Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

More of The Wind Rising

I was a bit disappointed that there was so little attention given to the obvious success and controversy for Miyazaki’s new film, The Wind Rises. This is so certainly one of the films that the director believed in yet. It also makes it into the NYFilm Festival, yet so little is mentioned of it in the papers. That tied into the controversy the film has created in his own country, and I’m perplexed. It’s a great look at Imperial Japan in the decades leading up to the Second World War through the eyes of airplane designer Jiro Horikoshi. Like Porco Rosso, the film is built around an aviator/aircraft designer and takes us through the history of Japanese aircraft. I can’t wait. The rest of the world seems a bit more patient.

From the trailer it has the look of Poppy Trail, the most recent Ghibli feature that was directed by Goram Myazaki, but almost immedately within that trailer you can see the strength of a several strong climactic scenes. The earthquake alone looks stunning, and the aftermath seems crucial to this new movie.

The Wind Rises

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Disney Takes Charge

We know that in 2014 the Walt Disney company will take full charge of Ghbili. This tells us that our favorite neighbor, Totoro will be stalking Mickey and Minnie about Disney World, but we don’t know if it’ll add anything to the film’s viewership. One can only hope so. Apparently animation has been fully in production on some series not yet seen in the US.

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The Butler

The cast is a good one, but the film is an Oprah Winfrey book of the week. I was not around when the Academy screened The Butler, so I missed the post interview with Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker. They both put in good performances, particularly Whitaker, but the film is like knocking on dead wood. It’s a review of the 20th century by Forest Gump. So much is inored and passed over that you think these people couldn’t be apolitical, they had to be brain dead. Only after leaving his job in the WHite House does Whitaker’s character come to life and start realizing how little he’s done in his lifetime. None of the Presidents represented look like the people they’re supposed to be, although Alan Rickman sounds a lot like Reagan.

Maybe it would have helped if the film had a political thought in its head except for obvious ones. Racism bad, VietNam bad. Do we really need a film to tell us this or worse a film about a group of characters that chooses to ignore it all.

The worst part is that there’s a good movie hiding, but these people weren’t able to locate it.

The Wind Rises

The New York Film Festival will close, this year , with THE WIND RISES (Kaze Tachinu) The very latest film by Hayao Miyazaki. Th film is an historical narrative. It s also a visionary cinematic poem about the fragility of humanity.(2013) This will be the master, Miyazaki’s first premiere at the festival.

The New York Film Festival, this year, will include, for the first time, a Hayayo Miyazaki film from Japan. THE WIND RISES (Kaze Tachinu) is the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s new film based on the life of Jiro Hirokoshi, the man who designed the Zero fighter. An elliptical historical narrative, THE WIND RISES is also a visionary cinematic poem about the fragility of humanity.

The following piece was lifted from The LA Times about the controversy this film is stirring in its homelands:

The movie’s subject dovetails with an issue currently under heated debate in Japan: the new prime minister’s plan to amend the country’s constitution to allow for the building of a full-fledged military, boosting the limited self-defense forces put in place after the war.

Miyazaki, a venerated cultural figure in Japan, published an essay last month objecting to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan, in the process raising the ire of some Japanese conservatives, who on Internet message boards labeled him “anti-Japanese” and a “traitor.”

Miyazaki’s movie, which is seeking U.S. distribution, reflects his pacifist stance. In the subtitled trailer above, he depicts Japan in the years leading up to WWII, when it faced some of the same problems that have plagued the country in recent years, including a devastating earthquake and economic stagnation. The character of Horikoshi appears as a contemplative young man, tossing paper airplanes with a girl, gazing at the Japanese countryside from the window of a steam train and working in a factory, until the war hits and the tone shifts, with a plane breaking up in the sky and blood falling to the ground.

Miyazaki has some shared history with Horikoshi. During the war, his father’s company made rudders for the designer’s Zero planes. He also has another connection to the war: when Miyazaki was a child, his father ran a club that served occupying American soldiers.

In 2011, Miyazaki told Japan’s Cut magazine that he was inspired to make “The Wind Rises” by a quote he read of Horikoshi’s: “All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.”

The controversy over the film hasn’t hurt its box office prospects in Japan. “The Wind Rises” has been the No. 1 film since it opened four weeks ago, and has so far grossed $57 million there.

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Animation Sketchbook, cover

Back in the 60′sm when I first saw Richard Williams‘ work and then when I went to work for Williams, I noticed there was something new and wonderful afoot. Williams did a lot of the storyboard work himself, and these were often sequences that he he, himself animated. The same, mind you, was true of sections of the storyboard that Ralph Bakshi took great pride in doing. Even Don Bluth put qte a bit into his storyboard work and took great pride in what sections he’d done. Like Williams, he espoused the urgency of the great of animation, but he seem to take more personal pleasure from those storyboard sequences he did on is own.

Chronicle Books recently sent me a beauty of a book to take a look at. Called Animation Sketches, there’s no doubt this book was done to be sold at the current San Diego Comic-con. It’s a virtual feast of art by new, young animation film makers. In the old days, ou’d have a collection of artworks which were made to piece together some scene from Dumbo, Bambi or the like. Nowadays, because the artwork is built on original free-form work, each artist’s sketches are designed to stand on their own, and they do.

I’d like to present a fair share of the many drawings and sketches in this book, but it’ll take time, so expect more than the one post I offer here. This book offers a new tye of stlizing which formidabl attempts to chnage the look of animation. It is certainly not designed for two dozen people to be working on the same show, but for now, at least, this method seems to to be working.

Most board artists who were doing long sequences, did their omplete boards. When a key short was in process, that one board artist did it all. From Lambert the Sheepish Lion to Eric Goldberg’s Genie in Aladdin or his Nutcracker Suite short for Fantasia 2000 there can be no denying that the individual was leading the way through some of these very personal films.

This book of art edited and collected by Laura Heit shows the other – the most personal of film work. Here’s some of it.

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This past May there was an art exhibit of R.O. Blechman’s work.

R.O.Blechmnan: The Inquiring Line.

The first half of the show included a talk by Nicholas Blechman called,:My Son the Art Director.”
The follow-up talk was My dad the illustrator, R.O.Blechmnan.

Here’s the cover art for the entire show

And here’s the double sided pull out for the extra long inviteL

- Here are a number of photos that concentrate on the sound work done for THE SWORD IN THE STONE. Actors’ stills, recording images and sound effects production. The Sword and the Stone. =None of the people are identified in these photos, and I recognize too few of the people to ID them.

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_________________Here’s Bill Peet at the storyboard he drew.

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______________Bill Peet (left) and Woolie Reitherman work with the actors.
______________Karl Swensen (Merlin) is far right next to Woolie. I think that’s
______________Barbara Wentworth (Mim) talking to Peet.

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_______A Bg LO artist (anyone recognize her? Sylvia Cobb, perhaps?) at work.

___________________________The final BG.

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(Amid Amidi posted this in the comments section:The left hand photo below the painted bg is in Blast 9. I don’t have a copy handy but the two guys sitting are Woolie Reitherman and John Sibley. I think the two guys on the left are Basil Davidovich and Don Griffith but I don’t remember. If anybody has the issue, perhaps they can post the correct idents.)

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______________The Multiplane camera with only a couple of levels in use.

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______________The horizontal Multiplane camera and the final scene.

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___________Left: cameramen shoot at the Multiplane Camera.
_____________________Right: Jim MacDonald creates a sound effect.

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_______Xeroxing a drawing onto cel. This is not something often photographed.

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________A Painter and a Checker in action (Sorry, I don’t know their names.)

- It’s time to take another look at some of Rowland B. Wilson’s great cartoons. I’ve chosen one that’s more color than not to viw again. Here it is.

I’ve dedicated a number of posts to the artwork and cartoons of Rowland B. Wilson.
I have been a fan of his work for a very long time. Years before I had the opportunity of inbetweening on his Scholastic Rock designs at Phil Kimmelman & Associates which was back in the early ’70s.

Bill Peckmann and I seem to share a lot in appreciating a number of artists and their artwork. Rowland is high on the list. Bill has loaned many works for posting, and I’m certainly indebted to him for contributing all of these RBWilson pieces.

Here are more of the cartoons of Rowland B. Wilson, starting with a news article written about him for the Westport News.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Let’s start with the New England Life advertisements. RBW did quite a few of them:

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We finish this post with some more Playboy cartoons:

It must have been a treat for Bill to see his name in this cartoon.

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Personalized, no less.

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- Back in the innocent years, the joke was that one read Playboy for the articles, not the pictures. In my case (and I’m sure it was true for many others), that wasn’t much of a joke. I did thumb through Playboy and it was for the pictures – the pictures by Rowland B. Wilson, Gahan Wilson and a couple of other of the great cartoonists of that magazine.

Bill Peckmann has saved a number of Rowland Wilson’s cartoons, and I’m eager to post them. It’s my pleasure that Bill has a small archive of Rowland’s material. He was an enormous source of inspiration for me, and it’s my joy to see a lot of these again. It’s amazing how many I still remember after all these years.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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Hospital Blues

Sorry for the overprotracted shutdown of the blog the last few weeks or days – however long it went on. I was sick.

I returned from an Award ceremony in St. Louis which I had to cut short to rush into my home hospital. The hospital stay ended up taking much longer than I expected, and in the end I have a lotta blog writing to do to make up. I hope to be able to catch up somewhat without too much difficulty.

I have to go back to see what I’ve already posted and what I can add to it to make it better. Part of my problem is that I have a newer version of WordPress that has so botched up my mind – it’s gotten hard to tell what’s new and and what’s not; what’s published and what should be published.

But I’ll get it worked out. Sorry you have to sit through it with me.

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The Academy of MPArts created a new division. The art of casting design. It’s something we needed; For now we have to give them a run for their money. It’s all about competition. Cheryl Boone Isaacs the new President of the MPAcademy had this to say:

“Their inclusion on our board will only broaden our perspective and help ensure that the Academy continues to accurately reflect the state of filmmaking today.”

The Casting Director’s Branch brings the Academy to 17 branches, with three members representing each branch on the Board of Governors. The Academy will hold special elections this fall to select the three governors of the newest branch.

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And we have to keep our eyes open for the latest video from and our good friend, the hand-drawing artist, (and foot-walking artist). Hi brilliant partner, Shay Lynch, takes re sounds a f Jeff Scher. He’s a hand playing composer. Jeff’s a realio trulio artist and deserves all the attention we can give him. Ogether with the brilliat Way Shay Lynch is the equal of Jeff and together I really give these two guys credit. Artists they are. They just got over the wreaking damage Sandy brought them now they make art.

The two did the pieces for the New York Times – just about a free bee. Go hear and watch and listen to them make art.

Blues for Lou

While I was out, my dear friend, Lou Scarborough, passed away. Tom Sito left an email with the most explicit message, which I just repost. I’ll miss Lou dearly.

The body of Louis S. Scarborough Jr. can be viewed on Sat., Aug. 17th, 2013 at
9:00 am at:
JANE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
660 MONROE ST.
BROOKLYN, NY 11221 718-453-2316

The funeral will follow the viewing at 10:00 am
If you are unable to attened, please send your condolences to:
THE SCARBOROUGH FAMILY…
C/O JANES UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
660 MONROE ST
BROOKLYN, NY 11221

Read Jerry Beck‘s great coverage of Lou’s last days and the report of his Obit.

Check out this chronology of Jim Tyer’s career. It’s amazing work from “StephenP.” done in 2002.

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There were a number of Jim Tyer extremes placed on YouTube by a Cartoon Brew afficianado. Jerry Beck led us there. Some good stills to view. A Feudon’ and a’ Fussin’.
A couple of other Barney Google spots are there, as well.

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- By far one of my favorite writers was the British author, John Fowles. I enjoyed The Magus, but with The French Lieutenant’s Woman he had me as more than a fan. His language, his intellectual arguments, his absolute respect for his reader all brought me back again and again to follow his every word. I spent time with a specific retailer in New York who specialized in Fowles’ books to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything that he published.

In 1985, on a vacation in London, I found a translation Fowles did of a French play, Martine by Jean Jacques Bernard, playing at the National theater. I hastily bought a couple of tickets to the show at the last preview, just prior to the play’s opening. Arriving early, there was an hour to kill before going into the theater. Fortunately, some vendors had set up book stalls selling used books, and I pleasantly sorted through the wares. Looking up from a book of Edmund Dulac’s illustrations, I saw John Fowles an aisle away. I was too timid back then to introduce myself and shake his hand. I just gloried in the knowledge that he was a brush away. The play was not memorable, but the evening was.

For a short while, Fowles wrote the text for a number of books which were really photographic essays. One of my favorites of these is one called Shipwreck. Featured throughout the book are historic photos of ships that crashed on the coasts of the Scilly Islands and West Cornwall. (Fowles was always dedicated to his home town of Lyme Regis.)

Here, I’m posting a few of the photos in the book because they are inordinately interesting to me, and I think you may also find them such. The text is by Fowles.

Seine
Ran ashore in Perran Bay (Perranporth), December 28th, 1900.
This beautiful ship was a French ‘bounty clipper’ – so called because
a government subsidy to French ship-owners allowed them to build
for elegance rather than more mundane qualities. The crew got off
in heavy seas. By dawn the next day she was dismasted and on her
beam-ends, and broke up on the next flood-tide. Two weeks later the
hulk of this celebrated barque was bought for only £42.

Mildred
Struck under Gurnard’s Head in thick fog at midnight, April 6th, 1912.
She was carrying slag from Newport to London. When she began to
pound broadside on, the captain and crew launched a boat and rowed
along the cliffs to St Ives. The Mildred, Cornish built and owned,
was launched in 1889.

River Lune
Struck in fog and at night just south of Annet (Scillies), July 27th, 1879 –
the same day as the Maipu. The master later blamed a faulty
chronometer, since he had believed himself fifteen miles to the west.
The ship heeled and sunk aft in the first ten minutes. The crew took
to their boats, but returned in daylight to collect their belongings.
This barque was only eleven years old. She broke up soon afterwards.

Jeune Hortense
Stranded near St Michael’s Mount, May lyth, 1888. The foreground
carriage is for the Penzance lifeboat. This sturdy brigantine lived
to sail another day.

Mohegan
Struck the Manacles, October 14th, 1898. One of the most dreaded of all reefs,
the Manacles (from the Cornish ‘maen eglos’, rocks of the church, a reference
to the landmark of St Keverne’s tower) stand east of the Lizard promontory,
in a perfect position to catch shipping on the way into Falmouth — and before
Marconi ‘Falmouth for orders’ (as to final North European destination) was
the commonest of all instructions to masters abroad. But the Mohegan was
outward bound, and hers is one of the most mysterious of all Victorian sea-disasters.
She was a luxury liner on only her second voyage, from Tilbury to New York.
Somewhere off Plymouth a wrong course was given. A number of people on shore
realized the ship was sailing full speed (13 knots) for catastrophe; a coastguard
even fired a warning rocket, but it came too late. The great ship struck just as
the passengers were sitting down to dinner. She sank in less than ten minutes,
and 106 people were drowned, including the captain and every single deck officer,
so we shall never know how the extraordinary mistake, in good visibility, was made.
The captain’s body was washed up headless in Caernarvon Bay three months later.
Most of the dead were buried in a mass grave at St. Keverne.

Blue Jacket
Stuck fast – and surely a classic example of the expression-on the
Longships lighthouse rocks off Land’s End, December 9th, 1898. This
tramp was in ballast from Plymouth to Cardiff. The captain went below
to his cabin – and his wife – at 9.30 p.m., leaving the mate on watch.
He was woken near midnight by a tremendous crash, and came on deck
to find his listing ship brilliantly illuminated by the lighthouse only a few
yards away. Captain, wife and crew took to their boats and were picked
up by the Sennen lifeboat. How the mate managed to play moth to this
gigantic candle-the weather was poor, but provided at least two miles’
visibility-has remained a mystery. The Bluejacket sat perched in this
ludicrous position for over a year.

Hansy
Wrecked in Housel Bay near the Lizard Point, November 13th, 1911.
Sailing from Sweden to Melbourne with timber and pig-iron, she missed stays
while trying to come about in a gale. The crew were brought ashore by
breeches-buoy. Two days later a salvage party boarded – to find a pair of
goats lying happily in a seaman’s bunk. Local fishermen did a thriving trade
in timber for weeks afterwards; and the iron pigs are fished up for ballast
to this day. The Scottish-built Hansy (formerly Aberfoyle) had had an
unhappy history. In 1890 the bulk of the crew jumped ship in Australia,
after a bad voyage out – only to be returned on board following a fortnight
in jail. Jail must have been more agreeable, for eight men jumped ship again
at the next port of call. In 1896 a steamer found the Aberfoyle drifting helplessly
off Tasmania. The captain had been swept overboard, the first mate had
committed suicide by leaping into the sea and the rest had given up hope.
Similar stories of low morale – and often of insane bitterness between
officers and crew – are manifold.

Susan Elizabeth
Driven ashore at Porthminster Beach (St Ives), October 17th, 1907.
A gale blew this collier’s sails out off the Mumbles. Less than three months
later the Lizzie R. Wilce and the Mary Barrow also had to beach here.

Talking about supernumeraries, tonight at 7PM, Jerry Beck hosts a program of Oscar winners from the 60′s. J.J.Sedelmaier, Emily Hubley and I will be guests to discuss the films which will include:

Munro dir. Gene Deitch (1960
Ersatz dir. Dusan Vuctic (1961)
The Hole dir. John Huble (1962)
The Pink Phink dir..Friz Freleng & Hawley Pratt (1964)
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Double Feature dir. John Hubley (1966)
The Box dir. Fred Wolf (1967)

This will be screened at the BAM Cinemateck in Brooklyn, The prints, I’m told, are beauties.

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Here’s the latest sculpture to appear in the Flat Iron District in the area of 23rd Street and Fifth Ave. It’s part of the Met Life exhibit currently being held for free over the course of the Summer. A statue of the Met Life Bldg.

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