Developed in Melbourne Australia, it's one of the most fun-looking - and beautiful - storybooks I've seen (and it's a few years old now!). I had seen image shots but didn't realize the level interactivity till looking at it again recently.
I've included a video so you can see what I mean, but first, a description: Beauty and the Beast HD brings to life Walter Cranes sensational original illustrations, combining them with tilt and touch controlled physics elements, touch animations, drag-able character cutouts and a whole array of fantastic sound effects. A fairytale picture book that stays true to its gritty origin, complete with soothing music, antique visual style and beautiful art work presents a truly gorgeous addition to your digital book collection.
Lay back, relax and experience this fantastic, incredibly rare 138 year old version of Beauty and the Beast reimagined for the iPad. Beauty and the Beast HD brings to life Walter Cranes sensational original illustrations, combining them with tilt and touch controlled physics elements, touch animations, drag-able character cutouts and a whole array of fantastic sound effects. Inspired by a love of books, we have carefully retain the original and authentic published text. A fairytale picture book that stays true to its gritty origin, complete with antique visual style and the soothing music of Georg Philip Telemann, making this book app a truly gorgeous addition to your digital book library.
Features: ★ Beautifully rendered illustrations ★ Lute performed by Jon Sayles ★ Music performed by Roxana Pavel Goldstein & Elias Goldstein. ★ Fun and enchanting interactive compositions ★ Artwork reproduce from high-resolution archival scans
And here's the video (note - I'm fairly sure this music isn't the same that's included, but just for a fun preview):
Before you ask: NO - there is no official word that anything from Beauty and the Beast will be shown, released or teased BUT they will have to mention it so there's a strong possibility it will be one of those bonus surprise things (like a shot of an enchanted rose, if they follow the Cinderella trend!), on the day for attendees/Gold Members. (We shall see).
Here's the official press announcement:
Opening day of the D23 Expo will feature the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony as well as peeks at Disney and Pixar’s animation slate, including looks at “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory.” Disney’s live-action properties, such as its upcoming take on “The Jungle Book” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” will be previewed on Saturday.
See? Fairy tale adjacent only (but still interesting to us fairy tale folk).
The D23 Expo 2015 will be held during August 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center (Los Angeles). Tickets are available now.
By the way, I found this schedule online, which confirms Disney's animated Jack and the Beanstalk take, Giants, is still happening - and has a firm release date, albeit it very, very far away.
Also a little PSA: on April 30th, 2015 the Disney animated films The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and Cinderella went back in the vault for the next seven years (sorry folks!).
What's coming out this year to replace them? Well, we have to wait till Fall and then again till February 2016 for more, but for this year: Aladdin: October 6th, 2015 - first time on Blu-ray
Our beloved Heidi who is the mastermind, creator, curator and wrangler for the amazing SurLaLune fairy tales site, as well as the accompanying blog, is having a birthday today!
(See? You announce it on your blog and the information stays here forever... ;)
We cannot tell you how much we appreciate all you've done and all you continue to do. I'm sure many of us would not have been half so successful in pursuing our passions, research and writing with fairy tales if it hadn't been for your work!
So, on behalf of all the readers at Once Upon A Blog: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!
If you'd like to give Heidi an extra-specially great day, go buy one of her books HERE (or, if you have them all already, buy one for a friend!).
You have a great list to choose from (and she's still creating these awesome resources!):
Rapunzel and Other Maiden in the Tower Tales From Around the World: Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends and Other Tales About Maidens in Towers
Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World
Cinderella Tales From Around the World
Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World
The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World: Fairy Tales, Fables and Folklore about Frogs
Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World
Bluebeard Tales From Around the World
Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World
The Fairy Tale Fiction of Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie
Big news for Kirsty Mitchellfans: 1) she's having a 'selling exhibition' starting TODAY (May 7th) in London for 2(ish) weeks, featuring gorgeous 2 meter prints (6 foot prints for the non-metric folks), that show all the teensy details in each amazing shot 2) she also aims to have a book available of her Wonderland work by the end of THIS YEAR! (ie hopefully ready for Christmas!)
By the end of 2015, she hopes to realize a 'Wonderland' book in collaboration with esteemed British book designer Stuart Smith through the launch of a campaign on Kickstarter backed by the photography platform LensCulture.
(I can hear you cheering from here!)
But back to the exhibition. Here are the details from the press release. I'm including the biography and summary notes about Ms. Mitchell and how this series came to be, for those who don't know much about her work:
Kirsty Mitchell ‘WONDERLAND’
7th – 23rd May 2015
Mead Carney Fine Art, 45 Dover Street, W1S 4FF
The show is kindly sponsored by Nikon UK.
Mead Carney is pleased to present 'Wonderland', a new selling exhibition by award winning fine art photographer Kirsty Mitchell.
'Wonderland' is a project created over the course of five years as an homage to the artist's mother who tragically passed away in 2008.
Having worked in fashion for a number of years, Kirsty understood the constructed and filmic nature of the photographic image. Building on this, she incorporated childlike whim through the creation of her favorite fairytales that her mother read to her as a child. With minimal support and finances, she built what can be likened to a film set in order to stage each frame. The tailor-made dresses and make-up add an element of high fashion into the work. However, props such as ships, headdresses and books transform the image further; each item carefully built and placed so as to convey a personal sense of imagination.
Kirsty's oeuvre is whimsical and dream-like. It consists of over 70 photographs that intertwine fantasy, literature and personal mediations. The selection presented shows the breadth and complexity of the highly constructed artworks. The highly saturated colours give a vivid, fairytale quality to each image. Intense contrasts intensify the surreal quality of each work; reality is undermined by the lack of gravity and soft lighting.
Upon completion in November 2014, 'Wonderland' immediately won 2 international awards, with over 280,000 followers on its social media. It has been extensively featured throughout the world achieving a viral status online, and has been published by prestigious names such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue Italia, The Guardian, BBC news, Germany's Spiegel Online and Stern magazine to name but a few. The images warranted coverage from BBC News, Italian Vogue, and Polish Harper's Bazaar, to name a few. She won a number of awards including the grand prize for visual storytelling by Lensculture in 2014 and a place as the Nikon Ambassador of Fine Art Photography.
I had to include one of her wonderful behind-the-scenes videos, which I highly recommend for fans, photographers and storytellers alike:
I'm also linking you to her video behind-the-scenes of prepping the ENORMOUS prints for this exhibit. Just amazing stuff. You can watch it HERE, along with finding out extra details about the gallery, the Wonderland show (what will and what will not be shown - only some is shown in the panorama shots below) and her note to fans about the upcoming book.
For those of us who can't see the exhibition, you can see the series at Mitchell's website HERE. And while you're there, I recommend checking out her other galleries too. Some of her personal portraits are truly stunning. (I've also collected a variety on a Pinterest board HERE, along with costume shots and behind the scenes pics, since these photos wouldn't be what they are with all Mitchell's artistry in design, costume and prop making - that's right - she designs and makes them all herself!)
And we'll be keeping our eye on Kickstarter for the rest of the year and cheer this book on to get published. I'd love to see more about the stories behind the photos - not just how the photos were made but which stories told her by her mother inspired which pieces. Clearly there is a fairy tale sensibility here as well as a 'modern-Victorian' faery atmosphere as well, which I would love to hear more about.
And then there's the future. If this is where she journeyed to creatively over five years, we have to wonder: just what amazing things will she do next?!
Note: Today's special Beauty & the Beast post is for a lovely girl who adores this fairy tale above all others.
Happy Birthday dear friend!
This library has to be seen to be believed. It really is like stepping into the Beast's library...
And who'd bother going to the ballroom when there's all this space and beautifully Baroque surroundings (not to mention the smell of books)?
In late December of 2014, a creative team, led by the innovative Von Wong, were given a few precious evening hours to shoot some photographs (and a little video) in this amazing place, which houses the largest monastery library hall in the world. Admont Abbey itself dates back to the 1st century (and is still functioning as a working monastery) but the library dates back to the same time period as the first version of Beauty and the Beast, so it's more than appropriate they were paying homage to the fairy tale there.
What's even cooler? This was the first creative photo shoot ever made there. Take a look at some of the gorgeous results!
About this project Von Wong said:
I have always loved photography for the adventures and opportunities that it brings, not the hours I would spend retouching in front of a computer. As a result the desire to search and explore the most exotic locations and make a shoot out of it, has always been a particular passion of mine.
Projects like these are particularly magical because of how they bring people together. From fans (now turned friends) Eva Creel and Nicolas Cormier, American expats and photographers living in Germany willing to embark on a spontaneous roadtrip to drive me across Germany so that I can indulge in my creative shenanigans, to friends of friends like Oliver Schlichtherle, who drove all the way from Switzerland through Austria just to assist in whatever capacity possible… People from all walks of life somehow end up gravitating towards these amazing projects.
And at the end, we not only have fantastic imagery to share with the world… but a story to laugh and remember for the rest out our lives. Dream big, anything is possible.
You can learn more about the process, the lighting challenges (can you believe it was night tine when they shot everything?) and see a few more behind-the-scenes images on Von Wong's blog HERE.
There's also a great behind-the-scenes video detailing two projects, one in a cave system and this as the other. I've embedded it below for your enjoyment (the cave one - also lovely - is first):
If you haven't yet heard of the film, Gibran's "The Prophet" you really need to check it out. It's the passion project of Salma Hayek, who wanted to make a beautiful, poetic and family-accessible film, based on one of the most popular books of poetry around the world, ever published. Contrary to popular thought I grew up with, it's not a religious work at all, but a philosophical and poetic one.
Roger Allers, director of The Lion King is the (lead) director for the project but Hayek (who voices one of the characters as well) also brought together a number of award winning animators and directors from around the world to create special "chapters" or "mythic sequences" using different styles of art and animation, throughout the movie. On every level, this project has masters involved.
It's in the official selection for Cannes and is highly anticipated all round. It's more than a little unusual in that it doesn't fit neatly into a genre and although it's incredibly artistic, it's not an 'Arthouse' film, and though it has popular and mainstream filmmakers and talent involved, it's not mainstream either. Like poetry, it's been designed to speak differently to different people, to allow the audience to take away whatever they see in the film that resonates with them.
Here's a little more information:
(Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is) the animated adaptation of the world-renowned volume of poetry, produced by Salma Hayek and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), with animated sequences by a panoply of animation luminaries including Tomm Moore (Song of the Sea), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), and Bill Plympton (Cheatin’). The movie will be released in theaters on August 7, 2015.
SYNOPSIS
The Prophet, by celebrated Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran, is among the most popular volumes of poetry ever written, selling over 100 million copies in forty languages since its publication in 1923. Gibran’s timeless verses have been given enchanting new form in this painterly cinematic adventure about freedom and the power of human expression.
This breathtaking animated feature, produced and spearheaded by Salma Hayek, was an official selection at Cannes and made its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. Written and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), the film intersperses Gibran’s elegant poetry within stunning animated sequences by filmmakers Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), Bill Plympton (Guide Dog), and a host of award-winning animators from around the world.
Set in a Mediterranean sea-side village, Kamila (Salma Hayek) cleans house for exiled artist and poet Mustafa (Liam Neeson), but the more difficult job is keeping her free-spirited young daughter, Almitra, (Quvenzhané Wallis) out of trouble. The three embark on a journey meant to end with Mustafa’s return home – but first they must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in his words will incite rebellion. Featuring music from Damien Rice, Glen Hansard and Yo-Yo Ma.
And here is the beautiful trailer:
You may be wondering why this I'm highlighting it on a fairy tale blog. Well, firstly, it's mythic and anything considered mythic across various nations should be in the 'general knowledge backpack' of fairy tale folk. Being poetry, wisdom and philosophy as well as using mythic imagery, you'll find it overlaps a lot with the issues and themes you find in fairy tales and how people view and interpret tales in pop culture.
There's a fascinating interview with Salma Hayek and why she chose this project and her approach to storytelling and film HERE(the first 15 minutes are the most relevant to the project, though she does get into production details around the 20 minute mark again - fascinating for all filmmakers and animation fans out there).
Beauty and the Beast HD brings to life Walter Cranes sensational original illustrations, combining them with tilt and touch controlled physics elements, touch animations, drag-able character cutouts and a whole array of fantastic sound effects. A fairytale picture book that stays true to its gritty origin, complete with soothing music, antique visual style and beautiful art work presents a truly gorgeous addition to your digital book collection. 
