Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Christmas is in the past, and the decorations are long gone.
Every year I save all the original cards and a couple of others I enjoy.
My favorite original card this year came from Tom Hachtman.

Tom wrote me about the development of this card:
– I sat down at the kitchen table to do cards with my niece April Centrone. She is a brilliant and somewhat demented artist. I gave her the Christ child from the creche and she began to draw – legs, body, hands and then, unhappy with the results, tossed it aside. I picked it up from there and put the baby in Santa’s lap.
The artwork was a collaboration. I wanted to clarify.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
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- Marjane Satrapi received her best animated feature award this week from the NY Film
____Critics by saying, “In France, they always call the New York critics tough bastards. So
____thank you, my bastard friends.”

____It’d be nice to hear what she might say if she wins an Oscar. She’ll get my vote.

- The Pirate VeggieTale Movie got the reviews it deserved. The Village Voice’s Ed
____Gonzalez called it, “Humorless, incoherent, and ugly as sin…”
____I was going to attach an image from the film, but I couldn’t sink that low.
____However, I must say I prefer the Veggietales images to those from any of the Shreks.

- I love the gag cartoons that Stephen Worth has posted on the ASIFA Hollywood
____Animation Archive side. They’re from UPA New York, and they comment on
____Lu Guarnier’s having the only window in the studio. The studio was divided into stall-
____like cubicles. (At least, this is Tissa David’s description.)
____What fascinates me is that these cartoons were saved for the past fifty years! They’re
____absolutely worth it, but how much of the important art is gone, yet these inside-gags
____are still extant and in good shape.

____By the way, a comment from his niece Pat, reminded me that Lu had told me about
____his first name – that his father named him “Lucifer, the light bearer” because he would
____someday lead the world out of its darkness. He wasn’t named after Lucifer, the devil.
____This also had me wondering about the middle initial “B”. Lu wouldn’t tell me
____what it stood for and left me guessing whether it was for “Beelzebub.”

- Speaking of Stephen Worth, I’ve been entertained by the back and forth discussion
____between Michael Barrier and Stephen Worth regarding the history of story/script
____development at animation studios. Worth says that prior to 101 Dalmatians, all scripts
____for animation were done by storyboard artists. Mike Barrier (having viewed the
____evidence) states the obvious – scripts did exist as far back as the silent Disney days.

____I’ve seen enough of these scripts to know that Barrier is correct. The script for
____Brotherhood of Man was published in the 1945 Hollywood Quarterly, for pete’s
____sake. Hubley, Phil Eastman and Ring Lardner did this script in advance of
____any storyboard work, which Hubley, ultimately, did. I saw parts of that storyboard as
____well. I believe it’s now in the MoMA archives.

____Scripts did exist. Just look in the Merritt and Kaufamn book, Walt In Wonderland.
____Pg 102 has a verbal scene-by-scene breakdown with a follow-up board for the Oswald
____cartoon, Africa Before Dark. That’s 1929.
____I think in this argument, Stephen Worth is just fighting the hard fight to protect the
____claims of John Krisfalusi that only storyboarded scripts are good for animated films.
____The argument is not worth much more of a comment. The comments on Cartoon
____Brew have gotten beside the point.
____Barrier offers us a page of a Cinderella treatment & a Fleischer Koko silent film.
____There’s also another page of a Superman script on Thad Komorowski ‘s site
____contibuted by Bob Jaques.
____Need anyone offer more?

- Speaking of Mike Barrier, his comments about Hanna/Barbera, their shorts and Jerry
____Beck’s recent book, The Hanna-Barbera Treasury, are quite astute.
____His commments have also provoked some serious thoughts from Mark Mayerson
____about the subject. Mark comments, “There is no question that the animation industry
____suffered a major blow with the death of theatrical shorts and the rise of television. It
____took the industry more than 25 years to recover from that blow. Hanna and Barbera
____had no part in that recovery and if anything, they probably delayed it.”

____I certainly agree, but I’m more bitter. I don’t think there was ever a recovery from
____H&B’s handiwork. They put the animation industry in the gutter, and it hasn’t
____stepped out except for a few individual steps by others. A film like Persepolis suffers
____from the residue of Hanna Barbera’s flattening of animation. UPA introduced limited
____animation; H&B flattened it out.

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- There’s another great Tom Hachtman image on the Kaliyuga Theater site for Al Carmines‘s play, In Circles about Getrude Stein. Tom, of course, draws the Gertrude’s Follies comic strip. This watercolor was done for Carmines. Tom sent it to me, and how could I pass up posting it?

I’m almost tempted to buy a ticket to the show.

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- Let’s talk about the breaking of joints. No, I haven’t entered Tony Sopranoland. This is an animation blog, so I’m obviously talking about the animation principle that deals with the “breaking of joints” to create any arcs or curves in animation. All human action is controlled by this method of movement. A body can only bend at joints – knees, wrists, elbows etc. Any other break is artificial and verboten in trying to make your character seem real. Any animator of the human form would swear by it.

Here’re four pages from Dick Williams’ book which illustrate the principle. Though if you look at his book – all those walks, all those bent wrists – this is one of the backbones of Dick’s training/education.

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___(Click any image to enlarge.)
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3 4

This is something I learned early on – long before I entered the business professionally.
I wasn’t sure it was spelled out in the Preston Blair book and went back to see, but it wasn’t. I don’t know where I originally read about it, but I must have somewhere – probably one of those old animation books I’d borrow from the library.

I’m sure they created it when animators at Disney in the early 30′s decided to get rid of the rubber-hose animation they’d been doing. It was a bit of rebellion. They followed the natural rules of physics. Today anything other than this would be the rebellion.

The one guy who broke this rule, and is just about idolized for it today, is Jim Tyer. His many distortions and odd working of his characters was an end in itself. This is probably what I liked about him.

I’ve always seen animation as a way to caricature life not to recreate it.
Sidenote: This is why I don’t like most cgi films. They’re just trying to reproduce their form of life. Sure, Surf’s Up got those waves down pat; it’s almost perfect. Unless, of course, you’re looking for them to say something about waves rather than realistically rendering them and their movement.
Sorry, I respect it, but it’s like super-realistic painting done today; I have difficulty getting into it.

Animation is drawn. Drawing invites nonsense – even in the most serious of situations.
Tyer uses his graphic distortions to make scenes funny. In Fritz the Cat he handled some serious scenes with a quieter distortion, though it’s there just the same. It’s the acknowledgement that we’re watching an animated film that gets me charged. I like being in the moment and outside of it all at the same time.

Does that make sense?

Lyle Lyle Crocodile was about a housekeeping, dancing crocodile that shares his house with a child. When his original owner comes to take Lyle away, the child gets upset, sings a song of remorse and cries. Lyle hides in a broom closet while the child sings from the other side of the door. I chose to view this as a cartoon. For god’s sake, it’s a cartoon crocodile that dances! For anyone who wants to see it, I’m mocking the situation. Visions of candy canes and ice cream cones dance around the croc’s head as he remembers the good days. I asked the composer to use a harmonica and a saxophone to pull the tears. Every time I see the scene I laugh hysterically. Most audiences don’t see this, and they weep for the boy and his pet.

This is what I love. Something for me and something for people who don’t want that extra bit of separation. It’s actually a hard thing to pull off, but it’s great when you do.

The same bit is true about the breaking of joints. In every film, I go out of my way to break that rule and see if it’s noticeable. I’m not even trying to be as blatant as Jim Tyer. To be honest, I don’t think it is noticeable, although I see it every time. Tissa David hates when I do such things, but I can’t help it. I love the graphic distortions animation encourages, but I also love the rules of behaviour that help me tell staid stories. Hey, it’s great being the boss of me.

- I received word late yesterday that Lu Guarnier had died December 29th. He had been in poor health for some time, living at a nursing home in Marlborough, Mass. Lu was someone I considered a friend for years while I worked within the industry; we worked together for John Hubley, Phil Kimmelman and R.O. Blechman. He had a unique, rough, drawing style that was certainly a challenge for an assistant animator.

He once told me that his father took pleasure in naming him Lucifer B. Guarnier, and you can guess what the “B” stands for. He also enjoyed his annual trips back to LA where he still had a lot of friends._______Lu at WB.

Lu had started at Warner Bros. in the 30’s and told me many funny stories about working in Clampett’s unit. He started as inbetweener to Clampett and worked his way up to animator. $12 a week. He once told me of the “hurt” jokes that were enormously popular for a short period back in the day. How “hurt” was he?
Well, as an inbetweener, he was the last to receive some animation that Clampett had done in a particular Porky Pig cartoon. An axe was falling on Porky and at the very last moment, he was saved from the blade falling on him. Lu, for a joke – a “hurt” joke – decided to continue the animation with Porky being cut in two as an alternate ending that he sent to PT. After they watched the dailies, they could watch the alternate – the correct version. Well, it just so happened that that was the day Leon Schlesinger was making the rounds. The fresh dailies arrived and the assembled animation crew watched Porky cut in two. Leon turned to director, director to Clampett, Clampett to the lowly inbetweener who squirmed his way out of the room. Lu expected to be fired, but wasn’t; they all laughed after he’d left the room.

Tissa David told me that the UPA studio was one long space that was divided into cubicles. She called them “stalls” like horses would occupy at a racetrack. Grim Natwick, Tissa and Jack Schnerk shared the third cubicle. The only one who had a window was Lu Guarnier; he shared his space with Vince Cafarelli, his assistant.

Lu was always a natty dresser, with a fine jacket, slacks and a bow tie. He gave me quite a few little gems that I’ve featured on this site. My favorite included the WB Christmas card filled with caricatures by Tee Hee. Lu, on one of his LA jaunts, had it signed by everyone he met. Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, both McKimsons. Even Hanna and Barbera. It’s a treasure, and I think Lu always regretted giving it to me. He often asked about it.
___________(Click image to enlarge.)

I’ve missed him since he went into the nursing home, after his wife died. Now, knowing he’s no longer there, I’ll miss him even more. He was a gem of a guy.

I have some drawings for a couple of scenes Lu animated. I’ll try to post one or two of them in the next week or so.

- I saw Persepolis for the second time last Thursday. I am an ardent supporter of this film, and any criticism I offer must be taken with that grain of salt. The film is not the most daring of animated films, but it certainly does advance the intelligence of the animated feature – in enormous strides – given the current state of things. However, it is also cinematically annoying.

To start with, I must say the music does no service to this film. A synthesized tinkle and a simplemided tune does not help the emotional state of the film. In my opinion, it detracts rather than adds to the whole. On the second viewing, the music actually became an irritant for me.

The animation is simple, but I often wished it were more rooted in the soul of the characters. Instead, it seems more rooted in the style of the comic. The film is adapted from Marjan Satrapi’s “graphic novel” – “bandes dessinées”. As such the story is simple and built around clever graphics. These graphics served to set the scene for the film, and they play out as short set piece after short set piece with graphic transitions from one to the other. Irises, wipes, morphs all cleverly pull us from one short sequence to the other always hiding the fact that we’re not living the film; we’re being told what’s happening. In fact, it gets a bit tiring. Something that would work enormously well in a short, gets exhausting and then tedious in a feature.

This, I think, is the product of inexperienced film makers and the very faithful transition from book to screen. Mind you, as I stated earlier, this is my favorite animated feature this year; I only wish I could feel like I’d want to watch it again. Unfortunately, it feels as though I’ve seen the film, and there’s not much more I can get from it.

I’ve read many of the reviews; some of the more mainstream reviewers are beginning to check in. Deservedly most of those reviews that have been printed have been positive. However, the one by Anthony Lane in The New Yorker feels particularly true for me. In his final paragraph, Lane writes:

The film is largely in black-and-white, yet the result, far from seeming gloomy, has the pertness and the simplicity of a cutout. I found it, if anything, too simple. The faces are no more than tapered ovals, which makes some of the characters hard to distinguish, and I was left with the nagging, if ungallant, impression that I had been flipping through a wipe-clean board book entitled “Miffy and Friends Play with Islamic Fundamentalism.” There is no denying the boldness of “Persepolis,” both in design and in moral complaint, but there must surely be moments, in Marjane’s life as in ours, that cry out for cross-hatching and the grown-up grayness of doubt.

I’ve seen a number of interviews with Marjane Satrapi and co-director Vincent Paronnaud. They’re starting to repeat themselves. At my initial screening, I was given a press book. Therein were a number of official interviews with the staff and cast. I’d like to post one with “Art Designer,” Marc Jousset. It’s informative, not too long and it gives another voice to this fine feature.

Interview with Marc Jousset – Art Designer

Why did you decide to produce Persepolis almost completely in a “traditional” way, not using computer generated images?

The question of which technique to use, arose very quickly when we discussed the movie. We started with 2D images on pen tablets, but we were not totally happy with the result. The lines lacked definition. It also seemed logical that Marjane should be able to work with the animators using the tools of her trade; paper and ink. It was clear that a traditional animation technique was perfectly suited to Marjane’s and Vincent’s idea of the film.

It’s an animation film with many characters…

Development took a long time, because of the sheer number of characters. For Marjane’s character, there were five separate steps: little girl, pre-teen, teenager, young woman and adult. Since it was also based on real events, and took place in Tehran under the Shah’s regime, then under Khomeini’s revolution, (not to mention Austria), we had to take into account the way people were dressed. There are scenes taking place at the university, in airports, at a punk concert, so it was impossible to draw only two or three characters. We had to animate a good deal of extras. However, we were lucky. Marjane drew all the characters. I thought we would have 200 model sheets to do, each character seen through different angles, so there was no discrepancy from one shot to the other, but actually we made over 600! I think it’s a record for an animated movie.

Did the use of black and white make things particularly difficult for an animated movie?

Using only black and white in an animation movie requires a great deal of discipline. From a technical point of view, you can’t make any mistakes. As soon as an eye isn’t in the right place, or a pupil not perfectly drawn, it shows up straight away on the large screen. It’s even more obvious in this particular film since it’s not a cartoon with codes, conventions and distortions. We were closer to Japanese animation because of the story’s realism, but we couldn’t apply the techniques used in manga. As a result, we had to develop a specific style, both realistic and mature. No bluffing, no tricks, nothing overcooked. With animation director Christian Desmares, twenty animators worked on the movie. Marjane had quite an unusual way of working. Each sequence (1,200 shots) was given to an animator. Marjane insisted on being filmed playing out all the scenes. Given that she’s a genuinely talented actress, it was a great source of information for
the animators, giving them an accurate approach to how they should work. It was also very encouraging for them that she was so committed and passionate. Usually, in animated movies, directors are rarely so concerned with the day-to-day work on the film. After animators, the assistant animators put the finishing touches to the drawings and check them against the original. Marjane’s drawings look very simple and graphic, but they’re very difficult to work on because there are so few identifying marks. Realistic drawings require outstanding accuracy.

How many drawings were needed for Persepolis?

About 80,000 drawings for around 130,000 images. That’s quite reasonable for a feature made in the traditional way.

What do you think are Marjane Satrapi’s best attributes?

It’s a combination of rigor and generosity. She was always there for you, and never acted like a diva, like filmmakers who pop in once a week to hand out praises and criticisms. Not thinking about what memories this process might rekindle in her, she was totally committed and involved. She even animated certain scenes in the movie. It brought a unique atmosphere to the team and the collaborative effort.

What about Vincent Paronnaud?

His rigor, his eye and his daring. Marjane and Vincent have always favored content, whilst being very respectful to the visual work done. The story always came first. It’s not a movie made by technicians. They went to work on PersepoHs as though it were a live-action film.

Vincent is very good at artistic direction, composition, playing with black and white, and Marjane masters that as well. She was, however, more focused on the accuracy of emotions and feelings. Each had enough hindsight with his or her work, so that their advice stimulated the other. It’s quite amazing to see them work together. They are a true two-some.

What was the main challenge for you?

To be on schedule, and to stay within budget, whilst maintaining our requirement for high quality. The budget was 6 million Euros, which is reasonable for a 2D movie made in France. I’ve rarely seen a team so focused on a project, not only for the technical challenge, but also for the story itself. I think the culmination of the fact that it was a true story, that the main character worked with you, that an animated movie dealt with a current issue and that it was intended for adults was tremendously exciting for the team.

– Way back in July I posted this piece.
It’s a celebration of the animated segments Eyvind Earle did for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. I thought this would be a good time to repeat the post.

“The Story of Christmas” is a piece which is about ten minutes long interspersed throughout this half hour special.
The entire show is a Christian carol sing featuring the Roger Wagner Chorale singing around Tennessee Ernie’s gospel read and sing-along.

The whole is a very reverent piece with no attempt at lightness and comes off as very religious. This would certainly not work on television today, never mind ABC TV which is where it premiered as one episode of the Tennessee Ernie Ford series. Some of you may remember the animated Hubley titles for the show which can be found in John Halas‘ Technique of Film Animation.

Three segments feature the animated graphics with the group singing. The only real narrative tells the birth of Christ in animation. Otherwise the Roger Wagner Chorale, dressed in Dickensian outfits, gather around varied sets looking like the early 19th Century England.
(Click any image to enlarge.)

Earle’s animation was done immediately after Sleeping Beauty was completed. He’d left the studio (or was more probably left by the studio during their massive layoff at the time) and formed his own small independent studio to do work like this. I think this was probably his largest job, and it seems perfectly suited to his style.

Lots of pans and flare effects are built around sliding cells trying to imitate the look of the multiplane camera. There really is no animation here, just the sliding cels of the characters over the pans. It’s still quite attractive for what it is and holds the attention. The piece is well planned and shows off everything Earle had learned at Disney’s studio.

Go here to purchase a copy of the dvd.

The following are frame grabs from many of the scenes:

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Today’s the anniversary of Walt Disney’s death.

He had been in bad health for a few months prior to his entering St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, CA on November 2, 1966, complaining of pain in his neck and back.

An X-ray revealed a tumor on his left lung and surgery was advised. This surgery was performed on November 7th, and his left lung was removed for cancer.

Disney was released from the hospital after two weeks. He collapsed at his home in Palm Springs after spending Thanksgiving Day with his family. He spent his 65th birthday in the hospital with his family at his bedside.

On December 14th, Lillian spent some time with him, and his brother Roy visited in the evening. Roy ordered the lights at the Disney Studio across the street, to stay on at all times, while Walt was in the hospital. Walt would ask the nurses to prop him up so he could see the studios.

He died at 9:30 AM on Thursday, December 15, 1966.

The cause of Disney’s death was announced as acute circulatory collapse and was listed as cardiac arrest on his death certificate.

Not much of the information detailed above was open to the world at large.

I was a senior in college in 1966. In the middle of my day, I was preparing for a showcase I was supposed to give of an artpiece that was due for an advertising class. A number of the other art students in the school came running in to break the news to me. They were certain that I would just fall apart, and I remember not being shocked about it. I took the news in stride and went on to prepare my artwork.

I’ve always felt that I somehow hurt those classmates by not being more taken by Disney’s death. It’s at moments like this, that we start to realize things that others expect of us, and we start figuring out how to give it back to them. I guess I was affected by that day, but I’m sure it wasn’t directly related to Walt’s death.

Just for the interest of anyone out there, I’m posting here the Obituary for Disney which was published in the NYTimes that day. It’s very long, so I had to break it into six big docs. To read it, you’ll have to click on the images to enlarge.

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- I noticed only one new Network Christmas special this year, Dreamworks’ Shrek the Halls which aired last Wednesday. It’s interesting that I also noticed few blogs talking about it. Animated News reported its airing and positive ratings but not much more than that. Jim Hill also gave it a positive review; the comments were mostly negative. The animation blogs were silent, though. The show did get good reviews, but so did those three movies. I missed the program completely. I went out that night, but truthfully I wouldn’t have ________________Turkey, anyone?
watched it if I were home. I’m not a fan of Shrek.

Will Finn did comment on the Tom & Jerry Nutcracker Tale which aired on Cartoon Network. I saw more of that than I did of Shrek. After coming in on T&J Nutcracker already in progress and after watching a minute of it, wondering, at first, whether it was one of those Gene Deitch cartoons then realizing there was a lot of digital composition and movement, I knew it had to be more recent. I figured out what it was and decided I’d seen enough. By the way, when was the last time T&J were animated in the U.S.? Maybe Chuck Jones?

I did turn on the Charlie Brown Christmas show on ABC this past Tuesday. It took me a full five minutes to realize it wasn’t the original one – I wasn’t really paying attention, but the voices were too theatrical. It was Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales done in 2002. It was too slick, and I lost patience.

Not much “Special” for me anymore in these Christmas Specials. I’m getting to feel like a grinch about animation anymore. At least with dvd we can pull out one of the golden oldies. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, anyone?

- My good friend, the excellent composer and musician, Ernest Troost, has a film he scored premiering on Sunday night. If you’re looking for something enter-taining to watch, this is undoubtedly it.

The Pictures of Hollis Woods is a film adaptation of the Newbury honor book by author, Patricia Reilly Giff, who also coauthored the script. Tony Bill directed the film.

I’ve written about Ernest’s music in the past (see here and here); he and I did quite a bit of film together, and the work was enormously rewarding.

Ernest moved to LA and feature films years ago. He’s won an Emmy and been nominated for several more. We’ve continued to work together on a couple of Weston Woods shorts long distance.

As for me, all you have to do is tell me that Sissy Spacek and Alfre Woodard are together in a film, and I’m there. Ernest is a plus for me. I’m looking forward to the show.
The Pictures of Hollis Woods
Sunday, CBS, 9pm ET/PT

- 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?

- Before I get into my wail over Beowulf, let me express my sadness over the loss of
Hans Bacher‘s multiple blogs. The artwork he created and/or recreated for his blogs Animation Treasures 1,2,3 was too rich to have been lost so quickly. Apparently, Hans was having problems with “Blogspot” re the number of images he could support on his sites. Hans has decided to eliminate all of his blogs, and that’s an enormous loss for us all. I checked in at least once a week just to look at the Snow White treasures he’d recreated, and now they’re gone. I should have saved copies, ____The Art they once painted and
but I wanted to support the blogs by going there. ______Hans once recreated & posted.
Ah well, time moves on, and nothing lasts forever.
They were among the very best sites out there, like all the work Hans has done.
It’s our loss. I still wait for a copy of his book, Dream Worlds, from Amazon.

- Beowulf likes to lay claim to being “animated”, while at the same time issuing statements from those who worked on the film that it’s something other than animation. “Beowulf” director Robert Zemeckis’ longtime producer Steve Starkey calls the method ‘digitally enhanced live action.’” (quote from a NYPost article.) Yet the distributor, Paramount, is pushing for that Oscar in the animated feature category.

The critics seem a bit confused. However, they all have the same criticism: “Beowulf” can be a lot of fun to watch – at least in the 3-D IMAX version I saw – but it’s hard to forget for long that you’re stranded in a waxworks netherworld between live action and animation.
This quote from Lou Leminick‘s three *** star review in the NY Post. The review is generally positive and puts its focus on Angelina Jolie‘s beautiful body
(Wait! Isn’t this an animated film?).

I’ve made no bones about saying that it’s a travesty to equate this film with other animated features and allow it to compete in an Oscar “animation” category. It’s just a different sort of beast. For a hundred years now, Live Action people have persistently considered animation to be little more than “Special Effect.” Now they’ve proven it and have taken the reins of their “Effx” films out to one-up the animators. The Academy is allowing them to do it if they include this film in their Best Animated Feature category.

I know I’m an old fart with outdated principles, but I think of it as a voice crying in a desperate attempt to keep real animation alive. I think too much of the medium in which I work to let it be so easily sideswiped..

Clips from other reviews:

Mr. Zemeckis throws a lot of stuff at us in “Beowulf” besides Ms. Jolie, including spears, swords, pools of gore, dribbles of mucous and images with extremely forced perspectives, which direct your vision toward the center of the frame, goosing the 3-D effect. Mostly he throws technology at us. The main characters in the movie were created through performance capture, a system that allows filmmakers to map an actor’s expressions and gestures onto a computer-generated model, which is then further tweaked. (Eye movements are captured separately.) Neither wholly animation nor live action, it is a sophisticated visual technique, and true believers see it as the future of movies, though really the most interesting thing about it is that it’s not intrinsically interesting.

To be honest, I don’t yet see the point of performance capture, particularly given how ugly it renders realistic-looking human forms. Although the human faces and especially the eyes in “Beowulf” look somewhat less creepy than they did in “The Polar Express,” Mr. Zemeckis’s first experiment with performance capture, they still have neither the spark of true life nor that of an artist’s unfettered imagination.
- NY Times Manohla Dargis

. . . director Robert Zemeckis delivers a muscular, sometimes stirring but ultimately soulless reinterpretation of “Beowulf.” For all its visual sweep and propulsively violent action, this bloodthirsty rendition of the Old English epic can’t overcome the disadvantage of being enacted by digital waxworks rather than flesh-and-blood Danes and demons.
- Variety

. . . Despite the story’s new bridge, there’s still no middle to it. After Beowulf is compromised and inherits the kingdom from Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins), we simply fast-forward a few decades, barely alluding to the guilt that has estranged the hero from his queen (Robin Wright Penn), also inherited from Hrothgar.

An even greater problem is that while the performance-capture process gives “Beowulf’s” world a mythic quality, it drains the characters of nuance. The movie may be three-dimensional, but the people in it are not.

For those Beowulf scholars already groaning out there, there’s even worse news: The movie sets up a sequel.
- NY Daily News Jim Mathews

Go directly now to Mark Mayerson‘s site to read his commentary on this film. A big BRAVO for Mark.