DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks is one of the biggest names in modern computer-animation: a studio whose commercial success and impact on the medium rivals that of Pixar, and yet has received far less critical attention.The book will historicise DreamWorks' contribution to feature animation, while presenting a critical history of the form in the new millennium. It will look beyond the films' visual aesthetics to assess DreamWorks' influence on the narrative and tonal qualities which have come to define contemporary animated features, including their use of comedy, genre, music, stars, and intertextuality. It makes original interventions in the fields of film and animation studies by discussing each of these techniques in a uniquely animated context, with case studies from Shrek , Antz , Kung Fu Panda , Madagascar , Shark Tale , Bee Movie , Trolls and many others. It also looks at the unusual online afterlife of these films, and the ways in which they have been reappropriated and remixed by subversive online communities.

Fills an important gap in animation studies by analysing the work of Dreamworks, a major and yet overlooked studio Contributes to the study of stars, film music, genre, comedy and intertextuality theory by applying their approaches to the unique case studies presented by computer animated features Develops a theoretical framework to conceive of the intertextual pop culture references in Dreamworks films which characterise their approach to humour

Auteur
Sam Summers lectures in animation history and theory at Middlesex University, UK, specialising in computer animation, aesthetics, intertextuality and the Hollywood animation industry. As well as publishing several articles and book chapters on these topics, he is the co-editor of Toy Story: How Pixar Reinvented the Animated Feature (2018).

Contenu

1. Layered, Like Onions: Introducing DreamWorks' Intertextuality.- 2. Why is Shrek funny?: DreamWorks and the intertextual gag.- 3. 'All Star' soundtracks: DreamWorks and the pop song.- 4. Woody Allen in the anthill: DreamWorks and star performance.- 5. Parody, pastiche and the patchwork world: DreamWorks and genre.- 6. The Shrekoning: DreamWorks' impact on 2000s animation.- 7. Shrek Gets Shreked: DreamWorks' online afterlife.- Index.

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