September, 2001 Newsletter
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DON'T MISS OUR 35MM SCREENING OF "HUBERT'S BRAIN," AN AWARD WINNING FILM FROM WILD BRAIN Hubert's Brain is an original 17 minute short about a boy genius who doesn't quite fit in, and a brain who is looking for the perfect fit. Directed by Phil Robinson, Hubert's Brain recently won a first place prize at Synthesis 8 in Belgium, a first place prize at World Animation Celebration in LA and an honorable mention at the Nashville International Film Festival. ASIFA-SF is presenting a 35mm screening of it at the Red Vic on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 11:15 AM (free, public invited). Shorts by Nina Paley, Dan McHale, Scott Kravitz and Jeremy Solterbeck plus classic 1930's b/w cartoons will also be shown. See our event flyer for details. WILD BRAIN WINS 4 AWARDS AT WAC, ILM WINS 1 Hubert's Brain won 1st place for Best Computer-Assisted Animation, Professionally Produced. Michaela Pavlatova's Graveyard won a 1st for Best Interactive Animation Produced for the Web. Tod Polson and Dave Thomas' Mantelope won a 1st for Best Animated Comedy Produced for the Web. Swingtown was awarded a 2nd for Best Animated Science Fiction Produced for the Web. Swingtown is the futuristic, pulp noir city where zoot-suited mutant rats challenge gun toting beauties and spar with hideous aliens. ILM got the top TV commercial award for a Budweiser ad produced by Rick Shulze. (There may be more local prize winners, but these were the only ones I know about from the Hollywood Reporter and an e-mail from Wild Brain.) THE RAT RACE'S ANIMATED TITLES WERE DONE BY WILD BRAIN Animated photo collages of the film's "racers" do animated antics in the title sequences. Julia Tortolani designed the 3 minute segment. John Korellis was the storyboard artist and the photoshop artists were Kevin Bell, Scott Adams and Kristine Borges. WILD BRAIN GOES GLOBAL WITH LAUNCH OF A SUBSIDIARY COMPANY IN MUNICH. Wild Brain, Inc. has opened Wild Trixx Media GmbH in Munich. It will find overseas co-production partners for television and feature film projects, coordinate sales and merchandising for the company's future and existing programming, such as Wild Brain's new 26-episode series Poochini, throughout Europe, and attract European-based commercials. Prinz Franz von Auersperg, supervisory board chairman of Syntek Capital and former senior executive with BMG and EM.TV, will lead the Wild Trixx Supervisory Board. Wild Trixx Media GmbH will be headed by managing director Curtis Briggs. "Given the global nature of our business, we felt it imperative to establish a presence in Europe to provide support for our current programming efforts, identify future production and distribution partners and expand our leading commercials business," said Wild Brain's chief executive officer Jeff Ulin. CHRIS LANIER'S "ROMANOV" IS A FINALIST AT THE PIXIE AWARDS Romanov is nominated for the best serialized web show. The 2nd annual Pixie Awards want to become the "Oscars of the Web." Lanier will be at the Roosevelt Hotel (LA) ceremony wearing a tux. Good luck on Sept 16. Romanov appears on Wild Brain.com. WESTERN IMAGES WILL FOCUS THEIR FUTURE SOLELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS WORK, CGI ANIMATION AND DESIGN WORK plus related editorial services. The facility's rental of linear edit suites, Henry, telecine and other services will be terminated. The company will expand its efforts in long-form broadcast and feature film effects. As a result of their restructuring, five people were laid off. Four were related to fax work and the fifth was an executive producer. Michael Cunningham is their president and CEO and Western's owner is Robert Stover. MONDO MEDIA DOES "AMERICAN PIE 2" CAMPAIGN for Universal Studios. The campaign blends advertising and original content in a new advertising package called the Mondo Side Show. The ads/shows will be Web-syndicated. The shows will include an interactive game, a viral marketing component, a commercial and mini Website. The show should boost the film's pre-opening awareness. MONDO MEDIA ANNOUNCES FOUR POPULAR SERIES TO AIR ON MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS-MEDIA.COM. They are Elmo Aardvark Outer Space Detective, Thugs on Film, Happy Tree Friends and This Modern World. Douglas Kay, president of Mondo Media says, "WindowsMedia.com carries our shows to a whole new audience, extending our reach to the benefit of our advertisers." ON THE PASSING OF ANIMATOR PAUL BERRY In early July I was shocked and saddened to read an obituary for Paul Berry, a talented and outrageous British stop-motion animator. (He had a wild head of bright red hair.) He lived/worked in the Bay Area for several years. His film Sandman stands out as a brilliant mature work for adults. I also have fond memories of him at parties and his presenting part of an ASIFA-SF event. The animation community has lost a remarkable individual. This is what awn.com published:
PROGRAM COMING TO THE PFA CELEBRATES JAZZ AND ABSTRACTION IN BEAT ERA FILMS MADE IN SF IN THE 50'S On Tuesday, Oct. 2 the Pacific Film Archive will show a remarkable program honoring several local film artists. Their program notes read, "Tonight we celebrate the Beat Generation with a selection of films by the San Francisco film artists of that era. Hy Hirsh's films include a pioneer oscilloscope film Eneri; the lush Autumn Spectrum, filmed in the canals of Amsterdam; and Scratch Pad, in which Hirsh painted and scratched imagery over elaborate optical-printed footage. Younger San Francisco filmmakers, including Jordan Belson and Harry Smith, learned filmmaking techniques and borrowed equipment from Hirsh. Belson's Mandala synchs Balinese gamelan music with images painted on long scrolls while Caravan captures the "on the road" mantra of the Beat Generation. Harry Smith's Film No. 3, painted directly on blank film, ! was sometimes screened at the jazz club Bop City as a live light show. Bay Area painter Patricia Marx used details from her paintings cut to Dizzy Gillespie jazz for Things to Come. In the later '50s, Belson began producing Vortex Concerts at the Planetarium in San Francisco. James Whitney's Yantra was one of the pieces shown on the planetarium dome. At the same time, James's older brother John was inventing a special animation stand controlled by an analog computer. His film Catalog demonstrates the different effects he could create. In New York, Shirley Clarke synched her lyrical Bridges-Go-Round with a jazz track." A related program on Oct. 9 will be discussed in the October newsletter. LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD - DON HERTZFELDT WHO GOT AN OSCAR NOMINATION THIS YEAR FOR "REJECTED," GREW UP IN FREMONT He attended Mission San Jose High School before going to college in Southern California. Thanks ASIFA-SF member Steven Ng for this information. He works with Don's mother. It's a small world after all. ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE FROM MONKEYBONE IS ON THE DVD An ASIFA-SF member recently viewed Monkey-bone on DVD, having missed it in the theatre. He felt the released version of the film was choppy and the storyline unclear, two good reasons for it being withdrawn quickly from distribution. After viewing the additional scenes and footage on the DVD it was evident that important parts of the storyline were lost on the editing room floor and that the film was poorly cut. He couldn't understand why it wasn't simply released in DVD as a director's cut version as restoring the footage to the film would have made the story clearer and would have explained the relationship of the cartoonist to his alter-ego Monkeybone. NIK AND NANCY PHELPS OF THE SPROCKET ENSEMBLE ARE GUESTS AT THE 8TH KROK INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL IN UKRAINE They are representing Nina Paley's Fetch as they created the soundtrack. Nik plans to play a lot of music as they sail away. Krok is held on a cruise ship that sails this year from Odessa on the Black Sea to Yalta and other seaports. The event is August 20 to September 2. Then they are off to Germany. The next Bay Area performance of the now world famous Nik Phelps will be Oct. 20 at the Rafael Cinema in San Rafael. AS DISNEY AND OTHER BIG AND SMALL STUDIOS HAVE MAJOR LAYOFFS, SOME LOCAL COMPANIES ARE FINDING NEW MARKETS FOR THEIR WORK Back in the 1970's when I first began to observe the animation industry it was a seasonal business. For several years Imagination Inc. was the main company hiring animators in San Francisco. Most of the jobs were in Los Angeles and much of the work was producing cartoon series for TV. That work was seasonal as it had to be ready for the start of the fall TV season. Most people worked for only a few months each year. Disney offered full-time jobs producing features, but no one else seemed willing to risk capital needed to explore the possibilities of that format. The demand for animated commercials was small and employment was unpredictable. Thirty years later the industry is still seasonal to some extent and work still seems to come and go in cycles. What has really changed is the size of the industry and the development of hundreds of new uses for the animators' talents. If you don't know what I mean, look at our website's directory of Bay Area animation companies. The reason for writing this is to make people aware of new markets for the animators' skills, rather than to bellyache about the recent loss of jobs in some sectors of the industry. Every year I hear about new uses of animation that are rarely written about. At present there is work on a variety of new electronic products needing animation. There is a team of animators producing images for video slot machines. There is a growing market for animation for palm computers. I was just told that a company has unveiled the first pay phone to incorporate animation. At a recent ASIFA-SF event we saw demonstrations of recently produced CD-ROM products. One member of our chapter has been producing forensic animation used by lawyers to show a jury how they claim an event happened. Over the years I've met people employed by NASA and high tech companies that need images that are never seen by the public. I've met several people who have worked on flight simulations for the ! airline industry and for the military. I also know a woman who was a staff animator at a "think tank" near Palo Alto for several years. Her animation was on secret projects that she still can't discuss. At this point I was going to write about the growth of video slot machine jobs in our area. The people I had planned to interview were at our terrific Iwerks event and said this unusual industry has grown to about 35 companies. With growth has come consolidation and the company they work for has just been purchased. It will soon be moving to Las Vegas. While they were offered jobs in Nevada, they were also given the option of accepting attractive severance packages. Apparently the team is staying in the Bay Area and the members plan to enjoy the benefits of a corporate buy-out. Since I can no longer write about a fast growing local company whose work is exciting to players of one armed bandits, I leave you with a short list of companies mentioned in the new Reel Directory that offer animation services that haven't been mentioned in this newsletter before. They are: Bard Sculpture Studio, Damon Bard, 1329 61st St. #D, Emeryville, CA 94608 (510) 594-0615. He builds stop-motion puppets and creates toy prototypes. Flying Pepper Design, Inc., Richard Pepper, (707) 824-2007 They do animation and effects for broadcast and broadband media using Maya and After Effects. www.fpdesign.com Lockheed Martin Space Systems Media Services, Bob Vincent, (408) 742-4870, they provide complete video production services. www.Imms.Imco.com Presentek, Bill Glenn, (408) 354-6056, They produce 3D motion graphics, character animation and visual effects for broadcast and interactive media. www.presentek.com PVR Studios, 2331 Third St. San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 864-5679 They produce 2D and 3D animation for video and interactive media. SPAZZCO ANIMATION, 1620 Folsom, SF CA 94103 (415) 551-2692 Their motto is "Spazzco loves cartoons!" They produce work for video, advertising and the web. Spoon Fed Films, 801 Minnesota St. Loft #1, SF CA 94007 (415) 642-0124 Award winning clay animation. The Evers Group, Melissa Tench-Stevens, (408) 467-3885 They offer full services from concept to completion including computer graphics. www.eversgroup.com, FOR LARGE LISTS OF LOCAL COMPANIES SEE THE NEW EDITION OF THE "REEL DIRECTORY" AND GO TO OUR WEB SITE - www.asifa-sf.org ALSO, ARE WE LEAVING OUT A NEW AREA OF WORK OR COMPANY THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT? LET US KNOW Call Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004 or karlcohen@earthlink.net FINALLY, ARE YOU DOING FORENSIC ANIMATION? One our board members would like to talk with you. Contact Karl Cohen for details. ANIMATOR SELLS A "SUPERMAN DAY" AD INSERTED INTO A COMIC IN 1940 FOR OVER $900 The 4 page promotion on newsprint was inserted into Superman comic books sold in the NYC area before the event. The Superman collector who bought it at an eBay auction believes this may be the last remaining copy of the ad. The man who sold it bought the comic book a few years ago for under $100. He later sold the comic for a profit and kept the ad GREAT AMERICA'S ANIMATED 70MM RIDE FILMS ARE LOTS OF FUN IF YOU LIKE SADO-MASOCHISTIC EXPERIENCES by KC Ride films, where you sit in motorized chairs that move to enhance the viewing experience, have been entertaining for me in the past. I've enjoyed TurboRide at Pier 39 and several kinds of ride films at Disneyland and Disneyworld. Unfortunately, Great America's presentations of 7th Portal and Smash Factory prove the medium can also be an excruciatingly unpleasant experience. 7th Portal, as Great America presents it, is uncomfortable to watch and listen to. The noise/effects tracks are so loud that they drown out the narration. As a result, the film made no sense. What was worse is that every 5 or 10 seconds it felt as if an ice hockey player was slamming into my chair at full force. Since you are supposed to be jerked about, the computer generated animation moved in a similar fashion. I had planned to see the film and then interview somebody connected with the production. That plan has been canceled. Smash Factory, made by Midland in the E. Bay, was more of the same, but it was made with a sense of humor and it wasn't full of stupid looking supernatural warriors with Darth Vader-like voices. You are supposed to be in a factory with a test dummy as he tries to escape according to a press release. (I wasn't e-mailed a copy until the day after I took the ride.) Bob's wild attempt for freedom goes through passages under construction and through underground caverns. It is full of demolition derby action as he drives into signs, walls, etc. He also has to avoid cartoony devices designed to smash/destroy large objects. The visuals, created using miniature sets and motion controlled cameras, are really entertaining. If the movements of the chair had been a bit less painful, I would have enjoyed the ride a lot more. I assume the park likes to "turn up the bumps" in their FX Theater as most people who come to the park are there to ride the 10 roller coasters. People have to wear seat belts to watch the films as the rides are that rough. (Attendants check to see that they are properly attached before the films begin.) Having to brace yourself against the chair to soften the blow is no way to see a movie. The pre-ride videos, shown over and over before you enter the theaters, failed to inform me about what to expect. 7th Portal has Stan Lee telling us how great the animation is while awful 2D clips made using Flash (not from the ride) are shown. Midland made a clever and entertaining teaser using found footage, but it doesn't enlighten us about the ride's premise. There was a pleasant low-tech virtual reality concession at the park that charges $6 for a nice 3 minute experience. The headset has a pine fragrance built into it so it combines smell with new age images of forests. There is also a big IMAX theater with seats that don't move. Their present attraction is an excellent live action documentary about sailing. They were also showing the Sigfried and Roy film in the evening for an additional admission charge (I hated that film). SF FILM FESTIVAL SELLING POSTERS FROM THEIR ARCHIVE Some date back to the '60's and they come from many nations around the world. It happens Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6 at the San Francisco Film Centre, 39 Mesa Street in the Presidio, San Francisco. MARIKO HOSHI AND VICTORIA LIVINGSTONE FEATURED IN AV VIDEO MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER MAGAZINE The article "Wonder Women: Seven Animators Burn Up the Market" (July, 2001) included nice interviews and colored photos of both women. Hoshi, who made the film Hello Dolly, works at PDI and graduated from the Academy of Art with a MFA. Livingstone, who made the film Windows, works at ILM and is a graduate of SF State. She has animated Jar Jar, baby dinosaurs and a lot of other cool things.
LOCAL SCREENINGSSaturday, September 15, 11:15 AM ASIFA-SF presents a SNEAK PREVIEW of HUBERT'S BRAIN, the new 17 minute CG film in 35mm from Wild Brain, directed by Phil Robinson and produced by Nina Rappaport. With animated independent shorts in 35mm: NINA PALEY'S FETCH and PANDORAMA, DAN McHALE'S SEX PUDDING, SCOTT KRAVITZ'S THE MAGIC TRICK, JEREMY SOLTERBECK'S MOVING ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACHINES, and (if the sound track is finished) a clay animated short by JEROLD HOWARD. Plus, classic 1930's theatrical cartoons in 35mm with Betty Boop, Porky Pig and a Fleischer bouncing ball cartoon!!! Don't miss seeing Wild Brain's latest work on a big screen.. At the Red Vic on Haight Street. Mon. Sept. 17 - Sun. Sept. 23, 7:30 pm, Cane Toads, An Unnatural History with a Flip the Frog cartoon, What a Life "by the legendary Ub Iwerks." At the Fine Arts Cinema, 2451 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley. Oct 2 KINETICA 3 SERIES: JAZZ AND ABSTRACTION IN THE BEAT ERA FILM, Newly preserved prints of rarely seen films by Hy Hirsh and other San Francisco film artists in the '50s. The program also includes films by Jordan Belson, Harry Smith, Patricia Marx, John and James Whitney and Mary Ellen Bute. At the Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley. October 9, CONTEMPORARY VISUAL MUSIC at 7:30 pm. Premiere of BARDO by Jordan Belson, plus work by Sky David, Joost Rekveld, Richard Reeves, Ying Tan, Paul Glabicki, Bob Snyder, Chris Casady and other contemporary artists. At the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.
NATIONAL NEWS"THIS SUMMER'S RELEASES ARE ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO STAY HOME AND WATCH TV" After having seen Atlantis, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Jurassic Park 3 and a few other releases I have to agree with Prescott Wright's statement. Producers have forgotten about creating characters and stories that are engaging. Didn't somebody ever explain what "character development" and "suspension of disbelief" means to the industry's current producers of "summer blockbusters"? I was going to write an essay about the current state of affairs, but a world famous animator/film critic summed it up eloquently in a recent e-mail to me. He said, "Have just seen Atlantis which opens here in a couple of weeks. I wept. Was truly moved by the sheer waste of talent. " A MAJOR JAN SVANKMAJER RETROSPECTIVE WAS HELD AT FILM FORUM IN NEW YORK IN JULY It lasted a week and they showed 15 of his shorts and his 4 features. The NY Times called him "one of cinema's most visionary surrealists." OSCAR WINNER MICHAEL DUDOK DE WIT DONATED TO CHARITY THE HDTV HE WON FOR GIVING THE SHORTEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH (18 seconds) Michael De Wit, who won an Oscar for Father and Daughter, gave away the high definition television that he won. He lives in London where the electric power and TV standards are different. He gave the set to a home for abused children. INTERESTED IN THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF SHREK? If so check out the Animation Pimp's awn.com column for July. He takes a closer look at the sexual politics of Shrek, "where it's better to promote bestiality than homosexuality." He (Chris Robinson) looks at the film's ending and other issues that most people are oblivious to. Robinson also wrote an excellent article on Priit Parn from Estonia that is on the web at Salon.com (July 3, 2001, people section). He discusses the political and social content of +his work He wrote an even better article on Parn (longer and more details) in the current ASIFA International magazine, but it isn't available to people who are not International members. ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD PRESENTED AN EVENING WITH TOM SITO in July. Sito has been working in the industry for 26 years. He recently co-directed Warner Bros. Osmosis Jones and his screen credits include The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Pocahontas, Fantasia 2000, Shrek, The Prince Of Egypt, Antz, and Spirit Of The Cimmaron. His personal work includes the beautifully animated and politically poignant Propagandance (Animation Celebration, Vol. 2). He teaches at the University of Southern California and California Institute of the Arts, has written numerous articles about animation, has lectured at NYU, SVA, UCLA, AFI, Microsoft, Sheridan College and other institutions and has been President of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonist's Union Local 839 for many years. ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD HAS HELD A SERIES OF UNUSUAL EVENTS Among their summer events were a sneak preview of John Kricfalusi's The Ripping Friends, Leslie Iwerks signing her book on Ub Iwerks, and Jerry Beck showing "Groovy, Psychedelic Hippie Toons" and a program of "Saturday Morning Crap." ASIFA-Hollywood's ANNIE AWARDS, America's most prestigious animation event, will be Sat. Nov. 10. For information: 721 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA 91502 818-842-8330 www.asifa-hollywood.org BILL PLYMPTION TO PRESENT A MASTER ANIMATION WORKSHOP TO MEMBERS OF THE QUICKDRAW ANIMATION SOCIETY IN ALBERTA, CANADA For $75 a person they get 3 days of instruction at the end of September, plus secrets on how to survive as an independent animator. Each student will also get a signed original Plympton drawing. ALL WARNER BROS. STORES TO CLOSE. Warner Bros. announced that AOL Time Warner will close all of its Warner Bros. Studio Stores by the end of October. The move will cut 3,800 jobs and is attributed to the company's failure to find a buyer for the troubled chain of stores. At its peak there were 130 stores worldwide. ONCE AGAIN THE WORLD ANIMATION CELEBRATION IN LA GETS MIXED REVIEWS by people who attend major international animation festivals. Gary Schwartz had a great time just hanging out at the pool and talking with people, but he had nothing to say about the events. Jerry Beck and a second writer on his site had mixed reactions to the WAC. They praised some things, but were quite critical of others. "Like Animation Magazine, WAC tries to be everything for everybody, and succeeds at being very little for a small few" according to Beck. "They deliberately priced small outfits like mine out of the event" Their comments are posted at cartoonresearch.com If you want to read about a great animation celebration, read Tsvika Oren's review of Annecy in this issue of our newsletter. STUDY DISCLOSES $5.847 BILLION GENERATED IN ROYALTY INCOME IN 2000. Licensing proves to be a viable and growing industry according to a new study by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA), in conjunction with the Yale School of Management and the Harvard Business School. According to the report property and trademark owners received royalties of $5.84 billion from manufacturers who paid for the right to use trademarks, characters, logos and artwork to sell products in the United States in 2000. That represents a $248 million increase (4.4%) in the last year. The study has found that entertainment/character licensing continues to be the strongest category in the licensing business, maintaining a 44.3% share of the market. Other categories include trademarks, brands and fashion. Now you know why networks want to own licensing rights to work artists create. STAN LEE STOCK FRAUD SUSPECT ARRESTED IN BRAZIL Brazilian police have arrested Peter Paul, an American accused of cheating U.S. investors out of $25 million. He has been indicted on fraud charges in the U.S. Paul has done a number of strange things and many have been reported in past ASIFA-SF Newsletters. One we haven't reported yet is his suing Sen. Hillary Clinton (June, 2001) for allegedly not reporting donations of more than $2 million he made to her 2000 Senate bid. Paul told reporters that he didn't want to return to the U.S. because he was the victim of political persecution. He also denied the stock fraud charges. He will be transferred to Brazil's capital Brasilia to face extradition hearings. WENDY JACKSON HALL, AN INTERNATIONAL ASIFA BOARD MEMBER FROM SEATTLE, HAS A NEW FILM OUT Her 6 minute film Salmon in the City is a poem that contrasts the life cycle of Pacific NW salmon and the transition of their native environment to the modern urban landscape. The premiere featured Hall's new animated short and a video installation. www.salmoncity.net HOW ORIGINAL IS DISNEY'S "ATLANTIS"? FANS OF JAPANESE ANIMATION FIND IT DISTURBINGLY SIMILAR TO "NADIA" Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water, was released in 1990. Several web sites show with pictures and words how this earlier adventure to Atlantis is almost identical to Disney's recent product in dozens of ways (plot, design of the characters, type of spaces they go through, etc.). M. Hayden at www.silverhammer.org/Atlantis was the first site. www.zero-city.com/nadia/nadia_vs_atlantis.html and www.oldcrows.net/ Atlantis reprinted Hayden's information. Then dozens of newspapers, columnists, web reporters, etc. picked up the story. Although you may not hear about this from the media giants, it is still possible to get the word out to some extent. DUBIOUS NEW BETTY BOOP PROJECT ANNOUNCED The original Betty was a delightful star in her best films, but revivals, with the exception of a fine show by Colossal, have been dismal affairs. The latest Boop news is Mainframe in Vancouver is planning a computer generated 3D series. They claim they "will respect the integrity of the original property while moving Betty into a new and modern age." Richard Fleischer said, "I am very excited about the new series, which will capture the cutting edge humor of the alluring Betty Boop in an adventurous and music driven settingShe'll Boop-oop-a-doop her way into the 21st century." MEANWHILE DMA ANIMATION IS CREATING BETTY BOOP SLOT MACHINES The project was directed by Tony Caio and Bryan Cox. "We worked very closely with King Features to make sure Betty looked beautiful," said Caio. "King Features Syndicate has very high standards for its licensed properties." Any bets that it will respect the integrity of the original property? I suspect King will let anybody use Betty for a buck, but I might be wrong. ACADEMY AWARD WINNING ANIMATOR LEE MISHKIN PASSES AWAY Veteran animator and instructor Lee Mishkin, who won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short for his 1970 film Is It Always Right To Be Right?, passed away on June 19, 2001. He was 74. Mishkin suffered heart failure and died in his sleep with his family at his side. He had formally retired just six weeks ago, moving to a care facility in Seattle after having spent the last seven years in Vancouver, where he developed the classical animation curriculum and taught at VanArts. Mishkin began his career in 1949, working on Jay Ward's Crusader Rabbit, the first animated series created specifically for television. Through the '50s and '60s he worked on theatrical series such as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Popeye. He also worked on Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol for TV, and the combination live-action/animated Don Knotts comedy feature, The Incredible Mr. Limpett. Besides winning an Oscar, Lee received the British Grierson Award for directing Butterfly Ball, an animated rock video. He also received two Emmy nominations for co-writing and directing Faeries, a CBS television special. His most famous television credit is the animated introduction to the cult-favorite Batman series starring Adam West. AARDMAN LAYS OFF 90 Aardman has halted work on Tortoise vs. Hare, but plans to start up the production again in about six months when their script problems are worked out. As a result 90 out of their 172 staff members are out of work. "The characters have got to be fleshed out," Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said. "One of the biggest criticisms of British films is that they tend to be underdeveloped, so we wanted to fix that." The studio's first feature was Chicken Run. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ANIMATION HISTORY READ GENE DEITCH'S NEW BOOK ON THE INTERNET AT AWN His book How to succeed in animation, don't let a little thing like failure bother you, is great reading. I recently contacted him by e-mail about his being with UPA in their formative years. Part of his reply was, ."we constantly were pained by the label 'limited animation,' which grossly missed the point of what we were doing. UPA was a collection of extremely talented visionaries, who were trying to look at things in a new way. That is essentially what John Hubley taught me. He was able to see with the hidden camera in his brain what no one else even thought of. Hub taught me to see, and Bill Hurtz taught me to do." CHRONICLE FILM CRITIC WROTE AN ARTICLE "WILL DIGITAL ACTORS DISPLACE HUMAN ONES? OLD-STYLE CARTOONS ARE THE MORE LIKELY CASUALTIES (Sunday Datebook, July 22) Wesley Morris didn't really say much and he avoided saying anything negative about Final Fantasy. While Fantasy is an impressive technical tour-de-force, the characters can't act very well (express emotions, etc.), don't look real most of the time that they are standing still and the script is about as engrossing as reading the Yellow Pages. Gene Hamm wrote Wesley the following letter about his assumptions about 2D animation. "Dear Wesley, No matter how realistic 3D computer animation gets, it won't replace old fashioned 2D cartoons. Marshal McLuhan theorized that when a new medium appears, the old medium redefines itself. The 2D cartoons just have to concentrate on flat designs that can't possibly be replicated in 3D. The charm of UPA cartoons were the Picasso-Miro-Matisse-like designs that couldn't possibly move around in space, but by God, they were doing it anyway. That kind of impossible movement is the charm at the heart of cartoons. The old cartoons don't need to be turned into 3D. The Rocky and Bullwinkle movie lost the charm and simplicity of the original. Space Jam was an atrocity against Bugs Bunny and his pals. If you look around, while movie animation is getting more 3D, Flash is allowing animation on the Internet to rediscover the charm and simplicity of cartoons again. Just look at the Spumco website or Thugs on Film. The pendulum always swings back and forth. The evolution of ideas follows Hegel's dictum of "Thesis-antithesis-synthesis." Gene Hamm, Animation Instructor, Academy of Art College"
ANNECY 2001a report by Tsvika Oren, Tel Aviv, Israel Contrary to some past Annecy experiences, the 35th Annecy International Animation Festival, June 4th to 9th, 2001, was so friendly and well organized it could serve as an antidote to any past negative experiences there. There were over 5000 guests, yet, it did not feel crowded. There were scarcely any long lines for tickets or to enter a screening. Only a couple of 'sorry-no-more-tickets' programs. There were a total of 55 programs shown on 8 screens. Since each shorts competition program was screened 7 times, each feature was shown 6 times and each out-of-competition show was shown 3 times. etc. there were 160 screenings presented. Socially, there were far fewer "by-invitation-only events" than in previous festivals. Those events usually have a high "pissing-off effect." Either you or some of your friends get the feeling of not being quite wanted. This year the festival's excellent web-site made it possible for you to plan your visit in advance so you would not miss any rare jewels. Such a jewel was the single screening of a new, complete copy (101 min.) of The Lost World (1925) by Harry O. Hoyt and the legendary Willis H. O'Brien. Annecy's artistic director, French TV star Serge Bromberg, together with film restorer David Shepard, have put this version together using 8 different raped copies (positives and negatives of European and American versions of the film). Shepard also restored, as much as was possible, the film's tinting according to the original script. A new orchestral score, somewhat loud and over-dramatic, was attached to the film. It was exciting to see, at long last, the partly lost Lost World and to enjoy its innocence, sets, matte paintings, Delgado's creatures and O'Brien's animation. It gave us some insight as to what led to the timeless qualities of King Kong. Another jewel was the master-class given by Michael Dudok de Wit. A rare opportunity to see, with your very own eyes, how this brilliant artist gets his palms dirty with charcoal when he smears dirt on paper to make clouds which seem to be made of wet air (for Father and Daughter). Or to hear him analyze how paths of action in The Monk and the Fish echo shapes in the background. Another rare opportunity was the screening of 3-D films. The program of that complex, expensive technique of the 50's included Disney's Working for Peanuts, 1953 with Donald Duck (Jack Hannah); Lantz's Hypnotic Hick, 1953 with Woody Woodpecker (Don Patterson); Warner Bros.' Lumber Jack Rabbit, 1953 with Bugs Bunny (Chuck Jones); Hi Hirsh's Come Closer, 1952, John A. Norling's Motor Rhythm, 1953 (it used 3-D footage shown at the 1939 World's Fair showing a car being constructed); John Lasseter's Knicknack, 1989 (Pixar) and the feature Starchaser: The Legend of Orin 1985 (Steve Hahn, Korea/USA). They also showed 3-D films by Norman McLaren and Oscar Fischinger. The 12th century castle, rising above the old city (located in the French Alps), hosted a wonderful Aardman exhibition. They displayed models, story-boards, sketches, chicken parts, Gromit parts, etc. and there was an ongoing screening of the studio's films and commercials. Hopefully, it will go on a world tour. (An excellent Raoul Servais exhibition, organized for Annecy '99, is still touring.) There was an impressive salute to British animation consisting of 12 programs. The show included commercials, personal films and commissioned works. There was an homage to the late Alison de Vere, a wonderful poet of animation who died last year. Jayne Pilling, Curator of most of the UK programs, also presented at the festival her new, exciting book "2D and Beyond" sales@rotovision.com Other new books include John Lent's anthology Animation in Asia and the Pacific (john libbey@aol.com) and Giannalbertro Bendazzi's exhaustive biography of Alexander Alexeieff, the pin-screen animator. Annecy 2001 had plenty more excitement to offer. There were lots more programs, original artwork exhibitions, an ASIFA-International auction of artwork, and an ASIFA members' meeting. The MIFA market included master-classes, seminars, and displays of new software. There were companies, associations and schools represented from more than 50 countries. There was so much to absorb that one had far too little time to spend with the many wonderful people attending the festival. I hear the all night "American Bar" party helped a bit for those who could do without sleep. They probably had a lot of Big nights. Other, more sleepy mortals, had to settle for the awards' ceremony and the closing party as the Big night. The awards' ceremony's stage was designed as a Scottish pub. Serge Bromberg hosted it wearing a kilt. While he served beer and prizes, his kilt served as a challenge for some distinguished guests. Throughout the ceremony they tried to lift it up and get a peek at what it hides. So, who won a prize? Out of 35 films from the U.S.A., totalling 882 min., Bill Plympton's Mutant Aliens was awarded the "best feature" prize, mainly for being a daringly different, non-mainstream, film and production. That's it. Which brings us to a major OOPS! Ralph Eggleston's For the Birds (Pixar, 2000) was certainly one of the best films in competition, yet it somehow slipped through the fingers of the juries. Once again this omission emphasizes the fact that prizes, more often than not, are but a limited acknowledgment of quality, reflecting juries' compromises rather than an authoritarian comment. Another non-prize OOPS! For me was Phil Robinson's Hubert's Brain. Besides being a good movie it shone in its excellent use of tools-in-service-of-the-film among the films made by computers. Many cgi films are so concerned with "look what I can do with my computer" that they forget all about communicating, exciting, moving people other than programmers. Michael DuDok de Wit's Father and Daughter was awarded the "best short film" prize (visit his excellent (www.dudokdewit.com web site). Cordell "Cat Came Back" Barker's latest Strange Invaders won a special distinction award. The short films shown in competition from the U.S. were: Bike Ride (Tom Schroeder, 6'35"), Storm and Ember (Sharon Katz Jelden, 6'), For the Birds (Ralph Eggleston, 3'31"), Fruits of Labor (Rudy Poat, 1'44"), Eat (Bill Plympton, 9'), Luz (Spain/USA, Javier Martinez. 8'), Mistaken Identity (Maureen Selwood. 28') and Hubert's Brain (Phil Robinson, 15'34"). Mutant Aliens (Bill Plympton. 80') was shown in the feature category. The panorama programs (new work shown, but not in competition) included from the U.S.: Thought Bubble (Billy Greene. 4'), Gravity (Korea/USA, Min-hyung Lee, 5'), Graveyard (Michaela Pavlatova, 5'), Rejected (Don Hertzfeldt, 9'30"), Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big (Berkeley Breathed, 8'41") and Mirror (Lee Lanier, 2'50"). The commissioned TV films in competition were: Spy Groove "Greek Freaks" (E. M. Bour/S. A. Blinkoff, 21'30"), Avenue Amy "The Anti-Indie" (Joan Raspo, 5'), Blue's Clues "Periwinkle Misses his Friends" (David Levy, 24'30"), Little Bill (Robert Scull, 11'45"), Zoey's Zoo "Lots of Ocelots" (Yvette Kaplan, 7'), Gift of the Little People (Michael Bannon, 22'), Lewis Lectures (Merrill Markoe/Lisa Gillim, 7'28") and Daria "Is It Fall Yet?" (Karen Disher/Guy Moore, 72'). The commercials from the U.S. in competition were by Ken Lidster, Peter Chung, Mike Wellins, Carl Willat, J. J. Sedelmaier (3), Bill White, Chel White, Robert Valley and Joanna Quinn (2 for ACME). In addition a Bob Kurtz (L.A. Kurtz & Friends) showreel of outstanding commercials from the 70's on, was included in the international selection of commercials. The student films from the U.S. in competition were: Bibbily Bobbily Job (Valerie Perkins, Rochester Inst. of Tech. 4'20"), Eat Your Brain (Abigail Goldsmith, CalArts, 3'53"). Dream (Ah-young Jung, CalArts, 3'06"). Lint People (Helder Sun, CalArts, 7'41"), Vessel Wrestling (Lisa Yu, UCLA, 13'). Fur & Feathers (Maria Vasilkovsky, CalArts, 5'30"). Good Guys Wear Black (Aaron Alexovich, CalArts, 4'07") and Wicked (Linda Dorn, CalArts, 2'39"). A variety of historic American rabbits were shown in 2 "Rabbitmation" programs. They included Chuck Jones' Presto Change O (1939) and Rabbit Fire (1951); Tex Avery's A Wild Hare (1940) and Doggone Tired (1949); Fleischer's Bunny Mooning (1937); 3 Roger Rabbit shorts (Rob Minkoff, 1989,'90,'93); Chris Wedge's Bunny ('98); Don Hertzfeldt's Genre ('96); O.J. San Felipe's Yoffe the Wonder Dog vs. the Evil Bunny Slippers (2000); Vinton's Easter special The Art of Freeway Crossing; Eric Porter's Rabbit Stew (U.S/Australia. 1950) and Disney's Oswald in Ocean Up (1927). Other programs of work by Americans included retrospective programs of work by Bill Hanna and Claire Parker/Alexander Alexeieff. They also showed The Lost World, 1925; a UNICEF compilation, work from past ASIFA children's workshops, Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival and outdoor screenings of Disney's Peter Pan and Odyssey's Cybernight. At the gala closing night ceremony they ran Tex Avery's Porky's Preview. The event also included zany on-stage antics by John Dilworth (Courage the Cowardly Dog) when he presented Bill Plympton his award. Note: Annecy is a beautiful historic town. Archaeologists have found in the area remains of lakeside villages that date from the Neolithic period, about 4000 BC. The oldest parts of the city, built in the 9th century, are now covered by the lake. The "new" Annecy was begun in the 11th century. (Jerry Beck says the 3D event, staged by Annecy master of ceremonies Serge Bromberg, was "one of the greatest retrospective events I'd ever seen.")
ILM'S TOUR DE FORCEby Karl Cohen Due to space limitations the following paragraphs were cut by Film/Tape World from my recent (July) article on ILM: "Before the visit to ILM ended there was a screening of individual shots from Pearl Harbor that further demonstrated their exceptional skills at photo-realistic computer generated imagery. After the screening we were introduced to John Helms, the technical director who animated the memorable "bomb drop sequence" that shows a Japanese bomb leaving an aircraft and, as the camera tips downward and follows behind the bomb, we see it falling toward the battleship Arizona. You may have seen this sequence in TV commercials or in other publicity for the film. Helms explained that the shot was a composite of some 140 different computer generated elements. It begins with a group of aircraft flying towards the camera. There are about 350 Japanese aircraft in the film, but only a handful of authentic planes actually exist now. The dozens of aircraft in this sequence were computer generated. The environment that they fly through began as a series of photos that were patched together and modified in the computer. The bomb was another separate element (complete with a tiny spinning propeller), as were clouds of black smoke from explosions, shadows of planes, reflections, flying tracer bullets, a torpedo heading towards the battleship through the water and the movements of computer generated ocean swells and waves. When Ed Hirsh, co-visual effects supervisor, filmed the reference footage of Pearl Harbor that was used to design the shot, there were no ships in the water. The entire fleet seen in the shot was computer generated. Artists also had to remove cars, parking lots and buildings that didn't exist when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The thousands of people moving about on the Arizona's deck are not real. They began as dots placed on the deck by Huck Wirtz, lead animator. The computer turns them into people seen from above and uses "predetermined animation" to make them move about. To add further realism to the scene, camera shake was added to create the illusion of realism. ILM studied footage shot by skydivers to see how the falling cameraman and the skydivers he was filming jiggled as they fell. The end result is a truly amazing sequence. When Helms was asked what it was like to do this shot, he said doing it "was a lot of fun." He thought it would get lots of comments, but he didn't expect it to become world famous."
NEW BOOK"PRODUCING ANIMATION" IS BEING OFFERED TO ASIFA MEMBERS AT A DISCOUNT Producing Animation by Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi is a guide to identifying, pitching, selling, developing, and producing an animated show. It provides comprehensive information on production, planning, budgeting, scheduling, and tracking your project. It includes a detailed description and flow charts of the production process for traditional 2D and 3D CGI. continued on last page Producing Animation was written from the perspective of a producer and it presents the nuts-and-bolts of how a project is created in addition to describing the role of the producer at each phase. Answers are provided to many of the commonly asked questions about animation, ranging from how to enter the business to the average cost and schedule for a prime-time animated series. There are observations from a wide range of industry professionals including studio heads, creators, directors, producers, writers and members of the production crew. The book gives the reader insight into what it takes to be a successful producer in this business. The authors' personal anecdotes at key process points relay firsthand experience, illustrating some of the pitfalls a producer must learn to circumvent. Detailed information on preparing a thorough production plan including budget, schedule, and crew plan, can also be found in the book. The book retails for $34.95. ASIFA members pay $29.70 and get free shipping if the order now. To order www.focalpress.com 1-800-366-2665 email orders@bhusa.com or Focal Press, 225 Wildwood Ave., Woburn, Mass. 01801 For more information www.producinganimation.com
ANIMATOR IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM
FESTIVALSWHY SHOULD YOU ENTER FESTIVALS by Karl Cohen I just got an e-mail announcing a film festival run through a public access TV station in Virginia. The entry fee is $35. They claim 900,000 potential viewers and winners will be shown on their web site. Sounds good unless you realize that very few people actually log onto their web site or watch public access stations since very few people know what is being shown on them in advance. Most stations do not have advertising and promotion budgets. So who will be watching? Spend your entry fee budget wisely. Enter festivals where the benefits to you are worth the cost of the entry fee. Are the judges people who might help your career later? Will any people whom you believe will help your career be in the audience? Will a win get you publicity? Will winning qualify you for consideration for an Oscar nomination? Are there cash prizes? You probably spent a lot making your work, so why spend a lot more on entry fees to be part of events that will be of little or no value to you. SF FILM FESTIVAL'S GOLDEN GATE AWARDS Entry deadline November 30 Has an animation category. Also has a new visions and a Bay Area category. They attracted nearly 1,600 entries from 58 countries last year. They have 27 categories. There is a lot of competition for the single cash prize in animation. They generally show several animated entries. The animation judges often pass on films that later get nominated for Oscars so it is hard to say what they will like. Entry forms and eligibility guidelines are available after September 1 from the Festival Web site www.sffs.org or call (415) 561-5014. Email ggawards@sfiff.org or write Programming Department, SF International Film Festival, 39 Mesa Street, Suite 110, The Presidio, SF CA 94129. LATE NEWS ITEM - PIXAR'S ALEX ORELLE IS GUEST OF A NEW FESTIVAL IN TEL AVIV The first Co-CarAn Festival (Comix Caricature Animation) is Aug. 26-28. He was set to present his work on opening night. Jayne Pilling (British Animation Awards) and Norm Kauffman (TVC) were also honored guests. Cartoon Network and British Council helped support the event. |
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This issue was written by Karl Cohen, Tsvika Oren, Barry Purves and Gene Hamm. Pete Davis was the proofreader. Shirley Smith was production manager. The mailing crew included Smith, Cohen, Ron Seawright and Tara Packard. Philip Malkin keeps the membership/subscription files organized. |
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© 2001 Animation World Network