No, this cartoon is not really Soviet.

There’s a free screening tonight of Soviet propaganda animation from the 1920’s through the 1970’s. It’ll be at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, in the Dweck center, at 7pm. “Worker and Parasite,” anyone?

From the Brooklyn Public Library’s Website:

Oleg Sulkin, a film critic for the New York Russian-language daily Novoye Russkoye Slovo, introduces a screening of Soviet propaganda cartoons of the 1920s through 1970s. This films are in Russian with English subtitles.

Click here for more information

Thanks for the tip, Yuliya!

Coraline's Other Dad

I’ve been a fan of NPR’s “On Point” for a long time now. It’s one of the few radio news programs that has a wide variety of topics. Check out their interview of “Coraline” director Henry Selick. Definately worth a listen.

Spoiler Alert: Stop motion is a laborious and time-consuming process.

Here’s the trailer for “Coraline”

I was talking with Will and Jesse this weekend about my favorite movements in Cinema. Not artistic movements. Specific movements.

And, yes, I know I’m leaving out all the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton from the Vaudelville era. In my mind, those movies are already live-action cartoons. I’m focusing on a slightly more modern age. Post-Kennedy, at least. Here they are.

#4. George C. Scott Points at the Big Board. Watch how he rolls into the pointing pose at 1:14. The way the stumbling at the start and the swinging of his suit at the end highlight the awkward stiffness of the pose make it all the better.

#3. Raising Arizona Chase Scene. There’s so many moments that make this scene amazing, from the color-coordinated woman in green and orange hiding in front of the Apple Jacks, to the way the camera pans on the pavement as he reaches for the huggies at 1:54, this whole segment has been played for just about every student I’ve ever had. I could talk for hours about this one. For now, just concentrate on the pantyhose at 1:56. Now that’s some nice secondary motion.

#2. Ray Charles Shooting a Gun. This is great partly because of the pose, which is stiff, and the movement, which is so sudden it seems like it’s being played at the wrong speed, but it’s also the total lack of dead space at the head of the shot. It cuts straight to Ray in mid-action. What timing.

#1. Pee-Wee Rides a Motorcycle Through a Billboard. This is wonderful for so many reasons. The way the bike fishtails back and forth as he leaves. He almost seems to be getting the bike under control, just long enough to make it clear to Pee Wee and the audience that they are both aware of what is about to happen. The head-over heels ragdoll barely visible after impact is the icing on the cake.

I made this in order to help visualize the different frame durations for the frame rates that are commonly used when animating.

Each light blinks as if animated on a different frame rate. Therefore, the 24fps light is blinking twelve times a second. It has twelve “on” frames and twelve “off” frames every second. Each drawing anmated at that rate will be visible for the same ammount of time as a single blink of the light. The fps counter on the left shows the current playback rate. If it’s running around 30fps, it should be pretty accurate.

Here’s a nice student film from Dave Zackin!

Cels, Drawings, Tuns & Mayo, shot on a 16mm Oxberry at RISD.

What I really love about this one is Dave’s simple solutions to complicated animation. Check out the hands mixing tuna at 3:50. It’s just two cut-out hands, a little motion tracking on the camera, and a pile of tuna. The camera was shooting a frame every second, and Dave was waving the hands around under the camera.

Bravo, Dave.