Annual Festivals - Frames Per Second Magazine

www.fpsmagazine.com » march 2006 » animated festivities
fps
frames per second magazine
Animation
Festivals
The ins and outs of
navigating the circuit
In Progress
Little Fluffy Clouds’
Today
Also
Starship Operators
Cartoons for Victory!
Bambi II
Art of Otaku
Tunes for ’Toons
Walt’s People
Candy Kugel
Indie-studio animation’s first lady
CONTENTS
Page 4
Page 10
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Page 8
Page 15
Page 12
lip sync
3 Ask Not What Your Festival
Can Do For You
spotlight
4 The Reigning First Lady of
Indie-Studio Animation
feature story
7 Animation Festival 101
8 Ten Steps to Surviving Film
Festivals
10 How to Submit Your Film to
Festivals
reviews
12
13
15
16
17
17
Starship Operators Volume 1
Cartoons for Victory!
Bambi II
Art of Otaku
Tunes for ’Toons
Anime From Akira to Howl’s
Moving Castle: Experiencing
Contemporary Japanese
Animation
18 Walt’s People: Talking Disney
With the Artists Who Knew
Him, Volumes 1 & 2
19 Flashback: The Illusion of Life
Page 20
in progress
20 Today
the last word
24 Annual Festivals: Opening
More Doors or Complicating
Things?
23 Closing Credits
25 Where to Get It
LIP SYNC
Ask Not What Your Festival Can Do
For You
Emru Townsend says, ask what you can do for your festival
Living here in Montreal, it’s easy to
get jaded about festivals of any stripe,
because we’re surrounded by them.
Maybe it’s just because of my bias, but
it seems like there are more film festivals
than anything else, and animation is
usually pretty well represented. We’re
also pretty lucky to be within driving
distance of Ottawa, Toronto, New York
City and Boston. I happen to think
festivals are pretty important, especially
in the animation community: they’re
the only place where art, industry and
audience truly connect with one another.
The same is true, incidentally, of
festivals’ cousins, conferences and
conventions. To my mind, the only
difference between the three is balance.
Conferences lean much heavier toward
industry and art, with little focus on
audience; the SIGGRAPH and the Society
for Animation Studies conferences,
for instance, are jam-packed with
professionals and academics in the
field. Conventions, on the other hand,
lean far more toward fans, though the
professionals that do attend are every
bit as laid-back and accessible as those
at festivals.
Festivals fall somewhere in between,
though the closer you get to a “true”
3
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
animation festival (like those held in
Ottawa, Annecy or Zagreb), the closer
you get to a balance between the three
elements; festivals like Fantasia, which
concentrate more on screenings than
workshops or panels, tilt more in the
direction of conventions.
Because I think these events are
important, we’ve covered them in our
pages almost from the beginning. Our
first festival-related article appears in our
second print issue, in June 1992; Greg
Barr conducted a pair of interviews at
Animecon with Animag’s Trish Ledoux
and Ken Toshifumi, Dominion producer
Kazuhiko Inomata and Central Park
Media’s John O’Donnell. (The whole thing
spans almost a third of the magazine!)
But after going over this issue’s
offerings, I realized that with all of our
coverage, we’ve rarely touched on what
I think is the most important aspect of
festivals: participation. Over the years I’ve
been on panels, sat on juries, organized
screening rooms, or just acted as a
resource for organizers. On the one hand,
it’s a lot of work. On the other hand, it’s
extremely fulfilling, a means of giving back
to the community that gives us so much
every time we go to the movies or watch
the latest TV show or DVD. It’s also a
tremendous education in how animation,
from independent gag shorts to twohour features, get made, with lessons
in everything from camera tricks to the
intricacies of production financing.
Don’t just take my word for it. The next
time you plan on going to a festival, see if
you can help out, even in some small way.
It’s worth it. ¡
fps
frames per second
the magazine of animation
EDITORIAL
Editor Emru Townsend
Copyeditor Tamu Townsend
Contributors Aaron H. Bynum,
André R. Coutu, Noell Wolfgram Evans,
Jake Friedman, Mark Mayerson,
Brett Rogers, Patrick Smith, René Walling
Layout Emru Townsend
Cover Image Still from Animated SelfPortraits, by Candy Kugel
SPECIAL THANKS
Dave “Grue” DeBry, Betsy de Fries,
Candy Kugel, Vicky Vriniotis, Ceri Young
Errata
November’s “Sifting Through Layers
of Illusion” should have said that
Angela Anaconda is produced by
CORE and Decode Entertainment.
Some earlier editions of January’s
“Anime From A to D” should say
that the interviews were conducted
by Polygon Pictures’ Chihiro Yoshida.
(Whose name was mistyped not once
but three times in the process of
correction. Our apologies.) Also, some
earlier editions mistakenly identified
the president of Wish as Naoko
Sasaki rather than Hisako Sasaki.
fps regrets the errors.
CONTACT US
Phone (514) 696-2153
Fax (514) 696-2497
E-Mail [email protected]
Web www.fpsmagazine.com
Ad Sales [email protected]
Frames Per Second, Vol. II, Issue 7. ISSN 1718-3723.
© 2006 5x5 Media.
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SPOTLIGHT
The Reigning First Lady of IndieStudio Animation
Written by Jake Friedman
In the 1970s, animation was a moribund
medium: there were no billion-dollar
franchises, no prime-time television
powerhouses, and few venues for
independent animation. Few people
would have suspected that the era would
prove to be a breeding ground for the
next generation of animation’s leading
lights. One of those leading lights was
Candy Kugel, who has produced a varied
and eclectic mix of independent short
films—and, while she was it, produced the
signature image behind one of the world’s
most recognizable media brands.
4
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Of all the icons of New
York’s animation community,
there are some who are
recognized by one wellknown piece, some by two.
Candy Kugel has dozens.
Being one-third of the brains
behind the award-winning
studio Buzzco Associates,
as well as being a New York
animation veteran since
the male-dominated 1970s,
Candy has produced pieces
of animation that have
built a firm place in popular
culture. You might remember
the widely-recognized
Sesame Street clips (It’s
Hip to be a Square!), the
commercials featuring
Underdog and the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, or
the original MTV spots of
the moon landing—not to
mention her consistent track
record of award-winning and
critically-acclaimed short
films.
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FEATURE STORY
Animation Festival 101
What makes the animation festival unique?
5
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Take any late-night
animation program in any
film festival worldwide, inject
it with steroids, increase
the geek factor, and you
have yourself a genuine
Animation Festival. Festivals
of this sort often lack the
pretension of larger festivals,
which are geared toward
the all-encompassing and
dominating Live-Action
Feature Film. At your
average animation festival,
you’re lucky to see three or
four features. Rather, the
focus is on the independent
animated short, as well as
the animators themselves.
Perhaps the greatest reward
of attending an animation
festival is seeing films that
are all but impossible to view
elsewhere, as well as getting
the chance to meet and talk
to the animators in person,
a rare opportunity. It’s a sad
fact that some of these films
disappear after their festival
run. Some may end up on
DVD compilations, but this
is a small percentage of the
hundreds of animated films
made every year.
There are plenty
of categories within
an animation festival,
including television series,
commercials, educational
Written by Patrick Smith
but nothing that will finance animators may very well be
your next film, or next
in the mix, but no one is more
month’s rent, for that matter. approachable than a famous
This creates an atmosphere animator, perhaps because
of non-competitiveness and
being a famous animator
relaxation where animators, means that 0.3% of the
producers, critics and fans
population may know your
can hang out, watch films
name, but can’t place it.
Noticeably missing from the animation festival is the
typical festival’s tendency to focus on celebrities.
programs and promos. But
the totem pole is topped by
the indie-short filmmakers.
This is a nice change from
the typical film festival,
where animators and short
filmmakers can barely
qualify for admission to their
own shows, let alone get
treated to airfare and hotel.
At an animation festival
the rules are a bit different.
Nobody is there to sell their
feature to Miramax. As a
matter of fact, there’s little
buying at all. There may be
some small deals with an
Internet distributor or smallscale television distribution,
and drink together late into
the night. The purpose of
attending an animation
festival, it can be suggested,
is to meet other animators,
get inspired, recharge, and
have a good time talking
about the medium.
Noticeably missing from
the animation festival is the
typical festival’s tendency
to focus on celebrities. As
an animator, your actual
face is not blown up twenty
feet high on the screen,
and this lack of direct
contact allows you to enjoy
a degree of separation
from the audience. Famous
So, if you really enjoy
that late-night animation
program, or the latest
compilation DVD from Spike
and Mike, Avoid Eye Contact,
or The Animation Show,
perhaps you should pony
up for the ticket to Annecy
this year. Or hitchhike up to
Ottawa. Nothing can beat
several days of sitting in a
theatre watching the newest
independent animation
from around the globe, and
then extending your nights
to meet the elusive creator
of that twisted short film
that inspired you get into
animation in the first place. ¡
FEATURE STORY
Ten Steps to Surviving Film
Festivals
Written by Emru Townsend
Festival first-timers can easily be overwhelmed
by multiple venues, hundreds of programming
choices, and thousands of fellow festivalgoers.
Here’s how to make your first festival experience
one to remember for all the right reasons.
6
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Regardless of your
background—student, fan,
animator, artist—going to
a film festival is one of the
best things you can do. The
same goes for conferences
and conventions as well; in
all cases, they provide total
immersion in this strange
world of ours, where you can
connect with the films, the
people who make them, and
the people who watch them.
These gatherings may
sound like a lot of fun, and
they are. But they can also
be exhausting, frustrating
affairs of you don’t approach
them properly. If you’re
considering attending a
festival for the first time,
these ten tips will help you
maximize your enjoyment
and avoid common pitfalls.
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FEATURE STORY
How to Submit Your Film to
Festivals
Written by André R. Coutu
1
Finish your film.
Whether your
project is a short-length
film, documentary, TV
commercial, music video
or feature-length film, film
festivals have categories
for pretty much everything.
The most important step is
deciding which festivals best
suit your film.
So you’ve created an animated masterpiece and
you want to get it out in front of the audience.
Congratulations! But if you’re new to the film
festival world, the entry process can be timeconsuming and sometimes confusing. These steps
will help simplify the process.
7
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REVIEWS
The Revolution Is Being
Televised
Starship Operators
Volume 1: Revolution
Directed by Takashi
Watanabe
Animation Production by
J.C. Staff
Produced by SSO
Production Committee
Distributed by Geneon
Entertainment
Originally broadcast in
Japan in 2005
100 minutes
Starship Operators Volume 1
Cartoons for Victory!
Bambi II
Art of Otaku
Tunes for ’Toons
Anime From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle
Walt’s People Volumes 1 & 2
The Illusion of Life
8
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Fresh out of a military
academy, a group of
teenagers and twentysomethings are the final
remnant of the planetary
nation of Kibi’s defense
force. Combining the military
drama, the traditional space
epic and the teen drama,
Starship Operators is, for
the most part, just another
adventure series.
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IN PROGRESS
Today
“We sat in our rep’s tiny
office and listened to
several of the poems as
yet unspoken for,” says
designer/producer Betsy
de Fries. “Today jumped
right out and chose us. The
first thing we did was listen
closely to the piece and talk
together about what we
heard and what we thought
Billy Collins meant. Then just
as quickly what we thought
Billy Collins meant fell away,
and we began to hear the
voice of the story and the
visuals that it suggested
followed from that.”
Betsy de Fries and Jerry van de Beek, cofounders of San Francisco Bay Area studio Little
Fluffy Clouds, were approached to animate a
poem by former United States Poet Laureate
Billy Collins for the Sundance Channel.
That poem was Today.
9
www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
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CLOSING CREDITS
Aaron H. Bynum is a freelance writer
and full-time college student in English
Studies. He spends most of his time
writing all sorts of literature, keeping
a very close eye on both Eastern and
Western animation industries, reading
philosophy, sleeping in, and writing
some more.
André R. Coutu is the technical director
of the Ottawa International Animation
Festival and one of the co-founders of
the Ottawa Film Forum blog/podcast
website, which focuses on Ottawa’s
film scene. He is currently struggling to
adapt the story of the Donner Party into
a feature-length film.
10 www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Noell Wolfgram Evans is a freelance
writer living in Columbus, Ohio. Winner of
the 2002 Thurber Treat Award, he enjoys
a number of things, mainly laughing with
his family.
Brett Rogers is an attorney and freelance
writer in New York City. He has written
about animation for over ten years
and has been featured in publications
including Animation World Magazine,
Animerica and Andy Mangel’s book,
Animation on DVD.
Emru Townsend is animation’s
Renaissance man. He sees the
connections between Japanese and
American animation, stop-motion
and CGI, the art and the industry, the
fiercely independent and the relentlessly
Jake Friedman is a New York-based
commercial. He has been preaching his
animator. Visit him at
Unified Animation Theory worldview
www.jakefriedman.net.
Patrick Smith wanted to be a professional since 1989, and is the founding editor
skateboarder, but hurt himself and
of fps.
Mark Mayerson lives in Toronto, Ontario, became an animator. His films have been
Canada and has worked for more than
featured on MTV, several Spike and Mike
A longtime animation fan, René
25 years in the animation business. He
collections, and hundreds of international Walling was the driving force behind
is the creator of the CGI children’s series
film festivals. He’s also the creator of
fps for a number of years during Emru
Monster By Mistake. Mark currently
the Zoloft “blob” character, which he
Townsend’s hiatus. He is very happy to
teaches animation at Sheridan College
conceived under the influence of alcohol, a be back in the passenger seat.
and Seneca College and is working toward known depressant.
a master’s degree at York University.
THE LAST WORD
Annual Festivals: Opening More
Doors or Complicating Things?
Written by André R. Coutu
As animation has become more plentiful, the
festivals that showcase it have increased in
frequency. Is this a good thing?
11 www.fpsmagazine.com / march 2006
Within the past year
a number of animation
festivals (the Ottawa
International Animation
Festival, Animefest
Zagreb and the Stuttgart
International Animation
Film Festival) have broken
from tradition and become
annual events. In the liveaction world this is common
practice, but this has not
been the case in animation.
Since their inception,
animation festivals have
been biennial events.
The reasons for this were
obvious. First, ten to fifteen
years ago the quantity of
entries was a fraction of
what they are today (there
were 750 entries for Ottawa
in 1992, and 1,800 entries in
2005). Second, with longer
production cycles and stifling
production costs, animation
films were not made as
frequently.
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