Author: Kayla Richardson (Page 1 of 2)

Robert Morgan first discovered his passion for film when he watched Fiend Without a Face (1958) with his uncle as a three-year-old. This started a lifetime infatuation with monsters, sharks, and insects. As his artistic expression progressed, some of his biggest creative influences became Francis Bacon, Edgar Allan Poe, Jan Svankmajer, the Quay Brothers, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Joel Peter Witkin, Hans Bellmer, Jan Švankmajer, Walerian Borowczyk, Charley Bowers, Ladislas Starevich, and Roland Topor. 

His first entry into film animation was in 1997 via the student short The Man in the Lower Left-Hand Corner of the Photograph (https://vimeo.com/21523923) a short film that follows an old man surrounded by death and decay as he tries to recreate the happiness of his youth. There is a distinct sense of abstraction, and explorations of the existential, with a visceral, grotesque art style. 

When asked what he hopes audiences would take away from his creations (Specifically on his 2023 feature film Stopmotion) he states: “I just hope they have a memorable experience that stays with them. I like to be haunted by films, so this would be my hope — that it continues to rattle around in people’s brains after they’ve seen it.” (Robert Morgan Discusses the Inspirations and Challenges of His Hand-Crafted Horror Movie ‘Stopmotion’ | Animation Magazine) 

One of my personal favorite horror-tinged animated films is the live-action/stop-motion combination, Tetsuo the Iron Man (1989). Made by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo the Iron Man is a bizarre and surreal Japanese science fiction horror film that uses delightfully disgusting stop-motion animation to give the illusion of our protagonist turning into a literal Iron Man.

TSUKAMOTO THE IRON MAN | The Creation of Tetsuo

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1152178

Robert Morgan (filmmaker) – Wikipedia

https://www.animusfilms.co.uk/robertmorgan.html

The Man in the Lower-Left Hand Corner of the Photograph (1999) 

Stopmotion Interview: Robert Morgan on How a “Sick Obsession” With a Short Sparked His Feature Debut 

THE CAT WITH HANDS

Robert Morgan Discusses the Inspirations and Challenges of His Hand-Crafted Horror Movie ‘Stopmotion’ | Animation Magazine 

Madeline is a UPA short film released in 1952, shortly after their 1951 short Gerald McBoing-Boing proved an overwhelming success and won an Oscar. Madeline is a sweet, simple little story about a young Parisian girl with a knack for mischief and her adventures at a Catholic boarding school. Adapted from Ludwig Bemelmans’ picture book series, and although only the first book was published at the time, the team had a “real love” for it, according to film director Robert (Bob, Bobe, Bobo) Cannon. (How UPA Made the Very First ‘Madeline’ Cartoon) The animation team on Madeline was made up of a small handful of people; color artist Jules Engel, animator Chris K. Ishii, animator Bill Melendez, animator Frank Smith, and uncredited assistant animator Paul Bartel.

The animation is simple but effective. The main character group (the twelve little girls and Miss Clavel) all wear the same color outfits (almost always red). The backgrounds are watercolored in an energetic, illustrative way that contrasts the simple inked character designs, allowing them to both be distinctive and fit into the world. It makes for an appropriate adaption from the expressionist roots of Ludwig Bemelmans’ original story.

The next short of my choice is “No Smoking”, the pilot episode to the animated series Cow and Chicken, first airing as part of the What A Cartoon! showcase on November 12, 1995. “No Smoking” was storyboarded and directed by creator David Feiss, animated by himself at Hannah-Barbara Studios, and written by himself, Sam Keith, and Pilar Feiss. In the pilot, Chicken gets caught smoking a cigarette by his sister Cow. While this is happening, The Devil (Known as the “Red Guy” for the rest of the series) is watching the siblings from his lair and announces that he loves causing disasters and dragging people who make bad decisions down to hell. The Devil offers Chicken a pack of cigarettes and proceeds to drag him to hell for underage smoking. Chicken is tortured via giant cigarette smoking, but is rescued in the end by Cow.

Cow and Chicken is a great example of how the artistic rebellion of one era can branch off and influence the next. Looking back, the influence of UPA’s cartoon modern style on the “wild” cartoons of the 90s feels pretty obvious; the bold colors, clean lines, stylized designs, strong shapes, and exaggerated lines of action are some things both eras share. Are these two shorts incredibly different? Yes. But the parts they share, both visible and invisible tie them together. Though Madeline is simpler, both in plot and animation, it has those bold colors and exaggerated choices in posing and composition that we can also see in Cow and Chicken. It’s very intriguing to look at how different eras’ styles can drip down and inspire each new “next big trend”.

List of UPA cartoons – Wikipedia

The World of UPA (Part 1 of 3)

The Art of UPA (Part 2 of 3) 

How UPA Made the Very First ‘Madeline’ Cartoon

Madeline (1952, UPA)

Madeline – Wikipedia

Madeline (Short 1952) – IMDb

Exploring Art and Color with Madeline

The Enduring Delight of Ludwig Bemelmans’s ‘Madeline’ | American Art | Sotheby’s

Cow and Chicken | The Cartoon Network Wiki | Fandom

Cow and Chicken (TV Series 1997–1999) – IMDb

Cow and Chicken 1997 intro 4k

David Feiss

Cow And Chicken Pilot

1950’s Cartoon style – @serioussamuel on Tumblr

Amid Amidi’s Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation

Project MUSE – Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation (review)

Cartoon Modern and Eyvind Earle | Something’s Out There

Persepolis is an adult animated film released in 2007, based on the autobiographic graphic novel series by the same name. Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and  Vincent Paronnaud, Persepolis is a coming-of-age film following Marjane Satrapi and her upbringing against the tumultuous backdrop of the Iranian revolution. It tells the story of a Marjane’s childhood to adulthood; her relationship with family and politics, her struggles with sexism and personal identity, and how she struggles to find a place in this world and without sacrificing her integrity as a person.

Produced collaboratively between the US and France, Persepolis premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, co-winning the Jury Prize alongside Silent Night. Satrapi made it clear that animation was her first choice for the adaptation. “With live-action, it would have turned into a story of people living in a distant land who don’t look like us,” Satrapi says. “At best, it would have been an exotic story, and at worst, a ‘third-world’ story.” (http://’Persepolis’ in Motion | Animation World Network) However, co-producers Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Regault were opposed to creating an animated movie at all because of the difficulty and complexity of animation. Luckily for everyone, Satrapi’s intended depiction of her life story as in her novel won, and thus Persepolis was animated. The film design was created by art director and executive producer Marc Jousset, and animation is credited to Perseprod studio and two other specialized studios, Je Suis Bien Content and Pumpkin 3D.

According to Jousset, “Marjane had quite an unusual way of working … Marjane insisted on being filmed playing out all the scenes … it was a great source of information for the animators, giving them an accurate approach to how they should work”. (https://www.filmeducation.org/persepolis/persepolis-interview.pdf) She had a clear vision of how she wanted her novel to be translated to film, and worked with the visual and animation team closely to communicate that.

The animators used more traditional techniques and focused on characters’ being natural and imperfect, as per Satrapi’s vision and guidelines. The choice of using black and white as the film’s dominant colors was intentional, to continue their choice of using traditional animation techniques.

https://www.filmeducation.org/persepolis/persepolis-interview.pdf

https://letterboxd.com/film/persepolis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(film)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/apr/25/animation.drama

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/movies/21hohe.html

https://www.awn.com/animationworld/persepolis-motion

Studio Killers is an electropop virtual band of British-Finnish-Danish origins founded in 2007, featuring multimedia animated characters; vocalist and designer Cherry, keyboardist Goldie Foxx, and DJ Dyna Mink. The band members keep their identities unknown, and all fan interaction is done via their cartoon alter-egos.

While the fictional character Cherry is credited as the band artist, the actual character designer and animator behind the band is Finnish animator, visual, and character designer Eliza Jäppinen, who’s very prolific in her own right, having co-founded Anima Boutique, one of the top animation studios in Finnland. (Studio Killers lineup, biography | Last.fm)

During an interview, Jäppinen describes pinning down Cherrys’ design, and the experience of drawing her;  “[Cherry] – to me she’s a real person. She’s not me, she’s not one of the singers. She’s like a spirit. When I drew her, when I heard her song, I was like, ‘There you are! Let me look at you! I’ve finally caught her, like a Pokemon.’” (Motionographer® SPECTRUM: Eliza Jappinen)

In an overview of Studio Killers’ animated music videos, there is a delicious combination of 2D and 3D work, and some incredibly excellent-looking interaction between their different methods, especially in their debut 2011 animated music video “Ode to the Bouncer” 

Beholders beware, it’s very saucy. Warning for references to violence, sex, drugs, and dancing. 

Studio Killers work is illustrative, innovative, and goregeous. It has a flow, and they have the ambition to branch out (look them up, they have a 2D animated series pilot!) I love the mixed styles, the texture, and the grittiness that they add to their 3D models. I delight in the symbolism and artistic flair in their music videos and character designs. 

Studio Killers – Jenny (I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Motionographer® SPECTRUM: Eliza Jappinen 

Ode To The Bouncer [Scribble Kibble #15] 

Studio Killers 404 – December 17th 10am PST. 

Eros and Apollo – Studio Killers

Ode To The Bouncer – Studio Killers

Studio Killers, an Internet Phenomenon

Studio Killers – Wikipedia

Studio Killers lineup, biography | Last.fm

The animated music video example that I have chosen to showcase today is the opening title for season one of “Beastars”, a Netflix original anime series based on popular manga series by Paru Itagaki (板垣 巴留).  

This opening theme song titled “Wild Side” is composed and arranged by the multinational hip-hop/funk band “ALI” (Alien Liberty International), with lyrics by Imamura Leo and Inoue Jin. (Wild Side (Romanized) – ALI | Genius Lyrics) Unlike the anime itself, (animated in 3D by Studio Orange) this opening sequence was animated by “Dwarf Studios” in stop-motion. (Beastars -by Dwarf Studios | Stop Motion Magazine) I have seen Michiya Katou cited as the Director, storyboarder, and editor. I have also seen in an interview with Studio Orange producer Waki ​​Sumitaka; ”We asked Michiya Kato of Cyclone Graphics to create this stop-motion animation” (クリエイターのこだわりを体感せよ！「『BEASTERS』展～東宝×オレンジの世界～展示会」 – れポたま！)

This may be down to a translation error, and for posterity, I will also be listing the unspecified names I found at the bottom of the opening posted on YouTube; Chikahiro Kobayashi, Ayaka Senbongi, Yuki Ono, Atsumi Tanezaki, Junya Enoki, Yuma Uchida, Takeo Otsuka, Naoto Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki Shimotsuma, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Fukushi Ochiai, Takaaki Torajima, Sayumi Watanabe, Genki Muro, Yuichi Iguchi, Yuko Hara, Ikuto Kanemasa, AkaneOuchi, Hibiki Yamamura, Sakura Ando, Akio Otsuka, Mitsuaki Hoshino, Keno Horiuchi. 

Beastars as an anime series is already unique in its animation style; mostly 3D CG method with a lower framerate, and some 2D aspects incorporated. There has been some critique on the visual look, but it has a clean, expressive look making the adjustment bearable. This makes for the unique choice of an opening even more delightful in its rarity.

 A stop-motion opening to an anime is unheard of, and the way they tell a story is incredibly cinematic and beautiful. The character animation is fluid, charming, and expressive. I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say that many anime (or any series opening in general) are less thoroughly planned out, and simply show cleaned-up scenes or showcase the characters. This certainly isn’t a problem but compared to the Beastars season 1 opening depicts the stories’ main conflict in a meaningful and visually exciting manner. 

Part of the reason I adore this music video/opening so much is its attachment to the anime (I love the story), but the sheer artistry of this stop motion influences my love as well. It’s fluid, dramatic, and beautiful. It encapsulates the beats of a story I love and tells us the overarching theme in minutes. 

Wild Side (Romanized) – ALI | Genius Lyrics

TVアニメ「BEASTARS」ノンクレジット OP

Paru Itagaki – Wikipedia

Wild Side | Beastars Wiki

TVアニメ「BEASTARS ビースターズ」

Beastars -by Dwarf Studios | Stop Motion Magazine

クリエイターのこだわりを体感せよ！「『BEASTERS』展～東宝×オレンジの世界～展示会」 – れポたま！

Studio Orange addresses the gripes about CG use in anime

Beastars (TV Series 2019– ) – Series Cast & Crew – IMDb