Animated Events: Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo

Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo

So I'm posting this on the blog a little earlier than I normally would, hoping that it'll give everyone a couple extra weeks to make it to the Dragon Forest event at the Detroit Zoo.

First off, the admission to the Dragon Forest is an additional cost, in my case it was $6 for a single adult. Well worth the experience for the price I paid. After going through the first time, I went to lunch, walked around the zoo to gather photo and video references, then paid to go through the Dragon Forest a second time before I left for the day.

The elusive owlbear.

There were three separate types of displays: a couple were images posted on flat boards, solid statues (many of which accessible so that kids could climb on them), and full animatronic displays that could move (which were roped off so people wouldn't touch them).  

The Griffin
Made as a solid statue.

From what I could tell, all the 3d statues (solid and animatronic) had motion sensors that would trip when you got close, then they would play soundtracks: animals roaring, a dragon talking, etc. There was also a flower telling stories that was on a timer--more on that later.

The Basilisk (with motion sensor)

If you look at the photo above, you can see one of the motion sensors that would trigger the sound effects--it's the little black pole with the white sensor pointing towards the path (looks like an oddly shaped birdhouse).

They also camouflaged some of the speakers so they'd blend into the display, like the one pictured below that was molded into the shape of a rock.

The eleven year old kid in me was absolutely giddy as I walked through the display--fond memories of the time spent playing Dungeons and Dragons and daydreams of being the hero in Dragonslayer danced through my head.

The Wyvern

In addition to the many dragons, they even had a wyvern. It wouldn't be until decades later that I encountered a plethora of nerds arguing that the "dragon", Vermithrax Pejorative, in Dragonslayer was actually a wyvern since it's wings were attached to its frontal arms. 

Personally, I didn't care--back then or now--as I'm far more interested in the practical special effects used by Industrial Light and Magic to bring Disney's great wyrm to life. I love CGI and the many movies it's made possible, but there's just something special about practical effects be it the work of ILM or the films of Ray Harryhausen.

The Fairy Garden

Halfway through the display, there was a "fairy garden" with little cat-sized faerie dragon statues, larger-than-life toadstools, and stumps where kids could sit down for a spell. Every five minutes, this large flower would light up and recite stories from Aesop's Fables to the visitors.

One of several Faerie Dragons that were out and about.

They also didn't focus on one single region. There were fantasy creatures from Egypt, Borneo, and North America, among others.

The 'Western Dragon' was about as tall as a one-story house.

The Dragon Forest event ends on Sunday, September 7th, so if you're interested, I'd head down to Detroit sooner rather than later. If I lived closer to Detroit, I'd go back and see this display again. Even if I wasn't studying animated installations and displays, this would still have been a fun and worthwhile experience to have. Since all the animatronics appeared to run off of the same motion sensors, there wasn't much to puzzle out, but it was still a good learning experience.

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Animated Events: Butterflies and Lanterns, part 2

A month later, it was time to go back to Grand Rapids, pick up my paperwork, and wrap up business for the 2024 tax season. The butterflies at Meijer Gardens were gone, however the John Ball Zoo had opened up their annual Grand Rapids Lantern Festival to the public and boy did they step up their game! Much like prior events, there were static figures with elaborate lighting, basic animatronic statues that appeared to be on timers, as well as others that were triggered by sensors. Some of these used pressure plates on the walkways, still others were activated by motion sensors as we passed by. There were far more fanciful creatures and fantastic environments than last year. Inspired a lot of thoughts, mostly random, but there was a thread running through them all: animated installations and interactivity.

The Nine-Tailed Fox (Jiuwei Hu)

The Hou at night

All told, it was a fun event, though I highly recommend attending near dusk. I like to make two passes through the Zoo, the first when it's light so I can see the sensor mechanisms and a second when it's dark when those lights really stand out.

There are two other events involving animatronics going on right now for those who are interested, both of which I'm hoping to attend:

John Ball Zoo

The Power of Pollinators

July 14 - November 23

Detroit Zoo

Dragon Forest

May 24 to Sept 7, 9:30a.m. to 5 p.m.

After I got home, I started to go down the rabbit hole, researching one sensor activation technology after another--and how they could be integrated with animated installations. Fortunately I pulled back and only bookmarked a couple websites and books. Just don't have the time to dig into this tech right now. But hopefully soon. 

Prior to this event, I had been doing a little research on how museums could use QR codes (and some do) in order to link visitors to additional information on their works of art--or how it could be used for contemporary artists. As fate would have it, for the annual Free RPG Day event this year, Hoplite Games had implemented a scavenger hunt/dungeon crawl adventure that was created by Ninth Level Games. They were just letter-sized pages that described a location in the dungeon and offered clues based upon what decision the player selected. Only six locations but it was fun and showed a unique use of QR codes.

Getting back to animated installations, I'm afraid that I was a little early to the party at R.I.T. After I had graduated, Marla Schweppe had left the animation program and started a 3d digital design program that included some interactivity. Given how Riot Games has been integrating animation, live-action performers, augmented-reality, and advanced Pepper's Ghost (pseudo-holographic) tech into their yearly League of Legends Worlds competition event, I think Marla had a pretty clear vision of where the industry was headed. Wish I would've had the opportunity to take a couple of her classes dealing with interactivity and animation.

Clearly, my thoughts on the subject are all over the place.

My current plan is to see the Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo in August. I'll be interested to see how complex the statues are and how they leverage interactivity in their animatronics to enhance visitor engagement. 

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Animated People: Erik Timmerman

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Erik's lessons didn't stop when the class period was over. He would check in with us off and on during the week, even when we weren't taking one of his classes that quarter. 

I remember times when I'd be walking past his office and he'd call me in to chat. In addition to seeing how we were managing our classes and workload and thesis films, Erik would also take these small opportunities to teach his students outside of the classroom. I was in his office one day, just to check in. Erik quickly opened a web browser, called up a video and showed me the trailer for the upcoming feature film James and the Giant Peach. He then asked me what I noticed. I immediately picked up on what he was trying to show me: within every shot, the character's action would lead your eyes, your attention, to the starting point of the action in the next scene. Erik smiled, I assume confident that the lessons from my classes were sinking in. He pointed out a couple other things about movie trailers. And then the lesson ended and I was off to my next class.

Erik's lesson was made all the more timely when during the following year, Marla taught a stop-motion animation class. Halfway during the quarter, she brought in stop-mo animator Tom Brierton from Chicago to talk about his career and the industry. Tom showed up with a number of ball-and-socket "skeletons" from when he worked on James and the Giant Peach and a video of clips from the scenes he animated.

This month, I was invited to return to Central Michigan University and continue teaching a class in the animation department. As I continue to interact with students, these little lessons and examples from Erik, Marla, Jack, Skip and Stephanie keep coming to mind. Sometimes, I cringe when I look at a challenging student of mine and feel sheepish over my college years--wondering if that's how my behavior looked to them. Then I remember how they all handled these energetic, overeager students who were trying to make these little films about these stories that were deeply personal and deeply emotional--to us anyways. But with each class I teach, I've learned to welcome these memories. Thinking back about my professors, the grace and the patience they displayed, those memories are constant reminders of the kind of teacher that I want to be for my students.

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Animated Events: Butterflies and Lanterns, part 1

It was Spring and time for the yearly drive out to Grand Rapids to drop off my yearly taxes binder to my accountant. As always, my yearly pilgrimage yielded a wealth of butterflies and Chinese lanterns. On the initial trip, I spend an afternoon at the Frederik Meijer Gardens, hunting butterflies with my camera.

This year, the Meijer Garden's cafe played up the Butterflies are Bloomin' event with shortbread cookies.

And there were some really beautiful flower arrangements in the greenhouse and parlor rooms leading up to, and including, the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory.

This year though, I was in a different headspace. In prior years, I've spent copious amounts of time tracking butterflies, trying to find the correct angle, and waiting for them to spread their wings so I could photograph the vibrant colors. This time, I specifically focused on butterflies with their wings closed. A couple years back, one of my friends did this beautiful colored pencil sketch of a butterfly on a black background. Rather than the usual 'wings out' pose, this sketch had a butterfly with its wings closed. And the black background provided a nice contrast to the colors--they really popped off the page. It made me wonder if I was missing something special with my photographs. Well I wasn't disappointed, especially as this new perspective drew my attention to the shape and form of their wings in addition to some colors and patterns that I had overlooked. 

Tiger Longwing

Golden Helicon

Postman

Julia

Of course, I did nab a couple good photos of the butterflies in their 'wings out' mode when the opportunity presented itself.

Zebra Longwing

Postman

And there 'were' opportunities for the obligatory silly pics of butterflies.

* nom nom nom*

But I couldn't leave the venue without taking some photos and videos of the event's motion graphics projection for my class. Between Meijer Gardens and the DIA, I'm harvesting lots of good references where animation and live-action videos are being used to entertain and educate visitors. In my class, we cover a chapter on animation in the art world. Based upon the answers written in the final exam, installations and projections have been difficult concepts to get across to my students. So the more examples I can show them, the better.

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Animated Thoughts: Harryhausen, part 2

Well it was the last day of the Ray Harryhausen museum exhibit and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum flew in the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation curator Connor Heaney from the United Kingdom.

Connor brought with him a special documentary for the crowd, one that is only shown at events such as this one. It was around twenty minutes and covered Ray's history in film. He then talked about the foundation and the work that they do in preserving Ray's models, notes, and work product. It was, in a word, fascinating. I love hearing about the behind-the-curtains stuff--especially the tidbits about how the models were  repaired and the 3d scans that they're making of some of these cinematic treasures.

Next, Greg Kulon joined Connor for a panel discussion on Ray and his films followed by a Q&A with the crowd.

One of the fun things mentioned was about a commercial that Ray created... one that got banned in England. I promptly located it on YouTube.

For those that are interested in watching this presentation and panel discussion (minus the documentary), the Kalamazoo Valley Museum live streamed the event over YouTube and it's now available on their YouTube channel. If you have a little free time, it's well worth the watch--especially Greg's stories about the friendship he and Ray built over the years, the fan and the filmmaker.

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Animated Thoughts: Bakshi and Brenda

So for years now I've watched Ralph Bakshi dipping into his vault of production material and offering it for sale on eBay. I vividly remember being at Ottawa thirteen years ago when Ralph was brought in as a guest. Back then, I paged through a beautiful binder of cels and production drawings from his films like Hey Good Lookin', Lord of the Rings, and Wizards, all for sale. Sadly, they were out of my price range--at that time, I wouldn't be free from my student loans for another two years. Still, I kept an eye on his eBay account while slowly buying DVDs of his films for my personal collection.

Still patiently waiting for Spicy City to be released on DVD.

Well last month, Ralph pulled out a gem that I couldn't ignore: a production drawing from Wizards which was created and signed by Brenda Banks. Now back in February, I had noticed his post about this particular drawing on his Facebook account, so I knew to keep my eyes open over the following weeks.

As far as historians know, Brenda Banks may be the first African-American woman animator. And in a special features video on the Wizards DVD, Ralph states a few facts about Brenda and how they met, as well as some recollections about working with her--specifically her work on animating the Goons, these characters that we see in her production drawing.

So when it went live on eBay, I quickly bought the drawing and had it shipped to Michigan. Now when you buy a cel or a drawing, Bakshi Productions offers to have Ralph autograph them before delivery. But I politely declined, making the request that the drawing be delivered in as close to original condition as possible since I would be having it framed and using it as a visual aid in my animation history class.

Turns out, this struck a chord with Eddie and Liz Bakshi (Ralph's son and wife). Turns out Liz had attended Michigan State University back in the '60's and when she saw my Michigan address, she decided to do me a solid. Liz and Eddie took a couple photographs of the production folder from Wizards that contained the drawing I had just purchased. It had Brenda's name written on the front under "Animator"--a little something extra to authenticate its history.

A week later, the drawing arrived in a full-sized priority shipping box. Inside, it was sealed carefully between two sheets of cardboard which were taped to the box's interior in such a way that it wouldn't rattle around during transit. At Bakshi Productions, they really go the extra mile to ensure that these works of art from the history of animation arrive in mint condition. And there it was, under the Goons at the bottom of the page: Brenda's signature.

Why did I need this treasured piece of artwork in my permanent collection? In my animation history class, I have no small number of African-American women who want to be animators and graphic designers. When I talk about Brenda Banks in my class, they always sit up a little straighter and furiously scribble notes. I honestly don't know how many of them dig into Brenda's history after my class is over. And there's not a lot of information out there, Brenda was apparently a very private woman who seemed to prefer letting her body of work speak for itself. But I've wanted to have something special, something tangible on hand to inspire those ladies, something that would help connect them to their cultural heritage. I see how the other ladies in my class light up when I bring in an actual oil painting from Helena Smith Dayton (as far as we know, the world's first woman animator). So I hope that when I show them this production drawing in all its glory, it will inspire them not just to watch Wizards for the scenes that Brenda animated, but that they will be inspired to make their own artistic dreams happen, much like Brenda did.

Know your history. Find your voice. And tell your own story.

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Animated Shorts: Bøygen by Kristian Pedersen

I just learned that three months ago Kristian Pedersen uploaded her experimental animated short film Bøygen in its entirety.

It's been years since I saw this at the Ottawa International Animation festival, but it is still one of my favorites. Bøygen is a little under 6 minutes, but the motion, the shading, and the music are just esquisite. As I watch it, I see influences of Oskar Fischinger and Walther Ruttman in her work. Over years of attending animation festivals, experimental animation has grown on me and it's films like Bøygen that have inspired me to do more research into visual music and grow my appreciation for this form of filmmaking. Special thanks to Chris Robinson, Kelly Neal, and the rest of the crew at the Ottawa International Animation Festival for their continuing support of experimental animated films. I could put this film on repeat and watch it for hours on end. Hope you all enjoy.

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Animated Events: Ray Harryhausen in Kalamazoo

I gotta say, I know some great people. My friend Oren sent me a message on Facebook about an event in Kalamazoo that slipped under my radar. At the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, they brought in a special exhibit on Ray Harryhausen.

This production was a collection of movie posters from films he worked on as well as notes, storyboards, drawings, sculptures, and models he had produced over the course of his career.

I especially liked this one, where it diagrammed out his Dynamation process. Would've loved to have some of these drawings on hand when I explained Dynamation to my students in previous classes.

Now, the exhibit runs until the end of April--April 27th to be exact. So you've still got time to get down there and take in the sights. Best of all: entry into the museum (and the exhibit) is free! Though they do take donations at the front desk if you'd like to help support their efforts to bring cool stuff like this to the people of Michigan.

Skeleton Models from Jason and the Argonauts 
and 7th Voyage of Sinbad

The display cases were filled with treasures from my childhood memories, however, some of them were more recent memories: like these skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts. Every year, I show the skeleton battle from that film to my students. I never would've thought that I'd get the chance to see them first hand.

They also had another sketch of how the Dynamation process worked. I'm planning on integrating these photos into my class. A lot of my students struggle with understanding how Dynamation worked--especially the use of mattes. Every extra thing I can do to help them learn... I think I might use these drawings to make a scale model of Harryhausen's setup that the kids can look at.

Creating the Homunculus - Key Drawing
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, c.1971

Wow, seeing the Homunculus was such a good experience. I vividly remember watching the Golden Voyage of Sinbad on cable television back in the late '70's when I was a kid who loved to draw dinosaurs and monsters.

Model of the Homunculus
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, c.1972

Unfortunately it highlighted a weakness in my DVD collection. I've got some films like Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Jason and the Argonauts, Valley of Gwangi, and 7th Voyage of Sinbad, but I'm missing the rest of the Sinbad trilogy and classics like Mysterious Island and Clash of the Titans. Going to fix that soon.

Fortunately, Amazon has a good Harryhausen film collection on Blu-Ray and Clash of the Titans is affordably priced. Gives me something to save up for. Maybe by Memorial Day I'll do a Saturday "Creature Feature" marathon where I binge watch all three Sinbad films, Mysterious Island, and Clash of the Titans...

Speaking of which, initially, I was a little surprised at the scale of some of these models. The Kraken (below) was about the size of a small cat. But it makes sense. I once talked to stop-motion animator Tom Brierton about animating the robot models for Robot Jox and he said that the models were so big that it took him and several assistants to accurately move it from position to position. Now that I've had time to mull it over, it makes a lot of sense--finding that balance between the sets being too big and expensive to be practical and yet still having a model that is easier to manipulate. There's a lot to ponder and learn here.

Model of the Kraken
Clash of the Titans, c.1980

If you do end up attending the exhibit, take a moment to look at the book that Ray's daughter, Vanessa, published. It's a thick, coffee table-size book filled to the brim with stories about Ray and photos of Vanessa's favorite items from the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation's collection--many of which were on display.

After perusing the book at the museum, I had to have a copy for my personal library, so I snagged one of the last ones on Amazon. Have already done a little digging into some of my favorite films but plan to do a deep dive into the tome before going back to Kalamazoo. This exhibit is worth multiple visits. 

Hare and Fox Puppet Heads
Fairy Tales (The Tortoise and the Hare), c.1958

While I took tons of photographs during my trip, I really just want to share enough to whet your appetite. You really need to see this exhibit in person. Ray Harryhausen was one of those giants upon whose shoulders modern stop motion animators stand--and a lot of 3d CGI animators as well. The legacy he left behind is well worth serious study for any student who wants to become an animator.

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