The Morning Watch: How Comic Book Storytelling Is Changing Movies, 'Little Mermaid' Drawn In VR & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, a video essay dives into how the rise of comic book movies is changing how Hollywood is trying to tell stories. Plus, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences adds the iPhone used to shoot the 2015 indie Tangerine into their museum and legendary Disney animator Glen Keane used virtual reality to create a 3D drawing of Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

First up, a new video essay by Patrick (H) Willems looks at how the rise of comic book movies on the big screen (not just superhero-centric one either) is introducing fundamentally different storytelling structures and techniques into movies that have never been so prominent before. Watch the full video essay to get a better idea of what he's talking about.

Next up, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was given the iPhone used by director Sean Baker to shoot his 2015 feature Tangerine. The entire film, which made a splash at Sundance that year, was shot on this iPhone, and it was the first time such a prominent feature had been shot in this manner, making the item a worthy entry into the museum.

Finally, legendary Disney animator Glen Keane stopped by The Late Late Show with James orden to talk about a project called Dear Basketball with Kobe Bryant. But it's what he did after their segment that was particularly cool. Using the Tilt Brush VR app, Keane created a 3D drawing of Ariel from The Little Mermaid (all from memory). The result is an immersive drawing created in open VR space, and you really should watch the video to see how truly coo this is.