Before I get started with this week’s regular (and early) article, I have an announcement: I’m on a podcast! The MuppetCast is a podcast devoted to the appreciation of Jim Henson, the Muppets, and everything related to them. MuppetCast host Steve Swanson kindly allowed me to come on his show and talk with him about the very best animation from acclaimed granddaddy of all educational children’s shows, Sesame Street.
To hear the show, you can either go to the MuppetCast website and listen to it there, or you can search the iTunes store for “MuppetCast” and download your 100% free copy of Show #164 for playback on your listening device of choice. You can also find links to help you subscribe to The MuppetCast with either iTunes or Zune at the MuppetCast website. (Just scroll down a little.)
Huge thanks to Steve Swanson for letting me crash his podcast and for being such a gracious host. I had a great time recording the segment and I hope all of you will have just as much fun listening to it.
In honor of my podcast debut, I’m keeping with the Sesame Street theme for this week’s article. We’ll be looking at a recent contest that offered animators the chance to see their work air on Sesame Street/
Sesame Street and animation have a long history together. Ever since the groundbreaking children’s television series debuted in 1969, animation has been a key component of the show. Animated sequences made up many of the short “commercials” for letters and numbers that helped to entertain and teach the show’s inner city, TV savvy target audience. Over its four decades on the air, Sesame Street has worked with numerous talented animators, everyone from John and Faith Hubley to Sally Cruikshank to John Lasseter and Pixar. This past year, Sesame Workshop partnered with Aniboom to hold an animation contest. Animated films in four different categories were reviewed by judges including actor Neil Patrick Harris and Muppeteer Kevin Clash. One finalist was chosen from each category and a fifth was chosen based on feedback from the Aniboom community. Each finalist was awarded a cash prize and the grand prize winner’s work will be shown on the forty-first season of Sesame Street.
The contest was not without controversy. Similar contests sponsored by a variety of different companies have been cropping up as of late and raising the ire of some animation professionals and fans. There are two major issues with such contests. One is that they encourage “animation on speculation.” Instead of submitting existing samples of their work and a proposal for a new piece of animation as they would when seeking freelance work, animators are expected to provide the contest sponsor with a finished film with no guarantee of payment. Animators create work to the company’s specifications, the company selects and pays for the pieces they like best, and the remaining animators are left with finished pieces they may or may not be able to sell. For example, one of the four categories in the Sesame Street contest challenged animators to create new animation to accompany a famous Sesame Street song. Since Sesame Workshop owns the rights to the song, animators would have to find or create a new soundtrack for their work. Even where this isn’t an issue, the creators of the non-winning entries now have to find buyers for already finished work made to another company’s needs and specifications if they want to be paid for their efforts.
Most beginning animators do create some work that they will likely never get paid for, such as portfolio pieces and student films. Some of this work will be shown at festivals or other venues, with the artist receiving little or no compensation beyond getting her or his work seen by more people. But when large companies that can afford to pay for the work that they want and have gone through the normal channels for soliciting freelance work in the past host these contests where artists create finished works and compete for compensation, it sets a bad precedent and put the animator at a disadvantage. Rather than “Show me what you’ve already done and we’ll tell you if we want to work with you,” the company is essentially saying “Do the work for us first and we’ll decide if it’s good enough for us to pay you for it.”
The second main issue that professionals and fans have with such contests is one of rights. The rules and terms for many of these contests give the sponsor (in this case Aniboom) the right to use submitted works in any way they see fit to promote the contest or website. So legally, an animator’s submission to the contest could be used in print, television, or radio advertisements for Aniboom without the creator ever being consulted on how the submission is being used or compensated for the use of his or her work. Under the terms of the Sesame Street contest, the license is exclusive during the contest period, after which it becomes, “perpetual and non-exclusive.” So the animator could place the piece on his or her website or even shop it around to other clients after the end of the contest period, but Aniboom would always be able to use the work – in part or whole – for their own self promotion.
Concern about a longtime supporter of independent animators like Sesame Street becoming involved with such a contest prompted animation website Cartoon Brew to write an open letter to Sesame Street. If you look, you’ll notice that I am one of the signers. I am not comfortable with the idea of animators being asked to create finished work for the possibility of a prize rather than a guaranteed paycheck and I find the conditions that creators sign away so many rights to their work equally disturbing. The line in the letter suggesting that asking a pool of lawyers to each write a legal brief so that you could select the best one and pay only for that would never fly struck a chord with me. It seems like just another example of how animation – and creative work in general – is not treated as a “serious” job.
And yet I’m torn. I understand that animation is not an easy business to break into and that even talented animators can spend years trying to shop their work around and never get so much as a foot in the door. Newcomers to the field often look for anything that can get them noticed, which is both an argument against and for this kind of contest. One the one hand, I don’t want to see such naïve young artists get exploited and end up signing their work away without knowing what they’re doing. One the other hand, if such contests create publicity that gets animators’ work seen by more people, that could lead to more paying work. At the very least, I can understand the temptation to enter these contests, even knowing what you’re giving up.
Ultimately, I wish these contests did not exist and I particularly wish that Sesame Workshop were not involved with one. If Sesame Workshop really wants to find and work with new talent in the field of animation, there are better ways to do that, such as aggressively soliciting demo reels from new sources or sponsoring an animation festival with less restrictive rules regarding content and rights and hiring as many or as few people as they wish from the contributors to produce work for them. But ultimately, it is the artist’s choice whether she or he wishes to participate in such a contest. I would advise any animator to read the rules and submission agreements very carefully and seek legal advice if you don’t understand what you’re reading. Don’t sign anything you don’t understand. Then it’s up to you to decide whether the conditions are something you are willing to live with.
Though I still have great concerns about whether contests like this one do more harm than good, I recognize that a number of highly skilled animators did submit work and five among them were judged to be the best of the bunch. So here are the five finalists and my own thoughts about each piece.
Question of the Day: Diversity
by Tony Dusko
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
This was the finalist in the pro-social category, for which animators were asked to teach kids positive social skills. Of the final finalist films, this one is my least favorite. The drawing style is kind of appealing, but not really my thing. From a teaching standpoint, the piece doesn’t present a scenario or actually demonstrate why a particular behavior is correct. It just tells the viewer that there is a right answer and a wrong one. The whole short strikes me as too hip for its own good. While Sesame Street has a long history of using humor to keep the adults entertained, this piece relies more on random phrases than genuine comedy.
Roll Call
by William Levin
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
This short was the winner of the Sky’s The Limit category, which covers all miscellaneous animation not included in the other categories. The animation here is very simple, with most of the movements consisting of just two drawings. But the art style is pleasing and fits in nicely with past Sesame Street animation. I particularly like how the break characters look sort of like Muppets. My biggest question is whether this piece has enough educational content, since it’s mostly just the rolls shouting out their names and the names appearing below them. Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining short and Sesame Street animation is no stranger to weirdness.
Rock Star
by Mithum Kumara
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
Rock Star was the Community Favorite, voted into the final five by the Aniboom community. I suspect it was originally entered in the School Readiness Skills category. The computer animation is OK, but it’s nothing mindblowing and there are moments of stiffness, particularly when the 7 is playing the piano towards the beginning. The short does a good job of teaching the number, with plenty of counting and showing the numeral and the name of the number spelled out. The trouble is that the elements never blend into a cohesive whole. The objects shown in groups of seven are completely random, as is the sudden switch from classic rock to electronica in the soundtrack. The premise is fun and I think it would be a great fit for Sesame Street if more care were taken to make everything fit in with the idea of a number being a rock star.
Lonely Eleven
Mari Jaye
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
This piece won the School Readiness Skills, category, designed to teach children letters, numbers, and other concepts that would give them a head start in school. The song used here is very catchy and conveys a lot of information without getting overwhelming or becoming too repetitive. I like the animation being set on a chalkboard and the 11 is an appealing character, particularly considering that he has no appendages or features beyond two eyes. My one concern about Lonely Eleven is that viewers might not come away understanding what an odd number is. A division symbol does show up and bump into the 11, but unless kids already know what that symbol means, they may no get the connection to odd numbers being those not evenly divisible by two. Still, the short is very entraining and definitely feels like something that would air on Sesame Street.
Pinball Animation Stop Motion remake
by Florence Animation
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
The grand prize winner came from the category Classic Remake – Pinball Number Count. This may have been the toughest challenge in the whole contest. How do you take the famous Pointer Sisters song from the well-known animated segments featuring a pinball traveling through a pinball machine and create new visuals for it? Florence Animation has chosen to draw inspiration from the original animation, but alter the setting and medium. The ball remains, but now travels through a stop-motion animated playroom.
I really like that this piece uses more traditional animation techniques rather than going for more modern tools like computers. I was initially a little saddened that the grand prize went to the only piece in the final five done by a studio rather than an individual animator, but it turns out that this “studio” consists of four people. The short is fun and lively, with a lot of creative ways of counting up to and showcasing the featured number. Even without the benefit a song that had been on Sesame Street for ages, this reimagining of Pinball Number Count feels like it belongs on the show and will make an excellent addition to season forty-one.
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
Of course, numerous other works that didn’t make the final five were submitted to the contest. Of the ones I’ve watched so far, my favorite is Sumi by Nyssa Benthin. The simple, wordless story of a nine-tailed fox who learns to paint combines beautifully with expressive animation based on Asian ink and brush painting. While the short could be a little tighter and the fadeout in the middle doesn’t work for me, Sumi combines a narrative that feels right at home on Sesame Street with an art style I have never seen on the show before and would definitely like to.
So what’s your opinion? Are the Sesame Street/ Aniboom contest and others like it exploitative and disrespectful to the serious business of animation? Or are they another way for struggling animators to get their work noticed? Did you think Pinball Animation Stop Motion remake was the right pick for the grand prize? Did another one of the finalists – or even a piece that didn’t make the finals – strike you as a better choice? What do you think are the qualities that make the best animated segments on Sesame Street stand out from the rest?
Tags: clay animation, computer animation, muppetcast, podcast, question of the day diversity, sesame street, stop-motion animation
Hello, Sarah!
Thanks for doing the segment with Steve Swanson on the Muppetcast last week. That was really well-researched, classy stuff! There’s a question I wanted to ask you about a piece of animation that Steve name-checked, but didn’t talk about. It’s an ABC cell-drawn animation bit… the audio for it comes immediately after your interview on the podcast. Letters morph into animals, which morph back into letters… and the music is vaguely baroque in style. Anyways, for years I’ve been wanting to learn if the music is original or if it’s taken from some classical work. I’m huge into music, and the chord sequence is amazing. If you’ve come across any information on this animation or its music, I would be in your debt.
Cheers!
- Bryan
Hi Bryan! I’m glad you enjoyed the segment I did on the MuppetCast. It was a lot of fun recording it.
I took a quick look at MuppetWiki, armed with the name “Madrigal Alphabet” from the YouTube links Steve put in the show notes. From what I can tell, the music “Madrigal Alphabet” is an orignal composition by Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II a.ka. Donald Byrd. The animated piece was done by Jeff Hale, who also worked on Pinball Number Count and was one of those guys I mentioned who was in ,i>Hardware Wars specifically as Obi-Wan equivalent Augie “Ben” Doggie.” And he worked on the Muppet Babies cartoon, as well as other animated projects with no connection to the Muppets.
The song “Madrigal Alphabet” has apparently accompanied different footage over the years, though I personally don’t remember hearing it alongside any visuals other than the Jeff Hale spot with the various characters and creatures morphing into letters. It was one of those segments that I really hadn’t though about for years, but remembered instantly once Steve brought it up.
Thanks for your comments!
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