Premier: The (animated) History of White People in America

Industry veteran Ed Bell writes to about his new project, The History of White People in America (not to be confused with the Martin Mull's 1985 program).  Ed tells FLiP what this new project is and what it took to make it to screen.   It premieres TODAY, and FLiP's got it first.


By Ed Bell

Think of The History of White People in America as the School House Rock for the racial history of America.

When the Pilgrims arrived, there was no notion of white, black, or red as we understand race now. In 1950s Georgia, Chinese immigrants were perceived as white or black depending upon what town they lived in. Today, academics say some Latinos and Asian-Americans are “white.” What does that mean and why does it seem so important to our nation’s story?  This series that will tell the story of how whiteness and non-whiteness were invented and continue to evolve, morph and drive the American story.

In 15 animated short films, we will tell American history as it has never been told before. We wanted to at least make the attempt to offer people a platform or an inducement to actually talk about the real problems we face as a country, let alone as an industrialized world.  I won't pretend to know who the target audience is anymore. I won't BS about it: everyone should see and contemplate these shorts.

Jettisoned - "Radiohead meets Hawkwind"

Welsh filmmaker (and friend of FLiP) Nathan Erasmus has teamed up with young psychedelic rockers KOYO to produce a new sci-fi inspired animated video for the band’s new single ‘Jettisoned’.

Animator Benn Garnish Introduces Retrofit!

Retrofit from Imagescope Productions on Vimeo.

Animators are film-makers, and it's not unusual to find animators who bridge the gap between animation and live action. Been Garnish, animator and friedn of FLiP, who is responsible for much memorable character and creature animation on films like "Harry Potter", has made a short video titled Retrofit. It's a science-fiction fantasy, set in the near future, "when death is just a new beginning - for those who can afford it."

Tom Sito Reviews Richard Williams' "Prologue"

A still image from "Prologue"

Animation director Richard Williams recently completed his long-anticipated short film Prologue, premiered at Annecy this past June and recently released in selected theatres in Los Angeles.  Tom Sito, Animator, Director, Historian and President Emeritus of the Animation Guild, wrote us a review of the film.  As a far as we can tell - this is the first review of "Prologue".

SONG OF THE SEA: Not Quite a Review - by Steve Burch

Song of The Sea premiered in London on Sunday Night

It is not often that you get a European animated feature released. It is not often that you get an animated movie, be it a short or feature length, that is an absolute delight to watch. Song of the Sea is both of these. Directed by Academy award-nominated filmmaker Tomm Moore and released by Cartoon Saloon, the movie Song of the Sea transports you into an astounding multi layered magical world, filled with a wonderful collection of Irish human and fairy folk lore characters, whose personalities both unfold and grow richer as the tale develops.

Submit your Indie Film Project now to Cartoon Movie

Cartoon Movie 2014

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 26 November 2014. Are you looking for co-producers, financing and distributors for your animated feature film project? If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie! If your film gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries. Present at Cartoon Movie are 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.

KAHLIL GIBRAN’S THE PROPHET

KAHLIL GIBRAN’S THE PROPHET played at Tiff on Friday night at the gorgeous Winter Garden Theatre. This film, which was produced by Salma Hayek and directed by Roger Allers, has no distribution at present. I hope that this is rectified since it certainly should be seen by larger audiences. It uses a FANTASIA like construction with animated sequences illustrating Gibran’s poetry in a wide variety of styles. 

Director Frank Gladstone talks about his new film "Hero of Color City"

Frank Gladstone is a producer, director, animation entrepreneur and the Executive Director of ASIFA Hollywood, the organisation that hosts the annual ANNIE awards - the "animation Oscars". Frank has just finished directing his first feature length animated film, The Hero of Color City, which will be released in cinemas in October. In a Skype interview (a first for FLiP!) we asked him to talk about the challenges of directing an indie animated film and bringing it to the screen.

Timo Vuorensola, Director of Iron Sky, explains Crowd Funding for Beginners

Timo Vuorensola, director of Iron Sky, gave a lecture at Closing The Gap, a European conference on film financing, explaining how to crowd fund an independent feature film. Iron Sky was initially funded through online sources, and later on secured more conventional funding on the back of the crowd-sourced contributions. Timo explained how he pulled off such an ambitious and successful project by starting an online fan base to help make his film.

Richard Bazley introduces Lost Treasure Hunt - just launched at Kickstarter

Richard Bazley is an animator, director and film-maker who has just launched a new animated film project at Kickstarter - Lost Treasure Hunt, a history adventure series intended to entertain and educate. The project is being made in partnership with the public broadcasting giant PBS. Here Richard talks about the genesis of the project, and how the public can get involved - and help bring it to life.

Bob and Bradly's Charmin' Tale

Bob Blevins and Bradly Werley are Portland based animators who have created an undoubtedly original film, T.P.   As Bob describes it, "The film is a gut wrenching drama about a roll of toilet paper who is born into a dirty gas station bathroom, and must struggle for his destiny to unravel differently than his traumatized predecessor."

Told you it was different.

Bob further explains, "It started between two bedrooms and a kitchen in San Francisco, and wrapped in a garage in Portland. Some very gifted people have been helping us out, including veteran voice actor Bob Bergen, the official voice of Porky Pig."

Having recently wrapped production after three years of production, they have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help us raise funds for the post production costs. Bob and Bradly, a.k.a. WerleyBob Pictures, talked to FLiP about their ambitious project.

Kirk Hendry's Very Impressive "Junk"

Kirk Hendry is a London based director of the critically acclaimed short Junk, the story of a boy with a voracious appetite for awful things.  He took some time out to talk to FLIP....

FLIP:  Why did you chose to tell the story in silhouettes?
Kirk: I had previously made a film called Round that was made entirely with hand shadows, so was a big fan of the drama of silhouettes. I had made the animatic for 'Junk' without tying it to a particular style. Then I saw The Adventures Of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger. After seeing Achmed, I got excited about doing that cutout/lightbox style with computers. It became an exercise in lighting that has been very useful ever since.

Tony Benedict's "The Last Cartoonery"

If you grew up loving Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, or The Pink Panther, you may find this new documentary very interesting.  Legendary animation writer Tony Benedict has a pet project about his days with Hanna-Barbera and DePatie Freling, called The Last Cartoonery. He is going the Kickstarter route for funding, and talked to FLIP about the project and the good old days.

Joe Barbera and Tony Benedict with Yogi Bear storyboard.
Photo from Benedict's The Last Cartoonery site.

FLIP:  The Last Cartoonery - Who is doing this?

Tony: The Last Cartoonery is being done by me as producer, writer, animator and director. Music by Alan Bernhoft.

FLIP: Is there much film footage from your Hanna Barbera days?  Are you looking for material (film, photos, artwork, stories) for the film?

Tony: In the glory days of early Hanna–Barbera, fellow cartoon guy Jerry Eisenberg and I shot a lot of film and still photos around the studio. We also drew lots of gags and caricatures. Lots of photo and film restoration. We have designed caricatures of Bill and Joe to animate along with caricatures of other studio folk. We are animating gags created nearly sixty years ago. It's a labor of love. No one will get rich off this film but among animation fans I feel it will be well received.

Withoutabox.com - For Your Festival Submission Sanity

Did I mention my new short Chief, Your Butt's on Fire this week?   We're in festival submission mode around here, and just as film has gone digital, so has the submission process.  Thankfully, my wife discovered withoutabox.com.

This is going to sound like a big freaking commercial, but if you are an indie filmmaker, this could really help you.  On the Withoutabox site, you fill out a form about your film, then upload a web-quality Quicktime file.  When you find a festival you like, you click "qualify" and see if your form jives with that festival's submission form.   You make whatever adjustments you need to make, then click "submit" and it's done.  No making umpteen copies of your film,  no writing umpteen descriptions of you film.

Done!

What Is Wrong With The Global Development Organisation?

What Is Wrong With The Global Development Organisation?  is a short film project executed by a group of my students, mostly at Bucks New University (my day job), but also including talent from my online school, www.animationapprentice.org.

The film was a private commission from an individual who experiences day to day the problems set out in the film, and who wanted to find a way of expressing those problems in a way that would be fun and entertaining - but with a serious message. She wants to remain anonymous because, as she put it, "if you win an Oscar I will get fired".

An Artist in the Producer's Chair ....Wha?

Shannon Shea has made his career of the past thirty years doing make-up effects on films such as Predator, Terminator 2 , Jurassic Park,  Drag Me to Hell, and Men in Black 3.  He has had plenty of experience in dealing with producers, and now he steps into their shoes with the film Scream at the Devil.  He talked to FLIP about his experience in the producer's chair. 

FLIP: What made you want to take the leap into producing?

Shannon: Actually, it was kind of a mistake.  In an effort to save my dwindling health care through Screen Actor's Guild,  I decided I would start auditioning for acting roles (my primary performance through SAG was puppeteering).  So, I received a notice for a film that was shooting in Los Angeles, I met with the director and, as most people do in tinsel town these days, he "IMDB'ed" me.  When he saw my credits he asked if I would come on board as a VFX supervisor rather than an actor (promising me more money than if I acted for a day or two).  I liked him and agreed under one condition: I would be a VFX PRODUCER, not supervisor.

Gary Conrad, Debi Derryberry, and a Talking Banana

Gary Conrad is a 30-year industry veteran and the Emmy and Annie Award nominated director of  The Fairly Odd Parents.  He recently completed his side project - a documentary called Debi Derryberry: Cheery and Fun and talked to FLIP about his film.

FLIP: What drove you to make Cheery and Fun? 

Gary: Growing up in Kentucky, I made one Super 8 movie after another and loved it.  Since graduating CalArts in 1984, I've been lucky to make my living in the animation business, but I've continued to make short films on the side, purely for the fun of it.  A few years back, a short documentary I made about a toy collector in Torrance, California was selected to screen in a couple of film festivals, which was a kick.

For my next project I decided I would write a narrative film.  I was trying to come up with an interesting character and unusual story.  I was feeling stuck.  Then I saw a Baby Banana singing with his Mama Duck and Daddy Gorilla accompanied on a pink guitar by a four foot ten cartoon star named Debi Derryberry in pursuit of fame and fortune.  Uh, I no longer felt I needed to make anything up.

Chief, Your Butt's on Fire

Trailer for "Chief, Your Butt's on Fire" from Steve Moore on Vimeo.

I am pleased to announce the completion of my brand new short, Chief, Your Butt's on Fire.  I decided to make it the old fashioned way, fully animating the whole thing myself, by hand, like in my student days.  The only concession to technology would be scanning the drawings, and painting and compositing digitally.  It took 13 years to do.

Independent Producer Max Howard reveals the secrets of producing independent animated films

Max Howard

Animation producer Max Howard began his career in animation working on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", after which he joined Disney in Florida to set up their fledging Orlando studio. Since then he has worked for many of the biggest animation studios, and for the past decade has forged a career as an independent producer, as well as consulting for the animation industry and giving lectures and workshops all around the world. FLIP asked him to talk about what it takes to produce an independent animated film.

It's Official - Art Story is the First Animated Feature Film to be Funded at Kickstarter....

Art Story, the independent animated film directed by Aaron Blaise and Produced by Chuck Williams. is officially the first animated feature film to be funded at Kickstarter.

Chuck and Aaron have raised $365,000, enough to start work on their film - a hugely impressive start. Their goal was $350,000 and they have comfortably exceeeded that sum.