SVA animation student Greg Lytle (previously featured in the Animated Fragments) was recently commissioned to create this quirky trailer for publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s new book The Storytelling Animal. The book, written by Jonathan Gottschall, is about “the integral part that stories play in the human species”. Lytle created the trailer in two and a half weeks, using Photoshop and After Effects.
I’ve been a huge fan of Scott Shaw’s Oddball Comics presentations at Comic Con since I first saw them over 20 years ago. Scott projects a selected comic book cover on a huge screen and points out (if it isn’t already obvious) how ridiculous it is. Scott’s comics and comments are simply hilarious. If you haven’t been able to catch this in San Diego, Scott’s now performing the presentation (for a limited time only) at a theater in Hollywood – Saturday nights at 8 PM at the Oh My Ribs! Comedy Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard near Cahuenga. I am honored to join Scott this week (4/14) as a special guest, where I will screen several Oddball Comics as Oddball animated cartoons! Yes, Jack Mendelsohn’s Jacky’s Diary and Hal Seeger’s Muggy-Doo Boy Cat, two of the strangest comics creations ever to make it to the screen (as theatrical cartoons, yet!), will be shown. Join us on Saturday night for this once-in-a-lifetime comics/cartoon event!
I don’t have much to say about game promos, but there’s some nice animation here- I even like the mo-cap guy. Hopefully the game lives up to the trailer.
(Thanks, Neil LaPointe)
Once upon a time, a cook tried to prepare a turtle for dinner. Papaye was directed by Geoffery Godet, his 4th year project at France’s Supinfocom.
I like these cute new Mickey and Minnie cases for Apple’s iPhone 4 which come with extended mouse ears, feet and four-fingered gloved hands. And the way the girl is holding the phone, her hand on Mickey’s crotch, certainly explains his wide smile.
(Thanks, Edwin Austin)
Little over a year ago we posted an live action parody of Nickelodeon’s Doug. NYC Comedy trio, DrCoolSex, are back with another Nicktoon update: Hey Arnold, the Movie!
(Thanks, Roberto Severino)
Quite simple and quite effective. Fresh off the festival circuit this beautiful film, a metaphor of the life cycle, was the graduation film of Yi Zhao for the Academy of Art and Design/St. Joost in the Netherlands.
If Hollywood were to take Pac Man seriously and produce a live action blockbuster movie of it – it would probably feel like this. Multi-hyphenate animator James Farr made this faux trailer for Pac-Man The Movie (The Fan Film) at the coolest production house in Tulsa, Oklahoma: Steelehouse.
Animator Mark Kausler blogs about his latest discovery – Bob Clampett’s first published cartoon art. It’s from 1925 and was published in the L.A. Junior Times, a children’s supplement to the popular newspaper that encouraged amateur artists to send in their work. Clampett had several pieces printed during the summer that year and Kausler opines how these foreshadow things to come. Read it here.
Worth a look: Kim Deitch (veteran underground cartoonist and son of animation director Gene Deitch) talks about his comics career and cartoon cat influences. Kim is one of over 75 other top comics creators interviewed in a new book, Leaping Tall Buildings by Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner (both blog at Graphic NYC).
(Thanks, Anne D. Bernstein)
The spectacular sold out UPA program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) last week marked the beginning of even more animation events being planned for The Bing Theatre. In fact, the next few weeks are practically a festival of animation at the museum.
Starting tonight is a two-week series Adventures in Wonderland: Alice and Other Lost Girls in Fantastic Worlds, which will include a look at some of the great Alice In Wonderland adaptations, including Jan Svankmajer’s Alice (tonight at 7:30pm), William Menzies’ 1933 Paramount version (4/7 @ 5pm), Disney’s 1951 animated feature (4/14 @ 5pm), and Lou Bunin’s stop-mo feature plus Quay Brothers shorts (4/14 @ 7:30pm).
On Thursday April 26th, as part of the Museum’s series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Paramount Pictures, there will be a tribute to the studio’s animated legacy. At 7:30pm South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut will screen – followed at 9pm by a tribute (curated by me, Jerry Beck) to Paramount Cartoons where I will introduce a full program of 35mm archive prints – including Fleischer Betty Boop, George Pal Puppetoons, Famous’ Baby Huey, Gene Deitch Munro and John Hubley’s Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass Double Feature. The double bill with South Park is $10. There will also be a separate admission available ($5) for just the Paramount shorts at 9pm. More details to come!
On Friday April 27th the Center For Visual Music will host a double feature of experimental classics. First, at 7:30 Design In Motion: Oskar Fischinger and Abstract Animation a program of 35mm preserved prints of Fischinger’s visual music films: Allegretto, Motion Painting no. 1, Composition in Blue, Kreise, An American March, Radio Dynamics, Spirals, Spiritual Constructions, Studies 5,6,7 and 8, and more. At 9pm, a program of modernist animation by California artists (including 16mm films by Jordan Belson, Jules Engel, Harry Smith and others). These programs will introduced by Cindy Keefer of Center for Visual Music.
Five friends, five musicians, one garage. Here’s a killer sample piece created and directed by Toronto’s Sam Chou, for a TV series in development with Chuck Gammage Animation. The character design is by Seo Kim and it is too cool… this must go to series!
The trailer for Seth MacFarlane’s new movie Ted, went online Monday. Cartoonist Lucas Turnbloom has been drawing the online comic strip Imagine THIS since 2008. Tom Racine of the internet comics podcast Tall Tale Radio, noticed some similarities and made this comparison graphic (click thumbnail at left). Turnbloom is not accusing MacFarlane or his writing team of anything, but many of his fans and his cartooning friends have noticed some incredible similarities.
How does it look to you?
Crash by Belle & Sebastian
A cover version by Belle & Sebastian of the 1988 hit song Crash by The Primitives. This animated video was made by Stephen Tolfrey.
Pirates Life by We Cut Corners
This video is hand drawn frame by frame with markers on paper by Polish artists Katarzyna Kijek and PrzemysÅ‚aw Adamski. It’s now an official selection in the Music Video category at Annecy 2012. (And don’t miss their top-secret making-of video).
Cut-out style, directed by Danish illustrator, animator and short film director Henric Wallmark.
Changing The Rain by The Horrors
Last but not least – a kaleidoscope of color directed by Pete Fowler.
This brilliant piece of stop motion/pixilation from Buenos Aires-based Juan Pablo Zaramella was on the Oscar shortlist last fall. Visually clever, funny and sweet, it’s now online and worthy of your attention:
(Thanks, Jason Sondhi)
