Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- An interesting game of politics is happening in this year’s Oscar race. Persepolis, which will obviously be eligible for the Best Animated Feature Award, has been chosen by France, the film’s native country, to represent France in the Best Foreign Film Award. A country is allowed to select only one film to represent itself for this award, and it’s an exciting development that it is representing France.

Sicne the creation of the Best Animated Feature Award, animators in the academy have come to realize that this not only gives animation a pat on the back but also isolates animated films from other categories. It’s as if they were saying, we’ve given you your own award, now why should we put you up for Best Picture (as only Beauty and the Beast has done in the past.) The animation ghetto seems to be opening up,if only a little, by France’s decision.

Good Luck to Persepolis in Ottawa. It played there on Wednesday. It will be the closing night film at the NY Film Festival on Oct. 14th. The film opens, nationwide, on Dec. 25th.

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– I recently posted an article on the history of Mickey Mouse straight from the pages of Cinegram Magazine, a small magazine published in the late ’70′s from the University of Michigan.

In the issue, Winter 1976-77, there was a second interesting article about the Eastern European animation scene. This, of course, meant only one thing in 1976, Zagreb, a studio that had alreaday won the Oscar and was turning out exceptional art films that were getting a lot of attention on the world stage. The article is by Frank Beaver. He is a noted historian, critic and essayist on film, his publications include On Film: A History of the Motion Picture and 100 Years of American Film and Oliver Stone: Wakeup Cinema .

Here is his article on Zagreb films:

____ (Click any image to enlarge.)

- Really Rosie was produced in NY back in 1975. It was an uncom-fortable fusion of Maurice Sendak‘s artwork, Carole King‘s songs and performing, and some real story and design problems. Somehow this trifling show has had very positive reviews and a good reputation, but I was never able to get through the whole thing in one sitting. I do have some of the animation drawings from it, and at another time I’ll post a bit of it.

It was supposedly directed by Maurice Sendak, but in reality the artwork was supervised by Ron Fritz and Dan Hunn who received the credit of “Animation Director.” It was done out of their studio, D&R Productions, for CBS television.

The animation was good, but the composition always seemed off, to me. I remember back in 1975 (I was still in college at the time) thinking that the show looked like it was done in one long shot on 12 fld artwork. Then they seemed to move the camera in tight for all the poorly executed camera moves. The line work got unpleasantly large in close ups and the detail wasn’t good. The film just isn’t smooth.

Animation for the show is credited to:
Lu Guarnier, Marty Taras, Willis Pyle, Doug Crane, Jack Schnerk, Cosmo Anzilotti, and John Svochak.
Asst animators included:
Jim Logan, Gerry Dvorak, Helen Komar, and Joe Gray

Here are some frame grabs from the first few minutes of the show.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

The Maurice Sendak credit fades off and the image gets lighter, then pans across to
the guy leaning over the rooftop.

After a bit, the camera pans across the other windows visually introducing some of the
other cameras. After it hits the end, the camera moves down to a lower window where . . .

. . . Rosie appears again and continues to sing.

They soon move the cast to the front stoop to sing endlessly. Unfortunately, Carole King – as talented as she is – sings and speaks for “Rosie.” It’s hard to accept her as a child when she has a woman’s voice.

Lots and lots of back and forth and back and forth. It couldn’t be less creative or less interesting to watch. Very flat despite the hard working animation. It all gets to look the same.

Look at the framing of the image on the right. How can you cut off the head of the lead character? Maybe Maurice Sendak did direct it.

Sendak is a brilliant illustrator who loves animation. There are times when you have to assume you’re not all-knowing and look for help from professionals you respect. Either he didn’t get good help on this show or his ego got in the way.

___________________________I’ll return to this film again. There’s a lot to look at here.

– Cinegram was a small magazine published in 1976-77 out of the University of Michigan. In one issue, winter 1976-77, there were two interesting articles of interest to animation enthusiasts. The first was on Eastern European animation, and by that they mean Zagreb. The second was on the history of Mickey Mouse, then approaching his Fiftieth anniversary.

I’ve decided to put up both articles but feel that they are so unrelated to each other, that I’ll make two posts out of it. Probably of more interest to most is the article on Mickey Mouse, so that’ll start it off.

Note, of course, that this was written in 1976, and, as such, is dated. The author, Rick Shale, is now a teacher in the English Dept. at Youngstown University in Michigan.

Here, then, is this article:

____ (Click any image to enlarge.)

- In the “No matter how much things change, they always remain the same” department, I’d like to share this cartoon by Daumier done in 1870.

_
___ Under a tent, the German Chancellor, Bismarck, is shown asleep in his armchair.
____Death points out the politician’s accomplishments, a field of corpses. _________________________
– I offered Daumier’s cartoon by way of introducing a story found on line. Go here or here to read the original.

The Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, was placed in hiding by the local police after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, offered a bounty of $100,000 for the murder of Vilks. He said the bounty would be upped to $150,000 if Vilks was “slaughtered like a lamb.” A bounty was also offered to anyone who killed the local editor who published the cartoon. Sweden’s secret police called in extra personnel over the weekend to work on the case.

Haven’t we been here before? Would the wrath of these people be so vehement if George Bush hadn’t chosen to attack Iraq? Would there have been an al-Qaida in Iraq? Would cartoonists or personal opinion be so vilified?

The pile of hatred grows ever larger daily.

- Persepolis played at the Toronto Film Festival this past week after having done well at Telluride, and it has garnered some fine reviews. Wired has a glowing paragraph in their film festival coverage:

In fact, I’ve only seen one film here that has any interest in what used to be called Wisdom: Persepolis, the stunning animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about growing up fractious and female in post-revolutionary Iran. Visually, it’s a 2D triumph, with influences as diverse as stark communist iconography and Lotte Reininger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Perhaps a little contempt has crept into my familiarity with the protracted American journey to adulthood, but I found this decidedly non-Western (yet 100% accessible) version hugely refreshing. (Also: Shorter! A good quality at a film festival.) Absorbing the genuine life experience from her grandmother, parents and uncle, Young Marjane negotiates real peril, moral and bodily, and discovers that the battle to maintain one’s integrity is waged daily, in war and peace.

Now that’s some real grown-up talk.

If you’d like to see a couple of other reviews here they are:

PopMatters, of Illinois loved it and includes a trailer in French on their site. (You can see this in English on the Persepolis site.
and
Cinematical offers their post-Telluride review.

Next up for this film will be a screening at Ottawa on the opening day and the closing night’s program for the NYFilm Festival. Very posh, indeed.

The film is scheduled to open in the US on Dec. 25th.

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- China is using animation to try to stop child abuse. The pictured police woman and police now appear on gateway websites in China. These characters will pop up every half hour on websites.

The cartoon figures of the “virtual police” were created by the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

The cartoons are designed to encourage people to turn in offensive pornographic websites as well as child abusers. _
(Click any image to enlarge.)

- I’ve posted a lot of photos of things I’ve noticed about New York on my daily treck from home to studio. These are all objects that we, at least in NY, seem to take for granted. Odd objects we just about trip over but rarely notice.

The problem is that once I finish these posts I start noticing others that would have nicely complimented that post. I’ve saved up some of these images and would like to post these now.

_
In a post about draped buildings, I noted that Our Lady of Pompeii Church was draped for the longest time. However, it is now finally cleaned and undraped. This might be a good time to look at it again.

Likewise, I had intended to use the excellent top of this church for my Up On The Rooftops post, but it was draped over for so long. Now it’s open.

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That very same post showed a lot of greyish drapes covering buildings, Christo-style, to protect pedestrians from falling objects and sprayed chemicals. Well, I found another type drape. They’ve actually drawn a building on this screen.

Walking down the street, you end up doing a double take when you go past it. At first it looks like the real thing underneath the draped screen, but no, it’s painted there.

I did notice this image up on the rooftops. More rooftops. This view is visible at 16th Street from Park Avenue.

In the post about standpipes and sprinkler pipes, I showed a lot of different type pipes evidenced on the sidewalk alongside buildings. Well, I came across this one, and I’m not sure what to make of it.

It looks like an object out of the Terry Gilliam movie, Brazil.

There’s an excellent report with photos on the events of the 9/11 memorial service this year at Blather from Brooklyn.

- A couple of years ago, I walked past Muhammad Ali on 57th Street. As expected, there was a crowd approaching him asking for autographs. I noticed what Ali did. In his breast pocket, he had a number of business cards that he’d signed, and he passed these out. (I’m sorry now that I didn’t ask for one.)

As I noted back a week or so, I have some Grim Natwick drawn Betty Boop pictures. He did them in the early 70′s to pass onto interviewers, fans, others who asked for them. I suppose this was somewhat similar to Muhammad Ali’s prepared autographs. It saved Grim the task of drawing Betty on the spot.

(Click image to enlarge)

Here’s one of these cartoons he did for what is obviously the Bicentennial (which dates the cartoon from 1976.) I thought of posting this for Labor Day, but the two holidays didn’t really match. Happy Fourth of July !

– Wade Sampson has another probing article that should be read about The Sweatbox, the documentary directed by Trudie Styler, Sting‘s wife, about the development of The Emperor’s New Groove. The documentary has been closeted since completion; Disney will not give permission to show any of their film or artwork. They see it as an attack on the empire, and would like to keep the film under wraps. Sampson tells the history of this documentary and gives a thorough review of what’s in it. (His column may be as close as we come to previewing it.)

Steve Hulett also offers some nice comments about the film on the TAG Blog. He and I don’t quite agree on the completed film, The Emperor’s New Groove. I very much did not like that film.

There are a number of pieces on the internet that give a good indication of the turmoil that followed this film. If you haven’t read Dave Pruiksma‘s letter of resignation from Disney animation, I encourage you to.

When I met Trudie Styler in 1994, at a film festival in Indianapolis, she had just screened the documentary she’d produced with the fine director, Michael Apted. Moving the Mountain was a film about the demonstrations and confrontations between students and police in Peking, 1989, for more democracy in the People’s Republic of China. Kingdom of the Sun and The Emperor’s New Groove weren’t even on the horizon at that time.
On the opening day of Tarzan‘s showing at the Guild theater in Manhattan, I took my small studio to the first screening. As we exited, Sting was outside buying a ticket for the second show. Somehow we caught eyes, almost as though he’d known me; an odd moment, I continued on. It’s obvious, look back on it, he was about to get entangled with the Disney machine and was checking out the work Phil Collins had done for Tarzan.

Too bad Sting’s collaboration didn’t turn out as well. I suspect it wasn’t his fault.

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Ever busy animator, Patrick Smith, has an art gallery opening and showing coming up this next Tuesday. About the work, Patrick had this statement:

Using the figure as a building block, intertwining with other figures, is a powerful method of constructing a broader configuration. The concept of people supporting others to achieve something larger than themselves can have a sublime result, and it’s something that I enjoy illustrating.

It sounds a bit like he’s describing the animation studio process. Not a bad model to emulate in his art.

Patrick Smith – Configurations
CVZ Contemporary Gallery
446 Broadway(below grand) 5th floor, NYC.

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Once again, I have to point out the excellent work Mark Mayerson is doing on analyzing Pinocchio. This has been a monstrous feat to accomplish, and Mark continues earnestly, now approaching the final climax. Coupled with the beautiful BG reconstructions on Hans Bacher‘s site, we can reappreciate the brilliant work done at Disney’s studio back then.

I bow to both Mark and Hans for the work and attention they’re giving this treasure of a film.

___________________________ _
Can someone tell me how in hell we went from . . .

_____________________this . . . __________________ . . . to this ?

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– Let’s talk a little about Eyvind Earle. This is the artist who rose to fame when he was selected by Walt Disney to set the style for the long-in-production feature, Sleeping Beauty. The animators disliked his art direction and openly protested it. Walt remained true in his stance and supported Earle to the end; though it could be said that Walt was more involved in Disneyland’s construction and gave too little attention to the in-fighting at the animation studio.

I remember Frank Thomas, specifically, stating that he had done everything possible to supercede Earle’s style after he, Thomas, had animated the Merryweather scene as she creates Aurora’s dress and cake in honor of her birthday. He felt that the black bodice that Earle had designed took all the lightness out of his character’s delicate dance.

(Click on any image to enlarge.)_________________________________

L to R: Al Dempster, Dick Anthony, Ralph Hulett and Eyvind Earle

Thomas publicly attacked Earle at the Lincoln Center celebration of Disney animation back in 1973. I’d already read something similar, and heard it privately. None of the others on stage at Lincoln Center – Woolie Reitherman, Ken Anderson or Ollie Johnston – countered in support of Earle.

Sleeping Beauty was such a drastic change in look from the other Disney features, that I think it took deep hold in the minds of a lot of Baby Boomers growing up around this feature. Earle became a strong target of interest, and I think his reputation has grown annually.

I have to admit it was odd seeing the backgrounds of Pocohontas trying to emulate Earle’s Sleeping Beauty style, but in some ways it seemed fitting. The studio had been ripping off the films of the past for so long that it was only approopriate that they’d focus on someone who was such a dynamic force.

For a short period after he was released by Disney, in the post-Sleeping Beauty layoffs, he worked with John Sutherland Productions where he designed the short, Rhapsody of Steel. Then he formed his own studio, Eyvind Earle Productions, Inc. He did an animated trailer for the film, West Side Story, under the supervision of Saul Bass. He did an animated title for the Kraft Suspense Theater, and he did a Christmas Special for Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Ultimately, Earle made a success of his own art after leaving animation. He’s been represented by a number of very large galleries and has sold a lot of popular art in a style all his own. Here are a couple of examples found on line:

I’m not always a big fan of the color schemes in his graphics, though he always makes them work, but I have to give credit to Earle for his originality and the dynamic approach in his art.

His autobiography, Horizon Bound on a Bicycle, is a must for all real fans.

This is his animation resume:

1951 Started with the Walt Disney Studios as background painter on: FOR WHOM THE
__ BULLS TOIL, MELODY, and the Academy Award winner for “Best Short of the Year”
__TOOT, WHISTLE, PLUNK and BOOM which also received a Cannes Film Festival Award.
__Production Designer, Color Stylist and Background Painter for the DIsney animated __classic SLEEPING BEAUTY, as well as, PIGS IS PIGS, GRAND CANYONSCOPE,
__PAUL BUNYAN, LADY AND THE TRAMP, LONDON BRIDGE, and WORKING FOR PEANUTS.
__He designed 5 murals for Disneyland.
1958 Joined John Sutherland Motion Picture Company in Los Angeles.
1960-1966 Created 24 sheet poster for Hamm’s Beer.
__Started motion picture animation company, Eyvind Earle Productions, Inc.
__Created animated commercials for Chevrolet Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Marlboro
__igarettes, Motorola Television and the Kellogg Cereal Company.
__Created animated trailer for WEST SIDE STORY for United Artists.
1961 Created animated television special THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS starring
__Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Roger Wagner Choral.
1962 Created animated television special THE EASTER SPECIAL.
__Created title for the KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER.
__Created the logo trademark trailer for Universal Pictures.
__Produced and created the theatrical short DEATH AND SUNRISE

- TCM aired A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum the other night. This is a great theatrical show and a mediocre movie. Despite the great cast, the brilliant people working behind the scenes (from Tony Walton‘s sets and costumes to Nicholas Roeg‘s extraordinary photography; from the incredible song score by Stephen Sondheim to Ken Thorne‘s excellent incidental music), somehow it all doesn’t really work.

However, animation enthusiasts would be primarily interested in the animated credit sequence by Richard Williams‘ fine animation. This was a sequence that brought Williams out of the cartoon world and into the more serious fold. Suddenly, his studio grew up.

Since we didn’t get to see his brilliant ads in the US, we had to seek out his title work. Credit sequences for future films such as The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Pink Panther sequels and What’s New Pussycat easily demonstrated how he really lifted his studio into the big time.

I’ve made frame grabs of the sequence from my recording, and thought I’d post them for your amusement.
______________________________________(Images enlarge slightly by clicking them.)

The sequence starts at the end of the film. Buster Keaton runs on a circular treadmill, and dissolves to an animated version of himself.

He grows in the frames as some large-sized flies enter from the left.

Cut out to see a small Buster disappearing. The camera whips across to a picture of fruit. The flies zip over there and eat the picture. (This image of fruit was very dark on screen.)

A fly lands on the nose of a CU caricature of Zero Mostel. His eyes cross watching the fly.

Flies land on Phil Silvers’ bald head and march across.

Buster runs across a painted frieze on the way to a series of inlayed boxes.

Zip to the second box credits Michael Crawford. Pan to the third box which features Jack Gilford’s name.

Dick talked with me about this scene in the film. He felt that to create realistic
characters in animation one had to slow everything down. He did it with dissolves.
It’s a technique he came back to often, quite noticeably in The Charge of
the Light Brigade.

A fly crawls up a column.

Errol LeCain’s art seems to be featured in this elaborate scene. The entire group – top
and (upside down) bottom – dance.

An animated version of Zero Mostel chases a female through and across a painted wall moving into and across the cracks.

The cornucopia of fruit starts in full color but goes to B&W before it’s done, in honor of the great cinematographer.

A very large cast of shilhouettes runs around this credit for Ken Thorne. There is no cycle here. This is a Dick Williams piece, so they’re all fresh drawings. They turn into flies for the next credit.

A Roman version of an Escher wall painting animates, confusing the fly trying to walk across.

The animated Buster Keaton runs toward us on one side
and away from us on the other side.

For the editor’s credit, a female looks at herself in a mirror. A hand comes in and clips off her pony-tail.

A slew of credits rots in one spot. This falls off revealing the choreographers’ names.

I’m always fascinated by the credit the designer gives himself. No sign of anyone else
who worked on this sequence. Titles have changed since then.

This is the first time I remember seeing letters from the type of one card falling down to match letters from the next card.

This card, the least significant one, comes back several times.
Of course it’s overanimated though it looks like a cycle.

The camera moves in on a fly crossing a checker board.

That legal card, again.

Truck in on the copyright card.

The legalese changes as the MPAA card is lifted.

Truck out from “End” past “The End” to reveal several more boxes.

Finally, the MGM lion roars.