November 1996 Vol. 1 No. 8 RobinRobin AllanAllan TheThe FirstFirst MagicMagic KingdomKingdom JudithJudith RubinRubin RidefilmsRidefilms JillJill McGrMcGrealeal Britain’Britain’ss NationalNational LotterLotteryy GeneGene WWalzalz OttaOttawawa 9696 Table of Contents 3 Editor’s Notebook by Harvey Deneroff 5 Disneyland and Europe:Walt Disney’s First Magic Kingdom Robin Allan examines how Disneyland, the progenitor of today’s theme parks, came into being and the role animation had in it. 9 Something’s Wrong With Our Ship:Animated Motion-Simulator Films in Theme Parks Judith Rubin surveys what’s going on in animated ridefilms at theme parks and other venues around the world and who’s making them. 13 BRC Imagination Arts BRC Imagination Arts, one of the oldest and largest producers of animated and live-action ridefilms is profiled by Rita Street. 16 T2-3D Bob Swain interviews director Jim Cameron’s reworking of Terminator 2 for Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Terminator 2-3D . 18 The Fremont Street Experience: No Glitz, No Glory! Las Vegas’ Freemont Street Experience boasts of the world’s largest electric sign and Jane Baer explains to Frankie Kowalski how one does animation for a 5 screen panel that is almost 1,400 feet long. 20 The Electric Felix Man John Canemaker relates how Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix the Cat, got into directing animated films for a Times Square landmark. 22 The National Lottery:A Polemic The unexpected success of Britain’s new national lottery can be a means of mitigating the dire results of privatization in funding animated films. Jill McGreal explains. 25 Contracts for Original Works Published on Internet Attorney Nicolas Valluet explores the whys and wherefores of having your work 26 put on the Internet. English version - French version (version francaise) Reviews 28 Betty Boop:The Definitive Collection by Harvey Deneroff Festivals & Conferences 30 Ottawa International Animation Festival by Gene Walz 34 Brisbane Animation Festival by David Marshall 36 Society for Animation Studies: 8th Annual Conference by Harvey Deneroff 38 Desert Island Series....Please keep your arms in the vehicle while the ride is in motion! Scott Ross, Jane Baer and Bob Rogers. Compiled by Frankie Kowalski 39 AWN Comics Dirdy Birdy by John R. Dilworth 40 News Wallace and Gromit Conquer America, Cartoon Forum, Kurosawa Does Animation,Three Little Pigs, Ottawa 96 Winners, and more. 47 Next Issue’s Highlights November 1996 1 Cover: Tad in sound stream tunnel in Adventures in Audiana © The Works © Animation World Network 1996. All rights reserved. No part of the periodical may be reproduced without the consent of Animation World Network. ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE October 1996 2 by Harvey Deneroff Theme Park Animation lottery as a possible solution. Also, Several years ago, when I start- Nicolas Valluet examines the prob- ed doing detailed profiles of ani- lems of “authors” in negotiation mation studios for my Animation contracts for putting their works Report newsletter, it quickly online in “Contracts for Original became evident that theme park Works Published on Internet.” animation was showing up with In this month’s selection of more frequency than I had imag- reviews and reports on festivals and ined in the filmographies of a conferences, I start off with a brief number of companies. It was this look at Betty Boop: The Definitive realization that opened my eyes Collection, a new boxed set of to the fact that this sort of pro- eight video tapes, as well as take a duction was a small, but increas- more extended look at the recent ingly important segment of the conference put on by the Society of animation industry. And for any- Animation Studies, at the University one who has experienced such tor Jim Cameron in “T2-3D” and of Wisconsin, Madison. Also, Gene attractions as The Back to the how he and his company, Digital Walz reports in from the latest edi- Future Ride at Universal City Studios Domain, turned his classic sci-fi film, tion of the Ottawa International knows, it can also be a lot of fun. Terminator 2 into a 3D extrava- Animation Festival, the premiere We start our survey of anima- ganza at Universal City Studios, event of its kind in North America, tion in theme parks with Robin Orlando. and David Marshall does the same Allan’s “Disneyland and Europe: In “The Fremont Street for the first edition of the Brisbane Walt Disney’s First Magic Kingdom,” Experience: No Glitz, No Glory!,” Animation Festival. which details how the first of mod- Frankie Kowalski talks with Jane Finally, Frankie Kowalski’s Desert ern theme parks came about, and Baer, of The Baer Animation Island Series hears from several peo- the influences of Europe and Company, about what it was like ple involved in theme park anima- Disney cartoons shaped its char- animating for the world’s largest tion at various levels, including acter. electric sign (and biggest movie Digital Domain’s Scott Ross, Baer In “Something’s Wrong With screen as well) which towers over Animation’s Jane Baer and BRC Our Ship: Animated Motion- four city blocks in downtown Las Imagination Arts’ Bob Rogers, while Simulator Films in Theme Parks,” Vegas. And John Canemaker recalls John R. Dilworth presents the latest Judith Rubin provides an introduc- how animation pioneer Otto installment of his “The Dirdy Birdy” tion to the nature of animated ride- Messmer, of Felix the Cat fame, comic strip. films, along with a rundown of the worked on a somewhat more latest productions from some of the modest scale for a sign in New Announcing Animation Review leaders in the field, including New York’s Time Square over a half cen- It is no secret that a number of Wave Entertainment, Rhythm & tury earlier. the articles that we have presented Hues, Midland Productions, SimEx On a completely different topic, in past issues derive from the work and The Works. Rita Street gets Jill McGreal, in her “The National of some of the leading scholars in more specific with her profile of Lottery: A Polemic,” examines how the field of animation studies. Their one of the oldest companies in the Britain’s policy of privatization of works are often presented first at field in “BRC Imagination Arts,” government activities might impact conferences put on by organiza- whose portfolio extends to films the country’s animation industry. tions like the Society for Animation made for “World Fairs, aquariums, She sees hope, however, in an Studies and published in peer- museums and visitors centers.” innovative plan to tap into the reviewed publications like Then, Bob Swain, interviews direc- monies generated by the national Animation Journal. ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE November 1996 3 Needless to say, there are lim- for Animation Studies Conference its to presenting scholarly work in in this issue. a publication like Animation World Magazine. There are certain limits Call for Films & Videos to what one can present in a mag- Animation World Magazine azine aimed at a more general would like to expand its coverage readership: articles may have to be of new independent animated ANIMATION WORLD NETWORK drastically cut, the writing simpli- films and videos. However, it is hard 6525 Sunset Blvd., fied and footnotes dispensed with. for us to keep up with what’s new Garden Suite 10 This, along with the fact that, out- in this area, especially as many indi- Hollywood, CA 90028 side of Animation Journal, there are viduals and smaller studios lack the Phone : 213.468.2554 no other peer-reviewed publica- public relations apparatus that larg- Fax : 213.464.5914 tions devoted strictly to animation. er companies have. As such, we Email : [email protected] Thus AWN is proud to announce would invite filmmakers and com- that it will be publishing a new panies to feel free to submit their online academic journal, Animation works for possible review; material Review. I will act as Editor-in-Chief, should be submitted on videotape; ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE although individual issues will be VHS tapes using NTSC format is [email protected] under the direction of one of sev- preferred, but other formats are PUBLISHER eral Associate Editors, which will also acceptable. We offer no guar- Ron Diamond, President include some our leading anima- antees, but will try to give proper Dan Sarto, Chief Operating Officer tion scholars. consideration to all titles submitted. We naturally invite submissions EDITOR-IN-CHIEF from readers, details of which can Harvey Deneroff be found in the Call for Papers at Harvey Deneroff ASSOCIATE EDITOR/PUBLICITY the end of my report of the Society [email protected] Frankie Kowalski CONTRIBUTORS : Call For Papers Robin Allan John Canemaker Animation Review Harvey Deneroff The International Journal of History, Theory Frankie Kowalski & Criticism David Marshall Jill McGreal Animation Review, a new peer-reviewed journal to be Judith Rubin published on the Internet by the Animation World Network, is Rita Street now soliciting papers in all areas of animation studies. Bob Swain Submissions, using the Chicago Style Manual, can be made as Nicolas Valluet an email attachment or on computer disc (in any standard PC Gene Walz or Macintosh word processing format), along with three copies of the paper. Articles should be in English. In all instances, the author’s name should not appear in the body of the paper, but Le WEBMASTER Guillaume Calop should be on a cover page, as all articles will be blind refereed. DESIGN/LAYOUT : IMP Graphic Articles and inquiries should be sent to: e-mail : [email protected] Christa Theoharous, Guillaume