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Previous News
APRIL
2004
04.30.04
* In my opinion, this article Imperfection Animation is one of the best
observations why real tactile animation
techniques such as Stop Motion, Puppet/Clay,
Cut-out animation has a uniqueness all its own and
computers cannot match (they have their own look) or CGI
attempts to fake it. I have done my past rants covering
some of what article says but this is the most concise
& cogent analysis. Most Hollywoodized
producers & studio corporate suits will never understand the subtlety of
this. To them, they myopically think it has
to be computers only because that is the supposed
flavor right now (until the flavor may
eventually sour because of market
glut or overexposure. Article was written by Tom Gasek, a long timer in the biz. Our paths crossed
way back.... he was one of the animation directors of the
Gumby TV series.
* As we all know, there are certain principles
of animation and they may not always be hard and
true rules and can be broken. On my site at Library > Workshop and also Library > Books there are some resources/info
links about this. Here is another one I found Brian Lemay's Animation Tips They are good for many of the
standard stylized, very theatrical-like or cartoon type
characters but for creature photo-real or surreal
there are other unwritten principles. Sorry.....
there are not documented anywhere that I know of and no
specific formulas. You will have to study
& research on
your own ..... look at Stop Motion as done by the great
Harryhausen, Phill Tippett's and Jim Danforth's past
work, unsung animator Pete Kleinow, Randy
"LOTR" Cook's Stop Motion (before CGI switch)
and some others I may have missed here. Just study
them and get inspired and you may eventually
discover the tricks and develop your own style. Practice,
practice, test, test..... Do not just Talk .....or
as someone just said on the message boards .....
AVOID "Analysis Paralysis "... just do
it.
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04.22.04
* An interesting name for a studio The People's Republic of Animation A group, short on cash but looks
like having much energy & creativity. The are in the
Land of Oz aka Australia. Looks like
they do some Stop Motion / Clay Animation. You can read
about them Drawing up a new republic Unfortunately, their site is not
ready with only some downloadable movies & a few
pics. Don't you hate it?..... coming soon,
underconstruction, etc. I do it too but keep it at a
minimum. Hopefully, they will hurry-up
and put some content at their site....maybe email them
for encouragement!
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04.18.04
/ Special Weekend Edition
* Sheeeeeeeesh
..... no rest from this news page. I generally
do it only few times during the weekdays because it is
difficult to find specific Stop Motion news,
buzz, rumors, etc.. Marc Spess of AnimateClay.com must have plenty of free time  to
endlesslly search the internet and I am not going
to compete with him. He just posted some verrrrrrry
interesting news about Vinton Studios,
in Portland, Oregon USA. They are attempting to
spark some new energy & life into the Studio
and I think it is a very creative and unique
concept. Vinton Studios is calling it Summer Project: Backpocket. They are looking for talent,
project ideas and will pay for you to stay in Portland.
Sounds too good?? Well sort-of .....you will not be paid
wages/salary but you will be able to work and use their
production studios. They own rights to whatever you
create, as per their contract, but you can use your works
in your portfolio-resume. I am pretty sure they are looking
for the Best, so if you have no experience it
may be very, very competitive.
* Okay ..... this news item, I
found and did not steal from Marc's news page. Vinton
Studios has just completed an animated
short called Joe Blow. It has CGI
and Stop Motion. Looking at the credits .... the
CGI crew is bigger and just a couple of Stop Motion
animators, however, some familiar talented fabrication
artists-talents that I know, when I worked at Vinton's.
The character designs for Joe Blow were
done by Colin Batty, who designed the main characters
for The PJ's Stop Motion TV series. Joe Blow
is making the rounds in a very select few theaters Joe Blow Theater Run
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04.16.04
* This is follow-up to our news item
below about the Drew Carey Green Screen
project (possibly for airing this summer) The E!
Online article said animation would be produced
by Acme Filmworks, in Hollywood. At their website, no mention
of this. Also, Acme does not look like a full operating
studio with equipment & production facilities, but
more like a list of available Directors
to call upon for projects on an, as needed basis. Acme's
address is a Suite #. I am guessing, they rent studio
space, equipment, and hire crew, as needed.
Unfortunately, that is the way projects are done these
days with little or no overhead. Much leaner way of doing
business today and seems like the nature of
arts-entertainment employment with the diehard nomadic
talents, wandering the globe looking for work. If I am
wrong about Acme, feel free to contact me
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04.14.04
* Drew Carey &
company will be developing a TV project for WB
network maybe similar to his live action improvisation TV
show in the USA , Who's Line Is It Anyway?
Comedy actors will do real non-rehearsed improv games /
skits in front of a green screen
....then in post production, animated characters &
backgrounds will be composited with the live action. They
will use a variety of animation techniques ....stop-motion,
claymation, 2-D, 3-D, and CG animation. Read Carey Going "Green"
* Last month in March
news, we posted
some Gumby news about movie and
documentary, but I missed this one.... "Along
with our movie script, we now have an exciting new pilot
developed for the New Adventures of
Gumby. It has the roots of the
50's, 60's, and 80's series, but shows off a new level of
animation and sepecial fx never dreamed of before. Our
writing team works closely with Art to keep Gumby
genuine, while putting him in the new century"
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04.10.04
Special
Weekend Edition
* Uncle Ray Designs Bronze Sculpture tribute to David Livingstone (1813-1873), a Scottish missionary, doctor and
explorer who helped open the heart of Africa to missions.
The Stop Motion Legend's wife, Diana, is a great
grand daughter of Livingstone. You can see a not
too clear image of the six ton bronze tribute, Livingstone & the Lion .... click on the thumbnail image
to get a peek it.
* The Wrong Coast,
Cuppa Coffee's TV Stop Motion series has
been mentioned a few times in our news page. Here is an
article talking a little about the the stop motion
aspects, Smaller than Life I am not sure if this Stop Mo TV
series is going to be broadcast on AMC or if it already was aired. I
cannot find it on their website. If someone knows, contact me I do see that Wrong Coast is just
starting to be shown on Canada's The Movie Network Has anybody watched the
shows?
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04-07-04
* I am no "degreed"
educator, therapist or psychologist but I bet I
got more commonsense than many of them. This over
reliance on the computer as the supposed magic
silver bullet panacea for Mankind's problems? You know
what they say ...knowledge is power, the information age
... yada, yada, yada. Sometimes I think it's,
Information GLUT. Computer maybe good as an additional
tool, used selectively but maybe, do not
put all your eggs in one basket. IMO, technology
advancing way faster than the human brain's evolutionary
rate. Staring endlessly at a computer monitor, I
think can deaden our senses or something. I get
headaches sometimes when I am at the computer too much.
We are basically, still very tactile sensory
creatures which is required to grow and develop
and especially kids and young people still yearn
for that. Here is a brief article, Clay Movie Project Has Raised
Literacy how Stop
Motion has indirectly helped at risk
kids. I believe ..... using your tactile senses
and hands to build and create, is the root core
that humans still need and stimulates the brains cells.
Here is another example, Clay Animation Made Easy of a "smart" educator
using Stop Motion in an elementary
school curriculum
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04-02-04
* Am I good or what!?
 In my brief commentary last month 03-24-04 (scroll down page), I made my
quick observation about a possible contributory reason to
the decline of Stop Motion. Well, an online article that
came out afterwards, had similar reasons
about Up/Down popularity on TV....
"What's different now is
that technological advances in animation make shows both
cheaper and quicker to produce. Using desktop computers
cuts costs dramatically. And because traditional series
are often conceived and written in the U.S., then shipped
to the Far East for animation, newer methods also means a
much shorter production schedule -- six weeks instead of
nine months, Lazzo says"
So you see .... it has reached the point where
computers are significantly making it cheaper to
output animation in a mass production manner, and now, outsourcing
to cheap overseas labor. Even USA, CGI-Digital
special effects practioners / studios might be
affected by this cheap labor,
even higher profit return mindset (i.e. the
$bean-counters$). What an obstacle Stop Motion
must overcome. Unfortunately, the
mainstream film suits do not give a rat's pink butt about
the subtler and unique qualities of Stop Motion.
To them .... it's only an "animation product"
and they seem blind to any artistic or
quality aspects.Today, it would be Stop Motion
SUICIDE to charge $1.5 million for a half hour stop
motion show as was done in the past on the The PJ's. Hollywood will reject it
and just choose CGI or 2D methods. So,
if you are an artist or studio trying to sell Stop Motion
animation .... you seriously have to think about your
costs. You will get the door slammed in your face if your
bids are higher than current rates. It is unfortunate,
but that is the brutal market and you have to suck
it up and forget about making a profit killing
... underbid and your Stop Motion ideas,
projects, might have a chance. If you are
passionate about Stop Motion, think about the
"bigger picture" to keep it ALIVE in these
brutally competitive times. Extensive use of Computer
Technology to assist Stop Motion is a MAJOR
way to reduce expenses. Also
....cut-slash your front office staff ! How many
paper pushers, middlemen, or producers do you really
need? Save the money for the REAL
artists and craftspeople that actually produce the
animation. These are my words of wisdom
for you to ponder this weekend. Here is the entire
article.... Adult Cartoons Animating Networks
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