Happy Thanksgiving!

Animation Month - Screen Play

Screen Play, by Barry Purves, is with one notable exception, my all-time favorite animated short. Before reading my pseudo-academic ramblings, I suggest you view it first. 

 

Highly stylized, the viewer is continually reminded of the unreality of what they are viewing. Instead of cutting from scene to scene, the sets change around the characters as though we are viewing a real play in the Japanese no theater. An actor narrates and plays key characters throughout the story; black-clad kurogo (puppeteers in traditional Japanese puppet theater) weave in and out of the story, manipulating events. Stunningly beautiful imagery abounds in this film. The story and characters are secondary to the artistry of the film. By the end, even the reality within the play is broken; then the reality of the film itself. The audience is being played.

You can visit Gary Purves' website here: www.barrypurves.com

A Turkey pardons a Turkey

Ever seen Fargo?

Animation Month - Peter and the Wolf

Last year's Oscar for Best Animated Short was awarded to Suzie Templeton for her film Peter and the Wolf. The story and music comes from Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 piece of the same name. Prokofiev's music was originally commissioned as a teaching tool for children to learn about orchestral music. The story is told by a narrator while accompanied by the orchestra. Each character is represented by their own musical theme and instruments (called a lietmotif); Peter by strings, the Bird by a flute, the Duck by an Oboe, etc. The piece has been narrated by several famous people over the years, including Boris Kaloff, Basil Rathbone, Alec Guiness, Patrick Stewart and Sting. Disney created their own animated short in 1949, part of the compilation film Make Mine Music, with Sterling Halloway narrating.

The story itself is simple: Against his Grandfather's wishes, our young hero Peter wanders into the woods, accompanied by his friends the Bird, the Duck, and the Cat, to hunt a wolf, perhaps not really expecting to find one. The Duck is eaten. The Wolf chases them up a tree. The Bird distracts the Wolf long enough for Peter to get a rope around it's tail and captures it.

Templeton's stop-motion film is a little different from Disney's. Character designs are scragglier, earthier; not plump and round. Peter takes place, in part, in a modern day city. Portions of the story are not even accompanied by music and there is no narration. You can read more about the film here on Breakthru Film's site and also on PBS' Great Performances.

Here are two back-to-back excerpts from the film. You can download the full short on iTunes or it is available on DVD.

For fun I've included the complete Disney short, in two parts...

...and an illustrated book by Bono. Yes, that Bono.

You can learn more about Peter and the Wolf at Wikipedia.

Auto Bailout - good or bad?

There has been much debate over the proposed bailout of the auto industry. Having grown up in Michigan, and now living in Ohio, I have watched both states struggle as industrial jobs disappear. The question is, would it be better to allow GM to restructure under bankruptcy protection or provide a short-term bailout to give them the time they need to restructure on their own? By doing nothing are we allowing another US industry fizzle away? Former Boston Governor Mitt Romney – who grew up in Michigan as a son of an auto exec – has a very persuasive editorial in the New York Times that addresses this very issue. You can read it here.

Update: Here is video of an interview Romney gave on Morning Joe.

Another update: Senator Barney Frank has a different opinion. You can read/listen to it here on NPR.

Save our economy!

Learn about how to save our economy from Captain Capitalism!

Animated Shorts

This month I'm going to try my first series. Those of you who already know me know I'm a pretty big animation fan. To start off the series, here are three shorts I found online, all with a bird theme. Enjoy!

Chicken Tennis

Kiwi  dir. Dony Permedi / School of Visual Arts

Penguins  dir. Pierre Coffin