Anime from 1917

Check out this anime from all the way back in 1917 before everything they did looked the same. Before all the eyes got huge and before even the men looked like women.

… Long before it became known as anime, early Japanese animators honed their craft, producing cartoons that were both fascinating and fun. And you can watch them for yourself, reports the BBC, thanks to a new website celebrating 100 years of Japanese animation.

The site is the brainchild of Japan’s National Film Center, which celebrates the country’s long and rich film history as part of Japan’s National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. And it contains plenty of eye candy, even for those who mistakenly believe that Japanese animation begins and ends with “Sailor Moon,” Astro Boy or Spirited Away.

9 Story Media Group Acquires Worldwide Rights to Iconic Series GARFIELD AND FRIENDS

Garfield

9 Story Media Group Acquires Worldwide Rights to

Iconic Series GARFIELD AND FRIENDS

Toronto, Canada – May 25, 2016 – 9 Story Media Group announced today that it has acquired Garfield and Friends, the classic animated series from Mendelson/Paws Productions.  The deal includes the fullGarfield and Friends library, which consists of seven seasons (121 x 30’) along with twelve specials and two direct to video titles. 9 Story has secured exclusive worldwide rights across all languages and platforms and plans to remaster the classic content to an HD format.

Produced from 1988-1995, Garfield and Friends is based on the iconic Garfield comic strip created by Jim Davis.  Syndicated in 80 countries and translated into 42 languages, 220 million people read the comic strip each day. The Garfield brand boasts 400 licensees across 5,000 products and has earned over 17 million fans on Facebook.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Garfield and Friends join the growing 9 Story library,” said Natalie Osborne, Chief Strategy Officer for 9 Story Media Group. “Garfield is one of the most beloved and iconic characters of all time, and the classic television series will continue to delight audiences for generations to come.”

“This is the first time we’ve awarded the rights to a single distribution partner who will handle all markets and all platforms.  We’re very excited to see how the library performs, particularly given the opportunities in digital,” said Jim Davis.  “We are sure the classic TV library is in good hands with 9 Story. “

9 Story Media Group Inc. is a leading content creator, marketer and distributor of kids & family focused intellectual property. Recognized around the world for best-in-class brands such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, Wild Kratts, Numb Chucks and Peg + Cat, 9 Story represents over 2,150 half hours of animated and live action programming, seen on some of the most respected international channels and platforms.  With one of North America’s largest animation studios, 9 Story employs over 275 creative and production staff in its Toronto facility and has produced over 900 half hours of award-winning children’s content. Last year 9 Story acquired the award winning animation studio Brown Bag Films, which employs over 175 staff members across Dublin, Manchester and Los Angeles.  Brown Bag is recognized for producing leading animated children’s series such as Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, Bing andHenry Hugglemonster.  9 Story is owned by senior management, ZMC (Zelnick Media Capital) and media entrepreneur Neil Court.  www.9story.com

 

About Garfield:
GARFIELD was born on the comics pages on June 19, 1978. The creation of cartoonist Jim Davis, GARFIELD is a humorous strip centered on the lives of a quick-witted orange cat who loves lasagna, coffee, and his remote control; Jon Arbuckle, his owner; and Odie, a sweet but dumb dog. GARFIELD was introduced to the world in just 41 newspapers and is now the most widely syndicated comic strip ever, appearing in 2100 newspapers. The strip, distributed by Universal Press, is read by over 220 million people each day and is translated into 42 languages.

The success of the comic strip spawned an entertainment empire including television: Garfield and Friends, The Garfield Show, and a dozen primetime specials; movies: Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties; hundreds of best-selling books, and thousands of licensed products.

Garfield has long been considered an evergreen property because he has not only endured, but continues to be fresh and funny after 38 years in the limelight.

Follow Garfield, along with over 17 million other fans, on Facebook (facebook.com/Garfield) and Twitter (twitter.com/Garfield), and visit garfield.com, and Garfield’s free educational site, professorgarfield

The History of Animation pegs in the USA

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Print Magazine Online has a fascinating article about the history of the animation pegbar complied by the very famous animator J.J. Sedelmaier who’s animated many many of your favorite classic cereal commercials as well as the season premiere of Beavis and Butthead. We interviewed Mr. Sedelmaier a few years ago so you can check that out too here, if you like. Anyway if you’re an animation history nut, you won’t want to miss this!
From the article:

The drawing/image registration process is a fundamental aspect of film animation. If the images that are animated don’t have a shared foundation with each other, the movement that’s created by the animator has no common relationship with the background or the viewer’s point of view—it just doesn’t work. It was John Randolph Bray who established and patented the peg system of registration in 1915. For almost a century, folks working in animation production have used paper, pencils, various designs of lightboxes, and pegged drawing discs to do their craft, and within this world of registration there were several standards. In New York there were pegs by Acme (a small round hole with two thin slots on either side), Oxberry (a small center hole with wider slots on either side), Signal Corps (close to Oxberry but closer to three round holes) and Fleischer/Famous/Terrytoons (three round holes). California/Hollywood seemed to hover in the world of Acme, but Disney (which switched over to Acme 20 years ago) had paper that was also punched with two sets of holes—one for the animator and one for the Ink and Paint Department. This allowed for less stress/damage on the holes and thus better registration. It’s only been within the past decade that this conventional process and this sort of equipment has proven to be on its way out.

You can read the entire article here.

‘The Iron Giant’ gets a collector edition Blu-ray this Fall

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Engadget is reporting details on the soon to be released Iron Giant collector edition Blu-ray slated for this Fall!

From the site:

Last September, the animated classic The Iron Giant returned to US theaters as a “Signature Edition” with high definition visuals and two additional scenes. Warner Bros. has now confirmed a Blu-ray release for this fall, as well as an “Ultimate Collectors Edition” that includes a few extra goodies. For $74.99, you’ll get the “Signature” cut and the original theatrical release, both in high and standard definition. There’s also a documentary on the disc called The Giants Dream, which gives a “definitive” look at how the 1999 classic was put together.

Read the whole article here.

Deja View: Lady & the Tramp Art

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Interesting article up on Andreas Deja’s blog site Deja View with some Lady and the Tramp art…

An animation colleague of mine said this about the film Lady & the Tramp: “Oh, it’s just a soup opera with dogs. Boy gets girl, boy looses girl, boy gets girl in the end.”
Be that as it may, I think the movie’s story is compelling and in support of rich characters. I remember listening to a Walt Disney interview, in which he said this about the film: “Lady & the Tramp turned out well. We felt it, we felt the personalities.”

Check out the entire article on Andrea’s blog here.