Supersempfft - I'm Gonna Make You Big My Friend

Scotch - Take Me Up

Ryuichi Sakamoto - CM/TV (2002)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - CM/TV
Label: Warner Music (Japan)
Catalog#: WPC6-10244
Format: CD
Country: Japan
Released: 2002

This is a compilation CD collecting various commercial and television themes and interstitials composed by Sakamoto, pieces spanning the late 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. I'm particularly into the catchy theme song from NHK's You! program, which I'd like to dedicate a post to some day (check the Katsuhiro Otomo animated intro). I apologize for the large file size, but hey, there are 50 tracks.

ENJOY!

Skywhales

Skywhales is another animated short found on The 19th International Tournee of Animation: Volume 1. It was released in 1983.

When I first saw this, I was transfixed by the depth of the culture of the Whalers (they don't have a name, nor are there any subtitles for their alien language in the short, so this name serves for now). The short is very detailed - the culture of the Whalers evokes Inuit iconography, but they aren't the only native whaling cultures. Whales have always been sacred beasts, and so their deaths have typically held much significance to those who pursue them, not least because the undertaking is extraordinarily dangerous and the goal, once achieved, requires quick industriousness to harness the whale's bodily products: blubber, ambergris and of course meat. The rituals to achieve those ends are presented here in an inventive, engaging manner; with the caveat that as the hunter takes life, so is his spirit taken from him - literally, in this case. The lyrical quality of the story, combined with the great score, makes for a really classic short.

By the way, I noticed that National Geographic (actually BBC 4, as they originally produced the program), totally ripped off the skywhales' design for a special on what alien life might look like on other worlds. Without any citation of the original short it just seems like crass plagiarism in service of a forced product.

Edit: I found a website which says that the short was shown on BBC 4 on Christmas 1983, which would presumably give them some sort of likeness rights to the skywhale's design. Also, the site says that the creatures are called Perlians, though this is never once mentioned in the short itself. It's an interesting article, and if you like Skywhales you should quickly check it out.

Two videos from Italian duo Righeira (1983-84)

Righeira was formed in 1983 by Stefano Rota and Stefano Righi. These two singles were huge hits in Italy and found modest success elsewhere in Europe. Righeira had at least two other minor domestic hits, and four full-length albums and numerous singles. This information comes from Discogs, which also says about the duo, "The two members still explain that they are brother[sic] by their first name. They became Michael Righeira & Johnson Righeira"



Note the Mondrian painting coming to life at the beginning, which morphs into a cube and shows the skinny-tie wearing duo images from World War II and the Hindenburg crash. The entire thing seems to take place in a towering modernist apartment complex. Video actually credits the animator at the end, Gianandrea Garola. Limited film + TV resume here.

Both songs are sung in Spanish, and I've included the original lyrics as well as a Google-assisted translation below. If anybody can provide improved English translation let me know. "Vamos a la Playa" is about nuclear blasts destroying civilization, with the mantra "Let's go to the beach" (or is it "Do You Want to Go to the Beach?") repeated as either an oblivious prayer or ironic joke. Then again, the wrist-radios confuse the group's involvement with whatever nuclear scenerio is being described. The gaudy technicolor lighting in the video could be the glare of a mushroom cloud.

"No Tengo Dinero" is a much more obvious illustration of post-war Italian class struggle, presenting a newly monied class "kissed by an idea," with its narrator "living in the highest place in [his] city". But then is this the same figure declaring "I have no money" over and over? A view both from and in opposition to the top, apparently.

Both of these songs are lyrically complex (or muddled, perhaps), hiding specific socio-political ideas in brief narrative verses, which are in turn hidden within endlessly repeated, seemingly vacuous choruses. Especially in the case of "Vamos a la Playa", these choruses actually come to reinforce the central idea of the song. Like the lavish apartment in the "No Tengo Dinero" video, political and ethical notions are masked by not only the passive observation of Righeira (whom didn't write the lyrics--Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda did) but the ostentatious surroundings of both high-end video animation and montage, and the meticulous studio wizardry of Italian (post-disco) pop production.



Despite the attractive solarizing effects in this one, I prefer this simpler take:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVQpcY1au4

Vamos a la Playa

(CHORUS:)
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh
Vamos a la playa

La bomba estallo
Las radiaciones tuestan
Y matizan de azul

Vamos a la playa

Todos con sombrero
El viento radiactivo
Despeina los cabellos

Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh

Vamos a la playa
Al fin el mar es limpio
No mas peces hediondos
Sino agua florecente

Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh

(REPEAT TO FADE)

English Translation

(CHORUS:)
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach oh oh

Go to the beach
The bomb exploded
Roasted radiation
And a shade of blue

Go to the beach
All with sombreros
The wind radioactive
Tousled hair

Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh

Go to the beach
At last the sea is clean
No more smelly fish
But water blooming

Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
(REPEAT TO FADE)

No Tengo Dinero

No tengo dinero oh
No tengo dinero no, no, no, no
No tengo dinero oh
No tengo dinero no, no, no, no

Los modernos lujos viven aqua­
En el lugar mas alto de mi ciudad
Se nutren de imagenes y de relais
Yo quisiera estar aha mas

No tengo dinero oh...

Los nuevos italianos crean aqua­
Impavidos y fieros de la velocidad
Neo psichico es el sintatico edan
Yo quisiera estar aha mas

No tengo dinero oh...

Neo psichico
Besado de una dea tu eres
Patria de estos te crean (2)

No tengo dinero oh... (2)

English Translation (I'm sure there are many mistakes here).

I have no money oh
I have no money, no, no, no, no
I have no money oh
I have no money, no, no, no, no

Modern luxury living here-
In the highest place in my city
They feed and relay pictures
I would be more aha

I have no money oh ...

The new Italian create here-
Fearless and ferocious speed
New Eden is the synthetic psichico [??]
I would be there more

I have no money oh ...

New psichico
Kissed by an idea you are
Homeland those you create (2)

I have no money oh ... (2)



Wikipedia
Download Righeira's first album.

Illustrated Film Titles

Here are two opening title sequences featuring "slide-shows" of illustration, one in marker, in the style of a children's picture book, the other in crayon, in the style of a child's drawing. Both clips feature similarly jaunty theme songs. Skip ahead to about 1:30 in the Death Game video. Cult-film actor Sherri Vernon illustrated the Worm Eaters intro. Death Game's titles are credited to Mary Meacham, who now works for Disney.

WAX MASK talks to Sally Cruikshank

Back in August I posted a short article about one of my favorite animators, Sally Cruikshank. Later, Max posted a video jam from 1984 which Sally contributed to. To our surprise, Sally commented on this post shortly after Max uploaded it. I got in contact with Sally, and she agreed to answer a few of our questions via email.

MAX: How did you come to define your particular style of drawing? There seem to be a lot of cubist influences, but also an element of early silent cartoons (such as Felix the Cat and Bosko) as well.

I watched a lot of black and white cartoons on tv when I was little. That's where I saw Felix the Cat, Betty Boop. and the early Van Beuren cartoons. I majored in art in college and spent a lot of time in the library just looking at reproductions of paintings, but Cubism was not an influence. I actually don't like Cubist art. I don't even like Picasso! Maybe you mean art deco--I got a lot of ideas for background detail from Art Deco books and objects.

M: It seems as though the time signature is constantly changing in your work—sometimes characters move in a very herky-jerky fashion, other times there's a lot of interstitial panels and so the characters move smoothly (Fun on Mars being an example of the former, and Face Like a Frog an example of the latter). Is this due to outside constraints or is this a conscious choice depending on the piece?

When you do all the work yourself, you get better as you go along. I used to advise people starting out in animation to start with a small project for just that reason--the first stuff you do will always look in need of replacing, improving, and if you're not careful you'll never finish. Fun on Mars is from 1971, Face Like a Frog 1987. I improved.

GREG: Kim Deitch is credited as “Special Art Assistant” on Quasi at the Quackadero (1975). How did you come to work with Deitch and what exactly was his role on the film? I find that your shorts from this period are consistent with Deitch’s work and the underground comics scene of that time in general. What, if any, connection existed between independent animation and comics the 1970s?

When I was in college someone showed me R. Crumb's Head Comix. It was so good I almost didn't want to look at it. How can this be? I was at Smith College in Massachusetts. I graduated early, after finishing my first cartoon, Ducky, and headed to San Francisco to take a film making course at the Art Institute and find out more about this underground comics movement. I became friends with underground cartoonists- everyone was young and excited about the work they were doing. Kim was my boyfriend. He inked and painted cels in the film, also did some voices. I was the only one of that crowd who was doing animation. I had a great job where I was paid to experiment in animation, so I had the resources to make a film on my own.



G: You’ve created many memorable opening title sequences for live-action films. This is an interest of mine and we’ve posted several such sequences. The sequence you created for Mannequin is a particularly strong memory for many filmgoers and in many ways defines the design aesthetic of the 1980s for people like me who are too young to really remember the decade. Your earlier shorts are very satirical in their presentation of the “me decade” and also predict the nascent 80s visual culture. Along with Haring, Lichtenstein, Nagel and others, your design sense—the particular colors, textures and patterns—has come to define the decade, at least in a nostalgic—perhaps revisionist— fashion. To what extent is the style of your 1980s work satirical, and to what extent is it an organic part of the cultural zeitgeist?

It's very odd to me that Mannequin was so influential. I was called in to do the titles because the plot line didn't hold together, and they needed to warm up the audience and explain how the girl got from ancient Egypt to contemporary Philadelphia. It was a tough sequence to come up with because I don't really like that parade of history kind of stuff- they wanted it to follow a time line with gags.

Ruthless People was much more exciting for me. I'd seen the "Memphis Design" style in books. It originated in Italy as I recall. The directors wanted to do a cavalcade of ruthlessness thru the years (sound a bit like the Mannequin idea, tho earlier?) but after I saw the rough cut and the decor of the film was all Memphis Design, which was very new then, I came up with the idea of titles designed in a Memphis style, and each credit treated ruthlessly. I heard that Mick Jagger, who sings the title song, hated the sequence. Thanks, Mick.

As far as the me decade, even in the 60's I thought hippies took themselves way too seriously, and was an outsider.



G. Doing research on animated title sequences for live-action films, it becomes apparent that animators are often not credited in either the main or end titles. While you seemed to avoid this problem, are there any high-profile animation jobs you were not credited for? Also, your sequence for Loverboy (1989) is not listed on IMDb. Are there are other projects of yours IMDb does not list? Did you have to push to appear credited for film sequences, and do you have any insight about why it was so hard for other animators to receive credit, either on celluloid or on the internet?

It's been a while since I fought those battles, but it was partly DGA and partly the studios. Front end credit wasn't allowed, and it couldn't say directed by because of DGA rules. I just looked at IMDb and see they have my Sesame Street pieces entirely wrong, and a number of other things are mixed up. I did titles for Greg Araki's Smiley Face but the timer must have been color blind because they look awful and not as intended. It's hard to change info on IMDb or Wikipedia. As I recall Wikipedia has better info on me but I haven't looked lately.

M: There seems to be a strong inclination to terrify the audience periodically with abstract imagery (i.e. Don't Go in the Basement and your work on Twilight Zone: The Movie). There's also the strong presence of reptiles throughout your work—what is it about these creatures that fascinates you?

Well I'm not such a white and fluffy person really. Right now I'm considering a praying mantis character as part of a strip for the Android phone.



M: You created a number of animated shorts for Sesame Street in the 90s. My favorite short that you produced for the show is “Beginning, Middle and End”. Aside from actually introducing core concepts of Aristotelian narrative, it's also just extremely fun and appealing. I want to ride a Pterodactyl taxi when I wake up! But was there anything you ever produced for Sesame Street that was cut due to content? How specific were the outlines for a particular short? How much creative freedom did animators have working for the show?

Arlene Sherman was the producer I worked with for Sesame Street and she was a wonderful person. So much creative freedom, unbelievable. She'd send a lyrics sheet, with a composer singing his own rough track. I'd do a storyboard and send it back. Very few changes ever. Then I'd do all the animation, shoot a pencil test and with approval, on to final coloring. I guess there were a few changes suggested but really very few.

G: You maintain a Youtube channel where many of your films are available. Other animators, such as the Chiodo Brothers, are doing the same thing. Having such a resource is incredible for those interested in the history of animation. Do you find that people are discovering your films for the first time through the internet? Aside from Youtube, is there a stable distribution system for avant-garde, experimental-narrative animated shorts in 2010?

I just sent off three crabby emails today to distributors who are renting my films and not paying me or in contract with me. But I actually think copyright is mostly over, you just have to accept it. The free content world. If peeps really like my work they'll buy the dvd because the quality is so much better. The audience that now seems to like my work the best is filled with Sesame Street graduates, who come to my youtube channel because of a childhood memory and then go through all the other films. They're so enthusiastic. But too many of them are studying animation as a major and expecting to make a living from that. Unless there's a great change in what we look at, the job they're most likely to get is teaching animation.

There's never been a stable distribution that pays money for short films since theatrical cartoons died out.



G: Finally, what are you working on these days, where can our readers find your work, and how can they contact you?

I made a video to the tune of "Night Owl" which I posted on Youtube. However, I got discouraged about doing videos with old tunes behind them when I don't have the rights. I had posted quite a few on BrightCove when that service still offered free space and better image quality. But even though the tunes I used were really obscure, BrightCove identified that they were not my property and removed the videos. Do you think it was software that does this?

Youtube is very serious and careful about not letting you earn money for any piece that uses music etc. for which you don't own rights. However, even the videos Youtube approved have yet to pay me a dime and it is incredibly labyrinthine trying to contact Youtube about where's the money!

My Youtube channel is laughingsal. I try to answer the comments people post there. Right now I'm playing around with code and a story for the Android phone. Bye!

RC Succession - I Like You (Video Only)

Music Tomato Japan

"Chart Topping Videos Being Air-played on the Superficial Adventure"



While writing about Dip In the Pool several weeks ago, I promised a focused article about late 80s/early 90s Japanese video-countdown show Music Tomato Japan. There seems to be little information about the show online, in English or Japanese. There are a few pages like this one, which collect videos recorded from the show, and dozens and dozens of videos on Youtube. Aside from this primary source material, I cannot find any historical information about the show.

In the promo bumper at the top of this post, the enigmatic host/narrator identifies himself as Michael Tamayuko (sp?), and references "Music Communication" as perhaps the parent or benefactor of "MTJ" and clarifies the "domestic music" focus of the show, which is the key feature that makes the program interesting to me, as it currently serves as a deep source for an era of music in Japan which is still woefully undocumented beyond the YMO and Idol galaxies.

This clip features the only original content aside from the narration I can find, a sort-of interview segment with the legendary RC Succession, featuring the band mugging and noisemaking, before introducing the "paradise track with satisfaction guaranteed" Michael T promises. "I Like You" Is a pretty phenomenal track, and the animated bits are fantastic. RC Succession are a unique group for MTJ, having a catalog and longevity rare in Japanese pop music. This video represents the very end of the band's run, as they split in 1991. Founding member Kiyoshiro Imawano deserves his own post, as a singular and endearing figure in the Japanese popular music scene, who sadly passed away just last year after a long battle with cancer.



Michael T's strange, perfectly enunciated yet stilted English is what really makes the presentation vital, with lines like "Chart-topping video selections, being air-played, on the superficial adventure", which he says at the intro to this Kawamura Kaori video. Kawamura also died in '09 from cancer, as it turns out.

While there are many many MTJ videos on Youtube, only a small number of the songs are very interesting. Predictably, most of the videos are from interchangeable Idol singers plugging into the specific tropes of broad genres (hair metal, acoustic rock, bubblegum etc.), although some of the weaker songs still have fine videos. The following clips are the best I've seen, as songs and as music videos.

Up first is this SOV clip from ZIG ZAG, 限界恋心 or Love Limits. My friend Carrie sent me this video a few months ago, and it's still my favorite. ZIG ZAG's other material doesn't live up to this bittersweet New Wave jam. The song, the sublime quality of the video--as in video tape--and Mike's enthusiastic narration at the start really hyped me to find out more about MTJ. There's a heart-warming emphasis on public service in Michael's plaintive, apologetic declaration of "If you haven't found any of your type, let us know right away!" The video itself, with its primitive digital effects, blown-out color palette, creepy-yet-playful voyeurism narrative and ambiguous conclusion, deserves its own focused post.



Here's another one with great video effects from Jadoes, a Tatsuro Yamashita-esque funky jam called "Friday Night". "Here are the Jadoes... Friday Night!"



"Sayonara, So Long" from D-Project is an austere, "high rise living" neon jam in the vein of mainstream American New Wave. Written for the 1992 CLAMP anime Tokyo Babylon, "Sayonara, So Long" is the type of song and video I wish available MTJ materials featured more of.



Finally, here's a really strange video from Nakagawa Katsuhiko, popular actor and musician (and father of contemporary Idol Shoko Nakagawa) whose name remains stamped in the middle of the screen for the duration, obscurring the abstract imagery of the video, which is mostly center-frame behind the NK brand.

"I have to leave now with today's final, hope you found the music you like, and always be aware of the latest from Music Tomato Japan. Closing out with Nakagawa Katsuhiko, 'Please Understand.'"

"IT IS THEIR FAULT. HERE ARE THEIR NAMES:"

This is the first segment on the tape for The 19th International Tournee of Animation: Volume 1. It's called Anijam, and it's an interesting collage piece. It stars a clown-like character named Foska going through a Bardo experience as he's twisted and tormented by a host of different animators. It's quite disturbing, mostly because Foska's pains and tortures are often voluntary - he knowingly puts himself in truly degrading and horrifying positions to entertain us (the bookend music in the segment, at the very beginning and during the credits, is a jaunty vaudeville piano tune).

Not all of the different scenes evidence this theme - some are purely surreal, hallucinatory exercises (such as Per Lygum's segment, which looks like a proto Win98 screensaver) and some exhibit fearlessly "bad" taste - Janet Perlman's sequence treats Foska's shit as a magical salve that can cause him to shrink or grow; there's obviously a sense of childish glee regarding some of the more disgusting acts Foska enages in. The scene directed by Brad Caslor is a neat little story which could easily be translated into a 4-panel comic; Foska is against a wall and is about to be hit by an oncoming truck. In his terror he takes out a pistol and shoots himself in the head. Most of the material exhibits such abandon; it's all for the sake of mobility. The end credits explain this further (in 3 languages, in a creepy silent blackout):

"ANIJAM WAS ANIMATED BY 22 ANIMATORS, EACH DOING A SEPARATE SEQUENCE. THE FIRST DRAWING OF EACH SEQUENCE, IS THE LAST DRAWING FROM THE PREVIOUS SEQUENCE. THE ANIMATORS DID NOT KNOW WHAT CAME BEFORE, OR WENT AFTER THEIR OWN SEQUENCE. THE ANIMATORS WERE FREE TO CREATE ANY ACTION THAT THEY WISHED. THEY WERE REQUIRED TO BEGIN AND END THEIR SEQUENCE WITH FOSKA. ANIJAM IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THESE ANIMATORS. IT IS THEIR FAULT. HERE ARE THEIR NAMES."

When I first saw this I recognized many of the animation styles immediately - I had seen their like on MTV and Nickelodeon (both of which used to prize original ideas and material, believe it or not). The "director" of Anijam, Marv Newland, had collaborated with many of these animators previously on commercials for those two networks. Sally Cruikshank, along with Keith Haring, defined the look of Sesame Street during the late 80's - early 90's. More than one worked on Heavy Metal. Some have had a steady career of nothing but shorts. Some took this opportunity to escape from their regular jobs working on children's cartoons to showcase their real talents and passions. It's an exotic collage of many different animators in different periods of their careers.

Being the first segment on this tape, Anijam works well to introduce the viewer to the core concept of The International Tournee of Animation. The Tournee began as a small show in a gallery in the LA County Museum of Art and grew from touring other museums and college campuses to eventually touring the U.S. and Canada via the Landmark Theaters chain and smaller arthouse theaters. According to Wikipedia, 50% of the gross ticket sales went to the producers and the other 50% was distributed evenly among the participating animators, which is an almost-unheard-of good deal for the various animators. The tour eventually grew to be such a success that a series of videos was produced which documented the best segments of each year, beginning with the 19th. Six volumes were produced in total: I've only seen the first tape.

Here's a complete listing of all the animators involved in making Anijam: Mark Kausler, Anne Chevalier, Zdenko Gasparovic, Max Bannah, Sally Cruikshank, Guido Manuli, Wayne Morris, Kaj Pindal, Hal Fukushima, Janet Perlman, Dieter Mueller, Frank Terry, Per Lygum, Paul Vester, Paul Driessen, Gordon Stanfield, Kathy Rose, Brad Caslor, Frank Nissen, Kazunari Furuya, Zlatko Grgic.

Dorothée

Came across this video of French personality Dorothée (real name: Frédérique Hoschedé), singing "Les Petits Ewoks" over footage from the 1984 Star Wars francise spin-off The Ewok Adventure (now called "Caravan of Courage").


Dorothée began her career in the 70s as a TV and film star, appearing in films by Truffaut, Resnais and Robert Enrico. She eventually moved away from film, concentrating on television and an successful singing career, hosting variety shows for children, including Club Dorothée, which ran for nearly a decade (roughly 87-97). While there are French fan sites for the show and for Dorothée herself, and clips on Youtube, there is little information availible in English. I assume that the video excerpts on Youtube are sourced from Club Dorothée, clips which seem obsessed with cartoon and comic media. Here is a music video from 1985 (before Club Dorothée, I think). It is illustrated, but I can't attribute an artist. There are several European pop videos from the 80s and early 90s where a similar format is employed, inserting video of the singer into comic panels. The story in Vive les vacances/"Gimme a Break" seems to concern some sort of traffic jam/ bad vacation-type situation:


Here's a song where Dorothée sings with The Smurfs (a Belgian creation turned American cartoon then translated into French?). One day I should write about a Czech (I need to make sure that's right, don't quote me) CD my friend bought at the flea market with Smurf parodies of The Fugees' cover of "Killing Me Softly" and other 90s hits). Anyway--this video employs a mix of comic panels and animation.


It looks like Dorothée actually recorded several Smurf/Schtroumpf-related songs, released as 7" records. Searches around the 'net and video sites will lead to more Dorothée content. She's still a presense in France, with a more conventional singing career. Many clips from Club Dorothée on Youtube link to French versions of many American Saturday morning cartoon shows, though it's hard to prove that she sang any of them, most feature several singers.

I haven't been particularly successful in finding many Dorothée songs/albums, despite her vast discography. I imagine that her fame in France keeps the Euro-pop mp3 blogs from posting her material, as many of the download links I've found are dead. Will update if I discover more.

Here's the music video for "Docteur".

Loverboy animated main titles

Found another title sequence animated by Sally Cruikshank (with Ted and Gerry Woolery), curiously absent from Cruikshank's Youtube channel and IMDb. She is listed in the actual film's end-credits, unlike some of the animators I've mentioned in previous posts. Note the Scritti Politti-esque theme from the group Giant Steps, which apparently was a big hit.

Who's That Girl? animated main titles

Here's another one, the title sequence for the 1987 Madonna vehicle Who's That Girl? Many animators are credited, it looks like each worked on different sections. The style shifts throughout. Animators include Bill Plympton, Doug Frankel (Garfield: His 9 Lives co-director), and Bob Scott (also credited as co-director of Garfield: His 9 Lives, animator on the Christmas Vacation intro).

Troop Beverly Hills animated main titles

Here's one from 1989 John Kricfalusi worked on. There are five other animators (all uncredited) including Simpsons animator and founding member of the band No Doubt, Eric Stefani, but the style is distinctly John K's.

SALLY CRUIKSHANK

I've been thinking about animated credit sequences in films. Turns out a few of the sequences I can think of are animated by the same person, Sally Cruikshank. Cruikshank maintains a Youtube channel with many of her shorts, collecting credit sequences (Mannequin, Ruthless People), Seseme Street segments, and her original shorts, like the amazing "Quasi at the Quackadero" (follow the link, embedding is disabled), which credits Kim Deitch as "Special Art Assistant," which illustrates the kind of crowd Cruikshank was running with.

I actually remember my friend renting a tape of animated shorts from a library in college which contained "Quasi's Cabaret Trailer".



I recognized the style from Mannequin and Ruthless People at the time, but until recently I hadn't done any actual research. Here is an excellent interview with Cruikshank from 1980. Note the amazing model sheets! Cruikshank's wardrobe and general attitude seem more in tune with the aesthetic universe of underground comics than animation, a notion supported by the domestic surrealism and social satire of the actual shorts, not to mention the ragtime music and simple yet expressive line style, which should remind of major strains in the underground scene of the time.

RE: My Last Post

Heard a play and mention of this here. Animation by the one and only Kyle Baker. Still thinking of other animated rap videos.

Cartoons Tupac and etc.

Originally titled "Sucka 4 Luv", "Do For Love" was the second single release from Tupac's first truly posthumous album, RU Still Down? (Remember Me). Tupac's death, of course, necessitated the need for creative video-making. Animation is a logical solution, as it can actually depict a deceased musician, as opposed to lyrics-inspired short films (the album's first single, "I Wonder If Heaven's Got A Ghetto" employs this strategy) and eulogistic montages.

I vaguely remember seeing this video in middle school. While at the time I had naively identified myself as an east coast/Biggie fan and not a west coast/Tupac fan, the animation style really appealed to me. The elongated, sinewy bodies, the fudged frame-count creating a jerkiness in the movement of figures, the diversions into primitive CG, the claymation, the strange moment where 'Pac becomes a bug-eyed anime figure housed between computer-window bars--a move which may be self-reflexive only out of necessity. While initial efforts to figure out who directed this video/what animation studio is behind it, are suprisingly and frustratingly useless, I can't help but try to define some of the few extant examples of hip hop animation/cartooning.



Of course Darryl Daniels' (AKA Joe Cool then and Supreme now) artwork comes to mind, as his iconic airbrush cover art for Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle album set the template. Finding info about Daniels online is also difficult, although images exist of his tee shirt designs and further art for Snoop:



Aside from more professional mainstream examples, Black hip-hop animation seems an neglected movement, unlike graffiti and clothing design. Parallels can be found in underground comics, and Lawrence Hubbard's cartoon 'hood-narratives seem like a rawer version of Joe Cool's illustrations. The bodies in the "Do For Love" video reflect the decade's general sketchy, angular rendering, the fashion of mainstream comics and animation of the time, from Peter Chung to Image Comics, and the work of Chaos Comics' Steven Hughes, whom passed away in 2000 after a battle with cancer.



While the general shape and placement of figures in space may reflect the 90s mainstream genre comic (and the "Do For Love" animation even sort of looks like the HBO Spawn series), the effect is simpler, more expressive and fluid, which places it in a distinctly cartoony zone, albeit with faces exhibiting the kind of short-hand, "That's just the way it is" humanity Tupac invested in his lyrics and delivery. I suppose the precedent is 1992's Bebe's Kids (director Bruce W. Smith went on to create The Proud Family television series), although delivered in an abstract, impressionistic style (note the Starry Night riff at the beginning), rather than the straightforward narrative and compartmentalized comedy and social-commentary found in Bebe's Kids (if such comparison between long-form feature animation and music video is even appropriate).

I feel like I'm pulling too many disparate threads together here. If any readers have any idea which studio created the "Do For Love" video, please let me know!

Early CGI Facial Animation (1972)