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Cohen’s Cartoon Corner by Karl Cohen
The Fab Four in their anime personification. photo: courtesy The Beatles
Oh No, the Blue Meanies are Coming!
Fifty years ago "Sgt. Pepper" blew our minds when we hopped on the Yellow Submarine and took a wonderful trip to Pepperland. The creative team at TVC in London had to work with a limited budget from the producer, King Features, so they stretched their imaginations to come up with amazing visual creations that made up for the financial restraints.
King Features executives only wanted a quick, cheap film so they could cash in on owning the theatrical rights to The Beatle’s music. TVC, which did The Beatles’ TV cartoon series, felt this might be their only chance to do an important feature and they seized the opportunity.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the movie will have a wide release across the United States, Britain and Ireland this summer.
Enjoy what we are told is a carefully restored psychedelic picture full of vivid colors and details along with a remixed 5.1 stereo soundtrack that was the handiwork of the Abbey Road Studios. The resulting timeless journey is still wonderful, so treat yourself and your friends to a high time with George, Paul, John and Ringo.
Go cheer them on as they confront the Blue Meanies. Soar with Lucy through a sky full of diamonds. Wish the Boob well as he tries to complete something. Ponder the mystery of "the sea of holes."
Specific movie locations are or will be announced at their site. This may very well be the best animated feature to come out this summer. It is scheduled to play at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, September 3-15th.
The pudgy new star from Pixar. image: Pixar
Pixar Does Dumplings
Pixar's next short "Bao" is about a Chinese dumpling which comes to life. It was cooked up by Domee Shi, who was born in China and raised in Toronto, and will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festivial, on April 21, before going on tour as the opener for “The Incredibles 2.” Shi began at Pixar as an intern working as a story artist on “Inside Out.”
“I just wanted to create this magical, modern-day fairy tale, kind of like a Chinese ‘Gingerbread Man’ story," Shi said. The film’s title “Bao” has a dual meaning: A steamed bun as well as a treasure.
Pixar's New Incredibles
The report in Indie Wire say the focus of Pixar's "Incredibles 2" is on the family and their super powers, with Elastigirl as the lead and a greater role for Jack-Jack, the baby who is discovering his powers. The action packed highlights shown have Elastigirl preventing a disaster with a runaway train and what might be a comedic sequence, having Jack-Jack combating a raccoon. The sequence shown also introduced a “mysterious Screenslaver.”
Brad Bird says "Incredibles 2" was made on an accelerated schedule as Pixar plans to release “Toy Story 4” in 2019. He says, “It’s a challenge for us, but the studio is three times bigger than when it made “The Incredibles.”
As for technological advances expect noticeable improvements in the character animation, environments, wardrobe, and effects. Also the family’s mansion is much larger (38,000-square-foot) as the extra space is needed to accommodate various sequences that will take place there.
The Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house had to be redesigned to adapt the space to meet the shorter production schedule. It is interesting to know that in planning chases and other sequences designers needed to know if the space was going to be big enough to accommodate the movement that was going to take place in it.
As for Bird’s style of directing, he told Indie Wire’s Bill Desowitz “I will get the shot that I want, but if somebody comes up with an alternate shot that they think can be cool, then they can persuade me.”
Image from 'Seder Masochism' proves Paley doesn't bow to the current chaste culture. photo: N. Paley
Paley Premieres Seder Masochism
Nina Paley will premiere her new animated feature, "Seder Masochism", at the famous Annecy Animation Festival in France. Her webpage about her new feature has a one minute trailer, but no details about the project. Clips are posted on her Vimeo Page, or check her blog.
For a tour de force Paley video featuring sexy dancing Paleolithic women see, "You Gotta Believe".
Collins is on the Loose Again
See Vince Collins's latest wild and dangerous, mind-altering work, “Subliminal Mind Circus,” if you dare.
An explosive one minute of images, it may leave you thinking “what the hell was that?” as it rushes past you. Who knows what strange thoughts it might induce? Naked clowns running down the street being chased by giant roosters?
Gorzycki Wins Wales Best Doc
Martha Gorzycki, who teaches animation at San Francisco State University, flew to Scotland and Wales to be honored again. She gave an artist talk at the University of Glasgow in their Film and Media Studies Department and showed several of her films including her latest work “Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei.”
Image from Collins's 'Subliminal Mind Circus'. photo: V. Collins
Then she flew to Cardiff, Wales for the International Documentary Film Festival where they showed her new work in a wonderful picturesque setting. She was gone from April 12-23rd. As for her “Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei,” it has now been shown by over 50 film festivals and it just won its 21st festival prize.
Careers in Animation
The 2018 Careers in Animation Panel event at SF State was a lively afternoon discussion with three highly informative guests. The nicest news is that Kat Alioshin is working on “The Inventor,” a stop-motion feature about Leonardo Di Vinci. It will probably be made locally if it is fully funded. Hopefully that will happen and there will be a need for people to fill entry level jobs.
Kat is also producing “Animation Outlaws,” a feature length documentary on Spike and Mike’s contribution to animation. Kat has filmed interviews with Nik Park, Pete Doctor and several others who are now well-known to animation fans. The tentative release date is April 2019. Information about “Animation Outlaws” can be found at here and on Facebook at spikeandmikedoc.
Kat mentioned Henry Selick has another stop-motion feature in the planning stages. If it goes into production it will probably be animated in Portland. Kat worked with Selick on “Nightmare Before Christmas,” “James and the Giant Peach” and on other of his productions.
She brought with her a metal lunch box containing several stop-motion puppet heads. She showed us how magnets inside of them are used to hold the replacement parts together. When Art Clokey was producing “Gumby” here the replacement mouths were simply printed on paper, cut out with scissors and stuck in place (probably with rubber cement).
Monica Rodriguez, who works as a Junior Motion Designer at John McNeil Studio and is a graduate from SF State’s animation program, spoke about breaking into the industry. She has a delightful vivacious personality so I wasn’t at all surprised the Berkeley studio hired her right away.
Rube Goldberg, a Jewish cartoonist born in 19th century San Francisco, was honored by a US stamp. photo: courtesy R. Goldberg
Also joining the panel was Charlie Canfield, who talked about his long career in the local industry that began when he moved here from Seattle to take a job at ILM. That was before the days of computer animation and effects. In recent years he has developed a successful career providing animated sequences for documentary films.
Goldberg is Quite the Rube
The art of Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) remains a marvel even almost a century in. Originally from San Francisco, Goldberg's show includes drawings, sketches and memorabilia and is at the Contemporary Jewish Museum through July 8th, 736 Mission St., San Francisco.
Got Kids?
If you desperately need something for your kids this summer, why not send them to Cartoon Camp? San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum’s Cartoon Camp is cooler than ever this summer as they are in their new location with half & full days of drawing excitement! Your kids can take part in week-long workshops dedicated to the art of cartooning.
They will hold three sessions: Week 1: June 18th – 22nd, Week 2: June 25th - 29th and Week 3: July 30th - August 3rd. Designed for kids ages 10 to 15. Contact them about special programs for Older Teens (16-18). The museum is located at 781 Beach St., SF, just down the street from the Buena Vista Café.
Charles Schultz's Sally was a seminal feminist figure. photo: courtesy C. Schultz
Sally's World
The next exhibit at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, "The World According to Sally", opens May 23 and closes December 3, 2018 at the facility at 301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa. It features a collection of over 68 original comic strips and objects. It will demonstrate the variety of ways Schulz captured Sally’s childhood frustrations and methods of coping with the world around her.
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .Posted on May 15, 2018 - 04:47 PM