Pillows, Movies, Books

Received an email the other day from our pal Phil Marden about his newest creative out: illustrated pillows.  http://www.pilloporto.com/

If you want your child to grow up with great taste, if you want your pet to behave like a pet -you can do no better than these.

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This Tuesday, April 5, at 7:00 PM, The Korean Cultural Society presents What is not Romance? at the Tribeca Cinema on Canal Street.

This was a feature film produced by students of the Korean Film Academy.

Admission is free.

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I wasn't too surprised to see there was a Focal Press book dedicated to Rotoscoping.  I was surprised to find it was actually pretty interesting and informative -though that may say more about me than the book.

Benjamin Bratt's Rotoscoping: Techniques and tools for the Aspiring Artist is pretty much a theory book on cutting out live action images from motion pictures.  There's a little history, very little on software platforms and a lot on how to approach rotoscoping.

It's a process which most artists in animation will have to broach at some point in their career, maybe for a paycheck, maybe to execute an idea of your own.

It may not be worth the price tag for the many tips you won't believe you didn't think of yourself, but it's definitely worth flipping through at the library.  And if you're thinking of a career in effects it's likely a volume for the bookshelf.

Odds and Sods.

I have a review of Independently Animated: Bill Plympton up for The Comics Journal.

CLICK HERE

It's an excellent book.  Very well produced and very personable.  It fills a gap in the animation library.

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Anthology Film Archives has program this afternoon which includes Leger's Ballet Mechanique and other short experiments from the 1920s.

These bits of history may not be exciting in the same ways they were 90 years ago, but they're still exhilarating.

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The Tribeca Film Festival has announced it's slate.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life will be premiering there.  We've done several short segments in the style of Al Hirschfeld for the film.

They also announced their program of animated shorts. (CLICK HERE)

I'm unfamiliar with all of the films and all of the filmmakers in the program.  It's good that such a high profile festival isn't bound to play the old standards.

Here's the list:

The Beaufort Diaries by Drew Jordan and Alex Petrowsky 

Not Over Easy by Jordan Canning

Year Zero by Richard Cunningham III 

Preferably Blue by Alan Dickson

Just That Sort of a Day by Abhay Kumar (looking like India's much anticipated answer to Don Hertzfelt from the promo still)

A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation by Martin Wallner and Stefan Leuchtenberg

Harmonium Mountain by Clifford Ross

Book Reports

I generally come back from Ottawa having overspent on a stack of books which will go largely unread.

This year there was seeming dearth of interesting printed material, so I only returned with two books (and I won't reveal how much I "underspent" on them either...).

In the recently stirred ochlocratic rumbling, some folks (at least one of whom's films have been continuously rejected by this -and presumably ever other -festival) bemoaned the Artistic Director's selections and his stage mannerisms.

I may not love all the antics -no worse than many other festivals I've been to or read about, but be that as it is -he lays down a forceful disclaimer in the introduction of "Japanese Animation: Time Out Of Mind" which fairly rebukes the criticism of the rejected.

Chris Robinson writes;

...the interviews  didn't turn out so great.  I was exhausted and sick; the questions bland and generic.  I was also tired of the same ol' approach to these books.  You know what I mean -chapter devoted to a single animator, tell the reader where the artist was born, educated, how they came to animation and then take them through each of their films, providing description and analysis.

Yawn.

This book does not follow that pattern. Instead, I've gutted that structure, removed "facts" about the animators and cut to the point by writing somewhat stream-of-consciousness impressions about the artists and their films.

Some of you will undoubtedly find this approach a tad different, but it's my belief that this method can better capture the essence of the subject than a conventional linear biographical method.

Indeed, some the text misses the mark.  But more often it's funny and alien and gives the same strong impression you might get from watching some of these films.

Take this analysis and  conversation with Mirae Mizui

I am swept along a path before I can choose.  Initially, there are few paths to follow, but soon new roads appear, intersecting, overlapping.  A crush of colors.

A distinctive, recurring image of a rectangular shape with what looks like an eye inside it.  Is the eye a cel, revealing the interior of human and all things?  Creatures and people roam around me beyond naked.  No flesh.  I feel like I'm seeing the world through a kaleidoscopic microscope, seeing deeper than my eyes often show me.  X-rays, showing the essence of our bodies.  See through figures.  Everything flows in and out of each other, ultimately one.  In this randomness rests chaos and order.

A voice: "The after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death."

The prose is helped by loads of well-produced images from the films.  Side by side with these impressions I find myself getting a great sense of what the films are about.  It's infinitely more appealing than a frame by frame recap of the picture's action.

As a writer he never subjugates himself to that which he writes about, so the book doesn't reach the critical heights of a Robert Warshow or Walter Benjamin or even a Lester Bangs.  Thinking on it, it's a bit like Pauline Kael -someone who puts themself on equal footing with the art they're writing about.   Even so, its an interesting read and a valuable addition to the animation library.  The shortcomings are minor compared to the insights and experiences with these unknown Japanese filmmakers.

The other book I drove back is only the other side of the scale from "Time out of Mind", Steven Woloshen's "Recipes for Reconstruction: The Cookbook for the Frugal Filmmaker".

This book comes with a 9 film DVD containing a piece that relates to each chapter of the book.

He cites Helen Hill's "Recipes for Disaster" as inspiration.  I never had the opportunity to meet her and reading this book makes it sadder still.  CLICK HERE to download the pdf of her book. It's beautiful.


"Recipes for Reconstruction" is like a cookbook, giving you ingredients and directions but letting the reader take action.

It's a fun book and worth it for DVD alone.  Filmmaking workshops (and I know there are half a dozen in Williamsburg, alone, so there must be thousands across the country) and Film/Media schools could all benefit from using a lesson or two from this book -one chapter details how to make a simple contact printer with a shoebox -and those too lazy or uninspired (like me) to take the steps to create something can enjoy the cameraless animation on the DVD.

100 Greatest!

Who doesn't love a "best of" list?

VH1 made itself into a viable network off its countless "Top 100" countdowns.

Jerry Beck's The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons actually takes some cues from the now nauseating VH1 format and applies them in a fresh fashion to book form.

Each film is given a two page spread with clean consistent (but not redundant) layout.  We're given images from the films, a 100 word recap, full production credits- short of ink and paint, naturally- and an analysis by an expert of interest.   Unlike the TV countdowns which are populated by, well, people who's opinions don't matter, Jerry calls on great contributers.  Michael Sporn, Linda Simensky, Greg Ford, Darrell van Citters, J. J. Sedelmaier, Michael Barrier and others.  Occasionally we'll get a "Pop Up Video" graphic with "Jerry Says..." which add a fun nugget of information like "Both proto-Elmer and toupéed, wide-eyed Egghead had voices that mimicked comedian Joe Penner."

It's not an exhaustive book nor is it backed up by a lot of footnotes and research.  Instead, it's a fun collection of interesting films discussed by dedicated professionals who have lived with them and thought about them for a long time.

The result is surprising.  This could have easily been another cheap "Art Of..." book with perfunctory copy and little information of interest.  Happily, instead we're given a real treat -a coffee table (or bathroom) book for animation fans, a smart, handsome tome for casual readers and a picture book full of insightful commentary for the youngest generation of Looney Tunes lovers.

The Illusionist (Satoshi Kon)

Ambivalent on what to write, I thought of posting on a new acquisition for the library -Jerry Beck's The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons.

Instead my gaze caught Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist by Andrew Osmond.  Bugs Bunny can wait.

It's a serious, hard thought, researched book.  The kind you might find on Truffaut or Cassavetes.

Each film is given a detailed recap together with an analysis contextualizing it within the director's work and film/anime as a whole.  Unfortunately, it's now a definitive collection of Satoshi Kon's complete works.

One passage to keep in mind:

Kon's own comments suggest that asking him why he doesn't make live action is like asking a representational painter why he or she doesn't take photographs.

"Drawing is the common denominator for comic books and animation," Kon says.  "I don't know any other way ... When I make films, I cannot think how to do it without drawings." Asked if he would ever move over to live action,  Kon replies, "I never really thought I'd like to make a live action film... It's perhaps very unlikely I will make one."

Book Report: Animated Performance

Every animator should write a book.

We'd have hundreds of perspectives on the process. Maybe a supercomputer could process them all and come up with the elusive answer to how it's done. I remember reading a similar thing was done to films resulting in the determination that Eastwood's "Unforgiven" was the best screenplay written.

Nancy Beiman's "Animated Performance" is a personal, professional and historical introduction to the animation process.

Unlike other books by animators (Richard Williams, Tony White, Eric Goldberg, Halas & Whittaker, Preston Blair) this one isn't overloaded with drawing by drawing exercises that show exactly how to draw a scene.

The book explains why before it shows you how. Along with Joseph Gilland's "Elemental Magic" this represents a pedagogic shift in animation instruction -a shift I find welcome. Interesting that both authors were staffers at Disney in the late 1990s. These two books make good companions.

"Animated Performance" doesn't sidetrack itself with too much on techniques outside the author's strength. She's a pencil animator, the book is about pencil animation with passing nods to other media. That's a great strength. Books that try to cover too much ground wind up apologizing for the conflation and doing justice to none.

In the tradition of Thomas & Johnson, Beiman relies on personal connections to films to illustrate points. Like them, she acknowledges the ideas of other artists. Interviews and anecdotes with other artists are woven throughout the book and there's no restraint in letting these artists speak for themselves.

It's top notch primer. In fact, I would recommend first time animation students begin with this text (and Miyazaki's "Starting Point") before proceeding to Tony White or Halas & Whittaker and then Williams. Right there you'd have a solid three year course of study.

Great Reference

We picked up THIS BOOK for $40 at the Strand.  They still have several copies.

It may not the great resource for posing, but in terms of physiology and just pure art it's extremely worthwhile.

We were mainly interested in the scientific value of the illustrations.  Body parts drawn to perfection.

Forgetting the medical value, the aesthetic worth alone is triple the price tag.

J. M. Borgery & N. H. Jacob's "Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery" was originally published in this form in the 1850's with some plates published as early as 1831.

This edition by Taschen is about 16 inches x 11 inches and 500 plus pages with color plates on nearly every page.  A worthwhile investment for anyone serious about drawing.

Strand Price: $3.50

Here's a little gem of a book from 1984.

Susan Rubin, Animation: The Art and the Industry

The book is similar to Kit Laybourne's "Animation Book" from around the same time.  It walks through techniques and process in a cursory manner.

Two things set it apart.

First, it's illustrated by the great Joey Ahlbum who must have still been at SVA.

Second, the last chapters are devoted to interviews with animation artists and producers.  Some were up and comers -"assistant animator/former in-betweer" J. J. Sedelmaier, "animator" Candy Kugel, "airbrush artist/illustrator" Mark Kaplan.  Others were veterans whose names are seldom mentioned today -producer Harold Friedman, director Stan Smith, cameraman John Rowholt.

From Word To Image

Last week a copy Marcie Begleiter's "From Word to Image: Storyboarding and the Filmmaking Process", 2nd Edition came in the mail.

I like it enough to recommend to all you, dear readers, who are interested in making moving picture.

This is not really a "how to make a storyboard" book, it is a book on film making from the perspective of storyboarding.

As such, the discussion focuses almost entirely on live action production and how preproduction visuals are created and used for that process.

The live action board tends to be very different from most animation boards.  The dynamic differs according to the media.  Even so, the language is essentially the same and this book is clear and specific in defining terms (moreso even than the also excellent "Shot by Shot" by Steve Katz).  It also describes many techniques useful for animation boards: creating overhead "shooting plans", formal consideration in the construction of the frame and it includes a lengthy interview with Blue Sky Studios director Steve Martino.

Book Report - Disney Archive: Animation

I don't like giving the D Corporation any money.

They've been nothing but jerks in all of my dealings with them.  I understand "business" and trying to get the most product for the least possible (although that's not a mantra I personally adhere to), I don't understand arrogance, stupidity, or insulting your contractors.  I don't understand, as in one of our projects, refusing to give away nothing for something.  "Nothing" is what the potential of a project has.  If there's no series, the "back end" or whatever is nothing.  If the show's a hit, there's more enough money to make everyone richer -that includes the people who make the show.

But enough of my grousing.

The "Archive Series: Animation" book they've just published under the Disney Editions imprint is beautiful.  I can't recommend giving them any money, but I would recommend stealing it from your local theme park.  The night in prison and the 40 hours community service are worth it if you get to keep the book.

 

I'd never seen Ham Luske's "Goddess of Spring".  Beautiful drawings!

The further along the production pipeline a Disney film progresses, the more the art degenerates.  This is true of most drawn animation (John & Faith Hubley's films are a great exception) but it's especially pronounced in this studio's work.

It's a commendable book, crediting animators for their drawings, including drawing by Art Babbit who's legacy has been shamefully neglected after his rancorous departure from the company line.

One can see the general style of animation evolve through the generations of animators, as well as the individual hand of each artist.  To me, the work from the late 30s through the mid 40s is the most appealing.  This is where they did humans well -humans as humans, not cartoons.  Grim Natwick's Snow White may be a little stiff in comparison to Hal Ambro's Wendy from "Peter Pan" but I just like it better.

The same can be said for Robert Stokes' Queen from "Snow White" compared to Marc Davis' Cruella de Vil.

 

The latter is probably the most appealing villainess after the Queen and the drawing is great -I'd take it in a second -but I'd take Snow White first.

As the book showcases current work, it's interesting to see the looseness the animators give their drawing.  The assistants are handed a lot to figure out.  This comes, in part, from the busyness of the character design -look at all that stuff on John Silver's face!  Look at the musculature visible on his hand!  The collar, and the apron, and the cuffs!

Seeing how these animators work, it's a wonder why they're working on films in this 1940s style.

 

Glen Keane's "Beast" from "Beauty and the Beast" (I'm a snob, I know, but I always think how superior Cocteau's telling is) has a passing resemblance to Tytla's "Night on Bald Mountain" -but Tytla's drawing is restrained.  It fits with the process used to create the film.  It's like a running back picking up a free blitzer so that the other guys can execute their assignments.  The looseness and vitality of Keane's drawing, which I love, feels like it has little to do with what the drawing will ultimately look like on screen.  It's as though he's making another film.

For the record, I think I would prefer his version probably not over Cocteau's, though.

The most creative successful Disney films of recent times are, in my opinion, "Mulan" and "Lilo and Stitch".  It's no coincidence that these two drift from what the Corporation has defined as "Disney style" towards a method that was closer to the process of the studio in the 30s and 40s.  In those times, the films were developed with the animators voices, catering to their draughting styles.  In the modern "princess" films, great animators are trying to fit into a 60 year old mold that is hardly appropriate for their work.

I hadn't meant to go on and on like this.  It's a good book and evokes a lot of thoughts even on the passing glance I meant to give it before posting.

Two Things

Finished David Levy's new book, Animation Development from Pitch to Production earlier this week.

Seems so long ago, earlier this week, when there was time to read whilst now there is hardly time to sleep...

Back to the topic at hand.

The book is enjoyable.

Dave pulls off a casual, conversation tone in his writing. This is a rare skill, and he applies it well. I don't think his tone always works on a public platform, but in this book its pitch perfect.

The tone reinforces his overarching point -pitching an animated property is about building relationships on a personal level and developing your own distinct voice. He reinforces this argument (and most of his other points) from three positions; examples from well-known creators, opinions of network executives, and his own personal experience. Its a good formula.

Of course the book never addresses "why does everybody want to have their own TV show?" But it shouldn't. That's different book. But its a great question.

We would like a longer format series for business reasons. A series represents a long term contract. We've been fortunate to have had several medium-term contracts; 4 months, 8 months, 1 year. Those are enough to keep going and expand in fits and starts. A series, that represents a growth explosion.

Creatively, there are a few things we'd like try that require long term narrative lines or the development of complex characters.

I can't say Animation Development from Pitch to Production is particular helpful to me (beyond a codification of our own experiences and shared ideas on the process) -but for someone who's developing their first idea, or is interested in a "behind the scenes" look, or a student intent on being one day behind the scenes themselves it's a goldmine.

Importantly, it is interesting reading.

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On another note, Igor Mitrovic called the other day to tell us about his new site: animationhut.tv.

He's described it as "an animation-only YouTube".

We've seen several of these sites, and I've never really cottoned to them. But Igor is a terrific animator, an extraordinarily talented guy. He was the only person (in my experience, anyhow) that Tissa David would let inbetween her animation. That's not entirely accurate. He's the only artist she wanted to work with.

We're going to start uploading some of our films there.

The Yoke of the Horde

Some works are beyond criticism.

It's not necessarily significant of "greatness" -although it can be. And most great films have plenty of room for criticism.

In animation, I can only think of a handful of works that fit this category.

Priit Parn's "1895" is one:




Martha Colburn's "Evil of Dracula":




Of course, Hubley's "Moonbird":




Perhaps the "gesamkunstwerk" nature of animation allows for even greatness to have it flaws. J. J. Villard's "Son of Satan", for instance, amongst the most powerful films of the decade, still has a thing or two that stick out -the dad's voice, for instance. His "Chestnuts Icelolly" may be more refined, may still be great, but doesn't have near the impact of "Son of Satan".

My old high school pal David Prior has just published a book which, in my opinion, is beyond criticism.

"The Yoke of the Horde"

Here's an excerpt that's off the narrative track of the book, but humorously pertinent to our profession.

'Well, heck, I know it's my logo but I wonder if that's enough. I mean, I wonder if we could somehow get the logo in that little movie with the old man and the truck.'

'You don't need a logo during that part. People are going to identify you with the old man and the truck. You just said so yourself.'

'I know that and you know that, but crazy as it sounds there are a lot of people out there that don't know the first thing about BFT&H. They're likely to see this here commercial and not make the connection between BFT&H and wholesome goodness. I don't need Bobby Beercans sitting at home saying to himself... Well heck, I don't know those kinds of people will say about all of this. He might like the truck but... oh hell. Can't we just the logo or a voice in there, something beside the spiritual music, so people know what its all about?'

'Of course people are going to know what it's all about, Mr. Susskind. That's why we add your name to the end of the commercial. Believe me, we test run commercials all of the time in order to see what the most effective ways for a company to get their point across is, and this approach always does very well. It's a tried and true performer, and if you don't mind me saying so, from your reaction just a minute ago, you thought the bit about the farmer was very engaging, and it was a very good, very effective commercial.'

'No. It needs something more. It's my company, and it's my commercial, and I say it needs a little something more.'

'Okay, fine. Look, maybe I can have some of my people at CPS&D make it so the hat the old man is wearing is a BFT&H hat. How about that?'

'No, someone might miss that. Uh-uh. I want something big, something major, so not even the damnedest fool imaginable would be able to miss it.... You know what I want, Miss Borimmer? I want the old man, when his grandchildren come running to him, that part that you described the people at the agency liking the most, I want that part to be the BFT&H moment. Pinpoint it. Right at that moment, right at that moment you get your marketing stat people to sit around with a bunch of stop watches, and you tell them to watch for the reactions on peoples' faces, you know, these test tube guinea pig people you have watching the new commercials, the...'

'The focus group.'

'Right, those people. See I want those people monitored. You got that? Strictly monitored, that's how we're going to have to do this. Now bear with me, Ms. Borimmer, because we're all on the same team now, BFT&H, CPS&D, we're all going to have to work together now. So what you guys and gals over there at CPS&D are going to do now is watch those little people and once they get to the part you said they all liked, you- no, better yet. Tape them. Yes, tape them and slow down the tape, right. And right at the millionth of a second when they first smile, weep, whatever the hell they do to show we've made them happy, that's when we have the BFT&H appear, and I don't mean I want to see on some fellow's hat. I mean appear. We're talking a crash of thunder, a bolt of lightening, whammo bammo sis boom bah, and then across the sky BFT&H.'

If you don't buy the book, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

Wonder Mom

Brief weekend trip to Philadelphia.
My high school pal, Marc Schuster, was releasing his first novel.

the sky was really grey like this, not my fault

The first line is good and the excerpt he read was also interesting.  He admitted that he had a hard timing finding 5 pages that were "all ages" suitable for the party.

The party was held at the Swedish American Museum.  It's on the grounds of a lovely park in South Philadelphia, just north of the Navy Yard, just West of the ballparks (which we attended on Sunday).

Swedes

I had a vague feeling I had been in these fields before.  Maybe with the Spinelli family the time I went to the baseball game with them and not my Aunt Betty.

Inside the Swedish Museum, a room dedicated to Nobel Prize winners.

I told Marconi "Wireless was a phoney".

who had the last laugh?