Imagine Exploiting John Lennon

This is just horrible. The timber of the voice is right but the cadence and diction are nothing like John. It saddens me to think John is being used against his will. People,(Yoko), are now literally putting words in his mouth, something he fought so hard against. I wonder what he would have to say if he were alive today.

Interpreting Krazy Kat

The original 1918 strip used for the Spitting Image Test below, (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)














A fatter Krazy from the 40's in color.

The test from Spitting Image Productions

Over the holiday season Cartoon Brew posted a test done in 1996 by Spitting Image Productions for King Features Syndicate. The test was done to see if King Features could create new interest in one of their most eccentric and highly regarded properties: “Krazy Kat” by George Herriman.

Krazy was animated for the silent screen during its earliest appearances as a comic strip around 1914. But the treatment was the same as any silent animated characters at the time and never tried to capture the strips idiosyncrasies. Later in the 60’s, almost twenty years after the strip had stopped and fallen into oblivion, another attempt was made to revise interest with a new animated series with sound and color. The voice casting and limited animation satisfied no one, especially anyone with any familiarity with the strip.

Even as a comic strip cartoon Krazy was an acquired taste and would have been dropped had it not been championed by William Randolph Hearst who owned the paper. So great was Hearst’s admiration that he gave Herriman a guaranteed life time promise that Krazy would always have a home in his paper.

This long term agreement for the life span of Krazy began around 1913 and ended in 1944 with the death of Herriman. The 31 year run saw an evolution in style affecting not only the characters appearance but also the formatting and a transition to color. The early prose of K.K. had a running narrative that was lyrical and poetic. This was dropped during the later strips and became limited to the love triangle of Pup, Kat, and Mouse most associate with today.

So which Krazy is Krazy? The Kat from the 20’s is leaner and has a finer line quality than the Kat from the 40’s with its scratchier loose and thick strokes caused by Herriman’s increasing arthritics and bad health. Add to this the phantasmagorical backgrounds of Coconino County which morphed from panel to panel turning day into night and back again during the same action and conversation.

Although faithful to the original strip this test minimizes the transitional landscapes, wisely going with cuts, and prettifies the designs over what Herriman conceived. The premise comes from a 1918 strip but uses a 1940's Kat. Perhaps stop-motion wasn’t the best choice because it couldn’t carry the graphic nature so essential to the strip. Yet you can't argue the fine animation. The narrative is perhaps the weakest part of this presentation being far too modern and lacking the poetic flavor of the original. Unlike other comic characters like Popeye and Charlie Brown, Krazy Kat has proven to be too unique a vision to bring to the screen so far.

Baby Rose Marie

The cast of "The Dick Van Dyke Show": Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Morey Amsterdam, and Rose Marie making devil horns.

I have always loved "The Dick Van Dyke Show" created by Carl Reiner. I still think the character Laura Petrie, (Mary Tyler Moore), is incredibly sexy and laugh at the same stuff I've seen hundreds of times before. But I've learned something about the actress who played tough aggressive Sally Rodgers that I didn't know. Sally was played by child star Baby Rose Marie. Yup, check out this amazing YouTube performance and see what a seasoned trooper this gal really was.



Watch "The Dick Van Dyke Show" here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/30462/the-dick-van-dyke-show-jilting-the-jilter#s-p1-so-i0

Merry Christmas!

I saw this on Cartoon Brew and couldn't resist. Of course that's Ward Kimball on the trombone and Frank Thomas on piano. Merry Christmas!

Twinning

Most books on animation including Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s, “The Illusion of Life” warn against drawing mirrored poses or having the same timing on body gestures that echo each other. The term is called ‘Twinning' and the argument is that asymmetry is more natural. Perhaps this is true in a still image to prevent stiffness and to give interest, but I find it happening in live performances again and again. I also recall ‘twinning’ in Disney’s “The Wind in the Willows” segment where Mr. Toad goes car crazy. Now John Kricfalusi has posted some images from Disney’s “Song of the South” that sure look like ‘twinning’ to me. I guess when you make the rules you can break them too.

3D Craze Again...

There seems to be a renewed interest in stereoscopic movies these days. The first projected stereoscopic images were done by Charles d'Almeida in 1858 using the red and green lens anaglyphic method. Another form of stereo projection was the use of polarized lights created by John Anderton in 1891. These two methods became the standard formats for all stereoscopic films during the first 3D boom in the fifty's. Hollywood turned to 3D because of the increasing sales of television sets and the threat of audiences staying home. Will this new wave of stereoscopic movies pull crowds into theaters and away from renting films on DVD?

Here is a sample of Warner Bros. one and only attempt to capitalize on the 3D craze. "Lumber Jack-Rabbit" hit theaters in 1954 just as the craze was dying. Although we can't watch it in the 3D format, you can get a sense of what was intended by some of the exaggerated set pieces.

Joe Myers

Once upon a time in a small seeping pustule on the buttock of the universe there lived five little boys who wanted to make a lot of noise. They were bothers of brothers who had once formed a band called The Children. Now two of the brothers were very good and too good to stay in the small seeping pustule. They were smart enough to get out and do something worthwhile.

I say all this as a way of introducing my old band mate Joe Myers who sent me an email not too long ago. Joe who was and is a phenomenal guitarist has rightfully gained some recognition in Phoenix Arizona as a musician/singer/songwriter. he has several albums of original music with his equally talented brother, (my other band mate Matthew), drumming on some of the tracks. He has also written music for the film "Flowers of Madison"

Go here to listen to some of his tunes, ( I love "River To River" myself): http://www.myspace.com/joemyersaz

And go here to buy his music: http://www.joemyers.net/index.html

Happy Holidays Joe & Matte!

Good Story Telling

Mark Kennedy has a great post at his blog Temple of the Seven Camels about the opening scene of Orson Welles's "Touch of Evil". This shot is most famous for being the longest single take but Mark gives good insight as to why the decision was made to shoot it this way. Part of that article is below. The whole article can be found by clicking on the title or going here:http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/

This is the scene the way Welles wanted it without title and credits superimposed over it.



If you picture in your mind this scene full of different shots cut together, you'll realize that if it were assembled that way, you would quickly lose track of which car was the one with the bomb in it. Even if you only showed one car the whole time, I still think that if you did it all in cuts it would be confusing and not nearly as powerful. You would never be sure if, after a cut, you were looking at the same car as the one that we saw at the opening. When it's all one shot, you never lose track of where the car is in relation to the camera and our characters. You never have the audience getting distracted by trying to figure out which car is the one we're supposed to be following. The viewer can therefore focus on the characters and the story being told.

Collect Them All!

Got more dough than you know what to do with? Why not buy these nifty art pieces from The Aquarium Cartoon Art Gift Shop? Sculptures by James Cauty.

3D Brass

Another stereoscopic free-view style painting. Click on image to enlarge.

Hyungkoo Lee

Artist Hyungkoo Lee has made these cool bone structure sculptures of famous cartoon characters out of aluminum and resin.

Donald Duck
Huey, Dewy, and Louie
Coyote
Road Runner
Bugs Bunny

Violin

Time to get back to art with another of my free-view stereoscopic paintings. Ya gotta cross yer eyes and focus on the image in the middle.

Click on image to enlarge.

Fear(s) of the Dark

http://www.primalinea.com/pdn/images/index.html






I mentioned this last Halloween. I hope it plays somewhere near. See The trailer at the link above.

The Alvin Show

Back in the 60's "The Alvin Show" premiered on prime time television. It was an example of limited animation that utilized modern design made popular by UPA earlier in the 50's. Format Films and creator Ross Bagdasarian,(David Seville and the Chipmunks), filled the series with fun designs and strong character situations that lifted the show above it's small budget. "The Alvin Show" also features great comic songs by Ross that were available as novelty records. It was a great use of cross marketing.

Check out the opening to see the style of the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5qlABRlNg

And see some of the songs here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Alvinfanatic

Sustainable Freedom

Here's something a little different. My brother sent this to me and I was very impressed. Hope you have a high speed connection.

If you can't see the movie, click the title or go here: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1988837
Sustainable Freedom

Tom Terrific

Speaking of Gene Deitch,(see last post), look what I found on YouTube. I love Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog. The lip smacking is still funny and says volumes about who Manfred is. I don't know for certain but the animation of Tom watching TV may be Jim Tyers. It's got his 'shrink take' style and he did work on the series.

Gene Deitch

Tom Teriffic


I stumbled across the name Gene Deitch on an information sharing site and wondered if it was the director/animator who turned Terrytoons into the modern style of UPA type animation during the fifties. This is what I wrote and the response I received:

Hello,

Are you the animation director Gene Deitch? If so, I loved "Tom Teriffic" as a kid and hope it's made available again one day. I thought Jim Tyer was a great fit for that show and his animation seemed well suited for an amorphous character.

Hope you are well,

Joel

------

yes,Joel,it's me. Thanks for your good words! I'm on an iPhone out in the countryside,so can only reply with a few words. Thanks for remembering Tom Terrific! Gene

------

Cool huh! What makes this particularly interesting to me is that since 1961, Deitch has resided with his wife, Zdenka, in Prague.

Now I see Gene Deitch will be the Guest of Honor at the 3rd annual San Francisco International Animation Festival (SFIAF), a four-day event from November 13th through 16th at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema.

Go see him if you can.

William Stout

Okay I admit I live in a cave. I’m sure everybody has known about William Stout for years. But incase you are a cave-dweller like myself and don’t know this guy, you are in luck.

William Stout is a chameleon artist who has mastered a plethora of styles and works in a multitude of markets. He has done comics, movie posters, film art direction, storyboards and book illustrations. His styles encapsulate the best of artists like Arthur Rackham, Charles R. Knight, N.C. Wyeth and more contemporaries such as Wally Wood, Jack Kirby, Robert Crumb, and Frank Frazetta.

The guy is just incredible. Take a look at this portion of a cover for the “Comics Journal” he did. My scanner wouldn’t allow me to get the whole thing, (click on image to enlarge), but you can tell the guys is a monster. He has deservedly worked with pioneers like George Lukas, Steven Spielberg, Disney Studios, etc. etc. etc.

Everyone's a Critic

Many leading authorities on animation have written about the limitations of computer animation and the superiority of traditional drawn animation. If you are caught up in the media of a movie it tells me there is something wrong with the story.

I’ve seen movies with budgetary constraints that have transcended their limitations and have become classics because of their entertainment value and not the media they were executed in.

Story has proven to be everything. If traditional drawn animation were the criteria that determine the validity of good animation we wouldn’t have had the idiotic proclamation: drawn animation is dead and the long string of poorly received films which prompted the opinion.

The awful truth is animation in any form is hard to pull off. It is an art and art is subjective. You may not like Picasso or you might think he is a genius. Animation is a collective endeavor done by individual artists pooling their talents to form a work that will connect emotionally and aesthetically with a broad range of people with different life styles, political beliefs and religious convictions. Sound like a hard thing to accomplish?

The complaints of floaty, weightless, plastic characters that are disconnected with their environments are ludicrous when you examine the sliding feet on walk cycles and other glaring violations of physics seen in a majority of drawn animation from top leading studios. It tells me there is something deeper with the complaints than the fact it was computer animated.

I’ve seen traditional drawn animated films that were expertly drawn with beautiful attention to detail and design that have tanked. Not because they were drawn but because the story was bad. The characters were insincere and unbelievable. They reacted wrong in situations and people just couldn’t connect.

I’m not a snob for any media. I have done drawn, stop-motion, and computer animation and believe the strength and magic of animation is not about what style or technique you employ. It is story and characters that prove the success of animation. It is an art form and art is subjective.

Thief and Cobbler Recobbled

http://smashingtelly.com/category/animation/

The link above,(or clicking on the title), will take you to Smashing Telly and their posting of Richard Williams "The Thief and the Cobbler" recobbled. This is a recreation of the way Williams originally intended the film with NO SONGS and no Johnathon Winters babbling through the entire film. This recreation has some astounding perspective animation in it which is all the more impressive considering it was done in 1967 before computers were a viable alternative.

This special fan edit of The Thief and the Cobbler reconstructed by Garrett Gilchrist of Orange Cow Productions combines the fabled uncut work print with other footage from the released versions, as well as other rare materials to create the most complete film - not to mention the most faithful to the original vision.

UPDATE: The above video by Smashing Telly has been removed.  A new one is here: