Post 596 - Another Extension checking for timing and color balance

 At least it's up to 1865!  Need to cover 1866-2023 in 23 seconds!

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Take Two!

Post 595 - Pencil Test - Extension of A Different Sequence - Version 1 - Next step on Post 596

Always find just another thing to add - checking for color balance with this one... 

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 594 - Test for Framing and BG Balance Before Edit - Take FOUR!

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 593 - Writing a Village History or Sesquicentennial Book? Some Suggestions

Putting the Story in HiStory - Building the Tale of Your Small Town

This is a photo of Edmore. Michigan, ca 1895.  But it could be any small town of that era.

 

While going through various celebratory books about small towns, I am struck how often the authors presume that their current situation will be The Forever Status of their hamlet, and that Everyone Will Remember Who this is, or What That was, or the Businesses that are here today are likely gone tomorrow, but everyone will remember these details 50 years from now.

To this I say, "Get over yourselves, people!"  Historical documentation is getting aggressively shredded every day, and even a digital record is going to be wiped out with a magnet or an "improved" software that cannot replicate functions from DOS 6.   High school grads in 50 years won't have a yearbook to review, yet alone laugh at. 

Because of that, I offer this Outline Template for those aspiring to create a history of their little corner of heaven and preserve it for the years to come.

Spoiler Alert - it takes TIME and EFFORT

A.  Basic Questions (these will be the permanent start to the book - later editions can build upon this, but this is the part of the book that should remain pretty constant):

- Why is your town here?
- Who laid things out?  Where were they from?  Did they stay?  Did they move on?  Were they "carpetbaggers" (came in, set things up, made money, left)
- How did it get its name?
- Where was the railroad?  Where was the land route?  Water route?  
- Can you obtain a plat map of before/after the town was created?
- Do you have the earliest "map" of the town?

What was the first
    - saloon
    - "opera house"
    - general store, drug store
    - church
    - cemetery
    - school
    - industry

- First families - who are the buildings named for in the town, who was the first "rich guy," the first doctor, druggist, barkeeper, general store manager, postmaster
- Boom years - why and how did the town grow?
- Bust years - don't be coy - sometimes a town shrinks and vanishes - share the lesson for others
Braggadocio and Scandals/Disasters? (fires were pretty common pre-WWI) - did the mayor run off with the school ma'rm?  Did the town have a fit about all these new-fangled railroads and push to have it go to another town so "they'd have peace and quiet" (and become a ghost town)

B.  Current items (which can be changed as time "wears on")
    - families
    - businesses
    - churches
    - schools

C.  Process
- Get the stories transcribed first, then work on the text of the history before worrying about the layout.
- Gather all the visual, and LABELED, documentation that is possible.
- If there was a newspaper for the town, or of the area, look at and copy any earliest documents, especially as they pertain to any of the categories above.
- Take as many photos as possible, in as high a resolution as possible - "600 dpi" should be the minimal criteria.
- Create an INDEX to the contents.
- Create a list of all contributors and as much contact info as they feel comfortable in sharing - it can be their history, too, after all.

Assemble carefully with the text guiding you.  
Use CAPTIONED photographs - credit year, location, individuals in the photos.  If nobody has an idea, don't put it in the main text, save it as an appendix, "The Mysteries of... (insert town name here) Don't pepper your narrative with unidentified photographs.  NOBODY WILL KNOW WHAT THEY'RE ABOUT IN 10 YEARS.

Once the text and layout have been completed, save the *.doc file, and then convert to a *.pdf for general review and comment.  

At first, don't print the completed book beyond test copies - use the copies as fundraisers to have the entire volume published.  Get extra copies for your museum/society/friend's attic.  Amazon has a publishing arm, and you can get five copies, duly marked as NOT FOR SALE, for a low price to check your progress.

D.  Assistance
Enlist high school and junior college students in sociology, history, journalism, graphic design - they'll do a lot of amazing things for credit in the project.  It'll also help the students gain an appreciation for the area's history. AND GIVE THEM CREDIT IN THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SECTION!

Have an English teacher proof it over – again, useful connections at high school and junior college levels.  Those sites will be the long-term repositories of your final opus.

Check the area and the state historic society - or the state library - there may be history preservation monies available.  

NEVER GET TERRITORIAL - HISTORY IS NOT PROPERTY - WHATEVER IS NOT SHARED IS LOST - cooperation with larger, recognized entities will give the project credibility for fund raising - anything extra can go toward museum projects!

Any local businesses wish to help?  Give them a page-size thanks at the end for their patronage.

E. Continuing the Story
Make a plan for an update every 5-10 years (more likely, 10-25, but be optimistic).  Nothing is etched in stone, and even stone can't keep its story forever.  You can keep the first section unchanged - just update the "newer" portion(s), unless some shocking truths reveal themselves.

Now play nice with each other, and preserve some history.

 

Post 592 - Oozy Discomfort - Pencil Test

 (c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 591 - Acoustically Poifect!

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

 

Post 590 - Some Meaningless Doodling

This, and other pointed remarks, (c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary, use with permission, s'il vous plait.

 

Post 589 - Some Copyright Observations

 Disney and Extending Copyright - Some Recent Examples

A few years ago, there was a vinyl picture-disc release of the soundtrack to Steamboat Willie, a soundtrack originally slated for the public domain in 2028.  However, not this particular performance of that soundtrack - there are some subtle "adjustments" to this recording, notably a clean up from the Powers Cinesound system of the late 1920s.   Anyone trying to use this particular performance could be visited upon by the Disney legal team, a notoriously humorless bunch of litigators.

Sticking to the same film, Disney + has a "tribute" to Mickey among its recent streaming specimens, in his "new" iteration called Steamboat Silly.  In it, the "new" Mickey releases the 1928 black-and-white Mickey while showing a home movie - which is riddled with re-drawn scenes from Steamboat Willie.  So, again, when 2024 arrives, the same legal dream team can sit on the front stoop of anyone making use of the original Mickey, claiming that it is making use of this recent version of the film, which will be under copyright until 2119 (96 years for "published works").

National Museum of American History

 

from Cartoon Research

Silly Symphonies, anyone?  Well, the classic 1929 Skeleton Dance  has already gone through several variations from its 16mm EmGee film license, to VHS, to DVD, before this new streaming version on Disney +.   The original release had a silent opening credit, then it was "modernized" with a faux intro music (that jarred against the actual soundtrack when it kicked in), then with an adjusted frame size to make it "authentic," then back to the silent opening for the Disney + production.  Each soundtrack version  represented a new "performance," with a 100 year long copyright attached.  In addition, the new streaming version of Skeleton Dance has been given a digital cleanup, balancing contrast and flicker, cleaning the soundtrack, and even adjusting a sequence where the original film had the performing skeleton move off register from the background.  Again, each of these versions represents a "new performance," and performances (ie, soundtracks) qualify for the 100 year copyright.  The cleaned up visual version, as "published material," qualifies for 96 years.

This follows the production practice of Disney, from its VHS versions onwards, to not identify the copyright year of the film on the packaging - then it was to obscure the age of the movie ("1938! Eeuh! Old movie! Eeuh!"), but it also turned out effective to obscure when that film would be in the public domain (even with all that care, The Mad Doctor and Minnie's Yoo-Hoo slipped through the cracks) (people lost their jobs over that one, I'm sure).

So, if anyone is chomping at the bit to use these films, it'll be necessary to be certain that the 1928 and 1929 versions, specifically, are the source.  Or, creating a different version, with a documented trail of production of drawing, rendering and artwork, will likely get past the realm of DisneyLaw.  I suggest using a headless chicken, dressed and ready for Sunday dinner, piloting a tugboat.  Have something like that whistle, and theater-goers will pack the aisles!

The ultimate irony of all this is that, had any of these current copyright laws been in place in 1928 or 1929, the musical cues that Walt, Ub, and Carl employed for these groundbreaking films would not have been in the public domain.  

What a whirl'd.

Post 588 - Pencil and Timing Test - Every Day is 1846

Eighteen layers of stuff going on here.  Even the newspaper in the background, from The Archives, is from 1846:

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary

Post 587 - Benny Flies! - Pencil Tests

Some randomness -  #1

#2 - color added

#3 test for motion

All (c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 586 - Benny Gets a New Ride!

Moral of the story - never throw any sketches out!  (c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

 

Post 585 - Some Silent Noise

 Another GIF "pencil test" for an effect:

And test B:

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 584 - Bragging Rights

 And a chance to play with some masks, some dissolves, some Photoshop, and some sumpthin'

Now to make a six minute film to put in front of it!

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 583 - Preludium to Any Final Resume - Let's Prefer a "Curriculum Vitae"

From compounding potions in sterile air,

To worlds when colors dance upon the screen -

A departure from a path so linear

To realms of art, where dreams are pristine.

No longer bound by formulae and pills

I trade the mortar and pestle's chore

For brushes, pens, and digital skills

To weave enchantment, woven to unbore.

With every stroke, imagination soars

As stories unfold, vibrant and alive,

In animated motion's boundless shores

Where creativities, encapsuled, thrive.

Farewell, pharmacy, with platitudes depart

Embracing this journey, a work of heart.

-- Burma Shave

Post 582 - More Archival Photos - 1983, Filming "Alpha"

Paper cels, adapted copy stand, and Super 8mm silent Bolex 160

Pretending to feel comfortable in an unconditioned kitchen in July

"This ain't no party/This ain't no disco/This ain't no foolin' around..."

 

Corner office - typewriter, contemporary maps, homemade light table, Elmo editor

A bit heavy on the earth tones in the "filming studio"

Multiple layer paper cel setup - Alpha

And, if you crave the eventual outcome - here's the link to "Alpha" PRESS ME! PRESS ME!

Post 581 - Now for Some Dangling Furniture!

 Progressions...

Oh it's time to dance now!

And a first render for adjustment:

 

And take two:

 

 

And THREE!

 

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 580 - Flashback Comment on "Inside-Out" from 2015

 

Regarding "Inside Out" (from a 2015 notebook)

 

I attended a two-day Pixar "masterclass" seminar in Toronto a few years back, and have just finished reading an extensive analysis on the Pixar methods in Jonah Lehrer's book, "Imagine," where committees gather for long breakfasts to dissect seconds-long shots frame-by-frame. "Inside Out" suffers from that sort of over-thinking. 

The technique and craft are there, almost shockingly realistic during moments in the girl's hockey game, but soooooo much effort is spent for us to "understand" the character of internal Sadness, so much that Sadness starts sucking the life from the story:  it takes cutaways to what the parents' minds are processing to slice some of the melancholy and pre-pubescent angst out of the air. 

There are many possible setups in the school scenes to explore - the cliques, the classroom - but this "What Dreams May Come" for tweens provides slow-motion crumbling of personality islands and repetitive starts and stops in the story instead.  And with everyone seeking out the "central control" (like some rogue agents from "24"), they miss that the workers sucking up unnecessary memories have a direct line to their destination, about halfway into the film!

Some of the musical choices seem committee-determined as well, with "It Only Takes a Moment" creeping out of the background (another "Hello Dolly" reference? A "Wall-E" connection from some trending internet flowchart?). Emotionally, it tugged the right strings, but "Inside Out" seemed a LOT longer than its 94 minutes.  But why should we care so much about Sadness, and why should a company whose entire product and apparent mission seem to be about imagination have a subplot that celebrates the loss of an imaginary friend from childhood?

And, as if to confirm my suspicions, just before the final credits came a collection of scenes visualizing the emotions of some background characters and even a few random animals -- and then, suddenly, briefly, and after an hour and a half, I finally experienced a Pixar movie.

 

 

Post 579 - Home for Buster! The Film's Ready for its Close Up

Coming soon to a festival or screen near you!
 

More Information - Press Here!

Post 578 - Well, so much for the assistance of AI

The Original Image - The Subsequent Prompt:  "Have Benny reach for the camera negative."

 The consequences of that request:

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

 

I'll stick with the paper tablet for now...

Post 577 - Trying to Salvage Old Files

It may just need a complete do-over.  Trying to make use of scans from the days of "hand scanners" and Win95.  Here is test #1 (silent):

 

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

 Take two - "the next morning" --

 And with a "projector effect" worked into it:

And even that received a "do over" the next morning!

 

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

(A heated exchange followed)