Faberge Big Egg Hunt comes to Covent Garden

"Pandora" by Martin Aveling

The Faberge Big Egg Hunt is almost over - bids close on Easter Monday for your chance to own a one meter high hand painted fibreglass egg - how can you possibly resist? All the eggs have been gathered together in Covent Garden over the Easter weekend for one last push to break the world record for the world's largest-ever Easter Egg Hunt. Some of them are truly amazing - my personal favourite is "Pandora" - hand painted by the very talented wildlife painter Martin Aveling. The photo doesn't really do it justice - the surface texture has been beautifully rendered so it looks and feels like a real giant egg.

And I was thrilled to see that my egg - The Great Eggscape - is still alive after 6 weeks in the rain - apart from a few sticky handprints it was completely unscathed. One wet cloth and a gentle scrub later and it looks as good as new.

Sarah on egg cleaning duty

Bids close at 5pm on Monday 9th April. Go on....you know you want one! - Alex

The Oyster Cracker

I had my first gallery show last month and want to show off my posters.  But first, backstory.....

Oyster heyday of the Delaware Bay

I live in Port Norris, in southern New Jersey, where the Maurice and Delaware Rivers meet.  A hundred years ago, it was an oysterman's paradise.  Hundreds of schooners under sail dredged enough oysters to fill 300 train cars every week during the season.  In the 1950's, a disease decimated the oyster beds.  The town was ruined.  In 1962 I was born. I would grow up watching once proud ships dissolve in the muddy banks and buildings vanish in the marsh on which they had been built.  In 1981, I got the hell out.      

The schooner A.J. Meerwald

Fast forward to the 1990's. A woman named Meghan Wren created a non-profit called The Bayshore Discovery Project out of her love for the river.  The group purchased a 1928 schooner called the A.J. Meerwald, which they restored to its 1928 self.  They also purchased a waterfront building known as The Shipping Sheds. This is where, in the heyday, the oyster boats docked, the oysters placed in barrels, then loaded onto awaiting train cars.

After many years of slow, steady progress, and lots of volunteer effort, these sheds have at last been restored, and are now used for educational purposes as well as social events.  Last fall they began a monthly Second Friday event, where there's music, fresh shucked oysters, art, and hanging out at the docks by the river.  A very nice night out.

The Shipping Sheds then and now.

So when Meghan asked if I would design a sign for their new cafe, The Oyster Cracker,  I jumped at the chance to be part of this cool place. I used the opportunity to try different styles, playing on my Cintiq.  There were enough ideas for a poster show as part of their Second Friday event last month.  They were very well received and we sold almost a dozen prints.  Check them out, FLIP friends!

Cracker Box                           Royster

R. Crumb                                Jesse

Super Oyster                          Silhouette      

Folk Art                               Rebus

Linocut Red                        Linocut Blue

They're available for purchase, $60 for an 18 X 24" print.  A third of all proceeds goes to The Bayshore Discovery Project.  A third goes to the print shop.  And a third goes to the Steve Moore beer fund - please give!  Order now! Maureen at the Bayshore Discovery Project is standing by.  Click here!

-Steve

Tax breaks for UK animation?

According to The Guardian, last week's UK budget will bring huge tax relief for British animators, in an effort to stop jobs and production moving overseas. Details of the new proposed tax break are a bit sketchy, and will be subject to obtaining state-aid approval from the European Commission. If all goes well, UK production of animation will qualify for a 20% or 25% break depending on the production budget. Combined with the EIS tax incentive scheme this could be a really important boost for our industry.  - Alex

Deja Vu

I recently stumbled across Andreas Deja's blog - Deja Vu - which is crammed with excellent posts, especially on Disney's Nine Old Men and their enduring legacy and contribution to the craft of animation. Twenty years ago I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with Andreas on "Scar", the character he designed and supervised on the "Lion King". Andreas was kind enough to let me join his team one summer at Disney in 1993 when I was still a student, eager to spend a summer working in LA to try to get better at animation and to earn some spare cash. Looking back now I can't believe how lucky I was - or how little I really knew. Despite my stumbling inexperience, Andreas was a generous mentor and under his careful guidance I managed to complete a number of shots on the film, work which I am still proud of 20 years later. 

I learned a great deal from Andreas, but the most important thing that he taught me was that no matter how good you are as an animator - and he is very very good indeed - we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Andreas's fascination with the work of Disney's 9 Old Men shows how much we can still learn from the Golden Age of Animation - if we will just take the trouble to study it.

- Alex

ObamaCare and Me

Yes, I'm weighing in on health insurance.

My wife, Donna, and I did not have health insurance when she was diagnosed with cancer last year. (see earlier post.)  She had left a job with insurance, and was looking into buying private insurance when it all hit the fan.

Thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act (a.k.a. ObamaCare), we were able to get insurance even with Donna's pre-existing condition.  If opponents of this law had had their way (and they eventually may),  we would have been denied insurance, and would have faced severe financial stress while trying to fight a life threatening disease.

There's been an awful lot of nasty rhetoric being tossed around, decrying this law as unconstitutional. An invasion of privacy.  An attack on our freedom.

I thought they were talking about Facebook.

This is about health insurance.  Not Communism.  Not the Taliban.  Not gay whales.  Not Mo-Cap.   Health insurance.  We are being forced to get insurance. Insurance companies are being forced to insure the sick.  That's the deal.

Some gnash their teeth in panic, imagining that their fears and prejudices come to life and gang-bang them in the name of ObamaCare.  Donna and I experienced this law in the real world, first hand.  It helped us.  That's not a Democratic thing nor a Republican thing.  It's a human thing.
-Steve

And now, a cartoon.....

Bimbo's Initiation

Not unlike getting a law through Congress.

Space Stallions!

Another awesome student film from The Animation Workshop - the hilarious Space Stallions, produced by another talented crop of recently graduated Danish film-makers. I have been coming to teach at the Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark for many years now, and I always love coming back; the school has a terrific energy and has become one of the best places to study animation in Europe. All classes are conducted in English, and international students are welcomed. The school has recently added a CGA (computer graphics art) course with a strong emphasis on technical skills, and the CG artists work together with the animators in their third year to produce a "bachelor project" - a final year film which aims to combine excellent animation and story telling with a high level of technical skill. Every year the films seem to get better and better, and the recent results speak for themselves. Enjoy! - Alex

Butch Hartman's YooToon Studios

My old chum Butch Hartman is chumming for new talent.  Butch has become the King of Cartoons at Nickelodeon with his Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, and T.U.F.F. Puppy series getting heavy rotation in the programming day.  And yes, I have given him grief over the obnoxiously loud soundtracks in his shows, but he's still kind enough to listen, then tip me for polishing his Bruno Maglis.


He has launched the YouTube channel "YooToon Studios".  Butch explains:


"YOOTOON STUDIOS is an area where aspiring animators of every age, shape and size can get their work seen by Hollywood professionals. If their videos get lots of attention we'll give them a small budget to make even more! The bigger the audience, the bigger the budget! Also, I'll be doing my own original stuff, too. Videos should be between 10 seconds and two minutes, ideally. But, hey, if your genius exceeds two minutes, let's see it anyway!"


And that's the carrot in a nutshell.  Get to it, kids!
-Steve

"Walt's Dead - You Missed It"

Those were the words of Ward Kimball, spoken in 1980 to a small theater full of Cal Arts students.  He might as well have been preaching atheism in a cathedral.  Students were not only hurt, but outraged that this "nine old man", this apostle of Walt, could deny their dreams of Walt's Second Coming.  They were, after all, the new generation being groomed to restore and continue the Walt Disney legacy.

Thirty two years later, that generation is still dreaming.  In the Fantasy Disney Studio in their minds, Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, and seven other guys become the new nine old men, and John Lasseter becomes Walt, bringing back old school animation for good,  and the artists move back into the old animation building, with the old desks, and marry ink and paint girls, and have lunch at Alphonse's and martinis at the Pago Pago.  Sigh.

When Glen Keane announced last week that he was leaving the studio, a chorus of shrieks rang out.  How could he do that?   The blablogs were on fire with comments on his announcement - barking up opinions as if Glen actually owed them an explanation for what was, in fact, a personal decision.

I don't know Glen, personally.  But I know he's done the best character animation of his generation and has nothing to prove.  He gave thirty six years to a studio that, during his tenure, grew, as if on steroids, into a pumped-up, corporate soulcrusher.  They'll go on making animated films (or not), but its homey, midwestern roots are gone, save for some very nice people working there, dreaming, dreaming, of the Fantasy Disney Studio in their minds.

"Walt's dead. You missed it."

-Steve

Brenda Chapman's New Website

Good ol' Brenda Chapman has announced the launch of her own website:
 www.brenda-chapman.com/.  And like everything she does, she did it right.

Brenda had this to say about it:
"I've learned that I really enjoy writing. It's a good place to try things out. And it's a chance for me to give a little back. I will never ever ever ever live up to Joe (Ranft) and his generosity with people who went to him for advice. He never turned anyone away who wanted his mentorship. I don't know how he did it, or found the time - but he did. So if I can do that on my own small scale, it's really to honor Joe. - I don't mean to sound mushy or mundane, but again, there it is."


I've known Brenda since we were CalArts kids.  Even in her student work she brought a humanity to her characters that played very real.  That's not something you can calculate, it has to come from the heart.  Few people in our business can tap that, but she can.  While the rank and file in our industry are busy aping each other, she brings her own perspective to her work.  


This is a good thing.    


-Steve
   

The Official Lawyer's Handbook

Even though I have spent 20 years in the animation business, I had a short lived career in the early 90's as a barrister - that is to say a lawyer of the wigged variety - made famous (ish) by John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda. I still write and draw a weekly cartoon strip about lawyers in The Times - you can see it at www.qccartoon.com - the site is full of law jokes, law cartoons, and law humour. And, from time to time I publish a new collection of the cartoons for my legion of fans (my Mum and her friends).

My latest book, published by the excellent JR Books, is a collaboration with the hugely talented American writer and ex-lawyer Daniel R. White - who is the main reason why The Official Lawyer's Handbook is as good as it is. Anyway this is my favourite book so far, and even if you don't think lawyers are funny, you still might enjoy laughing at them, especially if you have recently emerged from divorce or bankruptcy. You can find the book here at amazon.co.uk, and I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing and drawing it - Alex

2 D Goggles - or the Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

One of the many privileges of our business is the pleasure of working alongside talented colleagues. I first met Sydney Padua at Warner Bros where we worked on Brad Bird's wonderful Iron Giant. Since then we have bumped into each other on many animation and VFX features including most recently The Chronicles of Narnia - Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where Sydney did some beautiful character work on Eustace, the dragon.

Syd does not neglect her own personal projects and has developed her own highly successful online web comic about the Victorian inventor and computer pioneer, Charles Babbage. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage has developed a huge following and even the science establishment is very keen to get involved - making science interesting for kids. She recently did a TED talk which you can see here. Syd is an inspiration for every animator who dreams of getting on with their own personal work - while simultaneously balancing the need to do commercial work and of course earn a living. Her web comic is beautifully drawn and very funny, and you can find it here. Personally, I can't wait for the graphic novel. Enjoy! - Alex

FLIP on Flops

I didn't see John Carter.  But I have worked on my share of flops. My heart goes out to the really talented people who poured so much of themselves into a production like that.  It's like you've raised a child to walk the high wire, and on his first step out,  he falls to his death.

Peers stare in silence.  They'll mumble privately to each other, "The kid was too fat." or "The kid didn't know what he was doing." or "They should have given the kid a better name."  but publicly, there's an awkward silence.  They put their heads down and go back to work.

When one of our peers fails, there's a shiver of fear that resonates through the creative ranks.  In our industry, failure is made very public.  Media people seem to drool over the opportunity to take smug, dismissive shots at a movie that didn't work.  They haughtily highlight every flaw, and belittle the filmmakers for their incompetence.  People all over the world get to witness this beating to their own amusement, adding their own asinine comments without the slightest idea that the movie was made by good, talented people who just couldn't make the sum of the parts come together as a whole.

And then there's a private fallout in the studio.   Studio brass forget your name.  Your agent forgets your number.  Friends forget to be friends, wanting to avoid any conversation about the whole mess. Is it any wonder that creative people are afraid to take chances?

In FLIP #17, director Dan Scanlon talked about the fear of failure in the industry:

"I find a lot of professionals artist are afraid to make something on their own because they fear it won't live up to the standard of the projects they contribute to at work. They're afraid when people see what they create without the company behind them. Afraid it will appear that they're the one who's been pretending to help lift the couch. But remember, the projects you work on professionally are made by many, many, extremely talented people, but that doesn't mean each one of them should be able to take the reins and knock it out of the park on their own. Give it a shot, and if you fail - so what? Revel in it, and most importantly, learn from it and do it again. Besides, even if your peers say your project sucks, take comfort in knowing they're still secretly jealous that you made something."


Dan was talking about independent filmmaking, but the fear that he speak of - of not being able to succeed outside of the walls of the animation studio - still applies.  The comfort zone of a big studio is hard to step away from, particularly as you get older and have families to support.  The goal shifts from having a career in animation to having a job in animation.  It's just how it is. 


But for me, the real fear is not failure, but getting too comfortable.  I remember my early years in animation, encountering old veterans with tons of great advice on technique, but terribly stale creative ideas.  I felt kind of bad for them, worse than I feel for Andrew Stanton, the director of John Carter.  At least Andrew was trying something different.   He took a big chance on a very big stage. 


-Steve

Where to learn creature animation?

One of the problems that the Visual Effects business in London has had for many years is how to find suitably trained animators - photo realistic creature work is very demanding and the skills involved can be quite different from animating character performances. One school that offers an excellent training (at very reasonable rates) is Rob Hemmings' admirable Animation A-Team. He focuses exclusively on training animators for creature work, aiming squarely at the likes of Frame Store, Double Negative, MPC and Cinesite. The reels his students come up with are hugely impressive - you can see their work, and his website here: Enjoy! - Alex

A Lorax Anecdote Not from the Publicity Dept

I started working for Illumination Entertainment four years ago, when they were just starting out.  I work from my studio in New Jersey, in my hometown of Port Norris.  I used to live in L.A., worked there for over 20 years.  What a hell-hole.  With my wife, Donna, I bought a 120 year old commercial building, which we renovated and set up shop.  I have a half-mile commute to work.  I do storyboards on a Cintiq, which are uploaded to Illumination HQ in Santa Monica.

I started on "Despicable Me", then rolled right over onto "The Lorax", and now "Despicable Me 2".  Some California colleagues have bad-mouthed Illumination for not giving Americans jobs.  Because America ends at the San Gabriel Valley.  

"The Lorax" director Chris Renaud and me near Mac Guff Studio in Paris.

A Pixar friend who's drunk on the company Kool-Ade accused Illumination of using sweatshop labor.   He's referring to Mac Guff, the CG studio stuck in that horrible third world city of Paris, a stone's throw from the slums of the Eiffel Tower.  I visited it with my family in 2010.  They pay their animators in cigarettes!  Well, they smoke a lot, anyway.  

Right after our Paris trip, my wife started having stomach pains.  She was running for local election (and won!) and figured it was a stress-related ulcer.  At the end of December, after a series of tests, she was diagnosed with colon cancer.  It was bad. 

In January 2011, she began chemotherapy at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Every other week, we would make the fifty mile trek northwest to the city .  At a cubicle-like infusion station, I would plug in my Cintiq and do Lorax storyboards while my wife sat in a recliner for six hours, having toxic chemicals fed into her bloodstream to save her life.

At first, nurses would stop in their tracks, fascinated by what I was doing.  "Are you drawing?"  they would ask.  "Amazing!" they would say.  My work never saved anyone's life.  After a few months, they got used to seeing me.  Now I'm just "that Despicable Me guy".  Donna has the same nurse each time, Annette.  I can't understate how incredibly kind she had been.  Beyond administering chemo, she will sit and chat and make a stressful experience not so stressful, all while getting her own work done.   That's a whole different kind of talent. 

Nurse Annette and me with my Cintiq at Infusion Studios.

We kept Donna's condition quiet for a long time, because some people FREAK OUT when you mention cancer.  But I did tell Illumination.  Dave Rosenbaum, the story supervisor, and Chris Renaud, the director, could not have been more understanding and supportive.  We were in the midst of production on "The Lorax". With all the production madness going on on THEIR end, they never had a problem with my wacky schedule.  That meant a lot to me.    

So when I see trailers for "The Lorax", I think of Jefferson Hospital.  Parts of every sequence I did were done during chemotherapy, in what I now call "Infusion Studios".  That big, sweeping shot when we first see the Truffala Valley? Infusion Studios.

The massive animal exodus?  Infusion Studios.

Ted's escape from Thneedville?  Infusion Studios.  

Ted visits Audrey and gets flipped?  Infusion Studios.

And so on.

Two major surgeries and a year of chemo later, Donna's doing great.  I couldn't board a better ending.
-Steve

Donna loves Paris.

The Story of Animation

Another excellent new short film, this time directed by my old friend and former Blue Sky alumnus Dave Tart (we worked together on Chris Wedge's excellent Blue Sky Studios' release Robots).

Dave collaborated with the excellent Tumblehead Animation Studios in Viborg, Denmark to produce a short UPA-style film about the animation process - designed to help clients understand what actually goes in to the making of an animated project. It's short, funny, and very very well made. I'll be bookmarking it for the next time I need to explain things to a client, so I don't have to educate them at great length about what exactly is involved in the process of animation.

You can see The Story of Animation at Vimeo here:

...and you can see more about the up and coming Tumblehead Animation here:

Enjoy! - Alex

Saga City - a charming animated short by Luc Chamberland

Check out this delightful animated short - Saga City - by my old friend Luc Chamberland, whom I worked with many years ago on "Joseph" - the sequel to DreamWorks' "Prince of Egypt". Luc directed the animation in Vancouver and did an awesome job - now he is a Director at the National Film Board in Montreal. You can see Saga City here at the NFB website. Enjoy! - Alex

Come and Join the Big Egg Hunt!

This week saw the launch in London of the Faberge Egg Hunt - the world's biggest ever Easter Egg Hunt. The event aims to raise funds for two important charities: Action for Children and Elephant Family, inviting tourists, locals and visitors to hunt down the strategically placed giant eggs all over the capital.


Alex of course cannot reveal the secret location of his egg, but visitors to London's South Bank near Hungerford Bridge might be searching in the right area.

You can see a pdf map of the South Bank eggs here: And if you really get stuck, there's a cheat sheet here. And you can even bid on the eggs too! The auction begins online here: Go on...you know that what you really need is a giant Easter egg in your living room!

And, with 10 coats of marine varnish, you can even leave it outside. - Alex

Tales from Usher House Studios

posted by Steve
Here's one from the archives, called "Project Pod John".  It's the story of a studio's attempt to create a John Lasseter of their own......

http://www.flipanimation.net/fliplissue7.htm

This was probably my favorite of the articles I wrote for the original FLIP.  I took a twisted meeting that  really happened and twisted it some more.  Give it a read, you've probably had a meeting like this yourself!  More tales from Usher House are yet to come!

Hearts & Hammers, Episode 1

I've had a couple of e-mails lately from people looking for my old Hearts and Hammers short. I did four of these back in the '00's, but they've been offline for a few years. If you're not familiar with the short, it's simple: a man and a woman discuss love while holding their hearts in one hand and hammers in the other.  Its a Valentine's Film for people going through a rough patch.

So for you, Tony Sprando of Bend Oregon, and for you, Trish Baird of location unknown, here's the first episode of Hearts and Hammers.....

Gary Miereanu - Publicity Hound

posted by Steve

Gary at snowy Lincoln Center last night.

I first met Gary Miereanu in 1997, when I was at Disney TV Animation.  He was in the publicity department, and I was a red-hot director of a whimsical short called "Redux Riding Hood".  When you're a red-hot director, you get introduced to people like Gary, and they write stuff about you.  Some of it's true!  Gary is an enormous guy with an enormous heart.  He's always been a pal to me, even after my fifteen minutes as cartoon celebrity were up.

He does publicity for Warner Bros now, covering their premieres and such.  But what is truly, TRULY impressive, is that he's in New York City right now, covering the Westminster Dog Show for the LA Daily News.  My wife and I have become hooked on this show, and I was gobsmacked last year when I learned that Gary was there, in person, on the floor, photographing the event.

Gary explains: 
"Four years ago, on behalf of Warner Bros , I scheduled a premiere for one of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.  I've watched the Westminster Dog Show every year it's been televised,and never thought I'd get the chance to attend. My original career was that of a sportswriter and photographer, and I've covered everything from six Super Bowls to World Series to NBA and NHL championships and so on (for Sport Magazine, and dozens of magazines and newspapers). So when I realized that Westminster was the same week as the premiere, I called my old newspaper -- The Los Angeles Daily News -- and offered my services to shoot the dog show. And they agreed. By coincidence, Warner Bros. has had a premiere for me to run each of the last four years (including tonight) in New York during the week of Westminster, so we've kept the ball rolling. And it is truly two of the most fun days of my year."

photo from 2011 Westminster Dog Show by Gary Miereanu

Gary wears a bright yellow shirt to the event so his wife and kids can spot him on TV.  He's a big dude, so finding him is not like finding Waldo.  Now you, too, can play along! 

Gary adds, "As one of my best pals says, 'You can see that shirt from space!'"

The man in the yellow shirt on the front page of the New York Times last year with the 2011 Best in Show dog.  

See shots of this year's show here....

See more shots of last year's show in the LA Daily News


Watch the Dog Show tonight (Monday):
8-9 PM (Eastern Time) live on USA Network
9-11 PM (ET) live on CNBC


And be sure to watch for Best in Show Tuesday night:
8-11 PM (ET) live on USA Network

Valentine's Nth

It's time once again to go up to the attic and pull this film out of the box for the hunched and goofyhearts out there.  Actually, its been on Vimeo for months, but who knew?  The Indescribable Nth is a short I made independently starting in 1993 and completing in 1999.  Production was done at Character Builders Studio in Worthington, Ohio.

I started this film during a time when animated features were telling dramatic stories with human characters designed with realistic proportions in realistic settings.   There was a ton of production value and great craftsmanship, but that meant squat if the character acting failed to move the audience.  I felt that little bit of information was lost on executives.  In the '90's, epic scale was in, which in an animated film is what - a tiny animated character on a large background?   Clearly, the lesson they took from The Lion King's success was: more wildebeests!

So I wanted to make a little film that told an emotional story with extremely stripped-down designs that, according to the geniuses in charge, were only good for yuks.  But we managed to bring the audience to the brink of tears with a series of simple line drawings.  And that, to me, is what makes character animation magic.  Not to short-change the other elements of production - all are important to create the whole - but the actors are the eyes through which the audience experiences the story.  (I hear a chorus of my peers yelling "DUH!!" right now.)

I have to take my hat off the the gang at Character Builders, who put as much passion into making this film as I did.  They were a greatly underrated bunch back then and I am proud to have worked with them. Look how many ended up at Disney and Pixar!

Share The Indescribable Nth with someone you love.  But you're still on the hook for a Valentine's gift.
-Steve

The Indescribable Nth from Steve Moore on Vimeo.

David Bowie got me Hooked on Coffee

posted by Steve

In 1984, I was a student at Cal Arts.  I stayed up late a lot - sometimes all night - working on my student films.  So did my classmates -most of them, anyway.  And when I think back at those times what amazes me is that I did not drink coffee.  Ever.

One night, while watching TV in the dorms with Tim Hauser and the gang, an ad came on aimed right between our eyes.  A man's voice bombastically declared, "YOU are the New American Society.  The movers.  The shakers.  YOU are the NEW Coffee Generation!"  As the man spoke, Jeff Lynne sang "Hold on tiiiiiight - to your dream. Ooooooh yeah....".  This was edited to short, MTV-style clips of celebrities.  There was David Bowie - HUGE in '84.  And the Wilson sisters from Heart. And Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite author of all time. And Ken Anderson the NFL quarterback, not the Disney artist.  And Cecily Tyson the actress, who purred, "...because coffee is the calm moment that lets you think.  Coffee gives you the time to dream it, then you're ready to do it!"  

The dorm gang gave little thought to the commercial except for Tim, who jumped up indignantly (or was he going for more wine?) and said, "They're trying to get our generation hooked on caffein!  That's disgusting!"

Tim was right!  The National Coffee Association sponsored the ad to change the image of coffee from that nasty shit your parents drink at breakfast to a lifestyle accessory for hip and happening young people of the 1980's.  A mere ten years later, Starbucks was everywhere.

We should have taken the ad as a cue.  We should have seen the potential business opportunity in catering to a New Coffee Generation.  We could have been bazillionaires.  But we were animation students, dreaming of Disney glory.  "Hold on tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.............TO  YOUR DREAM!."

Today, it takes two cups just to leave the house, then a third to nurse through the morning at work. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, "Poot te-tweet!"

 

Cecily Tyson: Actress / Coffee Pusher

Here's another commercial, where Heart uses coffee to mix a new hit.  "Go on and set your coffee mugs on the control board, gals, we don't mind."   

Tim Hauser commented:

LOL! -- Tim Hauser: mad prophet of the dorms! Thanks for the memory!!!!

(BTW -- "Caffeine" needs an "e" at the end).

  

At last - A Graphic Novel about the Hunched and Goofy

Mark Kalesniko’s graphic novel Freeway is a truly brilliant, hilarious look at the hunched and goofy lifestyle in our industry's ground zero.  His humor is wickedly honest, his storytelling unflinching.  His graphics capture the blinding stark light of Los Angeles with a pace that pulls the reader through at a wicked pace.  Freeway should resonate with anyone who has worked in the LA animation scene and experienced this less-than glamorous life in the San Fernando Valley.

-Steve

By Mark Kalesniko

Freeway tells the story about Alex Kalienka, a layout man, stuck in traffic on the 134/101freeway as he heads to work. While trying to keep calm and get to his destination, his mind bounces from one thought to another exploring his life, fantasies and fears. These thoughts show Alex imagining a golden age of animation in the 1940’s where great artists work in creative collaboration and mutual respect while contrasting with the present day reality where office politics, petty jealousies and boredom are the norm. It is this contrast of the romanticized past with the realistic present that sets a conflict that Alex tries to resolve as he drives to work. The theme, as with my other books, is what you perceive or imagine something or someone to be is for the most part the complete opposite in reality.

As with my past works, I do incorporate some autobiographical elements in my stories. Like many writers, I write what I know, or better yet, imagine what I know. The beauty of writing fiction is combining my experiences, experiences of others, and imagination to create a story that is satisfying to the reader. For instance, in the 1970’s part of the story - where Alex comes down to L.A. - that experience really happened to me. I did come down to try to break into the animation business and was so overwhelmed that I hid in my hotel room and ran home. But that is where I end the autobiographical element and bring in the fictional part of the story.  Alex is pretty much by himself at the hotel, so I added the religious character of Walter so he could have someone to tell his story to.  That never happened in reality. The same with the mystery girl, there was no girl breaking into hotel rooms when I was there, so I added her for drama and a little sexual tension. That’s what makes writing fiction fun, combining different elements to make for an interesting story.

The characters in Freeway are composites of people that I have known both in and out of the animation business. On one project I was working on, there was a rumor of a cleaning lady spotting someone running around naked after hours. I never heard if the nudist was seen again or who it was, but the image stuck in my head. Years later, when I was writing Freeway, I thought why not make Paul the nudist, as his way of venting his stress and frustration. Again I knew no such person but it made a great way to add a fun personality trait for one of my characters.

Freeway, as with all my books, starts with index cards. I write down scenes, plot points, and dialog on the cards and tack them on a board. Because Freeway has a very complicated storyline, set not only on a freeway but also in 3 different time periods, I put each time period on a different color card.  For example, the freeway sequence would be white, the 70’s sequence pink and so forth. After I had all the ideas down, I began to shuffle the cards into a coherent story using the colors to help me keep track of which story was coming up next.

Once I felt I had a full outline, I began to write the script using the index cards as my template. The script was made up of seven chapters, all titles of songs from the 1940’s. Each chapter had a certain theme.  For instance, in Chapter 3, “If You Were The Only Girl In The World,” I wanted to explore the women in Alex’s life including his girlfriend Chloe, and his obsession with the mystery girl on the freeway.

Once the script was completed, I would take each chapter and break it down, drawing tiny crude thumbnail sketches of each page and its panel placement, action, and dialog. From there I began the drawing process. On past books, I would draw right on the board, but because Freeway had so many characters, time periods, and cars, it was easier to draw roughs separately on scratch paper and trace them to the board. Once drawn, I would ink the page and it would be complete and then I would send it to my publisher who would do the lettering and balloons. If you want to see some of the rough sketches, thumbnails and photos used in my book, go to my blog at www.markkalesniko.blogspot.com/ .

Freeway took ten years to create.  My previous works took on average of three to four years, and I thought Freeway would be the same. What I didn’t take into account was the amount of research that was involved including the re-creation of the 1940’s Bunker Hill district - which does not exist anymore - or the complexity of drawing thousands of cars, which are extremely difficult to draw. Also, I wanted the book to be pleasing visually and to do that I had to render each drawing quite extensively which was very time consuming.  My hope was that when completed, the reader will be able to go on a visual trip that they can go back to time and time again.

The marketing is mostly done by my publisher. They send out my book for review and set me up for signings or talks at Comic Con, Ape and Miami Book Festival. I’ve also set up a web presence with my website, blog and Facebook to help promote the book.

You can order Freeway through Fantagraphics Books at www.fantagraphics.com/markkalesniko . Also I have a link to the Fantagraphics website at my blog, which I mentioned above, and at my website at www.markkalesniko.com  .

At the moment, I’m finishing up a 38 page, Alex story that I will be giving away on my publisher’s website.  That should be done in a couple more months. After that, I have a couple of ideas for longer stories which I will do some outlines on and then choose which one to do next. 

I want to thank Steve Moore for setting up this arrticle. Steve and I go way back to our days as animation students at Cal Arts and his support and interest in Freeway is greatly appreciated.

How to get the taxman to finance your independent animated feature film

- Posted by Alex

This post is about tax, or rather about tax-financing. But stop!....don't click away yet! For anyone in the UK trying to finance an independent film (and every self-respecting animator has a film project in there somewhere) - this is one of the best ways to do it. It's called EIS - and it is a semi-miraculous way to get the taxman to pay for your project.

What is EIS? 

EIS stands for Enterprise Incentive Scheme. It is a tax-efficient vehicle for financing new enterprises, or indeed film companies.

Tax efficient vehicle? Can you speak English please?

OK - in simple terms, here is how it works: EIS is a government tax scheme, which gives your investors very attractive tax breaks, so that they start making money long before the film does. I'll say that again: the investors start making money long before the film does.

What? ....but that's impossible, isn't it?

No. Let's say you want to raise £5m for an independent animated film. You have a great script, great character designs, a budget, a business plan - you've even done a proof-of-concept trailer. Now you just have to attract investors. First, you set up an SPV (single purpose vehicle). This is the film company that will make the film. Let's call it Awesome Films Ltd. All the rights (script, designs etc) get assigned to Awesome. Now you go to investors - that's wealthy folks with lots of spare cash -  and get them to invest.

But why would wealthy people want to invest in your film? Isn't that kind of risky?

Yes, but your film is awesome, and they are going to make money right away - even before you start making it. Under EIS, they can write off the entire amount of their investment against their income tax bill, so that they pay 30% less tax - immediately.

So they get a 30% tax break? Right away! - that's amazing!

It gets better. If your film makes money (we hope it will!) your investors don't have to pay any capital gains tax on the profits. So, they get the profits tax-free. Also, if they get run over by a bus, the profits are not subject to inheritance tax either - their children will get the profits tax-free too. So, if your film does more than break even, your investors will do very well indeed.

Ok, that's all good, but what if the film makes a loss?

God forbid. But, if it does lose money, there is more good news - the taxman helps pay for the losses. Your investors are able to write off the losses against their income tax.

Incredible! Why does the British government do this?

Because they are desperate to get new businesses up and running, to grow the economy. So they are throwing money at business startups, not in the form of grants (which are very hard to get) but in tax breaks through EIS. If you follow the rules, EIS represents a huge government investment in your business.

How do you follow the EIS rules?

Well, you will need some professional advice to help you tick all the boxes. That means you need a good accountant and/or lawyer. But it is well worth it.

How do you know this stuff?

That is a secret. But it might have to do with a lecture I attended at a leading firm of London solicitors (lawyers) last week.

- Alex

Harlow in Hollywood

By Darrell Rooney 

I’ve been a fan of Old Hollywood history almost my entire life. To me, Jean Harlow seems to encompass all the glamor, excitement and drama of those days. With her platinum blonde hair, radiant smile and satin bound figure, Harlow is an Art Deco goddess in earthly form. But the genuine warmth that emanates from her is what makes her special. Who Jean Harlow appears to be and who she really is are two very different things, and it’s this juxtaposition that I find fascinating.

Years ago, famed photographer and author Mark Vieira suggested we do a book together on Harlow. I had acquired a major collection of photos over the years and with Mark’s know how (having written at least ten books on Old Hollywood history) and my enthusiasm we embarked on this project together.  When we realized that 2011 was Harlow’s hundredth birthday, our goal was to have a book come out in time to celebrate that milestone. ‘HARLOW IN HOLLYWOOD’ published by Angel City Press in Los Angeles is that book.

Harlow reigned in Hollywood for just seven short years. First emerging in Howard Hughes’ WW1 blockbuster “Hell’s Angels,” she started as a public joke and grew into an extraordinarily gifted comedienne. She had a gift for mixing sex comedy with a curiously honest innocence. It was this combination that made her box office dynamite. By 1937 she was gone, but she paved the way for future sex symbols such as Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe and Madonna.

But who was the person behind the movie star image? Her name was Harlean Carpenter and she was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911; the daughter of a mild mannered dentist and his socialite wife.  Movie magazines would forever portray her early life as idyllic, happy, and privileged. The truth was a little more sinister. Though she grew up in an upper middle class family, Harlean was controlled by a domineering mother; a woman of questionable moral character. Culled from interviews with countless friends and schoolmates in Kansas City, Hollywood and Chicago, what emerges is the story of a warm hearted girl victimized by a gold-digging mother, who divorces her husband, and takes her daughter to Hollywood to pursue her own goals of a movie career. As Harlean grows up, her striking beauty takes centre stage and Mother Jean transfers her dreams of stardom onto her daughter.

The bond between mother and daughter was the cornerstone of Jean Harlow’s life. Though she appeared mature beyond her years, she was incapable of separating emotionally from her Mother. While it was charming to the public to have a sex symbol who couldn’t stand being away from her ‘Mommie’ for too long, the truth was she could never keep a marital relationship because of her slavish devotion to her.

‘Harlow In Hollywood’ follows Harlow’s personal and professional lives from childhood, to her first days in Hollywood, her ascension to movie queen at MGM, her survival of public scandal due her second husband’s suicide, and her own untimely death at the age of twenty-six. Using Harlow’s own words at times, and countless never before seen photos, the goal of this book is to get a clear sense of who the real person was behind the image. Jean Harlow led an extraordinary life and left a niche in Hollywood many have tried to claim. Her name is synonymous with the glamorous thirties, and she will forever remain a symbol of Hollywood.

I’m immensely proud of this effort. It’s a large format coffee table book, 240 pages long with about 280 rarely seen photos of Jean Harlow. The photographs encompass everything from glamour portraits, production stills, personal family photos to candid photos shot by fans who ran into Harlow on the streets of Hollywood. The research done utilizes private letters and personal interviews with friends and family from Harlow’s Midwest years to her halcyon days in Hollywood. The text provides the most up-to-date, accurate and honest presentation of Harlow’s fascinating but all too brief life. It has been nothing short of a labor of love and I’m most pleased to know that it has been received and reviewed so well, but most of all, I take great pleasure in knowing that it will exist forever. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as Mark and I had creating it.

Get a copy!
And read more about Darrell's Jean Harlow collection in the FLIP archives.