April, 2002
WILD BRAIN PRODUCES TWO SWEET ADS FOR DREYER'S ICE CREAM that promote a new line of "irresistible" flavors. The 30 second "Coney Island Waffle Cone" and "Avalanche" ads were directed by Wild Brain co-founder and Senior Creative Director John Hays. The colorful spots were created using a seamless blend of traditional illustration, 3D CG animation and live action. They used proprietary and off-the-shelf digital tools including Adobe Photoshop, Alias/Wavefront's Maya, Adobe After Effects and Commotion, Shake and Flame.
The Coney Island ad was inspired by an original drawing by Mark Hess. It shows an amusement park that looks like waffle cones. "The Black Raspberry Avalanche" ad was designed from an original illustration by Robert Goldstrom. A beautiful, snow-covered mountain range becomes swirls of ice cream surrounded by clusters of black raspberries and chocolate chunks. A snowflake lightly touches a raspberry, causing the berries to tumble down the mountainside, causing an avalanche of ice cream, raspberries and chocolate chunks. The ads combine iIllustrations with 3D CG animation and live action. They used Alias/Wavefont's Maya, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Commotion, Shake and Flame. John Hays directed, Holly Edwards was the producer and Jeff Fino was the executive producer. John Korellis was the illustrator and the senior technical directors were Ben Fischler (Coney Island) and Nick Weigel (Avalanche). Other talent working on the ads included Dado Feigenblatt, Kristen Borges, Ed Davis, Seryong Kim, Brad Rau, Jeff Vacanti, Kristen Borges, Scott Adams, Kevin Bell, Eric Schweikert and Sasha Houdek. PIXAR-DISNEY ANNOUNCE THE TITLES OF THEIR FINAL 3 FILMS IN THEIR AMAZINGLY SUCCESSFUL 5 PICTURE DEAL They are Finding Nemo, an underwater adventure directed by Andrew Stanton (co-director on A Bug's Life); The Incredibles, a super-hero comedy directed by Brad Bird (director of Iron Giant) and Cars, a Route 66 adventure directed by John Lasseter. Nemo is set for a Summer, 2003 release. WILD BRAIN HAS PRODUCED "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S" FIRST ANIMATED COMMERCIAL "Stipple Guy" promotes their new "Personal Journal" section. The live-action/animated spot uses stippled graphics, a style that has long been associated with the publication. Faced with the challenge of animating a complex illustration, Wild Brain developed a method that combined rotoscoped live action, original stippled illustrations, 2D animation, and After Effects warping and compositing to create the ad's look. The ad was made in 3 lengths: 60 second, 30 and 15. It was directed by Gordon Clark, produced by Amy Capen, and the executive producer was Jeff Fino. Achiu So was the animation director and the animators were Billy Burger, Brian Fee, Dick Hill, Sam Hood, Cindy Ng and Aaron Sorenson. The assistant animators were Ken Kaiser and Jeff Nevins, the technical director was Nathan Stephens and the technical supervisor was Eric Schweikert. The After Effects animators were Jance Allen, Chris Green, and Kevin Bell. The After Effects compositors were Ty Bardi, Dennis Wilkins, and Nathan Stephens. Danya O'Brien and Kenrick Walz did digital ink and paint, Gooby Herms, Scott Adams and Kevin Bell provided Photoshop images and Sara Achilli and Cynthia Crimmins were production assistants on this job. CHECK OUT KEVIN COFFEY'S AMAZING NEW WEB SITE FOR CARTOONLAND Kevin Coffey has unleashed his Cartoonland web site on an unsuspecting world. He has spent months (1000's(thousands of hours) working on it as he believes "if you are going to survive as an independent you better have your marketing plan together." www.cartoonlandanimation.com Coffey's site consists of a splash page, home page and 9 pages of relevant information. There are more than a dozen film clips, including examples of his feature, commercial and industrial work plus rare out-takes from Coffey's cable access television program Cartoonland Presents. It is on Cable Channel 29 in San Francisco on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month. NEW COMPANY IN ALAMEDA IS PRODUCING EFFECTS ANIMATION FOR "THE MARTIX 2" Tom Gibbons, who created The Hunger Artist is working there as animation supervisor. The company is Escape (aka ESC). "MONSTERS, INC. " PASSES "SHREK" TO BECOME THE SECOND HIGHEST GROSSING ANIMATED FILM EVER Disney/Pixar's Monsters has earned an estimated $504 million to date ($253 million in domestic box office receipts and $251.2 million in international box office receipts). The Lion King is the world's animated box office champ, having grossed about $766.9 million worldwide. PIXAR OFFERS MORE BELLS AND WHISTLES WITH THE LATEST RENDERMAN SOFTWARE RenderMan Release 11 now offers "support for ray tracing, global illumination and deep shadows. These new features, combined with significant performance gains, represent a major enhancement to the 3D rendering system. RenderMan Release 11 employs an innovative hybrid rendering architecture that delivers global illumination and ray tracing effects under precise control of the artist as a natural part of the REYES architecture, meaning special effects such as reflections, refractions and color bleeding will be produced with greater accuracy. Also, because the renderer itself can calculate effects that previously required manual intervention, the artist's setup time for a shot can be dramatically reduced. The performance gains in Release 11 are the direct result of testing and analysis in Pixar's own intensive feature film production pipeline. Sophisticated improvements to hair and fur rendering, as well as shadows generation and the ability to handle dense scenes with high depth complexity, have led to dramatic performance gains." "Pixar's RenderMan Release 11 will enter beta testing in June 2002 and will be released in the fourth quarter of 2002. For more information on RenderMan, including product descriptions and price lists, pixaer.com/renderman MAYA FOR LESS Alias/Wavefront has drastically reduced the list prices of its Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited 3D animation software packages. Maya Complete, formerly priced at $7,500, will sell for $1,999 and Maya Unlimited, which formerly sold for $16,000, will be priced at $6,999. aliaswavefront.com THE ANNUAL ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL TOUR WILL BE AT FOOTHILL COLLEGE AND EXCERPTS WILL BE ON KQED-TV IN MAY The Ann Arbor Tour is a show of highlights from this years festival of independently made films. Usually there are a lot of animated works included. On Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12 at 7pm, the programs will be shown at Foothill College in Appreciation Hall, 12324 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA (330).672-4914. On Friday, May 17 at 11pm, KQED-TV will broadcast a selection of films from the festival on Channel 9. For details visit kqed.org SPIKE AND MIKE OPENED THEIR 20TH EDITION OF THEIR CLASSIC FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION HERE WITH ALMOST NO PUBLICITY, BUT IT IS A GREAT SHOW - TRY TO SEE IT It has already played several locations in our area. You can see it in May at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, May 10 - 16; the Crest in Sacramento, May 15 - 19 and at the Towne in San Jose, May 17 - May 31. For the past 25 years Spike and Mike have been showcasing animation. This year Mike has put together an exceptional show of hits from the past. Some of the films in this year's festival are Bunny (1998 Oscar Winner), Creature Comforts (1990 Oscar Winner), Balance (1989 Oscar Winner), Tin Toy (1988 Oscar Winner), For the Birds (2002 Oscar Winner), The Janitor (1994 Oscar Nominee), Grasshoppers (1990 Oscar Nominee), plus The Devil Went Down to Georgia, The Great Cognito ,Your Face, The Prince and the Princess, Mons the Cat, and Bambi Meets Godzilla. For more details spikeandmike.com, but it may not be in operation. This is a great show, but it opened at the end of March with very little publicity. There were a few radio ads and flyers were put up on poles a few days after the show opened. The Chronicle had a nice article in it, but I never saw a newspaper ad and it took me 3 weeks to find a place that had their printed color programs. Friends tell me they didn't see Spike at international festivals last year and he told The Chronicle, "I see some truly terrible stuff. It's like going through tons of sand to get some gold." I hope he isn't burnt out or no longer cares about seeking out the best. I wish him well and hope he continues presenting great new animation from around the world. KC NINA PALEY TO DRAW A COMIC STRIP FOR KING FEATURES She has signed a contract with King Features Syndicate to illustrate a daily comic strip called "The Hots," written by Stephen Hersh. He did a strip for Universal Press called "Bliss", that she "liked a lot. Our new strip should launch in September, I'll keep you posted." Nina continues work on her documentary Thank You For Not Breeding and leaves in May for India where she will visit Dan McHale. He is working/teaching at Toonz India until September. COMPANY HYPE IS SOMETIMES JUST THAT The new commercial division of Film Roman recently announced they have added five new directors to their "growing roster of talent." They are Aaron Augenblick, Joe Russo, Divya Srinivasan, Jeff Drew and Nina Paley. When I contacted Nina to congratulate her, she said that while she is honored by their representing her on their latest reel, it doesn't mean she will get any work from them (I hope she does). KC THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL WILL PREMIERE ILM'S "STAR WARS: EPISODE II, ATTACK OF THE CLONES" The New York screening will benefit The Children's Aid Society. The event will happen on May 12. The feature's national release begins on May 16. THE GUARDIAN IN ENGLAND PUBLISHED ARTICLE ON ANIMATION CENSORHIP BY KARL COHEN in connection with the screening of his film program Forbidden Animation at the Bristol Animation Festival. The article (4/26/02), my first in a major daily can be found at guardian.co.uk and search for Forbidden Animation or Blind Drawing (their title for the article). Or try film/guardian.co.uk/features/feature pages/0,,691193,00 MONDO MEDIA PRESENTS DANGEROUS ENEMY PROPAGANDA They are presently showing an Al Qaeda Recruiting Video that was written by Don Asmussen. The animation direction on this web cartoon was by Lippy and features animation by Kenn Navarro and Lippy. As this was going to press he had just finished a new short called "The IsRAEL World" (takeoff on MTV's "Real World") where Arafat and Sharon have to live in a house together. It should be up on Mondo's web site by the time you read this. PORTLAND'S HOLLYWOOD THEATRE SHOWED ANIMATION BY VICTORIA LIVINGSTONE AND CHRIS LANIER The hour program organized by Media Monkey included Window by Livingstone (she represented ILM at our April event on careers) and Scarfmania by Lanier. ANOTHER AWARD FOR "SHREK" At the 49th Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards banquet, Century City, California in March, they awarded Shrek Best Sound Editing -- Music, Animated Feature. BILL BREITHAUPT'S "ARE YOU LOST?" is a 5min "B-man video for the Alice 3min. film festival." It is showing on upwardrising.com KEN KEARNEY'S TV SHOW WINS AN AWARD He recently won a Western Access Video Excellence Award. He creates a cable TV show in the Santa Cruz area and several half-hour segments have been interviews with animators who worked for Disney, MGM and other studios. He also worked on the video Welcome Back Del Mar Theatre! about the reopening of this Santa Cruz movie palace. He has been a member of our chapter for years and has contributed drawings and political cartoons that have been run in our newsletter. THERE WERE LOTS OF COMPANIES INTERESTED IN HIRING ANIMATORS AT THE GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE IN SAN JOSE Tony Reveaux, a journalist for Film/Tape World, said there were about 40 companies that had recruiting tables. They ranged from LucasArts to the State of Maryland. RE-CONNECT: SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS EXPO will be June 26 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, for details (408) 291-5263, sjchamber.com NATIONAL NEWSN.Y. TIMES GIVES BILL PLYMPTON'S "MUTANT ALIENS" A MIXED REVIEW The NY Times isn't always kind to animation. They trashed Ice Age so Plympton got off easier than Chris Wedge. On 4/19/02 David Kehr called him, "unquestionably a brilliant draftsman, and within the severe limitations of his small budgets (most of his films have been self-financed) he is a capable, often inventive animatorŠ" "The nose people - big noses with little feet sticking out of their nostrils - are a fine example of what animation can still offer over even digitally enhanced live action films: it can bring the utterly preposterous to life. Mutant Aliens is full of similarly inventive creations, but Mr. Plympton fails to develop compelling personalities for any of his characters." "Instead, he takes refuge in extended soft-core sex scenes and action sequences grounded in grisly violence: ingredients that might be necessary to establish the 'adult' credentials of this definitely-not-for-children cartoon but that also interrupt its development and skewer its narrative line." I gather the writer doesn't care too much for outrageous sex and humorous violence. KC "ICE AGE" CONTINUES TO MAKE MONEY, BUT "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" SEEMS TO HAVE RUN OUT OF STEAM Ice Age has grossed about $160 million. Beauty is stalled around $24 million which is a lot less than Fantasia 2000 made after 15 weeks at IMAX theatres. Monsters has grossed about $253 million, Harry Potter has taken in $317.2 million and Lord of the Rings $307 million. THE NEXT FEATURE FROM BLUE SKY IS TITLED "ROBOTS" After Ice Age grossed over $100 million in three weeks, Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studio decided to announce they are developing Robots, based on a children's book by William Joyce, as their next project. Variety reports Blue Sky has completed preliminary storyboards and most of the visual design of the feature. A person I met in NYC who worked on Ice Age said there is no news yet on when the studio will begin animating the feature. ASIFA.NET, THE INTERNATIONAL SITE, IS GROWING New articles on the site include Zagreb Animation Festival: Interview with Margit "Buba" Antauer; Zagreb 2002 Selection: Report by David Ehrlich Leipzig 2001 Animation Festival: Film Reviews by Stanislav Ulver and ASIFA Slovenia: 50 Years Animation Retrospective. There is also news from chapters in Bulgaria, Croatia, US Central, ASIFA Hollywood, ASIFA East, ASIFA San Francisco, ASIFA Colorado and ASIFA Washington. Some useful addresses: asifa.net/washington, asifa-hollywood.org, asifa-sf.org, afca.asso.fr (ASIFA France) and asifa.net/israel ASIFA.NET'S web master has created a new address for Karl Cohen. He can now be reached at either karlcohen@earthlink.net or president@asifa-sf.org. There is also an ASIFA e-mail discussion group. Check the site for details. ASIFA.NET is getting around 5000 visits per month. WRECKLESS ABANDON MIXED NEW FOOTAGE WITH OLD IMAGES FROM THE "DAVY AND GOLIATH" SHOW TO CREATE A MOUNTAIN DEW AD Ruth Clokey produced the Sunday morning TV series for the Lutheran Church (began in 1962). It has serious moral messages/lessons in each episode. Now, with permission of the Church, Davy is back drinking Mountain Dew. Art Clokey (Gumby's father) was a director on the series. ASIFA-JAPAN SEEKS ART FROM OTHER CHAPTERS TO DISPLAY AT HIROSHIMA 2002 They are celebrating their 20th Anniversary during the forthcoming festival August 22nd - 26th, 2002, and are asking all ASIFA National Groups "to kindly send us a drawing for the special exhibition during the festival... In order to present the strength and unification of ASIFA, we should be most pleased if your Group could make us a drawing to express your feelings to ASIFA-JapanŠ The drawing could be made by one of your members or made together by several/all of your members. It could be either black & white or colour, using any kind of artistic expressions, the size should be between 297mm x 420mm (minimum) to 728mm x 1028mm (maximum), and we would like to receive your artwork in Hiroshima by the end of June." If anyone wants to organize a group effort or contribute a drawing "to express your feelings to ASIFA-Japan," on behalf of our chapter, please contact Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004 karlcohen@earthlink.net YALE RESEARCH STUDY TELLS US WHAT WE HAVE TO DO TO LOOK LIKE KEN OR BARBIE The Yale University Center for Eating and Weight Disorders reports in the International Journal of Eating Disorders that the average woman who wants to look like Barbie has to grow 2 feet taller, gain 5 inches in the chest, lose 6 inches in the waist, and lengthen her neck by slightly more than 3 inches. The average man who wants to look like Ken has to grow 20 inches taller and increase his chest by 11 inches and his neck circumference by about 8 inches. Was this a federally funded project? Meanwhile up in Vancouver, Mainframe is gearing up to do an exciting project, the second direct-to-video Barbie feature. It comes as no surprise that the first direct-to-video Barbie feature, Barbie in the Nutcracker, was a success at the cash register. It may not have been reviewed by the NY Times, but I'm sure it was an artistic triumph. THE NATIONAL NETWORK (TNN) TO PRESENT AN ADULT PRIMETIME ANIMATION BLOCK IN 2003 They will feature Gary the Rat, a new series with the voice of Kelsey Grammer as Gary, an unscrupulous and immoral New York attorney who wakes up one morning to discover he's turned into a rat. They will rerun The Ren and Stimpy Show, and are producing at least 3 other shows. Joe Duffy a comedy featuring a "modern-day Archie Bunker," Stripperella, is by Spider-man's creator Stan Lee (Pamela Anderson is the voice of a stripper/super-heroine), and Klasky Csupo is developing The Immigrants. TNN is owned by MTV. THE "LOS ANGELES TIMES" HAS REPORTED MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE DISNEY LAYOFFS They place the layoffs in the coming year as "up to 265 employees" at their Burbank facility and they say approximately 200 animation employees were laid off last year. They also closed Secret Lab, a computer animation and visual-effects division, losing another 300 employees. Many people who were kept on at the Burbank studio took salary cuts of 30% to 50%. As part of Disney's shift from traditional animation to CG, they have established a million dollar budget to retrain traditional artists to use computers. Disney will release two traditionally animated films this year. Lilo and Stitch, produced at their Florida studio, comes out June 21, and Treasure Planet, animated in Burbank, will be released November 27. Disney is doing their low budget features (mainly sequels) at their television animation studio in Australia. They made Return to Neverland (a Peter Pan sequel) and are finishing Jungle Book 2, which comes out next February. "VILLAGE VOICE" CLAIMS DISNEY PRESSURED "THE NEW YORK POST" TO FIRE AN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER CRITICAL OF THEM Nikki Finke had written two stories about "a company that owns merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh and claims it has been cheated out of millions in royalty payments" (by Disney). The second article disclosed Disney was fined "$90,000 last year for destroying documents that may or may not have been relevant to the case." Disney claims part of Finke's reporting is "recklessly inaccurate." The Village Voice thinks Disney's CEO may have "personally raged on Murdoch," the Post's owner. For details see Village Voice, March 20-26, "When Disney Complains, Sack the Reporter. Who's Afraid of Mickey Mouse" by Cynthia Cotts. VICKY JENSON, C0-DIRECTOR OF "SHREK," TO DIRECT "SHARKSLAYER" AT DREAMWORK'S NEW LA CGI DIVISION She will direct with Eric Bergeron who was on The Road to El Dorado. Sharkslayer, is "an undersea mob comedy." Will Smith is the voice of "a young fish that is found at the scene of the crime when the son of the 'godfather' of all sharks gets killed." A 2004 release is planned. STRANGE NEWS: VINTON STUDIOS AND OTHERS CONNECTED WIRH THE "PJ'S" ARE BEING SUED by a Chicago janitor who claims his likeness was used in the design of a janitor on the show (voiced by Eddie Murphy, so he is being sued too). Variety says Tally Collier claims Fox, Vinton, Murphy and others based the character of the show's building superintendent on his appearance in a documentary about janitors. Collier thinks all Hollywood saw the documentary after it was sent to the Oprah Winfrey Show. CINAR IN CANADA GETS A CONTRACT TO PRODUCE 16 EPISODES OF "CAILLOU" Cinar was hit 2 or 3 years ago by a series of scandals. They have been settled. Caillou is a preschool series based on a popular children's book. Forty episodes already exist. The new ones start to air next January. ANIMATION IN INDIA Bill Dennis, president of Toonz India, writes "ASIFA-India is moving right along. We're now at 50+ members from eight animation studios as well as a few independents. We're preparing for our first workshop. It will be conducted in Bombay by my creative director (Roger Dondis-formerly of Wild Brain). I've been invited to sit on the Indian Federation of Commerce, FICCI Entertainment Committee. Hopefully the participation will give animation a higher profile in the country." "As for Toonz, we have a couple of very large ventures. We're beginning production on our own television series, The Adventures of Tenali Raman. It's 26 episodes which we're doing 100% in house. We have a couple of guys from WildBrain who are with us on a contract basis and they're helping to give the shows a little Western pizzazz....but, retaining the Indian flavor. The other project is somewhat of a repeat from last year, but on a much larger scale. We're conducting another Children's Animation Workshop. It's kind of a competition where kids between the ages of 8 and 14 pencil an original story outline and give us an idea of what the characters look like. We choose the ten we think are most promising and we make a film with them. They serve as the writer/director. Last year, it was a localized event...only in the state (Kerala) of our studio. It was intended to "thank" the community for receiving our studio so well and making us feel welcome. We had 1,000 entries and turned out some great little films. In fact, one of the films has been accepted into final competition at Positano's Cartoons on the Bay. This year we're doing it nationwide and in partnership with Cartoon Network-India. We've been told to expect between 50,000 and 100,000 entries...and, again we'll choose ten. I'll send you a copy of last years films. I think you'll enjoy them." (Dan McHale from Wild Brain is working at Toonz along with Roger Dondis.) WARNING: A CHRISTIAN EXTREMIST CLAIMS MACINTOSH COMPUTERS ARE PART OF A AN ATHEIST/PAGAN PLOT Dr. Richard Paley writes in Objective: Christian Ministries, "Evolutionism Propaganda," that, "these propagandists aren't just targeting the young. Take for example Apple Computers, makers of the popular Macintosh line of computers. The real operating system hiding under the newest version of the Macintosh operating system (MacOS X) is called... Darwin! That's right, new Macs are based on Darwinism! While they currently don't advertise this fact to consumers, it is well known among the computer elite, who are mostly Atheists and Pagans. Furthermore, the Darwin OS is released under an "Open Source" license, which is just another name for Communism. They try to hide all of this under a facade of shiny, 'lickable' [editor -likable?] buttons, but the truth has finally come out: Apple Computers promote Godless Darwinism and Communism." "But is this really such a shock? Lets look for a moment at Apple Computers. Founded by long haired hippies, this company has consistently supported 60's counter-cultural 'values'. But there are even darker undertones to this company than most are aware of. Consider the name of the company and its logo: an apple with a bite taken out of it. This is clearly a reference to the Fall, when Adam and Eve were tempted with an apple by the serpent. It is now Apple Computers offering us temptation, thereby aligning themselves with the forces of darknessŠ" This strange article goes on to attack the company's motto "think different" as mind control (advertising). "They want us to think different than our Christian upbringing, to reject all the values that we have been taught and to heed not the message of the Lord Jesus Christ!" "Given the now obvious anti-Christian and cultish nature of Apple Computers, is it any wonder that they have decided to base their newest operating system on Darwinism? This just reaffirms the position that Darwinism is an inherently anti-Christian philosophy spread through propaganda and subliminal trickery, not a science as its brainwashed followers would have us believe." note: I e-mailed the above to a few friends. One wrote back, "Now I am convinced that the Christian right are a bunch of paranoid, gun toting, illiterate, mental midgets. If I didn't know better I'd think they have been 'smokin somthin' to come up with this type of incredulous drivel. By the way Karl, what were you doing on a Christian extremist web site anyway?" - The article was sent to me by a fellow journalist. PUBLICATIONS"ANIMATION BLAST #8" IS A MIGHTY FINE ISSUE The most important part of the issue is a 16 page illustrated interview with Ed Benedict whose career began at Disney in the early 1930's, included time at Lantz, at MGM with Tex Avery and work doing layouts, models and story sketches for Hanna-Barbera starting with a project that became The Ruff and Reddy Show. He also did the original designs for several other well known characters like a guy named Fred, a woman named Wilma, a dog named Huckleberry, a bear named Yogi, etc. Ed isn't pleased with what happened to his designs once they left his drawing board. When asked if he likes the finished H/B cartoons he replied, "No, no, no, I think the way the guys drew them stunk. I don't think they had any respect or regard, or gave a damn with what their thing looked likeŠ" His discussions about people he worked with earlier in his career are more positive. This is an excellent and honest sounding interview. While the article on Benedict is reason enough to look for a copy at Tower Records or to order one by mail, the article "Analyzing Ed" by John Kricfalusi is another reason to read this issue. He discusses Ed's abilities as a character designer. There are also several excellent illustrated articles about artists Oscar Grillo, Teddy Newton (Mulan, Stinky Cheese Man, Iron Giant), Gary Baseman and Tim Bjorklund. The 48 page issue includes 16 pages in color and there are no ads. Send $6 to Animation Blast, Box 260491, Encino, CA 91426-0491animationblast.com "ANIMATION JOURNAL #9" IS OUT Animation Journal is an annual publication dedicated to the history, theory and criticism of animation created throughout the world in its many forms. The price for one issue of Animation Journal (individual subscription within the US) is $10, including postage. Back issues are available at a 10% discount for orders of two or more. Contact: Maureen Furniss, Editor, Animation Journal, 108 Hedge Nettle Crossing, Savannah, GA 31406-7220. For more information, contact: editor@animationjournal.com WARNING: SECOND RATE STOP-MOTION BALL JOINTS ARE BEING SOLD AT A DISCOUNT Getting a bad ball joint is a bummer according to a member of our chapter who bought some. The person selling them in a state North of ours wouldn't take them back when the animator complained so beware. The buyer had to hire a machinist and to correct the problem. So much for bargansŠ TRAVELKARL COHEN'S BASEBALL PROGRAM WAS A HIT IN NEW YORK by K.C. My wife and I were in New York for Easter. It was a wonderful 6 day whirlwind visit where I presented 2 different film programs at the American Museum of Natural History, partied with animator Bill Plympton and his guests, spent a day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, visited the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side, saw an exceptional production of Mornings at Seven with an all star cast (in previews), toured the Nickelodeon studio where they make Blues Clues, a show for young kids; saw ground zero andŠ. As for ground zero, seeing the fence around a nearby church covered with messages about the missing was just as moving as seeing the enormous hole and the magic blue lights that shine upward to remind us where the towers had been. Introducing my film programs at the American Museum of Natural History was a real pleasure. I grew up enjoying numerous visits to the museum, mainly to see their NW Coast Indian collection and to visit aunt Mary in her research lab behind the scenes at the museum. So being on their stage was a real honor. I wish my parents and Mary were alive and could have been there to share the experience. I did have several friends in the audience both days. The Saturday program was about cartoons that depict pearls in them. Monday we went back to the museum and saw their exceptional exhibit on pearls. It was full of amazing items - crowns, jewelry, paintings, photographs, video clips, etc. The Saturday audience was full of kids and the museum had printed my introduction to the show, so I scrapped my prepared talk and addressed the kids on why old animation was an exciting art form and how it differed from what is on TV today. I talked about learning to use one's imagination and about what made some of the films in the program so special. I touched on how the animation industry developed in NYC, not in Hollywood and I warned parents that they, not their kids, might be "shocked" by pre-code images in 2 of the shorts. Gosh, there were topless mermaids! Sunday I had a full house despite it being Easter. There was an extra fee to see my baseball program (the Saturday program was free), but that didn't keep the fans away. Sunday I had an older audience. The talk before the films went smoothly, but after the screening I had a nut in the crowd who wanted to know about pan-animalism or some phrase like that in Disney's animation. Before his question/discussion got too absurd I reminded him that much of animation's content came from NY comic strip artists and from other forms of literature. He didn't like it when I suggested Disney and other studios were simply part of a long tradition in literature and that Walt hadn't invented a new religion or whatever it was that he thought he saw going on. He didn't continue with the discussion. Animator Howard Beckerman and his wife Iris were in the audience on Sunday. He said, "it was great hearing people laugh at 'real' animation, instead of the limited, dialogue driven animation." He teaches History of Animation at the School of Visual Arts, is the author of Animation, The Whole Story, Ameron House, 2001, and has written hundreds of excellent articles over the years. His career in animation spans about 50 years (Mighty Mouse, Popeye, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Winky-Dink, work for Sesame Street, lots of ads, etc.) and hopefully he will present our chapter with a talk and book signing later this year. I hope to review his book in our next newsletter. After Sunday's event I went to lunch with Nik and Nancy Phelps who flew out from SF to attend my programs and to partake of Bill's party (they run the Sprocket Ensemble that performs Nik's music with new animated works). We discovered an interesting menu in a window almost across the street from the museum. "Estiatorlo Dias" turned out to be an exceptional Greek seafood establishment with fresh fish flown in from Europe. The menu was extensive and the flavors exceptional. There wasn't any of the usual falafel stuff that too many people think is Greek food. Instead I tasted wonderful tarama salad, spinach pie, muscles in a rich sauce of ouzo, fetta, tomato and papaya; bbq octopus, a fish named Diana, etc. The bill for 5 people on Sunday came to $104 with tip, and a bit more on Monday when we went back with other friends and two people ordered a grilled prawn dish that was $24 a plate. This place is a great find and perhaps you may have the chance to enjoy it someday. It is at 103 West 77th Street, right next to the NW corner of Columbus and 77th across from the museum (212) 721-6603 Another fine food experience was at Lalo Caf?. We were taken there on Saturday by museum staff members and we thoroughly enjoyed a 4 hour lunch. They have a 12 or 16 page menu and specialize in desserts from around the world! The pastries were as exceptional as they looked in the display cases. (Lalo Caf?, 201 West 83rd St. off Amsterdam Ave.) We met John Canemaker for brunch on Friday as he was leaving town that afternoon. He isn't sure if he will be writing another book soon. He is too busy teaching animation at NYU (he is acting department chair for the moment) and he is anxious to do another personal animated film. Bill Plympton's gathering Saturday night in my honor was certainly a grand social occasion for the animation world. He told us it was the first time he had held such a large gathering in his loft space (home and studio) even though he had lived there for many years. It was a who's who of NY animation from George Griffin, John "Dirdy Birdy" Dilworth, Jimmy Picker and Michael Sporn to young talents on the rise. I talked with Deborah Solomon who created Mrs. Matisse, Xeth Feinberg who does Dirty Duck, David Levy who is president of ASIFA-East and a director on Blues Clues, Signe Baumane from Latvia who created Natasha, and other animators. Nik Phelps played music at the party. We talked, ate and drank too much and work was screened. What a wonderful night. Thanks Bill for being such a good friend and for your continued support of ASIFA (I've known him since the late 1980's when we held a party for him). Among the news items I picked up at the party are Michael Sporn is completing a short personal film. A clip from his recently completed short Mona Mon Amore can be seen on awn.com. Jimmy Picker has a created a clay animated work that was over 30 minutes long, but he isn't satisfied with it and is in the process of editing it down to under 25 minutes. He won an Oscar in 1983 for Sundae in New York and he won an Oscar nomination for Jimmy the C., 1977. John R. Dilworth is busy producing his successful TV series Courage The Cowardly Dog for the Cartoon Network. He lived up to his reputation of being a wild artist (good taste prevents me from saying more). He has been known to go to business meetings wearing a space suit with silver boots. Bill Plympton was excited about his new feature opening in New York and Los Angeles. Mutant Aliens has already broken even thanks to its success in the overseas market. A few days after the party Bill was going to move his studio out of his loft to a space a short distance from his home. His next feature will be a bigger production with a larger budget. He surprised me by saying each of his previous animated features were produced for under $200,000 each! (Advertising, print cost, posters, phone and other promotional costs were extra.) He proves you don't need a $75 million budget to create an exciting entertaining animated feature. So that is what I did on my spring vacation. FESTIVALSOTTAWA INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL IS AN IMPORTANT EVENT TO ENTER AND THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE! The deadline is July 1 for an October 2 - 6 event. It is held every other year, has an international jury of noted animators and it attracts guests from all over the world. For details and entry form for North America's most important animation festival (613) 232-8769, Suite 120, 2 Daly Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6E2, awn.com/ottawa or info@animationfestival.ca MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL May 31 and June 30 deadlines. Previews on VHS tape. Non-competitive. (415) 383-5256 mvff.com |
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This issue was written by Karl Conen and proofread by Pete Davis. The mailing crew included Tara Packard, Nancy Phelps and Ron Seawright. A $22 membership includes a subscription to our newsletter. |
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© 2002 Animation World Network