Forget the whole Plympton vs. Gondry flap on the Kanye West video. Today, it’s Michel Gondry vs. Mike Jittlov. I received an email from an artist yesterday (who prefers to remain anonymous) complaining that the Gondry video for West isn’t all that original. He wrote, “I just thought it was worth pointing that Gondry’s video (colors and all) is a huge homage/rip of Mike Jittlov’s amazing short film ‘Swing Shift,’ and is a very poor imitation at that. Not that I’m not a Gondry fan, because I am, but considering the source, it’s not one of his better efforts.”

Mike Jittlov, for those that aren’t familiar, is a legend of the LA indie animation scene. I’m familiar with his pixelation work, particularly THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME, but I’d never seen SWING SHIFT. That is, until last night, because I found online a late-70s showreel of Jittlov’s work, thanks to blog of Pixar’s Jeff Pidgeon. There’s a clip from SWING SHIFT about 1/3 of the way into the reel where you can find, what else, clothes and other objects dancing after-hours in a department store. You can decide for yourself whether the Gondry video has its roots in this Jittlov short, but I’d definitely recommend watching the entire Jittlov reel. Who knew Regis Philbin was a fan of experimental animation?

UPDATE: Tom Knott writes, “I have an interview with Gondry were he talks about the influence of Norman McLaren, specifically McLaren’s film ‘A Chairy Tale’ (1957). Gondry noted that he makes reference to ‘A Chairy Tale’ in a video he did for Beck. The Kanye West video seems to also reference ‘A Chairy Tale.’”

If you live in Southern California you have two unique opportunities to meet animator and animation historian John Canemaker this week. The first one is Thursday night (January 12th) at Dreamworks Studios, in Burbank, as I host a Q & A with John and screen a selection of animated films that have inspired him and his work - and screen his latest film, the widely acclaimed THE MOON AND THE SON. It’s free, but you must RSVP to attend - it isn’t too late - go to the ASIFA website for more details. On Saturday (January 14th) John will be presenting a special program devoted to WINSOR McCAY at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Blvd. Two special evenings of animation history. See you there.

Brew readers will enjoy the latest issue of FPS magazine (#6), edited by Emru Townsend. The latest issue of the on-line publication has just hit the net and is packed with articles of interest, ranging from opinions on anime and digital filmmaking to a review of Ducktales; articles by animators Mark Mayerson and Charles Bonifacio and much commentary reflecting the year-in-review. It costs 99 cents to download. This free preview gives a sneak peek at the layout and contents. Recommended.

There’s a new independent 25-minute CGI short from Japan called NEGADON, THE MONSTER FROM MARS, directed by Jun Awazu at Studio Magara. Usually, I’m turned off by photorealistic CG, but there’s an element of stylization in the production that lifts it above typical photorealism. Brew reader John Cassidy writes more about it:

I’m a big fan of tokusatsu (Japanese for “special effects,” which describes all Japanese live-action FX fantasies, from Godzilla to Ultraman to Kamen/Masked Rider). NEGADON, THE MONSTER FROM MARS is a tribute to the “daikaijuu” (giant monster) genre of Golden-Age tokusatsu eiga (the 1950s and 60s), with a giant space monster, military mecha, and even a giant robot (created by an emotionally-scarred scientist), which fights with the title monster at the end! Even with CG-animation, the creators of this short wanted to capture the hand-made feel of vintage tokusatsu (right down to outer space being dark-blue!), and it looks impressive. It was released on DVD in Japan this past December 15th.

Here’s the official site and in English. You can download three different trailers for the short HERE. The third version trailer (linked in the collage therein) is my favorite.

Not the greatest interview but it’s short - and fun to listen to. Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Olive Oyl, Little Audrey, et al) recorded at a 1986 Sons of the Desert convention. Click here!(Thanks, Mark Mayerson)

Remember a couple months back when Kanye West commissioned two music videos for the same song? One was from Bill Plympton, the other from Michel Gondry. We wrote about it HERE and HERE. Now, Bill Plympton writes in his JOURNAL about how he got associated with Kanye. Apparently, West had originally commissioned a super-expensive video from Gondry, but wasn’t satisfied with the results, so he got Plympton to create a new video in one week. For those that want to compare the versions, here’s Gondry’s version (the animation director of this video was Peter Sluszka) and here’s Plympton’s version. It’s interesting to note how the visuals add an entirely new layer of meaning and effect to the song. Personally, I prefer Plympton’s hand-drawn version, with its raw, smudgy style, which is a more honest expression of the song’s earthy (if somewhat labored) tone. Gondry’s slick, candy-colored treatment, on the other hand, screams, “Look, how big my budget was!” in every shot, and, in my view, largely misses the point of the song.

I highly recommend you catch the world premiere of Joe Barbera’s latest Tom & Jerry cartoon, THE KARATEGUARD, at 9pm Friday January 27th on Cartoon Network. Barbera is credited with direction and for the story, Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone were supervising producers.

The call has been answered. Thanks!
I did this a while back for another project I was working on, and I received some really good leads, so let’s try it again. A project I’m working on right now requires a web designer. It’s a cartoon-related deal and a paying gig (but on a small budget). I’m not looking for any web designer though - I need somebody who has a thorough knowledge of CSS, Web standards and blogs (MovableType/WordPress). Flash won’t be needed. The only way I’ll know if you’re right for the project is if I see examples of work using these elements, so please email me at amid (at) animationblast (dot) com with samples of your work or a link to an online portfolio. Thanks everybody!