Review: Todd James Pierce, The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation (2019)
Review: Todd James Pierce, The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation (2019)

Despite working at the Walt Disney studios during the Golden Age of American animation, Ward Kimball is in some ways an odd choice of subject for a biography. The animator worked mostly behind the scenes, never directed a feature film, most of his work on famous films was cut, and he was never a household name in his own lifetime. On the other hand, he is as fascinating a subject as a biographer could hope for: a talented, creative craftsman, an eccentric who built a stretch of railroad and drove a steam train around his suburban backyard, and a skilled musician who played trombone in a long-running Dixieland jazz band.

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BOOK REVIEWJohn A. RileyDISNEY, CREATIVE PRACTICE, HOLLYWOOD, INDUSTRY, CARTOONComment
Annihilation (2018) and Anthropocene Effects
Annihilation (2018) and Anthropocene Effects

What does animation when utilised in cinema have to do with the Anthropocene? This term emerged in the scientific community at the turn of the millennium as a way of categorically establishing the impact of humans (or Anthropos) on Earth by naming the current geological era after them. I seek here in this blog post to think about the relationship between special effects and a geological era characterised by human activity on Earth – global warming, the sixth mass extinction, mass migration.

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EDITORIALJoseph JennerANTHROPOCENE, TELEVISION, SPECIAL EFFECTS, COMPUTER ANIMATION Comments
Annihilation (2018): Animating the (non)human of the Anthropocene
Annihilation (2018): Animating the (non)human of the Anthropocene

Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018), a science fiction film set in the present day, stands out as a compelling example of fantasy/animation through its representation of chimerical monstrous creatures. The film contains uncanny imaginings of alligator-shark hybrids, skull-faced bears that growl with human voices and flower patches spectrally arranged in the shape of the human body.

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EDITORIALToby NeilsonANIMATION, ANTHROPOCENE, SCIENCE-FICTION, MONSTERS, ENVIRONMENTComment
Notes from a Festive Queer: The Misfits of Rankin/Bass's Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Notes from a Festive Queer: The Misfits of Rankin/Bass's Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

It’s Christmas in the Western world, which, in the United States at least, means it’s time for holiday movie marathons! As per tradition, thousands of Americans gather around the television to watch animated classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones & Ben Washam, 1966), A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez, 1965), Frosty the Snowman (Jules Bass & Arthur Rankin, Jr., 1969), A Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993), and, of course, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Larry Roemer, 1964).

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EDITORIALKodi MaierQUEER IDENTITY, CHRISTMAS, STOP, AMERICA, TELEVISIONComment
Review: Frozen II (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2019)
Review: Frozen II (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2019)

Before Frozen II (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2019), if you had have asked me what my fantasy ideal Frozen sequel looks like I would have probably answered that there be no sequel at all. Frozen is, to me, practically perfect. Any attempt at continuation could only be disappointing. However, Frozen Fever (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2015), the short film that accompanied the release of Disney’s live-action remake of Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh, 2015) is an ideal compromise.

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FILM REVIEWCatherine LesterHOLLYWOOD, DISNEY, MUSICAL, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILM, SEQUEL, FRANCHISEComment
Modus Operandi
Modus Operandi

Have you ever dreamt of being able to guess the contents of a book, at a glance, simply by flipping through the pages ? This would be a very useful superpower for any student, or teacher, to have. When I saw Wonder Woman’s Jaimie Powers using this skill on television at a young age, the fantasy of instant-reading stayed strong in my heart, leading me to finally develop a pile of Flipped Books as part of my own creative practice.

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONMarie PaccouSTOP-MOTION, DRAWING, FLIPBOOKS, LABOUR, CREATIVE PRACTICEComment
Bloomers
Bloomers

Bloomers is an animated film that had an unlikely gestation. It started as a commission from a contemporary music orchestra in Vienna (Klangforum Wien) as a response to Christian Felber’s economic manifesto The Economy for the Common Good, a sustainable alternative to greed-based capitalism published in 2010. The manifesto is to change the ultimate goal of business solely from making money, to a meaningful, fulfilling and dignified life for all the participants.

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONSamantha MooreLABOUR, CREATIVE PRACTICE, PRINTING, INTERVIEWSComment
A Fantasy/Animation Star? - Robin Williams
A Fantasy/Animation Star? - Robin Williams

In the introduction to Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres, Christopher Holliday and Alex Sergeant argue that “the fantasy and animation relationship should be conceptualized not as an “and” or an “or”, but as a dialect of “fantasy/animation”” (2018: 13). The slash that appears in the book’s (and this blog’s) title is not a ‘fixed divide’, but a “fluid channel through which fantasy and animation are permitted to intersect, collide and intermingle” (ibid.)

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EDITORIALJulie Lobalzo WrightSTARDOM, HOLLYWOOD, FAMILY, PERFORMANCE Comment
Animation Archives
Animation Archives

As academics we find it easy to converse about the complete, those films that have made their way onto the screen and given audiences pleasure and academics room for discourse and assessment. The ‘completed’ animation finds itself venerated the world over and as a medium, or art form, it appears capable of fitting almost any brief, defying the shackles of live-action and capable of producing, from a visual point at least, works of both realism and fantasy that are only limited by the imagination and skills of the creator.

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EDITORIALSteve HendersonFESTIVAL, FILM PRACTICE, CREATIVE PRACTICE, ANIMATION, ARCHIVESComment
Review: Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)
Review: Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)

There is no shortage of controversy surrounding Director Todd Phillips’ recent film, Joker (2019). From the release of teaser trailers onwards, critics and fans have posed questions across media platforms about the film’s intent, impact, and timing. During the press tour, Phillips’ own comments regarding the film served only to exacerbate these debates, leading The Washington Post to declare Joker one of the most “divisive movies of the year.”

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FILM REVIEWSam LangsdaleHOLLYWOOD, PERFORMANCE, PSYCHOANALYSIS, THRILLER, VIOLENCE Comment
Review: Animation and Public Engagement Symposium (APES) 2019
Review: Animation and Public Engagement Symposium (APES) 2019

Since emerging onto the Animation Studies scene five years ago, the Animation and Public Engagement Symposium (APES) has been held annually in different locations across the UK. But for the first time in 2019, APES went international, hosted by Jorgelina Orfila and Francisco Ortega at Texas Tech University, Lubbock between September 19th-21st.

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EVENT REVIEWJessica RutherfordEDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT, EXPANDED ANIMATIONComment
One of the Gods or a Mere Mortal: Fantasy, Fiction and Documentary Filmmakers
One of the Gods or a Mere Mortal: Fantasy, Fiction and Documentary Filmmakers

In this article I will explore the conceptual position a director occupies in the world they create or represent as a method for clarifying a film’s status as either fiction or documentary. As an animated documentary practitioner I am particularly interested in finding a balance between the seemingly limitless fantastic potential of animation and the duty of a documentary filmmaker to create authentic and ethical representations of people and the world.

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONAlex WiddowsonDOCUMENTARY, ADAPTATION, FICTIONAL WORLDS, STYLE, MEMORYComment
Fantasies of Hand-Made Television
Fantasies of Hand-Made Television

My first encounter with animated fantasy was, ironically, static in two dimensions. While I wasn’t born when Smallfilms’ The Pogles was originally broadcast by the BBC in 1965, I grew up watching repeats of Pogles’ Wood (Oliver Postgate,1965-1967) in the Watch with Mother slot in the early 1970s. Some kind person bought me the hard-cover annual from the original series (that was never repeated by the BBC because it was considered too frightening), and I can clearly remember the delighted horror with which I would timorously turn the page to see the villainous Witch of the story – the reason for the one-time-only broadcast.

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EDITORIALRachel MoseleySTOP-MOTION, HANDMADE, TELEVISION, BRITISH ANIMATIONComment
R.E.M. by Danny Nichols
R.E.M. by Danny Nichols

My name is Danny Nichols and I have been drawing and painting all of my life, primarily as a comic book artist. Growing up in South London, I am fascinated with grime as well as beauty. My previous comics include an Inspector Morse parody Tales of an Alcoholic (Fig. 1) as well as a book about the British unemployment system called Creeps & Underdogs, for which the great Alan Moore (V For Vendetta, Watchmen) wrote a foreword. I have also produced a self-published picture book called Insomnia (Fig. 2) as well as doing bits and pieces for magazines and comics like Viz..

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONDanny NicholsFILM PRACTICE, CREATIVE PRACTICE, FANTASY, ANIMATIONComment
Review: It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019)
Review: It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019)

I wouldn’t say I am scared of clowns, but I definitely don’t like them. If you Google search ‘fear of clowns’ there are over ten million results, so it seems I am not alone in my dislike towards these peculiar figures. Taking its cue from something of this ongoing cultural fear around such make-upped entertainers, horror sequel IT Chapter Two (Andrés Muschietti, 2019) offers an often engaging - but always disturbing - and certainly uncanny piece of cinema about an iconic killer clown returning to terrorise his victims once more.

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FILM REVIEWHannah Newman-SmartHORROR, FANTASY, CGI, SPECIAL EFFECTS, UNCANNY Comments
Doozy: A conversation between Richard Squires and Elroy Simmons
Doozy: A conversation between Richard Squires and Elroy Simmons

At irregular intervals throughout the production of my debut feature Doozy – a part-animated exploration of the 1960s voice casting of American actor Paul Lynde – I would meet animator Elroy Simmons (see Fig. 1) in an East End London pub, where he would hand over a wad of beautifully drawn frames, wrapped in newspaper, and we’d have a celebratory drink or two.

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONRichard SquiresSTARDOM, VOICE, DOCUMENTARY, HOLLYWOODComment
Crystalline Vision: Jim Henson, The Dark Crystal and Authorship
Crystalline Vision: Jim Henson, The Dark Crystal and Authorship

In around 1957, Jim Henson travelled through Europe, as Michael Davis describes in his book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street and “took in puppet performances throughout Europe…impressed at how appreciated the art form was outside the United States” (2008: 83). It was this commitment to the form of puppetry and its capacity for emotional expression and innovation of technology and technique that finds such full realization in The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson, 1982) as a vividly authored high fantasy film.

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EDITORIALJames ClarkePUPPETRY, TELEVISION, HIGH FANTASY, PRODUCTION DESIGNComment