About to start doing a lot more blogging. I guess it took me 13 days in to say that, but now I'm ready.
mmmmmmmaahhh.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Welcome to 2009!
About to start doing a lot more blogging. I guess it took me 13 days in to say that, but now I'm ready.
mmmmmmmaahhh.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Hand Drawn Animation Over Digital With Gene Deitch
Last month at the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival I attended their retrospective of animator Gene Deitch's work for children. Deitch and his wife Zdenka who reside in Prague, were in attendance for the screening, and I had a chance to speak to both of them.
The showing included Deitch's works: Oscar Winning Monroe, The Three Robbers, TomTerrific, film versions of Maurice Sendak's In the Knight Kitchen, and Where the Wild Things Are, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Why Mosquitos Buzz in Peoples' Ears, and Tom and Jerry.
The retrospective was the last program I attended at the Festival, and it was an interesting way to end the weekend because all of Deitch's works are hand drawn animation, while most of the other stuff I'd seen over the weekend was all digital all the way. In fact, Deitch and his wife are advocates for hand -drawn animation when it comes to children's entertainment.
Though he acknowledges the magic Pixar creates Deitch said, "Animation comes down to the story. With computers, unfortunately a lot of the characters look like plastic...and the computer is shutting out hand drawn animation, unfortunately erroneously called 2D..."
It could be argued well that hand drawn animation, the artist's hand to pen to paper rather than hand to mouse to computer, is more subjective, more of a reflection of the artist. It's more pure. On digital animation, Deitch said he doesn't understand the path many 3D animators seem to be on of trying to imitate reality. "I don't think we should be in the business of trying to animate real live action. It's a dead end. There's no way to do it exactly, so why should we try?"
Deitch's wife Zdenka, a less than 5 ft woman who he described as small but feisty, had a lot to say about this matter as well. "Done with computer, it has no heart. I prefer hand made animation because it has heart...The animator gives a life, a feeling to it..."
While watching the hand drawn animation pieces of Gene's, my thoughts were along these same lines. The morals of the stories stood out to me. When the animator draws everything her/himself, it means the artist's point of view and perspective are completely reflected in the characters, giving the experience of watching a real feeling, hmmm perhaps this could be called soul?
I talked to Gene, a man who looks about 25 years younger than his age, about the digital versus hand drawn idea after the screenings. "There's so much competition out there now for childrens' attention," he said. "We try to make something of lasting value." Deitch said he has grandchildren who live in the U.S., and he's not even sure they would be entertained by his works, compared to what he called, "The splash - bang of the stuff children watch on TV today... We're trying to create something real, with meaning," he said.
I asked Zdenka if she felt that hand drawn animation is not just for children, but adults too. "We make these not just for children...There is a lot of junk in the world. It is important to broaden the mind," she said, referring to adults watching too.
**Photo credit Hilary Hart San Francisco Film Society --Gene Deitch and his wife, Zdenka, with Festival Programmer Sean Uyehara and daughter Asta.
The showing included Deitch's works: Oscar Winning Monroe, The Three Robbers, TomTerrific, film versions of Maurice Sendak's In the Knight Kitchen, and Where the Wild Things Are, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Why Mosquitos Buzz in Peoples' Ears, and Tom and Jerry.
The retrospective was the last program I attended at the Festival, and it was an interesting way to end the weekend because all of Deitch's works are hand drawn animation, while most of the other stuff I'd seen over the weekend was all digital all the way. In fact, Deitch and his wife are advocates for hand -drawn animation when it comes to children's entertainment.
Though he acknowledges the magic Pixar creates Deitch said, "Animation comes down to the story. With computers, unfortunately a lot of the characters look like plastic...and the computer is shutting out hand drawn animation, unfortunately erroneously called 2D..."
It could be argued well that hand drawn animation, the artist's hand to pen to paper rather than hand to mouse to computer, is more subjective, more of a reflection of the artist. It's more pure. On digital animation, Deitch said he doesn't understand the path many 3D animators seem to be on of trying to imitate reality. "I don't think we should be in the business of trying to animate real live action. It's a dead end. There's no way to do it exactly, so why should we try?"
Deitch's wife Zdenka, a less than 5 ft woman who he described as small but feisty, had a lot to say about this matter as well. "Done with computer, it has no heart. I prefer hand made animation because it has heart...The animator gives a life, a feeling to it..."
While watching the hand drawn animation pieces of Gene's, my thoughts were along these same lines. The morals of the stories stood out to me. When the animator draws everything her/himself, it means the artist's point of view and perspective are completely reflected in the characters, giving the experience of watching a real feeling, hmmm perhaps this could be called soul?
I talked to Gene, a man who looks about 25 years younger than his age, about the digital versus hand drawn idea after the screenings. "There's so much competition out there now for childrens' attention," he said. "We try to make something of lasting value." Deitch said he has grandchildren who live in the U.S., and he's not even sure they would be entertained by his works, compared to what he called, "The splash - bang of the stuff children watch on TV today... We're trying to create something real, with meaning," he said.
I asked Zdenka if she felt that hand drawn animation is not just for children, but adults too. "We make these not just for children...There is a lot of junk in the world. It is important to broaden the mind," she said, referring to adults watching too.
**Photo credit Hilary Hart San Francisco Film Society --Gene Deitch and his wife, Zdenka, with Festival Programmer Sean Uyehara and daughter Asta.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Encyclopedia Pictura
This weekend at the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival, my eyes were opened to a new world!
It is that of Encyclopedia Pictura. EP is an animating collective of three young men from Santa Cruz who are currently enjoying a lot of attention since their animation and production for Bjork's 'Wanderlust.' View here.
-Darren Rabinovitch, Sean Hellfritsch, and Isaiah Saxon of EP, and Sean Uyehara, Programmer of SFIAFF
Encyclopedia Pictura are definitely on top of their game. As designers /producers/ artists, they mix live action, digital animation, stop motion animation, and also they do stereoscopic 3D. Their work proves mastery of the latest animation technology (they use Maya, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and After Effects), as well as a well rounded sense of art. I think they must operate with %100 creativity and %100 tech skills, which is amazing to think about.
Because they are an independent cohesive unit, creating ground-breaking art, the three are reminiscent of a rock band- only they're animators. Music isn't the only situation where a small team of people can collaborate on an artistic vision and be successful and recognized for it!
*Note- This is also interesting considering our apparent switch to a visual culture these days*
The Animation Fest showed a series of their different short works, including Grow, Grizzly Bear: Knife, Bjork, Born Like Stars, Micro/Macro, Tactical Advantage, Seventeen Evergreen, Zion I: So Tall, Ballistic Jaw Propulsion of, and Spore.
I feel somewhat speechless trying to describe any of the pieces in words, because that's just it, their work is not about words but rather visuals complimenting sound. You can probably get that sense from watching Wanderlust. I can say however that when watching I was thinking about the idea of humans/earth as one. I kept noticing there seemed to be an emphasis on the beauty of (sometimes personified) natural non-human things (Watch Ballistic Jaw, Born Like Stars).
When the pieces were over and it was time for q and a, Founder Sean Uyehara had some news for us. The three guys hadn't arrived yet! Uyehara began to speak about their work when his phone rang. They were on the other line in the car on the way, so Uyehara held his phone to the microphone and we asked questions through him until they walked through the door to inspired applause. They had been sailing and got held up...
When asked about their vision, EP said, "We'd love to give people a sense of wonder through an experience that's not word based." I say mission accomplished.
Someone in the audience asked about if there's an underlying world view/ perspective that their work is made with. "It's an ecological perspective understanding the balance of all complex systems...Deep ecology," one of them responded (which means my thought of humans/earth as one sort of fits).
Even though Bjork offered them another music video deal, and also Animal Collective, a band they said they'd always wanted to work with (and also one of my favorite bands) apparently they're not doing music videos anymore. They didn't say why not.
It is that of Encyclopedia Pictura. EP is an animating collective of three young men from Santa Cruz who are currently enjoying a lot of attention since their animation and production for Bjork's 'Wanderlust.' View here.
-Darren Rabinovitch, Sean Hellfritsch, and Isaiah Saxon of EP, and Sean Uyehara, Programmer of SFIAFF
Encyclopedia Pictura are definitely on top of their game. As designers /producers/ artists, they mix live action, digital animation, stop motion animation, and also they do stereoscopic 3D. Their work proves mastery of the latest animation technology (they use Maya, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and After Effects), as well as a well rounded sense of art. I think they must operate with %100 creativity and %100 tech skills, which is amazing to think about.
Because they are an independent cohesive unit, creating ground-breaking art, the three are reminiscent of a rock band- only they're animators. Music isn't the only situation where a small team of people can collaborate on an artistic vision and be successful and recognized for it!
*Note- This is also interesting considering our apparent switch to a visual culture these days*
The Animation Fest showed a series of their different short works, including Grow, Grizzly Bear: Knife, Bjork, Born Like Stars, Micro/Macro, Tactical Advantage, Seventeen Evergreen, Zion I: So Tall, Ballistic Jaw Propulsion of, and Spore.
I feel somewhat speechless trying to describe any of the pieces in words, because that's just it, their work is not about words but rather visuals complimenting sound. You can probably get that sense from watching Wanderlust. I can say however that when watching I was thinking about the idea of humans/earth as one. I kept noticing there seemed to be an emphasis on the beauty of (sometimes personified) natural non-human things (Watch Ballistic Jaw, Born Like Stars).
When the pieces were over and it was time for q and a, Founder Sean Uyehara had some news for us. The three guys hadn't arrived yet! Uyehara began to speak about their work when his phone rang. They were on the other line in the car on the way, so Uyehara held his phone to the microphone and we asked questions through him until they walked through the door to inspired applause. They had been sailing and got held up...
When asked about their vision, EP said, "We'd love to give people a sense of wonder through an experience that's not word based." I say mission accomplished.
Someone in the audience asked about if there's an underlying world view/ perspective that their work is made with. "It's an ecological perspective understanding the balance of all complex systems...Deep ecology," one of them responded (which means my thought of humans/earth as one sort of fits).
Even though Bjork offered them another music video deal, and also Animal Collective, a band they said they'd always wanted to work with (and also one of my favorite bands) apparently they're not doing music videos anymore. They didn't say why not.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
New Solo Show Opens with a bang!
There's good theater in town. Last weekend at The Intersection for the Arts theatre in the Mission, In My Corner, Joe Orrach's new solo show, opened to two sold out performances.
I just happen to be the Assistant Production Manager for the show, and I am loving it!
When I first met Joe and saw a rehearsal I was shocked at how multi-talented he is. First he dances a little, and you're thinking, this is great, then there's this intensely intriguing story (which is his true life story) and then he belts out this great tenor voice, and then he starts tap dancing! To top it off, your senses are completely tuned in because of the excellent accompaniment of this world class jazz trio: Matt Clark on piano, Micha Patri on drums, and Eugene Warren on double bass.
I was lucky to fall into such an opportunity. You can be part of it too: there are four more show dates this Thursday through Sunday!
Joe is a local who some may know from Teatro ZinZanni where he performed for 6 years. He grew up in New York and started his performance life tap dancing on the streets. This is where Gregory Hines saw him and this led him to where he is now.
In My Corner is an autobiographical story, largely the story of Joe's relationship with his father, and his personal voyage. It's a coming of age story, his transformation from growing up a New Yorican, leaving the ring behind, hanging up the boxing gloves, and putting on the tap shoes. The story winds through the riffs and beats of latin jazz and rock and roll. Sit back and relax, and your emotions will shift by the vibrations, sounds and silences of this 75 minute show.
Get your TICKETS now at www.joeorrach.com for one of the last performances:
Thursday at 8pm
Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 8pm
and Sunday at 1pm
$20 general admission
Monday, August 11, 2008
roAD trip
My brother recently landed in North Carolina for grad school and I accompanied him for the trip out.
I wrote this in the car at the end of the week...
So the trip has been good. Tuesday was fantastic. Driving through pockets of thunderstorm over the rusty red ridges of Arizona and carefully zipping through monsoon style rain showers, the air was kept fresh and the skies kept dramatic.
Scenery stayed interesting
-a stop at Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ-
right up until night came and we blasted techno til New Mexico.
Early rise and Wednesday wasn’t as fun.
Hot hot heat and flat smog land
into and through the top of Texas
which pretty much all looks like this
and
Highway 40 must be owned by McDonald's, Taco Bell, the occasional Pizza Hut, and Subway. By the time we got to Oklahoma City I was having a claustrophobic panic attack in my desire to eat something that didn’t come in plastic first.
Getting off the freeway I was hoping to at least find a grocery store where I could buy an orange. Well we must have gotten off the wrong exit because what we found instead were humans driving air conditioned cars windows up between big box stores. We settled on Target where I purchased one of those tuna in foil snack things (foil better than plastic?)- not quite what I wanted.
That night we landed in Fort Smith, a quaint brick laden town on the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas, where I did find some vegetables. A pleasant place to call home after highway for 12 hours.
Thursday was a much better. More Subway and Green green green hills and more monsoon rain, and NPR kept us company. Memphis for lunch, $5 to a bum who worked hard for it, some perspective at the Civil Rights Museum, stayed on the freeway through Nashville and ended in Knoxville to sleep. People say Knoxville is nice, but we only had time to say goodbye in the morning. From the road it seemed like a nice place.
Next, a detour up to our nation's capital.
act like you like each other!
Before one last windy foresty strip of highway
to our final destination.
:)
I wrote this in the car at the end of the week...
So the trip has been good. Tuesday was fantastic. Driving through pockets of thunderstorm over the rusty red ridges of Arizona and carefully zipping through monsoon style rain showers, the air was kept fresh and the skies kept dramatic.
Scenery stayed interesting
-a stop at Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ-
right up until night came and we blasted techno til New Mexico.
Early rise and Wednesday wasn’t as fun.
Hot hot heat and flat smog land
into and through the top of Texas
which pretty much all looks like this
and
Highway 40 must be owned by McDonald's, Taco Bell, the occasional Pizza Hut, and Subway. By the time we got to Oklahoma City I was having a claustrophobic panic attack in my desire to eat something that didn’t come in plastic first.
Getting off the freeway I was hoping to at least find a grocery store where I could buy an orange. Well we must have gotten off the wrong exit because what we found instead were humans driving air conditioned cars windows up between big box stores. We settled on Target where I purchased one of those tuna in foil snack things (foil better than plastic?)- not quite what I wanted.
That night we landed in Fort Smith, a quaint brick laden town on the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas, where I did find some vegetables. A pleasant place to call home after highway for 12 hours.
Thursday was a much better. More Subway and Green green green hills and more monsoon rain, and NPR kept us company. Memphis for lunch, $5 to a bum who worked hard for it, some perspective at the Civil Rights Museum, stayed on the freeway through Nashville and ended in Knoxville to sleep. People say Knoxville is nice, but we only had time to say goodbye in the morning. From the road it seemed like a nice place.
Next, a detour up to our nation's capital.
act like you like each other!
Before one last windy foresty strip of highway
to our final destination.
:)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
American Idol
As I'm pretty sure the number one TV show today, grossing katrillions of dollars each season through product placement, advertising, and cross medium success (getting viewers to text) American Idol is a sort of phenomenon. Coming up on its eighth season and apparently still going strong, it makes me wonder: what's the deal? I got to ponder this a little more while on the set of the auditions working as production assistant for the show. At the Cow Palace last week, at least a thousand people or so thought they had what took to be the next American Idol. Crazy. I sort of felt when I was there that people treat auditioning like playing the lottery- mayyybe just maybe they'll win. Though they haven't logicially thought about if they have what it takes. And everyone wants a chance to be on TV. Stardom. Success. The American Dream...
It was invigorating and pleasing to be around singing all day, since to sing is from the soul. Congratulations to everyone who tried out.
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