television goes international hearst’s locomotionanimation company of your choice. listen...

September 1996 Vol. 1 No. 6

TELEVISIONNickelodeon

GoesInternational

Hearst’sSatellite

Locomotion

Monique Renault’sHiroshima Diary

William MoritzOn Anima

Mundi

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE September 1996 2

Editor's Notebook by Harvey Deneroff

Letters to the Editor

Nickelodeon Goes Global Michael Goldman talks to Nickelodeon International’s Lisa Judson about how the cablenetwork that redefined animation for the 90s is expanding around the world.

Locomotion:The Animation Network America’s Hearst Entertainment and Venezuela’s Cisneros Group are combining forcesto form a new, 24-hour-a-day animation channel for Latin America. Harvey Deneroffreports.

TV’s Fall Animation Lineup A special report from Pamela Schechter detailing what’s new and what’s being renewedin animation on American television this coming season.

Crocadoo Entertains with EnergeeCrocadoo, a new series from Energee Animation being broadcast on Australia’s NineNetwork, is the latest evidence of a small but thriving animation industry. KarenPaterson details what’s happening with Energee down under.

So You Wanna Be An Animation Executive?Cori Stern provides a test to see if you too can join the executive ranks at theanimation company of your choice.

Listen up, It’s Playtime The GiggleBone Gang is alive and well at Seattle-based Headbone Interactive. JudithShane explains it all.

Larry Jordan Jackie Leger surveys the films of Larry Jordan, surrealist and master of collage animation.

FESTIVALS, CONFERENCES, ETC.Hiroshima 96 by Monique Renault (english / french - francais)Images From Hiroshima ‘96 by Wendy JacksonAnima Mundi by William MoritzSIGGRAPH 96 by Kellie-Bea Rainey

FILM REVIEWJoe's Apartment by John R. Dilworth

On a Desert Island With ...Be sure to bring a power source for TV, compiledby Frankie KowalskiClare Kitson, John Coates, Gerry Travers, Fred Seibert and Phil Roman

Dirdy Birdy by John R. Dilworth

News

Next Issue's Highlights

Cover: Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Courtesy of Comedy Central

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Table of Contents

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TV Land International

Afew years ago, it wasoften the case thatAmerican producers

cared little about the interna-tional market for TV shows.While they did not ignore it,the amount of revenues theglobal market generatedseemed insignificant com-pared to what was generatedby licensing fees to US net-works and syndication salesto independent stations.However, with the prolifera-tion of new television outletsaround the world, includingcable and satellite services, theinternational market hasbecome more than just a side-bar to producers in the UnitedStates and around the world.

Despite the efforts of vari-ous countries, the US andJapan still maintain a com-manding lead in their share ofthe global TV animation mar-ket. Thus, broadcasters aroundthe world continue to looktoward American companieslike Nickelodeon for leadershipin things animated. In“Nickelodeon Goes Global,”Michael Goldman interviewsNick International executiveLisa Jordan about the key roleanimation is playing as theinnovative cable networkexpands its reach into Europe,South America, Australia andAsia.

On the other hand, HearstEntertainment is dependingon the clout of its media con-glomerate parent and its

IMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

Venezuelan partner to debut anew, all-animation channel forLatin America. I explore thewhys and wherefores of thisnew venture in my article,“Locomotion: The AnimationChannel.”

Pamela Schechter’s “TV’sFall Animation Lineup” detailsin considerable detail whatthe forthcoming season bodesin the all-important Americantelevision marketplace, andexplores the implications ofsuch happenings as Disney’stakeover of Capital Cities/ABC.

Our all too brief look attelevision concludes withKaren Paterson’s “CrocadooEntertains with Energee,” aportrait of an innovative newAustralian studio which is try-ing to break into the interna-tional multimedia marketplace.

The Seattle area has latelydeveloped into a center forinteractive animation of thetype found on the now ubiqui-tous CD-ROMs. In “Listen Up,It’s Playtime,” Judith Shaneprofiles Headbone Interactive

and explores the variousdesign and animation issuessuch producers face.

Jackie Leger continues inher series of profiles ofAmerican experimental anima-tors with “Larry Jordan,” who“creates a magical universe ofwork using old steel engrav-ings and collectable memora-bilia.”

In terms of festivals andconferences, we present tworeports on Hiroshima 96:Filmmaker Monique Renaulthas presented us with herdiary detailing her experiencesas juror at one of Asia’s twomajor international festivals; inaddition, our own WendyJackson gives a more newsyview of the proceedings.William Moritz also reports onRio de Janeiro’s Anima MundiFestival, while Kellie BeaRainey checks in from SIG-GRAPH 96, the world’s pre-miere computer graphics con-ference, which was held thisyear in New Orleans.

Final ly, John Dilworth,reviews John Payson’s new filmmade for MTV, in “The Cock-roaches of Joe’s Apartment,”while Frankie Kowalski has gath-ered her Desert Island picks thismonth from a variety of TV ani-mation folk from around theworld.

Harvey [email protected]

September 1996 3

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

ANIMATION WORLD NETWORK6525 Sunset Blvd., Garden Suite 10

Hollywood, CA 90028Phone : 213.468.2554Fax : 213.464.5914Email : [email protected]

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE [email protected]

PUBLISHERRon Diamond, President

Dan Sarto, Chief Operating Officer

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFHarvey Deneroff

ASSOCIATE EDITOR/PUBLICITYFrankie Kowalski

CONTRIBUTORS :Harvey Deneroff

John R. Dilworth

Michael Goldman

Frankie Kowalski

Jackie Leger

William Mortiz

Karen Paterson

Cori Stern

Pam Schechter

Kellie-Bea Rainey

Monique Renault

Judith Shane

Le WEBMASTERGuillaume Calop

DESIGN/LAYOUT :IMP Graphic

e-mail : [email protected] Theoharous, Guillaume Calop

ADVERTISING SALESNorth America : Wendy JacksonEurope : Vincent FerriAsia : Bruce TeitelbaumUK: Roger Watkins

Letters to the Editor
The Olympiad of Animation
I t was most grat i fy ing toread about the 1984Olympiad of Animat ion in

your very interest ing journal(“The Olympiad of Animation:An Interv iew With F in iL i t t le john,” by HarveyDeneroff , Ju ly 1996) . I tbrought to many memories tothe sur face, espec ia l ly howwonderful it was that so manyanimators cooperated andcompl ied wi th a verydemanding rules committee.

We received fi lms from allover the world, but best of al lwas a film made by 10-12 yearold chi ldren of the LanternaMagica, in Turino, Italy, L’ Im-portante e par tec ipare (TheImportance is to Participate).I t had me in tears , I was sohappy. When Shei la Benson,the fi lm crit ic of the Los Ange-les T imes, reviewed i t , therewas a co lor s t i l l o f the f i lmaccompanying her front pagearticle about the Olympiad inthe Ca lendar sect ion. ( Inc i -dental ly, I sadly agreed withher complaint about the omis-s ion of Disney ’s Three L i t t lePigs from the “Champions ofAnimation.”)

Above a l l , I wish to g ivecredit to Max Massimo Garnier,to whom I spoke about theidea of an Olympiad of Ani -mat ion. He caught f i re and

helped me enormous ly byinvited me to the Lucca Ani-mation Festival, where he setup a press conference. There,he spoke with great enthusi-asm about the Olympiad andwhat it would mean to ASIFAand to animation. He died afew years ago and I wil l for -ever be grateful for his enor-mous help.

Also, a l though the SovietUnion boycot ted the 1984Olympics, we did have a printof Yori Norstein’s very fine film,Ta le of Ta les [shown in theChampions of Animat ionscreenings].

Finally, I am very proud ofthe Olympiad, as i t was aunique event (both for theMotion Picture Academy andthe animation community) andthe only fi lm event during the1984 Olympic Arts Festival.

Fini Litt lejohnMalibu, California

Let ters to the edi tor can besent by emai l to edi [email protected], by fax to (213) 464-5914 or by regular mail to Ani-mation World Magazine, 6525Sunset Blvd., Garden Suite 10,Hollywood CA 90028, USA.

September 1996 4

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AN

Nickelodeon

G o e s G l o b a lby Michael Goldman

Lisa Judson, Senior Vice President,Creative Director & Chief of Staff,

Nickelodeon International

Nickelodeon logo© Nickelodeon

To become a global animationpowerhouse, a company needsto be part of a global entity. Nick-

elodeon International certainly fits thatdefinition, falling under the umbrellaof parent media giant, Viacom, Inc.And, although it may be argued thatNickelodeon is not yet a global ani-mation powerhouse, it most certain-ly is a children’s entertainment pow-erhouse generally, with animationserving as the foundation of the com-pany’s growing international pres-ence.

“Nickelodeon animation is centralto our global effort,” explains Lisa Jud-son, Senior Vice President and Cre-ative Director for Nickelodeon Inter-national. “Kids everywhere love ani-mation, if you give them the rightkind of programming. What makesour animation special and importantto building our brand is we take a dif-ferent approach, and have since wewent into the animation business inAugust of `91. We saw what otherpeople were creating for kids andmost of it was action-based, violent,toy-based stuff. Instead, we decidedto go for evergreen stories and char-acters that really connect with kids.Shows like Rugrats and Doug are veryNickelodeon, because they come witha kid’s point of view.”

The Name of the Game“Building our brand.” Indeed,

They are very Nickelodeon,because they come with a kid’s

point of view.


that’s the name of the game for mostentertainment companies creatingoriginal intellectual properties thesedays, no matter what form or genre.In the case of animation, “brand build-ing”—creating identifiable franchises,shows and characters with long legsand exploitable potential across mostforms of media—is of crucial impor-tance for those holding, or building,significant libraries. And theinternational marketplace is,in turn, central to the suc-cess of any such policy. Dis-ney, Warner Bros. and Turn-er have always led the wayin pursuing this strategy,and now Viacom, via itsgrowing Nickelodeonempire, is doing likewise.

The challenge for the

Nickelodeon people is how to buildtheir brand while staying within theconfines of their self-professed pro-gramming policy: to create productwith a “kids point of view” and “con-nect kids with kids.” Judson empha-sized that policy repeatedly during arecent interview, making it quite clearshe and other company executivesfeel creating kid-friendly, nonviolentcartoons and selling them around theworld in no way conflicts with themission of luring profits.

“From a business perspective, wehave found that every time we dosomething that is good for kids, it isalso good for business,” says Judson.“In the US, we have found the resultsof that attitude have been very posi-tive, and we figured out we canextend it into the global marketplace.That kind of thinking on a global basisis a fairly new idea.”

If Nickelodeon’s rate of expansioninto the international marketplace isany indication, that policy appears tobe working thus far. The companyfirst began selling shows internation-ally in the early 90s, launched its firstforeign cable channel—Nick UK—in1993, and followed that up with spe-cialty channels in Germany in July of

September 1996 5

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last year and Australia this past Octo-ber. The company is now finalizingplans to launch a new cable webaimed at Latin America (based in Mia-mi) at the end of this year. In addi-tion, Nickelodeon is exploring start-ing a channel for Asia, and currentlyoffers programming channel blocksin Brazil, Israel and other parts of theMiddle East, Malaysia and Thailand.Shows are also sold on an individualbasis to about 70 countries aroundthe world.

All Nick channels, of course, fea-ture a mix of live-action and animat-ed programming, and many of thecompany’s best-selling shows aroundthe world are live action. Still, it is clearthat Nickelodeon’s growing anima-tion division—Nicktoons—is centralto its global strategy.

The company has its own ani-mation studio in Los Angeles, whichcurrently makes two shows—Rocko’sModern Life and Hey Arnold! Its oth-er cartoon programs—Doug, Rugrats,

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and AngryBeavers are or were produced by out-side animation houses, most notably

It is clear that Nicktoons iscentral to Nickelodeon’s global

strategy.

Rugrats © Nickelodeon

NIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

Klasky Csupo, aswas (initially) thenow out-of-pro-duction cult hit,The Ren & Stim-py Show. As ofearly August,Nickelodeonhad produced315 originalepisodes of ani-mated showssince gettinginto the cartoonbusiness in1991.

The Rugrats PhenomenonRugrats is the show that best illus-

trates Nickelodeon’s attempts to brand-build. Quite simply, the show hasbecome an international hit. It isamong the most popular children’sshows in both the UK and Germany,and the company has sold the showin practically every territory where itdoes business. Company officials saya recent study commissioned byNickelodeon in Germanyfound that a whopping 64%of all children surveyed werefamiliar with the Nick-elodeon name and pro-gramming, only sevenmonths after launch-ing in that country.

Further, the showhas spawned a grow-ing demand allaround the world forRugrats merchandise,the holy grail of suc-cessful brand mar-keting. In the UK, inparticular, Rugrats stuff is hot. Thecompany launched a Rugrats comicthere in April, which has sold 150,000copies since it hit the stands, andlaunched a hardcover Rugrats annu-al comic in August. Rugrats homevideos, according to Nickelodeonnumbers, have also been among the

Blue’s Clues© Nickelodeon

top 10 selling children’s videos in Eng-land since debuting in March. Foodand novelty item licensing agreementsare also under way in the UK andelsewhere. Further extensive mer-chandise and promotional events areplanned throughout the world nextyear to further the franchise.

“Rugrats is turning into a phe-nomenon, and it is probably our mostimportant show in terms of buildingour company internationally,” saysJudson. “It’s also a good example ofthe kind of show we feel can sell andstill be part of our kids-first philoso-phy: it is creative-driven and story-dri-ven, and takes risks. That kind of phi-losophy has helped it touch a nervewith kids around the world.”

And that, in turn, spawned theRugrats merchandising campaign,rather than the other way around.Indeed, all Nickelodeon cartoons are

original, rather than derivingfrom existing properties, anddo not start life primarily asefforts to sell toys or comic

books.Which is not to

say the Nick empireisn’t set up to exploit itscreations in every signifi-

cant way possible. The com-pany has a movie unit inpartnership with sistercompany Paramount,which launched its firsttitle, the live-action Harriet

the Spy in July, and has ananimated Rugrats feature now inthe planning stages. The Nick-elodeon infrastructure also includesa consumer products division, a

video and audio tape division, a world-wide online service, an interactive divi-sion to launch CD-ROM and com-puter game titles, a monthly maga-zine, a book publishing division anda live tour division.

September 1996 6

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Making Global InroadsThus, with the corporate power

of Viacom backing up its various ini-tiatives, and a host of quality, nonvi-olent programming to sell, Nick-elodeon looks very much like a com-

pany set up for making major glob-al inroads. Things are going so well,in fact, that Nick decided to sell itstwo newest Nicktoons—AngryBeavers and Hey Arnold!—to for-eign markets even before the twohad debuted in the US, an extreme-ly rare maneuver.

Judson says expansion into Asiahas at its center the virtuallyuntapped Chinese market. “We arecurrently building relationships there[in China],” she says, adding that tomake the Nickelodeon brand tru-ly international, the company hasto tailor its programming for specificmarkets. That’s something which cansometimes take years of research andplanning.

“When we launched our first inter-national service—Nick UK—it was ourfirst venture outside the US. It was animportant experience on a lot of lev-els, because we learned a lot abouthow we need to view the interna-tional marketplace,” Judson says.

Nickelodeon cartoons do notstart out as efforts to sell toys

or comic books.


Rugrats© Nickelodeon

“The way we are approaching theglobal marketplace is to take our basicphilosophy, and then do research inindividual countries. We study cul-tures and what kids enjoy in thosesocieties, and we try to have a deepunderstanding of the audience. Then,we try to tailor the programming tomeet the needs of that marketplace.It’s not about simply taking a successfulformula which has worked in the US

and then repeating it in exactly thesame way.”

Thus, Nickelodeon has createdcertain live-action shows, interstitialsand wraparounds that are tailored forspecific countries. It has not, thus far,created cartoon shows this way, butJudson says that remains a possibility.Its most successful animation over-seas so far has been Bert the Fish,who “hosted” programming seg-

ments for Nick UK view-ers last season. Moresuch efforts are planned,according to companyofficials.

Nickelodeon alsospends a great deal oftime and money over-seeing the dubbingprocess for its shows invarious territoriesbecause, in Judson’swords, “doing the dub-

Rugrats© Nickelodeon

bing process the right way is crucialto maintaining the integrity of ourshows.”

Another strategy has been to gointo joint ventures with local broad-casters and producers to co-produceprogramming throughout the world.In the UK, Nickelodeon’s channel waslaunched in partnership with BritishSky Broadcasting; in Germany, it ismajority owned by Viacom in part-nership with Ravensburger Film andTV, and in Australia with XYZ Enter-tainment. Individual shows are co-produced with local partners, as well,and Latin and Asian companies arebeing wooed on a regular basis.

As far as the future is concerned,Judson feels it is wide open.

“We hire local people everywherewe go, we have our own studio inthe UK, and are very open to co-pro-ductions,” she says. “Nothing is outof the question. There are lots of

things on the table for us. Thereare areas where we are looking towork together in a kind of multi-

channel or cross channel environ-ment to co-produce programs oracquire shows that are good for ourchannels.

“We can do just about anything,as long as it is presented from a kid’spoint of view.”

Michael Goldman is a Los Ange-les-based writer and editor. He is

the author of Mortal Kombat:The Movie, Behind the Scenesand routinely writes about ani-

mation, children’s entertainmentand special effects for severalpublications. He is currentlyAssociate Editor of Special

Reports at Variety in Hollywood.

September 1996 7

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Iby Harvey Deneroff

L o c o m o t i o n :The Animation Network

s

n recent years, there has been aproliferation of specialized cableand satellite channels devoted to

children’s and/or animationprogramming. The most visible oneshave been the US-basedNickelodeon and the CartoonNetwork, which have made theirpresence felt internationally. Thesechannels also have theircounterparts around the world,ranging from South Korea to theUK. Thus, it is not surprising thatLocomotion, a new all-animationservice, would emerge aimed atthe Latin American via theDirecTV satellite service.

A joint venturebetween the HearstCorporation andVenezuela’s GroupoCisneros, Locomotionis a 24-hour channelwill initially rely on theHearst library for itsprogramming. While notsubstantial, the library doesfeatures shows based onsuch popular comicbook/strip characters asPhantom 2040, TheLegend of Prince Valiant andPopeye; it also includes several newshows, including Quasimodo (basedon Victor Hugo’s Hunchback ofNotre Dame) and Flash Gordon.

A Long HistoryHearst, mainly known as a

publishing company, does not havea very high profile within theanimation industry; nevertheless, it

Phant© 1994, Hear


has a long history in field. In fact,its short-lived, New York-basedInternational Film Service,established in 1915, played a smallbut significant role in the early historyof American animation. Theoperation was initially set up toexploit and publicize the comic stripsthat appeared in the Hearstnewspapers, anticipating the type ofpromotional synergy so commontoday. The studio was perhaps bestknown for nurturing the talents ofGregory La Cava (who invented

storyboarding and went on togain fame in screwball

comedies in the 1930s)and Walter Lantz,rather than for itsfilms.

Hearst’s mostlong-livedconnection with

animation has beenthrough its King

Features Syndicate, whichhas licensed such classiccharacters as Betty Boopand Popeye. In 1992, it

set up what becameHearst Animation

Productions in Los Angeles toproduce TV series. Its initialproduction was the 26 half hour TVseries, The Legend of Prince Valiant,which was co-produced with aFrench company, IBDH. Throughthis operation and other activities,Hearst has now built up a library ofabout 600 half hours, that alsoincludes Krazy Kat, Cool McCool andG-Force, which will form the kernel

om 2040t Entertainment

of Locomotion’s programming.Stan Sagner, Director of Program

Service Development for HearstEntertainment & Syndication, sumsup the fact that, “Hearst has beenaggressively and actively producingover the last five years. We actuallywere producing long before then,as King Features Entertainment, andare continuing to develop andproduce on an ongoing basis.”

While these shows will form “thecore of the programming,” headmits they will “not be sufficient toprogram a whole network. So, wewill be acquiring additionalprogramming from around theworld.” For the immediate future,though, this does not includeoriginal shows made just forLocomotion. “For the time being,”he says, “we’re focusing onacquiring the best animation thatsuits the market.”

Variances in TasteSagner suggests that there are

some distinct differences betweenLocomotion and other cartoon/children’s channels. “First of all,”Sagner states, “it’s not a children’schannel. It’s an animation channel.Second, unlike other channels, thisone was created specifically for theLatin American market, and we’reselecting animation that best suitsthat market.”

I asked Sagner how the market inCentral and South America differsfrom American or European markets.In response, he said that, “There aresubtle variances in taste and

September 1996 8

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The Legend of Prince Valiant

exposure. There are certain types ofanimation that, I think, you wouldhave a harder time showing, forexample, on Saturday morning inthe US. For example, Asiananimation from Korea or Japan, orcertain European animation that Ithink the Latin American market ismuch more open to. He further

points out that, “there are someJapanese series that would probablynever see the light of day in theUnited States that have doneexceptionally well in Latin America.Nevertheless, without getting toospecific, the intent is to program thechannel with a sensitivity to thatmarket, instead of just taking whatwe have here and playing it downthere.”

This comment is an indirect

It’s not a children’s channel. It’san animation channel.

© Hearst Ent


reference to Locomotion’s most directcompetition, the ubiquitous CartoonNetwork, which already broadcaststo the Latin American marketplaceon a split day with its sister channel,TNT. (The two channels have asimilar arrangement in both Europeand Asia.) The Cartoon Network, ofcourse, has ready access to theHanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. andMGM animation libraries, which areowned by its parent company, TimeWarner.

Thus, it is obviously counting on

ertainment

Flash Gordon© Hearst Entertainment

its partnership with the CisnerosGroup to help level the playing field.“They bring,” Sagner states, anunprecedented, for us, level ofexpertise about the Latin Americanmarketplace, about programming,distribution and marketing.

“Locomotion,” he points out, “isa 50/50 joint venture. So, they’vebeen involved every step of the way,from the beginning, in terms of thedevelopment of the channel; andthey will certainly be involved everystep of the way in running it withus.”

This partnership, however, willnot extend to commissioningoriginal programming produced inLatin America for the foreseeablefuture. Though there has apparentlybeen some very preliminaryexploration of the capabilities of theLatin-American animation industry,Sagner points out that they are “notquite there” in being able to handleseries production

A Direct-to-Home ServiceLocomotion itself will begin

broadcasting this fall, “probablysometime in October, via GLA,Galaxy Latin America’s DirecTVservice. Galaxy, which is based inNassau, Bahamas, has HughesElectronics (a division of GeneralMotors) as its majority shareholder.MVS Multivision, a Mexican pay-TVcompany, Groupo Cisneros andTelevisão Abril, a Brazilian mediacompany, are the minority partners.

(GLA’ s main competition will bethe Los Angeles-based SkyEntertainment Services, which isbacked by Rupert Murdoch’sNews Corporation, Mexico’sGroupo Televisia and Brazil’sOrganizaçõs Globo.)

“GLA,” Sagner states,“provides direct-to-home service,and will make Locomotionavailable to all of the countriesunder its footprint, which will

September 1996 9

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Phantom 2040© 1994, Hearst Entertainment

eventually number 23. The satelliteservice itself is brand new, so thecountries are coming online one byone, and is only available now inVenezuela and Brazil. By the timewe go on the air, I would expectthat a number of other majorterritories, including Mexico, shouldbe receiving the service; and mostof the countries will be able toreceive it by sometime by the middle

of next year, ranging from Mexicodown to the tip of Argentina.”

The programming itself will bebilingual. Viewers will be able tohear programs through two audiochannels either dubbed in Spanishor (for Brazil) in Portugese, or in theiroriginal language. “Thus,” Sagnerpoints out, “if the original programwas American, British or Canadian,the secondary language will beEnglish. If it’s a French program, thenmostly likely the secondarylanguage will be French.”

“It’s our intention,” he says, “toprovide a variety of top qualityanimation that appeals to all ages.It’s clear to us that there is anappetite for this type programming,not just for children, but forteenagers and adults as well. Wethink that we can fill that need. Inother words, they’ll beprogramming that appeals to adultsensibilities.

“For example,” he points out, thatbesides a lot of very strong action-adventure programming fromJapan, there are also shows fromEurope that are a little moresophisticated,” referring to suchthings as the new adult series beingprogrammed by Britain’s Channel4.

Given the economic realities of

Such satellite channels will aimfor a relatively more upscale

audience.


today’s Latin American marketplace,such satellite channels will, ofnecessity, aim for a relatively moreupscale audience than views cableTV in the US or Canada. As such, itsstrategy to include more adultofferings than their North Americancounterparts makes a lot sense.

“Our intention,” he explains, “isto also expand to cable and wirelessservices in about a year. Our hopeis that DirecTV is going to grow veryquickly, but it will certainlysupplement the direct satellitebroadcast.”

Like a number of countries inEurope, most of Central and SouthAmerica lacks the cable TVinfrastructure so prevalent in the USand Canada. Sagner states that,“There are certain countries wherecable is very well developed andobviously that would be a very smartroute for us to take. However, thereare others where there is little or nocable or wireless service available,and satellite systems are pretty muchthe only means of gettingmultichannel television.”

It is certainly too early to tell howsuccessful Locomotion will be.Nevertheless, its very existence, as animportant component of a majornew satellite broadcasting service isfurther indication of the importancebeing attached to animation intoday’s international marketplace. Ifit also fulfills its promise to be ananimation and not just a children’schannel, it can only help expandthe market for more sophisticatedfare.

Harvey Deneroff, in addition tohis duties as Editor of Animation

World Magazine, edits andpublishes The Animation Report,

an industry newsletter, whichcan be reached at

[email protected].

September 1996 10

[email protected]

AN

TV’s

Fall AnimationLineup
In the United States, late August
and early September marks a timewhen children return to school

and the new TV season starts. Interms of animation, the new fallschedule reflects some majorcorporate changes, including thetakeover of Capital Cities/ABC byDisney and the establishment oftwo new broadcast networks—Warner Bros.’ WB Network andParamount’s UPN—both of whichrely heavily on animation.

The new terrestrial networkshave effectively cut down theamount of air time available forsyndication companies to sell theirshows to independent stations,

many of which have now becomeaffiliated with one of the two newnetworks. Despite this, the amountof animation offered in syndicationis still rather substantial. Someshows, like Dinobabies (FredWolf/Shanghai Morning Sun), havebeen successful overseas, but have

The Mighty Ducks© Disney


yet to have aired in the US. On the cable front, Nickelodeon

its expanding the parameters of itsanimation programming to primetime, as its more adult-oriented Nickat Night block of evening showsstarts to fade away in favor of itsnew cable outlet, TV Land.

With these changes in mind,what follows is a rundown of what’snew or renewed on Americantelevision on the broadcastnetworks, cable and in syndicationthis coming season.

The Broadcast NetworksABC: One of the most visible signsof Disney’s takeover of the ABC-TV

network is the studio’scomplete dominanceof the network’sSaturday morninglineup. Gone are suchindependently-produced shows asReboot and Bump inthe Night, which havebeen replaced byshows turned out byvarious divisions of theMouse House.

Among thenewcomers toSaturday morning is

The Jungle Cubs, a sequel to TheJungle Book. The series, whichdebuts October 5, features Baloo,Prince Louie and other favoritecharacters who learning theimportance of friendship and thelaws of life in the jungle. There isalso The Mighty Ducks, inspired by

the Disney live-action films, as wellas by the fact that Disney owns ahockey team with the same name.The characters in the show arecrime fighting, hockey playingducks from another planet andsome of the voice regulars are JimBelushi, Ian Ziering and Tim Carrey.It debuts on September 8 and isalso airing in syndication. BrandSpanking New Doug is from JumboPictures (now owned by Disney)and, yes, based on the oldNickelodeon standard, Doug. Itbegins on September 12 andshows how young Doug “gets byin life.”

Street Sharks, from DICEntertainment (now also part ofthe Disney empire), which enjoyeda successful run in syndication, willbe added to the network’s lineup,as well as also being cablecast onthe USA Network. Distributed byBohbot, it is an action-adventureseries about four half-shark, half-human brothers who dominate thestreet as they enforce their brand ofJawstice and the Law of the Jaw.Also returning in syndication andpremiering on the network isGargoyles: The Goliath Chroniclesfrom Disney Television Animation.It follows the adventures of amystical, ancient clan of fearsome,winged creatures who come aliveat night and turn to stone atsunrise.

CBS: Project G.eeK.eR. is an actionadventure series focusing on theexploits of a nerdy hero who

September 1996 11

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happens to have unlimited powers.The problem is he does not knowhow to use them. Film Roman’s TheMask (based on the popular JimCarry feature) and The Twisted Talesof Felix the Cat (the latestincarnation of the classic character)have been renewed for a secondseason. Also returning is Disney’sThe Lion King’s Timon & Pumbaa,which will have new episodesrunning both on Saturday morningand in syndication; the show, ofcourse, deals with the exploits offeisty meerkat, Timon and his buddyPumbaa, Also returning are AceVentura: Pet Detective and FredWolf Films’ old perennial, TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles.

Fox: The Fox Kids Network, whichhas been the dominant forceamong terrestrial broadcasters thesepast few years, has renewed mostshows from last season, but willintroduce several new titles thistime around. These include Casper,inspired by the old Famous Studioscartoons and last year’s live-actionfilm, from Universal Cartoon Studiosand Harvey Entertainment. Also


new is Film Roman’s C-Bear andJamal, which explores therelationship between Jamal, ayoung African-American boy, andC-Bear, his stuffed animalcompanion who walks, talks andtransports him to imaginary places.

Returning are Where On Earth

The Tick© Fox Broadcasting Co.

Earthworm Jim© Universal Cartoon Studios

Is Carmen Sandiego (DIC), Bobby’sWorld (Film Roman), Eek!Stravaganza (Nelvana), TheAdventures of Batman & Robin(Warner Bros.), Life With Louie(Hyperion), Spider-Man (Marvel), X-Men (Saban/Graz) and The Tick(Sunbow/Graz).

In the meantime, The Simpsons(Gracie/Film Roman) comes backfor another season on prime time..

UPN: The new network, which isstill finding its legs, will premiere

four new shows this fall. The Mouseand the Monster, produced bySaban (which is programming theUPN Kids lineup), is described as aRocky & Bullwinkle for the 21stcentury. The plot involves an“outrageous monster” and hissidekick mouse who are beingchased by a mad scientist who isafter the monster’s brain. Also fromSaban is Bureau of Alien Detectors,which is being touted as an “X-Filesmeets The A-Team.” This action-adventure series, which premieresin September, is about a secretgroup who protects the world fromsupernatural encounters.

Marvel will provide an animatedincarnation of The Incredible Hulk,which features the classic characterin various modern day adventures.Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulkon the live-action TV show, willsupply the voice, joining a vocalcast that also includes Luke Perry,Genie Francis and Mark Hamill. Also

The Incredible Hulk© UPN

new on UPN is Jumanji, based onthe Robin Williams film, whichfollows the adventures of twochildren who find their lives turnedupside-down when they discovera mystical board game that pullsthem into a perilous jungle world.

WB Network: The surprisinglystrong showing the new networkhas had in the ratings race has, inlarge part, been attributed to itsstrong animation lineup. It alsohelps to have a number of popularfranchise characters readilyavailable from Warner Bros. andSteven Spielberg.

New this fall is Superman basedon the classic DC Comic characterfrom Warners. The series willundoubtedly draw its inspirationfrom the old Max FleischerSuperman cartoons, which hadpreviously inspired Warner’s highlysuccessful Batman: The AnimatedSeries. Tim Daly is supplying thevoice of the Man of Steel while thevoice of Lois Lane belongs to DanaDelaney.

Warners is also producingWaynehead, which providescomedian Damon Wayans’ debutin animation. The show is aboutDarney Walker, a 10-year-old livingin lower Manhattan, who is theneighborhood underdog andstruggles with the problems ofpreadolescence. Then there is RoadRovers, which feature somesuperhero dogs who protect the

September 1996 12

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galaxy. Animaniacs, Pinky & TheBrain, Freakazoid (all three fromSpielberg/Warners), The Sylvester& Tweety Mysteries (Warners) andEarthworm Jim (Universal CartoonStudios) are all returning.

PBS: The public broadcaster isexpanding its initial foray into seriesanimation that began with TheMagic Schoolbus with two newshows. Premiering in October isArthur, which is based on MarcBrown’s popular children’s booksabout the trials and tribulations ofan eight-year-old aardvark. Thenetwork is also debuting its firstprime-time animated show,Adventures From the Book ofVirtues. Based on William J.Bennett’s best-selling book,The Book of Virtue, fromPorchLight Entertainmentand Fox Animation. TheMagic Schoolbus (Schola-stic/Nelvana) based on thepopular science books forchildren, returns on a dailybasis, starting October 7.Lily Tomlin once againsupplies the voice of theperipatetic bus driver cumteacher, Mrs. Frizzle

CableNickelodeon: The network whichpractically invented the currenttrend toward “creator-driven” TVshows with its Nicktoons, will debutits new lineup on October 7 inprime time with Craig Bartlett’s HeyArnold! The show, which exploreschildhood through the eyes ofArnold and his best friends, wasinspired by some of Bartlett’spopular clay-animated shorts.

Decidedly less conventional isKablam!, which debuts October11, which is billed as “the first-everanimated sketch comedy show.”Designed as a creative outlet fornew and established animators, it


will use a variety of styles andtechniques, ranging from cutoutto pixiliation, along with moretraditional cel animation. Eachepisode will feature two segments,Action League Now! (which followsthe ongoing adventures of a groupbumbling, crime-fighting actionfigures) and Sniz & Fondue (abouta pair of cartoon cats and theirfriends in pursuit of fun and “self-amusement.”). Additional recurringsegments will rotate throughoutthe series.

Finally, there is Mitch Schauer’sAngry Beavers (Gunther Wahl),which will debut in 1997. It dealswith two brothers who set out ontheir own for the first time and tryto make it in the big world.

Returning Nicktoons are Rugrats1997and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters(both from Klasky Cuspo). Little Bear(Nelvana), which is not part of theNicktoon curriculum, is also comingback; the show tells the story of ayoung cub taking his first steps ofindependence always under theguidance of his mother.

Cartoon Network: The RealAdventures of Jonny Quest, themuch touted return of the HannaBarbera perennial premiered inAugust on the Cartoon Network,as well as its two sister Turner cableoutlets, TBS and TNT. (All three

Wing Commander Academy© Universal Cartoon Studios

networks, along with Hanna-Barbera, are now controlled byTime Warner, which got them inits takeover of Turner Broadcasting.)Also on the schedule is Dexter’sLaboratory and the World PremiereToons series of original animatedshorts, both from Hanna-Barbera.

MTV: Daria, the Beavis and Butt-Head spinoff, which debuts earlynext year, follows its heroine as shemoves to a new town and startsschool. MTV is also currentlydeveloping Cartoon Girl andMigraine Boy. The latter characterwho, not surprisingly has aconstant headache, has a dognamed Tylenol, not surprisingly hasa constant headache.

USA Network: UniversalCartoon Studios andElectronic Arts havecombined forces toproduce Wing Com-mander Academy, basedon the CD-ROM game,which will debut this fall.It focuses on futuristicpilots earning their wings.Also premiering (onSeptember 21) is MortalCombat: Defenders of theRealm, which is being

produced by Film Roman inassociation with ThresholdEntertainment. The series chroniclesthe adventures of the ChosenWarriors assembled to protect theEarth from the evil emperor ShaoKahn.

Returning in the fall for itssecond season are Street Fighter(InVision), another video gamederivative, and Savage Dragon,based on the comic book. Inaddition, there is Highlander, TheAnimated Series (Gaumont) andthe prime time comedy, Duckman(Klasky Csupo).

September 1996 13

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Beast Wars Transformers© Alliance Communcations

Comedy Central will feature newepisodes of The Tick along with itsaward-winning Dr. Katz Profes-sional Therapist .

HBO: The premium cable channelwill bring back The NeverendingStory (Nelvana), which is based onthe live-action German featureversion of the classic novel.

Showtime: Returning this seasonis Cinar’s The Busy World of RichardScarry, based on the popularchildren’s books. Also coming backin September is A Bunch of Munschbased on Robert Munsch’s tales.

SyndicationAladdin (Disney), the popular

series based on the feature thatfollows the escapades of Aladdin,Jasmine, Genie, Iago and Abureturns for another season.

All Dogs Go to Heaven: TheSeries is the new MGM show basedon the Don Bluth film featuring thefurther exploits and shenanigansof Charlie and a pack of gangsterdogs living in New Orleans. Theseries, which debuts September 21,is distributed by Claster.

Beast Wars (Claster) premieresSeptember 16 and featurespowerful robotic beings—Maximalsand Predicons—who crash land onan earth-like planet and battle eachother for control of a uniquelypowerful energy source calledenergon.

Blazing Dragons (Nelvana/Ellipse) tells of a battle between

Dr. Katz: Professional TherapistCourtesy of Comedy Central


knights and dragons from thedragons’ point of view.

Bruno The Kid features BruceWillis as the voice of a 10-year-oldcomputer wiz whose digitally-generated, super spy alter-ego getshim involved in internationalespionage. The show beginsSeptember 23.

Captain Simian & The SpaceMonkey (Hallmark/Monkeyshine/Bohbot) features Captain Simianand his monkeys in their battleagainst the evil Nebula.

Cave Kid Adventures (HannaBarbera) is a Flintstones spinoff thatfeatures Pebbles and Bamm-Bammas prehistoric preschoolers.

Dinobabies (Fred Wolf Films,Dublin/Shanghai Morning/Westinghouse), tells of how fivedinosaurs and their neighbor actout fairy tales.

Dragon Ball Z (Saban) is amystical action adventure showfeaturing characters “who embodythe essence of good and evil.”

Eagle Riders (Saban) is about ateam of five young avengers whouse their special powers to battleevil villains.

The Fantastic Voyage of Sinbad,which is based on the classiccharacter from the Arabian Nights,is being distributed by Warner Bros.

Flash Gordon (Hearst) is a newseries based on the classic comicstrip. It is set in a future filled withblack holes, time warps, humanoidcreatures and ingenioustechnology.

G.I. Joe Extreme (Claster) hasG.I. Joe and his squad protectinghumanity from the forces of SKAR,thus keeping the world free fromimpending disaster.

Home to Rent (Gaumont) isabout five alien monsters who findrefuge in an abandoned house andwill do anything to keep it frombeing rented.

Mayan Monsters of the YucatanKort (EM3/Bohbot) is an actionadventure series that shows howteam work, intelligence, speed andagility are what triumphs in theend.

Pocket Dragon Adventures(Bohbot) follows the adventures ofminiature dragons who live in “anenvironment of adventure andlearning.”

September 1996 14

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Dragon Flyz© Abrams/Gentile Entertainment

Inspector Gadget’s Field Trip

Quack Pack (Disney) has DonaldDuck as a cameraman for anentertainment news show calledWhat in The World? and who hasto contend with raising his three16-year-old nephews.

Reboot (Alliance/Mainframe/Claster), the all-CGI show whichmade its debut on ABC in 1994,takes viewers into Mainframe, acovert electrical world inside apersonal computer controlled byThe User.

Richie Rich (Film Roman/Harvey/Claster), based on theclassic comic book character, tells ofthe further adventures of theworld’s richest 11-year-old, who hasa virtual fairyland of fun and powerat his disposal.


Samurai Pizza Cats© Saban Entertainment

Saban’s Adventures of OliverTwist (Saban) attempts to presentCharles Dickens’ characters in anew light asanthromorphic animals.The story, though, is stillset in Victorian London,which is home to 12-year-old Oliver.

Samurai Pizza Cats(Saban) features a groupof superhero crimefighters who own theirown pizza parlor in thethriving metropolis ofLittle Tokyo.

Sky Dancers andDragon Flyz (Gaumont/Abrams/Gentile). When Gaumontdecided to build an animated seriesaround Sky Dancers, the populargirl’s toy, they also came up with acompanion show for boys, DragonFlyz. (The new show naturallybrought about a new line of toys,as well). The former show followsthe adventures of five youngdancers who are chosen by the lastreigning monarch to become SkyDancers. The latter is a futuristicaction-adventure series that takesplace in the 41st century, in whicha man and dragonfly live as oneas they battle against the evilDreadwing.

Sticken Around (Nelvana/Ellipse)stars imaginary stick figures fromthe mind of an eight-year-old girland her best friend.

UltraForce (DIC) is aboutsuperhumans called Ultras who

© DIC Entertainment

were created by alien sound waves.VOR: Tech (Universal/Claster

Television) is an action/fantasyprogram that features two researchscientist brothers, who harness acomputer virus to create a newtechnology that transforms ordinarybeings and machines into a singlebiomechanical unit.

The Why Why Family (Saban)features a family able to travelanywhere to find answers toquestions.

Pam Schechter is anentertainment attorney in New

York City. Her practice includes aspecial concentration in the

animation industry. Sherepresents several animators

including Eric Fogel, the creatorof the MTV animated series TheHead and Beavis and Butt-Head

animation director YvetteKaplan.

The Why Why Family© Saban Entertainment

September 1996 15

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by Karen Paterson

Crocadoo Entertains withENERGEE

Animation is the hot careerfor many young Australiangraphics professionals,”

according to Gerry Travers,Marketing & Distribution Managerfor Australian animation house,Energee Entertainment. After all,the Australian animation industryis booming and Sydney-basedEnergee is no exception, with itsown successful series, Crocadoo,screening on the Nine Network—one of Australia’s majorcommercial televisionnetworks.

From its beginnings asUnlimited Energee in1989 with just 20people, Energee hasexperienced rapidgrowth to becomeAustralia’s leading seriesanimation productionhouse with more than100 staff and a swag ofinternational projectsunder its belt. Energeewas founded by Gerryand John Travers, whosaw animation as agrowth market,particularly with theproliferation of newtelevision outletsfollowing theintroduction of pay TV, cable TVand multimedia.

Crocadoo itself is a children’sshow, aimed at 8 to 12 year olds,which seeks to convey a value fornature through comedy andaction. The conservation message


is connected to the conflictbetween the crocodiles, led byJazz and Brian, and Rufus B.Hardacre, the ruthless propertydeveloper who is only interestedin getting the crocs out ofCrocadoo so that he can build anew resort.

Special FXCrocadoo is distinguished by

the fact that, in addition to itsclever animation, it uses some of

the latest in computer animationsoftware. Thus, it features 3Dbackgrounds that allow for agreat variety of special effects andcamera tricks. The colorful andstylized art direction is designed tomake the show appealing and

The cast of characters from Crocadoo.© Energee

more relevant to today’s audience. More than 50 digital work-

stations, including high-end

Silicon Graphics computers andPower Macs were used for the 3Dbackgrounds. Special particle

effects for rain,snow, lightningand time distortionwere also createdusing digitalmeans. The show’sdirectors have alsos u c c e s s f u l l yscripted 2D and 3Daction sequencestogether, using thesame Alias softwareused in such live-action features asJurassic Park.

Gerry Traversf e e l st h a t , ” C ro c a d o omerges thetraditional skills ofanimators with them o d e r n

technology skills of many youngmultimedia creatives to bring alively, exciting and ‘real life’cartoon to children of everyculture.”

The series also showcases theComputer Enhanced Classical

It has become Australia’sleading series house with a

swag of international projects

September 1996 16

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Hardy & Ajax© Energee

Animation Production System(CECAPS), a proprietary animationand image compression softwaredeveloped internally by SeniorResearch and DevelopmentManager, Richard Collins. Traversnotes that, “CECAPS provided thecompany with a taste of thefuture in digital ink and paint.Using specially programmedalgorithms developed inconjunction with the University ofWestern Australia, it allowsautomated painting of hundredsof drawings at the touch of abutton. CECAPS helps to minimizesome of the repetitive tasks in thenoncreative area, such as coloringcells and scanning images”

Flexibility andDiversification

Travers also feels that the futureof the animation industry lies indiversification. It is this, he claims,that makes Energee more flexiblethan traditional internationalanimation companies andcontributes to its success. “Wetook full advantage of our creativeand technical expertise gained inthe creation of Crocadoo,” henotes, “by reusing the material toproduce a CD-ROM game, avideo and a web site. It is thisability to work with differentmediums—video, online, and TVthat is attractive to many of ourinternational partners.”

Very much an export-orientedbusiness, Energee Entertainmenthas completed 13 movies foroverseas distribution and hasmany strategic partnerships withlarge international companies.Marketing & Distribution ManagerGerry Travers, indicated that,“Through our expertise in digitalproduction and ourunderstanding of theinternational market , we formedstrategic relationships with


partners including Walt Disney inthe USA, Virgin Interactive in theUK, Ravensburger Film and TV inGermany, Longman Asia in HongKong and the Nine Network inAustralia.”

Apart from producing its ownseries, Energee has played asignificant role in projectsincluding the Disney’s popularAladdin TV series; the 39 episodeGogo’s Adventures for LongmanAsia; animation of a series ofbumpers for the highly successfulAustralian BroadcastingCorporation series Bananas inPyjamas to help repackage theseries for US release; and Hoops,an animated NBA basketballgame for Sony Playstations andSega Saturn platforms.

Animation OnlineAnimation is moving online,

following the growth in the WorldWide Web, with concurrentenhancements to web browsersand technologies like Sun’s Java,and Macromedia’s Shockwave.The arrival of these technologieshas extended the range and typeof projects that animators getinvolved in. Animation on theWeb is a natural extension to theactivities that many animatorsalready cover. When artists designcharacters, they consider allaspects of visual feedback:color, depth, movement,and texture. They alsoconsider the interactionwith other characters, thetiming and sequencing ofevents. These same skills canbe used very effectively withanimations on the Web. (2)

For example, Java andShockwave are usedextensively in the company’sCrocadoo Web site toeducate children regardingthe issues associated with

coloring and animating adrawing. Some colorcombinations don’t animate welland the children can learn this by

coloring an image of Brian, in the“Color in a Crocodile” page on thesite.

“In many ways,” Travers asserts,“ the techniques developed byEnergee have led the charge todigital series production andanimation. The company’sexperience with both analog anddigital processes has given thecompany a lead in theinternational animation industry.”

The Business of CreativityTravers further noted that

international companies come toEnergee for their business skills asmuch as its creativity. “Energee isable to provide the full range ofskills required to project manageand produce an animated series,animation on CD-ROM andanimation on the Internet.”

When asked about the reasonfor Energee’s success in both theinternational and domesticmarkets, Travers commented,

Animation on the Web is anatural extension to the

activities that many animatorsalready cover.

September 1996 17

A

“Whilst we are working in acreative industry—theprofessional animation market—we are very aware of itscompetitiveness and run ourbusiness as a commercialenterprise.”

CompanyStructure

E n e r g e eEntertainmentis made up of anumber ofd e p a r t m e n t s :Energee Series—responsible for theproduction ofCrocadoo and otheranimated TV series;Energee Interactive—CD-ROMproduction including, Tales fromthe Kangaroo Crypt, Hoops, andCrocadoo Park; and EnergeeOnline—offering Javaprogramming to companies whowant to include animations ontheir Web pages. Finally there’sRedRock Animation—the

Jazz playing the s© E


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company that creates animationsfor TV commercials.

Energee Entertainment alsohandles distribution of animatedTV series of its own shows, as well

as any international co-productions that it is apartner in. “Qualityproduct is always in

great demand inthe world

marke t s , ”Travers says,

“so Energee attendsall the major

American andE u r o p e a nmarkets that buyand sellanimation and

new media products.“As part of our future growth

strategy, we have secured therights to a number of original andexisting stories from Australia andoverseas. Our projectmanagement of multimilliondollar projects is the central plankin our strategy to becoming a

ax, from Crocadoo.nergee

R with Antwork TOD

animation News Flash vi

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highly successful owner, producerand distributor of content in theinternational media industry.

“Our record of achievement,developed during the productionof over 50 hours of animationproduction, has given Energeethe ability and confidence to meethe demands of the fast emergingmarkets for digital mediaproducts.

Karen Paterson is a Sydney-based publicist for a number ofhigh tech companies, includingEnergee Entertainment. She isalso studying part-time for herBachelor of Business degree,majoring in Marketing and

Psychology.

September 1996 18

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SO YOU WANNA BE AN

ANIMATION EXECUTIVE?

Hey boys and g i r l s , have you a lways dreamed of acareer in the g lamorous wor ld o f an imat ion

deve lopment but you jus t don ’t know i f you havewhat i t takes? I t ’s not as hard as you might th ink !

Here ’s a s imple tes t to he lp you determine i f yoube long in the h igh-powered wor ld o f car toon creat ion:

1. It’s your first day on the job! Do you...

a) Arrive early, read the trades, and prepare for the rest of the day?b) Schedule a power lunch with your colleagues to discuss the fall line-upc) Hang out in your office and take advantage of the free long distance by calling your seventh-grade algebra teacher to gloat over the fact that you’re abig Hollywood executive now and who needed to know the value of X, anyway?

2. Office decor is oh-so-important to the rising young executive’s image. One’schoice of decorative garnishes says a lot about one’s creativity. It’s time to decorateyour new office! Do you fill your office with...

a) Cool toys from various shows your company has produced?b) Cool toys from various shows you’ve actually worked on?c) Cool toys from various shows you want everyone to think you worked on?

3. You’ve just received the not-so-great results of the latest focus group testing yourpet project. Do you...

a) Examine the data and redevelop your show accordingly?b) Ask for further testing across a wider demographic sampling?c) Decide that focus groups are a diabolical plot by the Evil Anti-Creativity Overlord to put an endto all that is smart and good, in order to hasten the inevitable downward spiral of the human race and ultimately reduce us to drooling, monosyllabic, knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers.

4. Your company has begun installing computer workstations and utilizing newdigital tools. Do you...

a) Applaud the production department for their efforts to bring your company into the new ageof technology?

by Cori Stern

Cori Stern, Saban Entertainment

September 1996 19NIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

A

b) Learn all you can about computer animation so that you can develop new cutting-edge properties?c) Sneak into the studio after work to see if you can figure out how to animate that wacky photocopy of the Senior V.P.’s butt that you snagged after last year’s office Christmas party?

5. It’s Comic-Con time! Do you prepare by...

a) Making your hotel reservations early?b) Buying a pair of comfortable shoes for walking the floor?c) Packing your full Klingon warrior regalia costume and praying for a George Takei sighting?

6. At Comic-Con, you’ve spotted a property that could be the next Smurfs!Unfortunately, your arch rival at Deep Pockets Productions has also targeted yourprize. Do you...

a) Take the creator out to dinner and convince him that you alone understand his masterpiece?b) Pow-wow with your buddy at the network to try to secure an advance on-air commitment?c) Slip your rival some “roofies” and spirit the creator off to Tijuana for some Cuervo with your business affairs office?

7. In your annual job review, your boss has suggested that you need to work onyour ability to come up with merchandisable properties. Do you...

a) Scour anime expos for the next Power Rangers phenomenon?b) Gather a group of hip Gen-X ad geniuses to brainstorm new and innovative product tie-ins?c) Offer the God of Licensing a sacrifice of twenty camels, a vintage Chewbaca action figure, and your sister in return for a master toy license on your next series?

8. You’re having dinner with your French co-producers to discuss a new series. Doyou attempt to impress them with...

a) Your amazing command of the French language?b) Your vast knowledge of fine wine?c) Your thinly-veiled scorn for all cultural icons they hold dear?

9. It’s the holiday season and you’ve got to buy gifts for all your hard-working staffartists and writers. Do you buy them...

a) Framed cels featuring characters from classic shows?b) Rare toys featuring characters from classic shows?c) Pez dispensers featuring characters from classic shows?

10. It’s five o’clock and your thirty-seventh meeting of the day is in the conferenceroom setting up an elaborate pitch involving feathered monkey hand puppets andan accordion orchestra. Do you...

a) Call his agent and beg to reschedule?b) Take the meeting and excuse yourself as soon as possible?c) Sign him to a deal sight unseen because you want to prove that you can make sound executive decisions despite the fact that you’re delirious from too much work and too many tripsto the whiskey flask hidden in the file room? Besides, accordions are “edgy.”


A

11. Your department is expanding and you have to hire a new executive. Do youchoose...

a) The hard-working department assistant who has proven herself bright and capable?b) The smart and creative up-and-comer from a rival studio?c) The CEO’s wife’s personal assistant-in-charge-of-poodle-care?

12. Your boss is on vacation. Do you use your time to...a) Compile daily development updates and fax them to his hotel?b) Check on every project on the slate and keep careful tabs on their progress?c) Sleep late and throw nightly keggers in his office paid for out of the petty cash fund, resultingin the need to hock his prized comic book collection to cover your crime?

13. You’ve been invited to write an article for a prominent trade magazine. Doyou...

a) Spend weeks interviewing the top professionals in your field in order to produce a comprehensive report on The State of the Art of Animation?b) Write a lengthy tome contemplating the history of animation and discussing the philosophical and stylistic differences between McLaren and McCay?c) Wait until the last day and then spend the final hours imploring your assistant to make six separate trips to Starbucks for the necessary caffeine and cursing the name of the editor who agreed to give you the assignment in the first place?

So, how’d you score?

If you chose mostly A’s: Congratulations, you’ll make a great animation executive!

If you chose mostly B’s: Get your resume ready, kid! You’ll do a fine job!

If you chose any C’s: Forget about it, pal - this town isn’t big enough for two of us!

Cori Stern is a happy but twisted development executive atSaban Entertainment. Her past experience includes pond

diving for golf balls, writing musical comedies, and servingas the CEO’s wife’s personal-assistant-in-charge-of-poodle-

care. She thanks her very funny husband Doug forcontributing a few good punchlines. (He’s an animation

writer - hire him!)Comments and bon mots can be e-mailedto Cori (and her husband) at [email protected].


AN

by Judith Shane

Listen Up, It’Listen Up, It’s Playtimes Playtime

finity City:Time Museum Mix and Match© Headbone Interactive

Ibring a couple offour year olds to thepark, the only place

around big enoughto contain their joiede vivre—not tomention their joie dejouer. There is anempty grass playingfield with a shallowmuddy hole nearone corner. The kidslook it over. One ofthem picks up a smallbranch and pokes atthe ground. Withintwo minutes, they start a game. Rulesare yelled out, elaborated, solidified,dismissed. Play progresses. Stops.Starts over from the middle, thebeginning. Points are won. Pointslost. “You’ve had your turn.” “Thatdidn’t count.” Elaborate negotiationsover instantaneously arcane rules oforder. Roles emerge within seconds.Rituals fitting for a cabal aredeveloped then discarded within thespace of minutes. The only constantI recognize is the muddy hole.Twenty minutes of excitedscreaming, jumping and runningaround in quelching shoes isinterrupted by the return of themothers and time to go.

Not an easy task to invent a game,unless, of course, you happen to bea child. Children excel at play. Tocapture their attention requires playat least as interesting as what kidscan create on their own.

Can a CD-ROM do that? Can iteven come close? HeadboneInteractive thinks so and they maybe right. From the release of theirfirst CD in 1994 to their recent

In


excursion into Internetprogramming, a drumbeat of kudosfrom print magazines to onlinemagazines to the Parents’ ChoiceFoundation have heralded theconclusion that Headbone indeedknows how to play.

The Operative WordA Seattle animation company

begun in 1993, HeadboneInteractive is the brainchild of SusanLammers and Walter Euyang, whoalso have children together in thereal world. Headbone produces twoseries of interactive CD-ROMs forchildren., aged 4 to 10. Theoperative word is interactive. Bothseries combine cartoon-likeanimation against photographicbackgrounds to produce simpleanimation rich in content with thewacky feel of a giggly kid who can’tsit still.

The GiggleBone Gang seriespresently comprises threeedutainment CDs (AlphaBonk Farm,Pantsylvania, Infinity City) directedto those aged four to, well, how old

are you?The What the Heck

Will Elroy Do Next? series, isdeemed appropriate forthose aged 7 to 10. A newtitle, Iz & Oggie, is currentlyin beta testing.

Now there is betatesting and there is betatesting. Headbone consumertests its products in the localpublic schools. And that toois an interactive process. Withthe help of interestedteachers, The company’sstaff provides the CDs and

goes into classrooms to observe thechildren playing the games.Although the games don’t requiremore than one player, severalchildren can take turns and play atthe same time.

The staff overhears as well asquestions the kids and they listen tothe answers.

To make a user-friendly CD forchildren, it helps to think the waythe kids do, or at least be aware of

their cosmology. Taking into accounta child’s eye view of the world, asuccessful game will help kids havewonderful ideas and feel good aboutthemselves for having them.

Animation & Design IssuesI asked Scott Hudson, the Creative

Director at Headbone, whodeveloped their animationtechnique, what he was aiming for,

Simple animation rich incontent with the wacky feel ofa giggly kid who can’t sit still.

September 1996 22

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.

games or education.“We take different approaches

with the different age groups,”Hudson said, depending on who isdoing the buying. When the parentsare buying, the market is foredutainment. Specifically, themost education for the buck. Forthe older kids, the games areprimarily games. The kidsthemselves are behind thepurchases.”

He pointed out that the majordesign issues are: “1) to produceenough work to sustain the storyand 2) create an interface that issimple to use. The Elroy titles andIz and Oggie have two hours ofanimation apiece and are story-driven.

“We needed to be able toproduce a lot of animation quickly,so we use one tool only and createa flat, stripped-down characterdesign with a low frame rate. Wedon’t worry about the jagged edges,as they blend with the photographicbackgrounds, which in turn help tocreate a simple transparent interfacefor the player. I prefer to concentrateon an idea, and not the laboriousexecution of the idea. A good modelis the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons,which were content rich but hadsimple drawings.”

When I asked Hudson aboutthe production process,he said that, “Wedevelop ascrapbook ofmultiple positionsfor each characterand work fromthat. Generallyabout 100 to beginand approaching1,000 by the time wefinish. And we arealways writing while inproduction. It is a trueteam effort to produce one of thesetitles.

E

The Giggleon the way to I

© Headbon


“We have a staff of 8 to 10, notcounting the actors: 4 animators, 3writers, 1 person for sound effects,1 for music, 2 programmers, aphotographer and a

producer/director. It will be 11months from idea to [projected]shipping date for Iz and Oggie. Andwe were in production for fourmonths.”

A Simple StyleAside from expediency, there is

another reason for Hudson tochampion a simple cartoon style,one beautifully elucidated in DouglasRushkoff”s Playing The Future, withthe telling subtitle, How Kids’ CultureCan Teach Us To Thrive in an Age of

Chaos.Rushkoff says that,“Comic books may

seem visually

oversimplifiedandthematically

primitive to mostadults, but these

very qualities arewhat permit an

active participationfrom their readers.

They communicate with basicsymbols and relationships, and the

lroy and Syd, the heros of Elroy Hits the Pavement© Headbone Interactive

bone Gangnfinity City.e Interactive

rest is filled in by the audience. Theparts of a drawing with the mostimpact tend to be the most simplydrawn. The starkness of the imagemakes it stand out, while its iconic

quality makes its meaning easyto recognize.”

Overlooking the fact thatadults in other (non-Western)cultures also relish cartoons,Rushkoff talks about how thesimplicity of cartoon characters isjust what lets children identifywith them so completely acrosscultural and national divides. It’s their generality which makesthem universal. Makes themicons: Visually simple,conceptually fertile vehicles forremembering .

I asked Hudson whether, in theinterest of expediency, he forsaw achange from a 2D cartoon animationto something digital for Headbone.“I try to be conservative,” he replied,“and produce something people canuse and enjoy Something that they’llbuy again. You really don’t need allthat high-tech stuff. What peoplereally want to see is a good story.Besides, consumer machines arepretty primitive. And without a highend computer, they won’t be ableto appreciate it.

Variability & InteractivityHeadbone stresses interactivity

where kids are in control of shapingthe scene and the action. But whatis so special about the interactivity?

“We learned a lot observing thekids test the games,” Hudson says.“The children weren’t satisfied withjust one story line. ‘I wish there wassome way to jump around,’ they

They communicate with basicsymbols and relationships, and

the rest is filled in by theaudience.

September 1996 23

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b

said. We realized that the childrenwere willing to accept partial failurea lot more readily than total failure.So we developed games with

different possible levels ofachievement, both within thesegments and throughout the wholegame.

“For example, there is a mathconcept associated with each areain Infinity City, and each area givesa player five different ways toapproach the concept. You canchoose among different levels ofdifficulty, or play against time.

“That kind of variability plus, thesheer amount of material in eachCD cannot be found in a book oron television. Nor can you matchthe immediacy of the situations inany other way. I mean, where elsecan you so easily combine a duckand a Volkswagen and get thelearning hit and satisfaction from theresult: a duckwagon.

Listening to Hudson, one canalmost hear the developmentalpsychologist Piaget murmuring inthe background his own words fromScience of Education and Psychologyof the Child: “... knowledge is derivedfrom action ...To know an object isto act upon it and to transform it ...To know is therefore to assimilatereality into structures oftransformation, and these are thestructures that intelligence constructsas a direct extension of our actions.”

Nowadays, many agree withPiaget that the aim of teachingshould be to enable children to thinkcreatively and innovatively on theone hand, and to develop the facultyof critical thinking on the other. And

We realized that the childrenwere willing to accept partialfailure a lot more readily than

total failure.


that if, as he believed, the aim ofintellectual training is to produce“intellectual explorers,” then the bestway to go about it is to have thechild discover or invent ways ofdealing with objects for himself.

But not many put Piaget’s ideasinto practice so engagingly as dothese CD-ROMs.

NetscapadesHeadbone recently took Elroy to

the Internet in Elroy’s Netscapade,a “directed program” for exploringsites on the Web, designed as atreasure hunt with prizes for

individuals and classrooms. Theprogram takes the form of a cartoonmystery in seven episodes, whichare released over a period of a week.The contestants search the Web toget information Elroy needs to solvethe mystery.

I asked Hudson how the firstnetscapade, which occurred in May,went. “The response from teachershas been very gratifying,” he noted,“especially from those teaching fifthto ninth grades. They’re so thankfulfor something to do on the Internetwith the kids. Future netscapadeswill take advantage of Narratives’Enliven software to stream animationover the Internet.”

By design or serendipity,Headbone has evolved a winningcombination of sophisticatedsoftware, cartoon characters and

Iz and Auggie decide how to deal with an Elite QuEscape From Dimension Q

video games, which are presentedwith charm and humor within theframework of a child’s cosmology.You don’t have to “start at thebeginning and go to the end andstop,” as we once learned to do fromWinnie the Pooh.

A Headbone story sets the stageto let the interactivity begin. The storyline progresses according to a player’schoices. Get all the bad guys, youproceed to one stage. Defeat halfthe bad guys, you go to a differentstage. Or, you can decide to skipwhat’s happening next and moveforward or backward to another

challenge. And with all of the games,the end of the game isn’t the end ofthe game. You can play it again,Sam, indefinitely, or until you loseinterest. Return to any point ofinteraction, do it over, check out theresult and choose to move to thenext step or jump around.

After all, children understand wellthat life does not proceed in anorderly fashion. And that you canalways rewrite the script, at least untiltime out.

Judith Shane is a Seattle-basedfreelance writer and editor. Her

email address isfox2trot.earthlink.net

ic Pentameter Security Guard in the forthcoming. - © Headbone Interactive

September 1996 24


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Larry Jordan Larry Jordan by Jackie Leger

Larry Jordan

antastic landscapes of the mind iswhat makes the unique work ofSan Francisco animator Larry

Jordan so compelling. With a taste fornostalgic romanticism for intricate turn-of-the-century illustrations, Jordancreates a magical universe of work usingold steel engravings and collectablememorabilia. His 50-year pursuit into thesubconscious mind gives him a placein the annals of cinema as a prolificanimator on a voyage into the surrealpsychology of the inner self.

Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1934,Jordan was introduced to filmmakingby Stan Brakhage, one of the pioneersof American experimental film. Asclassmates, they began to investigatethe possibilities of filmed “psychodrama,”a form of free-association using dreamimagery. One of Jordan’s earliest films,One Romantic Adventure of Edward(1952) uses erotic visual referencesassembled in the style of the then in-vogue classic school of “Russianmontage.” Brakhage made his actingdebut in this film and bothexperimented with psycho-adventuresthroughout the 1950s, as did otherearly experimental filmmakers such asMaya Deren.

Surrealism & CollageJordan attended Harvard University


from 1951-53, where he becameattracted to the work of surrealist painterMax Ernst. He also recalls, due to hisactive involvement with the university’sfilm society, being influenced by thework of another surrealist, JeanCocteau, and in particular Blood of aPoet. But it was through his reading ofErnst’s collage novels, Women Withouta Head/Women with 100 Heads andA Week of Happiness, that inspired himto collect engravings, then refilmingthem into what became his first collageexperiments. At the time, experimentalfilmmakers often looked to the worldof art and poetry in their quest todevelop a new filmic language usinghistorical references.

In the 1950s, Jordan was spendingtime with Stan Brakhage on New York’sLower East Side/The Bowery,where he had the chance tomeet American collagist andsurrealist Joseph Cornell. Between1955-65, Jordan studied andcollaborated with Cornell, whohas remained a kind of spiritualmentor for his work. Cornell, bornin Nyack, New York in 1903,studied romance languages atPhilips Academy before startinghis own obsessive careercollecting visual fragments fromliterature, dance, art and filmpublications to create masterpieces ofcollage, culminating in his dimensionalboxes. Cornell, also interested in thework of Max Ernst and the surrealists,

Experimental filmmakers oftenlooked to the world of art and

poetry in their quest to developa new filmic language using

historical references.

also made a trilogy of surrealist films:Cotillion, Midnight Party and Children’sParty. Jordan has fond memories ofCornell as a cultural eccentric, passionateabout poetic engagement within thecontext of his “monologues.”

A Personal VisionLike many other experimental

filmmakers of his era, Jordan came intohis own remarkable style in the 1960s.His personal vision is symbolized in DuoConcertantes (1964), heavily influencedby Ernst. This nine-minute film usedengravings as backgrounds and, whilehaving no story line per se, Jordanlinked unconscious chains of events bymotion. This moving collage won himmany awards at festivals and pavedthe way for the more ambitious works

to come.While spending a summer with

Cornell, Jordan made three short filmsusing soft, lyrical animation—DreamMerchant, Pink Swine andGymnopede—all using well-knownsound tracks. In 1969, he created whatis considered one of his best films, OurLady of the Sphere. The film takes itstheme from the Tibetan Book of theDead and relies on pure intuitive

Sophie’s Place (1986)Courtesy of Larry Jordan

September 1996 25

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filmmaking in its structure, a techniquethat works best for Jordan’s fine-tunedtalents.

During the 1970s, Jordan exhibitedinternationally in galleries and specializedcinemas. It was a prolific time, in whichhe made several films of note.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, basedon the Coldridge poem, had OrsonWelles as the narrator. Illustrations byGustav Doré form the visualcompositions of the intricate trains of freethought woven into moods andfeelings brought about through freeassociation.

Magical and EnigmaticBy the 1980s, Jordan, a master at his

craft, single-handedly made Sophie’sPlace, an 84 minute feature, between1983-87. The 129,600 single-framedimages revolve around the mosque ofSaint Sofia in “Constantinople.” Again,the complex world of fine artengravings are interlaced withmysterious trees and castles, whileobjects change objects throughrapid montage, leaving the viewerimmersed in a visual web ofexperience. Like a stream ofconsciousness meditation, thisepic reflects on Sophia, godess ofwisdom and includes cutoutsranging from Victorian prints toDaliesque dreams. This awesometechnique lets the film unfold in amagical and enigmatic way.

At this time, Jordan began tofocus on colored engravings. Hisshort interim piece, Masqueradeevokes a tragic, romantic mood, whileMoonlight Sonata calls forth a lyricalfeeling. With every film, Jordan tries totransform objects in space like humansmight transform themselves in life. Eachcinematic journey uses a set of symbolsto elicit thoughts and emotions oftransformation. Jordan believes that allhis films come from the collectiveunconscious, not just in terms ofarchetypes or specific symbols, but interms of mirror like fragments of ritual,


cult and religious practices throughouthuman history.

In 1990, Jordan made anotherclassic Visible Compendium, a 17-minute work which took 2-1/2 years tomake and relates to an idyllic trip in ahot air balloon as an enigmatic journey.Here, he also begins to focus on soundas collage by collecting audio bits andpieces as he did with pictures. The filmitself is cut to the soundtrack, whichmixed both recognizable andunrecognizable sounds, making it atrue “compendium.” The film is a kindof a puzzle constructed from fragmentsof unnamed meanings and fragmentsof light—light being the base for allfilm—in which Jordan wants the viewerto discover his own meaning in thesefilms by bringing a personalpredisposition into play. Today, VisibleCompendium remains an importantexperiment into the secrets of theunknown.

For his next film, Jordan decided touse animation and (mostly) live-actiontechniques in the form of abiodocumentary mixed with segmentsof the work of the imagist poet HD(Hilda Doolittle), in particular, her poem“Hermetic Definitions.” The HD Trilogyincludes short filmed pieces ofcontemporary poet Joanna McClureas she journeys through ancient ruinsand a Mediterranean village, seeking to

The Visible CompendiumCourtesy of Larry Jordan

captivate Doolittle’s essence. Born inPennsylvania, HD spent much of heradult life among the literary circles ofEngland and Europe. She died in 1961at age 77 and “Hermetic Definitions”was her last poem. The idea behindJordan’s film was to encourage viewersto discover the importance of the poetand her work. Today, Larry Jordanteaches at the San Francisco Art Instituteand continues his lifelong search intothe possibilities for collage animation.He is collecting more engravings andvisual fragments for two projects GlassHouse and Kabbalah. He forsees thesefilms taking 10 years to complete, but

patience is a virtue in the work of LarryJordan. Both films intend to bring a

mystical wheel of images intoview, as his interests remain inthe deep realm of spirtiualmysticism, from ancient Egyptthrough the medievalKabbalah to the present. Heseems to have a monumentaltask ahead of him.

When not engaged inthe painstaking frame-by-frameprocess of animation, Jordanworks as a kinetic sculptormaking three dimensionalboxes from the same materialsas his films. One might considerhis art work as films in reverse.

One thing is certain, Jordan has broughtthe fine art of collage technique to apinnacle throught his career.(please see filmographie on next page)

Jackie Leger is a Santa Monica-based documentary filmmaker

interested in the roots ofAmerican experimental film.

Each cinematic journey uses aset of symbols to elicit thoughtsand emotions of transformation.

September 1996 26

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The Visible CompendiumCourtesy of Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan Filmography

Please note, all films were done in16mm color and sound, except wherenoted. Films with an asterick (*) next tothe title are animated.

1953Morningame, silent, black & white, 6minutes.

1954The Child’s Hand, b&w, 7 min.Man is in Pain, b&w, 4 min.

1956Trumpit, b&w, 6 min.3, b&w, 6 min.Undertow, 7 min.

1957Waterlight, 7 min.

1958Triptych in Four Parts, 12 min.

1959The Soccer Game, b&w, 5 min.Minerva Looks Out Into theZodiac,b&w, 6 min.

1960Hymn in Praise of the Sun, 8 min.Portrait of Sharon, 7 min.The Herb Moon, silent, 3 min.The Season’s Changes: To Contemplate,silent, b&w, 7 min.

1962The 40 and 1 Nights, or Jess’s DidacticNickelodeon, 6 min.Circus Savage, silent, color and b&w,150 min.*Enid’s Idyll, b&w (green tint), 11 min.

1963Shomio,3 min.*Pink Swine, b&w, 3 min.

1964The One Romantic Venture, b&w, 8min. Production began in 1952.


*Duo Concertantes, b&w, 9 min.Production began in 1961.*The Dream Merchant, b&w, 3 min.Rodia-Estudiantia, 4 min.Big Sur: The Ladies, 3 min.Johnnie,3 min.Jewel Face, 6 min.

1965*Hamfat Asar,b&w, 15 min.

1966The Old House, Passing, b&w, 45 min.*Gymnopedies, b&w (blue tint), 6 min.

1969Hildur and the Magician,b&w, 70 min.Production began in 1967.*Our Lady of the Sphere,10 min.

1970Living is Dying, b&w, 9 min.

1972Sacred Art of Tibet,28 min. Productionbegan in 1970.

1973Plainsong, 7 min.Fireweed, 3 min.*Orb, 5 min.

1974*Once Upon a Time, 12 min.

1976The Apparition, 50 min. Productionbegan in 1974.

1977*The Rime of the AncientMariner, 42 min. Narrated byOrson Welles.

1978*Ancestors, b&w, 5 min.

1979Visions of a City, b&w (sepiatint), 9 min. Production beganin 1957.Cornell, 1965, 8 min.

Production began in 1965.*Moonlight Sonata, 5 min.

1980*Finds of the Fortenight, silent, b&w,9 min.

1981*Masquerade, 5 min.

1983Magenta Geryon, 35 min., whichbegan production in 1981, includes:• Adagio, 8 min.• In a Summer Garden, 15 min.• Winter Light, 9 min.

1987*Sophie’s Place, 84 min. Productionbegan in 1983.

1988Tapestry, 18 min.

1990*The Visible Compendium, 17 min.

1992The Black Oud, b&w (sepia tint), 45min.

1993The Grove, b&w (orange tint), 45 min.

1994Star of the Day, b&w (orange tint), 25min.

September 1996 27

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H i r o s h i m a D i a r yby Monique Renault

Translated by William Moritz

MoniqueRenault

(Photo byWendyJackson)

y

Thursday, August 22, FirstDay of the Festival

Arrived yesterday after havingflown halfway around theworld without seeing very

much of it. Yes, Taiwan. It’s muchbigger than I had imagined. Ithought Taiwan was just a pile of lit-tle workshops where people madecounterfeit Diors, false Raybans orAdidas ... Evidently there are alsomountains and greenery.

I’m happy to be back in Hiroshi-ma. Last May, for the selection offilms—Ah! that selection!—I discov-ered Japan. Youencounter thepoliteness of theJapanese whileworking, andby chance. Andthe beauty of the nearby islands. Forthe selection, we saw more than1,000—I don’t dare say “films”—

Unlike Annecovertaken by gigais possible to me


Primitive Movers by Kathy RoseCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

works,and chose 74. That

made a great number of disap-pointed and discontented people!The festival will be even more inter-esting for me, seeing on screen theresults of this difficult gestation and

hearing the com-ments.Last night, barelyarrived, no time tounpack my suitcase,meeting at the ASIFA

headquarters. Met again SayokoKinoshita, the director of the festival,Ahi Feijo, David Ehrlich, and my dear

Nicole Salomon, among oth-ers. Preparation for the pre-sentation of our last collectiveworkshop to the press and theJapanese public. Theme of theworkshop: “The Rights of Chil-dren.” Results more or lessgood. Afterwards we (Ahi,Nicole, David and me) prepareda text for the press.

Opening day of the festival.In the afternoon, screening ofthe first program “Best of theWorld”. Very crowded. The

, which isntism, here itet everyone.

atmosphere is pleasant, but the pub-lic doesn’t react much to the films. Isaw again Joy Street of Suzan Pitt,USA: animation and design superb.Rainbows of Hawaii by Faith Hubley,whom I love because of her greatpoetry—a charm that few otherartists possess.

Then finally the opening cere-monies, with the presentations,thank-yous, congratulations andtranslations. Raoul Servais made aspeech which was much appreciat-

ed. He spoke of Peace and our dutyas artists to utilize animation to sendmessages of peace now while warand anti-democracy rages in certainparts of the world. The festival openswith Triangle by Erica Russell: prac-tically abstract, but with different styleand subject matter. She reminds meof Kathy Rose in the way she mixesmusic and dance with animation. Iwon’t mention all the films in theprograms, only those that stand outclearly in my memory. Furthermore,concerning memory, it’s astonishing

Movements of the Body by Wayne TraudtCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

September 1996 28

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how few films I do remember. It’salmost by chance! That lets me redis-cover Ex Child by Jacques Drouin,one of the series of films from theNational Film Board of Canada aboutthe rights of children—against usingchildren as soldiers; animated onpin-screen—an example of the mes-sage given by Raoul Servais. Questby the German Tyron Montgomery:

a first film, student of Paul Driessen—the search for a person, a sort ofgolem, in sand—across worlds instages of paper, stone, fire to thesearch for water—dramatic, butmagnificently animated! The audi-ence doesn’t appreciate Jumanji byJoe Johnston, for which we mustreproach the selection committee.But I do think it’s a good idea to havea special section in festivals for pre-views and special effects.

The marvelous Achilles of BarryPurves. I love his dramatic flow, hisediting, his courage to make ahomosexual film—I find that mostmen don’t dare make films treatingtheir personal problems—a domainthat until now has been reserved forwoman—they say that women’s filmsspeak above all about their bodies.Now men are no longer embar-rassed to speak about themselves—a beneficial effect for feminists.

In general, the audience reactswell this evening, if less warmly thanthis afternoon; they are mostly sat-

Achilles by Barry Purves© Bare Boards Productions


isfied with the selection. Except fora person who starts to pursue mebecause a film that he produced isn’t“in,” although it should have been.Of course, there are always somediscontented people that make itknown. Sayoko, the festival director,knows all about that.

After the screening a party, atwhich we are greeted by a concert

of Japanese drums—impressive, it goes backto the dance of ancienttimes, to rituals. At theend of the perfor-mance, a cask of sakeis opened. DavidEhrlich and Raoul Ser-vais do the honors,after speeches, transla-tions, etc. ... Giganticbuffet, with tons ofsushi and otherunimaginable delica-

cies. The party is over at midnight.There, at Hiroshima, parties official-ly end at 11 or midnight.

Friday, August 23First a coffee! Everyone

gathers at the festival hall.In fact it’s a hotel with twoscreening rooms, severalmeeting rooms and arestaurant. One couldpractically live at the AsterPlaza without needing togo out. Everything hap-pens in the hall: the meet-ings, the discussions, thephotos and interviews.Unlike Annecy, which isovertaken by gigantism, here it ispossible to meet everyone. The com-petition screenings take place at theend of every afternoon at 6:30. Dur-ing the day, a lot of special programs.At 9:15, the first of our ASIFA work-shops, “Animation by ChildrenThroughout the World.” The pressis there, lots of children, and a very

good audience for that hour of themorning. Sayoko makes the usualintroductions.

“The Rights of Children” is verywell received. The program seemsbetter to me than when Jean LucStock (secretary of the group) and Iput the reel together in Belgium. Thediversity of techniques, of ideas, ofmusic, the spontaneity of childrenmade this 40 minutes go by veryquickly. It was very encouraging. Youcould tell the difference between therigidity of texts written by adults andthe imagination of the children. Justsee the results, the animation of thefuture!

A little later, the Disney Studiosmake a presentation of “computer-generated crowd characters” fromHunchback of Notre Dame, and atthe same time Thailand and Sri Lan-

ka show Asian animation. Impossibleto see everything ...

Later that afternoon we had thepleasure of hearing Raoul Servaisintroduce his Harpya (1979) whichalways remains surprising with itsstrange bird-woman of paper, andTaxandria (1995), his hypersurrealistfeature. Taxandria is a mysterious city

Taxandria by Raoul Servais© BIBO-TV

Most men don’t dare makefilms treating their personal

problems—a domain that hasbeen reserved for woman.

September 1996 29

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which has neither memory norclocks—neither past nor future—butwhere the inhabitants have lost theirliberty. But love enters the pictureand saves everything, as usual, anddestroys the dictatorship of Taxan-

dria, restoring liberty and happinessto the Taxandrians. The special effectsare breathtaking, mixing live actionwith animation. I much prefer theanimated parts.

Afterwards, just to change ourthoughts and breathe, my chumKine Aune from Norway and I wentout shopping. I returned to a fishmerchant where I had gone in May,and was very pleased to be recog-nized. I should note that in May wehad compared the different ways offishing in Brittany and Japan, andsince we didn’t speak Japanese andthey didn’t speak French, I had tomake drawings of hooks and baitsand fishing poles and nets ... thepower of drawings!

8:30, Second Program. It openswith one of my favorite films, TheMonk and the Fish by Michael DudokDeWit, a Dutchman working in Lon-don, who made this film in France,at Folimage in Valence. I admireeverything about this film: the sim-plicity of the story, a monk and afish, but a philosophy of joy andpeacefulness. I had already seen itseveral times, and each time I dis-cover something more in it: the ani-mation is made of detail close to

The Monk and the Fish by Michael Dudok de WitCourtesy of Hiroshima 96


graphics—black lines of india ink,the choice of paper, the decorativecolors like watercolors, pure and live-ly blues, yellows, the timing, themusic—everything in it delights me.Surely I’ll see it again in the finalawards.

Clocks by Kirsten Winter, Germany,a sort of documentary about the lifeand work of the composer/pianistElena Kats-Chernin. Lovely effects ofpainting over live action. The imageand music complement each otherstrongly. Many good films thisevening. The audience is contentand that benefits all. We continue:Abductees by Paul Vester, England,docu-animation—also one of myfavorites for the Grand Prize. Curi-ous to have the reaction of the audi-ence, for this is not an ordinary ani-mated documentary, mixing inter-views with animations of tales andsketches of those enlightened onespersuaded that they have seenextraterrestrials. Superb originalidea, treated by the hand of amaster, with the professional-ism of Paul. The audienceseems to love it as much as Ido.

Then An Artist by MicheleCounoyer, Canada—part of the“Rights of Children.” Live actionsuperimposed with animation.A young girl wants to becomea composer, against the wish-es of her father. Rest assured!She succeeds, happily! ThouShalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Wifeby Phil Mulloy, England—a stroke ofblack ink, rude and provocative, todie laughing, liberating! To close theprogram: The Grey-Bearded Lion byAndrey Khrjanovsky, Russia, 30 min-utes of poetry, of pure animation. Amoving pleasure—the friendshipbetween the lion Amadeus and hismaster Peretty. A Felliniesque story—the lion so strongly resembles Andreyhimself. All subtlety and emotions.

Already seen at Annecy, where Ithought it would be awarded theGrand Prize. Maybe here? Eventhough it’s late, the audience staysand loves the film.

To finish the evening, a party, ofcourse, hosted by the sponsors ofHiroshima. Madness! As much sakeas you can drink. Stifling heat. Every-one on their knees, on their heels,Japanese style. Everyone sings asong. I conduct a French-languagechorale. I brought musical scoreswith me: great success with “Petitvin blanc” and “Sous les ponts deParis”...

Saturday, August 24Day of the picnic at Miyashima.

Everyone piles into buses, then intoa boat to go to the island across fromHiroshima. Guided visit to the tem-ple, the great gate of the Emperor(I forget which one). Watch out for

deer, which have a tendency to eateverything. I had the bad idea tooffer them cookies, and a legion ofthem flocked around me, even try-ing to eat my dress. They’re pro-tected, and one doesn’t even havethe right to kick at them. Noon: bar-becue on the beach. Sumptuous.Then swimming. It’s funny to seepeople that you always see fullyclothed suddenly in swimsuits ...there’s something touching about it!They must be thinking the same

Starbuck's Bluenote by Ed BellCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

September 1996 30

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r

,--

-s

r

-

,

Pas à deux by Monique RenaultCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

Small Treasures by Sarah Watt

about me when they see mylittle rolls of fat! Finally every-one is satisfied, and wereturn, a little sleepy, to thefestival.

6:30 show sold out. Firstfilm: Barflies, Greg Holland,Australia—animated pup-pets: two flies that hurl them-selves at people in a pub. Theparallel with the people inthe bar is evident. Refresh-ing. A good soundtrack, withits cascades of belches. Aus-tralia sent many good films:first films, student films ofgreat dynamism promising a flour-ishing future. They must have goodteachers down under. It’s an up-and-coming school.

Repete by Michaela Pavlatová,Czech Republic. Already seen many,many times. Once again I’ll Salutethe Sun by Mahin Javaherian, Iran.Astonishing—Peace, war, peace?Rotoscope, probably. I liked it verymuch during the selection, and I amnot disappointed this time either. Ihope to see it again during the prizescreening. Country Doctor by Kata-rina Lillqvist, Finland: puppets, basedon a story by Kafka—a little confused,hard to follow: the soundtrack is a lit-tle too aggressive, but the anima-tion, the puppets are superb. WeLived in Grass by Andreas Hykade,Germany: first film, drawn on paperand cels, purposely primitive graph-ics—at 16 minutes, it’s long but itgoes by well—a personal film, likeBarry Purves, the unusual expressionof a young man who speaks of hisbirth, war and love, while reproach-ing his father for having hidden thetruth from him. Good for the GrandPrize?

Sunday, August 25First thing in the morning I write,

as I do every morning. Then shop-ping with Kine—where we buy lots


Courtesy of Hiroshima 96

of useless things, to be sure... To ougreat surprise, all the stores areopen—”business as usual.” Whendo the Japanese rest?

In the afternoon, screening andlecture “Animation Education in theUnited Kingdom” by Richard Taylorwho has taught animation in England for 25 years. He’s about to publish an Anthology of Animation. Theauditorium is full. It’s a delight. Heshows and explains the films, howthey were made, the character andcareer of each animator: from AnVrombaut (Little Wolf) to Mark Baker (The Village)—with Nick Park’Creature Comforts in passing. It’s sointeresting that when it lasts an houlonger than it’s supposed to everyonestays, mouths open, breathless. Anhour late—impossible for the Japanese!

Our films, Ahi Feijo’s and minethe audience loves, too. Whew! It’snot often that I get a chance to seemy films on such a large screen.

6:30 screening sold out. Gogs-Ogof by Deiniol Morris andMichael Mort, England, puppets,set in Pre-history, a succession ofgags in which everyone can rec-ognize their own stupidity—or isit just me and mine? It goes byquickly—the audience reacts won-derfully. The Simpsons—Homer

Cubed, Tim Johnson, USA—an unusual Simpsons whichabandons 2D for 3D, thanksto Pacific Data Images. SmallTreasures by Sarah Watts, Aus-tralia: my favorite film—Sarahis a painter— I already sawanother film of hers atAnnecy, in 1991, I think. Sheuses rotoscope, but that does-n’t bother me. Sarah tells anintimate story relevant to menas well as women: “Menmake war, women give birth,”says a man, and Jane, theheroine of the film, sighs ...

But birth causes casualties as well.This film is all subtlety, finesse andunderstanding of attitudes, glances,suggestions. It is never heavy, is sup-ported by a commentary from Janewho tells of suffering and lonelinesswithout moralizing or whining. Atrue film both in conception and ani-mation. I think it deserves a prize,maybe the Grand Prize.

Gagarin by Alexei Kharitidi, Russia:perfect in its conception. Nothingtoo long. Marvelous traditional ani-mation, pastel on paper. And fun-ny: a caterpillar who doesn’t want tobecome a butterfly. Bursts of laugh-ter from the audience. Certainly we’llsee this again among the prize win-ners. Hand in Hand by Lasse LarsPersson, Sweden: 4 minutes of ani-mated drawings—it made me thinkback on the three graces in A GreekTragedy (1985) by the Belgian Nicole

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van Goethem, which won theGrand Prize at Annecy and an Oscarsome years back. And to end theprogram, Puss in Boots by GarryBardin, Russia. After his Little Red Rid-ing Hood, he returns to Charles Per-rault, this time to the clever cat. Ani-mation with modeling clay—at 27minutes, you never get bored. Goodfor the Grand Prize, I hope.

That’s it. Our four programs have

been shown. The film party is over.Are we, the five members of theselection committee, satisfied? I thinkso. Of course, as I’ve already said,there remains a few doubts ... But I’velearned that to be or not to be select-ed is sometimes a little bit of alottery—and as the president ofour jury, Ahi, said: there isalways a degree of subjectivityin the selection process,nonetheless we made ourchoices as honestly and impar-tially as possible. What remainsis the vitality of Animation—itscreativity and its youth. I believeI can say that we made a goodselection, and good programs.In any case, that’s what I heardsaid often on all sides.

As every night, party! Thistime an ASIFA party on a terraceoverlooking the city. Beer, sake,sushi, laughter, emotions,songs. Bruno Edera, the Swiss jour-nalist from Geneva, who made usall laugh to the point of tears with hisaccent, his stories and his great eru-dition.

Monday August 269:15—it’s early for the morning-

after-the-ASIFA party. Kathy Rosedances in front of her animations: a

R

What remains is the vitality ofAnimation—its creativity and

its youth.


total spectacle if ever there was one,which combines influences frommany cultures—Egyptian, Indian,Russian, the 1920s ...

Today’s the day when everyonemakes the rounds to get presents totake home. It’s amusing and instruc-tive to see what everyone buys: froma watch you can wear on a fingerto a knife specially made to cut bam-boo—not to mention the hats, bot-tles of sake. (Of course, they makesake here in special bottles that whenyou lift the lid, after five minutes youget hot sake—I’m taking home someof this myself!)

Finally the closing ceremony, theannouncement of the prizes—somesurprises, some satisfactions. In anycase, the ceremony is run to per-fection. Sayoko keeps an eye on herwhole world: she has incredible ener-gy and vitality, force and gentleness.

When she makes her brief closingstatement—not forgetting to thankeveryone, she is witty, like a little fairywith long curly hair, but behind amicrophone, in the middle of a hugestage.

We come to the prizes: almost allthe films I thought should won some-thing. The Grand Prize for MichaelaPavlatová and Repete. I’m happy for

pete by Michaela Pavlatová, Hiroshima's Grand PrizCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

her. I had thought Grey-BeardedLion or Small Treasures—but it’s thesame with juries as with selectioncommittees. But as we talked aboutit to each other, we realized that allthe films had one thing in common:they were not necessarily easy films,but practically all were films that tolda story.

And afterwards ... what? Why aparty, of course! This one, the lastone, where one once againexchanges addresses, where oneembraces once again, where oneonce again drinks a toast to health,to the country, to a friend, and even(since one is in the convivial domainof animation) to an enemy. BrunoEdera tells more of his stories, andJacques Drouin, too. And Nicole andI are once again weeping withlaughter. It’s impossible—we’ll nev-er be able to leave ... At 2:00 AM, the

Japanese, the Austrians,the Australians, the Ruma-nians, the French, theDutch (that’s me), the Por-tuguese, the Canadians,the Americans, the Swiss,the Belgians—we sing, dis-cuss a little (more and morevaguely) the future of Ani-mation ... the next festival... Animation is a lovelycountry of which I amproud to be a citizen. ... alittle tired, but happy.

—Hiroshima, Tuesday,August 27, 3:00 PM.

Monique Renault is anindependent filmmaker based inAmsterdam. Three of her films—Cheers, La donna e mobile and

Pas à deux—were shown atHiroshima out-of-competition.

Winner

September 1996 32

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H i r o s h i m apar Monique Renault

MoniqueRenault(PhotoWendyJackson)

Jeudi 22, premier jour dufestival

Arrivée hier après avoir sur-volé la moitié du monde sansen avoir vu grand chose. Si.

Taiwan. C’est beaucoup plus grandque je ne l’imaginais. Pour moi, Tai-wan c’etait un amoncellement depetits ateliers où les gens s’entassentpour fabriquer des faux Dior, desfausses Rayban ou Adidas ...Apparemment ils ont aussi des mon-tagnes et de la verdure.

Je suis contente de revenir àHiroshima. En mai dernier, pour laselection — Ah! la sélection! —j’avais découvert le Japon, la gen-tillesse des japonais rencontrés dansle travail et par hasard. Et la beautédes iles aux environs. Pour la sélec-tion, ou a vu plus de 1,000. Je n’osepas dire films — oeuvres — et selec-tionné 74. Ça fait un grand nom-

i-r

bre de déçus et mécontents! Ce qurend le festival encore plus intéressant pour moi, c’est de voir sul’écran le resultat de cette difficile

Primitive Movers de Kathy RoseCourtesy of Hiroshima 96


de l’allemand Tyron Montgomery ;

ges-tation et d’entendre

les commentaires. Premières impres-sions cet après-midi.

Hier soir, à peine arrivée, pas letemps de défaire la valise, réuniondes ateliers ASIFA. Retrouvé SayokoKinoshita, la directrice du festival,Abi Feijo, David Ehrlich, et ma chèreNicole Salomon, entre autres. Pré-paration de la présentation de notredernier workshop collectif à lapresse et au public japonais. Thèmedu workshop “les droits de l’en-fant”. Résultat plus ou moins

heureux. Nous avons ensuite,Abi, Nicole, David et moiredigé un texte pour la presse.

Ouverture du Festival. Dansl’après-midi; projection du pre-mier programme “Best of theWorld”. Beaucoup de monde.L’atmosphère est agréable.Mais le public réagit peu auxfilms. Revu Joy Street de SuzanLee Pitt, USA; animation etdesign superbes. Rainbows ofHawaii de Faith Hubley, USA,que j’aime à cause de sa

grande poésie, un charme que peud’autres artistes possèdent.

Puis enfin, la cérémonie d’ou-verture avec ses présentations,

remerciements, congratulations ettraductions. Raoul Servais fait unspeech très apprécié, il parle de lapaix et de notre devoir d’artistes àutiliser l’animation pour envoyerdes messages de paix alors que laguerre et l’anti-démocratie font ragedans certaines parties du monde. LeFestival s’ouvre sur Triangle d’EricaRae Russell, UK ; abstrait pratique-ment, mais de manière et de style

différents. Elle me fait penser àCathy Rose par sa démarche demélanger la musique et la danseavec l’animation; je ne vais pasnommer tous les films du pro-gramme, seuls ceux qui me revi-ennent clairement en mémoire.D’ailleurs, à propos de mémoire,c’est étonnant comme je me sou-viens peu des films. C’est presqueune chance! Cela me permet de lesredécouvrir. Ex Child de JacquesDrouin, Canada ; un des films de lasérie de l’ONF pour les droits del’enfance, contre les enfants soldats;écran d’épingles ; exemple du mes-sage porté par Raoul Servais ; Quest

Movements of the Body de Wayne TraudtCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

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Taxandria de Raoul Servais© BIBO-TV

premier film. Elève de Paul Driessen; la recherche d’un personnage ;une sorte de Golem en sable ; àtravers des mondes en étages depapier, de pierre, de fer, à larecherche de l’eau. Dramatique,

mais magnifiquement animé. Lepublic n’a pas apprécié Jumanji deJoe Johnston, USA ; on nous en areproché la sélection. Mais je trou-ve que ce serait une bonne idéed’avoir une sélection spéciale dansles festivals pour les bande-annonces et autres effets spéciaux.

Le merveilleux Achilles de BarryJ. C Purves, UK. J’aime sa dra-maturgie, son découpage, soncourage de faire un film homosex-uel. Je trouve que de plus en plusd’hommes savent faire des films trai-tant de leurs problèmes personnels.Domaine qui était jusqu’alorsreservé aux femmes. On disait queles films de femmes parlaient surtoutde leur corps. Maintenant leshommes ne sont plus gênés pourparler d’eux mêmes. Effet bénéfiquedes féministes.

En général le public ce soir réag-it bien, plus chaleureusement quecet après midi. Ils sont globalementassez satisfaits de la sélection, à partune personne qui commence à mepoursuivre car le film qu’il a produitn’est pas “in” alors qu’il aurait dû.Il parait qu’il y a toujours quelquesmécontents qui le font savoir.

Achilles de Barry Purves© Bare Boards Productions


Sayoko, la directrice du festival, ensait quelque chose.

Après la projection, fête. On estaccueilli par un concert de tam-bours japonais. Ils doivent avoir unnom impressionant. Cela relève de

la danse en mêmetemps et du rite; le toutpour en fin de compteouvrir un tonneau desaké. David Erlich etRaoul Servais en fontles honneurs, aprèsspeechs, traductions,etc. ... Buffet gigan-tesque de tous lessushis et autres deli-catessen imaginables.La fête se termine àminuit. Ici, à Hiroshi-

ma, les fêtes se terminent à 23 ou24 heures.

Vendredi 23D’abord un café. Tout le monde

se retrouve dans le hall du festival.En fait, c’est un hôtel avec deuxsalles de cinéma, des salles de réu-nion, un restaurant. On peut pra-tiquement vivre dans le “Aster Plaza”sans avoir besoin de sortir. C’estdans le hall que tout se passe ; lesrendez-vous, les discussions, lesphotos et interviews. A la différenced’Annecy, atteint de gigantisme, iciil est possible de rencontrer tout lemonde. Les projections de com-pétition ont lieu toutes les finsd’après-midi à 18h30.Dans la journée, des tasde programmes spéci-aux. A 9h15, première denotre workshop ASIFAcommun dans un pro-gramme spécial com-posé par le festival “Ani-mation by childrenthroughtout the world”.La presse est là, beau-coup d’enfants et un trèsbon public pour une

heure si matinale. Sayoko fait lesprésentations d’usage.

“Les droits de l’enfant” estextrêmement bien reçu. Le pro-gramme me parait bien meilleurque quand nous avions fait le mon-tage en Belgique, Jean-Luc Slock— le secrétaire du groupe — etmoi. La diversité des techniques,des idées, des musiques, des spon-tanéités des enfants fait que cesquarante minutes passent vite. C’esttrès encourageant. On fait bien ladifférence entre la rigidité des textesécrits par des adultes et l’imaginairedes enfants. Rien qu’à voir ce résul-tat, l’animation a de l’avenir! Unpeu plus tard les studios Disneyfont une présentation de “computergenerated crowd characters in TheHunchback of Notre Dame”, pen-dant qu’ailleurs, Thailande et SriLanka montrent l’animation asia-tique. Impossible de tout suivre ...

Plus tard dans l’après-midi, RaoulServais nous fait le plaisir d’intro-duire Harpya (1979) qui reste tou-jours surprenant avec son étrangeoiseau-femme papier et Taxandria(1995) son long métrage hyper sur-réaliste. Taxandria est une ville mys-térieuse qui n’a ni mémoire nitemps, ni passé ni futur, mais où leshabitants ont perdu leur liberté.Mais l’amour entre en jeu et sauvetout, comme d’habitude, et sauradétruire la dictature de “Taxandria”et rendre la liberté aux Taxandriais.

September 1996 34

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Les effets spéciaux sont époustou-flants, mélangent la vue réelle etl’animation. Pour ma part, je préfèrede beaucoup la partie animée.

Après, pour se changer les idéeset respirer, ma copine Kine Aune,de Norvège, et moi allons faire lemarché. Je retourne à la poisson-nerie où j’allais en mai et suis trèssatisfaite que les gens me recon-naissent. Il faut dire que nous avionscomparé, en mai, les différentesfaçons de pêcher en Bretagne etau Japon et que, ne parlant pas lejaponais et eux pas le français,j’avais fait des dessins d’hameçons,de crochets, de cannes à pêche etautres filets... le pouvoir du dessin!

8h30, 2ème programme. S’ou-vre sur un de mes films favoris LeMoine et le Poisson de MichaelDudok de Wit. Hollandais qui a tra-vaillé à Londres et réalisé son filmen France à Folimage (Valence).J’admire tout dans ce film. La sim-plicité de l’histoire, un moine et unpoisson, mais une philosophie dela joie et de la quiétude. Je l’ai déjà

vu plusieurs fois et à chaque fois jedécouvre un plus. L’animation estfaite au détail près; le graphisme— ligne noire à l’encre de chine —le choix du papier, les couleurs desdécors, à l’aquarelle, pures et vives— bleus jaunes — le timing, lamusique, tout me met en joie. Je leverrais bien dans les prix.

Starbuck's Bluenote de Ed BellCourtesy of Hiroshima 96


Cloks de Kirsten Winter, Alle-magne. Moitié live-action, moitiéanimation. Un genre de docu-mentaire sur la vie et l’oeuvre de lacompositeur-pianiste Elena Kats-Chernin. Beaux effets de peinturesur la vue réelle. Image et musiquese complètent fortement. Beaucoupde bons films ce soir. Le public estcontent et cela se sent; on contin-ue... Birds in the Window d’IgorKovalyov, USA ; Abductees de PaulVerster, UK. Docu-animé. Aussi unde mes favoris pour le palmarès.Curieuse d’avoir la réaction du pub-lic, car ce n’est pas un D.A. ordi-naire. Mélange d’interviews et d’an-imation des récits et des dessins.des illuminés persuadés qu’il ontvu des extra-terrestres. Superbe idéeoriginale traitée de main de maitrepar le professionalisme de Paul. Lepublic semble aimer autant quemoi. Ce n’était pas évident.

Puis An Artist par MichèleCournoyer, Canada. Fait partie des“droits de l’enfant” Live-actionsuperposée d’animation. Une jeune

fille veut devenir compositeurcontre la volonté de son père.Rassurez-vous! elle réussira.Heureusement! Thou Shalt NotCovet Thy Neighbour’s Wifepar Phil Mulloy, UK. Trait noirà l’encre; grossier et provoca-teur, à mourir de rire. Libéra-teur! Et pour terminer, Le lionà la barbe grise par AndreyKhrajanovsky, Russie. Trenteminutes de poésie, de pureanimation. Un plaisir ému.L’amitié entre le lion Amadeo

et son maitre Peretty. Une histoireà la Fellini. Le lion ressemble fort àAndrey lui-même; tout en subtilitéet émotions. Déjà vu à Annecy oùje pensais qu’il aurait le grand prix.Peut-être ici ? Bien qu’il soit tard, lepublic reste et aime.

Pour clôre la soirée, fête bienentendu, offerte par les sponsors

d’Hiroshima. Fou! Du saké à volon-té. Chaleur étouffante. Tout lemonde à genoux, sur les talons. Ala japonaise. Chacun y va de sachanson. Je dirige la chorale fran-cophone! J’avais apporté des par-

titions. Grand succès du “petit vinblanc” et “sous les ponts de Paris”!...

Samedi 24Jour du pique-nique à Mijashima.

Tout le monde s’entasse dans desbus, puis dans un bateau pour allerdans une ile en face d’Hiroshima.Visite guidée du Temple ; la grandeporte rouge de l’empereur, je nesais plus lequel. Attention aux daims; ils ont tendance à tout bouffer.J’ai la mauvaise idée de leur don-ner des biscuits et ils sont une légionautour de moi, même à essayer degoûter à ma jupe. Ils sont protégéset on n’a pas le droit de leur don-ner des coups de pied! Midi, bar-becue sur la plage. Somptueux. Onva se baigner. C’est drôle de voirdes gens que l’on voit toujours enrobe ou complet-veston tout d’uncoup en maillot de bain... Ca aquelque chose d’émouvant! Ilsdoivent penser la même chose demoi en voyant mes bourrelets! Enfintout ce monde satisfait et repu, unpeu somnolent rentre au festival.

18h30; compétition. Premier filmBarflies de Greg Holfeld, Australie.Poupées animées. Deux mouchesqui se pètent la gueule dans un

Le Moine et le Poisson de Michael Dudok de WitCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

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Pas à deux de Monique Renault

Small Treasures de Sarah WattCourtesy of Hiroshima 96

pub. Le parallèle avec lesconsommateurs est évident.Rafraichissant. Une bonnebande son avec sa cascadede rots. L’Australie a envoyébeaucoup de bons films.Des premiers films, des filmsd’étudiants qui montrent ungrand dynamisme et unavenir florissant. Ils doiventavoir de bons enseignants,là-bas. C’est une école quimonte.

Repete de MichaelaPavlatova, RepubliqueTchèque. Déjà vu mainteset maintes fois. Once Again, I’llSalute The Sun de Mahin Javaher-ian, Iran. Etonnant ; la paix ; laguerre ; la paix ? Rotoscope; prob-ablement. Je l’avais beaucoup aimépendant la sélection, et ne suis pasdéçue cette fois-ci. J’espère le retrou-ver au palmarès. The Country Doc-tor de Katarina Lillqvist, Finland.Puppets ; sur une histoire de Kafka.Un peu confuse, difficile à suivre. Labande son est un peu trop poussée;mais l’animation, les poupées sontsuperbes. We Lived In Grass,Andreas Hykade, Allemagne; pre-mier film. Dessin sur papier et cel-lulo. Graphisme volontairementprimitif. seize minutes c’est long,mais ça passe bien. Un film per-sonnel, de même que pour BarryPurves, l’expression inhabituelled’un garçon qui parle de sa nais-sance, de la guerre, de l’amour etreproche à son père de lui avoircaché la vérité. Bon pour le pal-marès ?

Dimanche 25Le matin, d’abord écrire, comme

tous les matins. Puis shopping avecKine. On achète des tas de trucsinutiles, bien sûr ... A notre grandesurprise, tous les magasins sontouverts. Business as usual. Quandest-ce que les japonais se reposent?


Dans l’après-midi, projection etlecture “Animation Education in theUK” par Richard Taylor. Professeurd’animation en U.K. pendant plusde 25 ans. Vient de sortir uneanthologie de l’animation. La salleest pleine; c’est un bonheur. Il mon-tre et explique les films, leur fabri-cation, le caractère et la carrière dechaque auteur. De An Vrombaut(Little Wolf) à Mark Baker (Le village)en passant par Nick Park (CreatureComforts). C’est tellement intéres-sant que le programme dure uneheure de plus et que tout le mondereste bouche bée, en haleine. Uneheure plus tard que prévu, impos-sible en japonais!

Nos films, à Abi Feijo et à moi. Lepublic aime aussi. Ouf! Ce n’est passouvent que j’ai l’occasion de voirmes films sur un si grand écran.

18h30 — compétition. Gogs-ogof de Deiniol Morris & MichaelMort, U.K. Puppets. On est dansla pré-histoire. Une successionde gags, chacun peut y recon-naitre sa propre stupidité, ou bienest-ce dû simplement à la mienne? Ca va vite, le public réagit àmerveille. The Simpsons’HomerCubed, Tim Johnson, USA. UnSimpsons inhabituel, qui passede la 2D à la 3D, grâce à Pacif-ic Data Images. Small Treasures

Courtesy of Hiroshima 96

Sarah Watts, Australie, monfilm favori. Sarah est peintred’abord. J’avais déjà vu unde ses films à Annecy, en 91je crois. Elle utilise de roto-scope mais cela ne me gênepas. Sarah raconte une his-toire intime qui appartientaux femmes comme auxhommes. Les hommes ontla guerre, les femmes la nais-sance, dit un homme. Jane,l’héroine du film soupire ...Mais l’accouchement fait sesvictimes aussi. Le film est touten subtilité, en finesse et en

intelligence des attitudes et desregards, des suggestions. Il n’estjamais lourd et supporté par uncommentaire de Jane qui se racon-te, raconte la souffrance et la soli-tude, sans être moralisateur et pleur-nichard. Un film, dans toute sa con-ception et son animation. Pour moi,c’est un prix. Peut-etre le grand prix.

Gagarin d’Alexij Kharatidi, Russie.Parfait dans sa conception. Rien detrop long. Merveilleuse animationtraditionnelle, crayon sur papier. Etdrôle. Une chenille qui ne veut plusdevenir papillon. Le public rit auxéclats. On le retrouvera sans douteau palmarès. Hand in Hand, LasseLars Person, Suède. Quatre minutesde dessins animés. Me fait penserde loin aux trois grâces (UneTragédie Grecque, 1985) de labelge Nicole Van Goethem qui avaiteu un grand prix à Annecy et un

September 1996 36

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e 9

Oscar. Et pour terminer, Puss inBoots de Garry Bardin, Russie. Aprèsson chaperon rouge, il récidive avecCharles Perrault. Cette fois, c’est Lechat botté. Animation de pâte àmodeler. Vingt-sept minutes et onne s’ennuie pas. Bon pour le pal-marès, j’espère.

Et voilà. Nos quatre programmesse sont égrenés. The film party isover. Tous les cinq, nous lesmembres du comité de sélec-tion, sommes-nous satisfaits?Je crois que oui. Bien sûr,comme je l’ai déjà dit, onreste avec quelques doutes... Mais j’ai appris que d’êtreou non sélectionné parfoiscela relève de la loterie, etcomme a dit Abi, notre Prési-dent de comité, il y a tou-jours un degré de subjectiv-ité dans le procédé de sélec-tion, mais nous avons fait lechoix aussi honnêtement etimpartialement que possible.La chose qui reste, c’est lavitalité de l’animation, sacréativité et sa jeunesse. Je croispouvoir dire que nous avons faitune bonne sélection et une bonneprogrammation. En tous cas, c’estce qu’on nous a dit de bien descôtés.

Comme tous les soirs, party!Cette fois, ASIFA party sur une ter-rasse dominant la ville. Bière, saké,sushis, rires, émotions, chansons.Bruno Edera, le journaliste suissede Genève qui nous fait pleurer derire avec son accent, ses histoiressuisses, et sa grande érudition.

Lundi 269h15. C’est tôt pour un lende-

main de ASIFA party. Kathy Rosedanse devant ses animations. Spec-tacle total s’il en est, qui combinedes influences de plusieurs cultures,égyptiennes, indiennes, russes, desannées 20.

R


C’est le jour où chacun va faireses courses pour rapporter descadeaux à la maison. C’est drôle etinstructif de voir ce que chacun aacheté. De la montre à passer audoigt au couteau spécial pourcouper le bambou, sans compterles chapeaux, bouteilles de sakébien sûr. Ici ils font du saké en boitede conserve et quand on retourne

la boite et enlève le couvercle, aprèscinq minutes on a du saké chaud.Je vais en rapporter moi aussi.

Enfin, la cérémonie de clôture.Annonce et remise des prix. Dessurprises et des satisfactions. Detoutes façons, la cérémonie estréglée à la perfection. Sayoko sur-veille tout son monde. Elle estincroyable d’énergie, de vitalité, deforce et de gentillesse. Quand ellefait son bref discours de clôture,sans oublier de remercier tout lemonde et chacun, elle est drôle,toute petite fée aux longs cheveuxbouclés. Seule derrière un micro,au milieu de l’immense scène.

Revenons aux prix: presque tousles films que j’avais en vue ont euquelque chose. Le grand prix pourRepete de Michaela Pavlatova. Con-tente pour elle. Moi, j’y voyait ou Lelion à barbe grise ou Small Trea-

pete de Michaela Pavlatová, Grand Prix Hiroshima ‘Courtesy of Hiroshima 96

sures. Il y va des jurys comme descomités de sélection. Mais lorsquenous en reparlons entre nous, nousapprécions le fait que tous ces filmsont une chose en commun, pasforcément des films faciles mais pra-tiquement tous racontent une his-toire.

Et puis après... quoi? Mais la fêtebien sûr; celle, la finale, où l’on

échange encore plusd’adresses, où l’on s’em-brasse encore plus, où l’onboit encore plus de verres àla santé d’un pays, d’un ami; on est dans la convivialitéde l’animation. Bruno Ederay va à nouveau de ses his-toires, Jacques Drouin aus-si. On se retrouvve Nicole etmoi à nouveau à pleurer derire. C’est impossible ; onn’arrive pas à se quitter... Adeux heures du matin, leJapon, l’Autriche, l’Australie,la Russie, la France, la Hol-lande — moi donc — le Por-tugal, le Canada, les USA, la

Suisse, la Belgique, nous chantons,discutons un plus, de plus en plusvaguement d’ailleurs, de l’avenir del’animation... du prochain festival...L’animation est un beau pays dontje suis fière d’etre citoyenne... unpeu fatiguée mais heureuse.

Hiroshima, mardi 27 août 1996, 15 heures

Monique Renault est uneréalisatrice independante basée à

Amsterdam.Trois de ses films ont ete

présentés a Hiroshima cetteannée : Cheers, La Donna e

Mobile et Pas a deux..

6

September 1996 37

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Images From Hiroshima ‘96by Wendy Jackson

The International Animation Festival in Hiroshima is often referred to as the most organized animation fes-tival in the world, and for good reason. Every screening, symposium, publication, party, exhibition, pressconference and ceremony of the festival was expertly timed, translated and presented by a dedicated

group of staff members and volunteers. For details on specific programs, please read Monique Renault’s per-sonal account of the week’s events elsewhere in this issue.

What is really so unique about Hiroshima is its simultaneous dedication to the art of animation and the pro-motion of international peace. For five days and nights, films and people from 53 countries around the worldjoined together in a city which has rebuilt itself in the name of peace. Festival director Sayoko Kinoshita notesthat, “We chose Hiroshima [for the festival location] because it has a certain power. Visitors cannot be herewithout thinking about the preciousness of peace.”

The following photos highlight some of the people and events that made this festival so memorable.

Wendy Jackson is a SalesRepresentative for AnimationWorld Network. Previously

employed as General Manager ofthe International Animated FilmSociety’s Los Angeles chapter

(ASIFA-Hollywood), she coordinat-ed events such as the 1995 AnnieAwards and the 1996 Animation

Opportunities Expo.

September 1996 38IMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

Sayoko and Renzo Kinoshita (Japan).Photo by Wendy Jackson

Kihachiro Kawamoto,Vice President Hiroshima '96.Photo by Wendy Jackson

Hubert Tison (Canada), Jean-Luc Xiberras (Annecy AnimationFestival, France) Georges Lacroix (Fantôme, France) andNicole Salomon (A.A.A., France) at Friday night's party.

Photo by Wendy Jackson

Virginia Bacheler & SkipBattaglia (USA).Photo by Wendy Jackson

September 1996 39ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE

Wendy Jackson gets Lappy happy inHiroshima.The festival's animated mascot,

Lappy, has a name derived from thecombination of the words "love", "peace"

and "happy."Courtesy of Wendy Jackson

Nicole Salomon (France) and Monique Renault(Netherlands) taking a break between screenings.


Front row, left to right: Oksanna Cherkassova with daughter Jena (Russia), Sarah Watt (Australia),Robert Gudan (Australia), Jacques Drouin (Canada) & Hironori Terai (Japan). Center row: GarryBardin (Russia), Kathy Rose (USA), Sayoko Kinoshita (Japan), Raoul Servais (Belgium) & Borivoj

Dovnikovic (Croatia). Rear:Andrej Khrjanovsky (Russia), Hubert Tison (Canada), Georges Lacroix(France),Yoichiro Kawaguchi (Japan) & David Anderson (UK).


AN

Anima Mundi

William Moritz with the Anima Mundi FestivalDirector, Marcos Magalhães

by William Moritz

The fourth international AnimaMundi animation festival tookplace in Rio de Janeiro August

16-25, 1996, overlapping a bit withHiroshima. Unlike the rather hecticpace and nervous business rivalry ofthe older and bigger festivals, Ani-ma Mundi offers a relaxed and user-friendly atmosphere for discoveringand enjoying animation.

Natu-rally, it isratherhard toseparatethe eventfrom thecity of Rio,which isone of themost daz-zlingplaces,with itsperfect

weather, beautiful beaches, exoticAmazonian fruits and vegetables,romantic 18th and 19th centurybuildings sandwiched between mod-ern skyscrapers and expansive parks.

Courtesy of William Moritz

Barry Purves with his puppets atAnima Mundi

Photo by William Moritz


And the fabulous Carmen MirandaMuseum, with her astonishing shoes,jewelry and hats on display togeth-er with movie stills and snapshotsshowing them in their original set-ting. Carmen’s sister Aurora (whoseanimation credentials include singingand dancing with Donald Duck inDisney’s Three Caballeros) regaled uswith anecdotes about Walt and MaryBlair staying at the Hotel Gloria(where the festival guests also stayed),and she attended screenings, whereshe showed good taste by pro-nouncing Barry Purves’ Achillesexquisite.

Guests, Screenings, etc.The guests at previous Anima

Mundi festivals included FrédéricBack, Joan Gratz and Jan Svankma-jer. This year, in addition to BarryPurves, with his very hand-made pup-pet films, a seminar on computergraphics brought Bill and Susan Kroy-

er, Henry Anderson, Jane FlintDeKoven and Carlos Saldanha (whooffered workshops), and portfolioscreenings by companies such asDigital Domain, PDI, Pixar andRhythm & Hues.

Screenings are held in four state-of-the-art theaters housed in the Bankof Brazil and Post Office headquarters,large buildings across the street fromeach other, which also permanentlyhouse an arts bookstore, art galleries,

One could see everythingleisurely, a few things each day,

and still enjoy all the otherdelights of the festival.

a cafe, tea room and a restaurant.The huge lobby of the Bank of Brazilwas set up as an animation school,tended by real animation students,where you could try out drawing-on-film or paper, clay modeling, orcomputer animation and see theresults played back on monitors (orin the case of the drawn-on-film, onan “antique” moviola). One ofthe galleries displayed the excellentexhibition Animagia, 100 Years ofAnimation, borrowed from Annecy.It began with an uncanny life-sizedautomaton of Émile Reynaud pro-jecting his Théâtre Optique of PoorPierrot in 1892 and included modelsof most animation techniques (pin-

screen, scratch-on-film, paint-on-glass,etc.) up to computer graphics. As aparallel, I presented two two-hour

September 1996 40

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Your Ad Could Be

Here!

For rate cards and additional information

about various opportunities

for exposure at Animation World

Network, contact our Los Angeles

office at

213.468.2554

or e-mail any of our salesrepresentatives:

North America:Wendy Jackson

[email protected]

Europe:Vincent Ferri

[email protected]

The Jeweled Mountain by Abdollah Alimorad

programs of films tracing master-pieces of animation over the last 90years.

Competition ScreeningsThe competition screenings includ-

ed some 60 films from 20 countries,with an enormous variety rangingfrom Dave Borthwick’s harrowinghour-long The Secret Adventures ofTom Thumb to the hilarious two-minute Dutch cartoon Safe Sex—TheManual, from Igor Kovalyov’s darksurrealist vision Bird in the Windowto lyrical abstractions such as CliveWalley’s Divertimento No. 3, Alek-sandra Korejwo’s Carmen Habaneraand Amy Alexander’s beautiful com-puter-graphic Unbroken Pieces.Prizes, including a $1,000 first place,were awarded entirely on the basisof audience vote—a ballot came witheach admission ticket. All of the com-petition programs were screenedseven times, at least once in the after-noon, once in the evening, once on

Courtesy of Anima Mundi


U.K.Alan Smith

[email protected]

Asia:Bruce [email protected]

Limbo by BériouCourtesy of Anima Mundi

a weekday, once on a weekend. Thismeant that one could see everythingleisurely, a few things each day, andstill enjoy all the other delights of thefestival and Rio. The grand prize, notunexpectedly, went to A Close Shave,but second place was awarded bythe audience to Michaela Pavlatova’sRepete, a much more experimentalwork. Third place went to John Dil-worth’s 7-minute cartoon The DirtyBirdy, which successfully recapturesand updates the Tex Avery/WarnerBros. formula. The best children’s filmaward went to a magnificent half-hour Iranian film, Kuh-e Javaher (TheJeweled Mountain), which rivaledthe golden-age Czech puppet filmsin its elaborate detail and truly cine-matic storytelling. The Busby Berke-ley “Blue Sky” musical cockroach num-ber from Joe’s Apartment alsoreceived many votes, even though itappeared on an informational com-puter-graphics program rather thanin competition.

The most touching event of thefestival was a screening of a fine Brazil-ian film, The Eight-Pointed Star bythe elderly Fernando Diniz, whospent many years in a mental insti-tution, and whose drawings and clayanimations were documented onfilm by the Friends of the Museum ofImages of the Unconscious. Diniz’sartwork is truly imaginative and inter-esting in its own right, and the time-lapse footage of him painting is fas-cinating. The film had just won anaward at another festival, and hereceived the trophy at Rio in the pres-ence of his long-time doctor, nowan ancient woman in a wheel-chair,and a wildly enthusiastic audience.

William Mortiz teaches film andanimation history at the California

Institute of the Arts.

September 1996 41





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S I G G R A P H 9 6by Kellie-Bea Rainey

SIGGRAPH 96 showroom floor.Photo by Kellie-Bea Rainey

SIGGRAPH, heldbetween August 4-9, atthe Morial Convention

Center, in New Orleans, isthe world’s largest and mostprestigious computertechnology event dealingwith computer graphics andinteractive techniques, ofwhich animation plays amajor part. The annualconference is put on bywhat was once known asthe Association forComputing Machinery’sSpecial Interest Group on ComputerGraphics (i.e., SIGGRAPH). This yearmarked the 23rd running of the bigdaddy of all computer graphicconferences, which acts as a showcasefor all the newest and greatestachievements in computerized visualarts, special effects and animation.This is a serious gig I tell you, nothingto take lightly! But through the heavybreakthroughs in technology and theadvancements in software on displaythere is also plenty of partying as well.(The address for SIGGRAPH’sconference site is http://www.siggraph.org/conferences/siggraph96.)


Kellie-Bea Rainey and Doug Cooper at K-Paul’srestaurant.

Courtesy of Kellie-Bea Rainey

I’ve been going to SIGGRAPH since1993, and I have been more andmore active since my first year. Eachyear there is more to see andexperience. Sure there’s the newadvancements in the technologies,this is expected, but there areeducational demonstrations, courses,papers and panels. For instance, Iwent to Pixar’s course on the “Makingof Toy Story,” where the productionteam talked about how they didproblem solving and made creative“cheats” to reach their expected results.This sharing of creativity and learningcurve ingenuity were invaluable andis widespread throughout theSIGGRAPH experience, and one majorreason I attend each year.

Of Bayous and GorrillasSIGGRAPH goes into all aspects of

computer visual mediums, it doesmore than provide a realm for largeentertainment companies. Thetechnology of computer graphicsfloods the likes of Education andResearch. In the Digital Bayou this year

you could see howtechnology helps in, forexample, Telemedicineand Distributed ScientificVisualization of OceanModels. These areintriguing and quiterefreshing to see, especiallyif you are in a specificindustry and most of yourprojects are similar inproduction.

Hands-on is acommonalty during theconvention and one of my

favorite venues for this integration isthe Gorilla Gallery. Here you couldbring or make images with the helpfrom other artists in attendance. It’s anexciting share and share alike type ofatmosphere where one can both tapinto others’ creativity and collaborate.

The exhibition floor itself seems toexpand exponentially each year toaccommodate the explosive growth

within the field. As I walked the floor,there seemed to be a slightly differentapproach to many of the booths.There were more small hands-oninstructional areas and smaller groupdiscussions and presentations this year.There was one company that had aschedule of unique event showingsand discussions every half hour forevery day they were there on the floor.This feeling of schedule and choice is

The technology of computergraphics floods the likes ofEducation and Research.

September 1996 42

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All lined up for Disney’s SIGGRAPH party heldconvent in New Orleans.

Photo by Kellie-Bea Rainey

rarely found on an exhibit floor, andvery exciting trying to fit-it-all-in.

I noticed a lot more user-friendlyapplications this year. It used to be ageneral rule of thumb that if you werean artist then you were probably notcomputer literate, and if you weren’ta computer engineer you probablyweren’t an artist. But since high endsoftware has been getting easier touse and many high-end products arenow available for the homecomputers, the bridge between artistand computers is becoming less andless intimidating. I believe there willbe a considerable narrowing of thisgap next year just based on all thenew applications coming out for theWindows NT platform. I’m sure manyof these packages will be on displayat SIGGRAPH 97 in Los Angeles. I can’twait. Say, maybe I’ll even try one.

Noticed in PassingSome other things I noticed in

passing this year. For one, thereseemed to be a lot more women bothattending and contributing to theconference than in previous years,which was very encouraging. I alsonoticed the massive volume of innerconvention center and outerconvention center activities. Therewere large hands-on venues like The


Bridge held on and off-site.There were also smalleractivities every day and nightheld in both conventioncenter rooms and localhotels. So, no matter whereyou were staying, you couldcheck at your front desk tosee what types of SIGGRAPHactivities were going onthere. These hotel eventswere generally sponsoredby separate companies. (Forexample, Industrial Light &Magic hosted screeningsand discussions at the HiltonRiverside.) Apart for theseactivities there was

SIGGRAPH’s own Electronic Theater,which is the showcase for newtechnology and is a must see.

As each day went by, there werehuge parties togo to. Somewere byinvitation only(mainly for largecompanyrecruitment), butthere wereothers foranyone andeveryone. Mostof them, considering we were in NewOrleans, went on until dawn.

One morning I came back fromone of these parties to find that I hadonly two hours until the keynoteaddress. This year’s speaker wasDouglas Adams, the author of TheHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.Knowing if I tried to sleep I’d probablymiss him, I made my way over to theconvention center to find a ton ofpeople moving into the mainpresentation hall. Never had I seen somany attendees so enthusiastic abouta keynote speech, which I have toadmit was most excellent!

Some of the drawbacks to such anexciting week-long conference are notreally so bad. There is the lack of sleep,

at an old

but hey SIGGRAPH is only once a year.Another is that you just couldn’t do

everything. I should know it’s notdoable, because I really tried to dojust about everything possible eachday and night. The last “drawback” isthe restricted amount of time spenton your email, cellular phone or payphones. There was just so much todo, see, and get involved with that ifyou wanted to communicate andshare your experience, it was to yourbenefit to do this directly with anyoneand everyone at the conference.

Overall, this year’s conference was

one of my favorites, but then again I’maddicted and I say that each year.

Kellie-Bea Rainey has been in theentertainment industry for fouryears. She has working in visual

special effects for many topfeature films. She has also worked

in animation (traditional andcomputer 2D and 3D), includinginteractive multimedia and online

environments as a productioncoordinator, production manager

and as a producer.

Most of the parties,considering we were in NewOrleans, went on until dawn.

September 1996 43

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The Cockroaches of Joe ’s Apar tmen t

by John R. Dilworth

Author John Berger hasobserved that the only oth-er living things that will sur-

vive alongside human evolutionwill be those whichhumans eat (like cowsand chickens) and thecockroach. As Ralph, thelead cockroach in JohnPayson’s unconventionalfeature film, Joe’s Apart-ment has prophesied,after the bomb drops,roaches will rule theworld. The idea of usingthe most universallyloathed insect as a meansto examine the land-scape of human related-ness to other humansand the world theyinhabit, questions thebelief of human vitalityand longevity. As a species, we areextremely vulnerable to our envi-ronment and the condition of theenvironment is directly related toour degree of vulnerability. We areliving in an apartment subject tonature’s will of continuing our lease.

Joe’s Apartment was inspired byPayson’s 1992 short of the samename that aired on MTV. It repre-sents the cable network’s first ven-ture into feature films (the secondis the to-be-released Beavis and Butt-Head this fall ) and continues a

The cockro


trend of developing material alreadydesigned for one medium for allmediums. (Does television pro-gramming make for feature film

material?) The film was written forthe screen and directed by Paysonwho, at the time of the originalshort, was MTV’s director of on-airpromotion and animated I.D.’s. Afterdevoting over a year to writing thescript, the film spent another yearin production, including shooting

We are living in an apartmentsubject to nature’s will of

continuing our lease.

ach buddies in Joe’s Apartment created by Blue Sky P© Geffen Pictures

the live-action, stop motion andCGI elements. It stars Jerry O’Con-nell (Sliders) as Joe, Megan Ward(Party of Five) as the love interest,

Lily, and RobertVaughn (The ManFrom U.N.C.L.E.), thecorrupt Senator with afetish for his daughter’scostume jewelryamong other things.

The film tells the sto-ry of a young manwho moves from theMidwest to the BigApple and lucks into arent-controlled, tene-ment apartment in theEast Village, whose ten-ants include 50,000cockroaches. The build-ing, however, sits onthe site of a proposed

prison. Joe falls in love with a priv-ileged girl who loves flowers andwhose father (the Senator) isinvolved with criminals who wantto tear down the building. With theaid of the cockroaches the build-ing is turned into a veritable par-adise and the lovers live happilyever after.

An UncompromisingPoint of View

The real stars of the film are the

roductions

September 1996 44

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Joe’s Apartment© Geffen Pictures

cockroaches—from the openingtitle sequence where a cockroachis perched on the very top of theStatue of Liberty’s torch to the finaldisplay of human care the cock-roaches display for Joe. In whatturns out to be a genuine voicedemonstrating man’s indifferenceto other living things, especiallyinsects that infest your home,Payson presents an uncompromis-ing point of view. “Oceans Becom-ing Watery Deserts” reads a Gene-va newspaper headline. And thereare countless other examples ofhow human existence on the plan-et has decidedly changed the wayall life co-habitats. In Joe’s Apart-ment, the cockroaches turn out tobe the most uncivilized of civilizedbeings. They represent a commu-nity committed to the survival ofthe species, but not through the

The cockroaches turn out tobe the most uncivilized of

civilized beings.


elimination of other speciesas the human species isfamous for. The film charac-terizes the insensitivity andnecessary obviousness ofhuman existence through var-ious demonstrations of shoot-ings and muggings thatoccur right in front of Joe.There is even a scene whereJoe, after stumbling out of aburning building, is lying onthe street smoldering and twopedestrians walk right overhim, unimpressed. Joe soonlearns that it is part of a nor-mal day in the city—some-thing one lives with. And liv-ing with that kind of violenceand inhumanity is better thanliving with bugs in yourhome.Early on in the film, the dis-

trust and resentment the roachesfeel toward humans is clearly estab-lished. “Another stupid human,”says one cockroach. But the roach-es do not discriminate—they arenot racist. They fully embrace Joeafter he eats a stale piece of toastwhere a cockroach once stood,accepting him on the understand-ing he is not one of them, but issimilar enough to be one of them.

Despite their difference in size,Joe and the cockroaches live quitewell together, discovering the newopportunities their relationshipoffers. This theme was madefamous by Jonathan Swift in Gul-liver’s Travels, which Payson payshomage to when Joe finds himselftied down by the roaches the sameway Gulliver was by the Lilliputians.And it is a direct comparisonbetween the interpretation of “littlepeople” and cockroaches thatPayson is making. The terms virtu-ally mean the same. Both speciesare squashed and the less seen thebetter. Are the poor and low income

families living in tenements not seenas undesirable insects subject to thedesires of housing committees lob-bied by developers wanting to prof-it from gentrification of a neigh-borhood?

Rebirth and HopePayson, who continues to live in

New York’s East Village believesstrongly that good things growfrom rubble. Near the film’s end, aonce promising garden that wasdestroyed is suddenly transformedinto an even better paradise. A fan-tasy element only possible throughthe cinema, it underlines the direc-tor’s sense of enchantment withrebirth and hope.

The cockroaches in Joe’s Apart-ment are avatars for humans. Theywatch a TV program called Alter-native Life with Charlie Roach. Char-lie, a cockroach, hosts a table dis-cussion with a city pigeon, a squir-rel and a rat. The discussion breaksdown and feathers and fur beginto fly, prompting the host to

implore, “Can’t we all get along ...?”(a little reminder of the Rodney Kingincident that continues to illustratethe self-righteousness of those withpower and influence over the lesswell off).

Payson keenly observes the lackof understanding that existsbetween different cultures. When itcomes to human behavior, con-temporary TV shows rely on pullingaside the curtain of truth when itcomes to human behavior. Theirony here is that city animals andinsects live hard lives as well, but

Payson’s cockroaches areexamples of smart and

successful living.They areincredibly resourceful,

supportive and adaptable.

September 1996 45

AN

Joe’s Apartmenti

do not exceed the interest of tele-vision executives.

It is interesting to note the char-acterizations of the cockroaches inthe film. They are predominatelymale, healthy and heterosexual—they shout macho phrases andthrust their pelvises in the hopes ofgetting a woman’s attention. Theycannot only talk, but can also singand dance (nearly every style ofmusic is covered from funk andcountry and western to gospel). Itis like visiting a cockroach AnimalHouse. The roaches live to havefun, and to them life is one longparty. Many of the party scenesamidst decomposing waste, emp-ty beer bottles and dirty socks rep-resent a standard of living that isassociated with the poor, and thepoor in this case have no fear ofthe future. In many ways, the scenecan be compared to the oil paint-ings of Brueghel, where 16th cen-tury pagans celebrated life in muchthe same way the roaches do inJoe’s Apartment. Interestingly, theBlack Plague, long believed to haveits origins in the poor communitiesof Europe, was spread by insectsand rodents.

Payson’s cockroaches are exam-ples of smart and successful living.They are incredibly resourceful, sup-portive and adaptable. When Joeattempts to flush them down thetoilet, the roaches begin surfing thewave. And it is this observation ofturning a bad situation into a goodone that reinforces the theory ofsurvival of the fittest, challengingthe belief that the human race isthe dominant one. Ironically, it isthe cockroaches who aid the sur-vival of a human (Joe) when he isthreatened by others of his species.

Anatomically Correct and...


Technically, the execution of thecockroaches is very well done. Ina decade when special effects dom-inate the box office, Joe’s Apart-ment stands alongside the best,including Twister and Indepen-dence Day. The CGI animation ofthe insects was done by Blue SkyProductions in New York. ChrisWedge was the director of anima-tion and his team worked from sto-ryboards created by Payson andDan Shefelman. The design of theroaches required actually repro-ducing the anatomy of a cockroach.Small liberties were taken to givethe designs more flexibility whenanimated, but the final composit-ed product results in convincingthe audience they’re not watchingCGI.

With 14 artists, Blue Sky created200 shots requiring CGI—thelongest shot took one-and-a-halfmonths to complete and it was onlyfive seconds long. In order to scat-ter hundreds of cockroaches at onetime, the company created a pro-gram that enabled them to dupli-cate a cockroach as many times asneeded to follow a determinedpath, called flocking software. Also

© Geffen P

of note are the two stop motionshots created by Peter Wallach andFly Films in New York. To fill in thetotal effect, “roach wrangler” RayMendez brought in several thou-sand live cockroaches.

As Federico Fellini has said, “Agood picture has to have defects.It has to have mistakes in it, like life,like people.” Joe’s Apartment is thefirst film of a young director whothinks and feels, and the first film ofa company exploring new markets.Payson survived a creative and man-agement task few are capable ofand many are willing to attemptwith less spirit. The results are unpre-dictable and promising. Paysonwants to make people laugh andhave a good time watching hisfilms, just as his cockroaches do.What more can one ask of humans?

John R. Dilworth is a New Yorkbased independent filmmakerwhose recent short animatedfilm, The Chicken From OuterSpace, was nominated for an

Academy Award.

ctures

September 1996 46

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B e s u r e t o b r i n g a B e s u r e t o b r i n g a

power source for TV!power source for TV!

Clare Kitson’s top 10 picks...OK, she couldn’t resist—12 picks....

1. Some Like It Hot by Billy Wilder2. The Major and the Minor by Billy Wilder3. One, Two, Three by Billy Wilder (a big Wilder fan as you see)4. Singin’ In the Rain by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen 5. The Lady-Killers by Alexander Mackendrick (the only British entrant, how sad) 6. The Lady With the Dog by Joseph Heifitz7. No End by Krzysztof Kieslowski8. The Street by Caroline Leaf9. The Big Snit by Richard Condie10. The Tale of Tales by Yuri Norstein11. The Wrong Trousers by Nick Park12. The Cow by Alexander Petrov

John Coates’...

“We grew up at TVC making TV commercials—nearly 1,500 ofthem— and it wasn’t until we made The Yellow Submarine thatI realized that it was really fun to entertain people. By Christmasthis year, we will have completed one cinema feature, two TV fea-tures, and thirteen half-hour TV specials in the past fifteen years.Hopefully they will have entertained millions of people aroundthe world and we have certainly had a lot of fun making them.”

by Frankie Kowalski

When I reflect on autumn and what it means to me, I think of the season’s beauty,

fuzzy sweaters, kid’s lunch boxes (with plenty of twinkies), and what I look forward

to most—the new toons to hit the tube! International Television is this month’s focus,

so I spoke to the executives that graciously make it happen day in and day out: Clare Kitson,

Commissioning Editor for Animation at Channel 4 in the UK; John Coates founder of TVC, in

London; Gerry Travers, Marketing and Distribution Manager for Energee Entertainment, in Sydney;

Fred Seibert, President, Hanna Barbera and Phil Roman, President, Film Roman, both in Los

Angeles.

Crapston VillasCourtesy of Channel4


AN

1. The Go Between by Joseph Losey2. Au revoir les enfants by Louis Malle3. Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni4. North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock5. Casablanca by Michael Curtiz6. Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa7. Pinocchio by Walt Disney8 The Man Who Planted Trees by Frederic Back9. Granpa by Dianna Jackson10. The Wrong Trousers by Nick Park

Gerry Travers’...

1. The Wizard of Oz by Victor Fleming2. The Manchurian Candidate by John Frankenheimer3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Walt Disney4. Crocodile Dundee by Peter Faiman5. F Troop (series) produced by William T. Orr & Hy Averback6. Fritz The Cat by Ralph Bakshi7. The Jungle Book by Walt Disney8. Droopy cartoons by MGM

Fred Seibert’s...

“Working with cartoons has been amazing. The talented animators and the people who support them are thebest kind of colleagues to have. Traveling around the world and watching people laugh with films I’ve beenlucky enough to touch is one experience that can not be duplicated.”

1. Rock n Roll High School by Alan Arkush2. Car Wash by Michael Schultz3. Bringing Up Baby by Howard Hawks4. The Godfather (all three) by Francis Ford Coppola5. The Dick Van Dyke Show (series) produced by Carl Reiner6. Missing by Costa Graves7. A Hard Day’s Night by Richard Lester8. Looney Tunes by various directors9. North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock10. The Fugitive (series) produced by Quinn Martin

Phil Roman’s...

1. Bambi by Walt Disney2. The Wizard of Oz by Victor Fleming3. It’s A Wonderful Life by Frank Capra4. Some Like It Hot by Billy Wilder5. Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen 6. Pinocchio by Walt Disney7. Doctor Zhivago by David Lean8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit by Robert Zemeckis9. Roman Holiday by William Wyler10 The Last Emperor by Bernardo Bertolucci

Brian at the drums, fromCrocadoo.© Energee

The Yellow Submarine© TVC-London


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Fall TV Season: News on the com-ing animation season on Americantelevision is found in Pamela Schecter’sarticle, “TV’s Fall TV Lineup,” appear-ing among this issue’s feature articles.

Arab-Americans Set DisneyProtest. Leaders of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee(ADC) angered by what they see asthe Walt Disney’s Co.’s “blatant racism,”say they will stage “simultaneousprotests” outside Disney’s Burbank lot,Disneyland in Anaheim andDisneyWorld in Orlando in August.ADC officials are incensed over whatthey call a continuing pattern of “Arabbashing” in such Disney releases asAladdin and Return of Jafar. They arealso angry that Disney has allegedlynot kept its word to consult with themwhenever a Disney movie featuresArab or Arab-American characters.According to ADC spokesmanDonald Bustany, “Disney’s TV anima-tion division has complied with thatagreement, and we’ve been work-ing with them in a very efficient andamiable way, but management didnot bother to spread the word andtell other divisions.” Disney has notreturned Bustany’s calls, “I don’t knowwhy they are doing this, but we’vegot to wake them up. Maybe thisprotest will help.”

In the meantime, Disney’sAladdin and the King of Thieves, thecompany’s second made-for-videosequel to Aladdin, was in secondplace on the rental charts accordingto VSDA VidTrac. While having a sell-through title be one of the top rentaltitles is not that common, it is muchrarer for this to happen for a made-for-video title.


Fox Children’s NetworkAppointments. Maureen Smith wasnamed vice president of planningand program scheduling, where shewill work with Fox Children’s Networkand other Fox divisions on strategicplanning of the service in the U.S.and abroad. Donna Cunningham,previously a vice president of Hanna-Barbera Inc., has joined FCN as vicepresident of business affairs, whereshe will oversee all negotiations andsupervise business relationshipsbetween the service and its programsuppliers, production companies, tal-ent and ancillary businesses.

Global Recruiting. Fewer than adozen institutions throughoutCalifornia train computer animatorsfor work in entertainment, but TheHollywood Reporter recently checkedwith local visual effects operationsproduced the names of several out-of-state schools whose graduatesincreasingly are being recruited aswell. They include: Rochester (NY)Institute of Technology; MassachusettsInstitute of Technology; Rhode IslandSchool of Design; Ringling School ofDesign in Sarasota, Florida; PrattInstitute in Brooklyn, NY; the School ofVisual Arts in New York; and Texas A

& M University, in College Station,Texas. In Canada, students fromSheridan College in Oakville, Ontario,a favorite of mainstream animationhouses are also being sought after.

The following items arefrom AWN’s August 7,1996 email news flash:

Nickelodeon Movies Unveils FirstFeature Film Slate. Following upthe release of Nickelodeon Movies’first feature effort—the live-actionHarriet the Spy last month (accom-panied by Craig Bartlett’s animatedshort, Hey Arnold)—the companyannounced a slate of three animat-ed films now in development. Thehighest profile title is certainly TheStinky Cheese Man, based on thebest-selling children’s book by LaneSmith and Jon Scieszka. The book fea-tures various off-the-wall versions ofclassic fairy tales; right now, the plotof the film seems to center on howJack (of Jack and the Beanstalk) cre-ates a stinky cheese man to repel thegiant, but instead creates havoc infairy tale land. The film will utilize cut-out animation, somewhat in the man-ner of the dream sequence in “Jamesand the Giant Peach,” for which LaneSmith helped design.

Also on Nickelodeon Movie’sanimation agenda is a feature versionof their long-running TV series,Rugrats, which chronicles the worldfrom a baby’s point of view, to bemade by Klasky Csupo. The filmwhich has been in development forsome time, will be Klasky Csupo’s firstfeature effort. Finally, there is Kogny,which is created by and will be pro-duced by Doug Lawrence (whoworked on Nickelodeon’s Rocko’s

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Modern Life). This comedy deals withthe struggles of Krogny, a dog whobecomes a fugitive after he is falselyaccused of murdering the Mayor’s cat.He returns, disguised as a human, inan attempt to solve the crime.

Snowden And Fine Sign WithWarner Bros. Warner Bros. FeatureAnimation has signed a two-year, first-look deal with London-based direc-tors Alison Snowden and David Fine.The pair, known for such AcademyAward nominated shorts as Georgeand Rosemary, Special Delivery andthe Oscar winning Bob’s Birthday.The deal will give Warners the optionto develop and produce any idea thepair may come up with. The films,which Warners said will not neces-sarily be aimed at children, will bemade at either the company’s Londonor Glendale studios, rather than inSnowden and Fine’s facility inLondon, which is considered toosmall to handle a feature-length pro-ject.

The Hearst Corporation And TheCisneros Group To LaunchLocomotion Throughout LatinAmerica. A new 24-hour, all-anima-tion programming series for 23 coun-tries in Latin America and theCaribbean is scheduled to begin ser-vice this fall. Locomotion will bebroadcast to homes throughout theregion initially via DirecTV in Spanish,Portuguese and English. DIRECTV isthe first service to offer direct-to-hometelevision entertainment to this mar-ket and before year end, 19 newchannels will be added to the service.Locomotion will feature programsfrom Hearst Entertainment’s library ofanimated series such as The Legendof Prince Valiant, Popeye, BeetleBailey,Krazy Kat and the new FlashGordon.

Activision Aquires Best-Selling


Japanese Wrestling Title. LosAngeles-based Activion has signed anagreement with Tomy Company toacquire the worldwide rights, exclud-ing Japan, for Toukon Retsuden—the wrestling game which, accord-ing to Tomy, has shipped some220,000 units for the Sony PlayStationin Japan. Activision will work withTomy to adapt the title for the inter-national market.

Wallace And Gromit Meet TheQueen. The visit was requested bythe palace to Aardman Animationsand it appeared that the Queen her-self was an admirer of Wallace andhis faithful canine companion,Gromit. The Queen was amused bya brief introductory film showing theart of the Oscar winning animator,Nick Park (Creature Comforts, TheWrong Trousers and A Close Shave).Park later said that, “The Queenlaughed and chuckled in all the rightplaces. She seemed to thoroughlyenjoy herself.” She was also given apreview of a scale model of televi-sion’s Coronation Street, apparentlyconstructed entirely of chocolate,which will be used for a Cadburycommercial. At one stage the Queentook off her glove to hold one of the“chocolate” characters from theCoronation Street Set. She also gotsome insight on the biggest studiosecret of all—the script content forstudio’s first feature-length film writ-ten and co-produced by Park, PeterLord and Dave Spoxton, whichshould be ready for worldwide dis-tribution in two-and-a-half years.

New On Video:

James And The Giant Peach DueOctober 15. Henry Selick’s live-action/animated adventure based onRoald Dahl’s book will be available instores in the United States from WaltDisney Home Video with a suggest-

ed retail price of $22.99. (See WendyJackson’s review of the film in the May1996 issue of Animation WorldMagazine.)

Central Park Media Makes AnimeTitles Available On October 8:Three English-dubbed episodes of the“adults only” sci-fi series, Urotsukidoji:Inferno Road by Toshio Maeda, willbe released in the US by Central ParkMedia. Each 45-minute episode ispriced at $29.95, with all three avail-able in one 135-minute packageunder the title of Inferno Road Brickis priced at $79.95. At the same time,the company will release Area 88:The Blue Skies of Betrayal (an action-adventure story), Judge (a horroroccult thriller) (both for $14.95 each),The Heroic Legend of Arislan, Parts 3& 4 ($19.95), and My My Mai,Volume 1 (a supernatural mysterywith “sex appeal.”) ($19.95).

The following items arefrom AWN’s August 21,1996 email news flash:

Warner Bros. Animation Shuffle.Joe Reilly has been named senior vicepresident and general manager ofthe studio’s Television AnimationDivision and is charged with over-seeing all financial business andadministrative matters. Ken Duer isnow vice president of worldwide pro-duction for Television Animationwhich puts him in charge of alldomestic and international produc-tion units. Maria Womack has beenpromoted to director, finance, WarnerBros. Television Animation. Liza-AnnWarren takes the newly created slotof director, recruitment for the divi-sion, and as such will scout new ani-mation talents, production entitiesand training opportunities. Warren,who was director, domestic produc-tion, will be replaced by HowardSchwartz. Finally, Chuck Ansel has

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been appointed director, finance,Warner Bros. Classic Animation.

Mainframe Teams With Imax OnReboot Projects. Mainframe, bestknown for its computer-animatedReboot TV series, will produce twofilms for Imax’ motion simulator ridesusing characters from the show. TheVancouver-based studio’s deal alsocalls for the development of otherprojects. Imax, which premieredCosmic Voyage, which contains 15minutes of computer animationeffects, will release another CGI film inOctober, L5—First City in Space, withcomputer animation provided byBritain’s CFI and France’s Ex Machina.

Nickelodeon In Nordic Territories.On August 1, 1996, Nickelodeonbegan transmitting a six-hour block ofits programming, including RugRatsto the five Nordic Territories—Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Icelandand Finland. The kids network haspreviously licensed deals to broad-casters in Scandinavia and Finland,but has never entered the territorywith any real presence. The pack-age is being broadcast initially onlyin Swedish and English. It comes asa part of a deal between Viacom(Nickelodeon’s parent company) andSES (Société europeen des satellites) toprovide transmission via the Astra 1Bsatellite to Germany and the Nordiccountries under a multiyear arrange-ment.

Warner Bros. Begins Virtual Class.Warner Bros. Feature Animation, aspart of a nationwide consortium oftelecommunication companies andschool systems, has been trainingteachers from around the country aspart of a program called the VirtualTraining Network. The program willgo online in October, whenstudiostaffers will demonstrate animationtechniques to students via close-cir-


cuit TV. Two-way communications willallow students to ask questions ands have their work critiqued by ani-mators. Dave Master, manager ofartist development and training forWarner Bros. Feature Animation, isheading the effort.

Nick Park’s Close Shave WinsAgain! At the recent Palms SpringsInternational Short Film Festival,Academy Award-winning directorNick Park’s A Close Shave was votedfavorite short film by festival audi-ences. The winners received a solidbronze statue named “The

Entertainer”, designed by local artistJohn Kennedy, as well as a $500 cashprize. (Park’s film also won a $250prize for best animated short.) Underthe International Student Short Filmcategory, They Were The First To Ridedirected by Lyndon Barrois, receiveda certificate and a $250 cash prize forbest animated film.

France Finds Hit In Sandiego. TheGallic TV version of Where in theWorld is Carmen Sandiego? is a bighit with French children audiences.Public web France 3, where theshow airs Sunday mornings, hasreported a market share of 25% sinceits launch last April. France 3 is sohappy with it that it has commis-sioned another 30 episodes of Maisou se cache Carmen Sandiego? from

VOR Tech© Claster Television

French license-holder MarinaProductions.

Claster Television Expands“Power Block” With CGIAnimation Series Reboot. JoiningBeast Wars, G.I. Joe Extreme, andVOR-Tech as part of a 5 day a weekaction-oriented animation block,“Reboot” extends the CGI franchise.“Power Block” will debut this fall on106 stations covering 85% of the U.S.ReBoot, which originally made its pre-miere in September 1994 as part ofABC’s Saturday morning line up, hasreceived several awards for its appealto kids of all ages; it is produced inVancouver at MainframeEntertainment’s 3D computer ani-mation studio and is distributedworldwide by AllianceCommunications.

Pillow People Comes Through InSyndication. The new kids “FCC-Friendly” series, has been cleared inmore than 85% of the country

through syndicator Summit MediaGroup, a division of 4 KidsEntertainment. The series is pro-

duced in New York by creator PennyEkstein Lieberman’s production com-pany, Sandbox Entertainment.

Humongous Entertainment ShipsFreddie Fish 2. On August 29, 1996the new hand-animated JuniorAdventure for kids age 3-8 will beavailable on one multi-platform CD-ROM for Windows 95, Windows 3.1and Macintosh for $39.95. The Caseof The Haunted Schoolhouse, FreddieFish and her pal Luther are on thecase to unmask the ghost and reclaimthe toys in an underwater world fullof adventure with 36 new environ-ments to explore. “Sing Along withFreddie Fish and her Friends” an illus-trated 24-page book with audio tapewill be available free with the pur-chase of Freddie Fish 2.

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Animation World Magazine1996–97 Calendar

Theme Park Animation (November)

Interactive Animation (December)

Animation Festivals (January ‘97)

International Animation Industry (February '97)

Children & Animation (March '97)

October Issue Highlights

It’s a Presidential election year here in the States, so weare taking the opportunity to shift our focus in October toPolitics and Propaganda around the world. We will featurean interview a candid interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott,

the peace and environmental activist, about the influence ofchildren’s television (including animation) on children. Jill

McGreal will take a look at the politics involved inCARTOON, the European Union organization that is tryingto jump start the European animation industry. Also, Fred

Patten takes a look back at the first Japanese animatedfeature, Momotaro, Divine Sailor, made on behalf of the

military government.In addition, award-winning German animator, Raimunde

Krumme, who is being honored at the Ottawa AnimationFestival, will give us his views on the art of animation, whilethe Cartoon Network’s Linda Simensky gives us her views on

“leaving home,” i.e., the etiquette involved when movingon to a new job in the animation industry.


television goes international hearst’s locomotionanimation company of your choice. listen...

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