Laska was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland and he became an artist/animator super early on- it’s listed that he went to the Academy of Fine Arts which is an arts school in Poland!
To start off here is a short reel of a lot of his work:
So overall he’s veryyy interesting. He experiments with a lot of different styles, some of which are more contemporary/modern. His most famous film is Chick (2008). My first source was his website because he actually has information in both Polish and English so I was able to read some stuff!
When looking through his website one common motif I found was the peace dove (I think). He uses it a lot for a lot of different things, and one artwork he uses it and says the word “Freedom” so I think it could be a big reoccurring theme in his work to use a dove or bird in general to evoke positivity and/or peace.
My second source is an article by Cartoon Brew. It seems to be something similar to a student-run blog website. It talks about Chick and how its abstractedness really stays with the viewer long after watching. It talked about how the film was actually made using a lot of CG which I found super cool! He utilizes many different mediums and combines them to create interesting atmospheres. Chick has adult themes but it isn’t explicit (that’s where the abstraction comes in, he uses it so that he doesn’t have to fully show it) Some of it has artistic nudity but nothing too crazy. When I first watched it up until the end I thought it was about maybe a woman in an unhappy relationship, wanting to escape from her life or husband or something but the final part really threw me. I’m pretty sure it’s about prostitution or being a sex worker, and how each person becomes a part of her. I thought it was a very intriguing story.
“You know what you are, Flint Lockwood? A shenaniganizer! A tomfool!”
I chose the sequence in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (the first one) released in 2009!
I love this movie so much, it’s one of my favorites so I had to do it for this!!!! Todd Hemker was the co-director for it and it was produced by Yellowshed and DUCK studios.
My starting inspiration was literally just that this movie is always sort of lurking in the back of my mind and when the topic of the week was announced to be title sequences it popped back into my head. It’s overall a super fun film and it’s actually really well done besides just the ending (which is awesome).
However I do NOT like the second movie. It was not really up my alley and I believe they definitely got sidetracked by the need to profit, which ended up making the sequel less enjoyable. (this isn’t really relevant to my blog but I feel like I need to state it because I do believe the second movie had so much potential if they had just taken a different direction with it)
A few main inspirations I was able to find were things like Muppets, Schoolhouse Rock, Monty Python, etc…… It has a very fun, surreal aesthetic that mixes very colorful cartoony graphics and characters with oddly realistic elements like the rendered hand combined with sparkly rainbow animation. It gives the sequence a very childish and whimsical vibe that also pays homage to looking more like paper animation in some parts. The “Trail” as Briana put it in class goes more in the direction of old and silly animation and using that to combine with the modern animation of the time- (it WAS 2009, so of course it’s a little outdated now).
Something I found really interesting was that the original plan for the animatic was basically completely scrapped due to timing issues. Because they had to get each persons’ name on screen for the same amount of time, they had to change their original mayor animatic to one that featured the characters outside of it and each one had to have somewhat subdued animation so it didn’t take away or distract from the credit names. It sucks to me that they had to waste potential good character animation that would really show each of their personalities so that the credits could be seen in more focus, but I guess that’s part of compromising in order to make sure you get what you want- still I think it’s sad, but it’s still such a great ending sequence regardless
WORKS CITED:
Wholahay Animation. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Ending Title.” Blogspot.com, 31 Jan. 2025, r-wong253249-sp.blogspot.com/2014/04/cloudy-with-chance-of-meatballs-ending.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Ulloa, Writer Alexander, et al. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Www.artofthetitle.com, www.artofthetitle.com/title/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs/.
“Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim.” The Art of the Title Sequence., 2025, jemmayarkertitlesequence.weebly.com/todd-hemker–soyeon-kim.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Wada Atsushi is a relatively new animator. What I found really interesting about his start into the industry was that he actually started out with barely animated paintings, very simplistic and minimalist in nature. In an article I read, the author states that it’s getting increasingly hard to find any physical copies of his work.
Something that Wada values very much in his artistic process is the concept of Ma. It is a way of seeing filled and empty space, along with noise and quiet, movement and stillness, etc. Ma explains that to have empty space/noise/stillness you must have the opposite equivalent of it first, and I got the impression that that’s harmonious and something to strive for artistically in Japanese culture. It seems very important to Wada, especially as his work develops.
Another thing very valuable to Wada in his animation is the importance of simplicity. He draws his characters pudgy and simple, although he does say that they’re all very different people even if most of them have simple, black hair and chubby bodies. With this he lays scenes out in front of a minimal background, with little to no color in some instances.
In an article published by a university student, he quotes:
“It is important to think about how an animated movement affects the silence that follows it, and how that connects to the movement that follows the silence.”
With Ma, everything is connected, so animation is dependent on it and the sequence of movements that make up a story.
I honestly think it’s an interesting mindset. I can definitely see it even in screenshots of his work too which I think is a very valuable strength to have. If the movement in your animation is evident in a single frame it shows you really understand your craft.
Moving on to cultural impact
I think his work definitely has some cultural impact. If anything I think Ma is a popular concept used in Japan and he’s taking that and making it his own. Not only that but there’s also strong humor and absurdism present in his work. I think Wada is a really cool guy. He experiments with a lot throughout his career and doesn’t seem to be afraid of trying new techniques or mediums, so I think that’s something good to learn from especially if you shy away from branching out of your most comfortable medium, especially at Interlochen.
Okay so to share a work of his: definitely My Exercise.
I can’t get a picture of the gameplay in here but it’s a video game, which I thought was sick because it’s his first video game and he mainly focuses on normal films and short animations. It’s simple but in his style and you basically just do sit-ups but there are little hidden fun things that pop up
And finally an anime that inspires me is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Based on the game Cyberpunk 2077. It’s awesome both the game and show, but play the game first
It’s very well made and accurate, I could go into more detail but I already shared it last semester
Richard McGuire contributed on the film “peur du noir” that we watched in class.
peur de noir is actually a smaller segment included in a film called Fear(s) of the Dark, which explores the overarching fear of darkness- I’m not sure if both titles are interchangeable or not, as peur de noir literally means “afraid of the dark” even though this segment that McGuire included isn’t the entire film.
McGuire’s segment is very interesting because it’s quite simple but still very effective in the ways it implements fear. It relies heavily on lighting and where these light sources come from in connection to the sound design, and I feel like the setting being this abandoned house (at least that’s how I interpreted it) works well with it because of how easy it is to simplify furniture and appliances and such and have them still be recognizable. This puts more emphasis on the events that are happening and the suspense that is created instead of the environment around the character.
Moving on to some of his other work-
Mcguire is a very simplistic and futuristic artist. He does a lot of work in unconventional graphic novels and also becomes more modern in recent times. An impressive example of his graphic novel is called Here, and it is about the present constantly being conversation with both the past and future at the same time. I interpreted it as his own view on what the future could look like and how the past plays into that.
I am actually not a big fan of some of his work, but that’s just my personal preference because very simple modern styles don’t interest me as much. I think they’re still very impressive.
Another example of his work is called The Elimination of Reality Through Difference. It explores concepts of empty space and where it can go in a piece that causes different perspectives. The colors are very limited but contrasting to put more emphasis on the filled and unfilled spaces.
I think that McGuire focuses more on still modern art and less on animation, but any animation makes a lasting impact if it is seen by an audience regardless, so yes, I think that his animation in Fear(s) of the Dark contributed greatly to the animation scene. It is a great example of how simplification in a film can still be a great and effective storytelling device, contrast to how many people think that more details is better.
One of my favorite animated series is definitely Cyberpunk Edgerunners. SO COOL.
I am such a huge fan of cyberpunk in general as I’m sure a lot of people already know but Cyberpunk Edgerunners is such a great example of it. It was adapted from the game Cyberpunk 2077 (which everyone should go play NOW it’s so good)
It’s basically about a kid named David whose mom got killed in a hit and run in Night City (located in California) and he turns to a life of crime and cybernetics because of it. The people that do this are called “cyberpunks”. The city is completely crime-riddled and corrupt, and David is also struggling a lot with internal issues. The fear in this show is scattered throughout in different aspects rather than with events or characters. Cyberpunk as a genre does that a lot, because it’s commentary on real world events and systems and it implements its fear through things like corrupt organizations with no regard for its citizens, in the case of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. I find this type of fear incredibly immersing because it creates a sense of constant tension and expectation for the watcher. Even when things seem calm, you’re always thinking of all the things that could go wrong because of the unique setting they live in at any time. It really immerses you in the story and is part of why I think that environment design in storytelling is one of the most important parts of creating a convincing story.
The music specifically in this teaser is SO GOOD. Like the standard city ambience ramping up in time with the music to reveal what ACTUALLY happens in the city (fighting, crime, etc) really sets the mood for the entire show in only a minute and even before you see these shots of brutal fighting and weapons and fast-paced chases you can tell something is sinister under that dazzling futuristic city facade.
Again just go watch it or play the original game if you haven’t the fear and storytelling in it is AWESOME
Also here’s the official wiki for the entire cyberpunk universe:
The UPA film I chose is a short one by the name of “The Magic Fluke”. It was one of UPA’s earlier releases and tells the tale of a fox and a crow duo that have a nightclub act, but the fox gets offered a better job and takes it while he leaves the crow behind. The crow becomes poor, but gets a magic wand and gives it to the fox during one of his shows and things begin to go wrong. The film wraps up with the crow swooping in and saving the show so that he can get his job and status back.
The cartoon modern style in this film is effective because it combined with some of the more realistic backgrounds creates a fun but experimental environment that UPA is known for and is widely received. I believe that the film would succeed the most with this style- it contributes to the vibe and plot of the film, like the theater atmosphere and the night backgrounds.
The second film I chose to contrast this is called “Song Of Nature” made by Elin Lynn on YouTube. It’s very short, but made from a mix of beautiful watercolors and soft digital drawings. I picked this film specifically to contrast against The Magic Fluke because it’s EXTREMELY different and if this film was made in cartoon modern, I believe that it would take away from the overall pastel vibe and cute story that the short film is trying to portray. I believe that both films used styles that are very fitting for what they’re trying to tell a story about in their own respective ways.
