Cartoon Brew

Bargain Book Notice

Just a quick note: Amazon currently has a good deal on my book, THE ART OF ROBOTS, as well as on THE ART OF THE INCREDIBLES Each book is selling for $14.99, which is over 60% off the cover price. Amazon ran this same deal some months back and they sold out of the bargain-priced books very quickly. (Update: Both of these bargain-priced books are now sold out at Amazon.)

CARTOON TRUCK

Robert Luczun, a grade school art teacher in New Jersey, sent me some photos of his truck—which he's decorated every inch of with comic book, strip and animated cartoon characters...

I just love doing art that is non-conventional. One of my hobbies is antique cars, my other love is comic art and animated cartoons. The idea hit...why not use a vehicle as a canvas. I chose one of the first Model A's...a 1928 Ford Model AR Roadster Pickup. I decided to do a DOCUMENTARY ON COMICS on a HISTORIC VEHICLE. I started painting on October 18 2004 on the anniversary of the first published comic "The Yellow Kid" (October 18,1896) and finished on January 12, 2006. As much as possible, the truck was disassembled, a lot of it was painted in backbreaking positions. The only record I kept was on airbrush painting hours: over 2,000. This does not include original restoration of the Model A, research and layout. My goal now is to secure a sponsor so that I may get to the big national car shows and the comic conventions.

Feel free to contact Robert at robertluczun at yahoo.com

GIMMIE GIMMIE OCTOPUS

ASIFA-San Francisco president Karl Cohen sent me this link (also featured on BoingBoing the other day) to what may be the strangest children's TV series ever made. It's not animated, but it's from Japan with people in costumes—the tender story of an Octopus and a Peanut—only like Pufnstuf made by a drug-crazed Ed Wood. Says Karl:

It is a low budget Teletubby type show with attitude. I have only looked at one episode, Baby Octopus (took 2 or 3 minutes to download) and wait till you see what happens to the baby! I find it hard to believe this isn't created by a radical subversive underground theater group. I have no idea what the point of it is or why it was made, but I suspect kids somewhere in this world are entertained by it. Or was it created by inmates of a mental institution?

The original show, "KURE KURE TAKORA" made its debut in October 1973. The central character covets everything by saying "KURE! (I want it)" all the time. Each episode runs 3 minutes.

Charles Solomon on Talky Cartoons

One of my biggest grievances against contemporary animation is that characters won't shut up. Too often in American animation, dialogue is used as a substitute for storytelling, acting, and communication between characters. It happens everywhere, and I've mentioned it frequently, whether it be on TV shows like Cartoon Network's CAMP LAZLO or trailers for animated films, like DreamWorks's OVER THE HEDGE. Blame it on whoever you want—animation execs who are visually uneducated and can only understand characters that communicate verbally, scriptwriters (for obvious reasons), or artists who aren't confident of their abilities to act without dialogue—the fact is that today's cartoons talk too much. I was really pleased to see historian/critic Charles Solomon tackle the issue in this weekend's NY TIMES, with a hard-hitting piece about how wall-to-wall dialogue hurts so many current animated features. The entire article is worth reading, but here's an excerpt:

In "Robots," eager young Rodney Copperbottom, on arriving in Robot City, meets Fender, voiced by Robin Williams. All the wonder the audience should feel as Rodney beholds the Erector-set metropolis of his dreams is crushed under Fender's nonstop shtick. The characters in "Hoodwinked" natter constantly, even as their unfortunate mouth movements reveal inadequacies in the design of their faces. And if the trailer is any indication, "The Wild," coming from Disney on April 14, with voices by Kiefer Sutherland and Janeane Garofalo, among others, looks like yet another gabfest.

American animation wasn't always like this. Some of its most memorable moments have no talking: Mickey Mouse dancing with the brooms in "Fantasia"; the Seven Dwarfs weeping at Snow White's bier; Bugs Bunny riding in as Brunhilde on a white charger in "What's Opera, Doc?" Animation is often funnier, more dramatic and more powerful when words aren't distracting the viewer's attention from the stylized expressions and movements.

(Use BugMeNot to bypass NY TIMES registration)

SPEEDY RACES VOLKSWAGEN

Speedy Gonzales may have been banned (at one time) from the Cartoon Network, but he's never been more in demand by the public. Now Warner Bros. is licensing the character to Volkswagen for use in an international ad campaign to attract Hispanic drivers who admire the mouse. The ads can be viewed HERE, HERE and HERE.

“The Speedy Gonzales and new GTI Mk V match-up is a natural,” said Kerri Martin, director of brand innovation for Volkswagen of America, Inc. “Both have permeated pop culture. Both have a loyal and passionate fan base. Both have achieved iconic status in a world of high-powered acceleration.”

“In the Hispanic market, Speedy Gonzales is our superhero,” commented Creativeondemand founding partner and creative director, Priscilla Cortizas. “Not only is he the epitome of speed, he communicates positive values like altruism, resourcefulness, intelligence and confidence.”

(Thanks, Brian Lutz)

Letterman

Michael Sporn had the great luck of breaking into the animation industry at John and Faith Hubley's studio, Storyboard, in the early-1970s. He's posted some fascinating remembrances on his blog about his time working on the Hubleys' LETTERMAN interstitials, produced for PBS's THE ELECTRIC COMPANY. Read them HERE.

It's also worth noting that last month a 4-disc dvd collection of THE ELECTRIC COMPANY was released. Not sure how much LETTERMAN is on it, but surely, there's at least a few episodes.

CARTOONS IN TRIBECA

The prestigious Tribeca film festival is spotlighting independent animation from the Big Apple. Included are the world premieres of Patrick Smith's "Puppet," Nina Paley's "Sitayana" (pictured above), Mike Sullivan's "Sex Life of Robots" (excerpt), Ben Levin's "She She She She's a Bombshell," and Bill Plympton's "Guide Dog." The screenings will be held on May 1st, May 3rd, May 4th, May 5th, and May 7th. The filmmakers will be present at all the screenings. Visit the Tribeca Film Festival website for times and locations.

Grillo's Inspiration

Master animator and artist Oscar Grillo has started a new blog devoted specifically to drawings, paintings and other things that have inspired him as an artist over the years.

My Book Has a Cover

As folks may recall, I put out a call for help last December asking readers to offer their suggestions on the cover for my book, CARTOON MODERN: STYLE AND DESIGN IN FIFTIES ANIMATION. We finally finished the cover and you can check it out HERE.

Setting the Record Straight?

If you're not reading John K.'s new blog, you're missing one of the most entertaining animation blogs on the Internet. John's most recent post revolves around the following premise: "Spumco is responsible for the 3 biggest business, marketing and technological innovations in the last 15 years and everyone else has benefitted greatly."

Agree?

Didn't think so.

To play devil's advocate though, name another individual who's had as much influence on contemporary TV animation as John K? Perhaps Matt Groening? Bruce Timm? Mike Judge? Could make for an interesting discussion. Of course, considering the current state of TV animation, I'm not sure why anybody would be chomping at the bit to take credit for it.

The Glamorous Lives of Pixar Directors

Just another night on the town for John "Pimp Daddy" Lasseter.

Eiko Tanaka Interview

MIDNIGHT EYE has this interview with Eiko Tanaka, co-founder and president of Japan's Studio 4°C, the company that produced the amazing MIND GAME. I've actually been a fan of a number of 4°C's productions, including MEMORIES and NOISEMAN SOUND INSECT, but the funny thing is that I didn't realize until recently that they were all made by the same studio. I'll definitely be paying much closer attention to what they produce in the future.

OVER THE HEDGE Better Than Its Trailer?

"The Over the Hedge trailer is horrible," says Jim Hull. He should know since he worked on the film. Jim has an interesting post on Seward Street where he compares it to what he feels is a more successful trailer for Pixar's CARS.

FIRST FLIGHT

I had a first look at OVER THE HEDGE yesterday (thank you, Dreamworks) and it's not the 90 minute talk-fest, per the trailer, that Amid described yesterday. It's got appealing characters (particularly the Garry Shandling turtle), lots of slapstick action and a great score by Ben Folds.

They also screened a new seven minute short called FIRST FLIGHT. It's the first Dreamworks short not spun off from one of their hit features, and their first film not featuring an all star voice cast. In fact it's marvelously performed sans dialog! Directed by Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson, the story involves a harried office worker who misses his bus and ends up spending his morning teaching a baby bird to to fly. It's very cute.

With Pixar's ongoing shorts program, Disney's LITTLE MATCH GIRL, and now Dreamworks entering the shorts arena ... are the majors slowly returning to creating meaningful short films? With video iPods, online downloads, You Tube and animation podcasts booming, the short film hasn't been this popular since... I don't know... 1934?? Whatever it is, I'm all for it. Keep 'em coming!

UPDATE: Floyd Bishop points out: "I read your post on the Brew about the new short from Dreamworks. In it, you said it was the first Dreamworks short not spun off from one of their hit features. This is not entirely true. PDI/Dreamworks did the short film Fishing in 1999, which featured no dialog at all. It was a watercolor, non-photorealistic rendered piece about the man who catches so many fish, they turn into a wave and knock him over." Thanks, Floyd. I guess I should have said FIRST FLIGHT is the first short of the merged 2D/3D Dreamworks Animation studio in Glendale.

THE SOCIETY OF ANIMATION STUDIES

The 18th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas, at Trinity University from July 7th through to July 10th 2006. The theme for the 2006 conference is "Animation at the Crossroads." Program Participants include:

Alan Cholodenko, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia who will present a paper on "(The) Death (of) The Animator, or: The Felicity of Felix".

Pierre Floquet, Bordeaux University, France, on "What is (not) so French in Les Triplettes de Belleville".

Michael Frierson, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina, who has researched "A Decade of Early Animation: John Stuart Blackton's Animated Films 1900-1910".

Maureen Furniss, CalArts, Valencia, California will present her paper on "John Whitney: The Early Years".

And Mark Langer, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada on "The Fleischer WWI Military Films".

The SAS, held in a different city each year, is always worth attending for insights on animation history and perspectives on current films. More info about this event is posted on their website.

SYLVESTER THE JESTER

Our friend Paul Dini informs us of a performance in Hollywood this Friday of human cartoon, Sylvester the Jester (aka Danny Sylvester).

Sylvester is a huge Tex Avery and Bob Clampett fan and he does a wild, high-energy, very funny magic act inspired by classic MGM and Looney Tunes sight gags. The show is at Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, this Friday March 17th starting at 11:00 PM and runs about an hour. Tickets are 12 bucks and there is free parking across the street. Come spend St. Paddy's Day watching a guy in a red zoot suit blow his own head off.

To get a better idea of what Mr. Sylvester is up to (with video of some of his performances), check out his website.

JOT

Animator Nate Pacheco has posted two must-see episodes of the early-1960s cartoon series JOT. He calls it one of his biggest sources of inspiration. JOT is certainly one of the most underrated cartoon shows ever produced and it's nice to see it getting some attention online.

What is most striking about these JOT episodes is how the storytelling is driven by the graphics and animation. For example, in the episode where Jot steals the toy, notice how the story is told almost entirely through visuals. The limited dialogue in the cartoon is integrated fluidly into the action and drives the story forward. Furthermore, the animators create personality through the animation, not through dialogue. Note the little Irish jig that Jot does after he gets out of school—completely unnecessary from a story standpoint, but a perfectly expressive moment that puts across Jot's happy mood while going home from school. Watching the graphic storytelling in JOT reminds one of the anemic state of TV animation nowadays. Most contemporary shows produced by Nick, Cartoon Network and Disney look good superficially, but they rarely take advantage of the animation medium to tell stories visually, instead relying on the 'talking-head' TV animation formulas of Hanna-Barbera and Filmation with characters garrulously explaining every bit of action to audiences.

The production backstory of JOT is also pretty interesting. The reason the cartoon has such a strong religious theme is because it was produced for the Southern Baptist's Radio and Television Commission. The show was created by Ruth Byers and Ted Perry. More history about the show can be found here and here. The company that produced the show was Keitz & Herndon, an animation studio located in Dallas, Texas. The studio was started in the early-1950s and the crew was comprised primarily of self-taught animators. Below is a photo of the studio founders, Larry Herndon (left) and Roddy Keitz. Herndon dealt primarily with the business aspects of the studio, while Keitz was the artistic director. Both of them still live in Texas.

Monday Morning Blues

What a way to start the week—here's the new trailer DreamWorks recently released for OVER THE HEDGE. I'm speechless, but fortunately for audiences, the characters in the film are not. If anybody's idea of animated entertainment is listening to ninety minutes straight of over rehearsed lines by Wanda Sykes, Garry Shandling and Steve Carell, then this film surely won't disappoint.

And here's the third trailer Warner Bros. has released for HAPPY FEET. It features:
The vocal "talent" of Robin Williams.
Super-realistic (i.e. super-boring) penguin designs.
Creepy stilted (mo-cap?) animation.
Looks like some filmmaker has discovered the magic formula to CG success.

Michel Gondry on CGI

In a new WIRED interview, film/music video director Michel Gondry offered an interesting personal perspective on CGI:

People rely too heavily on CGI. Digital filmmaking should be used to do more edgy stuff, not to replace techniques that are already functioning well. I like to take a digital effect and push it to do something different.

(Thanks, Pete Levin)

HORNSWIGGLE UPDATE

I've been periodically posting the progress of my very own six minute cartoon on a separate blog.

Frederator Studios is producing 39 such shorts for a new series on Nickelodeon (Fall 2006 or sometime in 2007). All 39 creators are doing blogs and documenting their productions online. There are some real goodies in the works. Mine is HORNSWIGGLE, and it is being directed by Rich Arons (Tiny Toons, Animaniacs) and produced with Gang of 7 Animation in North Hollywood. The project is in post production this month and will be completed in early April. I'm very proud of the film, it's shaping up very nicely. Obviously I'll be promoting Hornswiggle much more as we get closer to its airdate - I'm planning some limited edition promo pieces that I'll be giving away at the San Diego Comic Con (and on Cartoon Brew). More on that - and Hornswiggle - later.