GOLDEN AGE ~ A gem found in Brooklyn

This week has been a busy week for me, but I managed to find time to attend the ASIFA-East judgings here in New York. The last screening will be next week, and even though I have attended only two, I have found a bountiful harvest of wonderful, animated goodies.

It is also exciting for me, because for the very first time, I have submitted a piece of my own for judging. My film, IVAN'S ACT, was screened and judged in the Student work screenings, and it seemed to get a generally positive response. And from what I hear, king-pin animator Bill Plympton found it to be a cute short with a certain quality to it. I will probably know in month what the status of the upcoming festival will be.

Now I would like to introduce you all to a gem that was produced by Augenblick Studios, an animation studio located here in my beloved Brooklyn. The name of the film is GOLDEN AGE. Below are images from just a few of the amazing segments that make up the film, which runs at about 23 minutes. And for a film that length at the screening, it got an amazing response, and was not cut short for its lenght, which is a very good sign.

(these images were taken from the Augenblick site at www.augenblickstudios.com)




I urge you all to check out the film on the Augenblick website. It is one of the best shorts I have ever seen. It has a wonderful mix of dark yet whimsical humor and an adorable animation style that pays tribute to the various golden ages of animation history.

Russo ~ A Rat's Monologue

I would like to introduce Russo. He is a cynical street rat with the personality of Lenny Bruce.


Russo is currently the lead character in my current animation assignment. It is basically a monologue of Russo criticizing other rats, and making smart-ass remarks about his own species.



My friend Lee Rubenstein provided the voice-over for me to work with, and did an amazing job. I hope to have it up as soon as it is done.

Wish me luck as I will be spending part of this weekend, and all of next week animating. I've got a lot to cram in as I am intending to also add sound and color to the animation.

IVAN'S ACT ~ off the stage and into submission.

I am very excited. For the first time, I have a short animated film complete enough to be entered into an animation festival. I have been wanting to do this for some time now. My stop-motion short, IVAN's ACT is in a nearly finished stage (just working with some of the sounds). I finished the animation last summer, and started editing it. Unfortunately, my Fall 2006 semester at Pratt kicked in, and I got sidetracked for quite a few months. The last month, I have been cramming away on getting IVAN together for the ASIFA-East festival deadline. For those who don't know, ASIFA-East is an Animation organization here in New York, and it is actually part of an international community. Check them out at http://www.asifaeast.com/.


I mailed the film out two days ago. While waiting, I have begun another piece of animation, and am also looking at other festivals and screenings to submit IVAN to.

Enjoy.

"Harlem Shuffle" ~ Music Videos with Animation

"Harlem Shuffle" ~ The Rolling Stones, 1986
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Animation by John Kricfalusi

A personal slice of heaven for me is when great animation is paired with great music. There aren't too many good music videos out there now, possibly because it is such an industry abused art form.

This video here is quite rare. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi (FRITZ THE CAT, WIZARDS), and animated by one of our favorites, John Kricfalusi (REN AND STIMPY). Unfortunately, the track is not a big favorite with Stones fans, nor the Stones themeselves, and as such, the track is a little obscure. But I think this is a great piece of video art.



I expect to show more of these videos in the future, as animation mixed with rock music is, for me, a match made in heaven.

The Animation Show ~ Year 3

I have just returned with some friends (mostly the Pratt Key-Frame Club) from the New York screening of the ANIMATION SHOW. For those who don’t know what this is, it is a touring collection of international animated short films (hope you can take all that in). The founders of the tour are independent animator Don Hertzfeldt, and Mike Judge, the creator of BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD and KING OF THE HILL. Though neither were in attendance, the show did have two of the featured animators, Bill Plympton (GUIDE DOG) and PES (GAME OVER).

Below are my write-ups for most of the films. These are still fresh in my head, but my opinion is likely to change over time.

(Images are from the ANIMATION SHOW website: http://www.animationshow.com/)
you can also view clips of the films there as well.


EVERYTHING WILL BE OK
Don Hertzfeldt’s films are amazing. Underneath the stick figures and pencil squiggles, his films are blessed with wonderful yet dark humor, priceless expressions, and a keen sense of surrealism. But this film takes all those elements to a whole new level. It tells of a lonely man who becomes ill, and all the confusion as to whether or not this is the end of his as he sadly knows it. In all the confusion, the film takes on a dark, almost psychotic undertone, in which the sound effects are deliberately louder than the voice over narration (brilliant!). A new level of sophistication on Hertzfeldt’s part. Truly one of my favorite filmmakers.

9
Director Shane Acker’s 9 is not new to me, but that does not mean I didn’t enjoy seeing it again. The first time I saw this was with my Dad at a screening for Academy Award nominated short films, and we were both blown away. This eleven-minute beauty takes us to a dark, dusty world with cute little men made of potato sacks and magnifying gear. The animation is as expressive as anything else done in the world of CG (and for me, it is always about expression). A truly remarkable piece, currently being turned into a feature with the help of my idol, Tim Burton.



OVERTIME
The first time I saw this was here at Pratt when they were screening stuff from the Ottawa Animation Festival of 2005. It immediately grabbed my attention, and it still holds it. For one thing, it was the first CG film I had ever seen to be done completely in black and white. And the story was both inventive and touching. It tells of a group of sock puppets who come to life to mourn the loss of their maker. Now that is my kind of story. One with humor, expression, and real emotion.



DREAMS AND DESIRES
In a single word: genius. British animator Joanna Quinn is one of my all time favorite animators, as well as one of my favorite all around artists. Her animated shorts are golden. This film shows her reaching a whole new level of sophistication in both plot and execution. With traditional drawn animation and computer assistance, she crafts a film that is mostly taking place from the viewpoint of a moving video camera. And the story is one of pure British charm (which I admire very much); telling of a woman who tries out her film making aspirations at a friend’s wedding, only to cause a shambles for the already dysfunctional family and wedding guests.
On a personal note, I am disgusted that this did not get recognized for this year’s Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Animated). Just goes to show how low these awards get.



GUIDE DOG
Bill Plympton currently holds the titles of the most successful independent animator, and the godfather of New York independent animation. This is definitely one of his best films, mainly because of his appealing little dog character. According to Plympton, this dog has become his own “Mickey Mouse,” which I sort of agree with. I find the little fellow to be very appealing and, out of all Plympton’s characters, the one easiest to connect with. I enjoy watching it, especially in Plympton’s trademark style of coloring and animating.

GAME OVER
New York animator PES is definitely an unusual talent. One whose talent is based off of his offbeat yet highly inventive way of animating food and assorted house hold items. Here, he inventively uses them to perform an old 1980’s style video game, famously known as Pac Man. I can’t really say anything else about this film, except that I love being amused by which food/objects play what.

RABBIT
I am not particularly fond of this film. On a technical level, the rendering is nice, and the concept is interesting. But overall, I found myself unable to connect with it. It was just too flat for my tastes, and personally, I don’t enjoy seeing children murdering innocent animals. That just doesn’t sit well with me.

CITY PARADISE
Although I found this to be much more appealing than RABBIT, I have some difficulty with this film. I don’t quite understand what is going on in parts of it, and I find my attention drawn in too many different places. Something about the coloring didn’t feel right to me in certain areas. I loved the animated leg movements though. Those were nice.


Me with most of our group outside the Roseland Ballroom.

Nothing much.

Just thought I'd share some recent doodles. I need to get some real drawing in there somewhere. I may be running out of practice. In the meantime, here's what I have been capable of.


I was watching FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS with some friends when I doodled these.


Gerald Scarfe is still in my head. I just received his new book from Amazon, and it is just amazing. I love his work and his drawing style.

Introduction to my Mind.

This is a character I recently animated. I hope to have that piece of animation up somewhere soon. This is a fun character to draw. It was inspired by a drawing Tim Burton did for CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors.



This is a caricature of my cousin. I have only started learning how to do caricatures, and as far as anyone else is concerned, I am still learning. In the last few months, I have been fascinated by the artwork of Gerald Scarfe, which might have contributed to my learning.



I love watching old music videos. I think I had the video for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" on my mind when I drew this.



A friend taught me a drawing technique that has helped out in my designing characters for animation. Simply making a line or a dash spontaneously, and then developing something from that. This started as one of those images. Of course here, I must have had Gerald Scarfe's drawings on my mind.