Life is strange sometimes.  Over five years ago I began to make my film "Endangered Species" for the book I was planning to write, "Animation from Pencils to Pixels". In all it took me four years to complete both of them and the results are now out there for everyone to see.  The book is selling very well (thank you all who have bought it) but the film kind of sank from site after the first round of festival entries.  However, I wasn't too perturbed about this as it was never meant for mainstream screening... it was entirely made to illustrate my book.

That said, I now find myself traveling to Los Angeles because of both the book and the film... two separate events on the same weekend.  The book has resulted in my being invited to the Galleries "Book Look" event... essentially a get-together of animation book writers and filmmakers, where they can meet and greet and sign their books.  (Info: http://www.animationbooklook.com) I saw reports of the same event last year and thought it would be fun to do, so I agreed to do it.



Quite coincidentally, the film is being shown the evening before at the Pine Street Theater, "Mockfest" event.  (Info: http://www.mockfilmfest.com) The festival is dedicated to 'mockumentary' filmmakers.  "Endangered Species" is an animated mockumentary film with a serious message... i.e. the demise of the 2D animation industry, or not!  Anyway, I saw the Mockfest event advertised and thought it would be fun to enter. I never dreamed that my film would be accepted.  It even had a bumpy ride in being so.  I had entered it online and needed to send the hard-copy disk to the organizers... which I did.  However, somewhere on route it disappeared into a postal black hole and so I had to rush an emergency overnight print to the organizers once I knew they had not received the first one.  Anyway, all's well that ends well in the end.  The film was accepted and is part of the launch night show. I don't know if it will feature in the awards but, hey, I was very excited (and bemused) that it and the book were featuring in LA on the same weekend, but for entirely different reasons.



I think there is something in the air because on the Sunday of that weekend there is a tribute event to Disney legend, Ollie Johnson.  (Info: http://www.carolwood.org/Calendar) I have every intention of being there for that one too if I can. Living in the Seattle region, I am rarely down in the LA neck of the woods... so this is a perfect opportunity to kill three birds with one stone!  I'm also meeting a writer on the way up to the weekend events in San Francisco on the Thursday night, so yet again there is a strange synchronicity in the air right now.

You know, sometimes the gods really do move in exceedingly mysterious ways!

Tony.  :^{)}=-

Hi again.

I admit that things have been very quiet on this blog front of late. That was principally because I was out of commission for three weeks with a nasty viral respiratory tract infection. Then hardly recovered, I hit the ground running with ‘Finals’ week where I teach… the DigiPen Institute of Technology (http://www.digipen.edu). On top of that we just had our ‘All-school Projects Show’, our ‘Graduation Gala’ event, followed by the first ever ‘Commencement Ceremony’ for our BFA (in ‘Production Animation’) senior students! Phew, hardly a time to breath… and its all only just beginning!

I do confess to being a ‘workaholic’ but this has to be the most exhausting, time-sapping, hand-shaking period in my life yet.  Not that I’m complaining mind you… but hey, my feet have hardly touched the ground in recent weeks and I’m still catching my breath! Not much time to write blogs, as you can imagine.

"Spirit Moves Through All Things" ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008. 

I have to say I am very proud of our first year of graduating senior students.  As juniors, DigiPen students are required to produce their own 30-second short film, created by themselves entirely… from initial idea to full final render.  The purpose of this is not so much to produce a ‘great’ film, but more to give every single student a realistic experience of every stage of the production process. That way they will be better prepared for when they eventually enter the professional world and are asked to step into a particular role.  It also prepares them for the greater challenges of the final senior team project. But more about that in a minute.

"Peak" ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008.

I would imagine that 30-seconds does not sound very long to most people and that’s understandable when the work looks so smooth and well polished on the screen.  But this is far from the actual truth.  As any professional computer animator will tell you (even the very best of Pixar animators!) only having 2 x 15 week terms to ‘conceive’, ‘write’, ‘design’, ‘develop’, ‘model’, ‘rig’, ‘texture’, ‘animate’, ‘light’ and finally ‘render’ a film... with a ‘main character’, an ‘environment’, a minimum of one ‘prop’ and a story with a ‘beginning, middle and end’... is not a great deal of time.  This is especially so with the high demands we place on the student’s animation quality too. It consequently proves a huge challenge, especially to the first-time student applying all these skills collectively for the first time.  Sometimes it is very much touch-and-go whether they make it or not.  But I am delighted to tell you that this year’s amazing students did make it, and produced some truly fabulous films in the process! I’ll hopefully share some of these with you here as the week’s go by.

"R_Den_C" ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008. 

When the juniors reach their senior year they are required to work together in teams to produce a more ambitious project.  The core approach of the DigiPen BFA program is … ‘skilled in all trades, master of one’.  This means that over the four (or sometimes 5) years of their time at the school they learn (intensively) all the necessary components of contemporary animation and its production. Initially this has been all 'film' based but with DigiPen’s great, award-winning tradition for game programming and design, 'games' has become an option for the animation students too.

"I.D.A." ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008. 

Although we live in a very digital world today, and although the school’s name includes ‘Institute of Technology’ in its title, a DigiPen student actually isn’t even allowed to touch a computer for the first year or so!  (Except for logging-in to check on their grades and send emails of course.)  The fundamental foundation work is all in the classical, traditional art field. Students learn to 'draw', and 'draw' and 'draw even more' especially. They are also intensively coached in the fine art skills or ‘anatomy’, ‘perspective’, tone color and composition’, ‘painting’  (digital and traditional), ‘design’ and of course 'traditional 2D animation'. When they have finally learned all the classical art and animation skills they are then allowed onto the digital applications that form the modern world of the professional 3D animator.  It is clearly not an easy program to enter, or survive in!  Many students do not even make it over the four year period. However those that do, effectively come out with a ‘Harvard and Yale’ level of education in the modern digital animation arena... many of which have skillsets even more advanced than professionals already working in the industry!

"Crunch" ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008.

Clearly the program is a new one.  This year’s graduates were the first ever.  Yet we are mightily proud of the program and of our students’. They did themselves, and the school, proud in 2008.  This first ever cohort of students have had to be a kind of ‘guinea-pig class’ in many ways. They are the ones at the sharp end, with no peers to guide them or precedence before them, that had to turn the theory of a program into practice. The road has been a bumpy on occasions… for us, the faculty, too! But we and they got there, and got there well! This year’s graduates have set an incredibly high bar for the students who follow and we are so amazed at what they have been able to demonstrate.  Their amazing work certainly demonstrates the effectiveness of the 'classical art training before computers' approach, where we first make the artist and then give them a computer to work with. I guess it is hard to quantify this but I genuinely believe that the BFA program we offer at DigiPen… with its fabulous fulltime faculty (many of which are award-winners in their own right, or long-term ex-Disney employers with a passion for art and animation) is second to none… anywhere in the world.

"Harvest" ~ A DigiPen senior project, 2008.

A mighty claim I admit. But to support my view I thought I’d give you just a brief 'taster' of the final senior projects from this year’s graduates. This mute film compilation is just a glimpse of the amazing films that were produced. Sadly, until these films emerge at various film festivals around the world, I guess this is all you can have for now. After this compilation you can view another clip from a senior project of a more experimental nature... “Spirit Moves Through All Things”. This has been an attempt by passionate DigiPen students to create pure digital ‘art’… effectively an animated expressionist-style painting that uses nothing but particles to tell the silent story of a tree experiencing the four seasons at each time of day and night.  But first, the five other film clips that make up the work of this year’s senior graduates at DigiPen…

"Senior Project Compilation Movie" ~ A DigiPen production, 2008.

“Spirit Moves Through All Things” is an experimental piece in digital animation that is more designed to appear on the wall of an office, or an art gallery of the future, than in a conventional cinema or on a standard TV screen.  It is essentially a looped, 2-minute digital work of art that will run infinitely when screened properly. For me it is a true ‘breakthrough piece’… something (to my knowledge) that has never been attempted before and therefore is something the students creating it (Mike Smith, Codie Flynn and Arthur Beausoleil) can be justly proud. Here's a tantalizing glimpse of what they produced...

"Excerpt of Spirit Moves Through All Things" ~ A DigiPen production, 2008.

Now the term is over and we are entering the summer months it might be supposed that I can at last take a much-needed rest.  Far from it!  Over the months ahead, until the Fall term starts at the beginning of September, I as head of the department have to do a great deal of re-evaluing and evolving of the current program, prepare my coming classes for the Fall (I supervise both the junior and senior project… this year it was between 30 to 40 films in all!)... establish new administrative structure for the evolving program and, of course, pursue my own artistic ‘professional development’. If I’m lucky, this will include completing my new book on animation "How To Be An Animator ~ And Make Animated Films" (due to be delivered in August), preparing for our next “2D OR NOT 2D Animation Festival” (in Seattle in November) and develop the new film project that my Animaticus Foundation is planning to produce (hopefully evolving the art of traditional 2D animation to new levels of expression)! But more of all these things later.

I think I need to lie down and rest now!

Tony.   :^{)}=-

I was actually much happier at the event than I look here!

I recently spent a very enjoyable evening presenting my work to the vibrant Seattle Flash Users Group at the downtown Adobe Theatre.  The event, organized by group manager Keith Johnson was well attended… which is always a relief! 

I was especially overjoyed as my daughter, Sarah, was visiting Seattle on an unexpected surprise visit from the UK… which made me all the more proud to present my work in front of her.  I was mindful of course that much of this work was created in the UK when I lived there while Sarah was growing up!  She told me afterwards that she didn’t know I had done so much and that she hadn’t seen most of the animation I had shown.  I guess we take for granted that the work we do is seen by all those close to us in our live but it really is not so true I now realize.  (Personal note: Share everything you do with those close to you… time passes quickly and it may one day be too late!)

Apparently this was the first time the group had invited a ‘traditional’ 2D animator to present their work to them.  As a result I attempted to show them animation that had the least similarity to Flash-style animation… principally my more ‘illustrative’ and/or ‘painterly’ styles.  I couldn’t avoid showing Flash-generated work in my “Fire Gods” student film production of course but beyond that all was very much created in the classical, traditional style… whether that was ultimately 'cell' or 'digitally' finished at the time.

My showreel Menu.

I have created many cartoon-style commercials of course… pretty much all the standard cereal spot characters that appear on American TV and a number of other things, including the titles for the “Pink Panther Strikes Again” movie.  But it is in my more ‘artistic’ work that I gain my greatest satisfaction… especially films like the British Academy Award-winning short, “Hokusai – An Animated Sketchbook”.  (Although I did admit to the group that ‘Hokusai’ could actually be fully created and animated in Flash… indeed, I’ve even thought of doing it as a Web-based production from time to time!)

Hokusai's style lends itself to a Flash approach!

Overall I think the evening went really well.  Afterwards there was much appreciation expressed for my advertising work, where such a diverse range of styles and approaches is most evident.  It is always my believe that whereas the ‘cartoon’ style of animation is now a well-trodden path… possibly a too well-trodden path… traditional 2D animation has barely scratched the surface of its potential in reality. There are many new frontiers to explore and encounter yet, even in the ‘entertainment’ film genre.  Hopefully I will be able to demonstrate this much more before I eventually depart to that ‘great lightbox in the sky’!

This week has been a good one as I’ve just realized a short-term ambition! 

A year ago a friend and colleague of mine, animator Terry Tennesen, donated to the Animaticus Foundation ( www.animaticus.com) his “Can-Am Animation Stand” and “Moviola”.  He was moving from Port Townsend, WA to Idaho and couldn’t take the equipment with him.  The Can-Am Animation Stand is now a rare and almost historic piece of animation equipment that in the 1980's was considered state-of-the-art, high-end technology by all cell animators.  It was an animation-based camera that enabled filmmakers to record their animation onto film, either 16mm or 35mm, on a frame-by-frame basis.  Terry’s relocation ad held him in a quandary.  Either he found a ‘safe’ home for all this equipment, or else it would be consigned the way of all suddenly obsolete animation equipment during the 1990’s digital revolution… a scrap metal dealer!  I had long recognized that an animation stand like this was a rare museum piece and although I actually had no where to put it, I accepted it on behalf of the Foundation in the hope that we could one-day find a home for it, where people could see it and appreciate it.  Consequently I rented a local storage facility to house it in, and there it has remained for over a year ever since.

Fast forward twelve and a half months...

Not long ago I was appointed as Chair of the animation department of the DigiPen Institute of Technology ( www.digipen.edu). Part of my duties was the challenge of creating an innovative, interesting display for the lobby of the art campus… something that students, faculty and visitors alike could be inspired and excite to see.  I saw this as a wonderful opportunity at last to find a home for Terry’s equipment! I suggested to the school a theme that represented the ‘past’ and the ‘future’ of animation.  My plan was to have a combined display of this equipment (from the past) and the amazing work that our students were creating (for the future) through the school's BFA program in Production Animation.  The idea was immediately approved and so I commissioned Terry to travel from Idaho to Redmond, WA this week to supervise the construction of the Can-Am Animation Stand, together with presentation of the Moviola.  This work was completed on Friday and so I have entered this weekend, delighted now that both pieces proudly stand (resurrected) in the lobby of the school!

The Can-Am Animation Stand, Camera, Computer and Control Panel in the DigiPen lobby.

For me this was not just a process of bringing apparently obsolete pieces of equipment back into the animation swim.  It was a chance to offer our animators of tomorrow a glimpse of where the great art of animation before them had come from in the past, how it was achieved and how the equipment of that time looked and worked. The few students who have already seen it and commented have shown significant interest and delight in it being there.  None of them can possibly remember a time that preceded the digital age, where cells and film marked the process of animation production. It is great to offer an explanation of this to them, as well as to demonstrate the working processes of animation involved for us all at that time.

As it stands now the equipment is not operational. It remains merely a museum piece.  However, all the elements are there to make it operational and one day it is my full intention to bring it alive again and make an actual animated film using it.  There is a quality about a 'real' film animation that just cannot be achieved through digital technology.  When I was working at Richard Williams’ London studio back in the in the 1970’s we had a genius rostrum cameraman named Alan Foster who would weave wonderful magic with this kind of film equipment.  The most exciting was the process of animating on ‘two-frame dissolves’… or even ‘two-frame overlapping dissolves’, where not one image was ever seen at a 100% exposure on the screen.  These techniques are just not possible using digital devices such as ‘Premiere’ or ‘Final Cut’… and so I look forward to rediscovering the filmic techniques that made this period in my life so special.

The control panel that enabled an early Hewlett Pakard computer to drive the Can-am Animation Stand.

In all this, I thank Terry Tennesen and DigiPen for enabling this possibility to occur and for the Animaticus Foundation can realize just a little more of it’s mission… i.e. to ‘preserve’, ‘teach’ and ‘evolve’ the traditional art of 2D animation in this digital age.  I don’t know if it will take another year, or another ten years, to achieve the dream of creating something quite unique of film.  But it WILL come… I will not rest happy until it does! In the meantime we will seek to acquire further equipment from that era, so we can ultimately display a full production studio set-up from the time, to compliment what we have already.  The main target right now is to get one of the traditional Disney animation desks on show at the school… which undoubtedly was the ‘Rolls Royce’ dream of all 2D animators at the time!

Anyway, for those who are interested, here is some technical information that relates to the equipment and techniques mentioned above…

CAN-AM ANIMATION STAND (The term ‘Animation Stand’ is also known as a 'Rostrum Camera' in the UK and Europe):  This particular model was in used in 1981 in the Pacific Northwest.  It is believe that only between 10 and 15 of these stands were ever made, although they were very much modeled on the standard "Oxberry" animation stand that was universally used throughout the animation industry at the time. This particular Can-Am design however was specially conceived to service the anticipated need for animated 'special effects'… it was not thought of originally as and animation camera! At the time of its original conception in the late 70’s, there was particular anticipation for a need for this kind of thing, in view of the fact that the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid in NY were about to explode across the media. However demand did unfortunately live up to expectations and so no further Can-Am animation stands were built. With the advent of digital technology in the 1990’s these stands were rapidly trashed, making this one a particularly rare collector's piece… probably the last in existence?  As stated the Can-AM animation stand was initially designed for creating special effects on film, but the cell animation industry fortunately soon adopted it for basic frame-by-frame film capture, which lengthened its life somewhat.

CELL ANIMATION

The top and bottom pegs tabletop had a 'glass platen' that lifted up to insert animation artwork, then was pulled down to flatten the artwork while it was being shot.

The process of cell-based traditional animation, for which this animation camera stand proved most useful, was identical to the 2D animation we teach at DigiPen (and all other schools that still feature traditional animation techniques as a foundation to their degree courses). I.e. it began with pencil drawings that were hand-drawn on pegs over a lightbox.  However with cell animation, rather than the pencil artwork being scanned and digitally colored, the original drawings were traced onto clear acetate 'cells' where they were then painted using suitable opaque paints then filmed, one-by-one, over a painted background on an animation stand.  If you look carefully at the following pictures of the Can-Am tabletop ('Can-Am' in this case represents 'Canadian'-'American' by the way... it was a jointly sponsored endeavor) you will see a standard set of top and bottom pegs, over which there is a glass platen.  This glass platen was lifted to accommodate each cell being sequentially place over the original background artwork beneath, then the platen is brought down (to flatten-out any bends or cockles in the cell) before the camera shoots one frame of film using the film camera located above of the stand.  Normally there are powerful lights located either side of the stand to brightly illuminate the artwork on the camera 'table' but these need to be fixed independently to the walls (not being connected to the stand itself). This was not possible initially in the DigiPen lobby, but we are planning to do it in the foreseeable future.

THE COMPUTER

The original Hewlett Packard computer that drove the Can-Am Animation Stand. (No doubt the same technology would easily fit into a personal cell phone today!)

The big blue box to the left of the animation stand is in fact one of the first Hewlett Packard computers used to automate the process of shooting animation on this kind of animation stand... as least, as far as it could be automated.  (Prior to that all the operation was manually driven by a cameraman and an assistant cameraman!) This particular computer had an electronic interface located between it and the camera stand mechanisms.  This particular interface was known as the "Cinetron Control System"... which we have on site at DigiPen but which we will not connect-up until we need to make the camera operational again.  The Hewlett Packard computer was programmed using a manual "1" and "0" approach, over a 27-step process.  Each shoot's programming was then separately backed-up on its own "Dos 1", 5.25 inch floppy disk.

CAMERA

The Can-Am Animation Stand's 16mm/35mm dual guage film camera.

The camera mounted at the top of the animation stand is an "Acme 6", 16mm/35mm, single-frame movie
camera that, in this particular case, can also be operational if required.  The camera could be moved up and down the columns of the stand for closer or more distant work through extremely heavy counterweights that are held inside the columns with industrial-standard chain fittings.  The stand’s tabletop could also be independently rotated, moved forward and/or sideways… while the animation artwork itself could also be independently panned from left to right on both the top and the bottom pegs.  There was not ‘tilt’ mechanism on the Can-Am tabletop, although it was known that George Lucas had this function added to his various animation stands during the early days at ILM.

MOVIOLA

The beautifully designed elegance of a 16mm film Moviola.

The Moviola was the standard film editing equipment for all pre-digital era filmmakers in the past... both live-action and animation filmmakers alike.  This featured model is equipped to work with 16mm film only, although other models were available for 35mm or Cinemascope film.  Looking at the front of this particular Moviola you will see a picture 'viewing screen' on the right-hand side which enabled the viewer to see the film passing through at 24 frames per second.  To the left of this are two 'sound heads'… which effectively enabled editors to run two-track audio in sync with the picture on the right.  The foot pedals beneath enable the film to be run at 24 fps, with or without sound-sync, frame-by-frame or at full speed.  As with the DigiPen-based animation stand, this Moviola can be fully operational if required.

I was just given this wonderful quote from Oscar Wilde...
 
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

How true! How true!

Tony.   :^{)}=-

When taking a casual drive through country lanes recently I chanced across a road that started as a regular town street but then twisted and turned for about four-and-a-half miles until it ultimately became a much-narrower, isolated, country track... ending in a forest near a river.  The whole journey was entirely tree-lined and magical in its essence.  The climactic event within this entire adventure… occurring about three-quarters of the way towards the end of this road… was the glimpse of a strange native carving that mysteriously emerged from amongst the foliage beside the road.



To be honest, I had to pinch myself at first as I felt I had stumbled into the opening sequence of Hayou Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”… my most favorite of recent animated films.  Sadly though, I never did find any Bath House or even any Spirits at the end of my drive.  I did however name the carved figure “Miyazaki San”… and so, if ever I pass that way again, I will always respectfully tip my hat to it and thank it for the rare experience it has given me. 

(I do of course every day tip my hat and thank the real 'Miyazaki San', for the wonderful animated masterpiece that triggered all these random experiences in the first place!)

Tony.   :^{)}=-

OK, a number of you have asked to see the original "The Adventures of Uncle Lubin" pilot film I made with producer Simon Channing-Williams.  So, for your delectation and delight, I have added it below. 

However, please view it with a few provisos in mind...

For some reason all the background sound effects are missing, so all you can hear is the introductory voice of William Heath Robinson (played by David Thewlis) and the charming piano composition by Howard Blake.  Remember too that this was created using old-fashioned 'film' compositing techniques... we did not have access to 'digital' facilities at the time!

That said, I think some of the animation remains pretty cool looking and I am still sad that no-one funded us to bring these unique and amusing 'adventures' to the big screen!

I hope you enjoy it, nevertheless?



Tony.  :^{)}=-

I would just like to spend a little time and space here to share some of my appreciation of one of the finest early twentieth-century British artists who seems to get very little recognition these days… “WILLIAM HEATH ROBINSON”.

His illustrious contemporaries… Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley and Edmund Dulac… are still part of our historic artistic culture. But Heath Robinson, arguably the greatest of them all, seems to have been forgotten and neglected. Quoting the Heath Robinson Trust website…

“In the 1930s Heath Robinson was known as "The Gadget King" and he is still most widely remembered for his wonderful humorous drawings. But humorous art was only his third choice of career, and one that he turned to almost by accident. On leaving the Royal Academy Schools in 1895 his ambition was to become a landscape painter. He soon realized that such painting would not pay the bills, so he followed his two older brothers into book illustration. He rapidly established himself as a talented and original practitioner in his chosen field, and in 1903 felt sufficiently secure to marry.”

In fact, William Heath Robinson’s fame really began in 1902 when he wrote and illustrated his first, amazing “Adventures of Uncle Lubin” children’s book. He didn't intend publishing the book... which was actually a private project created and dedicated to his beloved neice Bay... but when he was finally convinced to release it, it became a huge publishing success that lasted for well over 60 years! (Indeed, the book is still in circulation today... as well as many other WHR art and illustration books.) 'Uncle Lubin' started an entirely new career for him, as illustrator and humorist, which was certainly not short-lived at the time.  Indeed, he became so famous that he attracted an almost ‘rock star’ popularity amongst both artists and the general public, which remained until his death in 1944.  So famous was he... especially as a result of the amazing and absurd contraptions that he designed and illustrated (actually starting these a full decade or so before his more famous and yet less artistically talented American imitator, Rube Goldberg)... that he became the first person ever to have his name feature in the Oxford English Dictionary during his lifetime… defining that a ‘Heath Robinson’ was effectively an absurd or ridiculous contraption that was created in the style of that artist who created them.

To be honest, I did try to encourage an interest in Heath Robinson’s work a number of years ago by creating a short promotional film of his incredible range of work. In the UK at the time the ‘Heath Robinson Trust’ was sponsoring a touring exhibition of his work, which was proving immensely successful.  I had therefore assumed that there would be a similar great interest in this, here the USA… specifically on the west coast when I now live and work.  However, although I sent a disk copy of the film to all the significant galleries up and down the west coast, I didn’t even receive one single response to any of my enquiries!

Not daunted though, I would now like to share a little of Heath Robinson’s fabulous work with you here, by screening below a copy of that unappreciated promotional piece.  I apologize for the ‘green glitches’ that appear from time to time throughout the film… a product of time and faulty software I’m afraid.  However, hopefully they won’t distract you too much from the wonderful, extensive work that Heath Robinson was responsible for during his lifetime?

Actually, if you look hard enough you will see original film footage from a pilot film I once created to promote a movie idea I had… “Screwloose”… a fantasy adventure that embraced Heath Robinson’s life and work.  The really astute amongst you will recognize a young David Thewlis playing the role of WHR, prior to his going on to hugely successful acting career, culminating recently as the (coincidentally named) 'Remus Lupin' character in the 2007 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" movie.  The pilot was co-produced by myself and Simon Channing-Williams, esteemed producer of director Mike Leigh.  Sadly, I never did get that movie off the ground either, despite such illustrious individuals being part of the production!

Anyway, it appears that the world is just not ready for anything ‘Heath Robinson’ just yet. However, I share this film with you nevertheless, in the hope that my enthusiasm for this great, great artist will rub-off on you a little too.

(Oh, and by the way… the phone number and email address indicated at the end of the film are NO LONGER ACTIVE!)




Tony. :^{)}=-

                   
It is Christmas Eve and all is well! Not even the proverbial church mouse is stirring while I write this in the early hours of December 24th, 2007.

There used to be a wonderful TV tradition in England when I was younger.  At the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve (when all the gifts were wrapped and Santa was about to do his tireless and altruistic deeds for all the good little children around the world) there was always a creepy 'ghost story' film provided for all the tired and brow-beaten viewers who were up... mostly young parents still wrapping their children's Christmas presents for the day ahead.  (Exhaustedly anticipating that in a few hours the padding of tiny feet would greet them in their bedroom, accompanied by the wide-eyed look of a child who would excitedly announce, arms full of gifts... "He's been!")

Anyway, the TV 'ghost story' was often a specially-made film drama that was entirely original in content and yet made the flesh creep as you watched it.  With the British affection for Charles Dickens... and especially 'A Christmas Carol' at this particular time of the year... the midnight 'ghost story' seemed perfectly pertinent and natural.  As tired and brow-beaten as I invariably was myself at this time, I remember always looking forward immensely to its arrival... as it was pretty-much the most original drama TV show of the year in my humble opinion!

Sadly, I can't offer you a Christmas Eve 'ghost story' to match these memories but I can tell you about a strange dream I had last night! I don't normally share dreams with perfect strangers, as they are usually very boring to all but those who dream them.  However, bear with me on this one as there is an 'animation slant' to it if you can bluff it out! 

I have a tendency for not sleep long, or well, normally. Actually I do fall asleep easily but then I usually wake-up in the early hours of the morning and can't get back to sleep again.  (The brain is too active thinking about animation, and projects, and things I've forgotten to do because of the first two things!) This is apparently a tendency I had, even in my very earliest years of childhood. My mother too had a penchant for existing on only about four or five hours of sleep a night... especially in her latter years. Anyway, the same happened on this occasion. But, after a couple of hours of writing (and watching the first half of live soccer game from England on the Fox channel... 'Chelsea versus Blackburn' for those who are remotely interested) I felt strangely more tired than normal.  Consequently, I went back to bed and ultimately slept until around 11.30 am. (Extremely rare for me!) Anyway, during this sleep I had... 'the dream'!

I found myself in a small, old-fashioned animation studio.  It was a very old building with very old desks, containing small rooms that interlinked in a quite intimate way.  There were old-fashioned, square-paned, open windows all around and when I looked out I could see the street some distance below. This studio was high up. I remember trying to work at an animation desk in the corner of the room for some unknown reason.  I say 'trying' as the place was filled with the filmmaking clutter of decades... all piled up on the desks, between the desks and anywhere around the desks that there was a space to put it.  Consequently, the desk I was trying to work at had no room to put anything on, so I was clearing and tidying some space on top of it. This seemed really, really important to me in the dream, so I even proceeded to clear and tidy the room around the desk in question, making my corner in that place workable and presentable again.

My ultimate intention became to clear and tidy the whole studio eventually.  However, as I was doing so I was suddenly aware of two people working amongst the clutter... two individuals who finally became one person in the dream. (You know how dreams can seem perfectly logical when you're in them!) This was a person I ultimately ended up speaking to.  I was actually surprised to see anyone there at first as the place had clearly not been worked in for a while and the staff had long gone.  The person I spoke to was about 35-45 year's old.  He had a kind of Salvador Dali look to him... at least with his goatee beard and full, turn-up moustache.  In style he was a lot like a laid-back Marlon Brando type of figure from "On the Waterfront"... although he was much thinner in stature and his face was etched with many more lines.  He wore a pair of 'cool', dark glasses and a leather jacket.  His hair had been dark but was clearly turning iron-gray when I saw him.  Overall he had a kind of triangular look to his head... the pointing down beard at the bottom and his hair windswept back and upward at the sides, providing the other two corners of the triangle.  He told me his name was " Jack Zander".

In the dream I had already assumed he ran the studio but it was not until I eventually woke up and remembered the email obituary that animator Nancy Beiman had sent me some days before that I seriously took notice of the real death of Jack Zander!  I knew of the Zander studio from my days running Animus of course. Zander's had been a distant rival to us when we were competing for advertising work in New York. But I never, ever met him... or even saw a photograph of him before to my recollection. 

Anyway, in the dream, Jack told me that the place was 'closing down' so there was no need to tidy it up.  He said he had 'one thing left to do' then he would be leaving too.  I continued to tidy as he said that because it seemed important to me for some reason.  He watched what I was doing and then he finally looked me squarely and intensely in the eye (he had been looking down throughout the preceding events). At this point he said "I want you to come and work for the studio"! I was taken aback as I didn't really have any thoughts of working for anyone... or in the industry... again.  (Even in my dream I was very much a DigiPen teacher and independent animated filmmaker, and although I was trying to work at the desk in the corner for some reason, it wasn't in the spirit of it was 'a job' or it was 'for a studio'.)  However, at that point I thought the offer through very carefully.  In the dream it was a feeling of extensive thinking... weighing all the risks up and going through many kinds of twists and turns before reaching a final decision. (But watching events from outside, I'm sure another person would have seen my response occurring in a split-second of real... dream... time!) I looked him squarely back in the eye and said I would... but only if he paid me a 'good salary', gave me 'ten percent of the profits' I make and 'reinvest another 25 percent of future profits back into the business' to create new ideas and approaches to the studio's own home-grown projects.  He must have thought a lot too... it showed on his face. But in a seeming split-second that took forever he came back at me and said "Okay". Then he shook my hand. 

It was at that point I woke up and remembered the Nancy Beiman obituary!

I'm relating this dream now with no other motive than 'curiosity'.  Perhaps someone out there, reading this account, will have worked for Jack Zander and confirm (or deny) elements within my dream?  For me it remains 'just a dream'.  But so clear and impactful was it for me to experience that I would genuinely like to know more about Jack and its accuracy in the greater scheme of things.  I truly know very little about his life or his studio. As I say, I had merely only ever heard the name of it sporadically throughout all my years as a studio owner in the industry.  I did do a quick Google search to see if I could find a picture of Jack, to compare it with the character I had seen in the dream.  I could not find any clear or consistent pictures of him at the age I saw him.  All I found was a full-face image of him as an old man and it was not like the face of my dream figure at all... save for his now-white beard and moustache.  The cartoon caricature of Jack on his studio logo looked just like the person I saw however... only he had dark gray facial hair in my dream and not the white hair of the cartoon. So, the jury's out on this one I'm afraid... unless anyone else can throw light on the story?

By the way, I did write to Nancy Beiman about it afterwards.  She had worked for Jack at the beginning of her career but as he was already in his seventies at that time she could not confirm anything about my dream of the much younger Jack Zander.  Although Nancy did share with me a quick 'ghost story' of her own...

When she worked at Disney, long after Walt had died, she once saw a group of frightened story men standing around the photocopier on the third (story) floor of the famous "Hat" building.  She asked them what was wrong. "There's a cold wind blowing down the hall. We think that Walt is here, checking up on us" was their nervous reply. She looked up and smiled. "You're standing under an air-conditioning vent!" she added. (Thereby solving the mystery of their particular Walt ghost story once and for all!)

So finally... a hearty "MERRY CHRISTMAS" everyone.  I hope it won't be such a chilling Christmas Eve night for you as it used to be for me when I watched those spooky ghost stories on the wonderfully insightful British television from the past!

Tony.  :^{)}=-

New visitors to this blog site may not know that every year the Animaticus Foundation hosts the rapidly-growing " 2D OR NOT 2D Animation Festival" in Washington State.  This year... our second year only... was no exception and it proved to be a very popular event with the audiences that attended.  Following each day's activities I posted blogs of the events that took place at the festival.  These were initially published elsewhere but not here.  What follows are those blogs, detailing the events of the festival in November, 2007...