June 17, 2006

THE 2006 CG IMPLOSION

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Reason #7 (of 12) for the Implosion: The trailer for EVERYONE'S HERO.


Posted by JERRY at 09:40 PM

Disturbing Disney Toys from Japan

Don't ask...because I don't know.

UPDATE: Mike Guerrero writes to let me know these are called Cubees, and they're produced by a company called Takara. They were sold at the Disney Store for a while.

UPDATE 2: Cabel Sasser posted on YouTube this video of an even more extreme Disney Cubees display which he saw recently in Japan recently.



Posted by AMID at 06:31 AM

ANIMATOR PAINTS NURSERY LIKE 1930's CARTOON

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Cartoon film collector Joe Busam recently post this slide show of his progress painting a nursery, in the style of a generic early-1930s cartoon, for his soon to be born grandson. Joe told me the backstory on this home project:

When daughter Susi asked me to paint a mural for the nursery, she requested 1930s cartoon characters. Specifically she wanted the style of the Harman & Ising WB cartoons. We both have always love them for their style and unique energy. However she didn't want recognizable characters. Once we established a theme I went to work researching the cartoons for barnyard animals. I then put together the farm kids who are actually the two main characters from Pagan Moon in disguise. Originally the color scheme was going to be based on two strip Technicolor. As it turns out Susi liked the original B&W layouts so much that when I added color it seemed anti climatic to her. Full spectrum color turned out to be too much. In desperation, I added a tint to the original B&W art and that clicked with both of us. Now that I see it enlarged on the wall I think it was a wise choice. More colors would have been pretty overpowering.
Busam is an animator at the PPS Group, a commercial production house in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also works in digital film restoration/preservation and last year produced a dvd, Monster Kid Home Movies, which has received a lot of positive reaction.

I'd love to be able to hire him to do my whole house this way.

(Thanks, Joe Dante and Tim Lucas)


Posted by JERRY at 12:01 AM

June 16, 2006

Great new commercials by Chuck Gammage Animation

Chuck Gammage commercial

Toronto-based Chuck Gammage Animation recently produced a couple appealing and cartoony hand-drawn PSAs for "Sport-in-a-Box", a new initiative of the United Nations Association in Canada.

The "Spider and Fly" spot (watch HERE) was animated by Sam Chou, the "Zebra and Lion" spot (watch HERE) was animated by Blair Kitchen. Both were designed by illustrator Hal Mayforth.


Posted by AMID at 12:46 PM

There's Hope Yet for CG Feature Animation

Mark Mayerson has a short but insightful commentary about the (sad) state of CG feature animation in the US and the hope that exists beyond the current slate of mind-numbingly repetitive and uninspired CG filmmaking:

We had A Bug's Life and Antz and now The Ant Bully. We had Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. We had Madagascar and The Wild. And we're due for a plague of rats. There's Ratatouille, Flushed Away, Rats Amore and One Rat Short.

When you take the genre conventions and add settings or subject matter that have already been done, you're in danger of boring the audience.

Something very interesting happened in the comics field that may relate to what's going on in animation. From the 1960's onwards, comics fans argued for longer, more serious works. While Marvel and DC, the two main companies, did adapt to a degree, they stuck with superheroes and continued to market to their established fan base.

Cartoonists finally took matters into their own hands and started doing personal work that broke out of genre conventions. Between the importation of Manga and mainstream publisher interest in the graphic novel, Marvel and DC have been reduced to minor players in terms of sales and artistic importance.


Posted by AMID at 08:51 AM

June 15, 2006

RARE BUGS BUNNY CLIP

You won't see this as bonus material on the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION dvd series.

Here is a brief sequence from the 1944 George Pal Puppetoon, Jasper Goes Hunting featuring a rare, authorized, cross-over of one studio's star cartoon character appearing in another studio's animated short subject series. This cross-over was approved shortly before Leon Schlesinger sold his studio, and characters, lock stock and barrel to Warner Bros. Nothing like this would happen again until Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies in 1972—and the cameo appearances in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Mel Blanc does the vocals (of course) and Robert McKimson drew the animation. Paramount owns the rights to this film, all the Puppetoons, Fleischer cartoons and Terrytoons... (don't get me started)... so don't hold your breath expecting to see these on dvd anytime soon.



Posted by JERRY at 02:30 PM

BITTER FILMS DVD

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Don Hertzfeldt writes us:

I thought the cartoon brewery might like a heads-up about the big Bitter Films dvd due for release this summer. We have been working on it for, well, too long now but it's finally upon us and is looking like it will not disappoint. The whole package is sort of a thank-you gift with a bow on top to all our fans and friends over the last ten years, so we're doing our best to reach all the assorted drifty riff-raff out there who enjoy the cartoons.
The Bitter Films online shop is offering early birds a four dollar discount and random mystery gifts, including original artwork from one of his films or "a happy little doodle from Don on a post-it note." Don tells us the dvd won't be available in regular stores for months. All the news is at www.bitterfilms.com.

I've already ordered.


Posted by JERRY at 12:00 PM

FAIRY BERRY

FAIRY BERRY

FAIRY BERRY was one of the student films in competition at Annecy. It's a CG work by Thomas Guittoneau, Yacine Sefsaf, Virginie Giroux and Ho Hung Yu produced at EESA (Ecole Européenne Supérieure d’Animation). Nothing groundbreaking animation-wise or story-wise—the plot is a scene right out of SLEEPING BEAUTY—but it's nice to see students not getting caught up in photorealism and pushing CG in a more stylized direciton.


Posted by AMID at 11:21 AM

PARK FOOT BALL by Grant Orchard

Park Foot Ball

With the World Cup in full swing now, it's a perfect time to share Grant Orchard's two-minute masterpiece PARK FOOT BALL (2005), which can be seen on the studio AKA website. The film was created entirely in After Effects, and it's one of the most brilliant bits of animation I've seen in a while. All the characters in the film—people, birds and a dog—are reduced to abstract blocks of color, yet their actions are not only clear, they're also funny. The sound design by Nic Gill is equally perfect and inspired. I'd previously written about another of Orchard's films, WELCOME TO GLARINGLY, here.


Posted by AMID at 09:06 AM

But Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are in it...

Ant Bully trailer

The new trailer for Warner Bros.'s upcoming ANT BULLY is posted HERE. It looks like a pretty good CG film...especially if it was currently 1994 and nobody had ever released a computer animated feature. The studio responsible for the animation, DNA Productions, has already laid off most of the ANT BULLY crew, and if the film does as well as I think it will, it's unlikely they'll have to worry about restaffing anytime soon.


Posted by AMID at 01:20 AM

June 14, 2006

Annecy Caricatures

Animation artist Cholki Han was inspired by the Annecy pics I posted yesterday and did some amusing caricatures of folks in the photos (see below). He has some other nice work on his blog as well.

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Posted by AMID at 07:25 PM

NEW PINK PANTHER COMIC STRIP

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Last year Tribune Media launched a new syndicated Pink Panther comic strip, by Bill and Eric Teitelbaum (Bottom Liners), and they are still trying to build awareness of it. It's certainly not running in L.A. So here's a link to the Tribune Media web page, with several downloadable strips. Since I wrote a book about the Pink Panther, I feel a certain obligation to keep you informed on new Panther developments.


Posted by JERRY at 04:10 PM

ARGLE BARGLE

Flintstone designs

Self-professed "animator, actor, comics artist, archivist, director, collector, writer, historian, painter, packrat, recluse, hermit, crank, and all-around weirdo" Clay Croker (best known for his vocals as Zorak and Moltar on Space Ghost Coast To Coast) now has a blog. He is slowly reprinting the contents of the booklet John Kricfalusi wrote for the out-of-print FLINTSTONES laser disc set. John K.'s interview with Ed Benedict is here and John discusses the individual animators here.


Posted by JERRY at 08:10 AM

June 13, 2006

Annecy 2006

I'm back. Thanks to Jerry for holding down the fort and keeping the Brew updated while I was having an awesome time in Marseille and Annecy.

I'm pretty sure that I saw less films at this year's Annecy animation festival than at any other festival I've ever attended before. And yet, I ended up learning more than ever about what's happening throughout the animation community. Living in the insular and industry-driven Los Angeles animation world, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that there's a huge world of cartoons beyond Burbank. Annecy is a wonderful place to connect with this broader animation world, and to discover artists and films from all over. No doubt I'll be sharing plenty of Annecy discoveries here on Cartoon Brew over the coming months.

While I recover from an exhilarating and inspiring week filled with leisurely cafe lunches, late-night parties, tasty picnics and boat races, I thought it'd be a nice idea to share some photos from the festivities because, after all, an animation festival is only as good as the people attending it. The photos below represent only a fraction of the people I spent time with at Annecy, but it should offer a taste of the incredible gathering of talent at the festival. (Note: People in the photos are identified left to right.)

Annecy 2006 photo
Main hall at the Bonlieu, the festival's primary screening location

Annecy 2006 photo
My camera can barely contain all the talent in this photo: Bob Camp (currently directing ROBOTBOY in Paris), Gwynn Adik (producer, Duck Studios), Bill Plympton, Pat Smith and Dave Wasson

Annecy 2006 photo
British invasion: Curtis Jobling (creator of the forthcoming series FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT) and illustrator/character designer JAKe

Annecy 2006 photo
New Yorkers Pat Smith, Lisa LaBracio and Aaron Hughes, and Danish animator Frederik Ring

Annecy 2006 photo
Composer Nik Phelps (TWISTED TALES OF FELIX THE CAT) and COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG creator John Dilworth

Annecy 2006 photo
Bill Plympton, Marv Newland, and Jesper Fleng (director and co-founder of Happy Flyfish Studio in Denmark)

Annecy 2006 photo
John Dilworth and filmmaker Biljana Labovic

Annecy 2006 photo
Former Disney Feature animator and TELL-TALE HEART director Raul Garcia, TELL-TALE producer Rocio Ayuso, and Joanna Quinn, whose latest film, DREAMS AND DESIRES—FAMILY TIES, won the Jury's Special Award and the Audience Award at Annecy.

Annecy 2006 photo
I was surprised by how much interesting and quality animation is currently being produced in Spain. Here's a group shot of some Spanish animation folk: Guillermo Garcia (co-creator of POCOYO, which won best TV series at Annecy), Juan Pablo Etcheverry (director of one of my favorite shorts in competition, MINOTAUROMAQUIA, PABLO IN THE LABYRINTH), stop motion director Sam Orti and Raul Garcia.

Annecy 2006 photo
Cartoon Network development manager Alex Manugian and animator Will Krause came up with an unconventional (and very fun) game of pasta strainer frisbee.



Posted by AMID at 08:27 PM

1960s THEATRICAL CARTOONS

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John McElwee, on his Greenbriar Picture Shows blog, recalls the horror of 1960s theatrical cartoon shorts:

These were dark days for animation. It’s a wonder our generation survived it. Never mind the damage sustained by Viet Nam and the drug culture. It was these cartoons that consigned many of us to a lifetime of sloth and indirection.
McElwee discusses the budgets these films were made under - and the meager profits they returned. No wonder they were soon to be history.


Posted by JERRY at 05:30 PM

June 12, 2006

LA TIMES ON ED CATMULL

Pixar Animation Studios Main Gate Photo

An excellent front page story by Claudia Eller on Pixar's Ed Catmull in today's L.A. Times (registration may be required). Couple of quotes from the article worth noting:

"Sometimes, it's the leadership that's blocking something," Catmull said in a recent interview in his new office at Disney, a place where animators have griped for decades about being micromanaged. "I've always believed that you shape the management team around the talent rather than try to force people into a certain way of doing it."
Later in the piece Eller notes several of Catmull's managerial beliefs:
Ed believes that you should always hire people who are smarter than you.

Ed believes that it's more important to invest in good people than good ideas.

Ed believes in a "talent-ocracy." If you make films for everybody, you need to listen to everybody's ideas, whether they come from a janitor or a storyboard artist.

Ed believes that you learn by making mistakes and that success often disguises problems.

Ed believes that magic happens when you don't operate out of fear.



Posted by JERRY at 02:24 PM

June 11, 2006

BEFORE WALT

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For years, Ray Pointer of Inkwell Images has been compiling the best of early American cartoon art and preserving animation history through a series of self-produced home video releases. Ray not only finds the best prints of this material, but showcases them in their proper historical context with facts, rare photos, advertising art and practical explainations of how the animation pioneers applied their craft.

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Ray's latest release, BEFORE WALT, is a must-have for any serious student of animation history. All the important films, the important players and the vital facts are here. The films include the established firsts - Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906), Fantasmagorie (1907), Little Nemo (1911) - and prime examples of vintage Fleischer, Messmer, Terry - and yes, Walt Disney. Ray also includes an informative illustrated insert and his DVD contains bonus cartoons, animators biographies and a silent cartoon poster gallery.

Next Saturday, as part of the Centennial of American Animation, Asifa-Hollywood is holding the premiere presentation of BEFORE WALT at their monthly screening on the AFI campus (details here). Ray will be on hand with copies of BEFORE WALT for sale, and will screen some special surprises not contained on the DVD.


Posted by JERRY at 11:25 AM

THE ACT

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We've come a long way since Dragon's Lair. Disney animator Broose Johnson has been applying his talents to a neat new interactive project, The Act, "a romantic comedy filmgame with a unique story, visually stunning graphics and personality animation." Watch the trailer here. "Using only a simple control knob, players intuitively manipulate the emotions and consequent actions of a short film's main character while being immersed in an appealing story."

(Thanks, David Silva)


Posted by JERRY at 12:01 AM