What a great idea - hope you find a brilliant home for it - we really enjoyed having this exhibition at Horsham. One of the highlights of that year.
m

Merle Hathaway
Director
Horsham Regional Art Gallery
80 Wilson Street, Horsham, Victoria 3400, Australia
(03) 5382 5575 t  (03) 5382 5407 f

www.horsham.net.au/gallery
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Deborah Cohen 
  To: can-exhibitions at collectionsaustralia.net ; can-talk at collectionsaustralia.net 
  Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 2:38 PM
  Subject: [can-exhibitions] FW: LI'L ELVIS JONES AND THE TRUCKSTOPPERSexhibition




   

   

   

   

    

   

  To whom it may concern

   

  The Australian Children's Television Foundation managed the development
  and touring of the LI'L ELVIS JONES AND THE TRUCKSTOPPERS exhibition
  from 2000 - 2005. The Foundation is now looking to donate the exhibition
  to an interested gallery, state library or museum and to make this
  centre its permanent home. The exhibition is significant as it allows
  children hands-on experience with the technical aspects of animation and
  to appreciate the skills of artists from our local animation industry in
  the production of one of Australia's major animation series Li'l Elvis
  Jones and the Truckstoppers, a 26 x 25 minute fully animated children's
  television series produced by the Australian Children's Television
  Foundation in association with ABC TV.

   

  Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers is a landmark Australian
  television series that is still broadcast on the ABC today. It is the
  largest Australian-created animation project that had ever been
  attempted.  Completion of the series effectively required the Australian
  Children's Television Foundation to develop a skills base that did not
  previously exist in Australia.

   

  The Foundation had to identify and train the animators who would create
  the series, which entailed the Foundation initiating a major on-the-job
  training scheme for 39 trainees, in addition to employing more than 160
  freelance animators.  Additionally, extensive training of writers was
  required, as very few Australian writers were experienced in writing for
  animation, which requires a different approach from live action
  television.  

   

  The series therefore was culturally significant as a work of art, as a
  large scale animation project presenting uniquely Australian culture.
  It was also culturally significant in terms of its role in industry
  development, as the skills base created in the course of producing the
  series made future projects of its kind more economically viable.

   

  Animation is like magic.  Individual drawings presented at a certain
  speed carry the illusion of movement.  Nothing is real, nothing exists,
  yet after watching an episode of Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers
  a child viewer is able to relate to the characters as if they were alive
  and believe in the world where they live.  This Exhibition was designed
  with 3 major issues in mind :  (1)  to create an exhibition that would
  appeal to a broad audience - children, their parents and grandparents,
  students and teachers ; (2) create an exhibition with an educational
  focus ; and (3) to fill a gap in the marketplace - there have been very
  few high quality children's exhibitions based on Australian concepts and
  that have utilised the creative skills of Australians.   As such there
  are four sections to the design of the exhibition:

  1.         Avenue of Learning - Making Animation

  The history of the visual development of the Li'l Elvis Jones animated
  television series is demonstrated through 24 conceptual and technical
  images. The design elements from one scene from the series is tracked
  from script, to storyboard, to layout, to animation, to backgrounds, to
  the digital domain and ultimately through to the addition of sound
  effects and music. Text boards explain the technical processes for each
  framed image.  

  2.         Original Hand Painted Cels

  Fifty original painted cels from the series have been framed for the
  exhibition.  A gallery cel is the term used to describe the traditional
  production method of painting characters on plastic cel and placing
  these against painted backgrounds. Now, with digital series animation
  production, traditional hand painted cels are no longer required - they
  are only now made for the purposes of exhibition.


  3.         The Interactive Experience

  Children respond to interactive exhibits. The Exhibition's interactive
  exhibits provide access to the secrets behind the magic of animation
  that the participants can experience and manipulate for themselves.

  (a)                Zoetrope  -  One of the earliest forms of creating
  the optical illusion that came to be known as animation.  With our
  lifesize zoetrope, children can observe each individual drawing in
  sequence and then manipulate the speed at which they travel in order to
  bring the animation 'to life'. 

  (b)                (b)        The Motion Simulator - The Illusion of
  Movement  -  With this exhibit the child can place themselves in a scene
  from the series. By manipulating the background painting behind them
  electronically they can pan endlessly (by revolving around a large
  circular drum) and create the illusion that they are moving.
  Closed-circuit camera will show the child the scene on a small
  television screen.

  (c)        Jukebox  -  A  video juke box, set within a cut out of the
  Wurlitzer from the roadhouse that appears in the television series,
  offers children the opportunity to select and play songs from the
  series.

  (d)        Sound and Vision - A 7 minute video demonstrates step-by-step
  the way that dialogue, sound effects and music are incorporated to make
  the animated characters come to life.

   

  4.         Exhibition Setting

  The setting for the exhibition is the fictitious township of Li'l
  Memphis itself.  Cut out shapes of the buildings divide the gallery
  area.  Windows and doorways reveal characters and or surprises.
  Children are able to enter the doorways and explore the exhibition in a
  way that is very different to an adult experience. Again the setting
  itself reveals more of the two-dimensional magic in animation.

  The content of the exhibition revolves around the 26 x half hour
  animated series, Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers.  The television
  series itself portrays Australian characters in a very Australian
  setting - outback Australia.  The Exhibition reflects this Australian
  perspective through the artworks.

   

  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in providing
  a permanent home for the exhibition.

   

  Yours sincerely

   

   

  DEBORAH COHEN

  Education Manager

  Australian Children's Television Foundation

  Level 3, 145 Smith Street

  Fitzroy, VICTORIA 3065

  Ph: +61 3 9419 8800

  Fax: +61 3 9419 0660

  Mobile: 0417781504

  Email: deborah.cohen at actf.com.au

  Website: www.actf.com.au

   

   





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