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Topic: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow
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younger smurf
Smurfling
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posted 08-05-2013 02:58 PM
http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/sonys-announces-hand-drawn-smurfs-mini-movie
Sony Pictures Animation Announces Hand-Drawn Smurfs Mini-Movie
The Smurfs 2 may not have done as well at the box office as the studio hoped, but a brand new mostly hand drawn short (a 22-minute "mini-movie") is coming to the rescue.
The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow - essentially a combination 3D-CG/2D animated film, faithful to the original Peyo Smurfs comics - is coming to Home Video on September 10th and is expected to air on TV in October. The film was selected in official competition at this year's Annecy film festival, and was directed by Stephan Franck (animator on The Iron Giant, Eight Crazy Nights, etc). Says Franck:
"Having grown up in Europe with the original Smurfs books, I found that I knew these characters intimately--it was like a family reunion. The use of both hand-drawn and CG animation was a fantastic opportunity. While the CG takes advantage of all the bells and whistles of modern filmmaking, the hand-drawn parts gave us a chance to bring the original Smurfs designs to life at a quality level they never had been done before. It's completely charming."
The new short features the original voice talent from the feature Smurfs 2 including Alan Cumming (TV’s The Good Wife), Fred Armisen (TV's Saturday Night Live), Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) as well as Hank Azaria as the voice of Gargamel (TV's The Simpsons).
The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow combines cutting-edge computer generated imagery and traditionally hand drawn animation, and was inspired by the classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In the film, the Smurfs learn the value of friendship and family. When Brainy Smurf is favored to win the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the ninth year in a row, Gutsy Smurf sets out to discover how Brainy wins every year. Gutsy's investigation takes him into spooky Smurfy Hollow - and right into Gargamel’s trap! Can Brainy and Gutsy, with the help of Smurfette, put aside their rivalry before Gargamel captures them, or worse, will they come face-to-face with the legendary ghost, the Headless Horseman?
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Smurf is perfect because smurf is smurf
Posts: 52 | From: Eskişehir, Turkey | Registered: Jun 2013
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 08-06-2013 07:38 PM
Neato!!!!!
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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younger smurf
Smurfling
Member # 4865
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posted 08-07-2013 08:20 AM
New photos
The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow
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Smurf is perfect because smurf is smurf
Posts: 52 | From: Eskişehir, Turkey | Registered: Jun 2013
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Sassette
Moderator
Member # 2
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posted 08-07-2013 09:53 AM
I am looking forward to this one!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Have a smurfy day!
Posts: 4276 | From: Smurfingland | Registered: Jul 1999
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
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posted 08-07-2013 10:03 AM
I'm so getting it.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4089 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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younger smurf
Smurfling
Member # 4865
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posted 08-09-2013 03:35 PM
new photos again
panicky, hefty, clumsy
Clumsy
I can't wait
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Smurf is perfect because smurf is smurf
Posts: 52 | From: Eskişehir, Turkey | Registered: Jun 2013
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
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posted 08-09-2013 04:35 PM
And some more...
Narrator
Hefty, Panicky, and Clumsy
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4089 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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younger smurf
Smurfling
Member # 4865
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posted 08-09-2013 04:36 PM
Cool
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Smurf is perfect because smurf is smurf
Posts: 52 | From: Eskişehir, Turkey | Registered: Jun 2013
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Smurfy1For2
Blue Believer
Member # 1224
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posted 08-09-2013 05:43 PM
Awesome younger smurf and vic george!!!!! Thanks for sharing
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u wished u rocked as i
Posts: 1958 | From: Fairfield, VA | Registered: Nov 2005
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 08-13-2013 06:09 PM
I guess Panicky's gonna be involved, Scared Smurfless this Halloween. And this is gonna be smurfin' awesome!
And by Golly, Narrator Smurf is going to tell the story to the Smurfs!
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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Sassette
Moderator
Member # 2
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posted 08-14-2013 01:37 PM
And some more pictures of the scary Smurf Campfire stories...
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Have a smurfy day!
Posts: 4276 | From: Smurfingland | Registered: Jul 1999
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Oakley Smurf
Brainy Smurf Snaeha
Member # 2823
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posted 08-15-2013 07:58 AM
That Awkward moment that I find this mini-movie to be far more exciting than the big screen movie itself!
Well I guess I'm going to watch The Mini-movie first lol. (September 10,Mini-Movie/The Smurfs 2,October 3)
Did I mention that Earth Wind & Fire is going to release their newest album the same day as this Smurfs Mini-Movie?
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I'm Brainy Smurf's alter ego one that didn't wearing glasses...for now...
"Eyesight 200/20 but I always see what's on my mind"
Posts: 696 | From: Bangkok,Thailand | Registered: May 2009
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
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posted 08-16-2013 05:10 AM
BSD about the video link. What I want to see is an advertisement preview, not some mention about it on an ET-type show.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4089 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 08-16-2013 05:21 AM
This'll take a while before it arrives.
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 09-06-2013 02:30 PM
Here it is!
The Legend of Smurfy Hollow - On DVD September 10th!
When Brainy Smurf is favored to win the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the ninth year in a row, Gutsy Smurf sets out to discover how Brainy wins every year. Gutsy's investigation takes him into spooky Smurfy Hollow-and right into Gargamel's trap! Can Brainy and Gutsy, with the help of Smurfette, put aside their rivalry before Gargamel captures them-or worse, they come face-to-face with the legendary ghost, the Headless Horseman? Featuring the voice talents of Hank Azaria (Gargamel), Alan Cumming (Gutsy), Fred Armisen (Brainy) and Anton Yelchin (Clumsy), who all reprise their roles from the film, The Smurfs.
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 09-06-2013 02:31 PM
Hear a ghost story that's smurfsolutely true in FOUR DAYS when The Legend of Smurfy Hollow comes out on DVD.
Get The Legend of Smurfy Hollow!
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 09-06-2013 02:33 PM
| Director Stephan Franck tells The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow | The world's most beloved little blue creatures embark on a new spooky adventure this fall! The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow is an all-new animated mini-movie from Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, making its debut nationwide on DVD on September 10th.
Combining computer animation with hand drawn animation, the 22-minute short was directed by animation veteran Stephan Franck, who served as a supervising animator on The Iron Giant and a story artist on Despicable Me. Franck also created the comic book series Silver, the first issue of which has just been published by Dark Planet Comics. |  |
Recalling the Smurfs origin in comics, we spoke with Franck about Smurfy Hollow and the connection that can exist between comics and animation. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation, we are also pleased to offer several images from the short, including one - the first traditionally animated pic - from the movie! |
Question:
You discovered both European and American comic artists through your parents comic book store in France.
How did they influence your career? |  |
Stephan Franck: My first discoveries were the French / Belgian comics (Lucky Luke, Tintin and, yes, The Smurfs). I immediately fell in love with them and tried to turn them into animation. When I was 6 or 7, my parents noticed that the living room coffee table, which had a glass tabletop, had disappeared. Somehow, it had found its way to my room, where I was using it as a lightbox.
Then I discovered the American comics, which were distributed in France in no particular order, so the entire history of 20th century US comics would just pop up randomly on the newsstands. I loved the efficiency and economy of that storytelling. The fact that the story was told visually first, and that the dialog was layered in as it was polished, is what I think made it so powerful. I often still do that when I storyboard a sequence - I play out the beats of the scene visually, then adjust the dialog. |
Question:
To you, how complementary are animation and comics?
Stephan Franck: Oddly, my inspiration for animation has always come from comics.
I spent the better part of my teenage years doing a short animated film based on The Spirit by Will Eisner - five minutes, all painted on cells, shot on Super 8.
So, now that I do get to make actual Smurfs movies, I feel that I've gone full circle.
Not to mention that this year has seen the debut of my first actual comic, Silver, with Dark Planet Comics. So, I guess I really am going full circle. |  |
Question: How did you come to the Smurfy Hollow project?
Stephan Franck: I first came to Sony Pictures Animation with an original feature project called Futuropolis. |
 | When it turned out that the project wasn't going to happen, the studio asked me if I would be interested in directing Smurfy Hollow.
To be honest, the Smurfs had fallen off my radar a little bit. |
But earlier in the year, I had helped Raja Gosnell storyboard sequences for The Smurfs 2, and I had a great time reconnecting with the characters. I felt that I knew them and what they were about - which is often about some sort of sibling rivalry. I felt that our story, which is centered on a petty rivalry between Gutsy and Brainy getting out of hand, would be a chance to tell something very true to life and true to the Smurfs I grew up with. |
 | Question:
What attracts you to the short film format?
Stephan Franck: In terms of storytelling, 22 minutes is not that dissimilar from those 22-page comics I mentioned earlier. |
It forces you to be on point, on concept, and on character at all times. Another way to look at it is a two-act sitcom format. As they say, 10 minutes to get them into trouble, 10 minutes to get them out.
In terms of art, shorts always tend to be a little more adventurous. I guess these days, hand-drawn animation would be considered adventurous. It's really great to finally be able to animate 2D Smurfs at this quality level.
Question: Sony's first Smurfs short retold Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Now we have a Smurf version of Washington Irving's classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. How fun was it to revisit a classic like this one and "smurf" it up?
Stephan Franck: I honestly think that, in the case of Smurfy Hollow, it's the other way around: We didn't try to "smurf up" a classic story. We told a fun, honest character story with Brainy and Gutsy, and we got to throw some fun, spooky stuff into it. |
Question:
Why did you want to blend computer animation and hand-drawn animation in your movie?
Stephan Franck: The 2D/3D combo is a format we inherited from the first short, so that was always a given. For me, I love that the 3D allows you all the sophistication of modern filmmaking in terms of using the camera.
There's an expressiveness in the use of your lenses, that is hard to replicate in hand-drawn animation.
However, the 2D, when well-done, brings you something incredibly charming. Every single scene becomes an entirely unique piece of art, while CG may be more uniform. |  |
Question: Before directing, you were an animator. How did you work with your crew in that regard?
Stephan Franck: The basic creative process is the same in both cases. I will do or say whatever I need to convey my approach to the scene. I might do a sketch if there's one key image I'm looking for, act it out if there's a sense of physical comedy, spell out the subtext to make sure we're clear on the characters' objectives - whatever I need to give the animator as solid a direction as I can. Then it's about letting the animators create their performance. Sometimes it's okay to say "surprise me", as long the context is clear. With CG, I find that you get something solid very quickly, and it's really about "breaking it" a bit more to squeeze out that extra five percent that will make the performance. "Raise that eyebrow more." "Tilt the head more." "Push the asymmetry of the pose a bit more." We have a great program that lets me draw over the CG when we're in the screening room. It's really about breaking free from the sameness of the assets.
With 2D, it's that challenge of engaging the camera in a specific way. Giving the feeling that a character is shot with a specific lens, and making the audience feel the weight of it, when the illusion has to be in the drawings themselves since the actual lens is completely flat. So, for instance, if we had a close-up scene, pushing in on a character, getting up in his face to get to the truth of some sort of emotion, I wouldn't just flatly zoom in on the drawings. I would ask the animators to animate at least 50 percent of the push in, drawing that wide lens sensation. Also, 2D animators sometimes have an old-school habit of making everything three-quarter, so the goal is often to get them to stay "on axis", especially for close-ups. In both cases, I tried to squeeze as much fun, appeal and expressiveness out of the scenes, while keeping them cinematic.
Question: What makes you particularly proud of Smurfy Hollow?
Stephan Franck: There is something really magical about seeing all the different groups of artists - writers, actors, animators, painters, composers and musicians - make the material come to life, layer by layer. They are all very generous with their passion and talent, and I'm extremely proud of the chance to be working with them. And of course, the response to the short has been very positive, and I'm very proud of that.
Question: What is your next project?
Stephan Franck: I'm working on a new project for Sony Pictures Animation that hasn't been announced yet, but I am very excited about it! |
http://animatedviews.com/2013/director-stephan-franck-tells-the-legend-of-smurfy-hollow/
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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BlueTiger10
Super Smurfette / Reporter Smurfette
Member # 3411
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posted 09-06-2013 08:03 PM
Mm-hmm. The official Blu-Ray / DVD release date for "Smurfs 2" is to be determined.
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Twitter/HubermanProject
Posts: 947 | From: City Island, Bronx, NY USA | Registered: Nov 2010
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Smurfy1For2
Blue Believer
Member # 1224
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posted 09-07-2013 10:50 AM
I am so excited!! Thanks for the info BlueTiger!! I can't wait for this DVD!!!
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u wished u rocked as i
Posts: 1958 | From: Fairfield, VA | Registered: Nov 2005
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 09-07-2013 05:24 PM
"Hefty, Hefty, Hefty...whoa!"
"Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy."
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4089 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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