The trouble with CG is that nothing is left up to chance

filthy light thief — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:58:33 -0800

Since the mid 1990s, Don Hertzfeldt has been making animated shorts by hand. To date, his 8 primary films have an apprioximate runtime of 75 minutes, and in total have won 117 awards, all shot on 16 or 35 milimeter film. (There is another 8 minutes or so that was part of the Animation Show (previously).) His recent films have been shot on the same camera rig that recorded It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), as he noted in a 2007 interview (part of a Scene Unseen Podcast (direct link to the MP3)). Hertzfeltd is currently two thirds of the way through his most ambitious project to date, a trilogy of films which have been called "the closest thing on film yet to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey." (Video links inside) Ah, L'Amour (1995) - awarded Grand Prize Award for "World's Funniest Cartoon" in 1998 from the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (now known as The Comedy Festival). Genre (1996) mixes stop-motion and 2-D animation, and was shown on an episode of MTV's Cartoon Sushi in 1997. Lily and Jim (1997) - single-handedly animated from over 10,000 drawings, and was shown on an episode of MTV's Cartoon Sushi in 1998, and Hertzfeldt's first short with a vocal track. Billy's Balloon (1998) - The film was invited into Official Competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival (where Don Hertzfeldt was the youngest director involved), and it won the Grand Jury Award at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival; has also appeared on Adult Swim and MTV Rejected (2000) toured North American theaters between 2000 and 2004, first as part of Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, then with fellow animator Bill Plympton's films called "The Don and Bill Show," and finally as part of Hertzfeldt's own the Animation Show tour. Welcome to the Show/Intermission in the Third Dimension/The End of the Show - 3 shorts created as an introduction, intermission, and end for the first "Animation Show." The Meaning of Life (2005) is the result of almost four years of production and tens of thousands of drawings, single-handedly animated and photographed by Hertzfeldt. Everything Will Be OK (trailer) (2006) won the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award in Short Filmmaking, a prize rarely bestowed on an animated film. I am so proud of you (2008) Hertzfeldt traveled with the film on a sold-out special theatrical tour of his work in 2008 and part of 2009.

Lights please?

ScottMorris — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 02:13:17 -0800

Dec. 9, 1965: "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" [Realmedia] [More inside]

Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts!

Robot Johnny — Sun, 28 Sep 2003 23:24:19 -0800

The entire 50 years of Peanuts are to be reprinted in chronological hardback volumes by Fantagraphics in a project that will take 12 and a half years to complete.

luke — Sat, 12 Feb 2000 23:50:38 -0800

So Charles Schulz ran out of ink about two hours ago, preceded in death by about five hours by Tom Landry. The worst part is, both were in my dead pool, which starts in about 24 hours. (The second-worst thing is all the "It's a sad day for Snoopy" and "Good grief" ledes we're going to have to endure. Blech.)

The Dallas Morning News obit went over the wires at 85 inches before Landy was even cold. Gee, you think they saw this one coming?

MetaFilter posts tagged with cartoons and Peanuts

The trouble with CG is that nothing is left up to chance

Lights please?

Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts!