Dialog @ Random

for: Henry Selick, Director and Animator,
and in recognition of appreciation to the Austin Peay department of Art,
and the Center for Creative Arts, for hosting Mr. Selick's films, workshop,
and opening the evening lecture for Clarksville's public to attend on
Tuesday Feb. 25, 1997.

Henry gave a truly remarkable conscientious  lecture, obviously designed
towards the needs of the students of this art, and also offered a most courteous
respect to all who attended, speaking with many and signing posters afterwards.

As one of the public, I was delighted at the opportunity to attend.
The lecture was in true form, not a razzle-dazzle you, pump-you-up type of
performance, rather was thoughtfully designed in respect of those attending,
and in the respect for the traditional art of animation.

The films Henry Selick directed, speaking for themselves, are highly successful.
These are: The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and
Slow Bob. The lecture's topic centered around traditional animation, the artist,
held in comparison to the future of this art and computer generated animation.

The following prose contains some of Henry's thought, as they impressed me,
and became expanded by reflection:

The Artists' Animation
by Cassiopeia Raine

With hard work, one must reach into the story,
and... create the magic.
One must invest their heart, in the ideas
that they believe in.
Ideas in mind, skill at hand, pencil in tote.
Construct...Act...Draw...
Make it move...make it happen.
-Not in the focus of effects...for effects sake,
based upon the consumers forced diet,
determined by marketing departments,
who's anticipation of application
is geared only for, that which pays the most.
-Not with a ringing in the ears,
with the sounds of bells and whistles,
that do not last, and that show a disservice,
to the arts public, for whom the arts serve.
-Not in becoming headlines instrument,
playing in a harmony with the same.

Who determines the blow of your horn?

The tools of art...for the genuine artist,
cannot, and will not replace the art itself.
The hearts of the artists,
must value their sense of touch,
the way in which they release,
what their minds have formed.
Keeping it, in it's own respect.
-Not becoming a button pusher,
a program manager.
Whose concentration and trust,
in their own creativity, will be dragged along,
a twisted trail, of connecting the dots;
disrespectfully outlining their subject's.
Covering up...Hiding...Masking...
any resemblance that their may be, of the blood
that pumps, throughout that of the insides.
Instead this creator's reliance becomes
zeroed into technologies efficiency.
How they can manipulate their pixels
inside a square-box's screen of perception.
That sits stately in manner, on the artists desk,
and must have the very best, most complicated
of today's, computer-generating-morphing software.
Hence, the hidden typo--the animator's animator.

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