ASIFA-Colorado News"delivered to your doorstep!"Feburary 23, 2005Volume 3, Number 1 |
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New & NoteworthyBoard Excerpts Upcoming EventsFebruary March Thereafter Festivals & ConferencesOthers Non-SequitursMuch Ado about Mr. Magoo and Scooby-doo Too
Web Site:
International Web Site:
ASIFA/Colorado Volunteers and BoardDan A. Seely President
Carmella Rodriguez Treasurer and Business Manager
Kevin Ryan
Vice President of Marketing
Evert Brown Membership Chair
Judy Gardner Publicity Coordinator
Ed Desroches Communications Newsletter/Website
Mission Statement“ASIFA – Colorado was established in 2001 as a non-profit corporation devoted to cultivating and promoting the art, craft and profession of Animation. Together, our membership and Board of Directors are developing a far-reaching range of programs and special events to meet the following goals: Ř Stimulate discussion among professional and non-professional animation enthusiasts about concepts and technologies evolving in the industry. Ř Increase the visibility of Colorado Region animation companies available to serve the growing demand for commercial animation productions across the nation and around the world. Ř Establish a tradition of local, public events including seminars, panel discussions, special screenings, festivals and workshops devoted to more broadly acquainting the population with the power, diversity, and application of animation in all media. Ř Increase the connections between animation education programs and professionals in the industry. Ř Enrich the experience of animation students by bringing the diversity of the international animation scene to their doorstep.” To join ASIFA-Colorado: go to or send a check; $30 for Students, $55 for Professionals (payable to ASIFA-Colorado) to: ASIFA-Colorado 6585 W. 62nd Place Arvada, CO 80003 include your Name, Address, and phone number. Student include a photocopied id.
To find out more about the Animator's Workshop Group (AWG) for children contact: Ed Desroches
To contribute or volunteer contact: Evert Brown mailto://asifa-colorado@comcast.net
Comments, questions, articles and suggestions are always welcome. Reply-To: asifacolorado@yahoo.com |
New & Noteworthy· A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Mostly good. Don't skip this one, read on! · Send us your Shorts! Big news is that ASIFA-Colorado has started work on our own reel to send out internationally and let everyone know who we are what we've got! Check out http://www.asifa-colorado.org for more information and the participation agreement. Prizes included - don't miss this opportunity to be seen around the world. · The ASIFA-Colorado Board is changing! The board has decided to go for a more grass roots existence with a relaxed atmosphere at events and more member get-together. Watch for 'happenings' email from Evert! · Lots of events, including an International Animation Day costumed screening at the D-Note that was a huge hit. Also, there was a fireside chat at Judy's in December that included some animated discussion. Debbie Catalano came and spoke about effects, animation, Hollywood, and Lockheed Martin. Also, Spike and Mike's came and went with animations from local talent including Mighty Fudge's opener. · ASIFA-Colorado Workshops had completed a class for hand-drawn animation and is now starting up another course for claymation (ages 9-14), contact Ed at ed@imagescribe.com if interested in helping or sending a child. · ASIFA-Colorado is working on a grant with SCFD (Scientific and Cultural Facilities District at http://www.scfd.org) - basically we're looking for money so we can bring you more animation! · Look for a new magazine from ASIFA International in late spring. This new magazine will be published by John Libbey International and include more content and interest from the animation community. · T-Shirts will be available soon! Check our Products page on the website or contact one of the board members to order/reserve yours! Please note that if any of the projects that ASIFA-Colorado is working on interests you, feel free to contact any board member listed in the left hand column and let them know you'd like to help out! After all, this is about you! Upcoming Events· February 23th, 2005
Educator's Conference - Wednesday,
Februrary 23th at 7pm. · March 5, 2005
Children's Animation Screening - Saturday,
March 5th at 1pm. · March, 2005 donnie betts, Film Director - After recently completing a documentary on jazz singer Oscar Brown Jr. entitled Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress donnie betts will let us know about the film making process and using animation in films. Please contact one of the board members if you have a specific event you'd like to see or be involved with. Festivals & Conferences·
International Helen Victoria Haynes World Peace Storyboard
& Animation Scholarship Competition
· Spike
and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation
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Kalamazoo Animated Film International Non-Sequiturs·
Much Ado about Mr. Magoo and Scooby-doo Too When you ask children about animation they mention some of the cartoons on television or a recent movie they had seen. Most know nothing about animation but the commercial aspect – the stuff in their faces. When you ask adults about animation they may mention cartoons, Looney Tunes, movies, the same kind of stuff that children mention. Some, however, may scoff. Animation or cartoons is for kids, they say. And maybe they are right. Maybe today’s commercial animation is for kids. At least very little animation is being created without children in mind. But that’s not the point – the point is that people, both children and adults, know animation as an entertainment art. Hardly anyone, at least in the United States, thinks about animation as a fine art, as a training medium, as a forensic tool, as a source of visualization, least of all as an instrument towards education. Yet it is true, for children the creation of animation and education are a match made in heaven. Consider how animation is created. Someone has an idea. That idea is then transcribed to a script. The script is then visualized. The visualization is then broken down into fractions of seconds, called frames. Each frames is then rendered. Each rendered frame is then combined into a movie. Now let’s consider how that fits in with the development and education of a child. Creative Development – this may be a fairly obvious point. It is imperative when making animation to use creative skills and to delve deep into one’s imagination. This applies to many stages of animation, including the story development, the visualization process, and the actual animating process where animators must imagine and develop a character’s movements and attitudes. Social Development – unlike other artistic endeavors the animation process is more like an orchestra. Everyone working on a project must be kept aware of and work in tune with everyone else on the project. The backgrounds directly impact the character animation and the overall design. Each player must have a complete sense of teamwork in order for the animation to be completed successfully. Intellectual Development – here is where the animation process shines. I will break this topic down into further categories due to its breadth of coverage. Math – animations are broken down into fractions of a second and timing is a big part of animation. For this reason animators must understand basic math functions such as division, multiplication, addition, subtraction, fraction, the principles of time, geometry and more. Science – animation involves many scientific theories and principles including principles of visual perception and the laws and limitations of physics for movement, gravity, velocity and more. With animation the student may also get into computer programming – a process being used more and more in the animation realm to replace some of the tedious requirements in a movie. Animation requires very detailed studies of our natural world and oftentimes assists the scientific community in areas such as forensics and modeling. Language Arts – reading and writing is a definite necessity in animation as a story and script provides the basis for what is being animated. Typically an animator will learn about story structure, character development and the basic storytelling process. Arts – lastly, an animator learns and uses aesthetic principles of design and composition. Hand and eye coordination are used also, developing small motor skills. And, while not necessary, having a musical background always helps with animation for use in an animation and for a good sense of timing. Media Literacy – this is a new area for the world of education. Animation is very useful for this subject as it can be involved with all areas of media convergence. Animation can be filmed or digitized by camera or scanner or even directly in the computer. Editing of animation is now typically on the computer. And the display of animation can use many output formats including web, computer based CD-Rom or DVD and film or television. Leisure – not necessarily a development process that needs to be defined, however, it is important to note that animation is a fun activity. When children enjoy what they are doing they pay more attention and get more involved. Animation is something they will take home with them, fostering more family discussion and creativeness. Cultural Development – this is somewhat of an encapsulation of the other developments I mentioned. But the reason I bring it up is because animation allows children to have a direct impact on the cultural development of their political and social climate. Once they understand this they take a more active stand with the issues surrounding their culture. As we go through the various stages of learning that children are involved in from Kindergarten through High School we can see how they need the different development areas of animation to learn concepts and to utilize the full depth of knowledge afforded an animator. We need to look at different mechanisms to get the students engaged in the learning process and animation is a powerful mechanism. It is a mechanism that is contained fully in our vast mediums of today. And it is a mechanism that creates and entertains students to the point that a history lesson can become a presentation the children will not soon forget because they were involved in the creation of the history lesson and can now watch it and show it to family and friends. Today children may not know of Mr. Magoo and cartoons may be simple and sometimes ignorant. But think of the world tomorrow when the students are more aware of their media surroundings. Think of the complex and thought-provoking stories they would be able to produce. Think of a society where people have learned to work with others. Think of how fun the learning process can be with anyone able to assist in his or her own educational world.
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