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9 (2009 Animated Film)
''9'' is a 2009 computer-animated science fiction film directed by Shane Acker, written by Pamela Pettler and produced by Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov and Dana Ginsburg. In the film, Elijah Wood voices a small ragdoll-like robot who awakens shortly after the end of mankind, and must find eight other robots to figure out the mystery behind humanity's destruction while tangling with the vicious creations of a massive soul-stealing machine. The film also features the voices of John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover, with Martin Landau and Fred Tatasciore. The film is based on Acker's 2005 CG-animated, Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name created at the UCLA Animation Workshop. Focus Features released it theatrically on September 9, 2009. The film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics and earned $48.4 million on a $30 million budget. It also received an Annie Award nomination for Best Animated Effects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shane Acker
Shane Richard Acker (born 1971 in Wheaton, Illinois) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter and animation teacher known for directing '' 9'', which is based on his 2005 Academy Award-nominated short film, of the same title. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. Early life As a child Acker was hyperactive, so his parents encouraged him to draw. Acker originally set a goal of becoming an architect; he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Florida in 1994 as well as a master's degree from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Career Upon graduating in 1999, Acker decided to become a film-maker and went to study at UCLA's Animation Workshop. There he created ''The Hangnail'', ''The Astounding Talents of Mr. Grenade'', and '' 9''. In 2004, Acker earned a master's degree in animation. ''9'' took him four and a half years to complete and was released in 2005. Acker concurrently held a position at Wētā FX in 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relativity Media
Relativity Media is an American media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company was commercially successful prior to bankruptcy. In 2015, Relativity Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after lawsuits and missing loan payments. The bankruptcy was noted as one of the most notorious in entertainment industry. As a result, the company began selling off previously acquired films. Relativity Media reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy in March 2016, but in May 2018 it filed for bankruptcy again. The studio is now being operated by a new parent company, UltraV Holdings. History Launch and operations Relativity Media was founded by Ryan Kavanaugh and Lynwood Spinks in 2004. Kavanaugh convinced Spinks, a former Carolco Pictures executive to invest $1 million into the venture. Relativity began operations as a middleman brokering deals bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homunculus
A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions. The term lends its name to the cortical homunculus, an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it. History Alchemy The homunculus first appears by name in alchemical writings attributed to Paracelsus (1493–1541). ''De natura rerum'' (1537) outlines his method for creating homunculi: Comparisons have been made with several similar concepts in the writings of earlier alchemists. Although the actual word "homunculus" was never used, Carl Jung believed that the concept first appeared in the ''Visions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.Principe, Lawrence M. The secrets of alchemy'. University of Chicago Press, 2012, pp. 9–14. Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical ''magnum opus'' ("Great Work"). The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency (see Roman dictator and ''justitium''). Like the term ''tyrant'', and to a lesser degree ''autocrat'', ''dictator'' came to be used almost exclusively as a non-titular term for oppressive rule. In modern usage the term ''dictator'' is generally used to describe a leader who holds or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power. Dictatorships are often characterised by some of the following: suspension of elections and civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents; not abiding by the procedures of the rule of law, and the existence of a cult of personality centered on the leader. Dictatorships are often one-party or dominant-party states. A wide variety of leade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of storing several hours of high-definition video (HDTV 720p and 1080p). The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The name "Blu-ray" refers to the blue laser (which is actually a violet laser) used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs. The polycarbonate disc is in diameter and thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Conventional or pre-BD-XL Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual-layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for feature-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie Award
The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation, the award has been given to individual works since 1992. Membership in ASIFA-Hollywood is divided into three main categories: General Member (for professionals), Patron (for enthusiasts of animation), and Student Member. Members in each category pay a fee to belong to the branch. Selected professional members of the branch are permitted to vote to decide the awards. The 48th and 49th Annie Awards ceremonies were held virtually on April 16, 2021, and March 12, 2022, respectively, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. History In 1972, June Foray first conceived the idea of awards for excellence in the field of animation. With the approval of ASIFA-Hollywood president Nick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San José State University). This school was absorbed with the official founding of UCLA as the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919, making it the second-oldest of the 10-campus University of California system (after UC Berkeley). UCLA offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines, enrolling about 31,600 undergraduate and 14,300 graduate and professional students. UCLA received 174,914 undergraduate applications for Fall 2022, including transfers, making the school the most applied-to university in the United States. The university is organized into the College of Letters and Science and 12 professional schools. Six of the schools offer undergraduate degre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 at a private dinner hosted by Douglas Fairbanks in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards cerem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cartoon Brew
Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched in 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created ''Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ''Mystery Science Theaters Frank Conniff. Reception The site has published news articles, commentaries and reviews regarding the animation industry. The Comics Beat called it the "essential cartoon blog", while animator Francis Glebas cited it as "the place to go for the latest in animation news". Criticism On August 14, 2020, the site attracted criticism, firstly from Dana Terrace, the creator of ''The Owl House'', for their story, "Disney Executive Tried To Block Queer Characters In ‘The Owl House,’ Says Creator." Terrace clarified that her push for queer characters like Luz and Amity in ''The Owl House'' had been "extremely supported" by executives for the show, and that she was "excited for future shows" while Owen Dennis of ''Infinity Trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel, time travel, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. The genre has existed since the early years of silent cinema, when Georges Melies' '' A Trip to the Moon'' (1902) employed trick photography effects. The next major example (first in feature length in the genre) was the film ''Metropolis'' (1927). From the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies. After Stanley Kubrick's landmark '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968), the science fiction film genre was taken more seriously. In the late 1970s, big-budget science fiction films filled with special effects became popular with audie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern computer animation usually uses 3D computer graphics to generate a three-dimensional picture. The target of the animation is sometimes the computer itself, while other times it is film. Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to stop motion techniques, but using 3D models, and traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations. Computer-generated animations can also allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or props. To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer monitor and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar to it but advanced slightly in time (usually at a ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
