Good article on the CG rotoscope technique used in WAKING LIFE and challenges in making the forthcoming A SCANNER DARKLY in the latest WIRED. Worth reading.

Hans Perk of A. Film A/S in Denmark sent us these drawings (below) and storyboard images (above) from unfinished Disney production #2428, PLIGHT OF THE BUMBLE BEE, mentioned in our previous post. This material is certainly intriguing! (Click on each to see larger image)

This story is more about illustration than cartoons, but Bill Joyce is a familiar face in animation nowadays. He was the production designer of Fox’s ROBOTS (I worked with him on the film’s ‘art of’ book) and his children’s book A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON is being turned into Disney’s upcoming CG feature MEET THE ROBINSONS. Joyce, who is a native Louisianan and still lives there, had drawn a cover and written a story for the NEW YORKER magazine about the Katrina hurricane tragedy. Both the story and cover got bumped from this week’s issue because of vice-president Dick Cheney’s recent hunting escapades. Here is Bill’s story about the NEW YORKER cover that wasn’t:

DICK CHENEY SHOT HIS FRIEND BUT HE KILLED OUR COVER.
I was asked some months back to do a New Yorker Cover depicting some aspect of how New Orleans was dealing with Mardi Gras in the post Katrina world.

I’ve done occasional covers for the New Yorker since 1994 and since I am a native Louisianan and still live here they hoped I’d have an informed perspective on the tragedy and its aftermath.

My schedule has been crazed. The movie business demands all you’ve got and more. But this was a labor of love and something I felt I had to do.

Coming up with a concept that tempered my rage with some hope was not easy, but I got inspiration from an old photograph of Mardi Gras in the ’30’s by J. Guttman, called the” The Game”. It’s a wonderful, eerie image of New Orleans and its curious magic.

The editors were very pleased with the results. The proof looked great. Some friends cried when I showed it to them.

The image did what I’d hoped. It made people from here sad and proud at the same time.

I was hoping it would, I don’t know, somehow help. Help call attention to our plight. Help people understand us.

Then Dick Cheney shot his friend instead of a bird.

A more topical cover was cobbled together. A clever twist on Cheney’s folly.

I’ve had covers at the New Yorker bumped before. That’s just part of the game. But this one really mattered. The hurricanes have turned the people of Louisiana into activists. We no longer have the luxury of emotional distance with this story.

Louisiana had received its share of coverage lately I was told. They tried to find a place for it inside the magazine. Everyone said they were sympathetic. But nothing happened.

So we’ve been shunted aside again.

Our collective sorrow and tragedy mattered less than a single hunting accident.

I really had hoped that compassion would win out over clever.

Mr. Cheney’s friend is thankfully alive. Meanwhile we’re still finding bodies in New Orleans.

Here’s the cover. I hope you can use it to keep the story of our troubles alive.

(click on cover for larger version)

A new childrens short, The Little Short Sighted Snake, produced in Estonia and designed by Benjamin Bocquelet (of London’s uber-talented Studio Aka), was released this week. See the trailer here.(Thanks, Al Young)

The Japan Times is reporting that the first post-war Japanese animated feature has been restored to its original 48 minute length.

A complete version of “Princess of Baghdad” had not existed for years. A Fukuoka resident donated an almost complete version to the library in 2004. Since then, the library has worked with the National Film Center in Tokyo to restore the film to its original length. Before the resident came forward, the only copy confirmed to exist was a 37-minute version kept at the NFC.

I love this story in today’s DAILY VARIETY:

Jessica Rabbit isn’t welcome in China — and Michael Jordan shouldn’t show up with any of his Looney Toons pals.In one of the more bizarre orders from China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, TV shows and films featuring human thesps with animated companions will be banned.”These human live-action, so-called animation pieces will not receive distribution or distribution licenses,” read the order, issued Feb. 15. However, films and shows that have already received permits will continue to air.CGI and 2-D characters alongside human actors jeopardize “the broadcast order of homemade animation and mislead their development,” according to a report from the state-run Xinhua News Agency.Order comes as the Chinese government attempts to increase local production of Mandarin-language toons and cut the amount of foreign animated programming appearing on Chinese television. Chinese regulatory authorities are notoriously skittish regarding broadcast and film themes that include the supernatural or fantasy, including talking animals. “Babe” was banned on the basis that animals can’t talk and some viewers would be confused.

The guys and gals of the HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI crew at Renegade Animation have put up a blog HERE. There’s a lot of talented artists on the show so expect to see some good work. I hope they also get around to posting more of the show’s excellent designs and layouts, especially the work of Mike Giaimo and Shakeh Haghnazarian.

Now that you’ve returned a creative producer – an animator, no less – to head Disney Feature Animation and Imagineering, and you’ve righted a 77-year-old wrong by returning Oswald The Lucky Rabbit to the studio, why stop there? There are a couple of other loose ends in Disney history you might consider tying up.First off, there is a little film you own the rights to called THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER. Ask Roy Disney about it. This feature film was taken away from its creator Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) by the Completion Bond Company and reworked into a mess called ARABIAN KNIGHT (released by Miramax in 1995). Restoring this film to Williams’ intended vision would be a great way to get the traditional animators back up to speed while Pixar’s story team begins developing new films to revive this now-neglected art form.Secondly, there is a wealth of material in the Disney vaults and archives, developed and produced under Walt’s watch, which never made their way to completion. DESTINO was one of those projects. The two in particular I’m thinking of are Mickey Mouse shorts: THE TALKING DOG and PLIGHT OF THE BUMBLE BEE. Both were shelved late in their respective production schedules, in the early-1950s. Both have existing dialogue and music tracks, storyboards and were 98% animated (by the likes of Freddy Moore!). Two new classic shorts – just sitting there, simply waiting for ink-and-paint!You’ve already suceeded in returning some magic to the Disney name. These requests are rather simple compared to the two coups you’ve recently pulled off. Just consider them food for thought.(Oswald button, above, was distributed to employees on the Burbank lot last Thursday.)