ASIFA-Hollywood: The International Animated Film Society
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
