Animation for Extremely Smart Grownups of All Ages
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Animation for Extremely Smart Grownups of All Ages Prof. Russell Merritt Summer 2018 [email protected] Thursdays 1-3 University Hall Room 150 Week 1 [June 7]: The Language of Animation, from Slash and Tear to Chroma Keys Home Screening Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, Pinocchio (Disney/ R.K.O. Radio, 1940) 90 mins. Chuck Jones, Duck Amuck (WB, 1953) 7 mins. Readings: OLLI Animation Glossary; Thomas & Johnston; Paul Week 2 [June 14]: How to Make a Cartoon Look Good: Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Surrealism, and Cartoon Modern Home Screening Lotte Reiniger, Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed [The Adventures of Prince Achmed] (Comenius Film, 1926). 65 mins/ 80 mins. Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin Joie de Vivre (Paris, 1934) 9 mins. Len Lye, Rainbow Dance (GPO Film Unit for GPO Savings Bank, 1936) 4 mins Tex Avery, Paging Miss Glory (WB, 1936) 7 mins. Robert Cannon, Gerald McBoing Boing (UPA, 1951) 8 mins. Reading: “Magic Horse;” “Fisherman;” Wollen; Lye; Kepes Week 3 [June 21]: Political Parables and Animated Notebooks Home Viewings Norman McLaren, Neighbours (NFBC, 1952) Montreal, 8 mins. Jiři Trnka, The Hand [Ruka] (Krátký Film, 1965) Prague, 18 mins. Frédéric Back, Crac! (Production Societé Radio-Canada, 1981) Ville de Québec, 14 mins. Piotr Dumala, Freedom of the Leg ( Se-Ma-For, 1989) Łódź 10 mins. Jan Švankmajer, Rakvickárna [The Coffin House/ Punch and Judy] (Krátký Film, 1966) Prague, 10 mins. Yuri Norstein, Tale of Tales (Russia: Soyuzmultfilm, 1979) 30 mins. Readings: Russett & Starr; Lawrence; Kitson Week 4 [June 28]: Wired Animation Home Screening Henry Selick, Coraline (Laika/ Pandemonimum, 2009) 1 1 hr 40 mins [and, if you have time] Suzie Templeton, Peter and the Wolf (Poland/ U.K., 2008) 30 mins. Readings: Myers, Edelstein; Desowitz You are urged to see the films assigned each week before the Thursday lecture. Readings are best done after seeing the relevant films and before attending the relevant lecture. THE COURSE READER [available at Copy Central, 48 Shattuck Square] OLLI Animation/ Film Glossary Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, “An Art Form Is Born,” “The Principles of Animation,” Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (Abbeville, 1981) 13-27, 42-69 William Paul, “Art, Music, Nature, and Walt Disney,” Movie 24(Summer, 1977), 44-52 "The Story of the Magic Horse," Arabian Nights, retold by Laurence Housman (NY: Weathervane, 1985), 66-74 “The Fisherman and the Genie," Arabian Nights, ibid. 1-16 Peter Wollen, "Fashion/Orientalism/The Body,” New Formations (Spring, 1987), 5-33 Len Lye & Laura Riding, “Film-Making,” Epilogue, 1935 György Kepes, Language of Vision (Chicago: Paul Theobald, 1944) 94-130 Robert Russett & Cecile Starr, “Norman McLaren and the National Film Board of Canada,” Experimental Animation, 1976. Amy Lawrence, “Masculinity in Eastern European Animation,” Animation Journal (Fall, 1994), 32-43 Clare Kitson, “The Film Unveiled” and “What’s It About, Then, Yuri?” Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator’s Journey (UK: John Libbey, 2005) pp. 99-112. Lindsay Myers, “Whose Fear Is It Anyway? Moral Panics and ‘Stranger Danger’ in Henry Selick’s Coraline,” from The Lion and the Unicorn 36/3 (Sept., 2012) 245-257 David Edelstein, “What You See Is What You Get” [Coraline review], New York, 1 Feb 2009 Bill Desowitz, “Tadahiro Uesugi Talks “Coraline” Design,” Interview: ANIMATIONWorld, 23 January 2009. Also on line: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/tadahiro-uesugi-talks-coraline-design FURTHER RECOMMENDED READINGS: John Canemaker, Winsor McCay: His Life and Art. Abbeville, 1983; rev. Abrams, 2005 C. Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio. Trans. Carol Della Chiesa; illus. Attilio Mussino (Macmillan 1925), 61-84 Donald Crafton, In the Shadow of the Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-Making in Animation. Berkeley: U Cal Press, 2013 S. M. Eisenstein, Eisenstein on Disney, ed. Jay Leyda, trans. Alan Upchurch. London, Methuen, 1988. 2 J.B. Kaufman, Pinocchio: The Making of the Disney Epic. Weldon Owen, 2015 Richard Leskowsky, “The Reforming Fantasy: Recurrent Theme and Structure in American Studio Cartoons,” The Velvet Light Trap 24 (Fall, 1989), 53-66 Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New American Library, 1980; revised and updated Plume Library, 1987 Robert Sklar, “The Making of Cultural Myths: Walt Disney,” Movie-Made America (Random House, 1975), 58-65 P. Adam Sitney, Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde. Oxford U Press, 1979 Edward Small & Eugene Levinson, “Toward a Theory of Animation,” The Velvet Light Trap 24 (Fall, 1989), 67-74 Richard Williams, The Animator’s Survival Kit. 8 hrs [16 DVDs] Richard Williams Animation Masterclass, 2008 3 .