SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES NEWSLETTER
Volume 15, Issue 1 February 2002
th 14 Annual Society for
Animation Studies
Conference in Glendale
26-29 September 2002
th th SAS will celebrate its 15 anniversary by holding its 14 held at the North Los Angeles/Glendale Hilton Hotel annual conference in Glendale, California, September and Glendale Community College. 26-29, 2002. The event, whose theme is “Childhood,” is being done with the assistance of the City of Glendale, situated next to the film and television Glendale’s Arts & Culture Commission. The centers of Burbank and Los Angeles, has itself become conference will begin Thursday, September 26, with a home to an increasing number of animation series of informal events, that could include companies, including DreamWorks Animation. Nearby studio/historical tours and screenings, and end on studio include Disney, Warner Bros., Cartoon Sunday afternoon, September 29, with a gala screening Network, Nickelodeon and Film Roman. The Glendale at the landmark Alex Theatre. The conference will be Arts & Culture Commission, formed to promote the arts and humanities in Glendale, is currently working with local animation representatives to create a nonprofit animation center. IN THIS ISSUE The North Los Angeles/Glendale Hilton is located in 14th SAS Conference in Glendale (USA) downtown Glendale, in easy walking distance of many 1 fine restaurants and the Alex Theatre, the fabulous art deco movie palace which is home to the Los Angeles 2 Call for Papers conference 2002 Chamber Orchestra. Nearby Glendale Community College, where much of the conference will be held, 3 President's Report includes animation as part of its Visual Arts program.
4-6 SAS 2001 Conference Report This year’s conference committee is headed by SAS founding president Harvey Deneroff, and includes film historian Jerry Beck (Cartoonresearch.com), graduate McLaren-Lambart Award for Robin Allan 7 student Joanna Bouldin (University of California, Irvine), former animation festival directors Tom Knott 8-12 The End of Animation History (Ottawa) and Irene Kotlarz (Cardiff), as well as Mark Langer, head of Cinema Studies at Carleton University 13-15 Reports Annual General Meeting and independent filmmaker Christine Panushka, director of USC’s Animation and Digital Arts program. 16-18 Animation Teacher's Symposium Ottawa Harvey Deneroff
SAS Newsletter 1
Call for papers Society for Animation Studies Conference 2002
The Society for Animation Studies invites submissions Critical Analyses of Individual Films, TV Series & of proposals for papers to be presented at its 14th Filmmakers Annual Conference in Glendale, California, September 26-29, 2002. The conference, which is being presented Politics & Animation - The uses of animation for with the assistance of the Glendale Arts & Culture propaganda and other ideological considerations. Commission, will be held at the North Los Angeles/Glendale Hilton Hotel, Glendale Community Commercials & Industrial Films College and the landmark Alex Theatre. The presentation of papers will be supplemented by Direct-to-Video - Investigations into the growth of screenings and panels featuring animation filmmakers production for the home video market. and industry executives. The opening day will be dedicated solely to a series of special events, that may Glendale, located at the foot of the Verdugo include studio/historical tours and screenings. Mountains, is the third largest city in Los Angeles County, and is a major production center for animation This year’s theme is “Childhood” and how it relates to along with contiguous areas of Burbank and Los animation, both as art and industry, and will also be the Angeles. The Glendale Arts & Culture Commission focus of a special panel discussion featuring filmmakers was formed to promote the arts and humanities in and industry executives. Papers and preconstituted Glendale and is working with the local animation panels on all aspects of animation history, theory and community to create a nonprofit animation center. criticism are also welcome. Presentations are limited to 20 minutes. Proposals, consisting of a abstract outlining The Society for Animation Studies, which is celebrating the purpose, methodology and conclusions of the its 15th anniversary, is an international membership proposed paper, should be submitted by May 15, 2002; organization open to scholars and filmmakers the Selection Committee will review all proposals and interested in animation history, criticism and theory. respond by May 31, 2002. Those wishing to chair a Information on the Society and updates on the panel should also submit their request by the same conference can be found at http://asifa.net/SAS/ or date. While the conference is open to both members www.awn.com/sas/. and non-members of SAS, all those presenting papers or chairing panels are required to become members. Harvey Deneroff
Other suggested topics this year include:
Walt Disney - Commemorating his 100th birthday. Proposals can be submitted Boundaries - Explorations of various boundaries in animation involving business/art, childhood / by email to: [email protected] adulthood, sexuality, media (animation/live action/comic strips, etc.), geography, disciplinary, etc. faxed to: 1-818-346-1948
Drawn vs. Digital Animation - Examination of the shift or mailed to: from traditional to digital animation, including its SAS Conference Committee aesthetic and economic implications. 20722 Lull St. National Cinemas - Studies of individual countries and regions, such as India, Latin America and New York Canoga Park, CA 91306-2035 USA City, as well as the role international organizations such as Cartoon.
SAS Newsletter 2
President’s report
Glendale together with their contribution for 2002 and In September 2002, the14th Society for Animation preferably for 2003 as well. Members who wish to Studies Conference will be organised in Glendale. This is cancel their membership must have done so before 1 in the neighbourhood of the spot where the first April otherwise they are due to pay for 2002 as well. conference was held in 1989 in Los Angeles. In these Payment details are at the back of the publication. fourteen years, the conference has been held three times Since 1 January 2002 there is now one currency for a in Europe and once in Australia. Of the ten times in large part of Europe, the Euro. Payments are made via Northern America, the conference has been held twice in a separate bank account with International Bank Canada. The last time that the conference was held in the Account Number and Swiftcode to the Treasurer of USA was in 1998, at Anaheim, Chapman University. We the Euro-zone, Jeanpaul Goergen, not difficult and have succeeded in holding a conference fourteen times in cost saving. All the details are on the last page. The succession, and that in itself is quite an ach ievement. membership fee has not been raised for years!!!!!
Harvey Deneroff, who founded the SAS fourteen years Board ago, is the organiser of this 14th Conference. Whereas it In 2000 David Ehrlich resigned as member of the initially looked as though it would not be possible to Board. I indicated at the time that the Board was to be hold it in the USA this year, he has been able to amass expanded by a member from Asia. As of 1 January sufficient resources and people. You will find more 2002 Gigi Ho has joined the Board. A short description information and the call for papers in this Newsletter. of her work is included in this number. At the back a new list of Board members has been drawn up with a Montreal number of address changes. The 13th Conference in Montreal passed off successfully. Suzanne Williams Rautiola has written a report on the General Meeting conference. We are deeply indebted to the National Film Roger Palmer took the minutes of the last Annual Board of Canada, Concordia University and the general Meeting held in Montreal. All members were Cinémathèque Québècois for their cooperation. The list sent the accompanying papers just before the meeting. with the papers that were presented will shortly be added The approved activity plan and the minutes are to the list that you can find on our web sites. included in this number. The Student Animation Film Festival Ottawa (SAFO) preceded the conference and various visitors to the Reactions, articles, queries, can all be submitted for the conference attended the seminar on animation study following Newsletter, closing date: programmes. A presentation by Maureen Furniss is 1 May 2002. included in this number. Robin Allen was very surprised to win the Norman Ton Crone McLaren – Lambert Award – but also very pleased. The February 2002 laudatio, given by Michael Frierson, is included in this number. One interesting paper is included in this Newsletter: The End of Animation History by Mark Langer.
Members The number of members has not declined, new members have joined in the past year and this is very encouraging. Sadly, however, a large number of members have not yet paid their membership fees for 2001. It is impossible to keep doing this work if members do not pay their financial contributions on time. Tho se who have not paid their membership fees must do so before 1 April
SAS Newsletter 3 Conference report 13th Society for Animation Studies Conference October 2001 Montréal, Canada
The participants to the 13 Conference of the Society Weldon, and Christine Tang. Each animator for Animation Studies were greeted in Montréal by a presented an overview of his/her techniques and work beautiful, crisp fall day, when one could enjoy the then allowed the SAS participants to touch various rich colors of the maple tree across from our animation tools – such as the pinscreen – or see a accommodations, the Hotel Maritime Plaza. shot as it was established on a preprogrammed Although there was intermittent rain during several camera crane. days of the conference, it did not spoil the beauty of the city nor keep us from the variety of activities Despite a hectic schedule, the animators very planned by our conference organizers, SAS President graciously answered a variety of questions and Ton Crone, Marcy Page of the National Film Board provided as much information as time would allow. of Canada and Peter Rist of Concordia University. In addition to the tour of the studios, the NFB also provided a guided tour of their archives and vault. At The first day of the conference was spent at an open the close of the day the NFB offered another house sponsored by the National Film Board of screening of recent animation productions including Canada (NFB). As SAS participants convened in the Micronutrients UNICEF by Jamie Mason, Strange “Chairy Tale” room, we were provided with an Invaders by Cordell Barker, Lights for Gita by overview of NFB web-based activities (be certain to Michel Vo, A Monster’s Calling/L’appel du Monstre visit the NFB website at www.nfb.ca). Then we were by Louise Johnson, Chassepapillon/The Song- treated to a screening of recent NFB animation, Catcher by Philippe Vaucher, Zodiac by Oerd Van including A Hunting Lesson by Jacques Drouin, Cuijlenborg, and Glasses by Brian Duchscherer. Our Christopher, Please Clean-Up Your Room! by sincere thanks to all of the folks at NFB who made Vincent Gauthier, La Solitude de Monsieur Turgeon our visit so enjoyable. by Jeanne Crepeau, Ludovic - Des vacances chez grand-papa by Co Hoedeman, The Magic of Anansi In his speech at the opening of the paper by Jamie Mason, Aria by Piotr Sapegin, and Ame presentations Ton Crone thanked the selection Noire/Black Soul by Martine Chartrand. After the committee, comprising Mark Langer, Peter Rist and screening, the NFB graciously provided a delicious Michael Friersson, for their work in assessing the buffet to get us ready for an afternoon that was papers. He also thanked the members of the Norman packed with events. It began with a screening by McLaren - Evelyn Lambert Award Committee, guest animator Koji Yamamura who presented a brief comprising Michael Frierson, Maureen Furniss and overview of his career than screened Imagination Pierre Floquet, for their selection of the best scholarly (1993), Bavel’s Book (1996), Your Choice (1996), book about animation film. Last but not least, the and other short commercial pieces. His presentation President also touched on the events of September was only the first in an afternoon full of introductions 11, 2001. Owing to the terrorist attacks on New to animators as SAS participants divided into smaller York, Washington and Philadelphia and the reactions groups and toured the NFB animation studios. The of various authorities, some of the members selected tour included demonstrations by a number of from Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA different animation directors whose media and styles were unable to attend the conference to present their varie d from traditional cel animation (Tali) to papers. pinscreen (Jacques Drouin) to stereoptic (Munro Ferguson and Paul Morstad) to computer 3-D Several of the panels at the conference included animation (Alison Loader). We also met Co papers on Asian animation. In the first panel David Hoedeman, Michele Cournoyer, Michele Lemieux, Ehrlich discussed “Genghis Khan: Two Animated Yuan Zhang, Paul Driessen, Chris Hinton, John Studies from The Secret History of the Mongols. ”
SAS Newsletter 4 The first film was a 1990 Soviet-style, cel animation quality aesthetics and production values. Although titled “Genghis Khan” by Miagmar Sodnompilin that the film was a commercial flop, it was an important focused upon the origin of Temujin, later to be milestone in Japanese history, spirit, and ideology. In known as Genghis Khan. The second was a film second Asian paper to address the conference theme produced through the collaboration of Sodnompilin was “Economical Failure and Success in the Feature and Ehrlich, in which they attempted to be more Animations of Mamoru Oshii.” In this paper Masao stylistically authentic to the culture. Ehrlich Yokota and Masashi Koide trace the rise of Mamoru elaborated on the political diffic ulties in dealing with Oshii from the director of Uruseiyatura (a television such a controversial historical figure and the serial) to the Uruseiyatura feature films to his more economic compromises that had to be made in order recent productions at Production IG. Although he to get funding for the film. In her paper “Havoc in achieved limited early success, his first films at Heaven: Bridging the Gap Between Tradition and Production IG were unsuccessful, because his Modernization,” Shannon Rogers discus sed animator protagonists were solitary and destructive. Later, as Wan Laiming’s combination of classic forms of the he channeled these anti-social tendencies into Beijing Opera with modern forms, such as vivid criminals (for example in Patolabor the Movie), he scenery, to produce a film that would appeal to a found greater success. broad audience but at the same time retain the artistic heritage of his country. In “Murder and the In a panel that focused upon the history of US Exploitation of Women: Animation by Kireet animation, Michael Frierson, examined “The Carry Khurana,” Ellen Sugar discussed the plight of young Over Dissolve in UPA Animation” as it was used in women in Nepal who are sold into prostitution and Gerald McBoing Boing and Madeline to expand or use of symbolism and imagery to represent their alter space and time. Joanna Bouldin discussed plight by Kireet Khurana. “Technologies of the Body and Politics of the Real: Race, Reality and the Rotoscope in Fleischer In a second panel John Lent & Xu Ying presented a Animated Cartoons.” She suggests “that animation, paper titled “Animation in China Yesterday and to greater or lesser degrees, is always negotiating its Today – The Pioneers Speak Out.” They discussed place between the real and the really made up....the the changes in Chinese animation from a reliance on shifting, often ambivalent status of the ‘real’ in the traditional arts (such as the opera and drama) and animation has a significant impact on how we traditional techniques (such as paper folding and experience animation and the animated body.” Brian puppetry) to the adoption of Disney techniques in Oakes concluded this panel with “Jam Handy order to attract foreign commercial interests to fund Animation: Visualizing the Invisible.” Although not production. In her paper “Animation and the an animator, Handy’s company produced non- Cinematic” Yuk Ting Chan examined the theatrical films for advertising, training, and cinematography, color and lighting in Memories, the education using techniques that varied from use of the camera in Princess Mononoke, editing and traditional cel animation to stop-motion animation montage in AKIRA, mise-en-scene in Nausicaa of the and also combined animation with live action. Valley of the Wind. The last paper in this panel was presented by Peter Rist, Zhang Yuan & Tammy In a separate panel, Roger Palmer examined the Smith and discussed “Chinese Water-Colour establishment of Australia’s animated film industry Animation,” screening some beautiful examples. in “Graphic Artists and Techno-Art into Moving Pictures Down-Under.” He noted that the early In another panel, two papers that addressed the history of Australian animation is more easily traced conference theme of Animation, Economics and through the history of advertising than of film. He Politics also focused upon Asian animation. The first offered evidence that the Salvation Army was the was “Usurping the Cinematic Screen – Prince of the first animated film producer then traced the history of Sun: The Great Adventures of Hols. In this paper animation between the First and Second World Wars Gigi Ho Tze Yue noted that the creators of Prince of to advertising and illustrations in documentaries. the Sun were young animators who wanted to express However, the animation industry in Australia did not their political and social concerns in a film with really become viable until the advent of television.
SAS Newsletter 5
In panels that focused on technology and technique, the sound accompanying some of his films. At the Mark Langer declared “The End of Animation close, Michael Frierson presented the jury report for History.” Using Francis Fukuyama’s thesis that the selection committee for the best scholarly book “history is composed of distinctions or conflicts about animation film. The winner of the prize, Robin between competing systems,” Langer argued that Allen from the United Kingdom with his winning changes in technology have brought us to the end of a book “Walt Disney and Europe” was unable to historical period in which there is a commonly attend; Ton Crone received the prize - sponsored by conceived distinction between animation and other the National Film Board of Canada - on his behalf. forms of image generation such as live action cinema. Deanna Morse explored a new realm of animation, Other interesting presentations included a special “Experimental Animation: Creating a DVD.” presentation and discussion of the Halas and Batchelor and the Bob Godfrey archives and the In a panel that examined narrative and form, Suzanne Animation Research Centre at The Surrey Institute of Buchan discussed new formalist theories that allow Art and Design by Suzanne Buchan, Head of the idiosyncratic interpretations that are contextualized. Animation Research Centre. Another treat for SAS Her presentation was titled “Neoformalist Analysis participants was a tour and presentation by Marco and the Auteur Animation Film.” Martin McNamara DeBlois, animation curator of the Cinémathèque discussed “Reverse Chronology in Animated Québécois, followed by a reception hosted by ASIFA Narrative.” And, Richard Leskosky deconstructed the Canada. The Conference ended on a high note with a titles of animated films of the studios of the 1930s reception and animation tour sponsored by our hosts and 1940s by examining the differences in types of at Concordia University. Our thanks to the National titles (disjunctive rather than discursive), their Film Board of Canada, Cinémathèque Québécois and grammatical construction, the use of puns, and the especially to Concordia University for their various linguistic structures of the titles. hospitality.
In a panel which looked at sociological issues in Suzanne Williams Rautiola animation, Gonen Hacohen examined the polysemic satire in “The Simpsons: Semiotic Analysis of Primetime Animation Satire,” while Miriam Harris examined the collapse of the boundaries between adulthood and childhood in “Dynamite in the Diaper: The Coexistence within Animation of Child and Adult Influences.” She examined the movement from A Boy Named Charlie Brown to the carnivalesque - The Simpsons, South Park, Ren and Stimpy and Shrek, which include “frequent references to bodily excesses, scatological themes, the inversion of ‘high’ and ‘low’ elements, and the warping of traditional narrative expectations.”
Finally the work of Norman McLaren was examined by Terence Dobson in his paper “The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful” and Elaine Dobson in “McLaren, the Musician.” These two presentations linked up well with the presentation of the Norman McLaren - Evelyn Lambert Award the evening before in the Cinémathèque Québécois. Don McWilliams, a former colleague of Norman McLaren at the National Film Board of Canada, gave a fascinating, personal account of the unknown work by McLaren, namely
SAS Newsletter 6
McLaren-Lambart Award for 'Walt Disney and
Europe' by Robin Allan
Report of the jury, written and read out by the chair of the committee Michael Frierson:
"The McLaren-Lambart Award was first established in 'Walt Disney and Europe: European Influences on the 1993 by SAS to honor 'the best scholarly book or Animated Films of Walt Disney' by Robin Allen. A book that invites the reader into a thoroughly monograph in animation studies'. The National Film Board of Canada graciously agreed to co-sponsor the documented explanation of the connection between award. Norman McLaren w as an early film artist at the man, his enterprise and Europe. NFBC, and his films have garnered more than 200 international awards, including an Oscar for Neighbours 'Animation in Asia and the Pacific' edited by John Lent. in 1952. Among Norman McLaren's closest A groundbreaking work for English speakers that collaborators was Evelyn Lambart, who coproduced unlocks a wide range of production that is often six of his films and worked on two others. This year, unknown or under appreciated in the West. Marcy Page and Nicole Chicoine were the NFBC coordinators of the awards. 'Animator's Guide to 2D Computer Animation' by Hedley Griffin. I won the award in 1995 for my book on clay A very readable and useful text that presents animation, and I can tell you from personal experience fundamentals of 2D computer animation and the that it is a great thrill to have your work associated with techniques used in current computer programs. the NFBC, McLaren and Lambart. Those of us who do research in animation realize that there is a large body After a wide ranging debate, the jury awarded the 2001 of high quality work being done and precious little McLaren-Lambart Award to Robin Allen. reward and appreciation to go around. Congratulations to Robin, and to all the authors whose work was submitted! SAS plans to continue to sponsor I told Ton Crone at the beginning of 2001 that I the McLaren-Lambart competition every other year, wanted to be sure that the award continued this year, alternating with the student essay contest”. and it follows, almost automatically, that I chaired the selection committee. Maureen Furniss and Pierre For more information about the book see: Floquet were the other members of the committee and www.johnlibbey.com/itm00008.htm I want to thank them for their professionalism and diligence during the electronic (email) deliberations.
Nominations were solicited from the membership, and four books were put forward. The jury agreed that all four were very strong in their respective field, and they are described below:
'Raoul Servais: Portret van een schilder - cineast' by Phillipe Moins and Jan Temmerman. A very complete and fully documented monograph, that aims at reaching the greatest number of people through a bilingual presentation.
SAS Newsletter 7 The End of Animation
History
I should start by saying that the name of this paper (as and communism is a minor aberration in the world many of you know) comes from the book The End of order, which traditionally has been a clash of History and the Last Man, by Francis Fukuyama, which civilizations, rather than ideology. Huntington suggests was published in 1992.1 In that book, written at the end that in the future, the battlefield will be in terms of of the Cold War, Fukuyama claims that conflict identity, which will eclipse previous ideological or between opposing ideological systems, most recently national conflicts. If I can extend the analogy between between capitalism and communism, that had marked works of political science and cinema that I used with human history, ended with the collapse of the Fuyakama to Huntington’s ideas, I think that notions Communist system. The triumph of capitalism resulted of identity in terms of how the spectator relates to the in the end of history, as all that is left is the conversion animated image is also in a state of flux that is of minor holdouts to the joys of capitalist consumerist redefining animation. But I’ll get back to this later in society and representative democracy. This synopsis is my presentation. somewhat of a simplification of Fukuyama’s thesis, but I’m not going to go on about Fukuyama’s book other I want to make it clear that I’m not coming down from than to point out that 11 September 2001 and the mountain with the tablets on which God has subsequent events seem to have cast a pall over his written a new definition for animation. I don’t have a thesis. If anything, we are now suffering from the new definition. These are just some tentative musings production of too much history. that try to point out a problem, not the in-depth tackling of that problem that will be a task for future I do want to make it clear that I’m not here today to research. So instead of profound scholarship, I’m going propose that in the traditional division between live- to subject you to some horatory musings and action and animation, animation has won. Neither am I encouragement for others to consider my remarks as an here to proclaim the victory of live-action by stating inducement to them to consider the nature of that animation as a practice is over. Animation is alive animation and live-action. and well and will continue to be, so if anyone is ready OK, with the disclaimers aside, what am I going to do to rebut me by pointing out the incredible diversity and in this paper? I want to pose some questions that have amount of animated productions being made today, all been troubling me while I’ve been watching films and I can say is that I agree with you. That’s not what I’m surfing the net over the last few years. I think that these addressing. And, it is less Fukuyama’s declaration of are questions that we should be asking ourselves in the victory than his concept of what constitutes history that discipline. These questions are about the relationship of interests me. If we accept Fukuyama’s thesis that what we have traditionally assumed to be animation, to history is composed of distinctions or conflicts the changing conditions of production and reception in between competing systems (something that certainly which we, as students of animation, find ourselves in has its adherents from Hegel onward), I am proposing the present day. that changes in technology have brought us to the point where it is possible to proclaim the end of A few days ago, I participated in a workshop with the animation history. By this I mean that we may have same name as this paper, held at the Ottawa reached the end of a historical period where theorists International Student Animation Festival. Prior to that and practitioners commonly conceived of animation as workshop, I was engaged in a lively email debate with a distinct form of image generation defined by its animator Jason Belec. . When I say “lively debate,” I’m opposition to live-action cinema, or in opposition to not using the common academic euphemism for “we that which can not be experienced by real-life people in hated each other’s guts.” It really was a lively debate. the real world. Jason took strong exception to the proposition that I’ve just laid out for you. He referred to Gene Deitch’s Samuel Huntington responded to Fukuyama in a book article “Animation - What the Heck Is It?” on the called The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of Animation World News website, in which Deitch World Order.2 Huntington accepts Fukuyama’s conflict quotes Steven Millhauser’s Little Kingdoms. Millhauser model, but suggests that the conflict between capitalism defines animation as:
SAS Newsletter 8 “...[an] immobile world of inanimate drawings that had enough to just dismiss these techniques, as Gene been granted the secret of motion, [a] death-world with Deitch does, as “puppetry”. Deitch claims that forms its hidden gift of life. But that life was a deeply of real-time animation “can never achieve the ambiguous life, a conjurer’s trick, a crafty illusion based sharpness, precision and exaggeration of frame-by- on an accidental property of the retina, which retained frame animation. Likewise, frame-by-frame animation an image for a fraction of a second after the image was is weakest when it tries to imitate real life. ...Best the no longer present. On this frail fact was erected the twain never meet.”5 These methods may not give the entire structure of the cinema, that colossal confidence results that Deitch likes, but does that mean that they game. The animated cartoon was a far more honest are not animation, or that they are beneath our expression of the cinematic illusion than the so-called consideration? realistic (live-action) film, because the cartoon reveled in its own illusory nature, exulted in the impossible — My argument is that these areas should be a strong indeed it claimed the impossible as its own, exalted it as focus for our consideration. Deitch and his ilk illustrate its own highest end, found in impossibility, in the the old way of thinking that the development of new negation of the actual, its profoundest reason for animation technologies and their uses throw into crisis. being.”3 When Deitch expresses the belief that there is some The quote that Deitch uses in his article is pretty much sort of essential quality of animation that sets it aside representative of traditionally essentialist definitions of from live-action, and that makes it antithetically animation. Kristin Thompson, in her article opposed to live-action film, he ignores some major “Implications of the Cel Animation Technique” trends in the use of animated techniques today. While maintained that “Hollywood defined the cartoon by its Deitch and Millhauser maintain that the cartoon revels difference from live-action cinema.” And most in and acknowledges its own illusory nature, they definitions of animation hold to this description.4 Live- ignore the use of computer animation techniques as action is “not-animation” and animation is “not-live- special effect. Rather than reveling in its own illusory action.” nature, much animation now seeks to make the illusory “real” — in other words, photoreal animation is One of the problems that this has created is that it has indistinguishable for the overwhelming majority of always left an awkward grey zone in the interstitial viewers from live-action cinema. While back in 1950, space where live-action and animation overlap. That George Pal’s puppet animation of a squirrel in The grey zone is getting bigger and bigger every day. There Great Rupert could easily be distinguished from the have been a number of animation practices along this footage of a real squirrel used in the film, the animated line, from the rotograph to pixilation to Synchro-Vox. mouse in Mouse Story (1998) cannot as easily be For many years, this prime position in this interstitial differentiated from shots with a real mouse. The horror space was occupied by rotoscoping, which was that the audience experiences at the sinking of the ship regarded as “animation’s dirty little secret.” in Titanic (1996) comes as much from a belief in the Rotoscoping was an animation practice that few reality of those animated bodies hurtling off the sinking animators admitted using. For example, to his dying ship as it does from the live-action figures of Jack and day, Shamus Culhane vociferously denied rotoscoping Rose. The audience isn’t supposed to believe that the Betty Boop’s hula in Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle (1932), dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are illusions — the Jurassic although the footage of the dancer that was rotoscoped Park films work on the supposition that the dinosaurs is easily visible to any spectator watching the live-action form a real menace to the protagonists. Unlike King prologue to the film. The few animators who did use Kong or other stop motion critters of films like The the rotoscope unapologetically, like Ralph Bakshi, were Lost World or Jason and the Argonauts, the Jurassic Park criticized for their dependence on this lesser, or dinosaurs are not easily distinguished from the “real” impure, form of the medium. by false notes of movement, lack of motion blur, and other subtle visual cues from rear-projection Things have changed radically in the past decade or so “Dynarama” systems that code the earlier special with the proliferation of animation techniques, largely effects movies as animation. When animation cannot dependent on such computer graphics or computer be physically distinguished from photography of live- assisted image generation processes as motion capture, action figures and real locations (or sets), what does etc., that increasingly blur the distinction between live- this do to the Deitch/Millhauser theory? I don’t think action and animation. I don’t think that it is good that it is sufficient anymore to dismiss the examples
SAS Newsletter 9 , that I am bringing up as a misuse of animation or call it live-action throug h the magic of seeing drawings or bad animation. Ad hominem (or ad animation) sculptures move. But that indexical relationship reasoning does not constitute an argument. Whether between the image and the thing that it represents is we like it or not, these things exist, they are animation, gone, or at least fast-vanishing. I want to add and as we approach the world of photo-real animated parenthetically that when I saw Final Fantasy last human characters along the road indicated by Final summer, the scene where the characters smooch Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), we increasingly will resulted in cries of “eeuw!” from the audience. I’m have to deal with the situation. hypothesizing that part of this audience discomfort came from the imperfect reproduction that the film’s This dilemma is not a problem for animation studies “HyperReal” animation displayed. The characters alone. These expressive practices constitute a sword existed in a liminal position between animation and that cuts both ways. Just as our concept of animation live-action that made the display of human emotion has been affected by changing technology, long held difficult for the audience to accept. But what will social beliefs about the nature of live-action cinema are happen when photoreal animation is perfected? also affected. I refer to the deeply held belief that live- action film records something that actually exists. I This liminal positioning in the borderlines between once had a student who asked me what happened to traditional animation and live-action, or the Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman after the end of hybridization of animation and live-action, is something Casablanca (1942). I responded that they went to their that is embraced by many filmmakers today. Hironobu dressing rooms, sho wered, put on their street clothes, Sakaguchi, director of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and went home. While I’m not proposing that most says, “I have always wanted to create a new form of people think that Bogart and Bergman actually were entertainment that fuses the technical wizardry of Rick and Ilsa, the people they played on the screen, the interactive games with the sensational visual effects of public persona of stars often conforms more to the motion pictures.”7 Sakaguchi is promoting a roles they played than to who they may actually have hybridization of animation and live-action, and I’m been in real life. Bogart was the child of a New York arguing that this can no longer be viewed as an society doctor, and was educated at expensive private aberration, but as a major trend of contemporary schools, yet he specialized in playing gangsters and cinema. Whether we like it or not, animation is on the hard-boiled investigators. Despite the fact that the roles verge of being able to both perfectly simulate the reality are entirely artificial, there is an understanding that real of live-action AND to make that which cannot be people with names like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid expressed in live-action real. Bergman (no matter how well or poorly they may have conformed to the types of characters they played) This hybridization has affected the reception of film actually stood in front of cameras while they were even before the creation of so -called “HyperReal” inhabiting the roles in the film. The belief that their animation characters in Final Fantasy. If you’ve been images were directly recorded through a photo- wondering why Gary Sinese seemed to grow his legs chemical and mechanical process during the making of back after his appearance as a double amputee in Forest films like Casablanca traditionally has been part of the Gump (1994), then you are the only person around who reception process of live-action films. In what Andre believes in the power of the motion picture image to Bazin would characterize as a imprint of reality, there reproduce reality. Just as improvements in animation was a direct, physical or indexical relationship between technology makes it impossible to tell animation from live-action film on one hand, and the people or things live-action, improvements in special effects have made that it portrays on the other hand. it impossible to tell live-action from animation, at least for all but the most professional eye. Despite the But what did Dr. Aki Ross (called “the synthespian obvious limitations of human figure animation today poster child” by Animation World Magazine)6 or (and I believe that true photo-real animation is just Captain Gray Edwards do at the end of Final Fantasy: around the corner), it is clear that we have arrived at a The Spirits Within? Clearly, they didn’t shower and go point in cinema history when animation and live-action home (although the models for motion capture or the are collapsing into one another. What we are seeing in voice artists may have). No star “plays” Aki Ross or this collapse of the boundary between animation and Gray Edwards in the traditional sense of visual live-action is something that is happening in many areas representation. Yet, we aren’t dealing with a Bugs of our culture. This is the destruction of the border Bunny, Betty Boop or even a modern Jasper here either separating simulation and reality, or the one that exists -- these are not figures that are clearly demarcated from between the non-material world and the material world.
SAS Newsletter 10 Unease about the violation of these borders underlie traditional distinction between animation and live- such cultural phenomenon as the media industry action. What I would argue links these films and many exploiting doubts about the Warren Commission other contemporary films together is that they all Report, documentaries about whether the landing on express anxiety about the vanishing indexical nature of the moon was simulated in a studio, reports of Elvis cinema. If we can no longer distinguish live-action being alive, and so on. I’d argue that all of these have from animation, then we can no longer distinguish their roots in an ever expanding cultural anxiety about between reality and fantasy. the fact that it is no longer possible to distinguish between representations of real events or simulations I want to get back to the idea of identity. Traditionally, of those events. there was some identity sharing between the spectator and the star. One empathizes with the figures on the Think about the stories of many films made in the last screen and identifies with them. For example, Jean Luc few years and what they have in common. In The Matrix Godard’s Breathless (1962) shows the Belmondo (1996), Thomas Anderson is wakened from his character’s identification with Bogey. Nevertheless, “normal” life to discover that in reality he is enslaved there is also a separation between the self and the by mechanical figures. His entire life is a computer- person that one is viewing on the screen. I’m reminded induced illusion. In Fight Club (1999), Jack becomes of the line at the beginning of Singin’ In The Rain (1952), more and more dislocated from the reality of his life, as where we see star Lina Lamont on screen. The next his imagined self, Tyler Durden, forges a revolutionary shot is of a young woman in the audience saying “She’s national organization of similarly alienated workers. In so refined. I think I’ll kill myself.” We may identify with American Beauty (1999), Lester Burnham becomes the star. The star may act as the embodiment of our alienated from his material existence, realizing that his desire, but we are not the star. In fact, the star acts as a happy family is just an illusion. Just as he discovers the reminder that we do not possess the characteristics that transcendental value of love, he is killed by his wife, we desire. Chuck Jones, talking about the distinction who has just had her consumerist illusion of life between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny once remarked destroyed when she is rejected by her lover. In Memento that “...nobody could be Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny is an (2001), Guy Shelby is on a revenge quest to murder the aspiration. It’s what you’d like to be like. But what man who raped and killed his wife. As the movie you’re sorely afraid of is that you’re probably much progresses, we learn that Shelby’s wife was not killed more like Daffy. He expresses all the things we’re afraid and that he is murdering people who are innocent of to express.”8 In both cases, identification is imperfect - the crime. (If you haven’t seen Memento, I’ve just ruined Bugs is what we could never be, Daffy is what we are the film for you.) In Twelve Monkeys (1996), James Cole unwilling to be. is sent back to 1996 from 2035. He is alienated from his reality by the growing conviction that he is insane This takes us back to Huntington’s thesis that identity and just imagining that he is a time traveller, while his will be the arena of contestation in the future. In the psychiatrist, Dr. Kathryn Railley, is equally alienated past, the identities of the spectator and the animated from her reality by the growing conviction that Cole is image were distinct. But now, we are at a point where sane. (I’m sure that you can think of many other the animated image and the spectator are beginning to examples, such As Being John Malcovich (1999), The merge. I’m thinking in particular of a popular Microsoft Truman Show (1998), Ai (2001), etc.) Not all of these Program originally called Cartoon Chat, and now called films use computer special effects, although many of Microsoft Chat. In Microsoft Chat, you interact with them, like The Matrix (with Neo’s impossible moves, or other people in a discussion, and in doing so, take the the slow-motion bullets), and American Beauty (with its form of a comic strip character. The words that you famous dancing plastic bag sequence), do. In fact, I’m type appear in word balloons. Although the program maintaining that the majority of such films do use doesn’t have any movement to it, the characters are computer special effects and more specifically use shown in gestured poses that are determined by the various forms of computer animation. One might argue dialogue. eg. if a character is saying the word “I”, then that this effusion of narrative unease about the one hand of the character is pointing toward impossibility of knowing an empirical reality may be a him/herself. If a character is saying “you”, the finger is symptom of a society where it is impossible to pointing toward the character being addressed. distinguish between simulation and “fact”. But I’m Interactive games like Microsoft’s Asheron’s Call, suggesting a special significance in the observation that Sony’s Everquest, Diablo II or Ultima Online take this so many of these films depend on computer special even further. Ultima Online is set in a fantasy land effects. This has special meaning in regard to the called Britannia, which appears as an environment with
SAS Newsletter 11 animated computer figures. Each participant assumes greater collapsing together of the animated character one role and the participants act out narratives of their with one’s own physical being. And what is the relation own determination, fulfilling quests, and enacting their of these animated realities of body and community to own mythic activities. the bodies and communities of the world outside this electronic environment? I don’t yet know, but I think Now, I’ve never played any of these “Dungeons and that we should be investigating these questions. Dragons” online games -- perhaps some of you here today have. I’m more interested in the experiences of The entire nature of the relationship between the those who do play. I’ve taken a peek at some of the animated image and the live, real-world spectator is many on-line sites dealing with Ultima Online. Let me something that is being renegotiated by technology, but share one recent item with you. On Wednesday, 10 that renegotiation is being ignored by scholars in October 2001, a notice was posted by “Palinor of CV, animation studies, in specific and film studies in Companion of Virtue,” informing readers that “Alienna general. This is not to say that it is being ignored by of CV” died of cancer. Alienna was a citizen of the scholars elsewhere. Quite a bit of work is being done Pacific Shard and the Ultima Online community. In an by people like Donna Haraway (Women’s Studies), accompanying obituary, written in sorrow by “Lenaya, Ken Hillis (Geography), and within Film Studies by Lady of Humility,” we learn that Alienna’s name was people like Lev Manovitch and Scott Bukatman. Much Grace. The obituary refers to the love between Alienna of this work is celebratory (particularly the work by and “Martin Longbow, Lord of Honesty,” and how sad Haraway, that rambles on about the creation of a new it was that they never met off-line.9 and liberating cyborg consciousness, or Bukatman’s more sober evaluation of the penetration of the organic My intention is not to poke fun at what is undeniably a by the inorganic through the direct physical human tragedy. What interests me here, though, is that engagement with cyberspace). But so far, I have been Microsoft Chat, and more particularly Ultima Online, struck by the fact that this incredible realignment of Everquest, Asheron’s Call and their ilk have profoundly animation in respect to other media, and the change of altered the relationship between the spectator and the animation’s position in respect to the means and on-screen characters that Chuck Jones talked about. meaning of representation, has been the subject of so Now, people can merge to a high degree with their little investigation in animation studies. animated game identities and construct realities based on these animated identities. As Mark Poster has That’s about all I have to say for now. Thank you for observed, this “takes the imaginary of the word and the listening to my rant for the past half-hour. imaginary of the film or video image one step farther by placing the individual inside the alternative Copright 2002 Mark Langer worlds.”10 If Warner Bros comes out with a Warner The author would like to thank Peter Gray and Nick Bros online interactive game (which, for all I know Nguyen for their contributions to this paper. already exists), Bugs Bunny will no longer be “what you would like to be like” — he would be what you are, at Notes 1.Fukuyama, Francis, The End of History and the Last Man. (N.Y.: Free least in some new way that we haven’t really thought Press, 1992). about. What does it mean to BE Bugs Bunny, or to BE 2.Huntington, Samuel, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of Martin Longbow, Lord of Honesty, for that matter? World Order. (N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, 1996). 3.Millhauser, Steven, Little Kingdoms. (N.Y.: Random House /Vintage, Not only that, but the characters of Ultima Online 1993), 107. form entire animated communities, each with hundreds 4.See, for example, Max Fleischer’s definition in Mark Langer, “The Disney- Fleischer Dilemma: Product Differentiation and Technological Innovation,” of members, such as the Guardians of Light, the Screen. Vol. 33 no. 4 (Winter 1992): 356-7, or Julianne Burton-Carvajal’s in People with Angelic Feather, the Bloodrock Clan and “Surprise Package,” in Eric Smoodin (ed.) Disney Discourse., p 139. the Sadistic Desire Guild.11 Again, to use our Warner 5.Deitch, Gene, “Animation -- What the Heck Is It?” http://mag.awn.com/index.php3?1type=pageone&article-no=6: Bros analogy, what does it mean to be Bugs Bunny, 6.Park, John Edgar, “Behind the Scenes on Final Fantasy: The Sp irits hanging out with Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn and Within,” Animation World Magazine. (10 September 2001), an entire community of people inhabiting Warner Bros http://mag.awn.com/index.php3?1type= pageone&article_no=526 characters? Or to be some other animated character of 7.Sakaguchi, Hironobu, “Writing, Production and Directing,” in Final your own choosing or design (and some of these Fantasy: Behind the Fantasy. http://www.finalfantasy.com/ animated games allow you to digitally map your own 8.Jones, Chuck, quoted in Mark Langer, “The Evolution of Daffy Duck,” Ottawa ‘88 International Animation Festival. (Ottawa: Canadian Film face on a character.) Creating one’s own animated Institute, 1988), 61. character, rather than just inhabiting an already- 9.http://www.ianstorm.com/Worlds/UO/ 10.Post, Mark, “Postmodern Virtualities,” in George Robertson (ed.) established character like Bugs Bunny, entails and even FutureNatural. (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 189. 11.http://www.town.uo.com/guilds/
SAS Newsletter 12 Annual General Meeting Concordia University, Montreal, 24 October, 2001.
Minutes for a Society based translation service. It was also Members present: Joanna Bouldin, Suzanne Buchan, suggested that early calls for papers, and their Ton Crone, Devon Damonte, Harvey Deneroff, Ted distribution prior to conferences might encourage Dillon, Michael Frierson, Masashi Koide, Mark Langer, increased attendance numbers, but in some cases might John Lent, Richard Leskosky, Martin McNamara, require the services of translators etcetera. Roger Palmer, Mette Peters, Suzanne Williams- Rautiola, Xu Ying, Masao Yokota. Formal resolutions to emerge from the general discussions were as follows: That a keynote speaker be Apologies: Robin Allan, Giannalberto Bendazzi, Keith sought for next year's conference, with expenses meet Bradbury, David Ehrlich, Pierre Floquet, Maureen from existing funds. Proposed by Mark Langer, Furniss, Jeanpaul Goergen, Nasser Golmohamadi, Dan seconded by Suzanne Williams-Rautiola. Carried. McLaughlin, David Williams. That the President Ton Crone extend a formal vote of Minutes of the last annual general meeting held at thanks to Peter Rist of Concordia University, Marcy Trondheim on 6 August, 2000 were read and received. Page of the National Film Board of Canada, Marco Moved by Roger Palmer, seconded by Richard Deblois of the Cinémathèque Québécois and the Leskosky, carried. Netherlands Institute for Animation Film for their considerable help in organizing conference events and Reports: The predistributed president's report, venues. Proposed by Roger Palmer, seconded by Ted including a budget forecast for 2001-2002 and Dillon, Carried. treasurers' reports for the Dollar and Euro regions were received. Moved by Harvey Deneroff and The meeting was closed by Ton Crone at 3.30 pm. seconded by Richard Leskosky, carried. Roger Palmer Business: Arising from Reports and General Business: The following formalised resolutions emerged from an informal discussion led by Ton Crone. During the President’s Report discussion various matters affecting the future of the Society were canvassed without becoming the subjects It has been a busy year in which we have been able to of formal resolutions. For example, Mark Langer achieve a great deal but then again not all that we had suggested that it might be possible to link conference planned. dates and venues with periods of discount fares offered by airlines over weekends. Further discussion involved Member Administration the possibilities of finding a sponsor or sponsors for In 2001 particular attention was paid to the further conferences and other society activities. clearing up of the administration. Last year I reported on these activities in which David Ehrlich, Maureen When Suzanne Williams-Rautiola announced, with Furniss and Jeanpaul Goergen have made important great regret, that she was unable to arrange the 2002 contributions. On the basis of the data amassed, Ursula conference in San Antonio, Harvey Deneroff van den Heuvel and Mette Peters of the Netherlands volunteered to explore the possibilities of holding next Institute for Animation film have worked on an year's conference in Los Angeles in September. This address system and placed all the members in an e-mail offer was gratefully accepted by members, but not file for sending Newsletters and information for made the subject of a formal resolution. Progress on conferences. This took a lot of effort because various arrangements will be reported in later newsletters. members had changed their provider. We still do not Further informal discussion involved the possibilities of have all the e-mail addresses of our members. Even finding commercial sponsors for future conferences after having asked for the e-mail address several times and other Society activities including payment for via the normal postal service, our files are still keynote speakers at conferences and ongoing support incomplete. In general, membership fees are extremely
SAS Newsletter 13 slow in coming in and only paid following a number of Award reminders. This costs us a great deal of extra time and Special this year is the fact that the McLaren - Lambert energy. Though it is true that you hear the same Award is once again to be awarded. A selection complaint from other organisations - and it is not committee comprising Michael Frierson, Maureen something peculiar to members of the Society for Furniss and Pierre Floquet have selected a winner from Animation Studies – it is still tiresome. In the five nominations. Next year we plan holding a student Newsletter of Spring 2001, volume 14, issue 1 a list of essay competition. members is published with addresses and e-mail addresses, as far as these are known. At the end of Statutes 2000 the Society for Animation Studies had 97 paying The society is still not yet registered in Los Angeles. members. This number is close to the planned The statutes still have to be completed. We made no membership numbers of 100 for 2000/2001. progress this year because there was no time to work on them. This will now be done next year with the Conference expectation of discussing a proposal at the Annual Once again it has been possible to organise a General Meeting held in 2002 in the USA. conference this year, and this time an exceptional one. Concordia University, the National Film Board of Communication Canada, Cinémathèque Québéçoise and the Society for At present the SAS has two web sites: one at the Animation Studies with the support of the Netherlands International Animated Film Association ASIFA Institute for Animation film has this time created the (asifa.net/sas) and one at Animation World Network opportunity of drawing up an interesting programme. AWN (awn.com/sas). The number of Newsletters has Naturally the contribution of those who present a been reduced to 1 per annum with reports and a paper is essential and indispensable but the membership list. In addition, members with an e-mail preconditions for a successful conference lie its address are sent an eNewsletter on an irregular basis, organisation. whenever the need arises. Members who have no e- The organisation of the conference rested in the first mail address or those eNewsletters that are returned as instance with the Cinémathèque but owing to all kinds undeliverable are sent a printed eNewsletter with the of economy measures it was no longer possible for this regular mail. The production and editing of the organisation to take the lead. With the support of the (e)Newsletters and web sites are currently carried out NFB, Concordia University was then approached as it by the Netherlands Institute for Animation film. The was interested in cooperating with the organisation. In web sites are being extended to include an overview of this way a collaborative project came into being for the all papers presented at the SAS Conferences since organisation of the 13th Conference. Given the 1989. complex organisation of a SAS conference it seems that for the coming years similar collaborative efforts will be Finances necessary in order to guarantee the realisation of a By reducing the number of Newsletters the expenditure conference. Another remarkable fact is that of the SAS has also been lowered. The number of conferences organised in Europe are predominantly members has in any event generated the income attended by Europeans while those organised in North needed for paying a contribution towards the costs America are attended mainly by people fr om North made by the Netherlands Institute for Animation film America. The crossing to Europe or North America is for the necessary organisational support, the costs of apparently too costly. There has only been one the conference and the annual Newsletter. We received conference held in Australia so little can be said about support this year from the organisers of the participation when a conference is held in Asia or conference: the National Film Board of Canada, Australia. For the time being most members come Concordia University, Cinémathèque Québéçoise and from North America so it seems logical that the Netherlands Institute for Animation film. Their comparatively more conferences are held in North contributions cannot be expressed in sums of money America. The intention is to organise the 2002 but without the contributions of these organisations conference in the USA, in 2003 in Europe, and then the 13th Conference would not have been possible. examine possibilities in Asia or Australia. At the present time various organisations are being consulted The Board about the organisation of one of the coming The Board of the SAS comprises: President Ton Crone conferences. (NL), Secretary and Treasurer for the dollar region Michael Frierson (USA), Treasurer for the euro region
SAS Newsletter 14 Jeanpaul Goergen (D), Maureen Furniss (USA), Roger Communications Palmer (AU), Pierre Floquet (F). The Board has The web sites are being developed further. In addition corresponded with each other mainly by e-mail. to the title overview presented in the past twelve years, a start is being made with a brief table of contents of Ton Crone the papers. More news on the web sites is dependent October 2001 on the possibilities offered us by ASIFA and AWN. Communication by means of eNewsletters will be developed further. Budget 2002
Incomes
Membership fees 2600 Student fees 1000 Introducing Gigi Ho Conference fees 4000 Sponsors 2000 New member of the SAS Board 9600 I would like to introduce a new member of the board Expenses to you: Gigi Ho. No stranger to many of you. When David Ehrlich resigned I indicated that I would very Conference organization 5500 much like someone from Asia on the board. I have Newsletter 600 known Gigi since 1995. She is very well informed Websites 1000 about Asian developments in the field of animation and Student Essay Award 1500 the research being carried out on this subject. At the Translations 500 present moment she is in the USA but she will shortly Administrations 500 be returning. Gigi T.Y.Ho graduated from the National 9600 University of Singapore in 1985. She held several journalism and marketing communication jobs before Montreal, 24 oktober 2001 she left for her graduate studies at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. She received her Postgraduate Work Programme 2001/2002 Diploma in English Studies and M. Litt. In Media Culture in 1991 and 1992 respectively and the master's
dissertation was on 'The Surge of Interest in Animation Membership File in the 90's' She then became a full-time lecturer at The membership numbers should reach a minimum of Temasek Polytechnic Singapore, School of Design. She 125 in 2002. To the extent that members agree, an also co-founded the first Singapore Animation Fiesta in inventory will be drawn up of work situations and 1996, which was the first of its kind in that region. In study areas 1997, she was awarded a three-year studentship at the
University of Hong Kong, Dept. Of Comparative Policy and Status Literature to pursue her doctorate research on Japanese During the General Meeting 2002, in addition to draft animation. From 1998 to early 2000, she was based at statutes, a multi-year policy plan will be presented for the Institute of Comparative Culture at Sophia approval. University, Tokyo as a visiting researcher. Gigi Ho is interested in comparative film studies and how Finances individuals, cultures and societies communicate Funds will be sought for extra support for conferences, through animation. She has just defended her doctorate communication, travelling grants, translations and thesis in Hong Kong and anticipates graduating in the stimulation prizes. spring -summer period of 2002. She currently resides in
Oklahoma, Ponca City with her husband, Kenneth Ho Conference and two Golden Retriever Boys. Her e-mail address is The conference in 2002 will be organised in the USA. [email protected] Members will receive a special discount for attending the conference in addition to a general reduction for timely payment. Ton Crone
SAS Newsletter 15 Animation Teacher's symposium in Ottawa
Just before the 13e SAS Conference the Student willingness of students and parents to pay for an arts- Animation Film Festival Ottawa (SAFO) presented an or industrially-oriented animation program. Animation Teacher's symposium. The panels were: Technology, too, greatly affects our field as we try to teaching philosophy, centering on the issue of anticipate industry trends in terms of developments in creativity; meeting industry needs, featuring recruiters hardware and software, as well as stylistic and aesthetic from various studios; art vs. commerce in animation shifts. Complicating this is the fact that many of these education; the end of animation history, as animation changes take place within the studios themselves, as and live-action become more and more entwined. they develop proprietary software that most educators do not have access to. Another issue related to Maureen Furniss's keynote address: technology is how faculty themselves stay current when In my remarks, I will be overviewing a number of teaching a given software package or animation topics that affect animation education today. These technique. I think we would all agree, to do so points will serve as a kind of overview of the panels effectively requires not just an understanding of the that will be presented at this teacher's symposium. technology but some level of mastery. The question is, Clearly, there are many questions that confront us as how can we keep up with new developments when we we design an animation education program. Today's are teaching full-time and generally trying to squeeze in symposium covers four topics that are sure to address our creative work during spare moments? many of these concerns. Just getting faculty hired, whether part-time or full- I have taught within a number of different contexts: time, can be a considerable problem for several animation production departments, live-action centered reasons. One is that accreditation standards, in the film and television departments, and art departments United States, at least, demand that faculty largely have with or without animation terminal degrees, that is, MFAs and PhDs. Within the specializations. I've taught in community colleges, art field of animation, this becomes difficult, as many colleges, and more broadly focused universities. As a artists drawn from colleges during the 'boom' of the result, I have had the opportunity to consider the 1990s had only bachelor degrees, if that. A few years priorities of educating a wide variety of students about ago, at least, another major consideration was the pay the history and practice of animation. First I will being earned by animation professionals-college outline some general influences upon what we do as programs could rarely match it, even if the teachers of animation studies, including production, professionals could find time in their schedules to theory and history. Then I will overview what I see as teach. As industry lay-offs have affected animation some specific decisions that must be made, choices that production, including the Internet, faculty have been affect the nature of our programs and, of course, the more easy to come by. The matter of terminal degrees, education of our students. though, remains problematic.
There are a number of factors that are pretty much out Amid the changes brought on by the economy and of our hands, and yet we as educators must try to technology, we are faced with defining the focus and anticipate how they will affect the realm of animation aims of our programs. The animation industry has and, therefore, the futures of the students we teach. expanded immensely over the last twenty years, making First, of course, is economics. Recent months provide it more difficult than ever to identify just what kind of another reminder of how delicate the economic balance 'animation' we should teach and how we should to truly is. Changes in the economy affect the willingness teach it. Do we prepare students for work in theatrical of media producers to fund certain kinds of projects, features? Television production? The Internet? Games? thus shifting the industry one way or another; as a Special Effects for live-action films? Most animation result, it can be difficult to project where animation will departments have struggled with balancing 2D and 3D be in the four years or so it takes some students to work, both 'hand made and 'computer generated'. Just graduate. The economy affects the overall financial naming course offerings has been hard enough. At status of our programs, as well as the ability or Savannah College of Art and Design, where I teach, 3D
SAS Newsletter 16 refers only to computer-generated work. None of my opportunity? Do we teach effective resume and reel students understand me when I refer to clay or puppets preparation, plus provide guidance for entering film as 3D, so I've taken to using the term 'tabletop' instead. festivals? Do students have internship opportunities that provide a segue from school to career and are they When designing the curriculum, another consideration mentored into appropriate positions, to make the most is whether we will take a traditional art approach, of these open doors? including fundamentals of art history, life drawing, and other forms of art production, or if the bulk of courses Decisions regarding courses are made within a context a student takes should relate to new technologies in of limited core and elective units a student can take, as their various forms. Do we prepare students for a 'hand well as budgetary restrictions imposed on a department made' or 'computer generated' form of animation by its administration. Sometimes, clearly defined production, or something in between? Is learning how directives dictate the type of education offered by an to sculpt and make armatures an essential skill for 3D institution-for example, trade schools and community computer-generated animation? Should learning colleges generally provide students with specific job- HTML be required before our Internet students learn related skills. But what exactly prepares a student for a Dreamweaver? A related question, at the level of career in animation? Have we really defined what the individual courses, is whether we take an approach that essential 'job-related skills' are? And do they remain the is experimental, what I'll call 'student centered', or same over the course of two or three years? To what commercial, with an industrial orientation and specific extent does our uncertainty as educators get translated outcome goals. Is our job to provide structured into a diffused focus of study that, perhaps, is of little assignments that result in specific material for reels or value to students or industry? should we create an environment where students feel free to explore their individuality, something they will The study of animation history and aesthetics within a have less time for once they are working. Perhaps production program is directly related to the breadth of undergraduate and graduate programs fulfill different education a student receives. As history and aesthetics objectives, one being more skills oriented and the other courses generally do not translate into 'job related being more exploratory -- but there is no consensus on skills', they may have a low priority in industry-oriented that either. I am not even certain that most programs programs. To be honest, there is no real 'standard' of have clearly articulated the qualitative differences historical knowledge required of animation between graduate and undergraduate studies of professionals; no studio that I know of gives an animation. entrance exam, asking who Winsor McCay is. Indeed, people in the industry have a wide range of Breadth can take the form of not only experimentation backgrounds, from self-taught to MFAs in animation, but also job skills. Many departments encourage the and the occasional Ph.D., with plenty of people coming 'one person, one film' mode of animation production. from outside fields, such as illustration or live-action Certainly, there is more room for the production of media. animated shorts today, but the truth is that most of our students will find jobs not as a director of animated Within animation programs, the bulk of viewing a shorts, but in writing, layout, storyboarding, sound, or student does very well may be in the context of some other aspect of animation production unrelated production-related courses, when a teacher wants to to short independent works. Taking courses in diverse illustrate a method being taught; it may or may not be job skills undoubtedly strengthens a students work in accompanied by a discussion of historical context. directing, while also preparing him or her for a range of Given this situation, do instructors emphasize positions within animation studios. Having said that, it examples that depict a variety of forms of expression? can be difficult to find suitable textbooks and even To what extent are issues of representation and instructors to specialize in these topics. responsibility, or other subjective topics related to violence, sexuality, cultural context, and artistic merit The same can be said of animation business skills, used as a means of evaluation or even discussed in which can be as valuable as creative ones. Do we teach production-oriented courses? We need to consider how students how to write grants and manage their own a sense of history and critical skills enable students to animated productions, should they have the better adapt to a changing marketplace, to position
SAS Newsletter 17 themselves as versatile artists who can evaluate and work within the style and needs of whatever animation company has openings at any given time or to work as independent artists outside the support structure of the classroom.
Perhaps the most important consideration, one that influences not only the content of courses taught, but the professional outcomes of our students, relates to the culture of a particular animation program. Networking and alumni relations are important for creating a sense of shared history, trust and even responsibility for students in a program. When one graduate is hired by an animation company or starts his or her own studio, to what extent will that person call upon fellow students. A sense of culture is important not only to the students and graduates, of course, but also to the faculty. When we know what the students are about, we can find effective ways to speak to them. Granted, a room full of individuals who feel they have nothing in common can spark some lively discussion, but it also can lead to deep dissatisfaction among both students and their teachers.
Maureen Furniss
SAS Newsletter 18
SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES
SAS Board Ton Crone (president) [email protected] Pierre Floquet [email protected] Michael Frierson (treasurer) [email protected] Maureen Furniss [email protected] Gigi Ho [email protected] Jeanpaul Goergen (treasurer) [email protected] Roger Palmer r.noble@latrobe.edu.au
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SAS Membership Regular membership USD 35.00 / 35.00 Euro Student membership USD 20.00 / 20.00 Euro Institutional membership USD 60.00 / 60.00 Euro
Membership dues should be sent to:
Michael Frierson, treasurer dollar region 201 Brown Building UNCG, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27402-61170 USA Phone: +1 336 3343768 Fax: +1 336 3345060 Email: [email protected]
Jeanpaul Goergen, treasurer Euro region Großbeerenstraße 56d, 10965 Berlin, Germany, Deutsche Bank 24, Potsdamer Straße 140, 10783 Berlin Account IBAN-Nr.: DE23 1007 0024 0624 4248 00 BIC (Swift-code): DEUTDEDBBER Please DO NOT SEND CASH! Phone: +49 (0)30 7850282 Fax: +49 (0)30 78896850 Email: [email protected]
SAS Newsletter 19