Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Program I: Last night, Friday, was the start of the MOMA series. Heidi Stallings, Matt Clinton and I met up with Josh Siegel of the Museum in the lobby. Heidi and Matt left to grab seats while Josh and I stood in the rear waiting for the start. He’d introduce me and I’d said hello. We also decided that I answer a Q&A at the end.

The audience was close to full – I saw a few empty seats. From the animation community I saw a handful of people (at least, of those I knew). They were all people who had worked with me in getting the films made. Masako Kanayama, Ray Kosarin, Patty Stren, John Canemaker. This sort of pleased me in that there was a big audience of people who didn’t know me or the films. They were interested.

After the opening pleasantries, the show started with Mona Mon Amour. This is a film that I always thought was funny. But in the few screenings I’ve seen of it, the audience of animators didn’t even sound like they were even smiling. It always confused me. Well, this screening got big laughs. It really made me perk up. I’m glad Patty and here husband were there to hear them laugh with her film. Champagne was politely quiet, as the audience stayed involved in this difficult film. It’s always been a tad heavyhanded for me, and it was so again last night. The Man Who Walked Between The Towers was the best received. The audience was completely into it. They laughed when they should have, and gasped when I didn’t realize it was coming. Lyle Lyle Crocodile looked beautiful. The music score seemed a touch loud, but it worked well with the stereo screening. How off character the characters are for so much of the film, but it somehow works. The film was pleasant to see again. The Little Match Girl was a completely different film than the one I remembered. It’s a long story, but the film went through a long hard making, and I removed myself from it after completing it in 1990. Many of the voices were those of animators, and it was great hearing them again. Theresa Smythe did an absolutely brilliant job as Angela, and she got a lot of laughs. The film moved slowly for me and was the most problematic, but it looked great, and I was glad to have seen it again.

The Q&A afterward was about 15 mins. long and the audience asked good questions. One woman asked if creativity had changed over the 26 years in the history of my studio. I answered that the creativity came from within me and the people who worked with me, so it hadn’t really changed because of time but had because of influences and finances.

All in all it was a great evening for me. I had a lot of fun. A fine start.

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Program II:Fables at the Museum of Modern Art will be screened today at 3:30PM and tomorrow at 2:45. The films to be screened include: Doctor DeSoto, Abel’s Island, The Red Shoes and The Hunting of the Snark.

Abel witnesses the first thaw of the season in Abel’s Island.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all the artists who were involved in the production of these films. I couldn’t have made these films as beautifully without their help. They include:

__________Isabella Bannerman ______Betsy Bauer ______Gary Becker
__________Charlotte Booth__________Laura Bryson______Mark Bykov
__________Diana Sara Cherkas______Devon Collins______Doug Compton
__________Lisa Crafts______________Tim Curry________ Arthur Custer
__________Tissa David_____________Ossie Davis_______ John R. Dilworth
__________Steven Dovas___________Daniel Esterman___ Madeline Fan
__________Wolf Ferro______________Maxine Fisher______Kathryn Gradner
__________Simi Gulati_____________ Kit Hawkins_______ Matthew Jacobson
__________Lionel Jeffries___________James Earl Jones___ Perry Kiefer
__________Carol Kilbanks__________Sophie Kittredge____Ray Kosarin
__________Terry Waxman Koshel____Sono Kuwayama____Stephen MacQuignon
__________Robert Marianetti________Mark Mayerson_____George McClements
__________Jason McDonald_________Giuliana Nicodemi___Christine O’Neill
__________Edwin O’Neill___________ Gregory Perler_____.Thomas Repasky
__________Caleb Sampson_________Morton Schindel_____Elizabeth Seidman
__________Theresa Smythe________ Heidi Stallings______William Steig
__________Bridget Thorne__________Mary Thorne_______ Ernest Troost
__________Larry White____________Michael Wisniewski

The crew listens to the Bellman speak in The Hunting of the Snark.

A dance in the deep dark woods with non-stop dancing red shoes.

___=(Click any image to enlarge.)

Program III: A Peaceable Kingdom will screen today at 5:30 and tomorrow at 4:45. I’ll focus on it tomorrow.

For the weekend, I’d like to take some space to thank the many people that worked on the films being screened at the Museum of Modern Art. It’s great to have this venue to get the thanks out there.

Program I:New York Stories will screen today at 6:30PM and tomorrow at 1:30PM.

The opening scene from The Little Match Girl

Many thanks and huzzahs to the following people who worked on the films in this program: Mona Mon Amour, Champagne, The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, Lyle Lyle Crocodile and The Little Match Girl

______F. Murray Abraham______Lew Achenbach______Ed Askinazi
______Michael Bacon__________Gary Becker________ Bob Bushell
______Paul Carrillo___________.Matthew Clinton______Leigh Corra
______Tissa David____________John R. Dilworth______Steven Dovas
______Natalia Elina___________.Daniel Esterman_____.Madeline Fan
______Ray Feldman___________Maxine Fisher________Paul Gagne
______Julie Garton____________Mordicai Gerstein_____Krista Grasso
______Jake Gyllenhaal_________Donald Harrison______Masako Kanayama
______Perry Kiefer____________Bruce Knapp_________Ray Kosarin
______Linda Lee______________Stephen MacQuignon__Jason McDonald
______Robert Marianetti________Neil Murphy_________Giuliana Nicodemi
______Christine O’Neill________.Gregory Perler_______Melissa Reilly
______Champagne Saltes______Caleb Sampson______Matt Sheridan
______Theresa Smythe________Heidi Stallings______._Cristina Stanculescu
______Patti Stren_____________Mary Thorne________.Diego Turcios
______Adrian Urquidez________.Michael Wisniewski

Angela sits on the library steps in The Little Match Girl

A BG from Mona Mon Amour.

___=(Click any image to enlarge.)

________________________Today’s NYTimes features an editorial by a realio-trulio beekeeper and her comments on the “facts” in Bee Movie. Sounds like Jerry Seinfeld didn’t do the research. What a surprise! If only he’d done more research on what’s funny.

- Bob Jaques‘ excellent new site gives overdue attention to some lesser-known animators who worked on the Popeye shorts.

His recent post placed focus on Lillian Friedman‘s work. She apparently is the first female animator to have worked in a major studio.

Her first animation, as reported by Bob, is the only Popeye film she worked on, Can You Take It (1934). As John Kricfalusi points out, there are a wealth of entertaining walks in this film. This is the very first walk (not really a cycle, though I’ve made it one) in the film, and it’s a great one that we can attribute to Lillian Friedman.

The cycle is hilarious, with the bottom half of the body – the legs – moving at twice the speed. To quote Mark Mayerson, “Note that she uses Popeye’s head to hit the first accent in the 1-2-3 beat structure and then uses the feet to hit beats 2 and 3. So on one step, the head comes forward with the right foot and the next time it comes forward it’s with the left foot. That’s pretty sophisticated for a beginning animator.”

It’s an original walk, and it’s also a very good one. With all the digital assistance available today, how infrequent is it to see something so original. And this was Lillian Friedman’s first credited walk cycle.

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(click any image to enlarge.)

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Popeye and Olive walking on two’s

– Last night, I saw the Dreamworks/Seinfeld concoction of an animated feature. Bee movie. The title is meant as a pun on “B” movie; unfortunately, that’s what this really is – a second rate film.

I should keep my opinion to myself, but I can’t. I have no intention of putting down any of the excellent artists, designers, or animators that worked on this film. They did what they could given the circumstances.
Let’s talk about what I see as “the circumstances” given the fact that I know NOTHING about the making of this film other than what Jerry Seinfeld said on Charlie Rose or that I was able to guess from the movie, itself.

The story is pathetic. If it had been just a mass of uproarious, funny jokes, I’d have been happy. In fact, I didn’t hear too much laughter in the theater, and I wasn’t brought to smile even once. It wasn’t funny. In fact, about midway through the film, I felt that I was watching some kind of bastardized Industrial or Educational film about bee pollination. The only problem was that the information was so simple that I knew that wasn’t the case. Jerry Seinfeld should be ashamed of his role in this product, and I believe that was probably the problem.

Now, the problem with the “craft” of the film. It was all at the top.

For some reason, the actors were directed to push their performances way – I mean WAY over the top. Renee Zellwegger has given many fine performances during her career – including King of the Hill and Shark Tale. Her acting in Miss Potter was extraordinarily subtle and nuanced. However in Bee Movie, she shouts her lines, overperforms every word and telegraphs every simple sentence. Yet, alongside John Goodman, she’s the maestro. His performance as a prosecuting attorney allows him to don a Southern accent and pretend he’s doing Inherit The Wind in some regional dinner theater where he’s trying to shout over the clinking tableware and devour all of the scenery. It’s an embarrassing performance. Even Patrick Warburton, not the greatest actor is fine in many other animated films including The Emperor’s New Groove, yet here he’s required to scream his every line. I don’t get it; it’s as if they were all forced to give heightened performances to try to make the poor writing funnier. It didn’t work.

The poor animators, saddled with these readings, animated what they got. Hence, the shouted lines were overanimated – that’s the only way they could work – with an aggression that I haven’t seen in quite some time.

The film was dreadful. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend anyone out there who’s worked on it, but I did not enjoy the experience. Of course, it’s only my take on the thing, and my opinion is just that.

By the way, why is it that these animated features consistently rob the insects of two of their appendages? Bug’s Life and Bee Movie choose to illustrate bugs as having two arms and two legs, unlike real insects which have six. At one time, the Jerry Seinfeld character comments on the eight legs of spiders, making us even more aware of the shortchanged bees in this movie. For Pete’s sake, even the ugly Nasonex bee has six legs, though for some reason he has an hispanic accent. Who’s making these choices?

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- Now let’s talk about ART in animation.
The ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archives is currently displaying an exhibit of early Grim Natwick art. There are photos of the exhibit at their site and a couple of excellent scans of Grim’s early animation drawings. If you haven’t seen these, you ought to visit their site – or the archive, itself.

GRIM NATWICK’S SCRAPBOOK
An Exhibit Presented By The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
2114 W Burbank Blvd
Burbank, CA 91506
Tuesday through Friday 1pm to 9pm

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- This month, Jeff Scher reworks a 1945 musical film, Yours, for the NYTimes. Kudos to Jeff for another fine piece. One a month for The NY Times. Would that other newspapers would take it on to support a bit of animated art. Support it by adding your hit to their post.

Today’s NYTimes also includes a review of a number of animated DVDs including: “Ratatouille,” “Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1,” “Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5,” “Chuck Jones Collection,” and “Fantastic Planet.”

If they’re animated, they must be connected.

- It’s election day. Lots of local issues and representatives have their fates in your hands. How more appropriate than to post my continued appreciation of The Gumps. Here are more of the collected strips.

This is the start of a story about Andy Gump running for Congress. The writing in the strip starts to catch fire, and the characters have really developed their personalities.

(Click any of the strips to enlarge them.)_

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This comes from an excellent book that was edited in 1974 by Herb Gallewitz and
published by Scribners called Sidney Smith’s The Gumps.
It’s still available and worth the price.

– This is the second of two posts on the Bill Peet storyboards for the Disney film, Ben and Me. This section, loaned to me by John Canemaker, comes in a xeroxed form – lots of grays – and taped together in a long sheet. I’ve split it up a bit to make it easier to post. I’ve also worked with it a bit to make it more visible thanks to Photoshop.

Bill Peet offered great drawings in his storyboards, and I’m sure he brought a lot of inspiration to the animators.

This is an excedingly long pan (30 inches), and is almost invisible in this minimal thumbnail. Rather than break it up into shorter bits, I’m posting it as is and hope it won’t be too much of a problem for you to follow in its enlarged state. You have to click on it to see it.

The image below is a recreation of this pan from the final film done using multiple frame grabs.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

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There’s an excellent article about the making of Ben and Me by Wade Sampson at Jim Hill Media. It gives quite a bit of information about this odd short and is well worth reading as a companion to these boards.

Yesterday
- An art exhibit of William Steig’s work opened yesterday at the Jewish Museum. It’s nice to note that Steig’s original art for Doctor DeSoto, The Amazing Bone and Abel’s Island will be on display at the same time that my films of his books will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art.

Note that art from his beautiful book, Shrek, will also be displayed. (Looking at Steig’s stunning illustrations, it’s hard to understand how such an ugly solution evolved into the films’ style.)

“The Art of William Steig” runs through March 16 at the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., at 92nd Street; (212) 423-3200.

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Next Weekend
- It was a kick getting my regular email from MOMA – I’m a member. Labeled MoMA Film E-News, November 2-16, 2007 I expected some small mention but was surprised to find the following:

Michael Sporn
November 9–12

Michael Sporn has been a vital creative force in New York animation for thirty-five years. Prior to opening his independent studio in 1980, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award–winning producer/director worked closely with many legendary animation artists on commercials, shorts, and feature-length films. Sporn has produced a remarkably diverse range of animation, including feature film titles (Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City), television specials (HBO’s Lyle, Lyle Crocodile), and even visuals for the Broadway stage (the 1981 musical Woman of the Year). A sensitive interpreter _____________Doctor De Soto. 1984. USA.
of children’s stories for the screen, Sporn has ____________Directed by Michael Sporn
carefully adapted to animation the unique styles
of storybook illustrators like William Steig, Russell Hoban, Bernard Waber, and Mordicai Gerstein. Sporn’s own production design distinguishes his adaptations of such classic tales as The Red Shoes and The Hunting of the Snark, as well as socially conscious films like Champagne.

I guess I just didn’t expect as much attention. I have to admit I love it; who wouldn’t? What I most look forward to is giving some of these films a small bit of attention. There are a few films that I do cherish, and I’m glad they’ll be projected on a big screen. Mike and Phyllis Barrier will be in town as will John and Cathy Celestri. It’s been some time, and I will be happy to see them again.

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Here, again, is the complete breakdown of the shows appearing in MOMA‘s catalogue:

Friday, November 9, 6:30; Repeated Saturday, November 10, 1:30. T2
Michael Sporn Program 1: New York Stories

Mona Mon Amour. 2001. Humorist Patti Stren looks for love in all the wrong places in this comical monologue of modern-day neuroses. 9 min.
Champagne. 1996. A moving animated documentary portrait of Champagne Saltes, a bright and sassy fourteen-year-old who lived in a convent school while her drug-addicted mother was in prison for murder. 13 min.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. 2005. On an iconic moment in New York history, the day in 1974 when French aerialist Philippe Petit made his death-defying tightrope walk across the towers of the not-yet-finished World Trade Center. Based on Mordicai Gerstein’s Caldecott Award-winning book and narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal. 10 min.
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. 1987. The comic misadventures of Bernard Waber’s beloved neighborhood reptile (in the classic children’s book The House on East 88th Street) are narrated by Tony Randall with songs by Charles Strouse (Annie). 26 min.
The Little Match Girl. 1991. Abandoned to the wintry streets of New York, a little girl inspires compassion for the homeless in this lovely rendition of the Hans Christian Andersen tale. Narrated by F. Murray Abraham. 26 min. Program 84 min.

Saturday, November 10, 3:30; Repeated Sunday, November 11, 2:45. T2
Michael Sporn Program 2: Fables

Doctor DeSoto. 1984. An Oscar-nominated adaptation of William Steig’s classic story about a clever mouse-dentist who outwits a conniving fox. 10 min.
Abel’s Island. 1988. A sudden gale storm whisks William Steig’s Edwardian mouse, Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, away from his wife and home, depositing him on a primitive, deserted island. With the voices of Tim Curry and others. 26 min.
The Red Shoes. 1990. Using a vibrant palette, Sporn transposes Hans Christian Andersen’s touching tale to contemporary Harlem. Narrated by Ossie Davis. 26 min.
The Hunting of the Snark. 1989. Lewis Carroll’s wondrously nonsensical poem, narrated by James Earl Jones, is brought to life through a range of visual conceits and animation techniques. 19 min. Program 81 min.

Saturday, November 10, 5:30; Repeated Sunday, November 11, 4:45. T2
Michael Sporn Program 3: A Peaceable Kingdom

Goodnight Moon. 1999. Margaret Wise Brown’s sixty-year-old book, with illustrations by Clement Hurd, has pride of place in every American child’s bedroom, and is joyously brought to the screen in this award-winning adaptation. Narrated by Susan Sarandon. 4 min.
The Marzipan Pig. 1990. Based on Russell Hoban’s deeply touching fable of unrequited love involving a marzipan pig, a bee, a taxi meter, a flower, a mouse, and a clock. Narrated by Tim Curry. 26 min.
The Amazing Bone. 1985. Dark adventures await Pearl, William Steig’s sweet-natured piglet, when she discovers a magical talking bone that has fallen out of a witch’s basket. 12 min.
Ira Sleeps Over. 1992. A delightful adaptation of Bernard Waber’s story about a momentous sleepover, with songs by Tony Award-winning composer William Finn. 26 min.
The Story of the Dancing Frog. 1989. A sophisticated British widow becomes the stage manager to a debonair frog, who dazzles crowds the world over with his cakewalk, polka and tap dance routines. Based on the book by Quentin Blake, narrated by Amanda Plummer. 26 min. Program 94 min.

Monday, November 12, 7:00. T2
An Evening with Michael Sporn.

The artist in conversation with animation historian/filmmaker John Canemaker and MoMA assistant curator Joshua Siegel, illustrated with clips from his award-winning animated films, including a new short, Pab’s First Burger, and an excerpt from his feature-length work-in-progress about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Sporn’s career is also traced through his commercials, public service announcements, title sequences, and visuals for the Broadway stage. Program 90 min.

– I’ve been a fan of Jirí Trnka‘s work since I first saw it back in the 60′s. I’ve bought every publication I’ve ever found which discusses or displays his films or illustration. These days I can also own a number of his films.

His puppet films were always the gold standard of that medium. However, since I’ve studied his illustrations for many years, I’m always interested in the 2D work he’s done.

The dvd titled The Puppet Films of Jirí Trnka includes one of these 2D films. It’s cut-out animation, so it really borders the world between 2D and 3D. Trnka exploits the shadows on his constructed cardboard backgrounds to great effect. The style purposefully hides the three dimensions of the constructions, but it uses it when it needs to. The film is a delicate piece which just shows a number of acts in a local circus setting.

It’s a sweet film with a quiet pace. I’m not sure it could be done in today’s world of snap and speed. No one seems to want to take time to enjoy quiet works of art.

I’m posting a number of frame grabs from this short so as to highlight the piece.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Note the real shadows on the background.
These were obviously animated on glass levels in a multiplane setup.

Again, note the excellent use of shadows. It’s very
effective in these long shots of the trapeze artists.

- While working on Raggedy Ann and being somewhat close with Richard Williams when he was in town, I was amused by something that happened early on.

Dick was in and out often recording and editing the voice track. A lot of time was spent in the rehearsal studios in the Broadway/theatrical of town. (That was about three blocks away from the studio.) In an elevator ride up to the rehearsal space, Dick overheard a large black man in the elevator. I believe he was a delivery guy, maybe a messenger.

Dick popped up in a flash. He immediately asked the guy if he had ever done any acting. No? Well, Dick hired him on the spot to be the voice of the leader of the One Eyes. His voice was incredibly deep and dark.

Within the week, Dick had rerecorded the lines. (Another actor had done him in England, and Dick was looking for something better.) To be honest, I’m not sure if this was actually the final voice used in the film (it could be), but the story was so entertaining to some fly-on-the-wall like me, that I remember it well.

After recording the piece, Dick did a thank you drawing for the guy. I made a xerox. This is that copy done with drying magic markers.

___________(Click image to enlarge.)

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Sites to point to:

- Hans Bacher has created a new addition to his Animation Treasures. We now have Animation Treasures III. Look forward to more of Hans’ beautiful background reconstructions taken from the films themselves. He’s opened a wonder in his displays. I still go back often to view the many of the backgrounds (specifically Mr. Bug) that he’s revealed to us.

- Once again, Rob Richards continues similar work on a variety of films on his site, Animation Backgrounds. The many Alice In Wonderland backgrounds are enormously attractive on their own.

- As if you haven’t already heard about it, let me point you in the direction of Bob Jaques‘ new site Popeye Animator ID. Bob is enlightening us on the world of a lot of unfamilair animators. We know their names from the many credits we’ve read, but Bob is analyzing and detailing scenes that these artists have created. Names like Frank Endres, George Germanetti and Lillian Friedman become real as Bob gives us a lot of information that doesn’t seem to be located anywhere else. I’m also looking forward to Bob’s writing about Johnny Gentilella. This was the first real animator I met in the business and someone who helped me along the way. I’m always ready to hear more about Johnny Gent.

For this post alone (take a real good look at the tree) I’m grateful to Bob and his new site.

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– Bee Movie opened today, and received mixed reviews in New York. The reviews I’ve read paint a brash, colorful, jokey sort of film, which makes it sound not unlike many animated films we’ve seen in the recent past. Who would have expected otherwise? The film gets a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I guess I’d call that mixed reviews. The feature in this film, I guess, is Jerry Seinfeld’s sardonic sense of humor. Perfect for the child in all of us.

Jack Mathews of the NYDaily News said:

If the movie proves anything, it’s that computers have gone past the ability to simply reproduce hues and tints and can now give the entire spectrum previously unperceived depth.

Kids are going to adore looking at this movie, living in it, flying through and above its brilliant landscape. It’s an animated joyride over a relief map of Manhattan.

I just wish the script was as good as the paint.

A.O.Scott in the NY Times writes a generally positive review with these few lines I’d like to point out:

The DreamWorks Animation formula, exemplified in the mighty “Shrek” franchise (and imitated by would-be rivals at Sony and Fox), is to charm the children with cute creatures and slapstick action while jabbing at the grown-ups with soft, pseudosophisticated pop- cultural satire. “Bee Movie,” directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner and animated by several hundred industrious drones, pushes this strategy almost to the point of dispensing with the kid stuff altogether.

There are a few splendid cartoon set pieces … that show off the latest computer animation techniques. But most of the film’s creative energy is verbal rather than visual, and semimature rather than strictly juvenile.

There was an ASIFA East screening of this film on Tuesday. However, I chose to see another mediocre movie, American Gangster, on that date. I won’t get to see Bee Movie until next Tuesday, and maybe I’ll comment on it on Wednesday next.

– Recently, I posted artwork from the first half of Errol LeCain‘s book illustrations for Mr. Mistoffelees with Mungojerrie and Rumpeltealzer. These are two of the poems by T.S. Eliot from his Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats .

Of course, these poems became the source for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, CATS. The poems were turned into songs by Lloyd Webber and director, Trevor Nunn.
(Sadly, Universal and Spielberg have tied up the rights to this project which seems to be dead. It was once on the road to becoming an animated feature with a script by esteemed playwright, Tom Stoppard. Lloyd Webber would like to go forward with the film, but it’s held up by the new rights holders.

(Once again, let me point you to some of the preliminary art from that aborted film on Hans Bacher‘s older, yet brilliant Animation Treasure I site. More here.)

Here are the illustrations for Mungojerry and Rumpleteazer by the brilliant Errol Le Cain.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

This is the end page which covers both Mungojerry and Rumpelteazer as well as Mr. Mistoffelees.

Other posts I’ve made featuring Le Cain’s artwork:

Go to Mr. Mistoffelees

____Puffin Books
____Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
____The Snow Queen_______________-____Aladdin
____Growltiger_________________________Thorn Rose
____Pied Piper of Hamelin_______________12 Dancing Princesses
____Have You Seen My Sister____________Hiawatha’s Childhood