Video

Plymptoons: The Complete Works of Bill Plympton

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Independent animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. His short films--some as brief as 15 seconds--made between 1985 and 1991 showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous features, The Tune and I Married a Strange Person. Plympton's earliest films indicate that he experimented with a variety of techniques--cutouts, cel animation, stop motion--before finding his personal style: colored pencil drawings on paper to illustrate bizarre, metamorphic transitions that build to an absurd climax. Eyes slide up foreheads, lips elongate, mouths rotate, bodies distort, and heads explode in loose, scribbly sketches. Plympton is not a great animator: he uses only four to six drawings per second, less than a Saturday-morning series (full, Disney-style animation requires 12 to 24 drawings per second), and his attempts to tell a coherent story through his drawings invariably fizzle. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face," "25 Ways to Quit Smoking," and the 15-second "Plymptoons" made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker. Not rated; suitable for all ages, although bizarre imagery may frighten small children. --Charles Solomon

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

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Publisher

: .,

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

158448117X

Classification

NTSC, Import

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

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Subject(s)

All Titles
Comedy

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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UCLA Animation Affiliation

No Affiliation

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