Animation Timeline - Bill Plympton

Fig. 1 Portrait of Bill Plympton (2009)

Bill Plympton (1946 - Current) is an American Oscar-nominated animator and cartoonist, who is lauded for a career that goes back to 1968, prolific in that it has included almost one film a year with a style that is instantly recognisable. Bill Plympton animations have a way of amusing and provoking audiences with his surrealist, off-kilter take on everyday life for years. Born in Portland, Oregon, on April 30, 1946, Plympton developed a fascination with animation as a young child.

For Plympton, it wasn't until 1983 that he was approached to animate a film. The Android Sister Valeria Wasilewski asked Plympton to direct and animate a film she was producing of Jules Feiffer's song, "Boomtown.  Immediately following the completion of "Boomtown," he began his own animated film, "Drawing Lesson # 2." Production of the live action scenes was slow due to inclement weather. So Plympton decided to start on another film with which he would win an Oscar nomination for best animated short in 1988. Suddenly over night he became very popular, especially in the commercial business, his distinctive style invaded the world of advertising, doing spots for such clients as Trivial Pursuit, Nike, United Airlines and Mercedes-Benz. His work also started appearing with more and more frequency on MTV because His oblique, off-center sense of the ridiculous in everyday life.

Fig. 2 "How to Kiss"  Film Still (1989) 

After a string of highly successful short films "One of Those Days," "How to Kiss," "25 Ways to Quit Smoking," and "Plymptoons", he began thinking about making a feature film. “His shorts were winning prizes like crazy and he wanted a new challenge - and, as he puts it, "I'd wanted to make a full-length movie ever since I was a kid." (Plympton, 2003) "The Tune" was Plympton's critically acclaimed first full-length feature running animation. Featuring ten songs that each paid homage to different forms of American popular music of that time. "The story and characters are most definitely outlandish, but not abhorrent, and are often charming and funny. The allure this film exhibits is aided by very memorable and catchy songs that you will be unable to get out of your head once the movie ends" (Burke, 2010)

Fig. 3 The Tune Animation Poster (1992)

Plympton’s sharpness of his humour and satire and the almost unspeakable charm of his drawings have given much to animation as it has moved into the 21^st century.

List Of Illustration's

Figure. 1 Plympton, Bill  (2009) Portrait of Bill Plympton. http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2009/04/bill-plymptonoregon-filmmaker/ (Accessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 2 Plympton, Bill (1989) How To Kiss Film Still. http://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/portfolio/2009/01/15/bill-plympton-raconte-des-idiots-et-des-anges_1142400_3476.html (Accessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 3 Plympton, Bill (1992) The Tune Animation Poster. http://cliponload.com/2010/09/30/the-tune-by-bill-plympton-1992/ (Accessed on 07/04/2011)

Bibliography

Plympton, Bill (2003) Biography. http://www.plymptoons.com/biography/bio.html (Accessed on 04/04/2011)

Burke, D (2010) The Tune (1992) Reviews. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105654/usercomments (Accessed on 04/07/2011)

Animation Timeline - Jiri Barta

Fig. 1 Portrait of Jiri Barta (2008)

Jiri Barta (1948 - Present) is a Czech stop-motion animator, artist, director and is one of the great inspiring personalities of the world of animated film.  Revered as one of the world's most significant figures in animation. Barta has made a career fashioning stunningly gothic worlds of horror and fantasy, infused with sublime humour and intense moral examinations. Mixing the aesthetic traditions of his influences such as Kafka, Poe, Fritz Lang, The Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer.  “Like Svankmajer, Barta leans toward the grotesque in his imagery; sound is heavily emphasized, whether it is blood sloshing or a guttural, nonsensical tongue, providing a tactile quality to his characters and their universe.” (Jediny, 2007)  Barta's films are amazing creations that go far beyond mere children’s tales. His work has regularly taken Grand Prize at prestigious film festivals; indeed, films such as “The Pied Piper“ and “The Extinct World of Gloves“ are among the hidden treasures of animation.

Fig. 2 “The Pied Piper“ (1985) Film Still

Initially his work with cut-out shorts, but later into his career Barta later experimented with stop-motion and puppetry. Within seven years of, he has created and completed his first animation short in 1985 “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”. An animation that is still even to date is considered as one of the masterpiece of Czech animation. Quickly it become a phenomenon within Czech cinematography and was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of Czech animation.

 In the opening shots of “The Pied Piper” there is a close shot of an astrological clock and Barta himself even states that it is a symbolism in an interview with Jeremy Clarke “ It is an element of medieval philosophy, which is the basis of the story and an organic part of the whole thing. It is a story about the fate, the destiny of a town, or a city if you wish, or a society, and that are why I have used this symbolism.” (Clarke, 1988) Barta uses symbolism in many of animations to great effect.

Fig. 3 “The Pied Piper“ (1985) Film Still

The film is an adaptation of a medieval German tale about a pied piper from Hamelin. Most of the animated film adaptations of the pied piper are children's films.  For example Walt Disney made two films using the theme of the pied piper at the beginning of his career. In his series of films about Alice,, there is a film called Alice the Piper (1924) and a couple of years later in his famous Silly Symphony (1934). “Barta's film creates a striking contrast to the Disney conception of the pied piper legend as a children's comedy. Barta's adaption is a challenging and metaphoric morality that continues in the Czech tradition of Pied Piper adaptations.” (Košuličová, 2002) Barta, created a new morality that reflects the decline of socialist society in the mid-1980s.

List Of Illustrations 

Figure. 1 Barta,Jiri  (2008) Portrait of Jiri Barta. http://www.listal.com/viewimage/441600 (Acessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 2 Barta, Jiri  (1985) The Pied Piper Film Still. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/23937/jiri-barta-labyrinth-of-darkness/ (Acessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 3 Barta, Jiri  (1985) The Pied Piper Film Still. http://wn.com/Ji%C5%99%C3%AD_Barta(Acessed on 07/04/2011)

Bibliography

Jediny, Jenny (2007) The Animation of Jirí Barta. http://www.notcoming.com/features/jiribarta/ (Accessed on 03/004/2011)

Košuličová, Ivana (2002) The morality of horror Jiří Barta's Krysař(The Pied Piper, 1985). http://www.kinoeye.org/02/01/kosulicova01_no2.php (Accessed on 03/04/2011)

Clarke, Jeremy (1988) Jiri Barta and The Pied Piper. http://www.animatormag.com/archive/issue-23/issue-23-page-24/ (Accessed on 03/02/2011)

Animation Timeline - Jan Švankmajer

Fig. 1 Jan Švankmajer Portrait (2009)

Jan Švankmajer (1934 - Present) is one of the great Czech filmmakers and surrealist artist. He is known for his surreal animations and features with the use of several different media. He made his first film in 1964 and has gained a reputation as one of the world's foremost animators. Švankmajer had gone on to be a great influence on other filmmakers/animators such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, and the Brothers Quay.  

Fig. 2 Dimensions of Dialogue (1983) Passionate Dialogue Film Still

Stylistically, Švankmajer’s films are full of richness and are diversity in the use technique. With the use of Live-action, puppets, collage, drawn animation, montage, clay and object stop-motion animation mingle together throughout his work. His brilliant use of clay motion is shown best in his 1982 film "Dimensions of Dialogue" divided into several different animations.  The first section, dealing with ‘Exhaustive Dialogue,’ shows us three different human heads eating, digesting and regurgitating each other. The second section deals with ‘Passionate Dialogue’ featuring two human figures molded in clay, a man and a woman. Finally the third section is ‘Factual Dialogue’ Here we have two male heads, molded in clay, facing each other. Each opens their mouth and offers an object which the other compliments with an object of their own. "There’s a wealth of ideas running through this 12 minute short film but even if these are of no interest to you Dimensions of Dialogue is simply a sublime showcase of the possibilities of stop-motion animation." (Eason, 2010)

Fig. 3 Dimensions of Dialogue (1983) Exhaustive Dialogue Film Still

Svankmajer has moved further away from his roots in animation towards live-action filmmaking. But his films still remain as strikingly surreal and uncannily inventive as ever. In 1987 Svankmajer completed his first feature film, ALICE, a characteristically witty and subversive adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Švankmajer combines live action with stop-motion animation to create a startling effect for the audience. Švankmajer is a major artist in the surrealist movement, who has inspired many film directors, including Tim Burton. Who would go on to direct his own version of the story Alice in Wonderland years later. Compared to Burton’s version whose film was directed at a family audience, Jan Švankmajer’s himself takes the story back to its twisted roots, with a surreal interpretation of the novel ever to have been made into a film.“The movie is unabashedly indulgent in many of Švankmajer’s recurring themes (visible in nearly all of his short and feature films), such as his obsession with routine and his dismissive observations of the process of eating. The act of eating always seems to be a fruitless exercise in self-preservation (since the food ends up exiting us anyway), and the food itself is usually fraught with hidden dangers (nails, bugs, and magic that makes Alice change in size).” (Heilman, 2002)

While a majority of his films are animated, Švankmajer refuses to be called an animated filmmaker. “"Animators tend to construct a closed world for themselves, like pigeon fanciers or rabbit breeders." Švankmajer stated in an interview, "I never call myself an animated filmmaker because I am interested not in animation techniques or creating a complete illusion, but in bringing life to everyday objects."” (Jackson.1997) Švankmajer has done exactly what he has said and has brought everyday objects to life in his films, which can be seen as symbols and interpreted in many ways.

List of Illusrtations 

Figure. 1 Švankmajer, Jan (2009) Jan Švankmajer Portrait. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Svankmajer_Crystal_Globe.jpg (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 2 Švankmajer, Jan (1983) Dimensions of Dialogue - Passionate Dialogue Still. http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/essentialsdreams?s=1&sid=5042 (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 3 Švankmajer, Jan (1983) Dimensions of Dialogue - Exhaustive Dialogue Still. http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/essentialsdreams?s=1&sid=5042 (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Bibliography

Jackson, Wendy (1997) The Surrealist Conspirator: An Interview With Jan Svankmajer. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.3/issue2.3pages/2.3jacksonsvankmajer.html (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Heilman, Jeremy (2002) Alice (Jan Svankmajer) 1988. http://www.moviemartyr.com/1988/alice.htm (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Eason, Jack (2010) Dimensions of Dialogue. http://www.cinelogue.com/reviews/dimensions-of-dialogue (Accessed on 02/04/2011) 

CD Artwork For the Ebullient Pepper Mill

Animation Timeline - The Quay Brothers

Fig. 1  Stephen and Timothy Quay

Stephen and Timothy Quay (1947) are American, identical twin brothers, better known as The Quay Brothers and are both influential stop-motion animators. Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. They are influenced heavily by tradition Eastern European animation. They display a passion for detail, a breathtaking use of colour and texture, and an uncanny use of the camera that make their films unique. Whether “ Their films reveal the influence of Eastern European culture: whether inspired by animators, composers, or writers, a middle European esthetic seems to have beckoned them into a mysterious locus of literary and poetic fragments, wisps of music, the play of light and morbid textures” (Buchan¸ 1996)

Fig. 2 Street of Crocodiles (1986)

Perhaps their best known work is “Street of Crocodiles” (1986). The Quays more often than not, based their animations on the work of other writers and artists. “Street of Crocodiles” wasn’t any different, based on the short novel Street of Crocodiles by Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. With their budget increased this allowed the Quays to shoot in 35mm for the first time. This allowed them to pay much more attention to texture and the finer details such as lighting.

“Wildly imaginative, Secret Of Crocodiles – blending elements of Tarkovsky, Kafka and a host of others - is a perfect insight into the Quays' dark machinery. Contraptions are key to their work and their beaten up little puppets and macabre mannequins frequently find themselves having their strings cut or being subjected to death or worse.” (Wilkinson, 2006)The universe is entered via an old-fashioned kinetoscope machine, which is shown in the opening scene by a caretaker in a live action scene. After cutting the puppet free, the rest of the film depicts the puppet exploring an unsettling netherworld, where laws of physics and perspective no longer apply. Where bizarre machines perform unproductive tasks and a small urchin brings inanimate objects to life by casting reflected light upon them.

Fig. 3 Street of Crocodiles (1986)

The Quays' command of visual design and cinematography displays their genesis, of inspiration of their influences while at the same time creating a breathtaking originality of their own. “In addition to the literary and cinematic influences, their aesthetic style combines the existential expressionism of Edvard Munch, the painted contortions of Francis Bacon, the juxtaposed montages of the Surrealists, the stylistics of early silent cinema including the "actualities" of Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers, and the landscapes of industrial decay and pathological anomalies found in David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) and The Elephant Man (1980). Despite their formidible list of influences, the sum total is greater than the parts as the Quays' aesthetic style is unmistakably original.” (Fiumara, 2001) In many ways the Quay Brothers have found a connection with their influencers, in the sense that their work shows that the "ugly," decayed, degraded and deformed is that which becomes "beautiful”, that all there influences have shown in their work.

List of Illustrations

Figure.1 Stephen and Timothy Quay (2009) The Brothers Quay. http://blog.21xdesign.com/?p=48 (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 2 The Quay Brothers. (1986) Street of Crocodiles. http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/showarticle.php?sel=bac&siz=0&id=1046 (Accessed on 02/04/2011)
Figure. 3 The Quay Brothers. (1986) Street of Crocodiles.  http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/phantommuseums.php (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Bibliography

Suzanne, Buchan (1996) Shifting Realities: The Brothers Quay--Between Live Action and Animation. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.3/articles/buchan1.3.html (Accessed on 30/03/2011)

Wilkinson, Amber (2006) The Quay Brothers: The Short Films, 1979-2003. http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?id=5460 (Accessed on 30/03/2011)
Fiumara, James (2001) The thirteenth freak month: The influence of Bruno Schulz on the Brothers Quay. http://www.kinoeye.org/04/05/fiumara05.php (Accessed on 30/03/2011)

Animation Timeline - Ladislaw Starewicz

Fig. 1 Portrait of Ladislaw Starewicz

Ladislaw Starewicz (1882 – 1965) was a Russian stop-motion animator that used various insects and other animals in his works. Starewicz is a key figure in the history of stop-motion puppet animation, with “Over a period of 50 years, from Russia to France, he maintained a fascination with the strange, almost surreal properties of the form, exploring both its capacity for rendering realistic motion and movement, as well as its more “fantastic” and explicitly cinematic qualities.” (Danks, 2004)

Fig. 3 The Mascot (1934) Film Still

Starewicz began making 3D stop motion animated films in 1910 and continued creating them until his death in 1965. His films, although aimed at children, are what we today would call strange because of the use of often grotesque characters and situations. His puppets include quite realistic, minimally anthropomorphic animals such as frogs and insects, rabbits, toys and demonic vegetables.

Fig. 3 The Mascot (1934) Film Still

"The Mascot" (1934) is easily the best-known of Starewicz' films. The film’s plot is simple and mainly functions as a forum for Starewicz to show off his stunningly accomplished puppet animation. In comparison one of Walt Disney films Toy Story which was nearly 30 years after Starewicz “The Mascot, also takes place in a world of animated toys, but “The Mascot” appears the opposite. This is because “many of Walt Disney’s films felt truly sinister in the same way as Starewicz’s creations, but this film pushes farther into the inherent nastiness found in most fairy tales than Walt ever did.” (Heilman, 2001)

Fig. 4 The Cameraman's Revenge (1912) Film Still

“Like all of the greatest filmmakers, Starewicz did more than just create films; he used the craft of cinema to invent an utterly unique, self-contained world, one that reflected his own unadulterated artistic vision. His films could be, surreal, funny, disturbing, and deeply touching, sometimes all within the same scene.” (Kewley, 2010). It is unclear whether his animations are intended for either children or adults because they seem to be somewhere in the middle of disturbing adult darkness and innocent childlike dream.  This is some what of unfamiliar incurrence in his films and that of other filmmakers that he has gone on to influence like the likes of Tim Burton, Jan Svankmajer, the Quay brothers. Starewicz utilises the method of stop motion throughout this film and through his career to create unique animations

List of Illustrations

Figure. 1 Starewicz, Ladislaw (1882 – 1965) Portrait of Ladislaw Starewicz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladislas_Starevich (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 2 Starewicz, Ladislaw (1934) The Mascot Film Still. http://fan.tcm.com/_Fetiche-Mascotte-The-Mascot-Ladislaw-Starewicz-1933/photo/9454514/66470.html?b= (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 3 Starewicz, Ladislaw (1934) The Mascot Film Still. http://mubi.com/lists/6797 (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Figure. 4 Starewicz, Ladislaw (1912) The Cameraman's Revenge Film Still. http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/STARE/stare12.htm (Accessed on 02/04/2011)

Bibliography

Danks, Adrian (2004) Ladislaw Starewicz and The Mascot. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/starewicz_mascot/ (Accessed on 29/02/2011)

Heilman, Jeremy (2001) The Mascot (Wladyslaw Starewicz) 1933. http://www.moviemartyr.com/1933/mascot.htm (Accessed on 29/02/2011)

Kewley, Pat (2010) Love Among the Insects, The Pioneering Animation of Ladislaw Starewicz, One Hundred Years Later. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/71/71starewicz_kewley.php (Accessed on 29/02/2011)

2D Animation Work - Fixed Problems

Here are my 2D animation Homework of the bowling ball with the changes also my ebullient walk.