ASIFA-Hollywood
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ASIFA-Hollywood, a non-profit organization in California, USA, has embarked on an ambitious project to expand the offerings of the current ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center in Burbank to include a virtual archive, museum, library and research facility for the benefit of the animation community, students and general public with the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project. The first step in achieving the goals involves the establishment of a computer system capable of documenting, cataloging, and retrieving images and sounds related to the art of animation.
[edit] ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project
There are many archives dedicated to documenting the history and preserving the artifacts of animation, but the ASIFA-Hollywood archive will be unique. First of all, the archive will be primarily dedicated to the use of students, artists, voice actors and other creative people working in the artform of animation. It will function as the ultimate artist's "clip file", gathering together hundreds of thousands of digital files. The focus of the archives will be to document the history of the artists who created classic animated cartoons. Even though these "actors with pencils" created animated stars known to just about everyone, the story of their own lives and careers have yet to be brought to the public. The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive will be dedicated to doing just that.
Access to the materials will be much quicker and easier than with most research facilities because this will be a digital archive, not a collection of hard copies. A central server will house hundreds of thousands of digital images, movies and sound files, all searchable by topic through a keyword database. This central server will be connected to satellite work stations at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center. All ASIFA-Hollywood members will have access to the system for their personal reference and research. Once the system is up and operating smoothly, the Animation Database will be brought online, so ASIFA-Hollywood members will have instant access to the Animation Database the world over.
ASIFA-Hollywood members will also have the opportunity to arrange to digitize important artwork and research material in their own personal collections for inclusion in the database. ASIFA-Hollywood is in a unique position to be able to quickly pull together a broad array of valuable information, and provide it to the animation community as a whole. In a short period of time, we are confident that the database will become the pre-eminent digital collection devoted to animation in the world.
The database will contain a wide range of material… illustration and print cartoons categorized by subject and artist; all kinds of animation art from character designs and model sheets to animation drawings and background paintings. Movies of pencil tests and key scenes by famous animators will be included, as will audio files documenting the work of major voice over artists. All of the digital files will be accessible by a simple keyword search. Artists will be able to quickly see different approaches to the design of a specific subject, research the work of artists who interest them, and gain inspiration from the rich history of animation.
The project is being directed by Ren & Stimpy producer Stephen W. Worth. Other members of the project include voice actresses June Foray, animation historian Leonard Maltin and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson).
