PRA Declassified

Growing up in Australia we had our fare share of Japanese cartoon series that were cut, sliced, diced and re-served by the U.S. like appealing sushi for the English speaking market. If American cartoons were from ‘the big city’ and British cartoons were from ‘around the corner’ then Japanese cartoons were certainly from space or the future… or space in the future. They were robotic humans with split-personalities and internal struggles that their moon faces and wide ‘saucer’ eyes couldn’t hide. They were spacefood, just add hot water and like a packaged cake of dry noodles, the steam would rise and there it was ready to slurp up.

Japanese cartoons had a completely different feel to other cartoons altogether. They had a soft glow to them. Even stuff that wasn’t supposed to glow, glowed. Outdoor shots look like they were lit indoors under lights. They could be cute and adorable and make you wanna cuddle up to them OR they could be dark and ominous and sort of scary and unsettling. This is what I think I liked about them. Many of the cartoons felt like they didn’t talk down to you and seemed like they were for ‘Big Kids’ and that made you wanna watch them.  They were like a cute little robot animal pet, who’s eyes  glowed bright and who’s tail wagged but could at any minute, snap and grow in size, turning into a giant battling robot that could destroy a legion of enemies with an in-built series of giant missile shooting guns. Aside from the series set in Space, many had quaint settings that had a fairy tale like innocence to them or were set in a ‘simpler time’ before the robots came.

Astro Boy, Voltron, Robotech, The Mysetrious Cities of Gold, Samurai Pizza Cats and Belle & Sebastien were the ones that really stay in my mind vividly, although there were many more and they increased in numbers like a self-cloning robot army in the early to mid nineties.

There was certainly something a little strange about these cartoons. This was probably a mix of cultural differences and the vastly different visual style they and and the fact that many of them were re-packaged, anglosized incarnations of their former Japanese native product. The subject matter was often quite intense and the characters would usually find themselves in some real trouble mid-episode where close-ups would show them wincing in pain and tears welling in their eyes. There was a real sense of pain in most episodes. Characters could be destroyed, killed and the show would go on. Robotech and Voltron had characters that were killed in battle and would cease to be in future episodes. They really weren’t afraid to show life and death together.

When I think back, watching Astro Boy on TV is one of my earliest recollections of watching animation as a series and actually waiting for the next episode. The theme song is just as infectious and stirring today as it was when I was 4. Here’s the end credit sequence which actually showed children how animation is made. I still think it’s the best closing credit sequence for any cartoon series ever.

One of my favourites, even though obscure, was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was The Wizard of Oz story re-told in the Japanese style. The show was re-packaged by Cinar, a Canadian company at the time, but I still remember how the show made me feel; sad, anxious, scared, hopeful and cosy all in the same half hour. Here’s the Show’s title sequence vs. The original Japanese show’s title sequence. This shows you the real difference in the way the cartoons were packaged for different cultural audiences.

Here’s the original Japanese version, which makes the English one look gawdy and super 80s.

My favourite was probably Voltron and what a concept for kids. Robotic lions of different colours that team together to make one big robot that smashes the baddies. Genius. And we lapped it up. Explosions always looked better in Japanese cartoons. They were white hot and filled with shrapnel and mini explosions within the big ones. Many studios in Japan had and still do have animators who specialise in ‘shit blowing up’ shots. Here’s the opening title of the version we got from the U.S. I still think this music is as epic and stirring as anything.

And thanks to the wonders of youtube, I for the first time (and possibly you too) can watch the opening of the original Japanese version of Voltron Beast King Go Lion. I actually think the U.S version of the opening takes the sake.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold was also a sort of strangely eerie piece that blended sci-fi with History. I remember being sort of scared by the show and even it’s unusual but catchy theme song but the giant golden condor craft always got me and those friendly kids waving at you.

Some of them were just plain weird. Just bizarre. Such as Samurai Pizza Cats. This is one that emerged in the early 90s following closely behind the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( It even took a shot at the Turtles in the theme song) It was hyperactive, colourful, completely ridiculous but just a ball of metal, feline fun to watch. Kids would come to school and sing the theme song and even talk about how weird it was… then go home and watch it again the next morning. It was a real pre-cursor to the Pokemon epileptic series of the late 90s.

As a young child I can’t remember knowing that there cartoons were ‘FROM JAPAN’. I just knew they were from somewhere different. Maybe space. I did one day look at some little figurines I had (in the same visual style I saw on Voltron etc) and on the bottom of them was ‘MADE IN HONG KONG’ so I think I then thought the cartoons were from this mysterious land of ‘Hong Kong’ which I thought could have been the coolest country in the world.

Next Post: Canadian Cartoons

American cartoons were exhillirating and entertaining, like a wild and entertaining ride through a colourful, fantastical world where anything seemed possible. Cartoons from Great Britain were more akin to a storybook than a movie. They were safe and comforting and warmly familiar but very rarely offered the highs of  their American counterparts. American cartoons were a bag of candy, British cartoons were a cup of tea and biscuit. In Australia we were exposed to many of these British cartoons due to our main children’s channel ABC having links with British channels BBC, Thames-ITV and Channel 4 among others. They must have got a truckload of these shows per year on some discount offer. Many of the shorter ones were used as fillers in between longer format shows.

If American cartoons were from the big city, then British cartoons were from just down the street. Perhaps it was Australia’s British roots that made them seem sort of familiar? I grew up in the hills of South Australia where it would often be cold in winter and these cartoons were like a cosy blanket. They were not sugary and bright or full of snap, crackle and pop. They were often darker looking in their tones even to the point of glum. They always looked a little underdone or rougher around the edges than other cartoons too and this made them feel very accessible but also meant that they could very quickly become a little depressing to watch. They were closer to a throw away newspaper comic strip than a slick superhero comic with a glossy cover. Whenever a British cartoon came on I wouldn’t switch it off but I would usually feel like I was slightly coming down off the American cartoon before it.  Maybe they provided the necessary mouthful of blandness between sugary meals?

The cartoons that spring to mind off the top of my head are Bananaman, Danger Mouse, The Ratties, Raggy Dolls, Henry’s Cat, Willo The Wisp, Superted, Jimbo, Count Duckula and Bangers & Mash.

These cartoons definitely fill with me with a comforting sense of nostalgia and do feel like part of the family, father than an exciting foreigner.  They were full of puddles, gumboots, umbrellas, cobbled lanes and average looking brick lane houses and bedrooms with smokey chimneys. They were occupied by bobby policeman, double-decker buses and woodland creatures living in little houses, nestled in tree trunks. They were like a cup of tea on a dreary cold day at your grandmothers’ house,  greasy, vinegary fish and chips eaten from newspaper on the windy docks of the town or baked beans and egg on toast.

Occasionally they’d leap out of this world into something a little more ‘out there’ in the case of Superted. Humour-wise they were a lot more subtle than the American cartoons. Dryer and usually peppered with historical references or jokes. Many of which probably went over our heads. Their theme songs were often more rambunctious and less smooth and tight than other cartoons too. Often their theme songs would be damn right irritating but this somehow added to their ‘ugly’ charm.

Here is one of the worst theme songs for The Ratties. Have a watch and cringe and see why I wanted to drown myself in my own bubble bath after I heard this one.

But then sometimes they would hit a really great little tune that was so loveable and warm to hear and made you excited to enter the world you were about to watch. This one was of my very favourites. The Raggy Dolls

The simple superhero theme song for Bananaman was also great in an understated way.

One style that the British did best I think was stop-motion. Some of the most memorable and well done series of the era were in this style. The Trap Door, Noddy, Morph, Wind in the Willows, Paddington, The Wombles and Fireman Sam . While many of the characters walked like they had clubfeet or some inner ear problem, they were charming and cute because of this.

Noddy was one of my favourites and when looking at it now was incredibly trippy.

I think what made many of these cartoons likeable was the fact they were unpolished and unpretentious, but they sort of knew it. They often looked as if they were drawn with a marker in about ten minutes, or animated  using cut outs with a popsicle stick in the case of Captain Pugwash a looseness that American cartoons would never have dared entered on a mainstream level.

Next post: Cartoons from Japan

Growing up on this big island and culturally embryonic country we call Australia, most of the TV and specifically cartoons I watched as a kid were imported  from overseas. Of course cartoons from the U.S.A were the most prominent like many English speaking countries and hugely influential on Australian children including myself,  but we also had regular doses of cartoons from our ‘mother country’ England and then increasingly more and more from our neighbours of the Asia-Pacific region, Japan. Add to the mix cartoons from Canada and throw in a dash of the occasional European import and that was our cartoon diet growing up. The era I am specifically referring to here is roughly from the years 1984 through 1994. A decade where my generation was fed some of the most memorable, forgettable, horrible and iconic TV cartoons from across the world all in the same sentence. I’m going to take my mind back to that period and recall from a child’s perspective what the different ‘flavours’ was of this cultural mish-mash we were beamed via out TV sets.

American Cartoons

Still the most vivid and prominent in my mind.  They certainly left an aftertaste or ‘buzz’. This is probably half to do with the fact that they seemed to make up a bulk of what we watched but also cos they seemed to have a lasting flavour, whether good or bad and even when bad you still kind of wanted more.

Cartoons from the U.S felt like Saturday mornings. They were fun, colourful and sugary. They were fruit loops for the eyes and bubblegum for the ears. You knew when an American cartoon came on that they really knew what they were doing. They had everything down. The exhilirating and catchy theme songs that would echo in your head for the whole day, the tie-ins to toys, cereals and happy meals and the somewhat expected yet satisfying and comforting formula that the episodes would play out using. These were not organic cartoons but highly synthesised, chemically enhanced and highly produced works that left others in their wake. They were processed and pre-wrapped in colourful packaging and tasted like that really fake strawberry flavour and smelt like that even more fake grape flavour. They were genetically modified cartoons with super strength, super fun and super colours. When i say colourful I mean it; Gummi Bears, the Wuzzles, The Smurfs, The Care Bears, Rainbow Bright, The Popples, Pound Puppies, Muppet Babies and Poochie are just some that spring to mind. They were soooo cute and soooo colourful and happy that it sort of made you want to scream at the TV with happiness. It was an anxious, sugar high happiness that made you want to run around the block laughing. The cartoons were also really tight like a well drilled pop rock group. They were fast, dynamic, pulsating with energy and usually had an element of wit or slapstick humour so they never really depressed. You wanted to hug the TV when they came on and you felt like these cartoons were hugging you back and grabbing your hand and pulling you in to play in their world. Even writing this entry, I have a smile and I’m typing really fast just remembering the feeling.

Obviously in addition the load of new stuff we were shown many of the American classics like Scooby Doo, Top Cat, Yogi Bear and the Bugs Bunny Show. I could tell these cartoons weren’t new like many of the others as they didn’t contain fluoro pink or pastel purple in their palettes but they just had pizazz. They felt like a really funny uncle, who was a bit old but still had it. They were entertainers in that vaudevillian way and that was never lost on me as a child.

Then of course was the action! in American cartoons. They did this better than anyone. He-Man, She-Ra, Dinosaucers, COPS, Bravestarr, Thundercats, Transformers and of course Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all filled with this. It was like sugar mixed with steroids and it worked. It made you want those action figures so much that you felt you could tear down your bedroom wall if you didn’t get them.

I remember distinctly racing home on the afternoons to watch the Ninja Turtles with my brother and hearing that theme song was seriously akin to a hit of some sort of drug. it just made me feel so good. I would sing along to it, hold the action figure or trading cards in my hands while it was and not be able to wait until tomorrow’s episode. It was unlike any feeling I have ever felt since. A pure obsession and I had no idea this was so cleverly concocted like a synthetic flavour enhancer, so kids like me all around the world would be swept up in such an uncontainable fervor that they would be possessed to raid the toy stores for any bit of merchandise with a Ninja Turtle on it. It was Turtlemania and it cut through Australian culture like Leonardo’s katana blade through a foot soldier. It tasted like pizza (naturally), salty snack treats and ice cream all washed down with some invisible cola or some bizarre green ice cream/soda milkshake. This cartoon gave you acne even before you had hit puberty. It made boys into boy-men overnight.  Ninja Turtles in a way spelled the end of the ‘ultra cute’ cartoon on our TVs and suddenly killer, mutant amphibians were among the poochies and puppies and everything around it suddenly felt so uncool in comparison,

Then of course came the new wave of American more adult,  cheeky and witty cartoons; The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead and Eek the Cat. We knew by this stage that these cartoons were American and anything American in the early to mid-90s in Australia was considered ultra cool. NBA, sneakers, rap music, toys even candy or as we say ‘lollies’ like push-pops came in and were so popular. But what made these cartoons cool were that they didn’t seem ‘kiddie’ and ‘lame’ like the care bear cartoons of yesteryear seemed by that time. They were the new crop and felt like they were made for me as an 10 or 11 year old who would rather play with a Super Soaker 20 than a fluffy toy. These cartoons even parodies the cutesy cartoons of the 80s in them.

Next Post: Cartoons from the UK

[Left to Right: Adam Elliot, James Calvert & Eddie White at the 1998 Atom Awards]

With the announcement of the nominees on Tuesday, Oscar season is well and truly under way. It was great to see some truly diverse animated feature films make it into the mix that challenge people’s view of what stories animation could tell. Australians have traditionally done well at the Oscars and we were really rooting for Adam Elliot’s Mary & Max to get a nod. With his festival successes and Oscar win, Adam really had a lot to do with putting Aussie animation on the map in the 90s and 00s.

When I was a teenager in high school just starting to make short films, I remember seeing Adam’s short ‘Uncle’ for the first time. It was such a unique, hilarious and emotional short and to top it off, made by a fellow Aussie.

Throughout this time when my fellow PRA pioneers James Calvert & Hugh Nguyen and I were making student films in our garage, we would always keep track of Adam’s latest films and awards and drew inspiration from his style of storytelling, not to mention his honest, low-fi and unpretentious way of making an animated film.

In 1998 at the ATOM awards in Melbourne, we met Adam in person. He was young(er), energetic, approachable and an inspiration to talk with (we were 16 at the time).

In 2004, when Adam won the Academy Award for Best Short Animation for his masterpiece Harvie Krumpet we were thrilled – thrilled that an Australian animator had taken the big prize.

Then in the following two years, two more Australians would follow making it to the nomination stage; Sejong Park with Birthday Boy and Anthony Lucas with The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.

With Warwick Thornton’s inspired Samson & Delilah missing out on a nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film”, Australia’s Oscar hopes this year rest on Luke Doolan’s Miracle Fish in the Best Short Film category. Good luck mate!

Last night, The Cat Piano won the “Yoram Gross award for Best Animation Short Film” at Flickerfest 2010. Eddie is in British Columbia at the moment, and recorded this acceptance speech for the ceremony.

As 2009 came to a close I started thinking what a great decade the 2000′s were for the animated short film. With DVD’s and the internet really becoming widespread, the animated short subject was able to bloom and spread around the globe, when in the past it had been merely restricted to festival screenings, hard to find VHS compilations (often in various hard to play formats) and the occasional TV screening late at night. The 2000′s were a very special decade for me as an animation filmmaker. I was able to watch the growth of the medium and its various techniques and genres while making four short films with my studio. I thought about the shorts that I had seen that had inspired, delighted, intrigued and moved me in some way and have compiled a list of my top 10 animated shorts of the decade.

1. REJECTED – Dir: Don Herzfeldt (USA) 2000

I was first introduced to the work of Don Herzfeldt when I saw a touring ‘Spike & Mike’ Sick & Twisted festival and was instantly a fan. This film is a low-fi masterpiece that always brings tears of laughter to the eyes of anyone who watches it. Mr Herzfeldt has since become a cult hero on the internet and among young animation lovers.  I love everything about the film. The comic timing, the random and absurd scenes and clever structure. The film was even nominated for an Oscar. It just goes to show that in a world full of flashy CG effects, sometimes simple is better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3bVgCRixcU

2. HARVIE KRUMPET – Dir. Adam Elliot  (Australia) 2003

Adam Elliot’s epic clayography is an obvious stand-out as one of the best animated shorts of the decade. It was not a short-short film and hence had to be very good to stand-out from the rest and fit into festival’s programming. Festivals loved it, audiences loved it, I loved it. It was so incredibly inspiring to see a fellow Australian making a real impact on the world of animation. His storytelling style and idiosyncratic touches are everything I want in an animated film. A true triumph of a film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyVS6HOFeo

3. SKHIZEIN – Dir. Jeremy Clapin (France) 2008

When I first saw this film at a screening in Annecy 2008, I knew I was watching something special. Never had I witnessed a film that had the perfect cocktail of a clever and originally offbeat screenplay on par with that of a feature and stylistic rebellion and boldness. I watched in sheer delight and intrigue as the film played out and when it finished I just wanted to share the film with everyone I knew (I since have). A perfect ‘short’ in many ways. A great film for students of animation to study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_pSAM4xx1Q

4. OVER TIME – Dir: Oury Atlan, Thibault Berland, Damien Ferrie (France) 2004

This is the most amazing student film I have ever seen, full stop. It is so much better than many of it’s ‘professional’ counterparts. The haunting beauty of this film is so rare in short films, particularly created by 3D animation which can often be clunky, cold and sterile. It is such a simple idea that is executed with poeticism and a soft touch. Dazzles me every time I watch it.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5dh7_over-time_shortfilms

5. Wolf Daddy – Dir: Hyung Yun Chang (South Korea) 2006

This film was such a fresh breath of air to me when I first saw it in Korea in 2006. It was odd, beautiful and hilarious all in the same breath. While it had touches of an anime aesthetic, it really felt like an absurdist korean genius was behind it. Having met the director and seen his subsequent films I wasn’t wrong. Mr Chang has become one of my most favourite animated filmmakers in the world today. He is by no means a household name in animation circles, and his films rarely get into Annecy etc but like many cult things, he is a secret that I am glad I have and will continue to being privy to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfjzX8qkiw

6. KJFG #5 – Dir: Alexei Alekseev (Russia/Hungary) 2008

Short, simple and hilariously funny and impeccably timed is how I’d describe this film. I think anyone who doesn’t at least chuckle when they watch this is either not human or they take themselves way too seriously. This little short cut through all the pretentious, high-art, wanky shorts that flood many of the festivals and was a joy to watch with an audience who reveled in its simple humour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-vSS5S3VqU

7. A Coffee Vending Machine & His Sword – Dir: Hyung Yun Chang (South Korea) 2008

After seeing Wolf Daddy in 2006, I waited eagerly to see what Mr. Chang would deliver next. I wasn’t disappointed. This substantially lengthy short had everything; action, romance, warrior zebras and talking coffee vending machines. It was like Miyazaki on acid, or speed or both. Whatever Mr. Chang is taking, I want some if it will help me make films at nuts as this. A must see for anyone who appreciates the bizarrely beautiful in life.

Here’s the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZRQIUUDRgw&feature=related

8. WESTERN SPAGHETTI  – PES (USA) 2009

PES emerged in the 2000′s as a post-modern punk Jan Svankmajer surrealist who used the internet as his theatre. Probably one of the most amazingly different animators to appear in some time. This film was a viral hit and you can see why. From the minute its starts you are completely captivated and astounded by what happens next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

9. Father & Daughter – Michael Dudok de Wit (Holland/UK) 2000

Such a work of art this film. Always emotionally powerful and visually simple yet sumptuous. This is a film by someone who clearly knows how to make an animated film. The music is amazing too. No wonder it won the Academy Award.

http://www.trilulilu.ro/Cosmarulperfect/d27a07ba629f61?video_google_com=

10. The Man in The Blue Gordini (L’Homme A La Gordini) -  Dir: Jean-Christophe Lie (France) 2009

I didn’t realise how cool this film was until a few minutes in when it got warmed up and I realised just how clever the story was. On top of that it was told with no words and an awesome, funky soundtrack paired with a vibrant retro-70s look. I have only seen this film once but the fact that I am desperate to seek it out and  watch it again is a sign that it had something special.

We are currently looking for two full time positions Lead Artist and 3D Generalist. Have a look at the positions requirements if you are interested.

Oddly, a few months after posting an interview with Ted Hope where he talked about low budget filmmaking, Ted returned the favour by doing a nice post on The Cat Piano. Turns out he’s a big Nick Cave fan. An SAFC staffer heard him talk about The Cat Piano at a presentation he did at a New York conference. Here’s what he had to say on his blog:

Film noir, Nick Cave, absurd inventions, tales of others’ heartbreak, animation, clever company names, these are some of my favorite things. Okay I am not crazy about cats and smoky bars, or really happy endings when you get right down to it, but for this I am quite happy to make an exception.