SEPTEMBER 2003

Local Screenings | News From Ottawa | National News | Books | DVD News | Festivals | Software Reviews |

 

 

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE OF WILD BRAIN. THEY ARE DEVELOPING A CG FEATURE, ARE DOING A TV SERIES FOR KIDS, A MAJOR PUBLIC SERVICE CAMPAIGN FOR THE US GOVERNMENT, SEVERAL ADS FOR NATIONAL SPONSORS AND HAVE MOVED INTO AN AMAZING SPACE THAT IS HUGE! By Karl Cohen For many months there has been little news about this fine company. They have gone through endless secret negotiations that still are not over and have worked in secret on several projects.

 

Their new building at 19^th and Alabama is amazing. Wild Brain has an entire building with a large parking garage on the ground floor along with a security entrance. There is an entire floor (probably 50 or 75’ wide and 350 or 450’ long) for computer animators plus a large air-conditioned rendering farm and a screening room/pool hall. The floor above that is where guys like George Evelyn, Phil Robinson and Denis Morella work dreaming up wonderful ideas for projects. There are also spaces set up for animators who remember how to use discs, pencils and punched paper (and there are lots more computers). Off a balcony overlooking this work area are the offices of the administrators.

 

John Hays, president of the company, explained that all this is possible because the cost of computers and programs has dropped over the last decade while computing power, reliability and the quality of the technology has risen. This has made it possible for them to afford the hardware and software needed to compete in the feature marketplace without first having to invest millions developing their own software.

 

Wild Brain has a contract from Nickelodeon to develop a script for a feature based on Hubert’s Brain. A staff member said the project will be done using off-the-shelf computers and software with only a minimum amount of proprietary technology. The company’s track record includes their producing Ferngully 2, a beautiful direct-to-video feature in 1997. It was a fully animated cel production. In 2001 they demonstrated their ability to create theatrical quality computer generated animation by producing Hubert’s Brain, a 17-minute, award-winning short.

 

Their TV series Poochini is doing well in worldwide syndication. They are presently in production (with an overseas studio) on Higglytown Heroes, a 26 half-hour cg series for young kids. It is being directed by George Evelyn and Denis Morella. It is for a cable network named after a guy named Walt.

 

They are just finishing a major propaganda campaign for Uncle Sam that tells kids it isn’t cool to be a bully. Dennis Morella who created the series with producer Amy Capen has an office full of art featuring odd-looking creatures of every description including a monster or two. The animation was done in Asia. It has been edited and they are now working on music and sound effects. The series will air this fall.

 

The company, best known for their innovative TV commercials, recently completed one that is real creepy. It shows a goblin lifting up a toenail and then getting squashed. I’m told sales of Lamisil pills have gone way up since the ad started to air. Apparently shocking the audience with yucky images works. Phil Robinson directed it.

 

At present Phil is directing a Pebbles cereal ad, John Hays is directing work for Green Giant, and George Evelyn is directing work for Kraft Foods.

 

I think Wild Brain’s tentative entry into the cg feature market (a 2^nd feature project is also being considered, hopefully both will be completed) is part of an important trend that has been developing over the last 3 or 4 years. A few medium sized computer animation companies have already had success with their “low budget” productions (Waking Life, Rug Rats, VeggiTales). Hopefully Wild Brain will become a leader of this trend, as their work is exceptional. There are a lot of young talented people in the animation industry and they need exciting innovative studios like Wild Brain where they can work and grow.

 

WARNER BROS. MAKES ESC ENTERTAINMENT THEIR IN-HOUSE EFFECTS COMPANY ESC (formerly Escape) in Alameda has been funded by Warner Bros. since it began. They did most of the CG effects on the 3 Matrix films. Apparently Warner executives are pleased with their work and are making them a division of the company. ESC will be working on Catwomen (it will star Halle Berry) next and there is talk of other projects including another Batman film.

 

TWO FILM ART FOUNDATION 2003 INDEPENDENT CINEMA GRANTS WENT TO ANIMATED PROJECTS This year 16 filmmakers shared $59,800 in cash and services. There were 151 people who applied for the funds. The two works with animation are Kota Ezawa’s The and Mirka Morales’ Elf. Elf combines animation and live action. Kota’s The is being created by removing the characters and voice track from a Simpsons’ TV show and then creating a new work with just the backgrounds, props, and sound effects. He is working in After Effects.

 

KNOW SOMEBODY LOOKING FOR WORK IN THE ANIMATION FIELD? For job listings try www.awn.com, www.vfxpro.com, www.highend3d.com and for game jobs www.gamasutra.com

NIK PHELPS HAS CREATED THE MUSIC FOR A FOUR-MINUTE VERSION OF RON MERK’S FEATURE ‘MARCO POLO-RETURN TO XANADU’ FOR THE UPCOMING DVD RELEASE Ron edited the entire 82-minute film into an experimental 4-minute film that will be included on the DVD (to be released by Warner Bros.). Nik says Ron has created a visually exciting work using shots as short as 4 frames long.

 

At present he is finishing a score for an animated industrial film for the Herman Miller Company. The film promotes a new lighting display system for exhibitors who have booths at big trade shows. Herman Miller is best known for their high-end modern furniture.

Nik and Nancy are going to Kiev in the Ukraine in mid-September to attend another Krok Animation Festival. This year the ship will sail to Odessa from Kiev.

 

The next local Sprocket performance will be at the Red Vic in November. At a last minute performance in August in Oakland they performed a new score for Tara Beyhm’s light-hearted work Daily Bread.

 

‘PIXAR’S UNSUNG HERO’ IS THE TITLE OF AN ARTICLE ABOUT ED CATMULL In 1985 he visited Steve Jobs, who had just been deposed as CEO of Apple, and suggested Jobs buy George Lucas’ money losing computer division. Jobs told Catmull, who headed the division, NO!. A few months later he changed his mind and wrote a check for $10 million.

 

Catmull, who is president of the company, is credited with creating Pixar U. a school within the company that helps employees develop their skills. He created a story department that develops possible future projects. To help people survive he established a policy of having a doctor and masseuse come to Pixar once a week. He also established a policy of insisting animators must get permission from a manager if they work more than 50 hours a week. (Some game companies expect their employees to work longer weeks at no increase in pay – they let them take “comp.” time when the project is done.) Today he heads Pixar’s technology division. They are presently developing a new animation software package called Luxo. The article appeared June 30, 2003.

 

COMMENTS ON THE PANEL DISCUSSIONS AT THE RECENT FANIMECON IN SAN JOSE Bruce Krueger writes that the Japanese animation convention held in June had informative panel discussions on the way Ginax and other Japanese animation studios do screenwriting, storyboarding, directing, etc. The panels featured among others: Kazuya Turumaki, the director of Fooly Cooly, and assistant director of Evangelion, and Hiroyuki Yamaga, co-producer Fooly Cooly and Evangelion. “The necessity of everything being translated to and from Japanese was time consuming, but good info was to be had, especially during Q and A.”

 

Other observations. “The music video contest was also extraordinary. The new video editing software for PC's is letting fans do amazing things.  The dealers’ room had a fine supply of anime merchandise normally not available outside of Japan. Many people attended in costume and the official costume contest was exceptionally good.” More info can be had at www.fanime.com

 

Fans of Anime will be pleased to know the Pacific Film Archive will present a series in November (also a series of animated shorts from Poland in October or Nov.)

 

 

 

CARTOON ART MUSEUM IS DISPLAYING WORK FROM HARVEY PEKAR’S ‘AMERICAN SPLENDOR’ The critically acclaimed comic book series was written by Pekar and illustrated by R. Crumb, and other artists. HBO Films, in association with Fine Line Features, recently adapted American Splendor into a major motion picture. A friend who saw a preview of the feature followed by a reception for Pekar at the museum said both the film and exhibit are excellent. The exhibit runs through November 23. By the way, the black and white Flash animation in American Splendor is by John Kuramoto and Gary Leib.

 

ELECTRONIC ARTS IS OPENING A STUDIO IN LA THAT WILL “RIVAL MAJOR EFFECTS HOUSES’ The Redwood City games company is consolidating their west coast operations in the Los Angeles area in a new 250,000 square-foot Playa Vista campus. EA will begin moving their staff from their current studio in Bel Air by the end of the year. They plan to increase their LA staff from 300 to 600 people by 2005. There is room in the building for 1,000 employees.

 

The news release had the usual purple prose included. Steve Soboroff, president of EA in Playa Vista said, "With EA building the first new studio in Los Angeles since the 1930s, [note: UPA built a new studio in the 50s, Hanna-Barbera built one in the 60’s, Disney…] and locating it within Playa Vista, the vision of creating a dynamic place where people can live, work and play is quickly becoming a reality."

 Electronic Arts is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, EA posted revenues of $2.5 billion for fiscal 2003 and employs 4,000 people in eight studios. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. For more information visit www.ea.com.

 

GREETINGS FROM PHILIP MALKIN, A FORMER ASIFA-SF BOARD MEMBER WHO HAS MOVED TO A SMALL TOWN NOT TOO FAR FROM SEATTLE He writes, “Give my best to the gang. I will be back ... it just might take me some time. Maybe another 18 to 20 months (it seems like I'm doing time up here). In the meantime keep your eyes out for my new online projects.”(www.malkin.net/photos.htm & www.adigitalprinting.com)

 

RINA PETERMAN IS ANIMATING A PROJECT FOR THE CHICAGO ART INSTITUTE She is designing and animating a 3D lion. The character is based on a lion statue in front of the museum. She says, “I have to blend the lion character inside the museum interior. The lion interacts with real live characters in the film. This is a very interesting project.” I hope we will see it at our open screening next year.

 

ATARI MAY BE SELLING STOCK IN THE COMPANY They want to go public to raise a few million to pay off loans.

 

DE ANZA OFFERING CLASSES IN SOFTIMAGE XSI I’m told not many schools offer this training. The software is used by Wild Brain, ILM and other high-end companies. Contact Marty McNamara for more information at (408) 864.5663 or http://www.Deanza.fhda.edu/animation

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO BRAINWASH ON AN EXCELLENT TV PILOT Ed Holms from the SF Mime Troupe is an excellent host, their transfer of Billy Green’s Thought Bubble looks great and the rest of the show is well picked. Hope it sells and goes to series.

 

 

LOCAL SCREENINGS

 

Thursday, Sept. 11, THE BOLEX BROTHERS’ “THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB” (1993, England) plus The Donor Party, Hello Dolly and Metronome Heart. The feature is an impressive, bizarre, surreal work that combines stop-motion with live action (very weird people). See a newspaper for location and time.

 

September 12-24, THE ANIMATION SHOW at the Castro, with Mike Judge & Don Hertzfeldt in attendance on opening night, 429 Castro www.castrotheatre.com and Sept 19 – 25, THE ANIMATION SHOW at the Rafael Film Center in Marin.        

 

This program was put together by Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt. It includes three new films by Hertzfeldt, shorts by Mike Judge, six recent Oscar nominees, Bill Plympton’s Parking, Cordell Barker’s Strange Invaders, work by Ward Kimball and other treats. A review of this show on the Animation Blast website says it is much better than the recent Spike and Mike programs. It also includes one or two older films including Ident from Aardman.

 

Thursday, Sept. 18 – Sunday, Sept. 21, THE 7^TH ANNUAL RESFEST at the Palace of Fine Arts and Bimbo’s in N. Beach. They show a mixed bag of works that range from exceptional to awful. Pick your programs wisely and you will be delighted with the cutting edge work shown. There will be 7 programs (each is 70 min. long) of international shorts and music videos. There is a presentation of Leiji Matsumoto’s animated musical feature Interstella 5555 (staring Draft Punk), a show of work by Spike Jonze and other unique events. www.resfest.com

 

 

 

September 27 – October 1 is the Celebration Italiana. It includes the FIRST ITALIAN ANIMATION FILM FESTIVAL at the Action Theater in the Metreon complex at 4^th and Mission. There will be 4 different programs.

 

Program 1 is Bruno Bozzeto’s ALLEGRO NON TROPO (1976) with Intervaito, a 2 min. short by Piero Tonin (2003) Sat. Sept. 27 at 3 PM, Mon. Sept. 29 at 7 PM.

 

Program 2 includes advertisements from the 1920s, La Linea by Osvaido Cavaandoli, 4 shorts by Cioni Carpi (from 1959-’62), 3 shorts by Emanuele Luzzati (Puicinela, L’Italiana in Algeri and La grazza Iadre) and Opera by Guido Manuli. Sun. Sept. 28 at 3 PM

 

Program 3 is AN ANTHOLOGY OF BRUNO BOZZETO SHORTS (97 min., 15 shorts) Sun. Sept. 28 at 7 PM and Tues. Sept. 30 at 7 PM

 

Program 4 is THE BLUE ARROW by Enzo d’Alo (1996) based on a folktale about an old hag who brings nice kids gifts and bad kids charcoal on the Day of Epiphany. She falls ill and is too sick to make her deliveries. There is an evil assistant, a rebellion of the nice toys and lots of twists and turns. Wednesday, October 1, 7 PM.

 

MADCAT WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL at 4 different locations from Sept. 9 – Oct. 3 is showing 11 different shows, many include animated shorts. An all animation and optical show is CONTEMPORARY ANIMATED FILMS BY WOMEN Oct. 3 at ATA, 8 PM and Oct. 5 Pacific Film Archive, Chronicles of an Asthmatic Striper by Sarah Jane Lappi, Monkeys and Lumps by Nancy Andrews, Historia del Desierto by Celia Julve and 4 other films. ATA, 992 Valencia at 21^st St., SF.

 

Saturday, October 4 at 5:00 pm, FREE OUTDOOR SCREENING OF THE BLOB AT THE PRESIDIO The San Francisco Film Society and the Presidio Trust will present the 2^nd Annual Film in the Fog outdoor film and music program, to be held on the lawn of the Main Post Theatre, 99 Moraga Avenue in the Presidio. The free picnic, concert and movie screening will feature the campy 1958 science fiction classic, THE BLOB, starring Steve McQueen. THE BLOB will be screened at 7:00 pm, preceded by a vintage 1959 newsreel and the classic 1953 Chuck Jones cartoon, DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2TH CENTURY.

 

Bring lawn chairs and blankets, and arrive early to reserve a spot to enjoy live music. The SuperSonic Saxes and a brass quintet of the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast will entertain visitors with an outdoor performance of American standards beginning at 5:00 pm. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. The historic Main Post Theatre will be open for public tours at 5:00 pm. For more information www.sffs.org www.atthepresidio.org or call 415.561.5500.

 

Sunday, November 2, 2 PM, ASIFA-SF IS PROUD TO CO-PRESENT WITH FILM ARTS FOUNDATION “PIKI AND POKO: ADVENTURES IN STARLAND,” by David Cutler, Mark Ewert and Evie Leder at the Castro, 429 Castro in SF. Starland once enjoyed a harmonious, astrologically-aligned paradise where everyone danced to Celestial Grooves spun by Zodiac DJs. Now, this Eden is in trouble. Meet Piki and Poko, the Eternal Martial Arts Warriors from Another World. They must save the universe by drawing on that special love only two girls can share! Produced by Mondo Media, all new episodes. The event is part of the Film Arts Annual Festival of Independent Cinema that will run October 30 – November 2. ASIFA-SF members will get a discount on tickets for this screening.

 

NEWS FROM OTTAWA

 

THE OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL HAS BEEN SAVED FOR THE MOMENT Telefilm, the source of 25% of their budget, had decided to cancel their funding of the festival early this summer. Thanks in part to international response to the festival’s request for letters of support, Telefilm has agreed to continue their support through the end of the fiscal year 2004. OIAF received more than 300 letters of support from all over the globe, which were forwarded to Telefilm. Supporters included Canadian animation companies including Funbag, Head Gear, Bardel Animation and Atomic Cartoons. U.S. firms included Klasky Csupo, Pixar, Warner Brothers, DreamWorks and Walt Disney. Individual animators included David Fine, Alison Snowden, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis.

 

 

Festival organizers hope to work with Telefilm to promote more Canadian-made television, new media, short film and feature animation in the future." Given that Telefilm has received criticism in the past for not responding to the needs of the industry, it was refreshing that Telefilm head Richard Stursberg actually re-evaluated the decision based on the feedback they received," said OIAF artistic director Chris Robinson.

 

The brouhaha started when Telefilm sent a letter on June 16, 2003 to OIAF stating that Telefilm Canada was "in a position to only support events that are primarily focused on screening feature films that are destined for wide distribution." This announcement was a huge surprise to the organizers that had received a funding increase the year before.

 

The biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival will take place September 22-26, 2004. In the years between the biennial events the organizers present the Ottawa International Student Animation. It will be held October 16-19, 2003. Programming and ticket information is available at www.awn.com/ottawa/safo03.

 

A FEW GOOD REASONS TO CONSIDER GOING TO THE OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ANIMATION FESTIVAL The event is Oct. 16-19 and features recent works in competition by students and a competition of show reels from animation schools around the world. The six schools competing for the top prize are California Institute of the Arts (USA), Concordia University (Canada), Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Decoratifs (France), Royal College of Art (United Kingdom), Supinfocom (France) and Turku Arts Academy (Finland). There are also a lot of student films being shown out of competition.

 

Another highlight is AN OSCAR GRILLO RETROSPECTIVE. He began his career as an animator in 1960 and worked on numerous commercials and TV series. Since then his career as an animator has broadened to that of cartoonist, illustrator and painter. In 1971 he moved to the U.K. where he has lived ever since. His credits include work on Richard Williams’ A Christmas Carol (Oscar Winner, 1972), design and layout for Bob Godfrey's Great (Oscar Winner, 1976), Animation Supervisor at ILM for Men in Black (1996), and illustrations for The New Yorker. In 1980 he created Klactoveesedstene Animations with Ted Rockley. They produced hundreds of award winning commercials for the UK, Europe, U.S.A., Australia and Japan. He has collaborated with Paul and the late Linda McCartney on the award winning Seaside Woman (1980), Wide Prairie (1997) and Shadow Cycle (2001). He recently completed Monsieur Pett (2000); an animated featurette about a farting man, and is currently working on the short Parker's Mood, based on the music of Charlie Parker.

 

There are several other interesting events planned including CHRIS LANIER IN-PERSON presenting a show of some of the best work made using Flash. It will include “episodic cartoons, non-narrative experimental work, music videos, off-color jokes and poetic asides.” For festival information E-mail: info@animationfestival.ca Phone:  (613) 232-8769 (note: You can read Chris Lanier’s recent article on the artist Rene Magritte in a new online magazine called The High Hat http://www.thehighhat.com)

 

PRESCOTT WRIGHT COMMENTS ON THE PASSING OF KELLY O’BRIEN “Somewhere there is a saying, ‘The loss of one of these is a loss to us all.’ Whilst it is broad, it is often too true. Kelly O'Brien was our cheerleader for animation. She was part of the team responsible for the beginnings of our precious Canadian International Animation Festival. There was no endeavor she would refuse: chasing down good films that would make Ottawa's festival outstanding in the world. She knew how to cajole animators into attending this event. She had the tickets and outstanding hospitality. Animation was her love and her life's work. She will be missed and not forgotten by those of us lucky enough to have known her.”

 

AWN.com said she was 50 when she died (possibly of liver disease). She studied animation at Sheridan College and had worked at the National Film Library. She became a co-founder and director of the Ottawa festival and later served as an archivist and consultant in Toronto with the Ontario Film Development Corp. She received the Queen's Jubilee Medal for her contributions to the betterment of Canadian culture in 1977.

 

NATIONAL NEWS

 

ANIME NETWORK IS DOING WELL WITH VIDEO ON DEMAND BUYS Apparently in some markets their product comes in second to Hollywood movies on demand. The Anime Network customers generate eight to ten buys a month (the network only offers about 20 hours of product each month). The fans also buy 3 to 5 DVD’s a month according to an article in Television Week (Aug. 11). The Anime Network launched last December.

 

NINA PALEY ON BROADWAY Her short The Stork will be screened at Caroline's Comedy Club on September 9, 7 PM. The program will include other “fine and bizarre shorts,” including Chirpy. Caroline's is at 1626 Broadway at 49th, “where all the bright lights are.”

 

PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAY IMPROVE YOUR VISION SKILLS. A study published in Nature reports that playing extremely violent games, especially shooting games where your virtual life is constantly in danger, sharply improve one’s visual attention skills and peripheral vision. Apparently you need to train your eyes to constantly scan the entire screen for the enemy. Experienced players scored 30-50% better than novices. It took about 10 hours for novices to significantly raise their skills. The study suggests stroke victims and other visually impaired patients may regain some visual skills by playing these games. Scientists found playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault improved vision skills while playing the slower-moving puzzle game Tetris didn’t.

 

ARE YOU READY* FOR AN ANIMATED ADULT SERIES STARRING HUGH HEFNER AND HIS GIRLS AS SUPER-POWERED PLAYBOY BUNNIES OUT TO RID THE WORLD OF EVIL-DOERS? Hefner has teamed up with Stan Lee to create the series Hef’s Superfriends. By day the cast members are ordinary people, but at night Hef and his crew will rid the world of… The NY Post reported (July 22) “somewhere in the famed mansion is a secret high-tech lair much like the Batcave.” Lee is also behind Stripperella, an adult themed series that stars Pam Anderson as the voice of the stripper named Erotica Jones. It is playing on TNN/Spike TV and has gotten an enormous amount of press coverage due to the novelty content of the show and due to Anderson’s unusual reputation. Lee is best known for his Spiderman comic books. (*I’m not.)

 

SPIKE AND MIKE ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO SICKCOM’S FLASH ANIMATION It appears that Spike Decker has left (pushed out?) of the market as a producer of outstanding quality animation programs (for now or forever?) and is probably doing extremely well pandering cheap thrills to immature minds. He now has a deal to bring the work of comic book artist Robert Steven Rhine to the silver screen. Knowing Spike’s taste, I bet this will be another box office winner, although a flop with film critics and most adults. Rhine’s work includes My Brain Escapes Me and Chicken Soup for Satan. Frank Forte, Rhine’s partner in crime at FrankenRhine Studios, is responsible for Li’l Pimp, The Vampire Verses and The Cletus and Floyd Show. Forte apparently is the animator at the studio. Spike recently premiered the pilot episode titled "Meet The Beaters," a spoof of TV situation comedies, at the San Diego Comic Con. It stars a serial killer. Thanks Spike for the good vibes.

 

WONDERING WHERE THE BOX OFFICE MONEY WENT? As of mid-August Finding Nemo had taken in $328 million, Matrix Reloaded $278 million, Pirates of the Caribbean $249 million, Terminator 3 $148 million, The Hulk $131 million, Lara Croft $59 million and Rugrats Go Wild $39 million.

 

NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT BILL PLYMPTON IS AN INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION STAR The Contemporary Arts Center in Madrid, Spain will screen 4 of Bill's features, one each week in September (The Tune, J. Lyle, I Married a Strange Person and Mutant Aliens).  Each feature will be screened with one of his shorts (Push Comes to Shove, How to Make Love to a Woman, Surprise Cinema and Eat.) 

 

From October 10-19 there will be a retrospective screening on the island of Macau of Bill’s work. All of his features will be screened at the Centro Cultural de Macau. Plympton compilations and retrospective screenings will also be seen at the Uppsala Festival in Sweden (Oct. 20-26), AnimaNit Festival in Brazil (Nov. 7-14), Bradford Animation Festival in the U.K. (Nov. 12-15) and the Australian Center for the Moving Image, Melbourne (Dec.).

 

MIAMI HONORED THE FLEISCHER STUDIOS.A key to the town was given to Mark Fleischer, grandson of uncle Max, at a ceremony in August at the historic Fleischer Studios building. The press release for the event was full of purple prose. "Max Fleischer was one of the great visionaries of his time," said Mark Fleischer. "Among one of his great visions was that of the future of the Miami-Dade area, where he chose to build Fleischer Studios, the largest and most advanced animation studio of its day. We are extremely honored that Miami-Dade has chosen to honor Fleischer Studios. Our family could not be more proud to have played a roll in the rich history and culture of Miami, and we truly treasure that privilege." It also said they produced “some of the world's most beloved animation series and features”

 

Their films from the Miami period are mostly forgotten - the feature Mr. Bugs Goes to Town and some of the Stone Age, Color Classics, Popeye and Superman shorts. The studio moved to Miami in 1938 to get away from the union in NYC as Florida was a “right to work” state. Union animators had to work with underpaid non-union workers (many fresh from the local art college) so there was tension between the two groups of workers. Paramount forced them out of business in late 1941 or early in 1942. I also suspect the new Disney complex that was built about the same time was more likely the “most advanced animation studio of its day.”

 

THE DISNEY/DALI SHORT ‘DESTINO’ IS WINNING FESTIVAL PRIZES It won the Grand Prize for Best Short Film at the 52nd Melbourne International Film Festival and a similar award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It is scheduled to be shown at festivals in Venice (Aug. 27-Sept. 6), New York (Oct. 4-20), Chicago (Oct. 2-16) and Montreal (Oct. 9-19). It premiered at Annecy in June.

 

MEL BROOKS IS DOING THE VOICE OF WILEY THE SHEEP on an animated 3D series being made for PBS. It takes place in an Irish barnyard. The show will be called Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.

DISNEY CONTINUES TO RESTRUCTURE THEIR ANIMATION STAFF Disney's Gary Trousedale, the co-director of Beauty & The Beast, Hunchback and Atlantis has left (supposedly for voicing his opinion about the state of affairs at the studio). So has Hans Bacher, who was the top designer of Mulan. Bacher had worked on the development of every feature since Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Brenda Chapman, who worked on Beauty and the Beast and Prince of Egypt has found a new home at Pixar. Glen and Andreas may be the last artists at Disney who are known for their work with pencils (Will Webster’s Dictionary say someday that pencils were an ancient artists’ tool once use to make drawings???)  

 

Since writing the above, an article has been posted on the Internet about how extensive the layoffs have been, about how low the morale is among those who still have jobs at Disney, etc. www.mouseplanet.com/david/dk030814.htm

 

Other Disney news: Disney has announced they have started work on a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

WHILE DISNEY IS FIRING ARTISTS, THEY ARE ALSO OFFERING 100 KIDS THE CHANCE TO DRAW WITH THE ONES LEFT ON STAFF On Sept. 6, Michael Eisner will be hosting 100 children for lunch and “a hands-on demonstration of how films were made.” The event will take place at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim. Taking part in the event will be Don Hahn, Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, Eamonn Butler, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois.

 

DISNEY FILMS CAN BE DOWNLOADED AT MOVIELINK Buena Vista Pay Television has signed a deal with Movielink to let viewers download films from Disney, Touchstone, Miramax and Dimension. The titles include Chicago, Gangs of New York, Freda, Jungle Book 2 and Monsters, Inc. Fees range from $3 to $5.

 

OTHER CG NEWS Stan Winston, famous for latex dinosaurs and other creatures has announced his studio will now offer 3D computer animation and effects. The division will be called Stan Winston Digital with offices in Van Nuys.

 

DreamWorks announced a few weeks ago that from now on they will only make 3D CGI animated features. They consider 2D hand-drawn animation old fashioned.

 

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU REMEMBERED RUDOLPH ISING’S 100^TH BIRTHDAY They sent out a news release on August 7 that honored the man on his 100^th birthday for his contributions to animation. Ising and his partner Hugh Harmon were Disney animators in the 1920’s. They left to develop their own characters and style. In 1929 they created Bosko who became Warner Bros.’ first animated star and the first animated star to speak using lip synch. In 1933 they left Warners over a contract dispute (Warners wanted them to work for less and didn’t want to pay for color). They got picked up by MGM in 1934 and got to produce everything in Technicolor (first in the 2 strip process and then in the better 3-strip process when Disney’s exclusive contract on that process ran out). Their Milky Way (1940) was the first non-Disney animated short to win an Oscar and their Peace on Earth won both a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and Oscar nomination in 1939.

 

 

THE WINNERS OF THE ASIFA-EAST 34^TH ANNUAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL Unlike other festivals, all entries are screened and are voted on by members of the chapter after they attend competition screenings. The winners were announced and screened May 4, 2003 at the Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street in Manhattan. The ASIFA chapter was founded in 1960 by a group of animators interested in increasing the visibility of animated films worldwide.

 

The Complete List of Winners:

 

Student films -- 1^st honorable mention to RABBIT 17 BECOMES RESTLESS by Mike L. Mayfield, 3^rd place to ARK CITY by Christi Bertelsen, 2^nd place to LITTLE MOON MONSTER by Cynthea Mazur, 1^st place to DREAMSCAPES by Sean McBride.

 

Commercials – Excellence in Design award to SAMURAI JACK by Curious Pictures and BIGMOUTH US UNWIRED: "WOMAN" by Acme Filmworks. Excellence in Animation and Humor, PIONEER CAR STEREO "HEADBANGERS" by Mike Overbeck (BBDO West).  3^rd place CHARMIN: "COMFY BED" by Joanna Quinn - Director (Acme Filmworks), 2^nd place, PLEASE BABY PLEASE by Jennifer Oxley, and 1^st place to CHARMIN: "BLINDFOLD" by Joanna Quinn - Director (Acme Filmworks).

 

Sponsored Films – Excellence in Writing/Humor to RELIGETABLES by Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation, in assoc. w/ Hornet Inc.and to MIDTERM ELECTIONS by Eric Drysdale & David Javebaum - Writers, JJ Sedelmaier - Director (JJ Sedelmaier Productions) Sponsored Films – Excellence in Design, CONDOM SKILLS BUILDING by Jeremiah Dickey & Emily Hubley - Designers (GMK Animation) Sponsored Films – Excellence in Education to BLUE'S CLUES: "100TH EPISODE CELEBRATION" by Nickelodeon/Blue's Clues 3^rd place, LINNY THE GUINEA PIG: "OCEAN" "SPACE" by Jennifer Oxley (Little Airplane Productions). 2^nd place, TURN, TURN by Maciek Albrecht (Magik Studios) and 1^st place to X PRESIDENTS: "SEARCH" by David Wachtenheim & Robert Marianetti

(Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation)

 

Independent Films – Excellence in Writing/Humor, THE BOX FACTORY by Fran Krause; Excellence in Design, THE MAN WITH THE SMALLEST PENIS IN EXISTENCE… by Aaron Augenblick - Designer (Augenblick Studios/Transfatty Inc.); Excellence in Soundtrack, THE STONE OF FOLLY by David Buchbinder - Composer, Jesse Rosensweet, (National Film Board of Canada); Excellence in Animation, STILTWALKERS by Sjaak Meilink (National Film Board of Canada); Excellence in Experimental Techniques, CURRENT EVENTS by David Ehrlich;  3^rd place – Independent Films, DELIVERY by Patrick Smith (Blend Films);  2ND place, ROOF SEX by PES;  1^st place, SIEVIETE (WOMAN) by Signe Baumane (Rija Films).

 

The Samu Awards are in honor of Charles Samu, a film distributor who brought many exceptional animated shorts to the US before he died.  Samu Honorable Mentions went to IMAGINE by Maciek Albrecht (Magik Studios) and STILTWALKERS by Sjaak Meilink (National Film Board of Canada). The Samu Award went to FLASHBACKS FROM MY PAST: "STARRY NIGHT" by Irra Verbitsky.

 

 2002 BEST IN SHOW, BATHTIME IN CLERKENWELL by Alex Budovsky and TONGUES AND TAXIS by Michael Overbeck.

 

SHOULD THE HANNA-BARBERA STUDIO IN L.A. BE SAVED? The building that the owner wants to demolish is an interesting example of 1960’s modern architecture by Arthur Froehlich. While I can see preserving it for its looks, most people probably want to save it as a cultural shrine. Unfortunately Hanna-Barbera didn’t do their best work at 3400 Cahuenga Blvd. They moved into that space in 1963 so Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and the first seasons of the Flintstones were produced at their studio on La Brea.       To find out more about the effort to save the building visit HannaBarbera.org

 

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD'S COMING EVENTS On Sept. 27 at 3 PM, Mike Barrier will present a screening of rare cartoons (similar to the event he did for our chapter, June, 2002) and sign copies of his book Hollywood Cartoons, American Animation in the Golden Age.

 

On Oct. 25 Jere Gulden from the UCLA Film Archive will talk about Animation Preservation and screen films they have preserved. Also at the AFI at 3 PM.

 

In August Jerry Beck presented a retrospective of stop-motion animation. The chapter has also announced that on October 1 their dues will go up to $60 a year (includes international as well as local membership). Corporate membership will be $5000 a year for 100 members.

 

CALL FOR ANIMATION ARTICLES The late Canadian animation magazine FPS has been reborn as a website. They are looking for news, reviews, and essays on all kinds of animated work (commercial, independent, cel, computer, stop-motion, American, Canadian, Japanese, etc.). If it's animated, they want to hear about it. Contact: emru@pobox.com http://www.fpsmagazine.com,

 

GARY SCHWARTZ HAS DISCOVERED A GREAT BALL AND SOCKET ACTION FIGURE FOR $9.95 THAT CAN BE USED BY STOP-MOTION ANIMATORS Gary, who just got married and has taken a full-time teaching job in Detroit, is a real fan of the Stikfas Alpha Male action figure kit. He says it moves smoothly so it is easy to animate. It is 3'' tall. A larger 7'' version is made for dealers to use in displays.They can be bought at the Kid Robot Store, 1512 Haight Street in SF (415) 487-9000 or online from kidrobot.com or stikfas.com

 

THE NEXT WALLACE & GROMIT FEATURE BEGINS PRODUCTION THIS MONTH The script is finally ready so Aardman Animation and DreamWorks have announced production is about to get underway. No further details except they are aiming for a 2005 release.

Books |

Peter Lord, Nick Park’s co-director on Chicken Run, is developing Flushed. The feature stars a pampered upper crust rat who is accidentally flushed from his posh penthouse into the sewers of London. As he tries to find his way back he falls in love with a lovely, but common sewer rat. (Shades of My Fair Lady?)

 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.ASIFA-SF.ORG

 

VISIT THE OFFICIAL DAWS BUTLER WEBSITE Daws was the voice of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw and many more Hanna-Barbera characters. Daws Butler and Don Messick were the chief male voice actors at that studio from 1957 until Butler's death in 1988. He also worked for Warner Bros., MGM, J. Ward and Walter Lantz. He wrote and performed on the Stan Freberg Show, was on the original live version of Time For Beanie, and had a successful career doing radio and TV commercials. www.Dawsbutler.com.

 

AN ASIFA EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY will be held in Espinho, during the Cinanima Festival (November 10-16. 2003). There will be a discussion and vote on the final text of the New ASIFA Statutes.

 

BOOKS

 

MIKE BARRIER'S 'HOLLYWOOD CARTOONS, AMERICAN ANIMATION IN THE GOLDEN AGE' IS NOW AVAILKABLE IN PAPERBACK A remarkable history based on interviews with dozens of pioneers before they passed on. Mike is one of the few important animation scholars and now you can buy his important book at a reasonable price. www.michaelbarrier.com

 

ACTING FOR ANIMATORS – REVISED EDITION The new edition of Ed Hook's book includes a cover and several illustrations by Paul Nass (a member of our chapter) and a forward by Brad Bird. It also includes a multimedia CD-Rom.

 

HOW TO WRITE FOR ANIMATION by Jeffrey Scott has just been released in paperback. While I have not seen this book, his background includes writing for Wild Brain and other local and Los Angeles based companies. www.jeffreyscott.tv

 

 

DVD NEWS

 

COMING SOON: On October 28 Warner Bros. releases a great 4 disc collection of Looney Tunes delights. One disc is a tribute to Bugs Bunny, another is work that stars Daffy Duck and Porky.

 

Disney is releasing 4 more volumes of Disney Treasures on December 2. One disc set will cover wartime propaganda (supposedly it will include the rarely seen feature Victory Through Airpower). Another disc will be part 2 of the all color Mickey Mouse gems from the late 1930’s. There will also be a Donald Duck set.

 

GEOFF DUNBAR ANIMATED JANACEK’S OPERA ‘THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN’ FOR THE BBC IN 2002 – NOW IT IS OUT ON DVD Dunbar animated Ubu Roi in the 1970’s and has animated songs by Paul McCartney of the Beatles. His new production is an opera first performed in 1924. It is 75 minutes long. The DVD was given a half-page story in The New York Times, Sunday, August 17. The opera will be performed by our local opera company in June, 2004.

 

‘MUTANT ALIENS’ HAS BEEN RELEASED ON DVD AND VHS The DVD extras include The Plympton Diaries, a multi-part behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film, and a trailer for the upcoming Hair High.   http://www.indiedvd.com/

 

ENTIRE FIRST SEASON OF ‘ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE’ IS OUT ON 4 DISC DVD SET AT REASONABLE PRICES (most of the following was written by Lippy) Costco sells it for $22.99 plus tax. Best Buy sells it for $29 and it is $39 at Amoeba Records. The set includes some really rare material including a banned parody of Smokey the Bear (Bill Scott and J. Wards’ bear goes around and sets fires) and four examples of the unseen Bullwinkle hand puppet. It also includes the wonderful spoof of Walt opening Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty attraction. Unfortunately there are no Bullwinkle cereal commercials (“big G, little o, but watch where you’re going” for Cheerios), but there are several promos for the show and other extras.

 

Reviews of the DVD set are excellent, but they contain warnings that the producers tinkered with the material.  ASIFA-SF member, and normally mild-mannered animation director, Lippy, sent the following comments to us:

 

“Being a 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' fanatic, my review is somewhat biased to be anally protective of every nuance of the series as it was originally aired.  Having said that, there is a lot to like about this presentation of the Jay Ward classic. The extras are nice and the transfers are gorgeous. But the collection HAS been monkeyed with!  For starters, the original title sequence of the ENTIRE first season has been replaced with the title sequence of the SECOND season. This "imposter title sequence" is substituted in for EVERY show opening.  That's a piss-off for starters.  Then they have gone in and clumsily ‘glued on’ the new title of the series, ‘The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends’ right in the middle of these imposter show openings (a new sound-alike Bill Conrad V.O. is added as well).  As you know the original title of the first season was ‘The Rocky Show.’  So I suspect this is a pointer to an ocean of legal copyright wrangling going on just beneath the surface of this 4-disc set.

 

Then there is a strange audio ‘discrepancy’ that pops up from time to time where a bit of music (in both the main episodes AND the ‘special features’ like ‘Fractured Fairy Tales’) seems tipped into the soundtrack and it's not mixed like the other stuff (sounds too clean) so I am assuming that this was ADDED IN (horror!) to this collection in particular.  Also don't expect to hear that canned laugh track that was an amusing anomaly in the first season's ‘Rocky’ episodes.  It's gone... along with a lot of other rough edges.  Hey, I like my cartoons stoopid, funny, and ROUGH.  If I want slick I'll watch ‘Codename: Kids Next Door’.

 

Oh, and grab the smelling salts, because possibly the WORST atrocity is a ‘watermark’ in the lower right corner of the screen when EVERY different segment starts.  I mean there's a watermark (it's an ‘RB’) in the corner when a 'Fairy Tale' starts. And another when a ‘Mr. Know-It-All’ starts.   And another when a ‘Peabody’ starts etc. The mark pops onscreen then fades off after about 20 or 30 seconds. Totally BLOWS. Somebody's legal team needs to take a MAJOR FUKKIN' Valium!!

 

Whew! Now, having screamed all that... RUN (don't walk) and buy this collection!  It's a fantastic trip back to the source to watch the episodes in order, and in brilliant color correctness. I was taken back to remembering that the original episodes looked VERY hand-done, like short UPA films. Especially the ‘Fractured Fairy Tales’, which are wonderful independent shorts in and of themselves. This collection would be MORE than worth it if they had just collected all of the ‘Fairy Tales’ and nothing else.”

 

A BULLWINKLE SCHOLAR EXPLAINS WHY THERE ARE CHANGES IN THE NEW DVD Keith Scott sent animation historian Jerry Beck (Cartoon Research.com) the following: and gave us permission to reprint it. "The cartoons on the DVDs are from Universal Television's restored masters, used for their overseas sales package. (Unfortunately General Mills, who contractually still has the domestic US TV rights into perpetuity, couldn't get together with Universal, so any semblance to exact copies of the old shows was averted in order to avoid potential legal action).

 

The music rights were also in dispute, ever since the old Buena Vista video release in 1991, so the only music used are the tracks composed by Fred Steiner for ‘The Bullwinkle Show’ in 1961 (Frank Comstock's music, heard in the original 1959-60 ‘Rocky and His Friends’ shows on ABC, can't be used, as there is a fee involved. Lawyers strike again!).

 

Yes, when this package was beginning to be assembled in 1995, I had to go in and try to match Bill Conrad for the new title ‘ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE AND FRIENDS’" So I guess they're using that track, but no one attempted to match the equalization from old Glen Glenn analog to modern Sydney digital.

 

The one good thing is that the actual cartoons finally look and sound excellent. I assisted with the restoration which took three years (1995-98) at the old Chace Audio in Burbank."

 

WHY FUSS ABOUT A J. WARD SHOW MADE OVER FORTY YEARS AGO? by Karl Cohen If you have never seen Rocky and Bullwinkle you may be in for a wonderful treat. The show is unlike any other animated series made for TV as the comedy was based on parodies of our world. J. Ward and Bill Scott lampooned everything from politicians to TV advertisers. They dared to make jokes about our government and their parody of Uncle Walt as the Prince in Sleeping Beauty is still a delightful irreverent comedy.

 

Ward and Scott were sometimes wickedly funny. (An in-joke in Sleeping Beauty has the prince, who looks somewhat like Walt, saying “I never joined the union.”) It seems like they didn’t simplify things for kids as a rule. While the show did appeal to many kids, it was really designed to entertain Ward and Scott.

 

The writers sometimes got in trouble with censors and/or the sponsors. The first season story about Boris and Natasha making counterfeit box tops (they wanted to corner the world’s market in cereal company premiums) was made without General Mills’ approval. When the sponsor found out that the scripts were poking fun at their business, they freaked out. They made Ward terminate the story at once. (Keith Scott’s excellent, well-researched book The Moose That Roared is full of information about the show’s history including censorship problems and troubles with sponsors and networks.)

 

Children’s TV could have been wonderful if it had developed in the tradition of Ward and Scott. Unfortunately sponsors didn’t want to risk their reputations by backing irreverent programs. Instead the cute safe stories and humor of Hanna-Barbera became the norm. While a few H-B shows were great, most of their series have been forgotten for good reasons. It wasn’t until The Simpsons came along that TV animation once again became interesting for adults.

 

FESTIVALS

 

THE TIBURON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in Marin County has a Dec. 1 deadline for a March 12-18, 2004 event. Saaed Shafa is the director and their publicity says it is well run, well attended, and gives good exposure to filmmakers. Information tiburonfilmfestival@yahoo.com

 

AMD ATHLON ANIMATION & DIGITAL FILM FEST Equipment & $6,400 cash prizes amd.com/animationcontest

 

47th SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Nov. 12 deadline for an April 15 to­ 29 event..They like to show one program of animated shorts plus a few animated shorts before features. Filmmakers can access information and can complete the entry form online at www.sffs.org Entry forms can also be requested at gga@sffs.org or by mail from: Programming Department, San Francisco Film Society, 39 Mesa Street, Suite 110, The Presidio, San Francisco CA 94129. Note: this is a highly competitive event that only shows a tiny percentage of the work entered. (Last year over 1,600 films and videos from over 46 countries were submitted.) Also, the animation jury has very quirky tastes, often passing on excellent work shown at other festivals and/or nominated for Oscars. Last year they showed several personal stop-motion puppet films by advanced students or independent animators. That is good news for some of our members.

 

SOFTWARE REVIEW

 

IT’S ME BY REALLUSION INC. reviewed by Michael Nolan It'sMe is a pretty darn cool animation creation program that allows users to create and edit personal animated avatars using photo images of anyone (or any object with a face like shape). It'sMe works and it works very well for what it is intended to do. I was quickly able to import a photo image (of our fearless leader of the free world… W.) in JPEG format, select some built-in options and started editing the animation of the character I built. There are dozens of built-in options and endless possibilities that can be created from within the It'sMe program, as well as downloading additional Character Packs from the web or importing graphics from other image creation applications. There are also additional It'sMe tools available for complete customization.

 

The fact that It'sMe allows the user to take any photo image of anyone and map the person's (or an object’s face-like) facial features much like CrazyTalk (see previous Reallusion review) and then start to instantly manipulate the characters body movements, outfits, hair color, background and even audio, makes for some very interesting possibilities…

 

One of the first possible projects that came to mind using It'sMe was to create a music video for some musician friends of mine. I could see creating some hip backgrounds, outfits and movement paths and then creating somewhat of a plot by having the band member avatars move through different backgrounds making various gestures, all more or less synchronized to their latest beats. I also think that creating customized avatars could be a very cool way to spice up a PowerPoint presentation or a web site. It'sMe has several online and multimedia output options including animated GIF and AVI. You can also output stills in JPEG, BMP and a few other Windows standard formats.

 

Reallusion has obviously spent a great amount of time making It'sMe easy and fun to use, right out of the box. They have also included a couple of very helpful tutorials on their installation CD to help you get ramped up in a hurry.

 

 

ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO

P.O. Box 14516

San Francisco CA 94114

 

 

VOTE

 

 

As proof of just how easy It'sMe is to use, I was able to download the photo of "W," jump through the basic tutorial and create an animation within less than an hour of installing the It'sMe application. You can see the results of my first It'sMe animation; in three different formats; GIF, WindowsMedia and RealMedia at the link below.

 

It'sME sample(s) created by reviewer http://www.asifa-sf.org/reviews/reallusion/its_me/

 

I think both animation fans and professionals alike could find numerous aspects of It'sMe useful and just plain fun. Professional animators will probably find Reallusion's Motion Editor and Key Pose Editor for It'sMe of definite interest. The Motion Editor and Key Pose Editor give the animator complete control of the It'sMe avatar’s movement and positioning. It does not take a tremendous amount of imagination to conceive of what one might be capable of doing with a couple of decent photos of your friends, coworkers or loved ones and It'sMe's wide variety of movements and outfits. Needless to say, you could have your friends (or enemies) in some very uncompromising positions or at a minimum doing some very, very silly things, that otherwise might take hours and hours to do with high end animation tools.

 

Although It'sMe is certainly not any sort of a replacement for any professional animator’s current set of animation software tools or tricks (and was certainly not built for, or intended to be so), It'sMe could very well have a place on your desktop to create quick prototypes, animated storyboards and just plain silly personal animated avatars of yourself or someone you know and like (or dislike).

 

I would certainly recommend downloading the demo version of It'sMe and giving it a spin around the virtual block. It'sMe is one of those unique applications that everyone who tries it will certainly see a whole new set of possibilities in how it could and should be used and abused.

 

More information online and links to the downloadable demo: http://www.reallusion.com/itsme/ 

 

 

“The great Mother Chicken, also known as Clouca Jack” by Jeff Hale,

a founder of ASIFA-SF and director of Thank You Mask Man, 1968