And Now for a Commercial Break

Gitane Catch… 1961. Production La Comète. Dir. André Sarrut et Jacques Asséo

Where would the advertising World be without animation ? That is obviously a question to be turned around too, each having fed and nurtured their forms reciprocally throughout their long collaboration. The communication and advertising agencies of today are more or less tightly linked with design and animation studios. Their history is a fascinating perspective on how animation has developed and may help pinpoint a particular shift from what was initially pure character driven cartoon animation to the more graphic design informed domain of motion graphics which seems to have taken hold as the dominant force in the advertising World of today.
After a return visit to the exhibition in Paris, ‘La Pub s’anime’, (Animated Ads), I wanted to jot down a few key moments along with the people that paved the way towards our present day marketing World. This is obviously a focus on the history in France but the question begs : How did advertising and animation develop in other developing countries ?

Gitanes La logique de Toto 1926. Robert Lortac & André Payen

** 1918 - 35 **

Robert Collard (1884 - 1973),often named Robert Lortac, sets up Europe’s first animation studio in Montrouge in 1919. The studio is reputed to have created quantitatively the greatest number of animated films in France and remained active up until 1945. Amongst the first 15 employees, a certain Raymond Savignac who was already a well known poster artist of the era. To begin with, animated ads were informed by graphic design and the poster format. Illustration and typographic elements were often taken from existing poster ads and animated, finishing off with a fitting slogan and the name of the product.

Gitanes La logique de Toto 1926. Robert Lortac & André Payen

** 1936 **

Animated ads were first screened as intervals for the cinema, however ad agencies wanted to keep people in the cinema during the breaks. Enter the cartoon character and storytelling. From this point on commercials become closely tied to
traditional cartoons and develop into saga long commercials that entice as entertain the public.

Paul Grimault (1905 - 1994) and André Sarrut ( ) set up Les Gemeaux production house. However….

** 1950 - 68 **

….in 1952, after misunderstandings, the two associates split and Paul Grimault opens, Les Films Paul Grimault and André Sarrut starts his own studio, La Comète, with animator Jacques Asséo.

In the fifties, France develops as a consumer society and the budget for ad agencies doubles. Consequently their is a mushrooming of production houses, some of which dedicate their activities purely to creating commercials. This is the case for Sarrut’s La Comète which made more than 2000 commercial films exporting 80% of their output and became the most important film company for animated commercials in Europe at the time.

Air Wick Pour ceux qui ont du nez 1955. André Sarrut & Jacques Asséo

**************************************************
>>>Watch Gitane Bleue

**************************************************

Gitane Bleue 1958. André Sarrut & Jacques Asséo

Total Oil 1958. André Sarrut

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

In 1953, Jacques Forgeot (1923-1969) opens Les Cinéastres Associaciés and employs some of France’s and indeed Europe’s leading animators : Raoul Franco, Etienne Rajk (1904-1976), Paul Casalini (1933 - ) and the Bettiol brothers. Not forgetting Alexandre Alexeieff (1901-1982) who had just come back from a passage in Amercia and had already a rich and innovative background in working for commercials.

Le Parisien Concourt 1960. Production Jean Mineur. Dir. Raoul Franco

EDF/GDF. Eau Chaude 1961. Production Jean Mineur. Dir. Raoul Franco

** 1970 **

Remains a minor period with struggling output due to high costs, competition from television ads and a return to live action.

** 1980 **

This is a major period of technological change - the arrival of digital imaging and the development of 3D. Exmachina becomes the third largest production house in special effects in the World. The likes of Pierre Coffin (1967..), Pascal Vuong (1960..) and the H5 Collective push forward the form and major production houses such as TBWA and Buf set up business specializing in CGI visual effects and animation.

Restore L’homme moteur synthétique 1984. Agence Hautefeuille. Dir. Jerzy Kular

>>> Watch a selection of French animated ads
>>> 1950’s Commercials
>>> Animated Logos

 

Sonic Pixels

Video Still. Synchromy. Norman McLaren 1971. © National Film Board of Canada

An Essay on Music and Motion in Three Parts.
PART 3.
>>> PART 1 Read Here
>>> PART 2 Read Here
…………………………………………………..

Norman McLaren’s 1971 ‘Synchromy‘ epitomizes a particular era in which visual artists were in search of the ultimate marriage between sound and image. There seems to be no other better example of how the two domains meet in perfect sync and graphic rhythm. Synchromy, however, also marks the end of an era and the beginning of another in terms of technique and technology. If the camera brought the canvass into motion and in line with sound and music for the first half of the 20th Century, it was the computer that was to steal the limelight as the new tool for bringing the visual and sonic together.

From as early as the sixties, research and development into computer assisted imagery was taking shape, yet the enormous cost for such a technology and the fact that the privileged domain of science was its main proprietor and knowledge base, meant that the computer was not considered for artistic expression. Indeed, it took until the 80’s; the birth of the digital home computer, desk top publishing and the first graphical user friendly Apple, before the computer really became an accessible and important artistic tool.

One man however, made astonishing developments within the field of computer assisted imagery, well before the computer became a fully boxed clock of zero’s and one’s: John Whitney. The life and work of John Whitney, along with his brother who often had the more artistic role, is rarely given the attention it needs to fully bring to life and present his work in a comprehensive manner. Many short essays and interviews can be found along with his personal writings on his art form, yet we still await a lot more to surface. He is often cited in connection with the term motion graphics, due to his company of the same name in which he developed his first mechanical analog computer and created titles and graphic fx for the film and TV industry. One of the rare pieces available today of this early motion graphics work is entitled Catalogue completed in 1961. As the name suggest, the piece is rather a compilation of the various visual effects he had perfected using his early analog computer. Without doubt, the first ever motion graphics demo reel !

His work ‘Permutations’ was his first cohesive film to have been created using a digital computer, the IBM model 360 along with a 2250 Graphic Display Console. Using a computer program, developed by Dr. Jack Citron, called GRAF (graphic Additions to Fortran), John Whitney completed the film in 1968 along with a 15 minute presentation of the work entitled, ‘Experiments in Motion Graphics’, in which is explained his approach to programming for motion design and the relationships between man and machine . Beyond this technological virtuosity there was an extremely important motivating force that drove Whitney’s artistic expression - the metaphor of music.

Still from Arabesque. John Whitney 1975

“The challenge of creating compositions with this computer instrument is very much like the task faced by all composers who must shape the voices of traditional music to perform harmoniously together. In a piano and string duo for example the interrelationship is usually complex and varied: the parts play together in parallel or opposed motions; one questions, the other replies; one is smooth and melodic - the other is percussive. The range of figurations and the musical partner in this new computer medium for a new World of artistic relationships and expression.”
Experimental Animation. origins of a New Art. Robert Russett & Cecile Starr. Second edition 1988, page 26.

John Whitney was a visionary who wanted to create a new visual language based on moving graphics and who had a strong interest in music. His vision of a new “visual music” takes root in the early European pioneers - Fischinger, Pfenniger and Richter. John Whitney had spent a year in Paris where he had been introduced to the musical compositions of Schoenberg and had later, on return to America, taken great interest in the early film avant-garde movement in Europe. Whitney clearly took a musicians perspective to his visual work, himself writing in an early essay, ‘Moving Pictures and Electronic Music’ that he took the point of view of a composer.

Still from Two Space. © Larry Cuba 1979

“Cuba believes that the numerical capability of the computer is adding a new creative dimension to the field of experimental animation just as mathematical perspective, for example provided additional visual possibilities for the Renaissance artist.”
Experimental Animation. origins of a New Art. Robert Russett & Cecile Starr. Second edition 1988, page 28.

Larry Cuba was part of the second generation, after having collaborated with Whitney on his ‘Arabesque’ in 1975. Although, he has only made four films to date, his work remains a reference in terms of how computer graphics was to develop and expand the concept of motion graphics with new visual images. Today, one only need to look at audio visual performances and VJ-ing to see the influence, permanance and development of this new ‘visual music’. However, to cite only Cuba alone would be quite wrong. What this essay in three parts has hopefully pointed out, is that the relationship between the sonic and visual has a long and rich history that has shaped the way we perceive and work with the two mediums today. This particular history is revealing not only major artists and their various techniques but also suggesting how certain disciplines of contemporary motion graphics such as VJ-ing has developed within a similar framework. A framework that many contemporary motion designers have followed in step to bring sound and image ever closer as an integral part of communication and entertainment. A framework that has equally developed in to a professional discipline and manifests as well as demands a unique syntax, extending our understanding of what the ‘audiovisual’ scope implies today.

>>> PART ONE Here.
>>> PART TWO Here.

Resources.

>>> James Whitney Retrospective. Moritz, William 1984
>>> The Animator as Musician. Eric Barbeau. NFB 2005
>>> Visual Music. Larry Cuba’s Experimental Film. Moritz, William 1996
>>>Experimental Animation. Origins of a New Art. Russett, Robert. Starr, Cecile. Da Capo Press, New York 1988
>>> Expanded Cinema. Youngblood, Gene 1970

 

Saul Bass - Henri’s Walk to Paris

Henri’s Walk to Paris. Leonore Klein. Young Scott Books 1962

With so little information on Saul Bass, it is always a great pleasure to come across his work. This was for a children’s picture book, Bass’ modern, sparse yet strong composition very much evident. Check a few photos from the book

>>>>>HERE

Inside Preface.

‘Like many of us Henri wants to see Paris.
In Paris, there are thousands of buses. In Reboul, where Henri lives, there is only one bus.
In paris there are many parks and rows and rows of trees. The Park in Reboul has only five trees. In Paris there are many zoos full of animals for the people to see.
So one fine day Henri packs up some lunch and starts off to see all the things he had read about.
What Henri sees we see in a flowing panorama of pictures conceived by the eminent graphic designer, Saul Bass.
And how Henri finds himself very much at home at the end of his long journey, is the amusing secret of Mrs. Klein’s warm pattern story.’

Thanks to Amid of Cartoon Brew for this.
>>> Saul Bass on the Web

 

John Whitney - Catalog 1961

 

Who is Pablo Ferro ?

Hal & Pablo. © Kihou Productions 2007

Pablo Ferro’s film titles have adorned our cinema screens for over half a century, his creative force conjuring an influence amidst some of our greatest film directors of modern times. From the quintessential opener for Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove to the colourful and graphical treatment in The Thomas Crown Affair, Pablo Ferro made his mark in a lesser known art, that of film title sequences. His brilliant work may well today be a better known fact of film and graphic history, but the intriguing question still begs : Who is Pablo Ferro?

Back in March of this year, a short teaser popped up on the Web promoting the production of a feature length animated documentary on Pablo Ferro. What really draws you in to begin with in this short introductory film, is the intelligent use of mixed media techniques as a means to emphasize the narrative as well as create a visually rich and informative image. Everything from split screens to Pablo’s signature typography is used with wit to accompany a mix of both live action and character driven full animation, incorporating also a vast array of archival footage. Beyond this intriguing presentation however, another question remained to be asked before resolving the enigma of Pablo. Who was behind this film ?

Grand Royale. © Kihou Productions 2007

Director, Richard Goldgewicht has acquired a portfolio of award winning short films as well as documentaries for The Goldman Foundation, BBC, and MTV. He is listed in Filmmaker Magazine as “one of the 25 faces of Hollywood to watch out for”. Back in 2002, Richard shot a short film with Pablo. The experience brought him close to a unique character and a legend with an untold story. From this point on, the intention to develop a film became clear and Richard, along with producer Jeremy Goldscheider with whom he formed Kihou productions in 1999, has been working on ‘Pablo’ since 2005. To date, they have already completed shooting, the voice over with Jeff Bridges and will soon be finishing off the animation, directed by JJ Walker, character designed by Antony Hare. All will be in the bag for a release in 2008. As well as it’s distribution in cinemas, an exhibition will be launched in major cities around the World to accompany the film. There are also talks of publishing a book that will showcase production designs from the film along with Pablo’s work.

Pablo’s Loft. © Kihou Productions 2007

The film is based on interviews with forty of Pablo’s friends and creative collaborators: Angelica Huston, Andy Garcia, Beau Bridges, Stan Lee and Norman Lear, to name but a few. Each adding anecdote to fact to help build a biographical picture of an enigmatic character who at times had little to say and all to show. To accompany the more historical accounts, we are taken back into a very stylized, fifties looking animated World. Indeed, from the very beginning of the film, we are thrown in to an animated rendering of a young Pablo arriving barefoot with his parents in Grand Central Station, New York, with hope of living the American Dream. From here, the film takes you through his formative years as a commercial artist working with the likes of Stan Lee until his famous meeting with Stanley Kubrick and the making of Dr. Strangelove, which safely sees his rise to Hollywood stardom. With instant success and back in New York as an icon of sixties underground counter culture, it is from this point Richard Goldgewicht has concentrated on Pablo’s most creative yet perhaps also most unstable era. We are in the sixties, New York has its Warhol Factory scene, but nothing would compare to Pablo’s East Village Loft - a place of freedom, creation and of course abundant drugs. Pablo is at his peak; professionally, socially and spiritually. Yet, all will come to a depressive, and almost tragic end with a number of events that culminate with the mysterious shooting of Pablo at his famous party pad.

Poolside. © Kihou Productions 2007

What happens next? Well, that would be letting on a little too much. The story-line, which was originally developed with Neil Katcher, is well thought out and the unique approach to documentary film that Richard has taken on board fits perfectly with the subject. Animation within a documentary context is perhaps a contradiction in terms. The necessity for ‘real’ live action footage within a formal interviewing, one shot style has always been the major undercurrent to any documentary film. Reality drawing us closer to a certain valued truth rather than diverting and entertaining the spectator through contrived story-telling. However, animation and indeed motiongraphics has been increasingly used over the past years in the documentary genre as a means to add visual ideas and guide the spectator in the understanding of the subject. On that level, we are still perhaps within the realm of pure documentary, however beyond this level, animation is also capable of heightening the narrative and indeed driving it forward. Richard Goldgewicht does shy a little away from the term ‘documentary’ and accepts a fictional undercurrent to the story-line. ‘Pablo’ is in that perspective a hybrid film - part anecdotal, part fiction, part live footage, part animated, part fact, part story. A unique amalgamation that replies to a single question: Who is Pablo Ferro ? Well then, who is he ? One of the writers for the film, Adam Trunell encapsulates his answer in one short poetic phrase : “ Pablo Ferro is the paper airplane that sails hurricane winds”.

>>> www.kihou.com
>>> Further Information
>>> Pablo Ferro’s Filmography
>>> Watch the Teaser (The look of the film has changed a lot since then).

NB. The above production stills, kindly forwarded by Richard Goldgewicht and Kihou Productions can be viewed at a better resolution by clicking on each. Many thanks to Richard and the team for all the information and the time kindly given to accord an interview.

Original Film Logo. © Kihou Productions

 

Notes On A Triangle - René Jodoin

Production screen shots © National Film Board of Canada

A simple and clever geometric ballet set to a waltz, made by René Jodoin in 1966. This is only one of many films available online at www.nfb.ca. Amongst some of the gems, you’ll find extensive archive material (photos, production stills & notes, drawings, objects) that are fascinating documents as well as a historic treasure trove.

 

Oskar Fischinger - Paintings & Sketches

Linear Squares. Oskar Fischinger, 1961. © Elfriede Fischinger Trust

>>> More Paintings Here

Square Symphony 1943.jpg
Untitled 1946.jpg
>And More Paintings & Info Here
© Elfriede Fischinger Trust

>>>Sketches

Sketch 1.jpg
Sketch 2.jpg
Sketch 3.jpg
Sketch 4.jpg
© Elfriede Fischinger Trust

 

Posters and Paper Cut-Outs : Jan Lenica

Lenica preferred to use two-dimensional forms, the space
of his posters having neither background nor perspective.
There was irony and absurdity in them, the artist creating
a brand new, grotesque reality; he was also a master of
poetic metaphor.
Ewa Gorzadek. Culture.pl 2004

>>>A Profile of Jan Lenica
>>>Watch ‘Nowy Janko Muzykant’ (New Janko The Musician). 1960

 

Animated Logos

Constance. 1957

Unique innovators within the realm of animation, Alexandre Alexeieff and his partner Claire Parker are notably given attention for the distinct films created with their ‘pin screen’ technique. Night on Bald Mountain, The Nose and Pictures at an Exhibition are rare and beautifully poetic examples of this technique which was invented by Alexeieff and developed as a means for visual expression all throughout his career.

Alexeieff was indeed a tireless mind when it came to innovation and with each work he always attempted to push the medium and try out new perspectives. This can be clearly seen within his lesser known commercial work which took off after the War. It was working for large companies such as L’Oréal, Evian, Esso and Nescafe that Alexeieff and Parker could invest in experimentation which led to various innovative techniques. “Totalised Animation” is a procedure that entails long exposures of objects. Alexeieff created a system of pendulums that enabled him to plot precise oscillated forms which he then filmed using his totalisation technique. Superimposing frames and adding projected text in the final composite brought about unique effects that can be seen in his work for Nescafe and the film company Cocinor, both made in 1957.

Cent Pour Cent. 1957

Cocinor. 1957

There was a growing trend from the forties onwards towards making ’synthetic images’ and Alexeieff seems to be historically well placed as amongst one of the protagonists, if not precursors of this method. Interestingly, others working within this field were to be found in America, (Alexeieff being in Paris), with the Whitney Brothers leading the work towards computer assisted images in the Seventies. Alexeieff and Parker will most probably be remembered foremost as artists with their fiercely independent and uniquely animated films. Their commercial work however was not merely just a means to finance their films, it was also a possibility to expand and innovate - a common trend of the advertising World of today. Advertising as a means to sponsor artists and push the boundaries of technological as well as aesthetic expression.

 

TV Broadcast Design

Although the advent of broadcast television in 1936 promised a new medium for visual creativity in design terms, it wasn’t until the fifties that broadcasting companies began to think seriously about the possibilities. Indeed when the BBC set up their service in 1936, design for the screen was still very much in an embryonic period, its gestation held amid the art World. The Second World War had also put broadcast on hold and it wasn’t until 1946 that the box was turned on again with a swift demand from households for interesting and entertaining content.
In 1954, the BBC recruited its first graphic designer, John Sewell and a department was set up under his management. This was of course a considerable move for a television company at the time. Little can be found on John Sewell’s work for the BBC, at least for the moment nothing leads to more than a paragraph in most instances. He is clearly noted though for the 1950’s BBC screen graphics and was also a budding amateur film maker.

After this first initiative by the BBC, two people were to have a profound and long standing impact on TV broadcast design : Bernard Lodge and Martin Lambie-Nairn. Bernard Lodge was the title sequence creator behind the classic BBC science fiction series ‘Doctor Who’. The famous time travelling Doctor defied time and space in his adventures into other Worlds and it appears that it was these very dimensions that Bernard Lodge wanted to explore and express in the opening titles. In 1963, the series went on air and Lodge’s unmistakable feed back ‘growl’ effect, along with Ron Grainer’s chilling electronic composition, made for a brilliantly effective opener which has engraved every child’s memory ever since. Bernard Lodge went on to create further titles for the series and in 1973 eventually changed the ‘howl’ effect with the slit-scan technique which had first been used in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Most TV graphics prior to Doctor Who were static channel identities or simple animated pres (presentation screens) for certain programs. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that TV channels began to incorporate moving graphics as part of their brand identity albeit with rather simplified results. This all changed though with the arrival of a new channel in 1982 which brought with it to the forefront the designer Martin Lambie-Nairn. Martin Lambie-Nairn had already his years of experience with the BBC and LWT (London Weekend Television), however it was with his creation of Channel Four’s 3D animated logo that TV identities were to really take off and spark a real cause for experiment with movement and form as a means for branding on the box. Today, the graphic presentation of a channel as well as it’s content has become an increasingly fertile field for motion graphics with a wide range of innovative ideas.

>>> An interesting online collection.