40 Year Old 3D Computer Graphics (1972) from Robby Ingebretsen on Vimeo. Recently, Ed Catmull and Fred Parke’s computer animated version of Catmull’s left hand done at the University of Utah was added to the National Film Registry. (For some reason, Parke is not given any credit in the Registry’s announcement.) (The film embedded above, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Film history and criticism'
“A Computer Animated Hand” Added to National Film Registry
January 11th, 2012 · No Comments · Animation technology, Computer animation, Film history and criticism
Tags: A Computer Animated Hand (1972)·Ed Catmull·Fred Parke·Futureworld·Looker·National Film Registry
Cinephile’s Reassessing Anime Issue
November 28th, 2011 · No Comments · Anime, Film history and criticism, Magazines and journals
The good folks at Cinephile, the student journal put out by the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, recently sent me a copy of their special Reassessing Anime issue. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but its list of international contributors is certainly impressive — though I’m surprised there’s no UBC students [...]
Tags: Cinephile: The University of British Columbia's Film Journal
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo
November 25th, 2011 · 3 Comments · American cinema, Film history and criticism, Filmmakers, French cinema, Special effects
Martin Scorcese makes a cameo appearance in Hugo. Right off the bat, let me say that Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is a wonderful film which I cannot recommend too highly. In a sense,it’s one of those generic, loving homages to the movies that come along every so often; though Hugo is in a class all by [...]
Sam Kula
September 12th, 2010 · No Comments · Film and television archives, Film history and criticism
Sam Kula, the Director of the National Archives of Canada’s Audiovisual Archives from 1973-1989, who died of cancer on September 8th, is someone I’m proud to have known and worked with him. I first met Sam when we were both graduate students at the University of Southern California’s Division of Cinema back in the 1960s, [...]
Tags: American Film Institute·National Archives of Canada·Sam Kula
Film Histories, Part 1
September 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Animation history and criticism, Film history and criticism, Television history and criticism
This is the first in a series of posts in which I will evaluate some of the one-volume histories of film in English. Nominally, it will be from my perspective of their suitability of their use in the classroom, particularly those I teach on the undergraduate and graduate level at the Savannah College of Art [...]
Tags: Film history textbooks
New on DVD: Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movies
June 15th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Argentine cinema, DVDs, Film history and criticism
Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movies, Gabriele Zucchelli’s 2007 documentary on the Argentine animation pioneer, whose El Apóstol (1917) was the first animated feature film, is now available on DVD. The film was inspired by the research and writings by ace animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi. (For instance, see his Animation World Magazine [...]
Tags: Gabriele Zucchelli. Giannalberto Bendazzi·Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movies
Waking Sleeping Beauty Screening at SCAD-Atlanta
April 12th, 2010 · No Comments · Animation studios, Documentary films, Film history and criticism
A free preview screening of Waking Sleeping Beauty, Don Hahn’s documentary on the Disney animation renaissance that started in the 1980s will be held at the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, 1600 Peachtree St., in Event Space 4C, on Wednesday, April 14th, at 7:00 PM. The film will be presented [...]
Tags: Don Hahn·Peter Schneider·Savannah College of Art and Design·Waking Sleeping Beauty
Oxymore’s Special Fleischer Issue
April 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Animation studios, Film history and criticism
I just got my copy of the latest issue of the nice little French fanzine, Oxymore, which is a special Fleischer issue, to which I contributed “Max Fleischer & les studios Fleischer.” The other featured piece is Leslie Carbarga’s “L’histoire des Fleischers.” In addition, there is an interview with comic artist Kim Deitch, who talks [...]
The 3D Films Are Coming, the 3D Films Are Coming
March 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Cel animation, Digital projection, Film history and criticism, Stereoscopic films
A little over a year ago, I wrote that, “I suspect 3D will not go away anytime soon; the question , I believe, is whether or not it will go beyond being a niche market.” I also noted that it was seen as a way to get theaters to switch to digital projection, providing what [...]
Tags: Alice in Wonderland (2010)·Anthony Lane·Avatar·Cineforum·How to Train Your Dragon·Kristin Thompson·Reg Hartt·Serge Bromberg·The Princess and the Frog
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
On Dumbo as Superhero and Other Matters
July 30th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Film history and criticism, Politics
Dumbo, directed by Ben Sharpsteen and written by Dick Huemer and Joe Grant, one of the most beloved of early Disney movies, is still dogged by accusations of racism. Not only do I think it racist, but I would even argue that the film is anti-racist in somewhat the same way as earlier proto-civil rights [...]
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Moving Image Source
June 26th, 2008 · No Comments · Film history and criticism
Moving Image Source is a new website of interest launched by the Museum of the Moving Image, which is located in New York’s Astoria Studio across the East River from Manhattan. It features a blog-like magazine devoted to film history and a very useful portal with extensive links to all sorts of sites related to [...]
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