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IDEAS IN ANIMATION PREMIERES NEW FILMS BY NINA PALEY, VICTORIA LIVINGSTONE, ROCK ROSS, MICHAEL RUDNICK AND PHILIP KROHN Saturday, May 20 & Sunday, May 21, at the Victoria Theater. 8 PM, $10 ($7 students).
Paley will show Fetch, her new 4 minute work made with a FAF Grant (and with music by Nik Phelp funded by a Meet The Composer grant). In it a man looses his perspective while playing with his dog.
Victoria Livingstone will show Window, which just won a Golden Spire award at the SF Film Festival. Other new highlights are Krohn's new Untitled #1, and Ross and Rudnick's Footage, a dance film. There will be other animated work plus lots of live music and surprises.
The Victoria Theater is at 2961 16th St
COMING FROM ILM THIS SUMMER are 3 live action special effect features. On June 30 Perfect Storm from Warner Bros. opens. It is a sea adventure based on a tragedy that happened in 1991. The best seller was written by Sebastian Junger. Nagisa Yamamato of ILM says the special effects were very demanding. ILM had never created so much footage of rough seas and awful weather before.
Their second big film is The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (made with Wild Brain and Universal). It also opens on June 30.
The third film is Space Cowboys with Clint Eastwood. It opens in August.
The company's recent work on major releases includes effects for Mission to Mars, Snow Falling of Cedars, Green Mile, Galaxy Quest and Magnolia.
TIME WARNER BUYS 17 MORE EPISODES FROM MONDO MEDIA They are episodes in the God and Devil series. They are run on entertaindom.com
OUR PROGRAM ON ANIMATION ON THE INTERNET WAS AN IMPRESSIVE GLIMPSE INTO THIS EXCITING NEW MEDIUM Talent from 4 companies explained what they are doing, how it is done, how it is being marketed and other basics. They showed samples of their company's approach and there were obvious differences. The large audience kept them busy answering questions. People left excited by what had been presented.
At least one person went home to her computer and spent a few hours creating new material. Tara Packard had previously found trying to create simplified images for the Internet taxing, but after hearing the speakers describe their work she realized what she was doing wrong. She says her work that resulted that night was "a breakthrough."
Some of the evenings discussion centered on different business models. Mondo and Spunky presented different approaches which resulted in fascinating discussions on how people are producing income using web animation.
The technical discussions were also quite engrossing. One company was producing animation that was complex and moved quickly, but only people with the latest high end equipment and fast servers can see it in its full glory. The two year old computer at State couldn't satisfactorily play back their animation and soundtrack. The other studios produced simpler works so people who had good computers, but not the latest, could view them.
John Grimes, who does editorial cartoons for the Chronicle and a lot of other publications (and a few books), was delighted by the humor in several of the works shown. He said Mondo Media's interview with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stone by God and the Devil "cracked me up." He was also quite impressed by the segment's production values.
The people responsible for this inspiring evening were Goose and Kenn Navarro from Mondo Media, Mark Badger from Lemon Custard Comics, Thomas Ajello from Spunky Town and the creators of two series run on Wild Brain.com. They are Dave Fremont, whose series Glue is now in its 2nd season (the first dozen episodes that were planned are finished) and Chris Lanier, the creator of Romanov. Four episodes of Romanov are on the site and 7 of the 12 in the series have been completed. Karen Said, editor of Film/Tape World was the moderator.
COMING THURSDAY JUNE 8, THE ANNUAL ASIFA-EAST ANIMATION COMPETITION WINNERS This is a rare chance to see a fine selection of new work. It was selected by NY chapter members who voted for there favorites in April. The results will be announced in May when they screen the 2 hr program of winners. Our screening will be at the Exploratorium.
CARTOON ART MUSEUM BRINGS DISNEY'S WARD KIMBALL. STAN LEE AND MORRIE TURNER TO TOWN TO HONOR THEM AS SPARKY AWARDS WINNERS 2000, SAT. MAY 13 This delightful evening begins at the museum with a cocktail reception, silent auction and puppet show by JoJo la Plume (6-8 pm). The guests will then walk _ a block to the SF Marriott Hotel where a dinner (fish/chicken/vegetarian) and award presentation will take place. Speakers and presenters include Jean Schulz, Phil Frank and animation art collector Mike Glad.
This is a rare chance to meet Ward Kimball, who worked with Walt on some of the studio's greatest projects, along with the world famous Stan Lee and Morrie Turner. Each will be honored for a lifetime of accomplishments. The award is named after Charles "Sparky" Schulz, the creator of Peanuts.
This is an important fund raiser for a wonderful San Francisco institution. Tickets can be purchased at the museum, 814 Mission, 2nd floor, SF 94103. For further information call Jenny Robb (415) 227-8669.
WEBSTER COLCORD IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT HIS WORK CAN NOW BE SEEN ON ATOM FILM'S WEBSITE Three of his animated films are currently on view and more will be available soon. Colcord moved to the Bay Area a few years ago from Portland. He worked on Antz at PDI. www.atomfilms.com
ARON WARNER IS NAMED THE NEW HEAD OF PDI Recent news stories have Carl Rosendahl, PDI founder, and Jim DeRose, PDI's president and CEO resigning for "unspecified business opportunities." Jeff Katzenberg of DreamWorks has announced that Warner will be PDI/DreamWorks new head.
Before Warner joined PDI he was a vice-president of 20th Century Fox. He joined PDI in 1997 to serve as a producer on Antz. He led PDI through a restructuring following the completion of the feature. He "re-launched" PDI's commercial and features effects business.
CURIOUS PICTURES PRESENTED TO THE TV INDUSTRY 3 SERIES AT THE MIP TRADE SHOW Prickles the Cactus, by Denis Morella of the San Francisco office, was one of the shows presented. It was made for the Cartoon Network and their web site cartoonnetwork.com. Sheep in the Big City by Mo Willems (NY Office) was also made for the Cartoon Network. A 3rd show was created by Joan Raspo and Amy Sohn of New York City.
WILD BRAIN CONTINUES TO WOW THE PUBLIC WITH THEIR WORK Their 3 recent 30 second Nike spots made to be shown in Asia (Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia) were hot enough for the company to translate them into English and to schedule them for air-play during the basketball season playoffs on NBC and ESPN. Ed Bell directed the 3 ads that show 3 basketball stars (Kevin Garnett, Jason Williams and Tim Duncan) turning into animated characters. Both 2D cel animation and 3D cgi were used in the ads.
Go to a Century Theater (there are over 400 of them) in the coming months and you will see a trailer opener directed by Charlie Canfield. The trailer is called "Klieg Lights."
The company is busy finishing their work for the Rocky and Bullwinkle feature (it also has a lot of work in it by ILM). They are also doing an in-house short cg film titled Hubert's Brain. Phil Roman and Gordon Clark are directing.
Several commercial projects are being readied. Carl Willats is directing several ads for ReesesSticks using
2D, 3D cgi and stop-motion. Phil Robinson and Tom Rubalcava are directing 2 more Willie Wonka spots. Ed Bell and Robert Valley are directing 3 thirty second ads for Sony Music. The company is also doing 4 more ads for Ritz Crackers.
Meanwhile their Wild Brain.com division has 4 shows on the web and plans to have 16 additional shows up by the end of the year. The current series are Glue, Space is Dum, Romanov and Joe Paradise.
"FILM/TAPE WORLD" ARTICLE "ANIMATION DIRECTORS SPARK ADS TO LIFE" FEATURES INTERVIEWS WITH KEVIN COFFEY, JERRY VAN DE BEEK, CLIFF BOULE AND LARRY BAFIA The 2 page article in the April issue covers the value of using animated characters to sell products and some of the thing that make animation so effective. There is also a discussion of advertising on the Internet.
The directors interviewed were Kevin Coffey who runs Cartoonland, Jerry van de Beek, co-founder of Little Fluffy Clouds, and Cliff Boule and Larry Bafia who are with PDI. The article was written by Emily Golembiewski.
IF YOU HAVE A WEB SITE, IS IT LINKED TO THE ASIFA-SF SITE? Go to www.asifa-sf.org for details. We also can list late breaking events, job openings and "whatever else members want to contribute" says John Grimes. He did a remarkable job gathering the information on it, but he knows we don't have everything that should be on it. Don't be shy. Send us information..
CHRIS LANIER, CREATOR OF "ROMANOV" ON WILD BRAIN.COM Lanier brings to the Internet a simple bold style that is quite handsome and distinct. His Romanov (shown at our April event) is quit different from Combustion, his graphic novel published by Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, 1999. I spoke with him about his background to find out who this rising talent is.
Lanier grew up drawing comics. He majored in art at World College West and has an art degree from this now defunct branch of New College (it was in Petaluma). He slowly developed a career in comics including being a regular freelance reviewer of graphic novels for The Chronicle.
He is self-taught in animation (no classes). He say "I fell into animation from comics." He had a computer and saw an offer for free use of Flash 2 for a month. He figured out how to use it, created his first work and entered it into a Real Network's animation festival. He won first place in the non-professional category. The judges included Bill Plympton, Stan Lee and Christine Panushka. His prize included a lot of computer equipment which allowed him to continue working in animation. (He now works in Flash 4.)
When he entered his first project in a Film Arts Foundation competition, he won a grant to do a 4 minute film. He says the project was more sophisticated than his work for the Internet. The finished work resulted in a call from Wild Brain expressing interest in his doing something for them.
His favorite artist is Franz Masereel who worked with animator Berthold Bartosh on bring his book The Idea (83 woodcuts) to the screen. The book was published in Germany in 1927 and the film was completed in 1932. He discovered Masereel quite by accident. One of his books was in a remaindered bin at City Lights Books in SF. There is a direct link between Masereel's work and the style of Lanier's book Cumbustion.
Another inspiration that is less obvious is Lotte Reiniger and her silhouette feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). He say watching her film taught him the importance of strong poses instead of trying to animate fluid motion on the Internet. He also praises the work of Norman McLaren, Alexander Alexeieff, Claire Parker, Buster Keaton "and all the other usual suspects."
In his daily life he now does web design work. He continues with his interest in doing comics and he hope to someday do books for children.
SHOW YOUR WORK ON KTSF, CHANNEL 26 IN SF Dirk Dirkson who, ran the punk shows at the Mab, is looking for short segments to show and people to interview at 1:30 AM on Fridays. Call him at (415) 206-1621.
ANIMATION MAGAZINE HAS NEWS OF TWO LOCAL COMPANIES IN THE APRIL ISSUE BUT DOESN'T EVEN MENTION THE NAME OF ONE AND DOESN'T SAY THE OTHER IS IN THE BAY AREA A corporate profile of EM.TV and Merchandising featured a picture of Poochini's Yard, a show they distribute in every country except the USA, South Africa and Malaysia. The article didn't bother to mention the show was created by Wild Brain, or that the company is in SF.
The second article was on Curious Pictures' new toy division. It has been established with a design firm to better exploit the financial potential of products based on Curious shows. They mention the company was in NY, but didn't mention Curious also has a busy local studio.
MAJOR CONFERENCES, CONVENTIONS AND AWARD SHOWS ARE COMING SOON TO THE BAY AREA & LA The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences will hold their 4th Annual Webby Awards May 11 at the San Francisco Masonic Center. They are "the Oscars of the Internet" and "they bring glamour to the world of technology." (415) 974-7400 or www.webbyawards.com
28th Annual Chase H&Q Technology Conference, May 8-11 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in SF. This a show and tell event for high tech companies. (415) 439-3005, www.hamquist.com (by invitation only)
Real Conference 2000, May 22-26, San Jose Convention Center, sponsored by the Internet's RealNetworks, (800) 844-35408, www.real.com/conference
Adobe Photoshop Users Conference, June 14 at the Holiday Inn, 1500 Van Ness in SF and June 15 at Wyndham Garden, 1350 N. First St. in San Jose, (800) 867-4340 or www.compumaster.net
MultiMediaCon (Audio, Video & MultiMedia over IP Networks), June 20-23 at the San Jose Convention Center. (800) 227-1234 or www.multimediacom2000.com
The Electronic Entertainment Expo is May 10-13 at the LA Convention Center. No one under 18 allowed. (800) 315-1133. www.e3expo.com
Large Format Cinema Association Annual Conference and Film Festival May 17-20 (IMAX, etc.) Call (949) 831-1142
The World Animation Celebration, May 30-June 4, (818) 575-9620 or www.wacfest.com
ASIFA-SF STILL NEEDS SOMEBODY TO PRINT OUT OUR MAILING LABLES AND KEEP THE MEMBERSHIP LIST UP-TO-DATE It doesn't take much time, but you have to be accurate. If you can help contact Seth Olitzky (415) 437-0404 or Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004.
SPIKE AND MIKE'S CLASSIC FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION CONTINES IT'S BAY AREA RUN It will be at the UC Theatre in Berkeley May 5 - 14, the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael May 12 - June 1 and the Towne Theatre in San Jose May 19 - June 15.
Wednesday, May 10, 7 pm Animator and performance artist Kathy Rose in a performance of THE INN OF FLOATING IMAGERY at the Exploratorium. She projects her surreal images on herself and hanging fabrics in a work called "a submerged universe of haunting imagery and configurations of cinematic puppetry... Enigmatic floating universes." Rose has taught at Harvard and has performed at Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art in NY, etc. There is an admission charge to the museum this evening.
Thursday, May 11, CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE by Jan Svankmajer at 7:30 and 9:15, The Red Vic, SF.
Friday and Sat. May 12 & 13 THE BROTHERS QUAY including several shorts not often shown. Can't Go Wrong Without You, Tales From Vienna Woods, Dramolet, The Comb, Are We Still Married? and several others. The Red Vic in SF at 7:15 & 9:15 plus earlier shows on Sat. at 2, 4.
Thursday, May 18 - Tuesday, May 23 CARTOON NOIR, a program of "dark tales" by several highly regarded internationally known independent animators. Includes The Story of the Cat and the Moon by Pedro Serrazina from Portugal, Club Discard by Jiri Barta from Czech, Ape by Julie Zammarachi from the USA, Gentle Spirit by Piotr Dumala from Poland, Abducteese by Paul Vester from England and Joy Street by Suzan Pitt from USA. At the Red Vic, 7:15 & 9:15 plus 2 & 4 on Sat. & Sun. It will play at the UC Theatre June 6 & Rafael Film Center June 2-5.
Friday, May 19, FILM FINAL AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE the show generally includes one or more animated works. The program is not selected until the week before it happens so go and be surprised. 8 pm, McKenna Theatre, $7 & $5.
Saturday, May 20 & Sunday, May 21, IDEAS IN ANIMATION PREMIERES NEW FILMS BY NINA PALEY, VICTORIA LIVINGSTONE, ROCK ROSS, MICHAEL RUDNICK AND PHILIP KROHN at the Victoria Theater. 8 PM, $10 ($7 students).
Wednesday, May 24, the Academy of Art invites ASIFA-SF members to help celebrate the completion of FREEWARE, a large group project directed by Alex Orrelle. About 100 students worked on the 7 minute film (about 20 at a time) with instructors from Pixar and Manix. It will be shown at a private catered preview of the school's spring show for industry professionals, 3 - 7 pm You need to call Susan Pelosi, Director of Career Services, in advance to be on the guest list. (415) 274-8675 The event will be held at 180 New Montgomery, 8th floor. A party will be held after the preview with the animation students and their friends.
Sunday, June 4, THE YELLOW SUBMARINE at 3:20 & 7:10 PM and FORBIDDEN PLANET at 1:20, 5:10 and 9 PM, U.C. Theatre, Berkeley.
BILL PLYMPTON TO PRESENT A 30 MINUTE SNEAK PREVIEW OF "MUTANT ALIENS" ON BROADWAY IN NY Ok, it isn't going to be at Times Square, but the party at the club Carolines on May 24 will be fun. He will also sign copies of the film's storyboards.
MORE ON PETROV'S OSCAR WINNING "THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA" An article in the November Millimeter said it took 6 months to design and build the computerized animation stand that held the 15 perf, 70mm camera and a video assist camera. The rig has a 14 foot column and the 4 levels of glass can move N and S as well as E and W. The glass can be moved so Petrov can paint on it with slow drying oils and then put it back into the same position. The registration of the glass had to be really exact since minor errors would show up on the giant IMAX screen. They say the registration accuracy is 1/10,000th of an inch. The 22 minute film has more than 29,000 frames in it.
Another magazine recently had a color page of illustrations from 6 or 8 recent animated productions. The image from Petrov's film stood out as a magnificent work of art. In contrast the others seemed to be poorly executed, dull and lifeless commercial illustrations.
THE OSCAR 2000 CEREMONY WAS CENSORED The South Park song Blame Canada sung by Robin Williams had several words left out and/or changed. They tried to make the lyrics cute and cut several words including fart, bitch, fuck, etc.
UNICEF SEEKS CONTRIBUTORS TO MAKE CARTOONS FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS They are non-verbal 30 second psas that will be shown on TV around the world. So far 66 have been made. For details www.unicef.org or contact George McBean, head of design, gmcban@unicef.org
GOD DIES ON NBC After 4 episodes the network killed the show God, the Devil and Bob. It was from the new Carsey-Werner Studio. NBC said it was canceled due to low ratings, not due to complaints from the religious right.
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU Some of this summer's
releases are:
April 28 The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
April 28 Fantasia 2000 (national 35mm release)
May 4 Heavy Metal 2000 (Europe only)
May 12 Battlefield Earth
May 19 Dinosaurs (Disney 3D cgi animation)
May 24 Mission Impossible 2
June 12 Titan A.E. (Bluth & Goldman)
June 23 Chicken Run (Nick Park et al)
June 30 The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
CURRENT BOX OFFICE TOTALS As of April 24:
Road to El Dorado, $33.4 million
Fantasia 2000, $42.47 million
Mission to Mars, $58.08 million
Toy Story Two, $243 million (domestic)
Sixth Sense, $292 million
Stuart Little, $139.7 million
The Tigger Movie, $44.3 million
RETROSPECTIVE OF JOANNA PRIESTLEY'S FILMS AT MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN NEW YORK She is an animator from Portland with an impressive career as an innovative independent artist. Her shows are on Saturday, May 20 at 5 pm and Tues. the 23rd at 3 pm. She will appear in-person on the 20th.
"CARTOONS" BY BENDAZI HAS BEEN REMAINDERED FOR $9.95 The book covers animation from all over the world. While there are minor translation problems, it is well researched and it is the only good serious survey of world animation. I was told it can be purchased from Scholar's Bookshelf, 110 Melrich Rd., Cranbury, NJ 08512 (609) 395-6933 or e mail book@scholarsbookshelf.com
MAJOR ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE BOOK IS ABOUT TO BE RELEASED by St. Martin's Press. It was written by Keith Scott from Australia. Publication of it was held up for years while the 3rd rate coffee table book on moose and squirrel was in print. People who have seen the manuscript say Scott's book is exceptional scholarship (the kind of writing few books on animation achieve).
I first herd great things about the manuscript from Charles Ulrich over 10 years ago. Ulrich published The Frostbite Falls Far Flung Flyer, a J. Ward fan publication (it has a web site).
Last month Jerry Beck, one of animation's finest scholars, told me to look out for the book. Beck now has a web site that is worth checking out - www.cartoonresearch.com While you are wandering through his site check out the link to animation books.com.
JERRY BECK'S ANIMATION SHOWS DELIGHT ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD AUDIENCES His first two shows were 11 banned Warner Bros. cartoons (by Cartoon Net. & Turner) and violent animated hits. Coming May 24 is a tribute to Jim Tyer, Today, Tyer is a cult hero known for really uninhibited artwork. He inspired John Kricfalusi, Robert Crumb and others. He worked in comics, for Terrytoons (1949-58) and for other East coast animation studios. Screening is at 721 Victory Blvd., Burbank, 7 pm
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD PRESENTED AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BLISS in April. The event flyer said "Join host Bob Miller and spend an evening with legendary voice actress Lucille Bliss, whose 50-year career spans almost the entire history of animation. Meet the voice behind Crusader Rabbit, Smurfette, Anastasia (Disney's Cinderella), The Canine Crunchies Chorus (101 Dalmatians), Snoopy (Space Kidettes), Lickety Page (Cap'n O.G. Readmore), Queen Sluuga (Ewoks) and a host of other animated characters." Note: animation is almost 100 yrs. old
WORLD PREMIERE OF PETER CHUNG'S "ALEXANDER THE GREAT" SERIES WAS HELD IN APRIL at a 2 day Japanese Animation Festival in Long Beach, California. The event was in a new 1,000 seat hall on the university campus. Lots of rare features were shown on a big screen. The flyer for the event had warning notices (sex, violence, etc.) after the titles of several films.
Chung, who directed Aeon Flux at Colossal Pictures, has created a series that "effectively blends fantasy, sword and sorcery and science fiction, merging history into mythology.... WARNING! Graphic violence and nudity."
KAREN MAZURKEWICH WROTE US ABOUT HOW TO ORDER A COPY OF "CARTOON CAPERS: THE ADVENTURES OF CANADIAN ANIMATORS" She lives in Hong Kong where she writes for economic publications. She wrote us that the book was "a labor of love. Receiving recognition in your publication was a great thrill, and I am grateful for publication of the review."
She says the book can be ordered from Canada's two biggest booksellers. Both ship to the U.S. and both take orders over the Internet. www.indigo.ca and www.chapters.ca "If any of your readers still encounter any difficulties or would like help in ordering, they may contact me by E-mail at: mazmedia@netvigator.com
MORE ANIMATION BEING RELEASED ON DVD Recent releases from Image Entertainment include The Best of Bulgarian Animation, Russian Animation Classics, Masters of Russian Animation and The Puppet Film of Jiri Trinka. Most are 24.95 retail.
STUDY ANIMATION AT THE DISNEY INSTITUTE IN FLORIDA, JULY 25-30 The "animation event" fees cover classes, 5 nights housing, food, screenings and more. It costs $1,299 per person or $1,685 for a single occupancy. (800) 282-9282 extension DM21 www.disneyinstitute.com
"BUZZ LIGHTYEAR OF STAR COMMAND" will be a 65 episode, Saturday morning TV series for ABC-TV. It will begin to air in Oct., 2000. It will be 2D animation, not 3D cgi. There was no mention of who is animating the series.
"REBOUT" FANS CAN LOOK FORWARD TO TWO MADE FOR TV FEATURES based on the popular TV series. The shows are from Mainframe Entertainment in Canada. They also make the series Beast Wars, Weirdos, and Action Man.
"ROBBIE THE REINDEER WITH HOOVES OF FIRE" is a new hit TV show at European festivals. It has won several top festival prizes. At Cartoons By The Bay in Italy it was honored in several categories as a near perfect work for the whole family. Richard Goleszowski directed it for BBC Bristol.
CANADIAN STUDIO HIT WITH A NASTY SCANDLE Cinar, which animates Arthur and other shows, has $22 million missing. It is also being investigated for tax fraud.
Their stock has lost 75% of it's value and the heads of the company have resigned. They promised to pay back some of the missing money (apparently it was used to buy other stocks).
A raid on the company for tax records showed millions in tax credits were obtained by using made-up Canadian names as the authors of scripts written by writers living in the US. The writers had to sign away their rights to royalties. Several stories have appeared on the Internet (AWN Flash, etc.) and it appears their trouble will be in the news for several more months.
OTHER UNREST IN THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY- SCREEN ACTOR'S GUILD has a dispute with Saban over dubbing royalties. SAG claims dubbing a Japanese show into English is a creative performance and actors should be paid royalties for their work. Saban feel a dub job is not creative and no royalties should be paid.
SCREEN CARTOONIST UNION PICKETS PBS in LA for 2 hours to call attention to their sending most or all of their animation jobs to Canada where labor costs less. They claim U.S. govt. tax dollars are being used to hire Canadians. About 80 pickets showed up. (Disney recently closed all their Canadian animation studios.)
Disney and Gemstar are in a legal action over the coming merger of AOL and Time Warner. I wasn't interested in the case, but I was interested in why the 3 top executives of Time Warner's web site Entertaindom are leaving the new company. The web site went online last November. The executives claim Warner Bros. has dropped their interest in the enterprise due to the coming merger.
STAN LEE INKS DEAL WITH DC COMICS In recent months the creator of Spiderman has been making news with his Internet deals. Now, he has acquired the rights to develop products using some DC owned characters including Superman and Batman. The news item didn't explain how he plans to exploit those rights.
TOONZ ANIMATION INDIA WILL HOLD THEIR 2ND ANNUAL WEEK WITH THE MASTERS OCT. 30 - NOV. 3. Gerald Potterman (Heavy Metal, My Financial Career, Pinter People, The Railroader, etc.) is the first master to agree to appear at the 2nd event. The director of the event will be writer/scholar Harvey Deneroff. There will be an animation competition. For details about entering contact Rekha Menon at Toonz Animation India, 731-735 Nila, Technopark Campus, Trivandrum 695 581 India.
AWN.COM HAS BEEN SOLD TO CREATIVE PLANET.COM The staff of Animation World Magazine has joined a publisher that covers all areas of the professional film and video industry through a series of web sites. The fast growing company had 200 employees in February and about 340 people when I talked with AWN's editor in April. AWN is now 5 year old.
The new address is Creative Planet, 5700 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 600, LA CA 90036 (323) 634-3384 or fax (323) 634-3350
SHOCKWAVE IS PRETENDING TO BE SHOCKED BY THE TRAY PARKER AND MATT STONE SERIES MADE FOR THEIR NETCASTER SITE The 39 episodes in the unnamed series are by the creators of South Park. They are said to naughtier than the feature. The web company might try pay per view "to keep under aged kids from seeing the shows." If you believe that logic than Santa really does live at the North Pole.
Shockwave recently announced that David Lynch will create/direct animated shorts for them! Also, Spunky Town in SF just delivered 2 shorts to Shockwave in The Beatless series.
THERE IS A WEB SITE FOR JIM HENSON FANS Check out the "Muppetoons" on Muppetworld.com
THE WORLD INTERNET ANIMATION COMPETITION DEADLINE IS MAY 15 There are $100,000 in prizes. The judges include Henry Selick, Stan Lee and Tom Snyder. www.wiacshockwave.com
ONE INFINITY INC. IN SAN FRANCISCO WAS LOOKING FOR FLASH ANIMATORS and illustrators in early April. They are doing hip hop music videos for a major label.
ACTION ACE.COM IS ANOTHER NEW BAY AREA INTERNET ANIMATION COMPANY They were looking for Flash animators a few weeks ago.
NICK PARK'S CHICKEN RUN HAS A WEB SITE It features a trailer for the feature, a screen saver, games, etc. at www.reel.com/chickenrun
There are rumors that Nick Park now has plans to make a Wallace and Gromitt feature. It will be produced by Aardman and Dreamworks. No further details available.
ASIFA ITALY HAS A NEW WEB SITE You can find it at www.asifaitalia.org
WILL RYAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD, IS PRODUCING AN ELMO AARDVARK SERIES FOR THE INTERNET His publicity says the series is titled Elmo Aardvark Outer Space Detective for www.renegadecartoons.com June Foray, Keith Scott & Will Ryan are among the voice artists. Ryan's business name is Snappy Toons Amusement Co.
WILL VINTON STUDIOS HAS A WEB SITE showing some of their classics and selling lots of stuff. www.vinton.com
Late News - I'm hearing more complaints about the festival that prompted my editorial. They don't have to show all films accepted by the prescreening judges in the competition, they charge "outrageous" entry fees, etc.
Last minute item: FOROX ANIMATION STAND FOR SALE 16/35 mm. Motorized column, make offer (415) 386-8605
ASIFA-SF
PO BOX 14516
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114
WHY I WAS INVITED TO BE A FILM FESTIVAL JUDGE, BUT DIDN'T GET TO SEE A SINGLE FILM by Karl Cohen A few months ago I was invited to be a festival judge. A few week later I knew something was wrong as the judging hadn't begun. None of the invited judges that I talked to knew why.
Eventually somebody called me looking for another one of the judges. I suspected the confused person was from the festival staff and that she had no idea whom either of us were. When I told her I had been asked to be a judge she did not seem to know that. She was in fact a new staff member.
She informed me that several staff members had been fired. She said that they had made a mess of things and that the new staff was well organized and had everything back on schedule.
A few days latter the director called in response to my writing him a note. He informed me that almost all the films had been judged. He didn't say by whom and he did not apologize for his staff's failing to tell the invited judges (at least 3 that I knew) that we had been dropped. He asked about my health, invited me to be his guest at his event and hung up.
When I first started to write for Filmmakers Newsletter in the early 70s the people I met were gentle and cared passionately about film. In recent years, as live action and animation have grown into giant businesses, a cold attitude has replaced the warm nurturing spirit in some areas. Fortunately the latter it is still with us in some schools and businesses.
The workshop will cover puppet sculpture and design, mold making and casting, different kinds of armatures, surface gages, supports, blue screen compositing, digital clean-up, replacement animation, go motion, and other basics. There will be a discussion of historic works, delightful stories about things that went wrong and other information. There will also be a display of armatures, puppets, props and other items from past productions at Skellington and Danger Productions.
Pete Kosachek, a special effects supervisor and director of photography, received an Oscar nomination for his work on Nightmare Before Christmas. He began his career doing "garage films" as a child. His commercial career began in Los Angeles working at Cascade Films doing stop-motion ads with the Pillsbury Doughboy and other stars. He also did some of the first motion control shots at Cascade.
Kosachek's work on features includes Inner Space and Willow at ILM, both Robocop features and Starship Troupers at Tippet, and Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach at Henry Selick's Skellington Productions. He is presently director of photography on Monkey Bone, a feature being made by Henry Selick for Fox.
Anthony Scott is a stop-motion animator who began his career making garage films. His credits include the last Gumby series (made by Art Clokey for Loimar in Sausalito), TV commercials made at Colossal Pictures (Pillsbury Doughboy, etc.), Danger Production's Bump in the Night, Pixar's Bugs Life and Toy Story 2, and Henry Selick/Skellington's Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. He is presently working on Monkey Bone, a feature being made by Henry Selick for Fox.
WHY I WAS INVITED TO BE A JUDGE AT THE WORLD ANIMATION CELEBRATION, BUT DIDN'T GET TO SEE A SINGLE FILM by Karl Cohen In the last newsletter, I mentioned that in February I had been invited to be a judge at the event. On April 4 I wrote the following note to the founder of the festival.
"Dear Terry,
Last night somebody called me looking for Christine Pannushka. I suspected it was a confused person from your animation celebration staff who had no idea who either of us were.
In an awkward, round-about conversation I learned that the prescreening that was to have been completed in March, will begin soon. When I told her I had been asked to be a judge she acted as if she did not know that. She informed me that several people had been fired including the people running the preliminary judging. She asked if I was coming to the judging/screening in LA without telling me when it will be. I did not have time to tell her I could not travel to LA on my own as I was handicapped due to a stroke, but I did say the former people who were running things had assured me that I could review work on tape here and then talk with the other judges by phone. She simply said they did not have time to make copies of tapes. I assume that I am no longer being asked to judge, but nobody has formerly told me that.
Our conversation ended on an upbeat note. Your staff member said that the former staff had made a mess of things and that the new staff was well organized and had everything back on schedule. I didn't wish to be negative and express doubts that the person who had called me by mistake was well organized and could put together a first-rate festival in less than 2 months. I wish you and your staff a lot of luck."
A few days latter Terry Thoren called regarding my letter. He didn't apologize or explain how the films were going to be judged. Instead I was informed that all but one category of films had now been judged. He asked about my health and invited me to be his guest at the event.
I have to grade final exams that weekend and turn in my grades. If you go, let me know how the event went. I hope they present a great world class festival. I suspect many of our members will want to read a review of the event based on the comment of people who attended it.
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This issue was written by Karl Cohen. Newsletter production by Shirley Smith, Tara Packard and Ron Seawright. Copies are free to ASIFA-SF members. Membership is $18 a year, $40 for local & international. |
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