December 1998 Newsletter
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News
SPIKE & MIKE'S LATEST SICK & TWISTED
PACKAGE INCLUDES Floss BY SAN FRANCISCO'S OWN NICA LORBER Ms. Lorber is a graduate of San Francisco State where
she studied animation when not developing her skills as a juggler. She
finished her funny short after leaving college, while working at Pasta
Pomodoro on Irving. The rest of the show is either great or awful, depending
on who you talk to. If you like what is often called sophomoric humor,
you should and enjoy all the booger jokes and other forms of gross material
in the program. Among the dubious gems being seen in the Bay Area for the
first time are How to Use A Tampon from Germany, Monica
Banana (could this be Bill Clinton's Monica?) and Lloyd in How
to Get Pronged. There are lots of other works being premiered here
plus the world famous Spirit of Christmas by the creators
of South Park. Unfortunately the Chronicle reviewer found
the show's humor predictable. He found, "the shock value even wears
off quickly." Perhaps no one sophisticated enough to write for a paper
should be allowed to review this unusual collection of shorts. Instead
they should run comments by the people for whom this show is intended.
Animator Jeff Nevins saw the show on opening night at the Castro and was
surprised that "there were two well animated works in the show that
stood out from the rest." He was delighted to see Lorber's work and
called it "very silly." He left at the intermission. The show
opened at the Castro in November and it goes to other theaters in December
and/or January. It will be shown at the Roxie and Palace of Fine Arts in
S.F., UC in Berkeley, Towne in San Jose, Lark in Larkspur, and the Lakeside
in Santa Rosa). Check your local paper for details.
WILD BRAIN DOES KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN ADS The first ad is called
"Popcorn Chicken" and was directed by Robin Steele. It combines
2D and 3D animation with live action. Colonel Sanders in the ads will be
animated. His voice is by Richard Quaid.
ILM TO MAKE AN ALL DIGITAL FRANKENSTEIN FEATURE with Universal.
Also in this new work will be the Wolfman. Dave Carson and Brent
Maddock are the directors of this all digital project (yes, digital people,
monsters and backgrounds). The new story starts 40 years after the monster
was thought to have been destroyed in a mill fire. It should be released
in the summer of 2000. The project is untitled at present. ILM is also
doing special effects for a remake of The Mummy.
LUCAS ARTS AND PIXAR WIN ANNIE AWARDS Geri's Game from Pixar,
directed by Jan Pinkiva, was voted the best animated short. The Curse
of Monkey Island from Lucas Arts won the best interactive award.
This year Disney's Mulan won 10 of the 30 awards presented
and Warner Bros. TV animation won 6 awards.
GERI'S GAME WON TWO TOP PRIZES IN ITALY Pixar entered the
film in the second Animated Castles International Animation Festival and
walked away with the grand prize and the audience prize. The festival was
held in Rome in October.
PDI/DREAMWORKS ANNOUNCE THE VOICE ACTOR WHO WILL DO THE MAIN CHARACTER
IN SHREK, The role of Shrek will be voiced by Mike Meyers. The
role was going to be performed by the late Chris Farley. Other actors set
to work on the film are Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Linda Hunt and John
Lithgow. The film, PDI's 2nd feature, is still in the pre-production stage.
PDI'S ANTZ OUT GROSSES BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD'S BOX OFFICE RECORD
IN THE FILM'S FIRST MONTH IN RELEASE By the first of November ANTZ
had taken in $67.4 million, which is the most a non-Disney animated feature
has taken in at the box office. (Pixar's high grossing Toy Story
and Selick's Nightmare Before Christmas are not included
as they were released by Disney.) Since then the total has continued to
climb. Rather than slowly go down, the gross shot up by 20% in the 6th
week. At the end of six weeks the total was $74.8 million. After 45 days
the total was $81.4 million. After 8 weeks the film was still on the top
10 grossing features. The gross had climbed to about $84 million.
WESTERN IMAGES designed, built and animated a computer robot with
a jealous girlfriend for a Honda commercial according to Film/Tape World..
ANIMATOR KEVIN COFFEY IS ALSO A CARTOONIST WITH HIS WORK IN A LOCAL MUSEUM
SHOW AND IN A NEW BOOK He has 6 original pen and ink pages of his Mudpup
comic strip on display in "Bicycle Culture" at the Yerba Buena
Center the for the Arts through Jan. 3, 1999. The pages date from 1982
- '86. The strip, which is still in-print in the Bicycle Trader,
is about the adventures of a mountain bike. Coffey is presently developing
Mudpup into an animated series. He also has a Mudpup page
reproduced in The Birth of Dirt, Origins of Mountain Biking by Frank
Berto, Van der Plas Publications. The book includes lots of enjoyable photos
and historic illustrations. Coffey is known to animators as the owner of
Cartoonland. His studio does local and national ads and other projects.
SHOW YOUR WORK AT OUR ANNUAL OPEN SCREENINGS All student and independent
animators are invited to show their work on Friday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM.
Animation and special effect houses are invited to show their work on Friday,
February 5 at 7:30. While much of the work that shows up will be a surprise,
we already know that on the 29th young animators from Rooftop School will
bring a short reel (direct from a screening at ATA), as will several students
from SF State, DeAnza, The Academy of Art and Cogswell College. The amazing
Jason Shiga plans to show a new work that was recently completed with the
help of a grant from Common Sense Composers Collective. Another highlight
of the evening will be John McCambridge's newly completed short Damn
Beavers. On the 5th we can expect everything from reels from people
just breaking into the professional marketplace as directors and producers
to high end images from companies like PDI, ILM, Xaos, Colossal, Wild Brain
and Cartoonland. We will probably get to see a few theatrical and/or TV
shorts plus new commercial stop-motion work by Richard C. Zimmerman. If
you expect to show work either night, let us know ASAP that you are coming
and we will put your name (or the company name) on the flyer that will
be printed with our January newsletter. Call Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004.
You can also show up unannounced the night of the show with a reel (16mm,
" or " video) and we will show it.
STEWARD LEE DIRECTS COLORADO LOTTERY AD AT CURIOUS PICTURES The ad
was a sequel to a humorous one done earlier this year. Lee used cel animation
with digital ink and paint, Denis Morella was the creative director, Lee
was the director and James Munro was the designer. The animators were Nick
Hewitt, Brad Rau, Ken Kaiser, Lyla WarrenJoe Sloan and Anna Blomfield.
Alice Siebert did ink and paint. Sue Teagarden was the production manager.
The company has a web site at www.curiouspix.com
CHRIS GILLIGAN was a lead stop-motion animator on James and
the Giant Peach when he lived in the Bay Area. He is now a partner
at Pitch, Manhattan, an animation studio offering several traditional techniques
with contemporary looking designs. Millimeter gave the New York
firm a full page article in their October issue.
ED CATMULL SPOKE TO A LOCAL MEDIA GROUP Catmull is a co-founder
of Pixar, the world famous animation studio. He spoke to the North Bay
Multimedia Association about his experiences in building this remarkable
company. The group meets at Autodesk in San Rafael. For information about
future events t www.nbma.com or (415) 721 - 1780.
COLOSSAL PICTURES DOES CARTOON NETWORK PACKAGE Their new graphics
package for the cartoon network includes an opening, closing and 7 bumpers
for the Super Chunk Show. The 25 seconds opening begins with a man
and his dog. Suddenly a small black rocket ship descends and the man and
his dog are turned into the show's logo. Colossal's Charlie Canfield was
the director and Amy Capen was the producer. The shows logo was designed
by Bee Murphy of the Cartoon Network. The computer animation was done in
3D Studio Max. The show airs on Saturday afternoons.
PIXAR POSTS THIRD QUATER PROFITS They made 2.5 million dollars, down
from 5.3 million during the same period last year. The firm is expected
to have an exceptional first quarter next year as their feature A
Bug's Life came out in November.
VISUAL EFFECTS RESOURCE GUIDE in Film and Video magazine
lists four companies with offices in the Bay Area. The list only includes
18 companies in the U.S. and one in Canada. Congratulations to Wild Brain,
Western Images, Colossal Pictures and Curious Pictures for being part of
this exclusive list.
DOUGLAS KAY is the new president of MONDO MEDIA. He is a former
executive of Berkeley Systems, Lucas Arts and Industrial Light and Magic.
He has worked with digital productions for 20 years.
JIM MATISON AND FLAVIO (KAMPAH) JOIN COLOSSAL AS DIRECTORS Both
have worked on previous projects with the company. Both men have an extensive
commercial background with national clients. Flavio will work out of his
studio Kampah Visions in Venice, CA. Directors who work with Colossal also
include Drew Takashi, George Evelyn, Charlie Canfield, Tom Rubalcava, Margeigh
Joy, John Kricfalusi, Chuck Gammage and Lidia Pryzluska.
PDI ADDS KEVIN TOWNSEND AS GENERAL MANAGER of their commercial and
feature films effects divisions. He had previously been with Lucas Digital
as a vice-president in charge of commercial production.
JAN SVANKMAJERS ALICE plays the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley
(2451 Shattuck Ave.) Dec. 1-5 at 9:30 PM. (also Sat. at 5:30)
NEW YEARS CONFETTI FROM THE SPROCKET ENSEMBLE (IDEAS IN ANIMATION)
Tuesday, Dec. 29, 7:15 at the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley (2451 Shattuck
Ave.). Features live music, animation premiers and more. New films by Dave
Thomas (A Dog Cartoon - produced by Wild Brain), Nina Paley,
and others plus audience favorites by Jason Shiga, Shirley Smith, Rock
Ross, Michael Rudnick, Scott Kravitz, Tim Sutter and other animators. The
Doggie Diner dog head will be on display. Bring a camera and have your
Christmas photo taken with it.
LOTTE REINIGER'S THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED WITH LIVE MUSIC
Sat. Jan. 9, is a first anniversary party for The Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley
(2451 Shattuck Ave.). Call (510) 848 - 1143 for details.
FREE LOONIES SALON HONORING HUMORIST BRIAN CRANE Meet local cartoonists
and other people in the arts, have a drink and see Crane's new book. Buy
an autographed copy for yourself or a friend if you wish. Friday, Dec.
4, 6:30 - 10 PM, SF Press Club, 155 Sansome St., SF
ANIMATION CLASSES FOR KIDS 8 - 18 There have been reports that Zeum,
a new art center for kids at the Yerba Buena Center is, or will soon be,
offering animation classes(?) for young people. Apparently (they didn't
return my call fot information) they have a studio with computers that
can do animation, plus two animation stands and other equipment. For information
call (415) 777-2800.
THE RED VIC THEATRE IS PRESENTING "THE ULTIMATE CLASSIC CARTOON
SHOW" JANUARY 17 & 18 The theater's calendar reads, "
Benefit for Karl Cohen. A once-in-a-lifetime cartoon bash put together
to thank Karl Cohen for his years of dedication to the medium of the animated
cartoon. Karl has been showing cartoons in the Bay Area since the early
1970s. His recently completed book Forbidden Animation has
received rave reviews and is recognized as an instant classic in the field.
Karl is rapidly recovering from a stroke and will be on hand to sign and
sell copies of his book. We will be showing ultra-rare classics from the
golden days of Hollywood animation-all in beautiful 35mm prints! Come show
your love and support for Karl and receive a megadose of cartoon energy
in the process-it's a win-win situation!"
ATTEND THE SPARKEY AWARDS PARTY, a benefit for the Cartoon Art Museum.
Special guests include Gus Arriola, Sergio Aragones, Dale Messick and Carl
Barks. There will be an auction, live entertainment, food and other delights.
The event is Feb. 12 at the Radisson Miyako Hotel. For information (415)
474-0715
CORECTION: JERRY VAN DE BEEK has joined Curious Pictures as a director,
not to as an animation director. Also, he remains associated with Little
Fluffy Clouds in San Francisco. His partner at Little Fluffy Clouds is
Betsy De Frees.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR GUEST SPEAKERS AT OUR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER EVENTS
In October, James Buckhouse, a layout artist from PDI, spoke about the
making of Antz; Dave LaTour, an animator from ILM, spoke
about the making of Small Soldiers, and Phil Robinson, a
director and partner of Wild Brain, spoke about the company's recent projects.
A special treat was a screening of the new short A DOG CARTOON by
Dave Thomas of Wild Brain. The evening ended with Thomas answering 10 or
15 minutes of questions from his new fans.
The November event began with Arthur Schwartzberg, President of Xaos, talking
about the recent growth of the animation industry and the rise of Xaos
as a provider of CG images to Imax (15 perf, 70 mm) producers. He quoted
a report that claimed the worldwide income of the animation industry is
now $15 billion a year. He also said a typical Imax frame of film from
Xaos contains from between 50 to 80 megabytes of information. Next came
Adam Gravois, an animator from Xaos. He spoke about his recent station
ID for ZDTV. He was followed by Mark S. Meadows, an illustrator and designer
who does visionary images. He showed examples of his work that were produced
on a Silicon Graphics system and were later reduced in detail so they could
be seen as animated spaces on the Internet. He answered numerous question
about designing work for this new medium. Judging from the questions asked,
it appears there is a tremendous amount of interest in the Internet. Brad
deGraff, President of Protozoa, talked about the past, present and future
of performance animation using motion capture technology. His "Virtual
Bill," done for MTV, appears throughout his reel. Each Bill Clinton
gag resulted in a great deal of laughter. He also showed a clip of his
virtual Ed Sullivan plus a dozen other amazing creations of by his company.
Behind the scene footage showed why deGraff considers this new technology
closer to the art of the puppeteer than to the art of the cel animator.
MAGAZINES
ANIMATION MAGAZINE HAS A FINE COVER STORY ON THE MAKING OF A BUG'S
LIFE The Nov./Dec. issue has a long and thorough article on Pixar's
new feature. It includes short quotes by several people associated with
the production. The issue also has feature articles on the Rug Rats
movie and visual effects in Britain. There is a solid review of Maya and
several other articles on digital animation. The issue comes with a supplement,
the 1999 School Guide listings. The guide is interesting, but does not
always contain up to date information. The local listings include a school
that no longer offers animation, one that has never offered animation and
it omits a school with a really strong animation program. The guide also
includes a list of companies that have job recruiters.
Animation Magazine is available from 30101 Agoura court, Suite 110,
Agoura Hills, CA 91301 -- 9987. Subscriptions are 36 for 12 issues and
they take checks and credit cards.
REVIEWS
PIXAR'S A BUG'S LIFE TAKES ANIMATION TO NEW HEIGHTS AND GREATNESS
review by Karl Cohen I had the pleasure of attending the cast party
and screening of A Bug's Life at the Paramount Theatre in
Oakland two weeks before the feature was released. Disney and Pixar treated
everybody to a remarkable evening in as splendid a location as possible.
By the time I left I felt I had attended an event almost as important as
Disney's preview of Snow White for his staff. The film is
not only storytelling at its best, it is also a beautiful work of art.
Pixar's new film could very well be the beginning of a new renaissance
for the animated feature. A Bug's Life is quite different from Toy
Story as there are no human characters in the film. It harks back
to the days of Silly Symphonies when a rich plot could be built around
life in the forest. Pixar's wonderful yarn unfolds quickly and we are soon
caught up in the desperate struggle for survival of a colony of ants. It's
a timeless tale. It's the type of story that makes for great family entertainment.
This is a film that relies on suspension of disbelief. When the film began
I had brief doubts about my liking the cute characters and hating the evil
looking grasshoppers. I quickly put aside my intellectual thoughts as I
became involved in this adventure. My involvement was so complete that
my mind rarely strayed from the story until it was over.
A common complaint about animated films is the use of music in them. The
music generally sticks out in some way and calls attention to itself. I
knew this feature had songs by Randy Newman, in fact the he was sitting
a few seats away from me. When the film ended I was surprised to realize
that I was so involved with the story that I was unaware of the individual
pieces of music on the sound track. Sorry Mr. Newman, I can remember there
was music, but I cant hum any bars of it. The only sound elements that
really called attention to themselves were sound effects in surround sound.
Occasionally sounds from speakers on the sides of the hall or in back called
attention to themselves.
What sets this film apart from other fine films made recently (including
Toy Story) is its having remarkably rendered computer backgrounds.
The sets are classic Disney even though they are painted by machines. Gone
are the slick computer renderings of a man-made world. Instead we are presented
with beautifully painted depictions of nature. Pixar's artists are capable
of showing a wide variety of moods from the warmth of a sunny day to the
harshness of a rain storm. Pixar's artist understand how to depict the
heat of the barren desert and the lushness of a green forest. They are
masters that can depict any time of day and a wide variety of atmospheric
conditions. Putting all these elements of nature together in one film is
a major advance in computer animation.
I suspect that in time A Bug's Life will be called a classic work
and it will be compared favorably with Disney's early features. Am I wrong?
Go see this work on a big screen and decide for yourself if director John
Lasseter and co-director Andrew Stanton have created a masterpiece or not.
As for the opening, it was a splendid affair with most people in formal
attire. The Paramount was the right hall for the occasion - it was just
as fine looking as those who came to celebrate. The selection of food and
beverages before and after the screening helped make it a fine evening,
as did the live music in a giant tent next door to the theatre. People
stayed up past their bedtimes and many spent the night in hotels, rather
than risk driving home. (One friend who drove home after 1 AM said he got
lost for awhile in downtown Oakland).
A big thrill for me was seeing Roy Disney Jr. He looks like his late uncle.
There were several voice stars present along with top executives from Disney
and Pixar. Just as important was seeing and talking with some of the people
who worked long hours to make this wonderful work. Congratulations to all
who contributed to it.
ANDREW STANTON TALKS ABOUT A BUG'S LIFE, by Karl Cohen These
notes were used in an article that appeared in the November issue of Film/Tape
World. Stanton is the film's co-director and screenwriter. He shares
script credit with Lasseter & Joe Ranft. When Stanton began his professional
career in the 1980's, he had already gained recognition as an animator.
His student films from CAL Arts, A Story and Somewhere
in the Arctic, were already popular among fans of independent film.
In 1990, after stints with Ralph Bakshi, Bill Kroyer, and other directors
in Los Angeles, he was invited to join Pixar. There were only nine people
on the staff, and he was the second creative person on the Pixar team.
He says, "John was a great person to work with because of the shorts
he had done." For the next two or three years John Lasseter, Andrew
Stanton and Pete Docter were the only creative people on the staff. He
says, " we formed a bond. We kept switching hats. I would directed
one commercial and then art direct another. We formed a Renaissance crew."
When Toy Story happened it was natural for the three men
to be the think tank behind the film when it began. As the crew grew it
became obvious that John would be the director. Stanton joined the story
department where he discovered he had a knack for script writing and story
boarding.
Stanton says, "in the last year and a half of the film, John and I
connected really well. We discovered we had just enough similar tastes,
that if John had to be in two places at once, he could trust me to carry
the ball. We also thought just differently enough that we could play Devils
Advocate with each other. We tended to develop better solutions as a duo
than as individuals."
The two men formalized their working relationship when Lasseter made Stanton
his co-director on A Bug's Life. Stanton and Lasseter decided
to make Pixar's second feature about insects because it seems to be a natural
world for computers to represent. He says, "bugs look great in our
medium." The story began to develop at a luncheon with story artist
Joe Ranft while they were working on Toy Story. They were joking
about insects and soon realized that the Aesops story of the ants and the
grasshopper had great potential. They also realized that the original ending,
having a grasshopper die, was depressing. Over the next year and a half
to two years the story of A Bug's Life slowly developed.
The characters in A Bug's Life developed in several different
ways. A small percentage of them were developed in traditional textbook
ways of deciding in advance their likes and dislikes and so on. Most were
based on the characters created by the voice actors. Sometimes the actor
creates a character you would never have thought of. In other cases the
character comes immediately from the casting decision. For example, having
a male actor perform the voice of the ladybug resulted in obvious personality
traits. The character, played by Denis Leary, was so well defined from
the start that they didn't need to make changes to it as the film progressed.
Stanton says some characters were hard to develop, especially the main
ones. "The main character is usually an everyman, someone you want
everybody to relate to. That makes him come across rather bland. If you
make him too unique the audience may find him hard to relate to. We wanted
to create interesting main characters, but ones you can still find interesting."
To find the right voice for Flik, their main character, they had to have
several casting calls. Eventually Dave Foley (News Radio and Kids
in the Hall) read the part "and when he opened his mouth it was
just boom. There was this unique voice we would never have thought
of... We did a lot of reshaping of the character once he was cast."
Every film has a major script change or two during the production. Stanton
says the only significant change in A Bug's Life came while the
film was being story boarded. In the finished film Flik is sent to find
a hero to help the ants. By mistake he brings back ants from a flea circus.
The ants in the circus troupe appear in warrior costumes, but they are
really helpless cowards. The ants don't realize that Flik thinks they are
real warriors and Flik doesn't realize his mistake until it is too late.
"That makes a lot of sense now." When they wrote the first versions
of the script they made the circus bugs aware of the miss-communication.
They came across as liars, were hard to like and seemed unlikely to be
heroes who would eventually help save the day.
When Stanton realized he should change the script and make the circus ants
more likable, the first reactions to his plans were negative. People thought
they were too far along with the script and production planning to make
major revisions. He still thought his idea might work so "on my own
I rewrote the first two thirds of the script just to see if it would work.
The script almost wrote itself. It was really easy. It was really flowing
"
Stanton knew he had to wait for the right moment to tell Lasseter about
his new script. It came after Lasseter went to a preview of a feature and
came back saying you liked the main character whether or not the movie
was going good or bad "'and damn it, the main character in our story
isn't like that' I threw my revised script in front of him He read a few
pages and said `this is exactly right.'"
The co-director says there several technical advances in the film, but
he hopes they are invisible to the audience. For example crowd scenes were
rendered with new software that avoids the cut and paste look that makes
a scene seem to contain the same people duplicated over and over. We wanted
our crowd scenes to look like we had hired hundreds of extras. Rain scenes
were another problem that they solved in the film. He says. "Water
is the most organic thing you can think of. It's constantly changing shape.
It's a very tough thing for the computer to do. I'm amazed at what we did."
On the light side, fans of trivia will love the words and images hidden
in the film. They had references to Pixar's earlier works in Toy Story,
and we can expect more of the same in this film. Stanton say you should
watch the credits to the end. He hints there is a surprise included.
Stanton say doing the music for a film can be very intimidating. Composers
have their own language and can be hard to communicate with. You try to
get your ideas across and then you come back in a few weeks to a studio
filled with musicians who are being paid by the hour. They play something
and you are asked, "what do you think?" He say today with most
composers, "there is really no room for change. Its a really sad state."
It comes as no surprise that the film has a score by Randy Newman. He won
an Oscar for his work on Toy Story, and more importantly Stanton
says "we ended Toy Story with a really great relationship with
Newman." He feels Newman is one musician who understands what they
are trying to do in their stories. "He doesn't do sappy!" Stanton
thinks Newman's score for the film is fantastic.
At present Stanton is helping out on films in production at Pixar that
he isn't directly involved in. He plans to take a long break and then begin
work next year on a picture he will direct without Lasseter. (He says he
hasn't had a real break since 1992 when they started Toy Story).
Lasseter will probably began another film next year. Considering that both
Toy Story and A Bug's Life were in production for four years,
it may be some time before the next films by Lasseter and Stanton are completed.
Meanwhile at least two more features from Pixar are in the works. One is
a sequel to Toy Story. It should come out in 1999. Details about
the other feature are expected to be announced in January.
NATIONAL NEWS
BILL PLYMPTON REPORTS his new feature, I Married a Strange
Person, is doing well in the United States. It has opened in 21
cities and more openings are planned. He has already received some royalty
income. Bill claims the distributor of his first feature never made a royalty
payment to him. When we talked to him in late October he was about to leave
for Paris to attend the French opening of his feature. After Paris his
plans included another European film festival. Tsvka Oren, the director
of the Fourth Creative Film Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel, wrote that his
screening of I Married A Strange Person was "the most
popular program" in his recent festival. They also showed Plympton's
live action feature Guns on the Klackamas. Oren wrote, "It
was happily greeted as a cult movie, with audience participation. A fun
kind of effective silliness." Strange Person opened
in San Francisco with very good reviews. Edward Guthmann in the Chronicle
says, "this is classic Plympton: an extended gross-out fantasy that
takes the fetishes and obsessions of a pre-adolescent boy and adds a sheen
of sophistication. It is all wildly imaginative and superbly executed.
Plympton himself draws every frame, without the help of a computer."
Bill is presently working on the script of an animated space alien feature.
He hopes to bring his adventure out first as a graphic novel. That way
he builds advanced interest in the feature and at the same time he retains
copyright control of his product.
Plympton is a master at finding creative ways to make money. If you are
interested in buying a limited edition copy of the 75 page storyboard to
his new film, it available from www.awn.com/plympton on the Internet.
ASIFA-EAST SHOWS WORK BY POOH KAYE, KAREN AQUA, JANE AARON, KATHY ROSE
AND OTHERS Included were Kaye's The Painted Princess (pictured)
and Wake-Up Call. She uses 3D space between her characters and backgrounds
in her magical work. They also showed experimental work by Karen Aqua working
with Jeanee Redmond, four shorts by Jane Aaron and a tape of a Kathy Rose
performance with projected animation and live dancers.
JOHN CANEMAKER was honored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York
City. They held a retrospective screening of his animated shorts on November
6. Canemaker has made several animated shorts, animated segments for documentaries
and a segment for the feature The World According to Garp.
He heads the animation department at New York University. He is also the
author of several important books on animation including a biography of
Winsor McCay, a monograph on Felix the Cat and several books about the
barely known animators and inspirational artists who worked for Disney.
Jytte Jensen of the museum's film department said, "No subject matter
is off-limits or deemed too `difficult' for the animation imagination of
John Canemaker, who has extended the vocabulary of the art form way beyond
the `safe' cartoon image Canemaker addresses the core of subjects with
compassion and fearlessness - the painterly qualities and accomplished,
energetic line movement expressing his artistic vision."
NW FILM CENTER'S ANNUAL FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION FROM
THE PORTLAND AREA They ran a program in Nov. featuring outstanding
work from Jim Blashfield, Will Vinton, John Callahan, Joanna Priestley,
Mark Gustafson Joan Gratz, Chel White and Rose Bond.
ASIFA HOLLYWOOD'S ANNIE AWARD CEREMONY WILL BE ON TV FOR THE FIRST TIME
The event was held November 13 and taped by Fox for their cable family
channel. They plan to air the show nationally in December. No air date
had been set when news of the deal with Fox was released.
"MORE" is the first fully animated stop-motion short film
created for exhibition in the Imex format. This 70 mm 15 perf project had
its world premiere in November at the California Science Center in Los
Angeles. The More premiere was presented by Flemington Pictures,
Bad Clams Productions, Swell Productions and the Large Format Cinema Association.
The film was directed by Mark Osborn. To round out the evening animated
films by Christine Panushka, Jules Engel and Barbel Neubauer were shown.
WEB SITES WITH HOT ANIMATION Since cable networks have started to
use the Internet the number of sites offering animation has grown. Macromedia
runs www.shockrave.com. Animation Express is www.hotwired.com/animation
At the moment the site features 8 shorts including Geri's Game
from Pixar. Nickelodian is at www.nick.com. The Cartoon Network's site
opens in early Dec. at www.cartoonnetwork.com. Other hot sites include
John Krickfalusi's www.spumco.com and a new Japanese animation site at
AnimeVillage.com It is run by Bandi, a distributor of Japanese animation
on video. Yet another site of possible interest is a Disney/Pixar promotion
at www.abugslife.com
AWN NEWS SERVICE reports a wide range of animation news stories
each week. Some of the items of interest in recent weeks include:
A Nightmare Before Christmas party was held in New York City
in October. It was at an animation gallery and was used to promote the
sale of a new "Nightmare" lithograph by Tim Burton.
The Society for Animation Studies has put out a call for papers
for their 1999 annual meeting. The conference will be held in Brisbane,
Australia in August or October. For further information contact www.awn.com/sas.
Nick Bosustow has joined the Peace Corps. He was the guest speaker
at our Sept. ASIFA event. He talked about his father, who was a founder
of UPA, and his work as an animation producer.
Tom Sito has joined Warner Bros. animation. He was offered a development
deal. He left DreamWorks where he had been a director on Quest for Camelot.
Sito is president of the animators union and provides ASIFA-Hollywood with
monthly programs in which he interviews members of the profession.
Peter Chung is designing a show called "Alexander." The
news series is for Samsung. Chung is best known as the creator of "Aeon
Flux," a series that was made in San Francisco at Colossal for MTV.
Klasky-Csupo has created a new animated series with Ronald McDonald.
It will be distributed through McDonald restaurants.
"Rugrats" offended the Anti-Defamation League. In September
an anti-Semetic image appeared in a "Rugrats" comic strip that
ran in papers across the United States. Nickelodeon agreed with the ADL
that the image was offensive and apologized. Nickelodeon said the offensive
character will not appear in future comic strips. The character is still
in the TV show, but the art and scripts are done by another company that
does not use the character in an offensive way.
The Simpsons will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
next September (1999).
Phil Tippett Animation Studio in Berkeley seeks experienced character
animators. A computer background is not necessary, but helpful. (A friend
says they are only looking for rotoscope artists at present despite their
listings on the Internet.) AWN also lists animation jobs in other parts
of the country. Among them are teaching positions at CAL Arts.
Mark Pesce will head a new interactive department at the University
of Southern California. He was a designer of San Francisco State Extension's
multi-media program and an author of VRML.
Bob Kane, the creator of Batman dies at age 83. He died of
natural causes at his home in LA.
A BUG'S LIFE opened at the El Capitan in LA with a special 3 hour
live show in spaces adjoining the film auditorium. There are 7 rooms of
fun open to the public. There are dancers and singers in the live show,
rooms with electronic games, a Bug's Life Store, and other treats for the
kids. The special show ends Jan. 3.
ANTZ opened in Australia and New Zealand on October 29.
Jan Lenica, the great Polish/French animator, is making his first
film in 20 years. It will feature live-action, animation, and optical effects.
Dumala Piotr is working on the film with Lenica. At the same time Marcin
Gzycki is making a 30 minutes documentary on Lenica. A retrospective of
Lenica's work will be presented at the 0ttawa International Animation Festival
in the year 2000.
Wild Brain (San Francisco) has made a sequel to their popular "Supermom"
Coke ad. "Supermom II" was directed by Mike Smith and Dave Marshall.
BEWARE: a scam artist using the name of John Constantino
is offering cgi jobs in your home if you buy a computer system from him.
He is also offering the units at a discount. His deal sound really great
to people who would love to break into the field. Too bad it isn't real.
Several police departments in the LA area are looking for him, as is the
FBI, IRS and FCC according to AWN. Apparently the scam has made the man
over $500,000.
STRESSED ERIC DIED A FAST DEATH NBC bought four episodes,
but the ratings were so low that the network pulled the program as quickly
as possible. This animated turkey was a co-production of Absolutely Productions,
the BBC and Klasky-Csupo.
VOLTRON IS BACK AS A MOTION CAPTURE SHOW The 26 episodes are being
generated as CG images on NT based PCs. Only 16 full time animators/artists
are needed for this project. The production is by Netter Digital Entertainment,
North Hollywood. The company is headed by Jason Netter. The motion capture
system used is made by Motion Analysis in Santa Rosa, CA. The system uses
optical markers on the actors. They used a 30 x 40 foot stage area. The
original Voltron TV series was done in cel animation.
BLUE SKY/VIFX DOES 3-D IMEX DINOSAURS that have a great deal more
detail than images in Jurassic Park. One frame of 70mm film
has almost 100 megabytes of information as opposed to 10 or 20 megabytes
in a standard 35mm image. Over 100 animators worked for over a year on
the dinosaurs in the film T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous.
They did a total of 34 dinosaur and effect shots in the 45 minute show.
A writer in Millimeter magazine raved about the film's realism.
Wavefront's Maya was used to render the beasts.
CURIOUS PICTURES IN NY did 3 PSA's that urge women to be more aware
of what they can do to fight breast cancer. Animated toys were used in
the messages. They also did work for Blue Shield and Reebok shoes.
KLASKY-CSUPO'S COMMERCIAL DIVISION REPRESENTS 9 GREAT INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS
who are well known for their independent work. They are Stig Bergquist,
Jim Blashfield, Sally Cruikshank, Steve Dovas, John Hause, Mike "Devil
Went Down to Georgia" Johnson, Corky Quackenbush, Debra Solomon and
Bonita Versh.
HOLLYWOOD TO DO ANOTHER ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE FEATURE - THIS TIME WITH
ANIMATED MOOSE AND SQUIREL PLUS JASON ALEXANDER The producers are Jay
Ward's daughter Tiffany and Robert De Niro. De Niro may play Fearless Leader.
Alexander is cast as Boris and Jane Rosenthal as Natasha. CGI technology
will be used for Rocky and Bullwinkle and a few effects.
EMPLOYMENT
ANIMATION/3D VISUALIZATION ARTIST wanted for a full-time, tenure are track faculty position. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago seeks a practicing artist to teach and help expand animation courses in art & technology and filmmaking. Animator/filmmakers, 3D animators, and real-time 3D visualization artists are encourage to apply. Qualifications: ability to work with beginning and advance students, work in interdisciplinary program that may use film, video, sound, painting, sculpture, etc. Position is full-time, tenure track, rank open. AA.EOA.WMA
Send letter of application, resume, statement of teaching philosophy,
sample of work, names and addresses of three references and self addressed
stamped envelope by February 1 to Animation Search Committee, Office of
the Dean, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 37 South Wabash Avenue,
Chicago, I I 60603
TEACHING OPPORTUNITY AT DE ANZA The college located in the heart of Silicon Valley has
an immediate opening in the animation department. They are also forming
a part-time faculty file with animators and instructors interested in teaching
there in the future.
If you wish to be considered to teach a computer animation course in the
winter quarter, send a resume and cover letter stating your educational
background, previous teaching history and animation production experience.
Deadline is December 11. Consult De Anza's website at www.deanza.fhda.edu/animation.
The schools animation program integrates the training in fine art skills
and computer graphics with four animation history and 17 animation production
courses. DeAnza is currently expanding the program and is forming a part-time
faculty pool that will teach one or more of the following:2D traditional
animation (drawn), 3D traditional animation (puppet), 2D computer animation
(Mac platform), 3D computer animation (Silicon Graphics), digital compositing,
drawing for animators, animation script and storyboard, animation history
and area studies.
If you are interested in future openings send a resume and letter stating
courses you would be interested in teaching to Martin McNamara, Animation
Program Director, Film/Television Department, De Anza College, 21250 Stevens
Creek Boulevard, Cupertino, CA 95014 or fax creative arts division office,
(408) 864-8492. The school is an equal opportunity employer.
FESTIVALS
ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL deadline is Feb. 1 for entry form. The
jury this year includes animator Chel White and Bay Area filmmaker Lynne
Sachs. Festival offers numerous cash prizes, other awards and a national
tour. Entry fee is $32. For entry form and details write the Ann Arbor
Film Festival, P. O. Box 8232, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107 (734) 995-5356
NEW YORK ANIMATION FESTIVAL deadline is Feb. 1. Thirty-five dollars
entry fee. Awards include prizes and film services. Early entry fee and
student rates available. Contact New York Animation Festival, PO Box 1513,
Peter Stuyvesant Station, New York, NY 10009 (212) 260-0912
MAIL ORDER
NEW WHOLE TOON CATALOG IS OUT this is a great mail order catalog of books and tapes. The company is 10 years old and sells a really wide range of products. The new books in the catalog include Creating 3D Animation by Peter Lord and Brian Sibley, That's Enough Folks, Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900 - 1960, and an exact reprint of first book published in this country about animation (Lutz, Animated Cartoons, 1920). The new tapes out include American Pop, Batman and Mr. Freeze, a reel of black and white Popeye cartoons and three volumes of South Park. There are lots of rare gems at reasonable prices. For a free copy write to Facets Multi-Media, 1517 West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614 (800) 331-6197
EVENTS
ASIFA - SAN FRANCISCO PRESENTS AN ANIMATED CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTMAS SEASON by several modern masters, including: CAROL - RICHARD WILLIAMS, CRAC - FREDERIC BACK, THE SWEATER - SHELDON COHEN OLD BOX - PAUL DRIESSEN, CHRISTMAS CRACKERS - JEFF HALE, GERALD POTTERTON, NORMAN McLAREN & Others and other rare treats. 16mm prints - no video. This is a wonderful selection of rarely seen works Saturday, December 12, 11:20 am, free, public invited at the Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight Street. SPECIAL THANKS TO PRESCOTT WRIGHT FOR SHARING THESE TRESURES WITH US
ASIFA SAN FRANCISCO
P.O. Box 14516
San Francisco, CA 94117
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© 1998 Animation World Network
| This issue was written by Karl Cohen, proofread by Jim Gates and laid out by Shirley Smith. Membership is $18 a year from the above address. Highlights of back issues can be found on the internet at www.awn.com in the animation village. |