April, 2002
"SPIRITED AWAY" WILL BE SHOWN AT THE CASTRO THEATER, SATURDAY APRIL 20, AT 6:30 PM & SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 11:00 AM PLUS A BERKELEY SCREENING AT THE PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE MONDAY AT 9 PM Described as a "fabulous ghost-infested adventure full of action, suspense and a swarm of unusual creatures and compelling human characters, Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi) is the pinnacle of imaginative animated fantasy by Japanimation master Hayao Miyazaki. The highest grossing film of all time in Japan. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2001 125min) The film, about a 10 year old child's search for her parents in the spirit world, has gotten dozens of rave reviews (many reprinted on the Internet). See article in this issue about Disney buying the rights to this film. This is a screening of a sub-titled version (a dubbed print will be released in the US later this year). Screening is part of the SF Film Festival.
The festival will present "By The Light Of The Silvery Toon," an animation compilation program featuring 10 shorts. They are Black Soul, The Cat With Hands, Home Road Movies, Hubert's Brain (Wild Brain), Into The Dark, Love Is All, Rocks, Strange Invaders (Cordell Barker, Oscar Nom.), The Visit, and Vessel Wrestling. Shows Sunday, April 21, at the Kabuki Theatre, 8:45 PM and Friday, April 26, Kabuki Theatre, 1:15 PM The festival is showing 2 other animated shorts. A Conversation with Haris by Sheila Sofian 6 min, is an ironic whimsical work that depicts the childhood of a boy who lost his family in the Serbo-Croatian war before he immigrating to the USA. It plays Wednesday, April 24, .Kabuki Theatre 7 PM and Saturday, April 27 Pacific Film Archive at 2:30. Copy Shop is an intriguing, troubling look at what happens when duplication goes awry. It is by Virgil Widrich, Austria 2001, 12 min. It plays Thursday, April 25 Kabuki Theatre 5:15 PM and Sunday, April 28 Kabuki 9:45 PM Check to see what the festival is showing on closing night. They couldn't confirm it, but they may present the world premiere of a major animated feature. STRANGE INVADERS WINS THE TOP ANIMATION PRIZE AT THIS YEAR'S GOLDEN GATE AWARDS The Golden Gate Award goes to Strange Invaders, Cordell Barker, Canada; The Certificate of Merit to Black Soul, Martine Chartrand, Canada and a Certificate of Merit to Into the Dark, Dennis Tupicoff, Australia. WILD BRAIN'S "HUBERT'S BRAIN" HAS NOW WON 10 MAJOR FESTIVAL PRIZES In February director Phil Robinson was awarded a special jury prize at Imagina, the International Festival for Digital Images, Monaco. Previous awards include: Annecy, "10 Best of Annecy;" World Animation Celebration, 1st place for Computer Animation; Asifa Hollywood Annie Awards, Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short; Bradford Animation Festival, UK, Best Film for Children; Festival Synthesis, Belgium, 1st place in Fiction; Chicago Int'l Film Festival, Silver Plaque; Nashville Independent Film Festival (NIFF) Honorable Mention in Animation; San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, special jury prize, and 9th Raindance Film Festival, Honorable Mention in Fictional Shorts category. A NEW PIXAR SHORT WILL BE RELEASED ON TAPE AND DVD WITH "MONSTERS, INC." IN SEPTEMBER Mike's New Car features the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal. "It is the story of a little girl who invades the monsters' realm and then teaches them a thing or two." The DVD will also include their Oscar nominated short For the Birds, animated outtakes, behind the scenes at Pixar (animation tests, etc.) plus a trailer for the next Pixar feature, Finding Nemo. The 2-disc DVD will retail at $29.99. The film on VHS tape will retail at $24.99. CONGRATULATIONS TO ILM AND THE OTHER EFFECTS HOUSES THAT WORKED ON "TIME MACHINE" Visually this is a magnificent production. The special effects are subtle, but impressive along with great sets, costumes and art direction. ILM was one of several companies that provided images for the film. They have 17 shots in the final work and several in the film's coming attraction trailer. All their work is in the Morlocks sequence. My overall feeling about the film is another matter. It is a good, but not a great work. I felt the director making Guy Pierce's role so unemotional was a major mistake. I couldn't give a damn about the film's star. I didn't feel anything. I simply became a curious observer of the world like him. The film seemed emotionally dull until the drama with the Morlocks near the film's end. It finally gets exciting and becomes dark and heavy like a good monster or horror film. This change of pace came too late to save this work. KC "THE FUNNY BUSINESS OF NINA PALEY" IS AN INFORMATIVE ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY APPLE.COM The article by Stephanie Jorgl appeared in their Hot News section, February, 2002. It turns out she grew up across the street from a computer research lab at the University of Illinois and took advantage of their facilities. Her present project, Thank You For Not Breeding, is being done on a Power Mac with two Apple Studio Displays in her living room. There is a lot more information about Paley in the article, so check it out if you want to know more. OUR WEB SITE IS PROVING TO BE A USEFULL ASSET Since going online in January, 2000 we have had almost 150,000 hits, have averaged about 850 sessions a month and the statistics show a lot of information has been downloaded. Michael Nolan, our new web-master, is doing a fine job keeping the information current including posting last-minute events. For useful animation information visit: asifa-sf.org "SUPERWACKY: ANIMATION ON TELEVISION 1949-2002" AT THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM October 5 - January 12, 2003 The exhibition examines the history of cartoons made for television. Included are over 125 vintage production cels, character sketches, concept drawings and rare painted background art from over 25 animation studios including Disney, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Terrytoons, Jay Ward, and Warner Bros. This exhibition is presently on display at The Fullerton Museum Center. note: Crusader Rabbit, TV's first animated series, wasn't broadcast anywhere on a regular basis until 1950. The 1949 date is an error passed down from book to book by authors who don't check their facts. It is based on the pilot having a 1949 copyright and it being shown at a promotional party for potential buyers and the press in '49 (not a scheduled TV broadcast). This is a minor point, but since the show was created in the Bay Area by people I know and like, it would be nice if our local museum got the date correct and also honored Lucille Bliss (the voice of the rabbit) and Alex Anderson (the creator of the series and the father of limited animation) while the show is on display. TWO ACADEMY OF ART STUDENTS ARE RUNNING THE SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER OF WOMEN IN ANIMATION Kara Frame, a 3D animation student and Shelly Fletcher, a graduate student, are rebuilding the chapter. They recently had an event with ILM's Victoria Livingstone as their guest presenter. They will keep ASIFA-SF informed of their future events. They can be reached at mudang@hotmail.com shellief@usa.net THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM'S SPARKY AWARDS GALA TO HONOR ANIMATOR/PRODUCER BILL MELENDEZ, SAT. APRIL 8 The event named in honor of Peanuts creator Charles "Sparky" Schulz recognizes significant contributions to the art of cartooning by artists residing in the western United States. Schulz's wife, Jean, serves as honorary chair of the Sparky Awards. This year's award winners are: Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side; Lou Grant, editorial cartoonist; Bill Melendez, Peanuts animator and John Severin, war and western comic book artist. Special Sparky Awards will be presented to Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, and to Phil Frank, creator of Farley, for their exceptional service to the cartoon art community. Bill Melendez began his career in animation at the Disney studio in 1938. He worked as an animator on Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo. After leaving Disney, he animated Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig for Leon Schlesinger Cartoons, which later became Warner Brothers Cartoons. Melendez worked for the UPA studio on its groundbreaking and highly stylized shorts including Madeline and Gerald McBoing-Boing. After a 10-year stint directing industrial films and television commercials, Mr. Melendez founded his own production company, Bill Melendez Productions, in 1964. That same year, he produced his first television special-A Charlie Brown Christmas. The show was an instant critical and popular success, winning both an Emmy and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Children/Young People's program. Mr. Melendez went on to produce more than 75 Charlie Brown specials and four feature-length movies as well as animating specials featuring Jim Davis's Garfield, Babar the Elephant, and Cathy Guisewite's Cathy. The eight Emmys and numerous other awards he has received attest to the significant contribution Melendez has made to the field of animation. I interviewed Melendez for my book Forbidden Animation and he is a delightful, crusty old soul whose life hasn't been as simplistic as the above biography suggests. He went on strike at Disney and still has anger in his voice for those who crossed the picket lines. He quit UPA in disgust when they purged possible Communists from their staff. At an event at CAL Arts he got into a loud argument with Herb Klynn who remained at UPA. Klynn claimed that the loss of John Hubley, Phil Eastman, Bill Scott and other key people didn't make any difference to the studio's productions. Melendez said the decline in quality speaks for itself and most of the audience knew Melendez was right. I doubt he will be discussing controversial issues at the awards event, but if you ever get the chance to meet him he has a lot of information to share about what the industry was really like. The gala begins with a reception at the Cartoon Art Museum (655 Mission Street) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Guests will then enjoy dinner at the Palace Hotel (2 New Montgomery) along with a selection of wines from Kenwood Vineyards. The Fil Lorenz Trio will perform light jazz. The public is invited to attend this special evening and meet the guests of honor. Tickets are $125 per person. Tables of eight are also available for $950. For tickets and more information, call (415) 227-8666 ext. 300 or visit www.cartoonart.org. CARTOON ART MUSEUM TO EXHIBIT "WEB-SLINGING AND WALL-CRAWLING: THE ART OF SPIDER-MAN" April 19-July, 21 Opening Reception April 19, 8:00 p.m. The show covers four decades of the strip, and features the work of dozens of artists and writers. In celebration of the 40th birthday of the Marvel character, the museum is presenting the first major exhibition of Spider-Man original art showcasing the works of talented individuals such as Steve Ditko, John Romita, Ross Andru, Todd McFarlane and a host of other artists past and present. Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962 for Marvel Comics. It was a crucial figure in the silver age revival of the super-hero comic book. Spider-Man was a super-hero with super problems. He and his alter ego Peter Parker learn the hard way that with great power comes great responsibility. Comic book enthusiasts were thrilled to read about someone who had the same problems they did (school, dating, money, health, etc.), and a few that they didn't (maintaining a secret identity, fighting super-villains, saving the universe twice a month). The success of the character led to comic book adventures, a newspaper comic strip, animated TV shows, a myriad of merchandising, and now a major motion picture to be released on May 3, 2002. With fans around the world and across several generations, Spider-Man has become an important icon of 20th century popular culture. THE MUSEUM IS ALSO OPENING THE SECOND PART OF THEIR TRIBUTE TO EDWARD GOREY "GOREY GRAPHICS" is on display April 6 - July 28, 2002 BRAD DE GRAF IS ORGANIZING THE "INTERNET ANIMATION COLLECTION" A NON-PROFIT ONLINE LIBRARY He hopes it will become a permanent online library of animation. It is a project of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit that was founded to build an "Internet library" that will preserve work and giving permanent access to researchers, historians, and scholars. There is a great deal of animation made around the world, but most of it is accessible only to a few people for a short time. Short films in particular have very transitory availability, being mostly viewable at festivals and traveling collections. Once seen, they often get shelved and are rarely, if ever, viewed again. Even those that do stay in circulation through video sales get limited exposure. Internet collections have been started, such as Atom Films and iFilm, but they have mutually exclusive rights, are for-profit, and are therefore limited in scope. The Archive is in the process of establishing structures and processes for the sharing of intellectual property. These are thorny issues, with many "stakeholders" (e.g. creators, copyright owners, academicians, the production community, distributors, etc.). The Animation Collection will benefit greatly from the significant work the Archive has already done in regard to establishing standards that work for all. Initial use will focus around public-domain and easily obtained rights for non-exclusive, MPEG2 display for non-commercial use, co-evolving with the Archive's broader policies over time. Initial work is being funded by the Archive, which has also committed to matching grants from other sources to continue the work. VINTON STUDIOS HIRES FORMER ILM COMMERCIAL HEAD JOHN RA BENSON Vinton Studios in Portland has hired John Ra Benson to manage the studios' computer animation department. He had been with ILM's commercial division for 5 years and before that with Colossal Pictures for 5 years. CURIOUS PICTURES' FOUNDERS BUY BACK THE COMPANY At one time Curious had studios in San Francisco and New York. The company was sold to the Intel Film Corporation in May 1999 and the local office closed. The next year Intel created Dcode, a creative services agency. Both companies were sold to Curious' founders Susan Holden, Steve Oakes, David Starr and Richard Winkler for approximately $5.1 million, including $2,000,000 in cash. Curious Pictures produces commercials, television series and manufactures and sells toys under the name Curious Toys. ELEGANT OFFICE SUITE AVAILABLE Production-office space, 1000 sq. feet, perfect for media production, management, etc. Beautiful space ready for occupancy, has phone system, independent ground electrical service, A/C, DSL, security system and client parking. Located in the heart of Emeryville half block from Pixar. Share elegant reception entry area with leading Bay Area audio facility as well as conference/lounge area. A must see. Check out sparkworld.com for visual reference before calling Todd at (510) 654-6544. THIS ISSUE WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE OSCARS WERE ANNOUNCED Congratulation to whomever won. Perhaps it should have been a tie between Pixar and PDI as both films were great. I also hope Ice Age is a hit and Blue Sky becomes an important creator of animated features. KC LOCAL SCREENINGSFriday, April 19, BENIFIT PARTY FOR THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM with live music by the Sprockets Ensemble, animation by Jason Shiga, Nina Paley, Chris Lanier and other artists, and more. A friend said last year's benefit had great food and drinks. Reasonable admission fee includes a lot of fun plus all you can eat and drink. (415) CAR-TOOONSunday, April 21. ASIFA-SF presents CAREERS IN ANIMATION, with George Evelyn, director at Wild Brain; Bridget Erdmann, executive producer at Imaginengine Corp; Michel Lipman, freelance director and animator, and Victoria Livingstone, senior animator at ILM, 2:30 PM, S.F. State, Coppola Auditorium (Fine Arts 101) Tuesday, April 23, NIK PHELPS AND NINA PALEY, "Music, Animation and Film" They will discuss how they work individually and together on projects (his music, her images). Reception at 7 (light refreshments), talk at 7:30, The Oakland Art Gallery, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza 2, 14th and Broadway, Oakland, free, (510) 268-4978 www.artship.org Monday, April 29, IDEAS IN ANIMATION, Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble, premieres of Nina Paley's Naked Croquet and Signe Baumane's Five Fucking Fables plus work by Chris Lanier, Marian Wallace, animators from Russia and Portugal, and more, at Minna Street Gallery. 111 Minna near 2nd St in SF. Shows at 7:30 and 9:30. This is their last Bay Area performance until late Fall. They will perform in Point Arena May 4 and then travel to the Annecy Animation Festival, to the Krok Festival and a silent film festival in Italy. NATIONAL NEWSBILL PLYMPTON'S 4th ANIMATED FEATURE, "MUTANT ALIENS," OPENS IN NYC ON APRIL 19 at the Cinema Village theater. Apollo Cinema is releasing the film around the U.S. following the N.Y. and L.A. screenings.Mutant Aliens was in the Official Selection of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and it won the Grand Prize at the 2001 Annecy Animation Festival. It tells the story of Earl Jensen, an astronaut who is stranded in space by Dr. Frubar, an evil space industry tycoon. Twenty years later, he returns to Earth with 5 adorable bloodthirsty aliens to get his revenge. "Mutant Aliens riffs on cliches of 50's sci-fi thrillers while trafficking in the usual Plympton-esque mix of jokey soft-core sex, straight-faced absurdity and comically exaggerated violence." Joe Leydon, Variety; "The funniest film of the year...one of the crown jewels of Sundance 2001" Rick Hamner, Film Festival Reporter For more information and images please visit Bill's websites at awn.com, plymptoons.com and mutantaliensmovie.com ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD HELD A SERIES OF FINE EVENTS IN MARCH They included a Richard Williams book signing event similar to ours, a 16mm screening of rare animated educational and industrial films hosted by Jerry Beck, and Tom Sito interviewing Rudy Cataldi who worked for Disney in the 1940s and for Hanna-Barbera in the 60's. They also had a party and screening honoring the publishing of Animation Blast #8 THE LITTLE THEATRE IN SEATTLE IS PRESENTING SEVERAL GREAT AND UNUSUAL ANIMATION PROGRAMS In March they show Stop-Motion: The First 50 Years, including Starevitch, Willis O'Brien, Art Clokey and George Pal. For the Visual Music Festival 2002 they presented the Kinetica 3 programs that were here last fall and a program on new shorts with Richard Reeves in-person. April 11-14 they will show the 5 animated shorts nominated this year for the Oscar. ON THE PASSING OF CHUCK JONES A great deal has been said about the man and the wonderful work he directed. This issue could be filled with lots of memories, but due to space limitation I've chosen to run only a couple from Gary Meyer who presently runs the Balboa Theater. "The first time I met him was at the Zagreb Animation Festival in 1972. There was a huge Yugoslavian style barbeque in a park. International animators were sitting around drawing characters for fans. After watching people request Bugs and Daffy (he didn't create them but he helped develop their characters) and Roadrunner/Coyote, I approached Chuck. After talking a bit I asked if he could draw the frog from One Froggy Evening. His face lit up and he said, 'that is my favorite character of all I have worked on and nobody has ever asked me to draw him before.' The sketch holds a prized place in our home. In recent years Michigan J. Frog has become a superstar as the spokesfrog for the WB television network." I'd like to thank Gary for his comments and at the same time say I was slightly disappointment with the coverage in the mainstream press. Jones was given lots of space, but all I saw were obits that said he did this and that. They failed to capture his wonderful spirit and energy. He really loved the art of animation. He also did things like endowing an animation program at a college in Pennsylvania and providing scholarship money for students. He cared. KC "N.Y. TIMES" GAVE A GEORGE MELIES DVD AN EXCEPTIONAL REVIEW The disc Melies the Magician from Facets Video contains 15 fully restored shorts dating from 1895 to work made before WWI. Also included is a documentary on this great film pioneer. "METROPOLIS" WILL BE RELEASED ON VIDEO & DVD APRIL 23 Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment delayed the DVD and VHS release of Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis because the film did better than expected in its theatrical run. It has earned over $539,000 in theatres. ASIFA-WASHINGTON (D.C.) PRESENTED 28 ANIMATED FILMS IN AN 8 DAY ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL It was held in March in 13 different locations. Many of the screenings were free. THE ANIMATED MR. BEAN DEBUTS IN ENGLAND Rowan Atkinson has turned his character into an animated series being run on channel ITV1. "As a live-action character, Mr. Bean always possessed a cartoon-like quality," said Atkinson, who was filmed for every episode of the series so animators could use his movements as reference footage. Atkinson also provided voice-overs. His website has footage on the making of the production. mrbean.co.uk REPORTS ARE BEING CIRCULATED THAT THERE ARE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITHIN DISNEY The layoffs that began last summer have continued to hit hard at the Burbank studio's feature division, but not at Disney animation operations in Florida and Australia. This suggests they perceive a problem with their prestige features, not with their lower budget sequel features or their TV animation. People in development have been laid off (future projects) along with production staff members. Some of the people laid-off had been with the studio for over 20 years. One person was told he could continue to work for another 6 months if he wanted to go to Australia and train somebody there to do his old job. (He told them no, but in a less polite manner according to his friend.) One person speculated the studio is making short-sighted cuts to keep the value of their stock up. Another claimed this is a major reorganization, that they will go completely digital and that they are getting rid of fine draftsmen who don't use computers. Somebody presently working as a Disney artist said they are being trained to use Maya. Obviously they are shifting people over to 3D CGI. Tom Schumacher is reported to be talking about having an "ambidextrous studio" that can do both 2D and 3D, but it seems they are moving more towards 3D. Ironic, since they closed The Secret Lab, their CGI section, not so long ago." Part of the problem is that sequels are made with relatively low production budgets compared with the costs of producing a major original feature. While it may be years before Dinosaurs and Atlantis break even (imdb.com reports Atlantis had a $90 million budget and took in $84 million in the US - and only part goes back to the producers), The Tigger Movie cost under $20 million to make and grossed $46 million domestic, about the same abroad and then it went to home video. Variety (reprinted by Yahoo! News on 2/19/02) says Disney spends about 2.5 years to make their sequels and the budgets range from $8 to 15 million. Return to Neverland cost $19.5 million to make. It grossed $16.1 million the first 4 days it was in release and after 3 weeks it had grossed $41.5 million. Some Disney sequels, that have gone directly to home video, have grossed about $150 million each (Lady and the Tramp II, Little Mermaid II, Scamp's Adventure, etc.). Another sign that there is trouble comes from an administrator at CAL Arts. Disney usually sends recruiters to the school looking for new talent that they might hire. Disney's special recruiting day is not scheduled to happen this year. Meanwhile an ASIFA-SF member just back from Disneyland writes, "I'm happy to report that the magic is still there even though a lot of the park is chipping and peeling. It was magical and a tiny bit tragic at the same time. It really is run-down. It made me long for my lost innocent youth, before I knew about budgets, upkeep costs etc." ON MARCH 19 CBS REPORTED "DISNEY SAYS IT WILL LAY OFF ANIMATORS" After writing the above article I read that Disney plans to lay off another 250 animators by May 2003.They will reduce their staff "as part of an ongoing change in the animation industry, which still is trying to shake off the bloat of a massive buildup in the mid-1990s, spokeswoman Andrea Marozas said. Disney cut 500 animation jobs last year and reduced salaries by as much as half." Disney "may continue to bring the artists back in on various projects... Animators enjoyed a period in the 1990s when demand was at a premium for their services. After Disney scored a giant hit with 1994's "The Lion King," a number of competitors jumped into the animation game only to retreat after public interest in the films fizzled." "Disney officials said in news reports that they plan to stick with traditional hand-drawn animation despite the recent success of such computer-generated films." Russ Britt, Los Angeles, CBS.MarketWatch.com. A former Disney artist told us, "The Disney Feature Animation staff had grown to about 1500 in 2001 from 120 in 1975. It's a terrible time for them all. As bad as 1958 after Sleeping Beauty when the staff went from 500 to 75." WALT DISNEY SELECTS RICHARD COOK TO BE THEIR CHAIRMAN Richard W. Cook has become chairman of The Walt Disney Studios and will head production for Disney, Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures. In addition, he will be responsible for worldwide distribution and marketing for live-action and feature animated films, worldwide home entertainment operations and the studio's legal and business affairs. He will report to both Disney chairman and CEO Michael D. Eisner, and Disney president and COO Robert A. Iger. Cook has been with Disney for 31 years. He served for six years as a chairman overseeing domestic and international theatrical marketing and distribution, feature film acquisition, and worldwide home video. He began his career with the company in 1970 as a ride operator at Disneyland. In 1971 he became a Disneyland sales representative and was eventually promoted to manager of sales for the park. He advanced to manager of the company's pay television and non-theatrical releases in 1977 and was involved with early plans for The Disney Channel. In 1980 he became assistant domestic sales manager for Buena Vista and subsequently became vice president and general sales manager, and then in 1988 senior vice president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. DAVID STAINTON PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT OF WALT DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION He had been executive vice president of the division. Stainton's responsibilities include overseeing the operation of the division's animated television series and specials, Disney video premieres and features that are sequels. He will continue to report to Thomas Schumacher, head of Walt Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation. Stainton began his career at Disney in 1989 as a manager of special projects for Walt Disney Pictures and Television. In 1991 he joined the feature division. As vice president of creative affairs, he built up the development department. In January 1998, he was named senior vice president of creative affairs for Feature Animation and was put in charge of their animation studio in Paris. He returned to Burbank in January 2000, to head up TV Animation as executive vice president. TOM SITO HAS WRITTEN THE ONLY ARTICLE I'VE SEEN ON THE CURRENT "HARD TIMES IN TOON TOWN" The December, Millimeter gave him almost a page on the problem producers of animated features are having along with the producers of 2D TV commercials. He reports the union's membership has lost about 1000 jobs since 1998 when there was 90% employment in the industry. Many have taken lower paying non-union jobs to survive. Some of the jobs are with new non-union studios in Texas, Chicago, and abroad, where the pay and benefits are less. He also wrote about the good news. He points out the success of Shrek and two long running TV series (Simpsons and Family Guy). He also mentions how there has been a big increase in the number of animated features being made and how the Academy has just recognized animated features as an Oscar category for the first time. SCREEN DAILY.COM REPORTS DISNEY IS GETTING THE RIGHTS FOR "SPIRITED AWAY" for distribution in North America. The film is Hayao Miyazaki's smash animated hit that broke all box office records in Japan. Disney obtained the rights to the film for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and France in previously concluded deals. Meanwhile, sales agent Wild Bunch is handling other world rights to the film, excluding South Korea, and has recently concluded distribution deals for the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Russia. Hopefully Disney has learned a lot from Miramax's much-criticized handling of the North American release of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. For many months Disney said they were not interested in distributing this feature, but now they are said to be moving quickly to get Spirited Away released, possibly as early as July. The studio has already engaged Pixar creative chief John Lasseter to serve as creative consultant on the dubbed version of Spirited Away. No voice casting choices have been announced. Spirited Away has been in release in Japan for seven months and it is still being shown in over 100 theaters. It is closing in on the Y30 billion ($226m) and 23 million admissions marks. The film won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. Princess Mononoke, 1997 by Miyazaki, was the previous Japanese box office record-holder at $150 million US. Unfortunately Disney didn't market it very well. It only earned $2.37 million in the US (it opened in October 1999 on 131 screens in 69 U.S. and Canadian cities). After that disappointing showing Disney appeared to loose interest in doing further business with Miyazaki's work. Spirited Away is a modern fantasy about a ten-year-old girl who finds herself in a mysterious world of goblins and gods. Though filmed in 2D animation, it makes the most extensive use of digital technology of any film in Studio Ghibli's seventeen-year history. COMPANY MAKING LARGE FORMAT PRINTS GETS AN ACADEMY TECHNICAL AWARD FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO 70MM FILMS - THEIR PR GIVES INSIGHT INTO THE PROFIT POTENTIAL OF 70MM THEATERS Imagica Corporation of L.A. and Tokyo got a technical Oscar for their part in making 70mm IMAX and prints for other 70mm projectors possible. Christopher Reyna, president of Imagica USA says, "Theaters with 8/70 systems had an especially hard time getting launched, because they couldn't get films. The only quality format conversion services were at Imagica in Tokyo. It was hard for the industry to move ahead. Bringing the optical wetgate printer to Los Angeles changed all that. Today, most major large format films are released in 8/70 and 10/70 as well as 15/70Š This award-winning optical wetgate printer is the one Disney chose to create both the 8/70 and the 15/70-dome conversions of Beauty and The Beast, which opened in 100 large format theaters around the world Jan. 1. That's a fundamental change from what Disney did with the large format release of Fantasia 2000, two years earlier. Fantasia was released in 15/70 only (for IMAX projectors). It showed in 75 theaters. Since then, 8/70 format has become more popular, especially with commercial exhibitors. Producers and distributors realize they're leaving money on the table if they don't cross-platform their films. Considering that the number of large format theaters worldwide is about 300, an increase of 25 theaters is extremely significant." Fantasia 2000 grossed about $800,000 per screen. Beauty and the Beast grossed $7.7 million in it's first 13 days on 68 screens and $20.2 million by mid-March. It is showing in IMAX and Iwerks theaters. Iwerks shows 8/70 prints. In comparison Cyberworld 3D (2000) , a popular compilation of cgi shorts by PDI and other companies that was put together for IMAX, has grossed $10.6million. ANIMATED FEATURES BEING RELEASED LATER THIS YEAR COVER A LOT OF GROUND At one end of the spectrum is The Incredible Mr. Limpet, directed by Mike Judge for Warner Bros. Judge created Beavis and Butt-Head. At the other end of the spectrum is Jonah, a VeggieTale Movie by Big Ideas Productions of Chicago. The film will promote Judeo-Christian values. No specific date or distributor has been announced. The directors are Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer. Since 1993, the company has sold 25 million copies of their direct to video VeggieTale videotapes. See bigideafun.com The art isn't very interesting looking to me, but young kids must like it. Other upcoming releases for 2002 include The Tortoise and the Hare, directed by Richard Goleszowski of Aardman Animations (Nick Parks works for them), Lilo and Stitch from Disney (June release), Treasure Planet from Disney (November, a joint IMAX and 35mm release) and Tusker by Brad Lewis and Tim Johnson of PDI (December). OPTIMISM TO THE END A writer in the Hollywood Reporter wrote in December, "Square Pictures invested four years and more than $135 million to create the groundbreaking realistic CGI feature Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, which grossed a disappointing $32.1 million at the North American box office. But the studio isn't deterred." In February AWN.COM reported the studio is about to close. ALIAS/WAVEFRONT IS MAKING THEIR MAYA PERSONAL LEARNING EDITION, A NON-COMMERCIAL VERSION OF THEIR 3D SOFTWARE, AVAILABLE FOR FREE They are giving users of Windows and Mac OS X free access to their non-commercial version of their award-winning Maya software. This could be important news for 3D graphic artists, animators, students, and other wanting to learn how to use their state-of-the art products. SOFTIMAGE, A DIVISION OF AVID, WILL MAKE THEIR LATEST 3D SOFTWARE AVAILAIBLE TO STUDENTS They are giving non-commercial users their top-of-the-line XSI v.2.0 Advanced 3D animation system at no cost. The SoftimageXSI Experience is a two-CD pack, complete with a searchable documentation library and a comprehensive video-based training module. The software gives unlimited access to their nonlinear animation system as well as to the tools needed to learn it. A COMMENT ABOUT OR CHANGING WORLD by a member who lives out-of-state. "I didn't see much animation at the Ann Arbor Film Festival this year. It made me wonder if less animators are going to 16mm film as the finishing step." Editor: We don't see much 16mm at our open screenings for students and independents - most use video. NEW YORK CITY BILLBOARD VS DISNEY IS AN ILLUSTRATED STORY AT AD.BUSTERS.ORG ABOUT A BIG CORPORATION OBJECTING TO AN ANTI-CORPORATE BILLBOARD NEAR TIMES SQUARE It seems Miramax, a Disney owned division, was making a movie and sent Adbusters a letter asking them to either take down their offensive billboard for a couple of weeks, cover it up, or change the artwork while they were filming in the new wholesome Times Square area. Adbuster's sign has corporate symbols replacing the stars on the American flag and reads "Declare Independence From Corporate Rule." Adbusters objects to the "Disnification" of the area and ignored the request. Instead they ask artists to design new billboards for them. Their article says, "we are prepared to offer a compromise. We will Disney-fy the flag." Their site includes a series of mock-up illustrations of some new ideas of what our flag might look like if Disney ruled. The site also invites people to send in their suggestions. EMPLOYMENTPRODUCER SOUGHT for local stop-motion TV series in development. Must have attention to detail, good knowledge of TV industry, excellent negotiating skills and a track record in organizing business and finance plans and coordinating productions. Please email resume, industry credits, and cover letter detailing why you are right for this job, to Don Thomas: deebo@sfsu.edu Do not send attachments. We are an equal opportunity employer.FESTIVALSTHE KROK INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL sails from St. Petersburg to Moscow, Wednesday, August 14 - Friday, August 23, 2002 Entry Deadline is Wednesday, May 15, 2002 "Krok" takes place each year on a cruse ship. They show films in competition, features and retrospectives on the cruise. For information contact: Irina Kaplichnaya, Phone: 38 (044) 227 52 80; Fax: 38 (044) 227 31 30; or email krok2001@ukr.netCRESTED BUTTE REEL FEST, MAY 10 DEADLINE FOR STUDENT FILMS (DEADLINE FOR REGULAR ENTRIES HAS PAST) $30 entry fee for students. 12 cash prizes in student categories ($200 and $100). In a great location. Event is Aug. 14 - 18. If you go look up Laura Cooper Elm, an ASIFA-SF member who loves Colorado, but misses talking with other animators. For information and form P.O. Box 1733, 214 6th St., Crested Butte, CO 81224, (970) 349-2600 or crestedbuttereelfest.com CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL, DEADLINE IS MAY 1 for a late October event. $35 entry fee for shorts, preview work on ?" tape, they give a decent number of awards selected by an adult jury, and a similar number chosen by a children's jury. This is now the largest festival of films intended for kids in North America. For information and forms (773) 281-9075, www.cicff.org, or write 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60614 |
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This issue was written by Karl Cohen using information from AWN.COM, CBS, Cartoon Research.Com, Screen Daily.Com, Hollywood Reporter, Millimeter, Adbusters,Com, other published sources and from information provided by members, companies and friends. Pete Davis proofread it and the mailing crew included Nancy Phelps, Laura Tulloss and Shirley Smith. Membership is $22 a year from above address. |
| Membership in our chapter is $22 a year or $44 for joint local and international membership. |
© 2002 Animation World Network