WONDERING WHO MAKES THE TACO BELL DOG TALK? Film and Video magazine recently ran credits for the "Romeo and Juliet" ad in the series and gave the following credits - Agency: TBWA Chiat/Day (Venice, CA). Live-Action Production Company: Morton Jankel Zander (Santa Monica, CA). Live-Action Director: Rocky Morton. Digital Animation Production Company: Post Logic Studios (Hollywood, CA). Digital Animation Artist/Animator: Michael Killen. The Finish Line Ltd in Santa Monica did the compositing using Quantel Henry, Discreet Logic Flame and Discreet Logic Inferno.
Digital Domain of Santa Monica has been using Softimage 3D to do the world famous Budweiser frogs (and now a few lizards).
Ken Lidster, the Canadian-English stop-motion animator who did Balloon a few years, is the director/animator on the odd looking baseball team that includes Babe Ruth promoting Lipton Brisk. The work was done at Loose Moose in London for J. Walter Thompson in NY.
Curious Pictures in NY recently did 4 PSA's for the Ad Council on learning disabilities that utilized computer animation, motion control and live-action. They also used computer animation and rotoscoping for 3 spots for TCG Communications and 2-D graphic animation for a show opening and commercial sponsored by Martini and Rossi. The last ad and opening will be shown in Spain, Greece and Italy.
DID DONALD DUCK REALLY SAY THE "F WORD" IN CLOCK CLEANERS? About two years ago the Rev. Wildmon, a leader in the anti-Disney movement, accused the studio of letting Donald Duck say the "F word." He said he couldn't believe Donald would say it, but he listened to the soundtrack and yes, it is there. He failed to say the film was made in the late 1930's and apparently for almost 60 years nobody else complained about it. A Disney scholar who lives on the East Coast wrote me after reading my book Forbidden Animation. He said, "the question of Donald Duck's dialogue in The Clock Cleaners. There are actually two phrases many people confuse as profanity. The one cited in your book, where Donald is accused of saying 'fuck you,' and a second which sounds very much like 'you doggon son of a bitch." (How did Reverend Wildmon miss that one?) Both of these phrases are uttered during Donald's battle with the giant clock spring. 'Duck Speak,' as Donald's voice was called, is difficult enough to understand, normally, but when hampered by a dirty or scratched optical sound track it becomes anybody's guess. According to published storyboards of this sequence, Donald is saying, 'Says You' not 'Fuck You,' and 'You Doggon Snake in the Grass,' not 'You Doggon Son of a Bitch.' More people have asked me about this second phrase than the first one."
THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT WINS A ROUND IN THEIR BATTLE AGAINST DISNEY They have been after Disney owned ABC-TV to get rid of the comedy show Ellen. They object to Ellen DeGeneres who declared she was a lesbian on national TV. They have pestered sponsors to drop their ads from the show and called for boycotts. The New York Times just reported ABC has canceled the show and that the final broadcast will be May 13. Even if protests by homophobic groups had nothing to do with the show's drop in ratings, they will do their best to claim the loss of the show as their victory. I suspect this will encourage their followers to work harder, to give more financial support, and to step-up their attack on Disney and the media in the coming months.
NW FILM CENTER IN PORTLAND CONTINUES TO PRESENT ANIMATION CLASSES AND PROGRAMS OF ANIMATED FILMS In April they presented works by the late Harry Smith. He was born in Portland and worked in San Francisco for several years before moving to NYC. In San Francisco he worked directly on film, creating abstract shorts just after McLaren and Len Lye began to explore this approach to animation. While living in NY he created the feature Heaven and Earth Magic. The program was presented by Rani Singh who presented a similar show at the Cinemateque in San Francisco a year or two ago. In May they will present a show of "Two Decades of Portland Animation." Artists include Jim Blashfield, Rose Bond, Joan Gratz, Mark Gustafson, Bill Plympton, Joanna Priestley, Will Vinton and Chel White. The tribute will travel to other theatres in the coming months. The NW Film Center is also a film school. Sharon Niemczyk teaches animation classes for young people and Rose Bond teaches animation for adults.
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD HAD NANCY BEIMAN SPEAK AT A CAREERS IN ANIMATION PROGRAM She talked about character animation and her career at Disney that began in 1983. She has animated on several features, has designed merchandise for Disney and has written and illustrated books.
