Please contact us
with corrections
or breaking news
The Animated Bay by Karl Cohen
Mary Blair (1911-78) produced art, animation and clothing Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Peter Pan' and 'Cinderella'. photo: courtesy Disney
Mary Blair exhibit opens at Disney Museum
“Magic, Color, Flair, The World of Mary Blair” is a large, major exhibit honoring Walt’s most original and influential designer/art director. Her aesthetic taste influenced may of the post WWII classics including “Alice in Wonderland,” “Cinderella,” and “Peter Pan” along with the look of several Disney books and theme park attractions.
The remarkable John Canemaker is the guest curator. He is the author of a major book about Blair, an Oscar winner, and he heads the animation program at New York University.
The show opens March 13 and will be on view till September 7.
Some of Mary Blair's designs. photo: courtesy Disney
See Animation School Dropout—Quite An Experience!
Vince Collin’s new film "Animation School Dropout" is an amazing 99 second trip. Vince is a rather mysterious San Francisco animator who has lots of works online including his viral hit “Malice in Wonderland.”
A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, you might just spot Collin as he drives a 1930 Plymouth (caution, it packs a hot V8 engine under the hood).
When I congratulated him on his new work, he replied, "By the time I graduated, the dropouts had taken all the jobs." The film was seen by around 25,000 people in its first week.
Will Vinton Comments On Passing Of Saul Zantz And 'Vanz Kant Dance'
In our recent obituary about Saul Zaentz, we mentioned that Tom Fogerty changed for legal reasons the name of his song from “Zantz Can’t Dance” to "Vanz Kant Danz." Will, who has won a couple of Oscars and directed the famous California Raisin ads, writes us: “I directed at Vinton Studios the music video of ‘Vanz Kant Danz’ for Fogerty."
The calm opening shot to Vince Collin’s 'Animation School Dropout', just before the fecal matter hits the air distributor. photo: courtesy V. Collin
"The truth is, I liked Saul who had been good to me. When we began the project, I was unaware of the first stages of that controversy. A bit embarrassed about that, we encouraged John to make Vanz a little Oliver-like, pick-pocketing pig."
"The video turned out great," he concluded while insisting, "It was not at all an obvious slam to Saul.” See Will’s exceptional music video here.
Zynga Cuts Their Staff
The large firm that is best known for the FarmVille line of games, cut their staff by 15% in late Feb. They also announced they bought a British game company. The 314 people that were fired were mainly employed in the company’s headquarters in San Francisco.
The company they bought was NaturalMotion Ltd. The sales price was $319 million in cash and $39.8 million in share base on the value of a share on Feb.30. Zynga’s new president says the company’s income from Facebook has declined while the use of games on smartphones and mobile devises has risen. Due to that shift FarmVille for mobile devices will be release in June.
Disney’s ILM Is Staffing Up
Disney execs plan to add about 200 jobs, but the jobs are at their new facility in London. They are planning to do visual effects there on “Star Wars Episode VII” and on other feature productions.
They are leasing space near the Soho area. ILM’s Roger Guyett, who earned his third Oscar nomination this year for “Star Trek Into Darkness,” will be the VFX supervisor on “Star Wars Episode VII.” ILM facilities in SF will still be involved along with facilities in Singapore and Vancouver. They also will use a “strategic partner,” Base FX in Beijing.
.
The U.K. government has been working to attract VFX business by offering a 25 percent tax incentive on the first £20 million of qualifying production expenses (the proportion of a film's budget that must be invested in the U.K. for a production to qualify for tax benefits). “Star Wars: Episode VII” is scheduled for a December 18, 2015 release.
Also in the works at ILM will be work on Marvel's “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” slated to open May 1, 2015. Other films in ILM’s global network of studios are “Jurassic World,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Tomorrowland,” “World of Warcraft,” Luc Besson’s “Lucy” and Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken.” The company is also wrapping up “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
Although Lucas Sold ILM To Disney, He Hasn’t Retired!
Lucas has expanded his business interests in Singapore. He and his business partner Kathleen Kennedy have opened their new Lucasfilm headquarter offices in the 242,190 square-foot Sandcrawler building (Sandcrawler is the name of Jawas' vehicle in “Star Wars IV”). At the opening ceremony Lucas made his entrance accompanied by Darth Vader and a phalanx of storm troopers (what does that tell us about George?).
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says the new facility is in "full swing" and that they are currently working on “Transformers 4,” “Avengers 2” and other projects. They have more than 360 people on their growing staff of experts. Past work at Lucasfilm Singapore includes footage for “Pacific Rim,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “The Iron Man” franchise and the “Clone Wars” series. Other news about Lucas says he has invested $10 million in Starbucks.
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .