ASIFA-Hollywood: The International Animated Film Society
Friday, June 15, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)

Larry Loc`s Daily Blog Moving To:
http://www.agni-animation.com/blog/index.html



The ASIFA-Hollywood blog came into being on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 with a post entitled Animation Master Series Postcards & Prints.

That was the only post for the next 5 months when I took over on Sunday, October 31, 2004 with my first post Headless on All Hollow's Eve. (a post about not being able to find my special effects severed head from my FX days and about how much I love The Headless Horseman by Ub Iwerks) I have been posting regularly ever since.

The ASIFA-Hollywood website is currently undergoing a complete revamping. The site is going into a more formal stage to reflect the upscale image of the new animation archive. I will post things from time to time in the new format, things like Annie and Comic Con related reports, but my more folky day to day posting are migrating to my own blog site: Animation Un-LOC`d.

It has been a great run and hope to see you on my new blog.

Larry Loc
 
Thursday, June 14, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)

From the Email Bag:

This question is stop motion related and not of interest to all but as Yogi said, bear with me.

Hello,

I read your blog at ASIFA, and I was wondering about your preference for 10 gauge copper wire with insulation over 1/16 aluminum wire. Does it bend easily? What scale is good for that gauge of wire? Does it break as often as lead or tin? (I use solder with a replaceable parts armature design)

Thanks,

Don Carlson
stopmotion animator
Pram Maven Films

Wire armatures, used primarily for clay animation, are short lived by nature. Because the are cheap and quick they have a real appeal. The trick is to build them to last long enough for the duration of the shoot. The weak points are upper arm and elbow. Which is why I often build wire armatures with replaceable arms.

Aluminum is stronger than cooper, no question about that. But strength in not the answer, durability is. Aluminum is strange stuff. When you drill it aluminum comes out of the drill hole in long raiser ribbons. When you bend it repeatedly it gives in one area and then continues to bend in that area until is cracks across the bend. It short, it is brittle.

Cooper is a softer material but it has real durability. It tends to bend over a wider area spreading the stress. By leaving the insulation on the wire you tend to increase this trend. And if worse comes to worse and the wire parts the insulation will hold the limb to the body even it will no longer hold the pose. You can even open up the arm and push a couple of straight pins long way through the insulation to build a kind of splint. (The trick is to bend the head of the pin at a 90 degree angle and then use a pare of needle nose pliers to insert the pins)

As for size, 9 inches is the best height. Larger than that and you start running into the inverse square law. Smaller than that and the wire skeleton is too heavy for the body. Here are a few images from my ebook, Animation on a ShoeString (tm) to give you an idea of what I am talking about.






 
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)

Calling All Ani Jammers:
 
Monday, June 11, 2007
 
From the Email Bag:

Hello Larry,

My name is Heather. We were introduced by Margaret Kerry at an ASIFA-Hollywood board of directors meeting a few weeks ago. You may remember that I am doing research for a documentary about the (sometimes hidden) history of women in animation. Margaret was grilling the members of the ASIFA-Board for names of women in the industry, and you mentioned a woman who was a film distributor. I hope you have the time to please reply to this e-mail and tell me about her once more.

I also owe you a deep debt of gratitude, because it was your writing about Martha Sigall on the ASIFA-Hollywood blog that brought me to discover her wonderful book "Living Life Inside the Lines". I was so charmed by her writing that I wrote her a fan letter, and we've since become friends. Martha has been an inspiration to me in so many ways, and it is all thanks to your blogging!

I hope this note finds you enjoying your summer!
Warm wishes,
Heather Harkins

I always have time to talk about Margaret Winkler. She is one of a small group of overlooked animation greats that holds a special place in my heart. Others in this group are Emile Cohl and Mike Maltese.

Margaret J. Winkler often credited as M.J. Winkler is one of the truly remarkable people and one of the most powerful women in the early history of animation. And when I say early, I am talking 1921. J. Stuart Blackton’s Humorous Phases of a Funny Face with the first use of animation technique on film was just 15 before, Gertie the Dinosaur was only 10 years before.

She started as a secretary at Warner Bros. in New York. She had an unerring eye for cartoons which she parlayed into a career as a Distributor. At a time even before women were told that they could only work as ink and paint girls because of a shameful lack of a Y chromosome Margaret Winkler build a successful business in the all male world of the Hollywood/New York film business.

She was the one to sign Otto Messmer/Pat Sullivan’s Felix the Cat. She sign Max and Dave Flescher’s Ko Ko the Clown, she signed the Ub Iwerks/Walt Disney/Virginia Davis Alice in Cartoonland series, and she became involved with the Charles Mintz 30s Krazy Kat cartoons.

Here is a site for the story of how Ms. Winkler got here start http://www.answers.com/topic/margaret-j-winkler.

Mintz, anyway, was her undoing in a very real way. Charles Mintz was a dirty pool, stab ‘em in the back, kind of businessman. Mintz, of course, is most famous for his dirty deal talking Universal into letting him take Oswald the Lucky Rabbit away from Walt Disney.

There are some questions on just how he got control of Krazy Kat. There are still a number of version of the Oswald take over story. But there are no questions on how Charles Mintz took over M.J. Winkler’s business, he married her. And then he slowly moved her out of the office and into the kitchen.

Sad, I see Margaret J. Winkler`s end story as a kind of tragedy brought about by her early training. Women`s suffrage gave the vote to the American female in 1920, just one year before Margaret J. Winkler started her M. J. Winkler Distribution Company. Note that it is M. J. not Margaret, very telling. American was just a few short years from the time that a women could not own property, it belonged to her father or her husband.

Women were never trained in math or business because everyone knew that the female brain did not have the mental capabilities for rational thought (a nice self-fulfilling system feeding back into itself and hard as hell to disprove at the time).

It always saddens me when I think of Margaret Winkler. She did so much, she broke so many molds. I fully understand why her programming kicked in and took over and she bought into Mintz` domestic trap. But I always wish better for her. She deserves so much more that just Mrs. Mintz. And this is the real reason I dislike Mintz, not for what he did to Walt. Walt could fight back.

Distributor - filmography Margaret J. Winkler/M.J. Winkler:

Alpine Antics (1929) (producer)
Alice in the Big League (1927) (producer)
Alice the Beach Nut (1927) (producer)
Alice the Whaler (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Medicine Show (1927) (producer)
Alice in the Klondike (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Channel Swim (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Picnic (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Knaughty Knight (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Three Bad Eggs (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Circus Daze (1927) (producer)
Alice`s Auto Race (1927) (producer)
Alice in the Alps (1927) (producer)
Alice the Collegiate (1927) (producer)
Alice in the Wooly West (1926) (producer)
Alice`s Mysterious Mystery (1926) (producer)
Alice in the Jungle (1925) (producer)
The New Champ (1925) (producer)
Alice`s Egg Plant (1925) (producer)
Alice Gets in Dutch (1924) (producer)
Alice the Peacemaker (1924) (producer)
Alice`s Wild West Show (1924) (producer)
Alice in Slumberland (1926) . Distributor
Alice`s Orphan (1926) . Distributor
Alice`s Mysterious Mystery (1926) . Distributor
Alice`s Little Parade (1926) . Distributor
Alice`s Balloon Race (1926) . Distributor
Alice on the Farm (1926) . Distributor
Alice in the Jungle (1925) . Distributor
Alice Rattled by Rats (1925) . Distributor
Alice Plays Cupid (1925) . Distributor
Alice the Jail Bird (1925) . Distributor
Alice Chops the Suey (1925) . Distributor
Alice`s Tin Pony (1925) . Distributor
Felix Dopes It Out (1925) . Distributor
Felix Finds `Em Fickle (1925) . Distributor
Alice Picks the Champ (1925) . Distributor
Alice Wins the Derby (1925) . Distributor
The New Champ (1925) . Distributor
Alice Is Stage Struck (1925) . Distributor
Alice Loses Out (1925) . Distributor
Felix Gets the Can (1925) . Distributor
Alice`s Egg Plant (1925) . Distributor
Felix Cops the Prize (1925) . Distributor
Felix Monkeys with Magic (1925) . Distributor
Felix Outwits Cupid (1925) . Distributor
Felix Full o` Fight (1925) . Distributor
Felix Gets His Fill (1925) . Distributor
Alice Solves the Puzzle (1925) . Distributor
Felix Rests in Peace (1925) . Distributor
Alice Gets Stung (1925) . Distributor
Felix Follows the Swallows (1925) . Distributor
Alice the Toreador (1925) . Distributor
Felix All Puzzled (1925) . Distributor
Alice Cans the Cannibals (1925) . Distributor
Felix Wins and Loses (1925) . Distributor
Teak Logging with Elephants (1925) . Distributor (1925) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice the Piper (1924) . Distributor
Felix Goes Hungry (1924) . Distributor
The Masked Marvel (1924/II) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice and the Three Bears (1924) . Distributor
The Cabaret of Old Japan (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Finishes First (1924) . Distributor
Ham and Eggs (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Afternoon Tee (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice Hunting in Africa (1924) . Distributor
The Salt of Amping (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Good Scouts (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice Gets in Dutch (1924) . Distributor
Felix Finds Out (1924) . Distributor
Felix Brings Home the Bacon (1924) . Distributor
Home Sweet Home (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
One Glorious Fourth (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
The New Teacher (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Peat Lugging with Elephants (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
The Last Rose of Summer (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice the Peacemaker (1924) . Distributor
Felix Goes West (1924) . Distributor
Alice and the Dog Catcher (1924) . Distributor
Felix All Balled Up (1924) . Distributor
Baffled by Banjos (1924) . Distributor
Alice`s Fishy Story (1924) . Distributor
Friend in Need (1924) . Distributor
Felix Puts It Over (1924) . Distributor
Alice`s Wild West Show (1924) . Distributor
Felix Pinches the Pole (1924) . Distributor
Alice`s Spooky Adventure (1924) . Distributor
Felix Doubles for Darwin (1924) . Distributor
Alice`s Day at the Sea (1924) . Distributor
Felix Tries to Rest (1924) . Distributor
Felix Crosses the Crooks (1924) . Distributor
Felix Hits the Hipps (1924) . Distributor
Masquerade (1924) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Loses Out (1924) . Distributor
Felix Cashes In (1924) . Distributor
Felix Fairy Tales (1924) . Distributor
Felix Foozled (1924) . Distributor
Felix Grabs His Grub (1924) . Distributor
Felix 'Hyps' the Hippo (1924) . Distributor
Felix Minds His Business (1924) . Distributor
Felix Out of Luck (1924) . Distributor
Felix Goes A-Hunting (1923) . Distributor
The Laundry (1923) . Distributor (1924) (USA) (theatrical)
The Contest (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix the Goat Getter (1923) . Distributor
Felix Fills a Shortage (1923) . Distributor
Shadows (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
The Fortune Teller (1923) ... Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Balloons (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Laughs Last (1923) . Distributor
False Alarm (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix in Fairyland (1923) . Distributor
Felix in Hollywood (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
The Battle (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Strikes It Rich (1923) . Distributor
Felix Gets Broadcasted (1923) . Distributor
Felix the Globe Trotter (1923) . Distributor
Trapped (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Calms His Conscience (1923) . Distributor
Felix Revolts (1923) . Distributor
The Puzzle (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Tries for Treasure (1923) . Distributor
Surprise (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Bed Time (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Wins Out (1923) . Distributor (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
Alice's Wonderland (1923) . Distributor
Felix and the Radio (1923) . Distributor
Felix the Ghost Breaker (1923) . Distributor
Felix in the Bone Age (1922) . Distributor
Jumping Beans (1922) . Distributor
Felix Gets Left (1922) . Distributor
Felix Lends a Hand (1922) . Distributor
The Birthday (1922) . Distributor
Felix on the Trail (1922) . Distributor
The Reunion (1922) . Distributor
Fifty-Fifty (1922) . Distributor
Felix Turns the Tide (1922) . Distributor (1922) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix Minds the Kid (1922) . Distributor
The Show (1922/I) . Distributor
Felix Wakes Up (1922) . Distributor
Felix Gets Revenge (1922) . Distributor
The Challenge (1922/I) . Distributor
Felix Finds a Way (1922) . Distributor
Pay Day (1922/II) . Distributor (1922) (USA) (theatrical)
Felix in the Swim (1922) . Distributor
Flies (1922) . Distributor
Felix in Love (1922) . Distributor
Felix All at Sea (1922). Distributor
Bubbles (1922) . Distributor
Felix Makes Good (1922) . Distributor
Felix at the Fair (1922) . Distributor
Felix Saves the Day (1922) . Distributor
Felix Comes Back (1922) . Distributor
The Hypnotist (1921/II) . Distributor
Invisible Ink (1921) ... Distributor (1921) (USA) (theatrical)
Fishing (1921) ... Distributor (1921) (USA) (theatrical)
Modeling (1921) ... Distributor (1921) (USA) (theatrical)

Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)
 
Thursday, June 07, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)



The schedule of ASIFA-Hollywood Comic Con presentions is up. (click above image - it links to a PDF and may take a little while to come up) Still waiting on the Schedule for one screening but everything else is in place.

Still looking for volunteers to cover the booth and to take part in the Animation Jam. You can check out the schedule for the booth on the same form (above) and the schedule for the jam here: http://asifa-hollywood.org/blog/con2007/table.html General info on ASIFA at Comic Con is here: http://asifa-hollywood.org/blog/con2007/index.html
 
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)

Every couple of months I come to the conclusion that the great migration of animation content to dollar DVDs has finally stopped. Then someone like http://eastwestdvd.com comes along and puts the lie to me. It is true that the flow has dried up to a trickle but there are still some gems out there.

Witness my purchase of yesterday, Animation From Around the World from EastWest.



Rush out to your 99 Cent Only Store and pick this one up.

 
Monday, June 04, 2007
 
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)



Comic Con International is coming freight train down the tracks and here at ASIFA we are trying to jump on for another ride. Before I get all steamed up and take this analogy into the last roundhouse or go off track let me say that I have started to put together the schedule and we are still looking for people to cover the booth.

Thursday is a problem as always as are afternoons. (See Schedule here - PDF file may be slow downloading: Combined Schedule

I have also updated the ASIFA at Comic Con site if you want to check that out.

So if you are going to be in San Diego for the Big Con we could use your help. No training needed.
 
This is a public bulletin board for the Directors and volunteers of The International Animated Film Society: ASIFA-Hollywood to communicate with the membership and the general public. ................. . All the opinions stated on this blog are the opinions of the individual authors and not of ASIFA-Hollywood.

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