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We Are Nudes in NY Times

Posted on 17 January 2010 | No responses

Fellow Contriver and resident professional clown, John Gilkey’s new comedy team We Are Nudes is performing their surrealist comedy around the Bay Area. 

Check their website for shows and times. We Are Nudes

Tickets

Check out the article here in NYT - We Are Nudes

BAICFF t-shirt design

Posted on 11 January 2010 | No responses

Designed by Jim for the Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival taking place January 23rd and 24th in Alameda in the San Francisco Bay Area.

a mote of dust

Posted on 31 December 2009 | No responses

Looking for something to mark the new decade,  we thought of this image and then found these words below from the great astronomer Carl Sagan, from his book The Pale Blue Dot. Nothing else needs to be added except lets work together to make the teens better then the zeros. Happy 2010 from Aerial Contrivance Workshop.

We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

Excerpted from Dr. Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot

Image from Voyager 1, 1990.

below is an enhanced image from the original to make the earth more visible. it is also cropped in.

below is the original image. see if you can find Earth. it is humbling.

Our new favorite Blog

Posted on 16 December 2009 | No responses

Alex da Silva on Documentary Filmmaking

Posted on 15 December 2009 | 2 responses

Continuing our interview series we have fellow contriver, old friend, native Brazilian, Alex da Silva, who recently visited the Workshop to discuss his latest film Ready. Set. Bag! A feature documentary about the National Grocery Bagging Contest and more importantly being the best at what you do. Full discloser here, A.C.W. made a little animation for the film called, How to be a Good Bagger. (see the projects page). We also talked about documentary filmmaking challenges and randomly, Director Ronald Neame.

A.C.W. – What kind of filmmaking did you do in Brazil?

Alex – My first 10 years in the business I mostly worked with TV commercials shot in 35mm. I started as a PA and worked my way up to become a director. I have also worked as a cinematographer for several short films and music videos. In 1994 I directed a short documentary called “O Cantor de Samba” that did quite well in festivals both in Brazil and internationally.

A.C.W. – Any way to see “O Cantor de Samba”?

Alex – It had a very wide and long run on Public TV in Brazil for many years, but now it’s kind of forgotten. Maybe one of these days I’ll make it available. The web is the perfect place for short docs.

A.C.W. – What were your influences growing up?

Alex – My father, who was 70 years old when I was born, was a painter and an art critic. We were always visiting his friends and I spent most of my childhood around artists. My summer vacations were spent in a small town in the interior of São Paulo State among relatives from my mother’s side of the family. There is a film theater, which is still open to this day, and they used to play a different movie every other night. I didn’t miss one show and if I liked the film I would go back again the next day; my fixation for spaghetti westerns probably comes from that time. All of that and many, many hours in front of a TV.

A.C.W – Why documentary filmmaking and not narrative?

Alex – It’s difficult to point to one unique reason, but I find documentaries incredibly compelling. When I was 14 I watched Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog in a Film Festival in São Paulo, followed by Burden of Dreams directed by Les Blank about the filming of  Fitzcarraldo. By the end of that double screening I had decided to become a documentarian.

A.C.W. – At 14 you knew what you wanted to do? No looking back, huh?

Alex – That’s a stretch! On that particular day I was so impressed and inspired that I was certain about what I wanted to be. But since then I had a few other “lives” before becoming a documentarian. I worked as a DJ, bartender and as an assistant to a still photographer in Paris and in the US I delivered pizzas and documents (not together) for a few months before I found my way into filmmaking.

A.C.W. -  Any interest to DP (director of photography/ cinematographer) a narrative film?

Alex – I shoot my own films and I enjoy it tremendously, but I have a hard time considering myself a cinematographer by trade. On the other hand I’m driven and inspired by challenges, so why not?

A.C.W. – What do you think makes a good documentary?

Alex – The same thing that makes any other good movie, a strong story.

A.C.W. – But with a documentary doesn’t the story come easier? I mean your following real life. You don’t have to invent situations or create a character from scratch.

Alex – No, it doesn’t come easier on my opinion. Since you are dealing with real life situations what comes next is always uncertain. You never even know for sure if you have a story until you are very close to the end, and that’s nerve wracking. When you are writing your own stuff you can take any direction, do as you please. No such thing with docs.

A.C.W. -  What type of stories makes a good documentary? With narrative you have to have conflict, protagonist and an antagonist (or antagonism), and the more opposed the better. Is this same with docs?

Alex – Not necessarily. On Ready,Set,Bag! we don’t have a villain. We depend on our characters stories and their own arc. Other docs have major antagonisms and in some cases, several. I don’t differentiate too much what makes a good story in a film between a doc and a narrative. They have the similar qualities.

A.C.W. – How do you pick your subjects for a project?

Alex – That’s one of the hardest things about documentaries. Casting takes a lot of time and commitment, which often means higher budgets. It’s like hunting: you choose a target, select your gear, find a good spot to start and work hard to bring something home.

A.C.W. – When doing camera work for a documentary what is the hardest thing to get right?

Alex – For a veritè style documentary the filming usually takes a long time and it gets quite intimate – demanding a lot of proximity with your subject. One of the hardest things is to be able to keep the connection with my subject, but interfere as little as possible.

A.C.W. – Is it hard to have the people not look at camera or be natural with the camera?

Alex – It’s all on the attitude of the operator. The first few days, or hours, the camera is the center of the attentions, but as the time passes you cease to be of interest. A good camera operator recognizes the opportunity and work from there.

A.C.W. – You always manage to get nice little moments in your work. For instance the shots of the interior of the supermarket of people shopping. There are so many interesting people. The kid under the cart I just find fantastic. Are these just happy accidents? Is there some process to go through to photograph people in the store?

Ready.Set.Bag! clip

see trailer for Ready.Set.Bag! and Alex’s work

Alex – Thank you for the compliment. Throughout the years you learn some tricks, but the most effective strategy is to be well prepared, patient and open to the unexpected. One shooting trick that I like to share is to always listen as carefully as you are looking; some of the best scenes might originate from sound clues.

A.C.W. -  Would you elaborate on this: That some of the best scenes originate from sound clues.

Alex – Sometimes shooters become too dependable on their sights. I learned that listening attentively can give you clues of what people might do next, and you position yourself to better capture the shot. It doesn’t always work but when it does it’s very valuable.

A.C.W -  I am amazed by the diversity of characters in Ready, Set, Bag! It is almost as if you scripted it no one would believe you. Were there points in the construction of the story that you just thought man no one is going to believe these are real people. It’s just too odd a collection of characters?

Alex – Yes, it came to mind that in some of these scenes people would wonder if our characters are real people. But that’s the greatest thing about documentaries: if you have a good connection and your subjects feel comfortable around you and the camera they will give a lot. I see them as genuine people rather than odd. We were very respectful of their story. We never made fun of them, but we had fun with them. I hope the film reflects that.

A.C.W. – I’m sorry I didn’t mean to imply the people were odd just that the collection isn’t what you would imagine baggers to be. It actually is a reflection of America isn’t it? And the wonderful diversity that makes the country unique in the world.

Alex – No offense taken. I’m very pleased when people come to talk to me after watching it and compliment us on the honesty and sincerity of the film. We showed a part of America that is not usually portrayed in films. Some of our characters are working on a supermarket while they are studying or because they need an easy part time job, others made a career choice. But all of them are having fun and are proud of what they do.

A.C.W -  How much footage did you shoot to make the film?

Alex – We filmed about 125 hours all together. That’s pretty conservative for a feature length doc.

A.C.W. – Are there moments that you wished didn’t make it on the cutting room floor?

Alex – You have to give away some very loved sequences for the benefit of the larger story, but we are very satisfied with the final cut.

ACW - What camera did you use? Did you do all the camera work?

Alex – It was shot entirely on a tapeless workflow using the Panasonic HVX200 and P2 cards. When we started shooting there was not a lot of information out there for long format documentaries shot tapeless and we tested a lot of options to make sure we were storing and preserving our footage properly, specially on locations trips all over the country. I shot 95% of the film. In Las Vegas during the competition we have 5 other cameras following our subjects, but other than that it was myself and my co-director and producer Justine Jacob that did all the filming. She helped me to import the data and managing the P2 cards.

ACW - Any other equipment necessary to shot the film?

Alex – Since we had a tapeless workflow we traveled with drives and a P2Store to stored and managed our footage. The P2Store was, at the time, a viable solution for our location shooting. I did the entire sound recording directly on camera using wireless lavs and a good shotgun. The movie was basically shot with available lights, but we have a small light for interviews.

A.C.W. – I appreciate how Ready, Set, Bag! isn’t one of these The- World-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket documentaries that we are inundated with. Has this been a problem? I mean you are uplifted at the end of the doc not pummeled and feeling lost.

Alex – When you select the subject of your doc, you choose the kind of movie you are going to make. From that point on it is up to the filmmakers to keep it honest and consistent with that choice. Ready, Set, Bag! is about being the best you can be, no matter what you do. We worked hard to deserve the confidence of our subjects and to tell their story as truthfully as possible. There are a lot of docs out there, good and bad, that take that pessimistic approach and unfortunately some people expect documentaries to always be like that. I believe in good filmmaking, whatever the subject, and I dislike movies that try too hard.

A.C.W. – Do you find docs are more respected today then they have been in the past?

Alex – Documentaries are more watched today than ever before. So, the audience is much larger and the genre more popular. If they are more respected, I’m not so sure. I think that with a wider reach docs became more controversial too.

ACW – Where do you think documentary filmmaking is going?

Alex – Filmmaking in general is going through a lot of changes; documentaries have some extra challenges to deal with it. Funding is getting harder than ever and the remote possibility of financial return doesn’t help much. At the same time the newest HD technologies are closing the quality gap between the mega budgets films and smaller indies. No matter what happens next, it will be exciting and as always talent and creativity will prevail.

A.C.W. - What about technology and cameras? Is this going to make it cheaper? Help in any way?

Alex – There will always be new gadgets around the corner, in one way or another it’s been like that forever. Today it’s just much faster. Right now we have access to some pretty amazing and cheap tools, but that’s what they are: tools. I try to keep my eyes on the ball, and the game is all about the storytelling. The advantage of these new accessible technologies is that our lower budget films are looking better and better every day.

A.C.W - What are some of your favorite documentaries?

Alex – I’m not a good list maker because I’m always changing my choices, but some of my all times favorites are Straight no Chaser by Charlotte Zwerin,  Sans Soleil by Chris Marker, Salesman by the Maysles Brothers and Sherman’s March by Ross McElwee. I try to watch as many new docs as I can and this year I liked  The September Issue by R.J. Cutler and The Way We Get By by Aron Gaudet.

A.C.W – Is there something specific about a couple of these as to why you like them?

Alex – They are excellent films independent of being docs or not. Sans Soleil it’s a brilliant visual poem. Sherman’s March is a delicious surprise; you never know what happens next. The September Issue is an incredible lesson on how to deal with a delicate subject and create an accessible and entertaining film. The same applies to The Way We Get By.

A.C.W. – What makes you go, “Yeah that’s the stuff. These guys are getting it right?”

Alex – Anything that takes an unusual and original approach. We must be courageous and trust our instincts. There are no rules. If it looks right and feels honest, it works.

A.C.W. – What are the must see documentaries for some one interested to learn the craft?

Alex – Start with the classics, Robert Flaherty, the Maysles, D.A.  Pennebaker, etc…

A.C.W. – What else should documentary students be doing?

Alex – After you build your base you should see as many current films as possible. Take risks and watch movies nobody is talking about. Film festivals are a great opportunity to see new work, and you can avoid the films you know will get commercial distribution. In general an aspiring filmmaker should watch films all the time, there’s no better film school.

A.C.W. – Is the SF bay area kind of a mecca for docs?

Alex – One of them. There are several successful independent filmmakers in the Bay Area and most of them are documentarians. Other places like NYC, Seattle, Boston and even L.A. have sizeable and thriving documentary communities.

A.C.W. – Can you talk a bit about the importance of music in documentaries?

Alex – Music is very important in my life. I’m always listening to music and I like almost all genres. So for me it’s easy to match my two passions. I look for emotional elements when I’m working on a film and music is as powerful as any image. On Ready, Set, Bag! and our previous film Runners High we had the privilege to work with Marco d’Ambrosio who is a fantastic composer. He is very collaborative and attuned to the story and the needs of the film.

A.C.W. – You also paint don’t you? Does that relate to your filmmaking some way?

Alex – Painting is my escape from the complexity of filmmaking. I’m a mediocre painter, but I have fun doing it and I love it.

A.C.W. – What’s next? Aren’t you playing around with something about the incident at Port Chicago?

Alex – Yes. We want to make a short doc about the events around the explosion in Port Chicago during WWII. The story is fascinating and I want to make a lyrical comment rather than another journalistic based piece. I believe there is a great story there that has not been told.

A.C.W. – What are you reading now?

Alex – I’m finishing Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and before that I read Straight from The Horse’s Mouth an autobiography by the great British director Ronald Neame. My next book will be  Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence by Geoff Dyer.

A.C.W. – Was there something Neame said in his book that spoke to you?  What are some of Neame’s films, if people aren’t familiar?

Alex – Neame was a very intuitive and emotional filmmaker. His films are character driven. Even his most famous Hollywood project, The Poseidon Adventure , which was sold as a major special effects production, it’s actually sustained by the characters inner stories. In my opinion, that film was so successful because you care dearly about those people in the sinking boat, not the action shots, which are very good btw. My favorites films by him are: The Horse’s Mouth and Tunes of Glory both with Alec Guinness, Gambit and  Hopscotch.

A.C.W. – Thanks Alex this was great!

Alex – My pleasure.

view Alex’s website

trailers for: Ready. Set. Bag! and Runners High

to get Ready. Set. Bag! to screen in a theater near you go here

Leonardo 2010 Calendar Available at the ACW store

Posted on 11 December 2009 | No responses

Just in time for the new year! A calendar of the animation model sheets used in making the short. All drawn by Jim Capobianco in preparation to launching production. Designed to communicate Leonardo’s design and movement to the animators they are an insight into the process of making an animated film. These have never before been published.

BUY CALENDAR NOW!

Bob Scott on Comic Strips

Posted on 15 August 2009 | 10 responses

Bob – Ha ha! Nice try. I’m the same body type as the dad in the strip, but I’ll stop exercising and see if I can put on a few hundred pounds for you.  Seriously though, I think that all the characters are different aspects of my own personality.  I’ve always been afraid of a lot of things in life. Let’s face it, life can be utterly terrifying if you only dwell on the negative aspects. When my children were little I was constantly worried about something bad happening to them.  If my wife was home later than expected, my imagination would go wild with every worse case scenario possible. Lots of life experience and many years of therapy later, I’ve learned to not worry as much. But, it’s still an easy emotion for me to tap into.

A.C.W – Your drawings for the strip are awesome. They have a ton of appeal.  Do you find yourself thinking like an animator when you’re drawing up the strip?

Bob – First of all thank you for the compliment. I guess I’m a product of my years as an animator. I approach drawing the strip the same way I would approach animating a scene. What is the emotion of the scene or setting? What sort of expression or pose will  convey that emotion?  One big difference in drawing the strip as opposed to animating it is having to think of compositions and backgrounds. As an animator someone else designs the background and I’m only concerned with the performance of the character.  Drawing a strip is more like drawing a storyboard. I’m responsible for the whole thing.  Although I’ve also worked in the story department on films , staging is not something that comes naturally  for me. So that’s always challenging,  which I like. I feel like the strip is a way for me to try to push myself. I want to keep growing  as an artist.

A.C.W – As an animator you’re observing all the time, right?  Do you find that coming in handy here?

Bob – Definitely. Instead of just observing movement I suppose I’m looking more at people’s quirks, thinking of different personality traits. Although that’s part of animation as well. It helps to have more life experience to pull from. I never could have written Molly and the Bear  in my twenties.

A.C.W – Because you have a full time job, how do you fit in time for the strip?

Bob – I’ve always been drawing strips on the side. It’s important for me to have something I can have fun doing outside of work. I mostly work on a computer full-time so I don’t always get to draw as much as I used to during the day. I love to draw and a comic strip has always been the perfect outlet for me.

Over the years I’ve sent out dozens and dozens of submissions to the syndicates. They usually want to see at least six to eight weeks of daily strips. It’s always a huge undertaking because I never send all of the strips I draw. I whittle the submission down to the best ones.  Consequently I would draw 3 or 4 times more strips than they would want to see. I literally  have drawers full of strips that have never seen the light of day.

So for me, it’s not a matter of how do I fit in time for a comic strip, it’s how do I fit in time to take a break and NOT draw a comic strip. Other people have golf, I have comics.

A.C.W – Was it always Molly and a Bear or did she ever have other animals crawl into her house?

Bob – It was always Molly and the Bear. Although when I first submitted the strip to the syndicates I initially got some positive feedback from an editor that liked the strip but wanted me to change the bear to a dog. His reasoning was that children don’t keep bears for pets. I wasn’t crazy about the suggestion, but I ended up sending him a batch of new writing where I replaced bear with a bulldog. Needless to say the editor realized that “Molly  and the Dog” wasn’t as strong.  I changed him back to a bear  and sent more samples, but the syndicate decided to pass on it anyway.

A.C.W – What is your process for drawing the strip? Do you draw it on paper?

Bob – I still draw everything on paper. I use  Bristol board, blue pencil and back India ink.  After I’ve drawn up the strip I  hand letter it with a black felt pen and ink the drawings with a brush. I scan the finished strips into Photoshop and remove the blue pencil. The great thing about Photoshop is that I can easily make fixes to the artwork if I need to. For instance,  if I’ve drawn a character’s head too large I can simply shrink that element down to the right size. Because I draw the strip much larger than the size it appears on the web there can be little surprises once I’ve reduced the art in the computer.  I’ve done a few Sunday strips and for those I add color. I paint them in Photoshop.

I try to use the computer as little as possible and only as a way to get the art on the web.

A.C.W – Coming up with ideas on a daily basis must be tough. Do you have a process for generating the ideas?  An idea machine perhaps?

Bob –  I’m always thinking about the strip,  if I’m at the grocery store or filling up my car, these activities  can generate  ideas.  I’ll try to imagine what would happen to the characters if they were in a grocery store or gas station. How would Bear react to the cashier? The grocery cart? Those sorts of things can spark a single strip or an entire  story line.

I like the humor to come from the character’s personality. Every character will react to the same situation in a different way. I’m not saying that I’m necessarily successful at it, but I do try to  do it this way. I  really try not to write a gag. A simple observation or dose of irony can be more interesting than just going for a huge belly laugh.

Sometimes doodling in a sketchbook will spark an idea. Drawing the characters in a humorous pose or interesting expression can be funny enough in itself.

A.C.W – Do you like writing from doodles because you are a visual person?

Bob –  Sometimes the best ideas come from a doodle because the drawing speaks for itself and the strip is less wordy. When the strip is less wordy I feel that it lets the reader become more of a participant. Too many words can kill the joke by hammering the point  home too strongly.

A.C.W – Are there days when you say to yourself, “Oh crap I didn’t draw the strip today. I can’t go to bed until I draw one!”?

Bob – Never. I’m always aware of the deadlines. I try to stay at least a week or two ahead. I like to have some time to rest on the idea to make sure it holds up. There’s not a single strip that I post that isn’t okayed by my family. My wife Vicki is an incredibly  gifted artist/cartoonist in her own right and she is a great sounding board.  When I’m finished penciling a strip I always run it by her for clarity. I’m far too close to my work and it’s so easy to miss things. She’s great at pointing out something that may be unclear or worded in a convoluted way.

I want to be sure that everything in the strip visually reads well and that the audience won’t be confused. They shouldn’t have to work at understanding the strip.  If I draw a  broom or a cup,  I don’t want the reader to struggle to understand those objects, so I make sure that they are accurately drawn. Any little thing like that has the potential of taking the reader out of the strip.

If I can stay a few weeks ahead of deadline then I have the luxury of putting a finished strip on the shelf and revisiting it later with fresh eyes. If it holds up, I’ll post it, if not I’ll sit on it for months or longer until I can  find a solution or a way of making it funny. I have dozens of “finished” strips that for one reason or another didn’t work out.

I’ve been posting the strip 5 times a week,  however, over the last month I’ve only been producing 3 new strips a week and  running repeats on Thursdays and Fridays. The nice thing is since I’m not syndicated I’m not obligated to post anything. I want to keep the pressure low.

A.C.W – Now that you are doing Molly and the Bear daily do you find yourself thinking differently?

Bob – Not at all, because drawing comic strips is something I have always done. When I was a teen-ager I would draw comic strips when I came home from school. In fact I even sent out some of my first submissions to syndicates back then. I  believe I got my first rejection letter at age 15. I may have been younger. In ninth grade I drew a strip about an alcoholic cat. Larry Wright who was the local cartoonist for the Detroit News was kind enough to look at my work and give me some feedback. He told me that I needed to write about something I knew. Nobody in my family drank, I certainly had never touched alcohol, but for some reason I thought this would make a funny strip. I’ll blame it on youth I guess. I also drew cartoons for the high school newspaper and yearbook. I was the resident cartoonist.

While I was attending Cal Arts in the early 80s I drew a weekly strip  about an angry  kid called Myron  for the Newhall Signal. They paid me 5 dollars a week. The money was nothing, but I didn’t mind because it was a great opportunity to see my cartoons in print. I had a strip called Spek about a suicidal dog. I worked on that for a number of years and got nothing but rejection letters. Looking back on it I wonder what the heck I was thinking?! It was a very dark and depressing strip. I can see why it was never picked up.

There have been other strips I’ve developed as well, many  many strips, many many submissions.

Having a syndicated strip has been a lifelong passion of mine. So drawing, writing and thinking about a comic strip is nothing new for me.

A.C.W – Did you always want to be a cartoonist?

Bob – I’ve always loved cartoons as far back as I can remember. Whether it was in the newspaper or animation on television, I responded to the fun drawings.

A.C.W – What do you think brings appeal to a character? In drawing…

Bob –  I’ve always gravitated to the types of cartoon drawings that are fun to look at. Disney, Warners, Rankin/ Bass, Tom and Jerry. I still love all of that stuff.

A.C.W – And in shaping the personality?

Bob – I think putting opposite personalities  together can help strengthen characters.  Seeing how two very different characters react to the same situation is a great source of comedy. Daffy Duck’s greed against Bugs Bunny’s cool nature is more interesting than two cool characters in that same situation.

A.C.W.- When you think of developing a character how do you approach it, through drawing or writing?

Bob – I usually sketch characters in my sketchbook first. I let the drawing tell me who the character is.

A.C.W. – Do you start with a design for the character and then find the personality that way? Or do you think of a personality and then find a design to emphasize that personality or contradict it?

Bob - Actually both. When I design characters for animated films, the characters’ personalities are already developed by the story team and the writers. It’s fun to come up with designs  that look like they fit the personality of the character that’s been written.

In the case of Molly and the Bear I came up with all of the character designs before I had any  idea of their personalities. I’d been doodling various bears in sketchbooks over the years and all of them usually had a worried expression.  So, naturally Bear became a neurotic character. Molly was based on my daughter, and the dad and mom were just characters I  drew in my sketchbook that I liked. The dad originally wasn’t angry at all. I still have the first sketch I drew of him and he has a pleasant expression. Through the course of writing the strip he somehow evolved into a grouchy guy.  Actually, I think  he became angrier to contrast Bear’s innocence. Putting  the characters together  in various situations helped me see who they were. I think a lot of comedy comes from contrasting personalities.

A.C.W – I remember a guy telling me once that he didn’t like Calvin and Hobbes. I of course was like, “Whahah….?!!!”  When I asked why,  he said he didn’t like it ‘cause he felt sorry for Calvin, because he had no friends only an imaginary tiger and his father was mean to him.  I think the guy didn’t like it ‘cause it hit too close to home.  I love how comics, these silly little drawings can touch people in psychological ways. Do you think the art form lends itself for more reflection since it lies between literature and graphic arts?

Bob – Oh definitely. Schulz was the master at  conveying  human emotions with a deceptively  simple drawing style. When I was very young I remember feeling a lot of empathy for Charlie Brown. The other kids were so cruel towards him. Lucy could be particularly brutal.

A.C.W – Was there a specific moment in Peanuts  that just stuck with you?

Bob – Linus’ crush on his Teacher Miss Othmar.  Linus was such a sweet character and his childhood crush on his teacher was so innocent and pure.  I had a huge crush on my third grade teacher Miss Cheney. Of course I never would have admitted to it at the time, but reading about Linus’s crush validated my own feelings. It was very relatable.

A.C.W – What were your favorite strips growing up?

Bob – I loved the Sunday comics. My favorites were Pogo, Peanuts and Dennis the Menace. The drawings were just so appealing. When I hit high school age I discovered Doonesbury and then Bloom County came along. They were both favorites of mine. I would check out the books in the library and pour over the writing and drawings for hours.

A.C.W – What comic strips do you like today?

Bob – My  favorite is Chris Sanders’  “Kiskaloo”.  It’s  hands down the best strip being produced today.  Chris is truly a genius!  Richard  Thompson’s “Cul de Sac” is one of the best  comics to come out in a long time.  Probably the best  newspaper  strip since Calvin and Hobbes. I also love Jim Meddick’s “Monty.” His writing is incredible! “Citizen Dog” was great too, but Mark O’Hare discontinued it many years ago.

A.C.W – Is someone still doing Marmaduke?

Bob – Yes!  Believe it or not,  Brad Anderson is still drawing it.  I don’t think he uses any assistants either.

A.C.W – Do you think Ignatz will ever fall in love with Krazy? Poor Krazy.

Bob – I’m going to get a lot of cartoonists angry with me when I say this, but I’ve never been able to get into Krazy Kat. It’s beautifully drawn, but every time I’ve read it I don’t understand the humor. I guess I’m not smart enough. I know that it’s sort of a sacred cow amongst comic strip aficionados, and I desperately want to like it , but as I said, I just don’t get it.

A.C.W. – I don’t think people at that time got it either. Did you know William Randolph Hearst loved it though? His editors wanted to get rid of the strip but Hearst insisted it stay in. Maybe he liked hitting people with bricks. I don’t think you are supposed to get it, really. It is just absurd. If you just look at the backgrounds in the strips they change from panel to panel even if the characters didn’t change location.

Bob – That’s right, I had forgotten about Hearst keeping Krazy Kat alive. What a great ally for any cartoonist to have. Maybe I can find a lunatic billionaire to help syndicate my strip!

A.C.W – If only there were more lunatic billionaires around, alas. I guess you found it easier to establish a career in animation than as a comic strip artist. What led you to animation?

Bob – I don’t know if it was easy, but I do feel very lucky.  I was accepted into Cal Arts my senior year of high school.  I learned so much there and met so many extraordinarily  talented artists. If it weren’t for that school I don’t know where I would have ended up. I even met my wife there.

I just loved animation since I was a kid and couldn’t stop drawing. I think the key to success in any field is a love for the particular craft and perseverance. You have to draw badly for many, many years just to get to the point where you’re halfway decent. If you don’t have some kind of love for it you’ll never get past all the bad stages. Getting good at anything means you have to fail a lot.

A.C.W – Do you recommend people pursue a career as a comic strip cartoonist? Or an animator?

Bob – I think people should pursue the thing that they are most passionate about.  Right now  there’s certainly a lot more stability in animation than newspaper comics, but  I wouldn’t recommend choosing animation just for that reason. Anything can change and maybe online comics will be huge one day and animation will be struggling. You want to go with what makes you happy, because ultimately that will be the thing that you’ll excel at.

A.C.W – Do you think the internet provides comic strips with a whole new life?

Bob – Yes. Newspapers are slowly dying and consequently there are less and less new strips getting syndicated these days. A lot  of the strips in the papers today are either reprints  (Classic Peanuts) or older strips drawn by second and third generation cartoonists (Dennis the Menace, Blondie, B.C., Shoe). Newspapers are not willing to drop these older features and take chances on new cartoonists very often.

The internet  has become the place to discover newer talent. Some great strips  are syndicated only online. Plus, anyone can post their work on the internet without going through the old channels of newspaper syndication.

A.C.W – You told me some people actually get syndicated from being on Comics Sherpa . I can’t believe people are still getting syndicated.

Bob – Comic strips are not being picked up for  newspaper syndication  as much,  but some strips have become syndicated as online strips. Comics Sherpa has had strips (Imagine This, 2 Cows and a Chicken and Rabbits Against Magic) that have moved over to Go Comics which is run by Universal Press Syndicate. Maybe some of these will eventually be syndicated in the newspapers. I don’t know. They certainly deserve to be.

A.C.W. – What are you reading now?

Bob – I just finished  “Was  This Man a Genius?  Talks with Andy Kaufman”  by Julie Hecht. I really enjoyed it. Andy Kaufman has always been a favorite of mine. I’m reading a collection of short stories by Woody Allen entitled “Mere Anarchy”. Before that I was reading  Craig Ferguson’s book “Between the Bridge and the River”.  I think he’s the funniest  guy on TV right now.

A.C.W -What are your plans for Molly and the Bear?  Any book in the works?

Bob – I want to just keep having fun. If it starts to feel like a job, I won’t want to do it anymore. I hope to put a book together next year and start a website.  Molly and the Bear will be part of Afterworks 3 next year if that gets off the ground. Afterworks 1 and 2  were books that  were put together by various Pixar artists. They’re basically filled with comics that were drawn by the artists after hours. Their own personal work so to speak. There is some really great stuff in the first two volumes and there will be more great work in the next one.

A.C.W – Thanks Bobby

To see more of Bob Scott’s comic go to Molly and the Bear at Comic Sherpa.com

You can even have them mailed to you everyday!

Also listen to two pod casts of Bob talking about Molly and the Bear, as well as animation

Boing#3 Interview with Bob Scott &    Tall Tale Features

Bob Scott is a veteran animator of over twenty years. The Bay Area cartoonist’s work has been described as “fluid, funny, old fashioned cartoon artistry” (The Tulsa Tribune) and his drawings and illustrations have appeared in various books including “Your Friend the Rat”, “The Art of WALL-E” and “Animating the Looney Tune Way.” He also took first place in the 1994 “Boston Comic News” yearly best editorial cartoon contest. Bob’s animated short “Late Night with Myron” was called “Among the highlights” of the 1988 theatrical compilation film entitled “Outrageous Animation” by L.A. Weekly. His animation has been seen in numerous animated feature films such as Pixar’s “Ratatouille”, “WALL-E”, “The Incredibles” and Dreamworks Animation’s “The Prince of Egypt” among others. Bob also led the animation team on the Annie Award winning Pixar short ‘Your Friend the Rat’. His comic strip, “Molly and the Bear”, will be published the of summer 2010 in the graphic novel compilation “Afterworks 3.” A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts film animation program, he currently works full time as an artist and animator at Pixar animation studios, where he has been since 1999.

Honkbarn

Posted on 2 July 2009 | No responses

Awesome, fun animation. don’t know if Todd Ramsay  is doing any more. Hope so. 

Honkbarn 5 Video by Honkbarn! – MySpace Video

Shared via AddThis

Honkbarn official site 

Leonardo Trailer

Posted on 3 June 2009 | No responses

Leonardo Trailer from jim Capobianco on Vimeo.

Alex Mandel’s new album

Posted on 31 May 2009 | No responses

For the Bottega’s inaugeral post we announce Contriver  Alex Mandel’s band’s debut CD The Echo Falls

cover art to The Echo Falls CD

Alex says:

we’ve booked two shows to celebrate:

Thursday June 11
Starry Plough
Berkeley
9-10pm

Monday June 22
Cafe Du Nord

David Arend is a tremendous double bassist who also performs with the San Francisco Symphony, DJ Masonic (aka Mason Bates) and others. I met Dave Brandt in preschool, and he’s been playing percussion ever since, studying and touring with the drummers of John Coltrane and Fela Kuti.

SF
http://www.theechofalls.com
8-9pm

Opening for Gary Jules

*this show will sell out, pls get tix in advance if you’d like to go

You can find mp3s, links to the shows, to facebook, etc. here:

Recording got delayed when I got a bit busy on weekends…. scoring Tracy, Your Friend the Rat, Trifles, Mr. Incredible and Pals, Violet.

The Superfluous Backstory

You can also find them on myspace  http://myspace.com/echofalls

Around the time I started working at Pixar about five and a half years ago, I started playing my songs acoustically in my living room with two friends.

Finally about a year ago we recorded an album. Then Sean Beresford mixed it on weekends, while recording and mixing Third Eye Blind’s new record during the week.

Jason Munn aka The Small Stakes – a great Oakland-based designer who’s designed posters for among others Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie and Beck – liked the music and did the CD cover and poster.

The album is finally finished and I’m really pleased with it.

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