Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Today, of course, is September 11th and certainly no New Yorker can get through the date without reminiscing about that horrible day back in 2001.

Tom Hachtman visited the studio yesterday and he and I went on a bit. He’d regularly submits pieces to the New Yorker magazine. He was on his way into the city to submit a cover that had the strange bit (the week before 9/11) where a parachuter landed on the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The twin towers were in the background. When he learned, coming into town, that the buildings had been struck, he didn’t even show his cover idea (a good and funny one, normally) but went home.

Everyone was affected from great to slight, and a very sad calm comes over when we give our minds to it.

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- Shane Acker‘s 9 opened in New York this past Wednesday and might have snuck in without notice if we weren’t looking for it. I have seen the ad for it several times on tv -all during Yankee games – (which is more than I can say for Ponyo.) All of the ads were action-adventure blow up kinda ads. None of them would get me near a theater.

I do have the memory of the short that was nominated for the Oscar. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I certainly remembered it. Mad Max meets Henry Selick meets student film. I couldn’t tell if it was puppet or cgi, though I suspected cgi. I now know it was. At least Shane Acker makes no bones about that being the look he was going for.

The film didn’t get a review in the NYDaily News until today – a short 2 star review; it earned 3 stars from the NYPost, and received a generally non-commital of a review from A.O.Scott in the NYTimes. (Since he’s now half of that new “Siskel/Ebert” clone of a show, it’ll be interesting to see what he says live on the upcoming program.)

The NYTimes does have a slide show of stills from the film.

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- Speaking of cgi looking like puppet films, here’s a cgi film that DOESN’T look like a Viewmaster clone. Un tour de manège They sought to imitate painting.
What do you know! Gobelins strikes again.

The film’s a bit romantic in tone, but the graphics are superbly done. It’s technically very sophisticated but quite simple in its look and execution. I appreciated the work that went into it and the final product.

Thanks to Ian Lumsden‘s great blog for pointing me in the right direction.

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- Too Art for TV4 is the title of the latest art exhibit of work by animation artists. The wrok will be displayed in Williamsburg at the art gallery, Erebuni. The opening reception is next Friday, September 18th, 6pm-9:30pm

The show, itself, will run from September 18th, through October 17th, 2009
at Erebuni, 158 Roebling St. Williamsburg, NY 11211.

I urge you to support your fellow artists and take a look.

Some of the artists exhibiting may be unfamiliar names; others may be friends. I suggest you check out the website and scroll down. Take the time to read some of the bios.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS include:

Liz Artinian ____ Amanda Baehr-Fuller____
Christopher Beaumont ____Andrew Bell
Robert Bohn ____Connie Li Chan
Devin Clark____ Eliot Cowan
Jared Deal____ Kelly Denato
Eric Dyer ____Maya Edelman
Jon Ehrenberg____ Christopher Fisher
Chris George ____Kenneth B Gore
Edmond Hawkins ____Jen Hill
Stephen Irwin____ Marta Maria Jonsdottir
kaNO ____Thomas Knowler
Eileen Kohlhepp ____Peter J. Lazarski
Eric Leiser____ Adam Levine
Dave Lipson____ Todd Kidwell Lown
Richard Mather Cynthea____ Satsuki Mazur
Margaret Meyer____ Jessica Milazzo
Nate Milton ____Michael Mucci
Deodato Pangandoyon____ Alex Smith
Zartosht Soltani____ Ryan Sovereign

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- I enjoyed Mark Mayerson‘s comments on Miyazaki‘s book Starting Point. I’ve been hot to get my hands on this one for some time now. I ordered it from Amazon and have been in limbo ever since.

I’ve just received a second notice (a month later) that the book has just been shipped. I’ll believe it when I have the book in my hands. It’s a bit frustrating. There are times when I wonder why I didn’t just go to the store and buy a copy! (Of course, laziness is the answer.)

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- As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Walt and El Grupo opens today at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street. The reviews for the film have been good (only the NYPost offered their top reviewer), as expected. All of those I saw (about 6 of them) said the film was too reverential, a studio promoting its own history.

I thought it a good documentary with lots of sterling footage of the groups travels through Latin America. Jerry Beck’s one negative comment is the same for me – I wish the film had offered more of the animation from the films that came out of this trip. Of course, I’m one of those the movie was made for – an animation fan who went into it knowing who all the people on screen were.

I did appreciate a lot of the commentary about the strike, that all of these employees were part of – on Walt’s side of the fence. We learn in the doc that many of them were worried for those they’d left behind. We can easily imagine what a concern that would be. It’s a good film that you should see if you have any interest in Disney.

- Last week there were the noisy attacks pro and con of the 09 Ottawa Animation Festival poster. It climaxed with Amid Amidi’s turn on Pete Emslie’s artwork attacking his caricatures as: “. . .tired Hirschfeld impersonations”. This isn’t quite a bad put down considering the almost 70 year brilliance of Al Hischfeld’s caricatures. Hirschfeld was an artist of the highest calibre, and to say one’s work looked like his is to say it looks like a Matisse or a Picasso.

I was never a raving fan of Hischfeld’s work, though I couldn’t help but respect his lifelong consistency, clean art and beautiful ink work. However, when I went to an exhibit which toured NY through the Public Library a few years ago. This exhibit initiated at the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian and moved across the country.

It was after seeing this work, in person, that I began to see Hirschfeld himself. Somehow we ended up at the same venues for four or five occasions at this late point in his life. I was always too shy to go up to him to introduce myself.

Surprisingly, Hirschfeld’s caricatures were the stunning gems throughout the show. (There were also those beautiful Joe Morgan celebrity caricatures as well as setups and drawings from Disney’s Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (see this post.)

By the age of 18, Al Hirschfeld had been an art director for Louis Selznick, Sam Goldwyn and Universal Pictures. His connection with movies and movie stars was set for the rest of his life. He befriended Miguel Covarrubias in 1923 when they shared a studio and many interests.

In 1924 he left to study painting in Paris and traveled extensively for the next few years. In the interim he began to pubslish celebrity caricatures. Dick Maney, intrigued by the actor Sasha Guitry, noticed and liked a caricature on a playbill that Hirschfeld had done. Maney brought it to the attention of the New York Herald Tribune. Thus was began Hirschfeld’s career in the newspapers – including 20 years at the Tribune where he even acted as Moscow Theater correspondent for the paper.

After he had done the Marx Brothers’ collage caricature he was on a bee-line to great success.

The Night at the Opera 1935, a collage.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

A 1928 caricature of Scottish comedian, Harald Lauder, printed in the NYTimes.
This was one of the earliest published and a good start to a career.

A 1939 drawing of dancer Bill Bojangles in the show, The Hot Mikado.
Designer, Nat Karson and Producer, Hassard Short stand to the right.

This 1946 caricature of the Cradle Will Rock shows composer,
Marc Blitzstein at the piano surrounded by the cast.

This 1950 caricature of Walter Winchell shows the
style fully formed including the imbedded NINA.

Presidential candidate Wendell Willkie was painted for
American Mercury magazine in May of 1944.

A 1949 painting of H.L.Mencken as the first of a series of covers for
American Mercury magazine, Lawrence Spivak, publisher, commissioned it.

Edward R. Murrow in a painting done for TV Guide in 1956.

Good caricature is an artform of its own.
Great caricature can be as brilliant as art can get.

First the positive:
- There are a couple of good comments about Ponyo on a number of those blogs I often frequent, and I’d like to call attention to a couple of them. Mark Mayerson, as usual, articulates some of the finest insight into the story of the film. David Levy has some fine comments worth checking out on his blog. As expected Daniel Thomas MacInnes’The Ghibli Blog offers many views and comments over many posts about the film.

This is a film that has remained very much alive in my mind since seeing it two weeks ago. Any animator or anyone interested in animation should see it.

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Then the dumb:

- There seems to be some nasty commentary brewing on some blogs about the current poster for the 09 Ottawa Animation Festival.

I’m made to think back to the world of the forties. Some animation artists wanted to move the world of the cartoon out of the Nineteenth Century and into the Twentieth. When these artists did break from the tradition, creating UPA, ultimately dragging the medium into the art world of the present, there was a backlash by those who didn’t seem to understand what was going on.

Picasso, Matisse and Klee (not to mention Pollock, Kline and Dubuffet) had successfully brought the artworld around, but the cartoon world was stuck on Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane. The new wouldn’t do for these animators, and they rebelled against the different. The public loved the new shorts.

The world’s not too different today. Some people are denying Obama’s naturalized birth, and others are denying modern art. (Even though it isn’t all that modern.)

When I first saw the OIAF 09 poster I liked it but didn’t think much beyond that initial response. Now I see all these absurd comments attacking the artwork on the poster, and I wonder what the fuss is all about. Pete Emslie, on his blog The Cartoon Cave (indeed), in a post childishly labelled “Blecchh!”, veers from his usual presentation of celebrity caricature to rail against this artwork. “. . .it’s not to my more discerning tastes, art wise. Rather than be on a poster for an international event, I’d suggest the proper place for this image would be taped to a fridge door by some loving mom.” The comment looks down its nose with a childish and ludicrous tone; as if Pete Emslie had decided his taste in art was “more discerning” and better educated. And he doesn’t just have to tell you he doesn’t like the poster, he has to try to find the nastiest invective: “My best guess is that it’s supposed to be a cat vomiting. Yes, a vomiting cat, I’m almost sure of it.”

Naturally, others comment trying to outdo the viciousness on this blog attacking the Festival poster. It’s disturbing that this “better-than-thou” attitude exists. I find it odd to have to defend abstraction or modern art at all.

This poster is a fine work, and it deserves a little respect from those who’d like to call themselves artists. Perhaps it’s time to revisit your art history books and art galleries; you might find that this doesn’t work as a gag cartoon because it isn’t one. It isn’t very comfortable, and it’s not supposed to be.

Kudos to Chris Robinson for selecting such a poster to represent this Festival and for selecting more daring films (that would never find the way into super-commercial Fests like Annecy) within the programming, itself.

Richard O’Connor has similar musings on the Asterisk blogsite.

- Now in release on DVD is Emily Hubley‘s live action/animation feature, The Toe Tactic. Kino is releasing this film as of Sept. 1 and can be bought through Amazon here.

The movie follows Mona Peek (Lily Rabe) on an opening trip back to her suburban childhood home. She grieves her late father where nostalgia for their past overwhelms her. A number of other eccentric characters are interwoven with animated characters who comment on the action as Mona tries to come to terms with her reality.

In her review in the NYTimes, Jeannette Catsoulis wrote: “Mixing mischievous animation with quirky live action, the writer and director, Emily Hubley, transforms a conventional drama of loss and healing into an experimental jaunt through a surreal weekend in New York.”

The DVD includes a number of extras including scenes cut from the film, other shorts by Emily Hubley as well as storyboards from the film.
Co-stars include Eli Wallach, David Cross and Mary Kay Place (just about my favorite actress)
The music is by Yo Lo Tengo.

I enjoyed the film immensely when I saw it on the big screen at MOMA and then found myself equally and completely pulled in when I turned on the DVD, planning to watch only a few moments of the show, but caught pleasantly rewatching it all anew. It’s really enjoyably goofy, and you’ll get pleasure from it. Try renting it; once you have, you’ll want to buy a copy.

Some stills:

Lily Rabe

Voices of: David Cross, Andrea Martin,
Eli Wallach, Marian Seldes, Don Byron

Novella Nelson and Lily Rabe

Jane Lynch

Lily Rabe confronted by her animated alter ego.

Animation by Jeremiah Dickey and Emily Hubley

John Sayles

Lily Rabe and Mary Kay Place

Screen credit goes to the following people for the animation:

Mario Camacho …. ink and paint artist
Jeremiah Dickey …. animator & ink and paint artist
Emily Hubley …. animation director, animator & ink and paint artist
Tara Knight …. animation compositor
Biljana Labovic …. ink and paint artist
Lisa LaBracio …. ink and paint artist
Joy Marie Smith …. animation intern
Jeff Scher ….. animator – “Mirror Mona”

- So let me spill some thoughts on Miyazaki‘s Ponyo.

I’ve already stated that I think this is the Best Picture of 2009 – to date. Nothing else has stirred my imagination, my sense of hope or my belief in the medium as this film has.

There were no lackluster set pieces in the way of most Western animation. The story was built from the respect for the human spirit and its intermingling with the earth and sea around it.
There were no traditional filmmaking formulas; this film created its own rules. We’re in the hands of a master who knows all the rules and knows when and how to break them.
There was no irony, cynicism or sarcasm in the way of telling the story (as we find in most of the other children’s films these days.) Ponyo is glorious, life affirming, a real treat as a moviegoing experience. Before the film was over, I was making plans to see it again.

Yes, the story is dense and sometimes confusing. There’s a lot of back story we’re not privy to. And like all other Miyazaki films, there’s a lot we don’t get as Westerners. He has a cultural separation that he honors and places high in his order of business. Gods and spirits and magic, all incomprehensible to us, abound in his films, and we are forced to accept it and ride with it or be left behind.
We saw this in Princess Mononoke with at least half of the characters – white wolves, dying deteriorating swine, a supreme god of a deer with blazing antlers.
We saw this in Spirited Away (just that title) with all of those curous subsidiary characters that walk or float their way through the film guiding its heroine.
In My Neighbor Totoro, there’s Totoro, itself.

Ponyo takes its spirits to the sea. It’ll be hard to look at the ocean again without thinking of Miyazaki’s interpretation of the living, breathing water. It hasn’t been animated like this before, and we haven’t seen such a screen incarnation of it. All those undersea creatures: from the prehistoric fish to the dark minions riding the waves to the dozens of guppy-like sisters of Ponyo. They’re all wondrous.

The film is a 2D experience, and it was purposefully crafted as such. Elements that would have so easily been done in cgi were drawn and animated by hand. Ripples and underwater movement were all done in the animation rather than with an effect.

The backgrounds are attractive watercolor paintings, very distinct and different from other recent stylizations. The gorgeous backgrounds of Lilo and Stitch used watercolors in a very open and clean style. In Ponyo there’s a busy-ness that’s also attractive; it’s certainly preferable to me over the style of other recent Miyazaki films – much more tactile. The change from the usual opaque flat colors to aqueous translucent ones works well with this story.

The animation is, I think, better than recent Miyazaki films. Yes, some of it’s on three’s but other parts are on ones. None of this matters since it’s what the animation is saying and feeling that counts, and it’s doing a lot of both. There are no tics and cliches to be found; everything is new to us. The animation here is completely subservient to the film’s broader themes, and it’s a real treat.

The sequence where Ponyo runs on top of the waves of water in a race with the auto on the shore could not be any greater. I just sat there with my mouth open totally in tune with the film and completely enchanted with the graphics themselves. Animation, Background, effects and cutting all played harmoniously and together. It was an absolute delight.

The English voiceover dubbing was hit and miss. I have the suspicion that the actors were directed to underplay their emotions so that they’d sound more “Japanese” – in tune with the original. When you’re working with Liam Neeson or Cate Blanchett (who gives an interesting lilting accent – slightly Eastern European), their interpretations make this strategy work. However, Tina Fey (who is a better comedian and writer than actress) comes up with what seems a careless, non-caring mother who just is not very likeable. The kids are kids and their voices are totally in-sync with the film. Betty White and Lily Tomlin are superb.

I also suspect that the dialogue was altered to try to explain or weaken some of the cultural differences in the story. It’s the only place where cuteness intervenes in the film. I’ll search out a subtitled version of the film on DVD to compare.

The score by Joe Hisaishi was superb. A beautiful orchestral score with full melodies and strong backing of the film. Only the final credit song was horrendous – it literally pushed people out of the theater. Too bad because there was a unique feel in the credits. The title read something akin to “Those who made the film:” and listed everyone’s name bunched together in alphabetical order. Composer, director, producer, animator, colorist; they were all mashed together without categorizing their service to the film.

I’m glad the film was so brilliantly 2D; I’m also glad there was no attempt to add 3D illusions so that I’d have had to gray-down the experience with those wretched glasses. I will see it again before it leaves theaters. The visuals are so dense, this is should be seen on a big screen. The audience attending my screening also loved it.

If you have any interest in animation, you owe it to yourself and the medium to see this film.

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Prior to the screening there were a rash of ads for coming animated features and children’s films. They all – ALL – looked weak. Maybe they were just bad trailers.

Planet 51 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs lead the way and sort of blended together in the mash of trailers.

Planet 51 with Meatballs

The Princess and the Frog looked better, but the animation displayed revealed no character animation, just attitude.

I want to see this film and support it; I hope to be delighted by it but my guard will be up. I’d like Disney to be doing more 2D animation, and the success of this film will have some say in that. The future of properly trained animators is dependent on it.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox looked charming. The clunky stop-motion animation will be a bother for me – I’ll be watching the self-moving fur. I have a feeling they’re using Starewicz as their model. George Clooney’s voice was excellent.

Then of course there’s The Christmas Carol (which couldn’t look uglier – Jim Carrey’s – I mean Scrooge’s arms look like exorbitantly long sticks – very unattractive) with its motion capture problems. I won’t go to the theater for this.

I think I’ll go see Ponyo again.

- Before getting into the photopost today, I have to say that I saw Ponyo last night. Pleased to report that the theater was sold out (though I know the prediction at this point is for the film to make $4.3 million over the weekend.)

I have to say that this was far and away the most enjoyable film experience I had this year. The movie kept me on the edge of my seat absolutely enrapt by Miyazaki‘s brilliant presentation. The mid section where the girl returns has to be one of the greatest animated sequences of all time. I will see this film again, and I can’t encourage you enough to take it in. It’s great. Best film of the year so far.

I’ll have a ore detailed review later this week when my brain settles down.

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- Here with another gripe, I have the Sunday photo bit. Last Saturday I woke up to Police preparing Park Avenue for the 2nd annual Summerstreets program/festival/whatever. I don’t know what they’re actually calling it.

This is the latest attempt by Mayor Bloomberg to turn all of Manhattan into a suburban mall. He’s taken Times Square/Madison Square and Herald Square and closed them off to traffic. People can sit in the middle of these large thoroughfares and picnic. Excuse me, but Broadway is the major street in New York, and there’s no driving on it. Traffic is what there is now. It’s absurd!

Walking across Broadway and 29th Street, I found the street cut in half. There’s one lane for traffic (this is BROADWAY!) and one lane for pedestrians. What’s to say?

So, I found Park Avenue shutting down to traffic at 6AM last Saturday. The same this week.

Signs were placed in the middle of the street to tell pedestrians
what to do. .

The area that’s closed for these pedestrian malls is quite long.
Maps were set up to show people where they could go
without being run over.

All of Park Avenue from 42nd Street
(photo shot at 30th St looking downtown) down to . . .

. . . Houston Street in the Village. (shot from Bleecker looking uptown)

I haven’t been near the street during the mid-day hours, so I can’t vouch for how crowded it gets. But I’ve been told it’s pretty congested.

At 2pm the program shuts down and traffic can move again.
I wonder how much this costs the city to hire police officers to watch the traffic, set up and pick up the stantions, people to produce the signs and posters, and oversee the whole magilla. I’m not sure, but it seems whacko to me.

- When in doubt work it out in court.

A 14 year old boy, Coleman Hickey, in 2007, made a stop-motion animated music video to the song “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight,” by Spinal Tap. The film featured a cast completely made of Lego pieces. This includes a large audience of Lego characters, all animated.

The piece became an overnight sensation on YouTube. Among those that enjoyed the video were members of Spinal Tap who showed the video during their recent “Unwigged and Unplugged” tour. A concert DVD of the tour is in the works, and the video was to have been included, but the Lego people decided to throw an injunction against them. Rather than fight, Spinal Tap has decided to give in and excise the video from the DVD. They don’t have the money to fight the case, even though they’re sure they would probably win in court. This was all featured in an article in the NYTimes on Thursday.

This action comes on the back of the recent announcement in The Hollywood Reporter that the producer, Dan Lin, maker of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, has acquired rights to Lego products to make a live action/cgi animated feature “a movie set in the world of Lego that centers on the subject of childlike imaginations and examines themes of creativity and teamwork in the manner of ‘Toy Story.’” Lego said yes to this offer because it and the producers shared a similiar vision that includes “a fun factor, creativity and that imagination has no boundaries,” Lin told Daily Variety.

They’re not even using actual Lego products to make the film (as Coleman Hickey had done, successfully). This goes to show that justice is not always kind in the real world. Producing hacks can pay for the rights to a children’s toy, but children aren’t allowed to play. This is tantamount to the current rash of car commercials on tv that feature cg drawn cars substituting for the real thing. It’s getting annoying. Another victory for cg filmmaking.

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- I’m not sure if the above story is any more newsworthy than the one that appeared in yesterday’s Daily News. In a Playboy inteverview Seth McFarlane reveals some insights about his characters. Apparently, Stewie is gay. (Some of us may have guessed.) McFarlane says: “. . . we decided it’s better to keep it vague, which makes more sense because he’s a 1-year-old. Ultimately, Stewie will be gay or a very unhappy repressed heterosexual. It also explains why he’s so hellbent on killing [his mother, Lois] and taking over the world: He has a lot of aggression, which comes from confusion and uncertainty about his orientation.” (Excuse me, did you say he wants to kill his mother because he’s GAY ?

He also reveals, in this interview, that Stewie’s mother, Lois, finds out during the upcoming season that she’s not the Protestant she thought she was; she’s actually Jewish. (No wonder she speaks the way she does!)

The Family Guy has to be one of the ugliest animated shows ever on TV, but the jokes and the stories are often well done. I particularly like the overlong segments wherein the characters barely move yet have these inane commentaries. The show is currently nominated for an EMMY as Best Comedy Show on television. This is a feat that The Simpson‘s fought to win years ago, but they didn’t succeed. Of course, it’s doubtful that the show will win, but it’s got to be “an honor just to have been nominated.”

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- The Sundance Channel is introducing a new series. Animation Bizarro is a collection of short new animated films (all Canadian) which can be viewed online at the Sundance Channel site. Animation Bizarro collection demonstrates a variety of styles: cel, paper cut outs, stop motion and CGI. It also touches on a variety of moods (funny, ironic and sardonic).

While visiting the site, I noticed that Bill Plympton’s Guard Dog was scheduled to run last night at 9:50. Too bad I wasn’t home to see it again. I assume it’ll have other air times in the month.

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- Manohla Dargis is quickly becoming my favorite reviewer. Her review in today’s NYTimes of Ponyo brilliantly captures the feel of Miyazaki in her opening lines. The respect to this filmmaker and the appreciation of his poetry seems to be in all of the reviews I’ve read today. From the very short Daily News review to the graceful review in the Times, they’re all enormously positive. However, Tasha Robinson in The Onion seems to have best captured the film I expect to see this weekend.

Tasha Robinson/The Onion:
“It’s aimed at particularly young audiences—in the Miyazaki oeuvre, it’s much closer to My Neighbor Totoro than Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke—and it barely has conflict, let alone a sense of menace or threat. It’s essentially a stroll through a fantastically detailed pastel world, in which the plot is little more than an excuse for Miyazaki to dive into a world teeming with colorful (and sometimes prehistoric) life.

. . . the story operates on a fluid dream-logic, or the storytelling logic of a very small child: Events melt into each other without urgency, and a simple act like making and drinking tea is treated with the same complacent, wondrous gravity as magic that calls wave-monsters into being. Even so, older kids and even adults are unlikely to get bored, thanks to the story’s unforced sweetness, giddy highs, and stunningly beautiful visuals. Even in the unspoiled Devonian, real life never looked this good.”

Manohla Dargis/NYTimes:
“As in the original Andersen fairy tale, which turns on a mermaid who dies because she falls in love with a landlocked prince, humanity has its costs. Not to worry: no one dies in “Ponyo” or even coughs. Its sting is so gentle you might miss it. But when the ocean rises in this wonderful movie, each leaping wave stares out at us with a baleful eye as if in watchful and worried wait. ”

Lou Leminick/NYPost:
“This exquisite pastel-colored, eye-popping example of hand-drawn animation is still very Japanese, aimed most specifically at children around the world — but with a storytelling sophistication that adults will savor.”

Joe Neumaier/NYDaily News:
“For all the magic of the Pixar era, the poetry of beautiful hand-drawn animation never wavers. When not done assembly line-style, it can still be transporting, and “Ponyo” — from Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle”), known as the Japanese Walt Disney — is exactly that.”

- I’ve had a number of different spaces over the years, and I’ve loved them all. Here’s a recap of a post I did back in Feb. 2007 which showcases a couple of those spaces.

Thes are the only pictures I have of my very first studio. Originally I set up in an apartment leased by Richard Williams. I took care of his apartment while he was out of town (most of the time), and we did Woman of the Year out of that space. (You can see photos of that space here.) Once it became clear that I needed my own space, I found one in a building at One West 30th Street.

It was an historic building and a very interesting site. Every floor was decorated differently, and except for the second floor it was completely housing. The second floor had about half dozen office spaces. Two of them were Persian rug dealers with whom we spent time drinking a lot of Turkish coffee. (This area of NY features quite a few rug sellers.)

My office looked like something out of Sam Spade. All these steel and glass partitions broke the space up into two parts. In the photo above, I’m standing in the larger space (maybe 20 foot squared) which leads into the back area, my space. This was possibly 10×20. I loved it.

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The B&W photo above left is the only other picture I have from that space. The framed cels are from Woman of the Year; it sits above the end title image from Morris’ Disappearing Bag. Both of these were done in 1981-82. Hence this photo dates back to 1982. The color image above was taken this morning from the vantage of our current studio’s front door. The flowers are on the front desk.

Last week we saw a day of heavy snow/rain/sleet which left the City covered with 3-4 inches of iced snow. A week later it still covers most of the town. Garbage is piling up a bit more than usual and construction has slowed down – just a bit.

This is the front of my building. A gypsy fortune teller sits just atop the entrace to my space – down a dozen steps. There’s a knitting shop (red for Valentine’s Day) next door. They have a cafe wherein many women seem to gather to knit. (I’ve only been in the store once, but it’s usually filled into the late hours.)

This is the actual entrace down some icy steps.

Once you go down these steps you have to walk down an icy, outdoor corridor. On the left you can see this corridor from the street side. On the right it’s from the studio side.

Finally. from the front door of this studio you see this space. (I’m literally standing in the doorway.) This room has four stations equipped with drawing tables and computers as well as two other computer setups. The editing station is all the way in the back right. Matt Clinton, our principal animator on staff, works to the back left with Katrina Gregorius working just to his front. Christine O’Neill, my assistant, sits behind the flowers, up-front.

My room is in another room to the right.

- The news screamed out this week that The Secret of Nimh (otherwise known at Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) would be redone by Paramount. Obviously, this wasn’t the film that would save animation, and the new version won’t help much either. It’ll end up a cg/Live Action combination equal to that Guinea Pig
movie that just opened to big box
The old fashioned Secret of NIMH from Don Bluthoffice success.

We’ll have cgi rats and mice running around a live action farm environment chatting away. The film will be written and directed by Neil Burger who did that smash success, The Illusionist, a couple of years back.

One wonders how Don Bluth feels about this. We’ve already had The Chipmunks reanimated in some horrible incarnation of the original Format Films’ animated characters, and we’ve seen Scooby Doo, Garfield and Rocky & Bullwinkle turned into cgi clones of the definitely 2D characters. All terrible movies.

Now we get to witness serious feature animated films reworked into cg monstrosities. Perhaps Disney will take the cue and do a cg/Live Action version of Lady and the Tramp or Snow White or, dare we hope, Fantasia.

I read today about that the “auteur” Zhang Yimou is reamking the Coen Bros. film, Blood Simple. I wonder if any purists would complain if they decided to turn some Live Action gems into cg films. How about Citizen Kane? or Gone With the Wind? The Wizard of Oz is just waiting for the call. After all Tim Burton is doing Alice in Wonderland, and Zemeckis is
crowing about The Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey doing 10 different roles. (Is there any film that Jim Carrey can’t do?)

Word has also come that Universal is about to make Dr. Seuss’ book The Lorax into a 3-D CG animated feature. After the modest financial success of the Blue Sky feature, Horton Hears a Who, why shouldn’t Universal jump into the ring? It has to be better than DePatie-Freleng’s version. At least it’ll stretch the delightful book even longer.
The Lorax

Are there ANY original ideas out there? Has the entire Hollywood world gone so vapid that they can’t come up with anything original?

But then this isn’t just the case with Hollywood features; Broadway is going down the same road. There are dozens of shows coming to Broadway that are reworked movie scripts. Everything from 9 To 5 to Cry-Baby have come and gone on the once great thoroughfare (now parking mall, courtesy of Mayor Bloomberg) Broadway. Disney has Cry-Baby the movie
paved the way for many others; The Little Mermaid
is about to close.

Word that 101 Dalmatians, the Musical has been touring everywhere. It’s not a Disney show, but they’re trying to play off the Disney cache. But then, it’s not a Broadway show either, even though “Broadway” is mentioned numerous times on their website. 15 live dalmatians on a theatrical stage; imagine the fun.

It’s obvious that animated films are the last place to find any original thought. Up and Wall-E from Pixar, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda from Dreamworks, Ice Age and The Fantastic Mr. Fox from Blue Sky.

Then the Studios can make live action/animated versions of these films, then Broadway can do their shows. Oh, wait. Shrek is already failing on Broadway. There’s always room for those Madagascar penguins.

Hopefully, Independent animated features will get into the act: the musical Triplettes of Belleville is perfect for Broadway, and I can already see the musical version of Waltz with Bashir and Bill Plympton can try to compete with Mamet with Idiots and Angels.

After writing this, I caught the Cartoon Brew feature about this very thing. I guess it’s enough to catch your breath if you love animation.

- I just received my copy of Darrll Van Citters’ new book, Magoo’s Christmas Carol: the making of the First Animated Christmas Special. This is a treasure. If you have any affection for this show or for animation in general I can only say GET THIS BOOK.

It’s beautiful; packed with storyboard, animation drawings, backgrounds and photos. Lots and lots of photos of the cast, crew, musicians, animators. Everything. It’s gorgeous. Darrell did the research, got the background material and put it all together in a beautiful package. He put his own money into it and didn’t get cheap at any stage of the process.

I haven’t read the book yet (I literally just received it), but I’m ready to push my work aside to start reading – that’s how anxious I am. Of course, I won’t do that, but I will write more and in length after I do read it.

I just wanted you to know that you should rush to get it. It’ll be sold at the San Diego Comic Con. For those, not able to get there just hit this link, and it’ll take you to the store where you can get copies signed or not.

This is a tiny sample of the art from the film’s production, though my scan doesn’t do it justice. The picture is better as printed in the book:

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- If you want to see pure character in motion, take a look at the HBO documentary currently airing, the biography of Ted Kennedy. Teddy, In His Own Words is an excellent work that really gets into the history of this man and his family. However, there is one scene that keeps reverberating in my memory.

Ted had almost died in a plane crash; he broke his back. He was laid up in a hospital and at his home for a very long time. Finally, there was a point where he was to return to Congress.

The camera shows footage of Bobby Kennedy pacing outside the Capitol, waiting for his brother to arrive. Up pulls a big old car, and Bobby knows it’s his brother.

He starts to walk very quickly to meet Teddy and in that fast pace, Bobby actually does a miniscule stop and hop mid walk to greet him.

That little hop is so beautiful and endearing and emotional that I was just completely taken with the guy. It’s not too far from Gerald McBoing Boing’s walk in the original film, but here a real person is doing it, and the impetuous move is so delightful in its spontaneity.

If you get a chance, watch the show (no matter your political persuasion) these guys are history and there’s a big story of the last half of 20th Century here. It’s quite amazing.

And watch for Bobby Kennedy’s little jump; it’s so innocent and human.

There’s so much more to learn about animation by watching real life. Too many people these days put all their attention into studying animation and ignoring the real thing. That wasn’t the case with the real masters, and it’s no different today. Watch what you’re caricaturing.

Here’s the schedule of the documentary for July & August, but it’s also on their On Demand feature so you can watch it anytime.