American readers won't recognize the name Pierre Etaix. TOO BAD! The man was one of the greatest of all French filmmakers and exerted a big influence on American comedy people like Jerry Lewis and Ernie Kovacs. But don't take my word for it: watch his Academy Award winning short "Happy Anniversary" (above), co-written (with Jean-Claude Carriere), directed and performed by Etaix. If you make film for a living, you'll find a lot to study here.
Unfortunately the YouTube copies of the two films I'm talking about suck and give a false impression of the pace and atmosphere in the story. Etaix's films suffer more than most from reduction and bad sound. Be sure to watch them as large as you can.
See what you think of this clip (above) from his 1965 feature called "Yo-Yo." The precision, the way lighting and staging enhance the humor, the way one gag morphs into another, the way sound effects are used...it's a textbook of technique.
Once again, watch the film in the largest size possible.
BTW: Many thanks to Steve Worth for introducing me to these films! If you live in LA and would like to see good prints of these this weekend then contact The Creative League via Steve's site: http://animationresources.org/
Thanks for the recommendation, Uncle Eddie! I'm definitely going to try to find some Pierre Etaix films to watch. Maybe I'll spend this upcoming Sunday afternoon with some popcorn and Pierre Etaix films.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I'm going to watch one of my all time favorite movies before I go to bed - Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle
Jennifer: 'Glad you like Etaix! Unfortunately I haven't seen most of his films and can only testify to the quality of the ones I posted about.
ReplyDeleteA friend saw Etaix's final film and said it was well done but unbelievably depressing. Most critics didn't like it. Me, I'd like to see it anyway. When you like an artist you want to follow his development, almost no matter where it leads.
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ReplyDeleteMy brother and I got to meet him in Nancy, France, and see his complete films in a movie theater! His work is so unique and funny! He was Jacques Tati's assistant before he became a director himself, and he would talk about how Chaplin and Keaton were geniuses and how they have influenced him so much. I would say him and Lewis have influenced each other.
ReplyDeleteVery underrated filmmaker, even in France. They released his complete filmography in a box set a couple years ago in France, so if your DVD player can read Region 2 dvds, you can import it from the french Amazon website.
By the way, thank you Eddie for visiting us at LCAD. Your lecture was inspirational and has re-energized me! I hope you come back sometime!
Best,
Louis
I haven't gotten to watch any of the films in your post, but there was something that I really wanted to ask you, but didn't know where else to tell you.
ReplyDeleteNow that I've gotten a lot of the important college stuff out of the way, how do you think I can break into the animation industry without the connections or networking that I'd supposedly get if I went to Cal Arts or SVA? I still have quite a bit of talent, as you, Vincent, John K, and others have pointed out in the past and I think I'd make an excellent storyboard artist with how much progress I've been making, especially with getting back into the studies. What do you suggest that I do, especially since I'm going to do engineering for income purposes?
I would also like to know if getting a company to pay for my graduate studies, possibly at one of those major art schools might be beneficial. Thanks, Eddie.
ReplyDeleteJoshua: I imagine they're black and white because that's cheaper to shoot and make prints of. Doing a pantomime film makes things easier, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Wreck It Ralph footage. I'm too sleepy to watch it now, but I'll see it over coffee in the morning.
Louis: You got to meet him!? I'm envious! Steve was able to play Criterion's new set on his equipment....maybe that set's geared to our system.
Thanks for the nice words about the lecture. That was fun!
Joshua: Wow! Thanks much for the Goldberg link! It was fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteEric deserves congratulation for doing a wonderful job but in my opinion the writer undermined him by not giving him the kind of dialogue he needed. The dialogue doesn't lend itself to animation. It forced the animator to put a big emphasis on relatively minor accents just to keep the scene alive.
Compare this to Tytla's Stromboli. Tytla could put the animation over the top because he was building on a foundation of a clearly defined strong character.
Roberto: I can't answer that because an answer would depend on knowledge of yourself that that only you possess.
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I'd immerse myself totally in engineering for two or three years because that's the best way to benefit from the courses you'll be taking. It's hard to be good at something you don't give your full attention to.
Have engineer friends, join engineering clubs, put pictures of engineering projects on your wall, date science-minded girls. For a time, treat drawing only as a hobby.
When you get your engineering degree you can do what Arthur Conan Doyle did and follow your heart.
I look forward to discovering his work,thank you!
ReplyDelete