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ACMI Presents: Focus on Dante Ferretti

Feb 25, ’09 11:42 AM

The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2005). Production design by Dante Ferretti

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‘I always try to find ways of manipulating reality to accentuate the central focus of the film. I’ll exaggerate certain details and discard others.’
- Dante Ferretti

Film Production Design is being celebrated at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in its current exhibition Setting the Scene: Film Design from Metropolis to Australia. To coincide with the exhibition, ACMI Film Programs have curated a unique film season dedicated to the significant body of work of Academy Award winning, Italian production designer Dante Ferretti. A showcase of thirteen selected films featuring art direction or production design by Ferretti will take place at ACMI from Friday 20 February to Sunday 1 March in Focus On Dante Ferretti.

Dante Ferretti was both in Macerata, Italy in 1943, and studied set design in Rome before he was employed as an assistant to film architect Luigi Scaccianoce. With now 70 films in his continuing body of work, his first assignment as a designer was for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Medea (1969) who taught Ferretti to draw inspiration from art history. One of the greatest examples of this influence can be seen in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Name of the Rose (1986). The film, adapted from the novel by Umberto Eco, is a medieval monastery-set thriller shot in Italy and Germany, and called for complex interior design to represent the labyrinthine drama. The construction of the interior plaza and abbey was supervised by Ferretti, and a reconstructed model is being exhibited at ACMI as part of Setting the Scene until April, 2009.

Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam, 1988). Production sketch by Dante Ferretti

Following The Name of the Rose, Ferretti’s next major project was working on Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), a film now perhaps better known for its production problems and cost overruns. However, this film can be viewed as a launch of sorts for Ferretti, as following this film his career really took off internationally. Since Baron Munchausen, he has worked with significant directors from all over the world, including Neil Jordan, Claude Chabrol and the late Anthony Minghella. Ferretti has also frequently collaborated with Academy Award winning American filmmaker Martin Scorsese on six feature films to date. Three of these films will be screening as part of the Focus On showcase: The Aviator (2005), The Age of Innocence (1993) and Casino (1995). Scorsese’s new feature, Ashecliffe, with Ferretti as Production Designer, is currently in post-production and due for release later this year.

The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2005). Production sketch by Dante Ferretti.

Roberta Ciabarra, ACMI Film Programmer and Curator of the season, says, ‘Dante Ferretti’s vast body of work included ongoing collaborations with some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In a way this is testament to his significant role in the history of filmmaking. From baroque and neo-realist Italian cinema to the Hollywood machine and some of the really defining moments in film, Ferretti has been part of it all.’

Dante Ferretti has won two Academy Awards in the Best Achievement in Art Direction category, most recently for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2008) and in 2005 for Scorsese’s The Aviator. Both of these films will screen as part of the Focus on Dante Ferretti season, as well as The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993), Titus (Julie Taymor, 1999), The Black Dahlia (Brian de Palma, 2006), Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam, 1988).
Ferretti’s early career in Italy and France will be represented by screenings of a smaller number of arthouse titles such as E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On) (Federico Fellini, 1983), La nuit de Varennes (That Night in Varennes) (Ettore Scola, 1982), Storie di ordinaria follia (Tales of Ordinary Madness) (Marco Ferreri, 1981) and Decameron (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1971).

The Black Dahlia (Brian de Palma, 2006). Production sketch by Dante Ferretti

‘With the sheer volume of works in his filmography, we could have have done a whole festival,’ says Ciabarra, ‘but these works represent some of Ferretti’s defining moments, as well as those of the directors he has worked with. It’s a chance for ACMI to highlight the importance of production design and visionary directing and perhaps even more so, the deep interpretative skills these artists (quite literally) have. Their ability to get into someone’s head and translate concept into finely woven fabric is really quite something.’

- Kate McCurdy

Focus on Dante Ferretti
Friday 20 February – Sunday 1 March, 2009.
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Federation Square, Melbourne
Admission fees apply

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Waltz with Bashir

Dec 12, ’08 3:26 PM

Kate McCurdy

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Nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Waltz with Bashir is attracting audiences from all over the globe, if not just for the fascinating content of the film, but for the way it has been presented.

The film is the true story of filmmaker Ari Folman’s journey to recover missing pieces of his memory from the days of the Lebanon War in the mid 1980s. It was first shot as a live action documentary of interviews with Folman and his old friends and comrades from around the world. However, the surreal and unreal images conjured up by the recollection of these events meant that for Folman, it was ‘only natural to transform the quest into animation, full of imagination and fantasy’.

From live-action to animation
Yoni Goodman, Director of Animation on Waltz with Bashir, recalls that the initial interviewing process of the film took about 18 months, while the animation time extended the project’s production time by a year. Folman interviewed ten people who were present during the war, and wrote a script based on their responses. He then interviewed these people a second time, this time filming them and using the script as a guide, and the footage was edited down to a 96 minute video.

‘Once the edited version was ready,’ explains Goodman, ‘David [Polonsky] and myself joined Ari and together we sat down on storyboard meetings, breaking the movie into scenes and shots, deciding which part would be a reconstruction of the memory, which part would be a “talking head”, and which would be a dream or fantasy scene. After those meetings I translated them to storyboard, and my crew created the animatic, which is a sort of high-detailed sketch of the animation. At the end of that process Ari edited the animatic and we sat down and watched the whole movie as an animation sketch, detailed enough for us to give feedback and see if our initial ideas worked or not. After that part was approved, David and his crew began designing and breaking [down] the illustrations for the cutouts animation process.’

The animation team
Yoni Goodman’s crew began with six animators, but grew to ten, in addition to David Polonsky’s crew of three illustrators, although Goodman describes Polonsky as having ‘drawn eighty percent of the movie by himself’. Responsible and invaluable to Polonsky’s crew was Yaara Buchman, who broke every illustration down into thousands of pieces so that they could be moved and animated.

Rotoscoping vs the Bashir technique
Contrary to industry rumours, the animation in Waltz with Bashir was not achieved through rotoscoping techniques and Goodman actively fights this misconception whenever he can.
‘I’d like to state that the movie has absolutely zero percent rotoscope. Every time one of my animators hears or reads about someone on the other side of the planet saying the movie was in rotoscope, I get a phone call, regardless of the hours.’

Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over live-action footage, frame-by-frame, to create an animated version of the film movement. The original process involved the projection (rotoscope was the name given to the projection equipment) of images onto a frosted glass panel and these were then redrawn by the animator by hand. These days through the use of digital visual effects, rotoscoping now refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate for compositing over a background. The animators behind Waltz with Bashir feel that the misconception that their animation was created with this technique diminishes the quality of their work. Goodman says that, in a way, this is true.
‘Every movement in this movie was created and invented in the animator’s head, and not copied over live footage. Sometimes we watched the interviews for reference, but we never drew over them. Instead we tried to stylise and re-create them.’

Goodman describes the technique he and his animation team devised for Bashir as being a lot of hard work, but ultimately achieves the effect that aligned with Folman’s vision of his film.
‘While rotoscope is a legitimate technique, I’m not very fond of how it’s used in most cases,’ Goodman explains. ‘Most of the time it feels a bit like a Photoshop filter over live footage, and it lacks some spontaneity. Cutout was really our only option in terms of budget and manpower, and we tried to harness the disability of the cutouts technique to our advantage, making a simple and stylised movement, which allowed us to get different and rich results.’

Software used
The animation crew used Flash for the cutouts animation technique which was specially designed for this project, combining it with traditional animation processes to create the overall effect. A few shots also used 3D for camera movements in some scenes, but this was only used in a limited way. Effects such as smoke and explosions were added by the visual effects department later in the process.

Why animation – Folman’s previous work, and conscious decision for animation
‘Waltz with Bashir was always intended to be an animation,’ Goodman says. ‘This was Ari’s vision from day one, we just sort of gave him the tools to do it. Like he says, if he had done it like an ordinary documentary, it would have been another talking heads and archive footage movie. We wanted to recreate the actual events, and to do more; to give the sense of anxiety, of fear, to really bring out the horrors of war through nightmares and hallucinations, and animation is really the best, and in my opinion, the only way of telling the story as it should be told.’

The effect of the animation style employed in Waltz with Bashir lends the film a surreal and dreamlike quality, while at the same time adding a chilling and moving reality, as well as a sense of history, to each story told by the interviewees. The simple and stylised movement of the characters over the backdrop of war gives the film a gentle pace which allows the audience to absorb and consider what they have seen, before moving on to Folman’s next interview. The film builds towards the end, where the shock of realisation by Ari Folman’s character is akin to the horror of waking from a nightmare only to find that it is real. Waltz with Bashir is intensely powerful with strong subject matter. However it is to the filmmaker’s and particularly his animation team’s credit, that it is also a very watchable and memorable film.

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Waltz with Bashir – Gallery

Dec 12, ’08 3:23 PM

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Possible Worlds: The Museum and My Winnipeg – Gallery

Dec 12, ’08 3:16 PM

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The 3rd annual Possible Worlds Film Festival, held in Sydney November 27 – December 2, aims to introduce and familiarise Australian audiences with the rich diversity, vibrant talent and the accessible nature of Canadian film. Much of the program of films selected for the festival will be screened in Australia for the first time.

This year’s program highlights included Guy Maddin’s docu-fantasia My Winnipeg and the Australian premiere of The Museum.

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Possible Worlds: The Museum and My Winnipeg

Dec 12, ’08 3:16 PM

The Museum. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.

Kate McCurdy

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This year’s program highlights included Guy Maddin’s docu-fantasia My Winnipeg and the Australian premiere of The Museum.

My Winnipeg is the latest feature film by Canadian auteur, and unique filmmaker, Guy Maddin. The film can be viewed as an attempt to revisit and therefore understand his upbringing in Winnipeg, Manitoba (the coldest and most central city in North America). The result has been described as ‘equal parts mystical renumeration and personal history, city chronicle and deranged post-Freudian proletarian fantasy’, and is an engaging, reflective and entertaining experience. Maddin’s keen sense of humour is at the fore, not only through the inspired application of animation, archive footage and re-enactments that make up the film, but also as he guides the audience via his narration.
Previous films by Maddin include a number of short films, as well as his recent features The Saddest Music in the World (2003) and Brand upon the Brain! (2006).

My Winnipeg. Dir: Guy Maddin 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.

Another documentary highlight at the Possible Worlds festival is Kenton Vaughan’s highly entertaining film The Museum, exposing the ego, art, politics and architecture of the newly rejuvenated Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. William Thorsell, director of the Royal Ontario Museum, in response to the digital age and old-fashioned appearance of the museum, made the decision to give the building a much-needed facelift. Due to the scale and publicity surrounding such a make-over, as the newly designed building would effectively transform the entire city let alone Bloor Street on which it stands, the choice of architect for the project was crucial. The decision was to employ celebrity architect Daniel Libeskind, a global brand behind some of the world’s most prestigious landmarks including Ground Zero in New York.
The Museum is a fascinating portrait of these two visionary men and their daring quest to reinvent public architecture.

The Museum. Dir: Kenton Vaughan 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.

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The Production Book

Dec 12, ’08 3:15 PM

Kate McCurdy

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The Production Book, published annually, is the most comprehensive film and television directory for crew, suppliers and production information in Australia.
Known as the ‘industry bible’, it is spiral bound, tabbed and indexed so that you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily.

The Production Book contains over 16,000 listing spanning 230 categories, including Actors, Directors and Agents, Book Publishers and Bookshops, Distributors, Libraries (Public, Sound, Stills Photographs, Stock footage), Postproduction, Researchers, Television Production Houses, Visual Effects, Writers and Wranglers.
It also includes other useful information all in the one place, such as sunrise and sunset times, calendars, distances between cities, location contracts, international time zones, and film and television production lists.

The Production Book is a must-have resource for creative professionals – and those studying to be – in the film, television, media, advertising and multimedia industries in Australia and overseas.

The Production Book is also online as a searchable directory available through subscription to the website.

The 2009 edition is available for pre-order through The Production Book website.

18cm x 23.5cm
Approx 860 pages
Spiral Bound & tabbed throughout
230 categories
16000 listings
$140 inclusive of GST and postage

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Art Deco: 1910-1939 – NGV, Melbourne – Gallery

Sep 18, ’08 12:46 PM

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Art Deco: 1910-1939 is a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the significant period in which its glamour and style influenced design worldwide. Direct from London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition is staged exclusively at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV); the fifth exhibition in the extremely popular ‘Melbourne Winter Masterpieces’ series, and the first to feature the decorative arts with over 300 works on display.

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Art Deco: 1910-1939 – NGV, Melbourne

Sep 18, ’08 12:46 PM

Oliver Bernard (designer) England 1881–1939 Strand Palace Hotel staircase 1930–31 glass (lit), chrome 370.8 x 447.5 x 444.7 cm (main); 261.0 cm (stairs) Victoria and Albert Museum, London © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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Kate McCurdy

Art Deco 1910-1939
Art Deco: 1910-1939 is a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the significant period in which its glamour and style influenced design worldwide. Direct from London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition is staged exclusively at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV); the fifth exhibition in the extremely popular ‘Melbourne Winter Masterpieces’ series. The first exhibition to feature the decorative arts, there are over 300 works on display.

Exhibition structure
The exhibition explores the chronological development of Art Deco, from its origins in Europe during the years leading up to the First World War, to the explosion of the movement at the 1925 Paris Exposition, and its enormous popularity and influence on design to countries across the globe. Art Deco 1910-1939 pays particular attention to the major influence of Deco in Australia, dedicating an entire section to Australian architecture, fine arts and product design.

AWA, Sydney (manufacturer) Australia 1913– 'Empire State, Fisk radiolette and cigarette box' 1936 bakelite, glass, metal 28.5 x 28.5 x 18.0 cm Private collection, Sydney © Peter Sheridan

A global influence
The scope of Art Deco’s influence is accurately represented in the exhibition by the display of a wide range of artistic media including painting, jewellery, ceramics and glassware, fashion, industrial design, graphic design, film, architecture and interior design, automotive design, photography and furniture design. Also well represented is the spread of Art Deco at a global level, with featured art and design pieces from Europe, the USA, Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Origins
Art Deco first appeared in Europe, in the years before the First World War. The movement developed in many of the cities where Art Nouveau was popular, and in the years following the war Art Deco’s own popularity and influence on art and design grew quickly, its influence spreading worldwide. The highpoint of this time was the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the first world fair dedicated to modern decorative arts. In the 6-month duration of the exhibition, 16 million visitors came from around the world to view the latest offerings in Art Deco design, which also served to reassert France’s reputation as the arbiter of taste and producer of luxury goods, as well as the centre of fashion, internationally.

Pablo GARGALLO Spain/France 1881-1934 'Kiki de Montpamasse' 1928, cast 1978 Bronze, ed. 2/3 27.5 x 16.5 x 17.0 cm Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris Gift of Pierette Anguera-Gargallo, 1981

Inspired by the ancient, the exotic and the Avant-Garde
Art Deco itself is influenced by many factors, most significantly by ancient and exotic inspirations as well as styles from the avant-garde movements. Motifs, symbols and imagery from exotic cultures were widely appropriated to the style of Art Deco designs. Paul Colin’s depiction of cabaret dancer Josephine Baker, featured in the Exotic section of the exhibition, illustrates Art Deco’s fascination for the exotic.
The Avant-Garde also had a strong influence on the development of the Art Deco style, in which the art of French Cubism, Orphism, Italian Futurism and Russian Constructivism gave designers a fundamentally new and modern language of forms. These ideas were applied to graphics and textile designs, decoration of ceramics and glassware, as well as architecture, interior design and photography.

Paul Colin France 1892–1985 'Josephine Baker' 1927 from 'Le Tumulte noir (The black craze)' portfolio, Paris: 'Editions d’Art Succès', 1927 lithograph and pochoir 47.3 x 63.6 cm (sheet) Victoria and Albert Museum, London © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London © Paul Colin/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney

The 1925 Paris Exposition
The 1925 Paris Exposition can be regarded as the belated ‘launch’ of Art Deco; the moment at which the style exploded onto the main global stage, while reinstating France’s position as a trendsetter and world centre for style at the time.
The Exposition included paintings from Jean Dupas; furniture design from Jacques-Émile Rulhmann, Sir Edward Maufe, Louis Süe and André Mare; François Pompon’s sculptures including the famous Polar bear; silversmith Jean Puiforcat’s designs; glass pieces from René Lalique, Maurice Marinot and Edward Hald; glamorous jewellery by Louis Cartier and fashion by couture houses Madeleine Vionnet and Maison Myribor.
Also exhibiting at the Exposition were works from designers Jean Dunand , Henri Rapin, Pierre Legrain, Rose Adler, Thayaht, F. Gregory Brown, Gio Ponti and Josef Hoffman.

The Art Deco streamlined lifestyle
A number of these pieces are exhibited in Art Deco 1910-1939, including Louis Cartier’s Tutti Frutti strap bracelet and double-clip brooch, a complex arrangement of coloured precious stones including ruby, emerald and sapphire. These pieces were sold to Cole Porter’s wife Linda Lee Thomas, whose fame adds to the glamorous appeal of this jewellery.
Other glamorous pieces featured in the exhibition are Coco Chanel’s dresses. Extending ideas from pre-First World War designer Paul Poiret, Chanel and Jean Patou created dresses that were designed to reflect the 1920s lifestyle of attending cocktail bars and the cinema. Hair and dresses were cut shorter, the latter to allow women to dance the Charleston, and accessories were designed to match.
The Art Deco style of streamlining influenced not only products and architecture, but the streamlined silhouette was also a coveted style in dress design. A significant practice in fashion design in this time was that of the bias cut in garment construction. This involves the woven fabric being cut on the diagonal to the direction of the weave, which provides greater elasticity and more fluid draping. Designers such as Charles James used this practice to produce sleek designs in matt silk crêpe or smooth glossy satin, which were sophisticated and very Art Deco.

Tamara DE LEMPICKA Poland 1898–1980, emigrated to France 1918, worked in United States 1939–69, Mexico 1962–80 'The telephone II (Le téléphone II)' 1930 oil on wood panel 35.0 x 27.0 cm Wolfgang Joop Collection, London © Tamara De Lempicka/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney

The telephone and the skyscraper
Other highlights of the exhibition include Tamara de Lempicka’s The telephone II from 1930, and the stunning installation of the original architectural elements from the foyer of the Strand Palace Hotel from London’s West End, rescued by the V&A during the demolition of the foyer space in 1969.
Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of Art Deco’s influence on architecture is that of the skyscraper. As well as a striking symbol of modernity, the spectacle of the towering skyscraper also signifies the impact of the new modern style on the art and lifestyle of America. As the style of Art Deco spread from Europe to the United States and the rest of the world, so the American interpretation of Art Deco was shown and promoted to international audiences via the Hollywood film.

Travel and transportation
Travel is also an important inclusion in the exhibition, particularly film footage of the interior design of the Normandie, is featured in the Travel and Transportation section. The depictions of other modes of transport of this era, including grand luxury liners, streamlined trains and motor cars, as well as the exotic tourist destinations communicates the extent of Art Deco’s influence on mass culture and the modern world. Motor vehicle design is featured with the 1937 Cord 812 Westchester sedan, produced by Auburn Automobile Company in Indiana, USA, given a prominent position in the exhibition.

AUBURN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY, Auburn and Connersville, Indiana (manufacturer) United States 1900–27 'Cord 812 Westchester sedan' 1937 160.0 x 180.0 x 500.0 cm Private collection, Melbourne Photo: Courtesy of Brian Scott

Deco Down Under
One section of Art Deco 1910-1939 has an entirely Australian focus, displaying its architecture, fine arts and product design.
Historical photographs highlight the Sydney Harbour Bridge as being one of the most striking examples of this country’s architectural design, although local architecture in cities, suburbs and towns throughout Australia were strongly influenced by Art Deco. From the mass-produced objects of glassware and ceramics to distinctive handcrafted items of similar products, Australian Art Deco reflects unique national characteristics while at the same time embracing international modernity and Australia’s enthusiasm to be considered part of the global community.

This extensive exhibition is at once a nostalgic tour of the past and also a celebration of style that has never truly gone out of fashion.

Art Deco 1910-1939
28 June – 5 October 2008
NGV International
180 St Kilda Road
10am-5pm
Exhibition fees apply

Further information:
www.ngv.vic.gov.au

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TOYGIANTS – Gallery

Jul 18, ’08 12:10 PM

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Toygiants is a celebration of toys: the culture, the passion, the obsession.

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Andrew Gordon

Jul 18, ’08 12:06 PM

Supervising Animator – Pixar Animation Studios

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In recent years, animation has made the leap from 2D cartoon to 3D feature film. Always in the front line, Pixar Animation Studios have kept up a stream of memorable masterpieces and the good work keeps on coming. They seem so busy that it is surprising that they have time to leave the studio at all, so when Andrew Gordon, Supervising Animator at Pixar Animation Studios, was recently in Melbourne to undertake the second Autodesk Animation Workshop, Kate McCurdy took the opportunity to explore a few key points.

Beginnings at Pixar
Andrew Gordon joined Pixar in 1997 as an animator on their second feature film A Bug’s Life. Since then he has worked on every Pixar film including significant work in Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. He has most recently worked as supervising animator for Pixar’s new original short film, which will be released theatrically with WALL•E later this year.

The process of characterisation
While Gordon admits to having what may be called an ‘animators’ box of tricks, such as canned gestures, cadence of walks, as well as hand and mouth shapes; a lot of his characterisations come from his own improvising. When approaching a new project, he explains that he will take a day or two to plan and think about the aims, goals, thematic elements such as comedy, and the entertainment value. He will often film himself acting, for example, he will put on skiboots and walk around in an exaggerated fashion to see how it may affect the character. Gordon says that, for him, the most important thing to do first when constructing a character is to ‘get the walk’.

Quality assurance
Andrew Gordon believes that Disney animation has historically had a definitive style and the high level of quality has been maintained by the animators. Similarly, Pixar’s strong creative style and direction that has become familiar with audiences ever since the release of Toy Story is largely due John Lasseter. Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios and principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, trained with Disney animators and brought with him the strong attention to detail and quality to his work and the team at Pixar.

Above all, Gordon believes that a ‘good story’ makes a good film, and that animated films these days are becoming increasingly adult which gives them a further enduring quality. He is also a firm believer in the films having a message, and he would apply this principle to his own films which he hopes to direct in the future. He would very much like to make short films with his own ideas, because right now while he enjoys the projects that he’s working on, ‘they’re all based on someone else’s ideas, not your own’. He’s very interested in period pieces from the 1920s, but ultimately it comes back to a good story plus interesting, funny characters with some depth to them.

Animation education – workshops and blogs
Having taught animation since 2000, Gordon is no stranger to the teacher’s role. When he’s not animating or after a project wraps, he enjoys travelling, taking his message of style and substance to animation students and professionals worldwide. He recalls that his best experiences as a student was getting information from ‘the people who are doing it’, and he feels now like he is able to give something back with the workshops, as well as his collaborative blog SplineDoctors.

SplineDoctors
SplineDoctors is a blog founded by a number of prominent animators at Pixar, including Andrew Gordon and dedicated to animation education. The blog includes links, videos, and also podcasts or ‘SplineCasts’ to which anyone can subscribe. Brad Bird, writer and director of Pixar films The Incredibles and Ratatouille, is an enthusiastic supporter of the development of Splinedoctors.
The SplineCasts include interviews with Brad Bird; Dr. Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios; Andrew Stanton, writer, director and animator of Finding Nemo and the upcoming WALL•E; Pete Doctor, writer and director of Monsters Inc.; as well as ’roundtable’ discussions with Andrew Gordon and other animators associated with Pixar. Frequently updated with new podcasts and blog items, Splinedoctors is an inspiring and priceless resource for animation students and professionals alike.

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TOYGIANTS

Jul 18, ’08 12:06 PM

Book review

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Toygiants is a celebration of toys: the culture, the passion, the obsession.

While the Toygiants project has taken more than four years to complete, the content is the result of a lifetime of meticulous collecting. Selim Varol is the owner of one the largest toy collections in Europe, and perhaps the world, with more than 10,000 individual pieces to his name. After happening upon a shop window which displayed a number of the pieces from the collection, photographers Daniel and Geo Fuchs had to know more about Selim’s obsession for toys.
What followed was the start of a strong friendship between the Fuchs and Selim, one which Selim says has ‘greatly impacted the development and direction of [his] collection’. He describes the time they spent together photographing the toys as ‘imbued with an aura of childlike intimacy where no one else was permitted’. The end product of the book – and accompanying exhibition – however, draws the reader in and demands their involvement; by rekindling childhood memories of their own toys, or touching on the cult following of film characters and icons, or by simply blowing their minds through the sheer spectacle of some of the compositions.

Toygiants takes you on a journey through the fascination of toy design, from the more conventional dolls such as Barbie and Blythe, to the increasingly popular designer vinyl craze sweeping the globe. There are superheroes from the comic book worlds, such as Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Hell Boy, as well as the cast from Sin City, albeit characters from the feature film version of the graphic novel. Movie characters abound, from the usual suspects of Star Wars and Star Trek, to the more unconventional such as Uma Thurman as The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (as well as Tarantino himself), Al Pacino as Scarface, Bruce Willis as Die Hard‘s John McClane and Sly Stallone’s Rambo.

What really stands out in Toygiants is the opening ‘sequence’ of images, a politically charged and alarming display of toys that unbelievably do exist. The first toy to take the stage, is that of George W. Bush, in full US Air Force gear, complete with interchangeable hands so that he can give the thumbs up to the troops. What follows is a sinister exploration of a real life game of heroes and villains: an extreme close up of Bush is placed in a double page spread with Osama Bin Laden. More portraits of world figures follow, from the revolutionary Che Guevaro, Fidel Castro and Abraham Lincoln, to the more notorious faces of Saddam Hussein, and Adolf Hitler.
The Hitler sequence begins with an extreme close-up, followed by what may be deemed fantastic poses including the figure of Hitler playing with Star Wars ships, to having his head in the jaws of a dinosaur, to being subjected to the sadistic whims of mutants. The imagination and invention of the compositions of the group shots elevate the objects out of their packaging and the toybox, and brings them to life: whether it’s Andy Warhol in the barber’s chair (hair by Edward Scissorhands), or colour-coded designer vinyl toy group compositions on long fold-out pages, or the extreme close-up portraits that allow you to become closer to the toys than you thought was possible.

Toygiants also shows that the collector’s bug does not belong solely to Selim, as Daniel and Geo Fuchs are collectors in their own right. Using their camera to collect, ‘they do not view these extremely disparate collections in a conventional way, but rather see archiving, or placing an order of particular things that interest them, as photogenic landscapes,’ observes Dr. Eugen Blume, Director of the Nationalgalerie in Hamburger Bahnof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin. He believes that their aim is to ‘conserve the world in absolute detail’, and that’s just what they have done with the world of toys in Toygiants. This is especially the case for the accompanying exhibition at the Rebel Arts Gallery, Hamburg, which includes an oversized 4 x 5.5 metre groupshot, as well as a selection of enlarged portraits. At this size, the toys command the exhibition space and become powerful images, and indeed works of art, in their own right.

By making the decision not to include captions to help illustrate each of the figures in the book, Toygiants does rely a little too heavily on the pop culture knowledge of its reader, and in some instances can distance those who may be new to this toy world. But when examined for what it is, a photographic collection of toys as you’ve never seen them before, this book is truly a collector’s item in itself.

TOYGIANTS Silver Edition contains invaluable extras such as interviews with Daniel and Geo Fuchs, as well as a removable poster of one of the group shots.

Kate McCurdy

Daniel and Geo Fuchs
TOYGIANTS Silver Edition
Gingko Press
Release date: 5 April 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58423-284-1
Format: 320 mm x 250 mm, Number of pages: 212 + 4 Fold-Outs, Hardcover in plastic cover with silkscreen, Removable poster: 305 x 960 mm
RRP: 45 euros / $49

Exhibition: Daniel & Geo Fuchs TOYGIANTS
Rebel Arts Gallery Hamburg in cooperation with artempus con-temporary gallery Düsseldorf
from April 26 – July 31 2008

View Gallery | Visit Website

Further information
Daniel and Geo Fuchs

Gingko Press

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Inaugural Jerwood Moving Image Awards Winners

Apr 9, ’08 3:52 PM

Return to DG magazine 129 contents

Winner: Sea Change by Rosie Clements and Joe King

Kate McCurdy

Visit website | Print & File [Members]

In an attempt to support and promote the myriad disciplines that fall under the umbrella term ‘digital moving image’, this year the Jerwood Moving Image Awards was established to provide a platform for exploring and debating the artform as it exists today, as well as its future prospects.

Of the 350 entries received, three winners were selected by the judging panel as leaders in their field: Sophie Clements, Johnny Kelly and the creative partnership of Rosie Pedlow and Joe King. They have each received £10,000 as winners of the first ever major award in the UK for artists working in the relatively new discipline of digital moving image.

Winner: Procrastination by Johnny Kelly

Digital moving image is a ‘uniquely exciting creative discipline of almost limitless possibility,’ says Roanne Dods, Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. She adds that ‘the three winning films wonderfully fulfil the potential of putting digital technology in the hands of the artists, and will hopefully encourage audiences, artists and critics alike to engage more closely with this artform’.

The fact that the judging panel was led by Wayne McGregor of the Royal Ballet displays the breadth of this new discipline into all areas of the arts. McGregor observes that ‘the staggering diversity of practices that we’ve seen [in the award's entries] from dance film and documentary to animation and video art, reveals a discipline that is vigorously creative and consistently challenging its own boundaries.’

Winner: Evensong by Sophie Clements

The three winners’ work are prime examples of this blurring of disciplines, as they combine elements of filmmaking, sound design and music, screenwriting, visual arts, as well as animation and digital effects to create the films.
A collection of their work as well as the other five finalists, and twenty-two other shortlisted films can also be streamed online at the Jerwood Moving Image Awards website.

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The Jarman Award – Winner Announced

Apr 9, ’08 10:38 AM

Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

View Article in DG magazine 129 | View Gallery

The inaugural Jarman Award took place at The Serpentine Gallery last night and Glasgow-based artist film-maker Luke Fowler humbly collected the coveted prize.

Film London and More4, in partnership with The Serpentine Gallery, supported The Jarman Award – a distinction created in celebration of the experimentation and imagination of UK artist film-makers who resist boundaries and conventional definition in the spirit of Derek Jarman.

Representatives from all partnership organisations sang the praises of the artists that were shortlisted – Duncan Campbell, Andrew Kötting, Emily Wardill, and the eventual winner, Luke Fowler. Maggie Ellis, the Head of Production at Film London, made the announcement.

Luke Fowler stood out for his vision, ambition and integrity . He is a key catalyst and collaborator within Glasgow’s vital arts scene and his work is a rigorous and energetic testament to film’s ability to transcend its own limits as both art form and document.

As the winning artist, Luke Fowler receives £20,000 plus a commission of four short films for Channel 4’s documentary shorts strand, 3 Minute Wonder, to be aired in Autumn 2008. Campbell, Kötting and Wardill each receive £1,000.

View Article in DG magazine 129 | View Gallery

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The Jarman Award Gallery

Apr 8, ’08 3:12 PM

Launched in January this year by Film London, More4 and the Serpentine Gallery, the Jarman Award seeks to award artist filmmakers who create their art in the spirit of the late Derek Jarman. The award coincides with a season of screenings of the filmmaker’s work on More4 (Channel 4′s digital arts and documentary channel), the Serpentine Gallery’s new exhibition on his work, a screening of his Super-8 films at the Tate Britain, and the UK premiere of Isaac Julian’s film biopic, entitled Derek.

‘Derek Jarman curated by Isaac Julien’ will be on display at the Serpentine Gallery from 23 February – 13 April 2008.
Visit the gallery’s website for more details.
To find out more about the Jarman Award visit the Film London website.
To find out more about the More4 and Channel 4 broadcasts of Jarman’s films and the 3 Minute Wonder series, visit the Channel 4 website.

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In the spirit of experimentation: The Jarman Award

Apr 8, ’08 2:49 PM

Return to DG magazine 129 contents

Derek Jarman
B2 Movie, 1980
Courtesy James Mackay

View Gallery | Print & File [Members]

Kate McCurdy

Luke Fowler announced as winner of The Jarman Award 2008 – Read more

A celebration of the artist
Derek Jarman has been described as one of Britain’s most innovative, esteemed and controversial artists, and a strongly influential and important figure in British and international cinema from the 1970s through to the 1990s. He presented homoeroticism on screen with Sebastiane (1976), explored the notion of art as a commodity in Renaissance Rome (as well as his own love of painting) in Caravaggio (1986) while The Last of England (1988), perhaps one of the greatest contemporary examples of the avant-garde genre, evoked his passionate anger at the Thatcher government and the social attitudes towards homosexuality in Britain. He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute for his outstanding contribution to film culture. By highlighting the exciting works of relatively unknowns, the Jarman award aims to be instrumental in the celebration of the great independent artist filmmaker.

Shortlisted: Cairns by Andrew Kötting

‘Derek Jarman curated by Isaac Julien’
The Derek Jarman exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, has been curated by Isaac Julien, a significant artist and filmmaker in his own right. The purpose of the exhibition and installation is to celebrate Jarman’s first love of painting, as well as his expansive work in film and the moving image. Julien conceived and designed it as an immersive environment, featuring many examples of rare footage from Jarman’s Super-8 archive including an installation of his film Blue (1993). Much of the archival footage in the exhibition is shown in Julien’s new film Derek, where clips of Jarman’s feature and Super-8 films are juxtaposed with news and current affairs footage to firmly place Jarman’s work in the social context in which he he so keenly observed and participated. Derek is narrated by Tilda Swinton and has been selected for International competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. The film will be shown daily at the Serpentine Gallery on a loop for the duration of the exhibition.

Shortlisted: Falls Burns Malone Fiddles by Duncan Campbell

The Jarman Award
The winner of the Jarman Award, to be announced on 1 April 2008, will be one of the four shortlisted artist filmmakers: Duncan Campbell, Luke Fowler, Andrew Kötting and Emily Wardill. They have been selected according to a number of criteria which recognises artist filmmakers who have developed a significant body of work over the past 5-10 years; energised and stimulated the artists’ moving image sector through their challenging of expectations, stimulation of critical debate or connecting with and inspiring an audience; and, artist filmmakers who are at a significant stage in their career, at the cusp of breaking through.
Although there is no age restriction, students are not eligible for the award, and the nominated artists must be living or working in the UK.

The overall winner of the Jarman Award will be presented at the Serpentine Gallery in London with £20,000 from Film London and More4, as well as a commission of four short films for Channel 4′s documentary shorts strand to be aired in Autumn this year, entitled ’3 Minute Wonder’. The other shortlisted artists will each receive a £1,000 prize.

Shortlisted: Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck by Emily Wardill

The Jarman Award Jury
Among the Jarman Award Jury are Isaac Julien, and Nicolas Roeg, director of such acclaimed films as The Man Who Fell to Earth and Bad Timing. Being the first Jarman Award, the Jury had to make careful choices about they applied the award’s criteria to the work of the nominees.
‘Ultimately, the panel felt that the four shortlisted artist filmmakers were the strongest representatives of the legacy of Jarman’, observes Lisbeth Savill, Chair of the Jarman Award Jury, ‘in the sense of their attitudes and open-ended ways of working, their focus on collaboration and their way of making us look at things differently.’

The influence of Jarman’s films, and the values and principles behind them, is still very powerful for today’s filmmakers. Maggie Ellis, Head of Production at Film London, said that ‘the art/life balance expressed through Jarman’s work combined with a lifetime of dissent and activism, will continue to inspire and influence future generations of filmmakers.’

Shortlisted: Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

The Jarman Award’s championing of experimental and artist filmmakers will help the not only the artists themselves to break through into the spotlight, but also the innovative and unique ideas that they represent within their work. This celebration is proof that Jarman’s legacy is still very much alive today in the work of up and coming artists filmmakers in Britain.

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The Production Book

18cm x 23.5cm
Approx 860 pages
Spiral Bound & tabbed throughout
230 categories
16000 listings
$140 inclusive of GST and postage

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TOYGIANTS – Gallery

Andrew Gordon

Supervising Animator – Pixar Animation Studios

TOYGIANTS

Book review

Daniel and Geo Fuchs
TOYGIANTS Silver Edition
Gingko Press
Release date: 5 April 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58423-284-1
Format: 320 mm x 250 mm, Number of pages: 212 + 4 Fold-Outs, Hardcover in plastic cover with silkscreen, Removable poster: 305 x 960 mm
RRP: 45 euros / $49

Exhibition: Daniel & Geo Fuchs TOYGIANTS
Rebel Arts Gallery Hamburg in cooperation with artempus con-temporary gallery Düsseldorf
from April 26 – July 31 2008

Inaugural Jerwood Moving Image Awards Winners

Winner: Sea Change by Rosie Clements and Joe King

Winner: Procrastination by Johnny Kelly

Winner: Evensong by Sophie Clements

The Jarman Award – Winner Announced

Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

The Jarman Award Gallery

In the spirit of experimentation: The Jarman Award

Derek Jarman
B2 Movie, 1980
Courtesy James Mackay

Shortlisted: Cairns by Andrew Kötting

Shortlisted: Falls Burns Malone Fiddles by Duncan Campbell

Shortlisted: Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck by Emily Wardill

Shortlisted: Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

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More Info

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Tag film

18cm x 23.5cm Approx 860 pages Spiral Bound & tabbed throughout 230 categories 16000 listings $140 inclusive of GST and postage

Supervising Animator – Pixar Animation Studios

Book review

Daniel and Geo Fuchs TOYGIANTS Silver Edition Gingko Press Release date: 5 April 2008 ISBN: 978-1-58423-284-1 Format: 320 mm x 250 mm, Number of pages: 212 + 4 Fold-Outs, Hardcover in plastic cover with silkscreen, Removable poster: 305 x 960 mm RRP: 45 euros / $49

Exhibition: Daniel & Geo Fuchs TOYGIANTS Rebel Arts Gallery Hamburg in cooperation with artempus con-temporary gallery Düsseldorf from April 26 – July 31 2008

Winner: Sea Change by Rosie Clements and Joe King

Winner: Procrastination by Johnny Kelly

Winner: Evensong by Sophie Clements

Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

Derek Jarman B2 Movie, 1980 Courtesy James Mackay

Shortlisted: Cairns by Andrew Kötting

Shortlisted: Falls Burns Malone Fiddles by Duncan Campbell

Shortlisted: Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck by Emily Wardill

Shortlisted: Pilgrimage From Scattered Points by Luke Fowler

Archives

Recent Posts

Categories

More Info

18cm x 23.5cm
Approx 860 pages
Spiral Bound & tabbed throughout
230 categories
16000 listings
$140 inclusive of GST and postage

Daniel and Geo Fuchs
TOYGIANTS Silver Edition
Gingko Press
Release date: 5 April 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58423-284-1
Format: 320 mm x 250 mm, Number of pages: 212 + 4 Fold-Outs, Hardcover in plastic cover with silkscreen, Removable poster: 305 x 960 mm
RRP: 45 euros / $49

Exhibition: Daniel & Geo Fuchs TOYGIANTS
Rebel Arts Gallery Hamburg in cooperation with artempus con-temporary gallery Düsseldorf
from April 26 – July 31 2008

Derek Jarman
B2 Movie, 1980
Courtesy James Mackay