Thursday, June 23, 2005
Tom on the Great Wall
This report from Tom Sito about his trip to China came in sometime yesterday but with only 3 hours sleep under my belt (students think they are the only ones missing sleep on finals week) I just got around to my e-mail this morning.
China
Recently Pat and I were invited to Japan to lecture to the Japan Digital Animation Festival held in Nagoya. While planning this trip I was contacted by the Beijing Film Academy. They said that since I would be on that side of the Earth anyway, perhaps I would want to come out to China to lecture their students? Mao Tse Tung once said a person who has not seen the Great Wall has had an incomplete life, so I accepted. After the JDAF/Nagoya ended we winged our way to Beijing.
Beijing is a big sprawling metropolis reflecting a society in rapid transition. The capitol is dotted with new construction everywhere. Beijing is sprucing itself up to host the Olympic Games in 2008. The East is Red, but you wouldn`t know it for all the new corporate offices for Microsoft, HP and Haagan Daaz that rise up all around you. The number of autos purchased has gone up 400% in the past two years. The streets that once teemed with bicycles now were jammed with autos all honking and screeching furiously.
Some taxi-drivers hang a red-tasseled image of Mao Tse Tung from their rear-view mirrors as a charm to ward off accidents. And guess what kind of dog I saw most people walking? Why, Pekinese, of course!
The Beijing Film Academy is in the Haidian District northwest of the Forbidden City. It is called the Silicon Valley of China. I will write a more in-depth account in Animation World Network -AWN.com. Pat and I were warmly greeted by the students and faculty. My translator, Jenny Yue Sun, was a graduate student of mine from USC. Fight on! She did a great job translating all my blather into fine Mandarin.
We lectured in the morning to graduate students and in the afternoon to undergrads and faculty. The film academy total has about 5,000 students and the animation group is about 250. They have about 150 MAYA workstations as well as facilities for stop motion and 2D. I saw many well-made student films, some very cartoony, and some reflecting uniquely Chinese imagery, like brush-painting. It was a joy to run for them the sequence from Disney`s DUMBO where Dumbo is rocked by his imprisoned mother. My mind went back to my friend Joe Grant, who wrote much of Dumbo. I wish I could have told him how his ideas still moved people, half a world away and several decades later. We toured an animation studio attached to the CCTV television stations. They were making programming for Chinese daytime TV.
Later we got to visit the Great Wall, the Ming Emperor Tombs and the Forbidden City. We had Peking Duck and checked out the McDonalds near Tienahmen Square. It was hazy and humid all our time there. Even a front of thunderstorms one night couldn`t clear the fog. For some reason, in Beijing, Jon Stewart`s `The Daily Show" is run on CNN , and they had a Vin Deisel festival on another station. Hmm, maybe this Open Door Policy isn`t all it`s cracked up to be . . .
Before we left Professor Sun LiJun presented me with a certificate as honorary faculty from the Academy and a bottle of Himalayan Brandy. I gave them Some goodies from Madagascar, and an animation union pin. I was told my talk was very inspiring to the students. I was grateful for the opportunity.
It was a unique experience to visit and I look forward to future trips.
TS ¶ 9:04 AM
China
Recently Pat and I were invited to Japan to lecture to the Japan Digital Animation Festival held in Nagoya. While planning this trip I was contacted by the Beijing Film Academy. They said that since I would be on that side of the Earth anyway, perhaps I would want to come out to China to lecture their students? Mao Tse Tung once said a person who has not seen the Great Wall has had an incomplete life, so I accepted. After the JDAF/Nagoya ended we winged our way to Beijing.
Beijing is a big sprawling metropolis reflecting a society in rapid transition. The capitol is dotted with new construction everywhere. Beijing is sprucing itself up to host the Olympic Games in 2008. The East is Red, but you wouldn`t know it for all the new corporate offices for Microsoft, HP and Haagan Daaz that rise up all around you. The number of autos purchased has gone up 400% in the past two years. The streets that once teemed with bicycles now were jammed with autos all honking and screeching furiously.
Some taxi-drivers hang a red-tasseled image of Mao Tse Tung from their rear-view mirrors as a charm to ward off accidents. And guess what kind of dog I saw most people walking? Why, Pekinese, of course!
The Beijing Film Academy is in the Haidian District northwest of the Forbidden City. It is called the Silicon Valley of China. I will write a more in-depth account in Animation World Network -AWN.com. Pat and I were warmly greeted by the students and faculty. My translator, Jenny Yue Sun, was a graduate student of mine from USC. Fight on! She did a great job translating all my blather into fine Mandarin.
We lectured in the morning to graduate students and in the afternoon to undergrads and faculty. The film academy total has about 5,000 students and the animation group is about 250. They have about 150 MAYA workstations as well as facilities for stop motion and 2D. I saw many well-made student films, some very cartoony, and some reflecting uniquely Chinese imagery, like brush-painting. It was a joy to run for them the sequence from Disney`s DUMBO where Dumbo is rocked by his imprisoned mother. My mind went back to my friend Joe Grant, who wrote much of Dumbo. I wish I could have told him how his ideas still moved people, half a world away and several decades later. We toured an animation studio attached to the CCTV television stations. They were making programming for Chinese daytime TV.
Later we got to visit the Great Wall, the Ming Emperor Tombs and the Forbidden City. We had Peking Duck and checked out the McDonalds near Tienahmen Square. It was hazy and humid all our time there. Even a front of thunderstorms one night couldn`t clear the fog. For some reason, in Beijing, Jon Stewart`s `The Daily Show" is run on CNN , and they had a Vin Deisel festival on another station. Hmm, maybe this Open Door Policy isn`t all it`s cracked up to be . . .
Before we left Professor Sun LiJun presented me with a certificate as honorary faculty from the Academy and a bottle of Himalayan Brandy. I gave them Some goodies from Madagascar, and an animation union pin. I was told my talk was very inspiring to the students. I was grateful for the opportunity.
It was a unique experience to visit and I look forward to future trips.
TS ¶ 9:04 AM
