Archives for : July2015

Toon-In Talk Episode 15: Interview with Jez Stewart

Hello and welcome to fifteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  During research for her book on Lotte Reiniger, Whitney was using the British Film Institute’s website for information.  She came across some great animation information, not just about Reiniger, but also about British animation.  Jez Stewart in the BFI’s Animation Animation Curator and during this interview he discusses British animation history, the BFI’s animation holdings, and other fun facts about working in a renowned film archive.

Episode 15

  • Jez Stewart is the Animation Curator at the British Film Institute (BFI) and he has worked there for fourteen years.
  • He started as an acquisitions assistant and slowly his worked his way up to his current position. Jez describes his work at a mixture of “spreadsheets and boxes of delights.”
  • He works with all the old goodies, including some of the earliest animated films ever made.
  • Jez explains the decomposition of old film stock and how they must store some films at very cold temperatures.
  • The BFI is the UK’s lead body of film, created in 1933, and its purpose is to ensure that all moving images are preserved, shared with people, and exhibit British culture.
  • The BFI’s collection scope if very large. They have work from studios that closed down, wanted to clean out their closets, and more. A large portion of the work is commercial, but they also include material from feature films and other entertainment venues.
  • Housed in the archive is Bob Godfrey’s work, WWI films that make fun of the Kaiser, public information films, the Halas and Batchelor films (they made Animal Farm).
  • Jex explains some of the ways the BFI preserves the films and how the BFI decides to share the material. One of the worst roadblocks is copyright.
  • British animation has gone up and down in the amount of popularity. It was very big in the 1950s when TV was new, then the funding dried up. Channel 4 money helped animation flourish again in the 1980s-1990s, but then it dried up again.
  • Aardman Studios, which made the Wallace and Gromit series and Shaun the Sheep, is the most well-known British animator.
  • Jez is also a fan of Michael Please, Harry Harlow, and others.
  • A lot of British animation exported to the US are children’s shows.
  • Whitney and Jez discuss how foreign feature films are viewed in the US and the UK. They also discuss how sometimes restoration can ruin a film’s integrity and how sometimes there is no school like the old school.
  • The BFI is trying to put more content on the Internet and share more animation film packages to share with audiences, and Jez wants to write a history of British animation.
  • Whitney and Jez both want to see more animation from British animators, especially a feature film.

 

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Toon-In Talk Episode 14: Interview with Jai Husband

Hello and welcome to fourteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  Whitney is joined by animator, director, writer, and producer Jai Husband.  Jai comes from a great animation legacy, his father is famous Walt Disney animator Ron Husband.  Growing up in the animation industry inspired Jai to pursue animation as his own career.  Jai has been successful so far with is own projects inspired by African-American culture.  He directed Kasha and the Zulu King, but even more exciting is that he is working on an African princess trilogy with his dad!

Episode 14

  • Jai is a second-generation animator; his father was Walt Disney animator Ron husband. Since Jai grew up in the animation industry it feels very normal to him, while someone, like Whitney, geeks out when he describes his childhood.
  • Jai’s dad gave him advice, but didn’t hinder his individual creativity. Jai’s first animation job was in Disney’s CAPS department and he wanted to stay on at Disney, but his mom asked him to return to college.
  • Straight out of college, Jai was hired by Turner Broadcasting and he now has his own company where he produces his own and other people’s projects.
  • While Jai was at Turner, his show The Fabulous Ambitions of Vaughn Chocolat Éclair, starring RuPaul, got picked up by a new channel called Super Deluxe. However, Turner pulled the plug.
  • Jai left Turner, so he could have more creative control over his ideas and BET also wanted him to make a show.
  • Going out on his own wasn’t an easy decision for Jai, but wanted to try, even if he failed. He succeeded, however, and won a NAACP award.
  • Jai wrote his Academy Award speech when he was twelve-years old and he plans to still use it someday.
  • He formed his own studio in Atlanta, because he went to college in the city, had a job at Turner, he wanted to step away from his father’s legacy, and he wanted to live in an area with stronger African-American ties.
  • Kasha and the Zulu King is a South African take on The Prince and the Pauper. Jai wanted to make a movie with characters that have very colorful skin tones, ranging from light to dark.
  • Whitney and Jai want to see more animated characters from diverse ethnicities. They go into details about beauty aesthetics from different cultures.
  • Jai and Ron are working on an animated trilogy, starring African princesses. They are researching individual African cultures for inspiration.
  • Whitney recommends Jai watch Michael Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Sorceress, another animated film inspired by Africa.
  • The African princess trilogy will have a Disney look, because Ron worked at the Walt Disney Company for years, but it will also contain influences from some of his favorite styles.
  • Jai discusses his own individual style and how he pulls from other sources.
  • He hopes to release the films sometime in 2017 or 2018.

 

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Toon-In-Talk Episode 13: Interview with Rick Pickens

Hello and welcome to thirteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  If you are listening to this podcast, you’ve probably considered becoming an animator at some point.  The traditional method is to attend a university animation program, but higher education isn’t necessarily the correct route for everyone.  There are dozens of online programs dedicated to teaching 3D animation, but there is only one that focuses on the
traditional, hand drawn method.  Rick Pickens discusses his animation career and his new animation program: “Animation in 12 BLANK Lessons.”

Episode 13

  • Rick worked in animation in 1987 at the same company as Doug TenNapel when digital animation started to gain traction.
  • He’s worked away from the animation industry for some years, but he continues to be involved with teaching, puppetry, training courses, and his own projects.
  • Whitney and Rick both agree that we are now on the edge of a new animation boom and it’s fantastic and exciting!
  • Joe Murray was the animator who branched out and tried to form his own content platform.  It was called KaboingTV.
  • The cartoons today are radically different from anything ever created before and people want to see new and different things.
  • One of the reasons Rick created his program is that he wants to see more cartoons and he wants to give people the opportunity to make them.
  • Rick explains that it’s better to start the process now then waiting.
  • He’s helping potential animation students get their feet wet by creating an online course through Udemy called “Animation in 12 BLANK Steps” and he also has a free online course.
  • Rick based his program’s name on Bob Heath’s book, Animation in Twelve Hard Steps.
  • What makes his program different from other animation programs is that it takes a student through the entire animation pipeline, ending with a finished project they can share.
  • “Animation in 12 BLANK Steps” is designed for fans of traditional, 2D animation.  You need to bring a desire to create something with old-fashioned drawing tools or a drawing program on your tablet.
  • The program isn’t a deep dive into technique, but rather to carry through your idea and finish a project.
  • Whitney has psychic powers, not really.  When she looks at people’s artwork, she can tell who has influenced them.
  • If you want to be animator or a comic book artist/writer, the way to do it these days is to get in it now!
  • Rick declares, “Let’s go make some funny cartoons!”
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Toon-In-Talk Episode 12: Interview with Veronica and Raina Taylor

Hello and welcome to twelfth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  Whitney has a treat for all listeners today!  Not only does she interview the fantastic voice actress Veronica Taylor, famous for her role as Ash Ketchum on Pokemon, AstroblastWelcome to the Wayne!, and Mofy, but she speaks with Raina Taylor.  Raina is Veronica’s uber cool daughter, so this episode is a first for the show: a mother-daughter interview.  Veronica discusses her career and Raina shares her input on having a voice actress mom.

Episode 12

  • For the first time ever on the podcast, Whitney interviews a mother-daughter duo!
  • Veronica has always been an actress and went to college for acting.
  • Raina was never starstruck having her mom being a recognized voice actress.  It was very normal for her, although they do funny voices around the house all the time.
  • Veronica’s first go into voice over dubbing for anime.  Her first big role was Amelia from Slayers, then she became the voice of the kid who has to be the very best: Ash Ketchum from Pokemon.
  • Veronica loves acting, no matter if she’s dubbing or voice over in English.  She wants to make the character come to life.
  • Raina thinks her mom does an awesome job every time and Veronica likes having Raina help her practice.
  • She got the role of Ash, because the same production company that distributed Slayers in the US also had the license for Pokemon.  All she knew about the series is that one episode gave kids seizures in Japan.
  • Raina is very down to Earth when it comes to being the daughter of an iconic character.  It’s also great to make her laugh.
  • Whitney thinks Ash’s Pokemon trainer skills are lacking, but Veronica begs to differ as he follows his heart.
  • The differences for voicing Ash in a movie and in an episode is that for the first few movies it was in an actual movie studio and the sessions were bigger, but later they were similar for recording episodes.
  • Veronica and Raina both voiced the Pokemon Sentret, while Veronica also did Diglett and a few others.
  • Raina and Veronica were both in the movie The Boy Who Wanted to be a Bear.  She remembers her mother read the lines for her when they were in the studio.  This happened when she was a very young, so spends a lot more time reading than behind the mic now.
  • Raina is a John Green fan!
  • Raina’s favorite Pokemon is Charmander and Evee, while Veronica likes Pikachu, Lapras, and Treecko.  While they think Jigglypuff and Mr. Mime are weird.
  • She was the voice of Ash for eight years before Pokemon USA replaced the cast with new people.
  • Veronica’s favorite memories associated with Pokemon is that she was pregnant with her daughter during the first season and she so happy to play such a positive character.
  • It’s not hard for her to transition between characters as long as she has a solid hook in the character.
  • Raina loves that her mom plays a cute little bunny character.
  • Raina doesn’t want to be a voice actress, but she wants to do something related to the arts or  an accountant.
  • Veronica is evading her taxes!  No, they both declare peace and to eat healthy!

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