The TAG Interview: A Brief History of CGI -- Part I

TAG Interview with Tom Sito - 2

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TAG's President Emeritus Tom Sito (who is also an animator, director, storyboard artist and college professor) has written a fine book on the history of Computer Generated Imagery:

Computer graphics (or CG) has changed the way we experience the art of moving images. Computer graphics is the difference between Steamboat Willie and Buzz Lightyear, between ping pong and PONG.

It began in 1963 when an MIT graduate student named Ivan Sutherland created the first true computer animation program. Instead of presenting a series of numbers, Sutherland's Sketchpad program drew lines that created recognizable images. Sutherland noted: "Since motion can be put into Sketchpad drawings, it might be exciting to try making cartoons." This book, the first full-length history of CG, shows us how Sutherland's seemingly offhand idea grew into a multibillion dollar industry. ...

And Tom takes us through that long-ago beginning to right now. ...

This is Tom's second TAG podcast. The first covered his animation career, the second is centered on his just-released book and the history of CG.

(This audio interview is broken into three parts of thirty minutes each. Starting tomorrow, the video/YouTube versions -- each 45 minutes in length -- will appear. So choose your format.) Click here to read entire post

TAG Panel: Investing For Retirement

At the May 28th General Membership Meeting, TAG presented a panel discussion on "Investing for Retirement" featuring Timothy C. Metcalf and Timothy P. Cronin from Wells Fargo Advisors. The talk covered a lot of ground, and there were some lively and provocative questions from Animation Guid Members ... which can be heard at the link below ....

TAG Panel Discussion - Investing for Retirement

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Tim Cronin is a Senior Vice President with WFA, and Mr. Metcalf is a Managing Director. They presented strategies for investing, also their outlook on the world economy over the next several years. (Hulett's in the mix too, blathering about the Animation Guild 401(k) Plan and the Motion Picture Industry Health and Pension Plan.)
Click here to read entire post

Creating an Animated Documentary?

David Rich is an actor, comedian and filmmaker.

TAG Interview with David Rich

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In 2010, Mr Rich began filming a non-fiction movie entitled Actor?, which explores the acting craft through the eyes of Ed Asner, Dee Wallace and numerous others.

From the start, David Rich intended large sections of the non-fiction movie to have a complementary animated story weaving around the live-action ...

Actor? is filled with entertaining interviews, but the animated sections make it considerably different from your garden-variety documentary.

I asked Mr. Rich how the animated sequences were put together, and he informed me that a Michigan studio (where entertainment tax subsidies occur in abundance) performed the work. There were twenty animators, designers and technicians on the film from start to finish, and production took approximately a year.

There's not a lot of long-form indie animated product out there, but Actor is one of them. Click here to read entire post

The David Block Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with David Block

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David Block was among the earlier applicants to Walt Disney productions feature animation training program, but he was far from a beginner. He had already broken in with Chuck Jones and Abe Lebitow, had already assisted Art Babbit on the Richard Williams feature Ragged Ann and Andy.

Disney, however, turned out to be a career track that lasted decades ...

Dave worked on Frank Thomas's and Ollie Johnston's last feature The Fox and the Hound, then went on to the featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol followed by The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective. He was set to start on the next feature when a chance meeting with Disney Television Animation's Michael Webster sent him on a new career trajectory: supervising the production of television cartoons.

Mr. Block spent over a decade producing, directing and otherwise superintending product inside Disney's newer animation division. He then returned to feature work in the 1990s, working on Tarzan, Emperor's New Groove, and Treasure Planet among others.

Today, after directing and animation assignments at Nickelodeon and Warner Bros, Dave is again animating at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Click here to read entire post

The David Block Interview -- Part I

TAG Interview with David Block

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Animator, director and producer David Block never gave a thought to making a career in animation until he got to college. Then, during his freshman year he saw a re-issue of Disney's Fantasia, and knew that sitting at a desk making characters come to life would be his professional calling. ...

But it didn't turn out to be easy. At the time, there were few animation programs happening at colleges, so Dave had to blaze his own trail, taking classes at University, then art schools, and finally moving to Hollywood where he worked for Chuck Jones and then animation veteran Abe Lebitow.

Dave credits his time under the tutelage of Warner Bros. animator Ben Washam as the most useful and productive education in animation that he ever received. Mr. Block talks about those early days in the business (and more) here in Part I of the latest TAG Interview. Click here to read entire post

The Alan Zaslove Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with Alan Zaslove

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Mr. Zaslove was among the first directors hired at Disney Television Animation ...

He arrived during the division's second year of operation, and over the next decade and a half directed and produced an array of hit Disney TVA shows that included Duck Tales, Aladdin, The Return of Jafar, and Thea Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

Mr. Z. retired at the end of the 1990s, but was soon called back by Universal Cartoon Studios to oversee The New Woody Woodpecker Show. He retired for good in the first decade of the 21st century. Click here to read entire post

The Alan Zaslove Interview -- Part I

TAG Interview with Alan Zaslove

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Alan Zaslove had one of the longer, more succesful careers in American animation.

Starting, in 1943, as an office boy (and then in-betweener) for Leon Schlesinger's studio (known, of course, as "Termite Terrace"), Alan wrapped up his career in the 21st century at the Universal Cartoon Studio high in the superstructure of the Black Tower. ...

Early on, Mr. Zaslove took a bit of time off for military service (who didn't in the 1940s?) but afterwards found long-term employment with the United Producers of America (aka UPA), where he animated a long string of classic shorts (Gerald McBoing Boing, Mr. Magoo) and then directed sequences of the Magoo feature 1001 Arabian Nights.

Alan talks about all the above and more in Part I of the newest TAG interview. Click here to read entire post

The Sam Ewing Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with Sam Ewing

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Mr. Ewing spent the larger part of a decade working at Hanna-Barbera, then left to take a job at Saban ...

Mr. Ewing says Saban (and Saban International) was an interesting place to work.

Haim Saban was always completely upfront about the way he paid his people: "When you come to work for me, I'm not going to pay you very much. You have to work and prove yourself. But after you've shown that you can make me money, I'll pay you more. Pay you a lot more."

Mr. Ewing worked as a producer of Saban animated shows and as a Vice-President of Internation productions. When Saban was sold to Disney, he elected not to stay with the Mouse but move on to fresh fields of endeavor.

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The Sam Ewing Interview -- Part I

TAG Interview with Sam Ewing

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Sam Ewing worked in the animation business for decades, but not as an animator, writer, or board artist. Mr. Ewing was a producer and development executive for the likes of Hanna-Barbera and Saban ...

And before that, he was the go-to guy in children's programming for NBC, where he worked closely with all the major television animation studios, from H-B to FIlmation and beyond.

Mr. Ewing describes his first day as a Hanna-Barbera employee as follows:

I had been in and out of the studio many times when I worked for NBC, but the day I came to work as an employee, carrying my box of stuff, the guard stopped me at the gate and wanted to know who I was. Me walking in had never been a problem when I came in as an exec from the network, but when I started working there, it was a problem. ...

Click here to read entire post

The TAG William Joyce Interview -- Part II

William Joyce on how he became a book writer and illustrator.



Below, the second half of the TAG interview:

TAG Interview with William Joyce

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The way Mr. Joyce got into the cartoon business? John Lasseter called him up, asking if he could pitch one of his books to Jeffrey Katzenberg as a film project.

William Joyce said "okay."

The next Lasseter phone call was one saying that Jeffrey hadn't wanted to do the book pitch, but he liked the other pitch John had, about toys.

Then John Lasseter asked: "Would you like to come out to California and work on it?"

Mr. Joyce said "Sure." The project turned out to be Toy Story. Click here to read entire post

The William Joyce TAG Interview -- Part I

Here at Christmas time, what better way to celebrate the season than talking to William Joyce?

TAG Interview with William Joyce

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If you don't know, Mr. Joyce is a prolific book writer and illustrator with a long list of best-selling books. He also does lots of animation ...

William Joyce grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and went to film school at SMU. But making movies wasn't where he got his professional start. Writing and illustrating lots of innovative, eye-catching books was.

Mr. Joyce published his first book in 1981, when he was fresh out of college. He has written dozens and dozens since, among them: Santa Calls, The Leaf Men, Dinosaur BOb, Greorge Shrinks, A Day With Wilbur Robinson, The Man in the Moon, and Rolie Polie Olie.

We talked to William Joyce by phone, from the Moonbot Animation Studio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Click here to read entire post

The Nassos Vakalis Interview -- Part III

TAG Interview with Nasson Vakalis

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Nassos Vakalis has been one of the story pillars at DreamWorks Animation for a dozen years. One of the pioneers of digital storyboards while most in the business were still drawing on paper, Mr. Vakalis has lent his expertise to a wide variety of DWA features -- everything from Flushed Away to Kung Fu Panda to Puss In Boots. ...

And inbetween his DreamWorks Animation assignments, Nassos founded his own company Time Lapse Pictures -- which worked on a variety of European commercials and animated features, as well as the Rugrats theatricals that Klasky-Csupo was turning out.

All in all, Nassos Vakalis has been a busy animation artist, but that should be apparent as you listen to his TAG interview. Click here to read entire post

The Nassos Vakalis Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with Nassos Vakalis

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Nassos Vakalis's first job in the animation industry was with the California studio of Bluth-Sullivan Animation. He started as an in-betweener while still attending classes at Cal Arts, but his strong work ethic propelled him rapidly upward. Starting as an assistant on Thumbelina, Nassos was soon promoted to journey animator. ...

The Bluth studio came to an end a few years later, but feature animation was expanding, and over the next few years Mr. Vakalis worked on a variety of projects. He was a lead animator on the featureSwan Princess and Warner Bros. QUest for Camelot, also animating on Pocahontas II, Titan A.E. and The King and I, among numerous others.

All these things and more are detailed in Part II of this week's interview. Click here to read entire post

The Nassos Vakalis Interview -- Part I

TAG Interview with Nassos Vakalis

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Nassos Vakalis, who has worked on a plethora of animated features, loved animation as a kid and wanted to get into it. But growing up in Athens, Greece where animation studios and careers were clost to non-existent, Nassos assumed there would be next to no chance of that happening ...

Mr. Vakalis turned out to be way wrong. A well-to-do uncle who lived in New York financed a year of art education at the Pratt Art Institute and then three more at the California Institute of the Arts.

And the doors to various animation studios swung open. Mr. Vakalis talks about those early days here in Part I of the newest TAG interview. Click here to read entire post

The Gary Trousdale Interview -- Part III

TAG Interview with Gary Trousdale

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After Beauty and the Beast, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise became a Disney directing team through the rest of the 1990s ...

After Atlantis: the Lost Empire (released by Disney in 2001), Gary moved to DreamWorks Animation where he has written, directed, and storyboarded ever since.

He is today at work on animated short that is scheduled for release next year. Click here to read entire post

The Gary Trousdale Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with Gary Trousdale

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Gary Trousdale expected to be laid off from the House of Mouse at the end of The Black Cauldron, but a series of in-house effects jobs kept him at Disney until his jokey cartoons ... and a recommendation from Joe Ranft ... helped boost him into Disney Feature Animation's story department ...

Becoming a feature animation director was another promotion that was far from pre-ordained. Gary and Kirk Wise were made "temporary" directors on Beauty and the Beast after the original directors left the project. It was only after months of work that they became "official," and the rest, as they say, is animation history.

Gary talks about all these things and more in Part II of the interview. Click here to read entire post

The Gary Trousdale Interview -- Part I

TAG Interview with Gary Trousdale

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Gary Trousdale is a Southern Californian, raised in La Crescenta and educated at Crescenta Valley High School, Glendale College, and the California Institute of the Arts (in that order.)

One would think that the road between Cal Arts and helming the iconic Disney feature Beauty and the Beast would be wide, smooth and straight, but one would be wrong ...

Gary didn't get into Disney until he had worked at Tom Carter Animation and a small illustration studio for the better part of two years. As he describes it, the Mouse House wasn't pre-disposed to hire him straight out of CA, and so he learned his trade in smaller, lower-paying venues.

When Mr. Trousdale finally did find his way to Disney, it was as an effects artist on The Black Cauldron, and even then his path was winding. Gary details all the above and more in Part I of the latest TAG interview ... Click here to read entire post

Movers and Shakers -- The Jerry Eisenberg Interview (Part II)

Today, Mr. Eisenberg on video ...

TAG Interview with Jerry Eisenberg

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Where he talks about studio owners he liked (Joe Barbera) and studio owners he liked less (Bill Hannah.) Click here to read entire post

Movers and Shakers -- The Jerry Eisenberg Interview (Part I)

TAG Interview with Jerry Eisenberg

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Jerry Eisenberg spent over a half century working in the sunlit uplands of the animation business, rubbing shoulders with Joe Barbera, Chuck Jones, and Mike Maltese among numerous others ...

This is our second interview with Mr. Eisenberg> (Here and here you will find the first.) This time, we have Jerry on video, talking more about the personalities and bosses he rubbed shoulders with over the years, and less about his own career.

Click here to read entire post

The Steve Gordon Interview -- Part II

TAG Interview with Steven E. Gordon

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Steve Gordon jokingly says that his timing in exiting animation studios is not always the greatest.

"I left Disney Feature Animation a couple of years before the division really took off, and I exited DreamWorks after work on 'Shrek 2.' My wife has pointed out to me that it might have been better [for the family pocket book] if I had stayed ..."

On the other hand, Steve has never lacked for work. He's willing to direct and do character designs for a lower budget direct-to-video feature after a stint working on high-budget theatricals. It's the project that interests him, not the amount of money being thrown at it. Mr. Gordon has also boarded a live-action feature, which he found remarkably similar to animated projects because "at the time, the Writers Guild was on strike, and the producers had to do story changes on the boards with the artists."

Steve credits his long career to the multiple disciplines of animation, design, layout, storyboarding and directing skills in his professional tool kit, and the flexibility to shift to different genres and formats.

He's seldom been out of work during his thirty-five years in the business, so he must be doing something right. Click here to read entire post