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On Thursday night, I was invited to attend a lavish and swanky opening party for those who contributed lots of time, knowledge, or financial backing to make this event possible. It was held in the facilities of Nucleus, a Multimedia Company. Nucleus has one of the most aesthetically pleasing workspaces I've ever visited...second only to PIXAR. I attended the party with Deanna Morse. We were both very impressed with the delectable food that had been catered for this party. Amongst my favorite edibles were the sushi buffet, and of course, the glorious table of sweets. Adult libations were also on the menu that evening...it was a rough walk back to the hotel for me... The food and drink was merely a backdrop for the enthusiastic group to converse, and make merry. I found myself in the company of many captivating folks, all of us were brimming with anticipation, waiting for the weekend's events to start. Of course most of the conversation centered around KAFI-talk. It was a delightful way to kick off a fabulous weekend of fun and excitement. Cartoon Challenge Friday morning, I popped out of bed (an action that only happens at important animation events), and went to pick up my weekend pass so I could proudly display my badge of attendance, and so I could get into the events without hassle. I decided to check in on the Cartoon Challengers that morning. The Cartoon Challenge was an amazing competition unique to KAFI. Eight teams of highly motivated and talented students from several educational institutions had taken the challenge to produce an animated PSA in the course of one week. Their assignment was given to them on Monday morning, and by Friday night at 5:00 pm, they had to have the PSA completed...WHEW! Their topic: promoting arts education as an integral part of every child's education. When I poked my head into the computer lab on Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas campus, I saw very sleepy groups of animators feverishly working against their 5:00 pm deadline. I knew some of the challengers from Grand Valley, and I asked them when they'd slept last. The reply was...7:00 pm Wednesday night...it was 10:30 am Friday at that time, so they'd been awake for nearly 40 hours at that point. A feat only the young could survive without great consequence. Even in their sleep deprived state, they were chattering excitedly about the incredible experiences they've had all week. They had met some "super cool" people, been given access to "super cool" equipment, light tables, and stacks of animation paper. They raved about the food, the resources, the camaraderie, and of course, the "super cool" animations that were shaping up all around them. I strolled about the work areas, checking out the various PSA's, stepping over the occasional slumbering team members, before returning to the main festival events downtown. I was very impressed with what I saw, and couldn't wait to see the finished projects. Fast-Forward to the Saturday Night Competition Screening, when the Cartoon Challenge PSA's were scheduled to premiere. The Cartoon Challengers had been moving through the festival events in herds, the had apparently developed strong friendship bonds with their competitors. During the screening, they had parked the herd in the balcony. David took a moment to explain the idea behind the cartoon challenge, and show a "highlights" video of some of the beautiful moments that happened at the Texas campus that week. During the video, cheers of support and laughter erupted from the balcony. They obviously had a great time that week. As each of the PSA's screened that evening, the challengers cheered on each piece, shouting kudos to the various teams. Every one of the PSA's were unique and showcased the talents of each team. I was astonished by what they cranked out in one week. After the showcase of the animations, the audience had to vote, and it was a difficult choice indeed. Fast-Forward one last time to the Sunday evening award presentation. Cartoon Challengers were encouraged to come down from the balcony to be easily accessible for the awards presentation. The votes had been tallied, a winning team selected. It was the moment of truth. But it didn't necessarily feel like the moment of truth. Everyone involved seemed to be winners already, I was moved by the way they all seemed to support each other throughout this experience. When David announced the winning team, Claudia and the Four Swordsmen, a team from the Center for Creative Studies, the whole group (and the audience of course) erupted with applause. Their animation stated "Would you give a child half a present? Would you let a child ride half a roller coaster? Would you let a child to school half dressed? Then why teach a child to only use half a brain? Save your right brain, support the arts." Of course the visuals that accompanied the dialogue were hilarious. They were presented with the first prize trophy. All teams who took the challenge were presented with a slightly smaller trophy to reinforce the fact that everyone put an extraordinary amount of work into their animations, and they deserved recognition and praise. Seminars and Workshops I wish I could provide a full report of the many activities that were scheduled for the weekend, but alas, I was not able to attend all of the 13 seminars and 5 software workshops offered. Word on the street is that attendees found the seminars to be very interesting, and the workshops to be very useful. Ellen Besen: Integrated Storytelling - The Animated Genome Project I've had the good fortune of meeting Ellen at several Ottawa Animation Festival events, and was very pleased to see that she had been recruited to share her wisdom with the KAFI festival attendees. Ellen teaches writing, storytelling, and animation at Sheridan College (yes the Sheridan College, famous for it's animation department). In Layman's terms, Ellen's presentation focused on the many techniques artist and filmmakers use to disclose story elements, and character development through visual cues, not words. She mentioned that generally speaking, films reveal a cumulative message to their audiences, and place demands on the audience to decipher all these clues. In this session, we took a closer look at the Disney classic, Pinocchio. I generally enjoy a good Disney classic...but after this presentation, I had a newfound respect for the artistic direction of this film. We looked at a couple of scenes with Pinocchio and the villain, Stromboli. After the viewing, with the guidance of Ellen, we discussed the elements of movement, color, use of props and location, and many other aesthetic elements used to infuse the scenes emotion and provide the aforementioned clues. She pointed out the motion of Pinocchio was a blend between human and puppet, limited by his wooden joints, so that we'd not forget that even though he displayed human traits, he wasn't one...yet. We examined the use of the knife prop in the scene where Pinocchio is captured by Stromboli in his trailer. We noted the way it was used to delicately count money, or to cut and eat food, while other times the knife was wielded carelessly, posing a constant threat, without being the focus of the scene. I thoroughly enjoyed Ellen's discussion of aesthetics and character development. I could go on and on about the things I learned about Pinocchio. I was sad that I couldn't attend her other session where I hear they analyzed "Lady and the Tramp." Mike Belzer: Puppets to Computers Mike Belzer is a new hero of mine. He's a stop motion animator who just happens to work for Disney...and it just so happens that he worked on...THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's one of my favorite mainstream stop motion features. In general, I'm a devoted fan of the stop motion technique, but have very little formal education on the production process. Mike Belzer's presentation was an incredible eye opener for me. He started his presentation by giving us a little background information about his path to becoming a superstar, OK, maybe he doesn't see himself that way, but he has made a definite mark on the face of stop motion animation. Mike animated his first short when he was twelve, which he screened for us prefacing the piece by stating that it shows he wasn't born with the gift to animate stop motion beautifully, and we all have the potential to create animation as finely crafted as his current work with diligent effort. His first short was an adorable claymation. It was a western piece with tempers flaring in a saloon, and if I remember correctly, only the horse leaves the saloon unscathed. Then Mike shared his demo reel, and I nearly wept with admiration at the vast range of work he's done. In addition to The Nightmare Before Christmas, he worked on James and the Giant Peach, and Dinosaurs, He's worked on commercial spots, including the Pillsbury dough boy and Hershey's Kisses, and has produced his own shorts. One of my favorite Belzer shorts featured a grill tending mouse. The voice of the mouse was a sound byte of Orson Welles during one of his tirades while shooting a commercial spot. After we learned a bit about Mike's background and skills, he shared many tips and tricks about the stop motion process, all the while telling us fun little production tales. Mr. Belzer is very charismatic, I could listen to him speak for hours. He showed us how to make our own wire armatures, and even had a step by step handout available. He mentioned that while many main characters are animated using a fully "machined" armature, sometimes-smaller roles, or even physically smaller characters use the wire armature he shared with us. He discussed some of the subtle things about motion in terms of balancing joints. He shared a lot of "secrets" of how things were done on the set of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Mike discussed the importance of being able to act out the motion, or reference actors for motion such as Chaplin. I didn't realize that the dance moves of Jack Skellington were based on Tommy Tune, and Fred Astaire! Onto the "computers" part of Mike's seminar. I believe the first major computer animation Mike worked on for Disney was Dinosaur. He said that it wasn't terribly difficult to make the transition between stop motion to computer animation. He felt there were a number of similarities in how you construct your animation in each medium. He also pointed out early in his presentation that his drawing skills are very limited, and his strength lies in sculpting and modeling. Mike worked with the character "Baylene" in Dinosaur. I was intrigued by Mike's discussion of the difficulties he faced, and overcame in trying to create a dinosaur that was elegant, and motherly in terms of facial expressions etc. He also showed a clip of the actress who provided the voice for his character, Joan Plowright, and compared how much of the mannerisms of the character were inspired by the tapes of the Joan delivering her lines. After his presentation, Mike was available for questions. He had set up a table of some of the models he's animated, several armatures and set dressings, and a huge book of production photos...all sorts of candy-like items for the stop motion enthusiast. I had a brief chance to chat with him after the seminar, a very friendly, knowledgeable and all around great guy indeed. Mike told me that a 9 year old had just handed him a business card stating that he was also a stop motion animator...very impressive, and good at networking at such a tender age! John Fountain: The Industry, the Art form, the Never-ending Headache - My Experiences from Kalamazoo to Hollywood I'm proud to say that I knew John when he was a local celebrity. We worked together for David Baker at Classic Animation. John was a storyboard artist, and animator, and I was a production assistant. That was back in '94-'95...he's been incredibly busy and prolific since then! After loosing contact with John back in '95, I was astounded as I listened to his "adventures" of the past seven years. John Fountain had worked his arse off to make it to the position he holds now as a director and supervisor at Nickelodeon Animation Studios. John talked about his experiences in Michigan, beginning with his college years at Western Michigan University where he took a variety of classes from art to journalism, to acting. He said the fact that he didn't study one subject intensively gave him an edge against the competition out in L.A. He said that you must be able to bring something to a company that no one else can bring...an original drawing style, diverse skills, etc. While in K-Zoo, John created a comic strip, which ran for seven years in the Western Herald. This was part of the reason for his local fame. Another important (and cool) accomplishment was his nationally distributed BULK comix anthology. It was during this time that he landed a job at Classic Animation...his first opportunity in the field. He then discussed the sometimes crazy, sometimes unbearable, sometimes amazing path he took to get from his first entry level job in California to his current job at Nickelodeon. He said he owed a great deal of thanks to some friends who had let him crash at their pad, until he had a job, and his own apartment. When he moved out to California, he was scraping by on little cash, and doesn't 't know if he would have made it without their hospitality. John also mentioned the importance of taking risks, and getting out of your comfort zone. He said the bigger the risk, the better the payoff, and that misery can create some brilliant work :-). I wish I could remember more of the specifics on the companies John worked at in California before Nickelodeon, but the names escape me. I do recall lovely tales of luck interwoven with his tales of hard work, and struggle. In one such tale we find John returning from an unsuccessful job interview...a job he basically moved to California hoping to get. As he left the interview, he remembered the World Animation Celebration was happening that weekend. It was getting close to the time that they were closing down the Celebration, but John thought, "I'll swing by and see if anything is going on." Since things were winding down, the folks at the door let him in free (saving him $60), and he noticed several companies were still reviewing portfolios. Somehow, John managed to bypass the long line of animators waiting for a portfolio review at the Nickelodeon booth. The Nickelodeon recruiter gave John an encouraging review of his work, and then asked if John planned on going to the big "wrap" party that evening. John gave an affirmative reply, but wondered how much this would set him back. As he left the booth, he heard two people talking about having more tickets to the party than they needed. John snagged the opportunity, and made some vital connections at that event. Whew! A summary of John's experience...he worked as a storyboard artist for Klasky Csupo, then he was offered a position on the South Park movie. He knew that he'd have to get away from Klasky Csupo in order to get into Nickelodeon, so he took the job. After working with the South Park crew for a short span of time, he gets a call from Nickelodeon...can he take some tests to apply for a character design position? Well of course he can. So he lands a job at Nickelodeon...but he needs to give a months notice to South Park. For one crazy month, he was working 2 jobs each day on 3 hours of sleep You would think that John would be pleased with a delightful job in Character Design, but then, you don't know John. He continued to devise ways to get himself into the director's chair at Nickelodeon, pitching concept after concept. Until finally, he lands an opportunity to direct a pilot for a show he conjured up called "The Tantrum." The Tantrum features a young superhero who gets the "bad guys" to back down by throwing an ungodly painful tantrum...works every time. He shared "The Tantrum" pilot, and I was very amused. Now John directs a series on Nickelodeon called "The Fairly Odd Parents." It's a fantastic concept...a hilarious show...you must check it out. The other seminars that I sadly couldn't attend deserve a mention and a hearty round of Applause. Deanna Morse (professor at Grand Valley State University and independent artist/filmmaker/animator extraordinaire) did a presentation about her new DVD. The designers/producers of her DVD, Grey Christian and Eric Oehrl were also present. They discussed the making of this incredible collection of Deanna's work that not only showcases her talents, but is also designed to be used as a teaching tool. Jim Middleton's presentation "A Sound Theory - The Evolving Use of Sound in Creating Independent Animation" explored the use of sound in film and animation through the ages. Of course, he touched on the work of his hero, Oskar Fischinger. Jim also shared his vast knowledge of the use of public domain music, and gave out a CD of public domain music he compiled from his audio archives, including some selections played on a wax cylinder! Jim is a well known in the animation world as the "Animating Apothecary." An incredibly talented, prolific, and fun artist he is. Other seminars focused on drawing skills for animation. Brian Lemay, of Sheridan College, held a workshop on character design principles. A couple of my friends attended his workshop and said that he gave some great tips about coming up with new characters, working with poses, and he even shared a nifty trick that involved staring into a light...but don't try that at home without specific instruction. Representing the Max the Mutt Animation School, Tina Seemann discussed the connections between life drawing and animation. According the KAFI program "Both animation students and professionals will learn something new from this studio experience. Bring your sketchbook!" Special Events One of the goals Dave Baker had as founding father of KAFI was to incorporate events that were "Family Friendly." He planned on two such screenings that were free to the public: the Saturday morning Cartoons, and the VeggieTales sing along. I did attend a portion of the Saturday Morning Cartoon screening, and I had a hoot! The site of many children in attendance with parents and grandparents truly warmed my heart. The theatre was packed! Cartoons from the 1920's to the 1960's were screened that morning, with the silent cartoons accompanied by the State Theatre's Keyboard Artist. The idea was to recreate the unique and nostalgic experience of going to the theatre to see cartoon shorts, an event that is generally lost on today's generation, who have the "luxury" of viewing the Saturday Morning line-up all alone in their living rooms. Though I was enjoying the cartoons myself, what was more interesting to me was to sit back and watch the crowd. I witnessed many beautiful moments. I saw one elderly woman lean over and tell the child she was with that the cartoon on the screen was the very first one she had seen when she was little. I heard one child ask, "This is what cartoons were like when you were a kid?" There was plenty of laughter and delight as old favorites were played. The atmosphere made me smile. A toast to Dave for developing this event! The Veggie Tales Sing along also drew its appeal from movie theatre rituals of yore. I gleaned my background info from the comprehensive KAFI program. Apparently, back in the 30's and 40's, filmgoers would enjoy short films before the feature. One style of shorts was six-minute cartoon reels that featured popular tunes of the day. As they played, the lyrics would be superimposed on the screen, encouraging the audience to join in, with the familiar bouncing ball keeping time. Today, the Veggie Tales offer some very fun little ditties for families to enjoy...and for 45 minutes, the audience chimed in on their favorites with Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato. The Growth of Veggietales was a 90 minute film that tracks the growth of "The Big Idea" and its series "VeggieTales" through the first ten years of their existence. Using interviews with Phil Visser, Mike Nowicki and other members of the VeggieTale team, we see how a simple idea has grown into an international phenomenon. Behind the scene video clips from the original shows juxtaposed with current efforts show how Bob and Larry, the stars of the show have evolved from simple shaded shapes to fully acting, costumed and ripened vegetables. We also get previews of new shows including 3,2,1 Penguins and their first feature length film Jonah. If you ever have wondered how a simple idea, a computer in a bedroom, lots of hard work and faith can be the start of a major new animation studio, "The Growth of VeggieTales" can bring this to life. Hot on the heels of this show, the VeggieTale Sing along brought families together at the State Theatre for a free show on Sunday Afternoon. This short event used a 'follow the bouncing ball' format to engage the audience in a fun 'old timey' community sing song. Over 500 parents and children raised their voices to the strains of "The Cheeseburger Song"," We are the Pirates who don't do Anything" and "Endangered Love" among others. Kids who have never experienced this early form of movie theater "preview" entertainment were treated to a genre of film experience enjoyed by their grandparents. The last event I attended at KAFI was the Panel Discussion about violence in animation. The panelists were Joe Cartoon (web designer from Grand Rapids), John Fountain (animation director from Nickelodeon), Maxine Schlacker (producer/educator from Max the Mutt school in Toronto), and Kristin DeKam (humanities instructor at KVCC). It was a fiery discussion indeed! There were some passionate exchanges on beliefs from both panelists and audience members alike. It was a debate I wished that the general public could have seen, considering it dealt a lot with notions of whose responsibility is it to "protect" children from violent imagery. Parents? Society? Media Producers? Of course censorship was not considered a viable option by the panel and most of the attendees. The discussion got downright gritty...I loved it! A toast to you all for providing relevant, interesting, and valid concerns and opinions to the panel...it was an afternoon I shan't forget. The Competition Screenings Oh Joy, Oh Rapture! This is how I felt every time I walked into the lavishly gorgeous State Theatre to attend the screenings. As a judge, I had seen this material once before, but I couldn't wait to see many of them again. There were 68 pieces that made it into the competitive screenings. I shall share some of my favorites. There were some very sweet and beautiful works in the Friday Night Competition (Benign Beings, Bluegaroo, Little Red Plane), however, I have to pay special attention to an absolutely gorgeous stop motion piece called The Hunger Artist. I spoke of this piece for weeks after I saw it for the first time. Franz Kafka bases it on the short story about a man whose performance act was to be caged for 40 days without food. During his period of starvation, he dreams that he's well loved by audiences and revered for his talent. The stop motion combined both cut paper and puppet animation. The style was exquisite, yet dismal and a little creepy. I really loved the way the filmmaker Tom Gibbons created puppets that had 2D bodies, with 3D arms and legs. The motion was so realistic it brought a tear to my eye. A toast to you Tom. You're work was awe-inspiring! The Saturday afternoon screening featured a great deal of work created by students. There were many "sweetie-pie" pieces that were obviously made by children, but that added greatly to their charm. Aliens?, Nine Mile Canyon: Under Construction, and Pseudo Pluto, fall into this group. Elementary school or middle school students created all of these works. Aliens? was a piece that was reminiscent of Ardman Animation's Creature Comforts. It featured interview sound bytes that responded to the question, "Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?". Clay forms of non-human entities were created to match the voices. One brilliant moment was the response of the "token skeptical human." A must see... Nine Mile Canyon was so adorable and educational. Assisted by the awesome animator/teacher Karen Aqua, a group of elementary students utilized primarily cut-out animation techniques to chronical the history of the canyon over the past 90 million years. I loved their drawings, the naive sense of motion, and hearing the voices of the youngartists as they narrated each scene! Pseudo Pluto was created by Jonathan Leiter ( 9 years old)! This ambitious young man presented his business card to Mike Belzer of Disney! I was so impressed. His animation was also of the stop motion variety, about an imaginary trip to Pluto. My favorite part was the use of cotton balls to represent the explosion and smoke after Pluto had been "destroyed." I was also quite impressed with a piece called The Eraser. Produced by several teenage boys, it has a story line that draws inspiration from Loony Toons, and the rotoscoped style of the "Ah-Ha" music video ("Take on Me") from the 80's. In general, we were all impressed with the director, Andrew Rinehart. He had produced and entered several works into the festival, and showed up to the festival with a DVD compilation of his work! He actually made me a little nervous...a bit too advanced at his tender young age for my tastes ;-). Last but certainly not least of my faves from the Saturday afternoon show was Angela Mistretta's Shock Treatment. I have the good fortune of knowing Ms. Angela, and she is a very talented young lady indeed. In addition to having her work screened at the festival (and winning 2nd place in her category), Angela participated in the Cartoon Challenge as well. Shock Treatment is beautifully animated in the traditional cell style, and was pulled together using Photoshop and After Effects. It's a bittersweet tale of sibling rivalry and revenge...makes me giggle every time. The Saturday Evenings show featured many works I just adored. Two pieces stand out in my mind for the sheer beauty and elegance of the animation: 1000 Marys and Trilemna. 1000 Marys uses hundreds of images of the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ to explore the iconography of the figures over the years. The artist arranged the imagery along a timeline by grouping similar content such as close ups of eyes, and lips. The effect was stunning. Trilemna was another work that was superbly gorgeous. It features a semi transparent character walking in a cave, losing bits of herself as she walks, then placing these bits in a box. The lighting and modeling in this piece is expertly crafted. I don't generally like work done in a 3D program because it lacks a certain organic feel, but this piece transcends that typical 3D look. Bike Ride was a bittersweet tale based on a personal experience of the filmmaker. One day, he decided to surprise a girl he'd been dating by riding his bike 50 miles to her home. It chronicles his thoughts and fears during his journey, and in the end, his worst fear is realized...SNIFF! The style was classy...beautifully animated simple line drawings. There were many works that made my cheek muscles burn from laughter. The first one was a piece by Grand Valley's own Jason Roth. His piece, Angry Chair, is the "heartwarming" tale of "what happens when good furniture goes bad." I love Jason's style, his zesty sense of humor, and I love the raspy voice of the chair! The Lollipop Tree is pure & wacky brilliance. The soundtrack for this side splitter (found in a trash can) was taken from an educational film circa 1950's. The imagery poked fun at the narrator with a wild collection of characters, sarcastic facial expressions, locations and bizaar situations. I'd like to thank Michael Mayfield for creating such a fun piece. When we screened it during the judging, we were all in need of a good laugh, and your work delivered! Tongues and Taxis is a film that is scathingly hilarious. I found myself alternating between "Ewww" and "I can't breathe...laughing too hard". This little gem features a man whose boring life in a boring city with boring people takes a drastic turn into the extraordinary when he breaks both arms and loses his tongue in a freak accident caused by a fit of rage. His savvy cat (my favorite character) calmly staples his master's tongue back on, and goes about his business of strategic squirrel hunting. Meanwhile, the man tries to hail a taxi to get his wounds all fixed up. The taxis in this world are brutal, causing death to all who stand in their way. The film ends with a huge, deformed mutant tongue taking its anger out on the "boring city" and it's inhabitants. Words cannot do this piece justice. It's an experience you will never forget. A toast to Michael Overbeek. All I can say is...BRILLIANT! Probably my top pick of the festival was Das Rocks. This witty and clever animation took my breath away. We are brought into the world of being a rock by experiencing time the way they would. Two rock piles are having a conversation on a mountainside, and all around them the earth is evolving and changing. They complain of "lichen" that forms on their heads, and they reminisce. The climax of the film is the introduction of humanity. They watch a distant city rise up and sprawl in a way that threatens their existence. The development stops just short of their perch...and one rock says to the other, with a sigh of relief, "That was close!" Das Rocks is also on the line-up at the Ottawa Animation Festival. I can't wait to see it again, and if I'm lucky, perhaps the filmmaker George Gruber will be there so I can raise a glass of libation to his creative genius. The final screening of the weekend contained excerpts from the top three animations in each of the competition categories. There was much applause and support for the winners. I have to admit that I was a little sad though, as this meant the festival was over. Ah well... I certainly had a ball. And there is always next year. The list of categories and winners can be found on the KAFI website listed below. Next year, the ASIFA CENTRAL retreat will take place at the KAFI festival, so it's double the pleasure! KAFI will take place again May 16, 17, and 18, 2003. Mark those dates on your calendar now, and plan to attend. If you'd like to be involved with next year's festival, e-mail David Baker at kafi@kvcc.edu. |
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