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In contrast to the war scene, where it unleashed hostilities and maintained the initiative on several fronts at the same time, the National Socialist regime was hardly able to match the Allied countries in the political use of animation, despite the exceptional importance it attached to propaganda. In view of this failure, the article explores the causal framework and delves into a field of forces where institutions compete with companies and talented figures with opportunists in the development of films of very uneven tone and quality that quickly fell into oblivion but which, given their documentary value, should be taken into account in the general framework of the history of animation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenology has enriched film studies through the work of Christian Metz, Gilles Deleuze and Vivian Sobchack among others, but its descriptive methodology can also contribute with animation research. In this text we analyze phenomenologically the experience of watching an animated narrative in order to bring to light the a priori structures and dynamics in which animation makes sense. We will delve into the particular attitude of the subject that allows immersion in the animated narrative world, which assumes an intersubjective dimension that articulates a personal growth process with cultural practices oriented by expectations of encounter and recognition typical of contemporary communication. This phenomenological description allows us to understand the value that the audience find in animated stories. The essay also exposes the assumptions that underlie animation studies from their own theoretical frameworks and methodologies. It therefore offers a primary guidance for systematizing and strengthening interdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the film Sueños de Tay Pi (1951), directed by Franz Winterstein for the production company Balet y Blay, as a result of the recent showing of a copy preserved in the Spanish Filmoteca. Comparing this version with two unpublished documents such as the original treatment and the technical script by Winterstein’s, we can assess the differences between versions and the personal intentions of the author, who experienced numerous production difficulties. We will also verify that the film did have a commercial distribution, contrary to what was thought. All this allows us to reconsider an unusual work that, despite the aforementioned problems, tried to open new paths in Spanish animated cinema, with a risky and modern proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Spanish animation, 2022 has been celebrated as the year of the re-release of a practically lost and forgotten film, although singular for its development: Érase una vez…, a feature film directed by José Escobar and Alexandre Cirici Pellicer, which adapted for the screen the tale of Cinderella described by Charles Perrault. Its production not only meant a tremendous effort for the artistic industry of Spanish animation, but also suffered the fate of competing with Disney’s Cinderella; thus, the so-called wizard from Burbank force their creators to change the title of the Spanish version. In the following pages, Luciano Berriatúa and Isabel Benavides, protagonists of the recovery of the film, narrate the details of an arduous process that lasted seven years, including different techniques and procedures to rigorously approach the historical truth of Érase una vez… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the transformation of its main character within the filmic discourse, given that metamorphosis is one of the prominent themes in Miyazaki's filmography, and of particular relevance in Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro, Hayao Miyazaki, 2004). Sophie's physical age fluctuates throughout the film to reflect her psychological state and her view of the world, her self-esteem, and the way she wants to represent herself. The way in which her appearance oscillates means that the protagonist is not really one age, but several at the same time, giving rise to a truly innovative vision of the character that influences the whole film, and which allows us to explore how a woman's physical appearance can become a symbol to break away from the dominant androcentric narrative model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the aesthetic, formal and ideological features of three stop motion animation short films filmed by Rita Basulto, Karla Castañeda and Sofía Carrillo in Jalisco between 2012 and 2017. Each filmmaker shows a different perspective in their work, but with a wealth of elements in common, such as the design supported by different pictorial traditions. Their short films also include characters who are not beautiful in a conventional way, but have been described as dark beings living in gloomy atmospheres. The methodology used in this article is based in the neoformalist analysis and highlights the relationship with fantastic cinema in each short film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MIA, the Spanish Association of Women in the Animation Industry, was born in 2018 with the aim of making the work of women in animation visible and changing the current situation of inequality that exists in the sector. This article overviews the factors that motivated the formation of the association and presents the actions taken in its almost five years of existence, particularly the MIA Report, which collects data on female representation in the Spanish animation industry, and the MIANIMA mentoring programme, which aims to promote projects of leading women in Spain and Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summons the results of an applied research in digital animation based on the recording of breathing patterns and their respective body movements when expressing mixed or complex emotions. To collect this information, we have analyzed video capture of emotions performed by an actress specialized in the acting method Alba Emoting. Such an acting method is based on the analysis of three elements, to access and express emotions: body posture, facial gesture and breathing patterns. The first two are traditionally used in animation, while breathing patterns have been less used when trying to convey emotional messages. On the other hand, the method postulates that there are six basic emotions and that, from combinations of their effectors, the entire expressive range available to the human being can be accessed. The results allow the construction of an experimental three-dimensional model to test how the breathing patterns can open access to a series of mixed emotions, which are difficult to convey using only body posture and facial gestures. These results are arranged in a matrix that picks out the effectors of the six basic emotions to produce a wide range of mixed or complex emotions. Finally, the essay proposes a practical methodology to build an animated sequence that expresses mixed emotions based on breathing patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a research about the development of the transmedia narrative for an animated film by Disney. Particularly, the communication actions assumed by this film company to keep its productions present in the consumer's life are studied in detail. Thus, we have studied the case of Wreck It Ralph! (2012), where a reverse product placement was developed. This exploration has required a qualitative methodology that has led us to investigate the implementation of this type of tools in a theoretical way. Likewise, an interview was conducted with Walter Crockett, Disney's digital marketing manager, in order to reach a pragmatic view on the issue. Consequently, we obtain a study that shows the dimensions and tools designed to extend the story of an animated film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Walerian Borowczyk's emancipated and transgressive desire, present both in his animated films and in his other films of a more erotic genre, frequently analyzed separately. In both, a Catholic imaginary predominates that represses the spectator's most debauched desires. An ideological, sacrilegious and sexual discourse; and in which memories --despite they hurt--, cannot be forgotten, evoking Maurice Halbwachs' idea of collective memory; for instance, the Holocaust seen as a process of industrialization, as seen in the animated film Les jeux des anges (1964); as well as the family dissolution and vouyeurism in Le théâtre de monsieur et madame Kabal (1962). Borowczyk is a brilliant, unclassifi-able and revolutionary author, who stands out for his desire for freedom, his opposition to traditional values and for the claim of unlimited desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music videos can be used as an audiovisual advertising tool; by making use of technological advances, they are usually synonymous with effectiveness, intertextuality, and complex visual framework. This article analyzes the advantages of the integration of animated 3D models for the development of unreal worlds as a part of the music video scenography. From the early cases to the present ones, there have been several examples that have worked as a chronological sample of the evolution of 3D animation in music video to determine its contribution to the relationship between scenography and narration, and their suitability as a link to the referential frameworks used in the film format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text analyzes the series Mofli, el último koala (1987) and the feature film Despertaferro, el grito del fuego (1990), two productions aimed at children and young people, directed by Jordi Amorós (Barcelona, 1945) within the EQUIP production company. Both were productions made in Spain, with notable time duration, and they accessed commercial distribution. Thanks to Amorós Mofli and Despertaferro had a similar composition in the team, which included relevant cartoonists from the so-called adult comic boom in the design of sets and characters. Among them were Enrique Ventura, Adolfo Usero or Marika Vila. The differences in approach in the two productions show the adaptation of EQUIP to different projects. In addition, the success of Mofli, el último koala could condition the approach of Despertaferro, el grito del fuego, both in terms of economic ambition and technical aspects, in which Amorós tested new technical proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the history and characteristics of the mediatic transposition of the character Patoruzú from comic books into animated films, in Argentina, comparing it with a similar case: Popeye in the United States. Where Popeye was a great success that impacted several generations of spectators, Patoruzú could only materialize at the time in a single short film, Upa en apuros. This article reflects upon the historical context that made the short film's production possible, the causes behind its commercial failure and the inherent esthetical factors concerning the format leap. Furthermore, it analyses the theme and motifs that appear in the short film in context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with a corpus of four animated short films from Central America, specifically from El Salvador and Honduras, and analyzes how they represent armed violence through the use of residual elements of the war. The proposal seeks, on the one hand, to demonstrate that work with animation can broaden the reflection on the representation of armed conflict in aesthetic and historical terms; and on the other hand, that it is part of a regional tradition of the audiovisual which started with "the rubble" of wars" and which have acquired new meaning through this media. Such senses clearly reveal an anti- war discourse, while at the same time fostering an intimate connection in the spectator --, significant but also sensitive, affective and personal-- with the facts and stories of violence that permeate the recent history of Central America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Spanish film industry, only three women have directed animated feature films. Their work, concentrated in the last three decades, represents seven percent of the total production in over one hundred years of the medium's history. This article analyzes the oeuvre of Maite Ruiz de Austri --a pioneer in the area--, Virginia Curiá, and Agurtzane Intxaurraga, in order to identify the points of convergence in the eight feature films which constitute the corpus. Firstly, there is a tendency towards a young audience, with a clear educational aspect. Likewise, it has been possible to observe the emergence of common characteristics around topics such as maternity, professional life, co-responsibility or the condition of women. This article aims to make the work of Spanish female filmmakers visible and to explore the influence of gender on content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In animation studios such as Walt Disney Animation, the sketches that make up the animated sequences of "pencil tests" are polished, in most of the cases, to obtain the final frames that will lead to the definitive animation of cels. In this article we will analyze the presence of Glen Keane's sketch stroke in the final result in his experimental animations, Duet and Nephtali. Then, we will see the transformation that the lines of his draft characters undergo to reach a clean and more refined outline, in the sequences that make up films such as the Beauty and the Beast or Tarzan. And, finally, we will reflect on how this "pencil test" can be considered definitive within more commercial aesthetic animations, in Pocahontas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its popularity, there is limited information available about the particularities of the anime production model and the tools used during its meticulous creation process, in which traditional drawing and painting techniques are effectively combined with digital tools. One of the possible causes of this ignorance about the process of elaboration of the anime, apart from the strict confidentiality rules of any animation studio, is the difficulty to find original material that shows in detail how an animation is created in Japan and what tools they use to give life to those characters with bulging eyes and pointed hair that have fascinated us for so many years —and still continue to do so. In this article, Antonio Horno —renowned promoter of anime culture in Spain and author of the book El lenguaje del anime. Del papel a la pantalla (Diábolo, 2017)— will show us the different stages that make up this creative process and some of the most used computer programs in Japanese studies, highlighting those particularities that, regardless of the artistic factor or style, come to establish the hallmark of the current anime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper by Mario Ceballos analyses the Japanese culture taking from the stop motion animated film Isle of Dogs (2018) by the American director Wes Anderson, and how the characteristic elements of his evolution as a filmmaker appear in it. The essay highlights the importance of the author's research work in order to accurately capture all the political and social iconographic elements of this country, by emphasizing the implication of Confucianism in the development of the Japanese identity throughout its history, and how it could be expressed in the future of a possible dystopian future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very possible that anyone with some active interest in the world of animation (or who follows on Facebook someone like this) has been found in recent months with a clip, a gameplay or informative video about Cuphead. It is unlikely, however, that you have encountered the trailer. Nevertheless, it is one of the most reviewed games since four years ago, and it has crossed the barriers of gamers’ communities, reopening the famous debate of whether the videogame is art. And is that, as if it were the owner of an ad of dubious origin, it is "the dissemination strategy that brings head to marketing managers." In this review, José María Palenzuela overviews the present state of the indie videogame industry in the context of the ongoing crisis of the AV culture, and its evolution to new more interdisciplinary formats, with the consequent dissolution of the barriers between genres, starting from the analysis of the unpredictable success of the videogame Cuphead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Khris Cembe (Cangas, Galicia) is a 2D animation director, producer and filmmaker. He has participated with Goya winning director Alberto Vázquez as animation director in the short films Birdboy (2011) and Decorado (2016) and the feature film Psiconautas, the forgotten children (2015). In his own short films, Cembe debuted as director thanks to a successful and intense crowdfunding campaign in Verkami with Viaje a pies (2015), a black comedy set in a train that combines different styles of animation, traditional, digital and some well camouflaged 3D." He is currently working on his latest film, with a suggestive title Soy una tumba, that won the Movistar + Short Project Award in 3D Wire animation market. At the same time, he combines his work as animation director in the feature film Unicorn Wars, a Spanish-French co-production in which he returns to team with Alberto Vázquez. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is not only part of the soundtrack, but it can also be developed as a narrative topic inside the film. The aim of this article is to identify the link between the topic of music and the storytelling of the animated movie Whisper of the Heart, directed by Yoshifumi Kondō, produced by Studio Ghibli. To verify the importance of the changes made by Hayao Miyazaki while adapting the original comic to a film, we use Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art: An Introduction as a reference. The dichotomy form-style will be used in order to make a practical analysis of this feature film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research delves into one of the series that has possibly succeeded in making visible for a young audience subjects such as feminism, issues and gender issues or homosexuality: Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar in 2013 for the TV channel Cartoon Network. Starting from the analysis of this series and the references that have helped its creation, we will make more understandable the LGBTI panorama in television animation during the last decades. For this, it is also necessary to include in this text the detailed study of another series, the Japanese Sailor Moon, created in 1992 by Naoko Takeuchi, because it is, in turn, one of the most important influences in the series by Sugar, but also the highlight series from which a chronology of LGBTI in television animation must be started. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morning Cowboy (2017) is a unique short animated film by Fernando and Elena Pomares, produced by Travelogue Studio, with the collaboration of Movistar +, Generalitat de Catalunya and ICAA. After passing through the highly selective 67th Berlin Film Festival in the Generation section and at the prestigious Lucania Festival, and having won significant awards, such as the Best National Short Film Award in 3D Wire (Segovia), Morning Cowboy has been one of the most emblematic titles of the Spanish short animation film in 2017, and it will surely remain that way in 2018. In its intense 15-minute length, which at times evokes John Ford's films but also Italian Cinema, Morning Cowboy takes us to the Western world, a cinematographic genre associated with the romantic and heroic one, but also with the evasion and the fantasy, like the animation itself, that are linked metaphorically in the world of the dreams of its protagonist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extremadura had its leading role in the 30s thanks to the great filmmaker Luis Buñuel, who shot in 1932 his documentary Las Hurdes, tierra sin pan at one of the most Spanish depressed counties. The film could be done thanks to Buñuel's friend Ramón Acín who, after winning a Lottery prize, decided to financed the documentary that would be a landmark in Buñuel's cinematographic. Now, 85 years later, Buñuel returns to Extremadura as an inspiration for a film based on the graphic novel by Fermín Solís, called Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles. Produced by Sygnatia and The Glow Animation Studio, with co-production by Submarine (The Netherlands), and with the contribution of Valencian studio Hampa, it is a 2D animation film for adults in a territory unusual for this type of work, Extremadura. South of Las Hurdes is Almendralejo, home of The Glow Animation Studio, a studie that we have visited to know everything about this ambitious production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the entrepreneurship spaces of the Fine Arts School, known as The Corridor, it has been created a small animation ecosystem, which work philosophy is based on synergies to carry out projects. A key point of this philosophy is the internal advice that is provided in all branches of animation knowledgement, as well as members outside this group. To make these spaces better known, they are promoted internal proposals with the support of the school. The most recent examples of this are related to the last Prime the Animation! 5 festival, with the participation of projects at the Blue Room stands area, as well as the Frame-Up. Short animated Films exhibit in Las Naves, with the support of the School, the UPV Master Animation Degree and the Valencia City Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are entering a fascinating journey through Strokes of Light, a retrospective of the Portuguese animators Abi Feijó and Regina Pessoa, inaugurated on 26th September 2017 in the Sala Josep Renau (UPV). This exhibition included original works from their animated productions, pre-cinema toys -- and even a light table for tracing sand!, to the delight of students, scholars, and public lovers of the septième art bis. The Lusitanian tandem is a worldwide reference for contemporary auteur animation. Committed to his country and the spreading of the animated image, Feijó revitalized the sector in the nineties through the Cinanima Festival and his company Filmógrafo, providing Portugal with a new generation of independent filmmakers, and, particularly, with one of the artist's revelations of the international animation in the present century. After giving us a singular plastic manufacture owing to the Piotr Dumała's animated engraving and embellished with a deep thematic sensitivity towards popular culture and childhood traumas, Pessoa reveals to us her delicate artwork, which, as you will notice throughout the text and in the exquisite images that accompany it, shines with its own light. Bom viagem!. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D animation for television is one of the contents which has accompanied us over the years. Hanna Barbera Studios undertook to find a profitable production system to carry out more than 200 different series. What happens sometimes with some successful series is that they seek to repeat formulas, with the risk of falling into repetition, neglecting creativity. But there are always people looking for a new point of view, as Fred Seibert, the first director of Cartoon Network, who put on displays a series of new characters, which marked a before and after. Today, we are enjoying creative, fun, different series that entertain the whole family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impromptu (María Lorenzo, 2017) is an animated film shortlisted for the Goya Awards 2018. A Valencian production by Enrique Millán, despite its still brief tour by festivals, the short film had its Spanish premiere at the prestigious ALCINE - Alcalá de Henares Film Festival, it has accumulated numerous international selections, and it has won the award for Best Artistic Animation at the 1st Expression Art Movie Festival in Los Angeles (USA). But Impromptu is, above all, a love letter to the origin of cinema, drawn by hand. Its traditional animation labour, the difficulty sought in the execution of the work and the issues addressed make Impromptu as personal as counterflow piece. The beauty and power of this brief, but mighty work, synchronized with Chopin's music, are the authorial marks by María Lorenzo: it reunites the use of the piano as a fetish instrument of the musicalization of her productions, the presence of flowers, of the waves and the portraits by which it shows a certain predilection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old Folks' Tales is a collaborative transmedia documentary that includes an animated TV series, an online platform and school projects. It was conceived by HIERROanimación (Bogota) and Piaggiodematei, from Barcelona. It was awarded as Best Transmedia Project at the MIFA-Festival of Annecy in 2012. It was coproduced by the Colombian public broadcaster (RTVC-Señal Colombia). The series was released in September 2013, and now a third season is in production. It has been internationally awarded, and in 2014 it was present at major festivals such as Annecy, Hiroshima, Anima Mundi, Dok Leipzig, DocDF and Animasivo. It received two TAL awards (by LatinAmerican public broadcasters network), and it was nominee to the Prix Jeunesse International and the Japan Prize. It has also won the India Catalina Prize from the Colombian TV Academy. Moreover, it was awarded at the following animation festivals: Savannah (USA), Golden Kuker (Bulgary) and Anima (Argentina). In the following essay, two of its main producers unveil the secrets of this unusual model of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gerben Schermer (Netherlands, 1959) founded the Holland Animation Film Festival together with animation filmmaker Gerrit van Dijk, in 1985. Schermer has developed a distinguished career in selection and programming for HAFF, and he has composed guest programmes for numerous international festivals. He has held positions as a board member and consultant for international organisations. Nowadays Schermer is active in the advisory committee for the Grant Programme for Design of the Creative Industries Fund. Gerben Schermer has been involved in film production as well. In 2010 he produced Clown's Revolution by the Chinese visual artist Sun Xun, who worked as artist-in-residence of the HAFF. In this interview Gerben Schermer talk to us about the profile of the Holland Animation Film Festival, his vision about animation and many other interesting issues for animation professionals, students and fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jonathan Hodgson (Oxford, United Kingdom, 1960) is an English animator who has developed his work mainly on documentary animation, or "animating real life", as he prefers to call it. He has also worked extensively for advertising and he has won numerous awards including the BAFTA for Best Animated Short in 1999. In the following interview with Jonathan Hodgson we will discover his current viewpoint on animation, his creative processes and the techniques he uses, as well as his teaching modes at the University of Middlesex, London, where he is Senior Lecturer and heads the Animation Degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isabel Herguera is a visual artist, Basque by birth and cosmopolitan by experiential evolution. Her birthplace gives her a trace of identity, of rooted people, and of the female who knows her position and placement in the world. Her look has been enriched in each of her trips, loaded with personal and professional experiences, which she has managed to unite and distill through animation to get always a different product, with its own flavor, yet combining her creative role with other tasks like managing festivals and teaching. Her latest short, Winter Love, is also a story about ties, where two people from different worlds meet in a place transformed through emotion and nostalgic memory of what it used to be. A short film where Isabel --like Marta, the protagonist of the film-- is true to her destination: art, life and her freedom to love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sam Ortí, better known simply as Sam, is already a living page in the history of Spanish animation. His brilliant career includes hits like The Werepig (2008), Vicenta (2010), or the ineffable Encarna (2003), perhaps the germ of all his subsequent production. Sam has opened to us the doors of his future studio-museum in Valencia, filled with scenes of his films, turned into exhibition dioramas that have toured the world, and he has told us the vicissitudes of his new film, Possessed (2014), appearing with honor as the third stop-motion animation feature produced in our country. Nieves Herranz talks about this future release, which has already gathered significant prizes in film festivals, and that certainly will not leave anyone indifferent in theaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The works of the Disney Studios have been widely critisized from their inception. The filmography of the "Factory" has received both attacks and praise from every direction, and its creators --especially its founder-- have been accused of defending diverse political principles under the camouflage of their films' naivety. In most cases, this criticism has relied on simple intuition and ideological prejudice. The aim of the present analysis is approaching the first animated feature film produced by the Disney Studios so as to characterize the process carried out by the Company's creative staff when rewriting a popular tale by The Brothers Grimm. The narratologic study of the operations taken will try to detect whether, in this case, there was a hidden agenda in Disney activity or rewriting responded to less militant goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, the artist Carles Porta García (born in Madrid, 1963, but from Lleida by vocation) shows us in a brief and condensed way some significant aspects of his activity as multifaceted creative. He begins by recalling his adolescence as the period in which he decides to go their own way guided by a taste for the art world, continues to speak about his influences and referents, as well as how he manage to combine his professional works with his personal works, and pointing to, among other things, some likes and dislikes and finally giving us some clues to his last (for now) project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we introduce Antón, a stop motion animated TV series from Argentina, which was selected for competition at the Annecy International Animation Festival 2013. It is also participating in over fifteen festivals and has won two international awards. The series director, Rosario Carlino, will carry us in a tour through its production stages, discovering the secrets that led to an interesting combination of volume animation in multiplane glass tables, to reveal eventually the validity today of such an artisanal and attractive technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There's no such a city without paths. Three animated short films present different views about Bogotá as a complex and diverse city of intersections. While the films capture the ordinary sights and the contradictory visions that define this urban landscape --as the space of daily experience--, it is also possible to find in these animated images a city as an organic and dynamic element, which essence remains open to new gazes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Conference on Illustration and Animation CONFIA is a place for open debate on the theoretical research and practice about these related areas. This paper reviews its last edition, held in Porto, Portugal, where a very interesting group of international experts came together: artists, researchers and theorists. Paula Tavares reports some considerations on the most relevant papers from this meeting, which exposed some of the focal topics of current practice and research - from the traditional ways of making to the latest technological innovations. With this paper we aim to open the way to CONFIA 2014, which we want to be the Conference of stability and maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The next exhibition Metamorphosis. The fantastic visions of Starewitch, Švankmajer and the Quay Brothers, first in Barcelona and then in Madrid, will be unmissable for fans of these masters of stop motion animation. Three generations of filmmakers whose works run through a turbulent and murky twentieth century, presenting broad thematic and aesthetic matches despite their peculiarities: the obsession with taxidermy, the undead, magical operations, poetic objects, dirt, the sublime and the unconscious, walk across their filmographies, genuine and inimitable. María Trénor, Valencian animation director, will talk about these artists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The program Prime the Animation! brings together the best work made in 2012-13 by animation students from Middlesex University (London, UK), Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, Canada). Although this common initiative began as part of the festival Cinema Jove 2013, from Valencia , it just started a tour screening beyond the originally planned, both as a whole and each individual work. Antonio Jesús Busto, student of the three institutions, recounts firsthand the intricacies of the leading short program, giving us a close view about the production and the most interesting aspects about graduation projects that can compete on equal terms in the professional sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the narrative, graphic, historical and cultural aspects of Millennium Actress, second film of director Satoshi Kon, that will be established as the cornerstone to understand his ways of work, technical and psychological aspects that he will develop in future creations. This approach is not only to history and culture of Japan, but also to their cinematography. The paper explores simple aspects often unknown to the western of Nippon culture, presenting the most relevant of the film to enable the reader an approach to the forms of graphics and cultural representation used by the director. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Señor Studio starts playing hard in the panorama of animation, and although their history may seem recent (since 2009), the trajectory of this team is consolidated and the projection of their work stands out internationally. Guillermo García Carsi, director of the family-owned studio with her sister Beatriz, was the creator and director of the famous show Pocoyo. This small but versatile production company in Madrid develops and produces 2D and 3D projects, covering the entire creative process and company stamp: concept, character design, script, story and direction, always putting on the table a good dose of imagination, talent and humor. Family ties connect the García Carsís with Valencia, but has been the collaboration of Guillermo García Carsí as professor in the Masters in Animation at the UPV, which has allowed us to share a table and coffee, and to chat in a relaxed way about animation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes an important contribution to the growing number of publications about stopmotion animator Ray Harryhausen, stressing his task as a character creator, particularly the Gorgon Medusa that appeared in the film Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis, 1981). The article firstly focuses on the myth of Medusa, her representation in classical art and also at audiovisual media prior to her appearance on Harryhausen's movie. Secondly, the paper will be centered on the relation between the author and his character, delving into the main aspects of its creative development. The final part is intended as a guide on the character seen by other artists in various media, with emphasis on those work that reflect Ray Harryhausen's design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animation, as a manufactured universe, needs rules to guide filmmakers to address their creativity. The existence of such rules does not constrain the imagination, but rather they stimulate it. From this principle, Gil Alkabetz develops workshops where students make small animation projects from a number of restrictions, which paradoxically encourage the emergence of creative and original results. The application of such premises to stimulate the students' personal expression has a positive result in the industry, where there is a growing demand of disruptive and original solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking from a direct experience with students of Fine Arts, and from the knowledge and requirements at the professional practice of animation, this paper reflects about a disciplinary context and about the boundaries in the understanding of drawing as a form of knowledge - today circumscribed, almost exclusively, to a strictly instructional area at art schools. Educational issues, their link to the development of individual personality, their irreplaceable role in the treatment of creation processes such as animation, and their undeniable role in discovering the world - to represent it visually from a personal dimension -, are claimed in this text, from the authority of drawing as a means of reflection that may become a goal by itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ANIMA - Córdoba International Animation Festival (Argentina) is both an academic and cultural event, devoted specifically to animation in its artistic and technological dimensions. ANIMA merges the energy, enthusiasm and joy of an animation festival with the scientific aspects of a conference. Held every odd year since 2001, ANIMA is the main animation event in Argentina and a very influential player in its field in Latin America and the Caribbean. This article provides with information about ANIMA activities and its curatorial profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Film Archive of IVAC has always considered animation as a cinematic universe that should have a strong presence in its programming. Throughout its history, it has organized periodically cycles and retrospectives: Aardman Animation, Bill Plympton, Jan Švankmajer, etc. The Valencian Film Archive has even collaborated with festivals, screening programs from Ani_Mar - Prix Miquel Guillem, or Animadrid. Through these initiatives, we have tried to cover the maximum extent possible the vast space of the animation, both from a geographical and historical points of view. It should be noted that when this article will be published, the IVAC will be gone, integrated into a new institution, with a considerable reduction in staff and budget, which will be a serious detriment to the operation of what is known historically Valencia Film Archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iker De los Mozos is an animator specialized in in the SetUp and Rigging of CGI characters who currently works at The Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has worked in London for companies like Nexus Productions and The Mill, where he was "rigger" for several film and television ads. Previously he had worked as Rigging supervisor in Kandor Graphics for the movie Justin and the Knights of Valour (Manuel Sicilia, 2013) and he participated of two Goya awards with The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio, 2010) and The Missing Lynx (Manuel Sicilia, Raul García, 2009). His first project as a professional Rigger was Ilion Animation Studios' feature Planet 51 (2010), which also won a Goya. Iker De los Mozos teaches the SetUp and Rigging module at Master of Animation Degree at the UPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a four years period of intense economic crisis, 2012 begins to crack part of the fortress that Spanish animation had shown so far, seeing disappear very quickly some of the companies and the industry flagship events, while removing of much state aid the movies threaten to affect even deeper to all the visual arts in the years ahead. In addition and as a sign of hope, 2012 is also a good year for many animated feature films that got an excellent answer countless commercial and international praise. The following article aims to point out very quickly what were the main lines that have characterized the Spanish animation in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the vision of a recent Graduated in Fine Arts, who later attended the first Edition of the UPV Masters in Animation Degree. The paper reveals an actual and direct experience and it is aimed to future students intending to join the world of animation within the artistic framework. When animation is chosen as a means of expression, a number of skills are needed: drawing, timing, action, pantomime, imagination, etc. We were born with all the potential requirements, but some still must be polished; others must awake from their long slumber. Read and observe can emancipate our minds; watch, watch and observe. Let's be "Sponge Bobs", look at unusual situations, things and characters with a brand new sight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]