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Parking


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PARKING (2003)
Technique: Traditional 2D Animation
Country: USA
A single blade of grass in an otherwise pristine parking lot sparks an escalating war of wills.

The director comments... "My apartment in New York City overlooks a parking lot, and I've often wondered about what kind of character lives and works in the tiny booth on the lot. I imagined the attendant as an egotistical, territorial megalomaniac who rules his domain with an iron foot and immediately disposing of any uninvited trespasser, like a blade of grass. But, this is not your normal blade of grass as their duel of wits escalates, it becomes a Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote type of battle, with the final victory going to nature. I made the film in about two months and people enjoy its kinetic energy, good vs. evil theme, and the ending, in which nature survives over all."

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Written, Directed and Animated by Bill Plympton

Official Site: www.plymptoons.com


ANIMATION SHOW LIVE CHATTRANSCRIPT WITH BILL PLYMPTON, SEPT. 16, 2003

bill_p: Hello
elgee: Hey Bill.
pantyhose: BP: what are you working on today?
bill_p: Today I am finishing up my brand new animated feature film called Hair High. You can see me draw on the internet everyday at www.hairhigh.com except when I am eating lunch or in the bathroom. It should be out this next year. pantyhose: cel or computer?
tim: fire away with any questions everyone
elgee: Where do you find inspiration?
bill_p: The animation is done on paper and pencil, then we copy on our copier, then we paint the cels the old fashioned way. The camera is a 35mm Mitchell that lives in New Jersey. And I find this works well for me because it's very direct and the expenses are very low. However I'm thinking about making my next short on computer. I'm hoping that the look and the budget will be similar to my regular animated films.
elgee: And inspiration?
bill_p: I live in the crazy streets of New YOrk where everyday I see bizarre people doing bizzare things and also during the 60s I did drugs and I found that it liberated my stream of consciousness for humor. And another important aspect is I carry around a notepad to write down these ideas immediatly after I get them. And so I can take these ideas and enlarge on them and use them for my animated films.
tim: Bill, you attended the Animation Show's premiere in NYC earlier this month. In your view, how did it go over? And aside from Don and Mike, was anyone else in attendance that we'd recognize?
pantyhose: where can I find your dvd's and videos? Do you have dvd's?
bill_p: Yes I attended the premiere at Lincold center, and it was fantastic event. Of course it was sold out and there were people outside begging for tickets. The program of animation was excellent, a wonderful mix of techniques and subject matter and world premieres. I believe that this is what fans of animation want to see and I'm honored to be included in the program. As for celebrities in the audience, there was Yvette kaplan, the director of Beavis and Butthead movie..Pat Smith director of Drink and Delivery.
tim: OK everyone, we are moderated now so please send questions, and I'll pass them along to Bill
bill_p: That's a great question, my brand new DVD of Mutant Aliens has just been released, it has all sorts of goodies and you can get it on plymptoons.com or bitterfilms.com and mutantaliens.com and also the PLymptoons DVD is out, and you can get those at the same markets.
tim: Were you pleased with the reception that "Parking" got at the Lincoln Center screening?
tim: jason says - which film of yours are you most proud of?
bill_p: Also indiedvd.com, and I'm working on a new collection of my recent short films including Sex and Violence, Surprise Cinema, and Eat, and it will be called "Bill's Dirty Shorts".
tim: elgee says - How did you react when you were nominated for an Academy Award?
bill_p: Yes I was totally delighted with the acceptance of Parking. It's a more traditional Warner Brothers type animation along the lines of the road runner cartoons, but with an enviromental twist. I think the films I'm most proud of are The Tune, I Married a Strange Person, and Mutant Aliens, But I believe Hair High will blow them all away.
tim: nate says - What is hair high about?
tim: pantyhose says - is the new film going to be in theatres soon?
tim: jason says - I heard a rumor that you turned down a lot of money to work for Disney in the early 90's. Is this true, and why?
bill_p: I got a phone call at 6 in the morning from the Canadian Film Board who I never knew and I tyhought it was a joke at first, a bad joke. But them after I slowly awoke from my slumber, I started to realize that it was a reality. and I was totally delighted and of course xcalled my parents to let them know their son had finally made it. The experience was amazing, I got to sit next to Charlton Heston and Little Richard and Fay Dunaway and even though I didn't win, all of a sudden, everybody took me seriously
tim: mouse says - hi bill!! what is your favorite film in the Animation Show?
tim: jason says - How do you deal with writer's block?
bill_p: The story for Hair High is a graphic novel that is in most comic shops around the country. It's gothic urban legend that takes place in the early 60s at a highschool somewhere in the Northwest. The idea appeared to me in a dream and I usually dont use dreams for films but this vision was so striking that I had to find a place for in a movie. The vision was 2 skeletons sitting in a car at the bottom of a lake and the car mysteriously turns on and drives out of the ;lake through downtown small city America an
bill_p: I love the Mike Judge (gay) charcter who keeps slapping his butt to the pedal steel guitar music. and of course the Don Hertzfeldt interstitials.
tim: Bill, I think you may have typed too much at once above, is there more to your Hair High description?
bill_p: Fortunatly for me I've never had writer's block and I dont know why, infact the problem I have is that I have too many ideas and not enough time or hands to draw it. ONe thing I like to do is early in the morning lay in bed for an hour and play with ideas that pop into my head. and see where those ideas lead. Sometimes they lead to dead ends and sometimes they lead to totally bizzare concepts. and if the ideas are funny enough, I will turn them into short films.
tim: it stopped at "through downtown small city America an "...
bill_p: and to their highschool prom where they get revenge from the highschool quarterback and his girlfriend.
tim: Is there a release date set for Hair High?
tim: nate says - How do you afford to make feature films on an independent level?
tim: quietboy says - Do u do all the frames or do u have a team?
bill_p: I'd like to address the question about the Disney fiasco. Around 1990 one of the producers of Disney offered me a million dollars to come work for their studio as a child and teen, that was my goal in life. And when they showed me the contract, I felt alittle more catious about working for Disney. I asked them if I could work on my own films during the weekend, and they said yes that's fine, but we would own the shorts. So what if I did little gag cartoons or sketches? and they said Yes we would own that too
bill_p: So i decided to not take up thier offer and decided to finish my feature film "The Tune".
bill_p: One of the ways I am able to make my feature films independent of Hollywood, is by doing 50% of the work myself. I'm director, writer, animator, producor, background artist, and storyboard artist. My main expenses are camera and cel painting
bill_p: I am able to finance these films through the sales of my short films throughout the world and theaters, television, DVD and video and the internet.
tim: kid a says - Do you have hopes or plans for future studio work?
bill_p: It's a wonderful luxory to be able to have complete creative freedom and still make enough money to finance all my films.
tim: oook says - interested in making a live action film someday?
tim: nate says - what advice do you have for young artists?? I am doing 2D animation and there is so little out there
bill_p: I've already made 3 live action films, the first one was J lyle, in 1994 Guns on the Clackamas in 1996, and Walt Curtis the Peckerneck Poet, all 3 of these films were tremendous flops through which I lost alot of money.
bill_p: But I think they're great films in their own way and will eventually find their audience. But I am still open to doing other live action films if the money's right.
tim: castrella says - Are your live action films available anywhere on home video?
tim: jason says - Was the Disney story your closest encounter with doing studio work?
tim: quietboy says - What's your favorite newspaper comic?
bill_p: That's a wonderful question. I think it's important the young filmmakers know the realities of the animation business. The 3 rules I have for success in the animation business is one: Make your films short. (3-5 Minutes) 2: Make it cheap (1000$ a minute) 3:Make it funny. The prime example is Bambi Meets Godzilla which was made for 500.00 and made over 100,000 dollars.
bill_p: ....and then once the film is finished, send it to all the big film festivals out there, especially Annecy in France. and that's where all the distributors go to buy films.
tim: pantyhose says - and when you made your first animated short, did you have any idea that youd be making animated features today ?
bill_p: The live action films are available on video at plymptoons.com for 20$ each.
bill_p: Concerning other studio work, I am now finishing an episode of "Chalk Zone" that stars a character, not unlike me who is an animator that draws wierd metamorphosis characters called Drew Your Face. It should air sometime in the winter and it was a pleasant expirience.
bill_p: My favourite newspaper comics are Winsor McKay, Dream of a Rare-bit Fiend, Calvin and Hobbes, Mutts, Bizarro.
tim: jason says - I read that you were involved with an upcoming tv documentary about the history of animation?
tim: oook says - was "chalk zone" work as a guest animator or do you have something more to do with that series...my kid loves that show btw
bill_p: No. I never in my wildest dreams thought I could draw an animated feature, however after 4 years of doing shorts, I put them in a compilation video called Plymptoons and realized that it was over an hour long. So it was very possible that I could make and aniamted feature film without big money or studio interference. And thankfully this was the same time that the independent film scene exploded.
bill_p: Yes, I was the character designer of a documentary called Animated Century which traces the history of animation throughout the world. It will be aired on the Bravo network, friday Sept. 26 8-10:00 eastern time. The animation was done by Konstintin Bronzit. He did a terrific job.
tim: junglenaut says - bill, just saw the show last night in San Francisco. Good stuff.
bill_p: The Chalk zone was a guest designer and animator and I only did about 2 minutes of animation
tim: mouse says - Who do you admire as far as animators throughout history?
bill_p: Thank you so everybody for participation. Unfortunately, I have to get back to my drawing board and finish Hair High for the Anicam. Be sure and check out and tell all your friends about the Animation Show coming to your city soon. adios!
tim: Thanks Bill! Come back soon.

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