A Few Images

Stumbled over these bits from The Naked Campaign on the hard drive and thought to post them.

These are all Steve Brodner's drawings. 

 

  

  

  

  

 

We're close to extending this series to a general news segment for a national broadcaster.  Updates to come.


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The Art of the Steal is running at IFC -or as I like to call it IDVDC, or the old Waverly.

It's a remarkable documentary. It's informative and activist. Completely gripping. Don't miss it.

Egg on Face

Working with Steve Brodner and Gail Levin on our various projects has been pretty harmonious.

Whenever you get a few people together, you're bound to have certain disagreements.  We've had very few and almost all of them have had simple solutions.

There was one instance during "The Naked Campaign" for The New Yorker/Sundace where we came to an impasse.

Just so there's no doubt -I was right.

This was during the late primary season.  Obama and McCain had already been the assumed nominees -despite Hilary's constant push.

We all knew McCain's long track record.  Obama still had the aura of whatever you projected on to him.  He had yet to assemble a foreign policy platform and was accused, with justification, of being a little out of his depth on international waters.

Here's how Gail and I wanted to end a segment.

You'll need to CLICK THE LINK since I'm still figuring out how to host the embedding without automatically playing back.

The multiple layers of irony here obvious.

Brodner felt as though this was an endorsement of Obama. Oddly, we felt that it was a decent lampoon of him.

Ultimately, we ceded to Steve's point of view -although Gail didn't do it without a fight. In making these pieces, it's important to be aware that the illustrator is not only creating art but is on camera. He has to be comfortable with the statement the film is making otherwise its a hack job.

Here's the whole piece as finished.




Considering the flailing first year of the administration, as the atrocious "health care" "reform" goes into conference, it looks more and more as though we elected a candy man happy to hand out leafy greens to banks and insurance companies.

Another Shoot

First, if you've emailed us at any of our asteriskpix.com addresses since Monday, we haven't gotten them. This is completely the fault of X7hosting.com, a company whose incompetence is matched only by their poor customer service.

The contact on the side of this page is still working.

We're doing a segment with Steve Brodner for a pilot for PBS.

Yesterday we shot the first half. Long shoot.





More later.

News Cycle Comes Around

I thought this would be a bit of historic ephemera. Hopefully, it will be -but Sarah Palin's holiday weekend resignation has once again placed her, unworthy, in the national spotlight.



In this video from last summer, Steve Brodner wonders about her appeal. We also must wonder about a Republican Party that would embrace someone so clearly out of her depth as a public official.



When we originally did this the editors at The New Yorker had issue with the "sexualization" of Palin in Brodner's drawing. Had they not been reading their own magazine? Did they miss the 24/7 coverage of the Governor calling her "hot"? It was one of the many points of her selection to Republican ticket that insulted voters of both parties and played to basest aspects of their own.

Screaming Video

Probably shouldn't be posting this, but here goes.

Before starting up our next series with Steve Brodner for a major cable network we flew some ideas by CBS. They were lukewarm but asked us to make some stuff.

We've been trying to figure out a good approach, this is our second attempt.



I like the little animation bits, Christina did a good job -but the overall overall is lacking.

Non-Naked Campaign

We made this clip on Thursday last week for CBS Sunday Morning.
I'm not sure they ever intended on airing it.  They publish their schedule online the week before, and this segment was never in the line up.

It may not be as strong as our work for The New Yorker, but it has some merit.  The motion graphic "animation" Christina did is pretty good and the art, as always, is strong.
These are some note Brodner did before the shoot.

Soon for Sunday

Yesterday evening we shot a segment that is scheduled to air on CBS Sunday Morning this week.

Today we're cutting and animating.

It's a variation on our "Naked Campaign" series, this time we're adding an element- Brodner tosses around ideas with Gil Schwartz, former magazine editor now personality for the network.

These shoots usually go smoothly. This was a little more complicated (two cameras), but with less drawing on camera it was a lot faster.

Here's one "behind the scenes" moment, indicative of the way these clips come together.

Wrapped Campaign

Finally got around to packing up the ol' Naked Campaign art.  

Uncovered a bunch of great drawings by Brodner that never made it into films (that happens in live action).

Obama as an asterisk!

NASCAR Obama.

Don't remember what this was for.  Is Hillary Caesar?  Barack's running late for commencement.

Some notes.

Obama body sketches.  (with a Hillary ghosting through)

This was for a piece on the economy.  Notice how the arrow keeps going down.

And below was an idea that involved Rorschrach blots.

One would form E. T. (I don't think this was a Kucinich reference).

And ultimately:

Barack Obama as Eustace Tilly.

Love Us, Love Us, Love Us!

Here's a little write up about us from the Great White North:

Asterisk animating non-fiction

by: Kelly Anderson

Jan 14, 2009

email this article digg this article add to del.icio.us

Non-fiction filmmakers are increasingly turning to animation to spice up dry data or to capture an unattainable event or location. This is all good news for Asterisk Animation, whose executive producer Richard O'Connor and director Brian O'Connell both vouch they've had a great year in business. Asterisk has been busy working for PBS, WNET and National Geographic, alongside commercial work for Mercedes, music videos and even a feature film, Rebecca Miller's The Private Life of Pippa Lee.

The New York-based design and animation company has gained the attention of players like Sundance Channel through hard work and networking. In the case of Sundance, Asterisk had been working with political illustrator Steve Brodner and director Gail Levin on U.S. election commentary in short films based on Brodner's illustrations. The New Yorker picked it up for its website and Sundance Channel took notice. "We retained the rights and wound up being able to put them on the Sundance Channel. They saw them, really liked them and wanted to put them as part of a political campaign package that they were doing [Voices of the Election]," says O'Connor.

With the election over, O'Connor and O'Connell have already set their sights on tackling the newest hot topic, the economy. "It's sort of a boring dry topic usually, but we think with Steve and Gail and our abilities in animation we can do some more interesting perspectives in terms of what's going on with the recession/depression that we're in," says O'Connell.

Before that happens though, the two men can still revel in jobs well done. Asterisk was nominated for an Emmy for Graphic Design and Art Direction for the work done on WNET's four-part mini-series Curious. Their motion graphics can be seen next in Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, tonight on PBS.

Naked Campaign: Coda

Our two year project of chronicling the 2008 election with Steve Brodner came to a close on Tuesday.

The approach to editing this film was different from all the others. Even so, the final structure demonstrates what we hoped (I hoped, at least) this would experiment achieve. Illustration provides a specific way of seeing, in this final piece the images (and the ellipses) tell a story that words could not speak.

This time we had the soundtrack as a starting point. On Monday Gail and Ben went to Bennett Studios in Englewood to shoot Jon Faddis playing the National Anthem.

This told us how long the piece would be.



Unlike the other videos, I began by putting on the opening title sequence and blocking in the end signature and credits. Then the detail work.

The edit started from the back.

Initially, we discussed using Obama's 2004 convention speech as a lead. We'd intercut with footage Faddis performing while Brodner drew and then mix in a clip from Obama's Tuesday night victory speech.

We've used real audio before, and found it effective- notably in The Straight Talk Eggspess, Three Legged Race, and Plot Holes.

The audio always comes first. The sound tells you what the picture is. Even when editing sound and picture at the same time the flow of the audio takes priority.

John Hubley famously recorded all of his soundtracks before beginning animation. Not just voice, but music. Tissa David asked him "how do you know it's going to work in the film." His response, "I listen to the track. If its good and it works, the film will be good and it will work."

Since we were working here with a defined measure of time (3 minutes, minus open and close), we decided to fill in the finale first to ensure it received the proper time.

We decided on two clips from Obama's Victory Speech, the second part echoing the "red state/blue state" passage of dichotomies from his '04 Convention Speech which we used for the first Naked Campaign film in January '07.

From there it was back to the beginning. First was Frederick Douglass.


This is also the longest of the portraits.

The editorial plan was to draw the viewer in with an elegant, almost elegaic pace. This portrait starts from the blank page and works to completion in 36 seconds.

Over the course of these films, we've done a lot of "undercranking" or speeding up footage to the construction of a drawing. In this, we purposely moved through the drawing process with slow dissolves and kept it all (mostly) in real time.

Intitially, Louis Armstrong was slated as the second profile.

He was a casuality of time. Just not enough room.

The next guy, Jackie Robinson, starts with his features already established. We see two strong lines being drawn.


The structural intention was to start Douglass from point zero and have each subsequent portrait begin later in the construction of the drawing.

We had a detailed discussion about who would be represented in this piece. At first, I was a proponent of Shirley Chisholm seeing her as more of an extraordinary individual. Rosa Parks, as courageous and noble as she was, represented the inevitable. Brodner made the irrefutable point that she was a "game changer". That her action, inevitable or not, changed the world and she, alone, is responsible for that.


Brodner created her with heartfelt warmth in this illustration. His definition of her action also clarified what this final piece of the campaign should be.

At this point, there was no need for the 2004 speech and the intercutting with Faddis was convoluted and unnecessary. Direct and simple clearly became the way to go.

For Dr. King the framing was tricky. That sort of effected the overall editorial philosophy of the piece.


His section fades out as the camera moves trying to frame him while the finishing touches are put on his moustache.

That brings us to the impressive portrait of Justice Marshall.



We only show his robes being colored in.

Lastly, the speech fades up and Obama is drawn with several parts already on paper.



He starts out, improbably enough, a little like Lincoln. As his features form, the portrait remains open ended. We don't see his eyes. The line is soft and open. His features recede into shadow. He is still a question.

A question -what's that? Watercolor fills in tone as if to say all the men and women leading up to this point simply provided the framework. Here we have the fulfillment of a promise described with pencil, pen and brush.

Naked Campaign #27 and counting- Twilight of the Gods

I feel like I missed something editing this latest piece for The Naked Campaign.

Somehow it doesn't have the grand build up that the story wants. Maybe it was a case of too many square pegs and nothing but round holes.

It also shows how even a little resistance can prevent and editor or a director from letting an idea blossom. In this case, this proposition contends that McCain's campaign signifies the death of the "gods" of the Republican Party -Reagan, Gingrich, Bush.

Let's accept this statement, even with reservations (1. The Reagan Myth hasn't died, it's being incorporated in to the legend of our next Great Communicator. 2) McCain relied on the radical Gingrich Revolution to both purge himself of past transgressions and as foil to hang his "maverick" hat against. 3) Bush is disliked by nearly 80% of America, including Republicans.) .

The issue then arises, "how true is the thesis of the film?". It may be true three weeks from now, but at this moment its awful premature to declare the light at the end of this long campaign tunnel to be the dawning of a new era.

So it was like editing a hypothetical.

I still think it's a pretty good little film, but I failed to really ramp up the momentum and drive it home.

Compare this to our send off of Hillary Clinton. That piece is a little more elegiac, more lilting in remembrance of her career -but ultimately more scathing. Is this because it was a film that reported something that actually happened (even though she would continue her campaign for a couple weeks)? Is it because she's a concrete figure and it's easier for a person to drift into the sunset than it is for an idea? Maybe the loathing for Senator Clinton runs deeper than the pity for Senator McCain and his inept, cynical campaign?

More Self Promotion!

Apparently the world-famous Sundance Channel is airing new Naked Campaign episodes.

They've started something called "Voices of the Election" that run as interstitials. The Naked Campaign is one of five series of shorts included in the compilation.

We also understand films from the series will be definitely broadcast at 9:00 on Mondays in conjuction with some political documentaries.

But wait! There's more!

You can now possess your very own "Naked Campaign, vol 1.: Road to Primary"!!!!

Click Here! And offer up you credit card number for hours of private home enjoyment in pristine NTSC quality!!!

Act now!!!!

Naked Campaining on Campus

Rutgers University invited us down to talk about "The Naked Campaign".

Here's a clip of Steve Brodner and Gail Levin talking about documentary and ways of seeing.



At one point Gail mentioned "animated documentary" which is hot catch phrase in film and academia.

It's also a spectacular oxymoron. By nature, animation is a process. That process is fundamentally and essentially contrived. Documentary is a recorded revelation of actuality. When the process of animation is applied to the genre of documentary, the result is still animation but the form is no longer documentary.

Yes, animation can "reveal" just as documentary does -but the method of revelation is different. Animation reveals through artifice- like Picasso showing the truth of war in "Guernica".

Ultimately, documentary captures and displays a moment that actually happened. This is true of Ken Burns, Agnes Varda, Errol Morris, or Michael Moore. The process of animation takes the experience outside of the moment, rebranding the instance as whole new experience from the event under discussion.

Animation has always been an important part of documentary -especially educational films. Taking animation as the primary narrative element of "documentary" removes the "documenting" entirely and replaces it with "opinion" and "fiction". The stories become personal narratives, which is fine. Personal narratives are by their very nature untrustworthy, documentary needs the willing approval of its viewers to be successful.

Waltz with Bashir, for example, is a "talking head" documentary where the talking heads are animated and the re-enactments are also animated. The very act of animation removes it from "documenting" the story of the massacre and the lead character's quest for memory and places the film in a world of historic fiction. Despite its first person accounts its less a documentary experience than Battle of Algiers- a purely fictional story which has the resonance of a breaking news report.

Animation, for the most part, does not offer tools for "documenting". Animation expresses choice and opinion. This is what makes the technique interesting in non-fiction film.

iPhone 3G Ad

Speaking of The Naked Campaign, if you look closely at the new iPhone ad you'll see it featured in the lower corner for about 3 seconds towards the beginning of the commercial.



Ironically, my only experience with an iPhone was using Mara Haseltine's to look at The New Yorker site.
We couldn't get it to load.

Naked Campaign - McGaffin

I'll admit, I'm not crazy about the content of this edition of The Naked Campaign for The New Yorker.

The art, as always, is great. The conceit, as usual, is great.

The imagery in the edition is some of our strongest and most cinematic.

The commentary, though, is a little weak and the excellence of the form masks that.

If you watch our earlier piece, Reality Bites, Brodner rightfully attacks the campaign coverage for focusing on stupid things -lapel pins, saluting the flag, late night misstatements, etc.



This was a sharp, smart film.

In our latest piece, we engage in the same "gotcha" reporting that we earlier condemned.

So McCain still says "Czechoslovakia", big deal. Most people over 30 do, even those of us who know the difference between Serbia and Montenegro. Does that really change anything about the way the guy would govern?

The greatest shame of this is that the graphic idea is great, I just think it was wasted on weaker content.

Naked Campaign - Episode 21: Mapquest

In January of 2007 together with Gail Levin and Steve Brodner we came up with idea for The Naked Campaign -a sort of running diary (there it is again) of the 2008 Election from the perspective of one of America's great political caricaturists.

Initially we did a little film to Obama's 2004 Convention speech. Nothing too profound, just testing waters. Note, however, our team's collective prescience and keen interpretation of the national psyche a full year before Iowa.

We followed with a profile of Bill Richardson (hey, if we were right 100% of time we wouldn't be in film). This sparked the interest of lots of people.

Interest that we had been producing this work on own on dime, on the cheap and hey, "wouldn't like for us to show your work for nothing, too?!?". At some point in the future I'll answer this question.

That's when The New Yorker asked us to do a similar piece on Giuliani.

Both the Giuliani and Richardson segments demonstrate what is vital about this project. An illustrator has special skills for seeing people -in the same way a cook has special skills with taste, or a veterinarian develops understanding of animals. These observational talents can provide profound little insights into public figures. Look at how Giuliani interacts with people around him, how people react to him and how that informs the way they think about their elected officials.

This latest, MapQuest, was kind of a slog, to be honest.

We shot it Monday afternoon. An hour and thirty minutes of footage.

Typically we shoot directly into the Final Cut system through the Aja IO box, but there's been some problem with the audio -probably a loose wire somewhere that will find me in a Laocoonian tangle of RCA connections in a futile effort to fix it -so the tape has to be digitized.

The idea is to shoot in the morning, cut in the afternoon, deliver by sundown. That wasn't about to happen on this one.

So Gail and I roughed it out by the end of day and it was practically 5 minutes. I'd like these things to be about thirty seconds, personally, but a 5 minute cut from 90 minutes of footage after two hours of editing is sometimes a fair compromise.

The other component is the "animation". We like to have one or two little bits per story, whatever we can do in the two or three hours we have to make the pieces.

Christina Capozzi (although I guess it's Christina Riley now) using does the animation/motion graphics while I'm fine tuning the edit.

This morning we managed to knock another two minutes off the segment bring it to a Top Forty friendly 3:09.

It turned out OK. I especially like the Mitt Romney Michigan.

These are some concept sketches by Brodner.

The second Iowa one was never realized -I'd like to know what the thinking behind that one is.

Nice maps.

You can see all of The New Yorker segments on their website.

Or YouTube if adult content is blocked at your office.

You can also see outtakes, behind the scenes photos, a become an e-pal HERE.