THE CINEMA CHRONICLES
By Gabriel Sieling
Hosted by Gabriel Sieling

Official Transcript:

CHILDHOOD TRAMA/WHY CHILDHOOD CHARACTERS ARE BECOMING KILLERS

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Gabriel Sieling: Hello Everyone and welcome back to The Cinema Chronicles. I’m your host Gabriel, and today we will be talking about how Fan Favorite Childhood Characters are becoming Horror Movie Killers

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Question 1: What IP’S were affected?

Gabriel Sieling: You might be wondering what I am talking about? Well I’ll give you an explanation. Recently in the 2020’s, Fan Favorite Childhood Fictional Characters have been staring in their very own horror films such as “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Grinch”, “Bambi”, and everyone’s favorite “Mickey Mouse.” People have been using these characters and twisting their origin in order to make a buttload of low budget horror films.

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Gaabriel Sieling: Because the idea of your favorite childhood characters killing people sounds very funny. So, people like Rhys Frake-Waterfield (Creator of “Winnie-The-Pooh Blood and Honey” and “The Twisted Childhood Universe”), and Stevan LaMorte (Creator of “The Mean One”), are using these characters just for fun, while also making a quick cash grab on the side.

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Question 2: How are they legally able to do this?

Gabriel Sieling: You might be wondering how these creators are able to get away with using these characters? Shouldn’t Disney be suing them? Well, that’s just it, they cant. The reason people are able to use characters like Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey Mouse, is because they are now in something known as “The Public Domain.” The Public Domain is a law that states whenever IP expires after 100 years of its release, that IP is sent into the public domain. When said IP enters the Public Domain, then they are free to use by any creator and that IP now belongs to the public. So, is that it? Mickey Mouse is no longer owned by Disney.

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Gabriel Sieling: Well not so fast. Mickey Mouse is in the Public Domain sure, but only a specific version of Mickey Mouse. Specifically, Mickeys first ever appearance in the 1928 animated short “Steamboat Willie.” And that Mickey Mouse is Black and White. Whereas the current mickey with color we know today, didn’t appear on screen till the 1935 Animated short “The Band Concert.” So, that means the public is not allowed to use the current version of the mouse for another 8 to 9 years. People will only be allowed to use the Steamboat Willie version of the character, like they did in the mickey mouse horror films “Mickey’s Mouse Trap”, and the recently announced “Scream Boat.” But you might be realizing, I mentioned the grinch earlier in the episode, but the original How the Grinch stole Christmas children’s book came out in 1957, that IP will legally not be in the Public Domain for at least another 30 years or so. That leads me to another way people can legally use these characters for their horror movies. The grinch horror film released in 2022 titled “The Mean One” is classified as a “Parody Film.”

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Gabriel Sieling: Hollywood is no stranger to Parody films, with films such as “Scary Movie”, “Shaun of the Dead”, “Vampires Suck” “The Bill and Silent Bob franchise”, and “The Starving Games”. These films are classified as parodies because they never directly address anything from the original material, they just adapt the film that they are basing the parody on. For example, in the mean one, they never directly address the monster as the grinch. They only address the mean one. Which is a reference to the classic grinch holiday tune.

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Gabriel Sieling: This makes it so that the film is safe from being sued as it is under The Parody Label.

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Question 3: Are there any restrictions?

Gabriel Sieling: So, you may be thinking that all of the stuff I mentioned is kind of an overpowered public right. But there are some restrictions that these creators have to follow. As said in a Video from the YouTube Channel “The Film Theorists”,

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The head of the channel at the time “Matthew Patrick” revealed that the companies that own these IP’s have the ability to establish “Trademark’s.” What is the Difference between Copyrights and Trademarks you may ask? Well unlike Copyrights, Trademarks do not expire. Let’s take what MatPat used as an example of this, Superman.

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 The Man of Steel’s first appearance was in “Action Comic #1.” And as of the time recording this, Superman’s copyright is set to expire in January of 2034. But if people want to use Superman for their own projects, they are going to have to get really creative with how they use the character. First off, people are only allowed to use the Superman that appeared in that issue, he has a black and red S on his chest, and the only powers he had were super strength, invulnerability, and the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Therefore, Superman did not have the ability to fly, or shoot lasers out of his eyes. So that would mean that creators could not use his powers. And Second off, The Superman name and iconic logo are trademarked by DC Comics. Therefore, Creators can use the iconic S Symbol, or use the name Superman. They may have to get creative and bring out their hyphens and introduce Super-Man.

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Gabriel Sieling: The point is, all of these characters are getting horror films, just because of the fact that they can, and that it’s legal. But still, in the end of the day, the people still care about the source material and use it to make a twisted take on our favorite characters……………except “Mickeys Mouse Trap” that can still burn in a fire. Anyway, be sure to check under your bed for any pooh bears tonight. My name is Gabriel, and this has been the Cinema Chronicles. Thank you.

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THE CINEMA CHRONICLES
By Gabriel Sieling
Hosted by Gabriel Sieling

Official Transcript:

How The Spider-Verse Changed Modern Animation

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Gabriel Sieling: Hello Everyone and welcome back to The Cinema Chronicles. I’m your host Gabriel, and today we will be talking about how The Spider-Verse changed modern day animation.

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Question 1: What is “Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse?

Gabriel Sieling: For those who do not know, In December of 2018, Sony Pictures Animations released the first ever theatrically released Animated marvel film “Spider-Man into the Spider Verse.”

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Gabriel Sieling: Produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the film follows Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales,

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Gabriel Sieling: as he suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes that there are many others who share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle Wilson Fisk, AKA The Kingpin. A mad businessperson who has a device that can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into miles universe.

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Gabriel Sieling: This Film opened with incredible reviews, and even won the academy reward for best animated feature film.

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 Gabriel Sieling: And as you might of guess, the attention this animated film was getting made the other studios very aware.

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Question 2: how did Spider-Verse change the world of animation?

Gabriel Sieling: Spider-Verse had an Animation Style unlike any other animated film before, with the animation specifically made to look like a comic book come to life. The animators wanted to try something different from the common Pixar esk 3D animation, trying innovative ideas such as switching the frames per second on a specific character, and making every character have a unique style and tone to separate hem from the other. This is what caused “Into the Spider Verse” along with its sequel, “Across the Spider Verse” to start a trend in modern animation by invoking its hero’s comic-book origins with Ben-Day dots and wild, hallucinogenic sequences. This made it so that major studios have grown less fearful of animation and encourage them to diverge from the norm. The film proved that audiences would not reject projects that look drastically different from the house styles of Pixar and DreamWorks. Films like “Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles Mutant Mayhem,”

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 “The Mitchell’s VS The Machines,”

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 “Puss in Boots the Last Wish”

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And “Nimona”

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Gabriel Sieling: all have distinctive looks that are visually sensational without conforming to established playbooks. Like “TMNT Mutant Mayhems” approach to animation to make it look like it was drawn by a teenager, and “Puss in Boots the Last Wish’s” approach to make the animation look like each frame was pulled from a story book. If Spider Verse did not take the risk and tried to do something different with animation. Sure, not all new animated films take this approach such as animation studios like Pixar and Illumination. It does not affect the impact that these different animated films have on the audience.

Gabriel Sieling: If it were not for Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, Animation would have never changed. The Spider-Verse films are classified as cinematic masterpieces. And with these films’ combination of great storytelling, animation, special effects, and heart, I believe they deserve that title. This just goes to show that technology is always evolving. And it is our choice if we evolve with it and try new things, or just stay in the past while everyone else moves on.

Thanks For Watching this episode of the Cinema Chronicles!

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