Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Thanks to a loan from John Canemaker, I can continue posting some of the brilliant storyboard work of Bill Peet. The guy was a masterful artist. Every panel gives so much inspiration and information to the animators, directors and artists who’ll follow up on his work.

This is the sequence from Dumbo wherein baby Dumbo plays around the feet of his mother. Brilliantly animated by Bill Tytla, this sequence is one of the greatest ever animated. No rotoscoping, no MoCap. Just brilliant artists collaborating with perfect timing, perfect structure, perfect everything. Tytla said he watched his young son at home to learn how to animate Dumbo. Bill Peet told Mike Barrier that he was a big fan of circuses, so he was delighted to be working on this piece. Both used their excitement and enthusiasm to bring something brilliant to the screen, and it stands as a masterpiece of the medium.

Of this sequence and Tytla’s animation, Mike Barrier says in Hollywood Cartoons: What might otherwise be mere cuteness acquires poignance because it is always shaded by a parent’s knowledge of pain and risk. If Dumbo “acted” more, he would almost certainly be a less successful character—”cuter,” probably, in the cookie-cutter manner of so many other animated characters, but far more superficial.

I had to take the one very long photstat and reconfigure it in photoshop so that you could enlarge these frames to see them well. I tried to keep the feel of these drawings pinned to that board in tact.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Bill Peet at his desk on Dumbo.
_______________________________________________Tomorrow, Bill Tytla‘s Dumbo.

– I’d like to call your attention to a new website we’ve started, as of today.

Now that my feature, POE, is nearing its production start we’ve decided to devote a site specifically to that film. This is an outgrowth of the Poe Page we’ve had at MichaelSpornAnimation.com.

Much of the artwork and clips have been carried over from the old Poe page,
however on Poestory.net, new materials will be added more frequently. There will also be a running journal which will be an extension of the one we’d started on the older site. However, it’s expected that this one will also have entries by others working on the film.

We hope to be able to give a running visual and verbal log of our production as it goes through its growth in the next 16 months. The images up today will continue expanding even through the next week until we’ve started to settle into a regular routine.

- You may know the name of G. Michael Dobbs through the two animation publications he’s produced, Animato or Animation Planet. Or you may know him through his websites, Out of the Inkwell and Made of Pen and Ink.

Now Mr. Dobbs has a new animation book on the market, and I encourage you to look for it.
Escape! How animation broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s describes how animation “escaped” the kidvid onus and moved into more of an adult vein.

As the press release reads:

From the shock value of “The Simpsons,” to the experiment of putting “Ren & Stimpy” on MTV to the popularity of anime among teens, animation saw a revival due to a variety of reasons that came about rather organically, as Dobbs shows in his book.

The book includes interviews with all of your favorites: John Kricflausi, Bill Plympton and Ralph Bakshi. The rise of the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are detailed and the story of the modern, changing adult feature is told: Beauty and the Beast to Bee Story and Beowulf.

G. Michael Dobbs also continues to write his history on the Fleischer brothers and their studio. You can get a remarkable sample of this long-in-the-works book at his Made of Pen and Ink site on which two chapters are posted.

– The extraordinarily vital FPS website is currently holding their fourth annual charity auction live on ebay until the 30th of November.

There are quite a few fine animation goodies for auction via the site. Books, dvds, cds, posters, models and other items are all available and will help the Cancer Research Society. What a great use of their website!

Included among the items to be auctioned are:
__Art of Disney Japanese exhibit catalogue, Art of Disney Japanese exhibit DVD
__Once Upon A Time/Il etait une fois Walt Disney Montreal exhibit posters
__dvd shorts donated by NFB:
______Madame Tutli-Putli
______The Danish Poet
______Ryan
__books:
______Animated Cartoons by E.G. Lutz, 1926 edition
______The Art of Bee Movie ______The Art of Beowulf
______The Art of Cars _______.___The Art of Ratatouille
______The Art of the Incredibles

A full list of items is available here. Go – before Nov. 30th, get some good stuff, support Cancer research and keep your eye on the great site: FPS.

One final note. In case you haven’t noticed, Hans Perk is at it again. He is posting the drafts to Disney’s feature, Alice in Wonderland. The man and his site, A Film LA, are a veritable well stream of animation information.

– It’s been a bit of time since I’ve put up one of these photo bits on Sunday, so I’m looking to get back into the stream of things. What I’ve tried to do is keep my eyes open when walking my daily route in New York. Anything that pops out at me tends to get into these blog spots.

Naturally, in a place like NY there’s an awful lot of signage about. The image to the left gives a good idea of the typical everywhere in this city. There are signs on the temporary construction, signs on the building, signs on the windows. Signs are everywhere and have become the ordinary part of the landscape. In fact, they’ve become part of the building, itself.

The signs that interest me usually are the ones that are actually painted on the buildings, themselves. I have to admit I’ve always been curious about these, and
_____(click any image to enlarge.)_______.___ I’ve wondered how they actually do them.

Unlike the usual poster that’s printed onto strips that are pasted together on the billboard, these posters are actually painted in place on the brick walls. How, exactly, are these done? Realistic looking images are painted there. Paint by numbers? Perhaps I’ll do a little research and try to find out.

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Of course, the City provides many blank canvases (open building walls) where ads can be placed. Several can be seen looking down any street. It’s actually not much different from the construction site image at the top of this post. A space is a space, and that space can
be rented out. (The image on the right is a closeup of the one of the several signs on the left.)

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The fashion industry seems to have their own wealth of ads on buildings. These are photographically realistic, yet they’ve obviously been painted there somehow.
You can see the bricks under the coating of paint.

This Cartoon Network ad for “Boondocks” is painted right over a number of windows.
(You can see the lit window shining through it.) How do these folk see out? I assume
it must be some kind of special paint.

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This ad for Sprint presents a new problem. When you look at the sign straight on, it looks fine. However, if you move a bit, you’ll see that the building/wall on which it’s painted has a shift in it. The sign had to have been designed to take in this change in level of the canvas. An interesting problem. (If you look closely at the Boondocks sign, you can see the same problem existed there.)

Here we have a melange of signage, not all of which are painted on walls. Does the skull represent a building under reconstruction?

Of course, any construction site offers plenty of blank canvas.

Naturally, I couldn’t pass up this image. The tiny Commerce Bank on the corner is overwhelmed by the Chase Bank next door and on the second floor. However Commerce seems to have painted its own add on the Chase construction-site doorway.

Finally, an image sent me by Steve Fisher, shows an odd and funny juxtaposition of signs.
It would make me a bit nervous to have my pet cared for by this veterinarian.

John R. Dilworth is a good friend. He’s currently in Europe putting together some interesting animation projects. He sent me a copy of this interview which was conducted by Andrew La Punta from the School of Visual Arts. Since I was thinking of writing about John, myself, I’ll post this interview for now to give John some due attention.

When did you first realize you wanted to pursue animation as your career?
The moment appeared in the form of a sudden shock to my psyche experimenting with children book illustrations. I was reviewing a few illustrations I had done for an unpublished author on spec; this was before my study at SVA, and I thought to myself, quite unexpectedly, I would love to see this move. That was it.

How did you first start out in the animation field?
I began my animation career during study at SVA. I would go to the jobs board and apply for the listings that appealed to me. Among my favorite was animating a greeting card flip book. It was produced and distributed and brought me satisfaction, including a life friend of the producer. When I was not doing homework, or “freelance” as a student, I would make animated films. I made 3 during SVA. One of them, my graduation film, Pierre 1985, I used to show producers in the industry. I simply called all the studios I could and made appointments for portfolio review. This was a difficult period. I worked in advertising until I was able to earn enough to work in animation full time. It took me nearly two years. My first jobs in animation were in production. I accepted any job offered me. I hand painted cels, worked in production, interned for Howard Beckerman. I joined animation groups like ASIFA. I volunteered with these groups. I made an effort to meet artists and producers. I traveled to take “tests” in Los Angeles and Florida. I made phone calls in these cities to producers and artists and introduced myself. This was a very tough process as I am a modest and shy individual by nature. I had forced myself to “break on through to the other side” of this to give myself a better chance. Eventually, I was given assisting and inbetween work. Then animation. I was reading and studying motion and the fundamentals of movement. I liked attending dance performances. The kinetic energy of dance stimulated my impulses to “dance” on paper. And throughout this process of development, I made my own animation art. When I produced the Dirdy Birdy in 1994, I was moving into the next level of making animation and earning a living solely based on my work.

What are some difficulties you face as an animator?
Currrently, the biggest difficulties are finding the most complimentary relationships with producers and distributors, raising the funding to make animation, back-end participation and technology’s influence on hand drawn animation in the market.

What methods do you use to look for inspiration?
In the past, I was in a kind of undeclared art therapy. I used semi-autobiographical material such as my relationship with family and society ( Smart Talk with Raisin ), lovers ( When Lily Laney Moved In, The Limited Bird, N&N, Catch of the Day), my own dysfunctional behavior ( The Dirdy Birdy, The Mousochist, Courage the Cowardly Dog ) or personal collisions ( Life in Transition ). These themes tend to be my current sources of influence today as well, now that I think it over. My method of inspiration is introspection, self-inquirery and a pursuit to understand the universe. Only once did an illustration I admired in a catalog of erotic art inspire a short film, and of course I cannot discount the method of sitting back and watching great films and cartoons. I would often make notes on those aspects of this “viewing” that inspired something in me.

In the past, animators would have to paint cels and shoot frames on a camera. Today, 2d animation is mostly digital. What are your thoughts about the direction 2d animation has taken?
My last hand painted film on cels was The Dirdy Birdy (1994). I embraced the new technology to paint and compose hand drawn animation in the computer, I believed that I could manage my films better than having to delegate. On my next film, The Chicken from Outer Space (1995 ), I out-sourced the Ink & Paint to the Animo software system and later transfered to film directly from digital files. Currently, I do not have a personal relationship of expression using FLASH, for instance. I do not “feel” the human uniqueness of spontaneity and sudden and impetuous diversion in line and motion that characterized, in part, the struggle of traditional animation. However, I freelance the duties of AFX. FLASH or Photoshop to artists who have the facility and I continue to enjoy hand drawing. I am aware that the substance of a project should be awarded the medium in which to best express it. I would not have enjoyed watching Tex Avery or Bob Clampett cartoons in FLASH. However, the “look” of the creative stuff coming out of these softwares are itself a unique thing and the current market appears to demand it. That is itself a validation of direction the overall medium is taking. What I do wish would return is the mentor/protege model of experience. The new softwares tend to isolate the individual from the intra-personal group experience. Talent do not even read the manuals. I’ve noticed that they go solo and learn the vocabulary built in the software.

What are your thoughts about the future of 2d animation? Will it eventually fade away, be replaced with 3d animation, or stay forever?
The market is king. Currently, the market is investing heavily in computer animation and 3-D without glasses. These are advances in a visual medium that rival the technological revolution upon the release of “Snow White”. That’s the commercial consideration and human necessity for invention and “progress”. The future for me will always include hand drawn animation. I continue to offer the market my talent and continue to make my art by hand. If I can no longer afford to make animated films by hand, for instance, I will probably do something else. The most important thing to remember is simply do what you enjoy the most and what brings you the most satisfaction, like masturbation. And I am a master at pleasing myself!

At the end of the day, do you have any regrets with your decision on becoming an animator?
No, I have no regrets becoming an animator. I do have regrets over my attitude as an animator towards certain producers and network executives. I would have liked to react to the outrage I had to endure with more gallantry. I regret that I allowed my pride to reign over civility. I regret that I allowed myself to be truculent in attitude, aggressive in opinion and arrogant to ideas and perceived ignorance of others, even to the deliberate greed and megalomanic insecurities of these characters. These incredulous acts of my self-defeatism contributed to a diminished reward, the reward of enjoying the moment of conflict and creation. No, I have no regrets becoming an animator, only the regret that I did not make a better effort to be a gentleman animator. However, I must accept that the chemistry of deep passion for my art will contrive with my irrational reactions yielding something beyond my control, like one of my favorite militants in cartoons, Daffy Duck.

– Once again I dip into the oversied Snow White book bought years ago. It’s filled with storyoard/layout drawings and illustrates the story of Snow White using only such drawings. There are plenty of beautiful images in this book, and I can’t help but pull them out to post.

There’s no indication of who drew what, so you have only the B&W images to look at with no other references to go by. This film is a true source of inspiration for me, so these drawings are always great to study, and this
odd book is jam packed. Unfortunately, the only text within the book is the story of Snow White.

This is Snow White’s run from the hunter – really from the Queen – into the deep, dark woods. Her fears get the better of her, and the trees turn into creepy creatures,
frightening her to tears.

(Click any image to enlarge.)
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This looks to me like a rotoscope drawing traced off the live action.

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_________Happy Thanksgiving

- I haven’t been able to post any photos for the past few weeks since I was so focused on the animation events flying all about me.

My friend Steve Fisher has been sending me a bunch of pictures from Queens – Maspeth, to be exact – that are more than a little appropriate for the day.
Autumn is flying by us, and it’s a good time to look at leaves. Steve has captured some of them for me, and here they are for your amusement. There are also a few turkeys (balloon turkeys) thrown in for the heck of it. I guess it’s not enough to decorate your house for Christmas; Thanksgiving is a good excuse for some people as well.
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_____(Click any image to enlarge.)

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Are these supposed to be Pilgrims? Or are they Thanksgiving leprachauns?

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– Back when I wanted to become an animator, there was always the same statement by the hardened professionals: it takes ten years to become a decent animator. I always wondered what happened in that ninth year. I wondered if you could do it sooner. Ward Kimball and Myron Waldman were considered boy wonders who quickly rose to the top of their respective studios. Not only did they become animators; the became directing animators.

Nowadays, all you have to do is register with Flash, and you’re an animator.

As I entered the business, it became obvious that the walk cycle was the make or break point for an animator. You had to be able to master the walk cycle and be able to do something interesting with it – something interesting that helped define the character. (Although, Adam Elliot did boast that he’d never done a walk cycle in all of his films including the half-hour Harvie Krumpet which won the Oscar.)

However, even in Flash you often have to make characters walk. That’s why I’ve put a lot of focus on walk cycles, lately. The Fleischer films seem to have created cycles that are more manageable, so it’s easy to focus on them. Here’s a cycle of Betty from the short, A Little Soap and Water (1935). I’m pretty sure it’s Myron Waldman‘s work. It’s not really a cycle, but I’ve maneuvered into one for viewing.

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____(Click any image to enlarge.)

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- Beowulf has created an enormous stir in the animation community – or, at least, one would think so given the number of comments on blogs like Mark Mayerson‘s or Cartoon Brew‘s. Lots of angry animators are venting against the computer fans who don’t seem to understand their complaints.

I have a bunch of random thoughts and questions I’d like to add to this topic:

- Why weren’t people as irritated by the MoCap of Monster House? Was that film any more animated than Beowulf that it should have been given a pass, nevermind an Oscar nomination?

- There was a film competing for the Short Animated Oscar called Once Upon A Christmas Village. This was the only MoCap short in competition this year. Aside from its vulgar humor, I was admittedly biased against it for its lack of real animation. The question is: if MoCap films are denied competing in the animated feature race, should the same be true for shorts?

- The Pearce Sisters is an excellent use of cgi to create 2D animation. It’s done well, and leads the way for such modes of production. The question is what happens when MoCap is used to create 2D animation? Will it offend as many people?

- Why has there been a large number of people comparing MoCap to rotoscoping? One is drawn and redrawn, timed and retimed. The other is touched up live action. Why do I see a difference and others argue against that point? I’m confused. Animation is frame by frame filmmaking. Nothing else. Even rotoscoping fits into the form. MoCap is shooting live action which is transposed via computer into something else and then touched up. I realize this is a simplification of the process, but it took some of the animators who animated Snow White, using their rotoscoped drawings, many years to get to the point where they could properly handle their scenes.

- Obviously, Disney has invested heavily into Zemeckis‘ MoCap operations. The Christmas Carol will be up next with Jim Carrey – the human cartoon – gesticulating wildly as Scrooge. How long will it be before the Pixars of the world are proclaimed obsolete and replaced by MoCap?

- If the cost of Beowulf was $150 million – more than Ratatouille and more than Shrek 3 – why was it done in MoCap rather than key frame? What was the saving? I doubt it was for artistic expression. Perhaps it’s the only way Zemeckis was able to maintain control of an “animated” film.___________________________________________The future of the animator?

Am I the only one who doesn’t think I am an alarmist? The rest of my life is set; it’s the future of animation I worry about. Really, I’m just an observer at this point.

- Yesterday, I felt like I’d committed heresy when I wrote about Aleksandr Petrov‘s film My Love and my feelings about this filmmaker’s work. (Go here to see a short clip.)

I have a definite problem with Petrov’s painting style. It’s a semi-realistic, style, remniscent of some of the megre Russian impressionists like Chegodar. V.P. Krants or Krokholev. Though I respect the form, it doesn’t move me. The same is true of Petrov‘s work.

He’s a talented draftsman who has taken Caroline Leaf‘s painterly style, created for The Street, and developed it to a new level of meticulousness. He manipulates the wet paint on glass in a dissolve style and ties the transitions of scenes together with animated pans and zooms. It’s all rather fluid and impressionist almost to the point of muddy. One can’t help but admire the technique and give him countless awards for it.

The beautiful and expressive animation of Caroline Leaf, in my opinion, enormously surpasses the feeling of the literal and live-action bound animation of Petrov. Many people admire him, and I can understand that. I just feel differently.

However, if I do have to select one of his films as a favorite, I would have to choose The Cow, his first. You can watch it on YouTube. My least favorite is the Oscar winner, The Old Man and The Sea.

Though, actually, my real favorite is the work he did for United Airlines. I think his style is enormously commercial, and the George Gershwin music really works with it to give the film a 20th Century feel.

Since seeing My Love, I’ve been searching for a short bit I’d seen wherein Yurij Norstein gives his thoughts on the film. With some searching I was able to locate the video interview. Go here to see it. (Thanks to Animatsiya In English for posting it.)

Anyway, here’s the segment of the Norstein interview about Petrov:

Question: … well, let’s begin with Petrov’s film ["My Love"]. Unfortunately the name “Petrov”, I think, the rest of the world probably knows better than we do? The winner of…

Norstein: No, he’s also known over here, of course.

…winner of the Cannes festival…

..No, not Cannes, he received an Oscar for the film “The Old Man and the Sea”. Which incidentally was made in Canada, not here.

There’s an unusual technique, as I understand.

The technique is something. He has an unusual technique – I can’t say that he invented it, animating with paint on glass, I think it was invented by Caroline Leaf. She made the first film, in 1978. It was called “The Street”, and it was a wonderful film in its time. Some story by a Jewish writer [Mordecai Richler], I don’t remember now, I don’t know… this was an event then. Sasha was certainly aware of this film. He wonderfully… I think that in animated filmmaking today few draw like him, and maybe nobody does. He’s a complete virtuoso in this respect. And his first film “The Cow” was an immediate phenomenon. It was a diploma work and a full-fledged film at the same time, and incidentally was nominated for an Oscar. What’s surprising is that it DIDN’T win. Now that was one film which should have won, because it was in all respects a NEW film. Of a new psychology. Well, it’s sufficient to say that it was an adaptation of Platonov, you see? This already speaks of the quality of the animation. The film which he has just made – it received the Grand Prix, and I think won another two categories… but… I should really speak with Sasha about it, because the virtuosity is the same. The same glamour. But I think there are things in cinema more important than certain moments, than a simple showcase of mastery…

So basically… you wished for depth?

I wished for depth. I wished for… economy. I wished for, on some occasions, humility, when virtuosity gives way to something more deep, psychologically more important.

Those last lines are the key to everything I believe in animation. Let me repeat them:

I wished for depth. I wished for… economy. I wished for, on some occasions, humility, when virtuosity gives way to something more deep, psychologically more important.

Is this the difference between Art and Illustration?

These are the titles of the films which have been accepted to compete in the Best Animated Short competition for the Oscar. New York members of the Academy (which included quite a few people who traveled from Canada) were assembled to watch the films and vote their choices for the shortlist which will be immediately assembled. From that shortlist of about 10 films, five will be selected as the nominees to be announced in late January.

_1. EL Dia De Los Muertos (The Day Of The Dead)
_2. A Gathering Of Elephants
_3. The Day My Soul Became A Star
_4. Tales Of The Old Piano, Beethoven
_5. Art’s Desire
_6. Fission
_7. Jeu
_8. Printed Rainbow
_9. Mortel
10. Madame Tutli-Putli
11. My Love (Moya Lyubov)
12. Peter And The Wolf
13. Verschlossen (Closed)
14. Shuteye Hotel
15. Anna And The Moods
16. Ark
17. Blind Man’s Eye
18. Boog And Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run
19. The Chestnut Tree
20. The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas
21. How To Hook Up Your Home Theater
22. I Met The Walrus
23. Map Of The Underground
24. Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis
_____(Even Pigeons Go To Heaven)
25. Mirage
26. Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker
27. My Date From Hell
28. The Needful Head
29. Once Upon A Christmas Village
30. The Order
31. The Pearce Sisters
32. Sleeping Betty (Isabelle Au Bois Dormant)
33. Yours Truly

I don’t intend to review these shorts.
After my certainty last year that the best film. Joanna Quinn‘s, Dreams and Desires: Family Ties, would win the Oscar – only to be shocked that she wouldn’t even get a nomination, I’ve learned my lesson. You can’t predict these things, so I won’t.

I would like to talk about the most known of these shorts. I was glad to have seen a number of films I’ve heard about for the past year, and I feel I can finally comment – without giving much of an in-depth criticism. You should think for yourself on these.

The Pearce Sisters was remarkable in its use of cgi animation to animate a rather dark story. It was quite attractive, and, I have to say, did quite a fine job of animating the illustration style. However, it made me think of Caroline Leaf’s Two Sisters. That’s a very different and lovelier film with a similar subject.

For almost a year now, I’ve seen clips from Peter And The Wolf and have read about it. I’m glad to have finally seen it. The film is a daring alteration of the Prokofiev story written for his musical piece. The use of the silence at the open is quite stark and interesting in its approach. It’s an extraordinarily good film with very fine puppet animation. However, I was a bit surprised at the ending; there was no anticlimax. I also felt the credits in silence was a mistake. Sort of the animated version of The Sopranos with less justification than David Chase had.

Just as often, I’ve heard about and read about My Love (Moya Lyubov) by Aleksandr Petrov. Like his other films, this is an elaborate and romantically painted piece. It was a well told story, done with extraordinary skill. I wish I were a fan of Mr. Petrov’s work, but I must admit a prejudice against the style of painting he uses. However I completely respect the complex animation work he’s done.

I have to say I’ve never liked Goofy. From the first, when I’d heard how they were making How To Hook Up Your Home Theater, a continuation of the endless series of unfunny shorts produced in the forties and fifties, there seemed little for me to cheer about. The new regime at Disney was actively trying to recreate one of those mediocre Goofy shorts from that period. Then I’d read a number of reviews after the screening at Ottawa. When Michael Barrier spoke so highly of it, I certainly looked forward to seeing it for myself. And you know what? They succeeded in imitating the feel of those films. (However, I can’t understand why the outlines are so thin. Goofy never had such a thin line in those shorts.) But, really, what difference does that make? It’s a Goofy movie. Not for me. I suppose Donald & Chip n Dale are next. I guess I’m glad they’re training young directors and animators to do 2D work.

This is the fourth time I’ve seen Bill Plympton’s most recent short, Shuteye Hotel. It’s a wholly new look for Bill; the use of cg artwork almost disorients you at the start. You don’t feel as if you’re in PlymptonWorld until the police vehicle pulls up. I quite like this change; it feels right. The film takes Bill’s style to other levels.

Finally I’ve seen Madame Tutli-Putli. This, for me, was the best film on the program. Amazingly sensitive puppet animation which recaptures some dark period in our history (or maybe it’s our future.) I found the live-action eyes extraordinarily distracting and wish they were able to have done the film without them, but, regardless, I felt moved by these characters and the complex story told. It’s a beautiful film.

A final note: I must admit my disappointment in not seeing Koji Yamamura‘s film, Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor, on the list. I’m such a big fan of Mr. Yamamura’s work that I would have liked to have seen it as part of this event. Maybe next year.

The NY Times has 2 articles about the Performance Capture in the weekend’s #1 film, Beowulf. (UGH! And, no, I do not think it’s a positive that so many people are going to see this animated film.) #1 & #2