The Contract (re: Primiti Too Taa and Too Taa Two)

      I agree with the contract with the following changes:

               1) The first negotiation last refusal and renewal period are too complicated; delete 3) f and 3) g.
               2) Change merchandising rights from exclusive to non-exclusive.
               3) Change Territory:   from North America to World.
               4) Change Payment:   from $850 US  to $1000 US
               5) Change Term:   from 5 years to 10 years.

     I have the 35 mm Neg and Print elements with me at the moment here in Calgary.
              Would you like a set of 35 mm release prints (at lab cost + shipping)?  How many and when?
 

     I look forward to your approval to the above changes to the contract and to the proposed films.
 
 

Yours Truly

Ed Ackerman
 

Enclosed:
 Two copies of signed hard copy of the contract with the changes.
A set of stills of Primiti Too Taa and Two Taa Too.
Biography
Calgary press clipping of  Sick and Twisted Show.
BETA SP copy of  Too Taa Too
 

                 After seeing your latest Sick and Twisted show.  I propose to make one new funny film for your
regular Spike and Mike Festival of Animation show and one sick and twisted film for the Sick and Twisted 
Show.

Scenario 1 ``Before After``
Drawing Style Illustrative. See examples 1,2,3.
Sound:  Voice (Instructor and Student) Lots of sound effects.
Format:  35 mm Color
Length:  One 3-minute film in three parts.
Price: $ 3,000 for non-exclusive distribution rights.
Payment and delivery Schedule: $1,000 up front with signed contract.
     $1,000 upon approval of sync sound computer version (.avi file).
     $1,000 upon delivery of one 35 mm release print, + some stills.
     (Additional prints at Lab cost + shipping)
Term:  10 Year¸ World, Non-exclusive distribution as per contract

                The project will be developed and animated on computer with sound before it is put to film.
 This means that you will have a chance to make changes and suggestions before the artwork is committed 
to 35 mm film. The crucial thing is time.  At the moment we are finishing one film and have free access to 
the QuickDraw sound transfer equipment and animation stand only until the end of November. 
                Our plan, is to complete all Calgary projects by December.

               On the surface this is a film about the process of teaching. Using the simple method of flash cards
with the repetitive use of the spoken word, a concept is presented.  We see an image. We hear a word.  We 
see the next image.  We hear the next word.   We make a logical connection, we see a pattern between two 
images and two words and a concept is formed.  Sometimes the connection between two images and two 
words is vague, or may innocently have more than one possible meaning leaving it open to interpretation. 
In this case the presenter of the images will provide supplemental images until the desired understanding is 
achieved.
                 Underneath this film may lie the root of propaganda, thought control and the struggle of free
will against tyranny and oppression or it may just be a bad experiment where the practitioner looses control.

Let us begin the test.
 

Audio:   Instructor : Before                        After             Before                        After            Before                      After

A student now having seen the images attempts to repeat the process with different cards showing that they understand and we move on to the presentation of the next concept.  Of course if the concept is not understood we repeat the lesson. Unfortunately, in this case although the initial illustrations are quite simple, they are not simple enough.  We have a particularly ``slow`` student in this experiment.  The example is repeated.  In fact the one concept does not come to a conclusion in this film.  An image is shown the word is spoken. The next image is shown, the next word is spoken.  The student again tries to repeat the process but gets the concept wrong.
 
 

Audio:   Student : Before                        After             Before                        After            Before                      After

               Initially the unseen instructor is patient, and happy to repeat the exercise correcting the student’s mistakes with a more a more forceful, and deliberate pronunciation of the words and a more careful selection of images.  But to avoid boredom the instructor presents more complicated examples, hoping that the student has ``got it`` and that they may move on to the next lesson.  Unfortunately the student demonstrates that he understands the higher level of associations between the images but is still is unable to reproduce the basic logic lesson at hand.
 

The instructor becomes exasperated with a student that can be so smart and at the same time so stupid, but in trying to correct the students work the instructor inadvertently begins to follow the ``slow`` student’s logic and inevitably makes the same mistakes the student has made.  
 
 

The student repeats the mistakes of the instructor and then begins to correct the instructor’s mistakes.  The instructor then corrects the corrections, incorrectly.  
 
 

In the end the instructor goes completely off topic to the purpose of the lesson and it is free for all fight between the instructor and the student slandering each other all with just sets of images and the words before and after.  All along we do not get outside of the teaching of one concept.  ``Before and after``. 
 
 

Finally the student brings the instructor back to reality by presenting the simple understandable examples that were shown at the beginning of the film.  At the end of the film these initial examples have greater meaning.