January 2004

Local Screenings | National News | Books | DVD News |

 

RON MERK’S ANIMATED FEATURE “MARCO POLO – RETURN TO ZANADU” TO BE RELEASED ON DVD AND VHS BY WARNER BROS. ON FEBRUARY 10, 2004 The DVD will be in surround sound with English and Spanish sound tracks (not at the same time I hope), and there will be several bonus features including a music video, a "behind-the-scenes" documentary about the making of the film  that was created for the TV series, Splat! and Xanadu It Faster, a short experimental film with music by Nik Phelps.  There will also be a complete art gallery and photo section. The DVD will retail at $14.98 and the VHS at $12.94.

 

FRAMELINE AWARDED SHIRA AVNI A $3000 COMPLETION GRANT for her animated film John and Michael (Fall Down and Giggle at the Stars) It will be “an animated short for children about a gay couple with Down’s Syndrome, exploring the themes of love, sexuality, death, and healing in a simple but profound manner.”

 

PATRICIA AMLIN IS OFF TO HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI TO SHOOT A DOCUMENTARY Amlin, who teaches animation at SF State, was active in Holly Springs during the Civil Rights days. She has been planning to make this film for some time and expects to head south late this month or next month. It will celebrate the positive changes that have occurred there. She expects it to be a lively, upbeat work.

 

 

 WWW.ASIFA-SF.ORG  FOR INFORMATION

 

 

HENRY SELICK’S NEW VISUAL ADVENTURES by MICHAEL FOX foxonfilm@yahoo.com I call this “his Fellini movie," says a chuckling Henry Selick, the Bay Area stop-motion animation wizard whose distinctive style elevated the children's tales The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach to cult fandom. Selick is busy designing and constructing some 25 creatures “and the succulent sets they'll inhabit” for the stop-motion sequences of The Life Aquatic, the ambitious movie that Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) is currently shooting in Italy at Cinecittà Studios. Anderson's story centers on a down-on-his-luck Jacques Cousteau type, Selick explains via cell phone while driving to his studio. "We're creating most of the undersea characters, many of whom are very close to real, and some are more fantastic. It's a small part of the film, but it's an important one." Unlike Tim Burton, who conceived and wrote Nightmare, "Wes doesn't really draw," says Selick. "He does very simple thumbnail sketches, very rudimentary. We have a fair amount of freedom to design and, of course, animate, because that's what I do. We're designing 'em, but he's picking the designs he likes." The artist got the gig when Anderson wisely concluded that Selick's style suited the picture far better than computer-generated animation. "There's a fable-like quality to the film that this reinforces," Selick says.

 

Since August, a crew of 25, including first-rank animators Tim Hittle and Justin Kohn, has been designing, fabricating, and constructing the characters in an S.F. location Selick refuses to divulge; the painstaking filming will run from December through April.

 

A local Anderson sighting is likely in the cards. Selick confirms, "I'm sure he's going to want to come by one time to say hello and meet the people." And, no doubt, to vet their creations. "He's a guy who sticks to his vision. I saw the same thing with Tim Burton: They do not compromise on anything." Selick breaks into laughter. "Wes is very pleasant about it, but I think it pays off." Selick is also developing a stop-motion feature adaptation of Neil Gaiman's scary children's book Coraline.

 

This article first appeared in Michael Fox's "Reel World" column in SF Weekly, 11/26/03.and is reprinted with the kind permission of the author.

 

HOW TO BREAK INTO THE GAME INDUSTRY – A ONE DAY CONFERENCE IN SF, JANUARY 31 An event for students and professionals that will cover an overview of the industry, technology trends, job qualifications, skills needed, etc. From 8:30 am to 3:00 pm at 600 Townsend Building, San Francisco, $35 in advance for students and professionals and $45 at the door.  For more information

http://www.thegameinitiative.com/sfbreakin/index.html.

 

EXHIBITION “BANG THE MACHINE: COMPUTER GAMING ART AND ARTIFACTS” JAN. 17 – APRIL 4 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A big show with special events Jan. 18, 21, 29. A gala opening Jan. 16, from 8-12 PM.

 

GENE HAMM HAS A DVD OUT ON CARTOONING, IS TEACHING CARTOONING AND ANIMATION IN PETALUMA AND WILL SHOW HIS NEW WORK AT OUR OPEN SCREENING THIS MONTH His new film is a live action comedy short “with a little bit of animation and effects.” It stars Hamm (will he live up to his name?) as an accident-prone guy who won't listen to his cat's advice.  It  co-stars  Ali,  his cat,

 and it was made six months before Ali died. Hamm was quite close to his cat and says of his passing, “That's why I was so bummed out.  It was like the breakup of Martin and Lewis.”

 

Hamm will also show Bum Wrap, a Charles Adams-ish visual pun,” and An Outtake From The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  He says of the latter, “It's a little known secret about the Hunchback that Disney probably wouldn't want you to see.”

 

He has turned Cartooning:  Shortcuts & Cheap Tricks into a DVD.  Hamm says, “All the lessons are accessible by scene selection and if the DVD is played on a computer you can print out pages of lessons and guides to help you draw on paper right along with the screen.” To obtain more information about the product write  <http://www.hammination.com>       

 

Hamm teaches animation courses online for the Academy of Art and in-person at Early Work Toy Station, his wife's store at 601 Petaluma Blvd. N. in Petaluma.  The schedule of classes is on her website www.earlywork.com.

           

JOHN TETON, WHO WAS ACTIVE AS AN ANIMATOR IN THE BAY AREA IN THE 1970S AND ‘80S, NOW LIVES IN SANTA BARBARA AND HAS COMPLETED A NOVEL INTENDED FOR A LIVE ACTION FILM He taught animation at SF State (1973-‘76) and his animated short B’rasesheet won several major awards when it played at festivals (the Japan Foundation Prize at the first Hiroshima International Film Festival. etc.). It was shown by Showtime and more recently on the Arts Channel. Among the memorable moments of his short are humpback whales swimming through stars and a galactic cloud (long before Fantasia 2000 was made). His new project, “Appearing Live at the Final Test,” involves New Yorkers who embark on an “eerie and spellbinding journey” after a nuclear bomb threat. Contact John at (805) 962-6933  JT@earthlightpictures.com

 

“GAMING INDUSTRY NEWS” IS A NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER WITH A WEEKLY E-MAIL UPDATE It comes from a San Francisco publisher, Ziff Davis Media Inc. Only $995 a year (introductory rate is only $695 a year). www.gamingindustrynews.com       Are our dues too low?

 

ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO HAS A NEW VIDEO GAME PROGRAM with  Marc Sherrod as its new full-time academic director. The program will be designed to get students entry-level jobs in the $10.3 billion computer and video game industry.(415) 865-0198 or visit www.aicasf.aii.edu

 

CARTOON ART MUSEUM IS PRESENTING “DON’T PARADE ON MY REIGN: A CARTOON SALUTE TO MAYOR WILLIE BROWN” It features work by four local editorial cartoonists Phil Frank, Tom Meyer, Mark Fiore and Don Asmussen through­ February 15. Brown’s term has truly been a regal administration the likes of which we may never see again.  This selection of over 40 cartoons represents a humorous analysis of the ups and downs of one of San Francisco¹s most colorful and controversial mayors. The exhibition is an entertaining send-off to Mayor Brown as he leaves office in January.

 

About the Artists: In 1986, Phil Frank gave up two nationally syndicated comic strips to focus on Bay Area issues and politics.  His local comic strip, Farley, has appeared exclusively in the San Francisco Chronicle since then. A new collection of Farley comic strips featuring Willie Brown titled Don¹t Parade on My Reign is available in stores. This exhibition borrowed its title from Frank¹s book.

 

Tom Meyer has worked as an editorial cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1981. He has won numerous national, state and local awards and his work has been reprinted widely, from the New York Times and Newsweek to Japan¹s Asahi Shimbun, and from encyclopedias and textbooks to dinner menus.

 

Don Asmussen creates The San Francisco Comic Strip and his new comic, Bad Reporter, for the San Francisco Chronicle. His cartoons have also appeared in magazines such as Time and George.  Asmussen¹s other creations include Super Average Joe and the popular animated feature Like, News for MondoMedia.

 

Mark Fiore¹s animated political cartoons currently run on various media websites, including SF Gate. Formerly the staff political cartoonist for the San Jose Mercury News, Fiore now focuses exclusively on political animation.   This exhibition will feature examples of his print editorial cartoons and his comic strip Willie and Leo, which appeared in the San Francisco Examiner.

 

 

LOCAL SCREENINGS

 

DON’T MISS “TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE” WITH DISNEY/DALI’S “DESTINO” at selected Landmark Theaters

 

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 3 PM, JOURNEY TO MARS film program includes Nik Phelps performing live with Melies TRIP TO THE MOON 1902. Exploratorium, McBean Theatre.

 

TUESDAY JANUARY 20 at 7:30 PM, ANIMATION AND ANTI-ANIMATION is part of the series ALTERNATIVE VISIONS: SERENDIPITY The Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley is running an unusual show of animated shorts by well-known artists like Stan Brakhage along with work by artists the PFA has never had the opportunity to screen before. The latter includes Pearce Williams, who uses expressive puppets to explore anxiety; Argentina-born Liliana Porter, better known for her photographs of toys and knickknacks, and Michele Smith, who creates dense, rapid handmade collages from an incredible range of translucent materials, including film, slides, and shopping bags..

 

The show, curated by Kathy Geritz, includes Courtney Hoskins's hand-painted film exploring a moon of Jupiter (The Galilean Satellites: Europa, 2002, 8.5 mins, color, 16mm); one of Stan Brakhage's last completed films, made by scratching into emulsion with his fingernails (Chinese Series, 2003, 2 mins, silent, b&w, 35mm, from Canyon Cinema); Pearce Williams's soft-stuffed puppets (Sharp Proofing, 2002, 8 mins, color, video); and Liliana Porter's "anti-animation" of toys and souvenirs (Drum Solo/Solo de Tambor, 2000, 19 mins, color, video). Anna Geyer and Devon Damonte make cameraless films, one using a flashlight and packets from a Chinese herbalist (Arapadaptor [I Feel So], 2002, 4.5 mins, color, 16mm), the other employing direct animation (WonderPain, 2002, 3 mins, color, 16mm). Barry Gerson animates a mysterious, colorful space of his own construction in Rolling in My Ears (2002, 8 mins, silent, color, 16mm), and Michele Smith's intense collage Like All Bad Men He Looks Attractive (2003, 23 mins, silent, color, video) is a barrage of visual stimuli.  Total running time: 77 mins,

 

 

NATIONAL NEWS

 

“TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE” OPENED IN SF WITH THE FASCINATING DALI/DISNEY “DESTINO” SHORT This is a great program for adults who want to see animated films intended for a sophisticated audience (instead of cartoons for kids). J. Hoberman in The Village Voice called the feature, “The year’s most ingenious and original animated feature.” Animation director/producer Michael Sporn writes, “The film has pounds of imagination on display with some fine animation and very good design… The film is clever and funny, attractive and artful. Certainly it’s my favorite for Best Animated Feature Oscar, but it doesn’t have a chance of winning.” (He assumes Finding Nemo is a shoe-in.) from ASIFA-East’s aNYmator, Dec. 2003.

 

When the film opened in late November in 6 theatres in the US it grossed $143,762 in 5 days ($23,960 per screen which is an exceptional gross per hall). As of Dec. 28 it was playing on 46 screens and had grossed $636,383 in the US. It opened nationally on Dec. 26 (including SF).

 

In the pre-Oscar awards Triplets was voted the best animated film by the NY Film Critics Circle (beating out Nemo) and was voted the best foreign language film by the Boston Film Critics. The film’s director, Sylvain Chomet was also a runner-up in Boston for the best new director award.

 

Sylvain Chomet  In the UK the film opened in theaters in Sept. and it was shown on the BBC on New Years Eve. The production was partially funded by the BBC.

 

INTERESTED IN READING A FREE ONLINE ANIMATION MAGAZINE FROM CANADA? Visit fps, The Magazine of Animation with features, news items, commentary, etc. www.fpsmagazine.com.

 

BILL PLYMPTON’S  “HAIR HIGH” WILL HAVE ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT SLAMDANCE IN JANUARY AND THEN IT WILL COME TO SAN FRANCISCO FOR THE INDIE FEST SCREENING AT THE CASTRO IN MID-FEBRUARY The Slamdance Festival will be held Jan. 17-24 in Park City, Utah. His show will be at the Treasure Mountain Inn on the evening of January 21 (tentative). For details visit: http://www.slamdance.com

 Our next newsletter will have information about his visit to San Francisco, including a party with Bill for ASIFA members, a probable event with him presented by Sprockets, and the big event at the Castro. For more Plympton news visit http://www.awn.com/plympton/appearances.html

 

The Hair High web site has details about the film’s cast, plot, etc. and clips from the film including a beautiful woman attacked by giant worms! www.hairhigh.com

 

JOHN K. WAS IN SEATTLE TO PRESENT SHOWS OF HIS WORK Unfortunately his first sold-out show at the Seattle Art Museum was cancelled due to the late arrival of the airplane, but two additional sold-out shows at the museum were a hit. He stuck around after the programs to draw cartoons  for  his  fans.  Among  the  work  screened  were  the

infamous, rarely seen Ren & Stimpy episodes “that caused Nickelodeon to yank the show's production away from John K's control” (translation – they fired him). He also did signings at two stores.

 

“INDEPENDENT SPIRITS: THE FAITH AND JOHN HUBLEY STORY” HAD A WEEK’S RUN AT A NEW YORK THEATER The hour documentary was made by Sybil DelGaudio and Patty Wineapple and was shown on PBS and at the Quad (34 West 13^th St.) in December with two Hubley shorts, The Hole, 1965 by John and Faith and Northern Ice, Golden Sun, 2001, Faith’s final work. Hopefully other theaters around the world will book this fine program.

 

WALT DISNEY SET A BOX OFFICE RECORD IN NOVEMBER They topped the $3 billion level in worldwide revenue for 2003 over the Thanksgiving weekend, shattering previous records. Thanks to Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean and other box office successes they became the first studio to ever gross a billion dollars at the box office in one year.

 

Disney also just broke the opening week sales figures for a video/DVD release. Pirates sold 11 million units which comes to about $187 million. The bonus material on the DVD includes 19 deleted scenes and a lot of other goodies.

 

OSCAR NOMINATIONS TO BE ANNOUNCED JAN. 27, THE BIG EVENT IS FEBRUARY 29  I hope the 3 films to be nominated for best feature will include Finding Nemo (the likely winner) and Triplets of Belleville. For best animated short, I guess Destino, Fast Film and Harvie Krumpet will be among the 5 nominated films.

 

The short list for visual effects includes 8 films. Three will be nominated. They are The Hulk, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and X2.

 

ROY DISNEY HAS BEEN FORCED OFF THE DISNEY BOARD OF DIRECTORS – HE MAY FIGHT BACK AND TRY TO ORCHESTRATE THE FALL OF EISNER One of the hottest business news stories of 2003 was Roy Disney being pressured to leave the Disney board of directors. When he resigned on Sunday, Nov. 30, he went public with his grievances about Michael Eisner, the president of the board. His letter of resignation was immediately circulated widely on the Internet. To make the split between Disney and Eisner even more dramatic, Stanley Gold, Roy Disney’s closest ally on the board, also quit the board and went public with his letter of resignation on Dec. 1. 

 

This isn’t the first time Roy Disney has resigned from the board. In 1984 he resigned and launched the complex coup that ousted chairman Ron Miller. Eisner was picked to replace Miller, a move that began the big revival of Disney animated features and related products.

 

While Eisner was seen as a hero in the 1990’s he has made business decisions in recent years that have destroyed many people’s confidence in his leadership. Probably the most hated decision was his ending the company’s production of hand drawn 2D animation. Hundreds of people were fired including animators who had been with the company for decades. Also, Disney closed their animation studios in France, Tokyo, and it looks like the studio in Florida will close (it is temporarily closed while a feature that was started there is “on hold”). The staff in the Burbank studio has been reduced by almost 1,000 people.

 

While many people in the business world don’t care about what the studio produces, who produces it or how it is made, they do care about the decline in value of Disney stock. While the stock did loose over half its value in recent months, just blaming Eisner for the dramatic decline in its value is too simplistic a response to a complex situation. At present the stock has been slowly recovering some of its lost value. In the month of December, 2003 it went up about $1 suggesting shareholders are satisfied with Eisner’s leadership. If they were dissatisfied the stock probably would have lost some of its value.

 

A former Disney employee told me, “Roy is now 73 and some think he may be beyond another big fight. Michael Eisner is despised by many in the company, but he has spent the last years stacking the board of directors with his own allies. His image is being booed by audiences at Disney in Florida when it appears on monitors there. For the first time in its history the Disney Family has been shut out of their own company. If Roy can rally the families millions of shares it's going to be an interesting fight to watch.”

 

Can Roy Disney engineer the decline and fall of Michael Eisner? In 1984 the company’s features were not doing well at the box office, but in November 2003 Disney broke the world record for how much a film studio could gross in one year worldwide (they took in over $3 billion!). Roy only owns about 1% of the company’s stock and he may not be able to get the owners of 49% of the stock to back him in his fight. He is also going up against a board that is mainly made up of Eisner’s business associates.

 

If there is to be a battle, it is probably a long ways off. At present Roy Disney and his supporters have been educating the public about the dispute by circulating information on the Internet (www.savedisney.com). The resignation letters of Roy Disney and Stanley Gold are posted on the site along with other information that explains some of their grievances.

 

Within a few hours of Roy’s resignation supporters of Roy Disney had issued a petition supporting him and calling on Eisner to step down. Within a day or two it had over a thousand signatures. On December 12 Roy appeared at the animators’ union (Animation Guild) Christmas party in LA. He thanked people for their support and said over 4,100 had signed the petition. By now thousands more have probably signed it. See it and sign it at: www.pruiksma.com/letterofsupport.html

 

Roy has also shown his ability to generate publicity for his cause in the press. Local newspapers, national magazines, local and network TV and radio stations have informed the public about the problems within the Disney Empire. Lots of gripes about the studio are being aired in public. Some are directly related to the differences between the two men, while others may seem a bit silly. For example Eisner is even being blamed for not doing enough to keep the theme parks spotless in their appearance.

More to the point, Eisner is being blamed for not being able to reverse the decline of ABC-TV in ratings and not being able to successfully negotiate a new contract with Pixar in a timely manner. Eisner is accused of being a “control freak” and trying to micromanage things himself, but his critics say he isn’t doing a good job of it. A San Francisco Chronicle article on December 7 reports, “Roy Disney said he recently wanted to fly up to the Bay Area to visit longtime friends at Pixar like John Lasseter, Pixar's executive vice president and creative guru, but was ordered to stay home by Eisner. A spokesman for Roy Disney said the trip was meant to renew acquaintances, not to negotiate with Pixar.”

 

When Roy appeared at the big holiday party on Dec. 12 he got a standing ovation when he entered the banquet room. Before he left the party he was given the microphone. When he concluded, “It ain’t over yet!” he received a “thunderous” round of applause. He has an enormous amount of support from the animation community, but do the people who own stock in Disney care what the public thinks?

 

THE POOH CASE HAS A NEW LAWYER – JOHNNIE COCHRAN The family with the rights to Winnie the Pooh merchandise feels that Disney hasn’t paid them the correct amount of royalties over the years. A few months ago they fired their last lawyer. They have now hired the former defender of O. J. Simpson. Disney’s lawyer in this case, Daniel Pelrocelli, defended O.J. in his civil trial.

 

WAL-MART STANDS TALL IN THE SADDLE AGAINST CRITICS WHO SAY THEY SHOULDN’T SELL A VIDEO GAME “THAT COULD INCITE HATE CRIMES AGAINST HAITIANS AND CUBANS.” The animated game is “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.” A spokesman for the world’s largest retailer said the game was selling well and there were only a few complaints so they do not plan to pull it from their shelves. The game is set in Miami’s underworld and has Cuban gang members fighting the Haitian mafia at one point. The dialog includes the phrases “kill the Cubans” and “kill the Haitians.”

 

Some people in South Florida are outraged by the game that has already sold over 11 million copies since it was introduced in 2002. Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, the makers of the game, have apologized to the Haitian community (and hopefully to Cuban-Americans) and they say they will remove some of the more objectionable statements from future copies of the game. Meanwhile you can also find it for sale and/or rent at Blockbuster, Best Buy and other chain stores across the nation.

 

This business news item, from the South Florida Sun-Sentinal (Dec. 13), mentioned that Wal-Mart “has banned a contraceptive pill, several men’s magazines and for a time, a T-shirt that read ‘Someday a woman will be president’… (but they) see no reason not to sell Vice City.”

 

LOTS OF ANIMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET A lot of sites closed when web providers finally realized doing interesting stuff on the new medium wasn’t going to make most of them rich or famous. Earthlink’s newsletter for their subscribers just ran a short list of animation sites that they recommend. It may include a site you have forgotten about or never knew existed. A simple search should take you to them if you’re interested in seeing what’s happening.

 

For adults: Joe Cartoon, Hoving, Goonland, Icebox, Heavy, Mondo Media, Odd Todd, Rock School, Homestar Runner and Bandwidth Theater. For kids: PBSKids.org, Warner Bros. Kids, Pixar, Kids Island (Disney, some free stuff) and Toontown (Disney pay site). General: Atom Films, The Sundance Film Festival, and Wired’s Animation Express. Online serials: Sci-Fi channel, Lots of Robots and Sputnick 7.

 

JERRY SEINFELD TO VOICE A BEE IN A DREAMWORKS ANIMATED FEATURE The computer generated Bee Movie will be set in Manhattan. CHRISTOPHER “SUPERMAN” REEVE will direct an animated feature for IDT Entertainment that will be an urban legend set in the 1930s. A 2005 release is planned.  IDT is a New Jersey company that owns controlling interest in Mainframe, Film Roman and other companies. AWN REPORTS DISNEY IS PLANNING A FEATURE that will star the little pigs that won them an Oscar in 1933. Hogan’s Alley reports The Three Little Pigs Buy the White House, by Dan Piraro of "Bizarro" fame will go on sale this month.  It is a political fable about the corrupting effects of money and power on today's society. Rthe editor writes, “even if your politics don't sync up with Piraro's, at least you'll see some fantastic artwork.”

 

IMAX PLANS TO CONVERT THREE MORE HOLLYWOOD FEATURES TO THEIR FORMAT Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban may open in June, 2004; Polar Express may be released as a 3D Imax film in Nov. 2004 and they are talking about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the summer of 2005. There are 235 theaters in 36 countries, but many of them are in science centers and other specialized locations and they do not show Hollywood features.

Note: I say may open as IMAX has a history of announcing deals to show features that don’t happen. Shrek was to become an IMAX feature, Mainframe was making several features for IMAX, etc. KC

 

NY STATE THEATER PRESENTED A TRIBUTE TO TERRYTOONS The Burns Film Center in Westchester County presented a program in late November honoring a locally made animated hero, Mighty Mouse and some of his friends. Paul Terry, who ran the studio, was from San Mateo, CA. He began his animation career at Van Buren in NYC during the silent era. He moved his studio from NYC to New Rochelle in 1934. Howard Berckerman spoke about his years at the studio.

 

GANG OF 7 (G7) ADDS 8th PARTNER The new animation studio has added animation veteran Stephanie Graziano (DreamWorks, FOX Kids) as the eighth member of their power-packed team. The other members of the team are  Tom Sito (Shrek, Lion King), Tom Tataranowicz (Biker Mice from Mars), Rich Arons (Tinytoons), Mark Zoeller (Animaniacs), Dennis Venezelos (The Iron Giant), Chris Aguirre (Shrek 2) and Marlon Schulman (Bandi). The group has pioneered bilingual animation programming for one client and they are currently in development on several new projects stressing top quality animation for the best prices. GANG OF SEVEN ANIMATION (818) 980-6012,  4729 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, Ca  91602  www.gangof7.com

 

ACADEMY'S NEW THEATER NAMED FOR VISUAL EFFECTS PIONEER LINWOOD DUNN The theater is a 286-seat state-of-the-art screening room at the Pickford Center in Hollywood. Linwood Dunn worked on optical effects for King Kong, Flying Down to Rio, Citizen Kane, Bringing Up Baby, Mighty Joe Young, West Side Story, The Exorcist and other features. He won an Oscar for his work on Hawaii in 1966 and a technical Oscar in 1980 (with others) for development of the Acme-Dunn Optical Printer. He was a governor of the Academy from 1976-1992 and was 94 when he died.

 

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD’S 31^ST ANNUAL ANNIE AWARDS ON FEB. 7 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, starts at 5 PM, make reservations by Jan. 23, www.asifa-hollywood.org The chapter is also accepting donations of animation art (tax deduction time) (818) 824-8330.

 

AN AFTERNOON OF REMEMBRANCE, SAT. JAN. 31, 2 PM at the Hollywood Heritage Museum (Lasky-DeMille Barn), free. A celebration of friends from  the animation world who left us last year – among the 30+ to be remembered are Jules Engel, Margaret Hale, Jim Logan, Maurice Rapf, Zack Schwartz, Carl Urbano and Lionel Wilson.

ASIFA’S INTERNATIONAL BOARD MET IN NOVEMBER IN ESPINHO, PORTUGAL AND ELECTED THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS: The new ASIFA President is Noureddin Zarrinkelk  (Iran), Vice President and contact person for Asia - Sayoko Kinoshita (Japan), Vice President and contact person for Europe - Thomas Renoldner (Austria), Secretary General - Vesna Dovnikovic  (Croatia), Treasurer -  Carol Beecher  (Canada), and Editor of ASIFA NET - Thomas Renoldner  (Austria).

 

In the minutes of the meeting there was considerable talk about improving the newsletter. It turns out 60% of the ASIFA-International budget goes to finance the publication.

 

There were discussions about our dues as $20 in some countries doesn’t have the same value as it has in others and incomes of animators are quite different in different parts of the world. There is a study being made to see if the dues need to be restructured.

 

ASIFA is helping a group within UNESCO to come up with lists of animated films to restore and preserve as examples of national heritages. UNESCO also supported an animation festival that was held in December in the Ivory Coast “in spite of all political problems in that country.”

 

In a section of the minutes titled “future plans,” some of the projects are exchange of programs, selling VHS and DVD film collections, holding an International Animation Day, improving the ASIFA database, improving our relationship with schools and festivals, the future of ASIFA.NET and the future of our international magazine.

 

 

WAH CHANG, DISNEY ARTIST, SPECIAL EFFECTS ANIMATOR AND COSTUME DESIGNER HAS DIED The A.P. newswire says Wah Ming Chang, an Academy Award-winning animator and a Carmel Valley artist, died on December 22. He was 86.

 

Chang worked as an artist for more than seven decades. He was born in Honolulu to two artists. Chang moved to San Francisco with his family in the early 1920s. In San Francisco, they managed the Ho Ho Tea Room, a hangout for bohemian artists. Artist and journalist Blanding Sloan, a regular customer, took an interest in the 6-year-old Chang after he discovered him sketching portraits on the back of his mother's menus. 

By the age of 9, Chang had his own show at a downtown San Francisco art gallery. After his mother died, Chang moved with Sloan and his wife to their Hollywood home and started creating film sets for the Hollywood Bowl at the age of 16. 

 

Chang met his wife, Glenella Taylor, while working with Sloan in Dallas on "The Calvacade of Texas," a show celebrating the Texas Centennial, in 1936. When a 21-year-old Chang started working for Disney in 1939, he was the youngest member of Disney's Effects and Model Department.

          

Chang developed polio and lost the use of his legs shortly after starting at Disney but managed to recover after a 21-day hospitalization. He married Taylor in Texas in 1941 - California law at the time did not allow marriage between a Chinese and a Caucasian. They were married for 56 years. She died in 1997.

           

Some of his more notable works include a stop-motion animation production of The Three Bears. Chang created wooden models of Pinocchio and Bambi so that Disney animators could study body movements. He also contributed to Bozo the Clown, Tom Thumb, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.

Chang designed costumes for the film The King and I starring Yul Brenner, created masks for The Planet of the Apes and made Elizabeth Taylor's headdress in Cleopatra. He sculpted a series of heads needed to animate the first Pillsbury Doughboy and made creatures for the television series The Outer Limits and Star Trek. It was his work on The Time Machine that earned him an Oscar for special effects.

Special thanks to Webster Colcord for providing this news item from the Associated Press.

 

 

BOOKS

 

 

 

 

TWO NEW BOOKS THAT COME HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY TOM SITO, A DIRECTOR AND RETIRED PRESIDENT OF THE ANIMATORS’ UNION He wrote us: Former Marvel director Mike Joens (My Little Pony the Movie 1984) has written a cool murder mystery set in an animation studio. It is called "An Animated Death in Burbank" (orignally titled “Draw Blood”) and published by St. Martin's Press. If you want to order it visit Amazon.com; Barnes & Noble.com; or Walmart.com and look it up by name or author. Mike will be doing some book signings around LA and the Bay Area in the coming weeks.

           

The irrepressible Floyd Norman has come out with his second volume of gag cartoons commenting on animation life in our times.  Son of Faster Cheaper published by Vignette Multimedia; 2003.  His cartoons make fun of work as an animator at Disney, Hannah-Barbera and Pixar. Very fun read and very relevant to our times. You can order on his website www.Afro-Kids.com

 

GENE HAMM SUGGESTS PEOPLE AVOID THIS “HOW TO” BOOK He asked to review The Complete Animation Course by Chris Patmore. He writes, “I wanted to warn innocent potential animators and animation students to avoid a new book with the misleading title The Complete Animation Course by Chris Patmore.  It should be more accurately titled “THE COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!” 

 

In the first place Chris Patmore is a journalist, not an animator.  Animation how-to books should be written by animators. He focuses on digital technology and most of the book demonstrates programs that will be obsolete within a year or two.  On page 85 he gives about six inches of space to cover the twelve principles of animation and gives no concrete examples of how they work and how to use them. He doesn’t demonstrate any walk cycles or much of anything.  On page 39 he wrongly shows you how to rotoscope.  He takes a woman’s walk from an Edweard Muybridge book and applies it to a wooden artist’s mannequin.  What he doesn’t tell you, because he doesn’t know, is that copying Muybridge verbatim won’t give you a walk cycle.  Nature never quite repeats itself, so you will wonder after following Patmore’s advice and animating your walk, why there is a hitch in your get-along.  When using Muybridge for reference you have to pick out the contact frames and the passing frames and make your own inbetweens.

 

On page 89 he gives you a bum steer on lip synch.  He gives a single mouth for a “w” or “q”.  To animate a “w” sound at the beginning of a word requires an ”oo” mouth immediately followed by an “uh” mouth.  He just compounds the lip sync mistake that was begun by Preston Blair. This book has some pretty pictures in color, but it is all form with no content.  

 

This book will not teach you how to animate.  It will just teach you how to move furniture. There are plenty of other, better books around that cover the same material.  The Encyclopedia of Animation Techniques by Taylor gives a deeper and clearer survey of the art form.  The Animation Book by Kit Laybourne covers independent and digital animation more completely.  And the best book there is for centuries to come is Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit.  That book is truly the complete animation course!”

 

TWO HISTORIC INTERVIEWS WITH CHUCK JONES AND BOB CLAMPETT ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE AT MIKE BARRIER’S WEB SITE Back in 1970 Funnyworld #12 published what turned out to be a controversial interview with Clampett by Milt Gray and Mike Barrier. Bob took credit for work created by Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and other guys. Jones saw the article and wrote Tex Avery a long letter that called his attention to all the errors (lies?). Tex sent the letter back to Jones with comments in the margins. Unfortunately that letter isn’t published here. (For years the Jones/Avery letter has been passed around from friend to friend. Most are hard to read 10^th or 20^th generation Xerox copies, but it makes great reading.) Barrier does acknowledge some of the errors in his new version of the interview.

 

The highly informative interview with Chuck Jones from Funnyworld #13 is also online as are interviews with Art Babbitt, John McGrew, Ward Kimball and other people who created animation history.  Thanks Amid Amidi of Animation Blast for mentioning these new additions to Barrier’s site. www.michaelbarrier.com

 

 

DVD NEWS

 

“FRANK AND OLLIE SPECIAL EDITION” IS AN IMPORTANT DVD FROM WALT DISNEY HOME ENTERTAINMENT The feature was shown here at the SF Film Festival in 1995 and I show clips from the home video every time I teach animation history. Now, only on DVD, they have included over 70 minutes of previously unreleased bonus material.

 

In December I spoke with Theodore Thomas, the director and writer of the documentary. He says that most of the footage is excellent material that just didn’t fit into the original feature. There is also some new footage including interviews with Andreas Deja talking about Frank Thomas (Theodore’s father) and Glenn Keane talking about Ollie Johnston.  Glenn talks about how he admired the two animators/directors when he was a student and how he believed that he could never match their abilities. Frank and Ollie encouraged him to stick with it and told Glenn he might be better than them someday. Frank and Ollie have been mentors to many young animators (especially CAL Arts students) and although both are 91 now, they continue to help others grow as artists via the Internet.

 

Among the footage in the original film that I find inspirational are the sequences where Frank and Ollie discuss how they developed the emotional climax of Jungle Book. Walt had died and he hadn’t told them his feeling about how that pivotal sequence should be developed. It had to work perfectly or the film would fall apart. In the bonus material Theodore says there are similar discussions about making The Rescuers. They touch on staging, scene analysis, character motivation, relationships with other characters, and other things needed “to develop the heart of the scene.”

 

There are lots of other great extras including Ollie talking about his love of old trains, Frank performing with the Fire House 5 + 2 in 1962, Frank and Ollie talking about the first films they worked on at the studio, discussions of favorite characters, Frank talking about acting, animation and the future, and a lot of other wonderful clips. www.frankanollie.com

 

DVD BONUS MATERIAL MUST REALLY HELP SALES While most new features like Pirates of the Caribbean include some fascinating behind the scenes footage, outtakes, etc. the most impressive (or most excessive) package available is the Alien Quadrilogy. The set of 9 DVD discs includes 4 features and 45 hours of bonus material! The features are the original film from 1979 and the 2003 directors cut, Alien 3, and a restored version with 30 more minutes of footage including an alternate ending and alternate opening.

 

FOUR ANIMATED FILMS BY MICHAEL SPORN ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD Sporn has been an independent animation director/producer in NYC for many years. He was honored with an Oscar nomination in 1984 for Dr. Desoto. Most of his work has been shown on educational/family oriented TV networks.

 

First Run Pictures has just released 4 films by Sporn on 2 DVDs. They are The Hunting of the Snark, based on the Lewis Caroll poem with James Earl Jones narration, 1989; Talking Eggs with the voice of Danny Glover, 1992; Whitewash with the voice of Ruby Dee, 1994 and Champagne 1997. While I’m not familiar with these titles I’ve seen and love his Marzipan Pig, 1991; Dr. Desoto, 1984; Jazztime Tales 1991 and Abel’s Island 1988. Sporn’s studio is in NYC. Amazon.com sells these reasonably priced DVDs.

 

ANIMATED PAUL McCARTNEY DVD TO BE RELEASED IN THE SPRING It will include Rupert the Frog Song, Tuesday and Tropic Island Hum. Jeff Dunbar in London directed. Miramax is the US distributor.

 

I RECENTLY SAW THE NEW DVD “AVOID EYE CONTACT – BEST OF NEW YORK INDEPENDENT ANIMATION, VOLUME 1.” IT NOT ONLY IS AN EXCELLENT COLLECTION, IT ALSO INCLUDES SOME GREAT BONUS MATERIALS by Karl Cohen This collection is really outstanding – much better than one of Spike and Mike’s “classic” shows! Nine of the eleven animators are represented with works I consider exceptional and some of the bonus material really added to my enjoyment and understanding of the artists. I especially liked learning about Pes, a newcomer to the animation world who talks about how he shot his hilarious Roof Sex high above East 11^th St. There are also intelligent and thoughtful commentaries by Bill Plympton, George Griffin,  John Schnall  and  Patrick  Smith. On  the  other  hand  Mike

 

 

 

ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO

P.O. Box 14516

San Francisco, CA 94114

 

 

 

 

“When dinosaurs came back after man destroyed the planet” by Tim Elston, Plasmadyne Animation Science, Grass Valley. He will show examples of his work at our open screening Friday, January 23.

 

 

Overbeck created a really stupid documentary about his “stupid cat.” It is entertaining, but don’t expect to learn much from it. He and Alex Budovsky were the grand prizewinners of the 2003 ASIFA-East competition. Budovsky is from Russia via England and the DVD includes both his prizewinner and an earlier work, so you see developments in his design work and in his unique way of using Flash. He is a remarkable artist and I suspect he could have a really successful career as a top NY graphic artist if he wants it. I also feel Patrick Smith could become well known for his ability to draw. There is a lot to discover on this disc.

 

The animators and films represented on this DVD are: George Griffin, Little Routine and New Fangled plus a short on the making of the films; Bill Plympton, One of Those Days and How to Make Love to a Woman plus a slide show of Bill's sketches and his commentary track on One of Those Days; John Dilworth, Dirdy Birdy plus his commentary; John Schnall, Good night Norma. Good night Milton and I was a Thanksgiving Turkey (John also provided the excellent opening animation for the DVD); Mike Overbeck, Tongues and Taxis plus a short documentary on his lifestyle as an animator; Jesse Schmall, Sub! (Jesse also designed the cover for the DVD); Fran Krause, Mr. Smile and Box Factory, Pes, Roof Sex plus a short documentary on the making of the film; Alex Budovsky, Terminally Ambivalent Over You and Bathtime in Clerkenwell; Patrick Smith, Delivery and Drink; Signe Baumane, Love Story and Five Fucking Fables.

 

This is a great collection and more releases are planned. For information and to purchase the DVD go to: www.squarefootagefilms.com or send a check for $25 made out to Square Footage Films and mail it to:

Signe Baumane

165 William street 2nd floor

New York NY 10038