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Previous News
SEPTEMBER
2003
09.30.03
* Stop Motion may possibly be
surviving in small pockets or areas, globally ....
definitely more Stop Mo in Europe/England and Canada. In
USA, we have someone like Brett Piper of
Kinetic Image and he has established a niche
for himself. of doing direct-to-video movies.
He seems to be gaining some underground popularity New Brett Piper Films Apparently, he is very much a Stop
Motion advocate & practioner and seems to incorporate
it into some of his projects. Not only does he direct,
produce but does the actual hands-on Stop Motion too and
makes the puppets! Talk about wearing many hats! He
is working on an untitled project that will have Stop
Motion bugs. In interviews though, he has talked
about difficult times dealing with studio suits.
I do not think he has ever posted on the SMA.com board but perhaps he is just busy
"working". We all know how the internet can
sometimes be addictive!
* Remember
Don Dohler? At this link, you can go
back to memory lane and see all the covers of the Starlog
version of Cinemagic magazine.... low cost special effects for
hobbyists and it had many Stop Motion topics .... started
around 1979. I also have all those issues. Don even had earlier
issues of the Original Cinemagic first published in 1972. Don is
still kicking around here, also doing niche direct to
video movies through his Time Warp Films company. It does not appear that
he is involved with any kind of Stop Motion anymore but
maybe someone out here can offer Don some Stop Mo
production services?!
____________________
09.26.03
* Here is an article Visual FX Trends on TV. Kind of dry, sterile and
non-exciting. Bottom line .... budget cutting and
ridiculously short production schedules for TV,
like it always has been but more (or
worse?) in future. How does this relate
to Stop Motion? You have to use technology and a plethora
of resourcefulness & creativity (stop motionists
usually do, but now more critical). With the miracle
frame grabber .... a dirt simple technology to
the CGI'st, but for us, an incredible boom to the puppet
animation art/craft for the last 10 plus years .... we do
not necessarily need to invest so much dollars
in Hyper-High Tolerance Stop Motion Armatures
(Trikfx's coined phrase!) The grabbers aid in
smoothing the animation using more basic
armatures. Also as you all know, computers &
software, now so affordable, can be used for extensive
post production, tweaking, special effects enhancement,
and especially compositing (lessen the need for
many or large miniature sets). Some examples .... I do
not know what the budget was for the Davey & Goliath Christmas Special, still in post-production, but
they had a very small crew with minimal numbers
of puppets and they pulled it off! With the The PJ's, Stop Motion TV series (from the
"old" Vinton Studios) somehow accidentally made
it as a series in primetime (so rare for any kind of stop
mo to invade mainstream), but the budget was
incredibly high for each episode and IMO, might
have partially contributed to its demise. With those
kind of high costs, today, I do not think an
animation TV series would even be considered by the
"suits". Bottom line #2 .....
computers, fierce competition, tight money/budget, etc.
....and studio/producer suits demanding shorter &
shorter production time, faster, cheaper & more of it
....Stop Motion has to find ways to compete (different
niche markets too) with the CGI saturation / New
World Order!
____________________
09.22.03
* Sometimes I ask myself when I enter
video rental stores and browse around, "Somebody
must be watching all these direct-to-video B-type genre
movies". On the message board there was
some discussion about Low Budget Filmmaking. Also, someone just posted a soon to released, B-flick
that appears to be campy-retro, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra It seems that
there will be no hi-techy Cgi or Digital heavy special
effects, however this one appears to have, too obvious cheesey/cheap
special effects (maybe could have been better).
This is not going to video/dvd yet, but
will first be theatrically
released. If you read their FAQ, it was "accidentally" discovered
by a Sony Studio "suit". Their
marketing is kind of fun & interesting ....sort of
similar to Blair Witch Project
publicizing campaign, via the internet.
Anyway, in today's
Formulaic/Homogenized/Cgi-digital/Slick-e-fied mainstream
Hollywood Film Biz. I think this is kind of unusual
for a major studio. Kudos &
Thumbs-up to Sony Pictures for being more daring in
offering something "different" to audiences. Speaking
of B movies, I was recently contacted by
a long time colleague-friend who has done lots of past
work in model & stop motion fabrication. We were
discussing some technical matters regarding stop motion
puppets on a project he is just starting. I think, I can
mention it publically because at Fangoria website,
their news has announced it. The project that he is
involved with is Monster Island which will be an MTV
original movie. There was another movie way back
in 1981 (with Peter Cushing) by the same name, but that
was completely different and not related to MTV's
project. Maybe there is some glimmer of hope for Stop
Motion and perhaps might make a little bit of a comeback.
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09.19.03
* Historically, when did Stop Motion
really start? That is, the actual frame-by-frame
animation of something puppet-like. I have my own copy
Steven S. Wilson's book, Puppets & People (you can get a used one, only
$499.!) and he only mentions why & how the phrase
Stop Motion came about but nothing when the technique
actually began. Supposedly, Wladislaw Starewicz,
Polish born, who lived in Russia,
is sometimes credited with first using
Stop Motion puppet-type method in The Cameraman's Revenge, around 1912 ....
some images here. Then in USA, we
have The Humpty Dumpty Circus by Smith & Blackton,
which supposedly was released around 1898
or 1914? If you have any
information or can clarify this minutial bit of Stop Mo
history, I would be curious and feel free to contact me
* Sooooo
.....Portland, Oregon USA, I have heard
, is like a Ghost Town with regards to Animation
and just general employment (in other work trades) is not
good. This article You can't keep a good toon 'town
down acknowledges
the animation downturn aspect but attempts to put a
slightly positive spin and cites only few companies
getting some animation-type work. It may be kind of
depressing, but hopefully things might turnaround or
improve for Portland. I also heard in the past, from
ex-Vinton people, that the old Vinton Studios eventually
got overpriced or expensive. So that is
something to consider; if possible, make Stop
Motion more cost-effective as an incentive to lure the
"suits". Stop Mo has
to compete with the ubiquitous
& dominating CGI Beast!
____________________
09.16.03
* There will be a new Creature Comforts TV Series based on Aardman's Oscar winning
short of some years ago. Unfortunately, USA seems to be
mostly overtaken by Cel or Cgi animation and I wonder if we
will ever get opportunity to see it here
(hopefully on cable, someday?). It will supposedly be
released on DVD but that could be a long wait
for us, as the yet to be made series might have to make
its run on broadcast TV first, then afterwards, on DVD.
As I reported here some months ago, thanks to some of my
underground contacts, here is news, Cuppa Coffee on a Roll about various Canadian created
Stop Motion. Stop Mo lives on! (but not in USA). This
studio Les Armateurs is in France..... they do Cel
& Cgi but I am not sure, when you go to the link and
click on Prince & Princesses, if
that is Stop Motion or maybe Cut-Out animation? Very
stylized and unique looking. At first, I thought studio
name in English, meant The Armatures,
...... wrong! The translation is, Ship-Owners.
____________________
09.13.03
* Special Weekend News
Edition ....SMA message board member, Trikfx
aka Ted Sydor , a frequent contributor, sharing his
knowledge, tips, advice, cogent observations &
philosophies .... has intimate knowledge about the Czechoslovakian
animation
scene. He hung out there for awhile and
apprenticed at the Czech puppet animation studios. The
feeling I get, from casual talks with Ted.... Stop Motion
seems to have more respectibility and appreciated
over there. The lifestyle or pace there might possibly
not be so intense as the USA here, where our senses are
constantly assaulted by media/entertainment and we're
always distracted or have minimal attention span?? The
Czechs perhaps are able to be a little more laid back and
able to Stop & Smell the Roses?
Anyway, here is an interesting in-depth article Czech Animation: Two Perspectives
____________________
09.11.03
* 9/11 New York .... 2 years
later.
Obviously, extremely
painful for the surviving family & friends
of the victims that lost their lives. What else can one
say except our heartfelt & deepest
condolences goes out to all of them. As a
symbol, I respect our American Flag,
however, the government bureaucrats/politicians, I do
not have much confidence in. Addendum, 09.13.03: When I re-read my little rant
here a few days later, I decided to edit it & remove
most of it because maybe it was getting to be somewhat
personal (my feelings) or political, and straying away
from the intention of this website. I will try to keep in
focus but sometimes it is hard to ignore
Societal & World events, problems, etc. because to
me, everything appears to be accelerating much more
quickly towards a not-so-positive
direction .... almost Biblical / Nostradamus-like.
____________________
09.09.03
* Vinton Studios goes to Knight .... that is the latest. Because
Vinton Studios was in such poor financial shape, Knight
is paying Vinton less than $60,000 for Will's 46%
controlling interest. 27 years Will Vinton has had that
Studio and such a paltry sum he gets. Pretty sad end that
the studio collapsed in the market & could not
survive for whatever wrong choices or decisions were made
during the old Vinton Studio's last days of existence. I
think Will still has a lawsuit against Knight, too.
Probably, Will would have gotten a little more
compensation if he did not sue Knight.
* AWN reports Bravo TV cable
network will be airing a two hour special The Animated Century (scroll down & you'll see it).
It looks like it will mostly cover Cel Animation but
might have some mention of Stop Motion with reference to Jiri
Trnka. I am not sure if Willis Obrien or Ray
Harryhausen will be given any credit. The special is two
hours long, on September 26, 03, starting 8PM
and will be repeated a few times that night. If you do
see this show, let me know if it was good, bad, or
whatever. Better yet, you can post on SMA message board. I do not have cable TV anymore. If I did,
then that is another excuse for me to procrastinate and
not focus on my own projects.
____________________
09.05.03
* Let us go back in time during the
era, before the New CGI World Order
domination (well not yet). Any older visitors/readers
might remember Flesh Gordon (1972). It is hard to believe this movie
was made about 31 years ago! You can
read about it there and find some images. A few, now
veteran special effects people worked on that. It seems
mild today and pehaps not really in the porn category
anymore .... more like an R rating. Then there was the
not so well known sequel, Flesh Gordon 2 / Review (1990). There also appears to have
been some Stop Motion in the sequel? There are some
images there too .... Flesh laying a karate foot
kick on a cartoony Stop Mo Creature and also, a Stop
Mo Ape relieving himself on top of a tall
building! I wonder who did the special effects for FG2?
Also, let us not forget about the cult classic (not
quite), Starcrash (1979) with special effects done by the
Italian born arteest, Armando Valcauda. Here is another link Starcrash / Review. Some reading and images for you
there too ..... click on all the links for articles.
Enjoy ( I think)
____________________
09.02.03
* As I have sometimes commented
before, Stop Motion has always seemed to have more of a
"life" or popularity outside the USA. Cosgrove Hall in the UK has been around since
1976 .... a major animation house over there. Throughout
their history (you can read about it at their site), they
have used much Stop Motion and also do Cel animation.
Here is a news article about the comeback of Postman Pat's Return, apparently it was a popular
animation show.
* Aardman Animation another big animation player in
England, has apparently been getting into CGI work. They
will be doing commercials for the Europeon market Mr. Pratt Commercials promoting adhesive products.
According to article, it seems like this will computer
animated. Too bad. I guess it is the the
"suits" (ad agencies/producers) pushing for the
trendy CGI stuff.
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