MP10 | Thoughts on UPA and Hubley (part 2)

Posted on by Claude Lau

The Tell-tale Heart (1953) produced by UPA is an amazing work of psychological horror using animation that, in my view, perhaps consolidated cinematic methods of the horror genre and pioneered them in animation. The strong presence of the ‘camera’, its jittering and hovering movement, and its use to show the ‘point-of-view’ of the character is very immersive and effectively unsettling. UPA’s highly graphic style coupled with the strong light/dark contrast, culminate in a very innovative use of positive and negative space that might not be possible with a more realistic approach.

UPA’s John Hubley is the animator who stands out most to me, for his direction of Rooty Toot Toot (1951). From its adult mystery story and jazzy number to the visual style that is somehow as geometric and slapstick as it is sensual and human, it was delightful to watch and very memorable. Hubley was fired from UPA due to the Communist witch hunt of the 50s, but he continued innovating in animation, what seems to me towards a film-art or even fine-art direction. Together with his wife Faith, he made films such as Moonbird (1959) and The Hole (1962) which are narratively less linear, perhaps due to the improv/spontaneous element of the dialogue, which drives the story. While still using geometric shapes and minimal lines for character animation as in UPA’s style, what stood out to me was the highly artistic, almost painterly look of the textures, and the use of a multi-plane technique that created spatial depth.

UPA could be further discussed as an influence on animation at large. It would be interesting to investigate how it prompted other major animation studios such as Warner Bros. and Disney to experiment further in animation. UPA’s use of limited animation and flat shapes certainly had a widespread influence: Zagreb Films in Croatia (such as in the 1961 film Ersatz) adheres to these design principles, and Chinese animator A-Da’s work (Three Monks 1980 and Super Soap 1986) demonstrate them in a uniquely Chinese context and setting.

MP9| Thoughts on UPA and Hubley (part 1)

Posted on by Claude Lau
source
.

UPA (United Productions of America) was arguably a manifestation of discontent with Disney’s realistic animation style and harsh hierarchal and industrial production methods. The five-week strike at Disney in 1941 lead many staff members to leave the studio, and UPA was formally founded in 1934, originally called Industrial Film and Poster Service. As the year and name suggests, the studio initially found employment working on wartime films.

Focusing on the artistic implications (rather than the socio-economic, which is equally interesting) of UPA, I want to think of UPA as facilitating expansion and experimentation in animation, perhaps distinguished because it is separate from Disney. Where Disney unleashes meticulous detail to convince the audience of its believability, UPA draws large flat shapes, swathes of color in essence.

During its time as ‘IFPS’ it produced many shorts for the government. Hell-Bent for Election (1944)’s train sequence still amazes me as very unique and stylish in design. Brotherhood of Man (1945) demonstrated the graphic shapes, flat colors and line-less style that distinguished UPA from Disney and other mainstream animation houses.

Major Post 14- A Da and UPA

Posted on by Sydney McPherson
Figure 1: Super Soap by A Da

In class we talked about Chinese animator A Da, who created funny and ironic narratives in his animations. He created Super Soap in 1986. The animation features characters that have thin black outlines and bright colors on their clothes. They are all placed on a simplistic, gray background and the buildings and environment are very minimal too (fig. 1). It is interesting to see A Da use the flat color style as the topic for Super Soap as all the characters no long want to be bright and unique once they see that the soap can make their clothes white. It is kind of a comment on how in society, people will follow the bandwagon when there is a new trend and then move onto the next trend, like at the end, when the man creates “Super Color”.

Figure 2: Rooty Toot Toot by UPA

A Da was inspired by the simplistic designs that UPA used in its animations. A good example of this is Rooty Toot Toot. UPA used the same thin black outlines and bright colors for its characters and used a simple brown background (fig. 2). The environment is drawn only with lines and tends to blend into the background.

Another small thing I noticed in A Da’s work was the use of the same character in two different animations. In Super Soap and The New Doorbell, a little girl wearing a pink pinafore appears! (fig. 3 and 4)

  • Figure 3: Super Soap by A Da
  • Figure 4: The New Doorbell by A Da

Super Soap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4-N8aBYY7g

The New Doorbell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ4TF6JLrx0

Rooty Toot Toot https://vimeo.com/121033862

Sydney McPherson

Major Blog Post 8- UPA and Mr Magoo

Posted on by Wendy Kong

UPA is as known as the United Productions of America which was founded by Zack Schwartz, David Hilberman, and Stephen Bosustow in 1943 as Industrial Film and Poster Service after the Disney animators’ Strike in 1941. John Hubley, a layout artist who worked for Disney and a few of his colleagues were unsatisfied with the ultra-realistic style of Disney animation. To sustain itself, UPA entered the crowded field of theatrical cartoons and secured a contract with Columbia Pictures. The animators of the UPA applied their stylistic ideas and imagination to the characters of Columbia The Fox and the Crow with Robin Hoodlum (1948) and The Magic Fluke (1949).

The first appearance of Mr. Magoo was in the Ragtime Bear (1949) which was a hit in the box office. We also watched this animation during class. I love the story of it a lot because it is really exciting that the bear was pretending to be Mr. Magoo’s nephew all the time! The style of UPA’s animation is more graphic compared to Disney animated films which I think made everything more cartoonish and I also enjoyed looking at it. Mr. Magoo is a nasty, stubborn old man that can not see things well. However, I like the humor and drama created by him. I watched some other clips of Mr. Magoo as well. Here is one that I found quite interesting. Hope you guys will like it and watch it till the end!! ^v^

Mr Magoo: Thin-skinned Divers

Wendy Kong

Major Post 8: Ragtime Bear

Posted on by Sydney McPherson

Ragtime bear is from UPA and was created in 1949. It was the first appearance of character Mr. Magoo, a nearly blind old man who enjoys peace and quiet. From the first scene Magoo’s personality is already introduced as we see him crash into the tree, which is soon explained by his poor eyesight as he tries to read the road sign in front of him. To show that his glasses magnify what he sees, Mr. Magoo’s eyes also grow larger when he wears them. He is stubborn and fully believes that he has everything under control although he decides to ask for help with reading the blurry sign. He believes that his nephew and everyone else are scatter-brained and don’t pay attention, which is ironic since Mr. Magoo is the one who is utterly confused.

The bear is shown as being oblivious to what is important to the people and only cares about Waldo’s banjo. When Waldo falls into the abyss, the bear reaches for the banjo instead of Waldo, letting him fall. Similarly, when Mr. Magoo falls off the stairs at Hodge Podge Lodge, the bear saves the banjo before it hits the ground but doesn’t catch Magoo.

Magoo is later fooled by his own weakness in believing that he has just shot his nephew. Upon realizing Waldo is alive, Magoo returns the banjo to him but still threatens to use the gun again, showing that his character has not developed much, as he’s still stubborn. Also, the bear hasn’t changed either, as he continues to play notes on the banjo, despite Magoo’s threatening to shoot at the next sound the instrument made.

Both the bear and Mr. Magoo are stubborn characters who want everything to go their way. They both face difficulty because of each other and neither change by the end of the story, which is not the norm with the character development I’ve seen in today’s animations.

Sydney McPherson

The life of dear Stephen Bosustow

Posted on by victoriacourchesne

Major Post 6 By Victoria Courchesne

Stephen Bosustow, heard of him? How about how he helped Ub Iwerks form the UPA studios, producing many of the Mr.Magoo shorts that would become Oscar winners? Ah, now you are remembering! Well sit back, relax, and read on while I give you a deeper insight to the life of the animator known as Stephen Bosustow. Born on November 6, 1911, Stephen’s friendship with Ub began early on in the 1930’s when he worked on Ub’s film “Flip the Frog”. That friendship could be what brought Stephen to the Disney animation studios in 1934 where he worked for 7 years. The next events should be familiar to you; Stephen and many other animators walk out on Disney in 1941 and he, Ub Iwerks, and several other animators founded the United Productions of America (UPA). While he was a producer at UPA, Stephen oversaw 43 Mr. Magoo shorts, winning him 3 Oscars and several award nominations. His career with the UPA halted after the company was sold in the early 1960’s and Stephen then went on to form a production studio of his own. “Stephen Bosustow Productions” featured mainly educational-based shorts. The short Is it Always Right to Be Right? (1971) won a Oscar for Best Short Film in 1970. In my next post, I will discuss the film in an analysis.

I picked Stephen as a topic to write on because he was born in Victoria Canada.

Sources:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/stephen-bosustow

https://collections.new.oscars.org/Details/People/9241

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0098322/

https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1957/12/7/the-silly-splendid-world-of-stephen-bosustow

Major Post 7: UPA

Posted on by Sammy Liu

UPA – United Productions of America (1943)
Founded by Zack Schwarts, David Hilberman, and Stephen Bosustow

UPA is rather design and style orientated, compared to Disney’s more realistic style. After their start up; which was focused on industrial and World War 2 films, they eventually made many original characters, stories, and short films starting from around 1956 and won commercial success.

I really loved UPA’s Brotherhood (1946) , it shared a lot of awareness for issues of equality. A favourite quote from that video was along the lines of needing to ‘practice’ that brotherhood as well as just ‘knowing’.

UPA’s design-driven visuals to spread information, influences many now. Their heavy use of shapes led to more abstract works, which continued to be used everywhere today – mostly within informative subjects.
Below is one of my favourite projects, in which animation is used to explain facts in a way where it’s much easier to absorb.

Even in styles, UPA and the video above, has similarities: the lack of outline and heavy silhouette orientated mind-set allows information to be the focal point, rather than detailed, realistic visuals.

Class notes:
Outline used in specific areas (E,g, John Hubley’s Robin Hood – no outline for BG but has outline for characters to make the stand out).
John and Faith Hubley – after being fired by UPA in 1952, they did not give up and started Storyboard Production in commercials.
Edgar Allen Poe – creepy “The Tell-Tale Heart”