Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- I don’t intend to give an introduction to Norman McLaren or his work here, but he obviously was one of the solidly great film makers on the “Art” side of animation. His films are worth studying for their timing, if not for their sheer genius. As a matter of fact, his exercise films on timing are incredible (though I have no idea how you’d get to see them today.)

I do have a book of some drawings by him, and given the stories about China in the news today, I thought I’d post some of his drawings done in China. These aren’t printed on the best of papers, so the quality isn’t all it could be. However, I thought it might _____________(Click any image to enlarge.)
be worth showing this other side to his art.

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Moving away from China, there are two other drawings I thought compelling and
would like to share here.

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– Retta Scott has been fascinating to me from the earliest days in my interest in animation. I believe it was on a “Disneyland” when I first heard her name. Back then the research readily available to me was not great. Bob Thomas’ book The Art of Animation listed her as an animator on Bambi. It doesn’t even give her credit for Fantasia, despite her principal work on the Pastoral sequence. Nor does it mention her work on Dumbo, The Wind In the Willows or The Ruluctant Dragon.

She was layed off at Disney’s when they hit a slump in 1941 but came back to do a number of Little Golden Books for Disney. The most famous of her books was her version of Cinderella, one which was so successful that it remains in print today as a Little Golden Book. She was an animator on Plague Dogs.

When asked why females weren’t animators at the studio, the Nine Old Men who traveled the circuit, back in the 1970′s, often mentioned her. They usually also said that she was one of the most forceful artists at the studio, but her timing always needed some help (meaning from a man.)

Ms. Scott was known predominantly for her animation in Bambi. Specifically, she’s credited with the sequence where the hunter’s dogs chase Faline to the cliff wall and Bambi is forced to fight them off. The scene is beautifully staged and, indeed, is forceful in its violent, yet smooth, movement.

Ms. Scott died in 1990.

Continuing with prior posts featuring some of the sketch work from this film, I feature some of the original work from this sequence. Many of these drawings are storyboard pieces and are not actually the work of Ms. Scott. However, they certainly inspired what she would animate.

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_________These, above, are two frame grabs from the sequence.

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The dogs corner and chase Faline up a rock wall where she tries to stave off the violence of the attacking dogs. She remains there until Bambi comes to save her, fighting off the dogs.

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_____Though most of the drawings above aren’t the work of Retta Scott, this one is.

- Dumbo is certainly one of my favorite Disney features if not THE favorite. Naturally, the “Baby Mine” sequence is a highlight. The sequence is so tender and fine-tuned to appear straightforward and simple. This, of course, is the heart of excellence. It seems simple and doesn’t call attention to itself.

This is a storyboard composed of LO drawings from the opening of that sequence. They appear to be BG layouts with drawings of the characters cut out and pasted in place.

It’s not really a storyboard, and I’ve always wondered what purpose such boards served to the Disney machine back in the Golden Age.

Below is the board as it stands in the photograph.

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Here is the same photographed board, split up so that I can post it in larger size. I’ve also interspersed frame grabs from the actual sequence for comparison.

____________________________Happy Mother’s Day
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- Lyle, Lyle Crocodile was one of my favorite experiences since forming my own company. I’d like to revisit two posts of photos that I posted back in October, 2006.

This is the group in 1987 on Lyle Lyle Crocodile: the House on East 88th St. that worked in house. The studio at the time was located between Fifth & Sixth Aves, and I was there from 1985 thru 1988.

These are, Back row L to R : Lisa Crafts – animator, Tom Repasky – coloring, Susan Tremblay – coloring, Madeline Fan (full pic w/T-shirt) coloring, Caroline Skaife (leaning on Madeline) – coloring, Mark Baldo (w/puppet Lyle) coloring, Doug Vitarelli (leaning on Caroline) runner, Theresa Smythe – asst. animator.

Front row, sitting, L to R: Caroline Zegart – coloring, Steven Dovas – animator, John Schnall – Prod. Coordinator/Animator, Ray Kosarin – Asst. Animator/coloring, Michael Zodorozny – Layout, Bridget Thorne – Art Director/Bgs.

Some of the others who worked in the studio and not pictured in the group are: Elizabeth Seidman – ran the rendering and supervised the production, Greg Perler – editor, Kit Hawkins – studio coordinator, and me.

Working out of the studio on the artwork were: Tissa David – animator, John Dilworth – animator, John Canemaker – animator. Of course there were also actors, musicians, camera guys, and engineers.

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1) Lisa Crafts animating at her desk. Steve Dovas behind her.
2) Me at my desk with Mark Sottnick a producer of Santa Bear. Theresa Smythe on the right.

The studio was a good one. It was just over a music rehearsal studio where Tito Puente’s group practiced every afternoon. All we could hear was the endless bass line over and over and over and over and over and over. At one point, late night, we heard Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler rehearsing the new album they’d just done.

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Unfortunately, the large skylight made it easy for people to break in. It happened three times in one month, and all that was stolen were walkman radios from the crew. Ultimately, I gave up, and we moved downtown.

A shot of the whole studio from the door. (Things were tight.)
In the BG from L to R: Mark Baldo, Steve Dovas, Lisa Crafts, Ray Kosarin.
At the center table L to R: Susan Tremblay, Madeline Fan, Doug Vitarelli, John Schnall – behind Doug and Liz Seidman (in pink).

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- Here are two more corners of the room in this 38th Street studio, back in 1988.

Greg Perler had a particularly crowded corner of the studio where he edited all of the films we were producing. You’ll note that he was using an upright movieola. (I prized those two uprights and have kept them to this day, though they’re used predominantly for holding things upright.)

Greg, at the time of these photos, was editing Abel’s Island. There was a hurried rush for the mix which was fast approaching, and I was encroaching on his day to take these snaps.

Greg left NY to go to LA. He started as the Asst. Editor on Beauty & The Beast and became top dog on Tarzan. Currently, he’s editing The Love Guru for Mike Myers.
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1. Greg’s corner from another angle
2. Greg and Ray Kosarin, an assistant in the studio. who worked with Greg in assisting him in the rush to the mix.

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3. Ray Kosarin drawing on Abel’s Island.
4. Bridget Thorne‘s corner – diagonally across the studio from Greg’s – where she did backgrounds. Bridget, Greg and Ray.

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5. HBO threw a party to screen Lyle Lyle Crocodile. Pictured here L to R: me, Liz Callaway (the singing voice of Mrs. Primm), Bernard Waber (the author, illustrator of the book), and Arnold Stang (the voice of a parrot – he was also the voice of Top Cat among hundreds of voices he’s done over the years.)
6. Pictured L to R: Rick Parks (multiple voices), me, Arnold Stang, Bernard Waber, Carole Rosen (an Exec from HBO with whom I did many films), and someone dressed as Lyle.
We’re about to cut a cake shaped to look like Lyle, the crocodile. The knife was given to Bernard Waber who said he couldn’t cut into his own creation. We had the costumed Lyle cut himself – the cake, I mean. (The head went first!)

- As I noted in a recent post, Frank Thomas/Ollie Johnston’s book, Bambi: the Story and the Film, came with a flipbook of four animated bits from Bambi. It was an extra added attraction and somewhat better than the flipbook corners of their previous books. The images were larger and more readable. I’m posting the drawings of Thumper laughing and a QT movie at the bottom. The images were exposed on two’s.

This is an excellent laugh and should be studied by anyone interested in animation. It’s hard not to use any of the obvious approaches to animate a laugh, but here Frank Thomas not only uses those obvious choices, but he exploits them. There can be no doubt that it’s a child laughing – just a little too hard. It’s a real character choice, and it’s brilliantly and intelligently done. You can also FEEL the softness of the rabbit. Like any great piece of animation, so much more shows up when it’s in motion.

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– At the start of Disney’s production of Bambi, Rico LeBrun, an established Italian artist, who was teaching at Chouinard Institute, was employed to help teach the studio’s artists to learn how to draw animals. He created some intense classes where animators concentrated on the anatomy of deer and other animals. The story goes that LeBrun went so far as to cut open a deer’s corpse and slowly peel away parts of the animal for drawing and study. Over days, as the smell grew more putrid, fewer and fewer people attended.

LeBrun prepared a book of some 40 or so pages of the skeletal system of deer for the artists to use as reference in learning to manipulate the animal characters. His art was copied onto animation paper with typed notes added.

I had posted one of these pages which I located on ebay (reposted above right) and am quite pleased with this original piece. Presumably the others are all, also, on animation paper.

Sky-David had contacted me after a recent item I had posted about the Tyrus Wong drawings on Bambi. Sky
told me that he had a copy of all of the pages of LeBrun’s study. Furthermore, he shared it with me and I’m sharing it with you. At least, here are the first 18 pages. I can post more at a future time.

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Rico LeBrun (standing), in his class, advising Eric Larsen.

Animators in LeBrun’s drawing class. (Left to Right) Louie Schmitt, Ollie Johnston,
Milt Kahl, Bill Shull, and Jack Bradbury.

For futher information on Rico LeBrun’s biography, go here.

- Hans Perk has been the source for much of the animation history we’ve been sharing on these blogs. His posting the drafts to Pinocchio and numerous Silly Symphonies led Mark Mayerson to prepare “Mosaics” which visualized these drafts and gave Mark an excuse for some detailed comments on that film. At the same time, I was able to post some of the storyboards from John Canemaker‘s collection which joined well with the two.

Recently, the same has been true of material for 101 Dalmatians. For this film, Hans not only posted the drafts but the legendary script by Bill Peet, as well. Mark is currently posting his Mosaics.

Now, I’d like to call attention to what I consider an enormously valuable post by Hans. He calls it Synchronizing Mickey and its follow up, More on Synchronizing Mickey. There you’ll find some historic patent documents which help to describe the Disney studio’s development of synchronized sound. Hans writes in clear detail how the few at the studio were able to go from silent film to Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in 1928.

It’s an informative and instructive piece well worth your look.

- Harvey Deneroff offers an extended and informative piece on the Independent animator, Joanna Priestly. It’s an older article but worth the read. Harvey’s site is unlike most others and should be explored if you haven’t already, and it’s nice to see Joanna’s work given a nice appreciation.

- In the past couple of weeks I’ve posted some images sent to me by Robert Cowan from his collection of cels, artwork and memorabilia. They’re all astounding pieces. I’m pleased to say that he’s created a new website around this collection, and I encourage you to visit if you want to look at some beautiful animation art.

- There’s another excellent animated piece by Jeff Scher on the NYTimes website. This month’s edition is certainly one of the better films in the series. These are not Flash films that are knocked out in an afternoon; they’re obviously the product of good hard work, and Jeff is providing some real creativity to the Times’ OP ED page. To quote Jeff from the post:
___“All the Wrong Reasons” is an experiment in making a film
___that feels as if it has percolated up from the subconscious;
___a dream you can watch with your eyes open. It’s one of
___those big cathartic dreams, a labyrinth of fleeting moments
___full of metaphor and mischief. I wanted it to feel like a bumpy roller coaster ride in
___and out of the dark side of the brain where all the wrong reasons reside. And, as with all
___dreams, the meaning and significance are open to interpretation.

___There are almost 3,000 paintings and collages in this film. I used rapidly changing color
___to give a shimmer to the animation and lots of collage to create a visually percussive
___texture.

The score by Shay Lynch perfectly captures the mood of the piece. They’re so in synch that I wondered which came first the score or the animation. Take a look and a listen.

- Last Saturday, I was able to post some images of Mickey in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice taken from Robert Cowan‘s excellent collection.

This led me to search down some old xerox copies I have of animation keys from one of the great scenes from this sequence. It was animated by Disney legend, Les Clark.

These drawings are probably all over the net; I haven’t looked. Part of this sequence was printed (rather small) in Frank Thomas/Ollie Johnston‘s book, Illusions of Life. I do know that Hans Perk posted the drafts for this film on his site back in 2006. However, I thought it worth posting just in case.

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I’ve also made a QT copy of the the extremes (assuming that the drawing number represented the frame number – as was usually done at Disney.) Here it is, below.

- I have an advanced board for the sequence in 101 Dalmatians wherein Pongo goes to the kitchen to comfort Perdita who’s worrying about Cruella’s threat to buy up all her pups.

This relates to Bill Peet‘s original board (posted here on April 1), but is composed of BG layouts and animation dwng cutouts. I’m posting the new board and juxtaposing it with the Peet original so you can see how it’s changed.

I also suggest you check out Mark Mayerson‘s invaluable Mosaics for this film and sequence.

This was Ollie Johnston‘s sequence, and he probably drew the dogs.
This is how the full LO board looks:

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This is Bill Peet’s version of the sequence:

This is a breakdown of both to keep the images as large as I can:

Johnston

Peet

Johnston

Johnston

Peet

Johnston

Peet
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Johnston

Peet

Johnston

- Last night, ASIFA East held its 39th annual Festival at the New School. There were over two hours of award winners, and it was one of the better shows of the past few years. I’m not going to report on any of the award winners or titles, but I did take a bunch of amateur photos. To find out the winning films go to the ASIFA East website; they’ll post titles today or tomorrow._____________________________________________(Click images to enlarge.)

Here are the pics and apologies to all for the slapdash quality.

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Shooting from the back of the house, I wasn’t able to get the best shots of award winners. Here are two of the less fuzzy pics.
(1) Dave Levy looks on as Mike and Tim Rauch receive the award for their film, Germans In The Woods.
(2) Bill Plympton thanks all the people who helped him make Hot Dog.

Heidi Stallings and Debra Solomon.