When I first saw John Lasseter’s Toy Story when it came out, I must admit to being rather bored until the sequence when Woody sends the toy soldiers out on a reconnaissance mission; all of a sudden, the film came alive and I realized that, yes, computer animation had (artistically speaking) arrived. Obviously, the people [...]
Entries from August 31st, 2009
3D Cinema is Art’s New Renaissance
August 28th, 2009 · No Comments · Film technology, Stereoscopic films
While part of the animation blogosphere has been agitated by the apparent resemblance between James Cameron’s Avatar and Marc Adler’s Delgo (see here and here), Jonathan Jones’ On Art Blog for The Guardian uses the film’s impending release to make a rather bold statement on the importance of stereoscopic movies. He feels that the technology’s [...]
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The Animation of Alexeïeff DVD
August 26th, 2009 · No Comments · DVDs, Independent animators
A new DVD release of interest from Facets The Animation of Alexeïeff featuring the pinscreen films of Alexeïeff and his wife Claire Parker, including such famed shorts as Night on Bare Mountain (1933) and The Nose (1963), along with commercials and documentaries, including The Pinscreen (Norman McLaren, 1973), as well as Jacques Droulin’s Mindscape, a [...]
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Clair Weeks and the Beginnings of Indian Animation
August 22nd, 2009 · 2 Comments · Animation studios, Animators, Indian cinema
The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archives has recently been posting a slew of wonderful material from their Clair Weeks collection, including this entry on Weeks’ role in jump starting the Indian animation industry. Weeks’ career is a fascinating one, as after 16 years at Disney (where his credits ranged from Snow White to Peter Pan), he went [...]
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Joe by Gilbert Bundy
August 21st, 2009 · 3 Comments · Animation studios, Animators, Harvey Deneroff
The Joe in question is my father, Joe Deneroff, and the drawing by cartoonist and illustrator Gilbert Bundy was apparently done in 1943 when both were working in the US Army Air Force’s fabled First Motion Picture Unit FMPU), based at Fort Roach (i.e., the Hal Roach Studio, Culver City, California). My mother said my [...]
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ASIFA-Atlanta’s Animation Attack! 2009
August 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Screenings
Starting Wednesday, August 26th, ASIFA-Atlanta, in conjunction with the Atlanta Underground Film Festival, will be putting on Animation Attack! 2009 . Most screenings will be at the Midtown Art Cinema, in addition to a special screening of Bruce Bickford’s 47-minute, psychedelic clay animated Cas’l (see excerpt below), accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by [...]
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3D TV: Fears and Hopes
August 11th, 2009 · No Comments · Film technology
The Sydney Morning Herald has a story by Louisia Hearn on the state of 3D TV. Although it tends to emphasize the possible negatives in the public accepting this technology, it is nevertheless a useful survey of what’s happening. She begins by noting that: 3D movies are all the rage in Hollywood once again, and [...]
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Mutt and Jeff: On Strike (1920)
August 6th, 2009 · No Comments · Short films
This rare and delightful Mutt and Jeff cartoon directed by Charley Bowers is one of six American films from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia that were preserved with the aid of the National Film Preservation Foundation, which can be seen online or downloaded as a high quality MPEG file here. (The Museum [...]
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Norman McLaren’s Films Added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register
August 5th, 2009 · No Comments · Awards, Canadian cinema, Documentary films, Film history and criticism, Filmmakers, Short films
As the CBC reports, “The UNESCO Memory of the World Register has selected McLaren’s films to be held in its heritage collection of the most significant world cultural artifacts. “McLaren’s Oscar-winning anti-war film Neighbours is among 82 films and 52 film tests to be preserved.” The Memory of the World program is aimed at the [...]
Tags: Neighbours (1952)·Norman McLaren·UNESCO's Memory of the World