Monday, December 17, 2018

The Oscar Race

I'm now heavily in the middle of catching up on all of the Oscar-eligible and contending films released in 2018.  This means going to a lot of VIP screenings, but also there are still a lot of DVD screeners turning up in my mailbox. It's very tough on my schedule because I'm also very busy trying to finish three projects before the end of the year.

So far, I've seen a lot of repetitive Hollywood crap.  But I've also seen a few nice films and three real classics.

The first one I loved is "A Quiet Place", starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.  The script is very original, and it's directed by Mr. Krasinski himself.  I'm generally not a big fan of horror films, but this one has deeper meaning and some truly psychologically frightening sequences.  I recommend it to everyone, unless they have a weak bladder.


Another live-action film I truly loved was "Green Book" starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.  This is essentially a reversal of the classic "Driving Miss Daisy", as here a white Italian-American bigot has to drive a black classical pianist through the 1950's segregated South. 

What's so special to me about this film is how rich each character is - Peter Farrelly did a fantastic job in bringing out all the facets of each character and how they interact in such confrontational situations. 


And my third recent favorite is from Hungary, it's called "Ruben Brandt, Collector, from 61-year old Milorad Krstic.  It's a heist/mystery film set in the art world with a chase through Paris.  But the real attraction is the look - it's a mix traditional 2-D animation and 3-D CGI.  The way that Milorad plays with people's faces and angles is just delightful.  Sometimes the characters have five eyes, or three mouths, or a nose stuck in their hair. 

It's like watching a feature film based on my Oscar-nominated short "Your Face".  But it works, it's so surprising yet satisfying to see these mutant humans in a detective film.  There are a number of exciting chases throughout the film and as the characters jump through rooms and locations you'll see billboards with jokes about art, or pictures referencing classic films.  It's so full of cultural in-jokes you'll have to freeze-frame the film not to miss anything. 


I'll be watching a lot more films soon, so when I find a favorite or a big loser, I'll let you know. 

A little bit of trivia - if you see the Empire State Building on Dec. 17, you'll see it's all yellow - and why are they lighting this famous skyscraper this color?  Because it's the 30th anniversary of the first episode of "The Simpsons' - how about that?  Thirty years, who would have believed it?

Today's cartoon is about that fan favorite director, Wes Anderson - Happy Holidays, everyone! 

--Bill P.


Friday, December 7, 2018

Exciting News

Dear Readers and Fans (hopefully)...

I've just received a shipment of our brand new DVD of "Revengeance", the animated feature created by my genius buddy, Jim Lujan, and myself.  It bugs me when people say they don't buy DVDs anymore because they can get movies for free or really cheap on the internet. 

That drives me crazy - first of all, I selectively release my films on the web, and we don't plan on releasing this film via a streaming platform until later on.  Negotiating with streaming services is very tricky - we had "Cheatin'" on Netflix for a while, and we're still waiting to get the rest of the money that we were promised for that. (Something tells me it may not be coming...)

But a DVD often has a whole bunch of goodies that are unavailable when you watch a film on a streaming service, like director commentary, interviews, plus "making of" footage and other background information.  On the "Revengeance" DVD we'll have all that, plus images of the character designs, so you can compare them to my final animation and see how the characters evolved.  These items are very important to get a real feeling about the production of a film.

On the "Revengeance" DVD, you'll also get 2 Jim Lujan shorts, "Party Warriors" and "Booyah" that are like little prequels to the main film.   Plus you'll learn how Jim and I met, and an interview with us at San Diego Comic-Con where we were promoting the film's upcoming release. 

And best of all, you get something you can put in your video library that lets you watch it at any time.  I've heard that stuff disappears from Netflix all the time, with very little warning. 

We will be releasing the DVD of "Revengeance" very soon - first we have to send copies to our Kickstarter backers as rewards.  We're late doing this because we thought we might try to qualify the film for an Oscar, and having the film out on DVD before an L.A. theatrical screening is a big no-no.  I want to apologize to our very patient backers - I think some of them might have given up hope that we were ever going to make these DVDs.  Once we mail out these rewards, we'll start taking orders on my web-site.  And then in January there will also be a Blu-Ray version available. 

Attention, Kickstarter backers - I think we might be really close this time.
My staff just finished sending out a lot of "Trump Bites" Kickstarter rewards, now they've got to jump right over to the "Revengeance" campaign and mail those out too.  But check it out next week in my store, it would make a great Christmas gift.  Plus we'll work out something so for an extra $50 you can receive an amazing piece of art from the film.

By the way, I just saw "Green Book" by Peter Farrelly, starring Viggo Mortensen.  What a wonderful movie!

 This week's gag cartoon is Christmas-based, now that the holiday season is here.  I hope you find it amusing.

--Bill P.



Friday, November 30, 2018

Two icons pass away...

Although I wasn't a big fan of Marvel Comics when I was growing up (I preferred the funny ones, like Daffy Duck and Donald Duck...) I was certainly aware of the characters.  But I dismissed them as entertainment for little kids.  However, in the 1990's, when Marvel moved into feature films, big time, I realized their legitimacy. 

Stan Lee, along with his favorite artist, Jack Kirby, created some wonderful stories and amazing icons.  Spider-Man, Black Panther, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Black Widow, Iron Man and Daredevil -

Well, Stan, as you know, just passed away at the age of 95.  (Why is it so many cartoonists live long lives?)  While I was doing the early years of Spike & Mike's "Twisted Animation Show", Mike Gribble introduced me to the finer points of the Marvel gang and I finally had much more knowledge and appreciation for what Lee and Kirby created.

He was a superstar at all the big Comic-Cons, and rightfully so. 

The other God of cartoons who just passed away was Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants.  When the show first premiered in 1999, I was an immediate fan.  Then, when my son Lucas was born and he became addicted to the show, I realized how great the show is.  I feel that SpongeBob was as good as the best of the early Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons.  In fact, I believe that Stephen was really influenced by Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. 

He started out making independent shorts and would also make appearances at the Spike & Mike shows, in addition to various festivals.  And that's where I first met him.  I became such a fan of his work that I even visited him on one of my trips to L.A., like a true fanboy.  We hung out a bit and I told him how much I loved his show.  He was a very modest and self-effacing guy, and he said he was influenced by a lot of my films from the early days. (That was nice of him.)

I believe his show and "The Simpsons" are the two greatest TV shows of our generation, and, just like the old Looney Tunes cartoons, they'll be popular forever.


Before I sign off, here's this week's gag cartoon:



 --Bill P.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Mickey Turns 90

Dear readers, I'm sorry for the lack of a post last week.  It was a very busy week, I was facing down three deadlines - so I was a bad boy.  I'll try to do better in the future.  In any case, I wanted to talk about Mickey Mouse's 90th birthday, a very big deal.


Before Mickey Mouse, there were only two big animation highlights - the work of Winsor McCay (who to me is a personal God) and Felix the cat cartoons.  Both were major landmarks in the animation field, but they never adapted to sound, like Mickey did, and so unfortunately they were mostly forgotten.

The great advantage Mickey Mouse had was the music and dialogue in his cartoons.  I always felt that intertitles, subtitles or "cartoon balloons" really ruined the flow of a story.  Especially in animation, which is so visual, and the rending of the dialogue totally breaks the magical spell for me.
Of course, Disney is famous for his wonderful storytelling skills.

In the early years, Mickey was an international icon, he was a superstar.  But to me, he was a little too goody-goody.  My preference was for Goofy, all the "How to..." films with him were the funniest and most influential.  If you watch a lot of my earlier films you can see the influence of Goofy in "How to Kiss" and the whole "Guard Dog" series.

But as they say, Mickey started it all.  Thanks, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

I'm now in the middle of watching all the Oscar-eligible animated features of 2017 - I'll give you a report later.  Meanwhile, here's today's drawing:

--Bill P.


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Three recent films and a music video

As I said before, it's Oscar-qualifying time, and I'm trying to see 50 feature films in the space of two months - that's about 1 film a day, which is fine.  I love watching feature films, however, I also have to run my business and make my own films, so my time has to be tightly regulated if I want to keep up that pace.  I'm only going to comment on three recent films of special interest, because I don't want to waste your time with the boring stuff.


"Mary Poppins Returns" is a very entertaining bit of nostalgia, it's full of wonderful music and great fantasy.  There are some surprise (not any more, I guess...) cameos from Angela Lansbury, Meryl Streep and a dancing Dick Van Dyke.

However, I believe Lin-Manuel Miranda is totally miscast as a rapping Cockney lamplighter, and his singing is not that great.  Emily Blunt is very acceptable as Mary Poppins, but she's no Julie Andrews. 

I brought my 6-year-old son with me, and at first he was bored, but once he keyed in to the characters and fantasy, he was hooked on this film, even though it runs over two hours. 


"Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" is a total disaster.  The plot was hard to follow because it kept jumping between the two timelines and to characters that I had trouble identifying - very confusing.  The songs were so-so and they didn't pick many recognizable ABBA songs.  Unfortunately, the actors here do the singing, and they just can't compete with ABBA.

And the ending reveals a 72-year-old Cher, singing the big climax number, which didn't really knock me out.  The film may be perfect for 16-year-old girls and old ABBA fans, but for me it was a waste of time. 


Finally, I just saw "The Grinch" in a cinema, and I truly loved it.  The sets, characters, humor, story, all worked very well.  I'm still a big fan of Chuck Jones' TV version with the voice of Boris Karloff, but I believe this version is better, just because graphically it's more impressive.

My one complaint is the way they put rap music in a classic children's Christmas tale - it totally took the mood of a wacky Dr. Seuss fantasy to the urban streets of the Bronx.  But if you can put up with that, go see "The Grinch". 

Now I have one weird request - I've just finished a wonderful music video called "Wicked World" for a young genius musician named Matt Jaffe.  It's a terrific song, but Matt has no way to promote it and get it on the air.  If there's anybody out there with musical connections - P.R. people or music industry contacts, please let me know.  Matt's a young talent on the rise who just needs to get his music seen and heard.  If you have some advice, please contact me at:   studio@plymptoons.com

Thanks,

Bill P.

Friday, November 9, 2018

Oscar qualification screenings

Yes, it's hard to believe, but it's almost Academy Award time again.  The DVD screeners are arriving, more and more every day.

One of the biggest events of my year is the screening of all of the Oscar-qualified animated shorts.  What happens is that all of the Academy members in the North East (including Canada) gather at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC for two full days of watching short (and semi-short) animation.  And it's always a full spectrum, from brilliant films to total trash.

As soon as we enter the judging room, we're handed a list of all the qualified films, and immediately we all check out the lengths of each short.  If we see a film at 15 minutes or longer, already we're not happy.  In fact, at 5-minute intervals, we're asked to raise our hands if we want to stop the movie.  Because if it's a piece of crap, who wants to watch 20 more minutes of a bad film?  That's a lesson for all you young filmmakers making shorts - PLEASE, nothing longer than 10 minutes if you want the film to be appreciated.

Fortunately, just before my "Trump Bites" film was shown, there was a very long dorky film that got "timed" and that always makes the following film look much better.

I must say it was a very good collection of films this year.  I estimate that 15 films have a good shot at being nominated, although in the end only 5 films will succeed.  After the branch screenings, the short list of 10 finalists will be announced, usually around Christmas time, and then in early January we'll find out which 5 films actually get nominated.

Of course, I'm at a tremendous disadvantage, since my films only cost about $10,000 compared to Disney & Pixar's $1,000,000 budgets - but hey, you never know!!

Below is a photo of me with Patrick Harrison, the Academy's director of New York Programs and Membership.  And also below, I'm including another cartoon that will be in my new book.  I don't have a title yet, so if you think of one, please let me know.  You'll get a free book if I use your title.

Later,

Bill P.



Monday, October 29, 2018

Recent Trips - Santa Fe, NM and Portland, OR

I've started to cut back a little on my trips on the film festival circuit these days, I got invited to two very appetizing festivals that took place last week.

The first was the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.  I'd never been to New Mexico before, so I thought it would be interesting.  The place is 7,000 feet into the mountains, and it has a very classic look to it.  All the buildings must be made from adobe or at least look like it.  And all the shop signs must have only two colors (no rainbows allowed, and obviously no Taco Bells) The festival is run by a young family with lots of energy, and they took very good care of me.

The cinemas were all cool, classic-type theaters and there were lots of volunteers offering to do anything I needed - and the Hotel Santa Fe was perfect - very comfortable.  Then at the big ceremonies I was given a Lifetime Achievement Award that included a freshly-baked peach pie in a ceremonial pie tin.



While I was there, I was able to visit Los Alamos, where the atomic bomb was developed.  I toured the scientists' houses and learned the history of the bomb, I found that fascinating.

Next, I flew to Oregon for the Portland Film Festival.  This festival has now taken over a huge canning warehouse that's been converted into a headquarters, lounge and multiplex.  I saw a fascinating film called "Behind the Curve" about people who believe that the earth is flat, and that the theory of a round earth is a conspiracy from the dark state.  The group is actually quite large, over 1,000 members, and very serious.

The PDXFF is a lively festival with lots of energy and ideas, created by Joshua Leake.  I highly recommend both of these festivals if you want a great experience watching work that is totally off the mainstream.

As soon as I returned from my trip, I joined my fellow Academy members for a two-day judging of all the animated short films that are eligible for the Oscars.  It was fun to see all my fellow members and watch this year's crop of the best animated shorts.  I also entered my very short film "Trump Bites: The Unraveling" so we'll find out in January if people like that. 

Dinner after judging Oscar-eligible animation, with Lisa LaBracio, Biljana Labovic, Pat Smith, Sandrine and Ron Diamond
Also, speaking of the atomic bomb, I've done some graphics for a new Off-Broadway called "Nuclear Follies", directed by one of my favorite voice actors, Daniel Neiden.  He provided the voice of the main character, Del, in my first animated feature, "The Tune".  I haven't seen "Nuclear Follies" yet, but I know Daniel is a very funny fellow, so it should be hilarious.  You may even see some art in the show that looks a little bit "Plympton-esque". 


That show opens on Thursday, November 1 at 7 pm at St. John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher St. (west of 7th Ave.)  You can check out more information about the show here:

http://nuclearfollies.com/

and you can buy tickets here:

https://nuclearfollies.brownpapertickets.com/

I also heard that tickets to the November 6 performance will be FREE if you vote.  Which you should do anyway, so, really, there's no reason NOT to vote and then enjoy a great night at the theater!  I hope to see you there.  If you like your comedy dark, then that's the place to be.

Happy Halloween, everyone - and here's my cartoon of the week.

--Bill P.



Friday, October 19, 2018

Last week...

Busy busy busy... A lot of projects in the works at my studio. I'm finishing up my newest music video for Matt Jaffee, a brilliant young singer-songwriter, and his song is called "Wicked World".  It's being done in a very cool style, like a graphic novel.  Watch for him, he'll be the new Justin Bieber.  That video should be out next month some time.

Also, I'm doing some animation for Joan Gratz's compilation short, where animators talk about their earliest beginnings.  Mine is a story about how, as a kid, I recycled bloody butcher paper to draw on, to create a panorama of a World War II battle.  I don't know when that will come out.

And for all you fans of my early "Sex & Violence" series, I'm starting work on a new version called, appropriately enough, "Sex & Violence III".  It will have a bunch of way over-the-top offensive segments.  That should be out this Christmas, or so - perfect for the holiday season.

And of course, while I'm creating these short projects, I'm still happily drawing away on my upcoming feature, "Slide".  And I've got to tell you, this film will have some of the best animation I've ever drawn.  I'm so excited about "Slide", and that film should be finished in about 2 years.

Some of the events I've been attending are the ANNY (Animation Nights New York) screenings, hosted by Yvonne Grzenkowicz.  On Saturday, October 6, it took place in the lobby of a huge glass-enclosed skyscraper, just north of Wall Street here in NYC.  Yvonne organized a very special weekend gathering that involved anything related to animation - workshops on V.R., traditional, computer, festivals, the early years of animation, independents, studio animation and games.

The moment I entered this three-ring animated circus, I felt the excitement of young kids checking out the animation scene.  I also ran into a lot of my animation buddies - so be sure to check this event out next year!

Then the following Thursday night, SVA sponsored an exhibition of political art, called "Art as Witness".  What a gala event!  It had all the excitement of my early years in New York as a political cartoonist.  It was a who's who of great cartoonists and illustrators - let's see, where do I begin?  R.O. Blechman, Felipe Galindo, Andres Arroyo, Ed Sorel, Steven Brodner (one of the organizers), Steven Heller, Joe Ciardiello, Peter Kuper, Marshall Arisman, John Cuneo and the great Brad Holland. 

with Francis di Tommaso and Brad Holland at SVA's "Art as Witness" event

The exhibition was terrific - such a wide panorama of political statements on pollution, police brutality, women's rights and of course, lots of anti-Trump stuff.  They also had some beautiful pieces from the late David Levine and Robert Grossman.  It was a wonderful night.  I almost forgot, they played two of my "Trump Bites" animated shorts.

Now, on to something that I think is very exciting - for me, anyway - you may not think it's cool but I love it.  I've been making rough drawings of cartoon ideas for future gag books.  And now I have a nice collection of them, so I decided to preview all the gag cartoons here - so my plan is to premiere each cartoon, one per week, here on my Scribble Junkies site.  So, starting this week, my first gag cartoon in a series - this is called "The Trump Years".

Please let me know what you think!

Bill P.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Will Vinton (1947-2018)



I just learned the sad news about Will Vinton's death.  In the 1980's and 90's he was a real force in animation and a magnet for creative artists to move to Portland, Oregon, which helped make it the Mecca of animation that it is today.

I first met him way before I got into animation, back in the late 1970's or early 80's, on one of my annual trips back to Portland, my hometown.  I desperately wanted to get into the field, so I though I'd just visit his studio, unannounced and uninvited.  Back then his studio was based out of a little house in N.W. Portland.  They were the friendliest people: Mark Gustafson, Joan Gratz, Craig Bartlett - I guess they'd seen my illustrations.

I would usually visit Will whenever I was in town and they'd give me a tour of their quickly-growing studio as they went from short films to features, to commercials and T.V. shows.  Will became famous after he received an Oscar for "Closed Mondays", the short film he made with Bob Gardiner.  And I became closer friends with Bob later on - Will and Bob split up for creative reasons and after a while, Bob became extremely jealous of Will's huge success.  I used to hang out with Bob in the bars of Portland, he loved to drink, and would rail against Will's success.

It's my theory that Bob was sort of the real genius behind Claymation - he was an extremely talented artist, musician and storyteller but like a lot of artists, he was very disorganized.  So Will took over the production, post-production and distribution, and therefore became in many ways the key to their film's success.  Will was definitely a genius when it came to sales, promotion and attracting talent - Will drew some of the greatest 3-D animators in the U.S. and through Will's fabulous talent, his studio rose to the great heights of animation success.

Will Vinton and Bill Plympton in 2000 at the Week With the Masters in Trivandrum, India
Then, the story goes, he got two TV shows side-by-side - "The PJ's" and "Gary and Mike", so he had to expand the studio immediately.  He was taking over more Portland real estate just to shoot more stop-motion, so in order to keep his studio going, he turned to his friend Phil Knight of Nike fame for a big loan.  Unfortunately, both shows got cancelled in quick succession, so poor Will was stuck with a huge unpaid loan.  Phil Knight knew that his son, Travis, who was a great animator working for Will, wanted to make feature films, so Phil Knight and the board that ran Will's studio turned the studio over to Travis, and Will instantly found himself without a studio.  Gradually Will Vinton Studios became Laika, producer of "Coraline", "The Corpse Bride" and "Kubo and the Two Strings" fame.

I never could figure out why, if Will was able to build Will Vinton Studios so quickly, after losing control of it, why couldn't he do it again?  He was so great at promotion, gathering talent, sales and producing, plus he had a big name and reputation in the business.  But it just didn't happen.

With Will Vinton at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2006.
I visited his house about 7 years ago, and he took me water-skiing on the Willamette River - he was very athletic for his age.  We then went out for dinner and he complained to me how he had 50 shows that he was trying to sell, and couldn't find a buyer for one.  This was very mysterious - the great Will Vinton couldn't make a sale?  It didn't make any sense to me.  I heard he had a producer's read-through of one of his Broadway show ideas, called "The Kiss" to attract investors, and it didn't go very well.

Apparently there's a documentary about him in the works (they interviewed me for it) and I'm dying to see how they'll portray the two most controversial episodes in his life - the Bob Gardiner fiasco and the Phil Knight disaster.  Anyway, he was an amazing guy and a real inspiration.  Here's to Will Vinton -

--Bill Plympton

May 26, 2012 "Bill Plympton Day" at the Mission Theater in Portland, OR with Will Vinton (3rd from right)

Monday, September 24, 2018

"Women in Indie Animation" show at the Metrograph

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (the people who give out the Oscars) has been very active here in NYC, programming several special screenings.

Last Friday, the Academy invited four of the biggest female animators living in the NYC area to a night of their films at the Metrograph Theater, located just south of Chinatown in Manhattan. The four filmmakers were Emily Hubley, Candy Kugel, Signe Baumane and Debra Solomon.

First of all, I had never been to the Metrograph before.  It's situated in a backwater area of town - but this area is starting to become quite stylish.  The Metrograph itself is very cool, with a bar, restaurant and library in addition to their screening room.  I think some people go there just to hang out.

So the Academy had a small pre-screening reception, then we all moved to the packed cinema to watch all of the animated shorts.  After that, the real show began with Peggy Stern moderated a Q&A session with the participants.  It was then that everyone found out what I already knew, that Signe and Debbie, aside from making funny films, were even more hilarious in person. They brought down the house with their personal anecdotes and crazy comments - they should start a comedy team.


It was a fabulous show, then we all retreated to the bar for free drinks and food, courtesy of the Academy. 

If you're in the neighborhood of 7 Ludlow Street, check out the Metrograph's schedule - they have some fabulous shows! 

I want to give everyone an update on "Trump Bites".  The fourth episode, called "The Unraveling", is playing this week in Los Angeles at the Downtown Independent Theater, at 251 Main St.  Check this link for showtimes and tickets: 

The short will play there until September 27.  

Also, I want to tell everyone about a political cartoon and caricature show that the great Steve Brodner is putting together at SVA.  Not only will they have some terrific illustrations but they will also feature some of my "Trump Bites" animated shorts.  If you're around NYC on October 11, be sure to stop by at 601 West 26th St., 15th Floor, to meet some of the greatest cartoonists alive today.  And I'll be there too.  See you there!

--Bill Plympton

Monday, September 17, 2018

Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival

Once again, I helped program the Animated Shorts for Richard Paradise and his Martha's Vineyard Film Festival. It's a lovely festival that takes place every September in a lovely town called Vineyard Haven.

But this year, we had a special guest - my Scribble Junkies blog partner, the amazing Patrick Smith.  The cool thing was that we got to drive up there in Pat's truck, with both of our families along for the ride.  It was quite an adventurous trip, through 4 states and on 5 ferries.  During that long trip, all we talked about was animation and other animators.

Unfortunately, the weather really sucked, it was cold and cloudy - though we still spent a lot of time on the beach.  One day, we took a side-trip to Oak Bluffs, where we saw an amazing religious retreat and all these incredible gingerbread houses.  I felt like I was in a Disney film, or stoned, or both.  Then we visited the harbor, where we had the absolute best lobster roll - too bad I can't remember the name of the bar. 

The screening of the animated shorts program was a big success.  A good crowd was there, ready to laugh - and the line-up was a big hit.  The most popular films were "Hybrids" - a computer film where garbage takes over the ocean, "Enough" by Anna Mantzaris - a very deadpan look at people who won't take it any more, "Catharina" - a dark comedy by Britt Raes about a girl whose pets keep dying, "Pour 585" by Pat Smith - a timely film about power and how to control it, and "Negative Space" by Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter. 

So, even though the weather sucked, the MVIFF event always keeps us joyful and fulfilled. 

In other news, it looks like I'l be premiering my brand new "Trump Bites" short at the Downtown Independent Theater in L.A. next week, in order to qualify it for the Oscars.  I believe it's my best "Trump Bites" short ever.  If you're in the L.A. area, check it out, this one is called "The Unraveling", and it's co-written by Donald himself.  Watch my Twitter and Facebook feeds for more info on this, to be posted soon. 

Thanks for reading my Scribbles! 

Bill P.



Tuesday, September 4, 2018

"Pour 585" animated post card..

I used to send out post cards in the mail.. I really miss doing that because I felt like I was sending out tiny pieces of artwork to all my contacts.  Since that's gone that way of the dodo, I thought of a new thing, I'm really obsessed with gif's (btw I pronounce "JIF").. anyway, here's the animated postcard for my latest film, the award winning "Pour 585".. enjoy

Heading to Martha's Vineyard this weekend with my scribble junkie colleague bill plympton. should be fun, it will be the first time that i've seen it screened in public.  Here's a partial list of upcoming screenings:

CARTON FEST INT DE CORTOS DE ANIMATION, SEP 4, 2018
ASHEVILLE FILM FESTIVAL, SEP 8, 2018
MARTHA’S VINEYARD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, SEP 4, 2018
INSHORT FILM FESTIVAL, SEP 6, 2018
CHANIARTOON 2018, SEP 17, 2018   
BRECKENRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL, SEP 20, 2018
SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 3, 2018
ELLENSBURG FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 5, 2018
QUEEN CITY FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 4, 2018
WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 10, 2018
BEND FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 11, 2018
SAN JOSE INT SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 11, 2018
KANSAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 12, 2018
SODAK MOTION FESTIVAL, OCT 25, 2018
CELTIC ANIMAITON FILM COMPETITION, OCT 26, 2018
SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL, OCT 27, 2018
CARTOONS UNDERGROUND SINGAPORE , OCT 27 2018
OJAI FILM FESTIVAL, NOV 1, 2018
ALAMEDA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, NOV 12, 2018

Monday, August 27, 2018

Masaaki Yuasa


I just got home from a visit to my local AMC Multiplex where I saw Mr. Yuasa's new animated feature "The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl".

If you're a regular reader of Scribble Junkies, you know what a big fan I am of Masaaki and his feature film "Mind Game". I first saw it about 10 years ago and it blew my mind.  This is what an animated film should be - I called it "the Citizen Kane of animation".  It was so imaginative, surreal, crazy and yet the drawings were so great.  None of that Japanese animé crap, but really original artwork and ideas.

However, I can't say the same for his new film.  Maybe he's taking on too many projects since he's become famous, and his creative juices have run out.  But "The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl" is as bland as you typical animé.  The characters are badly designed and they move very awkwardly.  The humor is clichéd (althought the mostly Japanese audience I saw it with laughed).  There are maybe a couple of really funny sequences, but the narrative is a jumble of short stories that don't really build to an emotional finale. 

I heard that he made another feature film around the same time.  I might recommend that he stick to one feature film at a time, and make that film something unique. 

I give "The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl" a C-. 

--Bill P.

Me with Masaaki Yuasa at the Annecy Festival, June 2018


Friday, August 17, 2018

Back from Los Angeles...

I just returned from Los Angeles, where we had the West Coast theatrical premiere of "Revengeance", and Jim Lujan, the film's writer, designer, voice-over star and overall creative genius, appeared with me on stage to introduce the film.   We had great crowds all last weekend at the Laemmle Monica theater! 

Me with Jim Lujan outside the Laemmle Monica Theater
Before that, we had premiered the film in New York at the wonderful IFC Center, where we also had good attendance, and the film got held over for a second week of late-night shows.  If you ask me, that's the best time to see the movie, because in many ways it's a great late-night "stoner" film. 

After Jim and I finished the film in 2015, it traveled around on the film festival circuit for a while, where it was very popular, winning a few prizes even.  After that, we searched for distributors for two years, and got turned down a lot. 

The worst part of that situation was that it delayed the theatrical release, which then in turned delayed the production of DVDs - after all, if the film's out on DVD, fewer people are going to go see the film in theaters.  So that meant we also had to withhold delivery of the DVDs and BluRays that we promised to our Kickstarter backers, because the film hadn't been released in L.A. yet.  So now, finally, after two years we can finally make some DVDs and fulfill our gifts to the remaining backers.  So to all my supporters, we're making the DVDs now, have faith, your rewards will be on the way soon!  Hooray! 

Speaking of Kickstarter, I ended up going back to the well again to raise money for the "Trump Bites" project, and I was afraid my fans are getting very tired of my requests for funding.  As you may recall, I did three very successful animated shorts for the New York Times that made fun of our President.  Unfortunately, the budget to make each 1-minute short is about $10,000 and the Times doesn't even pay that much.  So we didn't turn a profit on them yet, and I was starting to go broke fast. 

That's why we turned to Kickstarter, to close the gap so we could make more episodes.  It was a bit of a close call over whether we would meet our goal - and we made it with one day to spare, and even went a little bit over.  Thank you so much, all you Plympton fans and supporters!  Thanks to you, I'm working now on two more "Trump Bites" episodes, and I believe they'll be the best I've ever done.  Thanks to the New York Times, the first three were seen all over the world, even in Siberia!  Wait until you see the new ones, they'll make your brain explode!

We now have plans to show "Revengeance" in theaters across America.  So please watch for this wacky feature in a cinema near you.  After that, we'll release the film on DVD and sell it on my web-site, and look for opportunities to stream it too!  Please check my on-line store in a couple of months for details on how to order the film on DVD or BluRay.

See you soon,

Bill P.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

"Revengeance" screenings in Los Angeles!

Hey, great news for animation fans -

The NYC screenings of "Revengeance" are going well, in fact the IFC Center just held the film over for another week of late shows, so if you live near New York and you still haven't caught the film yet, it should play some more late shows August 10 to 16, so all you night owls will have another chance!

Tickets are also NOW ON SALE for the "Revengeance" screenings in Los Angeles, starting on Friday, August 10 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, 1332 2nd St. in Santa Monica.  Show times are 1:20 pm, 3:25 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:40 pm and 9:50 pm. 

For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.laemmle.com/films/44192#get-tickets

Now here's the big news, I'm flying out to L.A. so that I can introduce the 7:40 shows over the weekend, and do a Q&A session afterwards, and maybe we can hang around and introduce the 9:50 shows also. 

I'll also have some DVDs (of my other films) to sell, maybe some door prizes and of course I'll do a quick sketch for anyone who wants one.  BUT the killer extra is that I'll be joined on stage by my co-director, Jim Lujan, he's also the writer, designer, musician and chief voice artist for the film.  On top of THAT, he's also 100 times more entertaining in person than I am.

The film got a great review from Owen Gleiberman in Variety, where he said the film is "engagingly scuzzy" and "hits its targets with fluky glee".  He also wrote that "Bill Plympton's latest hand-drawn feature is a scruffy collaboration that's like an updated Ralph Bakshi cartoon."  Since Ralph is one of my heroes, I take that as a great compliment!  

So buy your tickets now, but you'd better wear a hat because "Revengeance" is so funny your brain will explode!  And if you like "stoner" films this might be right up your alley!   Please tell all your friends, spread the word and I'll see you there!

--Bill P.



Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Big News - "Trump Bites" and "Revengance"

Hello, faithful readers, I've got some amazing news for you all. 

If you haven't heard, Billy Shebar and I have created an animated series about Donald Trump - it's called "Trump Bites", and it mixes my crazy animation with real audio clips from the President.  It's been trending on Twitter like crazy, and for a few days the three shorts were the most popular things on the New York Times web-site.  Even Sean Hannity showed clips of it on his program, then he called it "vile and disgusting". 

In any case, the money that the New York Times pays us is not enough for us to produce as many episodes as we want, so in order to keep the series going (we've got a few more episodes already storyboarded) we've turned to Kickstarter to raise some money.  You can check out the campaign (and the first three shorts) here:

Rewards.trumpbites.com

I'm asking my friends and fans to chip in, and help spread the word (and get cool rewards) to fight back against POTUS.  These are dangerous times and we all have to stand up against this maniac!  So please join in and help me push back.

The other big news is "Revengeance", the film Jim Lujan and I finished a couple of years ago, is finally coming out in theaters.  If you live in the NYC area you can see it at the IFC Cinema on 323 Sixth Avenue (6th Ave. & 3rd St.) from August 3-9, and I will be there every night to introduce the 8 pm sho, do a Q&A and give everyone a sketch.

For more information and tickets for the NYC shows, please visit:

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/revengeance/


Then the film moves out to Los Angeles for a week's run at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, 1332 2nd St. in Santa Monica, from August 10-16, where not only will I attend shows in person, and again do a Q&A, signings and sketches, but I'll be joined by the very entertaining (and much funnier than me) Jim Lujan sharing the stage.  Wow, what a show!  Please tell all your friends to come out and say hello at both venues!

For more information and tickets for the L.A. shows, please visit:

https://www.laemmle.com/films/44192#get-tickets

I hope to see you all there! Later,

Bill P.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Animation 101: Constructing a Story for a Short Film, Part 4: Resolutions and Endings..

This is the fourth part of constructing a story for a short film. Part 1 introduction. Part 2 The Image. Part 3 Conflict. Part 4 is Resolutions and Endings.

Every short film should have a good ending. I can't overstate the importance of a satisfying ending. In a lot of ways it's the ending that is remembered. You can have the greatest technique or characters, subtle actions, conflict and build up.. but if the ending isn't complete, it's all a waste. But let's back up a bit, and talk about "Resolution." A resolution is quite different than an ending, I would say that a "Resolution" is simply the first step to achieving a quality "Ending."

The conflict we established and built up requires some sort of "Resolution." Something needs to happen that ends the conflict. This resolution can introduce a new conflict, can neutralize or satisfy the original conflict, or can introduce an element that makes the original conflict insignificant. All fine ways to resolve what you have built up. In the most simple form, what you must do is solve the conflict in a witty, interesting, creative, emotional, and unexpected way.  Let's return to our relaxed cyclist. He's continuing to ride, oblivious to the mass of smelly stinky impatience directly behind him. This massive body of cars, trucks and buses have developed into a ineffable body that fills the frame behind the peaceful cyclist, who is a speck comparatively (contrast!). Now enter the first part of the resolution, we go very wide and they start to cross a bridge (symbol).. immediately it begins to shake, it can't hold the weight. It looks as if the entire group, cyclist included, is going to crumble into a twisted heap into the ravine.. but it only happens the exact moment that the cyclist reaches the other side. CRASH.. now.. dead silence. peace. contrast to the previous shot... Resolution. The cyclist quietly continues his ride. (this is the resolution, not the ending)

In Michael Dudok De Wit's epic film "Father and Daughter" the conflict with the daughter is her missing her father, who disappeared in a boat when she was young. The film takes us through her entire life, shows her growing up without him, but always having this connection, and keeping it in context of a bicyle (symbol).. always looking if he will return from the lake. The build up happens through her getting older, continuing her life up through marriage, children, and old age, but she will never give up hope. This distinct struggle demands a resolution, and the film would not have been so effective if it had ended with her simply always waiting.  Finally, so much time has passed that the lake has dried up, and she is an elderly woman. Despite her age and frailty, she journeys out into the lake which is now a grassy field. She finds the sunken remains of her fathers boat. She curls up into it, and dies. (this is the resolution, not the ending)

At this point it's important to note a key element to story: What does the character want? If you crafted your "Image" and developed your "Conflict", it shouldn't be such a hard question to answer. If you can't answer this question, an alarm should go off, you are most likely dealing with too much complexity and lack of the glorious simplicity of an idea.

There are many ways to reach a "Resolution" in your story. One method is to give the character what they want, but not how they thought they would get it, or not what they expected it would look like. Perhaps they don't even know they get it! Our loyal cyclist has no idea that the bridge collapse took care of his conflict.. because the conflict itself existed outside of the character (see how easily all this stuff can be twisted?). But there's no question what the cyclist wants.. he wants to continue his wonderful relaxing ride, he wants to remain in his happy state. The bridge collapsing made this possible, unbeknownst to the protagonist.

In my film "Handshake" the resolution, after a hallucinatory build up, is that the male character gets literally ingested by the female character.. and then there is that wonderful silence. It's that contrast that typically follows a resolution, this contrast will lead us boldly to a satisfying ending.  In "Father and Daughter" the old woman curls up and falls asleep (dies) and we cut to a extreme wide shot.. everything has changed. There is a contrast we can taste. It almost feels like an ending. A good resolution will do that, it fakes you out a bit, it gives you an pre-ending, so to speak.  The old woman awakes, but the world looks different.. she gets up and as she gracefully walks, she morphs into a little girl, she runs, runs faster.. directly into the arms of her father who is standing there waiting for her.  Thank you Michael for creating such a wonderful masterpiece.

"Father and Daughter" Michael Dudok De Wit.

Let us continue on the "Ending", the final bookend that contains your main idea in a nice package. Endings are synonymous with satisfaction. Your final ending may be very dramatic, or a simple gag, of course depending on your Image, conflict, and resolution. A satisfying ending doesn't have to be character related at all. There's a great technique employed by more non-narrative films, at the end of the film, they simply back up an show the grand picture, an all encompassing shot that either shows the technique that drove the film, or the entire world in which the film took place.  At the end of George Griffin's "View Master" he simply backs up to reveal all the cycles of walks and runs we have been watching are on a wheel, similar to the wheel used on the old toy "View Master", hence the title. It was a very satisfying ending to a film whose conflict very well may have been "what exactly are we watching?"
George Griffin's "View Master"
I've outlined several different ways to end your film in my past Animation 101 post: 5 ways to end your story, and I don't need to re-hash them. Especially since there are a multitude of ways to wrap up your story if you keep in mind how the Conflict is solved by  your Resolution and how that relates to your Ending, and you remain experimental and creative at problem solving. Often times shorts will use an "Exclamation Point" at the end of the film, just to give it a bit of a leap going into the credits. Again, let's go to our Cyclist. The threat is gone, he's continuing to ride joyfully, but after all that conflict we hear a tiny little ringing, we reveal a precious little girl riding a little pink bike with streamers (contrast to the man). The man is startled, almost falling.. he rides to a stop and allows the little girl to pass, he smiles as he looks around. We're satisfied. An ending can be a simple gag that accentuates and contrasts the Resolution. The audience instantly agrees that a little girl on a little bike is more powerful than all the machinery that an urban commute could throw at us.

Your short film is a gift the the world, it's for everybody and should communicate clearly what you wish to say or illustrate. Don't expect the audience to speak a language they (or you) don't know, but at the same time, know that the audience is smarter than you think, and most likely smarter than you the director. Animation has the distinct quality of being non-intimidating and completely approachable medium, use that to your advantage. You have their attention! Don't abuse that. The medium you chose to work with has limitations that you need to take advantage of, concentrate on what you can do, not what your medium can't or isn't very good at doing. Good filmmakers make use of Subtlety, pretentious filmmakers use Mystery and complexity, and call it Subtlety. 

In this series we broke constructing a short film story into four chunks, The Image, The Conflict, The Resolution, and the Ending. And I need to remind everyone reading this that this is only a framework in which to experiment. Twist and pull this, change it around, sew a head on where an arm should be. But most importantly, communicate and create. Ultimately, this is what we were all put here to do! Good luck, this was fun!

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Annecy Animation Festival 2018

For one reason or another, I hadn't been back to my all-time favorite festival in a few years.  But thanks to the kind people at the School of Visual Arts, I was invited back to Annecy after a three-year absence. And perhaps surprisingly, it was all due to virtual reality.

They had gathered a prestigious panel of VR experts - David Eisenmann (senior producer at Google), Paul du Bois (staff software engineer at Google), Chris Prynoski (co-founder and president of Titmouse Animation), and the delightful Hsiang Chin Moe from SVA was the moderator.


I'll let you know right now, I was not the smartest guy in the room.  In fact, I didn't really understand much of what everyone was talking about.  But we capped off the panel with a short clip of my new V.R. work in progress, "One of Those Days".  You might remember my old colored-pencil short with this name, where you see a guy having a really bad day, from his P.O.V.   It seems tailor-made for virtual reality.

Every year, I enter a few of my new films to the prestigious Annecy Festival, only to get rejected, three years in a row.  But this year I sort of snuck in through the side door. 

Because of the growing popularity of the festival, we weren't able to see any of the films we wanted to see, they were all sold out.  So my wife and I decided to treat it like a vacation in the French Alps.  We spent time on the pedal boats on the crystal clear lake, visited the great restaurants and went to a few parties that I was able to crash. 



Inside the main gathering place and the Bonlieu Cinema was where they had the tables set up for signings with famous artists.  I asked if I could sit in, but the tables were all occupied.  But luckily I spied an empty chair in the back corner and snuck in there - soon enough I had a good sized crowd of autograph seekers.  Then I was ensconced like a crab and it was impossible to get me out of there. 

It's OK, because all the other artists welcomed me, like Richard Williams, Lorenzo Mattotti (one of the greatest colorists alive, who's working on a feature film) and of course the great director of the brilliant film "Mind Game", Masaaki Yuasa! 

with Richard Williams

with Lorenzo Mattotti
with Masaaki Yuasa !!

It was a wonderful week, and I hope I can attend again next year.

--Bill P.


with Mark Osborne and Bonnie Arnold

with Spike of Spike & Mike's Festival of Animation

with David Fine and Alison Snowden!

Monday, June 25, 2018

Trump Bites


I have another big announcement, you might have heard that I've been working on some animated political cartoons with a production company called 110th Street Films.  They're called "Trump Bites", and they combine my animation with real audio from our 45th President.  I hear he has "the best words..."

Well, the New York Times loves them, and just started running the first three on their "Opinions" page, and you can check them out here:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005935590/donald-trumps-big-fat-oval-office.html

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005935591/trump-and-putin-a-love-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005935596/donald-trumps-worst-nightmare.html


So now we have the go-ahead to continue and make some more.  But unfortunately, the money that they're paying is not enough.  So we've decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign so that we can make the best cartoons to poke fun at Trump. 

I'm so excited, I think this is just what this country needs - a kick-ass animated political cartoon about the worst President in U.S. history.  I have so many ideas, I don't know what to do first!  It's very ironic to me, I started out my career by doing a very political syndicated comic strip, and also caricatures of politicians.  Then I got into animation and I ignored politics for a long time, it just wasn't part of my work.  But now I'm finally combining animation with politics and it sort of feels like I've come full circle! 

You've heard of Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, Abbott & Costello and Beavis & Butthead - well, now we can add another great comedy team, "Trump & Plympton".  It's going to be historic.  Be part of political history and support our Kickstarter campaign.  Our goal is to get a nasty tweet from POTUS -

And you can be responsible for that! 


Please check out our campaign here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1825301302/trump-bites-animated-by-bill-plympton

Thanks!

Bill P.