If I could be one person in Hollywood history, I think I'd like to be Sammy McKim.
What a career! Sadly, as Jim Hill notes today, McKim has passed away. I had my one and only chance to meet him earlier this year at Bill Justice's birthday party. I asked him a lot of questions about making the serials... and what he thought about his boss, Walt Disney. He was in great spirits and I noted that looked like a double for Donald Rumsfeld (photo here)! But what a great guy.
Russell Degnan has a nice REPORT from the Melbourne International Animation Festival with mini-reviews of the films and retrospective programs that he saw at the fest. He's very thoughtfully divided up his film reviews into categories like "The Entertainers" and "The Bizarre But Brilliant". Definitely worth a read, especially if you see a lot of short films. And his festival report reminds me, I should probably get around to posting some comments about the Zagreb Animation Festival.
Eisner routinely pays for a security sweep by electronics experts every few months out of his own pocket. This is the first time evesdropping bugs are believed to have been found.The devices were analyzed by electronics experts and determined not to be the sort used by law enforcement authorities.
After some apparent internal disagreement, Disney officials decided not to alert the Burbank Police Department about the secrity breach...
Check it out by clicking here! If you look close you'll see the likes of Ed Benedict, Art Davis, Joe DeNat, Emery Hawkins and many other famous names - as well as the inkers, painters, producers and support staff. What a treasure this is! Thanks for sharing this with us, Mike.
Timothy Albee moved to Alaska after working on Disney's DINOSAUR and created his own 22-minute CG short called KAZE, GHOST WARRIOR. He made the film not just to tell a story, but also to make a statement, namely that animators can create feature quality animation on their own personal computers for a fraction of the cost of studio features. Albee says that he spent only $5000 on the film. His production credits for KAZE are another strong indictment of the Hollywood system, highlighting the bureaucratic and archaic production system which plagues modern animated features. There's more about Albee's film in this article from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Tim also recently wrote a book about the film's independent production process - CGI FILMMAKING: THE CREATION OF GHOST WARRIOR.
Next is a very different type of project. Sergio Pablos, an animator who worked at Disney Feature in both Paris and Burbank, has moved to Spain where he has become creative director of the Madrid-based studio Animagic. Here he's produced a beautiful trailer for a hand-drawn animated film called GIACOMO'S SECRET (click on the "What we are doing" link). The film also has an intriguing story to support the artwork, however it'll be a few more years before anybody can see the completed film. Sergio recently wrote a bit about the trailer on Animation Nation:
To answer some of your questions, it's still too early to know whether or not the film will be released in the States. First we need to find out whether the film will get enough financing, although all signs are pointing to yes so far. In any case, the film wouldn't go into production for another year or so. Unfortunatelly, that's the way things work in Europe. You have to get companies from different countries involved in the project, then each of these companies requests funds from their own governments, and that can take a while. No private investor in Europe will ever produce an animated film on his own. And it doesn't look like this is about to change either.As for the trailer, it's the work of one lay out artist, one BG painter, two animators (myself included), and a few people who chipped in by doing just about everything. It was a very low budget, and a very short schedule, but we were somehow able to finish it in time.
As for any other ex-Disney guys beside myself, the other animator was Borja Montoro, another Spaniard with whom I worked with at Disney Paris. Most of the character design work is also his. Very talented guy.
Jorge Gutierrez's wife, Sandra Equihua, was kind enough to forward some photos she took during the Flash & TV Production panel, which I moderated at ASIFA-Hollywood's 2D Expo a couple weeks ago. They serve little purpose but I figured as long as I had them, it wouldn't hurt to post them. There's also a photo from the TV Development panel which featured Eric Homan (Frederator) and Peter Gal (Nickelodeon). If you're trying to get a show on Nickelodeon, you should consider being nice to at least one of these fine gents.
Photos (identified left to right):
1. Gabe Swarr, Bob Harper
2. Eddie Mort, Lili Chin, Jorge Gutierrez
3. Me, Eddie, Lili, Jorge, Gabe, Bob
4. Development panel with moderator Rita Street (Animation Magazine), Eric Homan (Frederator) and Peter Gal (Nickelodeon).
The future of Disney animation? You decide: Click Here!
(Thanks for "Rzetlin" on Animation Nation for the link)
Relevant to us, however, is the bounty of restored animation showcased during the festival. Opening night (7/22) "Paths Of Glory"will preceeded by a restored version of George Pal's anti-war Puppetoon TULIPS SHALL GROW (1942). On the following Sunday night (7/25) a restoration of the Max Fleischer Color Classic A CARTUNE PORTRAIT (1937) will screen preceeeding "Penny Serenade".
A previously lost Toonerville Trolley cartoon, TOONERVILLE'S BOOZEM FRIENDS (1921), will preceed a double bill "The Roaring Road" and Harold Lloyd's A Sailor-Made Man.
But the big day for us animation historians is Sunday August 1st at 2pm: A TREASURY OF SILENT ANIMATION. This program will include rare animation by Hugh Harman and Ub Iwerks, Earl Hurd and Lyman Howe, and "lost" subjects by pioneers Emile Cohl and Max Fleischer as well as surviving fragments by Paul Terry and J. Stuart Blackton. A partial list of the program includes:
THEATRE DE HULA HULA (1917)This program is presented by Hugh M. Hefner and introduced by UCLA Archivist Jere Guldin.
LES METAMORPHOSES COMIQUES (1912) Directed by Emile Cohl
INDOOR SPORTS (1921) Animation: William C. Nolan.
JOYS AND GLOOMS (1921) Animation: John C. Terry.
FELIX THE CAT WEATHERS THE WEATHER (1926)
SICK CYLINDERS (1926) An "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoon.
THE WANDERING TOY (1928) "Lyman H. Howe's Hodge-Podge."
JIMMY GETS THE PENNANT (1917)
KOKO PACKS UP (1925) Directed by Dave Fleischer
DEEP SEA DIVING (1925) Red Seal Pictures.
ANIMATED HAIR CARTOON, NO. 21 (1927) Directed by Sid Marcus.
A MODERN MOTHER GOOSE (1924) Issue No. 1 of the Fleischer "Funshop" series.
KOKO'S QUEST(1927) Directed by Dave Fleischer. And surviving segments from films known and unknown, including early Vitagraph subjects, "Bobby Bumps," "Aesop's Film Fables," "Mutt and Jeff" and other cartoon series.
Do not miss this event! The live action films ain't bad either. Check out the entire schedule HERE.
Reason #432 Why we love ebay...
If a lucky Brew reader gets it, let us know.
(Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the link)
Bill Clinton likes Warner Bros. & Paramount cartoons!
According to his best-selling autobiography, MY LIFE, in chapter three recalling his youth, the ex-president says:
"For cartoons, I preferred Bugs Bunny, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Baby Huey, with whom I probably identified."
I am personally very excited about the forthcoming new feature from Katsuhiro Otomo (AKIRA): STEAMBOY. If you haven't seen the trailer, please click here.
This is terrific!
Columbia Pictures and Lego produced a wonderful stop motion piece by Tim Drage and Tony Mines (of Spite Your Face Productions a London based animation studio responsible for several successful LEGO parody films) called "The Peril of Doc Ock" - it sums up SPIDERMAN 2 completely in "Legomation". View it in Quicktime here
(Thanks to William Ansley for the link)
More details have emerged, so mark your calenders:
Bob Clampett, Casper and Super President |
The BOB CLAMPETT panel is from 4-5pm on Friday, July 23 in room 8.
WORST CARTOONS EVER screening is on Saturday night, July 24 from 8:30-10:00pm in room 6AB (followed by Bill Plympton and Spike and Mike).
Be there! San Diego Comic Con
Sky Blue |
Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, home of the American Cinematheque, runs a continuous schedule of the most eclectic film programming in southern California. The new July-August program is out and there are two animated features making their L.A. debut - and possibly their only big screen appearence - that are worth noting:
Dead Leaves |
On Saturday August 7th at 3pm, Japan's Production I.G. (Blood: The Last Vampire, Ghost In The Shell) previews their latest film, DEAD LEAVES. This one looks very loopy, fast paced and fun.
Here's a TIME MAGAZINE story about Imagi, the Hong Kong studio that's producing the animation for the upcoming DreamWorks TV series FATHER OF THE PRIDE. Until a couple years ago, the company's primary business was manufacturing artificial Christmas trees but now they specialize in animation. PDI animator Raman Hui, who is overseeing the animation in Hong Kong, says the studio's lack of experience is refreshing because "They say, 'Tell us how to do it.'"
Next is FROM WALT TO WOODSTOCK: HOW DISNEY CREATED THE COUNTERCULTURE by Douglas Brode. Being from a university press, the book could potentially be just a bunch of overwrought pretentious nonsense, although the premise of this is fascinating enough that I'm tempted to give it a read. Here's the book description from the Univeristy of Texas Press website:
Douglas Brode overturns the idea of Disney as a middlebrow filmmaker by detailing how Disney movies played a key role in transforming children of the Eisenhower era into the radical youth of the Age of Aquarius. Using close readings of Disney projects, Brode shows that Disney's films were frequently ahead of their time thematically. Long before the cultural tumult of the sixties, Disney films preached pacifism, introduced a generation to the notion of feminism, offered the screen's first drug-trip imagery, encouraged young people to become runaways, insisted on the need for integration, advanced the notion of a sexual revolution, created the concept of multiculturalism, called for a return to nature, nourished the cult of the righteous outlaw, justified violent radicalism in defense of individual rights, argued in favor of communal living, and encouraged antiauthoritarian attitudes. Brode argues that Disney, more than any other influence in popular culture, should be considered the primary creator of the sixties counterculture—a reality that couldn't be further from his "conventional" reputation.