December 02, 2006

CEREAL:GEEK

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Not my favorite decade for animation, but James Eatock of Busta Toons Productions (the folks behind the He Man/She Ra blog) is starting cereal:geek, a new magazine that focuses strictly on animation from the eighties and, he says, "challenges the perceptions of the reader".

Eatock envisions a glossy publication, published on a quarterly basis, with articles, illustrations, scripts, storyboards, "a wealth of unseen production materials from your favorite shows, and interviews with those individuals that helped shape this particular decade of animation history". Visit the website and register your interest and you will receive updates about the magazine in preparation for its January 2007 debut.


Posted by JERRY at 11:15 PM

ONE GOT FAT

One Got Fat

It's been a Ralph Hulett kind of week around here. First it was his Christmas cards, now here's a link to ONE GOT FAT, a bizarre (borderline disturbing) live-action bicycle safety film that he art directed in 1963. The real highlight might be the film's amusing narration, which comes courtesy of character actor (and "Fractured Fairy Tales" narrator) Edward Everett Horton.

(Thanks, Patrick McCart)

UPDATE: Kevin writes to let us know there's more info about ONE GOT FAT in the comments section of this post at the Animation Guild blog.

UPDATE #2: Ralph Hulett's son, Steve, writes in with more info about the film:

This thing was filmed in La Crescenta (up above Glendale) in the summer of '63. It was directed by William Dale Jennings (who also wrote the script and whose idea it was to make the cyclists monkeys.) Jennings later wrote the novel "Ronin" which has become kind of a cult classic, and the John Wayne epic "The Cowboys," (1971) based on Jennings' novel of the same name.

Max Hutto, the cinematographer, had been a director on "Fibber McGee and Molly" in its radio heyday. Hutto, Jennings and Hulett formed a small film company they named "Interlude Films" and proceeded to make a few short movies, all shot on 16mm. My dad provided most of the start-up cash. The company was only in business a few years, and this is the film that has had a weird half-life on the Internet. It went out of copyright years ago, and showed up on YouTube. Somebody saw it and made a spooky music video out of it, and both continue to circle the globe on the Internet.

Father made the monkey masks out of papier mache, and did the titles. He also drove our '61 Chevy Greenbrier van that drove alongside the monkeys as they pedalled along La Crescenta streets. (They tied the van's sliding side door open and filmed through the opening.) My younger brother Ralph is the monkey running on foot. My mother Shirley is one of the women (the blonde one) who is knocked into a tree. (I remember being steamed I wasn't in it. I was too tall.)


Posted by AMID at 10:29 AM

BEWITCHED

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Here is everything you ever wanted to know about BEWITCHED - the 1964-1972 ABC TV comedy series about a regular guy who marries to a immortal magical witch. This page has more than you ever thought possible about the show's Hanna Barbera opening titles: frame grabs, audio, alternate titles, etc.

(Thanks, Mike Owens)


Posted by JERRY at 07:45 AM

DISNEY LAYS OFF 160

Hmmm... the trade papers usually don't post new stories over the weekend. Here's one that popped up this morning in The Hollywood Reporter about Disney laying off 160 people in Feature Animation. It's never a good sign when a company announces news late Friday so it appears in print Saturday (traditionally less people watch or read news on Saturday). The L.A. Times also has the report today:

"The management team at Walt Disney Animation has determined that each film will dictate its own appropriate production schedule," Disney Studios spokeswoman Heidi Trotta said. "The result of this necessitated a reduction of staff."

Posted by JERRY at 07:30 AM

December 01, 2006

BREWSTER ROCKIT

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Brewster Rockit is a very funny sci-fi parody comic strip running in the L.A. Times and many other papers accross the country (via Tribune Media Services). Today's strip was right up our alley. Perhaps Brewster's fictional outer space Cartoon Network is starting to show live action? Now that would be science fiction - wouldn't it?


Posted by JERRY at 08:53 PM

BREW HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA

Animated Soviet Propaganda

The fourth in a series of holiday gift-giving suggestions from your pals at Cartoon Brew.

If you pick up one dvd of foreign animation this holiday season, make it the ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA four-dvd box set from Films by Jove. I've been working my way through the set for the past week and every disc is packed with unbelievable material that I'd never seen before. The films, created between the mid-1920s through the mid-1980s, are separated into four categories:

Disc 1: American Imperialists
Disc 2: Fascist Barbarians
Disc 3: Capitalist Sharks
Disc 4: Shining Future

As can be expected from the disc titles, the films are shamelessly propagandistic, taking aim at everybody from the Americans and the British to the Germans and Fascist ideology. The films have an endearingly kitsch quality at first, but after a few hours of watching this stuff, the material begins to take on a more depressing tone, and one begins to feel sorry for the Russian people who were fed this manipulative garbage for decade after decade.

What's really fascinating about these films, however, is how much creative effort the Russian animators put into the visuals. They clearly believed in the messages of the films, and though they had little control over what they were saying, they could exercise their imagination with how they presented the same tired slogans. There's a spirit of experimentation from the earliest films on the disc. For example, SAMOYED BOY (1928) uses regional art styles of northern Russian peoples and BLACK AND WHITE (1933) is graphically mature in a way that few cartoons in the US were in the early-30s.

The Russians weren't tied down by the demands of creating entertainment cartoons with recurring characters; their assignment was to get across a particular message, and as such, they focused more on the filmmaking aspects than on character and personality development. Though in some of the later films, like SOMEONE ELSE'S VOICE (1949) and THE ADVENTURES OF THE YOUNG PIONEERS (1971), they also exhibit a solid grasp of traditional character animation principles.

If you're looking for visual inspiration, there's enough graphic ideas scattered throughout these dvds to keep you busy for a long time. A few of the visual highlights for me: INTERPLANETARY REVOLUTION (1924) is animation at its most Constructivist with photo montage and strong graphic design; the heavy use of black shadows in THE PIONEER'S VIOLIN (1971) gives Mike Mignola a run for the money; THE SHAREHOLDER (1963) is a 23-minute powerhouse of beautifully animated, elegantly staged characters that evoke high-style magazine illustration; and SHOOTING RANGE (1979) uses colorful, gritty '70s style graphics that somehow still feel fresh today.

With politically-oriented films such as these, providing context is imperative to understanding the works and each disc is supported by a half-hour documentary. The documentaries are appreciated, but I thought they could have been even more helpful to a layperson like myself who isn't well versed in Russian history. There were snippets of interviews with some of the filmmakers, but I would have liked to have seen longer versions of these interviews instead of extended clips of films that were already on the dvd set (though the clips that had narrative explanation added were very useful). Also, I'd be curious to find out just how much of this propaganda was seen by the average Russian compared to other forms of animation; non-propaganda characters like Cheburashka and Fyodor Khitruk's version of Winnie the Pooh were also popular among Russian kids so they obviously were exposed to other types of animation. But this is all nitpicking. The dvd set, produced by Joan Borsten, is a must-have for any fan of foreign animation; it's not only an incredible survey of Russian propaganda animation, but also of the development of the animation art in Russia.

The set is $89 at the Films by Jove store. The website also has a set of notes about the films and offers for viewing a part of the documentary included on the dvd.

Below are some of the inspiring visuals that you can find on the set:

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon

Soviet propaganda cartoon



Posted by AMID at 03:05 AM

November 30, 2006

BREW HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: TERR'BLE THOMPSON

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The third in a series of holiday gift-giving suggestions from your pals at Cartoon Brew.

The self proclaimed "most obscure strip of the 1950s", Gene Deitch's daily and Sunday Real Great Adventures of TERR'BLE THOMPSON, Hero of Hist'ry has been collected in a wonderful trade paperback by Fantagraphics Books.

I love Gene Deitch's animated cartoons (especially his Terrytoons), and his print cartoons like The Cat are stylish, funny and - in the case of Terr'ble Thompson - Terrific! That's because Thompson is the forerunner and template for Gene's most popular cartoon creation, Tom Terrific. The obscure strip ran less than a year (from October 1955 through April 1956, while Dietch was running UPA New York, until he got the call to head Terrytoons) in no more than 14 papers. Gene himself didn't save any of the original art. The book masterfully reprints all the original strips from digitally retouched newspaper clippings (you'd never know) and Gene recounts the entire experience in his introduction and footnotes (among the various tidbits, details of Jules Feffier's failed attempt to become Gene's assistant - with an example of Feffier's try out strip; the villian, Mean Morgan, is a charicature of John Hubley; and information on the aborted Golden Record and animated pilot).

Deitch's modernist artwork and bold color design were way ahead of the curve for most comic strips of the era. The stories are great fun, and the art is eye-candy cool. Deitch's son, Kim, and comics historian Dan Nadel contribute an informed foreword and afterword, respectively. Put it on your holiday list. For comics fans or animation fans, I think this is an absolute must.


Posted by JERRY at 10:50 AM

BLIP

I came across this commercial for BLIP, the digital game, while I was transfering to DVD some cartoon shows I taped in 1980. It's not animation, but I thought it was worth sharing on You Tube. My, how far we've come in 30 years (the toy was first released in 1977).


Posted by JERRY at 07:35 AM

ONE BAD NOTE

Have you ever wondered what Chuck Jones's HIGH NOTE (1960) would look like if it was remade in CG? Well, neither have I, but somebody went ahead and made it anyway. "One Bad Note" is a 50-second TV commercial directed by Craig Wessels of the South African studio Wicked Pixels. The results are pretty decent. Watch it below:

(via Hydrocephalic Bunny)


Posted by AMID at 06:20 AM

A Ralph Hulett Christmas

Christmas card by Ralph Hulett

While Eyvind Earle is the best known of the Disney artists who illustrated Christmas cards, a number of other Disney artists had successful careers as card designers including BAMBI background stylist Tyrus Wong and longtime background painter Ralph Hulett. Hulett's son, Steve, who is the business rep of the Animation Guild Local 839, is posting thirty-six of his father's Christmas cards on the Animation Guild blog. There'll be one a day between now and New Year's Day. The first three cards are already posted:

Day 1 with Introduction
Day 2
Day 3


Posted by AMID at 02:55 AM

Disney in South America Documentary

Frank Thomas and Walt Disney

In the second part of Ward Jenkins's terrific John Canemaker interview, Canemaker reveals a project he recently contributed to which should be of interest to Disney fans. It's an upcoming documentary by Frank Thomas's son, Ted Thomas, about the 1941 South America trip by Walt Disney and some of his top artists, including Frank Thomas, Mary Blair and Ken Anderson. Ted Thomas was also the director of the 1995 doc FRANK AND OLLIE.


Posted by AMID at 02:46 AM

November 29, 2006

MINGY PUSS

Either Makinita (a.k.a. independent cartoonist Andres Silva, in Ecuador) is a demented genius - or just demented. You decide:

Also check out more Makinita madness with this bizarro intro piece and this other thing in color.


Posted by JERRY at 10:30 PM

New Blogs By Harding & Tsutsumi

Drawing by Chris Harding

A couple talented animation folk have redesigned their websites to incorporate journal/blogs:

Indie filmmaker Chris Harding (of LEARN SELF DEFENSE fame) has just unveiled the new ChrisHarding.net, which features a production log for his next animated short as well as a CafePress store.

Dice Tsutsumi, color stylist and visual development artist at Blue Sky, has added a journal which he plans to updated regularly, and has also posted many new beautiful paintings to his site. Check him out at SimpleStroke.com.

Dice Tsutsumi painting


Posted by AMID at 09:39 PM

The Greatest Animation Event Ever?

Ub Iwerks and Len Lye

Animation festivals are fine nowadays, but I can't think of any event that could possibly compare to the Montreal Expo's World Exhibition of Animation Cinema which took place in 1967. Michael Sporn has some info and photos from the event posted on his blog.

The guest list is a jaw-dropping who's who of animation legends from around the world: Chuck Jones, Peter Foldes, John Halas, Ward Kimball, Ub Iwerks, Ion Popescu-Gopo, Carmen d’Avino, Len Lye, Bill Hurtz, Dave Hilberman, Robert Breer, Art Babbitt, Feodor Khitruk, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Paul Terry, J.R. Bray, Walter Lantz, Otto Messmer, Dave Fleischer, Norman McLaren, Bruno Bozzetto, Bill Tytla, Bob Clampett, Karel Zeman, Dusan Vukotic, Bretislav Pojar, Jean Image, Grim Natwick, and John Whitney, to name but a few. If I had a time travel machine, I know the first place I'd be headed.


Posted by AMID at 03:31 AM

LIVE-ACTION ANIME FROM 1960

Here's an oddity I just had to share. If you thought a live-action Flintstones was a bad idea, check this out. A live action Japanese ASTRO BOY movie (or TV show?) from the early 1960s, followed by a few seconds of a live action GIGANTOR film from the same period. Anyone know what year these clips are from? There are other clips from the GIGANTOR movie scattered on YouTube (here's one and here's another). But this Astro Boy footage is unique and hilarious. Maybe Cartoon Network ought to dig this up for their live-action Adult Swim block.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Brubaker writes:

Regarding the live-action "Astro Boy" clip you posted on Cartoon Brew. That was from the live-action TV show that came out BEFORE the anime version. It ran March 7, 1959 to May 28, 1960 on Fuji Television. 65 episodes were made.

Posted by JERRY at 01:05 AM

MILES THOMPSON'S CALIFORNIA

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My good friend, Miles Thompson, a full-time painter and sometimes animation artist, is currently working on his next solo art show, which will debut at La Luz de Jesus in September 2007. The theme of the show is "California" and he's set up a blog HERE to share his research for the paintings and to post finished work for the show. Unlike many tributes to the Golden State, Miles seems to be digging beyond the superficial aspects of California and exploring the rich heritage and character of the state. It's shaping up to be an excellent art show.


Posted by AMID at 12:14 AM

TOON IN

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Our buddy Tee Bosustow has just started broadcasting a new radio show dedicated to classic animated cartoons. Toon In! ... to the Masters of Animation airs weekly on Southern California's KCLA 99.3 FM Sunday nights, 7:30pm -8pm. Tee writes in to tell us:

We are having a little technical trouble with the radio shows themselves, so there is no way to listen to them yet on the web, but we should start getting them up on the site in the next week or so, then one a week for who knows how long.

There is plenty of material on the website to explain the show in much more detail than this email. But, the main idea is to interview a different guest each week, who has something to do with animation, not just animators, but all sorts of people in the business. Since animation is largely a visual art, the companion site is there to show the listeners some of the guests’ art work, find out more about them, and enable visitors to contact them, either through our email address, or in some cases, directly with the guest themselves. We have also started a campaign to bring some sponsors aboard, who are in the animation field, schools, producers, festivals, and the like, and we have a page just for them, because presumably they will be as interesting as some of the guests, to our listeners.

The first five shows are:

Show #1: Tom Roth - Air Date: Nov 26.
Roth was a hand-drawn and computer animator for Ralph Bakshi, Richard Williams, Disney, and many others.

Show #2: Mark Kausler - Air Date: Dec 03.
Artist, animator, collector, and historian, on Yellow Submarine, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and much more.

Show #3: David Evans - Air Date: Dec 10.
Screenwriter and gag man, specializing in animation, for Jay Ward, Bill Hurtz, and many others.

Show #4: Joe Siracusa - Air Date: Dec 17
Former gag man/musician for Spike Jones, animation sound effects career began at UPA Pictures.

Show #5: Cathy Karol - Air Date: Dec 24
Fine artist, animator, independent animation filmmaker, and teacher, knows all facets of the animation industry.


Posted by JERRY at 12:01 AM

November 28, 2006

BREW HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: THE SCOTT BRADLEY CD

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Here's a new item that needs to be on every Brew readers' X-mas wish list. Screen Archives Entertainment/Film Score Monthly has just released a limited edition Scott Bradley CD soundtrack Tom and Jerry, and Tex Avery Too! Vol. 1: the 1950s. This goes on the shelf next to the classic Carl Stalling Project CDs—as the same loving care went into this long overdue package. You get two CDs filled with some of Bradley's greatest scores (just the music - no dialogue or sound effects) from MGM cartoons of the 1950s. These particular scores were recorded on magnetic film and have been restored with a clarity you've never heard before. Nine (of the twenty-five scores) were originally recorded in stereo and, to quote the liner notes, "the sound quality of these shorts is breathtaking". Even if you know these films by heart, you'll be particularly amazed by the scores for lesser cartoons like DOWNBEAT BEAR, BARBEQUE BRAWL and TOT WATCHERS. His Avery tracks (like CELLBOUND, BILLY BOY and DEPUTY DROOPY) are revelations. And the Tom & Jerrys are pure genius.

Speaking of the liner notes, Daniel Goldmark (who produced the CD with Lukas Kendall) wrote the 24-page illustrated booklet giving a thorough history of MGM music, Scott Bradley and his relationship with Hanna, Barbera and Avery, notes on the guest musicians, singers and the musical choices—as well as specific production notes for all 25 tracks. This booklet—and Shug Fisher's vocal track for Pecos Pest—are worth the price of the CD alone!

This is a must-have. Bradley was one of the greats, but his work has been overshadowed in recent years by Carl Stalling's memorable and pioneering scores for Disney, Iwerks and Warner Bros. This CD set will help put things in perspective.

You have been warned: Only 3000 copies of this incredible CD have been pressed. I highly recommend you order it right now!


Posted by JERRY at 12:01 AM

November 27, 2006

Animation Show 2007

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Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt have announced the line-up for the third edition of the ANIMATION SHOW. Having seen all the films in the line-up with the exception of one, let me just say that this is a superb program. It's a perfect sampling of the indie animation scene and includes a bit of everything: hand-drawn, CG, stop-motion, abstract, it's all here. Films include Run Wrake's RABBIT, Joanna Quinn's DREAMS AND DESIRES, Don Hertzfeldt's EVERYTHING WILL BE OK, Shane Acker's NINE and Gaëlle Denis's CITY PARADISE.

The touring schedule of the upcoming ANIMATION SHOW is different as well. They're switching from conventional art house runs to a "music concert"-style schedule in which they'll play limited one or two-night engagements throughout the US. LA folks will get the show for two nights: February 7, 2007 at Royce Hall in UCLA and February 15 at the Rialto in Pasadena. The complete tour schedule can be found HERE. If it hits your area, I highly recommend checking it out.


Posted by AMID at 05:10 AM