The new edition of the Animation Show arrives in LA tomorrow, February 7. It’s playing for one night at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Showtimes are 6:30pm and 9:30 pm and ticket prices are $10. The program is, of course, quite excellent.
Best of all, the first ten folks to email me will receive a FREE ticket to tomorrow’s LA screening, courtesy of the fine folks at the Animation Show. OUR FREE TICKETS ARE ALL GONE NOW.
Finally, somebody has combined two of my passions: coffee and cartoons. Flip Cafe is a coffeeshop in Bangkok that, according to their site, “is a place for animation and film lovers to get together, to get inspired, and to explore the world of moving images.” Their space looks comfy and inviting, and besides serving coffee, Flip Cafe hosts free animation screenings every Wednesday as well as animation workshops for kids. Best of all, their screenings aren’t randomly selected cartoons but nicely curated film programs. For example, their show tomorrow evening includes stop motion works by Ladislaw Starewicz, Barry Purves and Ray Harryhausen. Upcoming screenings include a program on pixilation and a screening of THE CORPSE BRIDE. I have no idea if the place is as cool as the website makes it look, but I’d definitely be checking it out if I were in Thailand.
Romain Segaud (b. 1980) is one of France’s most exciting up-and-coming animation talents. He was the co-director of the awesome student film TIM TOM (mentioned here earlier) and the music video BIP BIP (pictured above). Now he has a website – RomainSegaud.com – featuring most of his animated films and commercial work. I love all the fun inventive movement he manages to get into his digital photo cut-out style.
(via Fous d’Anim)
Below are the striking titles for the Madonna film WHO’S THAT GIRL (1987). The titles, which reimagine Madonna as a Betty Boop-ish figure, were designed by Daniel Melgarejo (1948-1989), an Argentinean cartoonist who did a lot of work at Disney’s Character Merchandising division in the 1980s. Among the artists who animated on this opening were John Canemaker and Elinor Blake. Last year, Oscar Grillo posted some of Daniel’s illustration work on his blog and there’s a tribute site to Melgarejo here.
UPDATE: A reader, who prefers to remain anonymous, wrote in to say that the Madonna character in the video was animated entirely by Doug Frankel, who is currently an animator at Pixar.
UPDATE #2: Animator Norma Rivera-Klingler, who worked on the titles, writes to say that the Madonna character was not animated entirely by Doug Frankel, as mentioned above. Norma writes:
The scenes Doug animated were the ones where she turns around and lip syncs to the song, then she dances with the local hookers, then the one where she steps in front of the store with multiple images of herself walking…the walking animation was animated by Bob McKnight and he animated quite a few of her scenes as well. Dan Haskett, Bill Plympton, Bob Scott, Rick Machin, Ed Rivera and I, Norma Rivera (his sister, not wife), also animated on the titles. I animated the opening where she steps out of the Warner Bros. shield, strikes a pose then drops. Bob McKnight’s animation picks up from there. I also animated when the thugs are running and one gets stuck in the manhole and when the thugs toss the body in the trunk as Madonna gets in her car…Bob Scott’s animation picks up from there. Ed animated the crowd of blue people who ogle at Madonna as she passes…those are caricatures of some of the people working at the studio….Broadcast Arts, now Curious Pictures NY…Ed is the curly haired guy, Rick Machin is the Smooth haired guy and I think Daniel was one of them…the bald guy. I don’t remember exactly who animated what in the rest of the title, but I’m sure there will be someone else to pass on any information.
(Thanks, Marc Crisafulli)
Toronto-based animation studio Cuppa Coffee Studios has always struck me as a decent outfit, but I’ve lost a lot of respect for them after hearing about their latest endeavor. ZooTube is an “animation contest” essentially designed to screw filmmakers. Here’s the description of the contest taken from their website:
Cuppa Coffee Animation is offering a real opportunity to get your foot in the industry door. We’re looking for exciting talent to be part of a new animated television and web series for a teen and up audience. Submit your short animated film for a chance to showcase it online and on television!
A select group of Cuppa Coffee Development Executives and Directors will choose the best to be part of our new show and then viewers wil be invited to vote for their favourites. The creators of the films that receive the most votes get a shot at the big time with a development deal with Cuppa Coffee Animation.
A development deal with Cuppa Coffee? Cuppa Coffee is neither a major studio or a TV network. They still have to pitch their shows to Disney Channel or Nick, just like everybody else. In other words, a development deal with Cuppa Coffee is about as useful as a development deal with your Aunt Agnes. The deal is seemingly designed to exploit the young artist with no connections to the industry because an artist with any level of experience doesn’t need an intermediary to get their project shown to the networks.
Now this “contest” would perhaps be a little more innocent if it was set up in a fair manner. The problems begin, however, when you examine their Submission Release Form (download PDF here). The submission release basically states that if Cuppa Coffee likes your short, they will take every right they can to your film. Forever. Without guaranteeing you anything in return.
In legalese, they get the rights to “to reproduce, exhibit, distribute, promote and otherwise exploit the Series including the Short or any part thereof, in all media and formats now or hereafter known (including without limitation, theatrical, non-theatrical, telecast, DVD and other video devices, mobile telephone and other wireless devices, MP3 players and other hand-held devices and Internet transmission, including without limitation, posting the Short or any part of the Short on Producer’s website (and the website of any broadcaster or distributor of the Series)), in all languages, throughout the universe, in perpetuity.” And on top of that, “If Producer does use the Short in the Series in accordance with the rights granted in this Submission Release, I acknowledge that I will not be entitled to any compensation.”
Sweet, huh? Who in the hell would ever be stupid enough to enter a contest like this? Such a contest would have been atrocious ten years ago, but today, it’s absolutely unacceptable. It used to be that filmmakers were willing to enter lopsided deals, with places like Spike & Mike, because touring festivals were often the only way they could get exposure for their independent animation.
Thankfully, those days are long over. With the emergence of video on the Internet, filmmakers now have the unprecedented opportunity to have their work seen by millions. Take, for example, Dony Permedi, who a few months ago posted his student short film KIWI! onto YouTube. It has already been viewed over five million times. Granted, Dony didn’t make any money by having his work on YouTube, but he got his work and his name out there to a huge audience without giving up a single right to his work.
The Internet has opened new doors of opportunity for creators, artists, and filmmakers. The power has shifted to the animators’ corner, not the producers or studios trying to exploit your work to establish their brand. You can post your work on your website (Homestar Runner, JibJab), onto YouTube, or make deals with AtomFilms or Revver that don’t strip away your rights. You can publish your work onto dvd and distibute it via the Internet. You can contact development execs at Nick, CN, Disney and elsewhere – it’s their job to seek out your work – and if they like it, you can get a legitimate development deal.
Bottom line is that if you’re going to give your film to anybody, make sure that you’re compensated in a way that is fair, transparent and benefits you as much as it does the other party. As for Cuppa Coffee, let’s hope they seriously rethink this ripoff-disguised-as-contest. It’s embarassing for any studio to so openly and blatantly attempt to dupe filmmakers in this manner.
Below is the MEET THE ROBINSONS spot that Disney is airing tomorrow during the Super Bowl. It’s part of the MEET THE ROBINSONS channel on YouTube. Let’s just hope these aren’t supposed to be the funny or entertaining parts of the film.
Meet Doctor Finklestar: Space Urologist. Sophisticated humor this is not, but it does deliver the funny. It’s from C.H. Greenblatt, creator of the upcoming CN series CHOWDER which looks rather promising.
Here’s a recent AWN interview where a Disney exec producer explains his credentials that qualify him to work in the animation industry:
As exec producer of Disney’s newest animated shows for tweens, what exactly do you do? How is an exec producer different from a producer?
JT: As the exec producer I am the “show runner.” The ultimate responsibility for all creative decisions rests with me. Having said that, my background is comedy writing, so my style is to delegate a lot. Heather Martinez, my director, who is a great artist, is in charge of most “art decisions.” I only weigh in on what I feel are the most crucial ones and I concentrate more on writing, acting and editing.
How long have you been interested in animation? You originally came to Los Angeles with the goal of becoming a lawyer. At what time did that switch for you and how did you transition into animation?
JT: Actually, I came to L.A. as a stand-up comedian. I had quit the law to do comedy. My transition to animation was pretty abrupt. I had been writing for American Movie Classics and Fox Sports when Steve Marmel suggested I freelance a script for the Fairly Oddparents. (He was the story editor.) I wrote a script in February and in June, I was a staff writer.
If you’ve ever wondered why mainstream studio cartoons are so intolerably awful, just ask the former lawyer and stand-up comic who’s responsible for all the artistic decisions on a Disney TV series. There’s hundreds of people like him in this business; it’s just that most of them don’t go on the record talking about their lack of knowledge about the art form. Then again, a lot of them do go on the record. To better understand how they’re collectively screwing the animation industry, be sure to read John Kricfalusi’s fearlessly honest blog post “Crackpot Executive Beliefs.”
Is it just me or is there more innovative stop-motion work being produced today than at any time in recent memory? To follow-up on the post below, here’s an excellent piece of computer-manipulated stop-motion, live action and puppeteering. This new Norah Jones music video, “Sinkin’ Soon,” is directed by Ace Norton. Watch it at NorahJones.com (go to the “Media” section, click on the TV screen, and then click on the “Sinkin’ Soon” title).
I really dug the raw visual vibe, and the immediacy and energy of the animation. Ben Zelkowicz, the supervising animator on the video, shares a few behind-the-scene details about its making:
It was a pretty crazy shoot – most of the animation was being shot on the same stage simultaneously with the live action, so lights were constantly getting tripped over, tables bumped, etc. as we (myself and Tennessee Reid Norton did most of the animation) tried to pump out the vast amounts of footage the director Ace Norton wanted. But I like the lo-fi aesthetic, all found objects, shooting several angles at once, as fast as humanly possible. I am particularly fond of the Svankmajer-esque screw guy playing the trumpet shot I did.
Animator TR Norton also has a few photos from the production posted on his blog.
This inventive Guinness commercial from the UK was directed by Michael Schlingmann. The pixilated spot was shot with a digital still camera; no alteration with CG or post was involved. It would make a nice double-bill with Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck’s short BUSBY.
(Thanks, Uli)
Last week’s episode of FAMILY GUY included this enjoyable interlude of Stewie dancing with Gene Kelly. Wouldn’t it be something special if a modern TV series regularly afforded this much thought to its animation and choreography? The original clip of Jerry the Mouse dancing with Kelly can be seen here.
UPDATE: Steve Worth of ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Archive wrote in with some comments about this sequence:
How much “thought to animation and choreography” does it take to rotoscope someone else’s animation and slap your own character over the top of it? If this was a parody, it would have added some sort of comment through additional humor. If it was a tribute, they would have had the respect not to obliterate the great animation by Ken Muse and Ray Patterson by pasting their own poorly traced drawings over the top of it. To my eyes, this looks like the Family Guy crew took the hard work of these legendary artists and copped it for themselves without adding a single thing to it. They can get away with it, because the viewers probably have never heard of Gene Kelly, much less have seen the clip of him dancing with Jerry Mouse.
How eager are you to see Bugs Bunny cartoons with new videogame characters rotoscoped over the top of them? Maybe they could take Fantasia and roto a CGI Mickey Mouse over the top of Sorcerer’s Apprentice… That’s the sort of thing “great ideas” like this lead to. I’ve never understood why people feel the need to paint mustaches on the Mona Lisa and then have the gall to pat themselves on the back for their great work.
Family Guy deserves no praise for this. A ripoff is a ripoff.
As part of a “marketing campaign” for its series “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” Cartoon Network planted suspicious electronic devices around bridges, subways and highways in Boston, sparking city-wide fears of terrorism. It seems quite appropriate that the bomb squad would have to be called out to dispose of an Adult Swim series.
Apologies to our readers who’ve had trouble logging into Cartoon Brew over the past day. We just switched servers, which was a little less seamless than it was suppposed to be. Thankfully, the tech folk at our host, Webintellects, were excellent as usual and worked to quickly get everything back into working order. Regular posting will resume shortly.
A hearty CONGRATS to Don Hertzfeldt who earlier tonight won the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival for his new film EVERYTHING WILL BE OK. An animated short winning top honors at Sundance is a rare and noteworthy event because at the festival, animated films compete alongside dramatic live-action shorts and documentary short subjects. It’s refreshing to see Sundance recognize a piece of animation with a strong point of view, intelligent storytelling and legitimate artistic merit, particularly after the embarassingly subpar slates of animated short nominees chosen this year by ASIFA-Hollywood’s Annie Awards and the Oscar’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
USA TODAY writes about the new Disney print ad campaign which features Annie Leibovitz photographs of celebrities dressed as Disney characters.
(Thanks, Eliza Kinkz)
