ASIFA-Hollywood: The International Animated Film Society
Saturday, May 28, 2005
So when you are in the area checking out the Chuck Jones Gallery at Fashion Island (see below) you might want to swing by Laguna Beach and check out the banners. Lynn Kubasek, a good friend and former animation student at my state funded ROP animation program, has two banner designs up for this year`s Festival of the Arts.
Her fish wave banner is the first one you see coming down the Canyon toward the Festival of the Arts. Her bird paint banner from last year is near Ocean and PCH, just down from Hennesy's Tavern.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Chuck Jones Gallery - Fashion Island
Here are two very cool events in my neck of the woods. One is with my good friend Martha Sigall and the other is with Bill Melendez, (animator, teacher, director and legend). Both events are at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Fashion Island.
For those of you that have never been to Fashion Island, it is a very big and confusing place that covers acres and acres. So here is how to get there.
For those of you that have never been to Fashion Island, it is a very big and confusing place that covers acres and acres. So here is how to get there.
From LA area
- Take the 405 South to Orange County
- Take the Jamboree exit South
- Turn left on Santa Barbara Drive
- This will dead end at a Fashion Island parking garage
- The Chuck Jones Gallery is not listed on the mall maps but the koi pond is listed. The Gallery is in the center of the Mall just outside the food court.
(or do a map quest of 401 Newport Center Dr - Newport Beach, CA 92660)
Join the Chuck Jones family as they premier their newest gallery in
a weekend - long gala celebration!
Saturday June 4th, 2005
1 PM to 4 PM
Starring these special guests. Martha Goldman Sigall author &
co-worker of Chuck Jones at Termite Terrace Rob Minkoff.Chuck Jones Protege,
Director of The Lion King and Stuart Little.
Stephen Fossati Chuck Jones
Film Productions Writer & Director
Bugs Bunny making his Newport
Beach debut!
Sunday June 5th, 2005
1 PM to 4 PM
Meet the
Legendary Bill Melendez Director and Producer of the animated Peanuts films.
Plus the world`s most famous beagle, Snoopy, will be making a live appearance!
Dedications and Photo Opportunities Available
RSVP for
both events by June 2nd
at 800/959-7175 or at ChuckJones.com
The Chuck Jones Gallery at Fashion Island, Suite 231, Newport Beach
(across from the koi pond)
A Tribute To DICK HUEMER!
Fleischer animator; Creator of Scrappy; Disney story artist, Comic strip creator, etc.
Animation producer and historian Ray Pointer presents a full retrospective of the career of animator Dick Huemer with special guest, his son Dr. Richard Huemer, Jr.
Screenings of rare cartoons include Huemer`s earliest work in the silent era, his work with the Max Fleischer and Charles Mintz Studio, and examples of his career at Disney.
Thursday June 9th - 7pm
THE GLENDALE CENTRAL LIBRARY
222 E. Harvard Street
Glendale, CA
Fleischer animator; Creator of Scrappy; Disney story artist, Comic strip creator, etc.
Animation producer and historian Ray Pointer presents a full retrospective of the career of animator Dick Huemer with special guest, his son Dr. Richard Huemer, Jr.
Screenings of rare cartoons include Huemer`s earliest work in the silent era, his work with the Max Fleischer and Charles Mintz Studio, and examples of his career at Disney.
Thursday June 9th - 7pm
THE GLENDALE CENTRAL LIBRARY
222 E. Harvard Street
Glendale, CA
Volunteer Sub Committee Formed
Jon Reeves cajoled into accepting the position as Head of the Archive Volunteer Committee. As ASIFA-Hollywood makes steady headway in our ongoing archive project it has become necessary to create an important volunteer sub-committee to deal with the sorting and scanning of our archive materials.
Long time ASIFA volunteer and active Animation Rescue Team member Jon Reeves (the LA Rep of Internet Movie Date Base) has agreed to head up this important ASIFA committee. Congratulations.
Jon Reeves cajoled into accepting the position as Head of the Archive Volunteer Committee. As ASIFA-Hollywood makes steady headway in our ongoing archive project it has become necessary to create an important volunteer sub-committee to deal with the sorting and scanning of our archive materials.
Long time ASIFA volunteer and active Animation Rescue Team member Jon Reeves (the LA Rep of Internet Movie Date Base) has agreed to head up this important ASIFA committee. Congratulations.
On Tuesday May 24th ASIFA HOLLYWOOD Pres. Antran Manoogian and VP Tom Sito began the first in a series of interviews to document the creation of the ANNIE AWARDS.
We all traveled out to Malibu to visit with former ASIFA VP animator Bill Littlejohn and former ASIFA/Hollywood Pres. June Foray. There we talked about how the Annie Awards were created back in 1971.
The first Annie went to Max Fleischer. June said no one was sure how many people would show up for the dinner at the Sportsmans' Lodge in Sherman Oaks. Imagine their surprise when 400 people came!
The award was accepted by Max's son, movie director Richard Fleischer. Since then for over thirty years Annies have gone to greats like Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Frank & Ollie, Chuck Jones and Art Klokey!
ASIFA hopes to have a highlight reel of great Annie Moments to open our next Award ceremony in February. In the meantime please look in your closets and garages for any old videos or photos of past Annie ceremonys and send them in to us to use. (they will be returned) Contact the ASIFA office, Kellie-Bea Cooper or Tom Sito at the 839 Guild office. Thanks!
Tom Sito
Thoughts on Art and Teaching
This last Thursday I was going to get some animating done and maybe get my resume in order and out to someone I had promised it to.
Wednesday I got a call from Patrick Despres, friend, follow teacher, and lifedrawing guru. So Thursday I subbed for Patrick with his animation drawing class. It has been a while since I have taught a basic drawing class but it all comes back, shadow and light sources, prospective and form.
I really enjoyed myself. I think I shocked my students because they have only seen me as an animation history teacher.
And as always at times like this I speak in the voices of my teacher. I found myself speaking the words of Dick Ayers, Hy Eisman, Ric Estrada, and most of all Tex Blaisdell. And I know that the words I speak are not just the words of my teachers but the words of their teachers before them.
It always gives me a lot to think about. Where did all the words come from? How far back does the knowledge go? Will these kids be saying my words in some classroom in the future? It makes me feel like a link in a chain going back to the beginning of art. And that is a good thing to be, and that is a good thing to be!
Wednesday I got a call from Patrick Despres, friend, follow teacher, and lifedrawing guru. So Thursday I subbed for Patrick with his animation drawing class. It has been a while since I have taught a basic drawing class but it all comes back, shadow and light sources, prospective and form.
I really enjoyed myself. I think I shocked my students because they have only seen me as an animation history teacher.
And as always at times like this I speak in the voices of my teacher. I found myself speaking the words of Dick Ayers, Hy Eisman, Ric Estrada, and most of all Tex Blaisdell. And I know that the words I speak are not just the words of my teachers but the words of their teachers before them.
It always gives me a lot to think about. Where did all the words come from? How far back does the knowledge go? Will these kids be saying my words in some classroom in the future? It makes me feel like a link in a chain going back to the beginning of art. And that is a good thing to be, and that is a good thing to be!
The ASIFA-Hollywood Act of Membership monthly volunteer meeting took place this last Wednesday with about 30 members in attendance. Items talked about were the 2-D Expo, the upcoming Dick Huemer event, comic con, the Terry Thoren Collection, and the new equipment for the Animation Archives. A good time and pizza was had by all.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Dreamer
Below, Tom Sito talks about Dream on Silly Dreamer. When I went to the L.A. screening on Monday night I thought wrongly that this film would be an attack on Eisner`s running of Disney. Strangely, that was not really the case. Yes, there was some finger pointing and a lot of anger, but this film is a true documentary of the passing of a way of life.
Dan Lund looks at what happened and that means everything that happened including the bidding war for animators and the whole every animator with an agent and lawyer phenomena of 1997 and 1998. Dream on Silly Dream is not an Anti-Disney film, it is a love story to a magic time now passed.
As a teacher of Animation History I hope that Dan makes this film available on DVD for in class use. It is about Disney Feature Animation at a set time but it talks to all of creative magic times. They all pass and it is only after they have passed that we can stop and say something of great note just happened here. This movie is something of great note and should not be feared because it is about something that happened at a company.
Dan Lund looks at what happened and that means everything that happened including the bidding war for animators and the whole every animator with an agent and lawyer phenomena of 1997 and 1998. Dream on Silly Dream is not an Anti-Disney film, it is a love story to a magic time now passed.
As a teacher of Animation History I hope that Dan makes this film available on DVD for in class use. It is about Disney Feature Animation at a set time but it talks to all of creative magic times. They all pass and it is only after they have passed that we can stop and say something of great note just happened here. This movie is something of great note and should not be feared because it is about something that happened at a company.
Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night . . .
On Monday evening May 23rd the Alex Theater, which was the place Walt Disney used to test screen his Silly Symphonies, became the place where the Walt Disney Animation Crew came to view the film especially about them - DREAM ON SILLY DREAMER.
After being laid off with hundreds of his colleagues in the lay offs of March 25, 2002, young effects animator Dan Lund decided to make a statement by making a film about the experience. Joined by his friend Tony West they created a documentary with clever animated sections on a shoestring budget. The film is a record of how young artists came to Disney with stars in their eyes, were trained by the Nine Old Men and created some of the most memorable hits in film history like THE LITTLE MERMAID, LION KING, ALADDIN and BEAUTY & THE BEAST. Then as things started to change and economics and bureaucracy stifled artistic expression, their final reward was to be laid off.
It is hard to tell people today that the crew who gave life to Ariel, Belle and Simba are mostly all gone. And it wasn't their idea. Assistant animator Jacky Sanchez fearlessly told the execs: "You have the London Philharmonic here, and you are busting it down to a Boy Band!" Other artists interviewed including Dorse Lanpher, Joey Mildenberger, Sue Nichols, Merry Clingen, John Tucker, Brian Ferguson, directing animator Andreas Deja and Carmen Sandersen, a painter with fifty years at Disney. An early admirer of the film was Roy Disney. He said: "I have to say how very human a face it puts on an institutional tragedy. Thanks to Dan and Tony for bringing a tear or three to this eye."
For the LA premiere if Dan & Tony worried if enough people would come their fears were soon allayed. The Alex was packed with hundreds of Disney craftsmen old and young. Animators, assistants, directors, techs, production people, all Disney veterans. It was like a wrap party, except what was wrapping was not one film but a way of life. Roy Disney introduced the film and was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation. An occapella vocal group sang versions of Circle of Life, Kiss the Girl and When you Dream Upon a Star.
After the film concluded, the lights went up, the singers finished, for a moment no one stirred from their seats. It was as if no one wanted to admit it was over. Sometimes we don't understand when we were part of something special until it is over. Like the 300 Spartans, Charlemagne's palladins, Termite Terrace, the Xerox Parc Group- on occasion a band of people come together at the right time and create a legend. The Disney Animation Crew of the 1990's now passes into legend. The future may see new crews and new legacies, but for now I am proud to have been part of their number, and their films will live on forever.
Tom Sito
After being laid off with hundreds of his colleagues in the lay offs of March 25, 2002, young effects animator Dan Lund decided to make a statement by making a film about the experience. Joined by his friend Tony West they created a documentary with clever animated sections on a shoestring budget. The film is a record of how young artists came to Disney with stars in their eyes, were trained by the Nine Old Men and created some of the most memorable hits in film history like THE LITTLE MERMAID, LION KING, ALADDIN and BEAUTY & THE BEAST. Then as things started to change and economics and bureaucracy stifled artistic expression, their final reward was to be laid off.
It is hard to tell people today that the crew who gave life to Ariel, Belle and Simba are mostly all gone. And it wasn't their idea. Assistant animator Jacky Sanchez fearlessly told the execs: "You have the London Philharmonic here, and you are busting it down to a Boy Band!" Other artists interviewed including Dorse Lanpher, Joey Mildenberger, Sue Nichols, Merry Clingen, John Tucker, Brian Ferguson, directing animator Andreas Deja and Carmen Sandersen, a painter with fifty years at Disney. An early admirer of the film was Roy Disney. He said: "I have to say how very human a face it puts on an institutional tragedy. Thanks to Dan and Tony for bringing a tear or three to this eye."
For the LA premiere if Dan & Tony worried if enough people would come their fears were soon allayed. The Alex was packed with hundreds of Disney craftsmen old and young. Animators, assistants, directors, techs, production people, all Disney veterans. It was like a wrap party, except what was wrapping was not one film but a way of life. Roy Disney introduced the film and was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation. An occapella vocal group sang versions of Circle of Life, Kiss the Girl and When you Dream Upon a Star.
After the film concluded, the lights went up, the singers finished, for a moment no one stirred from their seats. It was as if no one wanted to admit it was over. Sometimes we don't understand when we were part of something special until it is over. Like the 300 Spartans, Charlemagne's palladins, Termite Terrace, the Xerox Parc Group- on occasion a band of people come together at the right time and create a legend. The Disney Animation Crew of the 1990's now passes into legend. The future may see new crews and new legacies, but for now I am proud to have been part of their number, and their films will live on forever.
Tom Sito
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Floyd Norman strikes again, with another book of in your face cartoons. I talked to Floyd last night before the screening of Dream on Silly Dreamer and he gave me a flyer for his new book which is at the printers even as I write. For more information on this book go to http://www.afrokids.com/index.html Floyd said the information would be posted on this site sometime soon, so if you do not find it today be sure to stop back in later.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Good Things Come to those that Volunteer
So Sunday I slept a lot, I`m turning into an old fart. Loading truck in a heat wave is not as easy as it use to be. Today I`m teaching a class that deals with getting internships. What do these two things have to do with each other?
One of my former students helped move boxes Saturday as part of the A.R.T. move of Terry Thoren`s festival archives. This student is a semester away from needing to find an internship. Can`t graduate without the internship.
To make the story shorter, he made a contact because he was lugging boxes next to the head of a small studio. This volunteering thing really works.
That is what I tell my students over and over and some of them listen. Those are the ones that make the contacts. Those are the ones that lug boxes with the animation pros. Those are the ones that get the cool internships. And who knows, from cool internships can come cool jobs.
One of my former students helped move boxes Saturday as part of the A.R.T. move of Terry Thoren`s festival archives. This student is a semester away from needing to find an internship. Can`t graduate without the internship.
To make the story shorter, he made a contact because he was lugging boxes next to the head of a small studio. This volunteering thing really works.
That is what I tell my students over and over and some of them listen. Those are the ones that make the contacts. Those are the ones that lug boxes with the animation pros. Those are the ones that get the cool internships. And who knows, from cool internships can come cool jobs.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Drawing by Raven Loc
A.R.T.
Yes it was a bummer that I didn`t get to the AFI Fred Crippen event yesterday and yes I am stiff and sore this morning after moving about 500 boxes filled with videos (over 25,000 tapes of world animation from the early 70`s till 2001) and another 250 boxes filled with paperwork and animation magazines. But I would do it again. I will do it again. The stuff we are saving is priceless.
We saw a 1 inch tape of pre-Luxo Jr. Pixar animations and I saw a bata of the Hubley`s The Hat go by while I was sorting the boxes of videos from the boxes of paperwork. And the 35 mm and 16 mm, we haven`t even gotten into that yet. All of it saved from being broken up or thrown away. I feel good about myself today. I did something that has long-term meaning for the history of animation.
The Animation Rescue Team is a valuable part of the ASIFA-Hollywood Archive project and I feel proud to have had the idea of formalize what ASIFA-Hollywood has been doing for year and year and give our volunteers a team name.
I think that the ART volunteers should have t-shirts that marks them as members of an elite team. I am going to push real hard for the creation of such a T-shirt at the next board meeting. Then we can have a design contest for the logo. More on this when I am done making a pest of myself at the next board meeting.
