Terro
05-03-2006, 11:33 AM
AMERICAN ART FORM REGAINING FORMER BRILLIANCE, EXPANDING
Animation, one of America's richest art forms, is in transition.
It's a bizarre period, says Jerry Beck, an animation historian. Video games, video iPods, computer-generated imagery and Flash animation have all changed what artists can do, but artists haven't necessarily adapted to those changes.
``We're still in an infancy,'' Beck says. ``We're in the 1940s as far as I'm concerned. We haven't even caught up with our own progress yet.''
One hundred years ago, a three-minute film clip, ``Humorous Phases of Funny Faces,'' changed American culture with a blackboard and a stick of chalk.
A whirring camera stood nearby as James Stuart Blackton sketched out a dubious-looking gent in a bow tie. Blackton's wrist soon disappeared, but on screen the drawing kept growing. A woman appeared, in a frilly dress with a bun atop her head. The man glanced at her, lifted his eyebrows and broke into a grin. The woman reciprocated, then the Bad Man's stogie obscured the Grimacing Ladyfriend in smoke.
``At the time, people were amazed with film,'' says Stephen Worth, director of the International Animated Film Society's Hollywood chapter.
Blackton's short, which included a handful of other characters, is regarded as the world's first known animation. It inspired Windsor McCay's ``Gertie the Dinosaur,'' the ``Mutt and Jeff'' series and a long string of ``Krazy Kat'' shorts.
That got the wheels of the Walt Disney machine turning. With the birth of sound cartoons in 1928, the medium stepped into its golden age. Classic characters -- Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Popeye and Betty Boop -- became icons.
``Through the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s, animation developed really fast and grew to become America's second greatest art form, second only to jazz,'' says Worth. ``After that, the quality went downhill'' as cartoons created for TV were aimed more at children.
It wasn't until the late 1980s and early '90s that a rebirth got under way. Films such as ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit,'' ``The Lion King'' and cartoons on MTV showed that the medium could draw adult audiences. ``The Lion King'' would gross $328 million domestically. Later, technological advancements (the computer imagery in ``Toy Story,'' for example) and an influx of more-mature Japanese anime would roil the industry.
Brian Waters, a 23-year-restaurant employee in West Palm Beach, Fla., watches Cartoon Network's ``Adult Swim'' lineup every night before going to bed. He catches one to four shows: Sometimes it's ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast,'' ``Robot Chicken'' or his favorite, ``Aqua Teen Hunger Force.''
With full-length features, animation can go beyond entertainment. It can become a unique art form, at least to some.
``Great animation is when you have a visionary director who is using all aspects of the medium at the same time to put his idea across,'' says Worth.
You may be able to use a computer to make a character move through space, Worth notes, but without the creativity of the artist, you're just pushing a puppet through an environment.
And while the tools to create animation may be everywhere now, they still have to be in the right hands -- just as they were 100 years ago when Blackton stood in front of a blank chalkboard.
Animation in gamesCartoons provide rich material for video games. Animated hits that have been turned into game series include:
``Dragon Ball Z''
``The Simpsons''
``SpongeBob SquarePants''
``Kim Possible''
``Scooby Doo''
``Animaniacs''
Article Source: Mercury News / http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/14459452.htm?source=rss
Animation, one of America's richest art forms, is in transition.
It's a bizarre period, says Jerry Beck, an animation historian. Video games, video iPods, computer-generated imagery and Flash animation have all changed what artists can do, but artists haven't necessarily adapted to those changes.
``We're still in an infancy,'' Beck says. ``We're in the 1940s as far as I'm concerned. We haven't even caught up with our own progress yet.''
One hundred years ago, a three-minute film clip, ``Humorous Phases of Funny Faces,'' changed American culture with a blackboard and a stick of chalk.
A whirring camera stood nearby as James Stuart Blackton sketched out a dubious-looking gent in a bow tie. Blackton's wrist soon disappeared, but on screen the drawing kept growing. A woman appeared, in a frilly dress with a bun atop her head. The man glanced at her, lifted his eyebrows and broke into a grin. The woman reciprocated, then the Bad Man's stogie obscured the Grimacing Ladyfriend in smoke.
``At the time, people were amazed with film,'' says Stephen Worth, director of the International Animated Film Society's Hollywood chapter.
Blackton's short, which included a handful of other characters, is regarded as the world's first known animation. It inspired Windsor McCay's ``Gertie the Dinosaur,'' the ``Mutt and Jeff'' series and a long string of ``Krazy Kat'' shorts.
That got the wheels of the Walt Disney machine turning. With the birth of sound cartoons in 1928, the medium stepped into its golden age. Classic characters -- Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Popeye and Betty Boop -- became icons.
``Through the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s, animation developed really fast and grew to become America's second greatest art form, second only to jazz,'' says Worth. ``After that, the quality went downhill'' as cartoons created for TV were aimed more at children.
It wasn't until the late 1980s and early '90s that a rebirth got under way. Films such as ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit,'' ``The Lion King'' and cartoons on MTV showed that the medium could draw adult audiences. ``The Lion King'' would gross $328 million domestically. Later, technological advancements (the computer imagery in ``Toy Story,'' for example) and an influx of more-mature Japanese anime would roil the industry.
Brian Waters, a 23-year-restaurant employee in West Palm Beach, Fla., watches Cartoon Network's ``Adult Swim'' lineup every night before going to bed. He catches one to four shows: Sometimes it's ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast,'' ``Robot Chicken'' or his favorite, ``Aqua Teen Hunger Force.''
With full-length features, animation can go beyond entertainment. It can become a unique art form, at least to some.
``Great animation is when you have a visionary director who is using all aspects of the medium at the same time to put his idea across,'' says Worth.
You may be able to use a computer to make a character move through space, Worth notes, but without the creativity of the artist, you're just pushing a puppet through an environment.
And while the tools to create animation may be everywhere now, they still have to be in the right hands -- just as they were 100 years ago when Blackton stood in front of a blank chalkboard.
Animation in gamesCartoons provide rich material for video games. Animated hits that have been turned into game series include:
``Dragon Ball Z''
``The Simpsons''
``SpongeBob SquarePants''
``Kim Possible''
``Scooby Doo''
``Animaniacs''
Article Source: Mercury News / http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/14459452.htm?source=rss