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Cohen’s Cartoon Corner: Oct 2021 by Karl F. Cohen
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Poster for Bill Plympton's new short 'Demi's Panic'. image: courtesy B. Plymptom
Plympton Rock’s the Roxie
Bill Plympton's new short "Demi's Panic" will be shown at the Roxie for a week starting Friday Sept. 24th, ant it’s not what you expect from him. Instead of a comedy, it is a mature, sophisticated study of Demi's fears that arise from living in a world threatened by an epidemic.
Touching on feelings most of us have experienced since March, 2020, it is an impressive work. It drew me into Demi’s subconscious feelings, an unexpected and unusual experience I wasn't expecting. I highly recommend it.
The short will show with "Prisoner of the Ghostland" starring Nicolas Cage. It’s about "a ruthless bank robber sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord whose adopted granddaughter has gone missing,” according to its description. “Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct in five days, the bandit [played by Cage] sets off on a journey to find the young woman—and his own path to redemption."
This last-minute, week-long run has been added so it can qualify for consideration by the Academy Awards. Please check it out to help the Roxie as well as Plympton.
San Jose State Film Class Completes Big Film
Professor David Chai and his San Jose State students have completed ‘CMYK (Colors You May Know)".
Image from San Jose State's new film 'CMYK'. image: courtesy D. Chai
“It's our friendly reminder to love one another and embrace our differences, inspired by all of the killing, hatred, and division that was such a big part of 2020,” Chai wrote me.
Once again his projects take us in a new and unexpected direction. Indeed, they are quite varied in look and content, and there are 14 different ones awaiting you here.
Pixar’s Surprising New Short
Pixar has released ‘Twenty Something”, a short about the insecurities of millennials becoming adults. Aphton Corbin, who worked on “Soul” and “Toy Story 4” and is one of Pixar’s rising Black female story artists, was motivated by professional insecurity to make her debut Spark Short on Disney+.
“Twenty Something” is a clever, funny 2D short about Gia, who imagines herself as a stack of kids hiding in a trench coat during a frantic 21st birthday celebration at a club.
Scene from Twenty Something”, a short by Aphton Corbin from Pixar. image: courtesy A. Corbin
“The original idea stems from me being a 20-something entering the workforce for the first time at Pixar and feeling all of the inadequacies that are coming at you all at once,” Corbin said. “Am I a successful adult, or am I bunch of kids running around to make it work? This was fun to visualize as a short.”
Steve Segal’s New Animation
Steve Segal has been animating for years. The trailer for “Misfit”, his latest film, can be seen here, where it is followed by some of his historic film moments.
A pioneer of computer animation, Segal made “Dance of the Stumblers” in 1987 using the Amiga 1000 computer and Aegis animator, and rendered it by aiming a 35mm camera at the screen and shooting one frame per second.
There is also a behind-the-scenes, hand-held video he made on the making of the “Brave Little Toaster” (1987) in Taiwan. It shows life inside a studio where people actually drew and flipped pages of paper. There are brief shots of a young Joe Ranft, who went on to help Henry Selick develop “Nightmare Before Christmas” and on to Pixar, where he worked on of their classics.
Also in the short are Kevin Lima who directed “Tarzan” and “Enchanted”, Brian McEntee, art director for “Beauty and the Beast”, Steve Moore, who got an Oscar nomination for directing “Redux Riding Hood”, Chris Wahl supervising animator in “Beauty and the Beast”, Rebecca Rees. a writer on “Aladdin”, Randy Cartwright, who supervised the magic carpet in “Aladdin”, Ann Telnaes, a highly regarded political cartoonist, and director Jerry Rees, who has supervised building many of the most popular theme park attractions.
Steve has also created an interactive performance piece, “Outside the Box”, that is fun. See it here.
Brad Uyeda puppet for his stop-action horror movie. image: courtesy B. Uyeda
Japanese Internment Story Coming
Brad Uyeda is developing an animated feature about his grandfather, who was in a WWII Japanese internment camp.
“My next project underway is a personal one for me about my grandfather, from whom I get my artistic talent,” Uyeda emailed me recently. “He was one of the Japanese Americans that were relocated into internment camps in 1943 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.”
“I will be hiring artists in the winter for pre-production work.” If anyone has questions and or would like to submit their portfolio, they can send it to .
“They did more than defend America,” said President Bill Clinton about the 442nd Infantry Regiment composed of Japanese-Americans, many of whom volunteered from the deportation camps. “They helped define America at its best... Rarely has a nation been so well served by people it has so ill-treated.”
Uyeda Finishes Horror Film
Brad Uyeda is also finishing up his stop-motion horror film. Although he spent the long year of Covid doing non-stop freelance work, he found time to finish the animation of his powerful, evil-looking creature, a puppet created with Midnight Studio FX in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He says he is very pleased with the results as well as the quality of the animation, noting, “It really comes alive on the screen.” Uyeda is a graduate of SF State’s animation program went on to work as an animator on a series of projects for other directors and on personal projects.
Shot from Tippet's new work, 'Mad God'. image: courtesy P. Tippet
Tippett Premiers Life Work Film
Phil Tippett premiered “Mad God” at the Locarno Film Festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland, since 1946.
Tippet’s experimental feature set in the “ghost world of mankind,” took him 30 years to make. Individuals descend in a corroded diving bell into a ruined city where they explore a labyrinth of bizarre landscapes inhabited by freakish monsters, mad scientists, and “war pigs.” Tippet made it in segments over a 30-year period and funded parts of it with Kickstarter campaigns.
He premiered the final cut at Locarno in August with two other films he did special effects for, “RoboCop” and “Starship Troopers”. The festival also gave him a lifetime achievement award.
Tippet says much of it is based on his subconscious. He kept notes of his dreams and found many had beginnings, middles and resolutions. In Variety he said that “not everything gets resolved.” He adds that the visuals somehow make sense to him, but they might not make sense to everybody.
He admitted he can’t clearly define the film’s premise. But he is pleased that, at a work-in-progress screening years ago, a few people walked out and they told him it gave them anxiety attacks.
“I wanted to make something that grabs people’s attention and takes you some place where you had never been before, and you have no idea where it’s going. That’s very clear to some people. Others who are in it for a more conventional theatrical experience are going to be disappointed. I’ve moved through these different environments before, and I’m thinking what’s next.”
A review in Film Stage says, “The world is at various times an industrial nightmare, a psychedelic C.S. Lewis mushroom garden, a scene from a torture movie, and a pseudo-WW1 battlefield.”
“If there is an arc, it involves those unfortunate explorers being harvested by psychotic surgeons who relieve them of a strange cargo that is then offered as a sacrifice to a nightmarish alchemist who might be the devil—or something else,” the reviewer continues, concluding, “It is a unique achievement; a mad opus from one of American cinema’s liveliest minds.”
The High on Film.com website calls it, “A bizarre, surrealist cinematic experience [which] squarely falls in the league of the rare posse of films that redefine and stretch the bounds of filmmaking. It would not be amiss to put it in the same breath as “2001 Odyssey”, or even “Koyaanisqatsi”.
He thinks his next project will be something “I could complete in a couple years. It’s designed to be a lot more audience friendly with characters and plot. In vibe, it’s like a 1940s Warner Bros. color cartoon. It has that savage insanity to how the energy flows. I spent a good chunk of COVID time writing a narrative, I’ve designed all the characters, drawn all the storyboards, so it’s just sitting there in case I get any traction.” For more info go here.
From the new short from Art We Trust Fund. image: courtesy Art We Trust
Mind Bending Special Effects Work
A strange, surreal video was made for the In Art We Trust Fund campaign. I hope you enjoy seeing this and the next work or two that shows up on the internet after it.
Smith Tells Computer Graphics History
Alvy Ray Smith talks about the history of computer graphics, an hour-long talk on the subject of his new book about the history of the pixel. The last 10 or 15 minutes of it focuses on his pioneering work for George Lucas and a little company he helped found, Pixar. When they needed major funding they brought on Steve Jobs, who arranged it for them. It ends with the release of their first feature, "Toy Story".
Cartoon Art Museum
First of all, there are lots of cartooning classes for kids online after school and on weekends at the Cartoon Art Museum, see their website.
The "Wonder Woman" comic from DC is highlighted in a great Cartoon Museum Show. image: courtesy Cartoon Museum
Secondly, the museum, located in San Francisco, proudly presents “The Legend of Wonder Woman”, an exhibition celebrating 80 years of DC Comics’ iconic amazon.
“The Legend of Wonder Woman” features comic books, merchandise, and original illustrations by many of Wonder Woman’s most prominent artists, including H.G. Peter, who co-created the character in 1941, alongside writer William Moulton Marston; Trina Robbins, legendary underground comix artist and herstorian; George Pérez, who revitalized and redefined Wonder Woman for the 1980s; Robyn Smith, artist of the critically acclaimed YA graphic novel “Nubia: Real One”; and fan favorites including Colleen Doran, Phil Jimenez, and Liam Sharp; as well as costumes by The Bronze Armory.
The exhibit runs till the end of December 2021. Galleries opened daily (except Wed).
Another of their shows is “A Treasury of Animation”. From the earliest hand-drawn cartoons to today’s blockbuster CGI films, all animation begins with an artist and an idea, “A Treasury of Animation” showcases original production art following the evolution of animation from the 1920s onward from the Cartoon Art Museum's permanent collection.
Jantz Celebrates 25 Years
Michael Jantz is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his comic strip “The Norm”. He posts his “daily sanity” here. Or you can see what his first strip was like here.
New political cartoon from Mark Fiore. image: courtesy M. Fiore
Fiore’s New Stuff
Mark Fiore has new Covid-19 and withdrawal from Afghanistan cartoons online that are excellent. You might enjoy seeing his latest critical comments about anti-vaxxers and work about our withdrawal from our 20-year war on his website. Lots of animated work to contemplate here.
Fantastic Flip Book
See a video of what may be the world’s most expensive flipbook, part of a deluxe limited edition of Gogol’s “The Nose” published by Arion Press, illustrated by William Kentridge. He has created sets for the opera “The Nose”. See it here or buy it here.
Disneyland Gets Sued
Twenty-five thousand Disneyland employees sued for better pay which is obviously needed given reports of homelessness and food insecurity.
While working at the Disneyland Hotel for 15 years as a valet, Gabriel Sarracino earned only minimum wage while supplementing his income with tips. Considering himself fortunate since his wife and two children have affordable housing, not every cast member (as employees are called by Disneyland) can say the same.
According to a 2018 survey, 11% reported experiencing homelessness in prior two years, 68% were food insecure, and 73% said they do not earn enough for basic expenses, which the recent pandemic and gentrified real estate market made worse.
According to SF Gate (9/21/2021), “Sarracino is one of the 25,000 cast members who are participating in a class action lawsuit that alleges Disneyland is legally obligated to pay a living wage.”
Karl F. Cohen—who added his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached . Posted on Sep 23, 2021 - 04:50 PM