Independent Animators in History

Suzan Pitt was a painter that fell into animation. Her painterly skills are shown throughout this film:
ASPARAGUS


Joanna Priestly - her website
VOICES


Bill Plympton is one of the most known independent animators. His work was frequently played on MTV and he continues to create a large library of work. Plymptoons website
LEARN TO KISS


25 WAYS TO QUIT SMOKING

25 Ways To Quit Smoking - More free videos are here

Don Hertzfeldt has become one of the most popular contemporary independent animators. His style is very simple but he puts a large amount of work into creating the specific look and timing that is in his work. He works with no digital equipment and shoots his films analogue. HE also is a big stickler for viewing the films in the highest quality possible and really hates that people watch them online. So HERE YOU GO!
BILLY'S BALLOON


REJECTED CARTOONS


William Kentridge is a fine artist and his work is considered so. Doing his animations in charcoal and editing the same picture over and over, a ghost image remains from the path of moving objects. It is very hard to view his work outside of a museum or art gallery since this is the only way he chooses them to be seen and experienced. You can catch some clips of his work on YouTube if you like.


Yuri Norstein is a Russian animator who does beautiful work with cut out animation. He is currently having trouble finding someone to finance his films since the fall of the Soviet Union.
TALES OF TALES

Stop Motion History.

Lets look through some clips for the history of Stop Motion!!!

This film, The Cameraman's Revenge, was the first character stop motion animation. It was made by Ladislas Starewitch, who was fascinated by bugs. In trying to capture the mating rituals of bugs, he found it difficult, since when ever he turned on the light, the bugs would just scurry away. So he produced this system of moving dead bugs to make his own tales and stories.
THE CAMERAMAN'S REVENGE


Next came Willis O'Brien. His independent films did not succeed due to unimaginative gags and story, but the technique was beautiful. This led him into the special effects business for Hollywood films. He is the man who made King Kong live.
KING KONG


This next film was also credited to Willis O'Brien, but is mostly the work of O'Brien's talented Pupil, Ray Harryhousen.
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG


Ray Harryhousen has a wildly imaginative talent that led to some great Sci-Fi classics. Here is some clips of his work from the various movies he has immortalized. He considers himself more of a technician than an artist.
RAY HARRYHOUSEN CLIPS


Jiri Trnka was a Czechoslovakian animator. His Junior High art teacher was one of the last great puppeteers left in the world, and Jiri was greatly influenced by this. Check out the beautiful wooden puppets in this film.
THE HAND - PART 1


THE HAND - PART 2


Jan Svankmajer produced his animations with found objects, rather that manufacturing puppets to animate. This sometimes disgusting and gritty approach creates a very unique quality to his work.
MEAT LOVE


DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE - PART 1


DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE - PART 2


Greatly influenced by Svankmajer's aesthetic, the Brothers Quay step into the spotlight with utterly beautiful and disturbing set design and characters. Unlike Svankmajer, there is no humor to balance out the disturbing imagery.
THE STREET OF CROCODILE

Watch 19. Street of Crocodiles (Timothy & Stephen Quay, 1986) in

Fall 2009 Class Schedule

26-2075 01 Digital Aniamtion Techniques I, S. Perkins, Monday 9a - 11:50a

26-3050 01 Acting for Animators, F. Maugeri, Monday 3:30p - 6:20p

26-2030 02 Stop-Motion Animation, D. Crisanti, Monday 6:30p - 9:20p

26-2010 01 Animation Camera & Sound, B. Young, Wednesday 9a - 11:50a

51-1330 03 Japanese I, B. Traczyk, Monday & Wednesday 1p - 2:50p

I am really excited for these classes. I know I will have fun in Frank Maugeri's Acting for Animators class. In Camera & Sound is where we learn timing on dope sheets and start dealing with sound and lip sync. 

More Animation History Clips

Here are a few more clips from Censorship, racism, and WWII week:
This is just a good Felix cartoon. Love the caricatures in it.

FELIX THE CAT IN HOLLYWOOD


Here's a WWII clip. These SNAFU cartoons were made by Leon Schlesinger and the gang who made Looney Tunes. They were headed off by the government, specifically Frank Capra!

PRIVATE SNAFU - SPIES

Dr. Suess wrote this! Can you guess who's voice Snafu's is copying?

This is one of the best Looney Tunes ever in my opinion. Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese combo was awesome. This was the first tune that change Daffy from crazy to cynical.

RABBIT FIRE


RABBIT SEASONINGS


DUCK RABBIT DUCK


WWII Bugs Bunny cartoon.... WOW

BUGS BUNNY NIPS THE NIPS


A Walter Lantz cartoon (Woody Woodpecker creator) He was really ragged on when they tried to redistribute this cartoon.

SCRUB ME MAMMA WITH THAT BOOGIE BEAT


This short by Bob Clampett is a little easier to watch since it is mixed with Jazz and has some war reference.

Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs

UPA style

Well, the Midterm Exam for Animation History was on Monday. I think I did fairly well. Before the midterm we had lecture on UPA. Pretty simply stuff, literally. Watched Hellbent for Election by Chuck Jones, the first Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing Boing, and this Yugoslavian UPA style cartoon which was... interesting. Enjoy:


HELLBENT FOR ELECTION PART 1


HELLBENT FOR ELECTION PART 2

Yes, the train had FDR's face


MR. MAGOO in THE RAGTIME BEAR

1949-Mr.Magoo - Ragtime Bear
Uploaded by iToons

GERALD MCBOING BOING

Yes, Dr. Suess is in the credits


SUROGAT by ZAGREB



Well that is the interesting stuff to date. I am hoping to post some of my Drawing for Animation work up soon.

Mid Semester Update

It has been a while since I've blogged here. Well, the Spring Semester is almost half-way through and it has been a pretty intense one. It's also be very aggravating. My Classes this semester are as follows:
Animation History
Screenwriting I
Drawing For Animation
Animation Story Board Concept & Design


Animation History is a blast. The teacher is fun, and we get to watch cartoons for the entire class! The most interesting one to date was this last class. We were discussing Censorship, Racism, and WWI cartoons. We watched Disney's "The Winged Scourge"





Well, that was nothing compared to what the teacher showed us next... no intro, just watch...





Again, no comment. So...


In Screenwriting, We've been putting together a short film screenplay of 6-8 minutes based on an unexpected discovery. I was having trouble at first, but after a few revisions, the teacher has told it is one of the best in the class. That's cool, but I don't even like the thing... lol. This class has a lot of restrictions on what you can write about: no monsters, no aliens, no creatures of any kind, nothing out of the norm, has to be character driven and dialogue driven. It still has been fun. The teacher took a bit to get used to since he's an old Romanian, he has this thick accent which makes communication between students and teacher difficult.


Drawing for Animation has be my hardest class in workload and emotional hardship. I am a little disappointing by the teacher. Other classes of Drawing for Animation are really breaking down the information technically to assist students in animating. Our teacher just simple gives us a hand out with no break down. Just a visual representation of a walk and no further explanation. ::Sigh:: It has been getting better though... I've just had to do a lot of SELF teaching in order to get the results I want. But Damnit... If I am paying $16,000 a year for someone to make me self teach myself... I'd be pissed. I am pissed. Aww.. but screw it... I've been rolling out some of the better animations in the class, and have been attentive of any loose materials left by other classes. I think I'll be alright.

Animation Storyboard Concept & Design is an okay class. Most of the class is nothing though. We often are waiting for the teacher to get back from an errand or a break. She's a nice teacher, but sometimes the class feels disjointed and all over the place. She has also had a problem of precisely conveying what she wants of us. But its okay, since she isn't a harsh grader. But in a way, I wish she was a harsh grader, so I know exactly what I need to work on.

So anyways, that's the update in a nutshell. Midterms are coming up, so we'll see how they turn out!!!

Cinema Slap Down: Batman Begins

Last night my wife and I went to our first Columbia College Cinema Slap Down. The film chosen for this event was Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. How the event unfolds is the audience watches the film and then afterword, two film/video faculty come out to discuss it. One faculty member loves it and the other one hates it. In the beginning both are given three minutes to state why they feel the way they do about the film. Then the referee (oh yes, there is a referee) will ask them questions to challenge them both on their opinions. Then the discussion is opened up to the audience. We give our questions, support, and criticism to the faculty members of our view on the film. The event was exhilarating even though I stayed silent!

After watching Batman Begins, Referee Ron Falzone introduced the film's supporter Michael Caplan and the film's condemner Jeff Smith. Michael won first opening statement and dragged on, first by welcoming the audience and by talking too much about his love for batman the legend (the embodiment of all things batman). He spoke of Batman's creator, Bob Kane, and how Batman was unique in the superhero world. Before he could really touch on the aspects of the film itself, his time was up. Then Jeff is given his three minutes. He opens up with the fact The he believes bruce wayne is a whiney brat with a daddy complex. He further explains how a mentally unstable person is able to be given such power and reign over Gotham. Jeff also takes a stab at the president by comparing Bruce Wayne to George W.
Overall, Michael kept to the fact that this movie was the best representation of the original idea of Batman, and that it did something no other Batman movie had done, and that was explore Batman's beginning. Jeff stood annoyingly firm on his view that Bruce was just whining over the death of his father and looked for father figures in the other characters of the film including the villians. It was a heated night of debate and discussion, and yes, some people took it too far by calling Jeff a prick under their breath and saying the event was stupid. Then why did you come? Why do you continue to talk about it after we are finished?
The point of the Slap Down is to get us to look at the possibilities and ideas that are out there that are not our own. We are encouraged to discuss how we view the film and consider new ways of interpreting. I believe attending the Cinema Slapdown sessions excersizes your thoughts and knowledge of film/video and story.

I look forward to the next Slap Down. Maybe this next time I'll speak up about something!