Mayerson on Animation

Here's some light reading for you Mark.
2012-05-25T02:18:55.649-04:00
Here's some light reading for you Mark.
Leo-Baker-Australian-Animation-Industry-Envoy-2011

Leo Baker has just returned from a tour of seven countries on a Winston Churchill Fellowship. His mission: to meet with animators, studios and educators from around the world and help bring some of the world’s best practices back with him.

An industry envoy for animation & the arts. Sounds like a pretty good idea. Perhaps faculties like Sheridan & others should collectively support & sponsor a similar industry envoy endeavour program every couple of years with the aims of researching, amassing & updating a network industry map in service of helping to bring the global arts & animation industries & educational institutions closer together, with the additional benefit of creating a leavers document with further reports & knowledge of value for students to refer to once out in the big bad world.

Thanks, Mark, for mentioning this yet again. As I&...

2012-05-24T11:24:03.408-04:00

Thanks, Mark, for mentioning this yet again. As I've said in the past you're an enormous supporter as much morally as physically.

Thank you, Bill. I'm sorry about the PayPal delay. I know several others who've had similar experiences.

Thanks for the reminder, Mark. I intended to contr...

2012-05-24T09:52:04.668-04:00

Thanks for the reminder, Mark. I intended to contribute and would have forgotten otherwise.

Have to say I had a frustrating time with Indiegogo. I tried to contribute earlier in the month but my payment was unsuccessful. This morning I had to spend about 40 minutes with it, and finally ended up creating a PayPal account, which I did not need nor want (save to support this project).

Thanks for sharing, Mark! So many bitter truths a...

2012-05-24T01:38:08.300-04:00

Thanks for sharing, Mark!

So many bitter truths about the industry and the lives of animators in only less than 2 hours; so much useful information.

I enjoyed every second of it.
- Nickolay

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/index.htm ht...

2012-05-23T10:11:31.985-04:00

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/index.htm

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/simpp_1955goldwyn-exit.htm

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/gunther_lessing.htm

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/walt-disney_intro.htm

Fantastic podcast! I always love hearing your sob...

2012-05-22T22:56:26.742-04:00

Fantastic podcast! I always love hearing your sobering perspective on the animation industry.

Animation fan Kurtis Findlay uncovered a bit of co...

2012-05-14T17:43:31.369-04:00

Animation fan Kurtis Findlay uncovered a bit of comic strip history thanks to a natural curiosity and wound up sharing a treasure of long lost and forgotten cartoon and comic strip work by legendary Looney Tunes and three-time Academy Award winning director Chuck Jones. Hear all about his find in this original Mr. Media video interview. Watch it here: http://www.mrmedia.com/?p=4706

It was great to see such a big turnout for this sc...

2012-05-09T12:45:58.530-04:00

It was great to see such a big turnout for this screening last night. Many of Sheridan's Animation faculty showed up, and it was wonderful to see so many of our students from the last few graduating years, some of whom had created the films that were on the schedule.

There was a diversity in types of film that offered something for all tastes. My own personal favourites would include the two celebrating dance, "Paso Doble" by Jamie Metzger, and "Sax" by Dean Heezen. I also really love "A Romance in Graphite" by Melissa Maduro, "Fitting In" by Taylor Annisette, and the very poignant "The Scarf" by Carla Veldman. My congratulations to all of our talented students whose films were represented. I hope that Sheridan will consider further public screenings in the coming years.

Jack, do you feel that the Ham and Hattie cartoons...

2012-05-05T19:37:16.397-04:00

Jack, do you feel that the Ham and Hattie cartoons are as good as UPA's earlier work, such as Gerald McBoing Boing and Rooty Toot Toot? If not, what do you think caused the difference?

I think the show is perfect as is - the drawings a...

2012-05-05T13:09:33.209-04:00

I think the show is perfect as is - the drawings and animation are fully in character with the feel of the show.

They convey what they need to convey - and that is the key.

Congrats to Brad Bird. Everyone is entitled to his...

2012-05-05T11:00:34.951-04:00

Congrats to Brad Bird. Everyone is entitled to his/her own career without the rest of us presuming what he/she should do. For example, part of the reason that made Bob Dylan so amazing was defying what others expected him to do or be.

Mr. Mayerson, A few years ago I met a person at a...

2012-05-04T17:52:26.812-04:00

Mr. Mayerson,

A few years ago I met a person at a film festival who told me that he was an animation professor and taught animation in a local college. I asked him if he knew about UPA Pictures and he said no. I then asked him where he had studied animation and he said he hadn’t but he had read about animation in a book.

Although I studied art at The Art Center School I never studied animation in school or a book and produced my first animated film in 1957 one year after I began my career in animation at UPA. Every thing I learned after I began working at UPA I learned from some of the greatest animation artists in the world (at that time) and from the experience and encouragement from such mentors as Bobe Cannon, Steven Busustow, Pete Burness, Fred Crippen, Jimmy Murakami, Jules Engel, Bob Macintosh, and many names you’ve probably never heard of. Abe Levitow taught me the basics of animation and directing years later while I was working as a background artist on the “Mr Magoo” TV series.

At first I worked on “The Mc Boing Boing Show” doing titles, then designing small elements for parts of the show and eventually I was asked to paint backgrounds for “A Horse of Course”. I painted a number of backgrounds after that and as the Boing Boing show was winding down the studio decided to utilize some of the talent coming off of the show. Fred Crippen, Jimmy Murakami, and John Urie each created their own shorts and presented them to Steve and requested that he let me paint BGs for them. We had very small budgets so we worked day and night without overtime because we wanted do something we could be proud of. When the first dailies of “The Village Band” were screened everyone was very excited, but Jules Engel was upset that he wasn’t asked to paint the BGs and insisted that I change one tiny little streak of color on one of my backgrounds. When I refused he had me fired. I was in the process of styling the BGs for “Trees” and “Saganaki” and had everything ready to start painting when I was fired and Jules took over using my color keys and painted the BGs for both shows. He did not give me credit for my work on those two shows.

These shorts were combined with others and were exhibited as the “Ham and Hattie” shorts and one out of the series won an Oscar, so they were not “bad, but specifically bad in ways that illuminate what went wrong with UPA” as you say.

I’m sure you’ve learned a lot about animation over the years and I assume you are a good teacher, but I think you need to learn something about critiquing something you lack information about and not just rely on books to formulate your opinions. And I don’t think you are qualified to comment on people you have only heard of other than their credits and knowledge you gleaned from books or hearsay. I knew and worked with many of the people that Adam Abraham writes about in “When Magoo Flew” first hand and I particularly object to your opinion of Steve Busustow not being a “guiding sensibility”. I assume you never met Steve and if you had you would never have made an insensitive comment like that. If it hadn’t been for Steve Busustow a great chunk of animation history would be missing in our lives and UPA would not have existed as we know it. Steve was not Walt Disney or Walter Lantz, he was himself and a great animation producer.

Sincerely,

Jack Heiter

Sad, so sad. Just watched The Incredibles again t...

2012-05-04T11:06:44.871-04:00

Sad, so sad. Just watched The Incredibles again the other night and was marveling at his very tight direction and how there is not a dull spot in the whole thing. A masterpiece of action directing - and I guess it was inevitable that he should go to live action. The good news is that perhaps he will have a unique voice there as well!
-Doug

Whhops just read 1906 is in addition to the other ...

2012-05-03T18:42:45.553-04:00

Whhops just read 1906 is in addition to the other live action film. That's unfortunate :(

I wouldn't say that, 1906 has been on his mind...

2012-05-03T18:40:52.274-04:00

I wouldn't say that, 1906 has been on his mind for years. It was a given he'd move onto that next.

I think that's the best we can hope for, David...

2012-05-03T18:40:25.304-04:00

I think that's the best we can hope for, David.

I suppose if Brad Bird wracks up a few more big li...

2012-05-03T18:25:12.420-04:00

I suppose if Brad Bird wracks up a few more big live-action hits he could have the leverage to be a patron saint/exec. producer for animated films directed by others , much the same way that Tim Burton has done so much to keep Stop Motion animation alive.

I don't think so. (which is another way of say...

2012-05-03T17:14:39.945-04:00

I don't think so. (which is another way of saying "Gee, I hope he returns to animation")

Hey cool interview with Tony..:)I hope it do go we...

2012-05-02T12:11:38.642-04:00

Hey cool interview with Tony..:)I hope it do go well in Thursday for everyone out there at Sheridan. I cant believe its 25 years since I left there!

Yeah, these Ham and Hattie cartoons are pretty bor...

2012-04-29T22:13:53.482-04:00

Yeah, these Ham and Hattie cartoons are pretty boring to me. I'd say more, but I think you've said everything that can be said about this particular series from UPA. Great analysis as usual.

"...that are more about a profit motive than ...

2012-04-24T09:25:16.359-04:00

"...that are more about a profit motive than they are about any real expression or pursuit of the truth, a sharing of aid, knowledge, thought or hope.."

Well said Anonymous from another Anonymous

"It's not news to relate that most pie...

2012-04-23T20:14:40.032-04:00
"It's not news to relate that most pieces of popular art are about anything BUT the truth"

I think the unfortunate truth to that statement is that if you really look at the world you will be able to observe countless pieces or art, or most anything really, that are more about a profit motive than they are about any real expression or pursuit of the truth, a sharing of aid, knowledge, thought or hope... And that only reflects the countless number of minds out there are out there who are largely isolated & dying simply to live.

Thank you for another lovely, thought-provoking po...

2012-04-23T14:32:01.744-04:00
Thank you for another lovely, thought-provoking post, Mr. Mayerson.

Aren't all works of art an attempt to get at t...

2012-04-23T13:30:13.603-04:00
Aren't all works of art an attempt to get at the truth?

It's not news to relate that most pieces of popular art are about anything BUT the truth. Which is part of what makes Canemaker's film refreshing.

"Animation is about movement, not about drawi...

2012-04-23T13:23:48.452-04:00
"Animation is about movement, not about drawing."

I'm not putting down drawing, for sure. But I feel that sometimes people in the animation world confuse being able to draw with being able to animate. And they are not necessarily the same thing.

Ron Zorman's piece is terrific, but not because of virtuoso drawing. The flour sack is not difficult to draw at all. He used his drawing skill to serve a purpose. That purpose is getting a performance out of his flour sack.

I just think that sometimes that point gets lost.