ASIFA San Fransisco

January 1999 Newsletter

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News

PIXAR FAKES ARE A HIT Somebody at Pixar had a great idea - create a few fake out-takes to show while the end credits are on the screen. They created so many for A Bug's Life that they had enough to create two entirely different sets of them. They switched to the second set of out-takes on Dec. 18. Disney even launched an ad campaign for them a few days before their premier. Time magazine called the first group of out-takes " the funniest finale of any animated feature." The big question is will they helped bring an audience back? I suspect the answer is yes.

The original out-takes were novel enough to warrant a press story about them in November when the film was released. If you saw the story in the Chronicle and wondered who the FAKE JOHN LASSETER was in the photo, it was co-director Andrew Stanton. As part of fun Pixar captioned the photo as being an image of John Lasseter. It was an article about fakes, so why not have a goofy photo caption too...

BUG'S LIFE SEES GREEN - LOTS OF IT A Bug's Life grossed $46.1 million in its opening week. After a month at the box office it had grossed $95.9 million (as of December 21) and was #3 in the charts. This is about what Toy Story did in its first month of release. Don't be surprised if Bug's Life equals its first week gross over the final days of December. This is a time when Disney hits released at Thanksgiving generally make another enormous sum of money. (late news: as of Dec. 27 the film's gross was $114.6 million)

If you are wondering how the film's gross compares with Rugrats box office, the last sighting of Rugrats on the charts was $73.2 million at the end of twenty-four days. The film is now off of the charts, so it will probably make only a few more million in theaters. Bug's Life grossed $83.3 million in twenty-four days and it was still near top of the chart. Klasky-Csupo, Nickelodian and producer Terry Thoern should be congratulated on the success of Rugrats. Rumor has it that the film's distributor had little faith in the project and thought the feature should go direct to video.

It comes as no surprise that magazines are full of Pixar stories at present. John Lasseter made the cover of Film & Video. Nice photos, but their article wasn't that well thought out. For a more interesting article see the November issue of Millimeter. John Lasseter talks about what cgi films might be like in the coming years.

Another fine article on the Pixar feature is in VisFX, a supplement to the Nov. issue of Millimeter. The issue also has a nice article on PDI's Antz.

PDI/DREAMWORKS ANNOUNCE THEIR THIRD FEATURE PDI, the studio that produced the hit Antz, is now busy on Shrek, their second feature. They have just announce that their third computer animated feature will be Tusker. It is an epic adventure starring a herd of elephants making a treck across South East Asia. Tim Johnson, co-director of Antz, and Brad Lewis, Antz's producer, will co-direct. Work has started on the production.

PRINCE OF EGYPT IS OFF TO A GOOD START Dreamwork's Prince of Egypt opened in 2nd place with a $14.2 million first week and $15.3 million for the week ending Dec. 26. The film should gross a lot more the week after Christmas if it is going to be a box office hit.

PDI NAMES JAMES DeROSE President and Chief Executive Officer. He will be responsible for the company's day to day operations including the feature, commercial and film effects divisions. Carl Rosendahl, the current president, will assume the role of chairman. DeRose comes to the company from Acclaim Entertainment where he was President and Chief Operating Officer of their software publishing and distribution division.

GEORGE MERKERT JOINS PDI as an executive producer for the motion picture visual effects division. He had previously been at Sony Pictures Imageworks where he produced visual effects for feature films and over 100 TV commercials, music videos and short films. His recent feature credits include Godzilla, Starship Troopers and As Good As It Gets. From 1979 to 1986 he was General Manager, Chief Financial Officer and an executive producer at Colossal Pictures in San Francisco. He has been working in the industry for over 20 years.

SIX FOOT TWO EXPLODES BUGS in a Nintendo game ad for "Buck Bumble." Robbn Atherly directed.

JOEY AWARDS GO TO ANIMATED WORK FROM LUDICROUS PRODUCTIONS, KNTV AND BRODERBUND Ludicrous won in the animation category for a marketing film produced for Compass Rose Productions. Broderbund won for a Rugrats CD Rom and KNTV won in the electronic animation category for a show opening. Entries in the 3 categories also came from Metropolis Digital, Fat Box, Media Production Group, Blue Light Animations, Live Action Digital, Telemuondo (KSTS-48), Athena Interactive and 12 Centimeter Multimedia Corp.

SALLY CRUCKSHANK SELLS LIMITED RIGHTS TO HER WORKS TO HDTV Cruickshank, who lived in San Francisco in the 1970s, has sold the rights to 6 of her shorts through the year 2000 to Unity Motion of St. Louis. The HDTV satellite channel is in the process of spending $250 million on acquisitions.

COLOSSAL'S BLOCKBUSTER ADS FOR CHRISTMAS AND ZOOGS FOR ALL SEASONS The Blockbuster ads feature a cyber Santa of the future. Mike Smith designed him, George Evelyn was the director and Chuck Gammage animated. Friends who watch a lot of TV say the ads were among the best to air in December.

Colossal is also proud of their recent work for Disney. They created characters called Zoogs that appear on both TV and on www.disney.com. They are aimed at an audience 8 - 12. Credits include George Evelyn as Senior Creative Director, Jana Canellos as Executive Producer, Amy Caapen as producer and David Delp as director.

Mondo Media did the Zoog animation. Scott Tolme was their CG Creative Director, Pete Parisi the Art Director and George Donero the Lead Animator. The animators were Aubrey Ankrun, Richard Nelson, Katie O'Shea, Jim Ellis, Todd Treanor and Ryan Yoshimoto.

COLOSSAL DOES NEW OPENING FOR NICKELODEON FEATURES The 10 second theatrical opening was animated in time for the release of the Rugrat feature. Charlie Canfield was the director, Chuck Gammage in Oakville, Ontario did the animation and George Evelyn and Drew Takahashi were the creative directors.

CURIOUS PICTURES DOES TEXAS LOTTERY AD It uses paper photo animation, stock footage and other materials. Chel White was the director/designer. Lead animator was Laura DiTrapani. Aaron Brown also animated the spot.

CHEL WHITE'S NEW SHORT TO SCREEN AT SUNDANCE The 4 minute black and white short is Dirt, and it has already won a first prize in Stockholm. White works as a director at Curious Pictures.

RADIUM COMBINES 2-D AND 3-D ANIMATION IN A KEEBLER A SPOT Their 3-D cg artists were William Opdyke and Deborah Santosa. The 2-D animation came from Celluloid Studio in Denver.

MATTEL TO BUY LEARNING COMPANY The $3.8 billion deal joins Barbie, owned by Mattel, with Carmen Sandiego, Living Books and other products. Once upon a time Learning Company was a small company in Fremont, California. Soft Key in Massachusetts purchased them for $600 million in 1995. In March of this year Learning Company purchased Mindscape in Novato, CA for $150 million. In June, 1998, they purchased Broderbund for $420 million. In December they purchased yet another company, Palladium Interactive of San Rafael. Now an even bigger fish has gobbled up this group of companies.

DID YOU STUDY ANIMATION AT S.F. STATE? The Cinema Dept. is trying to locate its former students in animation for an event in March. The plans for the event are just beginning to take shape, so don't expect people in the office to know any details. At this point they just want to develop the guest list and find out which former animation students are working in the animation industry or on personal film projects. Please call the Cinema Dept. office at (415) 338-1629 and let them know who you are, how to contact you by phone/mail and if you are working with some form of animation (or did something of note in animation since graduating).

GORDON THOMAS SEEKS YOUR HELP! He is doing a stop-motion project on film called Gorgonzola. He needs prop-makers and animation interns to help out. There will also be a need for people to help do 2-D work. Learn as much as you can handle. Contact Gordon at (415) 775-8375 or email: deebo@sfsu.edu

INK AND PAINT EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES NEED A GOOD HOME Margeret Hale used to run a major ink and paint service in San Francisco. She wants to find a school, studio, or student that will make her a small offer for a light box, 2 plastic boards with Acme pegs, a metal Acme peg bar that can be taped down, about 8 Rapidographs, a packet of 8 field cels, lots of Cartoon Color paints, etc. For details call (510) 841-5805 (Berkeley).

INTRODUCTORY ANIMATION WORKSHOP WITH THE LEGENDARY GARY SCHWARTZ Film Arts Foundation is bringing this talented teacher to town Jan. 11 - 17 for this intensive series of daily classes. Call (415) 552-8760 for details.

CHILDREN OF THE YELLOW KID is the current show at Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. It covers the evolution of the American comic strip. The museum is at 814 Mission Street on the second floor. The show ends Sunday Feb. 21, 1999.

THE FOG CITY FEST/SPARKEY AWARDS will honor Sergio Aragones, Gus Arriola, Carl Barks and Dale Messick. Event is Fri. Feb. 12 at the Radisson Miyako Hotel. $150 per person. For details about this big event call the Cartoon Art Museum or (415) 474-0715

JASON SHIGA IS DOING A NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIP Jason just graduated from Berkeley and is busy doing a full-page strip in the youth publication Yo! His latest animated short Double Duce will be shown at our open screening Fri. Jan. 29.

 

MAGAZINES

ANIMATION PLANET switches from being a paper product to being an electronic publication on the Internet in January. Michael Dobbs, the editor, writes that magazine distributors have made it almost impossible for small publications to exist on magazines rack sales. One deal offered him required a $200 processing fee, plus 55 percent of the cover price going to the distributor, plus the publisher paying shipping to the warehouse and shipping to the retailers. One distributor said he would charge the publisher 60 percent plus shipping charges, " but they wanted me to publish several issues so they could evaluate my content to see if it was up to their standards! This proclamation from a company that distributes pornography!"

The new electronic publication goes online in January. It will be on the www.comicon.com site. If you wish to reach the publisher his address is 17 Spruce Street, Springfield MA 01105

ANIMATOON JOURNAL IN THE KOREAN LANGUAGE could very well be the best magazine covering the international animation world today. The latest issue covers several festivals with lists of winners and articles that discuss the events that took place. There is world animation news and an article on Bill Plympton's new feature next to an article on DreamWorks Prince of Egypt. There are dozens of other articles, all illustrated with high quality reproductions in color. A few articles are in English, but the majority are only in Korean. A single issue is $6.50 plus shipping. Six issues are $38 plus shipping. For further information write AKOM Production, 71-6 Munjung-Dong, Songpa-Ku, Seoul, Korea.

ANIMATED LIFE is a new publication. #1 came out in Sept. A review of it in another publication sounded very promising. Subscriptions are 6 issues for $23.50 from R.D. #6, Box 650, Uniontown, PA 15401 (724) 437-9408

 

BOOKS


BACK LOT, GROWING UP WITH THE MOVIES by Maurice Rapf, just published by Scarecrow Press. This is an autobiography that should fascinate most serious readers of film history. Maurice's father was a founder of MGM, hence the book's title. Maurice writes about a trip to Russia while he was in college, and work as a screenwriter in Hollywood after Dartsmouth College. He spends several pages talking about work as a writer in the mid-1940s for Walt Disney on Song of the South and other projects. Disney hired him knowing he was Jewish and a radical. This tends to contradict writers who claim Disney was anti-Semetic and intolerant of people to the left of center. Maurice writes with a great deal of respect about Disney.

Rraf's career in Hollywood ends with the blacklist. He moved east but couldn't escape the House Un-American Activities Committee and their "friends." He talks about trying to survive in those troubled times. He took writing jobs under assumed names. He worked on industrial films and other projects where clients didn't care about blacklists. Eventually he became a film critic and professor at Dartmouth College.

The author contributed a great deal to my book Forbidden Animation. I found his auto-biography to be a well told, fascinating story. He covers a side of the industry rarely written about. (I saw the manuscript before the book was finished.) The 240 page book retails for $35. Scarecrow has a toll free number (800) 462-6420.

WE EAT TONIGHT! Is the latest book from Bill Plympton. $5.95 from www.awn.com/plympton/ If you love his outrageous humor, this book is a lot of fun. "Very funny" and "4 thumbs up" are just a few of the comments from friends. Stores or individuals can order copies from Plymptoons Publishing Co., 107 W. 25th St. #4B, New York, N.Y. 10001

 

NATIONAL NEWS

BURGER KING HAS `NEAR RECORD SALES' DUE TO THEIR RUGRATS PROMOTIONS
When I read this exciting news they had already sold $50 to 55 million in Rugrat meals. Theme meals are BIG with kids. Lion King and Pocahontas meal were also big sellers.

PAUL FIERLINGER'S DRAWN FROM MEMORY IS AVAILABLE ON TAPE This beautifully animated autobiography aired on PBS a year or two ago. Paul came to the U.S. in WWII and then returned to grow up as a Czech citizen. His father became a high ranking govt. official. Paul grew to hate life behind the Iron Curtain. It is a sensitive telling of this story and Paul's longing to return to the U. S. Available only from AWN on the Internet.

MTV CHARACTER CONTEST WINNERS were Mitch Greenblatt from NY ($2,000), Thomas Schmid from NY ($1,500) and Robyn Chapman of Alaska ($1,000). The winners work may become the basis for a pilot/series by MTV.

AROUND THE COUNTRY WITH ASIFA In December the chapter in NY presented a program of Jiri Trnka. The Oscar winning clay animator Jimmy Picker introduced the program. The chapter's newsletter reports The Japan Society Film Center in N.Y. is running a major Japanese animation film series in Dec. - Feb. The works are from the 1940s to the present. 12 different programs are being presented.

The Washington D.C. chapter presented a program on the history of computer animation in Dec. The group is presently gathering entries for their annual animation competition.

The Hollywood chapter held their Annie Awards in Nov. They report that Tom Sito, who does programs for ASIFA and is president of the animators' union, is working on Osmosis Jones, an animated feature in development at Warner Bros. The animation dept. there is also working on Iron Giant and a Mr Limpet feature.

The Chicago area chapter has asked for people to submit papers and presentations for their Fri. April 30 - Sun. May 2 conference/retreat. This is their main event of the year and it is held at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois (near Utica).

WALLACE AND GROMIT ARE BACK They just made a guest appearance on an episode of Rex The Runt, a TV series from the studio that produced the Nick Park shorts. The show was a Christmas special in England. It aired on BBC 2 in December.

SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION sets dates for 1999. The event will be Aug. 12 15, 1999. This is the largest comic convention in the U.S. and it attracts people interested in animation and special effects. If you are interested in attending or selling at the event contact ComicCon, P.O. Box 128458, San Diego California 92112 8458 www.comic-con.org

 

EMPLOYMENT

MONDO MEDIA seeks a character animator and/or director. At least 3 years experience. 3D Max, etc. Send letter, resume and an impressive reel to 135 Mississippi Street, 3rd floor, S.F. CA 94107

EDINBORO UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA seeks an animation instructor, full-time, tenure tract, starting fall, 1999. Pay is $30,823 - 45,540 for 9 months. Deadline is Feb. 27, 1999. Position is for someone to teach traditional animation. Knowledge of cgi will be helpful. For details contact Dr. Terry L. Smith, Dean of Liberal Arts, Edinboro Univ. of PA, Edinboro, PA 16444

RINGLING SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN (Sarasota, Florida) An Internet listing says they want 2 animation instructors, full-time (3 classes each term). One teacher to present the principles of traditional animation. Should have a professional background, knowledge of animation history, and digital ink and paint and/or cgi. The cgi teacher should have a knowledge of Wavefront's Maya, UNIX/IREX and professional experience. They will start looking at resumes Jan. 15. Contact Maria Palazzi, CGI Dept. Head, 2700 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida 34234

ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF ART seeks full & part-time instructors for downtown Chicago and Schamburg campuses to teach traditional 2-D and 3-D animation (not cgi). Director of Human Resources, 350 New Orleans, Suite 136L, Chicago, Illinois 60654

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO seeks someone for a full-time, tenure track position in animation/3D visualization. They want a practicing artist who can teach. Send letter, resume, statement of teaching philosophy, references, work samples and SASE to Animation Search Committee, Office of the Dean, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 37 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60603 Feb.1 deadline.

 

FESTIVALS

THE ART DIRECTORS CLUB annual call for entries, deadline is Jan. 15. There are film and video categories, an interactive section, a student category etc. All entries must have been printed, published or aired last year. Entry fees range from $25 dollars for a student project to $110 for TV campaigns. For further information contact The Art Directors Club, 2500 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003, (212) 228-0500.

ANNECY '99, the festival will be May 31 - June 5. Deadline for entry is Feb. 21. For information about attending or entering the event contact the festival at: 6 Avenue des Iles, bp 399, 74013 Annecy Cedex, France.

ASIFA-EAST ANNUAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL entry form will be available soon. This is a great festival to enter as it is shown each year by most of the chapters in the U.S. For forms contact Linda Simensky, V.P. or Original Animation, Cartoon Network, 1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 (404) 885-0821 or fax 885-2456

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

HUMBOLDT has a Jan. 27 deadline for video and Feb. 2 for films in 8mm or 16mm. This is a college event that likes to show animation by students and independents. Some cash prizes. $34 entry fee. Humboldt Film Festival, HSU Theater Arts Dept., Arcata, CA 95521 (707) 826-4113

BRAINWASH has a May 1 deadline for July 2 & 3 event. They show odd and unusual shorts on video (original can be on film). They love showing animation. $25 entry fee, no cash prizes, exposure in underground locations that your mother would probably avoid entering. Primitive, homemade qualities seem to be a plus at this event. All entries should be on VHS. Write Shelby Toland, PO Box 881911, S.F. CA 94188 (415) 273-1545 Www.laughingsquid.com/brainwash

 

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

FRENCH SCI-FI FEATURE RETURNS TO SAN FRANCISCO Fantastic Planet is an animated feature from France by Rene Laloux, 1973. It won a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and had a successful theatrical run in the U.S. 25 years ago. It is a science-fiction classic and is well worth seeing on the big screen during this revival of the work. The film opened December 25 at the Lumiere in San Francisco. Hopefully it will still be on the screen there when you get this newsletter. It also plays the U.C in Berkeley Jan. 3 - 5.

ANTZ PLAYS WITH HANNAH AND HER SISTERS AND LOVE AND DEATH at the U.C. Theatre, Berkeley, Tues. Jan. 19 and Wed. Jan. 20

PHIL TIPPET TRIBUTE, STARSHIP TROOPERS WITH ROBO COP at the U.C. Theatre, Berkeley, Friday, Jan. 22.

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.

THE RED VIC 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!"
Show times are 2, 4, 7:15 and 9:15 on Sunday and 7:15 and 9:15 on Monday. The theatre is at 1727 Haight (415) 668-3994 - recorded message.

FABLED PUPPETS OF THE CINEMA AT PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE IN FEB. - THE SERIES STARTS WITH A SHOW OF SHORTS FROM THE 1990'S ON TUESDAY FEB. 2 at 7:30 PM The program on the 2nd includes 2 shorts by the Bros Quay, The Comb and Are We Still Married?, Janie Geiser's The Red Book, Marjut Rimminen's Stain, Fae Yamaguchi's Horse Farm, Laura Heir's Parachutes and Nancy Andrews' Woods Marm. The series continues on Feb. 9 & 16 with more shows of puppet films from the 1990's.

CZECH ANIMATOR MICHAELA PAVLATOVA IN PERSON A RETROSPECTIVE SHOW SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 7:30 P.M. at DeANZA COMMUNITY COLLEGE Advanced Technology Center Theater (room 120).
Michaela Pavlatova is an independent animator who teaches at the Film Academy in Prague. Her work has won numerous awards at international film/animation festivals (first prizes at Annecy, etc.}. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her film Reci, Reci, Reci (Words, Words, Words). She will talk about her career and introduce us to her work.

Program:

presented by ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO, WOMEN IN FILM AND THE ANIMATION PROGRAM AT DE ANZA COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO AND THE EXPLORATORIUM'S FILM DEPARTMENT PRESENT THE LATEST ANIMATED WORK FROM THE BAY AREA ANNUAL OPEN SCREENINGS Friday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM, student and independent work Friday, February 5 at 7:30 PM, professional studios present their work at the EXPLORATORIUM'S McBEAN THEATRE 7:30 P.M. both nights.
While some of the work that shows up will be a surprise, we already know that on January 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 following plan to show their new work:

*denotes work shot in 35mm - they will be screened tonight in video

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.

IT ISN'T TOO LATE TO SHOW YOUR WORK. You can also show up unannounced the night of the show with a reel (16mm, " or " video) and we will show it.

A brief annual business meeting will be held on the 29th.

ASIFA SAN FRANCISCO
P.O. Box 14516
San Francisco, CA 94117

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.

Membership/subscription is $18 a year or $40 for both local and international membership.

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