it does that. What I want to know is if there was any negative feedback from audiences because of the fact that the movie was not a typical animated movie for children. Were certain aspects of the movie inappropriate for some younger viewers? In general though I thought your CHAT map was very informative and thought that you did an excellent job.
Ray, I always meant to see this movie in theaters because it got such good reviews but I sadly never did. Your CHAT map made me really feel like I was missing something. I like how you described how successful the movie was in your distribution section, but I feel like that is a good place to include some facts about the target audience. I understand that it’s a kids movie, but I feel like the movie had pull for people of all ages. I think it’s interesting that the movie included Star Wars and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas references; this makes me think that it might just be a perfect movie for all ages (especially Johnny Depp fans). It’s astonishing the amount of time and dedication the voice actors went through to capture their characters emotions, and it’s not surprising that some of them found it rather difficult. Anyway, your CHAT map was extremely and adequately detailed throughout, especially when it came to production. To improve this piece, I would I would change the way you placed some of the pictures (some were just a little too wide) and include a little negative feedback if possible. You can’t get an entire audience reception unless you hear from all sides. Overall, you did a great job, nice work.
Dylan Blaha
Right off the bat, I really like that you say that this movie is meant for kids and for adults. It shows how, depending on how it was written, the genre can be flexed to fit many different audiences. Like you said, it can be a funny movie for adults but at the same time be a cute fun movie for their kids. Movies like this make it possible to draw in a bigger audience. Things like this really change the audiences perception of a movie and also contribute to how successful the movie will be.
Housekeeping: I really like how you set up everything. The slides were inviting, the information was very informative and kept me reading. At no point did I get so bored with the information to the point where I wanted to skip or skim the rest of it. Your sources seem to be very credible and there is a variety of where you got your information from which is a good thing. One of the things I would change is make the url's links instead of blending into the information. The information you got covered all the things that people want to know about movies. I've never seen this movie and because of this I may just have to go out and rent it. Overall I think you had a great CHAT map. I liked that you had just enough detail to make sure that all of it was stil relevant to what the goal of the assignment was.
Genre Conventions:
I really enjoyed your CHAT map because of the way it differed from most of the other ones I have read. Your's focused not only on the plot and inspiration for the movie, but also the ideas and features used to make the movie successful. I, personally, have never seen the movie, but through what you wrote, I have a good idea of what it's about and why it was so successful. In dealing with genre, I can tell by what you wrote that it is a western with aspects of comedy as well as adventure. I thought it was interesting how even though the movie is essentially a children's movie, the writers and producers incorporated aspects that would appeal to adults; basically the perfect movie for a parent to take their kid to! Using animation also helps clearly define the audience it is for because when they see previews for the movie, that is the first thing they are going to notice. It was really interesting how you talked about the camera angles that were used in the movie, however, I am not a tech person whatsoever, so I really don't have any idea what those meant. It would be helpful if you could just explain what those camera effects mean exactly. I was amazed how the director, producer, and graphic designers had never dealt with animation at all, and yet they managed to make a movie that was almost flawless. I am sure because they had never dealt with this type of movie before, this presented a little bit of a challenge! Going from story boards to graphic imagery, and finally to the big screen in movie theaters all over the nation might have seemed like a daunting task in the beginning, but from what I've read about the movie, it seems extremely successful! The only other thing I was wondering about was if Johnny Depp was chosen to play the part of Rango because the director also directed Pirates of the Caribbean? Johnny Depp was a main character in that movie series, so did the director just see his strengths and decide that he was good for the part, or was the movie made with the intention that he was going to play the part of Rango from the beginning? Overall fantastic CHAT map!!
Social Activity: This CHAT map was very interesting and had a lot of information on a movie that I personally knew nothing about. In this map all of the parts tied together well and they seemed to flow easily together. I liked how you added the fact that the movie did not necessarily have a specific target age but was rather made in the hopes that anyone could enjoy it. Adding the fact that the production company had a whole worked as a family shows that there was a lot of socialization between the crew itself and because of this a great movie was produced. The fact that the actors had such difficulty with it because of its speed is interesting especially for an actor as seasoned as Johnny Depp. The socialization aspect was well covered and had information as to how the team worked together. The slides themselves were well set up with little information that was later explained deeper in the comments. Another thing that you did that I thought was interesting was putting quotes by the director and producer in the slides and then later explaining them. However in the socialization part maybe adding a section about how the public received it would have explained it further. Also the fact that it was supposed to be a western was interesting. Did most critics agree that it should have been considered a western? Overall this was well written and was informative on the subject.
The fact that an animated movie has no specific audience is different. Typically an animated movie is meant for young kids. I believe that the fact that Johnny Depp was the voice of the main character had an effect on the audience. Having not seen the movie I think that I have a general understanding of what the movie was about. It sounds like it was supposed to convey that everyone can be who they want (self-identity). By the decline in popularity I assume that you are speaking of 2D movies. In the world of animated movies it is becoming less likely to see a 2D movie compared to seeing a 3D movie. As a fairly poor, hello we are in college, person I hate this. 3D movies cost more than 2D because of those stupid glasses. Rango is defiantly a different movie in the aspect of location. Very few modern movies are set in the West simply because the West has disappeared. The movie, in my opinion, served as a way to bring the audience back in time. Having the allusions to other movies such as Star Wars is a way to connect to the past and give the adults in the theatre something to laugh about.
**Housekeeping**
- Presentation Notes
- Use of Citation
Your Introduction does a very good job setting up the story and providing information about why *Rango* is an important film. I particularly like how you describe the major cultural themes of the movie, and then use this to segue into how CHAT can be used to "create a financially successful film."
Citing Verbinski's interview provides some important insights into the film from first-hand account - this not only provides good information for your presentation, but it provides a great deal of authority to your work.
**Production**
- Describing how it's produced
- Acknowledgement of creators
- Describing the research done by the authors
Your descriptions of Production were both thorough and interesting. I like how you described their work in combining the different genres of the live-action Western and the animated movie. For expansion, you might consider taking us a bit into how they made the animated components of the film. Was there a certain style of drawing needed? How did they transfer their drawn ideas to animated video?
**Genre Conventions**
- Identifying the genre
- Describing the genre conventions
- Showing how these conventions are used.
In your Production section, the description *Rango* provides real insight into the nature of both the Western and animated films, describing how *Rango* incorporates elements of both the bumpy camera and lens-flare of live-action with the appeal of animation for younger audiences. I like also that you describe the uncertainty the director faced, since he'd never directed an animated film. This shows that even veteran artists continue to experiment with form. This continues throughout your presentation, such as in Socialization, when we see how Verbinski tried to capture emotions by having the actors rehearse off-the-mic and the descriptions of how the film had a far more intricate plot than most animated films.
**Social Activity**
- Describing social and physical distribution
- Discussing cultural reception
I really like the way you've shown the activity surrounding the creation of this film. By showing the eighteen-month production cycle of creativity and barbecues, you've revealed why this film was not only different in terms of production and ecology, but that it had a much different effect on the filmmakers than most films. This illustrates that the ways we work in writing do have effects on the final product we come up with.
**Audience**
- Identifying the intended audience
- Discussing how genre coventions are used to attract that audience
- Indicating audience reception.
I like how you indicated the consternation among filmakers and critics in trying to figure out who exactly what the audience for this film. In mentioning that the cartoons would appeal to kids while the allusions to other movies would appeal to adults, you've shown why this film would appeal to a broad audience. To support this further, it might be good to go into some stats regarding how many people watched the film and what their thoughts on it were. Also, has there been much popular response to it in the form of blogs or other fan activities?
Overall, a very strong presentation. You've brought together some excellent first-person source material to give us a complete image of how *Rango* was imagined and then put into production.
Social Activity- I was surprised at the beginning to learn how complex this movie is. I haven’t had the chance to see it but I had always assumed it was a kids movie but you explained it in such a way it is clear that it appeals to older audiences. You mentioned that the film is PG and I feel that a specific rating can tell a lot about a film and while this movie is enjoyable for all ages it shows that it is acceptable to all those ages as well. On several slides you discuss how the film is based as a western. I thought that was an interesting way to view an animated film. I’m curious to know if others would classify the movie the same way. I liked that you include the gross earning from the box office to give some perspective of how successful it was with the public. In the Reception slide you include details about the producers not knowing what the intended audience it was for and how they were glad they didn’t have to worry about it. I thought that was an interesting way of looking at the movie also because most of the time there is a very specific idea in mind of who the targets are. As far as housekeeping things go I would maybe make the information larger and more prominent on the slides. I liked how you had really looked in-depth into the heart of the movie and really understand what the initial idea and thought process the creators intended there to be. Great Job!
Housekeeping and Production – I’ve never seen the movie Rango, but I already feel like an expert on the movie just by reading your Hub page! I was impressed by your ability to include a large amount of information about the movie without losing my attention. You did a great job of giving information about the background of the movie and what went on behind the scenes without giving away the plot line of the movie. One criticism that I have about your slides is that you placed the bullet points at the very bottom of each slide; I think that the presentation could be improved by making the information on the slides more prominent. The font you used for your citations on the slides was also almost as large as the bullet points making them more noticeable than necessary. I like the way that you cited your information throughout the descriptions and used reliable sources such as Newsweek. I enjoyed learning about the production of the movie, and how it strays from the traditional ways of animation. You provided a lot of great information about how the film was developed and brought to life. Your presentation was complex and interesting and really educated me in how animated movies are created!
Production—I really liked that you included so many different aspects that went into the production of the movie, from its genre conventions to the film techniques the movie employs. I have never seen the movie, but your detailed descriptions of its production have definitely piqued my interest! I found it very interesting that you reference that the movie is based off of classic westerns and how the movie both conforms and diverges from the traditional western genre. I’m glad that you included details on the filming techniques used to shoot the movie and how they differ from those of most other animated movies. For example, you noted that the crew used techniques usually seen in live-action movies, which I thought was very cool. That really helps the audience forget that they are watching an animated movie by immersing them right into the action. I like how you noted that no one in the Rango crew had ever done animation before, which makes the movie’s success that much more impressive. Overall, I think you did a great job on you chat map, which was very well researched and precisely written.
Audience-First of all, you picked an awesome movie to do your CHAT map on. I thought Rango was the best animated movie I have seen in a long time. The Audience aspect to this movie is very important as it was a lot different than other movies. Your slide on the reception was very informative and effectively showed this. Although Rango was an animated movie written for teenage and younger audiences, there were several scenes with references to many classic movies that older audiences would catch. I like how you back this up with information from your production slide. You nail the biggest achievement of the film by its ability to please and entertain younger crowds with its visuals while also containing enough plot and character development to interest older audiences. This probably explains why I like the movie so much. These points also go to show the genre conventions that were used to attract the wide range of audiences this movie did. You had several points from reviews indicating what the audience reception has been so you definitely did your research. You really nailed every aspect of the Audience criteria for your CHAT map. I enjoyed your presentation very much and you really did highlight the edge and fun of this movie. The only suggestion I have is maybe cutting down some of the information in some of the comments.
Your slides were very simple and to the point which is good, because it keeps the viewer from getting confused and helps them to easily see what you want them to. However, I almost wished there was just a little more to the slides; nothing seemed to really draw me in and capture my eye and force me to want to look at them. Your pictures on the slides went very well with what was being commented below them; instead of just random pictures from the movie you tried to incorporate the people doing the voices and such as well which gives it a nice variety, because then your slides have the animation pictures as well as photographs which is a nice change from slide to slide. Your comments were very thorough, and you’ve got them clearly cited, so bravo. They explained, very well, each aspect of CHAT, and you included interesting facts, not just the cut and dry facts. Also, I have never seen the whole film and your intro did a very good job of explaining it, without being too lengthy, so that I felt like I might have watched what I was about to read about.
I have to admit, right off the bat that I have not scene this film yet. Reading all of this has been a learning experience, to say the least. While I didn’t think too highly of this film before, I am willing to say that I think its very underrated in the quality. I didn’t realize that is used shot sequences. That would make the entire piece feel a lot more real. It’s interesting to see that despite its many unconventionalities (being a CGI film, a children’s film, and an atypical set of characters), it is still inherently a western film. Even though Verbinski admitted that there were a few mistakes with the animation, its interesting to know that he was using a very groundbreaking method of production. It would be interesting to know why he picked a studio that had never had experience working with animated films before. I have to say, from what it sounds like, this is a severely underrated movie. I know that I wasn’t crazy about seeing it simply because it was a cartoon, but now I feel like I need to give it more credit. Of course, I am biased because I have an inherent love Johnny Depp. I feel like this is a movie I need to see!
Audience - Really great job of this presentation! I've got to say, I've really been wanting to see this movie for a while now, and now I feel like I have to. But in terms of audience, I really like one point you made which was how you couldn't figure out what audience was more appropriate for this movie. This is a great thing, because that means any one can enjoy it. I think more and more recently, cartoons have stopped being a thing just for kids. As technology has developed, animators are able to make cartoons more realistic as ever. There are many deeper morals included in cartoons. A child can simple ignore this deeper message and enjoy the adorable, funny movie. But this can also keep older viewers interested too. This is really a great ability for movie makers to have, because it now opens their potential income up due to the entirely new range of people who will be interested in seeing the movie. But overall great job of this presentation. It seems like an adorable movie that can be watched by a person of any age and I definitely would like to see it!
Production: Overall, your CHAT map is very clean and simple. The production part seems very interesting. I have never seen the movie Rango, but have heard great things from people that have. My parents' friends saw it and loved it. The fact that the movie in a non traditional animated film and appeals to adults as well as children, must have been challenging to create. Although I'm sure that the children did not pick up on the allusions, they also must not have served as a distraction from the film. Also, the creation of a separate genre of film making is very impressive. Verbinski's efforts to making an animated movie come to life sounds as if it was successful. Taking something traditional like western films and pairing it with animated film intended for all ages must have been a daunting task. Your description was very thurough and captured the most important aspects of this movie that make it stand apart from other animated films for children.
Wow this hubpage was full of information. I really found it interesting though. I haven’t seen rango. And I feel interested enough to rent it now. I enjoyed all of the pictures, especially the cactus picture it made me laugh. One thing I though could have used more detail was the production of the movie. Overall I really enjoyed this CHAT map though I couldn’t really find much wrong with it. It was put together well and I thought all of the slides flowed together really well. I like that this movie was so broad that the producers didn’t know who the audience was it seems like a really interesting movie.
ryanedel Level 2 Commenter 3 months ago
Thanks, Ray! I like the way you discuss how the genres of animated films and the Western collide in what was an extremely experimental project - I'm looking forward to learning more.