Don Hertzfeldt

All you want to know about Don Hertzfeldt

Don Hertzfeldt

Don Hertzfeldt at his animation desk, during production of "The Meaning of Life"
Born August 1, 1976 (1976-08-01) (age 32)
Fremont, California
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Field Independent film, Animation
Training University of California, Santa Barbara
Works Billy's Balloon, Rejected, Everything Will Be OK
Influenced by Stanley Kubrick, Monty Python, David Lynch, Edward Gorey
Awards

Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is the creator of many short animated films, including the Academy-Award nominated cult favorite Rejected. Collectively, his animated films have received over one hundred awards and have been presented in over a thousand film festivals and venues worldwide. Before the age of thirty, his films were already the subject of several career retrospectives.

The popularity of his work is unprecedented in the history of independent animation and his films are frequently quoted and referenced in pop culture. [1]

Don Hertzfeldt is currently on a sold-out 16-city theatrical tour in support of his latest short film, the 22 minute I am so Proud of You. The tour is presenting a retrospective of his animated films, followed by the regional premiere(s) of I am so Proud of You and a rare onstage interview and audience chat with him. [2]

Contents

Filmography

Early life and education

Hertzfeldt was born in Fremont, California where he attended local schools and drew comic books. At 15, he began to teach himself animation with a small video camera.[3] From a 2001 interview, Don says: "I watched films relentlessly growing up, and was fascinated by visual effects. My family used to make outings to animation festivals in San Francisco every year, so credit my parents for that. I ended up seeing all of those classic [independent] cartoons throughout my teenage years. But animation production for me sort of just happened as a by-product. I've been drawing things and writing things all my life, and animating my stories was always cheaper to do and looked more interesting than low budget live action." [4]

He is a Film Studies graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He lives in Santa Barbara, California and has, to date, produced all his films there.

Hertzfeldt has never held any job other than working on his own animated films, not even in his youth.[5] His earliest video animations found film festival exposure, and at film school he was able to find international distribution for all of his 16mm student films: Ah, L'Amour, Genre, Lily and Jim, and Billy's Balloon (all created between the ages of 18-21).

Technique

Hertzfeldt's films often feature hand-drawn stick figures acting out combinations of slapstick, absurd, and black humor along with heavier existential themes. Hertzfeldt creates his films with traditional pen and paper animation without the aid of computers. He uses 16mm or 35mm film cameras to photograph his artwork and often employs old-fashioned special effect techniques such as multiple exposures, in-camera mattes, and experimental photography (seen to large effect in The Meaning of Life and Everything Will Be OK). While some of these techniques are as traditional as an occasional stop-motion animation sequence (as in Intermission in the Third Dimension) or a universe of moving stars created by back-lit pin holes (The Meaning of Life), other effects are new innovations on classical methods, as seen with the rippling paper and pencils becoming a part of the visuals (Rejected, Genre, and Ah, L'Amour), or the screen itself dividing and erupting into separately moving windows of action (Everything Will Be OK). [6] [7] [8]

Since 1999, Hertzfeldt has photographed all his films on an antique 35mm Richardson animation camera stand, believed to be the same camera that photographed many of the early Peanuts cartoons in the 1960s and 70's.[9] It is reportedly one of the last remaining functioning cameras of its kind left in America (if not the world), and Hertzfeldt finds it to be a crucial element in the creation of his films and their unique visuals.[10]

Hertzfeldt is one of few filmmakers who could be considered an auteur: it's not unusual for him to single-handedly write, direct, produce, animate, photograph, edit, record and mix sound, and/or compose music for one of his films, at times requiring years to complete a single short. The animation alone for one of his films may often require tens of thousands of drawings.

Popularity and exhibition

Hertzfeldt's early films have been credited as being a prominent influence on surrealism, absurdism, and "random humor" in animation in the 2000s, particularly influencing Adult Swim style animated comedy.[11] In 2008, Comedy Central noted his work as having "influenced an entire generation of filmmakers." [12]

His more recent films, such as The Meaning of Life and Everything Will Be OK, expanded upon his signature style of dark humor to explore deeper themes of existentialism, life and death, and philosophy. Critics have favorably compared these shorts to the work of Stanley Kubrick[13] and David Lynch,[14] respectively. Everything Will Be OK was described as "probably the best work he’s done in his very incredible and consistently amazing young career." [15]

Hertzfeldt's films are regularly found in film festivals around the world, touring animation programs like the Animation Show, and on DVD collections. The cartoons are also featured occasionally on television: MTV, Bravo, Via X, Sundance Channel, IFC, and the Cartoon Network being a few of the channels that have carried his work internationally.

The wide popularity of Hertzfeldt's work has led to a countless number of online video bootlegs, bringing these films to an audience of millions. His production company, Bitter Films, has never placed any of these films online themselves and while they "are not interested in harassing fans," Don is reportedly unhappy with the very poor quality of these online versions, as well as the fact that the bootlegs are frequently re-edited, uncredited, or remixed.[16]

Hertzfeldt prefers to not sell any of his original or production artwork. Instead, through Bitter Films in the late 90's and early 00's, he annually auctioned pieces off online to raise thousands of dollars for local Santa Barbara charities. Other original artwork has been occasionally given away through the Bitter Films online store through special promotions. Because Hertzfeldt also rarely does signings, his artwork is very rare for animation collectors or casual fans to own.

"The Animation Show"

In 2003, Hertzfeldt created The Animation Show with Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge, a biennial North American touring festival that brings independent animated short films to more movie theaters than any distributor in history. The programs are personally curated by Hertzfeldt and Judge. A second Animation Show edition toured throughout 2005, featuring Hertzfeldt's short film The Meaning of Life and new films by animators like Peter Cornwell and Georges Schwizgebel. The third season of The Animation Show began its nationwide release in January 2007, featuring new work by animators Joanna Quinn and Bill Plympton, as well as Hertzfeldt's own Everything Will Be OK.

A stated goal of The Animation Show is to regularly "free the work of these independent artists from the dungeons of Internet exhibition," and bring them into proper movie theaters where most of these short films were meant to be seen. The Animation Show has meanwhile launched a supplemental DVD series of animated short films, with content that often varies from the annual theatrical programs. These DVDs are distributed by MTV.

In a March 2008 entry in his blog, Hertzfeldt announced he had decided to leave The Animation Show, after having programmed (and contributing films to) three tours. No other details were provided. A fourth season of the program is due to be released in theaters in summer 2008, presumably with no involvement from him. [17]

Current work

I am so proud of you, the second chapter of Everything Will Be OK, was released in theaters in autumn 2008, with a third and presumably final chapter of the trilogy to follow. Hertzfeldt is currently on a sold-out American tour with the film.

According to his blog, Hertzfeldt has been developing an animated project for television. He has also made references to working on a graphic novel. [18]

Hertzfeldt's Everything Will Be OK won the Jury Award for Short Filmmaking at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival[19], the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the London Animation Festival, and 34 other awards.

In 2007, Hertzfeldt accepted an invitation from the George Eastman House's motion picture archives to indefinitely store and preserve the historically important original film elements and camera negatives to his collected work from 1995-2005.

In 2005, Hertzfeldt wrote and illustrated a short piece called, Dance of the Sugar Plums (or, Last Month on Earth) for the second volume of the graphic novel anthology, Flight. His comic was entirely created on Post-It notes in pencil, with each Post-It faithfully reprinted life-size in the book, over a black background.

Major awards and honors

In 1998, at the age of 21, Hertzfeldt was nominated for the Short Film Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Billy's Balloon, where he was the youngest director in competition.

In 2000, at the age of 23, Hertzfeldt was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for his fifth major film, Rejected.

In 2001, Hertzfeldt was named by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the "Top 25 Filmmakers to Watch".

In January 2007, Everything Will Be OK won the Jury Award for Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2007, according to the animation industry website Cartoon Brew, Everything Will Be OK advanced to the final round of voting as a contender for an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, but did not make the ultimate list of five nominees.

Collectively, Hertzfeldt's work has received over one hundred and thirty film festival awards. A list of individual awards for each film can be viewed on his website.

DVD release

Bitter Films Volume One: 1995-2005

An exhaustive DVD collection of all of Hertzfeldt's films from 1995 to 2005 was released in 2006. The short films were remastered and restored in high definition from the original film negatives. The DVD was self-produced and released by Bitter Films, and made available only to fans via the http://www.bitterfilms.com website.

The DVD marked the first time his student films such as Genre and Lily and Jim were made widely available to the public - many of these works were only previously found on limited-release VHS collections of animated shorts, long out of print.

The special features for "Bitter Films Volume One: 1995-2005" include:

  • The documentary, Watching Grass Grow: Animating The Meaning of Life'
  • The Animation Show Trilogy cartoons
  • Lily and Jim deleted dialogues and outtakes
  • Rejected trivia captions
  • The Meaning of Life special effects audio commentary
  • An extensive 140+ page "Archive" section, featuring rare footage from Hertzfeldt's earliest cartoons, original pencil tests, deleted sequences, abandoned footage, and sketch to scene comparisons
  • Lily and Jim reunion commentary with the original voice actors
  • Rejected audio commentary
  • Preview of Everything Will Be OK
  • The Animation Show interviews with Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt
  • Ah, L'Amour bonus 2005 soundtrack
  • 16 page retrospective booklet, featuring liner notes by Hertzfeldt
  • Original animated menus and transitions

The first 750 pre-orderers of the DVD received an "exclusive mystery gift": either a 35mm clipping from Rejected that was autographed by Don, or a unique drawing by Don on a Post-it note.

In 2001, Bitter Films released a limited edition DVD "single" of the popular short Rejected, and a similar 2007 "single" release of Everything Will Be OK is also now available.

View on commercials and controversy

Hertzfeldt has been offered numerous lucrative commercial deals, including campaigns from Cingular Wireless and United Airlines. However, he has turned all these offers down, as he believes that commercials are essentially "lies" and he does not want to lie to his audience (as stated in the caption commentary of Rejected on the Bitter Films Vol. 1 DVD). He has made various comments over the years about his distaste for corporate America. Hertzfeldt has promised his fans many times that he'll never have anything to do with making a commercial.[16]

Nevertheless, several national ad campaigns have borrowed heavily from his unique style and bear enough resemblance to Hertzfeldt's work as to be mistaken for it. The most well-known instance of this is a series of 2004-2007 television ads for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, which use black and white stick figures, "squiggly" animation, surreal humor, and even an occasional crumpling paper effect, all very similar to Hertzfeldt's style. Despite all these similarities, Hertzfeldt was not involved in any way.[20] It is unclear if the Kellogg Company is intentionally trying to mimic his style, or if these similarities are purely coincidental. In Canada, the not-for-profit corporation Encorp has used a Hertzfeldt-like style of short animation clips on TV and the Internet to promote its "Don't Mess With Karma" campaign to encourage recycling.[21]

References

  1. ^ "An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt". evilmonito.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-02.
  2. ^ "An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt". originalalamo.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-06.
  3. ^ Timberg, Scott (February 2002), "Don Hertzfeldt is the most inventive underground animator in America.", New Times LA (Los Angeles, California: New Times Media), http://www.bitterfilms.com/articles-e.html, retrieved on 28 March 2007 
  4. ^ "February through June 2001". articles and interviews archive. bitterfilms.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  5. ^ Parks, Finnegan (15 October 2007). "A Conversation With Don Hertzfeldt, Part Four". A Conversation With Don Hertzfeldt. Bridgerack.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  6. ^ Jones, J.R.. ""Truth in Doodling"". magazine article. Chicago Reader.
  7. ^ ""the meaning of life"". production information about "the meaning of life". bitterfilms.com.
  8. ^ ""rejected"". production information about "rejected". bitterfilms.com.
  9. ^ es. "Biography for Don Hertzfeldt". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  10. ^ Don Hertzfeldt. bitter films volume one: 1995-2005 (audio commentary) [DVD].
  11. ^ Clark, Craig J. (April 12, 2007). "Aqua Teen on the Big Screen: Interview with Matt Maiellaro & Dave Willis". Animation World Magazine 5. Animation World Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  12. ^ Tobey, Matt (May 29, 2008). "CC Insider Interview" 1. Comedy Central. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  13. ^ Longino, Bob (18 March 2005), "12 animated shorts aren't made for kids", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia: Cox Enterprises) 57 (77): h1+h8, http://www.bitterfilms.com/meaningoflife.html, retrieved on 18 October 2007 
  14. ^ Reviews for Everything will be OK
  15. ^ Timmermann, Pete (July 3, 2008). "Playback STL". Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  16. ^ a b "frequently asked questions". bitterfilms.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
  17. ^ [http://www.bitterfilms.com/forum.html>
  18. ^ [http://www.bitterfilms.com/forum.html>
  19. ^ "2007 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury and Audience Awards" (PDF) 5. Sundance Institute (January 27, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
  20. ^ Vespe, Eric (July 27, 2006). "Killer Rabbit w/info on DARK CRYSTAL 2, PAN'S LABYRINTH, HELLBOY ANIMATED, CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE & more!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
  21. ^ "Don't Mess With Karma". encorp.ca.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hertzfeldt"

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