keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

Allan Holtz's blog, Stripper's Guide , dedicated to comic strips, has reprinted a 1919 article by an animator named Bert Green from The Student's Art Magazine , explaining the process of animation as it existed at the time. Among the revelations are: Cartoons like the “Katzenjammer Kids,” “Happy Hooligan,” “Mutt and Jeff,” etc., that run five hundred feet, require a staff of from fifteen to thirty people, men and women, to produce this amount of animated cartoon a week, with salaries ranging from ten to three hundred dollars per week, so you can readily get some idea of the time and expense involved. Cartoons such as these contain from two thousand to three thousand drawings, and it takes two photographers one solid week working into the nights under pressure to photograph these drawings. There are references in the article to Winsor McCay and Frank Moser. One other interesting thing is that Green's assistant was a woman referred to as Miss Kelly, with no first name ...

The New York Times is reporting that the Hollywood studios have decided to push box offices success for the Academy Awards this year. With the viewership of the awards telecast falling every year for the past several years, the thinking is that the TV audience has no rooting interest in the independent, small films that the Academy usually honors. The way to higher TV ratings is to nominate films that the audience has actually seen. Disney will be campaigning for Wall-E in the best picture category. As early as midsummer Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal ’s film critic, was arguing that “Wall-E” should be considered for best picture. “The time to start the drumbeat is now,” he wrote in a July 12 essay, noting the extreme difficulty animated films, while hugely popular, have faced in vying for the most prestigious Oscar. Only one, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” released in 1991, has ever been nominated for best picture. “If we didn’t do it, I don’t think we’d be giving the...

A rather startling layout from Chuck Jones' Bear Feat . The trees are an animated pan, adding even more interest to the shot. The latest, and last, Looney Tunes Golden Collection has been released. It's the sixth volume in a series that has delivered over 300 restored Warner Bros. cartoons as well as behind the scenes documentaries and commentaries. This edition contains two live action films of the staff made for Christmas parties in 1939 and 1940, several Captain and the Kids cartoons directed by Friz Freleng at MGM, two TV specials, a documentary on Mel Blanc, a generous selection of early black and white cartoons as well as propaganda cartoons made during World War II. All this in addition to a generous helping of the expected Warner Bros. cartoons. While Warner Bros. will undoubtedly continue to release cartoons on DVD, this may be the last time we see such elaborate extras and relatively obscure cartoons. My guess (and fear) is that we'll be inundated with no-f...

I've always had mixed feelings about Bill Plympton. He draws beautifully. His short films always provoke a strong audience reaction. He is an inspiration as an entrepreneur, having developed his own market niche where he creates the films he wants to and makes a living at it. Where most independent animators produce shorts, Plympton has directed at least five features. On the other hand, I think that Plympton's animation is starved for drawings. While I understand the economic necessity of limiting the amount of artwork he produces for a film, the animation and stories often feel padded as a result. While Plympton is a strong draftsman, he has trouble portraying weight and momentum in motion. Perhaps my greatest reservation about him is the shallowness of his characters. This isn't much of a problem in his shorts, which tend to be very gag driven, but becomes a larger problem in his features. Idiots and Angels is Plympton's latest. I saw it screened at the Tor...

Europa Film Treasures , an online archive of films, has a section devoted to animation. The highlights of that section, by far, are two films produced by George Pal: The Philips Broadcast of 1938 and the Puppetoon Tulips Shall Grow (pictured above). Both are from excellent colour prints and include the original titles. The other animated films there are more historical curiosities than satisfying entertainments. However, for John Ford fans, the site does include a rare Ford feature done at Universal starring Harry Carey, Bucking Broadway from 1917, Ford's first year as a director. Very few of Ford's Universal films survive, and this one is a well-preserved print.

October 14 marks the release of the seventh volume of Walt's People , a collection of interviews with people who worked with and for Walt Disney, edited by Didier Ghez . The cover, as always, is by Peter Emslie . Here's the table of contents for the latest volume: Foreword by Hans Perk David Lesjak: William Rast Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston: Wilfred Jackson Richard Hubler: Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Jackson: The New Spirit Grim Natwick: The Goldfish Caper Grim Natwick: Bill Tytla Grim Natwick: The Three-Fingered Hand Grim Natwick: Analysis Grim Natwick: Soundtracks Grim Natwick: Hobbies Brian Sibley: Adriana Caselotti Milt Gray: Clarence Nash Milt Gray and Michael Barrier: Billy Bletcher Milt Gray: Jim Macdonald Richard Hubler: Jim Macdonald David Tietyen: Paul Smith and Hazel George Christian Renaut: Carl Fallberg Dave Smith: George Goepper Rick Shale: Harry Tytle Richard Hubler: Milt Kahl Darrell Van Citters: Milt Kahl Darrell Van Citters: Ollie Johnston Richard Hubler: War...

A commenter named Holger suggested that I list the mosaics in the sidebar so that they'd be easier to find. It's an excellent suggestion and I've started the process. While I generally like Blogger, it does have limitations. The first is that there seems to be a limit as to how many posts will display with a given tag. For instance, if you click on the "101 Dalmatians" tag at the bottom of an entry, you will not get all the posts relating to that feature. For that reason, there are no sidebar links listed for Pinocchio or 101 Dalmatians yet as I have to figure out how I'm going to handle them. The other thing is that Blogger will display the posts relating to a tag with the newest on top. As a result, the actual mosaic, which is usually the first thing I post relating to a cartoon, will be at the bottom with later commentary above it. In the future, I'll probably put together a "Best of" list on the sidebar, with articles that I think sti...

As I go through this film shot by shot, one of the things that keeps jumping out at me is how much re-used animation there is. It's fairly well hidden as the animation is placed over a new background and the story material is different, but this film probably re-uses more animation from itself than any other Disney feature. I don't know if the re-use was Woolie Reitherman's idea or not, but he certainly endorsed it. In all the features that list him as a director, re-use is present. In Reitherman's later films, he lifted animation from earlier features and usually had it cleaned it up for use as a different character, though there are spots where animation is lifted without changes. There are websites ( here , here and here ) devoted to documenting Disney re-use. The reason for it boils down to money. The feature before 101 Dalmatians was Sleeping Beauty . That film was in production for many years as Walt Disney was seemingly more interested in Disneyland than ...

October 4 is Buster Keaton's 113th birthday. I admire many film makers and artists, though for some reason, Buster's birthday sticks in my head and the others don't. I think that John Ford was born in August and I have no idea what month Chaplin was born. Walt Disney, Walt Kelly, Howard Hawks, etc. -- I couldn't tell you what day they were born if my life depended on it. Rather than try to figure out why, I'll just guess that something about Buster is important to me in ways that the others are not. If you've noticed a slow-down in posts here, you're not imagining it. My teaching schedule is heavier now than it's been in the past. I'm also animating on a personal film, which is taking up time. This blog is feeling the effects. Besides, things seem pretty quiet on the animation front. The elections and the economic news are sucking up a lot of oxygen and there haven't been any major animation releases or controversies to stimulate discussi...