Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- I seem to remember a lot of industry magazines that would regularly publish articles about the animation industry. Millimeter, Film Comment, On Location, Hollywood Reporter all had their animation issues that I’d search out (long before I entered the business professionally), pore over, memorize and save.

Print Magazine was a glossy magazine that featured lots of articles about design, usually print design, although there was the occasional animtion article. In 1974, there was a big issue about animation. One article, by Rod McCall, who was a designer for print as well as film, wrote an article about the commercial studios in New York with an accent on the design aspect.

Here’s that article, which is picture-centric in jpegs. If there were more text I’d have transcribed it, but this format seems best since the article is so attractively designed within the magazine.

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(Click any image to enlarge and read.)

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Thanks to Bill Peckmann for the magazine to scan and share.

- Last night I saw Where the Wild Things Are. To be honest, I didn’t really want to go, but went just the same. Not good.
Yes, I know all the reviews I’ve seen are glowing. But I found it boring once they settled in on the island.

David Denby‘s review in the New Yorker got it right. Read it before you go; that’s the film you’ll see.

The cgi manipulated faces of the characters is excellent as are the voices. Sensational acting by James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano and Forest Whitaker. All of them. And the kid, he’s good, too.

But Spike Jonze! Why do you have to tell us everything that’s going on on screen? Why do you have to overanalyze a book that has so much depth; it gives us reason to think. Do you just want to stop us from thinking? Give me the book. I don’t want this thing to sit in the unconscious memory of children watching. Give them the book. Yccch!

It’s an adult’s idea of adapting a children’s book. Repetitive, Tiresome and Boring.

New Yorker illustration, above, by Pablo Lobato.

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- I’d be afraid to see the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol soon to come out. From the look of it, they’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the audience through the magic of 3D. Christmas wreaths, icicles, snow, even Jim Carrey. They all fly in our face. $5 extra, please, for the glasses and $3 extra for the aspirins to take care of the headache.

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- According to a piece in The Wrap, Wes Anderson didn’t want to stay on set during the tedious two year shoot of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, so he went to Paris while the film’s “Director of Animation”, Mark Gustafson, did the heavy lifting. Footage was sent via email to Paris and back a response would come.

Anderson said, “the movie would not be the way I wanted it if I just did it the way people were accustomed to doing it.” Give that man an Oscar.

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- Tomorrow at USC, the Entertainment Law and Business Conference will be held. Described as “…in-depth examinations of the newest opportunities in animation.”

Guest panelists will include:

Robert A. Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company who will be the keynote lunchtime speaker.

The heads of four major talent agencies: Jeffrey Berg (ICM), Jim Berkus (UTA), Ari Emanuel (WME) and David O’Connor (CAA). They will participate in discussion on “The Future of Agencies.”

Tom Sito will talk on animation’s future and how it will depend on continued technical development or a refocus on storytelling and character? And what opportunities exist for creators of new media, such as animated webisodes or short-form flash animation on the Web?

Saturday, Oct. 17. The session on “New Opportunities for Animation” will begin at 9 a.m. The doors open for registration at 7:30 a.m.

For more info call USC Law’s Continuing Legal Education office at 213-743-1772 or log on to their site.

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- A friend, Steve Parton sent this YouTube video about the fun of freelancing as a designer – though it’s applicable to anyone who works in this business. It’s a laugh, if you haven’t seen it as yet.

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- RIchard O’Connor has been giving daily updates on the Ottawa Animation Festival, as it progresses. There’ve been two posts, to date, and if you have any interest in what’s up at this Festival, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Asterisk Animation
Day #1
Day #2

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- The rain that left LA, earlier this week, has made it to New York and will dampen (if not deluge) our weekend in the City. (Thanks, LA.)

I wouldn’t mind, but I’m waiting somewhat impatiently to see the Yankee-Angels games, and I hope they won’t be rained-out. I have too much emotional investment in that series to be blottoed by RAIN!

- On Tuesday, Dec 1 The Paley Center in New York will host a screening of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. After the screening there will be a panel discussion which includes the following guests:
- Darrell Van Citters, Animator and Author of Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Making ____of the First Animated Christmas Special,
- Judy Levitow, Daughter of Magoo Director Abe Levitow
- Marie Matthews, Voice of “Young Scrooge”
- Moderator: Jack Doulin, of the New York Theatre Workshop.

The program starts at 6pm and general admission is $20. All guests will receive a complimentary DVD of Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

I’ll post this again as we get closer to the date, but you might want to buy tickets in advance for this special program. Hopefully you’ll have the dvd at hand to wash out the taste of the all-Jim Carrey version coming to a theater near you.

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- This announcement gives me the opportunity of recommending, again, Darrel van Citters’ excellent book, Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special. Reading this attractive book gave me new insights into the program as well as the production of animation in the relatively early era of tv production. There’s a wealth of behind-the-scenes material about the production from concept to completion.

Some bits:

As a fan of Jule Styne‘s work, I find it remarkable the amount of information given about this composer as well as his score for this show. Styne and Bob Merrill were writing FUNNY GIRL for Broadway at the same time, and found themselves bogged down with producton delays. They took the UPA cartoon because they thought it’d be fun and they’d be able to squeeze it in before their Broadway show got up and running again. They also thought they could make a quick buck. Of course, the music gives the show the weight it needs with solid, strong tunes. (There were also a few others asked before Styne was selected.)

Abe Levitow was directing Gay Purr-ee at the exact same time he was doing Magoo’s Christmas Carol. This presented logistic problems which are detailed here in an entertaining read.


Gerard Baldwin had only two weeks to animate the “Despicables” song.
He completed the sequence, which was one of the highlights of the show, on time.

Shirley Silvey had a limited amount of time away from her work on The Bullwinkle Show. She used it to design the story board for Magoo and help in the early stages of the show’s Layouts.

A Shirley Silvey storyboard drawing alongside a matching Layout by Sam Weiss.

It’s a good read with lots of the business side mixed in with the artistry. Darrell Van Citters is a Producer/Director/Animator by day. Consequently, the informed animation reader feels in safe hands throughout the book. He knows what rocks to turn over, and his curiosities in this film are ours. He talks about the things you want to know, and he opens up avenues you didn’t expect to see explored. Van Citters financed this book, himself; he believes in it, and you feel that from the first page. It’s a fine book.

– NYC is currently celebrating Maurice Sendak. This obviously has all to do with the release of the new Spike Jonze feature based on the book, Where the Wild Things Are. The artwork, twelve drawings and two manuscript pages, will be on view in the Morgan Library‘s historic McKim building. The exhibit extends from now through Nov. 1st. (There’s a hefty admission fee – @12 – to the museum, but they also have a William Blake exhibit on display. As their catalogue reads: on display are “Blake’s most spectacular watercolors, prints, and illuminated books of poetry to dramatically underscore his genius and enduring influence.”)

The Animazing Gallery is featuriing another Sendak show. On display will be more than 200 pieces by Mr. Sendak. There will also be etchings, limited editions and posters for sale.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the site Terrible Yellow Eyes, but I thought I’d mention it in case there are those who are not. It’s a site built to post artwork by invited artists who were inspired by Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. There are a lot of good, creative pieces on display at this site.

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– As you all may or may not know, I’m working hard to put together an animated feature length biography of Edgar Allan Poe. I have become somewhat addicted to information about Poe and have continually sought more. Even though the script is complete and some of the voices are recorded, I’ve been planning some significant changes to the scope of the script and story. Naturally enough, I have a site dedicated to this film (Poestory.net) and infrequently update information in the production notes section.

This is the 200th anniversary for Poe, and two interesting events have come to my attention:
. The NYTimes reported that two ceremonial burials will be held for E. A. Poe this coming Sunday to celebrate the author. Poe’s death was so peculiar that he ended up buried in a pauper’s grave, then moved to the current grave. Fewer than 10 people attended the original service. The city of Baltimore is hoping to get it right this time.

. Secondly, The Baltimore Museum of Art has just opened a show that features artwork that celebrates Poe and his stories. Lots of Manet (who did an illustrated version of The Raven – above right – in 1875), Odilon Redon and even a Robert Motherwell.

I’m seriously thinking about making a trip to Baltimore, soon.

- An article in Variety announced Chris Wedge‘s upcoming film at Blue Sky. There’s a history of studio politics behind this film.

Apparently, when Wedge and the author of the book, “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs,” William Joyce (Robots) weren’t able to get Fox to give the project a “go” they went to Pixar and Disney, with Fox’s blessing. Many meetings and discussions and planning later, just as Disney was about to make the deal, Wedge learned that Fox hadn’t and wouldn’t give up the rights.

Fox wouldn’t respond to Variety except to say that it was proud to have greenlit the film at Blue Sky. Of course,they started the project now that Disney and Pixar wanted it and Chris Wedge.

It would have been enormously interesting to see Wedge move to work at Pixar. We would’ve seen the real difference between the two studios comparing the pre and post films of the director. However, we’ve been spared the excitement as he takes control of this “major animated title” at his home, Blue Sky Studio in Connecticut.

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- Ken Priebe wrote to say that he is at work on a second volume of his book, The Art of Stop-Motion Animation. The release is scheduled for sometime next summer.

Of the book, Ken says: “I’m covering history of stop-motion again, but this time specifically focusing on the evolution of feature-length puppet films, from Starewitch’s ‘Tale of the Fox’ and onwards (to Wes Anderson’s ‘Fox’…funny how we’ve come full circle this year with foxes.) Also included will be rarely-talked about gems like Hansel & Gretel, Nutcracker Fantasy, Pogo for President, and others.”

Considering that the last year has seen at least four animated features done in stop-motion, the books are timely.

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I really got excited this article. Werner Herzog will start to teach a class in Rogue filmmaking. “The director of Aguirre and Rescue Dawn is offering students a chance to experience ‘the exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully’ and learn skills such as ‘the neutralisation of bureaucracy’”

The Werner Herzog school of guerrilla film-making is open for business!

“‘The Rogue Film School is not for the faint-hearted,’ said the film-maker. “It is for those who have travelled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs or as wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lock-picking or forging shooting permits in countries not favouring their projects.”

Not very faint-hearted and one who has travelled on foot, I’m trying to raise the $1,450 to be able to attend the weekend course.

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- Ward Jenkins posted pages from Emanuele Luzzati‘s first children’s book, Chichibio and the Crane .

This is an adaptation of a story by Boccacio which was adapted and illustrated by the artist. Luzzati was already a designer of costumes and sets for the opera, including La Scala, and he had been a cermacist. The book is designed for two color printing, as were many books in the day, and it’s amazing to see the excellent results the artist pulled out of the limitations he was given.

This book is hard to find, and I’m pleased to see it on Ward’s site.

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- I doubt I need to direct any of you devoted to animation to Mike Barrier ‘s site. Recent posts are coming at us with a vengence. Animation history is active on that site, and you get a good idea of what it takes for someone serious about the business.

There’s the long and excellent post on the information gleaned from an ad in the Film Daily Year Book for 1927 which goes into depth about Disney’s break from Charles Mintz and the interviews with Hugh Harman and film director, Andrew Stone.

There’s the trip Disney made to NY and Carnegie Hall in 1940 where he got to hear the use of the sound device that would become Fantasound.

There’s the discussion of Walt’s connection to Norman Rockwell or Dr. Seuss‘s first cartoons.

This is probably the most important site for anyone interested in the history. Go there.

- Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs came with a lot of advance on-line promotion. However, it opened today, and I didn’t have a clue. The film seems to have snuck into town on tip toe. Not even bus and subway ads in NY. I’ve seen one ad – two weeks ago – on TV. Even Ponyo had 2 commercials on broadcast TV (that I saw). There were NO newspaper ads.

So the film opens in NY officially unannounced, and the newspapers gave back in kind. All of the reviewers who reviewed the film were not the lead critics; as a matter of fact most weren’t even the seconds. The Village Voice hasn’t even reviewed the film yet!

Don’t these marketing experts, hired by the big studios, realize they could make a buck with these films! Two of the last year’s biggest money making movies were animated. Ice Age III and UP. Half a billion dollar potential is worth a few ads!

Surprise! surprise! It so happens that the majority of them actually liked the film. That has something to do with the good will Judy and Ron Barrett‘s book brings with it, but the film has to stand on its own. Actually, it doesn’t even resemble the book anymore – except for the book’s main story. (As a matter of fact, it looks very ho hum – like 90% of the other cg features dumped on us.

Hopefully, the film will do well and more attention will be paid in the future. Here are some links to the NY papers:

- The third tier writer at The NY Times, Daniel M. Gold, said: In a year in which Hollywood’s 3-D animated films have seemed to set the genius of Pixar’s “Up” against the dubious best of everything else, the impulse to take a break from computer-generated family fare is understandable. (Any urge to see “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” again? I thought not.)
What! No slide show on the Times for this one?
- The second string reviewer for The NY Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman, gave it Four Stars and said: “Unless you’re on your way to Disney World by way of Hersheypark, ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ is very likely the most fun your family will have this month.
- Even The NY Post doesn’t put up their lead critic. Kyle Smith wrote the only negative review – Two Stars:”The animated movie greatly expands on the kids’ book on which it’s based in a clever and engaging first half. But the second half leaves a foul aftertaste. Slapdash action scenes play against dreary warnings to fear wealth and beauty. “

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Congratulations to those who made it into the Holland Animation Festival scheduled to take place in Utrecht from the 4th to 8th of November. Americans in competition include:

Non-Sponsored Films:
Chris Ware – Quimby the Mouse

Alex Budovsky – Royal Nightmare

Elliot Cowan – The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead

Sponsored Films:
Michael Jantze – Hilton Hotels: Mr. Lux in ‘At your Service’
George Griffin – Lorraine Feather: You’re Outa HereBoxhead and Roundhead in a stressful situation

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For the complete lists of films in competition go here.

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- For those who were not aware of it, I have a site designed to showcase the feature we’re putting together, Poe.
This site is called PoeStory.net and it contains clips, artwork and production updates about a long-in-process film. I hope to see it moving sooner rather than later, and this site allows me to keep in touch with it.

You can also find the some of the same material on my studio website at MichaelSpornAnimation.com. Once on the home page click the black cat which links to POE.

By the way, that site – on the Home Page – gives the scheduled times many of my films run on HBO (they repeat monthly.)

- Today, of course, is September 11th and certainly no New Yorker can get through the date without reminiscing about that horrible day back in 2001.

Tom Hachtman visited the studio yesterday and he and I went on a bit. He’d regularly submits pieces to the New Yorker magazine. He was on his way into the city to submit a cover that had the strange bit (the week before 9/11) where a parachuter landed on the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The twin towers were in the background. When he learned, coming into town, that the buildings had been struck, he didn’t even show his cover idea (a good and funny one, normally) but went home.

Everyone was affected from great to slight, and a very sad calm comes over when we give our minds to it.

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- Shane Acker‘s 9 opened in New York this past Wednesday and might have snuck in without notice if we weren’t looking for it. I have seen the ad for it several times on tv -all during Yankee games – (which is more than I can say for Ponyo.) All of the ads were action-adventure blow up kinda ads. None of them would get me near a theater.

I do have the memory of the short that was nominated for the Oscar. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I certainly remembered it. Mad Max meets Henry Selick meets student film. I couldn’t tell if it was puppet or cgi, though I suspected cgi. I now know it was. At least Shane Acker makes no bones about that being the look he was going for.

The film didn’t get a review in the NYDaily News until today – a short 2 star review; it earned 3 stars from the NYPost, and received a generally non-commital of a review from A.O.Scott in the NYTimes. (Since he’s now half of that new “Siskel/Ebert” clone of a show, it’ll be interesting to see what he says live on the upcoming program.)

The NYTimes does have a slide show of stills from the film.

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- Speaking of cgi looking like puppet films, here’s a cgi film that DOESN’T look like a Viewmaster clone. Un tour de manège They sought to imitate painting.
What do you know! Gobelins strikes again.

The film’s a bit romantic in tone, but the graphics are superbly done. It’s technically very sophisticated but quite simple in its look and execution. I appreciated the work that went into it and the final product.

Thanks to Ian Lumsden‘s great blog for pointing me in the right direction.

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- Too Art for TV4 is the title of the latest art exhibit of work by animation artists. The wrok will be displayed in Williamsburg at the art gallery, Erebuni. The opening reception is next Friday, September 18th, 6pm-9:30pm

The show, itself, will run from September 18th, through October 17th, 2009
at Erebuni, 158 Roebling St. Williamsburg, NY 11211.

I urge you to support your fellow artists and take a look.

Some of the artists exhibiting may be unfamiliar names; others may be friends. I suggest you check out the website and scroll down. Take the time to read some of the bios.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS include:

Liz Artinian ____ Amanda Baehr-Fuller____
Christopher Beaumont ____Andrew Bell
Robert Bohn ____Connie Li Chan
Devin Clark____ Eliot Cowan
Jared Deal____ Kelly Denato
Eric Dyer ____Maya Edelman
Jon Ehrenberg____ Christopher Fisher
Chris George ____Kenneth B Gore
Edmond Hawkins ____Jen Hill
Stephen Irwin____ Marta Maria Jonsdottir
kaNO ____Thomas Knowler
Eileen Kohlhepp ____Peter J. Lazarski
Eric Leiser____ Adam Levine
Dave Lipson____ Todd Kidwell Lown
Richard Mather Cynthea____ Satsuki Mazur
Margaret Meyer____ Jessica Milazzo
Nate Milton ____Michael Mucci
Deodato Pangandoyon____ Alex Smith
Zartosht Soltani____ Ryan Sovereign

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- I enjoyed Mark Mayerson‘s comments on Miyazaki‘s book Starting Point. I’ve been hot to get my hands on this one for some time now. I ordered it from Amazon and have been in limbo ever since.

I’ve just received a second notice (a month later) that the book has just been shipped. I’ll believe it when I have the book in my hands. It’s a bit frustrating. There are times when I wonder why I didn’t just go to the store and buy a copy! (Of course, laziness is the answer.)

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- As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Walt and El Grupo opens today at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street. The reviews for the film have been good (only the NYPost offered their top reviewer), as expected. All of those I saw (about 6 of them) said the film was too reverential, a studio promoting its own history.

I thought it a good documentary with lots of sterling footage of the groups travels through Latin America. Jerry Beck’s one negative comment is the same for me – I wish the film had offered more of the animation from the films that came out of this trip. Of course, I’m one of those the movie was made for – an animation fan who went into it knowing who all the people on screen were.

I did appreciate a lot of the commentary about the strike, that all of these employees were part of – on Walt’s side of the fence. We learn in the doc that many of them were worried for those they’d left behind. We can easily imagine what a concern that would be. It’s a good film that you should see if you have any interest in Disney.

- On her blog, Moonflygirl, Tania Covo posted a few of the beautiful illustrations in the book Tales from the Arabian Nights – published by Hamlyn in 1960. The illustrations were by Jiri Trnka.

I was familiar with Tania’s excellent site covering the works of Errol Le Cain, so was pleased to see that she enjoyed Trnka’s work as well. However, I was delighted when she offered me scans of the remaining illustrations in this book.

A joy to offer them here:

(Click any image to enlarge.)

The book is a treasure.
Thank you Tania for your generous loan of these excellent illustrations.

Jeff Scher has one of his excellent animated pieces on the NYTimes site. Once again the music by Shay Lynch has supported the piece and completed it at the same time. A fine piece of music as well as a fine piece of film music. The themes anticipate some of the turns that Jeff takes in his anthem to the end of summer. Take it in and wonder how this could ever have been done in cg. These pieces get better and better for me.

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- I’ve recently bought the DVD of Ponyo in Japanese with English subtitles. The film has some strong differences. I saw the movie in English again last night and took some notes. It was my third viewing (2x in theater – once on video) and the film holds up in spades.
I’ll report on what differences I’ve heard later this week.

Howard Beckerman was at that screening – he came with John Dilworth. We said hello and Howard handed me a press release:

(Click to enlarge.)

Should be an interesting talk, if you have any interest in design or the development process.

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- Stephen MacQuignon was a mainstay of my studio for quite a few years. From 1987 through 1993 Steve was the backbone of the coloring department working on many of my principal films – all pre digital. He left animation seeking other fortunes.

Lately, he seems to have found some success with a number of children’s books which he’s recently illustrated. These can be bought on Amazon for a fair price.

Steve tells me that at least three of the upcoming books have yet to hit the market. It’s nice to be busy. We’ll look forward to collecting them all.

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I’m surprised. I can’t get Teddy Kennedy out of my head today.
I don’t know how the Senate goes on without him.____________________________

- Suzan Pitt’s World – As part of the celebration for the 30 Years of First Run Features at Lincoln Center there will be a program of the collected works of Suzan Pitt. Three of her finest shorts will be screened: Asparagus (1979), Joy Street (1995) and El doctor (2006). This is a pretty strong program which shows a unique vision in the world of animation, and I encourage anyone who isn’t familiar with her work to take the time to see these films on a big screen. (Everyone who is familiar with her work will probably want to return for another look.)

Asparagus was a natural for those late night screenings in the late 70′s early 80′s – at least across New York’s cinemas. It was as much a part of the scene as David Lynch’s Eraserhead or Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo at midnight showings.

Performances will take place: Sun Aug 30: 1pm and Wed Sep 2: 2:50pm.

Also included in this retrospective is Jan Svankmajer‘s Alice. This, of course, is the inventive stop-motion animator’s unsettling version of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. (You can watch a clip from this film here.)
Screening times are: Sat Aug 29: 1pm & Wed Sep 2: 9pm.

You might also want to look over the list of other films in the series of First Run Features. They’re my DVD distributor for a good reason (and it isn’t money); they have enormous respect for the Independent film maker and take great care with the films they distribute. Likewise I’m a fan of many of the filmmakers they do handle. Ross McElwee’s work is enormously important to me. His Sherman’s March (Thu Aug 27: 4pm & Sat Aug 29: 8:30pm) and Bright Leaves (Tue Sep 1: 4:15pm & 8:45pm) are both part of this mini-retrospective.
Many of the films’ directors will be present for Q&As.

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- This a reminder that there’s a screening of the documentary, Walt and El Grupo, tomorrow night at BAM. The screening is for MOCCA, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and it features a Q&A with writer/director Ted Thomas and producer Kuniko Okubo, moderated by John Canemaker.

Again, this will take place on tomorrow, Thursday, August 27th, 7:30 PM at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Cinema 4, (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY).

Admission is free for Members of MoCCA. To rsvp, call (212) 254-3511.

The film will open theatrically in NY & LA on Sept. 11th.

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Marco de Blois has created a new blog. In response to the stir over Theodore Ushev’s poster for the 09 Ottawa Animation Festival, he’s posting any Animation Festival poster he can locate. The new blog is already overrun with a wide variety of posters.