Friday, May 15, 1998
Wide acceptance of medium animates artists
FILM: Technology helping to turn fun hobby into in-demand
business
By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Contributor
The image of animators as "strange toy people," grown-ups who
are still playing with cartoons, has become obsolete. In place of
that stereotype of misguided adults who doodle for a living,
animators are now regarded as prominent professionals endowed with
talent and unlimited creativity. It is an ideal time to mark the
50th anniversary of UCLA’s animation workshop.
"I’m an animator, and it’s actually a plus," says UCLA Film and
Television Production graduate Mike Jittlov, an animation director
and special effects artist. "In ‘LA Weekly,’ I put in an ad, said I
was an animator and I immediately got calls … People are
realizing that if you’re an animator, you have tremendous
sensitivity, your hands give great backrubs and you have incredible
patience. If you’ve been standing and surviving animating life one
frame at a time, taking days to animate a couple of seconds, you’re
patient enough for a relationship."
Animators have indeed enjoyed substantial recognition in the
past decade for their work. The universal appeal of animation to
audiences of all ages has sparked enough interest to lift it to a
multimedia status. Coming a long way from the nostalgic,
kid-friendly cartoon characters, animation has developed into
splashy, mass-audience, feature-length films, interactive
video/computer games and computer-generated special effects.
About 200 alumni from the animation workshop gathered from
around the world on this past Saturday to celebrate five decades of
the program. Distinguished alumni include Dave Silverman, a leading
director for "The Simpsons," Hoyt Yeatman, head of Dreamquest, the
second leading special effects house, and Bob Abel, a pioneer
developer of computer animation.
The celebration honored Academy award-winning independent
animation filmmaker Faith Hubley with an honorary MFA (Master of
Fine Animation) for her contribution to the art. Though she is not
an alumna, Hubley "best exemplifies the spirit of independent
animation," says Dan McLaughlin, animation professor and organizer
of the event.
Guests were welcome to share their thoughts on all aspects of
animation. The event commemorated the alumni, faculty and workshops
which have helped shape the now increasingly versatile field of
animation.
UCLA’s animation workshop started in the fall of 1947 when
former UCLA Department of Theater Arts Chief Kenneth Macgowan asked
Bill Shull, a former Disney animator, to start a program.
"It started because animation was the oldest live-action film,"
McLaughlin says. "It was built to be a viable form of
communication. It was started with the philosophy of one person,
one film. So that one person could create everything that goes on
the screen. You’re more like an artist or a poet."
Several changes have been made to the workshop, including the
incorporation of a graduate MFA curriculum in 1970. Computer
animation became an integral part of the program with the inclusion
of interactive animation in the late ’80s. Animation on websites
and computer-generated animation have also been introduced.
Thanks to the mass appeal and success of video games, primetime
animated series, and an overall wider means of viewing animation
via laser disks and DVDs, opportunities in animation have
flourished as a result.
But success has its price too.
Because animation has become a lucrative business, executives
and issues of fine print in contracts have become commonplace in
the field. Jittlov, the director of a yet-to-be-released
feature-length animated film, "The Wizard of Space and Time," has
encountered many obstacles in distributing his animated fantasy.
Distribution disputes and financial problems have plagued his
project, but Jittlov continues to channel his frustration into
fighting for his film.
"You don’t stop a creative guy when he’s in the middle of
creating a film," Jittlov says.
UCLA animation alumnus and attorney Keith Rouse knows all too
well about the pitfalls of being in the big business of animation.
Rouse, who works in copyright and property work in entertainment
law, has dealt with animators who have been filtered through the
industry with minimal pay and a lack of creative control.
"There are real dangers that happen to people in this business,
not just animators, but (also) artists," Rouse says. "They’re
vulnerable, so sometimes they sign agreements, and they can give
something very valuable away. We try to teach artists and animators
to protect these rights."
Students in the animation workshop can concentrate on their art
for the time being while finding support from someone who believes
fully in an animator’s creation.
"This banquet was to honor Dan’s contribution and to the
individual students," says first-year animation graduate student
Won Kim. "Dan clearly played a role to many people. Those who came
out of the workshop under Dan’s tenure had such enthusiasm. He
makes more effort, uses every event possible to introduce students
to people who are interested (in their work). That’s why this
program is listed as one of the best in the U.S. Dan is the heart
and soul of the program. He sees that he personally gets to
students one way or another."
As for McLaughlin, his motto is: "We train people not for the
first job they’ll have when they get out of school, but for the
last one."