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August 1997 ¥ MAGAZINE ¥ Vol. 2 No. 5 SIGGRAPH Issue

NASA’s JPL on Animation From Space SIGGRAPH’s Early Years ’s Legacy

Plus: for Beginners Table of Contents

2 Table of Contents August 1997 Vol. 2, No. 5

4 Editor’s Notebook Computer animation is on everyone’s lips, but what exactly is being said? Heather Kenyon discusses the good and the bad.

6 Letters: [email protected] COMPUTER ANIMATION 9 Animation and of Space Mission Data We have all been glued to our screens, amazed by the of Mars that are being beamed thousands of miles through space. How do they do that? William B. Green and Eric M. DeJong from the Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory explain.

13 SIGGRAPH: Past and Present Super hip SIGGRAPH was founded in the world of academia and military tests far before were even considered. Joan Collins traces the growth of computer animation through the organization’s confer- ences.

17 Don’t Believe Your Eyes It is real, or is it animation? Bill Hilf explores the aesthetic implications of our new digital realm.

20 Going Digital And Loving It Traditional Guionne Leroy describes her first digital experience. Currently working on a new clay short, she is shooting it with a digital camera and having a blast with the new opportunities. 1997 22 Computer Animation 101:A Guide for the Computer Illiterate Hand-Animator Jo Jürgens answers everything you ever wanted to know about basic computer animation but were afraid to ask. Think you don’t know enough to be hired? Think again.

27 2D and 3D:Together For The Better Sean MacLennan Murch describes how companies are integrating 2D and 3D animation in order to obtain the best of both worlds.

29 John Whitney, Computer Animation Pioneer William Moritz profiles the career of John Whitney and his significant contribution to computer animation.

32 CGI:A Rich Country’s Computer animation is prevalent in the U.S., U.K., , and Japan, but what about the rest of the globe? Olivier Cotte investigates...

36 Interview With Milan Zivkovic: Belgrade’s Bikic Studio Attempts A Comeback Surviving a war and sanctions, the Bikic Studio returns to the marketplace and prepares for an uphill waltz.

41 Beiman’s Progress Janet Benn relates how hard work and The Fates helped Nancy Beiman to her rightful place in the Pantheon of Disney .

THE STUDENT CORNER

August 45 Digital Animation Programs:Three School Profiles With digital animators being the hottest commodity on the market, AWM profiles three schools that have recently received major donations from leading corporations. Mike Scroggins profiles CalArts. Dr. Richard Weinberg discusses USC’s program, while Robin King describes the experience.

REVIEWS FESTIVALS, EVENTS: 49 The Ever-Expanding E3 (Does that make it E5?) Who said games weren’t booming? Joseph Szadkowski recounts the parties, bustle and new CD-ROM releases from the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 2 Table of Contents

51 Israel’s Third International Festival of Creative Karl Cohen relates his magical week in Tel-Aviv at the Festival of Creative Filmmaking.

55 Licensing International 1997:A Grand Success Those plush toys, toothbrushes and lunch boxes are continuing to gain importance. Deborah Reber reports on the most successful Licensing International to date.

HIDDEN TREASURES 57 The Whitney Archive Michael Whitney relates a few of his father’s ideas and achievements and his own hopes to fulfill his father’s dream of creating an official archive of and materials.

NEWS 59 Animation World News Miyazaki To Stop Directing Features, Cinar Acquires Carson-Dellosa, Daytime Emmys Animation Winners, and more. . . .

ON A DESERT ISLAND... 68 On A Desert Island With. . . . Digerati Computer animators Steve Williams, Webster Colcord and Doug Dooley reveal their top ten animated films.

AWN 1997 70 Dirdy Birdy by John Dilworth. As seen on MTV’s Cartoon Sushi! 71 Next Issue’s Highlights

Cover: A computer generated of the Galileo spacecraft as it approaches Jupiter created by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory. © JPL. © Animation World Network 1997. All rights reserved. No part of the periodical may be reproduced without the consent of Animation World Network.

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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 3 by Heather Kenyon, Editor-in-Chief

When I mention that I am jects in the works to document involved in animation to peo- the history of computer anima- ple outside of the industry, I tion. Just my limited research for often immediately get asked the this issue has proven to me that following question, ‘Isn’t that all nothing is more needed, vital done with these (would we lose or not docu- days?’ It’s very depressing. Even ment the history of steam pow- Disney animator, Nancy Beiman ered machines?) and fascinat- described receiving a similar ing. I think it is the biggest irony reaction before attending that John Whitney, Sr. was able CalArts in the 1970s. “People to take objects of destruction used to tell me, ‘Animation? and turn them into a - What a stupid profession!’ I was nism for . Facts, stories, anec- told, ‘You’re in a dying profes- dotes...as the role of computer

sion, there will be no work for Heather Kenyon, Editor-in-Chief animation continues to grow you, everything’ll be done on a we will only become more curi- computer by 1980!’” Don’t they to create and watch meaning- ous about its origins. know the effort, the work that ful stories. In fact, I am more In schools across the globe, goes into making an animated excited now about the techno- students study the effects of character act and in turn, logical future because time after technological advancements endear themselves to the view- time creators said they believed like the introduction of sound er? I found this issue to be very the implementation of new and color film. We all remem- heartening. Every article I read devices would give them ber giggling at some point or and every person I spoke to greater storytelling freedom. another, at a man speaking into described the computer as a This issue also looks back on the a vase of flowers or three young powerful tool but one that origin of computer animation ladies wearing dresses of differ- would be useless in the hands with articles describing John ent shocking hues, standing of someone lacking funda- Whitney, Sr.’s amazing achieve- side by side. One day the intro- mental animation skills. Well, ments and Joan Collins’ article duction of computer generat- while there is no denying that on “SIGGRAPH: Past and ed imagery will probably be pre- computer animation is here to Present.” Both articles offer sented in much the same way. stay, there is also no denying insight into computer anima- What will the reactions be? Will that highly trained and skilled tion’s academic, government students laugh at films built animators are just as needed. and military beginnings. Joan around amazing twisters and There is something warm and Collins is correct when she says roaring dinosaurs, thinking we comforting in knowing that no that everyone remembers his- were silly to be so impressed? matter how fancy our technol- torical milestone events differ- At that point, will they be taught ogy becomes, people still want ently. SIGGRAPH has several pro- by an actual human professor

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 4 or a photo-real digital human schools and festival circuit for that can interact in real-time? that talented “diamond in the We have been watching the rough.” Why even the results of those more academic International Animation Festival computer animation beginnings is branching out with the for several weeks now - the upcoming SAFO, a film festival ANIMATION WORLD NETWORK Mars Pathfinder. William B. designed to showcase only stu- 6525 Sunset Blvd., Green, who was recently inter- dent animated works. Garden Suite 10 , CA 90028 viewed on CNN regarding the On a more serious note, I found Phone : 213.468.2554 Mars mission, and Eric M. Olivier Cotte’s article quite inter- Fax : 213.464.5914 DeJong have included in the esting in that it outlines the Email : [email protected] midst of their very busy sched- growing schisms between the ule (how often do you have to top five CGI producers and the keep track of something on rest of the world. Developing ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE Mars?) an article describing the nations are being left behind in [email protected] benefits of using animation in this visual revolution, perhaps, PUBLISHER space exploration. One of so far behind that they will not Ron Diamond, President Green’s points is that animation be able to catch up. While this Dan Sarto, Chief Operating Officer Annick Teninge, General Manager captures the audience’s imagi- won’t impact a typical Saturday nation. Well, we can all attest to night at the movies in suburbia, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Heather Kenyon that. it may impact the rare screen- ASSOCIATE EDITOR/PUBLICITY While in traditional circles the ing of a developing nation’s Wendy Jackson recruiting rush has lost some of work. Perhaps, Olivier is right CONTRIBUTORS : its frantic pace, the search for and the images will appear so Janet Benn computer animation talent old to us that we will not pay Karl Cohen Joan Collins remains on everyone’s lips. attention because their stories Olivier Cotte Georges Lacroix said one of his will not have been told in such Dr. Eric M. DeJong William B. Green biggest challenges in running a vibrant way. Then an even Bill Hilf a digital studio is, “the constant larger cultural gap will appear Wendy Jackson Jo Jürgens training so that we can main- between those that have and Heather Kenyon tain a high level of quality.” Jo those that do not. In an inter- Guionne Leroy Jürgens has contributed a crash view with me, Bikic Studio’s William Moritz Sean MacLennan Murch course in digital animation so Milan Zivkovic attests to the dif- Deborah Reber that more experienced tradi- ficulties facing studios in strug- Joseph Szadkowski Michael Whitney tional animators can get start- gling nations like the former ed. Don’t count out those stu- Yugoslavia. WEBMASTER John Parazette-Tillar dents, though. In our second installment of The Student Until next time. Keep in touch. DESIGN/LAYOUT : John Parazette-Tillar Corner we are profiling three Heather Guillaume Calop schools that are expanding in IMP Graphic order to meet the industry’s

ADVERTISING SALES needs. These days, studios are North America : Bart Vitek employing small herds of UK: Roger Watkins recruiters in order to scour the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 5 [email protected] August 1997

Phyllis Craig’s Tribute Continues I am writing this letter to you, and the Animation World Network, in order to express my feelings of joy at having known Phyllis Craig and my feelings of loss resulting from her recent passing.

I have recently returned from a business trip to the Pacific Rim and came to the realization that I missed your feature, and my opportunity, to express my thoughts about Phyllis. I felt compelled to write to you and take this opportunity to express those thoughts at this time.

To say that Phyllis Craig was one of the most genuine and caring persons I have ever known would surely overstate the obvious and understate the truth. And if I were to say that Phyllis loved everyone who touched her life as if they were her own family, I would be speaking from my own experience. To have had the priv- ilege to call Phyllis ‘Mom’ was one I am sure I share with many others who had this special relationship with her. For myself, this was particularly true as Phyllis and John Craig opened their home to me whenever I trav- eled to . Coming to L.A. was, in many ways, like coming home and seeing ‘Phyl’ was always the highlight of ‘coming home.’

In the four years I shared with Phyl, I saw her through both happy and sad times. But regardless of whether times were good or bad, Phyllis’ outlook was always bolstered by her beaming smile, optimistic attitude and a ‘typically Phyllis’ limerick or cliché emphasizing the silver lining of any gray cloud on the horizon.

I have had difficulty coming to terms with the knowledge that I will not pick up my phone at Chromacolour and hear, “Hey kiddo.” I will not see her face, share a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie or catch a late movie with her and Craig.

Phyllis, I will miss our long talks, your wisdom and your guidance. I owe you so much, a debt of gratitude.

You honored me by traveling to Calgary to attend my wedding and add that indelible shine as only you could. I cry a tear of joy.

Well, ‘P. Craig,’ life is a journey, not a destination, and now you have embarked on the next part of your jour- ney. I will cherish the time we shared and look forward to the day when we meet once again.

“Get off the table Mabel, that dollar is for the beer.”

Stephen Hagel Chromacolour North America Limited Manager, Operations and Marketing

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 6 Phyllis’ passion for the animation industry was paralleled only by her deep rooted desire to create opportu- nities for young talent to find employment in this exciting business. On September 12, 1994, the first day of the Bridges training program, Phyllis generously supported our efforts by contributing of her time and wis- dom as the inaugural guest speaker. Phyllis instantly became a friend and support system to many of our trainees.

During our Animation 500 twelve hour marathons, Phyllis always rolled up her sleeves and participated. The following interview excerpt from the first 500 reveals Phyllis’ love for the animation business: “It [animation] kept me young. We’ve been working with interns and kids in our studio for several years. It’s fun to be around neat people. I love what I do. Anything that’s new and exciting I’m willing to go along with, which makes it more fun all the time”.

Phyllis, thanks for your countless contributions. Your efforts serve as a for us all.

The trainees, alumni and staff at the Bridges Institute of Visual .

When I think of Phyllis Craig, I am reminded of a radiant light. Her example served as a beacon of illumina- tion showing us all how to: love unconditionally, serve without hesitation, help all who come your way and advocate for youth and their abilities.

Phyllis lived richly and fully. But most of all, she inspired us all. Everyone of us who had the pleasure of knowing her, has been blessed beyond measure. I count myself so very, very fortunate to have known and loved her.

Linda R. Crain, Ph.D. CrainRoyer Studios

Thank you all for continuing to honor Phyllis. It just goes to show there is no forgetting such a remarkable person.

Thank you again for sharing. The Editors

The Illusion of Life About a year or two ago I was hanging around CalArts an awful lot. I spent about a year in the life draw- ing and other classrooms and a lot of time in the cubicles talking to friends and seeing what was going on in the department. I was introduced to The Illusion of Life by, as most refer to them, “the two old men,” obviously and . I purchased the book and had them sign it at a presentation on the “old style” of Disney art. They revealed the keys to their success and what made Disney tick. This was not too long ago. Now, my real question is...in the suggested reading you listed the book as out of print. I know that the first edition is; but is it completely out of print now?

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 7 FYI - I now have classes with Glenn Vilppu at the Institute and he is publicizing your site. Without his voice I would never heard about your publication. GOOD JOB!

Thank you, Raymond Gonzalez

Dear Raymond:

Well, we were just out of the loop on that one. Yep. You are right. The first edition is out of print but there has been a subsequent one that is on sale now at any of your favorite book stores. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have always heard (and known) that this book is one of the end all, be all, animation books to have. I have also always been told that it is impossible to obtain. It is great to see that The Illusion of Life will be on book shelves again so that everyone can own and enjoy it.

Sincerely, The Editors

Miyazaki The July 1st issue was forwarded to me, and I was particularly interested in the news regarding ’s quitting the film directing game. This is surely not the end of his animation life, but it is certainly an end of an era. Just a few corrections to this news: Castle of Cagliostro was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, but it isn’t a property of Tokuma Shoten, and as such isn’t going to be distributed by Home Entertainment. It is currently released through Streamline/Orion Home Video. The film was released originally in 1979, some five years before Hayao Miyazaki directed his first Tokuma-backed film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Also, Only Yesterday (Omoide Poroporo), and Pom Poko were directed by , but from your notice, it could be presumed that they were also directed by Miyazaki. They are products of , and I believe Hayao Miyazaki was probably the for at least one of these films. However, Isao Takahata deserves some recognition, for he is a great director in his own right (*Pom Poko was an Academy Award nominee). I look forward to getting your newsletter in the near-future. Thank you for your time.

Talk to you later. John Beam

Dear John:

Thanks for the information! You definitely are an expert. As a result of your email, we corrected our News Flash as you will see in this issue’s News section. We too hope that this is not the end of Miyazaki’s anima- tion career and that you will keep in touch and keep us in line.

Sincerely, The Editors

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 8 Animation and Visualization of Space Mission Data by William B. Green and Eric M. DeJong California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Editor’s Note: In recent weeks we imagery. The use of three-dimen- cessing paths for NASA earth obser- have all been captivated by the sional rendering vation missions are similar. For images returning to earth from achieved by merging elevation imaging instruments, image data Mars. Here William B. Green and data with two-dimensional sam- records are created that contain Eric M. DeJong describe how pled imagery has become a valu- the basic pixel data (decompressed images are created from thousands able tool for image interpretation if necessary) plus additional infor- of miles away. To learn more about and geological analysis. Animated mation including engineering data JPL and NASA’s space missions you sequences of rendered imagery (camera temperature, voltages, can visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov. provide dramatic, scientifically pre- etc.), navigation data (spacecraft cise “fly-over” simulations that cap- location and orientation when the Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ture the public’s attention while image was acquired), ephemeris (JPL) has been processing digital providing a visual aid to scientists data (information regarding the image data returned from remote attempting to understand the positions of planets, the sun, and sensing instruments on spacecraft nature and evolution of the earth other objects such as the moons since the Mariner 4 spacecraft flew and other objects in the sys- orbiting other planets when the by Mars in 1964. Many of the dig- tem. More recently, capabilities image was acquired), and camera ital image processing techniques have been developed to support (where was the camera now routinely used in desktop pub- mission planning by integrating pointing, what was the view lishing and sys- spacecraft models from Computer angle, etc.). tems were designed originally to Aided Design (CAD) systems with process and enhance images remotely sensed imagery to enable Visualization and animation returned from space. JPL, other visualization of mission scenarios are becoming increasingly NASA centers, universities, and the for current and future deep space important tools in planetary Department of Defense made sig- exploration missions. This article exploration. nificant contributions to the devel- describes the basic methods used opment of this technology. In the at JPL’s Multimission Image past fifteen years, sophisticated Processing Laboratory (MIPL) and The engineering data is utilized to processing capabilities have been Digital Image Animation Laboratory remove the camera signature from developed to support scientific (DIAL) to produce a variety of - the returned imagery and convert analysis of remotely sensed mation and visualization products the data to physical units (e.g., from imagery returned by NASA spacecraft.

Acquiring Image Data From Space Figure 1 shows the flow of data for a typical planetary exploration mis- sion. Remote sensing data from instruments on the spacecraft are returned to earth receiving stations in digital form, and transferred to data processing facilities that Figure 1. acquire the data and convert indi- vidual telemetry segments into sci- entific data records. The data pro- Figure 2.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 9 the Landsat earth orbiting space- craft. The remote- ly sensed imagery was rendered into perspective pro- jections using dig- ital elevation data sets available for the area within a Landsat image. Figure 2 illustrates the basic process. The upper left image shows one band extracted from the Landsat image. A segment Figure 5. from the image has brightness). The geometry data is been selected for rendering, and Figure 3. used in constructing various views the perspective viewpoint has been of the surface later in the anima- defined as shown by the green 4 shows one frame from the film tion process. The formation of and blue graphics overlay. The L.A. - the Movie, showing the Rose these data records is shown in the upper right image is a gray scale Bowl with JPL in the background boxes labeled “real time” and “sys- representation of the elevation data against the San Gabriel mountains. tematic”. Note that it is often nec- available for the image segment, The vertical scale is exaggerated by essary to construct image data with the same perspective view- a factor of 2.5 to show small scale records from telemetry data point indicated. The elevation features. acquired at different times or at dif- along the blue path in these ferent ground receiving stations. images is shown graphically in the Planetary And Earth Archival products are lower left image. Once the anima- Applications produced at various stages of the tion producer is satisfied with the Rendering and interpolation algo- processing stream and preserved viewpoint and perspective, the rithms have been improved since for long term scientific study. scene is rendered in 3D perspec- the era of L.A. - the Movie. In Specialized enhanced products are tive as shown in the lower right recent years, MIPL and DIAL have also generated to support detailed hand image. collaborated to produce a variety scientific analysis, and public infor- The scientist or of fly-over sequences of planetary mation office (PIO) products are sketches out a desired flight path, and earth imagery. Project scien- also generated for dissemination as shown in Figure 3. The flight tists have found it invaluable to to the press and made available via path is defined by a set of “key obtain three dimensional perspec- the Internet. frames.” Each is charac- tive views of remote planets and terized by a specific viewing geom- their satellites. The use of stereo Remote sensing data from etry and viewpoint, and imagery generally acquired by air- instruments on the spacecraft interpolates are returned to earth receiv- between key ing stations in digital form... frames defined along the flight path to render Basic Image Rendering intermediate Once the image data has been frames to pro- converted to physical units, and duce the final the geometry is understood, it is animation. The possible to generate perspective animator con- view and animation products. This trols the simulat- was first done at JPL in the early ed speed of the 1980’s by a team led by Kevin flyover by speci- Hussey. Hussey’s team produced fying the num- L.A. - the Movie, an animated ber of frames to sequence that simulated a fly-over be interpolated of Southern California utilizing mul- between each Figure 4. tispectral image data acquired by key frame. Figure

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 10 craft has been widespread interpretation. in the geology communi- ty for many years. A three Mission Planning dimensional view of the Visualization and anima- surface provides analysis tion are also useful for of surface features, the mission planning and evolution of the surface, Figure 6. mission operations. It is and the nature of surface possible to incorporate disturbances that are volcanic or tion of portions of the Martian sur- CAD models of spacecraft with seismic in origin. Three-dimensional face. Figure 6 shows a single three- remotely sensed imagery in ani- rendered animated imagery has dimensional image produced in mations to illustrate spacecraft tra- become useful in planetary explo- this manner. jectories and data acquisition ration for the same reasons. The Space Shuttle has carried syn- strategies. Animation displays are Figure 5 shows a perspective view thetic aperture radar systems on also provided to explain planned of Maat Mons, a large volcano on three separate occasions, obtain- mission events during flight oper- Venus. The Magellan mission ing high resolution radar imagery ations to members of the press and mapped the surface of Venus using of the earth’s surface. The third mis- the public via the news media. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in sion, referred to as SIR-C (Shuttle Figure 9 shows one frame extract- the early 1990’s. Elevation infor- Imaging Radar mission C) provid- ed from an animation of the mation was provided by radar on ed coverage of the Mammoth Galileo spacecraft approach to board the spacecraft, from analy- Mountain area of California in Jupiter in December 1995. The sis of stereo image coverage of the 1995. Figure 7 shows a three- spacecraft model was rendered surface, and from data acquired by dimensional perspective view cre- from a CAD model of the space- earlier missions to Venus. Surface ated from SIR-C SAR images craft obtained from the spacecraft color has been incorporated into acquired by the radar system. SAR design team. The background this image, based on limited radio- imagery requires different inter- is produced from a standard refer- metric measurements obtained by pretation than imagery acquired ence star catalog, and the Jupiter a Russian lander spacecraft on by a more conventional imaging image was acquired by the Hubble Venus in the 1970’s. The Russian system. Brightness differences in space telescope. The spacecraft tra- spacecraft was ultimately crushed SAR imagery represent differences jectory and planet models by the atmospheric pressure, but in surface texture and the orienta- were derived for the animation survived long enough to provide tion of surface features on the sur- from mission navigation files and a limited sampling of surface color. face, rather than the color or command sequence files. In the mid 1970’s, two Viking lan- reflectance of the surface. Bright ders and two Viking orbiter space- features are oriented normal to the craft provided thousands of images direction in which the radar signal The flight path is defined by a of Mars from orbit and from two travels, since the radar will be set of “key frames.” separate landing sites. The orbital reflected strongly from surfaces nor- imagery provided stereo coverage mal to the radar beam. Dark fea- of significant portions of the tures are generally more aligned A Growing Roll Martian surface. Elevation com- with the direction of radar signal Visualization and animation are puted from stereo imagery enabled travel. Differing textures will also becoming increasingly important perspective rendering and anima- reflect the radar beam differently. tools in planetary exploration. High This is illustrated in speed equipment and Figure 8 which increasingly sophisticated software shows a false systems are making it possible to color perspective produce the types of products projection of the shown in this article on rapid time same area. Here, scales. These products are extreme- false color is used ly useful in science analysis during as an interpretive flight operations, and are begin- aid to highlight ning to play an increasingly impor- differences in sur- tant role in supporting future mis- face feature orien- sion planning and data acquisition tation and surface strategies. texture. This false color rendered Acknowledgements representation The authors wish to acknowledge provides an the contributions of the following Figure 7. extremely useful individuals for their contribution to tool for scientific the figures: Raymond J. Bambery,

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 11 sions and Hubble Space Telescope Saturn & SL9 observations. He has participated in the scientific analysis of observations from these mis- sions. He is the principal investi- gator for the Figure 9. Solar System Visualization (SSV) Project, which Current activities include process- was selected by NASA as one of ing imaging and multispectral data three NASA science projects fea- returned by the Galileo spacecraft tured at the World Space Congress now in orbit around Jupiter, for the International Space Year. preparations for processing images He, and his team created plane- of Saturn and its moons from the tary image sequences for the IMAX Cassini mission to be launched in films Journey to the Planets, late 1997, and for processing of Figure 8. Destiny in Space and L5: First City stereoscopic images of the surface Jeffrey R. Hall, Shigeru Suzuki, in Space. of Mars to be acquired by the Mars Randy Kirk, Alfred McEwen, Myche William B. Green is Manager of the Pathfinder lander in July 1997. The McAuley, Paul Andres. In addition, Science Data Processing Systems Section is also involved in sup- the work of many other individuals Section at CalTech’s Jet Propulsion porting flight and ground software within JPL’s Science Data Processing Laboratory. He has responsibility development and development of Systems Section, and many indi- for design, development, imple- data reduction systems for a vari- viduals supporting JPL’s flight pro- mentation and operation of ety of earth remote sensing instru- jects, makes it possible to acquire ground based systems used to ments to be flown as part of the data sets used to produce the types of products shown here, and process science instrument data NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth. The their effort is hereby acknowl- returned by NASA’s planetary and Section produces a variety of dig- edged. The work described in this earth observation spacecraft. ital, film and video products; these paper was carried out at the Jet include CD-ROM and photoprod- Propulsion Laboratory/ California uct archival , and ani- Institute of Technology under a mations and “fly-over” sequences contract with the National of planets and other solar system Aeronautics and Space objects. The Section also develops Administration. and maintains a variety of Internet image data base browsers, pro- The Russian spacecraft was viding public access to large plan- ultimately crushed by the etary image data bases resident at atmospheric pressure... JPL. He is the author of two textbooks, Dr. Eric M. DeJong is a Planetary Digital Image Processing—A Scientist with the Earth and Space Systems Approach and Sciences Division of the NASA Jet Introduction to Electronic Propulsion Laboratory and a Document Management Systems, Visiting Associate at Caltech. His and numerous technical papers. major research is the creation of He has taught image processing image and animation products for at Harvard University, California NASA Space & Earth Science mis- State University at Northridge, and sions. He led the visualization George Washington University. efforts for the Voyager Neptune , Mr. Green is a Senior Member of Magellan Venus, Galileo Earth mis- William B. Green. IEEE

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 12 SIGGRAPH: Past and Present by Joan Collins ven before ACM (Association for premiere at SIGGRAPH in 1980, interest committee on computer Computing Machinery)/SIG- because it couldn’t be seen anywhere graphics. The growing interest was EGRAPH started, there was com- else. There was just no other market evidenced by the standing room only puter animation. Despite popular for showing a camera move around crowds that attended the computer belief, computer animation was not a snow-covered mountain, graphics professional development created to do visual effects. The new- except in academia. seminars given by van Dam and Matsa comer animators go to the SIGGRAPH throughout the U.S. and Europe in conference to see the latest and great- the ‘60s. This provided the impetus for est . However, there was a Despite popular belief, the development of an international time when going to SIGGRAPH’s Film computer animation was not SIGGRAPH community. Show meant you waited with antici- created to do visual effects. In 1969, the special interest commit- pation until the end of the show to tee became the Association for see the one computer generated A Beginning Computing Machinery’s Special Interest movie piece: like the Death Star from SIGGRAPH has changed since its Group on Computer Graphics done in 1977 by Larry Cuba beginning. Imagine attending when (ACM/SIGGRAPH). Over the years SIG- or, the magnificent breakthrough the papers were primarily from acad- GRAPH has grown to 7,000 plus piece, done in 1982 by Magi emia. In it’s infancy, computer anima- members. Synthavision, Triple III, and tion was not economically feasible. & Associates. Hence, the government was the only Early Conference Firsts One would go to SIGGRAPH to see group that could afford to create CG This Summer’s 1997 SIGGRAPH con- work that one had never seen before, hardware. The types of people that ference will reunite some of the with people that were colleagues and came to SIGGRAPH were heavily biggest early players in the visual effects collaborators. It was cool. You had to involved in the hardware and display industry such as Digital Productions, be there. In 1985, the Luxo industries. This lack of an industrial Omnibus, and Robert Abel and Jr. by and William Reeves application defined the kind of atten- Associates. These risk-takers embody premiered at SIGGRAPH. The Academy dees: military, aerospace, and gov- the pioneering of early SIG- followed the next year by nominating ernment. The government worked in GRAPH. One example of the extraor- it for best Short Animated Film. One conjunction with the display industry dinary team-work that occurred was went to see Loren Carpenter’s Vol Libre and computer automation. Today, the the film High Fidelity. Randy Roberts first SIGGRAPH convention probably seems nerdy and sterile, but those pio- neers are responsible for stimulating the birth of the photo-real visual effects industry that we take for granted. SIGGRAPH has expanded from 30 signatures on a petition to start a com- puter graphics group in 1967, to 40,000 attendees expected at this summer’s conference. Andries van John Lasseter’s milestone 1985 TRON, released by Buena Vista in 1982. Dam and Sam Matsa got ACM to short film, Luxo Jr. endorse the formation of a special

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 13 designed this test film to prove the cal Academy Award for their efforts in concept of , the next the creation of the ILM digital film com- step beyond animation based solely positing system. on vectors. It was started in 1983, and shown at the 1985 SIGGRAPH in San Life Before TRON Francisco. No “off-the-shelf” software There were computer animators prior here! Abel’s created a distributed ren- to TRON, including many pioneers in der, digital compositing system for visu- the early 1970s. In 1974, The National al effects. Their focus was to create ele- Film Board of Canada produced a ments that would be digitally com- short film called The Hunger, directed posited. Michael Wahrman, systems by Hungarian animator Peter Földes. architect on the raster graphics system The Hunger received an Academy at Abel’s, was also director of a labo- Award nomination for its trailblazing ratory at the Rand Corporation. He progress in the development of soft- purchased one of the first commercial ware and techniques for computer UNIX licenses for use with Nick assisted key framing for character ani- ’s hardware, and wrote an mation, a system developed by Nestor Ikonas device driver (a software layer Burtnyk and Marcelli Wein at the that allows an application to talk to National Research Council of Canada. the hardware). But there was no Carl Machover, one of SIGGRAPH’s “packaged” solution. They even had most fondly revered pioneers, recalls to compute on a VAX 750 which by selling Marcelli Wein equipment today’s terms is less powerful than the through the company that he found- average laptop. ed, Information Display Systems (IDI), in 1960. There was also a computer The first SIGGRAPH Film animation User Group called UAIDE Shows were predominately that published proceedings on the 16mm film. Stromberg Carlson Film Recorder, i.e. the SC 4020, in 1969. Character ani- Jim Clark, who was formerly with Bell mation was created with a cathode- Labs and now with SGI, previewed ray tube that put an electron beam

the first IRIS graphics John Whitney created Arabesque in 1975, through a stencil mask held in the system in a hotel suite at 1983’s SIG- during an residency at IBM Labs. recorder’s neck. It was a conventional GRAPH. Jim issued the very first pur- monochromatic vector display, but the chase order for a SGI to be used in better, but not necessarily easier. The point is that the technology existed. entertainment to Robert Abel and “Scene Simulation” concept, copy- According to Machover, the first Associates. Doc Bailey did some mod- righted at Digital Productions in 1984, SIGGRAPHs were not practical for the eling work but when Joe Bell’s film won a Scientific and Engineering animation industry. Animation was still recorder didn’t work, Tom Baron Academy Award for the practical sim- in the “stop-frame” phase. Animation brought over a Mitchell camera and ulation of motion picture photogra- was created by a plotter storage tube shot the images off of the screen. phy by means of computer-generat- that made a picture, photographed There was no whining about “the soft- ed images. it, then erased it in order to make ware not being able to handle key- However, the SIGGRAPH conferences another picture. This was 2D-based, frames.” If they needed it, they wrote weren’t just this DOA (Digital and few were for entertainment pur- it. My heroes. Productions, Omnibus, and Robert poses. When Abel was purchased by Abel and Associates) triad represent- Jon Meads worked on such a plotter Omnibus, it converged with Digital ing the “leading edge of technology.” to create the “Carol Burnett - What’s in Productions and their approach to The Lucas Sprocket Systems Group the Stars” sequence for her variety “Scene Simulation.” Gary Demos, of had also received one of the first three show. The 35 mm frame-by-frame film Digital Productions, spent more time SGI’s and Doug Smythe, Lincoln Hu, was completed by Hiram French using on the math. “Scene Simulation” was Doug Kay and ILM received a techni- a “Whirlwind.” Bill Albertson came up

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 14 with ideas, and Meads figured out cational outlets that couldn’t afford how to do the programming. In 1974, 35mm film playback. So, the produc- Jon “” Meads and Bob Shiffman ers would output on 35mm and decided that SIGGRAPH members down-rez for distributions on 16mm needed a place to gather to exchange film. In fact, the first SIGGRAPH Film ideas about the latest computer graph- Show contained no video at all (or ics developments. The first SIGGRAPH 35mm, for that matter). There were conference was organized that year only 16mm entries. The only video at the University of Colorado in available was only , Boulder. Over 600 attendees arrived reel-to-reel. Color video existed on 2” when only 300 people were expect- quad tape and only television stations ed. Meads was the Program Chair. could afford such hardware. One-inch video was not in color at SIGGRAPH The First Films until the ‘80s. At the first SIGGRAPH conference, The ’ ease-of-use only started there was an interest in interactive when computers became cheaper devices, and in being able to work , the first fully computer-animat- and more user-friendly. Today’s user ed . © Disney Enterprises, Inc. directly on screen. Animation was lim- interfaces allow the “newbies” to fly ited, but the proceedings were pub- digital at all. through, mastering the art of com- lished in the journal Computers and Generally speaking, if you were turn- puter graphics. Character animation Graphics. A young grad student came ing out computer generated “art” is also technically easier now, but tal- up to Meads and asked if it “would be pieces in the early ‘70s, you were on ent is in ever-increasing demand to inappropriate to submit a paper on a grant program that teamed an artist drive the quality. the use of computers to do video ani- with a techie. Through the power of mation.” This young student was Tom a grant, artist in residence, Lillian Defanti, currently the Director of The pioneers would take risks Schwartz teamed up with Ken and fail. Electronic Visualization, and Associate Knowlton, who was in the computer Director, Virtual Environment NCSA. techniques research department, for a In Dallas, at SIGGRAPH 1986, a Local collaboration at . Knowlton But Can It Make Money? Groups party reminded Tom Defanti of and other technical innovators were Computer generated imagery was the way the Film Show used to be. able to participate in “art” films by work- hardly being used for entertainment in Attendees would bring the 3/4” video ing for companies that pursued the ‘70s. There were a few toothpaste of their latest work, we’d cue it up and growth in the computing field. Stan commercials and some corporate play it. No judging and everything got VanDerBeek was also an artist in resi- broadcast graphics shown at the SIG- shown. dence at Bell Labs with Knowlton. GRAPH conferences. However, the CG Frank Foster, who organized the first They collaborated on many comput- community would look at the pieces, International Film Festival in 1974, had er generated films including the Poem and, with work stations costing hun- 200 entries from all of the world, Fields (Series 1 - 8). It was programmed dreds of thousands of dollars, say, including The Hunger from Canada. in a CG language that Knowlton “There’s no money in it.” The majority of the work at the time developed, called Beflix which was No one was convinced that CG had was technical research, which was the short for Bell Flicks. Another such a commercial value, until James most advanced computer generated example is John Whitney, Sr. who did and ILM built a system to work. Even the most artistic pieces Arabesque at IBM. make it reliable. They took computer were simplistic. They showed all graphics into the commercial realm. It entrees over the course of three nights. SIGGRAPH Begins to Put On A became apparent, after more They divided the entries into two cat- Show started popping up, egories: Art and Science. There were The first SIGGRAPH Film Shows were that visual effects could be financially two nights of science and one night predominately 16mm film. Since so feasible. ILM took awards for: The of art. In the Art category, Gary Demos much content was academic, there Abyss in 1989, 2 in 1991, had two films which contained most- wasn’t a film theater audience. The and Jurassic Park in 1993. Total Recall ly analog animation, with hardly any contributors were distributing to edu- captured an award for Metrolight and

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 15 Tim McGovern in 1990. The topper case they are limited and don’t do with some of these old-timers is an was a Special Achievement Award to everything.” Wahrman was part of the experience that I highly recommend. John Lasseter for the development Symbolics’ team that presented “flock- They will tell you, “if it isn’t off the shelf, and inspired application of techniques ing and herding” in Stanley and Stella figure it out yourself.” that made possible the first feature- in 1987. “We presumed people would There are so many more stories of length computer-animated film, Toy use behavioral animation, and we how we got here that couldn’t all be Story. Now, we see clips from movie were delighted to see that included in this article, and often, each after movie that use photo-real com- Independence Day had used behav- story is countered by someone else puter animation. You no longer have ioral animation to do a lot of the dog who remembers it slightly differently. to wait for SIGGRAPH to see comput- fights. They called it ‘smart particles’ er animation. Now, what movie does- deliberately avoiding the term behav- n’t use CGI? ioral, but I thought it looked great.” Joan Collins is chair emeritus of the Michael continues by saying, “SIG- Los Angeles local group of ACM/SIG- GRAPH used to be the place you had GRAPH, and a visual effects producer to be to see the best work the first time at Imageworks. There was no whining about “the software not being able to ever. It used to be where the people handle key-frames.” that said, ‘I did that film,’ were not your competitors. They were your co-con- Carl Machover is the SIGGRAPH 1998 The Biz Grows Up spirators. They had done the anima- History Chair if you the need to According to CG pioneer Michael tion not for competition, but because clarify history. Or come to the Los Wahrman, “Once upon a time, a they were making it work. But, it turns Angeles Convention Center August 3 group of pioneers proved that a hun- out the people in the audience were - 8 to see SIGGRAPH ‘97: the 24th dred things that people said couldn’t not your collaborators, but your com- International Conference on Computer work, worked. Of those hundred, five petitors.” Graphics and Interactive Techniques. are used every day in every film, and maybe another five are used occa- It is not so much that the SIGGRAPH For information visit http://www.sig- sionally. The other 90 are completely culture has changed; it has expand- graph.org ignored. Computer generated char- ed to include today’s breed of com- acter animation for films was once a puter animators and their recruiters. If Special thanks to: wild idea, as was digital compositing, one looks at the forerunners of com- Betsy Johnsmiller, Carl Machover, Frank graphical user interfaces, behavioral puter animation, one can see that they Foster, Jon Meads, Michael Wahrman, animation [such as flocking and herd- didn’t fit into a category with which and Steve Cunningham. ing] and performance animation [real- corporate America was comfortable. time digital puppeteering]. But all of No one foresaw the future. The pio- them worked, even though in each neers would take risks and fail. Talking REGISTER with Animation World Network TODAY and:

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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 16 Don’t Believe Your Eyes: It is Real or is it Animation? by Bill Hilf ood storytelling is magic. And ital effect moved from being an iso- sibility. The difference between two- good magic, often, is good lated, “special” effect to a full-fea- dimensional and three-- Gstorytelling. Since the start, tured method of film production. al animation is often (wrongly) storytelling in film has been a craft described as an evolution, yet the of illusion. Today, that craft has difference is actually an important reached astounding heights with aesthetic distinction, rather than a the assistance of digital animation development. and visual effects. What was once However, the principles of manu- smoke, mirrors, and sleight of hand, facturing photo-realistic 3D CGI is now pixel manipulation, trans- stem from the world of classical 2D posed , and digital animation. The metamorphosis from mattes. However, the goal is still the traditional, or animation, into same: the perfect effect that drops CGI is an extension of an art form. the jaw, boggles the eyes, and tin- The Lost World: Jurassic Park features What is produced is a technologi- gles the spine. photo-real computer animation cal artistry, much like the scientific The digital entertainment industry dinosaurs, created by visual effects mas- and artistic fusion that gave birth to develops at breakneck speed, mak- ters, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). the motion picture medium. Leslie ing it impossible to pinpoint a defin- Bishko, author and computer ani- itive latest and greatest technology mator, discusses the use of tech- (and the latest/greatest has proba- A Major Shift nology for creative expression: bly lost it’s position as you’re read- The between computer reality “Some would say that creativity is ing this!). But when you survey the and photo-reality marked the - possible, just as early photography past ten years of filmmaking, it is lution from the “local” to the “glob- and cinema had to defend the undeniable that computer gener- al.” As you may know, in animation, artistry of mechanized representa- ated imagery (CGI) has become a local pertains to the level of detailed tion.”* major part of the craft. Digital ani- description within a particular mation has grown from a momen- frame. Global, on the other hand, tary glimpse ( II: The Wrath is often used when referring to the The move from cel to byte has of Khan, 1982, , work on a larger scope, such as dis- thus expanded the animator’s 1983) to the driving force behind cussing the keyframes within the toolset – both theoretically such films as Toy Story (1995) and overall movement of the scene. * and economically. The Lost World (1997). “Local” and “global” are part of the This transition was initiated from animation and computer lexicon, many sources: technological yet they can also serve as A New Story Tool advances, the position of the enter- metaphors of the growth and The metamorphosis from cel to byte tainment market, emergence of change of from the was induced by the artists and film- new talents, and so on. On a high- level of graphics (local) to comput- makers who desired photo-realistic, er level, the move can be viewed er-generated realities (global). This 3D images to use in their story- as a fundamental shift in the “reali- aesthetic transition is a key devel- telling. The groundwork had been ty” of film imagery. In essence, a opmental step in the history of CGI. started by pioneers in the comput- change in both the way film-stories The move from the traditional ani- er graphics world, such as John are created and what types of con- mation proportions (2D) to real- Whitney and Ivan Sutherland. As tent the audience views. If we look world proportions (3D) appears less the technology developed, the artis- at the change from “computer an encroachment on the art of ani- tic possibilities began to open up, graphics” to “computer generated mation (as purists advocate), and as seen in Star Wars and TRON. imagery” we can see how the dig- more of a new magnitude of pos- Richard Taylor, a commercial art

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 17 guished art alteration scenes in Death Becomes form, similar Her (1992). Today, films such as The to the “artsy” Fifth Element (1997), James quality often Cameron’s Titanic (tba), and assigned to (due August, 1997) utilize digital black and shots – both evident and hidden – white films throughout the narrative. But, today. because of the increase of skilled artisans and advances in technolo- Williams is gy, the digital shot is used to sup- also quick to port and enhance the narrative point out the rather than a quick whiz-bang gad- importance of get. Buena Vista’s 1982 live-action feature film, TRON, was a milestone true and fun- Furthermore, digital animation is in the development of computer animation visual effects. damental ani- pushing the envelope to the mation skills. extreme by attempting explicit dupli- director, explains, “It [computer ani- “Moving an image on the screen is cation of organic tissue. In the past, mation] started as a technical one thing, putting a soul in that digital character animation was pri- process first, and not as an aesthet- image is quite another.” Computers marily surface-based, mimicking the ic process, and then it evolved as a cannot serve as a substitute for tal- skin and the exterior of surfaces (à result of artistic people trying to ent. As Williams points out, “Anyone la the tremendous overuse of mor- make things happen with it.”** can move a keyframe around a phing scenes). Today, digital arti- Therefore, the transformation of ani- screen.” sans, such as Steve Williams, are dig- mation from cel to byte at once per- ging deeper, using digital anima- petuates and deconstructs the craft tion in “layers” to recreate the inter- of animation, generating a native Therefore, the transformation nal anatomies of creatures and the landscape, on which a new of animation from cel to byte complex interrelationships between method of storytelling may grow. at once perpetuates and skeletal and muscular systems. This The art form remains animation, but deconstructs the craft is accomplished by utilizing com- the medium is now the computer. of animation... mercial applications such as If this is the case, where is the mod- Softimage along with custom code ern animator left at the end of this modules that call for specific func- transition? Are traditional skills cou- Visual Effects or Reality? tionality for specific tasks. As a pro- pled with new technology enough? Today, digital effects and animation grammer, trends such as these Or, do technological skills with a les- are used for many different pur- show tell-tale signs of similar moves son or two in life- consti- poses; from high-profile stars, such in the software industry, most impor- tute a digital artist? I asked Steve as T-Rex, Woody, and Babe, to vir- tantly the migration from endless Williams from Industrial Light & tually indistinguishable illusions, lines of code (read: Assembly, Cobol) Magic (ILM) some of these ques- such as virtual stunt doubles, remov- into an object model where chunks tions. Williams is a master at creat- ing celluloid blemishes, and ani- of code (modules) can be used and ing, bending, hiding, and tweak- mating a wind-blown cape on a live reused on different projects. With ing reality - his CG animation cred- actor. All of these elements (and customized animation software, 3D its include films such as Eraser many more) compose the digital model libraries, and the emergence (1996), Jumanji (1995), The Mask effect. The rapid- (1994) and Jurassic Park (1993). ly growing use Presently, he’s directing the anima- and application tion for the live-action feature film of digital effects version of the popular comic, in film has made Spawn, due to be released this it very difficult for August. the audience to “The entire flat, 2D [film] medium determine what will change,” Williams predicts. “It’s is “real.” No levels of reality…in the future, a film longer do we with visual effects won’t be termed see the “comput- an ‘f/x’ movie.” Williams likens it to er graphics” a transition from a manufactured scene, such as reality to an art form, much like the the stained-glass transition from black and white to scene in color film. Along these lines, today’s Young Sherlock New Line Cinema’s live-action feature film Spawn (not to be con- digital effects and animation will be Holmes (1985) fused with the , , or CD-ROM game), viewed in the future as a distin- or the body- hits U.S. theaters this month with terrifying CGI effects by ILM.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 18 exists. What bring an understanding and skill of has propelled the wonders and dynamics of ani- the influx, mation into the digital arena. It’s not popularity, as simple as swapping pencil for and success mouse (or stylus), or animation of the digital stand for hi-res monitor. What it craft is the takes is a strong understanding for marriage of both the cel and byte – how they exceptional work, where the boundaries exist, technology and most importantly, how to break with excep- them. Steve Williams hits it on the tional talent. head, stating, “It’s all about the chal- This conver- lenge — the challenge of doing the gence of skill impossible and to pursue blind and tool is the curiosity.” In this scene from New Line’s Spawn, the caped character, who is a foundation for Telling stories and creating illusions live actor throughout most of the film, is entirely an entirely is magic and today’s digital magic computer generated. new mode of has made the word “reality” infinitely digital story- pliable. As history has proven, what of the next generation of digital ani- telling – the future of film and tele- is often initially viewed as simula- mation software (most likely object- vision production. tion, be it the art of the 16th century based), it appears both inevitable Flemish and Dutch Masters or black and greatly beneficial that the digi- The Effect Becomes Art and white films, is often later tal animation industry is venturing in Where does the future lie? revered as art. So too will the digi- this direction. According to Steve Williams, the tal hyper-realities that we’ve seen camera will become more like the over the last fifteen years be revered, (Steve) Williams is also quick radio. Puzzling? At first glance yes, making today’s “effect” tomorrow’s to point out the importance of but what Williams is alluding to is work of art. true and fundamental anima- the increase of input, data gather- tion skills. ing, and modifiability. He sees the * Leslie Bishko, “Expressive camera evolving into a tool that Technology: The Tool As Metaphor allows the filmmaker to “sample” an of Aesthetic Sensibility,” Animation The move from cel to byte has thus entire environment in 3D. Once that Journal, Fall 1994: 74-91. expanded the animator’s toolset – environment is sampled in a spa- both theoretically and economical- tialized format, the digital artisan ** Valliere Richard Auzenne, The ly. Most importantly, this evolution is then has the ability to choose from Visualization Quest (London: not driven solely by technology. endless angles and positions – as Associated University Press, 1994), There will be increases in processor well as the ability to introduce new 127. power, RAM, and software capabil- items into that environment with ities for as long as the computer ultimate control and precision. Along these lines, Williams foresees a greater syner- gy between Bill Hilf lives in motion cap- where he works for C|NET: The ture and digi- as Technical tal animation, Producer for NEWS.COM with digital (http://www.news.com). He has libraries studied and worked in animation stocked with and wrote his master’s thesis on models and the new forms of storytelling in character the digital age (available online at motions to be http://www.sirius.com/~web- molded, con- wonk/thesis.html). catenated and spun like virtu- al clay. created cartoony, fantasy-like visual effects for The future Bubble Factory/Universal’s current release, . belongs to the artist who can

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 19 Going Digital And Loving It by Guionne Leroy

was born in in 1967, and budget, studied animation at La Cambre which means Iin Brussels from 1987 until 1992. I must work I’ve made several personal animat- with a short ed short films in clay but only one shooting using computer technology. From schedule, a 1993 until 1996 I worked in the small team, States on the animated features Toy and no ambi- Story and James and the Giant tious sets. It Peach. However, I came back to was a chal- Belgium a year ago, due to the lenge to come chance to pursue some more per- up with rich sonal work through a commis- visuals that sioned piece illustrating opera music were interest- for the French company Pasavision. ing enough to Arthur, the main character of the film, is a clay figure. This piece titled fulfill the task Arthur is still in production. We hope of illustrating such vibrant opera have been able to utilize far more it will be finished in September. music. Then Stéphane Simal, who ambitious visuals than such a bud- What is special about the project, offered to co-produce the film, start- get would normally allow. These are however, is that we’re using a dig- ed to talk about an idea he had, the aspects that seduced me. For ital camera. about using a digital camera. example, my idea required stylish landscapes that the character could A Unique Idea This was new to me, as so far I have travel in and interact with, but we This commissioned work has a tight done all of my works in a tradition- didn’t have the studio space or the al manner equipment for such large sets. So I using 16mm shot solely the foreground against a and 35mm blue screen and was able to add a film. Since the 2D painted background later. images we shot would be directly I have been able to utilize far entered into more ambitious visuals than the computer, such a budget would it has opened normally allow. the doors to infinite possi- Endless Possibilities bilities Once the images were stored on throughout CD-ROMs, we used a Macintosh post-produc- computer and Adobe’s After Effects A digital shot from the work-in-progress. tion. Also, I and Photoshop software to contin-

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 20 results in the form of quick-time movies. I found it a stress-free (almost) and faster YYourour AdAd way to work. This, for me, compen- CouldCould BeBe sates for not being able to look through a traditional camera HerHere!e! lens to view the image. Referring to a monitor creates a For rate cards and kind of distance that Shooting in front of special green and blue screens enables additional information compositing of backgrounds in the computer. I used to consider inconvenient. about ue to build the film. These tools various opportunities allowed me to create a background, for exposure at which was a painted sky with mov- Most of all, it really opened Animation World the door for me to have ing clouds, or mountains with addi- Network, tional atmospheric touches like fog more creative freedom and lighting changes. I would never and a lot of fun! contact our have been able to accomplish this Los Angeles through meth- Basically, I found this way of work- office at ods. I was also able to add finish- ing very exciting because it is so flex- ing touches like motion blur, sparks, ible and allows so many possibili- 213.468.2554 shock effects, and more. Another ties. I found the digital camera to added bonus was that I could cor- be a great tool to use in conjunc- or e-mail rect mistakes like camera bumps or tion with traditional 3D animation displaced props which can other- like and clay. In fact, it any of our sales wise ruin a shot. I also digitally brought the piece to a quality level representatives: removed set supports for a hard to achieve without a large sequence with flying butterflies. All budget. Most of all, it really opened of these kinds of tricks are usually the door for me to have more cre- North America: reserved for big budget produc- ative freedom and a lot of fun! tions. Bart Vitek

I appreciated the fact that when [email protected] shooting, I could see the day’s

Guionne Leroy is a Belgian anima- U.K. tor who, since completing her edu- cation at La Cambre in 1992, has Alan Smith worked on animation productions around the world, including fea- [email protected] ture films, commercials and com- missioned short films. Other Location:

Thousands of digital images like these are [email protected] stored on CD-ROM for the creation of individual frames in the film.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 21 Computer Animation 101: A Guide for the Computer Illiterate Hand-Animator

By Jo Jürgens

o, you’re a traditional anima- been such a growth in animation just by pulling down some menus tor. You have years of experi- that the supply of talent cannot and punching a few buttons. Sence in hand drawn, classical keep up with the demand. Most “Software today is so pow- animation, but your knowledge of skilled animators are already under erful that virtually anyone with the computers is limited to typing the contract for an average of 3 years, patience can do some tutorials odd letter in Apple’s SimpleText, so most studios are faced with hir- and copy a pose-by- only to forget saving the file before ing inexperienced students with pose from a book using built in you turn off the computer. Would great potential. We’ve done so shortcuts and effects to end up any computer be with great success.” with a decent looking demo reel,” interested in hiring you? The reason for this is sim- says Jeremy Cantor, the animation Absolutely! ple: it doesn’t take more than a supervisor at Tippet Studio. “But As any animator is very well basic home computer and $200 that doesn’t make them an ani- aware, the success of mator. Walk cycles rarely films like Jurassic Park demonstrate animation and Toy Story have led skill these days because to an explosive growth there are so many avail- in computer animation. able sources from which If the need for qualified one can simply be classical animators is copied frame by frame.” huge these days, the “A lot of the people need for good comput- who want to become er animators is even animators only know greater. This is ironic, how to run a comput- given the fact that liter- er,” says Industrial Light ally thousands of gradu- & Magic animator Steve ates from computer ani- Williams, who super- Many traditionally-trained stop-motion animators have moved into mation courses, as well careers in the special effects industry.At in Berkeley, vised the animation on as computer animation California, animator animates a attached to a Terminator 2, Jurassic enthusiasts working at Digital Input Device (DID), which sends a digital record of the Park and The Mask. movements to a wireframe model in the computer.Tippett Studio is home, are applying for contributing all of the creature effects to the upcoming TriStar “That’s a real problem. I jobs. However, very few production Starship Troopers. hired every animator at of these people have the ILM while I was there, talent required to do feature film worth of software to start doing and to this day I have never seen quality work. “We receive about some sort of 3D animation. Many one single good animator who 2000 reels a year,” says programs come with “out of the couldn’t draw, model in clay, ani- recruiting manager Rachel box effects,” whereby anyone with mate or all three. Period. That’s it. Hannah. “About 4 percent of those the dedication to read the manu- Most people who say that they are interesting to us. There has al can achieve fancy looking effects can animate that have only

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 22 frames.” pose principle, creating key frames Of course, that resemble key poses in drawn neither of animation. You control the way these horrify- the computer creates the inbe- ing visions is tweens, just like an animator will true. Today’s write instructions to his inbe- character ani- tweener in the corner of each mation pro- drawing. grams are all designed with Modeling traditionally Before any animation can be trained artists done, a model has to be created. in mind and try At larger studios, this is usually Mary Lynn Machado, a technical director at Rhythm & Hues to make the done by modeling technical direc- studio in Los Angeles, works on a Silicon Graphics Octane computer to create models for animation. jump from 2D tors (TD’s), who do not do any ani- to 3D as pain- mation. A computer model can be worked on computers have no less as possible. At the same time, constructed from geometric prim- idea what they’re talking about.” although these programs are itives, like spheres boxes and cylin- Cantor is a little more diplo- extremely powerful and offer enor- ders, but that’s not much help matic. “A few years ago I would mous control over animation, when it comes to creating organ- have said that a good character modeling, lighting and so on, they ic looking characters. Usually the animator definitively must have tra- still require that an educated artist modeler will use splines, which are ditional (cel or ) expe- sits in front of the computer and lines whose curvature is adjusted rience. Now I believe that com- makes the decisions on every little with little handles on the control puter animation has been around nuance of movement. vertices which are located at the long enough that people can start and end points of the spline. become very good character ani- Okay, so how do you actually By connecting numerous splines mators even though their only animate on a computer? and dragging them around in training tool has been computer three , a computer software. We do however model is created. The model may absolutely prefer to hire ‘artists.’ be entirely created in the comput- Traditional artists tend to have a The Technical Stuff er, or based on a three dimen- creative sensibility that strict com- Okay, so how do you actually ani- sional scan of a clay model. puter people lack. Those skills real- mate on a computer? Although ly do make a difference.” the techniques and terms However, there is not described here vary a little from A problem in many computer ani- always a lot of communication program to program, the princi- mation programs is that they don’t between traditional animators and ples and the process are basically allow you to have continuous skin computer animators. Many old- the same. Digital character ani- between separate body parts. school animators still live under the mation can be described as a Therefore, the hand, the forearm, misunderstanding that computer hybrid mix between puppet ani- the upper arm, etc. have to exist as animation is far too technically mation and cel animation. It is sim- separate objects that are not con- complex to be any fun to do. They ilar to puppet animation in that nected. A limited number of pro- envision bleary-eyed computer you are dealing with a three grams, however, allow you to cre- programmers typing “move arm dimensional character that can be ate the character in one piece. This 45.93 degrees to the left, 19.17 looked at from every possible is known as a mesh. This mesh degrees up.” Or they think it is far angle, and that you are posing it only provides the “skin” of the char- too simple, anticipating college in three dimensional space. The acter and is hollow inside. To move kids with no idea about the prin- similarity with hand drawn ani- the different parts of the body sep- ciples of animation, hitting a but- mation lies in the fact that you arately, you then have to construct ton that says, “Happy walk, 16 work according to the pose to a virtual skeleton inside the mesh

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 23 Two examples of the computer animator’s “palette.” The wireframe model can be seen on the lower left, with the fully rendered character on the upper right.The charts on the upper left and lower right enable the animator to control motion and sequencing. This screenshot was created with Softimage for Windows 95/NT. and parts of the mesh to on frame 12 and stops on frame puter animation looks weightless each individual bone. Thus, when 23. Of course, he can then go on and slick, as if the characters are you move the forearm bone, the and refine the timing by shifting floating in outer space where there control vertices associated with the position of key frames. A good is no gravity. To avoid this prob- that bone will move the body program will also allow him to lem, the animator needs to spend accordingly. copy and paste key frames a large amount of time adjusting between shots and even between the exact shape of the function Key Frames characters. The exact position of a curve between each key frame. The first principle that a computer character’s hand in one shot may This determines the exact amount animator has to learn is key fram- prove useful as a starting point for of movement per inbetween. ing. A key frame in computer ani- posing the hand of another char- Function curves also allow mation is a frame on which the acter in a completely different shot. you to edit the motion and loca- animator has specified the start or tion of every object in every frame end of a movement, or a change of a shot. Let’s say that you have “Traditional artists tend to of direction. As an example, to animated a walk but you want to have a creative sensibility that move the arm of a character, the make the swing a little more strict computer people lack.” - animator will set a key on frame quickly. Of course you could adjust Jeremy Cantor,Tippet Studio 10 (A), indicating that this is where every key frame by eye-balling the the movement begins. Then he movement, but since the body is jumps forward to frame 20 (B) and also moving, it can be difficult to creates a new key, on which he Function Curves see the exact differences as you puts the arm into its end position. Function curves are one of the make your changes. Therefore, it is Thus, from frames 11 to 19 the most important tools a computer easier to edit the shoulder’s func- arm will be moving from position animator has. The term varies from tion curves instead. Each object or A to position B. program to program. Motion bone has curves associated with But as any animator knows, graph, and channels are it that control the movement, rota- the different body parts of a char- just some of the names used. tion and scaling of it along the x, acter don’t start and stop moving Using function curves you can edit y and z axes. To increase the shoul- all at the same time. Therefore, the the slow in and slow out between der’s rotation on certain frames, animator will generally set keys for key frames. By default the inbe- you simply adjust the position of the different body parts on differ- tweens created by animation soft- the curve that represents the ent frames, so that the shoulder ware give you smooth, mechanical shoulder’s rotation from front to moves from frame 10 to 20, inbetweens that do not change back. Unfortunately, most pro- whereas the elbows starts moving speed. This is why so much com- grams don’t allow you to use the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 24 function curves to edit the motion of an object, only the speed. This considerably increases the time required to animate a scene.

Hierarchies The skeleton of a computer char- acter is constructed as a , where the first bone is known as a parent, and the bone connected to it is called the child. The upper arm is the child of the torso, but at the same time it is the parent to the lower arm, which is the par- ent to the hand and so on. The bone on the top of the hierarchy will in most cases be the pelvis, with the feet, hands and head at Animator/director works directly on the Silicon Graphics screen to adjust the bottom. the scale of a computer generated character for TriStar’s Starship Troopers. matography, photography or “A lot of the people who want Lights, Camera, Render! stage lighting is an enormous to become animators only Once the animation is completed, advantage for a technical director, know how to run a computer,” it has to be rendered. The com- just as the ability to draw or sculpt says Steve Williams...“That’s a puter analyses each frame and cre- is important for a modeler. real problem.” ates the final image, based on the information it has regarding the So,What Do I Use? location of the models in the Unfortunately, only a very limited The problem with is scene, the surface of the model number of 3D applications offer that movements can only translate and the lighting. At large produc- the tools described in this article, down the hierarchy, not up. If you tion houses, technical directors as most programs are geared move the upper arm, the shoul- take care of all of these aspects. toward special effects, , der and hand will follow, since Some create texture maps that are flying logos or spaceships. Popular they are the children. However, if laid on the model, providing detail programs like Infini-D, you move the hand, the rest of the such as skin texture or fabric. They ElectricImage, Strata StudioPro, Ray arm will stay still because it does- also decide how shiny or reflective Dream Studio, or Truespace n’t react to the movements of its each object should be. Others Caligari will not be of much help if child. With inverse kinematics position all of the objects in the character animation is all you care however, you can move the bone scene and compose shots using a about. at the end of the hierarchy and virtual camera with real world By far the best programs make the rest of the body follow. parameters such as depth of field available are and This eliminates the computer ani- and focal length. Yet another tech- Alias Power Animator, but these mator’s biggest problem, keeping nical director lights the scene, set- cost about $7000 and only run on a character’s feet on the ground ting the position, direction, color very expensive Silicon Graphics still as the pelvis moves. Without and intensity of each light source. and Windows NT . In inverse kinematics the feet would As with the camera functions, the medium price range, the big be sliding around every time you lighting in most 3D applications is sellers are Lightwave 3D (for move the pelvis or legs. With designed to recreate lighting tech- Macintosh, Silicon Graphics and inverse kinematics you can lock the niques in the real world. Needless Windows 95/NT) and 3D feet down in space and let the to say, experience from related Studio/3D Studio MAX (Windows software keep them there. fields such as , cine- 95/NT), which cost $1500 and

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 25 $3000 respectively. within 15-30 seconds, the tape will by all means show all your best If you want to concentrate often be ejected! To make sure you stuff like lighting, modeling, tex- solely on character animation, won’t loose the recruiter’s interest, ture mapping, and so on.” however, you’re much better off avoid using those old clichés that In short, if you’re one of the financially with Martin Hash 3D everyone has seen a thousand lucky ones who can animate a Animation (available for Macintosh times before, such as space ships, character with good acting and and Windows 95/NT), which robots, camera fly-throughs, lens great movements, finding a job at offers all of the above tools for just flares, flying logos, or reflective any computer animation compa- $200! Its more expensive big spheres on checkerboards all ny should not be too hard. brother is called Animation:Master, accompanied by loud techno Whether there is any computer which offers more rendering and music. These may seem impressive animation on your showreel real- compositing features, but includes and professional looking to you, ly doesn’t matter that much, nor the same modeling and animation but will make the poor souls on is it of much importance if the ani- tools. To run version 4 of the pro- the hiring committee, who usual- mation you’re showing is from gram, the minimum requirement ly have to endure hundreds of your latest gig as a supervising ani- is a 100 MHz Power Mac or showreels each week, reach for mator on , or just pencil Pentium with at least 16 megabyte the air sickness bag. tests shot on Super-8 at your col- RAM, whereas version 5 requires lege in Vladivostok, Russia. As long 160 MHz and 32MB RAM. For 3D As long as you make ’em as you make ’em move, make ’em Studio and Lightwave 3D, you will move, make’em act, make ’em act, make ’em live, you have a need an even more powerful com- live, you have a chance. chance. puter. Whereas you will probably have to sell your house, car, stereo and grandmother to afford to run Pixar recruiting manager Softimage or Alias. Rachel Hannah elaborates, “Animators should include the Getting a Job work that they are most proud of; If animating characters in the dig- particularly work that shows their ital world is all you want to do, storytelling and acting abilities. We then don’t try to learn anything like to see pencil tests, stills, sketch- else. Knowledge of specific soft- es, and so on. If someone has ware is generally not important, computer experience then, of unless the company is on a tight course, we’d like to see that as production schedule and has no well. If someone’s worked on a Jo Jürgens is a writer and ani- time for training new employees. long piece of animation with oth- mator based in Norway. He is cur- For smaller shops with smaller ers, it’s best to supply a credit list rently working on Animated budgets, or if you want to go out explaining what their individual Conversations - Interviews with on your own, you will usually be role was. Music is not important the World’s Greatest Animators, required to know more than just and [the reel] should only be 2-3 which is slated for publication in animating and have experience minutes in length.” 1998. with the software that the com- “If someone is applying for pany is using. a character animation position, Your showreels should only they simply need to show charac- contain your best work. If you ter motion,” adds Tippet Studio’s have 90 seconds of good charac- Cantor. “Resolution, modeling, ter animation and 4 minutes of not lighting and so on doesn’t really so good material, make the matter as long as the motion looks showreel 90 seconds long. Always good. If you are applying to a put your best work at the begin- company with the following atti- ning. Believe it or not, if you don’t tude, ‘I can do a lot of things, capture the recruiter’s attention where do you think I’d fit in?’ then

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 26 2D and 3D: Together For The Better by Sean MacLennan Murch hile 3D animation has , and Sebastian the crab from proved itself as a master of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. On the W realism, it has often been topic of 3D animation and digital accused of failing to capture the feeling effects, Marjoribanks’ advice is clear. and characterization that classical ani- “Wherever it works, by all means, use mation has offered audiences for the it!” Marjoribanks notes that “in tradi- past century. The animation industry tional features, what computer ani- has begun to respond to this feedback, mation does best is to improve the and has adjusted it’s priorities accord- quality of a production, rather than sav- ingly. More and more we are seeing a ing money over hand drawn meth- Toy Story demonstrated that while com- hybrid of classical and 3D animation; ods.” DreamWorks’ soon to be puter animation is great for animating geometrical forms, organic materials, each technique being utilized for what released, uses such as fabric or fur, are still a challenge it does best. Bringing inanimate extensive digital animation and effects for 3D computer animators. © Disney. objects, or those with simple geome- in their rendition of the Parting of the try, to life is well within the digital realm. Red Sea and in the vast multitudes of ing and characterizations, 3D compa- However, organic figures such as “extras” necessary for a biblical epic. nies are “getting back to basics” in order humanoids and animals have contin- When asked about the use of 3D mod- to improve the entertainment value of ually been proven more convincing eling and animation for crowd scenes, their products. In one case, Vancouver when created with pencil and paper. Marjoribanks declares, “They (the 3D based Radical Entertainment, one of For instance, we all loved Toy Story, animators) are welcome to them.” the leading developers in but many of us were disappointed with There are limitations however, to mod- North America, is using 2D reference the way the human figures were eling in three dimensions. While it is animation as a guide to aid their 3D designed and animated. They seemed relatively easy to redraw a 2D charac- animators in achieving the best timing to be out of synch with all the great ter model, it can sometimes be more and motion possible. Jack Rebbetoy, looking, more geometrical, toys. difficult to radically change a digital one of Radical’s senior producers notes, One creative and economical use of model. As Duncan points out, “It’s hard “We have explored the use of motion 3D animation can be evidenced in to tweak a 3D model too far, without capture for our games and in many many of the recently released classi- something breaking.” instances, this approach seems to cap- cally animated features. Backgrounds, ture the essence of the motion that camera moves, crowd scenes, and The dialogue has begun between we’re looking for, in other, more com- machines of all descriptions have been the once very separate mediums plex situations, however, we have to modeled and animated digitally. In of 3D and traditional animation. rely on a traditional 2D animator to many cases this approach can save capture that same essence. In addition, both time and money. More impor- we often want to exaggerate these tantly, it also enhances the look of the Classically Effective motions for effect. With motion cap- film. Duncan Marjoribanks is one of Just as classical studios such as ture, you are limited to the physical abil- the top character animators at DreamWorks and Warner Bros. are ities of your actor.” Exaggeration, of DreamWorks Feature Animation with striving to make the most of new tech- course, plays an integral role in classi- experience as a lead animator span- nology, 3D producers are looking to cal animation and is one of the prime ning over two decades. He was classical animation to augment their reasons to use animation rather than responsible for bringing to life such craft. Whether in the form of separate live-action to tell a story. timeless characters as Abu from Disney’s 2D levels, or in the use of classical tim- Using laws of physics and motion, the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 27 angle and re-used time and time again. Reboot ride films (for IMAX), the first of Much like a set, these digi- which gets delivered next month. It’s tal assets can amortize the cost of a the same that we create toys production without compromising it’s from. With our own proprietary soft- quality. Characters can be tweaked and ware we translate our database into re-rendered to perform a different role 3D models that we can create physical in a later scene, or cloned for large molds and models from. We’ve recent- crowd scenes. In the classical, hand ly done that successfully with Irwin toys. drawn world this could mean count- We can make interactive properties. The Lost World: Jurassic Park, featuring CG less new and a quickly dis- We could feasibly create, based on the animation by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). © Universal/Amblin. appearing budget. In terms of princi- size of our database, a fantasy world ple characters and character anima- that would take you hours, if not days, goal of the digital realm has historical- tion, new developments in hardware to navigate. All this is digital, so what- ly been to re-create reality. 3D anima- continue to increase the quality level ever the future delivery systems are tors and animation software develop- of available textures, effects, and from a technological aspect, we can ers try to emulate the real world as motions at an ever reducing cost. prepare ourselves for it. I think that com- closely as possible and it is disappoint- munication companies, in time, will ing when this new reality falls short of understand the significance of this.” convincing it’s audience. Perhaps this 3D companies are “getting With the recent exposure of high qual- boils down to the difference between back to basics” in order to ity 3D animation in feature films like reality and perception. While software improve the entertainment Toy Story and The Lost World, it looks developers strive to create an environ- value of their products. as though the market for 3D anima- ment that replicates the real world, clas- tion is strong. As Marjoribanks points sical animators tend to focus more on One of the world’s most prolific pro- out, “The talent base of 3D animators people’s perception of the world, on ducers of 3D animation is Mainframe is still very young. There is no telling what they actually want to see. In Entertainment, producers of the wide- what 3D character animation can many cases the entertainment value ly successful television series Reboot become. It is still too early in its devel- comes from when the animation and Wars. Chris Brough, one of opment to know its unique capabili- diverges from reality. As any good actor the principles of this publicly traded ties. There is also still lots of room for that is acting for the theater’s back row company describes their approach to collaboration between 3D and 2D ani- will say, you must exaggerate your 3D animation: “What we really did was mators.” At DreamWorks, 3D and 2D motions and reactions just in order to look at technology and figure out how artists are now working side by side in have them read to the audience. to empower that technology from a every department, from layout through Furthermore, we don’t go to main- creative tool aspect, thereby allowing animation. As software developers and stream animated films to be given a our animators to do just that – ani- animators continue to work towards dose of reality. We have documentaries mate.” In order to accomplish this task, a more classical approach to digital ani- for that. We go to animated shows for Mainframe employs a team of twelve mation, the future also looks bright for the fantasy element, and to be enter- software developers whose sole task hybrid 2D/3D productions. The dia- tained. We don’t want to have to guess is to make the software interface more logue has begun between the once if a character was surprised by some intuitive for the animators. This allows very separate mediums of 3D and tra- on-screen event, we want his or her the artists to concentrate more on the ditional animation. It is this dialogue eyes to bulge a good three feet out creative aspects, rather than the tech- between animators that will drive the from their sockets. We expect it. nology of 3D animation. As Brough art and the craft of animation forward states, “…therein lies our creative and into the next century. Three Dimensional Benefits our competitive edge.” On the busi- Sean MacLennan Murch spent four ness side of the equation, Mainframe The truth is that 3D animation does years in London working as both a has also capitalized on the aforemen- have a lot to offer in the way of both producer and executive producer. For production value and entertainment. tioned “digital asset” aspect of the 3D the last two years he has been based For starters, 3D generated back- environment. Brough explains that in Vancouver, where he is currently grounds exist as an important asset, “there are so many other business and employed as the Director of once created. The same environment revenue opportunities. It’s the same dig- Development at Natterjack Animation can be re-lit, re-shot from a different ital database that we explore with the Co. Ltd.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 28 Digital Harmony: The Life of John Whitney, Computer Animation Pioneer

by William Moritz

omputers were originally pass before he was able to buy developed as part of the some of these analog computer C British and American World mechanisms as “war-surplus” and War II defense efforts. They were construct with them his own “cam first known as “Turing Machines” machine,” which pioneered the after Alan Turing who invented concept of “motion control.” them to break Nazi codes — the film of Andrew Hodges’ biogra- phy was recently broadcast as John Whitney’s active film Breaking the Code with Derek making career endured over Jacobi portraying the inventor. The 55 years, and 40 of those young John Whitney worked in years were devoted to the Lockheed Aircraft Factory dur- computer work. ing the war and while he was working with high-speed missile In the meantime, Whitney photography, he was technically had made about two dozen films adept enough to realize that the in more or less traditional anima- targeting elements in such tion. Among these were: in 8mm, weapons as bomb sites and anti- a time-lapse of an eclipse and sev- aircraft guns calculated trajecto- eral drawn Variations, in 16mm ries and produced finely-con- Pioneer computer animator John Whitney Sr. in two Film Exercises accompanied trolled linear numerical equiva- 1959, operating one of the first computer-graph- by composed by lents, which could potentially be ics engines, a mechanical analog computer built Whitney with a system of pendu- largely from surplus World War II anti-aircraft guid- used for plotting graphics or guid- ance hardware.The camera is in the upper left, lums he had invented, and about ing movements in peacetime artis- aiming down through the apparatus that “paints” 10 abstract musical visualizations tic endeavors. A decade would the film with light. Photo by Charles Eames. using an oil-wipe instrument he

Animated sequence from Variations.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 29 images, which proved however. One of the possibilities very successful in demonstrated in Catalog is the slit- and titling scan effect. Someone else duplicat- of commercial pro- ed the effect for the feature 2001. jects. By 1960 Ironically, Whitney had submitted Whitney prepared a to them a proposal for a monolith as sample reel of these a computer-generated effect that and other effects he would have looked different from could produce, and anything else in the film. He was solicited work for his turned down. , Inc. Whitney had an opportunity to company. This com- work on the new high-powered Film Exercise # 4. pany kept him so digital computers between 1966 busy he did not have and 1969, when he was awarded had also invented as well as three time to make personal films using a fellowship as artist-in-residence at 35mm cartoons for the UPA studios. the computerized motion-control IBM. Jack Citron programmed the He also did various commercial set-up. His sample reel was artfully IBM 360 Digital computers for him. assignments including the title edited and ended with a lovely final His first computer generated film is design for Hitchcock’s feature image of a lissajous curve multiplied rarely seen, but delightful. Whitney Vertigo (in association with Saul dozens of times, to Bass), and the preparation (in asso- appear twisting in ciation with Charles Eames) of a waves, suggesting the -screen presentation for the time-lapse of a blos- Buckminster Fuller Dome in soming flower. The reel Moscow. was released as Catalog and became a popular Motion Graphics classic of 1960’s psyche- With his computerized motion-con- delica. John Whitney’s trol set-up, Whitney could produce younger brother James, a variety of innovative designs and who had collaborated metamorphoses of text and still with him on the early Variations and Film John Whitney’s cam machine Exercises, used John’s cam machine to shoot his fabulous titled the film Homage to Rameau film Lapis. By multiplying the hun- not only because Rameau wrote the dreds of dots in his hand-drawn baroque music heard on the sound- original artwork into thousands of track, but also to reference Rameau’s dots he described the most com- book Treatise on Harmony. This text plex mandalas writhing with life. focused the direction of Whitney’s aesthetic strivings, culminating in his 1980 book Digital Harmony. With his computerized At approximately the same time that motion-control set-up,Whitney Whitney worked at IBM in could produce a variety of California, other artist-in-residence innovative designs and programs in the East allowed Stan metamorphoses of text Vanderbeek and Lilian Schwartz to and still images... work with Ken Knowlton at Bell Labs. Vanderbeek’s Poem Fields Not all of the motion-control effects mainly uses his clever texts as sub- John Whitney with his cam machine, used business for Whitney’s “cam ject matter, and Schwartz’s abstract to create special effects and films such as machine” ventures went in his favor, music films, though colorful and Lapis and Catalog.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 30 (1975)], he demon- compositions were linked to the par- strated the principle of ticular computer set-up, and defied “harmonic progression.” many attempts to copy them onto For example, in film and video, Whitney continued Arabesque (pro- to compose new visual-music pieces grammed by Larry until his death in 1995. The Moon Cuba), Whitney experi- Drum series in 12 sections based on mented with the eccen- Native American ceremonial art was tricities of Islamic archi- most notable. Although less brilliant tecture, which, though than the original computer moni- ultimately harmonic, tor display, a satisfactory video ver- contain many charac- sion of Moon Drum was released. Whitney’s set-up for filming computer animation from a monitor screen, during an artist residency at IBM Labs. teristic reverse curves in John Whitney’s active filmmaking its embellishments. career endured over 55 years, and well-paced, seem too similar, - Whitney also made three docu- 40 of those years were devoted to pered by the limitations of the Beflix mentary films on the subject of dig- computer work. This is a remarkable program. By contrast, John ital harmony. In 1979 he completed record for any - Whitney’s computer films grew con- Experiments in Motion Graphics. His maker, but particularly astonishing tinually more intricate in their explo- 1973 Hex Demo for a lecture at for the continued quality and vision ration of a genuine aesthetic goal: Cranbrook was included on a of Whitney’s films. the establishment of a secure basis laserdisc of his works issued by for harmonic events in audio-visual Pioneer in 1984.He also completed presentation. in 1993 A Personal Search for the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art which is available through Whitney’s computer films Pyramid Film and Video. grew continually more In the later 1980s, Whitney con- William Moritz teaches film and ani- intricate in their exploration of centrated on developing a com- mation history at the California a genuine aesthetic goal... puterized instrument on which one Institute of . could compose visual and musical Harmonic Progression output simultaneously in real time. In each of John’s next five films His first piece on this new instru- [Permutations (1968), Osaka 1-2-3 mentation, which was improved (1971), Matrix I (1971), Matrix II and updated constantly, appeared (1971), Matrix III (1972), Arabesque as Spirals in 1987. Although the

From sequences of Spirals, a piece of “” created by Whitney on a he designed in the late 1980s.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 31 CGI: A Rich Country’s Toy by Olivier Cotte

e often hear about com- dios, the face of the industry is dif- point about is the uni- puter generated ficult to change or even create. The versities. They are gems. For Wimagery (CGI) from the last problem, can be faced every- instance, the University of Karlsruhe U.S., U.K., Canada, France and where regardless of a nation’s eco- is one of the most important and Japan. Advertising, special effects nomic status. When no one wants one of the first to be interested in for feature films, musical clips and to make something different or teaching CGI. In 1986 they pro- TV jingles give us of this real- unusual, visual evolution ceases. duced Clip8 by W. Leister, which ity and festivals exhibit the best of However, if interesting films are was synthesized by Vera- the best new creations. However, produced or inventive companies Raytracing. The school focuses on outside of these five countries, we try something new, the others in giving a future-oriented education. don’t know, or have little idea, the industry have to follow and The ZKM, Institute for Visual Media, what is being produced. Why do change is inevitable. In a country is linked with the University of we know so little about computer where few films are produced, the Karlsruhe. Ninety-two people from generated imagery from the largest images will generally look more all over the world create CGI in a part of the planet? There are sev- old-fashion to viewers from a more laboratory, where a eral possible answers: media saturated country. spirit of cooperation between 1. Computer generated imagery artists and programming experts really doesn’t exist in some coun- Now, let’s ride across the globe’s exist. tries. The German culture has generat- 2. There is an industry of comput- ed interesting creators, such as er animation but these can just be Monika Fleischmann and Stösser broadcast in there own country of Achim. Monika Fleischmann was origin (for cultural, legislative or awarded at in 1992 quality reasons). for Home of the Brain. She believes I have in previous articles insisted that, “If we don’t support that computer animation is very and media culture the quality of expensive. This represents the life will be lost through the domi- major problem for the creation of nance of the machines.” She works an industry. It’s obvious that CGI is with Wolfgang Strauss, (media a rich country’s toy. If you want to Architect), Christian Bohn and Dirk do a quick survey, just consider Luesebrink (computer scientists). how many average individuals surface to see what is there... CGI is important in Belgium own a personal computer around because the country has a long tra- the world. It’s important in the U.S., Europe dition of comics and animated Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Europe houses hubs of activity in films. Early on they began to pro- and some Asiatic countries, but just countries like France and the U.K, duce CGI films like, Fourmis by Luc try to estimate what proportion of but other European countries are Petitot in 1988. Several schools the population in Gabon owns a also engaged in interesting pro- even have specific CGI training personal computer. We also have ductions. courses and for a little country it to understand that working with While most of Germany’s advertis- certainly contains many studios. sophisticated software requires spe- ing is made in the U.K. or France, Some of the more prominent ones cific training that can be learned Germany still has several studios are: Little Big One which is well at school or in studios. But if there that specialize in computer anima- known for its rides like Devil’s Mine; are no schools or not too many stu- tion. However, the most important Imagique who have a Silicon

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 32 also Dutch. They now work on the face of the Spanish industry is more projects with a the creation of a unique university. system named ‘Menagerie.’ The Silicon Graphics has created, with Dutch have several elements work- the University of Balearic Island, a ing for them. They have a number training studio named StudioBIT. of excellent schools and we Classes include 2D and 3D mod- cannot forget that there are a num- eling and animation, digital edit- ber of television channels in the ing, compositing and virtual set country as well. This brings a mar- production techniques for the real- ket to the people and important time market. advertising activity. Plus, their spe- cific culture always pushes them CGI is less vital than other toward finding something new industries like producing elec- Graphics station and several and better. tricity for the population. Macintoshs; NewWave Switzerland is a small country with International; Movida; and Bertvan three languages but no economic Brande Compagni BVBA. These problems! Schools have an impor- companies produce a large range tant part to play, especially the Eastern Europe of images and film sequences as School of Art in Lausanne (École CGI became interesting, both tech- well. Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne), and nically and artistically in the world, Things are different in Scandinavia the Genève University where Nadia exactly at the same time as all the however. Due to a small popula- and Daniel Thalmann both work. countries of Eastern Europe turned tion, the countries have a small Daniel Thalmann began in 1977 into an economic nightmare. market. Therefore, while the coun- in where he directed a Industrialization is still weak and of tries have high economic stand- CGI and . course, the production of CGI is ings, and plenty of schools and Now he has directed several films not the first preference of the pres- engineers there are few studios and he’s the creator of the famous idents of these countries. Despite with equipment. has just Marilyn Monroe in 3D. Nadia this, we can make note of a new 5 million people and a lot of their Thalmann directed Dream Flight generation of studios that have advertising on television comes and Flashback. She was nominat- arrived. For instance, in Minsk, from the U.K. Their ed Woman of the Year in 1987 by Belarus, a television company basically does not use special the Montreal community. named Validia, was created in effects or musical clips. Production With more than 900 television 1994. They perform work for other is largely made solely for television. channels in we would imagine countries in their own well-stocked In Norway and the situa- that we would find a lot of com- animation studio. In February tion is basically the same but the puter animation studios and in fact, 1996, they created their first film, market is bigger. The quality of their that is the case. Unfortunately, the Home Sweet Home, that was advertising is well-known, but productions have low budgets and widely awarded. Now they pro- generally shot in live action. Even as a result it is difficult to create duce 10-15 minutes of material per if many classical animation studios important studios. Very often, post- month. They are, at this time, fin- exist, CGI is not used. production companies will have a ishing an animated film, Sharman The has a strong CGI department rather than real, (5 min.) and an animated serial for industry and several interesting cre- big time CGI studio. a German television company. ators like Irit Rosen, Robin Noorda, A country in Europe that has We can always find individual pio- Peter Lemmen, creator of changed very quickly in the last ten neers in Eastern Europe. For Electrogig’s Adam & Eve (1990), years is , but the situation is instance, we have to know the and Kees Van Prooijen, creator of quite the same as in Italy. There are work of Hungarian Tamas Waliczky. Electrogig’s Crossfire (1989). Of a number of small companies like Born in 1959, this painter, tradi- course, Susan Amkraut, creator of Animatica, VideoCamino, Telson tional and computer animator and 1989’s classic computer animation S.A., Producciones Triplefactor and member of the ZKM Institute for Eurhythmy with Michael Girard, is ONIS. Something that may change Visual Media has had his works

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 33 does not allow an important CGI the world. In fact, India has a very industry to thrive. In advertising big film industry, but specialized in and on television, post-production live-action. Even classical animation effects replace computer generat- is rare. CGI is, one more time, ed images. Brazil is one exception. replaced by post-production We all remember TV Globo. In fact, effects. Their post-production the multimedia division of this tele- equipment is modern because of vision channel, ruled by José Dias, the U.S. having economical inter- is the biggest in Brazil. Ten years ests in it. I remember I saw The ago, we waited with interest to see Mahabharata on television and it the imagination and the beauty of contained a lot of electronic thun- their productions. Now, this depart- der lights, live characters on blue ment continues to give us a fresh screens and other phenomenal look of what good quality pictures effects. Furthermore, this was selected at Ars Electronica, Centre can be. Some other companies when I visited the country in Georges Pompidou, Paris and SIG- also do great work. For instance, 1989!!! But things change. Several GRAPH. For a time, he even used Mario Barreto’s Intervallo produced companies are interested in build- to work with an Atari!!! an advertisement for Mastercard ing studios in India. For instance, which became a Finalist in the Gribouille, a French company has Africa Computer Animation category at a studio in Madras where a televi- When discussing Africa, we have the London Festival ‘96. They also sion series Excalibur, which is to separate the part from produced a television series that based upon the drawings of the rest of the continent. The North included CGI. In their studio they Philippe Druillet, is produced. has an Arabic civilization and lan- have 18 micros and 3 Silicon From the sub-continent, we visit guage. Several studios exist in con- Graphics machines. Also deserving Asia proper. It’s necessary to know junction with small television sta- a mention is Argentina’s Profilms, that in these countries, the situa- tions as CGI is predominately used run by Pablo & Florencia Faivre. tion changes very quickly. For for this medium. A large part of the instance, let’s look at Vietnam. After television that is broadcast to the the war and a hard political situa- North African countries comes from Just try to estimate what pro- tion, this country has just reached Egypt where the television industry portion of the population in freedom. Now, new industries can is very important. Gabon owns a personal be developed. Today, two studios Below the Sahara there really isn’t computer... are already being created, some- a CGI industry. Due to the small times through an international col- specific market and weak eco- laboration. For instance, Sparx, a nomic powers CGI is not used in Middle-East In Israel there is important produc- this part of the continent. tion. Television is popular and Producers do not have enough advertising is a huge industry. They money to use this technique and have the economic power, a mar- many advertisements are live- ket and trained people when they action. Feature films are rare and need them. All conditions are go! also use only live action. South The Israel Institute of Technology Africa is the exception to this rule. is a university that produces inter- A lot of international productions esting work as well. Unfortunately, come to shoot in this country, as a the rest of the Middle-East is not as result a range of post-production active. Thank goodness, Egypt con- and CGI facilities have been pre- tinues to give programs away via sent for years. satellite. South America For the same reasons, the eco- Asia India is the largest film producer in nomical situation in South America

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 34 French company has a studio Melbourne Institute of in Saigon for television series Technology (Media Arts, production. Sometimes Department of Visual French animators will go to Communication) where M. A. Vietnam and teach the peo- Gigante works are just two. ple how to use software. The New Zealand is particularly other company is Sang Tao involved in film production. The Corporation who work with landscapes are so beautiful and PC computers. various that many American Hong-Kong and China have production companies shoot a CGI industry. China has sev- there and, like South Africa, uti- eral studios with 10 to 15 lize the post-production facili- individual SGI stations each. ties. Furthermore, The University This is possible because CGI of Otago, with Dr. Geoff Wyvill, companies are financed by large based Bisontek, due to their work is a very attractive place, especial- Chinese companies. For these big with France’s ExMachina for The ly for research. companies, a CGI studio represents World of the Material directed by a tiny percentage of their overall Jerzy Kular. The National University Finally... activity. Of course, a lot of of Singapore produces exciting There is an important difference Occidental groups have begun to works, like those of Dr. Tat-Seng between Japan and the Occidental be trading partners. In Hong-Kong, Chua. In Bangkok, a company countries and the rest of the world the most famous company is named Iloura, a subsidiary of an - not a cultural difference, but an AeroGraphix. Australian studio, produces mostly economic one. CGI is less vital than Europeans and North advertising. They use SGI stations other industries like producing elec- wonder why they know so little and Explore software. Usually, they tricity for the population. CGI is a about Asian production, but in sev- finish their film with post-produc- toy not necessary for a large part of eral countries, like Indonesia, a law tion stations like the Harry from the world. For instance, there is requires production companies to Quantel. nothing in Cambodia or Laos. make advertisements solely in their North Americans and Western own country. Thailand has excel- There is an important differ- Europeans are beginning to create lent studios and schools like ence between Japan and the studios all around the world for Kingmongkut Institute of Occidental countries and the economic reasons, i.e. cheaper ani- Technology, however, they only rest of the world - not a mators. As a result, it will bring work for national distribution and cultural difference, but an knowledge to developing coun- for other countries such as China. economic one. tries that they can then use as a This kind of product will never tool. The next years will be inter- reach the Occidental community. esting to follow. The rest of Asia is sprinkled with Australia and New Zealand activity, the heaviest being in Korea Australia and New Zealand are two where there are a number of com- countries that are becoming more panies. The most famous is Seoul- and more interesting and power- ful. As part of the Pacific culture (understand U.S. + Japan + Korea + South East Asia), they are des- Olivier Cotte is a Paris-based direc- tined to have a huge importance in tor and computer animation artist, the years to come. Australia already whose credits include Terra has many studios and several very Igconita. good schools for studying anima- tion. The School of Design at Curtin University of Technology (Perth, Western Australia) and the Royal

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 35 Interview With Milan Zivkovic: Belgrade’s Bikic Studio Attempts A Comeback by Heather Kenyon

hile in Annecy, I had an affected our lives. So many people opportunity to speak from our business left the compa- W with Milan Zivkovic, ny, and are working around the C.E.O of Belgrade’s Bikic Studio. world, including the States, Canada, Founded in 1989 as a private, inde- Australia, etc. For the first time, this pendent company by Veljko Bikic, year we are out of the country and the studio currently employs ten ani- trying to rebuild, re-establish what mators and roughly ten to fifteen we were six or seven years ago. This technicians. Like most studios, they festival [Annecy] actually helped us hire more people when work back in the Seventies, because our appears on the horizon. Mr. Bikic films were shown here and award- has been in the animation industry ed here. Then we got several co- for over 25 years and has won productions with the Canadians many prizes at international film fes- and Germans. But everything tivals like Leipzig, Annecy, Zagreb stopped after the war started. So and Tampere. The studio is his heart- this is our first outing after the sanc- felt creation that he sometimes Milan Zivkovic, writer, director and CEO tions, and our first try to make new of Bikic Studio. funds by selling his own possessions contacts and explain to people that like his car and apartment. With this Bikic Studio was promoting two pro- we are still able to do business. money he would be able to pay his jects which they have in the final staff so that they could stay in the stages of development: Captain HK: Did last year’s Zagreb festival studio and draw and practice. The John Pipplefox, a feature animated help you? studio specializes in the combina- film for a general audience, and MZ: Yes, we were there. We were tion of live-action and animation. Pinkuluses, a television series for chil- very surprised that they invited us, They were actually one of the first dren. Besides, rebuilding from a but we sent our films. We got the studios in Europe to combine the war, this studio faces another prob- message from our friends that it two when they completed the lem, a problem that plagues studios would be better for us if we didn’t German produced Hatchi-Puh in throughout the world - the lack of come, because they couldn’t guar- 1986. This Serbian studio is currently a market. antee our safety. Still, it was the first trying to revitalize their business after gesture of a good relationship on six years of sanctions and war. In The War’s Impact their side, and our films were well Annecy their short Big was in the HK: How did the war affect your received there. short fiction films competition. business? Paradise, which was also present- MZ: We suffered a lot like the rest of HK: How did the war affect the ties ed at the last Hiroshima Festival, and the country. We didn’t have any within the animation community over 20 other short animated films contact with the rest of the world within the former Yugoslavia? which have been produced over for about six years, which impact- MZ: Now we are separate coun- the past few years were screened ed our business tremendously, tries (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, at the MIFA. At their MIFA booth, which affected our talent and that Bosnia, Macedonia), but we try to

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 36 through those deals, to get some think that he is not in the diplomatic materials for our own productions. service anymore, because of the Yugoslavia never even actually pro- sanctions. He was not doing it for duced, even before the war, most of his own interest, but to help us out. the materials which are needed for But because of that he suffered a the production of animated films. professional loss. There are a few Normally, we have been able to buy other people who were lucky and but now because of lack of money, were not caught in doing this, and it is impossible. During the sanc- that’s how we survived. The Paradise (1994), a short film directed tions, we smuggled it in or friends by Nedeljko Ubovic for Bikic Studio. brought it in suitcases, and things HK: It’s amazing that in the midst of keep close professional ties with like that. Even pencils and paper, a war, you were still being asked to them. When we meet here or . Not to mention sophisticated do commercials for products. These somewhere else in the world, we stuff like software for computers. We commercials were commissioned are good friends still. We don’t talk constantly lack film stock to shoot from inside and outside of the coun- politics and we just talk about what the films. Our laboratory is closed, try? In secrecy? we are doing and how we can help so we have to go either to Bulgaria MZ: Yeah. We did quite a few com- each other. Unofficially, we talk to or to or somewhere else mercials ... primarily due to the each other over the phone and we for post production services. name of Mr. Bikic, who is a very meet somewhere else and we try well-established animator and to rebuild the professional relation- HK: During the sanctions you could- designer. Everybody knew him. ships we had. But politicians are still n’t produce a thing? Thanks to that, people didn’t care avoiding to come to a solution MZ: Well, we survived. First of all, about the sanctions or anything, which will help us all rebuild the this company in particular, man- they just went for the right product country. We hope that through the aged to survive by making com- and the right person. It always went art of animation, or any other form mercials for Yugoslav companies. through a middle man. Now offi- of art, that we will be able to do And we developed other lines of cially the sanctions are off, and that. Because we weren’t in the war. product, like design, like making nobody can touch them for what We were not shooting at each documentaries and industrial films, they’ve been doing. I think they are other. Some other people did. And things like that. Whoever would pay actually proud to help us out in this we all suffered the consequences something, we would go for it. We situation, and we appreciate that of that. managed to survive, thanks pri- very much. marily to some good friends from “We didn’t have any contact abroad, who helped us, who with the rest of the world for knew us from before. about six years...” HK: They gave you work? MZ: Right, unofficially. We Living Under Sanctions can talk about this now, since HK: The sanctions are now lifted. it’s over, but then they were Do you have a fine supply of mate- at a big risk. There is a very rials or is it still a problem? interesting story about a MZ: Very much so. We have to go Swiss ambassador, who was abroad for each and every item we an art collector and who need. Since the country is in such loved animation very much. an economical state, its very, very He, on his own risk, through hard and expensive for us to get diplomatic channels, brought any materials. So what we are trying some technical materials into to do is to make partnerships, col- Yugoslavia. He was called laborations, providing services for back by the Swiss govern- Artists at work in the studio. Western European countries, and ment, and was charged. I

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 37 cut the ties with personal and pro- nomically and politically unstable. fessional friends. I was there two or That’s why people are reluctant. But three times during the year, they we invite everyone to come to see would come and visit. We always for themselves, our studio, our facil- have been working on something ities, watch how we function, and together. to show them through complete products, that it is possible to do Starting Again business with us. More and more HK: How much work were you people are coming, mostly those doing prior to the war and with who knew Beograd before the war. which companies and countries? They understand better the situa- Bread, a ten second commercial. MZ: Altogether, we produced, prior tion now. It’s much easier to explain to the war, around 1,000 minutes of to someone who was familiar with Talent Flight animation for our own productions. the situation before, what’s going HK: Is it hard to find trained peo- Then we worked on a long series on, than to someone who is total- ple? for a Canadian group, and provid- ly unaware of the whole history. We MZ: Very hard. We have a pool but ed services for them. We worked use this opportunity to re-establish we also have a training ground for with a German company on a fea- contacts and make some new con- young people who are finishing up ture film, a combination of live tacts and to try to persuade people schools, or designers who like ani- action and animation. We did all of that we are as good as we were mation. We bring them into the stu- the animation for them. Right after before, that we are as capable of dio, and one or two of our anima- doing the things that we did before. tors work with them and introduce Now there is a great advantage for them to the art of animation. So we them because our prices, for our have constantly a flow of young services, for the quality we are giv- people coming in. Unfortunately, ing, are very competitive, even com- not many of them stay in anima- pared to Southeast Asia. That’s the tion, because there is not enough main advantage people see in work for all of them, so they have to being with us. find something else to do. On the other hand, the salaries we can “During the sanctions, we offer are not big enough to be so Sisyphus (1992), a short film directed by smuggled (supplies) in or appealing to them, so they move Vladimir Stanec. friends brought it in suitcases, to something else. and things like that.” that job, the war broke out. Once HK: To another country? we established a position in the ani- MZ: To another country or another mation community, we were cut off. job. HK: Do you feel that now your stu- HK: How is it going now? dio is completely able to do a large HK: Do you think as time goes on, MZ: It’s building up. It’s a very slow production? though, people will come back? I and painful process, but... MZ: I think so definitely. We lack should think that if you’d left your some technical facilities. We cannot home country, you would always, HK: Do you find that people are do post production. But in terms of want to come back as soon as it reluctant to talk to you once they classical animation, we can do any- was possible again. know that you represent a Serbian thing which can be done anywhere MZ: Well, that is my case. I left company? in the world. I say that not only to before the war started, three years MZ: Not for political reasons or any- promote ourselves, but based on before. I left because I did not feel thing to do with the war, but the fact that whomever saw our comfortable there. Once I found out because people are very conscious materials here (in Annecy) were very that there was a chance for politi- of the risk involved in putting their appreciative of the quality of ani- cal change, I went back. But I never money in a country which is eco- mation. In terms of technique and

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 38 Yugoslavia is still uncharted territo- that we can manage to survive, to ry for most of the Western coun- build a company, to purposely take tries. They don’t even consider us, one or two steps back, to where we like they do with the copyrights in were ten tears ago, in order to gain China or other countries in the ground and start moving for- Southeast Asia. It’s such a small mar- ward again. ket that nobody really cares…yet. But once it opens and once we start HK: Is there anything else you want to build it, of course, they will put to add? their hand on it and get tighter con- MZ: I wish that American animation My World (1996), a short film directed by trol. So we were treated like smug- companies would let us Europeans Snezana Trstenjak. glers, like rebels, and we became show the American public...that like that, in certain ways. If we there is stuff which is produced here art, I think it’s as good as any. couldn’t get the right software, we which is as, or almost as, good as would break through it and get it. what’s produced in the States. And Smuggling Software As you know, there is a market for I wish that the monopoly of the HK: What other sort of technical that. You can buy it anyplace in the huge American corporations in the aspects do you think you lack? world. For ten dollars you can get media industry, is softened a bit. Let MZ: Computers, software, the right software which costs thousands us show that we can do something software. We have been dreaming and thousands of dollars. We are which has an interest for the about buying Silicon Graphics for a neither proud nor ashamed of that, American public, and not only ask year now. We are saving money for it was just necessity. Now that we our animators to come over and that. We have some software. We are dealing with serious companies, work. They are not asking for prod- use 3D Studio Max, Digital Fusion we have become more serious in uct. They are not asking for any- and ADOBE Premiere, but our business plans. So, we are thing but just for the plain labor. [Softimage] we still don’t putting aside those years and this And I think we can offer more than have. We were just negotiating with practice, and are building the stu- that. Not just our studio, but Microsoft to give us a discount for dio from the ground up. Europeans in general. We would Toonz. like to sell our talents and brains, not only the labor. HK: Can you talk about that for a “We would like to sell our tal- ents and brains, not only the bit? How many systems, or what do HK: Would you be interested, for labor.” you have? instance, in doing contract televi- MZ: We are working on PCs, sion product, like South Asia? Is that Pentiums. Tomorrow’s Outlook a market that you would look to be HK: Are you hopeful for the future? interested in? HK: For ink and paint? Do you think that soon it will be MZ: Of course we would. We MZ: Right. We have only four com- how it was before the war, or do would be very much interested in puters. Some of the software we you think that you still have eco- collaborating, very much interested developed ourselves. Some of it was nomic hurdles, supply hurdles? in providing services. We would stolen. There were sanctions, so MZ: I think its going to be very dif- appreciate very much to learn from nobody cared about the copyrights ficult. This year is going to be very the Americans, because we believe at that time. But now that the sanc- tough for us and the next one too. that they are the leaders. They are tions are over, we have contacted But we wouldn’t be here [Annecy] the best in animation, like in any those companies to say, ‘Okay, we if we didn’t believe that the change other media industry. What we have the hacker’s copy of your pro- is possible for the better. That we wouldn’t allow to be done to us is gram, now we want to buy the real are capable of persuading people to become a colony of some big one.’ that we can do a quality job. Even corporation. Do you know how though the circumstances, political long it takes to create an animator? HK: What is their reaction? and economical, are working Seven to eight years of hard work. MZ: They laugh! Because against us, we hope and believe Lots of money and lots of work goes

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 39 into it. And they, Disney and they’re doing. Unless they see some Warner, they want to get the final “We were not shooting at each strong forthcoming around the cor- product for nothing. That’s not fair. other. Some other people did. ner, they’ll just feel content at what But we cannot stop people from liv- And we all suffered the they do. It just might happen that ing in Paris, or London or even Los consequences of that.” American media industry gets hit Angeles. I cannot blame people for very hard, as it happened to going for their well-being, but it’s American car industry some twenty MZ: Yes, most, and we can’t even the system I don’t approve of. Our or so years ago. I think its much fight them in our own country. industry is going down the drain cheaper to build a studio in That’s how it is. What I was trying because we don’t have animators. Budapest or Beograd or Prague, to do, because I lived in the States, Big studios took them. We don’t and have development and pro- I wanted to learn so much. I want- have funds to produce anything duction there, than it is to run the ed to bring their expertise to our decent. And of course, you cannot studio in Burbank. Then it would be part of the world. I always thought see in European theaters, a a collaboration, and not exploita- that competition was a good thing. European feature film. From your tion. All of us have our little pride, The NBA (National Basketball wildest dreams you will never see and if you try to put us down we Association) can play in Europe if an animated feature film from get angry at that. you allow it to happen. But if you Europe playing in theaters in the take the cream of the crop over . I guess its the market there, and you leave the rest to us, law of the strongest, made by the then we really cannot compete with strongest for the strongest. Heather Kenyon is Editor in Chief you. The public doesn’t care where of Animation World Magazine. it (programming) comes from. But I HK: Is the animated product on tele- don’t think its good for the indus- vision in Yugoslavia predominantly try. They’re becoming self-sufficient American programming? and too self-indulgent in what YYourour AdAd CouldCould BeBe HerHere!e! For rate cards and additional information about various opportunities for exposure at Animation World Network, contact our Los Angeles office at: 213.468.2554

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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 40 Beiman’s Progress How hard work and The Fates helped Nancy Beiman to her rightful place in the Pantheon of Disney animators by Janet Benn he has animated Bugs and [on a school break], and Donald, Snoopy and Goofy, Jim Logan (who was at Dick Sfriends of Fievel Mouse and Williams’ studio in Hollywood) told Mickey Mouse, ’s me to look up his old friend Jack humans and ’ Zander when I was in New York.” Martians. Nancy Beiman has At Zander’s Animation Parlour, the worked for Jack Zander, Rick reluctantly agreed to Reinert, the , take a look at Beiman’s student film. Disney television movies, Warner “He’s looking at the cat film and he Bros., , Gerhard Hahn Nancy Beiman in her studio at Walt goes, ‘Who did this?’ ‘I did.’ ‘You and . Disney Feature Animation. Photo by did this?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Excuse me, I Gary Krueger. © Disney. think Jack better have a look!’ Now, as Supervising Animator for Program at CalArts. She had The Fates and the Thebans in already been accepted at New York Disney Feature Animation’s current University, but instead she went to So different from the time release, Hercules, she has reached California. nearly twenty years ago when a place she has been working Beiman stood alone as the first toward for 20 years. It seems fit- “I went to the right school,” Beiman woman to graduate from the ting that she should be acting in told me recently. “That was an CalArts Character Animation the Underworld: well suited to her incredible course. You had Jack Program talents as a caricaturist and her Hannah teaching Animation, Elmer strong New Yorker’s individualism Plummer with Life Drawing, T. Hee and cynicism. teaching Caricature, Ken O’Connor “Zander looked at it for a minute doing Layout. These are legendary and said, ‘I’ve seen enough! Get A CalArts First people. One non-Disney person, over here! Sit down, draw me Beiman was fated to be taught by Bill Moore, was a design instructor something!’ Jack said later, ‘You the colleagues of the Nine Old at Chouinard Art Institute for 40 were 21 years old, you looked 14, Men at the California Institute of years. This turned out to be the and no one had ever heard of Cal the Arts from 1975-1979. As Tom most important course of all, since Arts!’ She continues, “No one had Sito has described in his remem- everything else works out of good ever seen a student film with brance of the 1976-77 production design. I was very lucky to be there Disney style animation in it. Jack of Raggedy Ann and Andy when they were all there. There wanted to be sure I wasn’t faking (Animation Magazine, April/May, were two other girls in that first it! I think I drew some little sheep 1997) those years saw the last pro- class but by the end of ‘76 I was for him. And he said, ‘Get in my ductions of the old generation, the only one left. I was the first to office, sit down! You wanna go and the first efforts of the new. graduate in 1979. Since Jack back to school? To Hell with school! Zander had already hired me, I Sit down, we’ll pay you! Start work- Through a string of coincidences graduated three months ahead of ing!’ But I said, ‘Mr. Zander, my par- worthy of her weird sisters’ inven- the guys.” ents will at me if I don’t tion, Beiman was chosen to receive have that diploma.’ ‘Allright. Why a scholarship to the inaugural class Nancy explains how this hap- don’t you work for me this one of the Character Animation pened, “I was heading back to week, and then you come back in

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 41 [the] Animation [Division]. I started Don Martin commercial, and we’ll in ‘82. I was freelancing for Rick see if we like each other?’ Reinert Productions, which was subcontracting for Disney. I worked “I made some very dear friends on Winnie the Pooh and a Day for over there. The Don Martin job Eeyore, the original Disney was a really wild commercial for Channel station breaks, and a lot the Swedish election of 1988, of educational stuff for Florida with where I worked with some Danish The Fates, characters of destiny, Donald Duck. In 1986, work start- animators and met Borge Ring. I animated by Nancy Beiman for the film Hercules. © Disney. ed getting rather thin on the found HahnFilm to be a pleasant ground, and Dean Yeagle and I place in which to work. The January, after you get it?’ he sug- formed Caged Beagle in an Werner project we did was a lot of gested.” There were some phone attempt to get commercial pro- fun. It was a feature, the most suc- calls to California, and “that’s how duction going again. It was the cessful German film since 1945, all this foofraw started. So I started wrong time to start a studio in New and the sequel [Werner, Eat My working for Zander’s in December York City, though we did subcon- Dust] has broken that record. I of ‘78 and went full time in March tract work from Warner Bros. on mainly did on Werner of ‘79.” their Quackbusters feature. and also some animation. I went to Annecy [Animation Festival] in Beiman is a traditionalist who has “I then went out to California and ‘89, and was approached by the nevertheless broken ground for picked up work from Bill Melendez, Spielberg people [to work on An women in unprecedented areas. who was a wonderful, wonderful American Tail: Fievel Goes West]. I As a result of her first job, she was boss. I worked on a show called said to Gerhard [Hahn] as he was the youngest person and one of It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie just about to start full production, the few women ever to be initiat- Brown. It was a really elaborate ani- that I always wanted to work in ed into the New York Union mation with live-action combina- England, and this was about my (Motion Picture Screen tion, with Snoopy’s brother Spike. only chance. So we parted on very Local 841) as an animator. Later, What I loved about it was, Spike amicable terms. she was to become a director in had never been animated before, and the directors said, ‘Do what New York for Warner Bros. on their Beiman is a traditionalist who you like with him.’ Spike doesn’t first attempt to revive six minute has nevertheless broken talk, just like Snoopy. So this was theatrical shorts production after ground for women in the first fully pantomimed charac- the demise of Paramount’s Famous unprecedented areas. Studios in the ‘60s. Even though ter I had done. Boy, was he fun! I this was 1991, there were still few mean, I had more fun on him than female animation directors in New just about anything. York. Cats And Mice “In ‘88 everything died. So I saw a “[At Amblin in London] I was orig- Taking up residence among the cliff magazine article that said, ‘Don inally hired as an animator, but I dwellers of , her pre- Martin cartoons to be done in was a supervisor within six months. ferred habitat, she did well, becom- Germany.’” Nancy sent her reel, I was doing a great deal of ing one of the principal animators not really expecting much, if any, footage, and I’d asked for Miss Kitty, for Zander’s commercial spots and response. “Then I get a long-dis- who was unassigned. I got the The Gnomes television special. In tance call, [a voice] with a heavy promotion. Kitty, I thought, is one 1982, she left to pursue freelance accent, that goes, ‘This is Gerhard of my best assignments: she was opportunities which included her Hahn, from HahnFilm. Can you get a great voice. Amy Irving did a sort first Disney assignment. on ze next plane? How many years of Mae West accent. Her dialogue can you stay?’ And I said, ‘Whoa, was a little crazy, so I suggested to Dogs And Ducks whoa, there. Here’s what we’ll do: Simon Wells, one of the directors, “I’ve been working for Disney for why don’t I come over for thirty that since she had scatterbrained a long time, but not necessarily in days to Berlin, and I’ll work on your dialogue maybe she should be

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 42 scatterbrained in her actions. This Rhodes in New Mexico. So, we was enthusiastically accepted. So I actually had the scene worked on had a lot of freedom in her chore- in three different cities. The film was ography. extremely amusing, it just aired this week. I would love to hear what “Then, instead of going onto the people thought of it. I would love next feature, I went back to New to hear the reviews, because, of York to work for Greg Ford on a course, we were very proud of it, show that I would Nancy animated on Disney’s A Goofy and we were very happy that it Movie while working at their studio in direct. So, I tell people I change Paris. © Disney. aired.” countries the way some people change socks! I’ve always been a Jones and incorporate them into Nancy knew that her time at person who prefers to live where I this new stuff.” Chuck Jones has Warners was limited. “Warner Bros. want to live. You know, I could always been one of Nancy’s closed the New York Studio in have made more money going out heroes. “I do feel like I’m doing him 1992. I was supposed to go back to L.A., let’s face it, in 1982, when a terrible disservice, so we did not to Germany, but Gerhard [Hahn] Rick Reinert offered to bring me out have direct hookups from old ani- did not get financing for another there. I hung on as long as I could mation to the new. They are kept feature. I wound up working for in New York, and then went to strictly separate. The old footage is the Phillips Sidewalk Company in Europe, because I like to live in a presented as evidence in a trial. L.A. with Gary Drucker and cosmopolitan city.” And I’ve literally put it on a motion Rebecca Newman on a now-dead picture screen, which is modeled system called CDI. CDI went at 10 Beiman was piling up credits like on the old Art Deco fixings that frames per second, but looked like trophy heads from jobs which were in our studio. Plus, no one full animation.” were coming, Hydra-like, from all said the ‘old footage’ had to be ani- directions. Nancy started her move mation! There’s a montage The Mouse in Burbank West, like Fievel, with her next job sequence of which I’m still rather However, the CD-ROM system was for Warner Bros. proud, called ‘Know Your to win out in the marketplace and Neighbor,’ where you have Marvin the divine hand of Disney plucked her from the shady Underworld of Beiman was piling up credits say, ‘Here’s how Earth creatures soon-to-be-obsolescent CDI tech- like trophy heads from jobs portray us!’ And it’s all these clips nology, to act Goofy and eventu- which were coming, Hydra-like, from Grade Z live-action horror ally shoulder the labors of Hercules. from all directions. movies.” The Goofy Movie was produced by A feature of the recent (June 1997) Disney Television, and was first weekend of Bugs released theatrically to critical Bugs in Bunny cartoons was one which acclaim. “In 1993 I got a phone call Warner Bros. opened a production had never been seen before, called from Disney Television [in Burbank]. studio in New York in 1989 in the Bunny. This was the sec- They said, ‘Would you like to work historic Film Center Building on ond film made at the New York stu- for us on The Goofy Movie in Eighth Avenue in the Hell’s Kitchen dio. Nancy recalls, “Blooper Bunny France?’ I said, ‘When do I leave?’ district. Nancy’s first directing was directed by Greg [Ford] and They needed a Supervisor assignment was to be a compila- Terry [Lennon]. It had a very elab- [Supervising Animator] with expe- tion program of 30 minutes’ length orate computer animated back- rience who was very mobile and titled Lunar Tunes. ground at the beginning of the film could live in Paris for a year. that was done by the Kroyers [Bill About it, she says, “I tell people, and Sue]. [In New York] I animated “I was Supervisor on Roxanne, the saying you’ve done a compilation Bugs and Daffy matching to these girl, and also did a lot of work on picture is like saying you’ve had an computer backgrounds. Elmer Goofy and Pete. They gave me the illegitimate child! We had to take [Fudd] was done by Dean Yeagle; opening scenes in Goofy’s house, the Martian cartoons of Chuck was done by Nelson since they wanted a ‘-

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 43 animation before, so he would Burbank, but she wanted you all meet us halfway. If I said, ‘Gerald, to know she’s not the only girl any- she won’t turn. I need a back view,’ more. “There were many women he did it for me. And, I would com- animating on Hercules. Ellen bine the two designs, I would inter- Woodbury was the other Lead polate the two, making a happy Animator. She did Pegasus. medium. I did every scene on The Caroline Cruikshank, Teresa Fates. They were completely sur- Wiseman, and Terri Martin were all “They were completely surreal real characters, more ‘graphic’ than in the Phil[octetes] Unit. Catherine characters, more ‘graphic’ than ‘character’ animation,” notes Beiman ‘character’ animation. I figured that ‘Catpou’ Poulain worked on on animating The Fates for they were spirits, so they didn’t Meg[ara] in Paris. Gilda Kouros in Hercules. © Disney. need bodies. They were just heads the Hercules unit was our only style’ Goofy. They said, ‘He’s a very and hands (and one portable eye- Greek animator [as well]. [There sensitive character later in the film, ball) and the drapery suggested were three] female animators in so we want to lead in with some- ‘bodies’ underneath. I designed the Effects Department, and a thing where the character’s behav- The Fates, and The Old Theban, number of Department Heads and ing like the Goofy the audience the Fat and Thin Women, and Key assistants were also women.” always knew.’ So they wanted me many other characters based on to do something goofy with Goofy. drawings by Gerald Scarfe. So different from the time nearly I remember director Kevin Lima twenty years ago when Beiman wanted him to dance the Mambo.” stood alone as the first woman to “There were many women ani- When Nancy finished the anima- graduate from the CalArts mating on Hercules.” tion, she showed it to him. “I want- Character Animation Program. Luck ed this to be the stupidest Mambo (or The Fates) had an influence, ever filmed! He said, ‘You won! but raw talent and hard work, That’s right!’” Nancy continues, “The “[Scarfe] is a gentleman and a pro- combined with a deep apprecia- choreography was like John fessional. For example, as he was tion of a great tradition, tenacity Waters did it.” going to go back to England, [at and courage in the face of adver- the last minute] I said, ‘Hey, Gerald, sity were there and needed as well. In 1994, Beiman continued work- I forgot something! I need a bug!’ ing for Disney Television, this time I was doing this scene with these in Burbank. She was getting clos- Thebans standing around the well, er to features, and at last the word and a cricket has to hop in, and I came down. “In the beginning of didn’t have a model for the cricket. Janet Benn was Scene Planner, ‘95, I was informed that John He said, ‘Big eyes or small eyes?’ I Layout Checker and Retake Musker and had said, ‘I think big eyes.’ He did this Supervisor on MTV Animation’s asked that I contact them at funny little jelly bean of a cricket, Beavis and Butt-head Do America [Disney] Features. They said, ‘We with giant eyes, that goes, ‘Cheep!’ at MTV Animation in New York. She would like to know if you’d do The and frightens all the Thebans. I also has worked in animation produc- Fates for us (on Hercules).’ They did the Painter in Herc’s villa, who tion for 20 years, and was an showed me the Gerald Scarfe is, by the way, a caricature of and final checker at Zander’s drawings, and some of designer Gerald Scarfe! Gerald had sent his Animation Parlour when Nancy Sue Nichols’ work, and I thought, drawing for the character and [Ron Beiman was animating there. She ‘This is really exciting, very differ- and John] said, ‘You know, this was also the first vice-president of ent.’ looks a lot like him.’ I said, ‘Do you Women in Animation/New York, think he’ll get mad at me?’ And, I and has also officiated at ASIFA-East “You’ve got to realize, when you’re don’t know if he knows it now, that and Women Make Movies, Inc. brought up doing what you call he’s in there.” the traditional Disney style, Scarfe’s designs can look a little intimidating Nancy Beiman continues today at at first, but Gerald had worked in Feature Animation in

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 44 Digital Animation Programs: Three School Profiles Sheridan College, California Institute of the Arts, The University of Southern California veryone knows the digital ani- A Long Tradition Williams, who developed computer mator is currently a hot com- The Classical Animation Program was animation techniques for Jurassic Park Emodity. Here is how these three started at Sheridan in 1967. During and Terminator 2, was nominated for established schools are meeting the the 1970s, the curriculum was devel- his work on The Mask in the Special challenge of the age. oped by a number of internationally- Effects category in June 1995. Steve’s Whether through the acquisition of acclaimed faculty including Bill first co-production, Spawn, is about to grants, software and hardware or key Mathews, a Disney animator. He be released this month. faculty appointments, Universities and helped to develop the classical style at Art Schools are aggressively preparing Sheridan in the 1970s and has just Another senior character animation students for the ever-changing future. retired from Disney. Many faculty return supervisor, James Strauss, was nomi- from the “real world” on a regular basis, nated this year for in as do graduates. Their experience and which he and eleven other Sheridan Sheridan College: School Of skill enriches the programs. grads breathed magic into the voice Animation And Design of Sean Connery as Draco, the by Robin King In 1980, Robin King started the Dragon. ILM employs over thirty Directors: Robin G. King and Scott Computer Animation Program which Sheridan graduates who have worked Turner is a graduate level, eight month pro- on films such as Casper, Jumanji, Coo, gram and the first of its kind in Canada. Contact, Disclosure, Hook, Hunt for This program has pioneered the devel- Red October, Forrest Gump, Star Trek opment of teaching methods for artists, (First Contact), Star Wars, Twister and designers and animators using com- the recent hit Men in Black. ILM has puter technology for animation and Sheridan grads among its animation graphics production. Because of the staff in both film, television commer- program’s early start and the high qual- cials and Lucas Interactive divisions. ity of the graduates, many now have senior positions in animation compa- nies around the world. In addition to Next year, Sheridan College will Students at Sheridan College learning to celebrate thirty years of classical use Silicon Graphics equipment. reinforcing the critical skills of traditional animation, students are well grounded and computer animation train- in character design, motion and ani- ing and education. Next year, Sheridan College will cele- mation dynamics, and creative con- brate thirty years of classical and com- cept development. puter animation training and educa- Many other graduates can be found at tion. Known internationally for the qual- Sheridan has graduated several stu- other animation companies such as ity and contribution of its graduates to dents who have either won or been Disney Feature Animation, Disney the professional field, Sheridan has con- nominated for Academy Awards. In Television, Pixar, Warner Bros., Fox, centrated on educating animators in 1984, classical animation graduate , Dreamworks, Sony the fundamental skills which ensure John Minnis made a graduating film Imageworks, Mainframe and other high quality film and television pro- called Charade for which he later won companies as far afield as Hawaii, ductions. the Academy Award for Best Animated Hong Kong and Singapore. This year Short. Another graduate, Steve they have commanded starting salaries

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 45 averaging over $75,000 US with the lectured extensively around the world animation. It functions as both a teach- top graduates being offered six figures! in aspects of creativity, computer ing and production facility. The major- graphics and emerging technologies. ity of students working in the Lab come A New Centre He will also be a Panelist at SIGGRAPH from the School of Film/Video’s This spring, The Ontario Government in August discussing the relationship and Character announced a funds-matching grant between education and business. Animation Programs and the curricu- of $12 million to Sheridan for a new special effects and high-end produc- lum reflects the specific needs of those Centre for Animation, Design and tion techniques. disciplines; yet it is general enough to Emerging Technologies. The College serve students working within the wide is now in the process of designing and range of theory and practice found in developing a $24 million centre which other CalArts programs. The primary will advance animation, design and mission of the lab is not simply techni- media technologies and production. cal training, but the application of that It will have both educational and training to art making. Students are research and development capability, expected to initiate, develop, and pro- and will be equipped for broad band, duce independent projects as a major interactive communications and pro- aspect of their education. duction. Private sector support and partnerships will form a significant sup- A separate Computer Animation port environment for this new venture. Program has not been established at CalArts since students are able to apply Sheridan offers its three year classical A computer generated image by CalArts’ the extensive knowledge gained in student,Albert Agazarian. program in two forms, three seven their core programs to the particular month “years,” or over three summers The California Institute of the Arts concepts, tools, and techniques in its International program. The by Michael Scroggins learned through the Computer Computer program consists of either curriculum. one eight month period starting in The California Institute of the Arts September or a full-fees International (CalArts) is a four-year, fully accredited The Lab is a major resource for program ($16,000) which starts in institution. The school includes all of educating students from January and runs until August. the visual and performing arts within throughout CalArts in the art of six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, computer . Currently, Sheridan has over 2,400 Film/Video, Music, and Theater. applicants each year for 110 places in its Classical Animation Program and The CalArts Computer Animation Lab Faculty and Alumni about 600 applicants for the 30 places was founded in 1983 by the Dean of Faculty teaching advanced courses in in its Computer Animation Program the School of Film/Video, the late Ed the Lab are drawn from working pro- (applicants to the program must have Emshwiller. The Lab began with a sin- fessionals and include artists such as at least three years post secondary gle Cubicomp system but soon grew Kevin Geiger, John Goodman, and experience to apply, although no com- to include an SGI IRIS 3130 with Greg Griffith. puter experience is required). This year software. a new major, Technical Direction, will Today the department is comprised of Kevin Geiger received his BFA degree be offered to exceptionally experienced a full suite of tools including 15 SGI in Painting and from the students within the Computer Indigo2 IMPACT workstations running Cleveland Institute of Art in 1989 and Animation Program and will deal with Softimage/3D Extreme, Pixar pursued graduate studies in Computer motion analysis, advanced production, Renderman, and Alias/Wavefront Graphics and Animation at the Ohio Power Animator and Composer. State University’s Advanced Computing Robin G. King, Director of the School Center for the Arts and Design. His of Animation and Design has been work in electronic media has appeared designing and developing creative A Mixing of Schools The Lab is a major resource for edu- in the following settings: The VIPER ‘94 educational programs in the arts and International Film and Video Festival, technology for over 25 years. He has cating students from throughout CalArts in the art of computer graphic the MuestraI International de Video de

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 46 Cadiz, ‘94 & ‘95, graphic imagery, Larry Cuba, who Videonale, and SIGGRAPH ‘94 & ‘95. made the classic abstract computer ani- Kevin worked as a CGI Technical mated film Calculated Movements; and Director for where Christine Panushka, who recently he created computer-generated crea- directed the creation of the interna- ture effects for the movie Species. He tionally acclaimed , Absolut is currently employed as a CGI Panushka, which provides a broad Animator for Walt Disney Feature overview of experimental animation. Animation where he is working on Dino. The CalArts Computer Animation Lab has been supported by generous John Goodman received a BFA from donations from SGI, Softimage, Pixar, The computer lab at USC. the School of the Art Institute of Rhythm & Hues, RFX, ILM, The (MFA) in Film, Video, and Computer Chicago and has been working in the Ahmanson Foundation, The Roy Animation. The MFA program explores field of computer animation and Disney Family Foundation, The Norton the history and theory of the artform design for over seven years. He is cur- Family Foundation, The Jones while emphasizing hands-on produc- rently working at Rhythm & Hues tion of original creative work using tra- Studios where his projects have includ- Michael Scroggins has been a CalArts ditional and contemporary media. ed commercial work for Samsung Intl., faculty member since 1978 and While embracing traditional forms, the Nippon Telephone/Telegraph, and Fox Director of the Computer Animation program strongly encourages innova- Entertainment, as well as game devel- Labs since 1995. His animation works tion and experimentation and empha- opment for the Sony/Playstation. have been widely exhibited interna- sizes imagination, creativity, and criti- tionally including screenings at the cal thinking. Greg Griffith received a BFA from Centre George Pompidou (Paris), CalArts in 1990 and has been a mem- Union of Filmmakers (Moscow), Seibu The recently revised curriculum offers a ber of the Computer Generated Ginza (), and the Los Angeles wide range of courses taught by inter- Imagery group at Walt Disney Feature Museum of Art (Los Angeles). nationally acclaimed artists. During the Animation for over six years. He has first two years of the program, cours- contributed to such Disney moments Foundation, and Twentieth Century es include film, video and computer as the ballroom sequence in Beauty Fox. animation history, theory and produc- and the Beast and the wildebeest stam- tion techniques, experimental, char- pede in . In addition, his acter and computer animation, critical credits include Down The University of Southern studies, life drawing and creative writ- Under, Aladdin and The Hunchback California ing. The MFA degree program culmi- of Notre Dame. by Dr. Richard Weinberg nates in the third year with Directed Research and a Thesis project, where- There are more successful CalArts ani- The USC School of Cinema-Television in the student demonstrates mastery mation program graduates working has created a new division to educate of the art of animation through the cre- in a broad range of filmmaking than graduate students and conduct ation of an ambitious, original project. could ever be listed here. Among the research in the expanding and broad- well known Character Animation ly defined fields of animation and dig- Extensive Facilities Program alumni are John Lasseter and ital arts. The Division of Animation and The facilities of the Division are exten- Pete Docter, who collaborated in the Digital Arts is at the cutting edge of ani- sive, with approximately 1 computer making of Toy Story, and , mation and new media, exploring per student. Hardware includes Silicon director of , , and what is still to be imagined and pro- Graphics O2s, Macintosh, Sun and Intel , all of which incorpo- ducing work that expands the frontiers workstations, a Solitaire Cine II film rated computer animation. The well of the art of animation. recorder, and video and known Experimental Animation systems. Software includes Program alumni are: , who The Division of Animation and Digital Alias/Wavefront, Softimage, Pixibox and most recently directed James And The Arts offers an undergraduate Minor as many other packages. The School Giant Peach, which utilized computer well as a Master of Fine Arts Degree recently became the first university in

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 47 the world to host a Quantel Domino Film, Video, and Computer Animation, stereoscopic computer-animated work workstation for 35mm film digital com- , Expanded Anim that has been exhibited international- positing and special effects. These facil- ation, and Animation Production III. ly. Panini Stickers, a recent, neo-Dadaist ities, when combined with the School’s Christine Panushka is a filmmaker/ani- work made in collaboration with extensive departments of film, televi- mator whose awards include Grand Professors Ed Harkins and Phil Larson sion and sound production provide an Prize, Aspen FilmFest 1986 for Night- of UCSD’s Dept. of Music, combines extremely broad range of capabilities time Fears and Fantasies: A Bed-time live action and computer backgrounds. for professional quality artistic explo- Tale for a Young Girl and a Golden It was exhibited at the ACM/SIGGRAPH ration. GateAward (Best of Category, Non-nar- ‘95 Electronic Theatre, on Television rative) at the San Francisco International Espanola (Madrid), in the Kwenju The School of Cinema-Television, locat- Film Festival 1985 for The Sum of in Seoul, S. Korea, and ISEA96 ed in downtown Los Angeles, is in Them. Her works have been screened in Rotterdam, Holland. She is current- close proximity to many of the leading internationally at such festivals as ly a Sr. Fellow at the San Diego studios and the major art museums of Hiroshima ‘85; First Japanese Center as well as a Southern California. This provides stu- International Film Festival; International Zumberge Fellow at USC. Her current dents with a wide range of opportu- Animated Film Festival, Stuttgart, research in new technologies in the nities for exposure to the industry and Germany; Lucca 16, Milan; and arts is supported by the Annenberg contemporary fine arts, including Toronto ‘84, Canadian International Center at USC and the Intel internships and employment. Animation Festival. An accomplished Corporation. printmaker and visual artist, she brings to her teaching and her art an innov- Richard Weinberg, Ph.D. - Founder The School (at USC) recently ative point of view cited by critics as and Director, USC Computer Animation became the first university in the “completely original and capable of Laboratory, Directed Research, Directed world to host a Quantel Domino affecting both cerebral and sensual Studies workstation... complexities” and placing her “in the Richard Weinberg founded the USC front rank of contemporary animation.” Computer Animation Laboratory in The Faculty Currently, Panushka is working as a 1985, and is a Research Associate Full-time faculty of the USC Division of freelance animator as well as produc- Professor in the School of Cinema- Animation and Digital Arts include: ing three of her own films. She received Television. His career has included Mar Elepano - Basic Motion Picture her MFA from CalArts. working for Control Data, NASA, Techniques for Animators, Animation Lockheed, Cray Research and co-chair- Production II, Directed Studies Vibeke Sorensen - Animation ing SIGGRAPH ‘84 prior to joining the Mar Elepano has been teaching at the Department Seminar, Contemporary faculty at USC. His interests include sci- USC School of Cinema/Television in the Topics in Animation, Directed Studies, entific visualization, animation systems MFA in Animation Program since 1993. Master Class, Master’s Thesis and Japan. He has published in var- He also serves as the administrative Vibeke Sorensen is Professor and Chair ied disciplines such as neurosurgery assistant and production supervisor for of the Division of Animation and Digital visualization, graphics hardware the program. He has been involved Arts. She is widely known as an inno- design, space shuttle simulation and with Visual Communications, Inc., a vative artist working with video, film, content production. Dr. Weinberg is Los Angeles based Asian-American computer graphics and animation sys- involved extensively with corporate community media arts group, since tems. Her work has received many relations and technology acquisition at 1986 doing media workshops. From honors and has been shown interna- USC. 1988-94, he was an artist-in residence tionally on television, in galleries, muse- at different Los Angeles high schools ums, and live performance. In 1989, Contact Information: Division of creating media pieces with young peo- she received a National Science Animation and Digital Arts School of ple. He also did similar workshops at Foundation grant with Dr. Lynn Cinema-Television University of the California Institution for Men in Teneyck, SDSC/UCSD computational Southern California University Park, Los Chino from 1992-94. His film, Winter, biologist, for research in Interactive Angeles 90089-2211 (213) 740-3985 has been exhibited at the Hiroshima Stereoscopic Animation. They created http://felix.usc.edu/index.html International Animation Festival. an interactive video animation system, Christine Panushka - Introduction to and Sorensen produced MAYA, a

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 48 The Ever-Expanding E3 (Does that make it E5?) by Joseph Szadkowski t’s easy to blame the heat on ring the great man himself with acter to hit the big money, Hercules. meteorological twists, but I’m bet- rock- turned villain Poe. Joining the Hercules Print Activity I ting part of June’s temperature Not to be outdone, Sony Center, The Hercules Animated soar was caused by the 1997 PlayStation teased retailers and Storybook teaches children reading Electronic Entertainment Exposition some of us fortunate press folks with and vocabulary skills. Each of these (E3) where the best of the best CD- giant character cutouts surround- titles is for Windows/Macintosh play ROM and electronic platform devel- ing a party which took place under and retails around $20. If they opers spent three days sweltering a full Georgia moon that even out- haven’t had enough of the big guy, in Southern hospitality. shone the phenomenal fireworks young players can take on the role The event packed over 37,000 indi- display. Entertainment that evening of Hercules while defeating mon- viduals into the Georgia World was provided by Soul Asylum. sters, defending Mount Olympus Congress Center and Georgia from the Titans and beating the Dome. The Interactive Digital heck out of Hades in the Hercules Software Association (IDSA) claimed Over the last three years, the action game. Containing video that 486 exhibiting companies filled annual E3 convention has game-style action with 10 levels of a space equivalent to 35 football increased in size and the breadth game play, three different worlds, fields with over 1,500 new titles. of products that it represents... hidden areas and secret power-ups, this program is for ages 8 and older Extravagant Parties Amazing Games at a retail of $39.95. An exciting industry, E3 extends Party antics aside, we were there Virgin Interactive is also capitalizing beyond the convention center as for the games and we did not leave on the success of Disney’s Hercules. gaming companies opened up their disappointed. Here’s a quick peek Available for the Sony PlayStation, wallets to throw celebrity packed at some of the titles guaranteed to players can jump into 10 levels of parties. Bruce Willis of the animated have animation fans taking out action, sophisticated side-scrolling cartoon series Bruno the Kid invit- loans on their limited edition Looney and 3D technologies. Now when ed a sea of humanity to his favorite Tunes chess sets. Herc cuts off the Hydra’s heads, restaurant, Planet Hollywood, to Developer Titus avoids DC Comics you’ll even get sprayed by the green promote the release of Activision’s current costume mishap, working blood! new platform title, Apocalypse, star- instead with the Warner Bros. car- In early October, a new breed of toon folks on for Game Boy, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Players become the man of steel in order to stop from using the LexoSkel 5000 to take over the world. Featuring stunning 3D envi- ronments, various fight levels and rescue operations this is a game to look for later this year. The showroom floor at the 1997 The showroom floor at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo in was all of a titter Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta. Atlanta. over the success of their latest char-

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 49 son action fighting game takes our Japanese sci-fi film, players must hero from hell to three different time take-on evil high-tech forces by periods. Along the way, players maneuvering one man tanks called must fight familiar faces from the Fukochimas. Featuring 12 missions comic book, new animated series and 10 minutes of original anima- and film. Players will also be chal- tion from the same team that did lenged with a series of puzzle situ- the film and a separate training ations that will lead to their meet- mode, Ghost in the Shell could be ing and defeating the mighty the surprise hit much like the film . was.

Screenshot from Activision’s Apocalypse. Popeye’s our favorite sailor man and this fall Brilliant Digital Entertainment An exciting industry, E3 super hero takes flight for gives him and the gang a Multipath extends beyond the convention PlayStation when Sony combines Movies line of 3D interactive cine- center as gaming companies forces with the demented wit and ma. For PC play, Popeye and the opened up their wallets to voice of Phil Hartman in presenting Quest for the Woolly Mammoth is throw celebrity packed parties. Blasto. Blasto combines 3D game the first in a series of three animat- play, constantly streaming environ- ed features targeted for viewers five ments and plenty of wise cracks. to twelve years old. Multipath A New Scope Looks like Earthworm Jim has final- Movies are digitally animated sto- This relatively new industry is now ly met his match. ries, each containing hundreds of stretching its arms to encompass an plot alternatives leading to multiple ever-widening scope of interests. Party antics aside, we were and distinct conclusions. Interactive No longer the domain of adoles- there for the games and we did decisions are requested every 30 to cence alone, everyone can now not leave disappointed. 45 seconds and because users can find something on the shiny plastic choose the mood of Popeye, Olive discs that allow us to travel, play, Oyl, Brutus, Swee’ Pea or others the learn, create and explore our world Everyone loves an anti-hero and experience becomes more like and our interests. this Christmas Sony and Todd watching a cartoon than playing a Opponents of computer CD-ROMs McFarlane form an unholy alliance game. have been warily watching the with the release of Spawn: The Fox Interactive’s previous first-per- industry. Over the last three years, Eternal. This single player, third per- son shooter games are the antithe- the annual E3 convention has sis of Anastasia: The Adventures of increased in size and the breadth of Pooka and Bartok. Releasing in products that it represents, rebuk- November to coincide with the ing earlier prophecies of failure. As movie release, it is for children 6 a vehicle for the promotion of art, through 10. The program uses a graphics and animation, the CD- variety of exploration, problem-solv- ROM has benefited greatly from ing and testing skills. technological advancements, open- Fox Toons enters the market for the ing new doors for program devel- very young with value priced pro- opment to the benefit of creators grams for children 3 to 8. The Baby and users alike. Felix Creativity Center will help chil- dren with basic reading, math, art and music while the Hello Kitty Creativity Center focuses on read- Joseph Szadkowski writes on vari- ing, counting and math skills. ous aspects of popular culture and For the connoisseur, in early is a columnist for The Washington Baby Felix Creativity Center is one of the October, THQ is shipping Ghost in Times. first titles in Fox Interactive’s FoxToons line of games. the Shell for the Sony PlayStation. Based on the super successful

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 50 Israel’s Third International Festival of Creative Filmmaking Review by Karl Cohen

or the last three years the Tel- Norm Kauffman discuss the making Aviv Cinematheque has pre- of The Yellow Submarine. They dis- Fsented an unusual approach cussed the production’s history, tech- to festivals. The Festival of Creative niques used and what it was like Filmmaking stresses creativity instead working with the Beatles (the guys of holding a competition or a trade thought the feature was going to show. Most of what was shown be Disneyesque!). When John was that Coates produced the feature he was had not been seen in Israel. This so naive that he didn’t ask for a per- year’s selection included outstand- centage of the gross or profits. TVC, ing recent works from Europe and however, went over budget and North America plus programs of lost money making the feature. The classics and a selection of work Yellow Submarine will be 30 years honoring animators from Israel. old next year but seeing it again Creative Filmmaking ‘97 was for was a fresh and exciting experience. anyone who wanted to learn more Part of the excitement was seeing about animation and/or live action the “Hey Bulldog” sequence for the filmmaking, and who finds pleasure first time which was cut from prints in exploring a wide variety of shown in the USA. approaches to filmmaking. The TVC also presented several other event was attended by profession- programs from their past. One hon- als, students and the general pub- ored their late director Dianne lic and while the programming was myself, an animation scholar from Jackson and another honored the fascinating the historic city offers just San Francisco. I showed work in late director . as much. 16mm from my archive and new Coates and Kauffman presented a The festival’s guests of honor were works from the Bay Area. John master class where they talked picked for their ability to communi- Coates and Norman D. Kauffman about the company’s 40 years of cate and for their contributions to from TVC in London were also spe- productions. They showed sample cinematic creativity. The guests cial guests to present a sampling of reels of commercials and other included: Clare Kitson, who com- works from their company includ- work. Coates, a convivial gentle- missions animated work for Channel ing Where the Wind Blows, The man, is about to retire and the 4 TV in England, Thomas Meyer- Yellow Submarine, Father Xmas and future of the company will be left Herman and Manuela Lumb from The Snowman. in the hands of Kauffman and his Studio Film Bilder in Stuttgart, associates. The TVC productions Germany, Jonathan Amitay, who Special Guests were delightful. They showed worked for almost 20 years as a The greatest treat at the festival for Famous Fred directed by Joanna designer for the CBC in Toronto and me was hearing John Coates and Quinn, 1997, 25 min; The Tale of

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 51 Mr. Todd: The Further Adventures one producer and an administra- of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin tive person. They have up to thirty Bunny, 1996, 25 min; The Willows people working there however in Winter, 1996, 70 min; The Wind when they are busy. A show of per- in the Willows, 1995, 70 min; sonal films by the company’s direc- Father Xmas, 1991, 26 min; The tors included the premiere of Gil Man Who Moved the Beatles, 1991, Alkabetz’s film Rubicon. 40 min; Grandpa, 1989, 26 min; Snowman, 1982, 26 min and The The Festival of Creative Yellow Submarine, 1967, 85 min. Filmmaking stresses creativity directed by George Dunning and instead of holding a competi- designed by Heinz Edelmann. tion or a trade show. Other works were also screened. Karl Cohen. A big surprise was seeing material Clare Kitson from Channel 4 in made for German television that mornings and they show these London is the commissioning edi- would surely be banned by intelligent, humorous shorts to bal- tor who has funded some of the American television stations. The ance the serious discussions pre- most outstanding animation by programming was made by Studio sented during the show. The ani- Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer, Nick Film Bilder in Stuttgart. When 10 mated shorts are highly creative Park, Barry Purves and other world Kleine Jagermeister, a rock video using a variety of animation tech- famous animators. She presented a with music by Die Totem Hosenm, niques. One used a small Swiss program of recently commissioned was shown on MTV they censored army knife as the body of person. works that included Stressed by the showing of female breasts, a Others used , plasticine, and Karen Kelly, Bob’s Birthday by David joint and a pistol. Several of the drawn and painted images. The Fine and Alison Snowden, Pond Life other Studio Film Bilder’s music series would get into trouble in by Candy Guard, The Village by were so full of bare nippled America as it shows bare breasts Mark Baker, Abductees by Paul breasts and other sexual images that with nipples, pubic hair on females, Vester and Britannia by Joanna it was obvious these works could male genitalia, condoms, breasts Quin. never be cut enough to please American censors. It Other Programs is a shame as there would A program of recent anima- be an audience for Help Me tion from around the world Mr. Dick and Fritz Loves My featured several works from Tits, by E-rotic, Devil’s Child Israel’s leading animators: by Karl Anton and Innocent Noam Meshulam, Alexander Again by Sex Angels. These Geifman, Barak Shakin, well made videos are Ayelet Sharon, and plasticine shown regularly on animator Roni Oren. Other Germany’s music television works were by network. from Holland, Stig Bergquist, Studio Film Bilder also made Lars Ohlsen and Jonas Odell a series of sex education from Stockholm and Marv shorts for children that Newland from Vancouver. would shock American tele- Newland sent a retrospec- vision censors. The studio Clare Kitson and John Coates visited Tel-Aviv from England. tive of work he has pro- was commissioned to do duced that included Pink sixteen shorts that deal with topics being fondled and a lot of other Komkommer, Anijam, Lupo the such as the problems of growing images that are forbidden on tele- Butcher and Meets . up, first love, sexual harassment and vision in the land of free speech... The United States was well repre- menstruation, for the show Dr. Mag The German company is 8 years sented in the festival with a program Love. Dr. Mag Love airs on Saturday old and has a staff of six directors, of work from New York honoring

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 52 as a graphic Holland and several films that have designer won Golden Eagle Cine Awards in doing anima- the USA. The festival’s small staff also tion and titles included producer Shoshy Frankel, for television a charming person who did a great from 1978 job taking care of 1001 details. until recently The festival was held in a modern when he theater complex that has two large moved back well equipped halls with excellent to Israel. In his video, 35mm and 16mm projection presentation systems. Tsvika Fiksel, the head pro- he demon- jectionist, was a delightful gentle- strated man who has worked in projection numerous booths for over 50 years. techniques Considering his love of film and the Animator Jonathan Amitay giving a masterclass presentation. like: how fondness of the medium by others backlit graph- who work there, it came as no sur- John Dilworth’s Stretch Films, J.J. ics are done, how he animates with prise that the food service in the Sedelmaier’s studio, Ink Tank and sand, and how he uses a chain with lobby is called Cafe Paradisio. The Buzzco. I also presented a masters very small links as a flexible line. cafe was well run and provided an class on recent animation produc- excellent assortment of salads, pasta tions in the San Francisco Bay Area. dishes, smoked salmon sandwich- Tsvika Oren, the festival’s The program featured independent es, beer, wine and other treats. , picked works shorts by Tim Hittle (his Oscar nom- The Cinematheque building has a that would stimulate people’s inated Canhead), Richard C. large room used for animation imagination. Zimmerman, Tod Kurtzman and workshops. It has both 16mm cam- Tennessee Reed Norton, plus com- eras and single frame video/com- mercial work by Pixar, PDI, ILM, puter equipment. Most students in Danger Team, Midland, Xaos, Staff and Facility Israel are forced to use video and Protozoa, Bio Vision, Colossal Tsvika Oren, the festival’s creative computers today as the last 16mm Pictures, , Wild Brain director, picked works that would film lab in the country has closed. and Kevin Coffey’s Cartoonland. stimulate people’s imagination. Oren Film has to be sent to Italy or I also presented three historical is a remarkable festival director. He England for processing. shows. My show on censorship is also quite included several pre-code cartoons, popular with an uncensored Private Snafu and a his animation selection of shorts too risqué to be students at the shown on TV or in most theaters in Cinematheque the USA. I also exhibited WWII pro- and at Camera paganda films that featured ani- Obscura. While mated and live action shorts and most of what my screening of film pioneers he selected to included works by Winsor McCay, show was ani- , Willis O’Brien, mated, he also Charles Bowers, Robert Cannon, included Rod Jan Lenica and other directors. Serling: All of the master classes were held Submitted For in English except Jonathan Amitay’s Your Approval, presentation. He was born in Israel a program of and began working in animation in classic docu- Zack Schwartz and festival director,Tsvika Oren. Canada in 1968. He was with CBC mentaries from

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 53 and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in a splendid museum of art and antiq- uities. I rode buses to and from Jerusalem several times and felt completely safe. The military rides for free and soldiers are required to carry their automatic weapons with them. I was told the chances of getting into trouble in Israel are far less than the odds of getting into trouble in New York City. I’d recommend attending the next festival to any animation fan who is interested in visiting Israel. There is The Cinematheque, home to the Creative Filmmaking Festival. plenty to do each day, but the schedule repeats most shows so My Extra Activities! visited Zack Schwartz and his fami- you are not overwhelmed by there Tel-Aviv has several schools teach- ly in their home. We talked about being too many events. This is a ing computer animation including his career at Disney (backgrounds relaxed, comfortable festival with Tel-Aviv University and Camera on and art direction on enough invited guest and unusual Obscura. I met with students at Bambi and Fantasia), his being a programs to make it exciting. It is both schools and showed them the founder of UPA, and his new book for people who love animation and latest computer animation from San on storytelling in animation that is other forms of creative filmmaking. Francisco. They were enthusiastic published by Sheridan College Press For details about the May 20-23, about what they saw and many in Canada. 1998, event contact Tsvika Oren, would love to work for ILM, Pixar or P.O. Box 20370, Tel-Aviv, Z.C. PDI someday. The city of Tel-Aviv is wonderful. 61203, Israel. Another highlight of the trip was a visit with Noam Meshulam who runs Pitchi Poy Animation Studio, a The city of Tel-Aviv is wonderful. The well equipped facility in historic Jaffa Cinematheque is situated in a very at the southern end of Tel-Aviv. The pleasant area. There are numerous studio is in a one-hundred-year-old historic Bauhaus or International Turkish style house with 30 foot ceil- Style buildings from the 1920s and ings. Some of their work is animat- ‘30s in the area, and on one walk I Karl Cohen is President of ASIFA- ed on paper and then inked and went down a street full of students San Francisco. His first book, painted in-house on computers, enjoying the sun and the trendy Forbidden Animation: Censored while other projects have been shops that cater to these shoppers. Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators, done using magic markers on paper Swimming in the Mediterranean will be published later this year. He or in other techniques. They have was a real treat, the seafood was also teaches animation history at animated part of the Sniz and exceptional, there is even a world San Francisco State University. Fondue series on , mul- class and almost every- timedia projects for Fisher Price and body speaks English. other producers as well as a lot of Another special event was visiting television commercials. Many of historic sites. I wandered about a their artists have moved to Israel medieval walled town named Akko from Russia. (aka Acre) on the coast that is in Israel seems relaxed and being lived in the way life was hun- friendly. I made several friends in dreds of years ago. I made several the two weeks I was there. I also visits to the old areas of Jerusalem

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 54 Licensing International 1997 Review: A Grand Success By Deborah Reber eychains, stickers, ing this year, Licensing International Moon.” The third series, “Home to pins, ice cream, Polaroid shots, premiered four new speciality pavil- Rent,” marks the first European-pro- K Chippendale Dancers, and ions, including the Interactive duced, non-commissioned animat- even superheros. Some strange Entertainment Pavilion, a Sports ed series to be sold to a U.S. net- new variety store? No, just the 17th Pavilion, Fashion Alley, and an work. Network will pre- annual International Licensing Animation Pavilion. Cinar Films, DIC miere “Home to Rent” in the fall. But Show. From June 10-12, more than Entertainment, Gaumont perhaps the most unique animation 14,500 members of the interna- Multimedia, InToons Entertainment news found at Licensing tional licensing and merchandising Group, Jim Henson Productions, International was the introduction community braved the brutal Matinee Entertainment and of “Ticker,” an animated spokes-char- humidity of Manhattan to promote, , Ltd. were among the ani- acter for the American Heart negotiate, buy and sell nearly 3,000 mation studios on site. Association (AHA). Created by properties, including characters, award-winning animation produc- trademarks, original designs, enter- ers David and Mary Corbett of tainment, sports, animation and per- Exhibitor attendance marked a Evening Sky Productions, Inc., Ticker sonalities. Exhibitor attendance 70% increase over last year, is designed to promote good health marked a 70% increase over last while general attendance to people of all ages, and will be year, while general attendance recorded a 12% increase the focus of HeartPower!, a new recorded a 12% increase from from 1996. children’s educational campaign. 1996. Ticker will reach millions of children To accommodate the number of Big Animation News from kindergarten through 8th new and diverse companies exhibit- Making animation news was Los grade by a number of platforms, Angeles-based DIC Entertainment, which promoted three new ani- mated series, “Wacky World of ,” “Extreme Dinosaurs,” and the eagerly awaited “Mummies Alive!,” a collaboration between DIC and “” producer . Golden Books Family Entertainment and Goodtimes Entertainment announced they have joined forces to produce an animated feature based on the clas- sic television special “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” The feature is set for a Christmas 1998 release. On the international front, French animation studio Gaumont Multimedia took the opportunity to debut three new children’s animat- The showroom floor at the ‘97 Licensing Gaumont’s animated series Show in New York. ed television properties, including Tune of the Moon. “The Magician” and “Tune of the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 55 Introduction to Licensing Basics, The Licensing International `97 was host- Legal Side of Licensing, Retail: The ed by LIMA, the Licensing Industry Toughest Nut to Crack, Strategic Merchandisers’ Association, which Branding, Licensing and the aims to serve the licensing needs of Children’s Market, The Burgeoning its more than 600 company mem- Market in Art/Design Licensing and bers. Licensing in Today’s Global Markets. The highlight of the week’s activi- Looking ahead, Expocon, the ties was the 1997 LIMA Beanie company who directs the show, Awards for Excellence, which were is expecting the number of held on June 11 at the Marriott exhibitors to continue to Marquis in the heart of Times increase. Square. Scholastic Productions’ live- action kids program “Goosebumps” beat out “Dilbert” and “Toy Story” to win the License of the Year award, The Future is Big while Warner Bros. Looking ahead, Expocon, the com- topped Snoopy, Paddington Bear, pany who directs the show, is Barney and Action Man to take expecting the number of exhibitors home the International License of to continue to increase. Expocon Ticker, the new animated spokes-charac- ter for the American Heart Association. the Year award. Other winners was more aggressive in their pro- included: Scholastic Agency - motion of the show this year, with including animation, toys, publish- Licensing Agency of the Year; Tyco more advertising in trade publica- ing, apparel, promotional tie-ins and Preschool, creator of the popular tions, especially internationally. In other major avenues of character Tickle Me Elmo doll - Licensee of the fact, there was a 74% increase in licensing. Year (Hard Goods); Crown Crafts international exhibitor participation and Winnie the Pooh bedding - over last year. According to Murray Discussions and Awards Licensee of the Year (Soft Goods); Altchuler, executive director of LIMA, For those weary of exploring the Hamilton Projects - Licensed Brand the overall increase in attendance convention center’s endless aisles of Extension of the Year; ’s is a direct tribute to the increasing- exhibitors, attendees could find Monopoly/McDonald’s promotion - ly important role the Licensing Show some resbit, as well as valuable Promotion of the Year; and Target plays within the industry. He also information, at one of the show’s Stores for their involvement with points out that retailers were much many concurrent sessions. Among The Hunchback of Notre Dame and more involved this year (their atten- the sessions available were: An the Looney Tunes - Retailer of the dance increased by 14%) because Year. of their growing role in the process For the 5th of licensing merchandise. A repre- consecutive year, a sentative of Expocon, Elizabeth portion of the ticket Farvata, confirmed that their com- sales for the gala panies are already signing up for event went to The next year, and upgrading their Hole in the Wall space to larger booths. Gang Camp, creat- ed by Paul Deborah Reber has been an Newman. More Animation Development Consultant than $24,000 was with UNICEF for the past three raised for the Camp years, and currently oversees the which hosts chil- Cartoons for Children’s Rights cam- dren with cancer Exhibition at the annual Licensing Show is expected to contin- paign, as well as other animation ue to increase in coming years. and serious blood advocacy activities. disorders.

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 56 The Whitney Archive: A Fulfillment of a Dream by Michael Whitney few months before his death, monic motion. He used a mecha- John Whitney helped Michael nized pantograph to create the ani- AFriend, Director of the mation sequences for Vertigo (con- , to pack up tracting with Hitchcock’s production boxes of film and personal papers for company) and Bolshoi Ballet (with storage at the Archive vaults in ). He replaced the panto- Hollywood. Both had in mind the graph with the cam systems of the eventual restoration of old printing M5 and M7 anti-aircraft gun guidance elements so that future viewers and computers available on the military researchers will have access to the rich surplus market in the late 1950s. history of early - makers. In addition, in the early These mechanical analog computers 1980s, John had established a non- contained interior mechanisms, which profit foundation, Digital Harmony, he assembled into an animation to develop his ideas for the use of the device that he called the “cam computer for the artist. He had a life machine.” With the ball integrators long passion for his work that he and cams he achieved critical insight wanted to pass on to others. into the significance of differential change or “drift” to create motion John Whitney (1917-1995). from precise repetitive action. He had created animation that began to have He had a life long passion for the structure of movement. At the a mathematical basis for its develop- his work that he wanted to beginning they had planned to create ment in time. Eventually, he used the pass on to others. animated films of her painted playful term “digital harmony” to indicate figures. They made rubber stamps as laws of harmony applied to images The Structure of Motion a start at animating the figures. Later in motion as well as to sound. The Two elements helped shape his career on, working together at the kitchen cam machine was a long way from that eventually spanned nearly sixty table, they cut out the letters for the his Jazz films of the late 1940s which years. One was a talent for building original Jack-in-the-Box logo. In the were an improvisation - motion as an things that served his artistic purpose 1950s with children to feed he sought emotional expression closely related and the other was his fifty year mar- commercial work. to music. The cam machine offered riage to painter Jackie Whitney. The an insight into structure in motion. two provided a balance to the expo- He built a twenty-five foot two-part Intrinsic structure offered a new under- sition of ideas that he called “a per- Foucault pendulum in the back yard pinning to gesture in motion. sonal search for the complementarity to create design elements for use in of music and visual art.” The relation- restaurant interior decoration. The Seeking Perfection ship with Jackie began a lifelong dia- designs were based on the lissajous His gift for building devices was a logue between creative playfulness figure. Tuning the pendulum by mov- source of pleasure for him. He would and emotional expression in counter- ing weights up and down began a often joyfully exclaim out loud when, balance to his theoretical insights into hands-on tactile exploration into har- as he made his way through the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 57 after all, the only way his work was ure. This had been a long path. He felt known, and he felt his most impor- strongly that at some point others tant work was therefore not known. would understand the need to under- Every attempt to distribute the com- pin plasticity of motion with harmon- puter pieces in his Moon Drum series ic structure. failed to meet his need for fidelity to the original gem-like quality of the computer screen and its luminescent He longed for the ability to CRT colors. improvise and then refine his vision as he experienced The major periods of both John and each day. his brother James Whitney’s work fall naturally according to the technology The Hope for an Archive and techniques they employed. Michael Friend can be reached at the James focused on an inner vision uti- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and lizing the methods available to him Sciences Center for Motion Picture until he exhausted his technique and Study. Funding is needed to cata- moved on to new techniques. At the logue John’s extensive writings, to end of his career, Jim was beginning restore the stored film material and to explore the image making poten- make the twelve pieces of the Moon tial of video but did not bring his work Drum series available for viewing. to completion. John continued into Over the ten years when he used his the final period of his career, 1985 - RDTD composing program, he con- Moon Drum was released on video in1991, 1995, with a program RDTD evolved tinuously reshaped each work. Only throughMystic Fire Video. from the IBM research period of the one version of Moon Drum is avail- garage, he found just the right part to late 1960s with the aid of program- able commercially. In the few months complete construction of a new or mer Jerry Reed. His final instrument that John lived after Jackie’s death in improved device. The building of tools gave him tremendous satisfaction. He May of 1995, the changes he made meant that his palette of techniques really wasn’t content unless he started cut Moon Drum loose from his pre- for making images constantly his day early, making modifications to vious techniques; a vivid new spirit changed. He seemed to be less con- the Moon Drum pieces as he worked playfully emerges. Digital Harmony, cerned that these changes left him out ideas from the previous night’s Inc. hopes one day to have a version with tradeoffs. If he didn’t have rich dreams. He recognized the limitations of RDTD available to artists, filmmak- background color texture he had of his instrument, indeed, he suffered ers and students interested in explor- more control of foreground action. under the opaqueness of the DOS ing John Whitney’s astonishing range He was a realist, eager and able to command language. of ideas. move forward rapidly with whatever he had at hand. He devised a real- Editor’s Note: AWM will continue to time projection direct to broadcast His gift at building devices was a report on the progress of this valu- television that was perhaps the first source of pleasure for him. able archive’s creation. proposal for what has now become MTV. He pitched the idea to friends Michael Whitney, MBA, CPA, is an at Capitol Records CBS in the early He longed for the ability to improvise independent filmmaker and pro- 1950s, but the project was never and then refine the vision he experi- ducer, and is currently working for funded. enced each day. In Moon Drum his the State of Tennessee Department instrument had some of the fluidity of Education. He assisted his father, The difficulty of transferring high qual- of the Jazz film period oil-tray anima- John Whitney, with DOS, and has ity images from the computer back tion and at the same time had a struc- traveled extensively, lecturing and onto film or video was a frustration tural underpinning that echoes back demonstrating RDTD and the Moon to him. He was used to having a print to the “fine tuning” needed to make Drum pieces. to loan out for viewing. That was, the pendulum produce a lissajous fig-

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 58 Animation World News Compiled by Wendy Jackson hiring animator Marek Colek, direc- a post as director of Corporate Sales People tor Chris Mullington and direc- and Promotion for tor/cameraman Chris Romeike. . . Entertainment Group. . . . . Shuffle. . .Nelvana has shuffled their execu- York-based commercial production MGM Animation has restructured tive management around, naming company, N Ur Eye Films has its executive lineup, naming Jay former chairman Michael Hirsch and signed director Emanuel Block. . . . Fukuto Senior - former president Patrick Loubert to . has appointed Neil Animation and retitling Paul Sabella the newly created positions of co- Young to vice president and gener- and Jonathan Dern to Executive CEOs. . . . Charles Self has been al manager, and Chris Yates as vice Producers. Fukuto joins MGM from appointed producer at the president and chief technology offi- Animation, design/animation/computer graph- cer of their Austin-based studio where he was Vice President of ics company Atomic Pictures. . . . Origin Systems. Both Young and Current Programming. Sabella and Nancy Bassett has left Viacom Yates join EA as they exit Virgin Dern were both Vice-Presidents- Consumer Products (Canadian divi- Interactive. Animation, a now defunct title at sion) to take on a post as director of MGM Animation. . . . Margaret Licensing & Merchandising for Miyazaki To Stop Directing Loesch has been upped to Vice Alliance Multimedia in Toronto. . . Features. Famed Japanese anima- Chairman of Fox Kids Worldwide, . has named tion director Hayao Miyazaki recent- from her previous post as President Nancy Berstein to Executive ly held a press conference in Tokyo to of Fox Kids Worldwide and Chairman Producer. . . . Electronic Arts has announce that he will not be direct- and CEO of its division, Fox Kids named Peter Loeb (formerly of ing any more feature animated films. Networks Worldwide. . . . . Klasky SegaSoft) to the new position of vice This announcement comes on the Csupo Commercials has signed president of Online Entertainment. . heels of several unfounded rumors Rachel Finn for West Coast repre- . . Alias/Wavefront has hired that Miyazaki was planning to work sentation, replacing former rep Darr Thomas Williams as chief techni- with an American studio to create a Hawthorne. Finn runs Rachel Finn cal officer and vice president of its feature film. Miyazaki’s body of work Representation, a Santa Monica research and development division. includes the feature films Nausicaa based firm. . . . David Fain has Williams, winner of two Academy Valley of the Wind and My Neighbor moved from Philadelphia to Los Awards has 14 years experience in Totoro, produced through his own Angeles to work for Nickelodeon computer graphics, including stints at Studio Ghibli. Most* of these films, on Action League Now, a recurring ILM and Pixar. . . . .David Wasson which are distributed in Japan by segment within the Kablam animat- has joined the director roster at Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., will ed series . . . . Castle Rock Acme Filmworks. Through Acme, be released in the U.S. starting this Entertainment has signed Bill Wasson most recently directed three year through a rights acquisition by Oakley and Josh Weinstein, writers commercials for Starbucks and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. A and co-executive producers on The worked on design for NBC’s animat- total of eight Miyazaki feature titles Simpsons, to an exclusive, multi-year ed Johnny Chimes character. . . . may be released by Buena Vista deal to create and produce new tele- Hearst Entertainment has named under the Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli vision series. . . .Cuppa Coffee Russell Brown vice president of banner, including the latter two of Animation has expanded its staff, Licensing. Brown moves over from mentioned above and Kiki’s Delivery

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 59 Service, Only Yesterday, The Scarlet all of Marvel’s constituencies...This net earnings rose 68% to $5.5 mil- , Pom Poko, and Princess problem should now be rectified and lion. “During the second quarter,” Mononoke. all of Marvel’s properties and assets said Cinar president Ronald *Castle of Cagliostro is distributed in will be combined under one roof Weinberg, “we delivered 51 new the U.S. by Streamline/Orion. where they belong.” half-hours of animation and live- action programs. We are well on our Cinar Acquires Carson-Dellosa. way to meeting our production tar- Business Canadian entertainment company get for fiscal 1997.” Cinar Films, Inc. has confirmed plans Nevada Bans Anime To Minors. to acquire Carson-Dellosa Publishing Lacewood, Paragon Paradox. Nevada, the U.S. state popular for Company, Inc. and its affiliates for Ottawa-based Lacewood its legal gambling (Las Vegas) and approximately $40.5 million ($24.5 Productions and Toronto-based escort services, has passed a bill million in cash and $16 million in Paragon Entertainment Corporation (#336) which will restrict sale or rental Cinar voting shares), in a deal that is are in conflict regarding the arranged of pornographic cartoons to minors. expected to be complete by the end partnership between the two com- The increasing popularity of “tentacle of July. Carson-Dellosa, a privately panies. The deal, which was set to porn” anime videos has given rise to held company which sells education close by the end of March, would concern among activists, particular- products and classroom supplies to have placed Lacewood’s assets and ly because animated material is so schools, has an existing product base Paragon’s investments into a new often assumed to be suitable for chil- of original characters which are joint venture called Lacewood dren. Video stores, for instance, already widely recognized by stu- Animation Productions, Inc. But could inadvertently place the videos dents in the U.S. and in selected Lacewood, who has received $1.5 in the children’s section by an unwit- other countries through distribution million in loans from Paragon, is now ting store clerk. The Nevada of print material and merchandise. suing Paragon for breach of agree- Assembly lawmakers who voted on Both companies were founded in ment, in a $6.5 million lawsuit. the bill were shown a sequence from 1976, and both produce product for Coming to Lacewood’s aid is the Japanese animated film, Ninja the pre-school to sixth grade. In addi- Canadian actor/comedian Leslie Scroll, which portrays graphic scenes tion to developing print properties Nielsen (Naked Gun), who has of sex and violence. into animated ones, Cinar will now allegedly advanced the company be in a position to create merchan- $1.75 million to use towards pay- Finally,A Marvel-Ous Deal. , dise based on their original anima- ment of their loans from Paragon. Inc. has reached an agreement to tion properties. “We believe that we merge with will be able to leverage the educa- Harvey Entertainment Wins Group, Inc. in an “arranged mar- tional appeal of Cinar’s of orig- Lawsuit. The Harvey Entertainment riage” through Carl Icahn, controller inal television series which are based Company recently won a $700,000 of High River Limited Partnership, on popular children’s books, and pro- lawsuit against former agent/direc- who recently took control of the duce them in brand new venues,” tor/board member Jeffrey Franklin , bankrupt Marvel from former said Cinar co-founder and president his company ATI Equities and relat- financier Ron Perelman. Marvel has Ronald Weinberg. Cinar currently ed company Franklin/Waterman been the subject of months of legal produces and/or distributes several Entertainment. The case involved battles and headline news since they animated series based on popular claims concerning Harvey’s animat- declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in children’s books, including Arthur, ed television series, Casper & Friends. December 1996. The deal will move Paddington Bear, The Busy World of The jury found that Jeffrey Franklin stocks and holdings between Marvel, Richard Scarry, and The Country and his company willfully breached its bondholders, Toy Biz, and a group Mouse and the City Mouse their fiduciary duties to Harvey while of banks led by Chase Manhattan. A Adventures. serving as an agent and as a mem- statement issued by Carl Icahn said, In July, Cinar released its second ber of Harvey’s Board of Directors “Conflicts and divisiveness between quarter earnings to the public. from 1990 to 1993. Harvey chair- the toy company and the rest of Overall, for the first half of 1997, the man and CEO Jeffrey A. Marvel have been a major problem company’s revenues increased 40% Montgomery said, “The protracted over the last few years and have hurt from last year, to $37.4 million, while litigation process has been a distrac-

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 60 tion for our company, and we are recorded as a purchase with tion,” says Plympton, who learned a delighted to put this issue behind us Activision until the first quarter of few hard lessons when he distrib- and again focus our full efforts on 1998. uted his first animated feature, The exploiting our Harvey classic char- Tune, through and acter portfolio.” Orion Home Video in 1992. Films “Everybody got a piece of the action, Marina Docks With Dargaud. and I didn’t get a dime,” he recalls. French animation company Marina Swan Princess Sequel. Rich Plympton’s next feature, I Married A Productions has joined the Dargaud Animation’s second “Swan Princess” Strange Person, is being completed family, a major European publishing feature film, The Swan Princess: now, and should be ready to start a group. Dargaud has taken an 80% Escape From Castle Mountain theatrical run in the fall. Plympton is stake in Marina, as part of an effort to opened July 18 at theaters in Atlanta, also completing a new short film further move into children’s TV pro- Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, called Sex and Violence, which will gramming; They have already through Legacy Releasing, will func- be distributed through launched with Lucky Luke, Corentin, tion as an assist to the film’s home Entertainment Short Films Division in and Blake and Mortimer, three co- video release. The 75 minute, G- a package called General Chaos: produced animated series based on Rated film will be released on home Uncensored Animation, which is due the publisher’s comic properties. video on September 2, by Warner to hit theaters in the late fall. Marina recently produced the Mr. Bros. Family Entertainment. The orig- For Mondo Plympton showdates, Men series, currently in syndication inal The Swan Princess was released visit the Plymptoons web site in sales through U.S. distributor Summit in 1994. Animation World Network’s Media. The investment from Animation Village. Dargaud should enable the compa- Mondo Plympton To Hit Theaters. http://www.awn.com/plympton/ind ny to increase production of addi- ’s latest animated fea- ex.html tional animated series. ture, an animated autobiography called Mondo Plympton, will open Eai Cutting Fx For Blade. Electronic Arts And Maxis To in select U.S. movie theaters starting Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) has Merge. Two publishers of entertain- in August, following its recent the- been selected by New Line ment software, Electronic Arts and atrical opening during Seattle’s Entertainment to develop CG visual Maxis, Inc. (creators of “SimCity” Masters of Animation conference in effects for the upcoming (early 1998) games) have signed an agreement July and festival premiere at the live- Blade, starring Wesley to merge in a transaction valued at World Animation Celebration in Snipes. This is the first major motion approximately $125 million. The March. Mondo is a compilation of picture assignment for EAI, a com- merger is expected to be completed Plympton’s classic shorts and pany which has built its expertise cre- in August. excerpts, packaged with new ating computer generated anima- sequences depicting the artist as a tion for and Activision Says Yes To Take Us! cartoon character, highlighting his educational applications. Activision has acquired a small, seven- career as a syndicated and employee German marketing firm independent animator. Included in Blue Sky Makes A Simple Wish. called Take Us! Marketing & the 80 minute program are the Blue Sky Studios created the magic Consulting. The acquisition is a key shorts How to Kiss, Nosehair, and visual effects for the live-action fea- step in Activision’s expansion into the How to Make Love to a Woman, as ture film, A Simple Wish, which German marketplace for games and well as some commercials which opened in U.S. theaters on July 11. entertainment software. “The ability never aired due to material that was The film is a Bubble Factory and to simultaneously release our titles in “deemed offensive to sponsors.” In production starring multiple languages is an important keeping with his independent spir- Mara Wilson (Matilda), Martin Short component of Activision’s long term it, Plympton, who entirely finances and Kathleen Turner. European growth strategy” explained and animates his films himself, is self- Activision chairman and CEO Bobby distributing Mondo Plympton, for its Dark Town In Development. Henry Kotick. While the acquisition has theatrical run and videotape sales. Selick, the director of The Nightmare been announced, it will not be “I’m a firm believer in self-distribu- Before Christmas and James and the

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 61 animated film, Survivors, depicting to model the character on an SGI the stories of abused women. She Onyx machine, and the Typhoon recently resigned from her faculty software package from DreamTeam position at The Institute of the Arts in with the Ascension wireless motion Philadelphia, in order to work on her capture system to create the anima- filmmaking full time. Sofian is work- tion. The special is likely to air on ing towards completion of the film MTV’s International channels in the by the Fall, for which more than near future. 10,000 drawings are currently being colored by a team of former students Fox Adds 2 Nelvana Shows To MTV’s new animated host, Cyber Cindy. with the support of the grant Lineup. Fox Kids Network has added monies. The funding consists of two Nelvana’s Stickin’ Around and Giant Peach has entered into a devel- $5,000 grants from Women in Film Newton (working title, formerly opment deal with Fox, and the Pennsylvania Council on the known as Ned’s Newt) animated on a project he started when he Arts, as well as a coveted $50,000 series to their “Summer Blast” lineup, optioned the Dark Town comic book Pew Fellowship. Sofian’s is one of airing on weekdays and Saturday back in April (Animation Flash only twelve Pew Fellowships award- mornings. 5/06/97). The deal, confirmed last ed to Pennsylvania artists; another week, will fund development of the of which went to independent ani- All New Space Ghost. Cartoon property for a feature film concept, mator Paul Fierlinger (Drawn From Network is airing 24 new episodes of through Chris Columbus’ company, Memory). Space Ghost Coast to Coast starting 1492 Productions. Columbus, whose on July 18. The new slate of episodes credits include directing Mrs. will feature special guests including Doubtfire and the two Television Fred Schneider, Beck, Bobcat feature films, is attached to the pro- Goldthwait, Robin Leach, Peter ject as producer. Selick is attached as Cyber Cindy Premieres On MTV. Fonda and . The ani- both director and co-executive pro- MTV’s first animated video jockey (VJ) mated super-hero-hosted late-night ducer. Sam Hamm (Batman) is both made her debut performance in a talk show has been airing since penning the screnplay and script, 30 minute MTV U.S. special which 1994. and serving as co-executive produc- aired in late June and early July. er with Selick. Kaja Blackley, the cre- Cyber Cindy, named after Cindy Wendy The Witch To Be ator of the original comic published Brolsma, the Beavis and Butt-head Animated Series. Harvey by Mad Monkey Press, is involved in staffer who voices her, is a motion Entertainment is developing the clas- the development of the initial out- capture character filmed in real time, sic comic character, Wendy the Witch line for the project, a feature film like a live actor. One of the benefits as an animated children’s TV series. combining live action with dimen- of motion capture technology is the Writer Sherri Stoner, whose credits sional (stop-motion) animation. The relatively short production time need- include development for Casper, story depicts a man who, while in a ed. This special, for instance, was , and Tiny Toons, has coma, becomes trapped in a fanta- only two months in production, been signed to adapt the property, sy world called Dark Town. “We’re whereas if it had been produced in which made its debut within the keeping the kernel of the main idea, 2D animation (as it was originally 1960s Casper animated TV series. but a lot will be added on top of the conceived,) production could have original story,” Selick told AWM. “It taken up to a year or more. The spe- has had to be re-imagined to sell to cial, featuring Cindy interacting with Home Video Hollywood. It will be dark, yet music videos, is a pilot which is being comedic.” considered for a possible series. This Disney Releases 3 New Sing- is first creation by MTV’s DTV Lab, a Along Videos. Walt Disney Home Sofian On Survivors. Philadelphia- division formed to experiment with Video will release a new collection based independent animator Sheila new technologies to air on the net- of their sing-along video series on Sofian recently received three grants work. The technicians at DTV Lab July 22. The Disney’s Sing-Along to use towards the completion of her used Softimage and Alias software Songs Collection of All-Time Favorites

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 62 series includes three 30 minute computer animated, Russian Classics Finally videos available for a limited time at film on video, in stores this Fall. Distributed,By Jove!. Films By Jove, $14.99 each. Each video is subtitled Produced and directed by Jan C. a Studio City, California-based distri- with song lyrics and a bouncing Nickman, the 40 minute film is said bution company, has added a for- Mickey Mouse or highlighted words to be the first full length production eign sales distribution arm in order to follow. The first volume, The ever to be created entirely on stan- to distribute their library of films to Modern Classics, offers the first dard desktop computers. Nickman, television, home video and theatri- opportunity to own sequences from who produced the 50,000 unit-sell- cal markets worldwide. The Films By Hercules on video, with two musi- ing video, The Mind’s Eye, created Jove library includes the majority of cal sequences from the film, as well Planetary Traveler with digital artists the animated films produced at as scenes from The Little Mermaid, across the country, via the Internet, Russian Soyuzmutzfilm Studios Aladdin, , The Lion King, by holding creative team meetings between 1952-1980, acquired in and Beauty and the Beast. Volume in AOL chat rooms and exchanging 1992 from former distributor two, The Early Years, includes clas- and designs via email. Sovexportfilm. The international dis- sic musical shorts and feature film Using Macintosh computers, the ani- tribution arm, headed up by execu- sequences from the Thirties and mation was animated and rendered tive vice president Trish Gardner and Forties, including Who’s Afraid of the with software provided by head of sales Melissa Wohl, has Big Bad Wolf?, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, MetaCreations, and hardware pro- already signed distribution deals with and scenes from Pinnochio and vided by MetaCreations, Streamlogic Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co., . The third volume, The and Truevision. The video will be Channel 4 U.K., and the U.S. cable Magic Years, contains classics from available in stores on September 26 network . With Live the Fifties and Sixties, including at a suggested retail price of $19.99, Entertainment and Warner Bros., “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from while a DVD ( disc) ver- Films By Jove recently released , “The Bare Necessities” sion is in the works. Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Stories From from The Jungle Book, and others My Childhood, a 13 hour home from and video series which includes films such Sleeping Beauty. as . Over $1.5 mil- lion in restoration work was con- ducted to prepare the damaged films and dub the soundtracks, for the col- lection. The English version of which features the voices of stars includ- ing Charlton Heston, Shirley MacLaine and . Films By Jove’s next project will be to Disney’s Pooh’s Grand Adventure:The release animated features by Russian Search for Christopher Robin. animators Nina Shorina and All New Pooh. On August 5, Walt Norstein (if he ever finishes it!) Disney Home Video will release their third animated made-for-video CPM Anime Releases. Central Park movie, Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Media will release several science fic- Search for Christopher Robin, at a tion and erotic -style anime suggested retail price of $24.99. The titles on home video in August, 76 minute film is the first original including Yotoden: Chronicle of the Winnie the Pooh movie created in Warlord Period, Chapter 1, Peacock 20 years, since the home video enti- King: Spirit Warrior 1, Machine Robo- tled The Many Adventures of Winnie Revenge of Cronos, Volume 1, Planetary Traveler Lands On Video. the Pooh, released earlier this year, Visionary by U-Jin, Volume 1, and Fox Lorber Associates and Third was not an original production, but Ogenki Clinic. All titles will be avail- Planet Entertainment will release a collection of shorts. able retail for between $19.95 and Planetary Traveler, a feature length, $29.95. In September, Central Park

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 63 Media will release Masami Ohbari’s People, a 30 second live-action/ani- Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer: Round mation commercial for Seabrook 1 (dubbed) on video, at a suggested Designs paint. . . . retail price of $19.95. The action- created an animated music adventure anime film is based on the video/movie trailer for Walt Disney popular video game of the same Pictures’ George of the Jungle live- name. Also on September 2, CPM action feature, set to the pop band, will release volumes from their prolific The Presidents of the United States

“Black Jack” and “Patlabor” series: of America’s performance of the film’s Curious Pictures’ commercial for the Black Jack: Clinical Chart 3 (dubbed, theme song. The , Hoosier Lottery. $19.95) and Patlabor: The Mobile directed by Colossal’s George Evelyn Police-The New Files, Volume 5 (sub- and animated by Varga Studio in two spots, Toys and Closet use com- titled, $29.95). Budapest, is inspired by the 1970s binations of stop-motion/CGI ani- George of the Jungle animated tele- mation to depict some very stinky sit- Commercials vision series by . The three uations. . . . . Curious also created minute spot is being shown in the- two pairs of 15 second spot bumpers Spotlight On Spots. aters, on MTV and on The Disney for Wendy’s Restaurants International; Duck Soup Producktions created Channel. . . . Portland, - Big Frosty Dipper and No Animotion I/Educational and based Animakers completed Stages Hitchhikers, utilizing miniature mod- Animotion II/Sustaining, a package of Your Life, a public service els, 3D computer animation, live of four animated commercials from announcement for The California action and 2D type graphics to the Hoosier Lottery’s Daily Millions Department of Health Services, depict an outer-space world in which game. The 30, 20 and 10 second through the agency Montoya fast food becomes spacecraft. . . spots were animated by director Communications. The spot uses a .Curious also made two opener Stephen Lawes and his crew using painterly, Matisse-inspired technique commercials for the Tele-TV Media traditional techniques combined with animated in Macromedia’s Director cable/satellite venture. Critics Choice, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and software by director John Haugse. . by recently-signed director Chel Alias. . . . . Olive Jar Animation in . . The Ink Tank in New York creat- White and Movie Open by director Boston completed Crunch Course, ed Money, a stylized, graphic ani- Heidi Holman both utilize cut-out a 30 second commercial for Cap’n mated commercial for Puerto Rico’s and collage techniques. . . . Crunch cereal bars, through the Banco Popular. The spot was direct- Foote, Cone & Belding agency in ed by R.O. Blechman and produced Interactive & Internet San Francisco. Directed by Rich through the Saatchi & Saatchi Ferguson-Hull and animated by agency. The Ink Tank also recently Popeye’s Brilliant New Role. Jeffrey Sias, the spot uses stop- completed You Must Have Been A Brilliant Digital Entertainment has motion, cel animation and special Beautiful Baby, a 30 second spot for signed an agreement with King effects to depict children being Massachusetts’ South Shore Plaza Features Syndicate to develop and turned into crunchy, marshmallow Mall. Also directed by R.O. Blechman, produce three interactive games for coated cereal bar snacks . . . . .Film this spot employed the talents of ani- children based on the Popeye ani- De Trapani in Portland created Paint mation director Tissa David and New mated series and character. The titles York Times fashion illustrator Sharon will be packaged as part of Brilliant Watts. . . .Telezign created a pack- Digital’s “Multipath Movies,” a new age of station id’s, program opens digital entertainment line to be dis- and logos for San Francisco’s Fox 2 tributed over the Internet, on CD- (KTVU) TV station. . . . Curious ROM, as television programming and Pictures created a group of 10 and on home video. The concept of 15 second commercials for the Multipath Movies is for the viewer to Wizard Stick-Ups Air Fresheners prod- be able to create hundreds of possi- uct from Reckitt & Colman, through ble plot alternatives and choices, as McCann-Erickson agency in New Colossal’s George of the Jungle video. in the Choose Your Own Adventure York. Directed by Steve Oakes, the books style, to which Brilliant Digital

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 64 has acquired the exclusive rights from attraction, which presenting a six week seminar on Bantam Doubleday Dell Books to features a ten story, 80 foot dome animation, July 16-August 20, 1997 develop for this medium. Brilliant has screen and a 70mm projection sys- at their Academy Little Theater in already formed a three-year strate- tem, will open with “RGB Beverly Hills. The schedule of speak- gic alliance with Packard Bell NEC to Adventure,” a computer generated ers includes: distribute Multipath Movies over the film directed by Ben Stassen of New • July 16: Animation historian , and a joint ven- Wave Entertainment. ture agreement with Crawfords • July 23: Animation historian Joe Productions to distribute the televi- Pentafour Counts 63 Animos. Adamson. sion formats. The first Popeye title, Cerritos, California-based Pentafour • July 30: Disney animator Andreas Popeye and the Quest for the Woolly Software has purchased 63 licenses Deja and Warner Bros. Feature Mammoth, is targeted for a late 1997 of Cambridge Animation’s Animo soft- Animation’s . release. For a detailed history of ware for use in its multimedia studios • August 6: Speaker to be Popeye’s development from comics in California and Madras, India. They announced. to animation, see Mark Langer’s plan to use the 2D animation pack- • August 13: Eric Armstrong from Article “Popeye From Script to Screen” age for digital ink and paint on a fea- . in the July issue of Animation World ture film currently in production by • August 20: Animation historian Magazine. Pentafour in association with Rich Charles Solomon, voice actor Entertainment (The Swan Princess), , and veteran anima- Nightmare Ned Game In The as well as on television series and tor . Works. Recently downsized Disney multimedia CD-ROM projects. Tickets for the whole series are avail- Interactive is preparing for a able for $120.00 ($100 for Academy September 1997 release of the Metacreations Upgrades Infini-D. members and students), admission Nightmare Ned CD-ROM game, MetaCreations, the software com- to individual shows are not sold sep- developed and produced through pany formed by the recent merger of arately. For information/reservations, their exclusive output deal/partner- software companies MetaTools and call (310) 247-3000, extension 111. ship with Glendale-based Creative Fractal Design, will release version Capers Entertainment. Originally con- 4.0 of the Power Macintosh Infini-D Dykstra’s Fantasy In Film Lecture. ceived as an interactive game con- video/animation/effects software Visual effects artist Jon Dykstra will cept by Terry and Sue Shakespeare package. Infini-D is used by profes- give a presentation on the subject of and David Molina, the property was sionals to create broadcast-quality “Fantasy in Film,” as part of the adapted and released as a TV series digital video and 3D animation. Academy Foundation’s George Pal which began airing on ABC Saturday Features integrated into this upgrade Lecture Series. Dykstra is an Academy morning in April. The audience include real-time rendering, volu- Award winning visual effects artist which has been established through metric lighting effects and control of whose credits include “Star Wars,” the series should boost sales of the particle physics such as life span, “,” “Star Trek: The game, which, at an estimated retail gravity and collision detection, as Motion Picture,” “Dune,” and, most price of $35-$40, is in the high end well as deformation tools for mor- recently, “Batman and Robin.” of the price range for children’s game phing effects. The Infini-D software Dykstra’s talk will take place on titles. package sells for about $899, and August 7, at 8:00 p.m., at the the upgrade will be available for Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater Technology $199 (suggested retail prices). The in Beverly Hills. Admission is $2.00 Power Macintosh version upgrade to the general public, free to Time Machine Ridefilm In is available now, and the Windows Academy members. For information, Shanghai.Suzhou Amusement Land 95/NT version will be available by call (310) 247-3000. in Shanghai, China opened a new the end of 1997. ride simulator/film attraction called Virtual Lawnmower? The Los Time Machine, developed by the U.S. Events Angeles-based LAwNMoweR a loose company Catalyst Entertainment, cre- acronym for the New Media ators of the “Back to the Future” ride Academy Animation Seminar Roundtable, group will present a dis- for Universal Studios in Hollywood. Series. The Academy Foundation is cussion, showcase and reception on

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 65 the subject of virtual worlds, on and entry forms, contact the NCYP at August 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 tel: (022) 387-0875 or fax: (022) 387- p.m. Virtual worlds are interactive 565610. digital environments such as VRML and virtual reality games, which Digital Media World is a conference often feature animated characters and exhibition held in both London known as “avatars.” Los Angeles (November 1997) and Australia Mayor Richard Riordan is set to kick (March 1998). Digital Media World off the evening with an announce- Disneyland’s “Hercules Victory Parade.” incorporates an exhibition of the lat- ment of his commitment to new est technology and services in the media development through sup- Atlanta (August 15). industry, and three separate confer- port of a new business market for ences: The Australian Effects and the industry. His speech will be fol- Disneyland Launches Herculean Animation Festival (AEAF), lowed by a panel discussion with Parade. Disneyland in Anaheim, Multimedia World, and TV Australia. representatives from companies such California is running a new parade For information, visit as The Palace, which are creating vir- called “The Hercules Victory Parade,” http://www.dmw.com.au tual online environments. Following which is a live-action musical perfor- the presentation will be the trade- mance picking up on the story Awards mark LAwNMoweR showcase and where the animated feature left off. cocktail reception, known as a top Featuring 82 performers and many To Receive Gotham “schmoozefest” for people working in elaborate props, puppets and floats, Award. New York-based indepen- the interactive and online industries. the parade runs through September dent animator Faith Hubley has been Admission is $20 at the door, and 7. chosen by the Independent Feature the event will take place at Project (IFP) West to receive the first in Hollywood. Siena Short Film Fest.The Second ever Special Gotham Award for For information visit www.lawn- Siena International Short Film Festival Animation. Hubley has produced 20 moweronline.com or call (800) 58- will take place October 17-25 in independently animated films, in LARKIN. Siena, Italy. The competition features addition to the more than 20 films a category for short animated films, she produced with her late husband Cartoon Network Makes A and cash prizes are awarded to win- . She has also worked Splash. Cartoon Network has ners in all categories. Also included in collaboration on films with her launched its third annual Dive-in are retrospectives and a short film daughter Emily Hubley. IFP’s Gotham Theater Tour, a promotion which market. For information visit Awards aim to celebrate New York transforms community swimming http://www.commune.siena.it/film/c as a center for filmmaking, honoring pools across America into floating orto.htm or email [email protected] individuals who have demonstrated theaters to watch cartoons. Tickets an outstanding commitment to inde- are given away on radio stations to Children’s Film Fest In India. The pendent filmmaking. The awards cer- hundreds of kids, who cool off in the 10th International Film Festival for emony will take place on September pool while sitting on Johnny Bravo Children and Young People will be 16, on the second night of the inner tubes, and “Dexter submarines” held November 14-23, 1997 in India. Independent Feature Film Market in while watching the new series, This biannual festival is organized by New York. Additional Gotham Award Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, as the National Center of Films for recipients for 1997 include Bob and well as new episodes of Dexter’s Children and Young People (NCYP), Harvey Weinstein, Errol Morris and Laboratory. The Dive-in Tour splashed and includes both competitive and Macky Alston. into Los Angeles last week, and will non-competitive screenings, and ret- be visiting the following cities over rospectives of Indian and Asian ani- Daytime Emmys Animation the next few weeks: Denver (July mation. There are four juries con- Winners. The 24th Annual Daytime 18), Chicago (July 26), Pittsburgh sisting of international members, were awarded in (July 29), New York (August 2), who will determine the winners of May. Warner Bros.’ Animaniacs won Boston (August 5), Washington, D.C. the Golden, Silver and Bronze for both Outstanding Children’s (August 8), Tampa (August 13), and Elephant awards. For information Animated Series and Outstanding

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 66 Music Direction and Composition, Silver: Winky Dog Xmas, Bug Eyes, UK by Liquid TV. while their Freakazoid won for Martian for HBO, New York, by Steve Silver: Science Frontiers Open for The Outstanding Special Class-Animated Dovas. Learning Channel by Liquid TV. Program. Walt Disney Television took Silver: Sex Bytes-Main Title for HBO home Emmys for Mighty Ducks, • Network-Cable, Promotional by Lauri Jones. chosen for Outstanding Sound Animation Silver: Small World-Open, Small Editing-Special Class and The Lion Gold: Nick Movies Open for World Cantonese Girl, Close for King’s Timon and Pumbaa for Nickelodeon, New York, by Colossal Cartoon Network by Serious Robots. Outstanding Sound Mixing-Special Pictures. Silver: The Buzz Opening Title Class. Fox’s Life With Louie took Silver: Addams Family Teaser for Sequence for Red Music Television home the prize for Outstanding Cartoon Network by Primal Screen. by Watchout Productions. Performer in an Animated Program. Silver: CNNFN ID for CNN by Lance Silver: Turner Classic Movies: Sunny Russell. Side of Life for Turner Classic Movies Promax/BDA Awards. The PRO- Silver: The Comedy Channel- by Colossal Pictures. MAX/BDA Awards were presented Animation Spots for The Comedy Silver: TCM Imports-Foreign Film in Chicago on June 5, as part of the Channel by Mark Gravas/Alex Showcase Open for Turner Classic annual PROMAX/BDA (Broadcast Catchpoole. Movies by Cuppa Coffee Animation. Design Association) convention. The Silver: The Comedy Channel-Alter Silver: VH-1 Fairway to Heaven Open awards honor creativity in promo- Ego for the Comedy Channel by for VH-1 by Alison Karnbad. tional and packaging productions Digital Pictures, Australia. Silver: VH-1 RNR Picture Show Open for U.S. television, with the focus on Silver: MSNBC/Cable Launch for NBC for VH-1 by Linda Danner/Greg commissioning networks rather than by Ralph Famiglietta/Guy Pepper. Lazzaro. production companies. Gold and Silver: Nickelodeon Bumpers for Silver: Village of the Doomed-Jonny Silver winners in the animation cat- Nickelodeon, animated by Eric Quest for Hanna Barbera by William egories were: Rosner and Adam Gravois. Chapman. Silver: Pay-Per-View It! for Viewer’s • Cable System/MSO, Promotional Choice, New York by Allan Neuwirth. • Television-General, Promotional Animation-Large Market Animation-Large Market Gold: SportsChannel Theme Nights • Network-Cable, Non-Promotional Gold: CITV: Art Attack for Central & for SportsChannel New York. Animation ITV Network, England by Jude Gold: Arena Idents-Science Fiction, Hartley/Tony Jopia. • Network-Broadcast, Promotional Paparazzi, and for XYZ Silver: Central Presentation Kit for Animation Entertainment by Diana Costantini. Carleton Television by Moving Picture Gold: Thrillogy for NBC, Burbank. Silver: Arena Idents-Film Festival, Company. Silver: 3rd Rock - She’s a Lady, Evil Moon and Smarties for XYZ Silver: CITV: Idents for Central & ITV Dick: Superfreak for NBC, Burbank. Entertainment by Diana Costantini. Network by Infynity. Silver: Birthday Salute for Turner • Network-Broadcast, Non- Network Television by Division 6. Animation World News is compiled Promotional Animation Silver: Cartoon Network Responds- daily for publication in the AWN Daily Silver: Centennial Olympic Games for Open for Cartoon Network by Flash, the weekly Animation Flash NBC Sports, New York. Michael Ouwelen. email newsletter, and monthly issues Silver: The Hub Opening Titles and of Animation World Magazine. • Network-Cable, Network I.D. Packaging Elements Intros for XYZ Gold: Buzz ID-Paint ID for Cartoon Entertainment by Diana Costantini. Send your newsworthy items, press Network, by Speedy Films. Silver: Magical World of Disney for releases, and reels to: Silver: Buzz ID-Wire Noses-Soup ID Disney Channel by Helium. Email: [email protected] for Cartoon Network, produced by Silver: Mysteries Inc.-Open, Mysteries Fax: (213) 464-5914 Cuppa Coffee Animation. Inc.-D Mysteries Inc-E Bump for Mail: Animation World Magazine Silver: Farm ID-Mondrian ID- Cartoon Network by Two Headed 6525 Sunset Blvd. Garden Suite 10, Rollercoaster ID for Cartoon Network, Monster. Hollywood, CA 90028 USA by John Dilworth. Silver: TV for Nickelodeon

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 67 On A Desert Island With. . . Digerati!

Compiled by Wendy Jackson

This month, Animation World Doug Dooley is a senior animator Magazine asked a few of “the digital on the creative team at Blue Sky elite,” a.k.a computer animators, for Studios. He has worked on all of the their top ten animation films. While studio’s feature film projects, includ- these artists may spend their days ing Joe’s Apartment, A Simple Wish, staring at computer screens and ani- and Alien Resurrection. Webster mating cutting-edge visual effects, Colcord is an animator who worked they are the last ones to go home in traditional stop-motion animation at night to watch Terminator 2. Their techniques at Studios, as selections prove that the root inspi- a freelance commercial director, and ration for great animation lies in clas- on Henry Selick’s James and the sic tradition. Giant Peach, before he took on a position working at Pacific Data Steve Williams is a visual effects Images, as a computer animator on supervisor at Industrial Light & DreamWorks’ feature film, Ants. Magic, whose credits include visual effects animation on Jumanji , The Here’s the ten animated films that Mask, Jurassic Park, and most recent- Steve, Doug and Webster would ly Spawn., the comic-inspired live want to have with them if stranded action feature due out this month. on a desert island.

(continues)

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 68 Steve Williams’ top ten: Doug Dooley’s picks: Webster Colcord’s 1. The Great Toy Robbery by 1. Beauty and the Beast, favorites: Jeff Hale, National Film Board because it is my favorite 1. Mike Smith’s Demo Reel. of Canada. overall Disney film. 2. Lord of the Rings by 2. Lupo The Butcher by Danny 2. The Nightmare Before . Antonucci. Christmas, because of the 3. A Christmas Carol by 3. Ren and Stimpy: Space excellent design. Richard Williams. Madness by , 3. Toy Story, because it has 4. The Mascot by Ladislas Spumco. a lot of great CG character Starevitch. 4. Three Little Bops by Friz animation. 5. Symphony in Slang by Freleng, Warner Bros. 4. Bambi, because it con- Tex Avery. 5. Any films up until tains some of my favorite 6. by 1957. performances of any animat- Martin Rosen. 6. Rabbit Hood by Chuck ed feature. 7. The Thief and the Jones, Warner Bros. 5. Jungle Book, for its great Cobbler by Richard 7. Rocket-Bye-Baby by Chuck performances and music. Williams, with the sound Jones, Warner Bros. 6. The Wrong Trousers by turned off and one finger 8. Daffy Doodles by Robert . It is one of the on the fast forward button. McKimson, Warner Bros. most amazing short anima- 8. James and the Giant 9. The Spirit of X-mas by Trey tions I’ve ever seen. Peach by Henry Selick. Parker and Matt Stone. 7. Nestor the Long Eared 9. Colonel Bleep episodes 10. Man’s Best Friend by John Christmas Donkey. It is one by Jack Schleh, Soundac. Kricfalusi, Spumco. of my favorite Rankin/Bass 10. Tale of Tales and a holiday specials. never completed cut-out 8. The Secret of NIMH by animation film by Yuri . My favorite Bluth film. 9. Akira, my favorite Japanimation film. 10. The Salute to Chuck Jones tape. Chuck is my favorite Warner Bros. short animation director.

Doug Dooley

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 69 AWN Comics

The Dirdy Birdy by John R. Dilworth

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 70 Highlights from the September Issue… Television, September 1997

Our Fall issue will feature the world of television with a focus on the innovations of MTV Animation and the Children’s Television Workshop. A dinner conversation with MTV’s Abby Terkuhle and CTW’s Arlene Sherman will be included as will an article by Chris Robinson tracing the impact of these two animation leaders. A Fall TV preview will be includ- ed along with commentary by a special “mystery” guest. The newly crowded French market will be explored by Marie-Agnès Bruneau. Milt Vallas will report on the big changes in Korea’s animation scene and the state of television’s finances will be investigated by Buzz Potamkin. Event reviews will include SIGGRAPH, ComiCon, Masters of Animation and AnimExpo. Rose Bond will also profile Joanna Priestley and much, much more.

Animation World Magazine 1997 Calendar

Television (September)

Licensing & Merchandising (October)

Home Video and Animation Art (November)

Gaming! The World of Interactive Animation (December)

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE August 1997 71