So cool! My Great Uncle who just passed away at 102 was an animator for UPA: Willy Pyle (he is in the credits at min 10:28) I just sent this video to my family! Thank you for this!

@francescomanzo3939

5 жыл бұрын

I'm sorry about your uncle :(

@khalilemir

5 жыл бұрын

Im so happy that your great uncle was a part of this big story. Thanks for sharing!

@poweroffriendship2.0

4 жыл бұрын

Well, your uncle is now the most ambitious one in history. And this is great!

@jakecreations

3 жыл бұрын

I was friends with Willy for the last 7 years of his life. We would meet at his apartment on the upper west side and talk art and animation. He was so much fun and had so many stories from his days at Disney, UPA, and beyond. He animated Gerald McBoing Boing at the microphone wearing a cowboy hat. He was a Disney striker before that. I miss him but I'm glad I got to know him.

@frankdenardo8684

3 жыл бұрын

Mary Lynn Pyle Sorry to hear about your loss. Your uncle lived for a century. Thanks for the legacy he left us for many years to come.

“ he wanted his animation to do what live-action couldn’t “ This

@thesensur6214

5 жыл бұрын

What?

@harrylane4

5 жыл бұрын

@@thesensur6214 " HE WANTED HIS ANIMATION TO DO WHAT LIVE-ACTION COULDN'T " THIS

@thesensur6214

5 жыл бұрын

Harrison Lane what is the “this” supposed to add?

@juliantruitt4037

4 жыл бұрын

A progressive thought at that time in history, but really a bit of a fallacy

@RawHeadRay

4 жыл бұрын

says in this video that this guy said it then says in another video that richard williams said it,..maybe they both said it, great line too.

The Jazz of Animation

@savannahlevy97

4 жыл бұрын

That's pretty much it.

@poweroffriendship2.0

3 жыл бұрын

Ya' like jazz?

@arrowpictures2844

2 жыл бұрын

Hanna Barbera before Hanna Barbera

@steamboatwill3.367

Жыл бұрын

wouldn't that just be animation in the 1920s and 1930s ( and with Jazz music )?

@hellhasnohappiness1383

Жыл бұрын

Fuck ok didn't have to get all poetic like that

I think it can't be understated how much the Depression played in UPA's creation. Reading interviews with several animators from that era, you get the picture a large number of people got into animation not because they really wanted to, but because Disney was one of the only places for a young artist to get hired to actually do art. And once they came out the other side, they had all these sharp animation skills and more opportunities to be the artists they always wanted to be.

I am so happy this video is here now. I saw animation of UPA during my entire childhood without knowing at the time the rich history behind it.

@PogieJoe

5 жыл бұрын

Same! This is such a great video.

One other big influence on the UPA style of animation was the 1942 Warner Bros. cartoon The Dover Boys at Pimento University, created by Chuck Jones. It had some of the earliest use of minimalist design to create expressive human characters. It's really sort've the prototype for what would become UPA style.

@AlbertHamik2

5 жыл бұрын

Haha, this is something I just learned reading up a bit, one year after The Dover Boys, and while working for Columbia animation, John Hubley made a carbon copy of the former cartoon with a short called Rocky Road to Ruin: kzread.info/dash/bejne/o6N7kshsic-Ynco.html They even casted the same voice actor for the narrator, John McLeish, and that guy also wrote the short. It too is cited as being a pivotal part of the development of the UPA style, despite being mostly forgotten and overshadowed by the cartoon it rather heavily copied.

@AlbertHamik2

5 жыл бұрын

Also, while as a whole the Fox and Crow shorts were relatively pedestrian, the first entry into the series, The Fox and the Grapes, was cited by Chuck Jones himself as one of his key inspirations for his famous Roadrunner cartoons for Warner Bros. The fox's repeated attempts to retrieve the grapes nailed to the trunk of a tree are similar to Wile E. Coyote's constant attempts to catch the roadrunner, in terms of the setup.

@ChristopherSobieniak

5 жыл бұрын

@@AlbertHamik2 Similarly, there was a film called "Willoughby's Magic Hat" which also is often sighted. kzread.info/dash/bejne/p3Wb1daMlZrIfso.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/m66ZsM1_nMaonco.html

@Thenameless1

Жыл бұрын

Man I had no idea how old The Dover boys was, I thought it came out at least a decade or two later.

@nightisright1873

2 ай бұрын

Oh Chuck Jones loved UPA style heck a not so well none series of Looney Tunes cartoons Chuck did was the Ralph Philips series .About a little kid who constantly was day dreaming .A very UPA influenced style and story .I think that Chuck would have left Warners if given the opportunity he would have gone to UPA

It's worth mentioning that they won several Oscars, including 1956 when they had every nomination. Their style affected every other studio, including Disney. And they would not have survived if not for Hubley's creation of Mr Magoo.

My great grandfather was the voice for the jaywalker, thank you for sharing

I always loved UPA artistically, but never knew the business side. This is great.

Never heard of this company before, but this video is great. So cool to learn about something new ♥️

@alamdaali8776

5 жыл бұрын

this comment is so generic

@Apollos_Triumph

13 күн бұрын

​@@alamdaali8776Yup....

Thanks for this! There's a lot of discussion and reverence in the animation community for the "UPA style" [which is a whole other discussion as to what people think that is!] but definitely not enough discussion about the efforts of unionization and the attempt to create a studio that encapsulated the ethics and cooperation the union members wanted to bring about! So much to learn from today by looking at the history of the formation of UPA. There has been a resurgence of discussion of this history lately and I love it!!! Thank you!

Love that you're covering UPA! I teach Animation History, and it's one of my favorite classes- to show the students how we take for granted how animation looks these days and how UPA was so different and revolutionary at the time. Hoping you fold in the modern art influences of picasso, mondrian, & kandinsky as well as throw Mr Magoo some love in the coming videos!

Finally got around to watching the UPA trilogy and I have to say it has been one of my absolute favorite docu-series I've watched in recent times.

It’s so rare to hear about UPA especially this in-depth. I’m excited for this series.

Excellent! I'm so glad you made this! UPA can be criminally under valued, despite their huge change to the world of western animation. Really looking forward to the next 2 parts!

@BGcam

5 жыл бұрын

Any-Mation almost as good as YOUR video essays on animation. Almost. Your channel deserves at least as many subscribers as Royal Ocean and are the 2 best animation/film resources on youtube imo.

2:09 This might be the most creative demonstration sign I've ever seen

I never heard of this company, but I'm amaized! It looks like jazz sounds, and that's fresh even after 60 years of it's inception.

The modern artists (animators) that I actually like and would talk about vs the ones I hear about over and OVER again in my art classes.

You've got to do a video series on Fleischer Studios in the future. Especially since they played a big role during the early days of animation. At one point, they we're big rivals with Disney before the Looney Tunes existed.

@teddyfurstman1997

5 жыл бұрын

I love The Fleischers for their Popeye cartoons. ^^

@heckzotica

Жыл бұрын

Those guy are the true legends! Nothing from back then ever looked so good.

Wonderful history and tribute to a relatively unknown, but important studio! Also influential: After a few years, Disney itself, of all creators, thanks partly to the intelligence and talent of Ward Kimball, began adopting the UPA style in its own cartoons! Thank you for making this series of videos!

This is fantastic! I grew up loving “Gerald McBoing-Boing” and “Tom Terrific” (and His wonder-dog Mighty Manfred) but had no idea where they came from and why they were so charming in their quirky way! Can’t wait for the next two episodes and a way to view and share them all once again!

@AutisticJoker88

7 ай бұрын

Tom Terrific came from UPA? I always thought that cartoon was TerryToons. I know Gene Deitch (who created Tom Terrific... And Sidney the Elephant, Clint Clobber, Samson Scrap, and Nudnik amongst others) got his start at UPA (where he was an apprentice, directed Pump Troubles, and was a producer for the short-lived Gerald McBoing Boing TV Series), but Tom Terrific didn't come to be until Gene moved on to TerryToons (Unless it was an idea he had on the back burner when he left UPA)

"Invaded by diet Looney Tunes" needs to become a widespread expression

The editing on this is gorgeous

The graphic is tight!

Woah a metal upa! Those are rare!

@josuebartley7272

5 жыл бұрын

Justin Y. I hadn't seen you all day man, I was worried

@LuisLopez-fq5sz

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah you haven't been commenting in a while

@Wewwers

5 жыл бұрын

fuck off

@andrewbrowning1931

5 жыл бұрын

C A S E I N P O I N T , T H I S O N E ‘ S A D U D

@darth_autismo

3 жыл бұрын

How come I see you everywhere?

Finally, someone called Columbia "Diet Looney Tunes"! Glad I'm not the only one who of them that way. It doesn't help that Columbia was pumped by the same guy who got Oswald in Universal.

@kooarchived

3 жыл бұрын

Walter Lantz?

@jvgreendarmok

3 жыл бұрын

@@kooarchived Charles Mintz.

@kooarchived

3 жыл бұрын

@@jvgreendarmok Oh.

Everytime you show that old photo of the Roosevelt, I get a little shiver as I'm currently typing this from the third/top floor of the building on edge of frame left. Thank you so much for telling the UPA's tale!

Walt Disney made revolutionary art. The imagery in fantasia and Bambi has since not been rivalled. He had his own style and direction. That did not mean he was inferior to the UPA. Also, Walt famously hated using piled gags, and instead tried to tell complex stories. He was not the only storyteller in the studio, and hated how stale mainsteam animation was. That's why he wanted to change everything through the making of Snow White. Also, in White, they needed to attempt realism so that they could transcend it in their later golden Age films. These films used cinematography and movement impossible in live action. Moreover, Fantasia has a lot of abstract imagery in its opening suite, Night on bald mountain suite, and Nutcracker suite, which pushed colouring, cinematography, film, emotion, art and broke the rules of perspective effortlessly. Mickey mouse was a tiny part of Disney, which allowed them to increase in popularity so that he could make his films. The silly symphonies were a training ground so that the animators could be prepared for making films. The reason snow White used so much realistic movement was because everyone were telling Disney that an audience can't emotionally connect to drawings. The Huntsman scene took months to get right and for the audience to really feel for Snow White. It's revolutionary what they did. Furthermore, they improved in their later films. Can you do the stories, imagery and direction of Phinocchio, Fantasia or Bambi in live action or CGI? I doubt it. You cannot say Disney was all rabbits and talking mice. You're using specific examples to represent the visionary who was responsible for fantasia, Bambi, phinocchio, and the first blockbuster. He pushed the boundaries of storytelling, cinematography and film. His creativity is mind bending. Alfred Hitchcock and Citizen Kane were inspired by Disney. The amount of nuance and philosophy in Bambi is almost unmatched. Going by your logic, I can say that the UPA was nothing but cute taking cats, crows and foxes, as well as gags based on newspapers and bears. I am glad this group of artists could reach their potential in the UPA. The Disney films had over 100 people working on them. It's actually scary how much talent is wasted in animation. In films like Spirited Away, you only see Miyazaki's vision - a tiny fraction of the people who worked on the film. Anyway, I always thought the UPA were Soviet animators. They had a similar style to a lot of Soviet animation and I only saw their dialogue-less cartoons. I can't wait to learn more about them! There's a lot of underrated animation visionaries in the world, such as Uri Norstein(regarded by many professors as the greatest animation Director of all time), the Fleisher brothers, Windsor McCay, etc. I'm glad that more people will learn about UPA through such a great KZread channel.

@James-pb8xu

4 жыл бұрын

"In films like Spirited Away, you only see Miyazaki's vision - a tiny fraction of the people who worked on the film" Gonna have to disagree with this implied negative aspect of Miyazaki's one-man vision. We all get into art to express what we're feeling _individually._ Collaboration is the cornerstone of animation and nearly an infallible pillar, but a negative aspect is making work that may not be what you want to express. With more people and different minds all interacting with your ideas, the accuracy to what you were gunning for falters more and more and sure, some people can enhance your idea and make it better. But, that's not all the time; sometimes people just don't have a resonance with what you're trying to express. Maybe you don't fully know, and you want to figure it out on an individual level to develop new ideas that you know will add to it in a way no one could. Collaboration is needed to get all the elements together, but playing as a strong director isn't something that's negative.

How was absolutely none of this in my history of animation class?! I have never heard of any of these names! I'm in love with this particular art style; Blue Rhapsody remains my favorite Fantasia film to date. Thank you so so much for creating this video!

UPA cartoons were all over the tv in my childhood in the 1970’s and early 80’s. Thanks for bringing their history to life. Great work.

In love with that style, I'm now studying to be an artist, the biggest influence being that era art and the Renaissance art

I'm five years late, but just want to applaud this work. I am currently making an animation for a college project and was trying to put my finger on what I thought were just general mid century animation tendencies, both because it looks cool and I know will let me do more quickly (I have a week lol). To find out that A. the abstract end of that tendency (what I want) was codified by a specific studio and B. this resource spells out just what they were going for, helps me out immensely. For an extra dose of mild irony, I'm doing all this in Zagreb, with it's even more radically abstract animation tradition.

I imagine what would be Brotherhood of Man be like (or any UPA film) if it was newly introduced back then as if I saw it for the first time? It would be fascinating. Without the UPA influence, there wouldnt be any animated series like Samurai Jack or Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to name two. I hope someone could restore these films in high quality.

Finally UPA is being talked about thank u!!!

I love underated animation, and I must say, this documentary if off to a promising start

OMG the production quality was absolutely of the charts on this one man!! Incredible video such a joy to watch!

When i was really young i wanted to know how people make animations, i was like "no way they draw every frame"

“Glorious wartime experiments.” That’s a new one

im so glad you're doing a multi part piece on UPA, their work has been such an inspiration on my work

This is dope! Thanks for all your hard work, research, and editing on this terrific piece of art!

God, yes... I audibly gasped when I realised I had to wait for part 2.

Educational yet entertaining. I especially liked the description of how the new animators wanted to do more abstract work because, I assume, it allowed them the creative latitude they wanted and needed as artists. Excellent!

This was an awesome tribute! Thank you!

I love your style and focus man!!!! Always excited to see you've posted a new video

I love the editing on this channel! Looking forward to the complete story of UPA!

Love learning about the creators of so much content I loved as I was growing up.

Wonderful video! My favorite UPA film is Rooty Toot Toot! I learned of Rooty Toot Toot in Leonard Maltin's book Of Mice and Magic. I can't wait for part two! 🤗🤗🤗😃😃😃👏👏👏👏🎨🎭🎞📽🎥🎬📺📹

Man, so much detail went into this, I love it, especially as an aspiring animator.

What an amazing job, congratulations on a wonderful documentary!

Beautifully crafted video!

This Documentary about UPA is Awesome! Can’t wait for more.

I love the history of animation. Loved the video, looking forward to part 2!

Great video my guy! Great use of clips, and editing as always. And of course so informative and well written. Keep it up man

Dude what a great production!

Please cover the works by Don Hertzfeldt since you love great non Disney animation

Why do i feel that Disney creates their rival

5 жыл бұрын

they do

@catinheels88

4 жыл бұрын

DreamWorks too!

This was a fascinating documentary. I can’t wait for the next part!

I can’t believe I just found this channel It’s amazing

Cool vid, though I wish you expand on UPA legacy, such as the art of Genndy Taratavosky, Craig McCracken and even Brad Bird

@TheRoyalOceanFilmSociety

5 жыл бұрын

Part 3 of the series will touch on UPA's legacy (including each of the filmmakers you mentioned)

That was great, can't wait to delve into their art in the next installment, I'm currently teaching myself animation

I’m pumped.

the layout of this marvelous

I absolutely love this, so informative and so well executed!

R.I.P. defense limited.You were a challenging train!

I cannot express how brilliant this video is!!!!!

This stuff helped to insure that I would grow up loving animated film.

This 3 part series about UPA is some of my favorite videos on youtube

Felicidades! Un grandisimo trabajo...

Wonderful video, looking forward to part 2.

You should have won an award for this series.

You've done it again, good man. Always a pleasure when I get your notification !

Great video. A tour de force, actually. So glad I found this channel!

Brilliant stuff!

amazing video. informative and impeccably edited. well done.

Great film! Thanks a lot!

This is great. Thanks for this!

Amazing video!

Wonderful video essay!

I think Yuasa shares some traits with this sort of animation

@testest12344

5 жыл бұрын

Tatami Galaxy especially has a bunch of stylistic similarities in terms of layouts, at style and colour. Though most of his other stuff is a different kind of animated expressionism from what I'm seeing in this video.

how does this only have 151k views it’s amazingly put together

where was this video when I had a research paper about UPA and Disney??? :'

So "unique" and popping out to learn more about our revolutionary artists/animators. And well-done analysis of how UPA broke out of the Disney and Warner Brothers trademarks🎯✏🖌🟦🟩🎥🌅 Stay safe and keep it up!

This is a great video! So much info and entertaning. I remember watching these as a kid but never knew who made them.

This guys are great editors.

The jazz was a nice touch.

I've never heard of UPA, but I can instantly see their influence. Thanks for spreading the word!

Fantastic video.

this is so good

this video was a masterpiece of graphic design

Now I see where the defunct United Paramount Network (UP... N; merged with the WB network to form the CW) might have got their inspiration for their 1st logo. Same color scheme, basically the same font, only two of the shapes, a square and a triangle, were noticeably different. I came here after binging on KaiserBeamz's "Merrie History of Looney Tunes" and learning of Chuck Jones' admiration of, and eventual involvement, with UPA. Truly a memorable, influential studio and art style.

UPA animation has traditionally underrated artstyle and very simplistic tone. It's sad that nowadays animation is nothing compared to UPA's.

@MaximilianRoof

5 жыл бұрын

There is a big and well growing animation Industry with lots of talented artists. I guess the problem is, that nobody is going to see an animation film in a cinema anymore, that doesn't look like the 3D Stuff Disney and Pixar are producing. I mean I swear, there are sooooo fucking many great animators out there who are just waiting for a way to finance there own films, that nobody is interested in. :D cheers

@theALTF4

5 жыл бұрын

wait..WHAAAAAH! i call this bologna!, like , have you sen the work of McCracken? he REKTS of UPA. or steven universe backgrounds? those are literally UPA inspired! animation nowadays in the western world still been influenced by this wonderful collective of animators. and to be honest, even (indirectly) on internet you see animation with slight tints of it. we just needs an artist popular enough with a really good idea whop push a "revitalizes" the upa art-style and experimentation. i betting adult swin (on internet itself) will be the ones who create a revolution UPA-like in the forthcoming future, the real question is: how long before this happens?

@poweroffriendship2.0

5 жыл бұрын

@@theALTF4 Yes. I saw McCracken's work. But Wonder Over Yonder is too close for the UPA looks. I kinda like his work so much.

@chkensammich

4 жыл бұрын

artstyle? sure i wish we had more diversity. Animation? pretty sure we've had tons of shows animated in higher frames, its all about resourcefulness on a low budget, tho nowadays thats flash and tweening

@reflectingPastChoices

3 жыл бұрын

Samurai Jack, Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea.... Minimalist animation isn't dead

Good Video, but I wanted to mention that the the Fleischer cartoons weather it be Superman or Betty Boop were out side the Disney/Looney Tunes mold you talk about.

Pushing the boundaries, almost always proves beneficial. UPA did great work

I am not familiar on UPA, this one really got me interested. Looking forward for Part 2.

Diggin this.

And of course, Mr. Magoo.

This is gold! I wish I had this video as kid when we use to watch vhs when there was a substitute teacher lol

better then many netflix documentaries

@mechajay3358

4 жыл бұрын

Or HBO ones

Love your documentaries! Would love to see something about Terrytoons! :D They've gotten very "design-y" in the 60s as well. Not much material is around about the studio which is famous for being the most low-budget one of them all so i think there's a market gap there haha :D

Good job. Only thing I'd need to point out is that your photo of The Roosevelt Hotel was from the 1950s. The Cinemascope painted wall billboard gives this away.