October 23rd, 2023

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Theory: Guts Vs Polish

Polish

I was talking about something with a friend this morning that I thought I might mention here…

There are two ways to approach a scene. The most direct way is to go straight for the guts of the idea- to think in the most direct and vital way possible to put the emotion and action of the scene across. The audience sees it, recognizes it and instinctually identifies with it. The ultimate proponents of this kind of animation are Rod Scribner and Irv Spence. (If you don’t know who they are, look them up!) Everything is super clear and grabs you by the collar so you can’t look away. It’s a straight line from the animator’s intent to the audience’s experience of it… like an idea wrapped in a laser beam.

The other way to approach a scene is to “finesse” it. You start with a solid basic framework of blocking and you start adding little details. Small hand gestures, secondary action like a hat sliding down over one eye as the character talks, overlapping action on clothing and hair like dingle balls swinging back and forth against the main accent. You stack up layer after layer. As the scene progresses, it becomes more fluid and smoother… glossy. The action seems more “real” because so much is going on at once and it is all so controlled and smooth and beautiful. Disney was the best at doing this sort of approach. Each scene Marc Davis and Frank Thomas animated was carefully wrapped up and tied with ribbons like a birthday present by a team of specialized craftsmen.

If you’re an independent animator, then working in “finesse mode” is a recipe for failure. The way Disney was able to pull that off required very low weekly footage counts for the animators and lots and lots of assistants tracking and following through on the layers and layers of overlap… incredibly time consuming and labor intensive. An individual animator making films by himself would never be able to compete with that. Getting directly to the guts is something that requires a great deal of experience and skill and judgement, but if you are really good, you can spit it out like a lightning bolt with no one helping you. The Disney animators were certainly able to do that if they wanted to, but the every department in the studio, from animation to ink & paint, was geared towards conforming each scene to the “Disney way of doing things”. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It produced a lot of very high quality animation. But for today’s animators building pyramids stone by stone isn’t a very good model to follow.

A lot of people look at animation and judge quality by how smooth it turns, or how polished the overlaps are. But audiences don’t care how much time it took you to animate a scene. They are looking at the performance of the character. They want to see something they recognize in the personality- something real. It’s easy in the frame by frame trenches to focus on details, but if you want to connect in the most efficient way, you should always be looking at your animation from a wider view… and trying to get the guts of the idea you are putting across. Anything else is just gilding the lilly.

If you become a *really* good direct animator, you will be so successful with audiences that you can afford to hire assistants to polish up your stuff for you. There’s no reason to focus on that while you are still growing and learning. Go for the guts.

Stephen Worth
Animation Resources

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Posted by Stephen Worth @ 10:00 am

October 20th, 2023

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RefPack054: A Peek At The International Downloads

People who aren’t members of Animation Resources don’t understand how comprehensive our Reference Packs are. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be posting what each section of our current RefPack looks like. If you are a member of Animation Resources, click on this post to go to the Members Only page. If you aren’t a member yet, today is the perfect time to join! Our current Reference Pack is one of our best yet, and General and Student Members get access to a special Bonus Archive with even more material from past Reference Packs.

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International Animation

The world of animation is much bigger than it might appear to us at first glance. We are all familiar with the films we grew up with, but Hollywood wasn’t the only place that produced great cartoons… Poland, Japan, Russia, China and Europe all have their own traditions and a rich history of animated film making. Animation Resources’ archive contains many foreign films that are rarely seen in the United States. We feature a sampling of interesting animation from around the world in each Reference Pack.


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Princess Iron Fan

Princess Iron Fan
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The Wan Brothers / Shanghai, China / 1941
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The Wan Brothers (Wan Laiming, Vancomyein Toad, Wan Chaochen and Wan Dihuan) were born in Nanjing, on the banks of the Yangzi River. Their father, a businessman, expected them to learn a trade from books, so they could make a lot of money when they grew up. But their mother encouraged them to cut paper into the shapes of people and birds, and the sons enjoyed art more than book-learning. When they were young, they performed puppet shows with their paper-cut characters, based on a story from the four classic novels titled Journey to the West, the books that document the legendary Monkey King epic.

In 1916, the family moved to Shanghai. Wan Laiming took a job working for the Shanghai Commercial Press, and held positions in the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of Activities Movie Service starting in 1919. Inspired by American cartoons, China’s shadow puppet plays, and cinematic techniques he saw in live action films, Wan Laiming began making his own animated films.

Princess Iron Fan

The Wan Brothers were greatly impressed by the cartoons from America. In 1940, they began work on their own 8,000 foot, 80 minute long sound cartoon film, Tieshangongzhu (aka Princess Iron Fan). Produced in a single large room over the span of one year by 70 artists working in two shifts a day, this film lay a solid foundation for the Wan Brothers’ career in animation production. Twenty years later, they released a feature film based on another part of the Monkey King saga, Hue And Cry Over The Sky, and followed that up in 1964 with a third segment titled Big Trouble. The last two films were later screened together with an intermission and titled Havoc In Heaven.

Princess Iron Fan

The story line of Princess Iron Fan isn’t easy to translate, since it was so deeply rooted in Chinese folklore. But the basic story involves a beautiful demoness who is married to the Bull Demon King. Sun Wukong the Monkey King, is traveling and encounters The Flaming Mountains where he does battle with a fire demon and loses. He joins up with two pilgrims, a pig and a warrior, and they set out to borrow a magic banana leaf from the Princess. This banana leaf has the ability to summon huge winds, capable of extinguishing the flames. The Princess refuses to give the Monkey King the banana leaf fan, so he changes into a bug and hides in her drink. She swallows him and he proceeds to kick her in the guts until she agrees to give him the fan. She gives him a fake one that only fans the fire in the Flaming Mountains higher. The Monkey King barely survives and returns to Princess Iron Fan disguised as her husband, the Bull Demon. He tricks her into giving him the real fan. The real Bull Demon returns home, discovers the deception and does battle with the Monkey King. The Bull Demon is vanquished, the Flaming Mountains are put out, and the Monkey King forgives the Princess and returns the fan to her.

Now that you’ve read that story, try to imagine it animated in a combination of rotoscope and the surreal metamorphosis animation of the wildest Fleischer cartoons. This film is like no other you’ve ever seen. Our copy of it isn’t the best quality, but it may be all that remains of the pioneering animated feature.

REFPACK054: Princess Iron Fan 1941
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MP4 Video File / SD / 01:12:46 / 1,87 GB Download

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Bruno Bozetto

Mr. Rossi Buys A Car
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Bruno Bozzetto / Italy / 1967

Bruno Bozzetto is an Italian animator known for his parody of Fantasia titled Allegro Non Troppo. His other feature films include a superhero parody called VIP My Brother Superman and a spaghetti western parody titled West And Soda. Bozzetto’s work is often satirical and political in nature, championing the common man and lampooning government inefficiency and oppression.

Bruno Bozetto

Bozzetto’s most famous character is Signor Rossi, an everyman figure he featured in many animated shorts and three feature films, Mr. Rossi Looks For Happiness, Mr. Rossi’s Dreams, and Mr. Rossi’s Vacation. In the short film we are sharing today, Mr. Rossi buys a car which changes his entire demeanor from a normal calm individual to a speed demon burning with road rage.

Bruno Bozetto

Bozzetto’s work is not as well known in the United States as it should be, but it is recognized and appreciated across Europe. Recently, Animation Resources has been working to acquire more of his films for the Animation Archive, and we hope to share them with you in future Reference Packs. We think you’ll find a lot to inspire you in Bozzetto’s work.

REFPACK054: Mr Rossi Buys A Car 1967
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MP4 Video File / SD / 6:39 / 175 MB Download


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Happy Merry Go Round

Happy Merry-Go-Round Ep. 01
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Galina Barinova, Leonid Nosyrev, Anatoly Petrov, Gennady Sokolsky / Soyuzmultfilm / 1969

Happy Merry Go Round was a long-running series of films produced by Soyuzmultfilm. The intent was to provide a format for the directors there to create experimental films. There were ten episodes released theatrically between 1969 and 1978, and after that releases were sporadic. It transitioned to television and ran for 33 seasons up to 2001. In 2012, Happy Merry-Go-Round was revived.

Happy Merry Go Round

The episode we are sharing today is the first in the series. It includes four short films: "Mosaic" a film with animals designed in the form of mosaics, "Antoshka" a song about a lazy boy who refuses to dig potatoes, "Distracted Giovanni" a cartoon in the style of Ferdinand Lèger about a boy who loses his body parts, and "Well, Just You Wait!" the story of a wolf chasing a rabbit.

The premise of "Nu, Pogodi!" (which translates into English as "Well, Just You Wait!") was pitched by a writing team of satirical humorists to many directors at Soyuzmultfilm, but was rejected every time. Finally in 1969, Gennady Sokolsky agreed to direct a 2 1/2 minute pilot for this episode of Happy Merry Go Round. The general consensus at the studio was that the cartoon was "low class" and beneath the dignity of Soyuzmultfilm, but director Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin strongly believed in the concept, so the studio decided to take a chance and allow him to direct a few episodes… and then a few more… and then more. Kotyonochkin was proven correct. The cartoons were a huge success. Between 1969 and 2006, Soyuzmultfilm ended up making 22 episodes. In a 2014 poll of audiences all over Russia, "Well, Just You Wait!" was voted the most popular cartoon series of all time by a landslide.

Happy Merry Go Round

The Russian State Committee for Cinematography criticized Happy Merry-Go-Round for "using children’s cinema as a proving ground for abstract art", but critics praised it for its creative freedom and diversity of styles. A lot of young animators received their first opportunity to direct on the series, allowing them to develop a personal style before moving on to create their own series.

REFPACK054: Happy Merry-Go-Round Ep. 01
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MP4 Video File / SD / 9:51 / 233 MB Download


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Professor Balthazar

Professor Balthazar in “The Inventor Of Shoes”
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Zlatko Grgic / Zagreb Films, Croatia / 1967

In a previous Reference Pack we featured several Maxi-Cat mini-cartoons by Zlatko Grgic, a Croatian animator who later emigrated to Canada to join the Canadian Film Board.

Professor Balthazar

Grgic is best known for his series of cartoons featuring the character Professor Balthazar, an old man who solves problems for his friends by creating inventions with a magical machine. Produced between 1967 and 1973, the series ran all over the world. Its silent pantomime with voice over narration made it easy to translate to other countries. It aired everywhere from New Zealand to Romania to Zimbabwe. In the United States it was featured on Chuck Jones’ television program, Curiosity Shop.

Professor Balthazar

Altogether there were 59 episodes of Professor Balthazar produced between 1969 and 1978. We will be sharing more with you in upcoming Reference Packs.

REFPACK051: Professor Balthazar Ep. 03
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MP4 Video File / SD / 9:02 / 83 MB Download

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There’s no better way to feed your creativity than to be a member of Animation Resources. Every other month, we share a Reference Pack that is chock full of downloadable e-books and still framable videos designed to expand your horizons and blow your mind. It’s easy to join. Just click on this link and you can sign up right now online.

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Posted by Stephen Worth @ 10:00 am

October 19th, 2023

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Sponsor A Student Or Educator

Sponsor A Student

Building The Future Of Animation

Would you like to help build the foundation for the future of animation by supporting animation students and educators? Animation Resources would like to do that too!

If you are a member of Animation Resources, you know about the valuable educational information we provide. We want to make all of this available to students and educators who might not be able to afford a membership otherwise. So we are providing a way for you to sponsor a student or hard working instructor. For a donation of $50, we will award a free one year Student Membership in Animation Resources to a promising student, and for a $100 donation, we will provide a free one year membership in Animation Resources to both worthwhile animation student and their instructor. That is significantly less than our normal student rate. But Animation Resources is willing pitch in as well to give you a chance to share it forward with the next generation of animators.

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Fall is time to save when you join Animation Resources as a student member. For the next couple of weeks our Student Membership will be discounted to only $60/year! Best of all, you will continue to get that savings every year you renew as a student for up to three years. Yes, this applies to full time educators too. Why should you join? Each day we’ll be highlighting more reasons why you should be a member of Animation Resources. Bookmark us and check back every day.

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Discount Ends Nov. 6th!
$70/year $60/year (recurring)

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Not Convinced Yet? Check out this SAMPLE REFERENCE PACK! It will give you a taste of what Animation Resources members get to download every other month!

There’s no better way to feed your creativity than to be a member of Animation Resources. Every other month, we share a Reference Pack that is chock full of downloadable e-books and still framable videos designed to expand your horizons and blow your mind. It’s easy to join. Just click on this link and you can sign up right now online.

JOIN NOW Before This Offer Ends!
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Posted by Stephen Worth @ 10:13 am