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VIEW POSTS BY “amid”Cartoon Brew's home for up-to-the-minute, unedited announcements and press releases direct from industry sources.
December 14, 2006 9:21 am
 Atlanta animation director Ward Jenkins has posed an excellent question to his blog readers: “What would you consider The Holy Grail of Animation? What cartoon, short film, or feature (or anything else) that you’ve heard about but have never seen — preferably something that is practically impossible to see — that has achieved legendary status throughout the years?” He’s received answers from many fine folk so far including John Canemaker, Tom Sito, Jerry Beck, Tom Knott, Mike Barrier and Clay Croker. Head on over to Ward’s blog and contribute to the list. No Comments » posted in Old Brew 
December 14, 2006 1:57 am
In my book CARTOON MODERN, I mention briefly the story of what happened when legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright visited the Disney Studios in 1939. Wright had brought along a Russian animated film, THE TALE OF CZAR DURANDAI, and screened it for the artists to inspire them to think more modern. Never did I imagine that a transcript existed of Wright’s discussion with the Disney artists. Historian Didier Ghez has uncovered the transcript and posted the first five pages of it on his Disney Books blog. He says the rest of the transcript will be posted soon. The discussion in this first part takes place primarily between Wright and storyman T. Hee, who would work at UPA for much of the 1950s. Studio composer Leigh Harline is also present and chimes in briefly. Wright’s unwavering dedication to being progressive and modern must have been quite a jolt to the Disney artists; John Hubley said he was greatly inspired by Wright’s visit to the studio and it’s easy to see why after reading this transcript. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 14, 2006 12:53 am
It’s a full-time job trying to keep track of all the emerging animation stars of the online world. One of the newest hit-creators is 22-year-old Norwegian Lasse Gjertsen whose videos are racking up millions of hits on YouTube. At the end of this entry, I’ve posted his most successful short, AMATEUR. The film, which uses an offshoot of the pixilation technique, was created in two days and has received over 1.8 millions views in the month that it’s been on YouTube. Earlier this week, Gjertsen was profiled in the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The article is well worth checking out. It reveals that Gjertsen studied animation in both the UK and Norway. His creativity wasn’t appreciated at either of the schools, so Gjertsen dropped out, began creating his own shorts and posting them onto YouTube. The WSJ piece also points to this TV commercial for FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS that blatantly rips off (I’m sorry, pays homage) to another of Gjertsen’s shorts called HYPERACTIVE. Has there ever been a truer sign of the times: Cartoon Network, with its healthy budgets, plentiful resources, and dozens of artists working on each show, has to look to a lone animation artist working from his parents’ basement in Norway for creative inspiration. We all know that the mainstream animation industry has been creatively bankrupt for years; what’s different is that for the first time, there’s a viable alternative to Hollywood. Whether it’s the heartfelt simplicity of Dony Permedi’s KIWI, the satirical edge of JibJab, or the innovative animation techniques of Lasse Gjertsen, audiences are discovering and embracing an exciting new world of animation that previously wasn’t available to them…and this is only the beginning. UPDATE: It’s been pointed out to me that the FOSTER’S promo spot, which I mentioned above, was not produced by the crew that produces the TV show. It was created by CN’s On-Air group in Atlanta, without any creative input from the FOSTER’S crew. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 13, 2006 2:27 pm
Mark Mayerson has posted a terrific analysis on his blog of the different ways that sympathy can be created for animated characters. He uses plenty of examples from Disney films. Mark writes:
No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 12, 2006 5:52 pm
 While Cartoon Network continues to abandon cartoons in favor of live-action productions, this article in yesterday’s NY TIMES reaffirms how important animation is to Nickelodeon’s success. These paragraphs stood out in particular:
The TIMES piece was “coincidentally” timed with today’s announcement by Nickelodeon of their upcoming slate of animated productions. Among their new shows is EL TIGRE: THE ADVENTURES OF MANNY RIVERA, created by my pals Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez (pictured above). I haven’t seen any of the episodes yet (the show premieres March 2, 2007), but visually, I’m pleased to report that EL TIGRE features some of the most kick-ass eye candy I’ve seen in a TV production in recent years. (Use BugMeNot if registration is required) No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 12, 2006 12:15 pm
 Thanks to digital tools available nowadays like Flash and various CG packages, everybody knows how to move a character, but very few understand how to make a character act and emote. There’s a lot more thought involved in the latter, as is made clear in this insightful mid-1970s discussion between animation legends Richard Williams and Ken Harris. And don’t forget, Ken Harris has an entire website dedicated to his work at MasterAnimator.com. The Harris and Williams photo above and the link to the interview both come courtesy of Hans Bacher. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 12, 2006 1:59 am
 “[FANTASIA] is a mishmash of pedantic narration and erratic tone (the finale’s soul-sucking demon gives the death of Bambi’s mom a run for the money in the childhood trauma department), and, frankly, some of the animated sequences now seem dangerously akin to screensavers.” That’s the assessment according to PREMIERE magazine’s list of the 20 most overrated movies of all time. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
December 11, 2006 11:54 am
 From the “What Were They Thinking Department”: NBC has produced a live-action remake of the 1970s Rankin/Bass holiday special THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS. The special premieres tonight. I think the still above of the Heat Miser and Snow Miser tells you everything you need to know about the production values on this new special. (Thanks, Mark) No Comments » posted in Old Brew
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