Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- I received a couple of dispatches from the great Borge Ring. Of course, I’d like to share them with you.

hi MICHAEL

I enjoyed reading your article about clean lines and ruff animation at Walt’s
Disney Studio:

At Annecy I asked Marc Davis how many men he employed on the animation of
Cruella de Vil.

“None whatsoever. – The number of scenes showing Cruella was not more than one
artist could handle. (then with a laugh) there wasn’t even a modelsheet”

“But she interacted at times with other characters such as the two villains”

“That’s right – they were animated by John Lounsbury – He and I worked well
together even though he was seated in another wing.There was a scene where the
two villains get slapped in the face by Cruella. I made Cruella do the tho slaps
and brought the drawings over to John. It was up to him to see that the villain
heads were there where the slaps hit.”

greetings
Borge

PS
That which I’m quoting here may not tie in directly with your article, but I
thought that you (of all people) aught to know about it because you already have
so many pieces of the allbeloved jigzawpuzzel we call The Golden Years.

And then I received this note on the Martin Toonder post.

hi Michael
Marten Toonder and I became close friends over the years and we played the game
of “Do You Remember?”
Marten said: “If you will write a book about me as a filmmaker, I will finance
it – It will take you a year.”
I once said: “Marten, why did we clash so often?”
“Ach, Ring, that was my mega ego”.

best
Borge

Jerry Beck‘s excellent blog, Animation Scoop, has an interesting post by Charles Kenny. It questions the abundance of animated features rushing out to the theaters. Just this Thursday there was a report that Disney/Pixar plans on releasing 15 features in the next six years. According to Cartoon Brew, they’ve released the titles and the release dates for all of them. That seems to support Mr. Kenny’s comment.

Jeffrey Katzenberg has already stated that he hopes for Dreamworks to start producing two features a year starting next year.

We can question the quality of these releases but this really isn’t the point as I see it. Live Action features come out by the hundreds each year. From that large number maybe a dozen are really good films, maybe a hundred turn a profit, and far fewer are the sought after block busters.

Animated features have been fewer, far fewer released each year. It was just two years ago that we ere astonished to see 18 films qualify for the Oscar. That, of course, had nothing to do with quality. They just had to be eligible according the Academy’s rules, which basically means they had to be the right length, have the right release date at the right theaters and be animated.

Just as with the Live Action films the animated films will naturally fall into similar categories: the good the bad and the ugly. Bu we already have that, in my view. There will just be more of them.

If animated features increase their production, it means more work for animators, more of a chance for a couple of really good films to get produced. The hope would be that there would also be the opportunity of more films getting released that aren’t all big studio movies. That’s probably where our gems will come from. If there are more animated films being produced the likelihood of a greater sample might encourage the smaller distributors.

Whatever we think of it, it’s probably going to happen.

I just thought I’d post a quick note. Hans Perk has been currently posting the drafts for Disney’s Lady and the Tramp on his blog A Film LA.

This film was such a landmark for anyone of my generation who sought out the Disney features back in 1955. All those incredible ads and tv shows we saw on the Disneyland show make it really stand out from many of the others. It was, consequently, and enormous success for Disney. (It’s also a pretty great film.) Bill Peet’s work is sensational.

To coincide with Hans’ blog I’m going to post a couple of pieces on Lady and the Tramp, as well. Starting Monday.

A letter from Friend, Tom Hachtman, from the New Jersey Shore.:

HI Michael, Joey and I were working in Toms River so we took Rt. 35 South through Mantoloking. It has been seven months since Sandy.
I shot these from the window of Joey’s truck. There are over 500 houses in Mantoloking and all of them were damaged. Over fifty houses totally vanished.
The name Mantoloking, according to Wikipedia, is derived from Lenni Lenape Native American language and possibly means ‘sand place’.

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Bernard Waber was an author/illustrator I worked with twice animating his two most popular books for HBO. He was an enormously sweet fellow who enjoyed coming to my studio to see his projects in production. He wanted little to no involvement in that actual production but we tried to involve him just as well.

Mr. Waber died last Thursday at the age of 91.

The favorite story I tell about him is that HBO had little party for him on the celebration of the completion of Lyle Lyle Crocodile. It was a pleasant party with several of the animation voices present. There were half children and half adult, and there was a guy dressed like Lyle who wandered about the party.

At one point a large cake shaped like Lyle the Crocodile was brought out and Mr. Waber was handed a knife to cut the cake. Staring at his cartoon creation he couldn’t cut the cake, so he handed the knife to the guy in the Lyle suit to lit him do the duty. With that, the Lyle impersonator cut off the head of the Lyle cake and began to dole out pieces.

It was an interesting moment few people took notice of.

Mr. Waber was a delightful person, and his art was truly fund to draw. I miss now knowing that he’s no longer around. It’d take the fun out of animating any of his other, many books.

The MP Academy hosted a screening of Blue Sky’s film, Epic. Director, Chris Wedge attended the screening for a Q&A afterward. (Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera went sour and I wasn’t able to get a photo.) Last weekend, Candy Kugel got the Academy to offer seats to anyone who’d seen it on my blog. However, the day before the screening, we were told that only guests of members would be allowed to attend. Sure enough come showtime, they allowed all the young people who’d shown up to see the film. Good thing too since there was a poor turnout from Academy members. However, with the ASIFA members anxious to see the show rhere was a decent sized crowd.

It was a rather generic Q&A, but it went well and quickly. Chris Wedge is a very amicable guy and made a positive out of the program. The film itself is an attractive and very quick paced action-adventure film. It should do pretty well especially with music celebrities like Beyoncé (who isn’t ready to become an actor just yet.) I have to say that I’m a fan of Blue Sky’s work. There’s always a real attempt to do something more than give something generic; they really want to make something rich. And, maybe because they’re so far from the people in LA, they do things that are totally original and theirs. All those Ice Age films are good examples, but add Rio or the Horton movie, you get a good idea of what I’m talking about.

Now with Epic, they’re doing a giant of a movie that takes place in Wiliam Joyce’s world of little people. Fighting fairies that go to war on the backs of hummingbirds. It’s original, to say the least.

Unfortunately,it can’t take the backbone of Myazaki’s Princess Mononoke where the majesty of the forest is shown amidst all the battles. Yes, the forest and the woodland creatures are both beautiful and endangereed, but we have to see and understand this as part of the life and and death of battle, It isn’t enough to be part of ecosystem (albeit one we don’t know about), but it would be more courageous to show HOW they fit into that system and why they are so important – as are those endless battles. And the excellent art direction.

This article by Barbara Robertson in CGW Magazine August 1995, is an excellent report about the ways and means of making the first cgi animated feature, Toy Story. Ms. Robertson writes about the programs used, the methods of lighting and even their casting of the cartoon characters. (Rather than casting each character–that is, assigning a character to an animator–they tended to assign all the characters in a sequence to an animator. The “dailies” kept everybody aware of what everyone else was doing.)

Essentially, in the big picture, not much changed. As a matter the most important part hasn’t changed since the days of Snow White. stories and scripts are still told in the same way. If they aren’t good there’s trouble, no matter how may dwarfs,dolls in the playroom, or leaf men bustling about on hummingbird backs.
Toy Story

The only other film I’d seen this week was the worst film of the year. Even worse than the pretentiousness of Prometheus. Riddley Scott might have to work harder if he wants to make a more stupid film than Star Trek Into Darkness. The dialogue is certainly the worst written drivel I can remember hearing packed all into one film. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure one can even say the dialogue was written; it just pours out of the mouths of the mediocre actors. Only Benedict Cumberbatch and his fine talent is able to pull some sense out of the words he’s forced to say. All the other actors seem designed to read such lines. With Simon Pegg reaching a new low as he tries to act as though he’s been cast as a Scrooge McDuck imitation. His lines certainly don’t sound as though they’re coming from a human. The man has talent, but the director, JJ.Abrams, works hard to get poor performances out of most of the cast. Spare yourself and stay away (unless, of course, you are an indiscriminating 14 year old boy.) Other than Cumberbatch, the only other person worth watching was Michael Giacchino whose score is sometimes very good. He does “Mickey Mouse” his music a bit too often for my taste, but he also does what few others do on this film. He gives it strength!

Spoiled alert!!! There are two shots – cu aways – that you should look for. They come at some intenee moment in the fim (joke: there are no intense moments just loud and louder. With lots of quick cuts to lots of miscellaneous people.

One quick cut goes to a blonde female; she must be J.J. Abrams’ girlfriend, because she has no other role in the movie. (Well, she does have another quick cutaway later.) Her starched blonde/white hair is short, and she looks a bit like my drawing on the right. At least her hair looks like that. Her second quick cutaway shows her turning some switch beneath her, but she barely has time for that. Maybe she’s in the film for those who will stop the vid when they buy it. Whaever, just another bit of absurdity in a moronic film that’s making a lot of money.

The excellent site, The Thief posts a new update on Richard Williams and what he’s been up to. The report on an article that appeared in The Guardian about Dick. The article goes into depth about Dick’s history and his story of failing to make The Thief and the Cobbler as he would have wanted it.

Today he is doing another long film but refuses to reveal what it is about. He feels that revealing too much will eventually help him to end in failure, so better to reveal it as i goes. Rather than trying for a feature film, he’s trying for a long film divided into chapters. As he finishes a chapter, he could reveal that, without worrying that the rest may never come.

“We had so much publicity about The Thief and then it went wrong” – but says it is being made in chapters – “so if I do drop dead we will still have something” – and that a six minute prologue, which will be a short film in its own right, will soon be ready. “What I’m interested in is that nobody has been able to handle realism. It’s just been embarrassing. So I’m doing graphic realism, these things are obviously drawings, but it will go into adult territory and will combine different styles. I want something that will be grim, but also funny and salacious and sexy.”

ASIFA East is preparing for their annual festival which will take place tomorrow evening, Sunday, May 19th.

The program will take place at Tishman Auditorium at The New School (66 West 12th Street, NYC) from 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm.

Following the program and the small party upstairs (open to everyone)
there will be a party at Fiddlesticks, located at 56 Greenwich Ave starting at 11:30pm.
This is just downtown a couple of blocks from the New School.
A cash bar will be in operation for this party.

The Awards Ceremony and Reception afterwards are free and open to the public.
We would appreciate the donation of $5 from non-members to help us
continue serving the animation community in New York area and beyond.

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- The NY chapter of the MP Academy has recently added something new to about half of their screenings. After some of the films they’ve offered a Q&A session with some of the film makers.

Last week we saw Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin discuss their work on The Great Gatsby. This past Monday, Sarah Polley discussed her documentary, Stories to Remember. Thursday night Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig answered questions about their film Frances Ha.

It was a pleasure to see Noah Baumbach and learn how shy he is, yet how he controls the stage when he takes it. To hear him talk about his obsession with Woody Allen, or to hear Greta Gerwig talk about finding her character in co-writing the script and then having to find it anew after handing the script over to a director, made for interesting talk.

Having enjoyed the film very much, I was really involved in their responses. Naturally, that made for a good evening, for me, at least.

Here are some of the photos I took before I decided to forget the camera and pay more attention to the conversation.

On Tuesday next week the Academy is screening Epic.

Yet there’s no Q&A. We’ve asked and the Academy said they offered, but Blue Sky said no. A chance for Chris Wedge to reach out to the Oscar voters, and he says no. Just the same, I’m curious about the film. I know nothing of what to expect. It looks action/adventure, shrunken people. Doesn’t sound like me.
A cgi Arietty with boys doing boy college prank things. We’ll see. I’ll let you know what I think on Wednesday or Thursday.

- Of course the big animated package to be dumped on us this summer will be Pixar’s sequel to their 2001 hit, Monsters Inc. The original audience for this is twelve years older. Will it be the same audience returning for more or will it be the same audience looking for an add-on, or will it be an older audience looking to share with their kids?

From every indication I’ve seen, it looks like Lassiter and friends is hedging their bets and going to cover ALL the bases. I don’t know if that’s a workable strategy . . . everything.

After seeing Baunbach’s film, Frances Ha, I read a piece in the New Yorker. Within the article there’s a sort exchange about some work both he & Gerwig are doing in writing for a Dreamworks Animated film. I thought you might like to see the short section from that article:

Baumbach was still on the phone—“No, not her. Not for this”—when the van stopped in midtown, in front of a building where DreamWorks has an office, and moments later he and Gerwig were in a bare, well-lit room, videoconferencing with executives in California about whether or not cartoon dogs should be seen in hats.

This is Baumbach’s third animated film. He co-wrote Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), based on the Roald Dahl novel. For a children’s film, it has unusually strong notes of melancholy: at one point, Mrs. Fox tells her husband, “I love you, but I never should have married you.” A year later, he rewrote “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” for DreamWorks—a lighter assignment, encouraged by Stiller, who plays the franchise’s lion hero. Baumbach and Gerwig’s screenplay, not yet fully green-lit, is about a Brooklyn mutt, Freddy, who becomes separated from a young girl named Heidi when her parents divorce. Artists in California had sketched a few sequences and showed this material to Baumbach and Gerwig, who were delighted. Baumbach, who plans to direct the film, gave notes, including “The squirrel seems . . . not necessary” and “I love the mustache.” He wondered if it was still realistic to show home delivery of newspapers. Gerwig said, gently, “It’s pretend. Dogs also don’t talk.”

Baumbach and Gerwig then read aloud from a scene that was soon to be storyboarded. Freddy has set off to look for Heidi, who may be in Manhattan, and he has met a guide called Wise Dog, who imagines himself to be sophisticated. Together, they reach the top of a building under construction in Brooklyn. “A blinding light comes through the door,” Baumbach said. “They would approach the edge of the building, and, as their eyes adjust to the light, you’d see Manhattan in the background and the little dogs looking at it.”

Gerwig read Wise Dog’s line: “Every time, it takes my breath away. This, and side two of Rod Stewart’s ‘Every Picture Tells a Story.’ ” (Baumbach later said, “Let’s see if that line makes it into the multiplex.”)

Baumbach continued, “Then Wise Dog says to Freddy, ‘So that’s where you want to go, huh? Manhattan?’ ”

Gerwig read Freddy’s line: “That’s where Heidi is. That’s where I need to be. I know I’m meant to be with her again. I feel her love all around me. And, with every step and every breath, I love her more.”

An e-mail from Kathy Rose is always a welcomed treat:

Hi,
Here are two new videos:

An excerpt from “The Rite of Spring” for the group collage for the Festival International Videodanse de Bourgogne:


“Rite of Spring” excerpt from Kathy Rose on Vimeo.

Greg Boyer’s “No More Worry, No More Blue”

“”No More Worry, No More Blue” from Kathy Rose on Vimeo.

Thanks,
Kathy Rose

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Giraf

The GIRAF Animation Festival has come a callin’ for submissions.
Their Deadline being August 15, 2013 so you have ample time to prepare.

The 9th GIRAF (or the Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival) is looking
for Animation submissions, in all styles, genres, lengths, and mediums.

Our programs are a strong eclectic mix of animation, representing the best of the medium from
Claymation to CG. We focus on presenting indie, experimental, and underground animation that pushes boundaries through new techniques, unique visions, and stimulating subject matter. Our 2012 program featured visiting artist Nick Cross!

We DO NOT CHARGE A SUBMISSION FEE, and encourage short and feature length local, national, international, and student submissions.

Animators can submit online at: http://giraffest.ca/submissions/


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St. Louis

I’m pleased to note that I will be presenting two programs of films (one for oldsters, one for youngsters) this coming August at the St. Louis Kids Children’s Film Festival this coming summer. As part of the program I will be leading a workshop for kids introducing them to the art of animation.

The filled weekend will extend from from August 2nd-4th.

Looking forward to it.

This week we saw a couple of excellent entertanment pieces that weren’t too taxing on either my fanny or my brain.

We went to see the hottest ticket in town last Tuesday, Matilda. It’s a theatrical musical which adapts Roald Dahl‘s great children’s novel. Years ago, when the book had just come out, I contacted Dahl’s agent trying to get the rights to make an animated film out of it. It turns out we were competing with a “Hollywood” company which was Danny DeVito’s company, Jersey Films. Naturally and expectedly, Jersey Films won the rights. I loved in Quentin Blake‘s glorious illustrations and would have animated the film in his style.

Eventually, Danny DeVito directed the cartoon of a live-action movie. It was built to be nasty and unpleasant. The film wasn’t a very good version of Roald Dahl‘s words, at least not in my eyes. The film wasn’t a flop, but it wasn’t very good either. It was more about her family and the school teacher and the gym teacher-villain, Mrs. Trunchbull.

The stage musical is better, but not brilliant storytelling, either. Both the film and the play are more interested in characters other than Matilda. They’re all exotic, and it’s easier to write for them than for the little girl who is the center of the story. In the play, Bertie Carvel, plays the part of the villain, Miss Trunchbull. The actor is the one person who has been reaping all the awards – whether in England or the US. He had won the Olivier Award in London and was nominated for the Tony, here.

In the musical, the dialogue whether in the songs or out, is hard to understand despite being miked. I found myself uninterested in the show which was long, at more than two hours forty minutes. I was certainly unimpressed given all the awards.

There is a major problem with theater seats lately. They’ve tightened the aisles, so one’s knees are smack up against the row in front of you, and your legs go numb before the first act ends. That was NOT the case with this theater. I repeat, that was not the case with this theater seat. It was ALMOST comfortable. For me to say that is saying a lot. Not its money’s worth ($132 per ticket), but at least no physical pain.

Then on Thursday night there was an Academy screening of The Great Gatsby as directed by Baz Luhrmann. You’ll remember that he was the director/writer of Moulin Rouge a few years ago. Many people loved it, I did not. As a matter of fact, I truly disliked it. On Thursday we were to see the film and attend an after screening Q&A with Luhrmann and his wife, costume designer, Catherine Martin.

The film was a long two hours and thirty minutes (not quite as long as Matilda but certainly a more attractive movie.) ___________________Baz Luhrmann & Catherine Martin

Leonardo DiCaprio played Jay Gatsby, and he did well in the part. The choices all seemed to be good ones. The film is done in 3D, and is enormously attractive. Just as Life of Pi seemed to have found the need for the 3D camera, so, too, does The Great Gatsby.

Mind you I was bored silly for moments, but there were also so many other moments that were extraordinarily gorgeous or tautly rigged that the energy was just wonderful often. ____________Patrick Harrison, Baz Luhrmann & Catherine Martin
It’s quite the movie.

We were told that the Q&A would last between 20-30 minutes. But Luhrmann and his wife were both so compelling and wanted to talk about this work of art that they’d just completed – the talk went on for almost an hour. It was compelling, to say the least.

There are a number of films coming this month that I’m looking forward to. The Iceman stars Michael Shannon as the cold-blooded version of Tony Soprano. This time a mobster who actually existed. There will also be Sarah Polley‘s new documentary, Stories We Tell. Ms. Polley will be there to tell us some stories in person Epic is the new film from Blue Sky, which was directed by Chris Wedge. Perhaps Mr. Wedge will join us for a Q&A.

- Aardman Animation teamed with the group, The Staves, to create a truly fine animated music video. This company, Aardman, has famously produced technically excellent work, consistently and reliably. This video was created using a mix of Flash and CGI.

The video was directed by Karni and Saul from the song by the British group The Staves, three sisters, Emily Staveley-Taylor – vocals, Camilla Staveley-Taylor – vocals and ukulele, Jessica Staveley-Taylor, vocals and guitar. There is an interview with Karni and Saul, who made the imagery, directed and animated it. Essentially they here talk about the making of.

This video seems to have been inspired by many of the recent bouts of weather we’ve been having over the planet. Episodes such as Hurricane Sandy are going to become more and more prevalent, and this video seems to take it as the natural course of things. The film work is not only a remarkable technical achievement but an an intellectual one as well.

Congratulations to both Aardman and The Staves.

Last night TCM aired a film called, For the Greater Glory, which was directed by Frank Borzage. It was a post WWI drama where some children defend their home-turf, a vacant lot, with a gang they’ve formed. In the cast, playing a watchman who should be watching the vacant lot, is the actor, Christian Rub.

When making Pinocchio, after a difficult start with a VO that wasn’t working as “Gepetto”, Disney hired Christian Rub, and he became the voice of Gepetto. It was a problem which was resolved at the start of the film.

You’ll see from the image above that Christian Rub actually looked like Gepetto. The designers solved the problem. Not only the voice but the appearance of the character changed overnight.

As you can tell, from some of my recent postings, I have always had a love affair with puppet animation. There’s something extraordinary about that medium that has drawn me in. I’ve always demanded a tactile approach to animation, including all of the 2D work I’ve done.

I remember seeing Lady & The Tramp in 1955, on its first release (I was nine.) It was then that I consciously noted that one of the backgrounds in the “Bella Notte” sequence (I can now see that it was an Eyvind Earle BG) had texture in its paper. The board it was painted on came through the animation photography and reached out to me. The human hand became evident in the film.

Perhaps, this was what I loved so much about animation in the first place. Humans did it, and it was self-evident. Being reminded of it, in the subtlest ways – usually unintentional, added to my joy.

Perhaps this is what brought me to John Hubley’s films. Those films were so obviously painted: characters and BG were both used by the photographer to combine for us, and the unintentional was often caught on screen. (I immediately loved those highlighted rings double-exposed around the characters in Moonbird, the brush strokes of The Hole, the transparency of the characters’ paper in Of Stars and Men.) It added to the experience.

In a sense, I was brought out of the film but held in it and given the opportunity to love it even more.

I’ve had this same sense with the best 3D animation. Though I was always there viewing it, I was also caught up in the emotions of the film. Trnka’s masterful film, The Hand, had my understanding those tears and sweat on the little potter were moistened ink that had been his painted eyes. But the anguish I felt the first time I saw the film and that effect has never left me. The perfections of the Human Hand in that film forced the imperfections of the puppet potter to be revealed until it destroyed him.

Perhaps this is also what keeps me from embracing cgi animation. Despite the faked textures of the computer, it’s so obvious that it is not real. At least not when the characters are cartoons.

A very small example of what I’m trying to communicate stands out for me in Cars. The paint job of newer cars has a flecking/speckling of glitter within the paint. In the right light, the main character, Lightning McQueen, had this paint job. Everytime I saw it, I was distracted and pulled out of the film. Like the real paint on a real car, that flecking was embedded within the paint, itself. It didn’t feel like the byproduct of a human hand; it felt like a computer trick.
I am no more capable of coloring the computer skin of that computer hand than I am of painting a real car. It isn’t tactile for me, it’s just distracting.

It’s just something I never feel I can reach out and touch. This is something that has been overcome, for me, in a couple of films. The Incredibles gets very close often. Moments of Robots, such excellent design for the medium. Some of Toy Story.
(Click on any image to enlarge and enjoy the textures.)

Of course, I recognize that this is my problem. However, I recognize it’s a problem that other people probably have and wonder if there isn’t a solution. In The Iron Giant, the Giant is animated by a computer. I was told that the animation had to be rigged to be animated on “two’s” so that it wouldn’t separate from the rest of the hand-drawn animation. Oddly, it felt totally acceptable to me; I saw no problem and accepted that robot. There has to be, in there, a way to resolve it – I’m just thinking here and don’t expect anyone to try to follow what I’m saying. Perhaps if “human” problems, technical problems, were added to the animation. . . No this is even too stupid for me.

Barry Purves has made a number of absolutely beautiful films and has created in his own studio some masterfully realized pieces. His work has a discriminating taste, graceful and controlled movement with superb acting, and an intelligence that is rarely found in animation today.

He was nominated for the Academy Award for his film Screenplay, a virtuoso work which follows the rules of Kabuki theater and presents a double-layered story of a man watching and revealing a story from his past which eventually rips through the past and tears at the present. It’s a work of animated puppetry, displayed as theater and a stunning film that should have won its Oscar.

Rigoletto presents the opera in a condensed version that has been reduced for television. It’s a packed half-hour which places you into the full opera and allows you to follow it without any confusion. It has a majesty in its sweeping and dynamic camera moves which whisk you along in the luscious music; they carry you along through the depths of the complex story. It’s a wonderful film that certainly grows richer with each viewing.

Other works he’s done include a wonderful film about Gilbert & Sullivan: The Very Models gives us the pair as seen through the eyes of D’Oyle Carte. A rich and entertaining diary into the making of this film can be found on AWN and a short clip of the film is available there as well.

As a matter of fact, I found his diary there so entertaining, I’ve also followed the diary he keeps on his own website.

You can get a small glimpse of Barry Purves‘ craft by viewing the clip reel at Acme Filmworks. But you’re left without the full heft of his work until you’ve seen the complete storytelling ability he presents in the whole films.

R.O. Blechman: The Inquiring Line is an exhibition that will take place at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts and will run from May 11 through June 30, 2013.

Joyce K. Schiller, PhD., the curator of the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies writes: “Quavering and active with telling starts and stops, the marks of the artist’s hand are an essential aspect of (Blechman’s) art. His fine calligraphic strokes are a kind of nervous energy that gives the sense that his drawings could spring from the page.”

There will be an exhibition opening where you can meet the artist. On Saturday, May 11, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. There will be an Artist Commentary at 6:30 p.m. A festive reception will follow, including refreshments and a cash bar. Members free, guests $20. Please RSVP at (413) 931-2221 or rsvp@nrm.org.

Then on Saturday, June 15, 5:30 p.m., there will be “A Conversation with R.O. Blechman and Nicholas Blechman.” Father and son will discuss each other’s work. Bob is the illustrator, designer, film director and producer. Nicholas is the Art Director of the New York Times Book Review. The fee to attend the talk is $10 ($7 for Museum members).

– The recent passing of Richie Havens brought back a short memory I have from a number of years ago. I think it was 1984.

I’d received a call out of the blue from Mr. Havens. Now, remember I grew up in the Sixties and was a part of the “Woodstock Generation.” I loved the music of the period and Havens was a big part of that – especially to a New Yorker. This call was a shock. I was asked to come meet with him about an animation project he was assembling. No questions asked, I got the date and time and showed up.

(Thanks to Annulla who photographed the picture to the left for her blog, Blather from Brooklyn)

It was in the very theatrical (albeit seedy at the time) area of 8th Avenue and 56th Street. I arrived to a very large open space. A very wide open, not-overly-furnished space. After a brief greeting, I was directed to the only other seat in the room – easily ten or more feet away in the somewhat dark room. Richie Havens, dressed in dashiki, was graced with some light that offered a halo around his head, and I sat out of the spotlight.

Apparently, Tommy Chong had decided to make an animated feature. He wanted to film a Kung fu style movie in live action and rotoscope this into an animated film. Richie Havens was acting as his representative and was interviewing me for the position of assisting Mr. Chong in any way possible to get this film made. They saw this as a complete breakthrough feature for animation. Nothing had been done like it before.

My alarms went off, and I decided I shouldn’t be too enthusiastic about the project. I didn’t want to turn them down on the spot, but I didn’t want to be involved. Rotoscoping and Kung fu movies were not my – - – interest.

It was a not very long meeting; there weren’t many specifics Mr. Havens could offer at the time. It was the earliest of stages. I left my samples, shook his hand again, and still remember the meeting some twenty years later. I think it was another of those films that never got made.

Perhaps the film would have looked like this.

A few weeks back, I was chatting with a friend, Peggy Stern. She was the producer for John Canemaker on his Academy Award winning film, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation. Peggy talked about working with Philip Seymour Hoffman on a PSA. Soon enough, and just in time for the US Senate to vote it down, a video arrived via email to promote the idea of getting Congress to come up with some gun safety legislation. (Fat chance in this country!)

The video is the one Peggy had produced and not only has Philip Seymour Hoffman, but it also works with Julianne Moore narrating. It’s a nicely animated Flash piece, but the message is everything. (I wish I had been involved – it would have had more REAL animation instead of Animatic-like moving imagery. This is an issue I believe in and support, and I’d have done it gratis.)

The press line for the video reads:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, recruited dozens of the nation’s best cartoonists for the short film, which encourages citizens and lawmakers to take action to end gun violence in the U.S.

I received word that a portion of the Lou Bunin estate including some of their Alice in Wonderland Collection is currently up for sale at RR Auction. Go here.
You can see some of the items on view; these include puppets, drawings, watercolors and figurines. The prices are workable, and the items include many gems.

Oh, yeah. They’re also auctioning some Disney material. Most of it is later things (Winnie the Pooh cels, etc.) but there are quite a few other collector’s items available and worth a look.

Tom Hachtman continues his series of redheaded women. This is the latest sketch of many he’s sent me.

_____________________

Bluth Art

Mark Sonntag contacted me this last week to let me know that the Don Bluth collection of Animation Art was now located at the Savannah College of Art and Design and could be viewed on line. There, you can find art from Anastasia, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, Dragon’s Lair, Rock-A-Doodle, Secret of Nimh, Space Ace and Thumbelina. These include storyboards, preproduction art, background layouts and cel setups.

Here are some pieces I pulled from The Secret of Nimh, my favorite of the Bluth films (for all its many faults.)

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5 6

7 8

9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20

Many more are on display at the site. It’s the entire storyboard for The Secret of NIMH that can be viewed, one sequence at a time. Beautiful artwork, indeed.

About a year ago I went onto Twitter. I registered and sent out a couple of of Tweets. Nothing earth shattering; I was just in exploratory mode. Then, in the past year or so I’ve sent out a few more notes via Twitter and, actually, I saw little change in my life. I wasn’t even sure who these Tweets went out to nevermind whether they actually went out.

Then for some reason, this week I was there tweeting away and thinking I may have suddenly got the idea. I’m trying. Now I’m posting comments pretty regularly trying hard not to promote my wares. I’m also looking for other people to follow. For some reason I get a million tweets from John Cusack. His stuff is all over the place; he probably has a dozen people writing for him. I’m more interested in real people and real conversations that last a full 140 characters.

This Internet, she is a crazy thing. I’m just trying to harness the material coming out of my computer. I’m at:

@MichaelSporn, naturally enough.

On April 4th, the MPAcademy in NYC will host a chat with film director, Danny Boyle, at the Lighthouse Theater, 111 East 59th Street, off Park Avenue. Boyle’s latest film, Shallow Grave will be screened, and it will be followed by the conversation with the director.

Tickets will go on sale at 2pm on March 19th, will sell to the public so will go quickly. The price is $3.00 for Academy members and students and $5.00 for general public. Reserve your tickets now.

The NYTimes interviews Goro Miyazaki in advance of the debut of his feature, From Up On Poppy Hill done in collaboration with his father, Hayao Miyazaki.

The film premieres at the IFC Center in New York as part of this weekend’s Children’s International Film Festival. (Go to the IFC link for the scheduled times.)

A.O.Scott reviewed the film for the NYTimes on Friday. “. . . a lovely example of the strong realist tendency in Japanese animation. Its visual magic lies in painterly compositions of foliage, clouds, architecture and water, and its emotional impact comes from the way everyday life is washed in the colors of memory.”

Go here for another story about the film in the NYTimes.

Cartoon Brew directed us to a link that offered a gallery of Bg paintings by Minkyu Lee from his Oscar nominated short, Adam & Dog.

Minkyu, you’ve gotta say that “his Oscar nominated short” sounds pretty great,doesn’t it? It’ll be there for the rest of your life.

Lee worked nights on this short while working days on Winnie the Pooh and Wreck-It Ralph. I don’t remember ANY art in Wreck-It Ralph that was at all comparable.

The day job.

Models for “Wreck-It Ralph.”

After hours work for “Adam & Dog”

Dale Robertson died Feb 27th. He was a young TV cowboy star of the late fifties. He was starred in TV’s Tales of Wells Fargo and Death Valley Days. One film not on his obituary is the one animated film that he did a VO for and acted as the “presenter”. The Man From Button Willow was produced by Phyllis Bounds Detiege and directed by David Detiege. (Phyllis Bounds Detiege was a painter on Dumbo who eventually married Milt Kahl from 1968-78. She was also the niece of Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian. Apparently she was married to David Detiege during the making of this film.)

It includes some great animation voices like Disney regular, Verna Felton, Edgar Buchanan, Pinto Colvig (Goofy), Clarence Nash (Donald Duck), and Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket).

Something I hate about watching the TV news is that you rarely find out how stories end. A guy gets hit by a car, a dozen people saw the accident as the car took off, if you have any information to add, call this number. Yeah, and you never hear about it again. Or maybe there’s one of those little boxed stories on page 42 of your local newspaper. But the rascal headline has come and gone, and you don’t get the climax to the whole story.

So Kickstarter campaigns have completion dates. We know that Bill Plympton made his money on Kickstarter and can finis his film – Yeah!
We know that Signe Baumane made the money she needed on Kickstarter and can finish her film – loud YAYYY!

I had to return to find out what happened to Ralph Bakshi. He had that campaign trying to raise $165000 for his Last Days of Coney Island campaign. You know what! He did it; Ralph raised $174,195 – YAYAYAAAAA! Oh happy days, now maybe we’ll see some new Ralph Bakshi shorts. I’m going to be looking for them. It really excites me.

The best part is that Ian Miller will be doing
design and artwork for Ralph’s shorts. Boy, will
I be looking for his short films.

Last, but surely not least, is John Kricfalusi. He raised $136723 on Kickstarter with his bid to raise $110000. HOOOOOray! One more time . . . HoooooRAY! More cartoons to be looking for. I love some of the experiments John K. was doing with animation, and I hope he takes those experiments and expands on it. This can only help 2D animation.

Don’t you ust love it.

Today, I met an old friend who was visiting New York form LA. We exchanged a lt of stories and comments, of course, about what’s going on. He asked an odd question. Who’s left in New York that does “classical animation?” I could only think of Ed Smith in his 90′s. Maybe Doug Compton. There are a couple of older animators, but they’re, for the most part, not working.

That’s about it of the people I know. I could’ve said, me, but that seems a bit desperate to me. The fact of the matter is that there isn’t much call or use for 2D classical animation in New York. There’s the ToonBoom/Flash kind of work, but that is surely not what anyone would consider full, classical animation. As a matter of fact, my friend, realizing the answer was one out of desperation, said that HE did classical animation. I had to point out that he was no longer a New Yorker and that there were undoubtedly plenty of people in LA that did the rich, old-style of animation. This is the style that even Disney rejects. If there is any of it anymore, it can’t be long-lived.

Animation is going through a rough spot. There are probably more puppet animators these days than 2D classical animators. At least that’s the way it seems. There were three puppet films among the 5 nominees for feature animation; there were no 2D films nominated. It’s sad, but isn’t the handwriting on the wall?

– There wasn’t a hell of a lot that happened in animation in the past week. True, we do have the Oscars coming up on Sunday, and it’ll be interesting to see which of the features nominated will win. Though, I have to admit I’m not charged by any of the animated entrees this year. What I am excited by is the live action film Life of Pi. I will be watching closely to see how many awards this “live action” film will win. The politics of Argo may cause a mini-upset with that film winning the big award. That’d be disappointing, and I hope it won’t be true. The film is not a great one; in fact, I’m not sure I’d even call it good. (It’s a heightened film with TV type dramatics. That race through the airport with the Iranian olice driving on the airfield is particularly offensive.) I’d be happier if Lincoln won the award. At least the film is, for the most part, honest.

As for the animated feature films nominated, Wreck It Ralph seems to have more critics pushing for it; after about 20 minutes into the film, I felt like I wasn’t going to get much more out of it – I was emotionally detached, to say the least. I’ve seen more promotional ads for ParaNorman than for the other films. I’d expected Brave to have been loudest searching for attention. Personally, I didn’t find any of the films great, but felt closest to Frankenweenie even though I love Aardman’s work on The Pirates!.

As for the shorts, there seems to be another toss-up going on. I kind of think that Paperman has an advantage over the others. It got started promoting itself long before the nominations, so everyone knows about it. Then there have been those many versions of the cgi film that have 2D drawings animating on top of them. I don’t quite get the process. The videos make it look like only the hair and secondary bits were animated by 2D/hand. Is that the case? Why couldn’t that have been done in cgi. Especially after we see how stunning the hair in Brave has been done? Just count me out on this as ignorant.
Adam and Dog has my favorite animation. More than half the animators I know are bothered by the “Christian” message in the film. I still miss that. Adam & Eve is such folklore that I can’t even push it mentally into anything religious. Regardless,, the dog stays away from that story pretty much. We, the audience, have additional information than has the dog, so we understand why Adam leaves him for awhile and also why Adam returns “after the fall”. This is all irrelevant to the dog, and I love that part of it. I’d vote for this just for the beautiful animation and graphics. Great backgrounds. It was a hard piece to pull off.
Head Over Heels is about a man and woman at odds with each other. One walks on the ceiling of their apartment, the other on the floor. They’re always banging into each other and always in the way. For me, the metaphor also keeps getting in the way, and once I got the problem, I still had to get through the rest of the movie, while I waited for them to get over the problem.
Fresh Guacamole uses things like dice and golf balls and handgrenades to represent the makings of guacamole. This is like many other pieces PES has animated, and I sort of want something new.
The Longest Daycare, the Simpsons film is just that. It’s no funnier than anything I’ve seen on the TV show (in a good week), so I don’t understand what makes it a theatrical – except that they’re showing it in theaters.

It’s interesting that these shorts are tied together and released theatrically according to a story I’ve read on Yahoo. However, the shorts’ filmmakers have all put them online for free. They’ve been asked by an “Academy affiliate” to take them down so that they don’t compete with themselves for the theatrical tickets which are sold. I guess it’s become a dilemma for the filmmakers. Personally, I’d keep my short off line for some time. You lose a lot of revenue if you’re always competing with yourself. If you win the Oscar, you’re losing a lot of cash and prestige.

I’ve always found it curious that the Independent Spirit Awards, which take place one day earlier than the Oscars and are designed to celebrate Independent motion pictures rarely honor any animated films with a nomination. When Nina Paley distributed the self-financed Sita Sings the Blues, she won every major Independent Award at every Festival, yet she received the ONLY nomination, ever, from the Independent Spirit Awards that I can remember. “The Someone to Watch” nominaton. Not Best Film, not Best Animated Film or Best Direction. Not Best sound or score or . . . Only the “Someone to Watch” nomination.

Bill Plympton has done ten films that have all had budgets lower than the lowest (not that Independence has anything to do with the budget), have been distributed independently – out of Bill’s apartment – and have been very limited in the scope they’ve been able to achieve. Yet not one nomination for anything. Persepolis – no nominations. Watching for Bahir – no nominatons. Rango – nothing. It would seem to me that the Independent Live Action Filmmakers are treating our medium with a good deal of disrespect.

Next year’s awards already seem to be up and running animation-wise. At least as far as the features are concerned. Dreamworks‘ film, The Croods has been accepted into the 16th Holland Animation Film Festival, and will act as the closing night film. I’m not sure what that means since I haven’t yet been to that Festival (although it always sounds like a good one.) The Fest runs from 20-24 March 2013 and will take place in Utrecht, a beautiful town.

For information in the Festival go here: 16th Holland Animation Film Festival.

Competing with The Croods, of course, is The Weinstein Company’s Escape from Planet Earth which grossed a robust $21.1 million over the four-day President’s Day holiday weekend. I’m sure the quality of this film is at least as good as was Hoodwinked.

Amid Amidi reported today that Bob Godfrey had passed away last night, Thursday 21st February 2013, in his sleep. He was 91 years old. There’s a nicely knowing piece about his early days in British animation printed in the Guardian.

My single memory of Bob in person goes back to the Ottawa Animation Festival in 1980. Bob, who often did slightly risque films, had brought a film called Dream Doll to the Festival, to which he was also a judge. You can imagine what Dream Doll was about, and I’ll agree with you.

It was one of those slightly rainy Festivals, but it was fun just the same. At the picnic, we were right near a government building, as I remember. Someone surprised Bob with a real “Dream Doll.” a female balloon, as naked as the one in the cartoon. There was, at first, lots of laughter; then there was screaming, shouting protests from those trying to protect females everywhere. We tried to explain the situation to the animator who hadn’t seen the animation, but it ended with an ice pick. The naked balloon withered qucikly, as did the laughs.

It’s funny, but I can’t go to the Festival in Ottawa without remembering that Bob Godfrey story. It was five years earlier that he had won his Oscar for Great (a film I didn’t enjoy as much as I did Dream Doll, but I was glad he had a trophy to take through the rest of his life.

Bob Godfrey was part of the Grasshopper Group, a short-lived movement in British animation in the late Fifties, early Sixties. It was named after an Anson Dyer character from the silent era. Norman McLaren was appointed President. Kenneth Clarke, teamed with John Daborne with Gerald Potterton and Godfrey. Over the years, Derek Hill, Jim Nicolson, John Kirby, Stuart Wynn Jones, Richard Horn, Kevin Brownlow were all members with comedian Peter Sellars eventually replacing McLaren as the group’s President. Richard Williams also worked through the group for a short time as did Stan Hayward who wrote for Williams on a number of early shorts. Many of the group worked together for years and all remained friends for life.

Godfrey really got a name for himself in Britain after setting up his studio, Bob Godfrey Movie Emporium, and doing a very popular TV series, Roobarb.

There’s an excellent obit for Godfrey in the Independent.

Things have gotten interesting for The Last Days of Coney Island, the Ralph Bakshi series of shorts for which he’s trying to raise $165000. It’s a Kickstarter campaign; with 8 more days to go, the producer/director has raised almost $127000, making it very possible. 8 more days to go. Please look into it and give if you have anything to offer.

The brilliant illustrator, Ian Miller has committed to the project as has the actor, Matthew Modine. A list of other future employees have been announced on the Kickstarter site. Only one more week for these guys to put together something interesting. Check it out.

Mayerson on Animation. Finally one last thing to note. For those Mark Mayerson junkies out there, he’s back to his blog. A bit more than a month ago, Mark broke his wrist and his blog had been on hiatus until yesterday. He’s shed a cast and will probably come back to the site slowly. For my taste, he can be as slow as he needs to be. Any bit of Mark, reviews or commentary or reportage; it’s all good, and I’m glad to keep checking in.

The Life of Pi has been winning awards left and right for the best special effects. They won the BAFTA (British Oscar equivalent) just last week. These effects were done by the Los Angeles based company Rhythm & Hues Studios a company which has come to specialize in creating photo realistic animals for films with such wonders as Babe, the animals in The Chronicles of Narnia as well as “Richard Parker,” the tiger in Pi.

On the Monday following receipt of their award, Rhythm and Hues called a meeting of the entire company to announce that all jobs were on notice. The company had to file for bankruptcy protection, which they did that same day. It was thought that they’d resolved their financial problems getting the Indian visual effects company, Prime Focus, to help them out. However, that deal fell through and the Chapter 11 went forward. There was limited cash on hand. and they were not able to meet their immediate payroll.

The company is scheduled to do quite a bit of work in the upcoming year with films such as The Hunger Games II, and Universal’s Percy Jackson among numerous others which are ready for effects work. 160 employees were already part of a lay off last week and their remaining employees had to be put on notice this week. At this point, there’s no other decision as to where they will go for cash flow.

Hopefully they will win the Oscar for Pi (they’re also nominated for Snow White And The Huntsman), and that will somehow help them financially. They definitely deserve the award.

There’s a short EFFX film on the NYTimes site, worth a look. See the scene above come together from scratch.

There will be something os a Richard Williams tribute this coming Wed., Thurs., and Friday. It’s in celebration of Dick’s 80th birthday on Wednesday. The programs will be shown at the downtown Y – Tribeca celebrating some of the more famous work of the master and culminating in a screening of the Kevin Schreck’s documentary, Persistence of Vision, about the making and undoing of The Cobbler and the Thief.

On Wed, Feb 27th, at 7:30 pm there will be a screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This marks the 25th anniversary of the ground breaking feature which took the combination of live action and animation to a new level. Tarring character actor, Bob Hoskins, the film features almost every character ever created for motion pictures, from Bugs Bunny to Mickey Mouse to Betty Boop.

On Thurs, Feb 28th, celebrating the upcoming 80th Birthday of Richard Williams (March 19th), there will be a retrospective of some of Dick’s best commercials (including including Cresta Bear, Jovan, Pushkin Vodka and others), title sequences (“The Charge of the Light Brigade”; “The Return of the Pink Panther”; and “What’s New, Pussycat”) and the program concludes with Dick’s first theatrical short, The Little Island (1958). The short gained immediate success for the young animator and his studio.

I was asked to host this program, and I couldn’t be prouder than to do so. I’ll also be excited to see some of the commercials on the big screen again (particularly the Puskin Vodka spot). There are many beauties among these, and I’m hoping more of my favorite gems are among them.

On Friday, Feb 29th, at 7:30 pm there will be a program featuring Persistence of Vision, Kevin Schreck‘s documentary about the making of Williams’ long-in-production feature, The Cobbler and the Thief. This film will be followed by a Q&A between director, Schreck and Amid Amidi. I’m really looking forward to seeing this. Having not yet see the doc, I’m expect some information to be revealed for me.

This despite the fact that I’d watched the entire history of this film from my armchair.

Go to 92y.org

Dates: Wed, Feb 27th, 7:30 pm, Thu, Feb 28, 7:30 pm, and Fri, Feb 28th, 7:30 pm

Venue: 92YTribeca Screening Room
Location: 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St

Price: from $12.00

My appearance should be somewhat disarming to some of you. I recently had a dramatic bout with the flu and really suffered for a full two weeks with fevers, chills and less attractive ails. In the course of the flu, I lost a full 15 pounds (over th two weeks) and have also lost a lot of strength. Consequently, don’t be surprised by the Cryptkeeper hosting the Thursday event. The worst part is that my voice gives out easily, and I’ll be shouting in a whisper to host the program. It’s a sidebar of the event that should be entertaining for you.

This past week TCM aired a small little film called The Window. It was for this film that child actor, Bobby Driscoll, was awarded an Oscar as the Outstanding Juvenile of 1949. You’ll remember that Bobby Driscoll would then go under contract to Walt Disney, for whom he starred in Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart, Treasure Island and as the voice of Peter Pan.

The film was a curious little “B” movie that was about a boy who exaggerated once too often, and after witnessing an actual murder no one believes him. The film is cast in dark and looming shadows coming close to a film noir stylization. Bobby’s acting is very “A” movie as his dilemma keeps you spellbound for the entire 90 minutes. The father, Arthur Kennedy, is also excellent in the film.

Bobby Driscoll had an unfortunate end. He came into hard times as an adult and died in 1968 of hepatitis. His body was found by two children playing in Greenwich Village. He was buried in a pauper’s grave until his fingerprints were later identified.

The New York Times, today, has an artricle about film titles. It suggests that film titles should also be honored by the Academy Awards. They decide that if there were a film to win the Oscar this year they would offer up some possible nominees.
Their suggested choices are:
- Jorge Calvo‘s titles for Red Lights, a thriller directed by his compatriot Rodrigo Cortés.
- The opening titles of Prometheus, the science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. They don’t name the title designer or production company.
- The Chilean design group Smog for its work on the closing sequence of Joven y Alocada, directed by Marialy Rivas.
- Raleigh Stewart for Crave, a thriller directed by Charles de Lauzirika.
- The U.S. design group Prologue Films for its work on Ben Affleck’s political thriller Argo.

Personally, I love Life of Pi. They’re delightfully buoyant and openly playful titles that just wholly set the mood for the great movie to follow. These were designed by Garson Yu, founder/creative director of yU+co in Hollywood, California. I will follow his work in the future.

Something’s happened over at Cartoon Brew, ant the two partners, Amid Amidi and Jerry Beck, have split. I’m sure most of you already know this by now. Jerry has set up a new “temporary” blog called Cartoon Research, and has just begun posting there. It’s obviously, at the moment, dedicated more to cartoon history, than Cartoon Brew. I’ve put the link i the sidebar of my Splog and will follow if it changes address.

Good luck to both guys. Their both good animation historians worth reading.

- Turn around, and it’s the weekend again. I guess that’s a good thing. But Christmas seems to be coming so quickly these days. It was only yesterday that I was complaining that they were pushing Christmas on us so soon after Thanksgiving. Christmas carols when we had hardly finished eating the turkey! Maybe they were right.

As we get closer to Christmas there are fewer and fewer Academy events. Things were mellowing out already this past week. I was so happy to not have had a dinner or a lunch or a screening to attend last Sunday. I stayed home and was quiet while the weather, outside, was pretty lousy. One of those days where the rain is light enough that you feel stupid opening an umbrella, but the wind and the temperature made it so bitter out that it was great to be indoors – anywhere.

On Monday, I’d picked up a DVD for the animated feature, Consuming Spirits, at the Film Forum theater. The film should be seen on a big screen. It was shot in 16mm and looked pretty darn good in DVD. The story is complex, so I’m sure watching it focused in a theater would be better for the film. However, I loved it, just the same, and my review in the Splog on Tuesday was a foreshadowing of some of the reviews that appeared in the NY papers on Wednesday when it officially opened. This movie will be playing through Christmas Day; treat yourself.

It’s very positive that A.O.Scott in the NYTimes chose his top ten flms of the year. As usual he adds another five or six which he call his “honorable mention” list of films that came close to being in his top ten. Consuming Spirits was one of these “honorable mention” movies that take on a nice prominence.Mind you that I don’t always agree with Mr.Scott (e.g. my favorite movie of the year is not to be found on his list), but I do take pleasure when I see such a deserving, small film get the attention it deserves.

Read A.O. Scott‘s review for the NYTimes here.
Read the 3 star review by Farran Smith Nehme for the NYPOST here.

On Tuesday there was a luncheon at the Four Seasons for Les Mis̩rables. Some of the cast РAnne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks were all there. We entered a different room this time; this one had a piano bar playing. Uh oh.

During the meal, director Tom Hooper announced that, even though they’d had a late night the night before – there was a lot of drinking, I guess, at the premiere – the cast was itching to sing for us. Samantha Banke, who did a lot of musical theater in England,sang “Summertimne”. This was an odd choice given the temperature outside, but she did a great job. Hugh Jackman then sang a song to his wife which was a love letter to her. Anne Hathaway followed singing a Christmas carol with Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried and Hugh Jackman doing backup. Coffee was served and the lunch ended quickly. Tom Hooper didn’t even recite a poem, but he did take photos of the crowd with his cel phone.

On Thursday I went to an Academy screening of The Hobbit. If it resembled any of the Lord of the Rings movies (with endless battles going on among millions of computerized creatures) I was prepared to walk out. The film felt as though it had been written by one of those geeks you meet at Comic Con. Completely amateurish dialogue with cliché following cliché while all this good stuff passed on screen visually. The near-three hour length was exhausting. The score is great and Ian McKellan is a blessing.

The film was shot at 48 frs per sec (and projected back at the same rate) which created a sharper more defined focus, closer in look to hi def video than film. There was one character, covered in hair, who I found extraordinary to watch without my 3D glasses. The focus on his skin was amazing, and I spent a lot of the first hour searching for shots of him without my glasses on. I later learned the character’s name, Balin. I hate to say it, but that was really the height of the film for me.

I also have to agree that the animation of the gollum was quite amazing. Not as good as the tiger in Pi, but worth the cost of admission for an animator. If Andy Serkis has anything to do with it, I applaud him.

On Friday night I followed up an ad in Variety that indicated a screening in town of the
Japanese animated feature, The Mystical Laws, was showing for Academy members. In the end, I couldn’t go; work finally got in the way.

I still want to see Goro Myazaki‘s film From Up on Poppy Hill. I know that Bill Plympton hated it, but he and I often disagree on movies. The film won the Japanese equivalent of the Oscar, and it did enormously well in Japan. Somebody liked it; there’s got to be something good there. I’m going to keep my eyes open for it; usually GKids ‘ distributing it means there will be a chance of its eventually playing.

Today, Saturday, the Academy has its screening of animated and live action shorts. The short-list (ten animated and ten live-action) will screen so we can narrow the selection down to five films for each category. I can select the animated films from my home since I saw them all and remember the ones
I like. However, I haven’t seen the live action shorts and want to vote for them. So we start with animated films at 10am, live-action at noon, and we continue through till about four or five. There’s a lunch at 1pm. A long day of movies. Looking forward to it.

To add a bit of punch to this post, I’m placing an article Chuck Jones wrote in 1965 for an ASIFA International bulletin just prior to one of the early Annecy Animation Festivals.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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