Animated Thoughts: Academy Award Nominations

Well, the Academy Award nominations have been announced!

For Best Animated Feature we have:

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

And for Best Animated Short

• Dimanche/Sunday
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Out of the previous two lists, I've seen Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rango, La Luna, and Wild Life. Hopefully, I'll get to see the others before the awards ceremony as the Detroit Institute of Arts screens all the Oscar nominated short films (both animated and live-action) a couple weeks before the ceremony, so I should be able to see those. The only film that might be difficult to track down is 'A Cat in Paris', arguably the one film I want to see the most!

For pics of the short films as well as links to more info, I recommend this post on Cartoon Brew.

Congratulations to all the nominees as well as those who submitted films!

UPDATE: 1/25/2012
The Detroit Institute of Art will be holding several screenings of the Academy Award nominated short films in February (10th - 12th and 17th - 19th). This program will include both the animated shorts and the live-action shorts with an intermission between the two sets of films. Information including dates and time can be found on the DIA website.

Animated Inspiration: The Christmas Card

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and an animated New Year (Monty Python style)!!

Animated Inspiration: Simon's Cat "Fowl Play"

You know it's going to be a good day when you get to work and there's a new Simon's Cat waiting for you. Looks like we got an early Christmas gift from Simon Tofield: a hilarious animated short and a solid object lesson in character animation!

Looking at this short film, the timing in Simon Tofield's character animation keeps getting more and more solid. After watching the film through once, hit the replay button, then pay close attention to the motion of the cat from around :05 seconds to :20 seconds--where the cat shakes his head, notices the turkey and lunges up at the glass, then hides back down. The motion is smooth and expressive and the posing remains very clear and readable. It's the motion of Tofield's characters, coupled with the posing, that allow me to clearly read the cat's motives--even more than the actual staging of props in the film's initial setup. These key elements describe the cat's body language, which in turn allow us to subconsciously read beyond the cat's facial expressions and clearly see the motivation and thoughts behind his actions. As I proceed on my animator's journey, short films like "Simon's Cat" are valuable tools for training my eyes to look for the key elements in the motion of real-life animals, objects, and people before attempting to reproduce them in a visual medium.

Animated Quotes: Walt Disney

I'd like to celebrate the birthday of Walt Disney by reposting a quote that I posted earlier this year--quite possibly my favorite quote from Disney as it highlights the man's faith:

"Whatever success I have had in bringing clean, informative entertainment to people of all ages, I attribute in great part to my Congregational upbringing and lifelong habit of prayer."

- Walt Disney

Source: "Deeds rather than words", written by Walt Disney in 1963

The entire article can be read on the Started by a Mouse website.

Animated Inspiration: Simon's Cat 'Catnap'

Well, it's Thanksgiving here in the States and I'm thankful that another Simon's Cat was released!

Animated Inspiration: Kick Me

So back in the early to mid-1980s, I saw a cartoon on PBS. It was basically a line drawing of a pair of legs (red, I think) on a white background. The legs did a little hop dance and then started walking around. Well, shortly afterwards the legs started running up and down a stairwell, got chased by a giant bouncing ball (which got eaten by a giant spider), got chased by a giant spider, and ran away from a bunch of little spiders that made a net with their spider-silk (which blocked a passage in the stairwell). Yeh, I know, kinda surreal. For the past four years, I've been wondering about this animation--who did it, how was it made, etc. After fruitless searches on the net, searching through film databases at the National Film Board of Canada, and asking on forums, I was no closer to an answer. Then, I wake up today and log in to Cartoon Brew (which I often do in the mornings after looking at my e-mail and checking Facebook), and there it is! Animation Historian extraordinaire Jerry Beck is tracking down this film for another reader. Within an hour, we have an answer: it's called "Kick Me", an academy award nominated film from 1975, produced by Robert Swarthe. With the mystery solved, you can now enjoy this 'direct-on-film' flashback from my youth.

Animated Thoughts: International Animation Day

2011 International Animation Day poster

On October 28th, we celebrate the 10th annual International Animation Day.

From the ASIFA website:

"Since 2002, Asifa, celebrates and coordinates the « International animation day » (IAD), commemorating the first public performance of Emile Reynaud’s Theatre Optique in Paris in 1892. Such a celebration is an outstanding opportunity to put the animated film in the limelight and make this art more accessible to the public."

International Animation Day is another way that ASIFA chapters work together to share and foster an appreciation for the art of animated film. In many of my previous posts, I raise the issue of different countries developing their own unique visual style based upon their unique cultural voice or vision. IAD screenings are a perfect opportunity for viewers to witness this first hand. Most of the screenings show films from other ASIFA chapters from around the world and most of the films are 'shorts' (read that: usually under 20 minutes in duration). If you're looking to learn more about the world animation scene, then the International Animation Day screenings are for you!

Screenings local to Michigan and sponsored by ASIFA/Central are as follows:

Date: October 27 (Thursday)
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Davidson Auditorium
Davidson Visual & Performing Arts Center

Kellogg Community College
450 North Ave.
Battle Creek, MI, 49017

Showing: "Princes and Princesses" and an overview discussion of Tim Burton's films starting at 7pm in the Davidson Auditorium. There will be pizza and cheese.  Mmmmmmmm.

Map: Campus/Parking map available here.

* * * *

Date: November 1 (Tuesday)
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Location:
Room 112
Lake Superior Hall

Grand Valley State University
Allendale Campus
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401

Showing: Australian Animations

Map: Campus/Parking map available here.

Animated Inspiration: Simon's Cat 'Double Trouble'

Well, it seems like I'm on top of it today. Two hours ago, Simon Tofield uploaded his latest film. Since I saw my Grandma's new kitten playing with one of her older cats (Sammy the Scottish fold) this past weekend, Simon's film is pretty timely.

Something worth studying in this film is the difference in how the characters are animated--differences between the larger, older cat and the smaller, younger cat. Slight variations in weight and timing can state the difference between two similar character designs far more than visual differences in their appearance.

This is one of the mistakes that I made in my R.I.T. Thesis film "Zero". In my film, all the characters looked identical, however, all the protagonists and antagonists moved with the same weight and timing. While it worked okay for background characters, there wasn't enough difference in the motion of the lead characters. In the end, while my story was good, my inexperience showed through in the character animation and muddled the final result.

Just like what Shamus Culhane did while animating the seven dwarves in Snow White, Mr. Tofield has provided us with a great example of how you can make characters (who have similar design features) stand out from each other by using motion to illustrate the differences in their personalities rather than rely upon physical characteristics alone.

Animated Inspiration: Simon's Cat

This was posted last Friday on Simon Tofield's website, so I'm a little late with the repost, but here's the latest edition of "Simon's Cat" in a scenario that I'm sure a lot of cat owners can relate to!

Animated Inspiration: Festival of Drawn Animation

Here's a promo for the 'Scribble Junkies Festival of Drawn Animation' started this year by renowned independent animators Bill Plympton and Patrick Smith. This event will feature and focus entirely on hand drawn animation. For those of you who are going to be in Brooklyn, the event will be held at the Nitehawk Cinema on Sunday night. Details for the screening can be found here. And the Scribble Junkies blog, where Bill and Patrick share their thoughts on animation, can be found here.

Festival of Drawn Animation Trailer.. from Patrick Smith on Vimeo.

(note: this trailer is probably NSFW)