Jiri Barta:

Presented by:
Jack
Vlad
Jacky
Ridge

Jiri Barta Bio

JI BARTA (born 1948), director of animated films, artist, and animator

([www.schneedorfer.cz], 2014)

Since 1993 he has been the head tutor of the Artistic-Industrial University in
Prague, Studio of Film and Television Graphics. In 2001 he was appointed a
professor. In recent years, Ji Barta has focused extensively on creation to
order, for example, animated advertisements, MTV logo, illustrations on DVD
etc. He also graphically cooperates on Prague theater and film productions.
([www.schneedorfer.cz], 2014)

Sources:

http://www.bioillusion.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0126598/

http://variety.com/2009/film/reviews/in-the-attic-who-has-a-birthdaytoday-1200477364/

http://www.asaf.cz/2014/03/interview-with-czech-animator-jiri-barta/

No official website

Cultural context:

Jiri Barta talks about the situation in modern Czech animation in an interview and the obstacles
students are facing: We have schools animations, but there arent strong technical and
economic backgroundpossibilities of todays students are extremely limited. (Interview with
Czech animator JI BARTA, 2014).

Jiri Barta is still undergoing many projects, the last film he is working on is Yuki Onna (short)

Brief presentation of his recent films:

Yuki Onna: film Yuki Onna experiments with digital techniques, shooting and stop
motion (Animac.cat, 2014)

Jiri used his stop-motion techniques to create a short animation called Yuki
Onna which is a story from an old Japanese myth.

The video is a love story between the two characters in the ice cold location
where it only snows.

Jiri has obviously done his research on Japanese culture by having the 2D
animation for the Japanese style of animation and cleverly used silhouette to
identify the characters.

They also added another Japanese myth The red sting of fate in this short
animation, where the gods tie an invisible red cord around the little fingers of
those that are destined to meet one another.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M8_MRLVPVc)

Projekt - 1981

Ji Bartas ingenious paper cut-out short punctures the stifling architecture

of communist housing. (Design, 2014)

It has a strong communist message

Music shifts

Paint roller symbol

Transition of colour to grey

Final zoom-out

Toys in the Attic 2009

The strange, often beautiful beings in the animated feature Toys in the
Attic exist in a faraway land located somewhere between Czech surrealism
and Pixar communitarianism (DARGIS, 2014)

Compared to Toy Story

Feels vaguely sinister and may be too intense for younger children

Stop-motion, combined with 2d animation and live action

The challenges with the English

adaptation of the film.

The Pied Piper (1986)

Jiri Bartas feature length puppet film The Pied Piper is now being distributed in Britain by
the BFI. The film illustrates the legend of The Pied Piper with a cast including sixteen
carved walnut puppets and numerous realistic looking rats. (Animatormag.com, 2010)

The story is about a rat plague which descends on the town, the villagers dont have any
way to deal with them so they decide to hire a mysterious character who plays a pipe which
hypnotizes the rats and places them under some trance. The villagers goes back on their
word to repay the pied piper and he decides to send another kind of plague on the village.

The animation style cubism and German expressionism in motion.

He uses very muted colours (many greens, blues, browns and hints of red) to illustrate his
film

He cups between 2d and 3d scenes through out the movie

In conclusion:

Jiri Barta is a director that produces work in his own country on fairly small
budgets, compared to other European or American studios.

He is very productive and versatile in his work.

He is currently head tutor of the Artistic-Industrial University in Prague.

Images:

Jiri Barta photo (slide 1): Sanders, D. (2011). Dayle Sanders - Blog: Unit 5: Animator: Jiri Barta (1948-Present). [online]
Daylesanders.co.uk. Available at: http://www.daylesanders.co.uk/2011/03/unit-5-animator-jiri-barta-1948-present.html
[Accessed 20 Nov. 2014].

Toys in the attic poster: Wikipedia, (2014). Toys in the Attic (2009 film). [online] Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_in_the_Attic_(2009_film) [Accessed 20 Nov. 2014].

Toys in the attic movie still: McInnis, J., Lo, I., McInnis, J., Khayatte, R., Robichaud, D., Robichaud, D. and Allman, S.
(2012). Toys in the Attic - Film Review. [online] Vancouver Weekly. Available at: http://vancouverweekly.com/toys-in-theattic-film-review/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2014].

Projekt movie still - Paris.czechcentres.cz, (2014). Ji Barta - Krtk filmy z doby ped rokem 1989 - Pa. [online]
Available at: http://paris.czechcentres.cz/cs/program/detail-akce/jiri-barta-courts-metrages-de-lavant-1989/ [Accessed 20
Nov. 2014].

Projekt movie still - I.ytimg.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/H9ziSbgcI84/hqdefault.jpg [Accessed
20 Nov. 2014].

Yuki Onna still - Radio.cz, (2014). Radio Praga - Ji Barta: El cine de animacin es poesa en movimiento. [online]
Available at: http://www.radio.cz/es/rubrica/cultura/jiri-barta-el-cine-de-animacion-es-poesia-en-movimiento [Accessed 20
Nov. 2014].

The Pied Piper still 1 - Jameshoodillustration.blogspot.co.uk, (2009). Cardboard Cutout Sundown: October 2009. [online]
Available at: http://jameshoodillustration.blogspot.co.uk/2009_10_01_archive.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2014].

The Pied Piper still 2 - Jameshoodillustration.blogspot.co.uk, (2009). Cardboard Cutout Sundown: October 2009. [online]
Available at: http://jameshoodillustration.blogspot.co.uk/2009_10_01_archive.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2014].

Bibliography:

[www.schneedorfer.cz], S. (2014). Ji Barta [Bio Illusion]. [online] Bioillusion.com. Available

at: http://www.bioillusion.com/en/feature-films/in-the-attic/jiri-barta/jiri-barta.aspx
[Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Interview with Czech animator JI BARTA. (2014). [online] Available at:

http://www.asaf.cz/2014/03/interview-with-czech-animator-jiri-barta/ [Accessed 6 Nov.
2014].

Animac.cat, (2014). Animac 2014 Catalogue Animac. [online] Available at:

http://www.animac.cat/noticies-en/cataleg-animac-2014-1 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Design, T. (2014). The Design. [online] Fandor. Available at:

https://www.fandor.com/films/the_design [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

DARGIS, M. (2014). Toys in the Attic, Directed by Jiri Barta. [online] Nytimes.com. Available
at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/movies/toys-in-the-attic-directed-by-jiribarta.html?_r=0 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Animatormag.com, (2010). Jiri Barta and The Pied Piper | Animator Mag Library. [online]
Available at: http://www.animatormag.com/archive/issue-23/issue-23-page-24/ [Accessed 6
Nov. 2014].