Awesome Shugo Tokumaru Stop Motion Video

Something incredibly awesome for this week-end with this stunning stop-motion video created by japanese artist Shugo Tokumaru and called "Katachi". You probably know what stop-motion is as Tim Burton directed many films with this technique but if you don't, stop motion  "is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence". 

All the beauty here is that it's done with paper silhouettes, and that each movement  is of course perfectly in place with the music. Wonderful stop motion work, this one will be hard to beat!




Video: copyright Shugo Tokumaru

Shanghaî Disneyland Update

Interesting news from Shanghaî Disneyland today with this model picture posted on ShanghaiNews.net of one of Shanghaî Disneyland hotels. Actually, this one will be the Toy Story themed hotel, supposedly located outside the park, behind Toy Story Land which might be a good idea as the hotel will have the Toy Story Land in the background. The model picture below should help you to locate where this Toy Story themed hotel will be. It's the "hotel 2" , the "hotel 1" being the Shanghaî Disneyland 5 stars hotel.

It was rumored that this hotel would have a Toy Story theme, but now we can be sure of it thanks to some deco elements that can be seen on the model picture ( the one at the top ). First, as you can see, there is this orange structure located at the hotel entrance which looks clearly like if it was a RC Racer track put horizontally. Then you have the clouds painted on the exterior building walls, who looks like the ones in the movie on Andy's bedroom walls. 

The hotel also have this shape which looks like an "8", a lucky number in China meaning prosperity, wealth and success,  and God knows - or in this case Confucius! - how important the symbolism of numbers can be for Chinese people. That said, the hotel will also have two patios gardens, supposedly having two different designs  paying tribute to the Yin and Yang symbols. On the others pictures below - posted by Shanghai Environment Online and showing the different walls of the hotel - the purple and green rectangles are supposed to be glass panels, and the green ones are supposed to "open" so it might be the guest rooms windows...

As i told you, this SDL Toy Story hotel - which, by the way, looks very much like a "budget" category hotel - should be located in an area outside the park behind Toy Story Land. If this is the case it would be a smart idea as hotel guests would probably have TSL in the background with at least the RC Racer track visible from the hotel. And why not the parachutes of the Parachute Drop attraction, you ask? Good question, as the height of the Parachute Drop structure would surely  be high enough to be visible in the background. Except that SDL Toy Story Land will NOT have the "Parachute Drop" ride. Why? It took me a while to understood why and the first reason could have been for a question of visual intrusion, but in fact it's probably not this one, and my future SDL update will explain you more about all this.  

Let's end with another fresh - and interesting - news about Shanghaî Disneyland released today by China Daily: "Shanghaî Disneyland will feature a production center, which will showcase some of the technical and creative wizardry, which will be used at the site, the company said on Friday. The first of its type in Asia, and scheduled to be open by the second quarter of 2013, the center will become the "heart" of show production for Shanghai Disneyland, the company said, highlighting the park's most complex technology before it is permanently installed within the theme park, the company said".

Looks like to me that it could be a kind of "preview center", certainly different than the one they did for Disneyland Paris before DLP opening but it might be a kind of Blue Sky Cellar like at DCA. This will be definitely interesting to follow. 

Picture: copyright Shendi - Disney

All my thanks to Luke from Luke and the Temple of Fun!

J.J Abrams will direct Star Wars Episode 7 movie !

Disney should announce it officially later today: J.J Abrams has been chosen by Kathleen Kennedy to direct the awaited Star Wars Episode 7 movie. And of course Abrams has accepted. Personally, and considering all the good that i think Abrams did on the previous Star Trek movie which i liked a lot i'm enchanted by this decision. The good thing with Abrams is the part of him who still is a fan. Not only he is a brilliant director but he's also able to be a fan. And in the case of Star Wars being able to be a director AND a fan is definitely essential to succeed to do a good movie.
The stories for “Star Wars” episodes seven, eight and nine, which George Lucas has outlined and the Walt Disney Company will produce and release, are “the most exciting” in the series, the filmmaker’s biographer told TheWrap on Wednesday.

And, wait, there is more good news :

"While researching for his book, Dale Pollock, author of the unauthorized Lucas biography, “Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas,” was allowed to read the outlines to the 12 stories written by the filmmaker but was required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

“It was originally a 12-part saga,” Pollock told TheWrap. “The three most exciting stories were 7, 8 and 9. They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, ‘I want to see these 3 movies.’”

The next in the series, he said, involve Luke Skywalker in his 30s and 40s, but Lucas was unlikely to turn to Mark Hamill, who played Luke in the original but whose performance left the director dissatisfied. “They will need an older Luke Skywalker,” Pollock said."

"Escape From Tomorrow" , The Sundance Indie Movie That Disney Is Not Gonna Like

May be you've heard about this indie movie which was screened at Sundance film festival just a few days ago. It's called "Escape from tomorrow", it's filmed in gorgeous black and white by director Randy Moore, and everybody - including U.S major newspapers - is talking about it. Why? Not only because apparently the movie is really good but also because the film was filmed almost entirely at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Anaheim. And without Disney authorization. 

Oh-ho, you begin to understand where the problem is... And what the film is talking about, you ask? Well, as i was not at Sundance and did not watched "Escape from tomorrow", here is how the L.A Times describes the storyline in its excellent article: "Basically, the film is about a down-on-his luck fortysomething father (Roy Abramsohn) on the last day of a Disney World vacation with his henpecking wife and their two angelic children. As he takes his children to various attractions, the father is haunted by disturbing imagery; he is also, in the meantime (and with his children in tow), tailing two young flirtatious French girls around the park". What the L.A Times forgot to say in their synopsis is that the father learn by a phone call on the last day of his WDW vacation that he's fired from his job. And, even if he is suddenly shocked and depressed, decides to don't tell it to his wife and children. 

So, for the L.A.Times "Ultimately, Escape from tomorrow is a character study about a man who seems to have lost any sense of optimism in a place that’s overrun with it". But apparently it's also more complicated than that with a third act which "takes on an increasingly macabre tone. And though the movie borrows tropes from horror movies (think young girls running out of sight and creepy smiling dolls) and 1950s futurism, it most often evokes David Lynch, both in its deadpan tone and its utter inscrutability". 

Below, a first clip from the movie showing a sequence in a swimming pool. But, for obvious reasons, you won't see any WDW buildings in this clip. Also, although that the way the father is looking in this sequence at the two young "lolitas" may seem "transgressive" Roy Abramsohn, the actor playing the father, insist that the father is not a pederast, that seeing the girls makes him realize how his youth is gone forever, and he became obsessed with them a bit like the character played by Dirk Bogarde in Luchino Visconti's 1971 Death in Venice.  




How they succeed to filmed a whole movie at WDW without any cast-members noticing that they were filming is also an interesting question. This other L.A Times article will learn you more about how they did it but basically the movie was shot with a small Canon camera and a crew "guerrilla style" with no script in the hands of anyone, the director and actors communicating by messages through their smart phones to avoid anyone suspect they were shooting a movie. Below, two interviews videos, one with Roy Abramsohn who plays the father and the other with the director, Randy Moore.







You can watch another good video interview from the L.A Times of both Randy Moore and Roy Abramsohn HERE.


Of course the big question now is how Disney is going to react to this movie and will they try to stop it to be released in theaters? So far, "It's unclear if Disney will have legal objections to the movie that might prevent it from being shown beyond the festival, in movie theaters nationwide or on DVD or video-on-demand... so far, no distributor has picked up the film". Normally, the corporate logic would be that Disney don't like at all "Escape from Tomorrow". That said, according to Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University who watched the movie at a screening last weekend: "I think on both copyright and trademark fronts their (Disney) case would be pretty weak". "It's a film that falls pretty squarely in the territory of fair use, which addresses copyright," added Wu, who specializes in intellectual-property issues. "And to establish trademark infringement they'd have to prove that a reasonable person would think Disney is endorsing the movie, and I think they'd have a hard time doing that." Wu also added that although "Randy Moore and his cast and crew could be guilty of trespassing because they violated the terms of the passes sold to them by Disney, that probably would only be a misdemeanor and does not tend to result in large punitive damages".

So, what Disney should do? Personally, as i've said, i've not seen the movie so it's always difficult to talk about a movie you haven't seen yet, but i have the feeling that it's a good, and even an interesting movie. And the fact that it was chosen to be part of the Sundance Film Festival is also a good sign. So, personally i think that Disney should do nothing, that they should released a statement saying something like "Although the WDC don't endorse or approve any ideas include in the "Escape from Tomorrow" movie and forbid any unauthorized filming in Disney theme parks, the WDC accept the right to free expression as defined in the constitution of the United States of America". This would be much smarter than to spend a huge amount of money in lawyers to stop the movie to be released, and specially now. Why? because last year has been a fantastic year for the WDC, movies were successful, it's a kind of new golden age for Disney theme parks, etc... everybody has a good image of the WDC, so may be it's not the right time to remind everyone that the WDC is also a big corporation ready to sue a small indie film. I think Disney has much more to lose than to win to try to stop "Escape from Tomorrow" being released, i think it's a kind of corporate trap that they will create themselves. And Randy Moore has said that "he's not trying to shut Disney down or hurt them", that "This was the story, and WDW was the only place I could tell it". We can perfectly understand why Disney could have a corporate reaction to "Escape from Tomorrow", but in this case i think Disney should try to be, if i can say, "more intelligent than corporate". 

Part of text: copyright L.A Times

Escape from Tomorrow poster picture: copyright Randy Moore

Golden Horseshoe Revue is Back at Disneyland - Full HD Video

The Golden Horseshoe Revue is back at Disneyland's Frontierland for a limited time! For those of you who won't have the possibility to see the show here is an excellent video of the full show filmed by ThomasTheImagineer whom i thanks a lot. Make sure to choose to watch it in the higher resolution.




Video: copyright ThomasTheImagineer

Disneyland Paris Covered By Snow Videos

After the pictures, two videos showing you DLP covered by snow! The first and shortest one will show you the castle, Central Plaza and Discoveryland, and the next video will show you all the park!







Picture: copyright Max Fan

Disneyland Paris Under Snow - Panoramic Pictures

As promised, here is the part two of "Disneyland Paris under snow" with fantastic panoramic pictures all shot by Cinderellaa, whom i thanks a lot! Definitely click on each panoramic to see them in bigger size!

If you've not seen yet the first part of this report don't miss it as it include 60 amazing pictures of DLP under snow! It's right HERE.

Don't miss the first part of this report don't miss it as it include 60 amazing pictures of DLP under snow! It's right HERE.

All pictures: copyright Cinderellaa

I remind you that between now and February 14 i'm doing a great Winter sale / Valentine's day special offer on the Disneyland Paris book collector's edition that you can order at its lowest price ever, i.e 75€ / $100 (instead of 120€ / $160) plus 15€ shipping wherever you live on the planet!

You can order the book either in its english or french edition and if you have a Paypal account you can use the Paypal one click button below ( please use ONLY the Paypal button below not the one on the right bar which is not coded at the same price). No Paypal account? No problem, you can pay by bank wire transfer,  please send me an email at : neverlandeditions@gmail.com
Also, please send me an email with your shipping address and also let me know if you order  the book in its english or french edition.

I remind you that only 50 copies are on sale at this special price, so order now your collector's copy while you can get it at its lowest price ever, and save $60 / 45€ on the book normal price!

Choose quantity and enjoy additional discount

1 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €90.00 EUR 2 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €170.00 EUR 3 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €260.00 EUR

If you've never seen the book please go HERE for pictures and description details.

DLP Update: Disneyland Paris Under Snow !

It's the winter and, as almost each winter in January, Disneyland Paris is covered by snow. But the big difference with last year is that the snow fall has been incredibly important since last thursday - almost 20cm / 8 inches - so much that the parks closed yesterday Sunday exceptionally earlier, at 6pm.

That said, DLP under snow is great to shot amazing pictures and thanks to DCP forum members Disney27, Cinderelaa, Doudou25, Arth, Aurée62, Deanrell, JulieMinnie and Emilia36 who shot the pictures below you will see how DLP parks looks magical when they are covered by snow. All my thanks to all of them for their kind agreement to post their pictures on Disney and more!

Let's start by the park entrance, Disneyland Hotel and Main Street.

Next, Central Plaza and Sleeping Beauty Castle with day or night pictures!

Let's move to Frontierland!

Adventureland, here we come!

Let's move to Fantasyland!

Next stop, Discoveryland!

Let's see how the Walt Disney Studios look covered by snow!

Don't think that DLP hotels escaped to the blizzard!

I'm sure you loved these incredible pictures and i have a good news for you as there will be a part two tomorrow with amazing panoramic pics of DLP under snow! Make sure to don't miss the next article and in the meantime, i have another good news for you as between now and February 14 i'm doing a great Winter sale / Valentine's day special offer on the Disneyland Paris book collector's edition that you can order at its lowest price ever, i.e 75€ / $100 (instead of 120€ / $160) plus 15€ shipping wherever you live on the planet!

You can order the book either in its english or french edition and if you have a Paypal account you can use the Paypal one click button below ( please use ONLY the Paypal button below not the one on the right bar which is not coded at the same price). No Paypal account? No problem, you can pay by bank wire transfer,  please send me an email at : neverlandeditions@gmail.com
Also, please send me an email with your shipping address and also let me know if you order  the book in its english or french edition.

The book will make a GREAT valentine's day gift for the one you love. I can even say that it'll be hard in this kind of price to find a better gift for a Disney theme park fan, and it's true! Sure, Valentine's Day is in fours weeks from now but if you don't live in France, due to shipping time, please place your order if possible January 28 the latest to make sure you'll get it for Valentine's Day, on February 14 - IF you need it for that date.

I remind you that only 50 copies are on sale at this special price, so order now your collector's copy while you can get it at its lowest price ever, and save $60 / 45€ on the book normal price!

Choose quantity and enjoy additional discount

1 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €90.00 EUR 2 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €170.00 EUR 3 copy of Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality -incl shipping €260.00 EUR

If you've never seen the book the video below will show you the whole 320 pages of the book! For pictures and description details please go HERE.





DLP under snow pictures: copyright their respective owners: Disney27, Cinderelaa, Doudou25, Arth, Aurée62, Deanrell, JulieMinnie or Emilia36