ASIFA-Hollywood: The International Animated Film Society
Monday, November 29, 2004
Comic Con Already?
It is hard to believe that it is that time of year already. Time to start planning ASIFA-Hollywood`s presentations at San Diego Comic Con International.
We have a lot of old favorites returning this year.
Current Line Up For Comic Con:
Fred Patten did a great panel on the early days of anime and manga in this country at last year`s con. He will be returning with a new Anime history panel. Plus this year he has agreed to talk about his great new book, Reading Manga Watching Anime.
Jerry Beck will return with his ever popular Worst Animation Ever screening. It is hard to believe that that many people really know the words to Might Mr. Titian unless you hear it for yourself.
I will be back with my silent animation screening, golden years screening, and how to build a cheap animation studio presentation.
Bob Miller and I will be putting on the State of the Animation Industry panel. This year we are thinking of splitting it into areas so that we can get more of the subject covered
Tinker Bell, Margaret Kerry-Willcox, will return with her Voice Actors Try-Out. Always a big draw with lots of good input for the person trying to break in to the voice acting business.
The question of the hour is, do you our readers have an idea for a presentation on animation? Or would you like to take part in some of our scheduled programs?
If so e-mail larry@agni-animation.com
We have a lot of old favorites returning this year.
Current Line Up For Comic Con:
Fred Patten did a great panel on the early days of anime and manga in this country at last year`s con. He will be returning with a new Anime history panel. Plus this year he has agreed to talk about his great new book, Reading Manga Watching Anime.
Jerry Beck will return with his ever popular Worst Animation Ever screening. It is hard to believe that that many people really know the words to Might Mr. Titian unless you hear it for yourself.
I will be back with my silent animation screening, golden years screening, and how to build a cheap animation studio presentation.
Bob Miller and I will be putting on the State of the Animation Industry panel. This year we are thinking of splitting it into areas so that we can get more of the subject covered
Tinker Bell, Margaret Kerry-Willcox, will return with her Voice Actors Try-Out. Always a big draw with lots of good input for the person trying to break in to the voice acting business.
The question of the hour is, do you our readers have an idea for a presentation on animation? Or would you like to take part in some of our scheduled programs?
If so e-mail larry@agni-animation.com
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Chuck Jones Extremes and Inbetweens a Life in Animaiton
Here is a DVD that came out a few years ago but I think is well worth talking about again. Lots of cool people talking about Chuck and his work. Lots of early and rare Chuck Jones clips.
I really love the Dover Boys smear animation slow down. Nothing shows the technique better or quicker. I use it in class when we get to limited animation.
The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, http://www.chuckjonescenter.org still has them for sale. If you are a Chuck Jones geek, like I am, and you don`t have this then you need it.
Appearances by:Good Stuff
Eric Goldberg
John Lasseter
Matt Groening
Martha Sigall
Leonard Maltin
Steven Spielberg
Ron Howard
Robin Williams
Whoopi Goldberg
Thursday, November 25, 2004
I love this time of year. The screenings and the screeners. One of the little perks of being a member of ASIFA-Hollywood. The first screener of the award season arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Just in time for Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
ASIFA Christmas Party
The ASIFA-Hollywood Act of Membership meeting is the heart of all that ASIFA does in and for the animation community. Normally these meetings take place the last Wednesday of each month.
But before you jump in your car and drive to Burbank, let me tell you that this month`s meeting has been called because of the holiday. The same thing is going to happen in December because of Christmas.
To counter act the possibilities of ASIFA withdrawal during the harsh winter months we are going to hold a Christmas Party.
there will be food, drink and live music
(by Michael Sullivan www.mikesullivanband.com )
Everyone is welcome whether you are an ASIFA member or not
But before you jump in your car and drive to Burbank, let me tell you that this month`s meeting has been called because of the holiday. The same thing is going to happen in December because of Christmas.
To counter act the possibilities of ASIFA withdrawal during the harsh winter months we are going to hold a Christmas Party.
Friday December 17th starting at 7:30pm
THE NEW ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD HEADQUARTERS!
2114 Burbank Blvd. (Four blocks East of Buena Vista)
Burbank, CA
there will be food, drink and live music
(by Michael Sullivan www.mikesullivanband.com )
Everyone is welcome whether you are an ASIFA member or not
New Home for ASIFA-Hollywood
It gives me great pleasure to announce that ASIFA-Hollywood is moving into the next phase of our Archive Project. To make room for all that needs to change to accommodate the archive it is necessary to change headquarters. In short, to move from 721 South Victory Blvd. our long time home.
In December ASIFA-Hollywood will be moving to:
This new facility will give us all the room to properly store the archive materials in a safe and proper environment. It will also give up the room we need to create the second phase library/archive facility and the scanning and vertical archive computer network and workstations.
Below are some photos for the new ASIFA Animation Center:
The cool thing is, as you can see in the photos, the new place comes with a Steve Worth cut out, what could be better that that?
In December ASIFA-Hollywood will be moving to:
2114 Burbank Blvd. (Four blocks East of Buena Vista)
This new facility will give us all the room to properly store the archive materials in a safe and proper environment. It will also give up the room we need to create the second phase library/archive facility and the scanning and vertical archive computer network and workstations.
Below are some photos for the new ASIFA Animation Center:
The cool thing is, as you can see in the photos, the new place comes with a Steve Worth cut out, what could be better that that?
Monday, November 22, 2004
Heroes
Hi Larry,
As a matter of fact I have a list of names of most of
the people [who] volunteered (I asked everyone for their
name and address, so that I could send them a thank
you letter).
The following are the people who provided me with
their contact information:
Sivert Glarum
Ethan Reiff
Angelo di Nallo
Jon Reeves
Bill Caterbury
Mike Hudson
Becky Hudson
Garland Fybel
Dan Fybel
Tony Gama-Lobo
Rebecca May
David Jackson
Scott Nimerfro
I believe there were another couple of volunteers from
ASIFA-Hollywood, who didn't sign the sheet that was
passed around.
Hopefully you may recognize them in the attached
photograph.
Antran
I want to add my thanks to these heroes of Animation History who came out at the last minute on a Sunday morning and helped save the Dick Huemer murals. My hat is off to you. Thank you so much.
Hi Larry,
As a matter of fact I have a list of names of most of
the people [who] volunteered (I asked everyone for their
name and address, so that I could send them a thank
you letter).
The following are the people who provided me with
their contact information:
Sivert Glarum
Ethan Reiff
Angelo di Nallo
Jon Reeves
Bill Caterbury
Mike Hudson
Becky Hudson
Garland Fybel
Dan Fybel
Tony Gama-Lobo
Rebecca May
David Jackson
Scott Nimerfro
I believe there were another couple of volunteers from
ASIFA-Hollywood, who didn't sign the sheet that was
passed around.
Hopefully you may recognize them in the attached
photograph.
Antran
I want to add my thanks to these heroes of Animation History who came out at the last minute on a Sunday morning and helped save the Dick Huemer murals. My hat is off to you. Thank you so much.
Yes Virginia, There is a Disney
Today on Cartoon Brew http://www.cartoonbrew.com Amid Amidi questioned the awarding of the Winsor McCay award to Virginia Davis. It is his right. I`m not going to start a blog war. But I will defend the decision that I helped make to give this award to this person.
Amid says that she was just in the right place at the right time. That is not true. She was in Kansas City. Walt had to get her parents to move to Hollywood. Margaret Winkler insisted that Walt get the same little girl that she had seen in the reels that Walt showed.
No Virginia, no distribution deal. So is she important? She is the little girl that launched Disney Brothers Studio. I find that very important. She is the last living link to the very beginnings of the Disney legacy. Everybody else is gone. Just how important is Disney to the early days of animation?
Yes, other little girls played Alice later. So what? They couldn`t hold a candle to her. She was in Cartoon Land, she grabbed the bull by the tail, she rode on the back of the elephant, she had real talent, she saw it in her head and made it real for the audience. Margie Gay, please, by that time Julius the Cat was the star and the little girl played second fiddle to a Felix rip off.
I agree that Art Stevens should be on the list. He is on the list. So are a lot of others. This is how it works. We have a giant list with lots of people. All of them are worthy of the award. We try to get to the people on the list. We fight for the people we believe in.
And we are working against the clock. Time definitely plays a part in the decision. Last year we were, sadly, too late with John Hench. There are not very many of the first generation of animation left.
I voted for Virginia Davis because she did make a lasting contributions to animation, a studio named Disney. I don`t think that you could find anybody that knows anything about Walt Disney who would say that Walt would not have made a success, but a success in what field? Walt came out to Hollywood not to make cartoons but to be an actor.
Virginia Davis got him his first break. She got his foot in the door. And that break was in the field of animation, thank God! She set his feet on that path. I think that is important. Did she knowingly do this? No. You can argue that another person could have done the same thing. But they didn`t. Virginia Davis was the easy decision. Some of the others were harder to decide. -- Larry Loc
One quick note from me, if I can stick my head in here for a minute... The Winsor McCay Award is no longer exclusively a "Lifetime Achievement" award. Several years ago, the definition of the award was expanded to also include "Significant Contributions to the Art of Animation" and "Career Achievement". -- Stephen Worth
Amid says that she was just in the right place at the right time. That is not true. She was in Kansas City. Walt had to get her parents to move to Hollywood. Margaret Winkler insisted that Walt get the same little girl that she had seen in the reels that Walt showed.
No Virginia, no distribution deal. So is she important? She is the little girl that launched Disney Brothers Studio. I find that very important. She is the last living link to the very beginnings of the Disney legacy. Everybody else is gone. Just how important is Disney to the early days of animation?
Yes, other little girls played Alice later. So what? They couldn`t hold a candle to her. She was in Cartoon Land, she grabbed the bull by the tail, she rode on the back of the elephant, she had real talent, she saw it in her head and made it real for the audience. Margie Gay, please, by that time Julius the Cat was the star and the little girl played second fiddle to a Felix rip off.
I agree that Art Stevens should be on the list. He is on the list. So are a lot of others. This is how it works. We have a giant list with lots of people. All of them are worthy of the award. We try to get to the people on the list. We fight for the people we believe in.
And we are working against the clock. Time definitely plays a part in the decision. Last year we were, sadly, too late with John Hench. There are not very many of the first generation of animation left.
I voted for Virginia Davis because she did make a lasting contributions to animation, a studio named Disney. I don`t think that you could find anybody that knows anything about Walt Disney who would say that Walt would not have made a success, but a success in what field? Walt came out to Hollywood not to make cartoons but to be an actor.
Virginia Davis got him his first break. She got his foot in the door. And that break was in the field of animation, thank God! She set his feet on that path. I think that is important. Did she knowingly do this? No. You can argue that another person could have done the same thing. But they didn`t. Virginia Davis was the easy decision. Some of the others were harder to decide. -- Larry Loc
One quick note from me, if I can stick my head in here for a minute... The Winsor McCay Award is no longer exclusively a "Lifetime Achievement" award. Several years ago, the definition of the award was expanded to also include "Significant Contributions to the Art of Animation" and "Career Achievement". -- Stephen Worth
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Dick Huemer Murals Saved
Hi Everybody,
I am pleased to inform you that we were successful in removing the murals from the demolition site.
The artwork is now being kept at a temporary storage location.
My thanks to everyone who was involved in saving these unique pieces of animation history.
Antranig manoogian
I am pleased to inform you that we were successful in removing the murals from the demolition site.
The artwork is now being kept at a temporary storage location.
My thanks to everyone who was involved in saving these unique pieces of animation history.
Antranig manoogian
Critiques come in all types and forms. Sometimes they are devastating, some times enlightening, sometimes they are both, but one thing they always are is stressful.
Interior - Laguna College of Art and Design - Day
Wide establishing shot: A cold wind is howling outside the doors at each end of the long rectangular room. There is a cluster of tables gathered at the center of the room to form a U shaped conference room table.
Two other tables filled with breakfast pastries, coffee, and orange juice are set against the right hand wall. The nearest of these tables partially blocks a large screen video/DVD unit that one of the students is trying to set up. She moves nerously around the room, clicking three different remote control units. She leaves the room and returns with a VHS tape and a computer connector cable.
Twelve students in their last year of the four-year animation program are gathered in room 12. The set up their stuff at the center tables. There are chairs set up along the wall with the doors and along the wall opposite it.
About 30 or 40 students and guests fill these seats. I am in that group at the invatation of Aubry Mintz, the chair of the Laguna animation department.
Sunday morning, I watch the drama unfold. I see their sweaty palms and signs of nerves. Their work hangs on the wall. It is just about show time.
Don, the student setting next to me, draws caricatures of the different people in the room.
Enter Eric Goldberg and Bert Klien. They set down in the far side of the U shaped group of tables. I help Eric fix his glasses. The right lens has fallen out. The girl that has been trying to get the flat screen unit set up is the first up to present. A hush falls over the room.
There follows 4 hours of in depth critique and training. Eric goes into the dangers of thinking on 2`s. He draws charts on the board. Both Eric and Bert talk about the techniques of animation. They discuss character design. They deal with the student`s stories and how to make them better.
It was a fun thing to watch. The students got a lot of valuable input. They all made a good showing. I was impressed with the Leguna animation program. Eric and Bert were great. They took the extra time to give the students a good honest critique with lots of helpful input. I enjoyed watching the whole process.
Charting out inbetweens and then showing how the inbetweening would be done from the chart
Chuck Jones Center
Last night when I came home from the Chuck Jones Center / Laguna College of Art and Design gallery opening I fully intended to write up the show. I promised Craig Kausen that I would talk up his Grandfather`s center for creativity.
So why am I late on my promises to keep? When I got home at 9:30 there was an urgent call from Antran Manoogian, President of ASIFA-Hollywood. I got sucked into the rescue of the Dick Huemer Murals. Making phone calls to former students to get them together to help move the sections of the walls that have been cut away from the demolition site. It looks like we are going to be able to save them.
Back to the promises to keep. We are 2/3`s of the way through a Chuck Jones Center co-sponsored event. It started with the screening yesterday of rare Chuck Jones animations. Lovingly picked for us by Eric Goldberg. I loved his choices. He did a frame by frame of the smear cells in the Dan Backside bar scene from the Dover Boys. It was great!
The Chuck Jones Center is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 origination, just like ASIFA-Hollywood. Their stated goals are:
That is the event still to go in this weekend. Eric Goldberg and Bert Klein (Boys Night Out) will be meeting with students at 11:00 AM for portfolio review and one on one training sessions. How cool is that?
- Archival preservation of Chuck`s art
- Imagination Centers at children`s hospitals (the first one is at Children`s Hospital of Orange County)
- Scholarship awards for character animation students
- Museum exhibits both local and traveling (this show is mounted at Laguna College through January 18th and then will travel to museums throughout the country)
- Weekend workshops with guest directors and art teachers.
I was at Chuck`s last public appearance, also at the Laguna College of Art and Design. There was a showing of Chuck`s art. Johan Klingler was head of the animation department at that time. He had been one of Chuck`s students at Cal Art. They were very close. Johan later told me that Chuck knew that he was not long for this world.
What impressed me the most about that show was 2 life drawings from the 1955 Don Graham masters class. Chuck hung that show. He picked the artwork. He picked those drawings. One of them worked and was a fine Chuck Jones drawing. The other one was a failure, didn`t work, didn`t gel.
Chuck did that. He hung a failed drawing in his last ever show on earth. He knew it, he had to know. What an amazing gift for those of us that had the eyes to see it. As artists we all have failed drawings that we hide from the world. Being professional is, partly, knowing which drawings to hide. To hang one of your failed drawings out there as a lesson for the world to see, that`s gutsy. That is why I love Chuck Jones the person, not just Chuck Jones the amazing animation director.
The Chuck Jones Center, http://www.chuckjonescenter.org/, is working not just to preserve the legacy of Chuck Jones, but to pass in on to others through education, a very worthy cause!
I will be filing another report on this event later tonight, thanks to the kindness of Aubry Mintz, the animation chair at Laguna College of Art and Design, http://www.lagunacollege.edu/, Aubry has kindly invited me to stop in and observe this morning`s session.
If there is anyway you can get to the gallery show while it is still at the Laguna College of Art and Design please do yourself a favor and come on down to 2222 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Urgent Call / Help Save Animation History
DICK HUEMER MURAL
Hi Everybody,
For those of you who may not be aware, I have been
working for the last couple of days to save these
murals, so that ASIFA-Hollywood may take possession of
them.
On Friday, it was determined that it would not be
possible to remove the artwork from the walls, as it
was hoped.
Therefore, I made arrangements with the demolition
contractor to have the both walls, with the murals
intact, detached from the structure. This work took
place today.
Since the contractor had estimated that the work could
be completed in a fairly short period of time, plans
had been made to move the walls into a storage space
today, as well.
Unfortunately, the demolition practically took the
entire day to complete. Therefore, it was not possible
to remove the walls off the property today, as
originally planned.
As a result of this unforeseen situation, we need to
secure the services of 4-6 volunteer, who would be
willing to show up at tomorrow morning, at 9am, to
help load these walls onto a truck, then unload them
into into a neighbors garage for temporary storage.
The job shouldn't take more than an hour.
If you know of anyone who might be willing to be of
assistance, please have them email Sivert Glarum, to
let him know that he/she will be coming to help.
Sivert's email is seivert@sbcglobal.net.
My apologies for the short notice about this. Thank
you in advance for your assistance.
Antran
Hi Everybody,
For those of you who may not be aware, I have been
working for the last couple of days to save these
murals, so that ASIFA-Hollywood may take possession of
them.
On Friday, it was determined that it would not be
possible to remove the artwork from the walls, as it
was hoped.
Therefore, I made arrangements with the demolition
contractor to have the both walls, with the murals
intact, detached from the structure. This work took
place today.
Since the contractor had estimated that the work could
be completed in a fairly short period of time, plans
had been made to move the walls into a storage space
today, as well.
Unfortunately, the demolition practically took the
entire day to complete. Therefore, it was not possible
to remove the walls off the property today, as
originally planned.
As a result of this unforeseen situation, we need to
secure the services of 4-6 volunteer, who would be
willing to show up at tomorrow morning, at 9am, to
help load these walls onto a truck, then unload them
into into a neighbors garage for temporary storage.
The job shouldn't take more than an hour.
If you know of anyone who might be willing to be of
assistance, please have them email Sivert Glarum, to
let him know that he/she will be coming to help.
Sivert's email is seivert@sbcglobal.net.
My apologies for the short notice about this. Thank
you in advance for your assistance.
Antran
So I tell Chuck's Grandson Craig that I think that this is my favorite drawing in the whole show (which it is) the angles, the shapes, the face coming out of the raw forms. So he tells me `thank you, that was me as a child`. Now if I was trying to kiss up I couldn't have thought of a better way.
Just back from the Laguna Beach Chuck Jones screening with Eric Goldberg run by Laguna College of Art and Design. Aubry Mintz, the animation chair at the Laguna College of Art introduced Chuck`s grandson who introed Eric. Eric got busy playing rare animations. A fun time, a flipbook and a Chuck Jones Center license plate holder where had by all.
I'm going to make a pizza, charge the battery on my digital camera, and get ready to go back for the 7:00 PM reception.
I'm going to make a pizza, charge the battery on my digital camera, and get ready to go back for the 7:00 PM reception.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Christmas cards for/from animators. Here is an idea. How about using Masters of Animation postcards for Christmas cards. Send your friends Ub Iwerks or Grim Natwick caricatures. Help support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project. For more info: http://www.animationarchive.org/
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Several years back, when I was still running the Orange ROP Animation Program, Armando Camacho contacted me out of the blue. He lives in Mexicali, Mexico, a city that has no animation education. He found my program`s website and he asked me to help him.
Armando was hungry to learn animation and he asked me how he could go about it on his own without a school or teachers. I gave him what little help I could. Told him which books to buy. Told him what I could about software. I looked at his work and critiqued it. Nothing major, just passed e-mails now and then. Told him to keep working. If I told him anything of any use it might have been that the best way to learn to animate, is to animate.
He e-mailed me the other day just when I needed it, (mid-term wimp outs and whining) to tell me that he has just won the Premio Pantalla de Cristal (Cristal Screen Award) in the category of animation in a videoclip for his solo work in the videoclip Tuve Angeles.
Sometimes I get frustrated with some of the students that I get paid to teach.
I didn`t bring anything to work on to class today so can I go home early?I was just wonder what the heck am I doing it for. I should be working on my own projects instead of wiping the noses of kids with more money then drive. Then I get this e-mail and I know what it is all about.
Anyway, here is Armando`s flash animation. There doesn`t seem to be any sound attached to the file but then maybe I just can`t figure out the Spanish on the website well enough to work the controls.
It makes me proud to know someone like Armando is out there making it happen against the odds: http://www.esmas.com/correcaballocorre/pages/5.html
I saw a big chunk on the SpongeBob Squarepants movie last night and it was good. It surprised me just how good it was. The humor was hot, the delivery was timed well, the animation and the design worked.
If you are a member of ASIFA-Hollywood you can see this movie for yourself on:
Wednesday, November 24
6:00 PM
Writers Guikd of America Theatre
135 S. Doheny Dr.
Beverly HillsRSVP 323-956-1116
Monday, November 15, 2004
I never really played the Dragon`s Lair Laser Disk game that much. It was 50 cent a play. Double the price of the other games and I got creamed the first couple times I tried it. I have always been financially conservative/cheap. But I watched it a lot on other player`s 5 dimes. It was the only game in the arcade that drew a crowd of spectators. We were waiting for these outrageous animated cut screens.
Don Bluth is not an easy person to put in a pigeonhole. He is not an easy person to write about. He is controversial. He has always been a lightening rod. Bring up his name in a group of animators and you never know how they will react.
Maybe that is why he is so important? From his first days at Disney, to his infamous Bluth lead Disney revolt and walkout, to his pioneering video game work, Don has always been noticeable, out spoken, visible above the crowd. People love him, people hate him, some people have even brought out picket signs.
Sometimes his projects worked, like his glorious Secret of NIMH and his earth shaking Dragon's Lair, and sometime they didn't. That happens with every filmmaker. But it seemed to mean more with Don Bluth`s name attached. He has made waves, he has acted on his beliefs, he has fought the odds and made movies.
Some people in the animation community rejoiced in his triumphs and some rejoiced in his failures but nobody, nobody, ignores the work of Don Bluth. He has made an impact on the world of animation and for that ASIFA-Hollywood is honoring him on January 30th with the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement.
Some will rejoice, some may not, some may even purposely schedule a premiere to compete with his award, but Don Bluth will not go unnoticed. Congratulation Don, long may you rock the boat, long may you make waves. And I for one would like to see another feature sometime soon.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Voice actors play a very big part in the animation world, as we on the board are so often reminded by Margaret Kerry-Willcox (Tinker Bell model, voice actor and Clutch Cargo Lips supreme). Since 1928, when Steamboat Willie changed the way we experience cartoons, voice and the people that create it have had a whole lot to do with toon culture.
It is fitting that ASIFA-Hollywood`s top award goes to one of the great voice actors. Arnold Stang is one of the greatest of those people that voice our cartoons and dreams.
Starting in the 40`s he has played them all; Top Cat in Top Cat, Cherchy LaFemme in I Go Pogo (great stuff), the bird in Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Nurtle the Turtle in Fred Ladd`s wonderful Pinocchio in Outer Space, Herman in all the Herman and Catnip cartoons, and the Henpecked Rooster (one of my favorites) in The Henpecked Rooster, Arnold Stang has a wonderful and very impressive list of voice acting credits.
But Arnold Stang is not just another pretty voice, he is also a face actor. In It`s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Arnold plays Ray, one of two garage mechanics who have to fight Jonathan Winters.
Arnold Stang (Center), shown here with the live action alter ego of his Top Cat
second in command (Marvin Kaplan - Choo Choo), fights a maddened
Jonathan Winters. We`re going ta have ta kill him!
Everyone knows his characters, his voice, and his face but few out there in the general public know his name. He is a character actor, character actors don`t get no respect but they do get to work a lot. In 1970, Arnold Stang teamed up with some other guy named Arnold as one of the only good parts of the low budget bomb, Hercules in New York.
Arnold Stang is a show business animal. In fact he is a whole zoo of animals, a cat, a mouse, a turtle or two, birds, fish. His Internet Movie Data Base entry goes on for pages. He is a character actor with a lot of characters and a lot of character.
Arnold Stang is one of this year`s Winsor McCay award winners. Congratulations Arnold, I`m looking forward to seeing you January 30th at the Alex Theater.
Next time, I will be looking at the third of this year`s ASIFA-Hollywood Winsor McCay winners, animator and director Don Bluth. Until then, keep animated.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Winsor McCay Award Recipients
When young Water Disney, bankrupt and down to his last $50, climbed onto that first class train from Kansas City to Hollywood, he took a roll of film with him.
I don`t think that there is anyone who has looked, even casually, at the life of Walt Disney that could doubt that Walt was going to succeed, no matter what. When times were worst he was at his best.
But it didn`t start with a mouse, damn it, it started with a little curly headed girl named Virginia Davis.
When Margaret Winkler agreed to distribute the Walt Disney Alice in Cartoonland Comedies, she insisted on the same quality and the same actress. The quality meant talking Ub Iwerks into moving to Hollywood, the same actress meant talking the parents of the young star into relocating to tinsel town.
The Disney studio may have hired other little girls to play the part of Alice in later years but there is only one true Alice from Cartoonland. She is still with us, thank god, a bridge back to the very first days of the Disney Brothers Studio.
She is one of this year`s Winsor McCay Award recipients. I am deeply proud to have been on the committee that chose to bestow this richly disserved award on the lady who launched a 1,000 toons.
The other McCay recipients are famed actor and cartoon voice Arnold Stang and animator Don Bluth. I will be talking about these two worthy Award Winners in a later blog after I re-watch Hercules in New York and the Secret of NIMH and play a few rounds of Dragon`s Lair.
For now, here is a link to a short clip of Virgina Davis as Alice:
GO ASK ALICE
When young Water Disney, bankrupt and down to his last $50, climbed onto that first class train from Kansas City to Hollywood, he took a roll of film with him.
I don`t think that there is anyone who has looked, even casually, at the life of Walt Disney that could doubt that Walt was going to succeed, no matter what. When times were worst he was at his best.
But it didn`t start with a mouse, damn it, it started with a little curly headed girl named Virginia Davis.
When Margaret Winkler agreed to distribute the Walt Disney Alice in Cartoonland Comedies, she insisted on the same quality and the same actress. The quality meant talking Ub Iwerks into moving to Hollywood, the same actress meant talking the parents of the young star into relocating to tinsel town.
The Disney studio may have hired other little girls to play the part of Alice in later years but there is only one true Alice from Cartoonland. She is still with us, thank god, a bridge back to the very first days of the Disney Brothers Studio.
She is one of this year`s Winsor McCay Award recipients. I am deeply proud to have been on the committee that chose to bestow this richly disserved award on the lady who launched a 1,000 toons.
The other McCay recipients are famed actor and cartoon voice Arnold Stang and animator Don Bluth. I will be talking about these two worthy Award Winners in a later blog after I re-watch Hercules in New York and the Secret of NIMH and play a few rounds of Dragon`s Lair.
For now, here is a link to a short clip of Virgina Davis as Alice:
GO ASK ALICE
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Tom Answers Questions After Class
Tom Sito is this really cool guy. He`s beautiful and I love him! He has been everywhere in the animation world and worked on everything and knows everyone. When we get together we talk about things that happened before either of us were born. Or at lest before I was old enough to remember.
There is real historical fact and then there is history book fact. We like to talk about things that never made it into the history books. Last Monday night Tom talked to my Cal State Fullerton history of animation class about the things that never make it into books but happened none the less and formed the animation world as we know it.
Pat Sito (also very much in the animation business) looks on as Tom Talks
Tom and his wife pat came the the long drive in to Fullerton from the real animation world to the south land of OC and talked the night away.
The stories flowed and the student's jaws dropped. I took notes. A good time was had by all.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Tom Sito talks to my students after class
Last night Tom Sito Addressed my Cal State Fullerton History of Animaiton Class on the business of animation and the animation strikes. Thanks Tom. The students and I learned a lot of details and facts about a subject never really looked at in the history books.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Real Bodies, Real People, Real Heroes,
Pixar Character Design Strikes a Cord
I have talked about the joys of being the chair of the short animation Annie category. Let us now look at the pains. As the chair I have to keep my opinions on short animation to myself until after the judges meet. Even after that it would not be proper for me to say publicly that I like this one or do not like that one.
That hurts because I have looked at them all and have very strong feeling on the subject, which I must keep to myself. To have such a fine soapbox and not get to use it.
That brings me to my subject for tonight, character design. I have nothing to do with the judging of this category. I therefore feel free to shoot off my big mouth. Brad Bird and the people at Pixar have given us real middle age people with real bodies. Bless you. I am tired of looking at starving children in Star Watch.
Elastic Girl has a housewife butt and Mr. Incredible has a gut. Not since My Big Fat Greek Wedding has Hollywood given us such realism. After seeing the movie my 14 year old daughter asked me:
If she is Elastic Girl why can`t she just pull it all in?
Good question, my only answer is that then she would be plastic, just like most of the other actresses in Tinsel Town.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
INCREDIBLES animators, Dave DeVan and Mike Venturini with Monsters Inc.
director Pete Docter - Photo Jerry Beck
One of the many benefits of membership in ASIFA-Hollywood is the screenings. And we are right in the beginning of the award session and that means screenings and more screenings.
November 5th, opening day, was the ASIFA screening of the Incredibles. I won`t go into a review of this movie here but I will say that I can`t wait to see it again.
The screening was held in the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills with Pete Docter, director of Monsters Inc, and Incredibles animators Dave DeVan and Mike Venturini in attendance.
Spontaneous applause broke out quite a few times during the movie, as the audience was wowed with one unbelievable action scene after another. But the movie is so much more than just action.
The movie was followed by a lengthy question and answer session with Docter, De Van, and Venturini. And yes, the 2-D rumor was asked about and Pete Docter did not count out a possible 2-D Pixar film. But then he didn`t say that they were doing one either.
After the Q & A there was a buffet and a lot more talk. I found myself starting to line up panels for next year`s San Diego Comic Con. Can`t I wait until the Annies are over? I guess not.
larry@agni-animation.com
Long on Short Animation
Tex Blaisdell, my teacher friend and mentor, always use to say
Never ink the splash page first, or you will never be able to get through the boring pages later!
I have never found it harder to follow this sage advice as this last week. I have mid-term grading and lesson plans and a good deal of video editing to do. But as the Nominating Chair Person of the Short Animation Annie category I`ve also got 2 big boxes filled with some of the hottest short animations of the year. And I want to go right for the splash page.
Short animation is the heart of animation. It is like the tide pools of the ocean. You can see just how healthy the industry truly is by studying the health of the short animation tide pools.
Short Animation is the place where animators learn their craft and show their souls. It is a personal medium not needing crews of thousands and MBA middle managers. And it is a type of animation that runs on obsessive love of the very process of animation itself and a whole lot of heart.
I have gone through every single enter and checked that they play. I have checked the paperwork and the labels. I have filled up my head with this year`s best from festivals, the Internet, and gaming trying to get ready for next week`s judging.
It is not going to be easy for the judges, trying to nominate the 5 best of the best. But I think that they will have the same joy in seeing that the field on animation is alive and well and living in the hearts and souls of the practitioners of animated shorts.
P.S. all images are copyright the respective owners.
Never ink the splash page first, or you will never be able to get through the boring pages later!
I have never found it harder to follow this sage advice as this last week. I have mid-term grading and lesson plans and a good deal of video editing to do. But as the Nominating Chair Person of the Short Animation Annie category I`ve also got 2 big boxes filled with some of the hottest short animations of the year. And I want to go right for the splash page.
Short animation is the heart of animation. It is like the tide pools of the ocean. You can see just how healthy the industry truly is by studying the health of the short animation tide pools.
Short Animation is the place where animators learn their craft and show their souls. It is a personal medium not needing crews of thousands and MBA middle managers. And it is a type of animation that runs on obsessive love of the very process of animation itself and a whole lot of heart.
I have gone through every single enter and checked that they play. I have checked the paperwork and the labels. I have filled up my head with this year`s best from festivals, the Internet, and gaming trying to get ready for next week`s judging.
It is not going to be easy for the judges, trying to nominate the 5 best of the best. But I think that they will have the same joy in seeing that the field on animation is alive and well and living in the hearts and souls of the practitioners of animated shorts.
P.S. all images are copyright the respective owners.
Friday, November 05, 2004
PR Machine Pulls Brad Away
I got this e-mail last night. I think we can all understand just how busy this opening has made Brad Bird.
Dear Fellow Animation Lovers:
I was really looking forward to participating in the ASIFA screening and Q&A for "The Incredibles". It is a rare to get direct feedback from an entire room full of people who are as passionate about this art form as I am, and I was very excited to hear all of your comments and reactions following the screening.
As we all know, opening a film is both a blessing and a curse: A blessing because you are finally delivering the vision that's taken so long to bring to life. A curse because things like schedules tend to get so stacked up that things become a bit crazy.
THE INCREDIBLES will be opened virtually everywhere in the world by the end of the year (the most condensed release schedule Disney/Pixar has ever done) and that has been a monster to deal with.
Unfortunately, I just found out that I will have to depart a day earlier than expected for an international press tour for this film. Both we and your ASIFA-Hollywood scheduling team scrambled to see about moving this presentation one day earlier. However, there wasn't a theater that could accommodate us on such short notice.
That said, I have asked fellow Pixar director and animator, Pete Docter to moderate a panel with two of my great INCREDIBLES animators, Dave DeVan and Mike Venturini in my place.
With Pete's great passion for animation along with Dave and Mike's endless hours put in to making "The Incredibles", I think and hope you will find this an interesting event that can address all of your questions. I know that they are all looking forward to the evening and being able to discuss the film with all of you.
When I return from the tour (and my mouth has recovered from excessive yakking), I would love to have an opportunity to schedule a follow up evening with you all.
Until then, I really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy viewing the "The Incredibles" as much as we enjoyed making it.
Enjoy the screening!
Brad Bird
Dear Fellow Animation Lovers:
I was really looking forward to participating in the ASIFA screening and Q&A for "The Incredibles". It is a rare to get direct feedback from an entire room full of people who are as passionate about this art form as I am, and I was very excited to hear all of your comments and reactions following the screening.
As we all know, opening a film is both a blessing and a curse: A blessing because you are finally delivering the vision that's taken so long to bring to life. A curse because things like schedules tend to get so stacked up that things become a bit crazy.
THE INCREDIBLES will be opened virtually everywhere in the world by the end of the year (the most condensed release schedule Disney/Pixar has ever done) and that has been a monster to deal with.
Unfortunately, I just found out that I will have to depart a day earlier than expected for an international press tour for this film. Both we and your ASIFA-Hollywood scheduling team scrambled to see about moving this presentation one day earlier. However, there wasn't a theater that could accommodate us on such short notice.
That said, I have asked fellow Pixar director and animator, Pete Docter to moderate a panel with two of my great INCREDIBLES animators, Dave DeVan and Mike Venturini in my place.
With Pete's great passion for animation along with Dave and Mike's endless hours put in to making "The Incredibles", I think and hope you will find this an interesting event that can address all of your questions. I know that they are all looking forward to the evening and being able to discuss the film with all of you.
When I return from the tour (and my mouth has recovered from excessive yakking), I would love to have an opportunity to schedule a follow up evening with you all.
Until then, I really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy viewing the "The Incredibles" as much as we enjoyed making it.
Enjoy the screening!
Brad Bird
Thursday, November 04, 2004
This morning after election let us look at the 3 great questions of life;
The first two questions are easy, the answer is 42. The last one is a problem mainly because of Norman McLaren of the Canadian Film Board.
One of the lectures I take a real joy in delivering to my History of Animation classes depends heavily of Mclaren`s work to drive home this very question of what truly is and what is not animation.
Last week I delivered this lecture to my Cal State Fullerton class on the night of a quiz thus assuring a full house. (I do not give make up tests and missed deadlines is my one intolerance)
I started the class with Begone Dull Care Norman Mclaren`s 1949 masterpiece scratched and painted straight onto raw film stock and masterfully synced to the up tempo, almost ragtime, score of Oscar Peterson.
One of my favorite parts of the film is when Mclaren forces the perception of the audience to the view that 5 or 6 moving white dots on a totally black screen are the lights of living beings striving against same primordial darkness.
It is a masterfully done manipulation showing a true understanding of the minds of the audience and the power of the music. It never fails to spark controversy. When the lights come up all I have to do to get a heated class discussion is ask is;
And so on and so forth, on down to a bold pronouncement of a definition by one student who knows for a fact just what animation is. I smile to myself as my student firmly states;
Rarely have I had a class play so totally into my hands. I quickly start the video again playing Mclaren`s Pas de Deux. The film in which Mclaren uses live action footage of two ballet dancers and a film recorder to create a lyrical work where thousands of images dance, freeze, spin, and superimpose across time at an artificially established rates of speed within a high contrasted world of light and dark.
My student, of the defining statement of just what is and what is not animation, firmly states that because this film uses live action it was therefore definitely not animation but some kind of special effects!
The night is going well for me. The animated cinema gods are smiling on my endeavor. I quickly put on Mclaren`s 1952 Oscar winning short animation Neighbors in which the filmmaker uses actors as stop motion models making them float in the air and slide on their bellies in a manner impossible at that time without the frame by frame creation techniques that can only be called animation.
Sometimes we teachers get what is called in the trade a teachable moment (a lucky break) and we can come away from a class feeling that we have done something to change the minds of our students and maybe even open them up a little.
It still doesn`t make it any easier to face that stack of papers and tests I have waiting for me this morning from 5 different classes on this my so called day off.
larry@agni-animation.com
- What is the meaning of life?
- How many angles can dance on the head of a pin?
- What is animation?
The first two questions are easy, the answer is 42. The last one is a problem mainly because of Norman McLaren of the Canadian Film Board.
One of the lectures I take a real joy in delivering to my History of Animation classes depends heavily of Mclaren`s work to drive home this very question of what truly is and what is not animation.
Last week I delivered this lecture to my Cal State Fullerton class on the night of a quiz thus assuring a full house. (I do not give make up tests and missed deadlines is my one intolerance)
I started the class with Begone Dull Care Norman Mclaren`s 1949 masterpiece scratched and painted straight onto raw film stock and masterfully synced to the up tempo, almost ragtime, score of Oscar Peterson.
One of my favorite parts of the film is when Mclaren forces the perception of the audience to the view that 5 or 6 moving white dots on a totally black screen are the lights of living beings striving against same primordial darkness.
It is a masterfully done manipulation showing a true understanding of the minds of the audience and the power of the music. It never fails to spark controversy. When the lights come up all I have to do to get a heated class discussion is ask is;
Is it animation?
No, it is a light show. Anybody could create it with a computer editing program!
In 1949? There were no graphic computer programs. And what difference does it make if a work can be easily created or recreated?
And so on and so forth, on down to a bold pronouncement of a definition by one student who knows for a fact just what animation is. I smile to myself as my student firmly states;
These are sequential moving images on film that are not live action
therefore this is an animation!
Rarely have I had a class play so totally into my hands. I quickly start the video again playing Mclaren`s Pas de Deux. The film in which Mclaren uses live action footage of two ballet dancers and a film recorder to create a lyrical work where thousands of images dance, freeze, spin, and superimpose across time at an artificially established rates of speed within a high contrasted world of light and dark.
My student, of the defining statement of just what is and what is not animation, firmly states that because this film uses live action it was therefore definitely not animation but some kind of special effects!
The night is going well for me. The animated cinema gods are smiling on my endeavor. I quickly put on Mclaren`s 1952 Oscar winning short animation Neighbors in which the filmmaker uses actors as stop motion models making them float in the air and slide on their bellies in a manner impossible at that time without the frame by frame creation techniques that can only be called animation.
Sometimes we teachers get what is called in the trade a teachable moment (a lucky break) and we can come away from a class feeling that we have done something to change the minds of our students and maybe even open them up a little.
It still doesn`t make it any easier to face that stack of papers and tests I have waiting for me this morning from 5 different classes on this my so called day off.
larry@agni-animation.com
