LOCAL NEWS

 

ILM AND PIXAR WIN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACADEMY AWARDS
Academy Plaques for "achievements that exhibit a high level of engineering and are important to the progress of the industry" went to:
"John Schlag, Brian Knep, Zoran Kacic-Alesic and Thomas Williams for the development of the Viewpaint 3D Paint System for film production work." Viewpaint was developed at ILM.
"William Reeves for the original concept and the development of particle systems used to create computer generated visual effects in motion pictures. The concept of particle systems inspired and continues to influence further developments in the area of computer generated tornadoes,
flames, sparks, snow, clouds and other visual effects." Reeves' work was developed at Pixar.
Academy Certificates for "accomplishments that contribute to the progress of the industry" went to:
"Brian Knep, Craig Hayes, Rick Sayre and Thomas Williams for the creation and development of the Direct Input Device. The Direct Input Device is an encoded armature that allows stop-motion animators to bring their skills and artistry directly into computer animation." The devise was developed at Pixar.
"Jeffrey Yost, Christian Rouel, David Benson and Florian Kainz for the development of a system to create and control computer generated fur and hair in motion pictures. This system represents a significant advancement for controlling computer generated short fur and long hair in a motion picture production environment." The system was developed at ILM.
The top prize this year, an Academy Award of Merit (an Oscar statuette) went to Imax Systems for advances in their large-format, wide-angle motion pictures. They won a plaque in 1985, and this award upgrades that award.
The awards committee also included three other local achievements among the finalists that were considered for awards. Protozoa was honored for their Alive Performance Animation/Motion Capture Software, Dolby was honored for their CP500 Digital Cinema Processor and Pixar was honored for their Marionette Three-Dimensional Computer Animation System.

RICHARD C. ZIMMERMAN'S BIRDHOUSE WINS AN AWARD AT SUNDANCE! There were 49 shorts shown in the short film category. The jury awarded a first prize and two honorable mentions. Zimmerman won one of the honorable mentions.


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WORKED ON JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH - THE FILM IS A MAJOR VIDEO HIT So far Disney has shipped 5 million copies of the video and Henry Selick says he was told they hope to sell about 7 million copies. That is a better sales record than his Nightmare Before Christmas. When I spoke with Disney's public relations department about the video sales I was told that the tape was in the number 6 position on the sales charts at the beginning of this year and that the tape had made Disney a "50 million dollar profit." While it isn't clear what that figure meant (does that profit include domestic and foreign theatrical income?) it is nice to know the work of all who had a part in the making of James and the Giant Peach is appreciated by the public.
Selick says the film did well in Europe, but it hasn't played yet in several countries where Nightmare was a hit. One is France. Disney apparently wanted to push Hunchback in France so it has so far limited competition for that film by not released James there.

PIXAR AND METROPOLIS DIGITAL WIN JOEY AWARDS IN ANIMATION In the Electronic Animation Openers/Closers/Corporate Logos category Pixar's Magic Desktop: The Dance of the Paper-clips won. It was made for Sun Microsystems. In the animation category Metropolis Digital won for their MTV Opener, Bug Bites. Metropolis Digital is a South Bay company featuring Silicon Graphics animation, motion capture and a creature shop. For information about them call (408) 286-2900 or write 12 South First Street, 11th floor, San Jose, CA 95113. The Joey Awards are presented by the San Jose Film and Video Commission.

OUR ANNUAL OPEN SCREENING FOR STUDENTS & INDEPENDENTS FEATURED A WIDE RANGE OF CREATIVE WORK Despite a heavy rain prior to the show a standing-room-only crowd of over 200 people enjoyed almost two hours of animation. Work ranged from an entertaining 14 minute reel of humorous works by 7th grade members of the Rooftop Animation Club to an extremely slick 3-D computer generated short by Ron Small, a member of our chapter whoteaches at the Art Institute of Chicago. His Leo Foods demonstrates his mastery of the new technology and suggests he has an exciting career ahead of him. It was his graduate portfolio work from Northwestern.
Four students, Bobby Beck, Eva Erismann, Traci Hoarie, and Alan Lau, brought reels demonstrating their skills with computers. Hoarie's Once Smitten is a nice short romantic moment between two science fiction characters. The 3 other students are from the Academy of Art and they presented work-in-progress.
Stop-motion work using clay and latex figures remains a popular medium. This year the best films in the program were independent shorts by animators who had worked for Henry Selick, Danger Productions and Colossal Pictures. Tim Hittle's Canhead, Richard C. Zimmerman's Birdhouse, Todd Kurtzman and associates Marylou and T. Reed Norton's Lizard Whomper got lots of applause and laughs.
One entertaining surprise in the show was Kirk Hockinson's Cowboy Joe, an ambitious 12 minute stop-motion western that is full of funny off-the-wall twists. Another surprise was the impressive surreal puppet work of Christiane Cegavske. She showed an excerpt of Blood Tea and Red String and a 3 minute short titled Blood and Sunflowers. Her first work is an excerpt for a proposed feature. If she has an outstanding script and completes the feature she will probably join the ranks of the great surreal animators of Europe - Svankmajer, Brothers Quay and the Bolex Brothers. Yes, her work is that promising. Her two short reels show she has the technical skills to succeed.
Dave Fogler's Chum was yet another impressive stop-motion work. It featured a moody bar scene full of strange characters including a dinosaur passed out at the bar. Fogler spent last summer in Maine working on the film.
Kathy Englehard's Water Skier, her first student film, has a lovely sense of color and a playful sense of design. Her work benefited by being shown in 16mm. I had seen it on video before and the subtle qualities are lost on tape. Another work that benefited by being shown in 16mm was Cegavske's surreal work. Her use of details, etc. give it a presence that would be diminished on video.
Toshika, a student from Lorie Loeb's class at Fort Mason, brought a 16mm reel of a work-in-progress. It showed a 3-D puppet of a person using their hands and smoking. While there was no hint as to how the footage will fit into a longer work, it did suggest she is mastering her skills. She has created a pensive introspective mood in her work. Her first work, shown at our last open screening, was a sensitive narrative that was also made with puppets made out of crushed paper.
The program also included a drawn on paper work-in-progress by Jeff Nevins, work by students from Lorie Loeb's class at City College and a naughty surprise by AliciaBissinger of Cogswell College. Bissinger's Barbie and Ken Go Parking stands out from other films that I've seen that shows Ken and Barbie having sex. It was well thought out, carefully shot, and it has a surprise ending. The audience gave it a solid round of applause as they did every work in he show. KC

OUR ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING FOR MEMBERS was held before the open screening on January 22. The treasurers report shows we spent $5,517.32 in 1996 and took in $5,928. At the start of 1995 we had $5,833.67 in the bank so our chapter is quite sound financially. Our biggest expense last year ($1718.34) was for postage and shipping (returning films and videos). We spent $844.37 printing newsletters and $700 was paid for auditorium rental. We took in $1280 that was sent to ASIFA-International - dues for 64 people. Other expenses included honorariums, misc. copies (membership forms, programs, etc.), office expenses, bank fees and entertainment for our guest speakers.
Elections were held and the present board was returned to office: Karl Cohen, chapter president; Seth Olitzky, v-p for membership; Shirley Smith, treasurer; Donna Mankus, secretary; and Barbara Bannerman, Marty McNamara and Prescott Wright are board members. Bannerman is new to the board.

UPCOMING ASIFA-SF PROGRAMS At our annual business meeting the following events were announced:
On Saturday, Feb. 15 we will present Sweet and Sour Valentines, a selection of rarely seen animated shorts from Europe, Japan and the USA. Many of these works were in past Tournee of Animations and haven't been seen anywhere for the last 10 or 15 years. They are not available on video. At the Exploratorium's McBean Theater, 7:30 PM.
On Friday, May 9 at the McBean, 7:30, we will present Winners of the 1997 ASIFA-East Annual Competition. This is the nation's only annual animation festival and each year the program includes about 25 works by students, independent artists and commercial companies.
We also plan to present a program on the local job market in March or April. Marty McNamara is planning to invite a guest speaker from Canada or Europe for sometime in late March or early April.
Other events we hope to present this year include a program on motion capture with staff members of Protozoa and John Mathews in-person. Mathews is a stop-motion animator from L.A. whose credits include the Mouse on the Motorcycle and Curious George. He presently works in cgi at Sony. We can also expect to see some amazing work from ILM and other companies.

COLOSSAL DOES TWO AMAZING LOOKING ADS FOR COKE Colossal is re-emerging after their reorganization as a company inthe forefront of commercial work for national and international clients. The ad Pictogram is a totally synthetic digital world in which we fly around a carnival ride of the future. It is a vibrant 3-D game environment filled with fascinating gadgets and playful animation. As we move quickly through the environment we see statues and other cool objects. Some have the words Coca-Cola on them. It's a wonderful understated ad that should win major awards if it is entered in competitions.
The second ad is a live action ride through some sort of Rube Goldberg machine. It starts with a person pushing a button and ends with an inflated rubber glove deflating, allowing the bottle of Coke resting on it to tip over and pour its contents into a glass. In between marbles, eggs and steel balls roll and bounce about making levers move within this unique vending machine. It should be another award winner for Colossal.
Credits for Pictogram include Drew Takahashi as Creative Director, Jana Canellos, Executive Producer; Jill Sprado, Director, Brian Sullivan, Producer. The animation was done by Click 3 West with Richard Quan as their director and Jamee Houk, William Opdyke and Mike McCormick animators. Bob Roesler did the digital composting and Jerry Van DeBeek did character animation.
Colossal is proud that there were no special effects used on the Contraption ad. Takahashi was the creative director and co-directed the ad with Lucy Blackwell, a new-comer to the company. She also shares art direction credit with Adam Savage. Jana Canellos was the Executive Producer. M5 Industries provided the props and models that are the stars of this ad. Video Post was done at Western Images.

CURIOUS PICTURES IN S.F. DOES 3 SPOTS FOR BEST BUY a chain of Midwest superstores that sell electronics, appliances, computers and music. The spots have a Tex Avery/Warner Brothers feel to them according to Denis Morella who directed and designed all 3 spots. They aired between Thanksgiving and New Years. Anne Smith and Richard Winkler were executive producers on the ads and Velvy Appleton was the producer. Stop-motion puppets used in the ads were sculpted by Jerome Ranft, Damon Bard and Lauren Vogt. Western Images did post.

RADIUM CREATES ANIMATED 3-D ICEBERGS for a live action Lexus car spot set in the Arctic. The ad was produced by Complete Pandemonium. The company also did smoke rings for a second Lexus spot.

VARITEL DID ANIMATED 3-D LOGO FOR BMG INTERACTIVE Clive Jenkins was the animator. The logo was done for the Mandelbaum Mooney Ashley agency.

PROTOZOA'S ALIVE SYSTEM SHOWN AT OUR PRESIDENT'S INAUGURATION EVENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Protozoa is athe forefront of commercial work for national and international clients. The ad Pictogram is a totally synthetic digital world in which we fly around a carnival ride of the future. It is a vibrant 3-D game environment filled with fascinating gadgets and playful animation. As we move quickly through the environment we see statues and other cool objects. Some have the words Coca-Cola on them. It's a wonderful understated ad that should win major awards if it is entered in competitions.
The second ad is a live action ride through some sort of Rube Goldberg machine. It starts with a person pushing a button and ends with an inflated rubber glove deflating, allowing the bottle of Coke resting on it to tip over and pour its contents into a glass. In between marbles, eggs and steel balls roll and bounce about making levers move within this unique vending machine. It should be another award winner for Colossal.
Credits for Pictogram include Drew Takahashi as Creative Director, Jana Canellos, Executive Producer; Jill Sprado, Director, Brian Sullivan, Producer. The animation was done by Click 3 West with Richard Quan as their director and Jamee Houk, William Opdyke and Mike McCormick animators. Bob Roesler did the digital composting and Jerry Van DeBeek did character animation.
Colossal is proud that there were no special effects used on the Contraption ad. Takahashi was the creative director and co-directed the ad with Lucy Blackwell, a new-comer to the company. She also shares art direction credit with Adam Savage. Jana Canellos was the Executive Producer. M5 Industries provided the props and models that are the stars of this ad. Video Post was done at Western Images.

CURIOUS PICTURES IN S.F. DOES 3 SPOTS FOR BEST BUY a chain of Midwest superstores that sell electronics, appliances, computers and music. The spots have a Tex Avery/Warner Brothers feel to them according to Denis Morella who directed and designed all 3 spots. They aired between Thanksgiving and New Years. Anne Smith and Richard Winkler were executive producers on the ads and Velvy Appleton was the producer. Stop-motion puppets used in the ads were sculpted by Jerome Ranft, Damon Bard and Lauren Vogt. Western Images did post.

RADIUM CREATES ANIMATED 3-D ICEBERGS for a live action Lexus car spot set in the Arctic. The ad was produced by Complete Pandemonium. The company also did smoke rings for a second Lexus spot.

VARITEL DID ANIMATED 3-D LOGO FOR BMG INTERACTIVE Clive Jenkins was the animator. The logo was done for the Mandelbaum Mooney Ashley agency.

PROTOZOA'S ALIVE SYSTEM SHOWN AT OUR PRESIDENT'S INAUGURATION EVENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Protozoa is amotion capture company head by Brad DeGraf. They can put a suit on an actor that is covered with magnetic sensors and use their Alive! software and equipment (run on a SGI computer) to make a computer generated character mimic the movements of the actor. The operator can "tweak" the motion capture images by using sliders and joysticks.
Protozoa's Alive! was shown at a new technologies exhibit that was part of Clinton's inauguration festivities in January. Alive! was part of a display of equipment and software from SGI. It was also one of twenty finalists under consideration for a 1996 Scientific and Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The company is located at 2800 Third Street, SF, 94107.

ARE YOU ON THE INTERNET? CHECK OUT PROTOZOA'S WORK ON THREE WEB SITES Their new work using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) can be seen at VRML.SGI.COM and WWW.PROTOZOA.COM Their VRML images run best with Cosmo, but other browsers will deliver a fair to excellent picture. They are presently doing a new series that will premiere on Feb. 27 on WWW.MEDIADOME.COM that will feature two animated characters interacting with each other. Their present VRML work stars one character at a time.
VRML was introduced to the public at SIGGRAPH '96. It is a new language that requires a lot less storage space to create visual images.

TIM HITTLE JOINS PIXAR Hittle is the creator of the stop-motion classic The Potato Hunter. His latest film Canhead is even better. Early this year he joined Pixar's staff as an animator. He will be working on Bugs, their second theatrical feature, and says he has a lot to learn about their computer program. He is delighted to join their staff and was pleased that several of his old friends have pitched in to teach him the system. He feels at home with the new technology.

WES TAKAHASHI WAS HIRED BY WILD BRAIN TO DIRECT A COKE COMMERCIAL The spokesperson for the company said he expects Wes will corrupt the staff with his wild parties (enough said).

STEVE ADAMS IS HAVING A GREAT EXPERIENCE WORKING FOR DISNEY INTERACTIVE He moved from the Bay Area last spring to join Disney. He says he is excited about working in a large community of accomplished artists and designers. He is learning a great deal on the job and is taking classes at the studio and others being offered by the union. He is currently working on Winnie the Pooh products for pre-school kids. He reports Disney Interactive has about 80 staff artists now and it is expected to grow larger this year.

LIZARD WHOMPER DELIGHTED AUDIENCES AT SLAMDANCE T. Reed Norton went to Park City, Utah, to see his film shown at Slamdance, a festival for sick, twisted and experimental underground films. It is held at the same time and in the same town as Sundance.
Norton's film has also been shown by Spike and Mike and on TV in Europe. His European distributor, Sidney Neter in Amsterdam, sold the short to TV in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Neter is presently working on other TV sales and helping Norton develop a series of 13 two minute programs for Dutch TV.

LAST YEAR BARBIE TOYS WERE THE NATION'S BIGGEST SELLING LINE OF CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS - WHAT WAS THE SECOND BEST SELLING LINE? The Jan. 6, 1997 issue of The New Yorker, ran a long feature on George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. It included more than I ever wanted to know about the success of the series. It "has brought in about a billion three hundred million dollars in worldwide box-office sales and more than three billion more in licensing fees... Star Wars remains 'the holy Grail of licensing,' in the words of one analyst. Last year, Star Wars action figures were the best-selling toys for boys and the second over-all best-seller, after Barbie."
The article covers a Lucas-film Licensing convention at the Marin Civic Auditorium, details about the revival of the series, a visit to the ranch and other topics. If you are a fan, the 14 page article is something you should read at your local library.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ASIFA-SF MEMBER GENE DEITCH ON A FEW ANNIVERSARIES He writes in his less than occasional newsletter to his friends that "Three cartoon characters I created for three distinct audiences each had round-number birthdays in 1996. THE CAT, 50 years old, was for hard-core traditional jazz fans and readers of The Record Changer magazine. These ancient cartoons, made when I was in my 20s, are still being regularly reprinted in various jazz magazines. TOM TERRIFIC with MIGHTY MANFRED THE WONDER DOG, 40 years old, was for imaginative children viewers of the Captain Kangaroo show on CBS TV. It was the first animated cartoon series made for network television. NUDNIK, 30 years old, was for general movie theater audiences, distributed by Paramount Pictures during the 60's, the last days of the movie cartoon. It was nominated for an Oscar then, and is now being brought back to life by Sunbow Entertainment as 'Gene Deitch presents The Nudnik Show,' for world-wide distribution. At least, so they tell me."

SAN FRANCISCO ACM SIGGRAPH HELD A PROGRAM ON THE MAKING OF SPACE JAM in mid-January. The speakers were scheduled to be Warren Franklin, former VP/COO forCinesite and Carlos Arguello, head of cgi for Cinesite. The topic was the digital effects in the film. Franklin is listed as the "previous VP/COO for Cinesite" on the flyer as the company went through a shake-up shortly after the feature was released. Franklin was terminated along with four other executives, even though he had only been with the company a few weeks.
For information about the local Sigraph chapter contact them at (415) 273-1105 or PO Box 1495, El Cerrito, CA 94530-4495. Local membership is $25 this year.

HAVE YOUR WORK SHOWN WITH A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION WRITTEN FOR IT Nik Phelps who was nominated for an Annie award last year for his music for the Felix the Cat TV show, is inviting animators to submit work for an event that begins March 26 in San Francisco at Venue 9 (formerly Climate Theater). Works should be from 2 to 20 minutes in length and on VHF tape. Contributors will be paid a nominal screening fee, depending on the length of the work and the event attendance. He especially wants to show new and/or experimental animation. He will show works that already have soundtracks as silent films and add new music for the performance. He will also be happy to consider work-in-progress. The music will be performed by his ensemble.
For further details contact Nik Phelps at (415) 681-3189. Work from out of the area is welcomed. Contact him by Feb. 15 for the March screening (or later as other screenings are planned).

CARTOONING 101 is a taught by Jon "Bean" Hastings who does the lettering on Dilbert comic strips. He also is the creator of the comic book Smith Brown Jones. The class meets on Saturdays in March (1, 8, 15, 22 & 29) from 1 to 4 at the Cartoon Art Museum. Tuition is $88 ($71.20 for members). For details call Lara at (415) 227-8669.

SAN JOSE'S CON VIS EXPO '97 is a free trade show for people in the film and video industry that want to discover what San Jose can offer them. Over 100 exhibitors will be there to discuss their services (event planning, catering, wineries, facilities, transportation, etc.). Food and wine samples are offered along with door prizes to get you to discover what San Jose has to offer. Admission is free. For advanced reservations (Feb. 12 deadline) call (408) 295-3937. For information call (408) 295-9600. The event is Feb. 25 from 4 to 8 PM at the Convention Center, 150 West San Carlos St. in San Jose.

 

LOCAL SCREENINGS

Saturday, Feb. 15, ASIFA-SF presents Sweet and Sour Valentines, a selection of rarely seen animated shorts from Europe, Japan and the USA. Some haven't been seen in the USA for over 15 years. At the Exploratorium's McBean Theater, 7:30 PM, free.

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