Published by Joe on 12 Jan 2010 at 11:22 am
January 12, 2010
Just added a 20th Anniversary edition ( give or take a year) of my very first animated film “The Chore” to the Tin Box Theatre on the home page of my site at www.joemurraystudio.com . Its my very humble origins done on typing paper with an felt pen and shot on an erector set camera stand with a baking pan for registration. I didn’t have cels, so each background was hand drawn for each new page of animation.
Surprisingly enough, this film won a couple of awards, and was included in both the Animation Celebration and Spike and Mike festivals of animation.
When I spoke recently to a group of animation high school students, I showed this film mainly to say, “its just important to get something out there. As you can see, the animation and style can be crude, but if the idea has some merit, that’s more important than flashy animation or effects”. This student came up to me afterwards ( born several years after this film was done ) and says “….so,,, was this film considered….uh…. good back that long ago? You know. In your day?”
I thought that was pretty funny.
Greg on 12 Jan 2010 at 11:46 am #
That film is still awesome. Considering the resources you had it makes it even better. I think people today look at cartoons and think “Can’t you just do that in Flash in an hour?” because no seems to appreciate the time and effort that goes into making an animated piece. Well done.
Jestoon on 12 Jan 2010 at 4:59 pm #
It’s like you told me “a Good cartoon Drawing can’t make up for a bad joke”
I live my life by that quote. thanks Joe!
Jestoon
Charles Brubaker on 12 Jan 2010 at 7:37 pm #
A very enjoyable little cartoon.
You said you had to redraw the backgrounds on each new sheet. I’m reminded of Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur”. When the film was made back in 1914, the concept of “cels” didn’t exist and the backgrounds had to be traced on each new paper.
He had help, though. McCay did the character animation, but he had an assistant do the background tracing.
Arturo on 12 Jan 2010 at 7:59 pm #
Whoa! I can’t imagine how hard was to do this without a computer, or even cells! I imagined this to be a little bit longer but now it seems impossilbe it could last longer being drawn, and drawn and drawn again on typing paper… Well done… For what prices did it won?
Arturo on 12 Jan 2010 at 8:02 pm #
Umm also, how do you feel your style has changed along the years? was it naturally or did you decided to draw diferent everytime after you found a way of drawing you liked the best?
Jestoon on 12 Jan 2010 at 8:23 pm #
where can you buy Cels? Are they still made?
Jestoon
Ty M on 12 Jan 2010 at 10:24 pm #
Ugh, you drew all that by hand? I’ll stick with claymation, thanks. A different type of monotony ;p
I loved hearing 20-years-ago Joe, made me laugh. Where’d you get the walking sound effect? My brother and I thought it sounded familiar for some reason.
Joe on 12 Jan 2010 at 11:23 pm #
Yes Jestoon, cels are still made. Try Cartoon Color or some animation supply houses.
Yeah, Ty, the sound effects were a whole different monster. I recorded everything myself with a hand held mike and reel to reel tape recorder. Not sure who that is walking, but they sound like heels.
Joe Murray
Jestoon on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:01 pm #
Tickled Pinky is my Favorite Rocko Episode
Joe on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:55 pm #
Arturo wanted to know what prizes “The Chore” won. It won an international Student Academy Award ( Yes, from those same “Oscar” people) and a Focus Film Award . Both in 1989.
Joe
Chris D. on 13 Jan 2010 at 4:57 pm #
Drawing every background again and again. That is pretty awesome. I enjoyed seeing this.
Ty Code on 13 Jan 2010 at 9:56 pm #
uhh, im not if its just me, but im having trouble finding it on tin box
Dan McCormick on 13 Jan 2010 at 9:59 pm #
In 1995 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I’d attended a one-night seminar on animation held by a fellow student who was concurrently taking Animation courses at Columbia College in Illinois. (That’s a heckuva commute!) I got to participate in a simple line-morph exercise, where I’d trace out two shapes from a magazine, and then plot out the in-between points and connect the dots. I did 24 drawings, which were then shot on film, processed and then projected on a 16mm camera. I remember thinking that those two seconds of footage was the coolest thing I’d done in seven years at the University!
The next semester was my last there, and I spent most of it drawing & animating a 90-second short for a film production class. It was a ton of work to pull off, but I definitely found it to be one of the most creatively fulfilling times in my life. My most vivid memory was staying up 24 hours to finish my final paper in an Animation History class, and then staying up the next 24 hours, drawing & shooting footage in the Rostrum Camera room at Vilas Hall. I do not recommend staying up for 48 hours to ANYONE, and yet I remember one of my classmates admiring me for the concentration & dedication it took to make a film in such a labor-intensive manner.
Joe was actually my biggest inspiration during that project. I’d had only a little formal drawing training at that point, but I remember being impressed by the natural-flowing curves in his Rocko characters, and how they really seemed to occupy space (dimensionally-speaking). I think it was the skiing episode of Rocko that really opened my eyes on the value of shapes and curves in constructing the figures. (Thanks, Joe!)
Earlier this week, someone posted the hand-written letter he’d received from John Kricfalusi. Reading his notes (along with step-by-step illustrations) really brought back some good memories of that whole experience. (http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/01/your-pal-john-k.html)
Joe on 14 Jan 2010 at 2:24 pm #
Thanks Dan. I’m glad to be the inspiration for someone to stay up 48 hours on a project. ( Been there, done that).
On another note, Is anyone else having problems like Ty, either finding it or it playing?
Joe
Thom D. on 15 Jan 2010 at 10:36 pm #
Yeah, it doesn’t seem to be playing. Was working fine before.
Anyways, I rather enjoyed it. =)
Joe on 16 Jan 2010 at 2:50 pm #
Try clearing your cache and reloading. It’s acting funky on some browsers for some reason.
Joe