Animated Thoughts: My Love Affair with Marriage

Well, I saw My Love Affair With Marriage at the Flint Institute of Art. Having done promotional work on both of Signe's features, it's a real rush to sit in the theater and see the final product--even moreso to see your name in the credits as one of the financial backers of the film. And I have to say it was a very enjoyable movie, but more than that, it was very thought provoking. Given the litany of "advice" family and friends have given me about marriage over my lifetime, I spent more than a little time pondering issues raised by the movie on the drive home. 

Though one initial question that crossed my mind as I walked out of the theater was related to how Signe puts a lot of herself into her films. In her animated short the Dentist, Signe drew upon her experiences having some dental surgery in order to create a spine-tingling film. In Birth, she drew upon her experience of becoming a new mother and how advice given isn't always as helpful as one would hope. In watching My Love Affair With Marriage, I do have to wonder how many of the situations Zelma found herself in were drawn from Signe's own life experiences... or drawn from experiences related to her by family and friends?

For me though, My Love Affair With Marriage raised some very interesting (uncomforable?) situations as it confronted the stories we are told about marriage. For example: how you are not a complete person without someone there to complete you. Or how we over-romanticize marriage and childrearing while ignoring the realities of said experiences. Now I'm not anti-marriage or anti-children, far from it. I'm a big supporter of both if for no other reason than how families can add stability to society and children provide for society's longevity. But oftentimes, being married and having children is portrayed in culture as the be-all and end-all of the human experience and your existence is empty and meaningless if you're single--a concept that I've been striving against for the better part of my life.

The very real question that I've been pondering lately is: is the desire to get married something that you want for yourself or do you only feel that desire because it's "expected" of you?

And that's where I found myself as I watched Zelma's trials and tribulations as she wandered through life as a single woman then life as a married woman. Throughout this film, Signe asked the questions and confronted the sacred cows of marriage and the decision to have a child (or not) in a very entertaining fashion--but without fully answering them, always leaving room for speculation based upon your personal experiences.

As always, Signe does a masterful work of weaving the triumphs and failures of the human experience into very interesting and engaging characters who leave you wanting more. Despite all the difficulties she faced through childhood, adolescence, and finally adulthood, the film struck this hopeful tone as Zelma walked a path towards finding peace in her relationships. As Zelma grew, I wondered if maybe she would realize that she doesn't "have" to be married in order to live a life filled with meaning and purpose--a realization that many of us single people look for: that particular moment of clarity when you really start living and enjoying your life in the moment instead of chasing after some highly-romanticized vision of the future that society says you must have. Or maybe marriage "was" the key to happiness for Zelma after all, once she finds the right person with whom she can share the rollercoaster of life. Maybe her personal happiness could only be found in sharing her life with another person and it would take her a series of failed relationships to finally grow into the person she needed to be in order to share her life with someone else? I'll leave it up to you readers to watch the film for yourselves and see how the story ends for Zelma... or maybe doesn't end as perhaps every apparent end for Zelma is just the beginning of another chapter in her story (including the ones we don't get to see). Regardless, after the movie ended, I did have the feeling that it would be nice to check in with Zelma in about five or ten years and see how life turned out for her. For by the end of the film, Zelma felt like less of a character in a story and more like a friend or a family member who you only saw every couple of years but pick the friendship right back up where you left off. 

As one of the Crowdfunding backers, I'm really looking forward to receiving my copy of the film and watching it again since I not only enjoyed the story but I also really enjoyed the visuals in this movie. I was very drawn to the segments where the neuron narrator "Biology" (expertly voice acted by Michele Pawk) ran us through these mini documentaries detailing how the brain matures and processes emotions through biochemical networks before the film went back to Zelma's external story. Then there were the many examples of Signe's "digital setback camera" process--a digital evolution of Max Fleischer's setback camera setup that I wouldn't mind trying myself someday.

Signe continues to push the bar on her personal work as My Love Affair With Marriage added a large number of musical numbers to the feature. And while this film is drawn in her own signature visual style, you can see Signe pushing her drawing and animating skills forward and improving in both the 2d rendering of her human characters as well as the more abstract figures she presented in the neurological characters and processes seen in the microscopic brain sequences.

All-in-all, Signe has added another interesting and entertaining film to the growing pantheon of adult-oriented animated features and is well worth a look, whether you want to be inspired or if you just want to be entertained. Given how approachable and relatable this film was to my own experiences with interpersonal relationships, I can't wait to see what concepts Signe decides to tackle for her next feature.

If you'd like to know more about Signe's process, I highly recommend watching the following presentation she gave at the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor screening of her film. Additionally, she's got some wonderful  production process pages on her website: https://www.myloveaffairwithmarriagemovie.com/ where she covers the setwork, animation, and also shows some presentation and interview videos--great stuff for the aspiring animator. Embedded below is the Penny Stamps lecture series video from University of Michigan.

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* Images used in this blog post are provided by Signe's website/press/presskit and are copyright Signe Baumane

Animated Events: My Love Affair with Marriage

Signe Baumane's latest feature film My Love Affair With Marriage is here in Michigan.

If you'd like to see this film, the next screening will be in Flint, MI at the Flint Institute of Arts.

Screenings are:

• Friday, Feb 16 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb 17 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Feb 18 at 2:00 p.m.

You can purchase tickets online at: https://flintarts.org/events/films.

And you can learn more about My Love Affair With Marriage at the film's website: https://www.myloveaffairwithmarriagemovie.com/.

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Animated Thoughts: Unexpected Treasures

I like to go to conventions, even if they're not specifically about animation.

Having collected comic books since the mid-70's and having been a gamer for almost as long, every time I see a comic book convention or a gaming convention or an anime convention, I usually take time to look at the line-up on their website or social media page. Even though I rarely attend most cons and festivals (gotta stick to that monthly budget), I find it worthwhile to keep an eye on the events just in case that rare opportunity rears its head--like the time I learned that Natasha Allegri was attending the Midwest Media Expo and giving presentations on her animated show Bee and Puppycat. Or the time that Youmacon had a panel discussing the byzantine copyright and trademark status of the King Kong intellectual property. Or when I learned that Bobby Chiu's Schoolism.com enterprise was bringing Brenda Chapman and Kevin Lima to Toronto in order to talk about their careers.

Well one of the additional benefits of attending conventions is having the opportunity to meet some vendors that specialize in animation art. After a multi-year hiatus, I finally made it back to the Motor City Comic Con in Novi, Michigan (just outside of Detroit). And who should be there with their booth of animation production drawings and cels? Art-Toons!

I first met Daniel and Mary Anne Ergezi years ago at the Grand Rapids Comic Con and spent way too much time hanging around their booth perusing their selection. I didn't have the cash on me at the time to pick out some of the original painted animation cels from their Heavy Metal collection, but I did find a bunch of Giant Robo cels and drawings closer to my budget that made it into my personal collection of animation art.

There are other vendors out there at the cons and on eBay, but I keep coming back to Art-Toons primarily because of the breadth and the quality of their selection. On any given visit to their eBay store or their vendor's booth, I'll find cels and production drawings from both classic and more recent anime shows, American animation from movies, television, and commercials, and especially those hard-to-find animation cels from animated films geared towards adults--like Heavy Metal and Cool World. In my experience, these are some of the more difficult ones to find for an affordable price. Ralph Bakshi has his own eBay store and is selling the cels and drawings from his movies for a premium price (assuming they're from his private collection). Not that they're not worth it, mind you, but they are rather expensive. And much like Bakshi's films Cool World, Fire and Ice, and Wizards, decent production cels and production drawings from the Ivan Reitman produced film Heavy Metal are becoming harder and harder to find.

As time moved on and a lot of these older drawings and cels got bought up by private collectors, I rapidly found myself in a situation where if I really, really wanted to have an original Heavy Metal cel or drawing in my collection, I had to make a move sooner rather than later. So, when this production drawing of Taarna showed up in their selection, I nabbed it. Given that she's this strong, sexy swordswoman, Taarna is one of the more difficult characters from the movie to find in original cels or drawings. Now, don't get me wrong, you "can" find them from time to time, but they are often prohibitively expensive given her popularity and based upon the quality of the cel/drawing. And they are often smaller renderings of her--like when she's in a walk cycle scene and they're simulating a long shot through a movie camera. This makes her only two or two-and-a-half inches tall. Not a big deal if it's a painted cel against a background. Less impressive if it's just a production drawing or cel with a lot of empty space around her. As I write this, there's actually a pretty good production drawing of Taarna on eBay for $250 plus shipping and a painted cel of her for $400. But most others I've seen are in the $500 to $1500 range, especially if they have a certificate of authenticity. Ah, if money were no object. As you can see from the picture below, the production drawing of Taarna that I got was one of the better ones out there!

HEAVY METAL, 1981

TAARNA production drawing

Re-grouped after her savage treatment, she is about to re-dress.

Strong lines with red wound lines, blue underlying pencil, shading.

Well anyways, while I love the visual quality of the painted cels (especially when they have backgrounds--original or reproduction), I honestly like the production drawings better. These are the items that I'm really drawn to (no pun intended). This is mainly due to the fact that through the progression of several drawings in a shot or through the production notes scribbled in the margins, you gain valuable insight into the production process that you don't get through books or videos. 'How-to' books and 'Making-of' videos rarely provide a lot of the nuances in the production process that may seem mundane to most people but in actuality convey some snippet of very important information that the animators need to see or instruct the people in the next step of production. For example, if you look at the images below (which can be viewed on the eBay auction by vendor "collect_this") you can see what I'm talking about. 

On this production drawing, Taarna is attacking with her sword. In the first image, you can see that there are good solid pencil lines defining her form as well as internal details. Additionally, we see some blue shading on the part of her hair that's going to end up being painted a bluish-gray as opposed to the rest of her hair which will be painted white. Could've been a note to the artist painting the cel. Perhaps it was the animator reminding themselves of that little detail as they worked on other frames. Now, one reason a light blue pencil was used is because when the xerography machine duplicates the drawing from paper onto a clear acetate cel, the xerography process won't pick up the blue color. So only the dark lines show up on the cel. We also see light red pencils used from time-to-time as well. Okay, back to our example: in the upper right corner, you see that the animator has redrawn Taarna's mouth at a much larger scale with instructions that there should be a gap between her upper and lower set of teeth (see enlarged photo below). That one is far more likely be a note from the animator to the cel painter or whoever was drawing the inbetweens--a good reminder to maintain consistency between frames on a small detail that could get overlooked.

As stated, these are the details in the production process that you rarely ever see in "Making of" videos or instructional books or even "Art of the movie" books. And Daniel and Mary Anne, when possible, offer packages of these production drawings grouped together when they're in the same sequence. Take a look at this series of five drawings from Giant Robo where one of the villains, Shocking Alberto, has one of the heroes, Taisou, in his grasp and is about to channel an energy blast through him.

You can clearly see on the upper right side of frame two, the animator has written a small timing chart for himself and the inbetweener to follow as this scene is drawn (it's right above the "A2").

Another good example is this series of layout drawings that I purchased from them at Motor City. These drawings illustrate a scene where Giant Robo has been damaged during an attack on the Eye of Fogler warship/mecha and the Experts of Justice don't know if they can reactivate him before he's crushed by the rapidly approaching Eye of Fogler. In the drawings, you can see the mechanized warship "Eye of Fogler" in the background (the sphere) and in the midground is Giant Robo's outstretched arm as he lays there in the rubble. The three drawings progress from rough sketch to a more refined layout to a production drawing of the Giant Robo character.

There's a lot of interesting information you can derive from these drawings, but just a few are:

1. If you look at the top of the page, you can see holes for the registration pegs. While it varies from studio to studio, a lot of American animators are trained to load their paper where the registration pegs are at the bottom of the page, not the top. One of the reasons Jack Slutzky taught us this at R.I.T. is that when multiple pages are stacked on each other, it allows you to flip more pages with your hand and it makes the flipping easier (one point of flipping through the pages is to see the progression of motion between the keyframes and inbetweens so you get the motion right).
2. Another interesting note is that most American animation bond is 12.5 inches by 10.5 inches. Most of the Japanese animation production drawings and cels I have seen are approximately 10.5 inches by 9.5 inches. I don't know why this is. The only other size of animation bond I've seen for sale here in the States is the standard letter size (8.5"x11"). Something to ponder. Is it a filming process issue with the cameras they use? Is it something that just became a standard from those days of animation shortly after the end of WWII when resources were scarce--they used a smaller page because it would be less resource-intensive to produce than a larger page? I think I'll ask Sami, she does a lot of work in the anime industry. If you haven't read my interview with her, I highly recommend looking it up. You can find it at: Samantha Inoue-Harte pt 1 and pt 2.
3. I'm going to put up another video. In it, you can see some of the special effects for this episode. This is another 'oddity' as I see a lot of characters and some backgrounds for sale by vendors, but rarely do I see special effects work for sale! It's only a couple drawings but would love to take some time and examine these with my copy of Tezuka Productions' animation book where they cover hand drawn special effects ('Effects - Lightning', page 100 of Tezuka School of Animation Vol. 1 Learning the Basics).

Okay, just heard back from Sami. She's at a convention this weekend but was kind enough to take a moment to answer my question. Turns out I was close, but not enough to get the proverbial cigar. According to her, it's a fiscal decision based upon the smaller budgets that Japanese productions have when compared to American productions. Apparently the larger-sized cels "are" available in Japan, however, the smaller cels allow the studios to save a couple pennies per cel when compared to the larger sized ones--meaning, when you're buying hundreds of cels, the smaller, less expensive cels would be a better fit within some production studios' budgets. And the money saved could be allocated somewhere else on the production. Hrm. Makes sense.

To work out a hypothetical example: CartoonSupplies.com has a 100 sheet pack of blank 12f (10.5"x12.5") clear cels for sale at $99.99. Considering that an average feature-length animated film could end up using tens of thousands of cels, that number clearly adds up quickly. Now, obviously, a production studio is going to be buying in bulk so the price per 100 cels is going to be lower--volume pricing and all that--but we'll keep it as simple as possible. Consider the following example:

You're making a short 2d hand drawn animated film of five minutes in duration.

• There are 60 seconds per minute (5 minutes x 60 seconds = 300 seconds).
• You're filming at 24 frames-per-second (24 fps x 300 seconds = 7200 frames).
• If you're shooting your animation on 3's--meaning every drawing is filmed three times. That's eight individual drawings per second or a total of 2400 drawings (7200 frames / 3 = 2400 drawings).

Now, you've decided to draw the characters for each scene on one production drawing, therefore you're using one page of animation bond. And you're going to use one animation cel placed over a single background painting when you film each frame. You're going to need 2400 clear acetate animation cels (assuming no mistakes were made requiring the cel to be thrown out). If you buy your cels at $99.99 per 100 cels, it's going to cost you $2,399.76 (plus tax and shipping). That's a good chunk of your budget for ink-and-paint. And we haven't even gotten into the costs of paint, paintbrushes, xerography transfer from the production drawing to the cel, and the cost of labor to do both xerography and cel painting.

If we extrapolate using the example above from a five-minute short film to a 75-minute animated feature (using the same specs just to keep the math simple), you're looking at $35,996.40 just to cover the costs of the animation cels. And that doesn't factor in mistakes during production or the fact that many features have multiple layers of characters and props and foreground elements all layered one-on-top of each other per shot! So, as the numbers add up for the cost of production materials, you can see how a couple pennies saved per cel, by using a smaller cel according to Sami, could help keep a film within budget. And you can see why some American studios in the past used to hire people to wash the acetate cels clean so they could be reused for other animated films.

Well, before I go any further down the rabbit hole of animation production minutiae, let's get back to the point of all this: that I encourage people to build professional relationships with vendors--especially if you're an animator (or future animator) who is serious about your craft. Even if you don't buy something every time you see them, it really pays dividends to maintain those relationships. I like to buy from Daniel and Mary Anne. They sell a quality product, they're very knowledgeable about their product line, and I feel very comfortable purchasing animation memorabilia from them--knowing that I'm getting an original product, not a knock-off. I'm not sure how prevalent counterfeit items are in the "animation art" industry, but on more than one occasion I've backed off from an eBay sale when I read the fine print and saw the words "serigraph" or "reproduction" in the description when the image and title were billed as if it were an animation production cel. And don't get me started about counterfeit products in the Japanese animation scene! One of the things that the now defunct ShutoCon did right was that they wouldn't allow vendors to sell counterfeit merch at their convention and they had presentations that taught fans how to recognize a counterfeit product. Now, let's be clear: I'm not knocking actual promotional art items, like serigraphs and lithographs--I actually have a couple in my collection from movie premieres and animation festivals. But it you're looking for an "actual" production drawing or cel that was used in the film, it pays to keep your eyes open so you know exactly what you're buying. Working with people who have a proven track record of trustworthiness makes this easier. 

Disney was giving out these lithographs at the OIAF one year

Another bonus is that when they know your buying habits, they'll keep an eye out for some of the more unique items -- like the set of layout designs from the Giant Robo OVA series (shown previously). Even though I only see them every couple of years, Daniel knows what I like and is able to guide me to the latest Giant Robo or Ghost in the Shell product that he's added to his store as well as to more mature animation production drawings and cels--what I mean is, animation that's geared to a more mature, adult audience (stuff in the PG-13 to R range), shows with more mature stories and storytelling, like the Simpsons, Aeon Flux, Ghost in the Shell or the various films of Ralph Bakshi.

As the industry continues to move away from a physical media "drawing and ink-and-paint" model to mostly digital, you're just not going to see much of this kind of animation memorabilia with newer productions. A lot of the "hand-drawn" animation here in the States is done digitally using software like ToonBoom or OpenToonz or something programmed in-house. In Japan, Retas Pro and OpenToonz are two of the programs used by studios. TVPaint is used all around the world. And then there are those studios and independents who use Adobe Creative Cloud. 

The water spirit from Rocks in my Pockets

Still, there are people working in the realm of 2d hand drawn animation with paper and pencil: like indie animators Bill Plympton and Signe Baumane. However, with their more recent feature films, they've been moving to a digital ink-and-paint model. Bill's 2013 film Cheatin' was the first feature where he used a digital ink-and-paint system to support his hand-drawn animation. And on her first feature film, Rocks in my Pockets, Signe also drew her characters by hand, then scanned them into Photoshop for digital clean-up and coloring before digitally compositing them with photos of her live model 3d set backgrounds.

Is the day approaching where the only animation memorabilia worth framing that we'll be able to purchase from newer films are these mass-produced serigraphs or lithographs printed from a specific shot in the movie? I would argue that if we're not already there, then the day isn't too far off in the future. And given how physical media deteriorates over time, it becomes more important to preserve these animation treasures from days long gone. For a reasonable price, I can own and preserve one of those rare moments of animation history where almost everything was done by hand using physical media. Unless they create a film by themselves, drawn, inked and painted by hand, most of the kids who are studying to be animators today will never know this experience: one where the film is in the can and there's a box of drawings and cels in the closet and they are secure in the knowledge that if the hard drive got corrupted or a software upgrade was incompatible with their old files, they could still recreate their entire film if they had to. Or maybe just make a couple bucks on the side from selling a part of their film in order to fund the next.

Single hand-drawn and colored frame from Joanna Priestley

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NOTE: While the cels, lithographs, and production drawings displayed in this blog post are my personal property (unless where otherwise noted), the images and animations are being provided here for informational and educational purposes. Any intellectual property, copyrights, and/or trademarks remain with their respective owners.

NOTE #2: The production drawing of Taarna charging forward with her sword drawn... the one being sold by eBay vendor "collect_this"? Yeah, I was the one who bought that drawing after this blog entry was posted. I'm now looking at having both Taarna production drawings framed. Editor's note 06/13/2022

Women of Animation: Perks and Swag

One of the cool things about supporting animators (on Crowdfunding sites and thru their website stores) is the wonderful swag you can get. Yes, yes, I know: "virtue is its own reward" and we should be supporting these animators regardless of perks and rewards. But that doesn't change the fact that above and beyond the reward for being altruistic, the perks can be pretty cool!

So, I'd like to share some pictures of the wonderful products I've purchased, rewards I've been presented with, and gifts I've been given during my time supporting women animators.

Signe Baumane: Water spirit drawing/cel from Rocks in my Pockets

The "water spirit" from Rocks in my Pockets

Back when Signe and her producer, Sturgis Warner, were taking Rocks in my Pockets on tour, the closest it was going to screen to my hometown was Chicago. So, I enlisted a pair of friends who were familiar with the area and we made the five-hour drive to the windy city for a day of Chicago-style pizza and animation. I was already going to receive the DVD of her feature as a Kickstarter reward, but having seen sneak peeks at other venues, I really wanted to see her film in a large scale format. Well, Signe was floored that we made the ten hour round-trip drive to see her film. As a special 'thank you' for supporting her film, Signe gifted me a drawing from Rocks in my Pockets.

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Joanna Priestley: framed "cel" from her film All My Relations

Paper cel from All My Relations

In 2016, I was working on my history of women animators class for Huntington University. One of the most fun aspects of the class for me personally was expanding my research by hunting down lots of DVDs. Many of these films I had seen in the past during my college classes or at festivals, but if you're going to teach a subject, it's really best to refresh your memories. One such purchase was the latest compilation DVD from Joanna Priestley. For supporting her work, Joanna was kind enough to include an original production "cel" from her film All My Relations.

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Samantha Inoue-Harte: 'Stitch' print

Also back in 2016, Samantha made a return trip to Michigan's own Alma Con. Well, for this visit, she brought a bunch of Lilo and Stitch artwork that she had produced for the House of Mouse. Sami had obtained a license from Disney to produce a limited number of these prints and sell them as a fundraiser for cancer research, to which she donated all the proceeds. Well, I really like Lilo and Stitch... and Sami... and it's for a good cause, so...

Now due to peculiarities of licensing, I can't post an image of the print, but suffice it to say, when you have the chance to support someone who is promoting a worthy cause, you take the opportunity to help out if you can. :)

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Satrun Sisters: Fairy Sleep print


Fairy Sleep by Sarah Satrun

This was the first print that I purchased from the Satrun Sisters--the full story of which was printed earlier this week in part two of the Satrun Sisters' interview. A short while later, they visited the Grand Rapids Comic Con and I couldn't resist picking up two of their framed mermaid prints that would go along nicely with the fantasy art theme in one of my rooms.

Mermaid prints by Sarah Satrun

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Jessica Borutski - Foolish Kingdom t-shirt/Canadian Crest t-shirt

Foolish Kingdom by Jessica Borutski

Having been a fan of Jessica's work for years, when she started selling t-shirts with her delightfully subversive bunny on her website Foolish Kingdom, I had to have one!

Canadian Crest by Jessica Borutski

Jessica was also one of the first women I interviewed for this blog. For years afterwards, I'd see her at the festivals and say "hi" but I never had an opportunity to say "thank you for the interview" in a more tangible way until the summer of 2014 where she had an artist's table at TAAFI. So I was able to support her by purchasing one of her Canadian crest t-shirts. It never ceases to get a laugh and positive comments whenever I wear it.

Additionally, on Jessy's website Foolish Kingdom, she released paper cut-out dolls of her characters. So far, I've only got the I like pandas figures printed and assembled. But the mole and bunny from The Good Little Bunny with the Big Bad Teeth are on my list of things to do on a rainy day.

Panda 2 and Panda 1

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Monica Brujenes: Penguin & Peep Kickstarter rewards



Penguin & Peep! Little Moments by Monica Brujenes

The last animator I'll showcase is ASIFA Central's own Monica Brujenes. A year ago, Monica hosted a crowdfunding campaign to produce a cartoon book called Little Moments featuring her original characters Penguin and Peep. Some of the rewards you could get as part of this campaign included Penguin & Peep stickers, original hand painted art:

Penguin & Peep painting by Monica Brujenes

exclusive prints:

Exclusive Print by Monica Brujenes

and original autographed drawings in our copies of Little Moments.

Penguin & Peep ink drawing by Monica Brujenes

As I alluded to at the start of this article, yes we should be supporting women animators regardless of the perks--but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the art that they create and make it a part of our lives. If you've clicked on any of the hyperlinks, you've been taken to these talented ladies' websites where you can support their work yourself. Regardless, I hope that in the future, you will all find a woman animator whose work resonates with you. And if you have the resources, take the time to support them financially. Every little bit of encouragement helps them as they produce their films.

Animated Thoughts: Burnout... and remedies thereof

I have to admit that I've been struggling with burnout lately.

Longtime readers may have noticed that I skipped my yearly International Women's Day animator interviews this year. That was no accident. Part of it was me being tired after all the effort that it took to prepare and teach my History of Women Animators class. And part of it was me being disgusted with the current state of affairs in our American political scene. Last year, I let my membership lapse in an animation group that I had been a member of for years; reason being: they used to be an organization that was focused on promoting the art of animation. However, over the past few years, they've become a vehicle for partisan politics that has given many within their membership a license to be abusive and intolerant.

Personally, I have little interest in politics and don't want politics to seep in and dilute or overshadow the reason why I started doing the interviews in the first place: namely that I want to see women animators learn their history, find their voice, and tell their story. And while I'm currently working on transcribing an interview with a pair of woman animators that I recorded last month, sometimes you just have to step back and let the world rush right on by you towards the edge of that cliff while you keep working towards your goals.

Even my usual outlet: animation festivals have left me with overwhelming feelings of dread. This month, I skipped the second annual Detroit Animation Festival and the single animation screening at the Capital City Film Festival simply because I didn't want to risk spending two hours sitting through political rants played out on the screen. I've been trying to play it safe this year.

Although, in order to recharge my batteries, I have been doing a couple things:

Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion by Tom Gasek
Fluid Frames by Corrie Francis Parks

1. With the new version of DragonFrame being released, I'm dusting off my DSLR camera stand and dedicating time to solve that annoying image flicker problem so I can do some more under-the-camera work before I upgrade to version 4. Tom Gasek and Corrie Francis Parks have written excellent books on under-the-camera animation techniques, so I'm looking forward to finish reading those two books and doing a little experimenting. After all, I still owe my Auntie Martine a paint-on-glass film.

2. I am still working on the Women Animator interviews, albeit at a much slower pace which incorporates much of my prior research into asking the ladies much better questions. This refocusing, I think is going to show in my upcoming interview with Chicago-based animators Catherine and Sarah Satrun. Look for it and others on my Women of Animated Film website next month. I also had the opportunity to promote two Kickstarter campaigns for prior interviewees, so when the time comes, I'm hoping to re-interview Signe Baumane and Monica Brujenes about their experiences with crowdfunding their latest projects.

3. I've been taking time out to watch a fair number of animated features lately.

Back around February/March, I tried to see all the Academy Award nominated animated feature films around the time of the awards ceremony. Having already watched Zootopia and Kubo and the Two Strings, it was time to track down some of the lesser known features that were nominated this year. I started with the Red Turtle and My Life as a Zucchini, two amazing foreign-made animated films.

The Red Turtle was a co-production between Michaël Dudok du Wit and Japan's Studio Ghibli--home studio for Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki.

It's not often you see a film where there's no dialogue. And more to the point, a film where there's no need for dialogue. The Red Turtle is the story of a man who has been shipwrecked on an island and his attempts to escape his prison keep being stymied by forces beyond his control.

As a long-time fan of Dudok du Wit (the Monk and the Fish is one of my all time favorite short animations) and the works of Studio Ghibli, I went into his film with high expectations and they were met on every front. Definitely worth watching. I won't spoil the ending, but this film seamlessly blends real life with the surreal in a way that only a master like Dudok du Wit can.

My Life as a Zucchini was a very touching French/Swiss co-production animated using traditional stop-motion animation techniques.The story is about a little boy, nicknamed Zucchini by his mother, who ends up in an orphanage with other children around his age. After his introduction to the other children, the film then centers around Zucchini, the budding friendship with a new girl at the orphanage, and a police officer who befriends them both.

It's a great movie to see with kids (I'd say around 8 years and above, though you might have to explain some concepts to kids), but definitely have a box of tissues with you when you watch this film. It's a very emotional film that keeps you guessing how it's going to end. My Life as a Zucchini is being released on DVD on May 23rd. Don't know if it'll get an English dub, but it's worth a watch even if you're not into subtitled films.

I ended up skipping Moana. My heart just wasn't in it. It's a $5 rental on iTunes so I may still watch it sometime in the future, but after Zootopia beat out three vastly superior films: Kubo, Turtle, and Zuchinni, I just don't feel up to sitting through another formulaic Disney princess musical. Moana may be spectacular. It may not. I don't know. I just know that I'm tired of watching the Disney/Pixar behemoth win time and again over films that are far superior in story and structure and that dare to take risks with their storytelling and visual style. Over the past seventeen years, eleven of the films that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature were produced by either Disney or Pixar. And some deservedly so, like Big Hero Six, Wall-E, and the Incredibles, credit where credit is due. But you'll never convince me that there weren't any better films released during the years when Frozen or Inside/Out won. Anyways, I'm starting to rant and on principle, I don't like dogging other animators because I know how hard it is to produce an animated film, much less a good one. So I'll stop now and pin a five-dollar bill to my corkboard for when I get around to renting Moana.

Well, after binge-watching the last eight episodes of Sword Art Online season 2, I drove to Flint in order to watch SAO the Movie: Ordinal Scale. Amazing film. So good in fact that I drove to Bloomfield Hills a month later just to see the English dub version. I can deal with subtitles, but sometimes you just want to take in the lush visuals and subtle character animation without having to split your visual attention between reading dialog and watching the movie.

SAO: Ordinal Scale takes the characters we know and love from two seasons of the SAO anime series and thrusts them into a new conflict around augmented reality gaming in the real world instead of the full-dive virtual reality gaming that they are used to. It sounds simple, but the conflict between Kirito, Asuna and the villains builds in complexity until the final resolution in the last fifteen minutes of the film. The final battle was worth the price of admission and the $30 in gasoline alone! But if you haven't watched both seasons of Sword Art Online, definitely watch them before you watch the movie. Technically, it's not required, but the story will make a lot more sense if you do and you'll catch a lot of the subtleties to the characters' actions as well as a lot of Easter Eggs that the animators threw in from the first two seasons of the anime.

There's supposed to be a third season of Sword Art Online, but if they ended the series here, I'd be happy. It's a nice wrap-up to the SAO franchise.

The last feature I watched was Makoto Shinkai's masterwork 'Your Name.' Breathtaking. Simply breathtaking. Now one could argue that you could have made the entire film live action, but animation has such a unique charm to it that live-action simply can't match. On the surface, this film starts out as one of those 'body switching' stories that we've seen Disney produce here in the States ad nauseum using a flavor-of-the-month teenage actor or actress. But before the fish-out-of-water charm wears off, the story takes a much more serious turn. I won't spoil it other than to say that the film is well worth 90 minutes of your time when it comes out on DVD. I haven't seen any announcements yet, but Funimation did the English Dub, so I expect that it'll be released through them later this year.

Shinkai's earlier film 5 Centimeters Per Second has been sitting on my shelf for the better part of a couple years, patiently waiting until I worked my way through the stack of giant robot anime DVDs ahead of it. And I'm honestly not sure if I was better off going in to Your Name. cold or not. I had no expectations other than the fact that it was the highest grossing animated film in Japan last year and the film blew me away. So much so that 5 Centimeters Per Second is now at the top of the queue. Back when I watched some of the works of the late great Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers) there were many recurring visual themes--including one that played out in both climaxes of Paranoia Agent and Paprika which kind of detracted from them both. So, I'm hoping that 5 Centimeters Per Second doesn't share any thematic elements with Your Name. But even if they do, I'm happy to have been able to appreciate Your Name. completely on it's own merits.

Regardless, I can see why people are saying that Shinkai is the next Hayao Miyazaki.

4. Lastly, I've been looking for other venues where I can learn and sharpen my craft--funny how many of these include a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Now most times, my trips to the DIA are to see animated films at the Detroit Film Theater or rare exhibits, like the time they brought in a Monet painting from the Musee d'Orsay. This time was a little different. This time, they had a lecture on how multispectral imaging and x-rays are used to expand their research on works of art. And since Tricia over at Thistle Threads uses x-rays to help deconstruct 17th Century English goldwork embroidery, it seemed like attending this lecture was a good idea to gain a better understanding on what and how she does what she does. DIA Photographer and Imaging Specialist Aaron Steele gave a very informative and visually exciting presentation that ran from the basics of multispectral imaging applied to paintings all the way to recent discoveries made when taking x-rays of African religious statues. He even spent time talking about the process of taking high-resolution images of the DIA's art collection for researchers and novices alike. After packing in a ton of information in two twenty minute lectures, Aaron stuck around and answered questions (and got in a little shop talk) from the crowd. Needless to say, I picked up some tips and tricks of the trade that will be applicable to both my forensic animation work as well as my work on Tricia's English embroidery projects.

The moral is: creative burnout can be managed, if you're willing to stay active and search for those opportunities to recharge. :)

Animated Thoughts: Signe Baumane's Love Affair with Marriage

Signe Baumane - TAIS lecture, Toronto, 2012

If you've been following either of my Facebook pages, you know that after a successful theater run and world tour with 2014's Rocks in my Pockets, Signe Baumane is back in Brooklyn, New York and hard at work on another feature-length animated film!

Signe's first animated feature, Rocks in my Pockets, explored the history of depression and suicide in her family's history set against the backdrop of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Latvia. Well this time around, Signe has returned to the goldmine of her personal history and is using it to animate a story about love and marriage. In the appropriately titled My Love Affair With Marriage, Signe delves into her past relationships and asks herself why her two marriages failed.

But rather than explain it myself, here's Signe in her own words:

Exclusive Sample Footage for Kickstarter from Signe Baumane on Vimeo.

Currently halfway through her Kickstarter campaign, Signe has raised roughly one-third of the money needed for the pre-production work on her film. Once the necessary funds have been raised, she'll cast and record 26 voice actors, hire a composer to create twenty-two songs, and hire a musical director to cast the film's 'four singing Mythology Sirens.' If this sounds like a lot of music compared to Rocks in My Pockets, well that's because My Love Affair with Marriage will have several musical numbers.

On Signe's Vimeo page (at the following link: https://vimeo.com/202927349), you can see a some test footage of the bride with the sirens singing a classic tune.

Signe's "bride and the sirens".
Image copyright Signe Baumane

Something worth noting from the clip is how Signe is bringing back the technique of using three-dimensional paper-mâché backgrounds and digitally compositing her 2d animated characters over them like she used in 'Rocks'. For you animation history buffs out there, Signe is using a modern-day "Stereoptical Process" similar to that which was developed by fellow New Yorker Max Fleischer back in the 1930's and seen in Fleischer Studios films like 1936's Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor and the title sequence of 1941's Mr. Bug Goes to Town. As Max was stuck using the analog technology of his time, he used 3d cardboard and paper-mâché sets with the 2d animation cels suspended on a plane between the camera and the sets (see pp. 119-121 of 'The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer' by Ray Pointer for more information). Well fortunately for Signe, we're now living in the digital world of DSLR cameras and computer compositing. But it's really heartwarming to see some of these old techniques revived and updated for modern filmmaking. Whether knowingly or not, Signe has taken a technique from the 1930's and made it her own.

Well, enough geek-speak. In my opinion, here are the top three reasons why you should support Signe's Kickstarter campaign and help bring My Love Affair with Marriage to life:

1. Signe is a known quantity. Having already produced a large body of work, which includes short animated films and a feature-length animated film, you're investing in someone who has a proven track record of delivering on her promises--both in terms of producing her films and her Kickstarter rewards.

The 'Water Spirit' cel from Rocks in my Pockets

2. According to Wikipedia, last year there were twenty-four animated features either produced or co-produced in the United States. Only three had women directors--and they were all co-directors with men at that (Kung Fu Panda 3 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree - Katrina Hadley, and Ratchet & Clank - Jericca Cleland).

Signe is the writer, animator, director, and co-producer of her film. Once completed, 'Marriage' would add to the number of animated features directed by women.

Out of those remaining twenty-one films, all the others were directed by men. Now I don't have a problem with men directing animated films (obviously). But the fact that we don't have more women at the helm of feature length animated films says something about our industry and that is: we're missing out on one-half of the human experience with all it's unique visions, nuances, and experiences. Which brings us to point number three.

3. One of the things I've noticed over the years about the established studio system is that they aren't very willing to tell stories from a woman's perspective. While I understand that when one is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to make an animated film, this would tend to make even the most jaded exec rather skittish. As a result, they want the film to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and this lends itself to repeating certain styles of storytelling over and over. However, the financial success of films like Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and Disney's Frozen have proven that there is a market for films that tell stories that are relevant to women and are told from a woman's perspective. Sadly, all too often, women have to leave the studio system in order to tell these stories--those that are deeply personal to them and that resonate with a female audience (and a portion of the male audience who values good storytelling that exists outside of our own experience). And we, the filmgoing public are the ones who suffer since these films usually don't get as wide a reception in theaters as they would if they had the backing of a major studio.

So if, like me, you're chafing under the restrictions that we see in the selection of animated films out there, now is your chance to help breathe life into a project created and directed by a woman who wants to tell a story from her unique perspective.

You can be a part of the Kickstarter campaign right now. Just click on the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1055277857/my-love-affair-with-marriage/, and make your pledge.

The world of animation will be better because of it.

Women in Animation: 'Annecy' and 'the Women of SoFA from R.I.T.'

First off, I'd like to say a very special 'thank you' to Anne Beal, Carol Beecher, and Signe Baumane for taking the time out of their busy schedules for these interviews and for sharing their experiences with us veterans as well as the next generation of animators.

Next, I'd like to end 2013's "International Women's Month" series on two very positive notes:

I received an e-mail from Anne Beal earlier this week. She has just received notice that her graduation film "Balance and Swing" has been accepted into the 2013 Annecy International Animation Festival and will be shown as part of their "Graduation Films" competition program. The Annecy festival will be held in Annecy, France during June 10th and June 15th. So if you're at the festival, be sure to check her film out on the big screen.

But if you can't make it to France, or you just can't wait until June, you can watch "Balance and Swing" on Vimeo via the embedded player below.

Secondly, there's an event coming up if you're in the Rochester, New York area. At the High Falls Film Festival, there is going to be a special festival screening that showcases both films and animations created by woman filmmakers: "The Women of SoFA from R.I.T."

From the High Falls Film Festival website:

"The Women of SOFA program celebrates the strong creative voices of these young filmmakers. The School of Film and Animation at RIT provides a creative community where students have the opportunity to discover their unique creative potential, explore their talents, and convey their messages to the world through the cinematic medium."



Click here to read the R.I.T. CIAS news article.

Curated by Rochester Institute of Technology Professors Cat Ashworth and Brian Larson, this event will be held at Rochester's Little Theatre on Saturday, April 20th at 11:00 a.m. And afterwards, there will be a meet-and-greet with these filmmakers from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Little Theatre's cafe.

Women in Animation: Signe Baumane

PLEASE NOTE: Some of the content contained in the following interview is directed at a more mature audience. Please use discretion when allowing younger readers to read this interview and visit the associated hyperlinked pages.

* * *

I almost didn't meet Signe Baumane last year.

I've known about Signe's work for years, ever since I saw several of her short films as part of the two "Avoid Eye Contact" DVDs which showcased short films from independent animators in the New York City animation community.

My first experience was watching her cringe-worthy film "The Dentist"--an animation that left me squirming in my chair as I dealt with flashbacks borne of a lifetime love affair with sugar in all it's tooth decaying forms. After watching the second DVD, I was left rather confused by the raw sexuality presented in her short series "Five F**king Fables". 'How could a woman make films like this,' I wondered. Thinking that there had to be a dimension to her films that I just wasn't picking up on when watching those two DVDs, I purchased her "Ten Animated Films" DVD and was treated to a roller-coaster ride of surreal imagery and adult situations. Afterwards, I placed the DVD on the shelf along with the rest of my collection, secure in the knowledge that I clearly 'didn't get it.' 1

While I did not write Signe off, I found her work a little too challenging, so I did not seek out her films and only saw a couple of her "Teat Beat of Sex" films over the following years. And while I didn't have any greater success understanding those vignettes any more than her earlier work, it was clear that she was maturing as both an animator and as a storyteller. So when I learned that Patrick Jenkins had invited her to showcase her work at the Toronto Animated Image Society, I filed it at the back of my mind for future reference.

It wasn't until I was at a restaurant in Ottawa that year, sitting across from Madi Piller and Martine Chartrand while Craig Marshall scribbled furiously in his sketchbook next to me, that I made the decision to attend Signe's presentation. Madi convinced me that a trip to Toronto was a wise investment of my time, and given that she has never steered me wrong in the past, I was willing to trust her judgement. If nothing else, I figured I could ask Signe if she would be willing to let me interview her for my annual Women in Animation blog posts.

That night in Toronto, after light discussion over dinner with the TAIS members, we all retired to the Cinecycle where Signe began her presentation. Almost immediately, the confusion that I had experienced before returned with a vengeance. However this time, I was treated to the illumination that had eluded me previously as Signe detailed out why she created certain films as well as the events in her life which influenced her work. As it turns out, "The Dentist" was born out of her experience of needing a root canal in addition to dealing with the past trauma of dental work performed under the former Soviet medical system: read that 'without painkillers of any kind'. "Birth" was her story about dealing with the fears of being pregnant with her first child. And the "Teat Beat of Sex" vignettes were honest stories about sex and sexuality from a woman's perspective. Slowly, I started to 'get it'.

But the best surprise was at the end of her presentation when Signe showed the crowd seven minutes from her upcoming feature length animated film: "Rocks in My Pockets"--what she described as 'a funny film about depression'. Having suffered through a hard fought war against chronic depression myself and having a portion of my extended family tortured and killed during the Bolshevik Revolution, her film about the history of mental illness and suicide in her family set against the backdrop of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Lativa spoke to me. As she announced her Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to complete "Rocks in My Pockets", it became a personal mission of mine to help spread the word about her film and hopefully encourage people to donate a buck or two in order to help a fellow filmmaker bring a personal vision to the screen.

There has been an honesty and vibrancy in the discussions that Signe and I have had via e-mail over the past few months since we met in Toronto. The topics have ranged from 'do we need film festivals that only showcase films created by women' to 'the merits of crowdfunding films'. Given the depth of our conversations, I'm glad I had the chance to meet her face-to-face and learn about all the thought that goes into her films. Listening to Signe's perspectives on filmmaking has been time well spent.

* * *



Signe Baumane

Q: What is your current job description?

A: I am an independent animator - director

Q: How long have you worked in the animation industry?

A: Since 1989

Q: What roles have you performed during your career in animation?

A: I started in Latvia's Animation Studio by coloring cells for other people's projects, then went to writing and directing my first 3 films (1989 - 1995), came to NY, worked for Bill Plympton coloring cells for his many shorts and features, was a production manager for his projects (1996-2004) then went on to animating, directing, writing, producing my own next many shorts till one day in 2010 I started my first animated feature film "Rocks In My Pockets", which is near completion, we hope to release it in summer 2013.


Click here to see a clip from "Rocks in my Pockets"

"Rocks In My Pockets" is an independent production which means, I am the producer but am also the director, writer, animator (which is very helpful to me as a producer - to have all those jobs in one person reduces the amount of salaries I have to pay :))

Q: Is there a book or film that you worked on that you are particularly proud of?

A: I always like my current film. It would be silly of me to think that my best work is in the past. :)

Q: Given that you have successfully financed your films via patrons, grants, indiegogo, and kickstarter, what are your thoughts on using crowdsourcing to finance your films versus more traditional methods?

A: WHAT is "traditional methods" for an indie film? Grants? Private funding? Your own money? convincing a major studio/distributor to invest in your film? Hmm...

"Rocks In My Pockets" was funded by a combination of resources:

• 2 grants (from NYSCA and Jerome Foundation)
• many tax deductible donations (via non profit organization Women Make Movies)
• IndieGoGo campaign
• Kickstarter campaign
• my personal income

Since the project had a non profit status I was not trying to get investors, and to be realistic - who would want to invest into a funny film about depression anyway? How much money would an investor hope to get back from a low budget indie animated feature?

As to crowdfunding - it was NOT easy for me, and am not sure if I'd be enticed to do it soon again.

First, crowdfunding is what the name says: it is a crowd giving your project funds, in other words: you need a lot of people strongly supporting you and your project. So, you need to actively engage with at least 1200 - 3000 people to get to 800 backers to reach your modest goal of $42,800 (one cannot make an animated feature film for $42,800, it is only 1/4 of our budget, but we felt we couldn't raise more than that).

The way I see it there are four levels of projects on Kickstarter:

1. low goals from $2,000 - $12,000
2. medium - $20,000 - $60,000
3. high - around $100,000
4. super goals of million $$

My project was on medium scale with it's $42,800 goal. Low - medium projects have a different patterns of engagement with their supporters than high - super goal projects.

We, the small scale people, need to be nice to our supporters, and in general, we have to be nice people with interesting projects, we also need to do a lot of work - do social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and we have to make phones calls begging for money/support. On this low-medium level, projects that get crowdfunded are mainly niche topic oriented, and their team has an extensive net[work] of personal connections (you'll be surprised, but the few articles we had on "Rocks" didnt translate into pledges, it was personal calls and emails that did the trick).

Then there is the other level, projects with big names attached - names that can do anything they want and bring a lot of money from a lot of people that are not personal connections. Star power.

Packaging DVDs after a successful Kickstarter Campaign.

Q: As you have worked for studios and as an independent, which do you prefer and why?

A: I have not worked for studios (Bill Plympton's was an independent studio, too, so that doesnt count). I can only imagine what it would be like working for a studio: bigger paycheck? more creative constraints? But should not talk until I have a real experience of that. :)

Q: As many independent animators give up a certain measure of financial security in order to tell stories which more so-called “mainstream” studios might not want to cover, given your experiences, do you feel that this is a fair trade-off (money/security versus creative freedom)?

A: I don't know.

Some people are lucky to have the desire to tell stories that are mainstream-friendly. I am not that person. I am also invested in the idea of being an auteur - where under my name there is a story, film, blog, Facebook page that has a strong presence of my DNA. Like a dog, to mark his territory he pees on corners, the piss containing his DNA is his name and if he has enough of it to cover all corners of the town, he is a very successful dog.

As to money vs creative freedom....

Big studios, big publishers, Broadway theaters are reluctant to take big risks with unusual stories, and they are right - they exist to make money, they don't exist to make art. On the other hand, I exist to express my Eternal Soul and I am willing to starve in order to be able to do that. If I gave up the work I do in exchange for total financial security in a few years I would probably kill myself. I guess I need the excitement of instability, of trying new things out, being on the edge. To be able to live the way I live - in a constant financial turmoil but having my name under my work - I have to have a sense of purpose, an answer to the question: why you are doing this? My Joan of Arc syndrome answers that question. :)

Please, note that the industry oriented towards pleasing "mainstream" would not exist without independent artists willing to try out new things, failing or succeeding, pushing the boundaries, exploring what will be accepted by mainstream audiences today or tomorrow. Mainstream studios look closely at those independent experimentations and pick the ones they think will succeed, leaving the supposed failures in this indie ocean of attempts. We all need each other, we are all one - indies need mainstream studios to validate their experiments, studios need indies to generate new ideas.

In short, my answer to your question is: no, I don't feel there is a trade off - I chose to be independent because I can't be otherwise. sorry for the long rant. :)



"Teat Beat of Sex"
Episode 2: Juice

Q: Your short film series "Teat Beat of Sex" deals with stories of sexuality from a woman's perspective. Setting aside financial returns, in your discussion with audiences, do you find that the acceptance level of your films are similar to the acceptance of films with stories of sexuality that are produced by men?

A: I do not know how to separate where my work is rejected as a work done by a woman, from a WOMAN'S POINT OF VIEW or it is a work that just doesn't have that mass appeal because it just doesn't.

There was a famous short film website that once rejected "Teat Beat of Sex" "Juice" episode, they said that according to their guidelines it is acceptable to show male genitals but not acceptable to show female genitals, however stylized.

PES very cleverly escaped the problem by making "Roof Sex" with chairs. Bill Plympton cleverly escaped the problem in one of his "Sex and Violence" episodes shoving a dick into a woman's mouth, shown from the mouth's perspective. I, on the other hand, in my uneducated naïveté, show everything as it is. Not a good idea.

Q: How have opportunities changed for women pursuing a career in animation today as opposed to when you started your career?

A: I don't know. When you look carefully - there are many women-producers in the industry right now, an amazing amount. There are many women-students in animation schools and classes. There are many young women making a lot of short films. BUT there are not so many women-directors, after making shorts for a few years, women move to producing, or teaching, or animating for a studio, or something entirely else. So, YES, there are many more women in U.S. animation industry now than there were 20 years ago (I am from Latvia, we almost always had many more women in animation than men), but they seem to be more in the supportive roles.

Q: What do you think is the biggest obstacle to women who want to pursue a career in animation?

A: I feel there never were visible, clearly outlined obstacles in the way of a woman who wants to become an animation director.

One obstacle is her own mind which comes from the way she was brought up - we are trained to be team players, to be supportive and nurturing of others. We are trained to deny the validity of our own will and desires for the good of others - in short - we are trained to be mothers and wives. At least it was in my case. As a producer you get to be a team player, nurture a director's vision. One woman producer recently told me: - I never feel my idea is good enough to be a director. When I asked if she thought her male director's idea was better than her own, she said: - well, at least he feels passionately about it. Hmmm.

The other invisible obstacle is who big studios and networks want to please. I am coming up against that constantly. It is assumed that only 18 - 21 year old males want to see T.V. shows and animated films. That girls just passively tag along. As a woman I don't make that kind of content oriented towards young male tastes. So I don't get big jobs. Once I don't get big money jobs, I don't have them on my résumé and my opportunity to get better directing jobs dwindles.

I am stuck on shorts and other small budget projects. Lately I started to think that the studios might be right - it does seem that it is mostly young men who are interested in animation news, comics, graphic novels. Why aren't more women obsessing over Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Fritz the Cat? Oh wait. Those are male characters with their male superpowers, male motivations and needs, created by male artists.



Click here to see a clip from "Rocks in my Pockets"

Q: If your daughter said that she wanted to work in animation, what advice would you give her?

A: I tried but I have a hard time to imagine having a daughter. Even more - a daughter who would want to go into animation. Any reasonable person who would have grown up with me as their mother would want to do anything else but animation and arts. My son when he was 6 said he would never become an artist because artists don't have money.

Q: What is the most important thing that authority figures (parents/teachers/professors) can do to encourage girls who are considering a career in animation?

A: If I were to give an advise (and not from an authority position - I don't have one, I just have my own experiences) I would give it to girls and boys alike:

• Please make an informed decision if you would want to be an independent animator or work for a studio, those are two very different things although sometimes but rarely they can collide

If you decide to be an independent animator:

• Learn to be very careful with the money, know how to save it when you have it and learn to live on nothing when you don't have it. The money you save has to go into your next film.
• Don't buy a house, do not have children - at least not at the beginning of your career, they'll make you less flexible in many regards.
• Make your own films as often as you can!!!! At least one film a year - mark your territory!
• Do not be perfectionist - make a film the best you can at the moment and move on to the next film, trying to make one film perfect on a small budget is not going to make it perfect but it is going to hinder your development. My next film is always better than the previous one.
• Explore new subjects, new techniques with each film.
• Repetition is boredom. Once you master one thing, move to the subject or technique you don't know anything about.
• Grow!
• Keep watching films any time you can - shorts, feature, live action - any film at any opportunity, expand your visual language.
• Educate yourself what other people are doing, lack of updated knowledge is death to your growth.
• When you embark on a new project, look at it as an adventure.

"Ten Animated Films"
DVD available for sale on Signe's website.

* * * All photos and videos used in this interview are copyright Signe Baumane and used with her permission.

1. Just to clarify a thought as I'm not sure I've stated it as well as I could have: at the time I was introduced to Signe's work, I was unintentionally viewing it on a very superficial level. At that time, I simply didn’t know how to observe films with a critical eye nor do I feel that I had the intellectual and emotional maturity to understand the thought processes that went into the films she was making. As such, I was very glad that I had the opportunity to meet her in Toronto and learn about where her films came from on a primal emotional/intellectual level. Doing so allowed me the chance to truly appreciate her films—a chance that I wouldn’t have had otherwise had I not gone to Toronto that weekend. On that note, for those who are interested in learning more about how to critique films, I recommend this series of articles by Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman found on Animation World Network--particularly his (currently) nine part series entitled "The Animation Critic's Art".