Jeff and I had been talking about getting together for some time now and last night we decided to meet at the new Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ in his neck of the woods. OK Joe’s is barbeque that is worth flying into Kansas City for, so if you’re ever here…go there! We had originally planned to attend a movie until Jeff found an advertisement in the paper offering a free talk on animation at the local community college by the head of the story team for The Incredibles.
The subject matter and the price were just too good to pass up.
We arrived and were soon joined by Jeff’s friend Mark. As we were sitting there I looked to the front and immediately recognized Mark Andrews from the making-of features on the Incredibles DVD.
I was very excited as Mark was very fun and quite animated himself on the DVD so I knew we were in for an entertaining evening. Mark Andrews was also joined by Brenda Champan.
Brenda has done story boards for many Disney movies including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, was the Director for Prince of Egypt, and is now senior story artist on Pixar’s upcoming release, Cars. As Jeff pointed out afterwards, Brenda’s calm but entertaining personality was the perfect complement to Mark’s exuberance. Here is a link to the Johnson County Community College press release of the event.
They spoke about story and the structure of story and used examples from several different films. They also showed examples of how story boarding was used and shot for Snow White vs. how it was used and shot for The Incredibles. They both shared personal experiences and talked about the use of computers in animation. They were both very funny and Mark Andrews was as wild with his gestures and movements in person as he was on the Incredibles DVD. And speaking of The Incredibles and the DVD, if you haven’t seen everything on both discs then you are missing some wonderful entertainment. Not only is The Incredibles one of the best superhero movies out there, the extras are terrific.
The thing I found most entertaining on the extra disc was the short documentary “Vowelette” by Sarah Vowell, the voice behind Violet.
Sarah Vowell is a quirky young lady who is actually a well-known radio personality featured on This American Life on National Public Radio. Sarah is an admittedly bizarre young lady who has a fascination with Abraham Lincoln and is currently finishing up a book on Presidential Assassinations. It was so bizarre to watch her talk and hear Violet’s voice coming out of her mouth.
The extra cartoons, the bloopers, the making-of features…everything on that extra disk is top-notch.
We had a really great time and the crowd asked some very good questions in the Q&A afterwards. Most entertaining was the young girl who asked if they felt their jobs were important since they aren’t the ones who do the actual animation. It was very funny!
Afterwards Jeff invited me to his domicile where he showed me his original comic book pages and other collectibles while I drooled jealously all over the basement floor. I doubt that I’ll be invited back however as I kept him up talking until after 1 in the morning and almost let his cat escape into the cold dark night!
Thanks Jeff, it was a good idea and I had an Incredible time….(you could see it coming, couldn’t you?) 😉
Wow! What a cool evening! I’m so jealous, as Incredibles was easily one of my favorite movies last year. Cough, shameless plugs, cough.
Oh, and Sarah Vowel is the coolest. I love her nerdy voice! Do you listen to This American Life too? I love that show on Sundays.
I have a cool opportunity to go to a live taping of the show in Chicago in May. Can’t wait!
I’ve caught This American Life by accident at times and really liked it. She has several books out that I’m interested in reading and will be checking my NPR schedule to see when it airs here (or is it the same everywhere…being National Public Radio…) so that I can catch it. She has an absolutely fabulous nerdy voice…I instantly wanted to start hanging out with her just to listen to her insights.
I’m jealous of you now…hope you make that taping!!!
What a cool thing to see. I saw the movie in theatres, so I haven’t seen the DVD yet, but I am sure my husband will pick it up soon.
I…and obviously Rob as well…can’t recommend the ‘Vowellette” documentary enough!
Yes it actually was a great time and was even more of a special time just because Jeff just happened to see it a few days before we planned on doing something. They were really, really funny and the crowd was great which always make events like these more enjoyable.
I love the way Sarah Vowel’s voice sounds! It is incredible to listen to her talk. The documentary was so fun. She seems to love the morbid side of history.
If you want to hear some great Sarah Vowell bits on This American Life, check these out.
Here’s one of my favorite Vowell episodes. It’s in Real Audio format. Sarah’s bit starts at 4 minutes, 30 seconds.
Thanks for the links Rob. I can’t wait to check them out.
i usually don’t like cartoon movies, but this one was very funny & cute.. must be the super hero theme!
I also had an Incredible time, too 🙂 I need to watch the extras on my Incredibles DVD soon. I also want to pick up the Iron Giant. I have seen it several times but have yet to pick the DVD and I know there is a special edition of it out now.
I haven’t heard This American Life. This is kind of embarassing to admit but I have never ever listen to NPR. What station is it on in Kansas City? AM or FM? I’m kind of a Sportsradio junky and I should broaden my horizons some more. I drive a lot and music in the car kind of puts me to sleep so I like to listen stations with a lot of dialouge going on and I love sports.
Jeff, its FM 89.3. Here’s a link to the website with programming info. There are some really interesting shows on including Fresh Air (which has interviewed Gaiman several times). Its on from 3-4 monday through friday and the host has a very soothing radio voice and usually has very interesting guests and topics. On Saturday mornings is one of my favorites, Car Talk. It is a very funny hour long call-in show with these 2 brothers from Boston who are super knowledgeable about cars. I’m not interested in car repair but Mary, Tori, and I listen to it whenever we are driving somewhere on a Sat. morning and just crack up the whole time. The ‘What d’ya know’ show and Prairie Home Companion are all fun as well.
This American Life is on Sun from 10-11 a.m. There are also great classical and jazz music programs on in the evenings.
On my way between jobs today I turned on Fresh Air as I hadn’t listened to it in a long time. Oddly enough Terry Gross was interviewing a comic book guy, R.Crumb. I am not really into Crumb’s work at all…its a little too dark and I don’t like the abberantly sexual stuff, but he was a fascinating person to listen to. He sounded so good natured and it was interesting listening to his thoughts on raising children and how he filters what his daughter takes in on television, etc. I also learned that he used to play in these really interesting bands and they played one of his songs at the close…it was called “Singing in the bathtub” and reminded me of 1930’s music mixed with alot of banjo and jug band sound. It was different and I really liked it.
I’ve never followed Crumb’s work either, but there’s a really fascinating documentary about him called Crumb. It’s by Terry Zwigoff, who did the excellent Ghost World.
I enjoyed Ghost World when I saw it at the theatre and actually have the graphic novel but have never read it. I need to watch it again.
I listened to the Sarah Vowell thing about guns and her father’s canon that you linked to Rob…that was great! She’s a very good storyteller and I like her quirky voice.
Sweet. 🙂 There’s another fine essay on there somewhere that she reads about Johnny Cash. Really good story.