Cartoon Burials

I have been in Cleveland for the last week, and have been lazy as hell. Nothing much to report on. I am taking a short break from Parasite's Delight. I should be back to animating by January 4th, at which I will be back at the Pratt studios in Brooklyn.

In the meantime, I have started watching a couple of (so-called) cartoon burials. First off is Private Snafu, a series of instructional films made by Warner Bros. during World War II. Although they were never meant for general audiences, I find them to be very impressive. And they are quite funny too (in a sick and offensive way). They are currently available as special features on the recent Looney Tunes Golden Collections (since volume 3).





The one below is entitled "Spies," and I consider it to be a perfect introduction to the series. I believe this one is directed by Chuck Jones, although I can't be too sure. I say that because I know Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel wrote most of these, and worked closely with Jones. The one I really want to post is called "Rumors," but I can't find a good copy of it, and I don't like the YouTube version.



I am also struggling to watch the 1972 made-for-TV film Yogi's Ark Lark. So far, I have only seen the first 12 minutes of the 43 minute film, but I can certainly vouch for its mediocrity. But, in saying that, I can not deny that I have a soft spot these Hanna Barbera all-star shows, and watching them is something of a guilty pleasure. It's still better than the mushy Smurfs or Snorks.






I have another schizophrenic post coming up soon.

Winter Break

Nothing new, I just want to keep my posts up. Winter Break has now begun here at Pratt Institute.

Animation wise, I am getting just a little done on Parasite's Delight. I am also trying to find some of Hanna Barbera's unfavorables. I used to be a huge fan of the all-star shows, particularly Yogi's Gang. As a little kid, it impressed me that there could be a whole community of animated characters. It's one of the things that inspires me to want to invent characters.

Unfortunately, they are not as timeless as other HB products, and so there isn't enough demand for these shows to be released on DVD, and are in rare print.



I just had to post this image. The Doggies' mouths fall off for a couple of frames.


I will be heading home to Cleveland next week, but I will still be posting.

"Autobahn" ~ An animated odyssey

A little known music video from 1979, two years before MTV, and two years before anybody even knew what a video was.

Actually, to call this a music video is wrong. It is simply a wonderful animated piece set to the breakthrough track of German Electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. It was animated by Roger Mainwood, and produced by Halas and Batchelor, one of the premier animation studios in the United Kingdom.






Normally, I am not an immediate fan of plotless animated shorts. The main reason is that they are likely to lose the audience's attention due to the lack of story. However, there are ways to save shorts like that. In the case of this one, you have both a catchy ambient track, and characters with unusual appeal. In my opinion, this could be FANTASIA segment, if FANTASIA were set to experimental rock instrumentals (something I know I would see). I really like the overall look of the animation. The coloring and timing are great, and really give an expressive sense of surrealism.