IT'S AN UPSET! OUR AUDIENCE PICKED THEM DIFFERENTLY THAN ASIFA-EAST'S VOTERS At our annual screening of the ASIFA-East Competition the top vote getter was Subway Salvation by Andy and Carolyn London. It is a funny story about passengers finding God in a ham sandwich that talks. In NY the film won the Excellence in Writing and Humor award. The NY judges voted Greg Ford and Mark Kausler's It's the Cat and Bill Plympton's Guard Dog Best in Show (a tie). In SF we gave It's the Cat 2nd prize, a tie with Karen Aqua and Joanna Priestly's Andaluz, and Plympton was awarded an Honorable Mention. Andaluz won the Excellence in Experimental Technique award in NY. Another surprise was Alexander Woo's Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher winning 3rd prize in SF. His exceptional work only got an Honorable Mention in the student film category in NY. We awarded 2 other Honorable Mentions. They went to Chris Hinton's Nibbles and to Nina Paley's The Sitayana. In NY Nina won 2nd place in Independent Films and Chris had come in first in the same category. $200 in prize money has been sent to the makers of the 4 top winning films ($70, $50, $50 and $30).
I HOPE YOU DIDN'T MISS OUR 2 GREAT EVENTS IN NOVEMBER Marcy Page and Chris Landreth flew in from Montreal, Canada (a producer and the director of Ryan) and Mike Gabriel, director of Disney's Lorenzo and Ron Diamond (co-founder of awn.com and Acme Filmworks, producer of Suite for Freedom) flew in from L.A. The films were exceptional, and as always the use of Dolby, the finest private state-of-the-art screening room in San Francisco, makes the event extra special. On top of that our four guests of honor were quite articulate and excited about being in our great city.
The reception at Carl's Fine Films was full of surprises. Nik Phelps and Hal Glatzer played lots of enjoyable music throughout the evening in the studio's largest room. There was a full bar in another room that included a wide variety of beverages including wine made by Frances Ford Coppola. Another room had too much great food for us to enjoy. It included large platters of really tasty fresh smoked turkey, smoked salmon, caviar, stuffed grape leaves, sage cheese and much more. Nancy Denny-Phelps caters for a
living and she wanted her fellow ASIFA members to have a great time. Laura Tulloss, our treasurer, pitched in and created trays of a few of the sweets she used to make for a living as a French pastry chief. Her miniature clairs and tarts were simply divine. The charming lighting was by Denise McEvoy.
"It was a fantastic screening and party!!! Thanks so much to everyone for making that possible. ASIFA-SF rocks... Best wishes, Marcy." In another email she asked me to thank on behalf of all the guests of honor, "Carl Willat for the use of his incredible space for the reception and again to Nancy and Laura for the sumptuous array of food...and Nik for arranging the music."
Karen Lithgow, who bought the Bill Plympton drawings that we auctioned off, wrote us, "I had a great time at the screening and party. These were some of the best and most inspirational films I've seen and there was a very interesting and eclectic crowd to chat with at the after-party. The food was fantastic too. I'll be framing my newly acquired Bill Plymptom drawings soon for display in our `creativity room.'"
Other people sent notes including one that said, "Thanks for putting on that shindig There were really too many interesting people to talk to." Another wrote, "Thanks so much for a great screening and great party. I had such a good time and walked away inspired and hopeful (in spite of the rest of the world). You sure know how to throw a bash... Thanks again." And thanks everybody who came and helped to make this a night to remember!
STEVE JOBS ANNOUNCES HIS PLANS FOR PIXAR At an investor's conference in November, Jobs announced that the company's first release after their present contract with Disney expires will be Ratatouille. It will be a summer release in 2007. Cars will be out November 2005 so there will be no Pixar release in 2006. The switch to a summer release was made after accountants decided Pixar could make more money as kids are off from school and can go to mid-week shows. When your film breaks the $300 million mark does it really matter if it comes out in June or November? More likely the accountants like the idea of getting new product out in the summer so it can be packaged and sold for home use at the end of the year.
Jobs didn't discuss who their future distributor might be. There is no need to decide that now. He may be waiting for Cars to show the world that everything Pixar touches turns to gold. He may also want to see if Eisner actually leaves Disney and/or if they plan to hire somebody he approves of as their next CEO. He said Pixar is "getting to know some of the other studios, but we're not in negotiations with any of them."
Meanwhile Disney is setting up a digital studio in Glendale to make Toy Story 3 without John Lasseter's help. Boaring but beating a product to death is Eisner's formula for making money. He also did that with Who Wants to be a Millionaire? at Disney owned ABC. It became a daily TV show and eventually died from overexposure.
REX STEELE: NAZI SMASHER" TAKES SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL'S TOP ANIMATION PRIZE the event hosted by the Savannah
College of Art and Design, was held at the end of October. Alex Woo, who graduated from NYU and now works at ILM, won the Best Student Film - Animation prize. His film came in 3rd at our screening of ASIFA-East's annual competition.
OUR OPEN SCREENING FOR INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS AND ANIMATION STUDENTS WILL BE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12th AT 7:30 PM at the Exploratorium's McBean Theater, free, public invited, anyone is welcomed to bring animated work. If you plan to bring a work call Karl Cohen by the 20th of December and I'll put your name and the film's title on the flyer for the event. (415) 386-1004 karlcohen@earthlink.net
I sent the above announcement to a few people via the Internet and Gene Hamm wrote back, "I will have Guardian Angel Puddies, the sequel to Guardian Angel Puddy ready for the open screening. I should have another entry in the January ASIFA screening. A Patriotic Sing-Along will be like an old Fleischer sing-along. I just wrote the song. Its called If You Draft the Old Farts. You should find it quite funny."
OUR OPEN SCREENING FOR PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS AND ANIMATION COMPANIES WILL BE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9th AT 7:30 PM at the Exploratorium's McBean Theater, free, public invited, anyone is welcomed to bring animated work. We will also show work by SF States students, as their reel will not be ready for the January screening. If you plan to bring a work call Karl Cohen by the 20th of January and I'll put your name or company name and the film's title on the flyer for the event.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PRODUCE A REEL OF OUR MEMBERS' WORK TO SHOW IN INDIA IN APRIL Bill Dennis, the president of ASIFA India, has asked if we could create a show for him of exceptional work from the Bay Area. He wants to show 60 to 90-minutes of outstanding independent and commercial work to Indian animators. It can highlight a variety of techniques and not all of it has to be recent work. We will need someone who can produce this reel on time, a selection committee, use of good digital or video editing equipment, possibly artwork for a nice opening and Also let me know if you have work you would like us to consider for this reel. If you wish to help contact (415) 386-1004 karlcohen@earthlink.net
PDI/DREAMWORK'S "SHREK 2" sets a new sales record. They claim an estimated sale of $185 million in retail sales including 11 million DVDs sold in the first 3 days.
PUSS IN BOOTS FROM "SHREK 2" TO BECOME A STAR OF HIS OWN FILM DreamWorks has hired writers to come up with something that will feature the cat that charmed America. They have no idea if it will be a theatrical feature or a direct-to-video release. I guess that depends on how good the script is.
TWO VIEWS OF HENRY SELICK'S WORK IN "LIFE AQUATIC" by KC and Richard Z. Zimmerman We both agree Selick's work is delightful. In fact several people at the preview thought it steals the show from Bill Murray and the rest of the cast. Selick aided by a lead animator Justin Kohn and animators Tim Hittle and Amy Adamy created some of the most memorable moments of the film and Martin Meunier, a model sculptor and fabricator, deserves a prize for the fantastic looking creatures he built based on Henry Selick's designs. I fell in love with a colorful/whimsical seahorse near the film's opening (animated by Kohn) and my wife was most impressed by the candy colored land crabs and an enormous sea monster with strange lights covering his body.
Life Aquatic is a strange work, as the plot and dialogue seem improvised. It is meant to be a send-up of Jacques Cousteau documentaries. Murray plays a burnt out, dope smoking underwater explorer. The film is fun to watch, but it just rambles along, taking lots of little and sometimes-pointless detours. If you are a fan of fine stop-motion animation and missed the free previews ASIFA invited members to (a last minute Internet announcement-send us your email address if you didn't get one), the film is worth seeing for Selick's fine work. If you are a Bill Murray fan, this isn't his best performance. I likened the film to stoned out hippie comedies of the late `60s. For me the film was just ok. It might be funnier if you go stoned.
My cover story on Selick's work on this film appeared in the April 2004 issue of Film/Tape World. Most of it is reprinted elsewhere in this issue.
Richard C. Zimmerman, a director and stop-motion animator (The Bird House, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc.) said, "Wes Anderson's choice to use stop-motion animation was crucial to the flavor, feel and fantastic nature of this film. His direction has a unique stylistic flair. A slick photo-realistic underwater world would have ruined the feel of the feature. The animation was great and Bill Murray was hilarious."
FORMER ESC ENTERTAINMENT STAFFERS FORM EVIL EYE PICTURES. A few months ago Warner Bros. announced that since Escape (ESC) had done such a great job on the Matrix series, the company in Alameda was going to be their 3D animation unit. A month ago I was told they let everybody go and boarded up the place. Now awn.com has been told that former senior staffers Dan Rosen, Matt McDonald and John Jack have formed Evil Eye Pictures.
Evil Eye specializes in art direction, compositing, shot design, on-set supervision, matte painting, set extensions, motion graphics and title design. They have a great roster of talented professionals to call upon to create whatever magic is needed. The founders' credits include the Academy Award winning Matrix and What Dreams May Come. They have also worked on The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Catwoman and more than 30 other productions.
www.evileyepictures.com, jj@evileyepictures.com
JIM MORRIS, PRESIDENT OF LUCAS DIGITAL, LEAVES AFTER 17 YEARS WITH THE COMPANY He was president of Lucas Digital for 11-years. Chrissie England, who was the supervisor of production at ILM, is now the president. She has worked for the company for 27-years. The press release said there have been "sweeping changes in both the operations and structure of ILM."
CURRENT NEWS ABOUT ILM Next summer ILM will move to the Letterman Digital Arts Center. For the first time in the company's history, all of the Lucas award-winning businesses, ILM, LucasArts Entertainment, Lucas Licensing, Lucas Online and LucasFilm Ltd. will be under one roof. The custom-designed 23-acre campus is located in the Presidio.
ILM is presently completing their work on Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events and Son of the Mask. George's big Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith will be completed in the spring. Other projects in various stages of development or production are XXX2: State of the Union, War of the Worlds, The Island, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Jarhead, The Pacifier, Are We There Yet and a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.
LOCAL SCREENINGS (top)
SPIKE AND MIKE'S NEW COLLECTION OF QUESTIONABLE TASTE SHORTS MAY DELIGHT IMMATURE MINDS - IT IS BACK IN TOWN It includes a few better made films and some tasteless work that will probably embarrass your grandmother. The new collection includes over 20 works. They range from Bill Plympton's Petting in the Park and Old Folks Love and two Happy Tree Friends episodes, to Hut Sluts and No Neck Joe, really stupid clunkers. Other titles include John Dillworth's Mousochist, Stubble Trouble by Calabash Animation, My First Boner, Peep Show, Mama I'm a Thug, Stickgirl, How to Cope with Death and Beyond Grandpa. If you want a cultured evening of award winning work, this isn't it. Plays Friday and Saturdays at the Victoria in SF (16th St. near Mission) at 7:30, 9:30 and midnight through Dec. 11. Also at the Camera in San Jose (201 S. 2nd) from Dec. 3 - Jan. 13.
Friday December 10, NIK PHELPS AND THE SPROCKET ENSEMBLE PREMIERE WORK FROM EUROPE IN SAN JOSE The works are by animators they met at major festivals on their recent adventures abroad. Enjoy the story of a frog who fell in love with a slipper, an erotic tale of drunk lust in a bar, an adventure with a hyperactive guard dog that does his job all too well, and other award winning films from Cannes, Zagreb, and Ottawa. Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble will provide live musical accompaniments to these films. This special appearance will take place in San Jose at the Downtown At Gallery AD- Anno Domini - 150 S. Montgomery Street - Unit B (between Park & San Fernando), show at 8 pm ~ doors open at 7:30, $10.
Nancy says, "Nik will lead his musical group in an exciting and fun evening featuring some favorite cartoons that he saw and brought back from this summer's European animation festivals - films from Annecy in the French Alps, from Zagreb, Croatia and from the KROK International Animation Festival in Russia. The films are from Russia, Belgium, France, Germany, America, China and Japan, and as an added attraction, New York animator Bill Plympton's newest short Guard Dog will have its San Jose premiere."
Thurs. Dec. 16, ASIFA-SF'S DAMN GOOD PARTY see flyer
December 22 - 30 at the Castro, IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL by Jessica Yu who won an Academy Award in 1997 for her documentary short Breathing Lesons. This is a beautiful and sensitive documentary feature about the fantasy world of Henry Darger, a visionary artist who lived as a recluse in Chicago. His life was totally unremarkable, but his art was full of charming innocence, often in the form of nude young girls battling an adult world. In it fantastic flying creatures are seen rescuing his maidens
Dargeer's amazing selt-taught art is the product of a tragic childhood mixed with ideas taken from a devout Catholic upbringing. Unlike most visionaries, he never shared his art with others. After he died in 1972 in a Catholic "poor house" at the age of 81, his landlady found hundreds of watercolor paintings (some over 10 feet long), an epoch 15,000+ page novel (The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, written 1909-1916), and an autobiography. He left a rich legacy that is quite amazing,
The film mixes lines from his autobiography with interviews with people who knew him and passages from his novel. His Vivian girls are seven sisters living in a mystical land. While the promotional material for the film is correct by saying he created bizarre nude females with male genitals (lots of then in fact), people expecting strange erotic content will be disappointed. Darger depicted an idyllic preadolescent world full of innocence and joy. His girls frolic in placid landscapes until they are intruded upon by adults. Adults are always shown wearing clothing and seem to be there in order to do battle with the inhabitants of his peaceable kingdom. His religious wars include gruesome deaths inspired by images of Catholic saints being martyred.
The film includes some information on his art techniques. Darger was quite creative and his art matured over the years. He learned interesting ways to modify images that he found. He figured out how to use cutouts, photo enlargements and other techniques to good advantage.
The filmmakers found that simple cutout animation techniques could add life to Darger's art. While the animation enriches his story and our enjoyment of his work, the reason people should see this feature is to discover and ponder the unique life of this gifted man. He created enigmatic images that have a magical innocence to them.
Enough research has been done to permit the filmmaker to explain some of his iconography. The film and articles about the artist raise interesting questions about his sanity. Darger lived alone in poverty in one room of a boarding house in Chicago for most of his life. This is an intelligent documentary about a mystical experience. It educates without being too didactic.
The film premiered at Sundance 2004 and has been shown by major festivals in London and other cities. It was funded by ITVS. You may not understand Darger after you see this work, but I think you will feel that seeing it was an extremely worthwhile film experience.
NATIONAL NEWS (top)
HAVE YOU VISITED ASIFA-EAST'S NEW IMPROVED WEBSITE? One New Yorker sent me an email that said, "the new ASIFA-East website is FANTASTIC!!! It's terrific to finally have a beautiful website." Xeth Feinberg's artwork really makes it look special. Click on his images on the home page and you will find some visual surprises and lots of information including upcoming events in the NY area, news, links and a solid history of their chapter by Howard Beckerman.
THE BIG APPLE HAD LOTS OF FINE ANIMATION PROGRAMS IN NOVEMBER John Canemaker presented a show of "Jazztoons" that featured works by the Fleischer, Hubley, and Disney studios and by Norman McLaren. ASIFA-East had a panel on Flash animation. Another group had a panel on animated feature production and how it differs from selecting properties for live action films. There was a program of Oscar nominated cartoons from the past at the Academy Theater with Michael Sporn introducing the films (he got a nomination for Dr. Desoto in 1984). Emily Hubley did a show of her work in Brooklyn and ACM-SIGGRAPH sponsored a talk on "Animating for Art and Industry."
ANOTHER NICE LOOKING AND INFORMATIVE SITE is www.fpsmagazine.com from Canada. Worth the visit.
ED HOOKS VISITS WITH SYLVAIN "TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE" CHOMET IN SCOTLAND He wrote about his visit in his newsletter, but didn't mention what Chomet's next project will be. I asked and he replied, "Chomet has three different potential projects. It is an interesting situation for him and his wife, Sally. He has been offered big budgets to do a Triplets type of thing that is a bit more palatable to American tastes. He has rejected that. Ironically, he was involved early-on with the "Opus" feature project that has landed at Wild Brain."
Ed says Sylvain is very much an artist and his wife is a practical business-person. "She is favoring a potential film project that is again French-based, and I think that is the one they will ultimately do. One thing is sure: they both want to get to work on something. They are running a skeleton staff (only the two of them plus two more) in Edinborough and are prepared to gear up rapidly when they get the right production in place. They have had the luxury of financial ease due to Triplets, but they both know they can't do that forever."
"I was impressed and delighted with Sylvain Chomet, as you might imagine. I had dinner with him and his wife one night and then interviewed him for ninety minutes in front of a full theatre. At the end of it, he kissed me!"
visit us at www.asifa-sf.org
TOP STUDIOS SUE PIXAR - DEMAND BAD MOVIES "Stop making the rest of us look bad," say Hollywood executives. Eight major Hollywood studios have filed suit against Pixar for its consistent record of quality movies. The complaint alleges that with its sixth consecutive profitable and critically acclaimed film The Incredibles, Pixar is overturning a decades-long public relations campaign waged by Hollywood studios to convince the public that it's impossible to consistently make high quality films. "If Pixar doesn't get with the program, we're going to have to fundamentally change the way we do business," groused Paramount chairwoman Sherry Lansing, whose studio hasn't produced a hit film in several years.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Paramount, Universal, MGM, Fox, Disney, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, and Sony Pictures. All eight studios have worked together since 1980 in a sophisticated PR effort to make all Americans believe that it's inevitable most films will be poor to mediocre. According to the studios, it's impossible to consistently make more than 50% of films be high quality, with an average hit to miss ratio of 1:2. But with its six profitable and acclaimed films, Pixar is beginning to make many Americans questions why it actually seems possible to consistently make successful films.
"Those guys are ruining it for everybody," said Warner Bros. president Alan Horn. "We can't possibly be expected to stay in business when we're up against a studio that doesn't have dozens of unqualified young executives with little or no background or interest in film meddling in the creative process of all their movies."
"It just goes to show what I've always said," added Universal Chairwoman Stacy Snider. "It should be illegal for companies outside of Los Angeles to produce motion pictures."
The complaint asks that a court award the eight studios $1 billion in damages or compel Pixar to hire 118 unqualified development executives, option the rights to 38 scripts and books it has no intention of turning into films, and immediately green-light sequels to Toy Story and Finding Nemo with $100 million-plus budgets and hire directors whose only experience is in music videos to oversee them.
Note: The entire article is posted at www.savedisney.com under humor if you wish to read all of it.
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD WILL GIVE WINSOR McCAY LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARDS to director/producer Don Bluth, Virginia Davis and Arnold Stang at their Annie Awards early next year. The awards are for exceptional contributions to the art of animation. Davis was a child actress (she began at age 4) who appeared as Alice in 50 of Walt Disney's Alice cartoons during the silent era. She was Walt's first star. Stang was a 2nd banana comedian who did voice work including Top Cat, and roles in Raggedy Ann and Andy and John Dillworth's Courage, the Cowardly Dog.
ARE VIOLENT ELECTRONIC GAMES DANGEROUS? The Journal of Adolescence recently published information about studies that found increased aggression; hostile behavior and desensitization can result from playing violent games. The American Family Association, a conservative Christian family values group, has warned their supporters about violent games and they cite this journal article as proof. They recommend parents should check the ratings of games before buying them. They direct parents to the website of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) www.esrb.org
COMEDY CENTRAL ORDERS A SECOND SEASON OF "DRAWN TOGETHER" AFTER AIRING 3 SHOWS Ratings for this adult show are growing, as are positive viewer responses. The show is on after South Park on Wednesday nights and is the most-watched program on cable in its time slot. It is the creation of Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser who say, "We're astonished that Comedy Central wants more of these things. We didn't even think they wanted the ones they have now. Amazing. God bless Comedy Central!"
The show is a satire on reality TV shows and animation genres. It stars a bizarre collection of cartoon characters from the past that live together as roommates. The eight housemates include: "Captain Hero," a not-so-moral do-gooder reminiscent of the Saturday morning TV superheroes of the `70s;
"Clara," a 20-year-old sweet, but bigoted fairytale princess; "Toot Braunstein," a black-and-white, pudgy Betty Boop-like sexpot from the `30s who cuts herself when she's depressed; "Foxy Love," a sexy, black, foul-mouthed, mystery-solving musician and "Spanky Ham," a crass Internet download pig that defecates on and in everything and everyone. The show is full of "adult humor" and uses drawn 2D animation that is ink-and-painted with computers in Korea.
THE ACADEMY ANNOUNCES ELEVEN ANIMATED FEATURES ARE ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE FOR THE OSCAR THIS YEAR The 11 films are: Clifford's Really Big Movie, Disney's Teacher's Pet, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Home on the Range, The Incredibles, The Legend of Buddha, The Polar Express, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Sky Blue and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
Under the rules for this category, a maximum of three films can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least eight but fewer than 16 features. Films submitted in the Best Animated Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other areas, including Best Picture. The 77th Academy Award nominations will be announced on Jan. 25, 2005 and the awards will be presented on Feb. 27, 2005.
HAYAO MIYAZAKI'S "HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE" BREAKS JAPANESE BOX OFFICE RECORDS His new feature is getting rave reviews and it broke b.o. records by bringing in $14.2 million in its first 2 days. It was shown on 448 screens and accounted for 72% of the entire box office of Japan on its opening weekend. It is expected that a third of the country's population will see the film.
"STEAMBOY" WILL BE RELEASED IN THE US. The film by Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo, will be released on March 18 in the US. At $20 million it is the most expensive anime feature ever made. It began production in 1995 and took 9 years to make due to financial problems. The film is an unusual retro-science fiction tale set in Victorian England. It tells how a powerful new energy source changed the "Age of Steam."
HENRY SELICK IS BACK IN ACTION - an interview by Karl Cohen The following is an excerpt of an article that was the cover story of the April issue of Film/Tape World. Henry Selick is the impressive Bay Area stop-motion director who created The Nightmare Before Christmas, Monkey Bone, James and the Giant Peach and Slow Bob in the Lower Dimension. When the following was written (March, 2004) he was using the main motion-control stage at ILM to film sequences for Wes Anderson's The Aquatic Life. The film is being released in mid-December and it stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, William Dafoe, Bud Cort, Michael Gambon, Jeff Goldblum and Noah Taylor.
SELICK'S NEW CREATURES
Henry Selick's involvement with the project is to create amazing sea and land creatures. The script calls for electric jellyfish, fluorescent flounder and other creatures not found in the Steinhart Aquarium. When I talked with Selick about the film the first thing he told me is, "Wes Anderson is creating this world, not me. I'm creating creatures that inhabit his underwater world and a few land creatures." Selick says Anderson chose him because he felt his stop-motion work with puppets was better suited for the film than slick computer generated images.
Selick provided Anderson with sketches of his ideas for creatures and he then picked the ones he liked. He chooses the designs he liked and the color palette and then Selick's team creates the models. Henry says that in a couple of shots we will see land crabs know as "sugar crabs." The animals are extremely realistic looking and move as they do in nature, but Anderson had them colored "to look like candies." Apparently Wes feels and Henry agrees that we are so conditioned to seeing phenomenal nature images in films and on television that it was desirable to create plausible but extreme examples of aquatic creatures for the film.
"This is not a cartoon, these creatures don't talk," says Selick. "It's an interesting way to use stop-motion. It isn't cartoonish," He says one or two characters come close to being cartoon-like, but they don't cross over the line in their actions or movements. The film is "based on reality with a fantasy element."
Selick's crew is shooting about 40 shots that will appear in the film. They will be on the screen for a total of two to four minutes, depending upon how Anderson and his editors cut the film. Selick says some of the shots will be on the screen for incredibly short periods of time, but they are pivotal to the plot.
His team has spent an incredible amount of time designing and building the creatures, yet some of them may only be seen in the film for a total of five seconds. This is an unusual way for him to work. He is used to getting the most out of a character once it is built. On Andersons' film he is doing the same amount of prep work that it takes to create a lead character in an all stop-motion feature. He adds, "I'm happy to say that once Wes has seen some of our creatures he has asked us to make the shots with them a little bit longer and in a few cases he has liked them so much that he has asked us to add them to others scenes."
Creating the illusion that the sea creatures are actually underwater and not shot on a stage is a problem for any underwater feature not actually shot by divers. Selick says he shoots things pretty clean so they may have to add some particulate matter in the editing. Today ILM uses computers to add dust, light rays and bubbles in the water, but Wes wants to avoid computer-enhanced images. He will use the classic tools of the trade including the cloud tank. Henry looks forward to shooting some of these elements including, "octopus ink, underwater volcanoes, and other things like that."
A SMALL HAND PICKED CREW
Selick began his work on the production last August (2003). At first he only worked with Martin Meunier, a model sculptor and fabricator whom he has worked with on several projects in the past. Henry did the design work. After Anderson picked the designs he wanted, Martin built them. As the project grew Martin assembled a small crew to work with him on sculpting and fabrication.
Creating the mechanical armatures inside the latex puppets is a complicated task using tiny hand machined parts. Selick works with Merrick Chenney, who was an armature engineer on Nightmare Before Christmas. He says Chenney has become an exceptional armatures maker who crafts his parts with computer controlled cutting machines. He has risen through the ranks and he has become "a phenomenal machinist and armatures designer." There is "none better in the world."
Pat Sweeney is Henry's director of photography. He has worked for Lucas and ILM for about 20 years. He also worked on Nightmare Before Christmas as a cameraman with Pete Kozachik, the director of photography. Henry says it is great working with him again. "Sweeney is at home at ILM as he knows where everything is kept and how to run all the equipment. Pat Sweeney is a fantastic director of photography."
Another key member of the team is Chris Rand, their rigger. "He is a very talented machinist and problem solver. He is the guy that helps figures out how these creatures are going to be mounted so the animator can move them properly." In The Life Aquatic most of Selick's creatures swim and float. They had to figure out ways to hang them and move them in three-dimensional space so they can be moved properly without the rigging showing.
Henry is working with an extremely small hand picked crew. He began with only one animator, Justin Kohn. When Timothy Hittle finished work on The Incredibles at Pixar he became the second animator on the team. Both Kohn and Hittle were animators on Nightmare Before Christmas and both have distinguished themselves with award winning independent films.
Other people who have helped make Henry's work on The Aquatic Life a success are Arianne Sutner, his animation producer; Mike Cacheula, his favorite storyboard artist; Amy Adamy, an assistant animator and Simon Varela, "a fantastic artist" who is providing additional design work.
The production is using the main motion control stage at ILM. Now that most of ILM's work is created with computers the stage is vacant much of the time. Selick says it was very generous of ILM to let him use it. He has subdivided it into four spaces so they can be preparing the next scene to be shot while they are animating a sequence on another stage and breaking down the last set used in the 3rd space. The forth space allows them to animate on two stages at once.
SELICK ON STOP-MOTION ANIMATION VRS 3D CGI
When asked if the project used any new technology, Henry surprised me by saying there isn't a call for new techniques and that for this project he took a step back from the totally fluid style he had achieved in films like Monkey Bone. He feels that in order for stop-motion to stand out today against computer or hand drawn 2D animation you need to embrace more of stop-motions flaws and quirks. He says, "I always want to go for fantastic acting, timing, lighting and design, but stop-motion animation looses its charm if you push it too hard and make it completely seamless. We are not purposely making it crude, but we are not afraid to have some little mistakes show. It's still eloquent and beautiful, but anyone in the know will see it is animated puppets and not cgi." He says that is what Wes wants and that is what he is creating.
There have been numerous articles and conversations on the radio recently about 2D verses 3D animation. Henry recognizes that fashions come and go and that when you combine exceptional 3D computers with the talent they have at Pixar, "the best talent in the world, they are going to come out with films that hit it out of the park and have enormous mass appeal."
Henry was at CAL Arts at the same time John Lasseter was a student there. He says John happened to enjoy exploring the computer 3D medium, but he believes Pixar films would be almost as successful if they were 2D films! He feels it isn't the technology that has made the films successful. It contributes, but it is mainly the writing, John's brilliant direction, his working with an incredible crew and other elements that have brought success to Pixar.
The successes of Pixar's films and PDI/Dreamworks' Shrek have impressed most producers and studio heads. Selick feel some executives have overemphasized the importance of the look of CG films in making the films hits. He expects to see a lot of mediocre CG films in the future that were produced by people who thought that by buying the technology you are ensured the feature will be a success.
He feels 2D and stop-motion animation will not disappear. He thinks people will get bored with mediocre cgi films and realize it is the content that makes the difference, not the technique. He pointed out that at the Academy Awards this year Harvie Krumpet, a simple hand-made clay puppet film by Adam Elliot (Australia), beat out Disney's Destino ("it cost a fortune") and Pixar's slick computer generated Boundin' for the Oscar for Best Animated Short. "For some reason people responded to a hand-made movie. With the right subject matter at the right time, hand-made forms of animation can still connect with the public."
When asked how his current project is going, Henry says, "It looks really good. Wes comes up with strong simple ideas and I think this one is working really well."
WES ANDERSON TO DIRECT ROALD DAHL'S FANTASTIC "MR. FOX" AS A STOP-MOTION FEATURE Wes Anderson, who recently worked with Henry Selick on The Life Aquatic, will work with Revolution Studios and Sony on his next project. The book pits a crafty fox and his family against three dumb farmers who object to the foxes stealing their chickens.
HOW MUCH IS A JOB WITH DISNEY IN FLORIDA WORTH? On Nov. 19 a union group representing 40% of the 51,000 workers at Disney World agreed to a new 3-year contract after rejecting two earlier offers. According to ABC News (owned by Disney) the top paid workers will get a 20 cents an hour raise and a lump-sum bonus of $1,500 to $1,700. The present top hourly wage is about $11.12 an hour for people not working for tips. In the second year they will get another lump sum bonus and in the 3rd year a 25-cent raise. The starting minimum wage at Disney World is $6.70 an hour. At the end of 1 year they get a raise of 10-cents an hour. People in between the minimum and maximum wage will get a 4% raise each year.
At present a trial is going on in Delaware about Michael Ovitz being hired and leaving the company 14-months later. Poor Mike was given $140 million to go away. His former friend Michael Eisner has gotten enormous stock options and annual bonus checks on several occasions. Meanwhile one worker in Florida told the New York Times that the raise will not keep up with the rising costs of medical insurance. Perhaps it is time for Disney to give its top brass a few less millions to play with and to use that money to improving the lives of their employees. I'm sure the Disney bosses would call that suggestion stupid.
"POLAR EXPRESS" IS A CHARMING FILM IF YOU CAN GET PAST THE CREEPINESS by KC The reviews have been mixed with some critics feeling the performance capture characters are creepy or weird and others are calling it an instant Christmas classic. When I went to see it I had no idea what to expect from this $170 million dollar production (plus another $100 million spent promoting it according to one article). I was delighted with the film after I accepted that the figures don't quite look right. The jaw line of a girl looked odd at times and faces (with glass eyes?) often have stupid blank expressions or look "empty-headed."
The performance capture figures are created in a realistic painterly style, but they lack a final element that breathes life into them. Although there are obvious flaws with the faces, the characters are more or less acceptable. Every now and then something really bothered me about a person, but Sony's technology is still being developed. At times it was quite convincing. It was impressive part of the time.
Sony ImageWorks says they already have the next generation of the system ready for their next production. It will be called Monster House. When they made Polar Express actors had to perform in a 10 by 10 foot stage. The new system will allow performers to act within a larger stage area. (They are not saying the visual faults will be improved.)
Polar Express looks like a lavishly illustrated award winning children's book come to life. I was charmed by the look and the adventure to the North Pole is a wonderful tale. Snow is falling in many scenes and the atmospheric effects are sometimes breathtaking. There are lots of light effects as they shine through snow, rain and smoke. I also loved the display of the Northern Lights and the fireworks show when Santa is about to fly south in his giant sleigh.
This film has little to do with animation that uses squash and stretch, exaggeration and other basics that you expect in an animated work. The new technology was needed as the characters do things you and I cant. The film has kids doing dangerous stunts that child protection groups would object to if the characters were real people Also, there are several shots with kids walking among thousands of tiny elves (half the size of the kids) and a Santa that is slightly larger than life looming over the crowd.
Another reason for the technology is an amazing precision dance number with several groups of four waiters serving hot chocolate to the kids. The action is sped up and the tall thin men dressed the same way go through the paces in unison while the kids move at normal rates in the same shot. This is just one of the many memorable sequences in the film.
The key to the ImageMotion system is enormous computing power that can keep track of almost 200 markers on each performer. It is fast enough to allow several actors to interact in the same shot. Also, the computer has enough storage to record both body movements and facial expressions at the same time. In the past an actor's body movements and face had to be recorded separately and then composited together. The technique of recording markers was called motion capture, but since an entire performance is now filmed in one take Sony calls it performance capture.
Polar Express turned out to be a really nice film experience for me. I think it is exciting to see the birth of a new form of cinema that is neither animation as we know it or live action photographic filmmaking. The film begins with the director working with actors. But the camera records infer-red light reflected off of markers (reflective dots) on the actors. George Lucas has used virtual characters and sets in amazing sequences. He combines them with both cgi and live action photographic elements. Now we have an enjoyable photo-realistic film that is said to 100% computer generated. I have no idea if the film will ever break even, but I do know I enjoyed it. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is nice to look at.
P.S. One element of the film that puzzles me is the architecture and nature of Santa's village. It appears to be a picturesque Victorian company town. While everybody appears to be happy, all we see of the village are ancient multistory brick factory buildings with the train that runs up a main street to a giant town square. There are no signs of parks or other recreation facilities or comfortable housing. It is in a desolate area of the North Pole, perhaps a thousand miles from another town. This isn't a place you would want to call home.
BOOKS AND DVDS FOR SALE
"PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE" IS NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD This wonderful show included several animated interludes in each half-hour segment. Penny Cartoons were created in clay for the show, as were wonderful stop-motion surprises whenever Pee-Wee opened his icebox door. The show had a big budget ($425,000 per show) and CBS gave comic Paul Rubens artistic control without interfering. Steve Segal (one of our members who teaches animation a local colleges) was hired to program the ancient cartoon clips shown by the King of Cartoons on the last season of the show.
The series was a hit both with the intended audience and with lots of fun loving adults. Many of us thought the show was brilliant TV, but just as the 2nd season was ending Paul Reubens got busted for exposing himself in an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida. It is OK for monkeys at the zoo to do that, but for some odd reason getting caught in a porno house ruined his career entertaining kids. He landed a few bit parts in features later, but in 2002 the
police raided his Hollywood Hills home. Did they find drugs, weapons or stolen treasures? No, he owned around 30,000 examples of "vintage erotic artwork." He pleaded guilty and was fined $100! It turns out some of the vintage images were of people under 18.
Seeing this show will not corrupt your kids or turn you into a sex pervert, but it will make you laugh. It has some of the irreverent spirit of the Ernie Kovacs Show. It was wacky surreal TV in its day and nothing has come along to top it. If you are too young to remember this unique show and like to laugh, treat yourself or a loved one to one or both of the boxed sets of Pee-Wee's Playhouse for Christmas.
P.S. Do you remember who directed the feature Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)? It was a then unknown Tim Burton.
JOANNA PRIESTLY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION, IMAGINATION AND SQUIGGLY LINES She writes she is releasing Dew Line, a new film, and two new DVDs Fighting Gravity and Relative Orbits on Dec. 7. The pair of discs includes 16 of her award winning animated works plus many bonus features, including 4 documentaries that provide behind-the-scenes glimpses into her animation process. The discs retail for $20.00 each, or $35.00 for the pair. To order visit www.PrimoPix.com or call (503) 274-2158.
RELATIVE ORBITS includes funny and charming cartoons and profound observations on life. Highlights include her innovative early film "Voices" (1985), about the fears and phobias we all harbor; "She-Bop" (1988), about goddess on the rampage; "All My Relations" (1990), about the pitfalls of modern romance and relationships, and "Pro and Con" (1993), an animated documentary about those living and working in the prison system. Other short films on the disc include an anthology piece "Candyjam" (1988), "After the Fall" (1991), "Hand Held" (1995), and "Grown Up" (1993), her acclaimed look at turning 40. Bonus features on this DVD include "Relative Orbits," a documentary tour of her studio during the production of "After the Fall" and "Hand Held", and "Amazons and Ingnues," a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Voices," "She-Bop," "Pro and Con," and "Grown Up."
FIGHTING GRAVITY has six Priestley pieces representing the cutting edge of experimental animation, as well as four bonus films. Highlights include Priestley's newest short film "Dew Line" (2004), her first film "The Rubber Stamp Film" (1983), and "Utopia Parkway" (1997), a tribute to sculptor Joseph Cornell. Other shorts on the DVD include "Surface Dive" (2000), "Andaluz" (2004), and "The Dancing Bulrushes" (1985). FIGHTING GRAVITY also includes four bonus films: two short films "Jade Leaf" (1985) and "Kali Yuga" (2000), and the documentaries "Fighting Gravity," which provides a look at the making of "Surface Dive" and "Utopia Parkway," and the humorously self-explanatory "Interview with the Sound Guy."
Priestly has won prizes at lots of major festival, has had work shown in the Tournee of Animation, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on PBS and the BBC, etc. Her commercial work includes "Sesame Street" shorts and music videos for Tears for Fears and Joni Mitchell. Priestley is the founding president of ASIFA-Northwest and has taught at several colleges. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, and Creative Capital. In her spare time, she enjoys medicinal herbalism, gardening and Burning Man.
"She is the queen of independent animation!" -Bill Plympton
A BOOK ON THE VOICE ACTOR DAWS BUTLER IS NOW AVAILABLE He was Elroy Jetson, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Cecil, the Seasick Sea Serpent; Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looey, Blabbermouse, Mr. Jinks, Super Snooper, Snagglepuss, Augie Doggy, Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, Fibber Fox, Lippy the Lion, Peter Potamus, Cap'n Crunch and hundreds of other characters. Daws passed away in 1988.
The book includes unpublished interviews with Butler, letters, personal phone conversations and loving tributes by Nancy Cartwright, June Foray and other giants of TV animation. DAWS BUTLER: CHARACTER'S ACTOR sells for $24.95 plus $2 postage www.dawsbutler.com for details. Orders http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id20.html. Or mail order to Bear Manor Media, PO Box 750, Boalsburg, PA 16827
SKIP BATTAGLIA DVD NOW AVAILABLE "Skip's Pix: Eight Animated Films by Skip Battaglia" contains 8 shorts by this master of independent animation. They are Boccioni's Bike 1981, Parataxis 1981, How the Frog's Eye Sees 1984, Geologic Time 1989, Restlessness 1994, Taki Dom 1997, Second Nature 2000 and More True Shit 2003.
Skip's work has been in the Tournee of Animation and other shows that respect animation as a fine art. He teaches animation at Rochester Institute of Technology. The DVD includes the artist's comments about concepts, sounds, aesthetics and other topics. Special price to ASIFA members is $26.95 (covers postage, handling, taxes). For info contact: skipb@frontiernet.net To purchase write Skip Battaglia, 105 Meredith Avenue, Rochester, New York 14618 (585) 244-9350
TEACHING POSITIONS AVAILABLE
TEACH 3D ANIMATION AT NYU The Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, Department of Undergraduate Film & Television, seeks a full-time faculty member in 3D computer animation for the 2005/2006 academic year. Position can be on a tenure track or one-year visiting basis.
Qualifications: seasoned 3-D professional animator; knowledge of MAYA a must plus a working knowledge of other 2-D and 3-D computer animation software. Should have solid teaching experience at the university level (not just a TA job). Applicants must know the animation process from storyboard to post-production in traditional and computer animation and multimedia. Duties include teaching five undergraduate-level courses per year, student advisement, and participation in departmental and school-wide committees. On-going professional work while teaching is encouraged and expected.
Salary will be negotiated. Excellent benefits package. Please send letter stating your qualifications, curriculum vitae, and list of 3 references by December 15, 2004 to:
Undergraduate Film & Television Search Committee, Attn: Wendy Kaplan, Administrative Director, Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 721 Broadway, Room 1102, New York, NY 10003 (fax 212/995-4062, wendy.kaplan@nyu.edu) Finalists will be asked to submit creative portfolio. NYU encourages applications from women and minorities.
PITTSBURG The School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University has a 2-Year Visiting Faculty Position (with possible renewal) in computer animation beginning Aug. 2005. They seek an enthusiastic individual working in the field with experience using Maya to teach freshman through graduate students and to work with a dynamic faculty team. Deadline: Feb.1, 2005 Information: http://artserver.cfa.cmu.edu ETB Faculty Search, School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO
P.O. Box 14516
San Francisco CA 94114
This issue was written by Karl Cohen with contributions from Richard Zimmerman, Marcy Page, Karen Lithgow, Gene Hamm, Tom Sito, Denise McEvoy and other friends of ASIFA. The mailing crew included Laura Tulloss, Nancy Denny-Phelps, Shirley Smith and labels by Tara Behym.
FESTIVALS (top)
KALAMAZOO ANIMATION FESTIVAL HAS ANNOUNCED THEIR CALL FOR ENTRIES Deadline not stated for an event May 13 - 15, 2005. This is a big event and it is supported by ASIFA-Central, Kalamazoo Community College and other groups. It offers more than $15,000 in prizes and awards. Also includes an art exhibit, famous guests, etc. Details at www.kafi.kvcc.edu
ASPEN'S FINAL DEADLINE IS DEC. 15 For details visit www.aspenfilm.org (970) 925-6882 Event is April 6-10.
LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL doesn't offer cash prizes for shorts, but it is in LA. Deadlines are Jan. 14 ($35 entry fee) and Feb. 18 (late fee is $45) IFP/Los Angeles, 8750 Wilshire Blvd. 2nd floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL DEADLINE IS DEC. 31 Founded in 2003, the 2005 festival will be held in Taipei May 20-29. It is a non-competitive festival. TIAF welcomes work using different formats and techniques. For information and entry form visit their website www.ctfa.org.tw/tiaf Questions? Write tiaf@mail.ctfa.org.tw
ANIFEST 2005, AN INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Lots of categories and prizes. Accepts DVD and VHS-NTSC tapes, deadline Jan. 14, 2005. www.anifest.cz
ASIFA-SF STILL NEEDS A PROOFREADER to go over our newsletter before it is printed. (415) 386-1004 karlcohen@earthlink.net
ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO INVITES YOU TO
A DAMN GOOD PARTY
IN HONOR OF
PATRICIA AMLIN'S RETIREMENT FROM SF STATE
THE HOLIDAYS
NIK AND NANCY'S EVENTUAL MOVE TO BELGIUM
ANOTHER GREAT YEAR OF ASIFA PROGRAMS
THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 6:30 - 9 PM
FOLLOWED BY A FREE EVENING OF LIVE MUSIC STARTING AT 9:30 PM
Nik and Nancy will be projecting animation not seen in the US that they have acquired in their travels. Enjoy award winners from around the world.
We will have a do-it-yourself Christmas cookie decorating area with blank sugar cookies and decorating materials available. Be creative!
ASIFA will provide lots of food, so bring an appetite. People who ate a full meal before our last party were sorry they did so. This will not be a lavish spread, but it should delight you unless you insist on caviar at every meal.
Official rules of the yacht club: Please sign in when you arrive. Put Jack Davis, our host's name, after your name. In case you have a short memory, somebody before you will have written it down in the guest book after their name.
Do not bring booze into the yacht club. The bar sells fine beverages at unbelievably low prices ($2 drinks & up). Please tip the bartender.
AT: THE BAY VIEW BOAT CLUB -- plenty of free parking
The Giants' baseball park can barely be seen in silhouette on the right in the distance. Photo by Jim Klein
Address
489 Terry Francois Blvd. (China Basin St.)
San Francisco, CA 94107
415/495-9500
next to Pier 54 and just south of Pac Bell Park.
Bar Hours (Members & their Guests Only)
Monday - Thursday 5 PM to 10 PM
Friday - 5 PM to midnight
Saturday - 3 PM to 1 AM
Sunday - 3 PM to 9 PM
Off 3rd St. Go E. on Mariposa a very short distance (by The Ramp) and you are on Terry Francois Blvd. Go left past Mission Rock, the remains of old piers and the closed Esprit factory outlet store.