Cartoon Brew

SKY BLUE

I had a great time at a screening of the Korean animated SKY BLUE last night at the Egyptian Theatre.

The visuals are incredible. The story was the usual post-apocalyptic haves versus have nots plot with pro-enviromental overtones, but unlike the recent and similiar all-cg KAENA, this film is always compelling, due to the director's choices of shots, cutting and on screen action. I wasn't bored for a moment.

Producer & co-writer Sunmin Park was on hand for a Q&A, revealing that we had just watched an High-Def screening of the film (it was as good as any 35mm print I've ever seen - say goodbye to film). She said the film was composited in HD and is a combination of traditional hand drawn animation (quite good), CG, miniatures and live action... and it worked for me.

She said they were in talks for U.S. distribution and hoped to get it released (for Oscar consideration) this year. The English dub was satisfactory, but not great - lip sync was off and some of the secondary actors were poor. All in all, I'd recommend seeing SKY BLUE, especially in a theatre, when it comes out.

DONALD DUCK'S STAR

To commemorate his 70th birthday, Donald Duck gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this Monday, August 9 at 10:30 am. The unveling will take place at 6840 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Disney Store/El Capitan Theatre.

More on Lucasfilm in Singapore

A Brew reader from Singapore writes the following note regarding MY COMMENTS on the new Lucasfilm animation studio in Singapore. I can't confirm the validity of the info within, but for the sake of discussion, it's worth posting the email here.

I am SO HAPPY that you saw that George Lucas' attempt to set up a studio here had nothing to do with artistic conviction. Truth is that one of our businessmen, Sim Wong Hoo, owner of Creative Technology, is a shareholder in Lucas's THX sound system. He called up the chairman of the Economic Development Board one day, asked him if "he'd like to contact Lucas," and the Chairman agreed straight away. And that is how it all began.

BTW, there are good graphic novels made by Singaporean artists, like MALINKY ROBOT AND STINKY FISH BLUES. But then again, dude got his work started only via grant from the Xeric Foundation founded by Peter Laird, and was educated at Cambridge in Philosophy and the Rhode Island School of Design...so can you say we MADE him what he was?

Tim Biskup Interview and Store

Painter/designer Tim Biskup is on the cover of JUXTAPOZ magazine this month, and inside of the issue there's a short but informative interview with him. Tim discusses a lot of familiar names - Blair, Oreb, Benedict, Flora - and recounts an important lesson he learned from John Kricfalusi: "He pointed out that Mary Blair, and all of the really good animation people, could draw really well...Then, when they abstracted the forms into cartoon characters, they were these amazingly balanced, beautifully formed creatures. They were flat, but the character had form." Also in this same issue, there's an ad for the Bispop Gallery: The Tim Biskup Store which opens next month inside of Johnson Motors Inc. (36 W. Colorado Blvd. #7, Pasadena, CA 91105). The all-Biskup store will feature original art, toys, apparel, books, ceramics and everything else Tim has ever done. Mark your calenders for the grand opening bash on Saturday, September 18 from 6-9 pm.

FRANKENBERRY REDUX

Animator Chris Romano has posted his work on a website, Toonlets, and came up with several clever audition pieces - including this one, FRANKENBERRY REDUX a CG remake of a classic 70s-era cereal commercial.

THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT

Under the radar - and with no U.S. release planned at all - is a full length CG feature based on the hippie-trippy 1960s British kids show The Magic Roundabout. This is the U.K. series that won a cult following among adults for its perceived drug references. You can catch the trailer here.

The Best Anime Blog

Since discovering his site a few weeks ago, Ben Ettinger's AniPages Daily has become one of my favorite blogs around, which is perhaps notable because the primary focus of his journal is Japanese animation. What makes his writing unique is that he doesn't approach anime from the conventional fanboy perspective with lots of long plot synopses and the like, but instead focuses on the actual animation and the individual animators who are responsible for the work. Ben writes effortlessly about classic Japanese animation as well as modern films, and recently he posted a comprehensive look at the animated features produced by Toei Doga from 1958-1972, which includes films such as LITTLE NORSE PRINCE, JACK AND THE WITCH and a local favorite among the LA crowd LITTLE PRINCE AND THE 8-HEADED DRAGON. When not writing about anime, he also finds the time to praise the works of great non-Japanese animators like Oskar Fischinger and Yuri Norstein.

One film that Ben has been tirelessly plugging for the past couple months is MIND GAME, which opens this weekend in Japan. I was unsure of what the hype was about until I saw the trailer, and now all I can say is WOW! This film looks to be a pure demented visual trip along the lines of YELLOW SUBMARINE, but many leaps beyond; a perfect melding of art and technology and an incredibly beautiful use of animation. The director is Masaaki Yuasa, whose short film SOUND INSECT NOISEMAN both impressed and confused me when I saw it a few years ago. Despite a limited release in theaters, MIND GAME is generating a lot of buzz in Japan's animation community, and according to Ben's latest update, the animation studio Madhouse has even started a cheerleading squad to promote the film in the streets of Tokyo. That's rather amazing considering that Madhouse had nothing to do with the film's production; the equivalent would be DreamWorks animators running around the streets of Burbank to promote the latest Disney feature.

New Jersey's First Animated Feature

Chris Northrop and Mark Tordik have apparently taken a course at the Bill Plympton School of Filmmaking and decided to produce an animated feature completely by themselves. The New Jersey natives, both in their early-twenties, are currently deep into production on a hand-drawn 40-minute animated feature called DAY OF THE PIGMAN. Between the two of them, they are handling every production task, even going so far as to voice the lead characters themselves. The film recounts the tale of mad scientist Dr. Osgood whose research leads to the creation of the first Pigman and ultimately the destruction of humankind. The film was co-written by Northrop and Tordik, with Northrop handling all the animation responsibilities. PIGMAN is expected to be completed by Spring 2005. To keep up with the film's production, visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

NICE KATIE RICE

Brew reader and Spumco veteran Katie Rice got a nice write up in her local hometown newspaper, the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, in which we learn she doesn't enjoy most of the cartoons she sees on television these days. But, she says, "I absolutely love the earliest Betty Boop cartoons from the 30s and Warner Brothers cartoon shorts from the 40s. My ultimate goal is to one day be as good as the people who made those."

You're our kind of gal, Katie! And she has a great website and on-line portfolio worthy of serious perusal at www.katienice.homestead.com

Lucasfilm in Asia

Leave it to George Lucas to attempt putting an artistic spin on outsourcing. About his newly formed Lucasfilm animation facility in Singapore, here's what he had to say:

"I've been a fan of Asian animation and illustration all my life. Asian cinema has had a particularly big impact on a lot of my work. When we began thinking about developing new ways to explore the craft of animation, it seemed a natural step to combine the two. By having a base in Singapore, we can create a new style of animation that will blend East and West and offer something not seen before."

Oh, I get it, so the reason Lucas is starting a studio in Singapore is because he wants to incorporate Asian influences into his animation. And of course, whenever I hear the words "Asian animation" the first country that pops to mind is Singapore. Can anybody even name an original animated production or comic from Singapore that's made it into the West? If this lofty artistic declaration were the true motivating factor behind the new Asian arm of Lucasfilm, then it would have made far more sense to launch the studio in a country like Japan which has both a rich history of producing innovative animation and a large pool of top-notch talent to draw upon. The far more obvious explanation for Lucasfilm's arrival in Singapore can be found in this sentence from Monday's VARIETY article: "Singapore facility is backed by a consortium of investors based in the country, including government agencies the Economic Development Board and Creative Technology, which are providing funding and advice." Nobody's going to disagree that it makes financial sense for Lucasfilm to launch a studio in Asia, but trying to validate it as some noble-minded creative choice is disingenuous and lessens Lucas' artistic integrity (or whatever remains of his artistic integrity after RADIOLAND MURDERS and HOWARD THE DUCK).
[Thanks to Gary S. for the article link]

Collect All 99

Baby Tattoo is a new company I found out about while down at the San Diego Comic-Con. It's a publishing company founded by Bob Self with an ambitious goal: to create 99 $9 hardcover illustrated books drawn by today's best illustrators and cartoonists. The first two books in the series are Ragnar's GOT YOUR NOSE! and Gris Grimly's WICKED NURSERY RHYMES. There are plenty of other artists lined up for future books including Michel Gagné and Gary Baseman. [Updated 8/6 - Bob Self wrote in to correct a few things: Gary Baseman still hasn't officially agreed to illustrate a book, and Gris Grimly's WICKED NURSERY RHYMES is not part of the 99 $9 series, but a separate title from Baby Tattoo. My apologies to Bob for the errors.]

Accidentally Crappy

An animator/musician friend emailed me this note about the new Counting Crows music video "Accidentally in Love" (see it HERE) and after taking a look at it, I'm inclined to agree with him:

Don't know if you've seen this yet or not. It is absolutely the WORST music video I have ever seen. Combine shitty music from the Counting Crows with horrible animation... Absolutely a shit fest.

Drew Carey's Green Screen

DREW CAREY'S GREEN SCREEN, a new series on the fall WB Network schedule, is essentially WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? with animation added behind the live-action performers. The website doesn't have much of anything on it yet, but I'll take this as an opportunity to say that I'm looking forward to the show. Ron Diamond's Acme Filmworks is producing the animation, and they've hired a whole slew of independent animators to contribute animated segments, including the likes of Patrick Smith, Bill Plympton and Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero. It remains to be seen how well this concept will work, but at the very least, it'll be fun to see animation in a variety of styles and techniques on primetime television.

EGYPTIAN MELODIES

In addition to the previously noted JOHN K. extravaganza on September 7th & 8th (which I will update further in the weeks ahead), the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood has added a few other animation screenings to their monthly schedule.

On Sunday August 15th at 6pm, the Cinematheque will screen the original French version of La Planete Sauvage (aka FANTASTIC PLANET) as a tribute to its late director Rene Laloux.

On Friday September 10th, a new 35mm print of Bakshi's FRITZ THE CAT will screen around 11:30pm (it's the second half of a double bill with Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls starting at 9:45pm).

Also keep in mind that CINECON will take over the Egyptian from September 2-5 with marathon screenings (9am to midnight) of vault prints and fresh restorations of the most obscure movies in Hollywood history (including cartoons - and your last chance to see POPEYE MEETS SINDBAD with the original titles). I'll be posting more details about CINECON in a few weeks. Till then check the Cinematheque website for more information.

Project Backpocket

I like the concept for Project Backpocket, in which eight Vinton Studios interns are given nine weeks to produce a short animated film using the studio's resources. The interns are currently in week 7 of production, and the public can keep track of their progress at ProjectBackpocket.com where each of the interns is keeping their own personal production blog. A tip of the hat to Josh Parpan, one of the artists working on the film, for cluing me in to the proceedings. Josh is creating some really nice artwork for the hand-drawn sequence in the film, while the rest of the short is being produced in CG.

Around the Web

* A couple fine San Diego Comic-Con reports by Ronnie del Carmen and Scott Shaw!.

* It's been a while since we've mentioned his name here, so let it be known that "America's last untamed cartoonist" Milton Knight has updated his WEBSITE. And even if he hadn't done that, it would still be worth a visit.

* GAPING VOID cartoonist Hugh Macleod has posted some eloquent MUSINGS on the nature of creativity and what it takes to achieve success as an artist. (via Boing Boing)