Working on 16mm cartoon (Koko the Blue)

Charles Brubaker · September 3, 2013

Many of us love watching films. That part's obvious, and I know there are even some of us that MAKES film.

I'm one of them. I have written about animation, most notably for Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research. Even on print I did some freelance for Hogan's Alley magazine. I'm also a cartoonist, having done illustration work, editorial cartoons, and independent comic books. I also did some animation, having been involved in Bill Plympton's "Guard Dog Global Jam", some obscure student projects, and even doing a short film called "Fishing", which had its only public screening in Boston at a pop culture convention.

One of my comics involves a character I've been developing for a while called "Koko the Blue". The main character is a teenage sorceress (originally a witch) who has to deal with her full-time job. I wrote a script early this year, which went through development, getting input from professional animation people, and then further refined from my writing partner David Winn Jr. I ultimately used the script as a comic book, which came out in June 2013. It got positive reviews, and I later did several more stories with the character.

I decided to pull everything together and make a short film based on the story. I teamed up with few friends, including animators Aaron Long (Fester Fish) and Zoe Piel, voice actor Kyle Carrozza (also a cartoonist, creator of Moobeard and Frog Raccoon Strawberry), and composer Kevin Bluhm (Pawn Stars, various documentaries). I set the goal to raise $13,000 to cover the costs, which isn't too bad considering how much Hollywood studios spend.

I'm working to have the cartoon painted on cels and photographed in Super 16mm. I have done animation on standard 16mm before, so I decided to go for the wider format, which suits well since everything is in 16:9 aspect ratio now.

I have more details on the IndieGoGo page. Please check it out and spread the word.

Charles Brubaker · September 7, 2013

Heartened at the support I'm getting. The campaign's barely a week old and I'm already over $1,800. Thank you very much!

Please continue to pledge, and spread the word to cartoon fans everywhere!

Charles Brubaker · September 9, 2013

It's been a week and already we're in the $1,900 range. I wonder who will bring it to the $2,000 level?

Thanks to everyone who supported me throughout this endeavor. I appreciate it very much!

David Nethery · September 9, 2013

Hi, Charles,

Do you already own the 16mm Bolex camera converted to Super 16 ? (with an animation stand to mount it on ?) Are you planning on doing all the shooting yourself ? The reason I ask is because when shooting animation you're not really investing a lot in film stock (the shooting ratios is pretty much 1:1 ) , so the cost to have it shot on 35mm stock wouldn't be a whole lot more if you are going to hire the work out to a camera service. The real cost is in the time and labor for someone to shoot all the cels . Now , on the other hand, actually finding a camera service that still has a working 35mm animation camera and stand might be a challenge. As you know Mark Kausler's last two films , "It's the Cat" and "There Must be Some Other Cat" were shot on a 35mm Acme camera stand that is owned by the producer of Mark's films , Greg Ford. You might want to find out what Greg would charge to shoot your film on his Acme stand in 35mm . I think Dean Kalman-Lennert is shooting his film "Dear Anna Olson" on an Oxberry stand in 35mm. I'm not sure if Dean owns the Oxberry stand himself , or if he's found someone in the NYC area that still has one which is operational .

On the other hand if you're going to go the complete DIY route and you've already got the Bolex camera converted to Super 16 and have built a camera stand for it then you'll save a lot of money shooting it yourself. What I'm suggesting is that if you're going to hire out the camera work anyway , you might want to just consider having it shot in 35mm .

Did you see this entry on Cartoon Brew ? --

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/imitation-of-life-sneaks-animation-into-the-venice-biennale-88149.html

The production mentioned in the article, "Imitation of Life" , was made in the traditional manner with hand-inked cels and shot on 35mm. I'm not sure who handled the camera work . The production company, DUCK Studios, is in Santa Monica. They might still have their own in-house animation camera stand that they took out of storage for this unusual "retro" production.

.

Charles Brubaker · September 10, 2013

I have a 16mm Bolex. It's only standard ratio, however (part of the money would go to having it converted to S16 by professionals). I'm planning to shoot myself.

I'm familiar with Greg Ford's camera. Maybe if I can get more $$$ down the line, I could afford to hire him to shoot it.

David Nethery · September 18, 2013

I have a 16mm Bolex. It's only standard ratio, however (part of the money would go to having it converted to S16 by professionals). I'm planning to shoot myself.

I'm familiar with Greg Ford's camera. Maybe if I can get more $$$ down the line, I could afford to hire him to shoot it.

If you were asking me , I'd say spend the money to get someone to shoot it on 35mm (Greg Ford or someone else ) , instead of spending the money on converting your regular 16mm Bolex to "Super 16mm" .

Do you already have a camera stand for the Bolex ? If you go the DIY route with shooting your cels on the Bolex what is the reason for paying extra money to get it converted to Super 16mm ? "Super 16mm" is so you can compose in the HDTV 16:9 aspect ratio .

But for animation you can compose your shots with a 16:9 ("HD/Super 16") Field Guide from Cartoon Colour Co. , so your scene layouts are composed for 16:9 framing , but just shoot it on regular 16mm and crop it accordingly . (you draw on regular 12 field paper , which is 4:3 aspect ratio , but you use the HD 16:9 field guide to make sure that all the important elements in your composition stay within the 16:9 aspect ratio , you see ?

Regular 12 Field , 4:3 aspect ratio:

HD/16:9 aspect ratio 12 Field :

If your regular 16mm Bolex is functioning normally I see no reason to have it converted to Super 16mm (16:9 aspect) for shooting animation.

.

Edited September 18, 2013 by David Nethery