January, 2003
2002 WAS A COMBINATION OF GREAT SUCCESSES FOR SOME LOCAL COMPANIES AND DOWNSIZING FOR OTHERS - HOPEFULLY 2003 WILL BE A GREAT YEAR FOR ALL by Karl Cohen It appears local companies working on features (Pixar, Tippett, ILM, PDI and Escape) and Electronic Arts (including Maxis) in the games industry, had plenty of work, but others producing TV commercials and TV graphics had a difficult time. ILM had a prosperous year and they pushed their digital work to new heights in Star Wars II. It is hard to believe there are visuals left to be developed and details to be further refined. The studio will probably be pushing their ability to render human-like characters further in the final Star Wars feature. Tippett did the 3D cg horse in The Ring and worked on impressive effects in Santa Claus 2 and Blade 2. For the first time they ventured into the production of TV commercials and their first efforts were among the most memorable ads of the year. Their first ad premiered on the Super Bowl broadcast and it stars Carl and Ray, the bunny and guinea pig in Blockbuster ads. They have now made 10 ads in this series and have won 4 Cleo awards for their efforts. They also did 3 ads for Capitol One credit cards. They are presently working on material for 3 major features and other projects that will be released in 2003. The year began with an Oscar race between two local giants with exceptional films (Pixar's Monsters, Inc. and PDI's Shrek). Pixar has just become a member of the Nasdaq 100 and they will probably make headlines this year if and when the final decisions about their relationship with Disney are announced. They seem serious about going out on their own after their 5-picture deal with Disney ends. There is a good chance that will happen. They are also developing what people say is an amazing 2D computer animation system that may be used in future feature productions. An unfortunate part of 2002 was the higher rate of unemployment in the industry that made it harder for people entering the field to find work. Several companies, not just Disney, have cut the size of their staffs. Locally 3DO began 2002 with further staff reductions. Fortunately staff sizes have grown at several local companies working on features. In the past 2 or 3 years the number of medium sized animation companies has dwindled. Curious Pictures and one or two other companies have closed their SF offices. A few small local high-end computer houses have either vanished or are barely active. When it comes to Internet animation the only company making news locally is Mondo Media. The CD-ROM business that was big in the early 1990s is still alive and well at Imaginengine Corp. and there are still freelance jobs available locally working on CD-ROMs and other types of projects. Unfortunately the wait between jobs for freelancers appears to be growing longer. I'm happy to hear that Leap Frog, a start-up company in Emeryville, is busy and that they have hired a small team of animators. Wild Brain is the only medium sized local company doing national commercials that has produced a solid body of work in 2002. If you watch much TV you probably have noticed that there are fewer animated ads being produced. Wild Brain kept going most of the time working with a smaller crew. They delivered some great work (Wall Street Journal, Dryer's Ice Cream, Ford, etc.), but their output doesn't match what they were producing in the late 90s. Wild Brain is in the process of moving a few blocks to a really nice facility that łhas been in the offing for almost two years, as it involves a rather extensive architectural build-out (with special attention to the power needs of computerized animation production).˛ The company is also pleased to have extended the worldwide syndication of their hit TV show Poochini to over 50% of our country (it was launched in the global market first). When it comes to the small shops, Kevin Coffey's Cartoonland was the only one mentioned in our newsletter several times last year. They produce local and regional commercials and other projects. If you do work that we should be telling others about, please send us your press releases: karlcohen@earthlink.net CENTER FOR ELECTRONIC ART HAS CLOSED FOR GOOD A notice at www.cea.edu tells students who to contact in their attempt to recover tuition money they paid the school and who to contact for transcripts. There is also information about a lawyer that creditors and others can contact. The school has been in trouble for some time and months ago there was gossip about teachers leaving as paychecks were bouncing. Since then things have gotten worse. On Oct. 22 the doors were chained shut and łthe school's 80 to 90 computers have left the building˛ according to a feature story in the San Francisco Bay Guardian dated Nov. 20. The article talked about the school's past successes and how enrollment fell "probably 40 to 50%" when the Internet industry "tanked" in 2000 according to Harold Hedelman, the school's executive director. I was later told by a former teacher that the computers were not stolen, but taken by the ex-president of the board who had leased them for the school. This is a real tragedy as educations were stopped in mid-stream, a lot of tuition money may never be refunded, and teachers are owed a lot of money. The paper reported one teacher left some time ago for a good job in NYC and is owed $5,500 and another is owed $8,988. Students with loans may have trouble with banks and foreigners with student visas may have trouble staying in our country. The article also said the school owes the paper $4,400 for unpaid ads. I was told that the school had a history of poor financial management. Teachers who have sued the former president for back wages have won judgments, but they were never paid what they won. Now both the man and the school have declared themselves bankrupt. By mid-December most of the students had found placement in other programs (many in SF State's downtown multimedia program) and the state was helping students who had loans from them. The report mentioned, "that since the downturn of 2000, scores of computer schools have gone under." They say one large enterprise that closed was Computer Learning Center, a national chain that had centers in San Francisco and San Jose. They had a staff of 1,200 and 3,800 students. THE AMAZING KEN PONTAC TO TEACH "CREATING AN ANIMATED SERIES FOR TELEVISION" He wrote and produced the stop-motion show Bump in the Night for ABC, has directed shows for Vinton in Portland and has lots of other impressive credits. Now he is sharing some of his knowledge and will discuss forbidden details, like the surreal world of working with network censors, how to turn your series concept into a presentation complete with a show bible and pilot script, the value of working with agents and other trade information. The class meets Tuesday nights (6:30 - 9:30 PM) from Feb. 4 to April 8 at San Francisco State's Oakland Center, 2201 Broadway in Oakland. Call (415) 405-7700 to register, $600 tuition, class number. IT 960. A MAJOR EXHIBIT OF OSKAR FISCHINGER PAINTINGS IS COMING TO THE SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART IN 2004 He was a pioneer of abstract animation in Germany and America (he and his wife arrived in LA in 1936). The show was organized by the new Pasadena Art Museum. The notice of the event also mentions that Dr. Bill Moritz's long awaited book on Fischinger has finally been published. Moritz teaches at CAL Arts. CARTOON ART MUSEUM TO EXHIBIT "SHE DRAWS COMICS: GREAT WOMEN CARTOONISTS," January 25 - June 8, the largest collection of art by women cartoonists ever shown. It spans ninety years and includes over 60 women. The exhibition features pioneers Edwina Dumm (Capp Stubbs and Tippie), Grace Drayton, Nell Brinkley and Dale Messick (Brenda Starr). It also includes comic book creators Julie Doucet, Debbie Drechsler, Pheobe Gloeckner, Roberta Gregory, Lee Marrs, Trina Robbins, Marie Severin, Leslie Sternbergh, and Anne Timmons as well as comic strip creators Isabella Bannerman (Six Chix), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Lynn Johnston (For Better of For Worse), Kathryn LeMieux (Six Chix), Nina Paley (Nina's Adventures) and Rina Piccolo (Six Chix). The Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission Street, SF 415-CAR-TOON www.cartoonart.org Tues. - Sun. 11:00 - 5:00, Closed Monday General Admission: $6. Student/Senior: $4. Children 6-12: $2. Children under 6: Free TV ANIMATION QUESTION REMAINS A MYSTERY The show our member was trying to identify with "neon-like lips" wasn't Clutch Cargo or Space Angel with their superimposed human lips over drawings. The woman who was trying to figure out what her childhood memory is says, "It played on Captain Kangaroo and it looked like neon (which of course it couldn't have been). Just a big face that was probably puppet controlled (knowing the types of technology that was available in the mid-60s)." Chris Baker of Wired Magazine recalls a segment from Captain Kangaroo that was possibly what she remembered. He wrote, "Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings was white outlines on a black screen, very stark and minimal animation with the lips moving at times." Bonnie Borucki recalls a show named Ghoulardi or something like that that was simple looking and had animated lips, but she thinks it was on a local show in Detroit. After telling the woman about these two possibilities she e-mailed me that either might be it, "but now I am doubting my own
memory. I've been trying to find an image from the show. I think it was some kind of trick with a puppet and a video camera (set
on high contrast or something). It might not even fall within the boundaries of animation."
Opening Friday, January 10, PATLABOR WXIII, a feature based on the Japanese TV series The Mobile Police Patlabor (1988) that combined crime drama and "quirky comedy." Feature involves crime and political/military (US and Japanese) corruption. It begins with a giant construction project being built by robots. The publicity photo suggests the film makes good use of the rotoscope. At the Galaxy in SF and other Bay Area theaters. Sunday, January 12, PRIVATE 35MM SCREENING FOR ASIFA-SF MEMBERS of shorts being considered for Oscar nominations. ASIFA Members see flyer insert in newsletter. Sunday, January 12, THE LIVING FOREST an 80-minute computer generated feature by Angel de la Cruz, Spain, 2001. It is an entertainment film with an ecology message, and has been submitted for consideration for an Oscar nomination. 1PM at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Wednesday, January 22, 7:30PM Sunday, January 26, 1PM, A WESTON WOODS RETROSPECTIVE (1955-present) Weston Woods has turned over 300 children's
picture books into animated films. Many became international award winners. The program includes Where the Wild Things
Are (Gene Deitch, 1988), Dr. DeSoto (Michael Sporn, 1984), Musical Max (Virginia Wilkos, 1993), Make Way for
Ducklings (Morton Schindel, 1955, he founded the company), The Snowy Day (Mal Wittman, 1964), The Three
Robbers (Gene Deitch, 1972), Chrysanthemum (Virginia Wilkos, 1998) and a new production. At the Pacific Film Archive,
2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley (510) 642-1412.
Monday, January 27 at Minna St. Gallery (111 Minna Street in San Francisco) 7:30 and 9:30 pm, NIK PHELPS AND THE SPROCKET
ENSEMBLE PRESENT NINE NEW WORKS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENT ANIMATION Animators include Kate Matthews, Australia;
Alex Zhukov, Ukraine; Eric Roselund, Sweden; Jason Leonard, Nina Paley and Niki Yang, USA and Andrea Kiss, Hungary.
Saturday, February 1 at 21 Grand, now located at 449 23rd Street in Oakland, NIK PHELPS AND THE SPROCKET ENSEMBLE PRESENT
NEW WORKS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENT ANIMATION (a different program than the one on Jan. 27) Work by Australian
Dennis Tupicoff, Australia; Sami Abaijon, Iceland; Rose Stiebra, Latvia and Karen Lithgow, USA. Sprocket Ensemble will provide
the musical accompaniment.
Tuesday, February 4, 7:30PM, MYTHOPOEIA, ABSOLUTE ANIMATION AND GRAPHIC CINEMA includes Harry Smith's No. 3
(1949) and No. 11 (1962/76) two hand-painted and batiked works, Jordan Belson's Allures (1981) and Samadhi
(1967), Robert Breer's Recreation (1956) and Fist Fight (1964), Peter Kubelka's Our Trip to Africa
(1961-'66) and Stan Brakhage's 23rd Psalm Branch, Part 1. Pacific Film Archive.
SEVERAL INDUSTRY WATCHERS WERE UPSET THAT "TREASURE PLANET" ONLY OPENED IN 4TH PLACE SO THEY DECIDED IT MUST BE A
DISASTER by Karl Cohen If they had gone to see it instead of simply looked at the numbers ($16.5 million the first 6 days
and $30 million by December 22nd isn't miserable news as it was up against exceptionally stiff competition and it should bring
in more income after Christmas), then they would know Disney has produced a fine work that might break even some day. True, it
cost much too much to make (one report was $140 million, another said $180 million), but I feel it is one of their best features
in recent years and it may eventually make them some money. (Variety just reported Disney is claiming a $74 million loss on
Treasure Planet and is now redesigning their overseas marketing of the film, in the hopes that this will allow them to
recoup some of its domestic losses.)
It is a great entertaining adventure/fantasy told in the style of a classic Disney feature. I saw it in IMAX and recommend
seeing it in that format, as the experience was breathtaking, wonderful, etc. While the boy and his mother are stereotypical
Disney stock characters, almost all the others are delightful inventions of the studio's staff. Morph was constantly living up
to his name and was my favorite creature. There were lots of wonderful monsters of every description. Both the good ones and the
baddies were really entertaining. Disney's new batch of monsters is more creative than the stars of Monsters, Inc.
Treasure Planet is visually stunning. It combines a Jules Verne type of science fiction with 18th Century pirates,
fantastic sailing ships and a few Star Wars type of inventions (and an overdone George Lucas climax). The film is so
fantastic in its design and so removed from the present that I doubt it will scare kids. I hope it is a great success.
Several negative articles came out within a week of the film's release. Rick Lyman wrote in the NY Times business
section, "Box-Office Letdown for Disney Raises Worry About Animation." He calls the film, "The first major box-office
disappointment of the holiday movie seasonŠ Perhaps the famed Disney animation division ‹ which dominated the family film market
for more than half a century, spurred the studio's resurgence in the 1990's and gave Hollywood its most enduring brand ‹ is
running out of gas." Similar stories have been run in the L.A. Times and other publications and on the Internet. Some
blame the directors.
When Disney made Fantasia it didn't break even the first time it was released, but it eventually turned out to be a
profitable work. It is unfortunate that people think a film has to open with astronomical figures to be considered good.
ARTHER'S PARENTS HAVE BEEN NAUGHTY - "NY TIMES" (12/1/02) SAYS CINAR'S LEGAL TROUBLES ARE STILL NOT COMPLETELY RESOLVED The Canadian couple who put a few millions belonging to their corporation into their personal off-shore bank account have agreed to pay back "an additional $2.25 million." (How much did they already pay back?) They still own 62% of the company's stock, but are barred by court order from any active role in the company. A final suit against them, by the company that they own an interest in, is still pending.
HOW STEVE OEDEKERK CREATED AN ANIMATED IMAX FILM His Santa Claus vs. The Snowman began as a 22-minute computer generated TV special that appeared in 1998. It wasn't a big hit, but he went and added 13 additional minutes of animation to the production, reformatted it and re-rendered the original production into 3D IMAX. Does that make it better? It has grossed about $1 million and is playing in 22 theatres. Oedekerk's credits include Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Years ago John Lasseter said at a 3D screening of his short Knickknack, that it was relatively easy to shift the virtual camera's point of view in the computer to create the stereo 3D effect. 3D IMAX is visually stunning, but this may not be the film to see as a sample of the technique. KC
ENGLAND'S JOHN COATES TO PRODUCE "JACK FROST," a TV animated half-hour Christmas special. Coates' credits include The Snowman, Yellow Submarine, Famous Fred and The World Of Peter Rabbit And Friends. AWN reports the special will be based on a children's book by writer/illustrator David Melling, to be published by Hodder Headline Ltd. for Christmas 2003. The TV special will be ready for Christmas 2004 along with the release of the paperback edition of the book. The publisher is considering a number of offers concerning the funding of the special and is talking to licensing and distribution companies about home video, computer games and other merchandising opportunities.
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA HAS AN ONLINE STORE THAT SELLS PRODUCTS TO CUSTOMERS IN THE US. There are 37 compilations of animated work available on tape, plus documentaries, dramas, educational and kids' titles. They are just beginning to produce DVDs. Norman McLaren works are available on several compilations including an exceptional 2-volume set of his work. www.nfb.ca/store.
MICHAEL EISNER NAMED A POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR In the December 9 issue of Forbes Magazine Eisner says he would like Bob Inger of Disney to replace him. He also suggests Disney should sell off their radio stations and hockey team to reduce the company's debt.
NICK PARK'S WALLACE AND GROMIT STAR IN 10 SHORT INTERNET FILMS Each film in the Cracking Contraptions series stars a different crazy invention that backfires on Wallace, Gromit or on both of them. While these shorts will not become the most talked about animated films of 2002, they do come highly recommended by Jerry Beck and other animation critics. At $9.95 to download them (you also get a short "making of" documentary in the package) some fans may think twice about seeing them. But, if you love Park's work this is your first chance to see Wallace and Gromit since they won an Oscar in 1995 for A Close Shave. It will be at least 2 or 3 years before the first Wallace and Gromit feature is released. The series is available from atomfilms.com (they offer a free sample).
Jerry Beck at CartoonResearch.com has published a list of the 10 works. They are Auto Chef in which Wallace invents an egg scrambler, The Bully Proof Vest that contains a boxing glove attached to the vest by a spring, Shopper 13 featuring a robotic shopping cart, The Snoozatron in which Gromit dresses as a sheep so Wallace can count him, The Snowmantron that creates instant snowmen, Soccarmatic that projects dozens of balls at Gromit, Turbo-Diner that turns out lovely meals, The Tellyscope which has a new TV remote control going beserk, 525 Crackervac that has a vacuum cleaner going out of control and The Christmas Cardomatic (Beck's favorite). The last one has Wallace "going to great pains to artificially create the perfect winter-time scene for his instant card maker - not bothering to look outside his window where the very same scene, for real, is happening,"
AWN REPORTS THERE ARE 17 ANIMATED FEATURES THIS YEAR THAT ARE TRYING TO GET OSCAR NOMINATIONS The films are Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, Eden, El Bosque Animado (The Living Forest - at the PFA Sunday, January 12), Hey Arnold! The Movie, Ice Age, Jonah - A Veggietales Movie, Lilo and Stitch, Mutant Aliens, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, The Princess and the Pea, Return to Never Land, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Spirited Away, Stuart Little 2, Treasure Planet and The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
There is a tremendous swell of support for Spirited Away among fans and it has already won several major awards. It was selected as the best animated feature at the NY Critics Awards and at the Los Angeles Critics Awards.
Not everybody likes Spirited Away. I got a note from one member of the Academy who hates it. "To me all the work and hocus pocus still adds up to zeroŠ no originalityŠ not a single appealing figureŠ" The man even hated the dubbing ("amateur actors reading amateur dialog"). This could be an interesting Oscar race.
HAYAO MIYAZAKI'S NEXT FILM WILL BE "HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE" based on a book with the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a love story between a male witch and an 18-year-old girl who has been transformed into an old woman. A summer 2004 theatrical release is planned. Miyazaki directed Spirited Away, a major contender for an Oscar this year.
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD MEMBERS CONTINUE TO BE PAMPERED BY STUDIOS HOPING FOR AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE In December their members were invited to special screenings of Eight Crazy Nights, The Wild Thornberrys and Monsters, Inc. (with Pixar director Peter Doctor in person answering questions after the screening). DVDs of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Ice Age and Lilo and Stitch were sent to members. Several ASIFA members are voting members of the Academy. Ice Age came packed in nuts.
THE ANIMATORS' UNION HAS SIGNED CONTRACTS WITH CORNERSTONE PRODUCTIONS AND NICKELODEON The LA animator who passed on this information called the signings "great victories."
"LILO & STICH" CREATORS FORM STORMCOAST PICTURES Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois who co-wrote and directed Lilo and Stitch, have an agreement to write, direct and produce both animated and live-action features that will be distributed by Disney according to Variety. Future projects include an untitled CG animated project directed by Sanders, and The Gumshoe Chronicles, a live-action family film that will be written and directed by DeBlois. The pair has worked together since Disney teamed them up on Mulan.
DISNEY LOSES ANOTHER APPEAL IN THEIR BATTLE FOR WINNIE THE POOH RIGHTS An appellate court denied their 2001 appeal, so a jury can now be told as a fact that Disney knowingly suppressed evidence in the case, including destroying a file marked "Pooh-Legal problems." The case may go to trial in March.
.SUNDANCE 2003 TO SHOW 17 ANIMATED SHORTS The festival will show 90 shorts chosen from 3,345 entries. The festival is January 16-26 in Park City, Utah. There is also an online festival that will include animated work.
The shorts to be shown are Atomic Love by Michael Dante DiMartino, Blue and Orange directed by Mari Inukai, Dog by Suzie Templeton, Dreamscapes by Sean McBride, The Erlking by Ben Zelkowicz, The Freak by Aristomenis Tsirbas, From the 104th Floor by Serguei Bassine, Historia del Desierto (Desert Story) by Celia Galan Julve, Jon's Day by Peter Ko, Pa by Neil Goodridge, Parking by Bill Plympton, Set Set Spike by Emily Hubley, The Tortoise and the Hare by Ray Harryhausen, Skelehellavision by Martha Colburn, Pan With Us by David Russo, Tim Tom by Romain Segaud and Christel Pougoise and The Velvet Tigress by Jen Sachs.
DEAN VALENTINE/EUROPLAY CAPITAL ADVISORS BUY 49.9% OF THE MUPPETS from EM.TV of Germany. Valentine once ran Disney's Touchstone TV division and was head of Viacom's United Paramount Network.
A NOTE ABOUT "AN EVENING WITH TISSA DAVID, MASTER ANIMATOR" BY JOHN CANEMAKER The event will be Saturday, January 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the temporary Museum of Modern Art's MoMA at the Gramercy Theatre in New York.
He writes, "In a career that spans more than sixty years, animator Tissa David has brought to life characters as diverse as Mr. Magoo, Shakespeare's Titania, and Raggedy Ann. David broke through the male-dominated animation industry by becoming only the second woman (after Lotte Reiniger) to direct an animated feature, "Bonjour Paris", in 1953. Born in Hungary in 1921, she attended the Academy of Beaux Arts in Budapest, where she also co-owned an animation studio. She escaped the Communist takeover of Hungary by moving to Paris in 1950, and then to the United States in 1955. Collaborating over the years with such formidable animators as Grim Natwick, John and Faith Hubley, Richard Williams, Michael Sporn, and R.O. Blechman, Tissa David established a distinctive style that is quickly recognizable yet not easily animated. Her sensual line, economical motion, and emotional acting has graced numerous television commercials, specials, shorts and features--everything from AT&T spots to Sesame Street--many of which will be shown in full or excerpted this evening. Tissa David will be present to discuss her life and career with animation historian and filmmaker John Canemaker."
The program will include: Eggs (1970), Hubley Studio; Bonjour Paris (1953), directed by Tissa David, excerpt; Terror Faces Magoo (1959), UPA Studio; TV commercials; Sesame Street spots for Hubley Studio (1970s); Cockaboody (1972), Hubley Studio; Everybody Rides the Carousel (1976), Hubley Studio, excerpt; Raggedy Ann & Andy (1977), directed by Richard Williams, pencil test excerpt; A Midsummer Night's Dream (1986), directed by Tissa David, excerpt; The Marzipan Pig (1989, directed by Michael Sporn, excerpt; Ink Tank Studio commercials (c. 1980s/90s); Simple Gifts (1978), directed by R. O. Blechman, excerpt; Candide, feature currently in production, directed by R.O. Blechman, pencil test excerpt.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (NYC) TO PRESENT A TRIBUTE TO R.O. BLECHMAN AND INK TANK ON JANUARY 17. Blechman founded the Ink Tank in New York (1978) The in-person retrospective will include short films, commercials, television specials, broadcast graphics, public service announcements and music videos. The evening will end with a rare screening of his animated version of Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's Tale), produced in 1983 for public television's Great Performances. It will be accompanied by the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra.
Blechman's squiggly line cartoon style is well known from both his animation and illustrations in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Book Review. He has animated work for Sesame Street, Ghostwriter, 3-2-1 Contact, The Electric Company, Disney/ABC, Nickelodeon, HBO, MTV, and the Cartoon Network.
They will show several Blechman spots including Alka Seltzer's "Stomach" and Perrier's "Caveman." They will also screen the CBS "Season's Greetings" of 1966; The Juggler of Our Lady, adapted from Blechman's illustrated book in 1957 by CBS-Terrytoons, No Room at the Inn (designed by Blechman, animated by Ed Smith), The Great Frost (designed by Seymour Chwast, based on Virginia Woolf's Orlando) and Encuentro with music by Ruben Bladés (2002). They will also show a sneak preview of Blechman's adaptation of Voltaire's Candide, a work-in-progress (pencil tests and fully rendered sequences).
IS IT WORTH BEING IN SPIKE'S SICK AND TWISTED SHOW? By Karl Cohen Over the years I've heard gripes about being in this show. Most recently I was talking with somebody from Canada who has a friend who worked hard to make a sick and twisted short, only to discover the pay isn't great and Spike insisted the work had to be cut to make it move faster. Another person once said something like "I am ashamed to tell you the sum of money I got, and it took months for them to send it to me after signing the contract."
If you are a student thinking about fame and fortune, this may not be the best route to go. Ten years ago being in this show was noteworthy, but does anybody care now? Is it an honor to be in it, or does it mean your work is probably poorly animated and tasteless?
Why don't you consider making something that might win a student Oscar or prizes at Annecy, ASIFA-East's annual festival, at Ottawa's student festival, Fantoshe, Holland and at other events that like to show work by emerging animators with new visions. They treat films and their makers with respect.
THE ANNUAL AFTERNOON OF REMEMBERANCE FOR PEOPLE WHO WORKED IN ANIMATION WILL BE SATURDAY, JANUARY 25 at the De Mille/Lasky Barn Museum (near the Hollywood Bowl) at 2 PM, free. Among those who passed on in 2002 were Ward Kimball, Chuck Jones, Bill Peet, Ernie Pintoff, Pixar's Glenn McQueen and many other artists and technicians.
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THE PRESS Voice actor/musician Will Ryan told me that he once read in a magazine that the late Will Ryan had done the voice of the prince in Thumbelina (1994). He did 12 voices for that production, but not the prince's voice. He also assured me he isn't a ghost. KC
POPULAR PERSONALITY WILLIAM "TEX" HENSON DIED AFTER BEING STRUCK BY A TRUCK by Karl Cohen Henson lived in the Dallas suburb of Terrell and was 78. The Reuters obituary that has gone around the world (plus subsequent rewrites of it) contained information that seemed questionable as quickly written obits often do. They suggested Henson was a world famous animator who had made a name for himself in the 1940s at Disney and later was a key animator on the Bullwinkle Show. The New York Times obit even said "Under Mr. Henson's supervision, the Jay Ward Studio also cranked out UnderdogŠ and Tennessee Tuxedo," which he didn't supervise and they were not J. Ward shows.
I decided to ask people who Henson really was and I came up with what might be a more accurate obit plus some valuable information about what it was like to be an animator 40 or 50 years ago.
Howard Beckerman e-mailed me, "I am very sorry to hear that Tex Henson died in such a way. I worked with him at Famous Studios and Shamus Culhane's Studio in 1950-51. He told me about Disney's and the thing he liked about it most was that it was air-conditioned. Most places, aside from movie theaters, did not have air-conditioning in the 1940s. Even though he was from Texas, he was very uncomfortable in the Los Angeles heat, and he remembered the studio for its cool comfort."
According to several accounts he was hired by Disney after graduating from high school in Dallas (1944 or Ś45). He worked on sequences for features and on the Chip Śn Dale series. A search of the Internet wasn't very productive except for his having a story credit on Off We Glow, a bouncing ball "Kartune" from Famous/Paramount (1952). Beckerman says he was an assistant animator at Famous, so it is unlikely he was a full animator at Disney.
There were references on the Internet to his working as a supervisor at the Mexican studio that produced a lot of TV animation in the early 60's for producer Peter Piech. Reuters is very careful not to say which shows he worked on (they say the studio produced shows "such as" The Bullwinkle Show, Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and the Trix rabbit.) I checked both the credits on 16mm prints of Rocky and his Friends and The Bullwinkle Show and Tex was not listed in them.
The Gamma Studio in Mexico City had been set up to animate Rocky and Bullwinkle for J. Ward in LA, but at first I could find no evidence that Henson had worked on that show. I mention this as the Reuters headline says, "Bullwinkle animator dies in car accident" and a mention of his death on the Internet called him "Bullwinkle's creator" (which he certainly wasn't). When I found no reference to Henson in the scholarly book The Moose That Roared I contacted Keith Scott in Australia (the book's author). He wrote back that he hadn't come across Tex Henson in his extensive research on the book. Did Henson work on moose and squirrel in Mexico?
Scott suggested I talk with Roman Arambula, an animator who worked at Gamma from 1960 until the studio closed in 1967. Arambula became a good friend of Tex when he worked in Mexico for a year or two (around 1964-Ś65), during a period when the studio was working on Underdog, Go-Go Gophers and probably some Jay Ward material ("possibly Dudley Doright"). He described Tex as "a wonderful person" and says he was an animator at Gamma, not a supervisor, designer or director. He described Tex as a good animator who was very friendly. They had lunch together many times as Tex wanted to learn Spanish and he wanted to learn English. Tex was anxious to learn about Mexican history so they went to museums together. Their friendship continued after Gamma closed. Henson told Arambula about a job opening for an animator in Dallas. He was hired, moved to the US with his family and worked on commercials and material for drive-in movie theaters there. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles where he found steady employment at Hanna-Barbera.
Roman Arambula said Tex smoked a pipe, loved to laugh and like many animators he made caricatures of the people around him. In Mexico they called him "the pear man" due to his body shape.
Henson was one of the many US animators sent to Gamma over the years to help out. I was told Tex was a talented teacher, but Arambula was quick to point out that the myth that the studio was filled with untrained people was wrong. In his case he had worked as an animator for over a year at another studio before joining Gamma. There was already a small animation industry in Mexico when Gamma was formed. The Cine Munecos studio had created a theatrical cartoon with a rooster named Manolin as the star, "but nothing happened, so they did TV commercials with local products. In the 1950's. there were 3 TV channels in Mexico." He also noted that the administrators in the US rarely sent Gamma people who were bilingual. Instead they thought having a translator on staff was sufficient. While the Mexican animators knew what to draw, there was a problem from time to time understanding the subtle usage of words.
Keith Scott says that when Gamma opened Bill Scott and Bill Hurtz said some of the artists were poorly trained, but by 1960 when Arambula joined Gamma they had a better-trained staff and they were turning out better quality work. Arambula had not seen Scott's book, but was reacting to Louis Chunovic's poorly written The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book, 1996, that barely mentions Gamma except to say the artist sometimes made naive mistakes.
A day later Mike Barrier wrote me that he had corresponded with Henson in the seventies, but had never met him. "Henson went to work for Ward in Mexico as Śone of the nine supervisors' when he was asked to come there by Carlos Manriquez and Ernie Terrazas. Henson supervised himself out of a job." Henson told Barrier that the Mexican animators became so proficient they didn't need his help, so he returned to Dallas to freelance. Apparently on his first stay in Mexico (about 1959) he was mainly a teacher, not a production artist.
In the same letter he said, "I have ... spent two more years in Mexico. I was sent down by P.A.T., the New York outfit that was backing the Mexican cartoon studio that was producing The Bullwinkle Show, Underdog, Leonardo, etc., to set up a 'sister' studio and train a staff to do cartoon commercials for the States and to open up the Mexican TV commercial market. ... At the end of two years, I resigned my position and returned to the States," again to freelance.
The Reuters obit says he moved to Texas where he taught animation in the Dallas school system and he drew cartoons for local papers. Jerry Beck met Henson at a science-fiction/anime convention about 10 years ago in Texas. Both men were being honored and Beck says Henson was "quite a local celebrity." He learned that Henson was a popular art teacher and had inspired many of his students including Jim Smith who is now one of John Kricfalusi's top artists. The convention's web site has a color photo on it of Henson seated at a table with Jerry Beck.
Mike Barrier adds "Henson seems always to have been a decidedly minor figure at the studios where he worked (Disney, Famous, Ward, the Alexander company in Colorado Springs), but it's not unusual for such animators to be written up as creative geniuses when they wind up living in places where animators of any kind are scarce."
Before I talked with Roman Arambula I asked Howard Beckerman if Tex was an animator, director, writer orŠ He wrote back, "I knew Tex Henson to be an assistant animator. I know that he could animate, though. The thing that you have to realize is that many of us worked in different areas. We all submitted ideas to the story department and some of us either sold stories or moved into that area at various times. Being an animator was predicated on job openings in that department, otherwise you worked as an assistant, an in-betweener, or, you left the studio for greener fields. When commercials came in big, in the 1950s, many of us made the move to the more sophisticated commercial studios, where the pay was slightly better and opportunity in animation or direction became possible. One guy went to Disney's in those years and worked as Frank Thomas' assistant, but never got to do animation there. He was a terrific animator and only when he came back to New York did he become a popular animator (name withheld for personal reasons). The nine old men were sitting on everything, and were concerned about whether each picture would be their last, so moving into animation at that time was extremely difficult. In recent years when the studios enlarged during the 10-year boom, guys moved up fast. Now they've put the cork in the bottle again. Computer animators are having their day, and people who learn Flash are considered animators. It used to take several years to become an animator, but there were many at the studio who did fantastic work. There's so much BS about the great directors and all of that that it is easy to forget that nobody makes a film by oneself, that's the whole thing about animation, it's a group effort. You haven't heard about him because we never hear about many of the folks that sweat to get these shows out."
After reading the above Roman Arambula wrote, "I now know more than I ever did about him, and I thank you for that. I'll say it again, the Tex I knew was a very friendly, warm human being and I'm sure he will be surrounded by a lot of friends where ever he is."
Special thank to all who helped write this as a tribute to Tex and to all the unsung heroes of animation "that sweat to get these shows out."
MARK FIORE'S UNIQUE CAREER IN ANIMATION by Adrienne Crew Two years ago, political cartoonist, Mark Fiore, struck out on his own after an unhappy experience as a political cartoonist with the San Jose Mercury News. His disillusionment with print cartooning motivated him to syndicate animated political cartoons over the web; since he'd been creating web-based animated shorts on the side. The endeavor has become so successful that he now makes a living animating his own work on a full time basis.
A traditional print cartoonist for over eight years, Mark acquired animation skills while doing various freelance jobs. A CD-ROM company in LA hired him as a 2D illustrator and designer. He learned Flash at another gig in San Francisco. Mark considers himself a self-taught Flash animator. He says. "I took one animation class [at City College of San Francisco at Fort Mason] but I learned on the job with Flash 2.0. It was basically me and a couple of guys learning at the same time."
Flash software vital to Mark's business. "I like it that Flash is a do-it-yourself package and suits small scale animation operations." Flash 4.0 allows him to work as a one-man animation studio. He has a weeklong production schedule. Mondays are spent brainstorming ideas and drawing characters. Mark draws his characters and scans them into his computer. Using Flash's trace bitmap to vector function, Mark can use the program to control the look of his designs. Tuesdays are spent animating and adding sound effects. Mark usually ends his production week on Wednesday by delivering his animation to clients. He can distribute the work in a variety of formats, including video or QuickTime. He usually creates and produces his 3-minute pieces in 3 days.
Mark markets his work by himself. He has about 6 regular clients and also distributes his work via the Village Voice online network of papers. Working mainly with online newspapers and political sites, he charges a flat fee per weekly piece. Mark solicits new clients via email and telephone.
Once Mark finds a new client, he has them sign a standard one page contract drafted by an attorney who works with political cartoonists. Mark met the attorney at a convention organized by the Association of Editorial Cartoonists. The contract makes it clear that the client purchases a non-exclusive license to reuse each cartoon. Mark retains all rights in the work. Most clients commit to a trial period of about six months and then continue the contract on a month-to-month basis. Mark delivers a new cartoon each week.
Developing appropriate pricing for his work evolved using trial and error. Only by discussing his work with editors on the telephone could he gauge what prices his market can bear. He told me "I had to figure out pricing when I started out. I'd sold some animation stuff to CNN.com a couple of 2-3 frame works. The editor immediately asked for a price. "Thinking fast, Mark remembered that in the print world, most papers pay about $30 per cartoon, so he extrapolated an appropriate animation fee from there. Mark observes "pricing is tough because there's so many [cartoonists] out there. Don't do it for free. Try to calculate what your hourly time [will be in] creating the cartoon when figuring out the worth of the finished product. Try to get a fee that covers that cost."
Mark acknowledges the hard work involved in self-syndication, but he deliberately decided not to work with a syndication company or agent. He thought he could do it better by himself and had heard negative stories from other cartoonists that the syndication companies were not passionate about selling your work, especially on the web.
Mark sees a future for small web animation operations. While the online market for content is coming back after the dot-com implosion, Mark believes that only small scale, one-man operations can survive on the relatively small returns. "Large-scale studios with large staffs can't really survive on the low prices [paid by current online buyers]," he said. He's also pretty cautious about benefiting from the online trend of offering exclusive content on a subscription basis. "There's extra interest [on the part of the buyer for] work that's used as exclusive content, but people are not quite ready to pay for content. The content provider may get more money but the audience will be smaller. It's important to get broader exposure."
Mark also has his own website which he sees at this time as more of a promotion vehicle than income stream. He has plans to build the site out with more merchandising and exclusive content options when he has more time.
When asked about any advice to impart to other web animators, he had this to say "Don't let Flash do everything for you. You shouldn't let the program do all the in-betweening for you. It's better to spend time at traditional animation." You can see Mark's work at www.markfiore.com.
"ANIMATION BACKGROUND LAYOUT: FROM STUDENT TO PROFESSIONAL" by Mike S. Fowler. This appears to be a self-published book developed by Fowler for his students. The book covers perspective, perspective grids, composition, staging, fielding of characters, camera moves, thumbnail sketches, tonal drawings, storyboard, model/pose/prop sheets, location designs, field guides, level sketches, labeling, compilation of a layout folder, tips and tricks and much more. The promotional copy makes it sound like a useful book. $30 Available from (506) 778-6682 www3.sympatico.ca/mike.fowler & msfowlerarts@yahoo.ca
GARTH GARDNER CO./PUBLISHING HAS AN INTERESTING LINE OF ANIMATION HOW TO BOOKS Most of them are written by Dr. Garth Gardner or Marilyn Webber. I'm impressed with anybody taking the time to write a book, but their promotional information doesn't say who Webber is, does not include any published reviews and is so vague about the content that I wasn't impressed. For example the scriptwriting copy makes no mention of things like getting contracts to write a script, pitching ideas, dealing with production codes/censors, development of a show's bible, and other basics needed to write for a living. Perhaps it is in a book, but the promotional copy doesn't suggest that it is discussed. Also their Gardner's Guide to Colleges for Multimedia and Animation and Multimedia and Animation Studios sounds like information you can get for free from awn.com.
Webber has written Gardner's Guide to Animation Scriptwriting, Gardner's Guide to Television Scriptwriting and Gardner's Guide to Feature Animation Scriptwriting. Gardner has authored Multimedia and Animation Studios, Careers in Computer Graphics and Animation: History, Careers, Expert Advice, Gardner's Guide to Internships and Gardner's Computer Graphics and Animation Dictionary.
A search of www.gogardner.com says Gardner has a PhD from Ohio State's Advanced Computer Center and in the last 10 years has produced several short works that I'm not familiar with (The Hunt, Shaky Shakey Grounds Grounds, Blob, The Fly and Dog's Day). He teaches at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
I asked several animation teachers about these books. One wrote me, "I remember looking at one or two of ŚGardner's Guides' and I was not impressed. I concur with your assessment that this is information - in the Guides to schools, etc. - that one can get for free elsewhere, although for several years it was not easy to collect lists of production companies. AWN's list has just recently been greatly improved - I used Animation Magazine's lists before that, which were, unfortunately not published every year - unless you wanted to buy their $75 Directory."
Another said, "I think Gardner got into the market early and has been riding that early success - as his was the only book on Careers in Computer Graphics and Animation: History, Careers, Expert Advice that was widely available, although other, better books were also out at the same time. His was the Reader's Digest version."
A well-read animator told me, "I have seen those Gardner books‹I remember leafing through them and not being initially impressed with them, but I haven't really given them a fair look."
AWN.COM ANNOUNCES THE PUBLICATION OF THEIR NEW ANIMATION INDUSTRY DIRECTORY OF BUSINESSES. This free three-part animation industry directory is a new resource for professionals. The sections are: GLOBAL ANIMATION BUSINESS DIRECTORY, GLOBAL ANIMATION HARDWARE & SOFTWARE DIRECTORY, and GLOBAL ANIMATION PRODUCTION DIRECTORY. They are derived from their online industry databases and they include over 4,000 companies from 80 countries. http://www.AIDB.com/?ltype=dl
Co-publisher Dan Sarto writes, "We hope you enjoy AWN's AIDB Directories, as well as all the other wonderful publications and resources AWN has to offer. It is our hope that the content published by AWN enlightens, inspires and helps to inform and propel you toward more successful and rewarding efforts in your area of the animation industry."
SOME GREAT ANIMATED TITLES ARE AMONG THE FILMS THAT WERE RELEASED ON DVD THIS CHRISTMAS While they include My Neighbor Totoro and Lilo and Stitch (with lots of bonus material with the latter) the DVDs my friends are talking about are the 4 new volumes of Walt Disney Treasures. Each set has two discs and they come in a metal box. The Behind the Scenes set includes The Reluctant Dragon (a feature that has Robert Benchley going on a tour of the studio) plus some great sequences from early Disney TV shows. The Mickey Mouse in Black and White volume includes 34 shorts from Steamboat Willie, 1928 to his last black and white short, Mickey's Service Station, 1935. There is also a Silly Symphony collection and The Complete Goofy. These are limited editions so once they sell out they may be gone for good.
MILESTONE HAS RELEASED JOHN CANEMAKER'S WORK AND A TRIBUTE TO LOTTE REINIGER ON DVD John Canemaker, Marching to a Different Toon includes Confessions of a Star Dreamer, Bottom's Dream, Confessions of a Stand-Up, The Wizard's Son and Bridgehampton. Also included are selections from his collaborative work, including "Behind the Scenes," "The DNA Concerto," early TV spots for Gay Men's Health Crisis and excerpts from the award-winning documentaries What do Children Think of When They Think of the Bomb and Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse. Additional DVD bonus material includes John Canemaker's documentary Otto Mesmer and Felix the Cat, and cut scenes from The World According to Garp.
Milestone has also released Lotte Reiniger's animated silent feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed, restored from 35mm archival material with an original orchestral score by Wolfgang Zeller. The film has a wicked sorcerer, a magic flying horse, witches and a lot more fantastic stuff. Also on the DVD is the documentary Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film, and a 5-minute commercial she made in 1921 for Nivea Cream. Available from Milestone Films www.milestonefilms.com.
AN EVENING WITH BART. HOMER AND DAVID SILVERMAN by TED PRATT David Silverman, original animator and current executive producer of The Simpsons, gave an entertaining and informative presentation about the show at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco in December. He brought along a slew of videotapes featuring scenes in finished form and in various stages of production including animatics and pencil tests. He had a couple of Śgreatest hits' tapes showcasing Homer and Itchy & Scratchy; a production progression reel‹showing the process from storyboard to layout to pencil test to finished animation and a reel of outtakes--clips that were excised for one reason or another, too violent, too racy or just not enough time. The highlight of that reel was a piece of finished footage of Marge using a vulgar phrase‹done by request as an internal joke.
After finishing school, he got his start in animation during the early Ś80s at Ruby-Spears Studios assisting renowned feature animator, Duncan Majoribanks on shows like Mr. T and Turbo Teen. He got a call from Bill Kopp, a former college buddy who was about to begin work on animated segments for the new Tracy Ullman Show based on the cartoon-stylings of underground cartoonist, Matt Groening. The show was being produced by Klasky-Csupo, known then for motion graphics animation and was housed in the old Clampett Studios building (still owned by Bob's wife, Sodie). Those early interstitials were almost exclusively animated by Silverman and Wes Archer.
He had several great anecdotes about the creation of the show and the characters. One being the formation of Lisa's personality‹it was defined by executive producer James L. Brooks rather quickly and matter-of-factly after Silverman presented the original boards for the show's opening. Lisa was basically just like Bart in the early interstitials. When Silverman began boarding the opening for the show, he had a hard time coming up with gags for Lisa and thought "since I played the tuba in the school band‹that's what I'll have Lisa do". Brooks saw this and said he didn't like the tuba, but liked the baritone sax‹so he said let's have Lisa play the bari-sax and she could be the brainy one in the family and not really quite fit in" ‹and that was it, that quickly Lisa's personality was born.
He had high praise for the voice actors‹and again related how a one-time character was suddenly made more interesting just by the voice talent. In this particular case, Hank Azaria was to just read one line for "The Thief" character and he read it like a surfer dude‹"Give me your money, dude" and again suddenly a more interesting character was born. He also pointed out that many adlibs that the actors do while recording make it in to the final show.
He was asked about the Simpsons feature film that has been rumored for years. He said that talks for a film are more serious than they have ever been and he indicated that he has provision for his current film (he's directing Curious George, I think) that he be made available to direct the Simpsons' movie when that time comes. Ted Pratt is an Animator at Maxis Inc.
27th ANNECY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Entry deadline is February 1 for a June 2 - 7 event. For animated short films, television series, commissioned films and student films completed after Sept. 2001. Entry forms available on the festival Website. No registration fee is required. For more information www.anecy.org email info@annecy.org
ANIFEST IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, late January deadline, no fee but preview tapes should be in PAL format and screening tapes in yet other formats. Details and forms at www.anifest.cz or Corona - AniFest Jindricha Plachty 28, 150 00 Praha 5 Czech Republic.
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM & VIDEO COMPLETION FUNDS 2003: Deadline February 5, 2003. Offers cash grants between $500 and 2,000 for post-production on non-commercial experimental works that push boundaries (includes animation). For details www.cuff.org/cufffund.php
IFP/LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL early deadline is Jan. 17, late is Feb. 21. No cash prizes for shorts mentioned in their literature, entry fee for shorts is $35/40. Event is in June. 8750 Wilshire Blvd. 2nd floor, Beverly Hills CA 90211 www.lafilmfest.com
2nd KALAMAZOO ANIMATION FESTIVAL INTER- NATIONAL has $15,000 in cash prizes and is free for student work ($30 to $50 for professionals). Accepts work on film, video, CD-ROM, DVD or in a form intended for Web distribution. Entry deadline is February 28. For rules and forms KVCC P.O. Box 4070, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-4070 or call 616-373-7883 www.kafi.kvcc.edu. email kafi@kvcc.edu.
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This issue was written by Karl Cohen, John Canemaker, Adrienne Crew and Ted Pratt. Information was also provided be Lee Marrs, Jerry Beck, Will Ryan, Howard Beckerman, Tom Sito, Roman Arambula, Mike Barrier, Keith Scott, Ron Diamond, awn.com, and other contributors. Pete Davis proofread it and the mailing crew included Shirley Smith and Nancy Phelps. Copies are part of your $22 local membership from the above address. |
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