Words Worth a Thousand Pictures: Contemporary Animation about Language

April 30 at 7:30 PM. Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR, curated by Joanna Priestley

Words Worth a Thousand Pictures presents contemporary animation that explores the use of language and text. The program includes two premieres by acclaimed Portland filmmakers: Missed Aches by Joanna Priestley and Puffer Girl by Joan Gratz. Both directors will present their films and answer questions. In addition, award winning, international films that explore the relationship of text and image will be screened: The Characters (Netherlands) by Evert De Beijer, Guy 101 (England) by Ian William Gouldstone, Primiti Too Taa (Canada) by Ed Ackerman and Colin Morton and Rabbit (England) by Run Wrake and Amore Baciami (England) by Oliver Harrison.

The appearance of text in animated films has become more common with the advent of Adobe Flash and After Effects. These computer programs have made it much easier to animate letters and words and to incorporate text with animation. This had been a laborious process that involved animating individual cut out letters or using press type, hand written calligraphy or typewriter text. Both computer animated films and non-computer films will be included in the program.

In person: Joanna Priestley and Joan Gratz.
Curated by Joanna Priestley.
Supported by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and Film Action Oregon.

Films

1. Puffer Girl by Joan Gratz. (5 min., USA, 2009)
Produced by Lourri Hammock for LAIKA/House. Sound by Judith Gruber-Stitzer. Edited by Steve Miller. Puffer Girl documents the unlikely adventures of a fish who reaches beyond her station. It was made with a combination of clay painting, a technique invented by Gratz, and After Effects.

2. Ident by Richard Goleszowski, Aardman (5 min., U.K., 1989) VIEW FILM
Directed, written and animated by Richard Goleszowski at Aardman Animation. Produced by Sarah Mullock.  Edited by David McCormick. Voices by Arthur Smith and Phil Nice. Music by Stuart Gordon.  Ident explores the nature of man, not only with feet of clay, but with a face of clay as well.

3. The Characters by Evert De Beijer (7.5 min., Netherlands, 1986)
George and Belle have to cope with letters that have come to life. Voted best Dutch Animated film of the 20th century by the Dutch Animation Association.

4. Primiti Too Taa by Ed Ackerman and Colin Morton. (3 min., Canada, 1988)
Sound performance and text arrangement by Colin Morton.  Animation by Ed Ackerman.  Animated on an old Remington typewriter, Primiti Too Taa comes alive on the screen as words and letters pop on and off, swirling and dancing in a rhythmic beat with the spoken soundtrack. Adapted from Ursonate ("Sonata in Primitive Sounds"), a poem written by German dadaist Kurt Schwitters.

5. Guy 101 by Ian William Gouldstone  (8.5 min., U.K., 2005) VIEW FILM
Guy 101 is about a chat room conversation that gets very personal.  It was made with collaged web images and After Effects. Gouldstone has a degree in mathmatics from Harvard University and a MA in animation from the Royal College of Art in London.  Guy 101 was his thesis film.

6. Time by Oliver Harrison (3 min., Great Britain,1990)
Elegant, typographic choreography, based on a poem by Nichola Breton and set to Berceuse in D Flat by Chopin. Time suggests the distance traveled in a lifetime. Commissioned by the late Show (BBC2).

7. Rabbit by Run Wrake (8.5 min., Great Britain, 2008) VIEW FILM
When a boy and girl find an idol in the stomach of a rabbit, great riches follow, but for how long?  Based on a collection of old stickers by children’s book illustrator Geoffrey Higham that Wrake found in a junk shop.

8. The Dilemma by Brian Kinkley (2 min., USA, 2006) VIEW FILM
This ingenious text piece was created as an invitation for Kinkley’s portfolio show at the Art Institute of Portland.  I first saw it on his MySpace page. Kinkley is one of the bright stars at Bent Image Lab in Portland, Oregon.

9. Missed Aches by Joanna Priestley (4 min., USA, 2009)
Written and Narrated by Taylor Mali, based on his poem: The The Impotence of Proofreading. Sound by Normand Roger and Pierre Yves Drapeau. Music by Pierre Yves Drapeau with Denis Chartrand and Normand Roger. Text Animation by Brian Kinkley.  Character design and animation by Don Flores. Supported by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Caldera Foundation. Have you ever worked very horde on a paper for English clash, just to get a very glow raid? Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence!  Missed Aches is about proofreading and spellcheck. It was written and narrated by poet Taylor Mali, who led teams to four championships in the National Poetry Slam.