Frames Per Second Magazine

Adapt Conference - Andreas Deja and more 2D and 3D Masters

2008-09-22T21:09:00.003-04:00

ADAPT 2008 started today in Montreal. The conference for digital artists has proved a success right from the start and drawn talent from the media and gaming industry. This year's keynote speaker is Andrea Deja.

Here's an interview with Andrea Deja by Emru from last year's visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for the Once Upon A Time Walt Disney exhibit. So you can guess when he discusses the film he can't name it's The Princess and the Frog.

ADAPT continues until Friday, with special presentations from Walt Disney Studios, Animation Mentor, Syd Mead and more.

SIGGRAPH 08, Stereoscopic3D and Computer Animation Festival can be overwhelming!

2008-08-14T01:08:00.025-04:00

Film festival venues can be overwhelming and conference venues can be overwhelming, but when you combine them... well, the experience hovers somewhat above the horizon. That said, here are some tidbits:

1. Much discussion, several panels, and two full days of screenings of stereoscopic (3D) films, commercials, sports events, games and scientific visualizations on the first day of the conference. 3D is the agenda for 21st-century digital releases. I took in the two-hour screening of 3D clips and then heard fine artist and installation/performance artist Catherine Owens speak about collaborating with Bono on the 3D film of U2's concert in Buenos Aires. She spoke convincingly about "experimental" exploration and commitment to "idea" in relationship to her personal art, as well as in relationship to her directorial debut of the film U2 3D.

2. The Computer Animation Festival is programmed into seven two-hour screenings that most often repeat the commercials, trailers, and synopses of film titles submitted. For example, Rhythm and Hues showcased effects scenes of the polar bears in "The Golden Compass" and that is screened alongside the commercial from Bridgestone Tires many have seen of the squirrel running onto the highway to retrieve a nut as a car swerves to miss killing him. The festival is screening two impressive studio shorts worth mentioning here: Pixar Studios' Presto and Disney Studios' Glago's Guest. If you've seen WALL-E you've seen Presto before the feature screens.

3) A wonderful Tribute To Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas happened today with Tom Sito moderating a panel that included Frank Thomas' son, Theodore Thomas, documentary filmmaker, as well as a group of celebrity animators who had worked with the two of them in a mentor relationship. All of them delightfully shared their experiences with Frank and Ollie and were very well received. More on this later.

A closing note in case you don't want to wait: you may go online to read about all the sessions at SIGGRAPH 08 and can listen to them on DVD. All panels and discussions have been recorded are available for purchase.

I have constantly forgotten the number one rule for attending film festivals and conferences: find a place to sit, eat well and if you do this, thinking might follow! That said, I will return to report more soon, in spite of the L.A. smog my allergies are swimming in...

New Princess and the Frog Images and More

2008-08-12T00:17:00.004-04:00

Christmas has come early over at Disneyanimation.com! The official website of the Walt Disney Animation Studios is previewing their new projects in a variety of ways: including some new artwork highlighting the visual development of the upcoming 2-D animated feature, The Princess and the Frog.

More images after the jump:

Click over to Disneyanimation.com and explore the site fully to view more development work from The Princess and the Frog as well as info and images from the films Bolt, Rapunzel, King of the Elves and a variety of upcoming shorts.

Grave of the Fireflies Returns to DVD

2008-08-08T21:23:00.005-04:00

I'm not ashamed to admit some movies have made me cry, and one film that's guaranteed to get me at least a little misty no matter how often I've seen it is Grave of the Fireflies. Directed by Isao Takahata—who people tend to forget co-founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki—Grave of the Fireflies is an adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka's memoir of surviving the Allied firebombings of Kobe during World War II.

It's no great secret that Seita and Setsuko, the analogues to the author and his younger sister, eventually die; it's established right at the beginning of the movie, and the rest of the film acts as a flashback to explain what brought them to that point. It's a powerful story of familial love during the worst of ordeals, bringing with it a reminder that war affects more than just the soldiers on the battlefield.

Central Park Media released two versions of Grave of the Fireflies on DVD in 2002 and 2004 (they had the rights before the 1996 deal between Disney and Tokuma Shoten), but it's languished in out-of-print limbo for years. Just this Wednesday a new two-disc version of Grave of the Fireflies appeared in Japanese stores; at first blush, the only real difference is an essay by Nosaka, and (maybe) some more pre-production artwork.

Is this a precursor to a new Disney release in North America? I'd like to think so, but I'm not holding my breath. Disney's never seemed too sure what do with Takahata's movies; while they released the perhaps more accessible Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas three years ago, it was with minimal fanfare. The sombre Grave of the Fireflies might be trickier from their perspective, as would be Takahata's only remaining Ghibli film, the wistful Only Yesterday. A lot of lip service is given to the notion of animation that adults can watch, but there might be the fear that North America isn't ready for an animated film as powerful as Grave. Given that the U.S. and Canada are currently fighting wars on foreign soil, I'd say there isn't a better moment than right now.

Sneak Peek into the future of Disney's Ultimate Sequel: Tr2n!

2008-07-31T19:19:00.011-04:00

According to Jim Hill, Tron director Steve Lisberger is out of the picture, barred from bringing his vision for a sequel to his 1981 live-action/CG animated hit to the big screen. Who's taking his place? A director named Joseph Kosinski, who has yet to direct a feature film. Don't let this disturb you too much, though. From the look of his work (evidenced above), we're going to be in for a real treat.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but doesn't his work remind of a young, CGI-loving Ridley Scott? That can't be a bad thing, where a Tron sequel is concerned.

Watch more of his award-winning commercials at these links:
Saab
Nike
X-Box

Via Ain't It Cool

Disney Animation: The Princess and the Frog Trailer

2008-07-30T13:30:00.005-04:00

Disney isn't giving us a whole lot of insight into their upcoming film, The Princess and the Frog (directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) with this new trailer. But I don't care. This looks beautiful. Thank the lord for Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and the return of Disney's 2D animation division. 2009 can't come soon enough!

Watch the trailer in other formats: The Princess and the Frog

SDCC 08: Still Want a Copy of Who Is Rocket Johnson?

2008-07-30T00:35:00.006-04:00

I've been remiss in posting about a comic book project called Who Is Rocket Johnson? The anthology brings together numerous Disney artists and directors to help raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Besides looking great, it's for a great cause.

One copy sold on eBay for over 500 dollars, and the rest of the limited print run of 1000 copies were made available at the San Diego Comic Con for $20. If you still want to get your hands on a copy, get in contact with Stuart Ng in California or The Labyrinth in Toronto while quantities last!

SDCC 08: Up Sneak Peek

2008-07-30T00:04:00.004-04:00

Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew and Harry McCracken of Harry-Go-Round have both commented on the San Diego Comic Con preview of footage from Up and Bolt. Take a look at this teaser for Up.

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

Peter Chung to Animate New Cyborg 009?

2008-07-17T21:09:00.004-04:00

Animation World has a fantastic little interview with Aeon Flux animator, Peter Chung. In it, he speaks about his background working under Ralph Bakshi, storyboarding Transformers and finally arriving at his process for creating Aeon Flux. But what is he doing at the moment?

"One of the things that I'm working on now is an adaptation of Cyborg 009, which is a Japanese comic book character and an animation series from the '60s, which I grew up with...I've written a story and redesigned the characters."

Take a gander at what it might look like if the Cyborgs cram a Rally's 99¢ cheese-double-cheese, Chung-Style, right after the jump:

Via Animation World

Ollie Johnston, 1912-2008

2008-04-15T19:24:00.005-04:00

Ollie Johnston (pictured above at right, with longtime colleague, co-author and pal Frank Thomas), the last of Disney's fabled Nine Old Men, passed away yesterday, marking a symbolic end of an era.

I owe Frank and Ollie a lot. About 25 years ago, a few years after my first attempts at animating, I decided that just studying movement frame by frame wasn't going to cut it, and started reading about the process. The duo's Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life wasn't the first book on creating animation I borrowed from the library, but it had an impact that was, quite simply, life-changing.

Prior to reading the book I knew little about the actual history of animation in general, and next to nothing about the history of the Disney studio. I liked Disney movies—Kino Kid and I made a point of catching every new and re-released Disney film—but unlike the constantly rerun Warner Bros. productions, I couldn't tell you who directed what, or offer any analyses of the movies. The gorgeously produced Illusion of Life was a gift from the gods, offering the ultimate insiders' view of the studio's best decades, artistically and technologically, liberally sprinkled with concept, pre-production and final artwork. The final pages contained actual animation instruction, but in truth the whole book was a masterclass for anyone who cared to open their eyes.

I devoured The Illusion of Life. Twice. The first time was during an extended road trip that took us to Toronto and Saint Catharines in Ontario, then Ann Arbor, Michigan. The second time was just a few years later, after I'd started seriously immersing myself in animation publications and bought my own copy. Both times, I couldn't put it down.

I have to admit to more than a twinge of disappointment when I later learned about the 1941 Disney strike, and discovered that the divisions caused by the strike ran so deep that The Illusion of Life effectively elided the contributions of those who participated in it. But in the end, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were my first animation history teachers, and one of my earliest and most thorough animation teachers. Without them, and that book, my life would be very different—there would certainly be no Frames Per Second—and for that I offer my thanks to Ollie and belated thanks to Frank.

Disney Sews On 'Made in Japan' Label

2008-03-06T07:29:00.005-05:00

Information revealed by a spokeswoman for Disney Japan on Thursday indicates a sea change is underway to Disney's approach to developing content for the Japanese market. Previously satisfied to rely on strong recognition of its classic animated characters, recent global hits and largely passive partnerships with local studios, Disney has reached out to several Japanese studios to both adapt current characters and jointly develop new content.

The anime aesthetic has been an elusive target for animation studios outside of Asia who seek to capture the older audiences and massively successful all-ages merchandizing abilities of Japanese content producers. The appearance of an enormous Western partner comes at an opportune time for the local anime industry, which has struggled to continue its breakneck pace of growth amid talent shortages, competition from other Asian countries and fears that the market for anime in Japan and abroad has topped out.

Disney has wasted no time lining up quality Japanese partners. Disney will work with Madhouse Studios to crate a new Lilo & Stitch series to air in Japan, which will be set on an island off Okinawa and will star a Japanese girl named Hanako as Stitch's sidekick. Fireball, a short feature produced with Jinni Animation is scheduled to air on Tokyo Metropolitan TV in April. A second short feature for television, Robodz, is in production with Toei Animation and will air in June. Although a partnership between Toei and Disney had been previously announced, Toei shares surged more than 3 percent in reaction to today's news.

Hake's Has Animation on the Auction Block

2008-01-10T23:55:00.000-05:00

Hake's Americana and Collectibles's latest auction features some interesting animation and comic-related articles. The current auction features almost 400 rare Disney art collectibles, including some rare Disney artwork, such as a Gustaf Tenggren sketch from The Old Mill and the first Donald Duck model sheet from the short, The Wise Little Hen. There are also Disney picture books and posters: check out the WWI poster of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Art in the lot ranges from Silly Symphonies to more recent features like The Lion King.

While acquiring the Disney artwork and memorabilia is enticing, I thought the Winsor McCay posters and miniatures, Fleischer posters, Jay Ward and Dr. Seuss items equally fascinating. If you didn't blow your budget during the holidays, you can go crazy now.

You have until the end of the month to keep your wallet under lock and key.

Kazuo Oga Exhibit at Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art

2007-09-21T01:39:00.000-04:00

Last year, the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art (also just known as Museum of Tokyo or MOT) held a notable exhibition, The Art of Disney. A beautiful catalogue was also published for the exhibit featuring works that were once thought lost. This summer, the DVD catalogue of the exhibit was released in Japan as well.

I decided I was going to see whatever exhibit was showing at the museum when I was in Tokyo, as I like to do in any new city I visit. It ended up the major exhibit was also animation-related this year: a retrospective of work by Art Director Kazuo Oga.

Kazuo Oga worked on a diverse animation projects such as Barefoot Gen, Dagger of Kamui and Wicked City before creating the background art for My Neighbor Totoro at Studio Ghibli. He went on to work on all of the subsequent features for the studio, and last year, directed his own film for the studio, Taneyamagahara no Yoru.

The lush scenery he creates with his brush is truly breathtaking, and the museum selection was as dense as an of the green forest background he is known for. The sheer number of pieces was more than I have seen for comparatively-sized art exhibitions of any type, and I have never seen its like for animation artwork, mostly from the Studio Ghibli archives. He captures the spirit of the countryside, but also of everyday Japan with a balance of love and accuracy.

Almost all of the art is unphotographable. Near the end of the exhibit, after a room of multiplane setups, there are a number of backgrounds that are blown up so that people can pose in front of them, but most people just step back in wonder to take a whole new look at the art. (I couldn't help posing with Totoro, though.)

Afterward, everyone was invited to fold an origami Totoro in an open room, with mini-backgrounds. Here's mine.

Like the Art of Disney catalogue, a catalogue has been published for this exhibit as well. A DVD is forthcoming for the end of the year. The exhibit has been extended until September 30. If you find yourself in Tokyo, you won't want to miss it.

Dave Hilberman, 1911-2007

2007-07-09T19:04:00.000-04:00

Just received a message from ASIFA-SF's Karl Cohen:

I just got an e-mail about the passing of Dave Hilberman from one of his sons. I've written him back asking if there will be an obit written by them or if they want help in this matter. Meanwhile if any of you wish to share memories of Dave with ASIFA-SF members, I'm happy to gather your comments and publish them in some form and/or to pass them on to his two sons that I'm in e-mail contact with. [Note: Karl's address is karlcohen at earthlink dot net.]

For those of you who are not familiar with Dave, he was a Disney animator in the late 30s. He was active with the strike and was hated by Walt after it ended. Walt considered him a ringleader and denounced him in public at a House investigation of unAmerican activities in 1947.

Thanks to loosing his job at Disney, Dave along with 2 other friends formed a company that made job training filmstrips during the war and several animated films including Hell Bent for Election to support Roosevelt in 1944 and Brotherhood of Man in 1946. By the time Brotherhood was complete Dave and Zack Schwartz had sold their interest in the company to the 3rd partner, Steve Bousustow. Steve went on to turn the company, now known as UPA, into a major animation studio after he obtained a distribution contract from Columbia in the late 1940s.

Meanwhile Dave and Zack were off to NYC where they became pioneers in TV advertising. Zack soon left Dave. Dave with Bill Pomerance as his partner formed Tempo and became a major player in producing animated TV commercials until right wing anti-communists denounced the two owners of the company. Tempo closed and Dave moved to England (and briefly Italy) for about a year.

I don't know much about his career after he returned to the US, but he did get work doing layouts and storyboards from Hanna-Barbera which he wasn't proud of (I recall his saying he hated doing rank TV shows, but I need to check my notes and letters from him for an exact quote) and he became SF State's first animation teacher in the late 1960s. He lived in Palo Alto in recent years and was interviewed a few times for books and documentaries that covered the Disney strike and blacklist. John Canemaker was one of the first scholars to write about him and he is a pivitol person in my writings about the early TV animation industry and in my chapeter of Forbidden Animation about the Disney Strike and the blacklisting of animators. Tom Sito interviewed him for Drawing the Line and Marc Elliot misquoted him in Disney, Hollywood's Dark Prince (I was told he was quite disturbed by Elliot and a British TV documentary twisting his statements around and putting an incorrect spin on his statements) In the 1980s he presented an ASIFA-SF event on his career at SF State. His wife Libby died recently (last.year or 2005). I believe he was in his early '90s when he died.

Note that the 1911 birthdate was the best I could figure on short notice; Hilberman may have been born in 1912.

Ratatouille

2007-06-29T00:46:00.001-04:00

Review by Terrence Briggs

Ratatouille is Pixar's best film since Toy Story.

It may lack the rapid-fire whimsy of Toy Story's dialogue, but it tells a more nuanced and imaginative story than Toy Story 2, with fewer softball cultural references. As in Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Brad Bird grounds the characters with largely believable dialogue, and goes through amazing pains to legitimize its many narrative conceits. It's drop-dead gorgeous, almost the equal of Finding Nemo, with more elaborately choreographed action.

Read the review

Short Takes: Pixar's Up, Astro Boy, Bollywood Nights, Oh Canada, Thundercats

2007-06-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

Pixar has announced that their 2009 feature will be titled Up, making it the most concisely titled animated feature ever, at least until Shane Acker's 9 comes out. According to Variety, the movie will be about "a 70-year-old man who teams with a wilderness ranger to fight beasts and villains." That's just vague enough that I went straight to Up helmer Pete Docter and asked if he could provide even a little more detail at this early date. For instance, is the movie set in the past, present or future? "It's set in the present," he said, "But I'm not supposed to say much more than has already been printed—other than it's going to be really cool!" Hopefully he'll be more forthcoming before the movie's June 12, 2009 debut.

The Mouse goes to Bollywood: In an effort to crack the Indian market, Disney is teaming up with Yash Raj Films to co-produce Bollywood-style animated features, voiced by Bollywood stars. It's a step up from, say, pitching Mulan to Chinese audiences, but it'd be really cool if Disney set up an exchange program between the Indian studio and Feature Animation in the States. It's a small world, after all.

You know we're gleefully anticipating Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, but gnash our teeth mightily while waiting for its September release date. Happily, we can get a taste when author Frederik L. Schodt chats with KQED's Michael Krasny next Tuesday, between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. (If you miss it, you can download the archived podcast a bit later.) Oh, did I mention it's a call-in show? You can phone in with questions during the show at 415-863-2476 or 1-866-SF-FORUM (866-733-6786; toll free).

I had no idea there was such a thing as the Canadian Skills Competition, let alone that the thirteenth instalment happened last last week. And imagine my surprise at discovering that the "Olympic-style competitions that test the skills of young people at secondary and post-secondary levels in trade and technology areas" include animation! Specifically, there are two team events titled 3D Character Computer Animation and 2D Character Computer Animation. Congratulations to the winners, but of course I'm a little irked that animation is being considered a technology skill more than an artistic one.

I'm not a huge fan of '80s TV, and frankly the thought of another He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie bewilders me. (The Transformers movie, less so. The smart money has long known to bet on robot smackdowns.) But it's now been confirmed that Warner will be making the Thundercats movie as a CGI feature. Okay, they've got a cool logo and all, but... why? I know, I know, there's a fan base. But... why?

fps Charity Auction 2007: Update and More Voting

2007-06-06T15:01:00.000-04:00

We've been quiet about this year's upcoming charity auction, but it doesn't mean we haven't been working on it behind the scenes. Yesterday I tallied the votes that had come in, and you've once again chosen to donate the proceeds from this November's auction to cancer research. Now we're asking for just one more bit of vox populi from you. Head over to the auction page and vote to decide which organization will be the one we'll be writing the cheque out to when the dust settles.

While you're there, you might also want to see our list of auction items, which I've finally gotten around to updating somewhat. Two items of note are a Meet the Robinsons baseball cap, made specifically for the feature animation crew that worked on the film (it says so right on the back), and a gorgeous Art of Disney catalogue from the Tokyo exhibit of the same name. I was going to gingerly scan segments of the book, but Chris Turner did such a great job back in November I decided to just link to his page instead. If you read Japanese (or just like to look at cool images), you can also see more about the exhibit itself on the official page.

While there are some auction items I haven't gotten around to listing yet, there's always room for more. If you'd like to donate something, by all means let us know.

Carl Barks Auction

2007-06-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

The Bonhams and Butterfields auction house is selling artwork from the estate of Carl Barks on Monday, June 4th. Public viewings will be held in Los Angeles from June 1 to June 3.

Lot items include art by Carl Barks, including his comic and animation artwork, pin up art and landscape paintings. Also featured is animation art from a number of different productions, including a Charlie Brown special, Shrek and classic Disney films. There is art by various artists for Carl Barks, as well as awards he received for his outstanding work.

If you're too far away, the items (nearly 200) up for auction are available for viewing and bidding online here (skip to Lot 1250).

Upcoming Releases: May 2007 to January 2008

2007-05-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

Looks like a whole lotta nostalgia going on. Compilations for Sonic the Hedgehog, Darkwing Duck, The Tick and more join the listings this week, as well as the complete run of Hal Seeger's Batfink series, which should make longtime fan Dave Mackey happy. (Dave wrote about Batfink back in 1992, for our second print issue. Check out his page on the Batman-spoofing rodent here.)

New titles:

May:
5/14 - Secrets of Oscar-winning Animation: Behind the Scenes of 13 Classic Short Animations (paperback) (Book)

June:
6/12 - Naruto OVA + Naruto Vol. 1 manga (DVD)
6/26 - Rataoing (DVD)
6/26 - Van-Pires Transform Vol. 1: Mission Demolition (DVD)
6/26 - Van-Pires Transform Vol. 2: Deep Freeze (DVD)

July:
7/3 - Batfink: The Complete Series (CD)
7/10 - Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids (DVD)
7/10 - Stellaluna (DVD)
7/17 - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (DVD)
7/24 - Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6: Inspector Cartoons (DVD)

August:
8/7 - Charlie & Lola Vol. 5: But I Am an Alligator (DVD)
8/7 - Darkwing Duck Vol. 2 (DVD)
8/7 - Tick vs. Season Two (DVD)
8/14 - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD (DVD)
8/14 - Baby Looney Tunes Vol. 4 (DVD)
8/14 - Baby Looney Tunes Vols. 1-4 (DVD)
8/14 - Loonatics Unleashed Complete Season 2 (DVD)
8/14 - Loonatics Unleashed Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (DVD)
8/14 - Pup Named Scooby-Doo, A: Vol. 7 (DVD)
8/28 - The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 (DVD)

September:
9/1 - Opportunities in Cartooning and Animation Careers (paperback) (Book)

October:
10/24 - Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D (Book)

Date changes:

January 2008:
1/1 - Understanding Animation (paperback) (Book)

Indefinitely delayed:
Winx Club Season 2 Vol. 2: Battle for the Codex (DVD)

Meet the Robinsons

2007-03-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

Meet the Robinsons is an inventive, engaging and fun film. It's enjoyable from start to finish and with luck could herald a new age in American animation. (That's not to say it's perfect or an instant classic, but it's got enough going right that the film gives us something different and special. In this day of copycat cookie-cutter films, that can't be overlooked.) This just-released Disney movie is a rare breed of Hollywood-produced animated films. It's not ironic, not moralistic, not a fairy tale on a grand scale; instead it's a pure story, well thought out and executed. It's the kind of movie that I left the theater liking and on the drive home found myself thinking back on and enjoying even more.

Read the review by Noell Wolfgram Evans

Disney Screenings at the MMFA and Cinematheque

2007-03-19T22:56:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, March 22nd, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will continue its free screenings of classic Disney features with Cinderella. One of my favourite touches in this film was the pumpkin carriage, which was inspired by the work of Beatrix Potter (one of the things I learned by attending the superlative exhibit, Once Upon a Time Walt Disney, to which these screenings are linked). If you can't make it for the film, Fantasia is showing on Friday, and I can't wait for Pinocchio on the weekend. See you there!

Don't feel for a feature film on Thursday? How about shorts?

Steamboat Willie, 1928, 8 min
Mickey's Orphans, 1931, 7 min
Mickey's Pal Pluto, 1933, 8 min
Mickey's Fire Brigade, 1935, 8 min
The Band Concert, 1936, 9 min
Donald and Pluto, 1936, 8 min
Thru the Mirror, 1936, 9 min
Clock Cleaners, 1937, 9 min
Don Donald, 1937, 8 min
Modern Inventions, 1937, 9 min

La Cinémathèque Québécoise will be screening these Mickey Mouse shorts (with appearances from the rest of the gang). These are all 35 mm prints.

No Video Please, We're Listening

2007-03-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

Just corrected a minor oversight: For people who'd rather not download our last two video podcasts but are still interested in the interviews, I've added two audio-only versions for your enjoyment, with the earlier one back-dated to when it was supposed to go up. You'll find the Bruno Girveau interview here and the Lella Smith interview here.

Podcast 008 (Audio Only): Lella Smith

2007-03-14T21:39:00.002-04:00

Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith, who was present for the exhibit's opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.

Photo credit: Emru Townsend

Podcast: Lella Smith

2007-03-14T00:57:00.000-04:00

Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith. In this video podcast you can listen to my interview with her while watching a slideshow of some of the Library's artwork that's on display at the exhibit.

Watch the video

Podcast 008: Lella Smith

2007-03-14T00:51:00.002-04:00