Philo

It's been forever that I have posted to this site, and the last thing was about my personal short animated piece called Philo.  It was a cathartic experience that let me recapture the joy of animation and find the things that attracted me to the art form originally.

Since childhood I watched cartoons and was moved emotionally by the imagery and the music.  I  saw the potential to touch people in a way that live action movies could not.  Animation seemed then, and now to be the culmination of all the arts: Cinema, music, dance, painting, writing, etc.

As I was making Philo I tried to pay homage to the studios and individuals who influenced me.  I am an admirer of Walt Disney of course, but also the renegades, who broke away from the emulation toward realism, that birthed the stylized look of UPA.  Artists like Art Babbitt, Jim Tyer, Chuck Jones, and writer Michael Maltese, along with John and Faith Hubley, Ward Kimball, Bobe Cannon, were and still are reasons why I became an animator.  Another early influence for these people as well as myself were the works of the early silent comedians like Charlie Chaplin and the great Buster Keaton.

If you are familiar with any of these, you will immediate see the influence.   

Philo from Joel Brinkerhoff on Vimeo.

Walt Kelly animates Pogo

As a night cap before bed I was re-reading one of my Pogo collections by Walt Kelly and this morning I came across an article on Cartoon Brew talking about Kelly’s distain for the Chuck Jones Pogo special.  Apparently Kelly hated everything about the Jones version and wanted to do a piece that portrayed his creation accurately so he set out to animate a film himself.  

Kelly was a Disney animator who had worked on Fantasia and Dumbo and it’s that beautiful quality of draftsmanship and the inventive writing that distinguished the comic strip “Pogo” from anyone else’s work.  Bad health prevented Walt from doing full animation but what is there and it’s rendering of the characters is charming and 100% Kelly.    

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.

Buster Keaton

Named Buster as a child by family friend Harry Houdini after witnessing the boy fall down a flight of stairs, Keaton went on to do some of the most physical and dangerous comedy in motion pictures. Jackie Chan has often sited Keaton as his hero and inspiration. Chuck Jones liberally took from Keaton to base his animated films.

You can find many of Keaton's films available on YouTube. Buster wrote, directed and starred in many of his films and developed technical innovations that are still being used today.

HELLZAPOPPIN

I wouldn't have believed it but people have posted bits of “Hellzapoppin”, the movie I mentioned in my last posting as the inspiration of the projectionist gag 12 years later in “Duck Amuck”, on YouTube. Watch this opening and I’m sure you’ll agree there was some cross-pollinating going on between toons and comedians. Thanks Rockhead for turning me on to this movie!

Origins of a Toon

Speaking of Jones, here is a piece I wrote of what I think were the origins of "Duck Amuck". Cartoon Brew had posted it awhile ago but I thought I would re post it here:

DUCK AMUCK
Indisputably Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese created the 1953 classic cartoon “Duck Amuck,” but the ideas and comic bits were around for a long time before they brought them to new light. The springboard seems to be Buster Keaton’s 1924 masterpiece “Sherlock Jr.” In it we find the continuity gags of changing backgrounds and props pulled and replaced. Next, a very specific split-frame gag can be traced to an obscure 1941 Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson adaptation of the play “Hellzapoppin.” Director H.C. Potter continually broke the fourth wall in this self-referencing farce, and created a projectionist joke where the film became stuck with the framing splitting the screen. The characters comment on their condition before the supposed projectionist can make the correction twelve years before Daffy found himself in the same situation.

Chuck Jones Documentary

I haven’t watched all eight parts yet but this looks like a good documentary on Chuck Jones posted on YouTube. The whole thing can be found here with a little digging: http://uk.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=KindOfMonty&p=r

I love Jones as a director but I’ve often wondered if he would have been as successful without Michael Maltese as his writer? I look at all the best loved and academy winning cartoons Jones did and they all were written by Maltese. I think it’s kind of like The Beatles. They were all talents individually but together they made history. Too bad you never hear much mention of Michael.

Sentimental Journey…

Going through a book of mine for reference I glanced at the autograph at the front and recalled the great opportunity of meeting this legend of Animation. It suddenly dawned on me that I’ve been blessed to have met three of Disney’s Nine Old Men: Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Ward Kimball, all in good health and productively vibrant. Here are others I’ve met and am glad I shamelessly asked for autographs: Chuck Jones, Ray Harryhausen, and one I treasure for the brief time I spent with him, a fellow fan of Laurel and Hardy, Joe Ranft. Thanks guys, for inspiring us all.