Screening: Pop Cultural Literacy 101

FREE SUMMER SCREENING AT WOODBURY FRIDAY NIGHT!


The Marx Brothers
"I was teaching my animation history class and I overheard one of the students telling his friend about this great anti-war film he had just discovered... Duck Soup!" --Tom Sito overheard at an ASIFA meeting

Pop Cultural Literacy 101
A Series of Summer Screenings
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Friday, August 14th, 2009
September Date To Be Announced
Short Subjects Start At 7pm, The Feature Film Starts At 8:30.
Admission FREE to the animation community
Woodbury University
School of Business / Fletcher Jones Foundation Theater
7500 Glenoaks Bl
Burbank, CA 91510
(Click for printable map)


The Three Stooges
Music is the life force of great animation, and last week I posted a teaser about some of the great music we'd be featuring in the series of screenings at Woodbury University that begins this coming Friday. Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about the comedians we'll be seeing.


Harold Lloyd
That image up there is one of the most iconic in all of silent comedy, but I bet you have never seen the film it comes from, nor any of Harold Lloyd's other films for that matter. It's not your fault. The downright lousy programming on cable TV over the past decade or so has cheated a whole generation of cartoonists out of the opportunity to explore the world of the incredibly talented comedians of the past. I'm going to take a stab at rectifying that wrong at Woodbury University this summer with a series of screenings designed to give young animators a random sampling of great stuff that will amaze and inspire them.


W. C. Fields
Obviously, it's impossible to pack everything that was good in the 20th century into a few short hours, but my goal is to drop bread crumbs like in Hansel and Gretel which can act as a trail for artists taking their own trip of discovery through some of the best entertainment ever created.


Laurel & Hardy
You've probably seen caricatures of most of these famous faces in old cartoons. The animators didn't just caricature them because they liked their films, they analyzed and broke down their technique to refine their own comic staging and timing. Although the subject matter of these films may be dated, the techniques are not. These films are an encyclopedia of ideas for creating comedy.


Our Gang
There will be assorted musical and comedy shorts beginning at 7pm, and a classic feature at 8:30. Even if you've seen some of this before, it won't matter, because these are the kinds of films that you can watch over and over and still find new things in them.


Buster Keaton
This screening is presented FREE to the creative community by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, Woodbury University and the Walter Lantz Foundation. Come on out and bring your friends. No RSVP is needed. Parking is free. Try to find a better way to spend a Friday night... You can't!

Pop Cultural Literacy 101
A Series of Summer Screenings
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Friday, August 14th, 2009
September Date To Be Announced
Short Subjects Start At 7pm, The Feature Film Starts At 8:30.
Admission FREE to the animation community
Woodbury University
School of Business / Fletcher Jones Foundation Theater
7500 Glenoaks Bl
Burbank, CA 91510
(Click for printable map)

See you at Woodbury this Summer!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Many thanks to Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans for the wonderful photos that illustrate this post.
.

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Pop Cultural Literacy 101: Summer Screening Series At Woodbury

Spike Jones and Doodles Weaver
Spike Jones: Clink, Clink Another Drink
Spike Jones: Pass The Biscuits Mirandy
Doodles Weaver: A Day With Doodles
I've written before about the creative explosion in the arts that occurred around the first half of the 20th century. It always surprises me when I meet a college student who is studying animation who doesn't know anything about the music that came before the Beatles or movies before Star Wars. This Summer, thanks to Woodbury University and the Walter Lantz Foundation, I have a chance to share the work of some of the most amazing entertainers who ever lived with a new generation of artists.


Maria Callas
Maria Callas: Habanera From Bizet's Carmen
The Golden Age animators knew and loved these performers. They studied them and incorporated elements of their style and caricatures of them into their cartoons. There is a lot to learn from this old stuff. The first thing you will learn is that it is surprisingly skillful and entertaining. Isn't that something you want your animation to be?


Buck Owens
Buck Owens: I've Got A Tiger By The Tail
Buck Owens: Foolin' Around
Another thing you'll discover is that the music of the 20th century is unbelievably diverse. Today, we have a million names to describe basically the same type of music. Back then, the names defined a myriad of sounds... country, opera, jazz, folk, blues, rock and roll... more kinds of music than existed in any other time period. We'll sample a little bit of this ocean of great stuff in a series of screenings this Summer at Woodbury.


Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway: The Reefer Man
Cab Calloway: Minnie the Moocher
In this post, I've given you an idea of the musical performers you'll discover at these screenings, but there's much more... rare examples of dance, comedy, drama... all kinds of entertainment that directly applies to your work as an animator... up on the big screen the way they were intended to be seen. I'll tell you more as the time gets nearer. Mark these dates down on your calendar, and plan to attend. It's FREE to students, the animation community and the general public courtesy of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, Woodbury University and the Walter Lantz Foundation.


Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Man
Muddy Waters: I Can't Be Satisfied
Pop Cultural Literacy 101
A Series of Summer Screenings
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Friday, August 14th, 2009
September Date To Be Announced
Short Subjects Start At 7pm, The Feature Film Starts At 8:30.
Admission FREE to the animation community
Woodbury University
School of Business / Fletcher Jones Foundation Theater
7500 Glenoaks Bl
Burbank, CA 91510
(Click for printable map)


Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck: Take The A Train
Dave Brubeck: It's A Raggy Waltz

See you at Woodbury this Summer!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Many thanks to Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans for the wonderful photos that illustrate this post.
.

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2007 Review: 9 Cultural Literacy

As the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive completes its second year in operation, it's time to review the accomplishments of the past year. Here's a countdown of the ten most important subjects we've covered in 2007. See if your list matches mine. (View the complete list.) Click on the link to see more on this topic.



NUMBER 9: CULTURAL LITERACY

One of the most important posts of the last year was one that didn't even deal specifically with animation... It was titled, "Live The Fabulous Lifestyle Of A Hollywood Cartoonist", and it spoke about the importance of cultural literacy.


You probably know every sordid detail of the lives of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. It's hard to avoid filling up your brain with useless trivia about talentless celebrities. Every few years, the old ones are relegated to the rank of "has been" and there's a whole new bunch to learn about. But as an artist, you need to dig below the surface drek and expose yourself to vivid personalities and talented performers that can inspire you in your work. The history of popular culture of the past century is packed with amazing artists. Why waste your time with crap?


Zutty Singleton, Cootie Williams, Zoot Sims, Bubber Miley, Papa Jo Jones and Dizzy Gillespie weren't just guys with funny first names... they were some of the most creative individuals who ever walked the earth, working in the greatest new artform from the past 100 years... Jazz. And they weren't the only ones worth studying. The 20th century sparked an explosion of creative expression in the fields of filmmaking, music, the performing arts and dance. All of these have a direct relation to your work as an animator.


If all you know is movies released since Star Wars and music since The Beatles, you don't know the first thing about the culture your art is based upon.


I'm constantly running into students of animation who are well aware of the history of animation, but are woefully ignorant of the broader artistic culture that animation fits into. This is an area I plan to work on in the coming year. I'll be announcing a new screening program soon that will feature the best of 20th century drama, music, dance and comedy, featuring the performers that inspired the animators of the "golden age" of animation.


How many of the geniuses pictured in this post can you name? Are you familiar with their work?

"Live The Fabulous Lifestyle Of A Hollywood Cartoonist" March 30th, 2007

Several of the images in this post are from Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans. If you don't know about this site, you should... It's a wonderful place where you can get lost for hours viewing all the amazing images... just like the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive!

Go To Number 8 on the list of Top Ten Subjects of 2007

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

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