Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- The second day of the Festival had a completely different feel. For one thing, I didn’t have to make a presentation; for another, there was quite a bit more activity now that the Festival had officially opened last night. I still have a high from some of the films seen last night.

The first program I attended was a salute to Canadian animation compiled by Chris Robinson (who also has a new book about the subject.) This show wasn’t as well paced as some of the others. There were a few lagging moments in there, but overall it was a high. A couple of the excellent shorts included: L’Ondée by David Coquard Dassault, The
____Fest director Chris Robinson_______.___Nose by Neil Burns and The Forming Game
__________________.___________________by Malcolm Sutherland.

Following this there was another Shorts Competition which included new films by some better-known filmmakers.

Run Wracke’s new short, The Control Master, utilized a lot of CSA images that were cut and pasted together and animated in his cut-out style. It didn’t have the same impact on me as his first film, Rabbit, though I was quite pleased to see it. You can watch it on line here.

This Way Up by Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith was a funny cgi short about two morticians trying to pick up a dead woman and take her to the grave.

Don Hertzfeldt’s new short, I Am So Proud of You, was something of a disappointment for me. After his recent film, Everything Will Be OK, which I found brilliant, this new film felt like more of the same.

A Child’s Metaphysics by Koji Yamamura was not a perfect film, but it was in many ways the most inspirational. I’m a big fan of his work and while watching this short I came up with a thought on an Independent film I’d like to make. You’ll hear more about this.

After a well deserved break, I came back last night for another program of competing short films. This compilation wasn’t my favorite, though a couple of shorts stood out: Western Spaghetti by NY animator, PES, was slight but fun. Baerenbraut by Derej Roczen from Germany was interestingly designed and animated with a complex story. Lost Utopia by Mirai Mizue, from Japan, was a stunningly attractive and complicated abstraction. Georges Schwizgebel had another gem in Retouches. There were quite a few abstract films on this program, and I was glad to see it. This is a form most other Festivals seem to be ignoing. The adolescent film takes centerstage these days even at animation festivals. Not quite true in Ottawa thanks to the taste of Festival director, Chris Robinson. He puts his emphasis on artful films, not cheap entertainment.

Following this screening, we were guided to a party at the old jailhouse, a courtyard at the Arts Courts building (the Festival’s headquarters.) It was outdoors, under a tent, and a bit cold, but the party was lively and fun.

Friday was about the picnic. Buses met at the Bytowne Theater, a small local theater about a mile from my hotel, wherein most of the competing films were screened. The first bus left
at 11:30 and others were to follow. I went earlier to the Arts Courts Center (pictured left) where the Festival’s headquarters is located. I thought I might see someone familiar, as is often the case. Not today, so I moved onto the theater. There, I found the doubledecker bus waiting at 11:15. People were moving to the upper deck, but I knew that would end up a cold ride (the weather here has been sunny but on the chilly side), so I stayed indoors. I had a nice New Zealand guy sit next to me, and he and I had a good conversation en route. He’s now located in NY representing his company.

The first arrival at the Picnic grounds led to the traditional tent and food set up for serving. Hamburgers and hot dogs were the fare. I decided to wait till the second round of arrivals to eat. It was too early, I felt, for lunch. I ended up talking at length with Dermot Walsh, a Toronto designer and board artist. Eventually, I made the rounds with a lot of NY artists: Dave Levy, Chris Boyce, Linda Beck, Candy Kugel, Justin Simonich, and Dayna Gonzalez. Linda and Justin were shooting a documentary about NY folk attending the Festival, so I was interviewed. Others I met there and chatted with included: Skip Battaglia, Karl Cohen, John Halfpenny.

Once the pumpkin carving was judged, the buses began to load and depart. I went back with Candy trying to make the 5pm show. The “International Showcase” was a Panorama (that’s what they used to call it) on animation that didn’t make it into competition. It was an odd mix. I loved El Empleo by Santiago Grasso from Argentina. It was a well designed and animated piece wherein people are employed as chairs, lamposts, taxis and tables. (Not too far fetched an idea if McCain gets in there! There won’t be many other jobs.) dEVOLUTION by Candy and Vince Cafarelli was a beautifully designed film with a quiet punch. Glago’s Guest was the recent short from the Disney folks. I’m not sure quite what to make of this. Nicely produced with a couple of out-of-place cute and sentimental bits. I really didn’t like Presto, from Pixar, or Ergo from Hungary.

After this, a group of nine of us went to dinner at a nice little Thai restaurant that Hélène Tanguay located. It was a fun dinner with good food (only the second real meal I’ve had since arriving.) After this I decided I was too tired for any more films, so I returned to write this post and check to see whether our economy was still operating.

Saturday, I have a conference and the first of two presentations of my “Retrospective.” I may not get a chance to post any more before returning on Sunday. If that’s the case, I’ll complete the sum-up on Monday. With pictures.

- I have some access to the internet, so I’ll try to post a wrap up of my days here. If I wait till Monday too much will back up and I won’t be as thorough. Kindly, excuse the lack of pictures since I don’t have access to photo sharing. I’m taking many and will post them when I return on Monday. Pictures I’m posting come from other sites. So, here’s what I saw on Tuesday and Wednesday.

- I arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday at about 5:30 pm. Fran Krause was on the same flight, and we chatted during the trip. He had a short, pilot film he’d done for Cartoon Network as part of the Children’s TV program; I have a retrospective coming this Saturday. I was also scheduled to talk twice on Wednesday to two groups of children. The flight was inconsequential; no delays, no problems. Carry on luggage, take off your shoes, get on the plane. The Hotel I was assigned was the Hotel Indigo – a great hotel though it ends up being at least a mile away from anything. Lots and lots of walking during the stay.

On Wednesday, I walked to the National Gallery where I would have a short screening and talk to a theater full of children. Arriving, I met with the Festival’s Jerrett Zaroski, who had arranged things for me. He sadly told me that the second show that day had been canceled. Apparently, Canada’s government decided to cancel school buses for extracurricular activities – the kids couldn’t get there. Actually, I think Jerrett was more disappointed than I; I was glad to have the time for myself to reacquaint with Ottawa.

However, there was this first show, and about 200 kids arrived en masse. They were loud until the program started; then they were absolutely silent. On leaving, I’d decided, at the last minute, to take a BETA copy of LYLE LYLE CROCODILE. I knew this 1/2 hour show would be a crowd pleaser and would brighten this show. I also added DR. DE SOTO and THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS. It made for a diverse show and gave me about 45 mins. to talk. I talked before and after each film, and gave the kids 25 min. for a Q&A which had to be shut down when time arrived. The program went really well and started the trip off well for me.

After lots of strolling, I went to a screening of WALTZ WITH BASHIR. It’s an odd film that didn’t overwhelm me. The story was good, but the imagery consisted of poorly animated illustrations of the soundtrack. Chuck Jones used to call it illustrated radio. The film was done primarily with Flash.

This show was followed by the first of the short film competitions. There was a lengthy introduction and opening, which included a speech by Festival director, Chris Robinson, and an award presentation to Karl Cohen by Marcy Page and Deanna Morse. This finally led to the program that was excellent as Festival short programs go. The quality of the films here, so far this year, is at least “good” with a couple of really brilliant films I’m pleased to have seen and look forward to seeing again.
Three, in particular, from this show really stood out for me.

The Noir was an extraordinary tour de force of animation by Serge Elissalsde. Excellent design built around a very live line against white background. It was about a man who feared drinking his tea almost as much as he feared pigeons.
The Heart of Amos Klein was was an Israeli film by Michal Pfeffer and Uri Kranot about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. In about __________The Heart of Amos Klein
10 minutes it gave a complete history
of the problems there and focused on one tyrannical Israeli officer and how, even his one death, might have changed events. Well animated and nicely designed. It was a subject I wasn’t interested in yet was wholly drawn into this thoroughly compelling film.
The House of Small Cubes was far and away the best of the night and I can’t imagine any other film in the Festival bettering it. A brilliant Japanese short from Kunio Kato, it told of a man who lived in an ever flooding house that cascaded into the life story of this elder occupant. It was beautifully designed, animated,__________The House of Small Cubes
scored and produced film. A real treat.

The Opening night party followed at a club called Helsinki. It felt more like a bar with a strobe light that attended to the loud music while we were all given a free drink. I went in with Candy Kugel who left quickly, tired and trying to confirm her quarters – she’d just arrived – and I talked with John Halfpenny and Barry Ward (of Bardel Animation). An hour was enough for me; I was tired too. It was a great first day.

In September 2006 I posted a couple of Bobe Cannon drawings from Hubley’s Moonbird. Let’s take another look:

– Moonbird is one of the seminal films of 20th Century animation.

After John Hubley left UPA, where he helped explore the use of 20th Century graphics in animation, he formed a commercial animation company in Los Angeles. Apparently, with this new entity, John did less drawing and more producing. Trying to correct this problem, he closed the LA office and set up in NYC with Faith.

The studio in New York did commercials on a smaller scale. With a Guggenheim Fellowship of $8000, the couple produced a short film, Adventures of an * in 1957 and committed to doing one film a year for themselves. With this film, Hubley picked up where he’d left off at UPA. Exploration of modern art now took on the wildly successful Abstract Expressionists and told a non-verbal story using expressionist art.

The film Tender Game, done in 1958, told another non-verbal story using the song “Tenderly” to illustrate a romance, again, in expressionist art. This film, in some ways, feels like an outgrowth of Hubley’s work on the feature, Finian’s Rainbow.

In 1959, Moonbird took a giant leap forward. The art style borrowed from the expressionists, but used a method of double exposures to layer the characters into the backgrounds. Each animation drawing was painted black outside the border of its lines. Moonbird, the character, was colored with clear wax crayon and painted with black ink. The black resisted where the wax stood and gave a loose scribbled coloring. All of these painted drawings were photographed as double exposures, shot at less than 100%, to combine characters with Bgs.

The soundtrack involved an improvised track of two children, Mark and Ray Hubley, playing. These were recorded in sessions within a recording studio and massively edited down to create the final tracks.

Bobe Cannon animated the film with Ed Smith assisting. Ed inbetweened Bobe’s scenes and animated many others.

A variation of this became the Hubley method. There was usually someone working in the studio who did all inbetweens and animated some lesser scenes. A great way to break into the medium in a big way.

Some extremes by Bobe Cannon are posted below.

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

Here’s a link to a YouTube version of the film.

I love Jiri Trnka’s work, and in June 2006 I posted this. It’s worth revisiting.

- To continue with my interest in animators that leave fingerprints, I return to the father of all puppet animators, Jiri Trnka. I have this Graphis Magazine article from 1947. This was published before any of the great Trnka films: The Hand, Archangel Gabriel and Mother Goose, Midsummer’s Night Dream.
Regardless, there are still some beautiful images in his earlier work.

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

(Note: Graphis printed in three languages; all of the English is included.)

- Today I’m leaving for the Ottawa Animation Festival and I’m, of course, expecting to have a good time. I’ll probably be far from a computer so don’t expect to be posting new pieces until next Monday. However, I have chosen some golden oldies to post again and don’t think those who visit will be disappointed.

In Ottawa, I’m looking forward to the few programs of my studio’s work. They’re scheduled for Saturday, September 20th @ 1pm and Sunday, September 21st @ 11am.
There are also two programs at the National Arts Gallery for children. These are scheduled for Wednesday, September 17th @ 11am and 1pm.

Other than that, I look forward to the Richard Williams program on Saturday at 7pm, and I’ll see that again in its NY incarnation next Monday. I’ve also been told that the show will be different from the Ottawa program, and I have no doubt about that.

To add to the post, I’m grateful to Paul Spector for sharing this magazine piece (it may be missing its intro.) The magazine, as far as I can tell, is an old ASIFA publication.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

I received the following press release from MOMA re their program to be held next Monday. I’ve been told that this will be a different show from the one being conducted in Ottawa.

MASTER CLASS:
RICHARD WILLIAMS IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN CANEMAKER

Monday, September 22
7:00 p.m.
The Roy and Niuta Titus 2 Theater
Three-time Academy Award winner Richard Williams discusses his long and influential career in a conversation with animation filmmaker and historian (and fellow Oscar-winner) John Canemaker.

Williams, who was awarded Oscars for Special Achievement and for Visual Effects as the director of animation of the Walt Disney/Steven Spielberg blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and for his short film A Christmas Carol (1971), is one of the finest animation filmmakers of our time.

His stunningly crafted, award-winning films have featured the work of veteran animators from the Disney studio’s “Golden Age” and from Warner Bros. Cartoons, most notably Grim Natwick (Snow White), Art Babbitt (Fantasia), and Ken Harris (Bugs Bunny). Williams also learned from his friends Milt Kahl (Pinocchio, The Jungle Book), and Frank Thomas (Bambi, Cinderella).

A distillation of his acquired knowledge went into the exuberant animation he directed for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and, most recently, into an unparalleled and indispensable series of instructional DVD master classes based on his bestselling book The Animator’s Survival Kit.
Illustrated with clips from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Charge of the Light Brigade, A Christmas Carol, Raggedy Ann & Andy, the animated titles from The Return of the Pink Panther, award-winning commercials, segments from The Animator’s Survival Kit, and more.

Organized by Joshua Siegel, Asst. Curator, Department of Film, and John Canemaker.

_______________________

Then on Tuesday ASIFA East will hold this program:


ASIFA- East

A panel discussion on the state of NY Independent Animated Features.
Hosted by Cartoon Brew’s Amid Amidi and featuring paneiists:
Emily Hubley, Daniel Kanemoto, Bill Plympton, Michael Sporn, and Tatia Rosenthal.
Clips wif! be screened and a Q and A by the audience will conclude the event,

Tuesday, September 23
SVA, 209 E. 23rd St.
3rd floor Amphitheatre
7 PM, Admission: FREE

Check out our web site for the latest news at www.asifaeast.corn

- Last week, Saturday, we heard all day about the hurricane, Hanna, which had turned into a Tropical Storm and was about to strike NYC as it ripped up the East Coast. We were advised of enormous rains and heavy winds. I spent much of the early morning preparing my studio – which is subject to flooding since it’s below ground level – in the event of a flood. I moved Lola, our studio’s kitten, to my home to fight it out with Alex, my house cat.

The flooded corridor that leads to my studio’s front door – 10pm last Saturday.

The storm came and dropped 4½ inches of rain in about four hours. I came back to the studio about 10pm to see the damage, if there was any. The answer was not much. There was a lot of water in the corridor leading to the studio, but the sandbags held any water out. I was pleased.

This week we have replaced images of Hanna with the horrific pictures of Ike. Texas was getting smashed, and despite the fact that so little damage had inconvenienced me, I was able to feel upset at the images that started to come in from Galveston and Huston. My heart goes out to them, and I can only hope the worst of the hurricane season is past us. Times are changing, and we have to start thinking seriously about this climate of ours and the earth that’s feeling our abuse.

- From bad news to good. I was riding high when I learned that Hans Bacher is back. His late and glorious sites which honored animation design and art, has been revived. Gone is the low cal Google Blogspot; in is the more durable and solid WordPress. I’ve added the link and have visited the site a half dozen times. I urge you to do the same.
The site is called: one1more2time3.wordpress.com

And speaking of Hans Bacher, let me remind you of his brilliant book, Dreamworlds. I think this is the foremost book on the art and design of animation filmmaking. There is nothing even comparable on the market. If you’re serious about animation as a craft, you should already own this book. It’s filled to the brim with images of stunning artwork from many well known features. It informs about color, design, storyboard, composition – everything all animation artists should know, and it’s in depth. It’s the equivalent of Dick Williams’ book on animation; but this is on design.
Let me repeat, this book is a beauty.

I couldn’t resist posting this video I found on YouTube from Jim Lefevre. If you go to his website, you can find other vids showing how the piece was done. It’s quite original.
This video comes to life about 42 secs into it.

– One of the best exercises I ever received, when I was starting out in animation, came from someone I respected and whose work I truly admired. Jack Schnerk advised me to animate a character walking in a circle.

He felt that a walk cycle was one of the hardest things to learn, and by animating that character in a circle it meant keeping the character solid while moving it 360º. Try it; it isn’t easy (unless, presumably, your working in cgi.)

Note: the photo of Jack Schnerk comes from Amid Amidi’s Cartoon Modern site; it’s part of a UPA group photo.

After posting all that material about Max Fleischer yesterday, what better example of a character moving in a circle can I find than Popeye. This is from the film Hello, How Am I? where we get two Popeyes for the price of one.

Here’s the title card and a frame grab from the actual scene.

__
(Click any image to enlarge.)

Here are frame grabs of the actual walk.

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Popeye walks in a circle.

- Today’s the 36th anniversary of Max Fleischer‘s death. i couldn’t pass the moment without displaying his Obituary from the NYTimes.

Following that I’m posting the 9-page piece from the Film Dope magazine issue #16/Feb. 1979. I wanted to give the full filmography of Fleischer’s work.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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- Here I continue with the illustrations by Errol Le Cain for the book written by Naomi Lewis from a story by E. Nesbit.
A School Bewitched is a small picture book with a full page illustration on every other page. The remainder have spots which decorate around the type.

Again, my focus here (and yesterday) is to show off the illustrations. I’m not concerned with telling the story. I’d urge you to buy the book if you’re interested in that.

______(Click any image to enlarge.)

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