1 Comment »   posted in Events, Cartoon Dump

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Rauch Brothers Animation, operated by Brooklyn-based Mike and Tim Rauch, epitomizes all that is good about New York animation. A couple years ago, they started producing self-funded animated shorts based on audio recorded by the StoryCorps oral history project. These films inspired an entire series of shorts commissioned by the PBS documentary program POV. The Rauch Brothers are now producing their second season of StoryCorps shorts for POV.

I conducted an interview via e-mail with Mike and Tim to learn more about their unconventional background and how their passion project evolved into a full-time job. They will also be presenting their work TONIGHT (4/20) in New York at an ASIFA-East program. In addition to previewing some unaired shorts, they’ll be discussing the process of producing these shorts. The screening begins 7pm at the School of Visual Arts (209 East 23rd Street, 5th Floor, Rm 502). Admission is FREE.

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CARTOON BREW: Tell me a little bit about your backgrounds. Neither of you studied animation in school, right?

MIKE RAUCH: We both drew voraciously in grade school, and studied animation and drawing on our own throughout grade school, junior high, and high school. Our teenage brother knew we were into cartoons, and in 1992 he took us to see Beauty and the Beast at a dollar cinema that showed movies after their initial run. When we left the theater, we were both convinced that animation was our future. 

TIM RAUCH: The more we got to know about Disney animation, the more we came to respect the role of traditional draftsmanship skills in creating hand-drawn animation. Eventually, we discovered the work of Aardman Animations and the film Going Equipped in particular. Seeing an ex-convict tell his life story through quiet, carefully observed acting was very powerful for us and we began to think about using animation to tell stories about the human condition.

MIKE: I had dreamed about going to a school like CalArts since the age of 12. However, with six kids to send off, our parents sent us to whatever school offered the most scholarship money. For both me and Tim that turned out to be St. John’s University in Queens.  
 
TIM: St. John’s didn’t have any animation courses and the focus was very much on traditional visual arts training. By the time I finally got back around to trying my hand at animation in my senior year, I had spent a good deal of time studying master drawings and sketching people in the subway. As when I was a kid, I was more interested in using small adjustments in posture or little facial ticks to act out a story than bigger, louder movements. With our current work, I am still very interested in these subtleties but we are also beginning to embrace clearer staging and broader acting when it can enhance the story.

MIKE: Self-study and self-directed work has always been a major part of our lives, so we never considered not having a formal training in animation as a limitation. In fact, I think the reverse can sometimes be true. I studied graphic design in college and enjoyed it, but after four years of school I found that all the rules and practices I learned were holding me back. When I sat down to a blank page, there was a war in my head. I found myself overly concerned with the “right way” to do things.

I eventually landed at StoryCorps, where I helped record interviews with everyday people and edit them for radio broadcast. It was a really exciting time for me because I was learning how to shape stories in a much more organic, experiential way than I had learned design. I learned a lot by simply using my ears, my intuition, and then getting feedback from my editor. While I was working for StoryCorps, Tim and I started to work collaboratively, returning to our long-running interest in animation.
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16 Comments »   posted in Animators, Events, Interviews, Shorts, Mike Rauch, Rauch Bros., Rauch Brothers, Tim Rauch

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THIS WEEKEND IN NYC: MoCCA Fest

April 9, 2011 1:14 am

Today and tomorrow is MoCCA Fest, the premier indie comics event in New York City. Doors are open each day from 11am-6pm at the Lexington Avenue Armory (68 Lexington Ave between 25th and 26th Streets). I exhibited there last year and highly recommend MoCCA: lots of terrific artists will be in attendance, remarkably low-key and relaxed, and the focus is purely on comics and art.

Plenty of animators will be exhibiting, among them, Devin Clark and Dan Meth (A17), Bill Plympton (B6), Meathaus (A11), Kaitlin Sullivan and Polly Guo (C16 ½), Jake Armstrong, Dan Pinto, Maya Edelman and others at D12, and Rob Kohr and Tom Eaton (L19 ½). Also on Sunday evening at 5:30 pm, there’ll be an animation screening of recent indie films. Tickets are $12 for one day or $20 for both days.

3 Comments »   posted in Comics, Events, MoCCA Fest, NYC

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TUESDAY NIGHT in LA: “Chronopolis” at the Cinefamily

April 4, 2011 4:30 pm

This month my monthly screening at the Cinefamily (at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood) is a tribute to the Phantasmagoric Films of Piotr Kamler. Amid has previously posted about Kamler on the Brew; his films contain a surreal assortment of sci-fi imagery, combining stop-motion techniques (puppets, clay, cut-out), early CG and even pinboard animation.

Tonight, in addition to a selection of his best shorts, we’ll be screening a rare 35mm print of Kamler’s 52-minute opus, Chronopolis (his only feature film) – an Egyptian-flavored cybernetic opus that sucks you into a alternate universe with its own M.C. Escher-like laws of physics, space, time, and dream-logic. Fans of surrealist animators like the Brothers Quay will see similarities to their earlier films, which were likely influenced by this incredible work. The show starts at 8pm. Tickets and more info here.

7 Comments »   posted in Events, Piotr Kamler, Poland

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The Most Homoerotic He-Man Art You’ll See Today — And For A Good Cause (NSFW)

April 1, 2011 4:30 pm

Skeletor Saves is a He-Man-themed art show (NOT an April Fool’s Day joke I assure you) taking place next Thursday, April 7, at HeadQuarters Studio (385 Broadway, New York, NY 10013). As oxymoronic as the concept is, it’s hard to fault the show’s goal which is to raise money for the Ali Forney Center in New York City, a shelter for homeless LGBT youth.

Some major names from the fashion world are contributing pieces, including Marc Jacobs and Helmut Lang, but most of the artwork appears to be culled straight from the math notebooks of bored high schoolers. Let’s hope that after this show, we can we finally put a stick in the “let’s-ask-a-bunch-of-random-artists-to-create-cheesy-artwork-based-on-a-lame-childhood-memory-that-nobody-in-their-right-mind-would-hang-in-their-home” trend.

I’ve collected some of my favorite pieces after the jump… and by favorite, I mean most homoerotic. It’s kinda NSFW, but if you really think about it, so was the original Filmation series:
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110 Comments »   posted in Events, He-Man, Homoerotic

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TONIGHT in LA: Cartoon Dump!

March 28, 2011 12:05 am

Our monthly live comedy/cartoon revue, Cartoon Dump, goes on as usual tonight at 8pm. Honoring the “Worst Cartoons Ever Made” with Frank Conniff (MST3K), Erica Doering, Emo Philips as our resident Cartoon Musicology Professor (all three pictured above from last months show) along with me (Jerry Beck), J. Elvis Weinstein, Mighty Mr. Titan and special stand-up comedy guest Michael Rayner at the Steve Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. • Free Parking! • Advanced Tickets here • Phone: (323) 666-9797 • Map & Directions. Tell us you’re coming on Facebook!

2 Comments »   posted in Events, Cartoon Dump

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TONIGHT IN NYC: Peculiar Picture Parade

March 24, 2011 2:30 am

Tonight at 7:30 pm, the 92Y Tribeca (200 Hudson Street) presents “Peculiar Picture Parade: Animated Films Defying the Norms,” a collection of recent animated shorts by New York animators. The screening, curated by Joy and Noelle Vaccese (aka Twins are Weird), includes recent pieces by Bill Plympton (Guard Dog Global Jam) Pat Smith (Masks), Signe Baumane (excerpts from the feature-in-progress Rocks In My Pocket) and Fran Krause (Nosy Bear), among others.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or in advance at the 92Y Tribeca website.

5 Comments »   posted in Events, Bill Plympton, Fran Krause, Joy Vaccese, Noelle Vaccese, Pat Smith, Signe Baumane, Twins are Weird

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Serge Bromberg bringing 3D cartoons to San Francisco

March 11, 2011 12:05 am

French film collector, archivist and Annecy Animation Festival creative director Serge Bromberg will present Retour de Flamme: Rare and Restored Films in 3-D on May 1st at San Francisco’s famed Castro Theatre.

Bromberg will be honored with the 2011 Mel Novikoff Award for his invaluable work as “a collector, preservationist, exhibitor, programmer and enthusiast of cinematic treasures”. On Sunday May 1st at 5pm, he will accept the award and then dazzle the audience of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5) with his collection dedicated to stereoscopic 3D shorts. The program includes rareties by the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès, Norman McLaren, Charley Bowers, Chuck Jones and the Disney Studios, films from the Soviet Union and contemporary shorts by Matthew O’Callaghan and Pixar’s John Lasseter.

Films will include Coyote Falls (Matthew O’Callaghan, USA 2010, 3 min); Falling in Love Again (Munro Ferguson, Canada 2003, 4 min); The Infernal Boiling Pot (George Méliès, France 1903, 2 min); Knick Knack (John Lasseter, USA 1989, 4 min); Lumber-Jack Rabbit (Chuck Jones, USA 1954, 7 min); Melody (Ward Kimball, USA 1953, 10 min); Motor Rhythm (John Norling, USA 1940, 15 min); Musical Memories (Dave Fleischer, USA 1935, 7 min); Working for Peanuts (Jack Hannah, USA 1953); and many many others.

Tickets are $15 for San Francisco Film Society members and $20 for the general public. For tickets and information visit sffs.org/tickets. The box office is now open for members and on March 30th for the general public. For more information visit sffs.org. I highly recommend you attend this incredible screening.

8 Comments »   posted in 3-D, Events, Serge Bromberg

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