Eye in the sky view of the auction. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Word coming from the Bay Area is that the Totoro Forest Project auction at Pixar was a stellar success. The world’s top film animators, comic book artists and illustrators came together after creating original works of art inspired by the iconic animated film My Neighbor Totoro for an auction to benefit the Totoro No Furusato (Totoro’s Homeland) National Fund – also known as the Totoro Forest Fund on September 6, 2008, at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA. The Totoro Forest Fund is dedicated to preserving Sayama Forest, a large park outside Tokyo that inspired the beloved film by respected Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki. AWN is proud to present some of the exclusive pics from the event to share with you.
Enrico Casarosa, Dice Tsutsumi, Yukino Pang and Ronnie Del Carmen were the organizers of the event. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Pixar Animation Studios' Daniel Arriaga, Mark Holmes and Robert Kondo came out to give their support. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Artist Bill Presing (c) talks with the many who came from around the world for the auction. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Dice Tsutsumi bids on an art piece. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Volunteers present the art work that's up for bidding. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Some of the art was presented as part of the live bidding auction. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
One art fan puts in her bid. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Ellen Moon Lee, John Lasseter, Lou Romano and Bob Peterson pose for a pic at the auction set to help the favorite charity of Lasseter's good friend Hayao Miyazaki. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
(Thanks AWN)
Anime After Dark
Anime After Dark is a new event being kicked off this year by the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival. On October 18, a collection of anime features will be screened at the Somerville Theatre from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. (Among the lineup: Grave of the Fireflies, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Cat Soup, Project A-ko, Tekkon Kinkreet and Millennium Actress.)The cost? A mere twenty bucks if you buy tickets now, $25 if you wait until September 20, and $30 at the door.
"Character Animation Crash Course !" is a terrific how-to-toon book
Jim Hill reviews Eric Goldberg's 25-years-in-the-making instruction manual, which shares this animation master's secrets on how to do great character animation
Well, it's September now and the kids are headed back to class. Which means that it's time to start stocking up on those essential school supplies: Pencils. Erasers. Lined paper.
Copyright 2008 Silman-James Press. All Rights Reserved
And if you've got a son or daughter who's heading off to Cal Arts, Woodbury University or some other college where they'll be soon be studying animation and who's now feeling ... Well ... a little intimidated because they eventually have to master this craft, have I got a paperback for you !
By that I mean: If you drop by your local Barnes & Noble and peruse the "Film" shelves, all you're going to find there are lots of "Art of ..." books. Handsome hardcovers that are loaded with concept drawings & preproduction art from recent animated features. But as entertaining & informative as these over sized volumes may be, they're still not going to tell your would-be animator how the modern masters of this medium actually got their characters to move.
Copyright 2008 Silman-James Press. All Rights Reserved
Whereas Eric Goldberg's "Character Animation Crash Course !" (Silman-James Press, August 2008) gets right into the nuts-and-bolts of this craft. In plain simple easy-to-understand terms, Goldberg discusses often-difficult-to-grasp concepts like timing, how to break down a scene, the principles of squash and stretch, etc. Using clear & concise instructions that make it easy for any animation student to quickly put these lessons to use.
And when it comes to character animation, folks, you couldn't ask for a better teacher than Eric Goldberg. After all, this is the guy who brought the Genie from "Aladdin" to life. Not to mention being the co-director of "Pocahontas" as well as the supervisor of animation on "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." Name a classic cartoon character -- from the Pink Panther to Donald Duck -- and Goldberg has probably worked on them.
Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved
These days, Eric is back at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He's actually part of the team working on "The Princess and the Frog," a high profile project that will (it's hoped) help bring about the revival of hand-drawn animation in Hollywood. So clearly Goldberg is the sort of industry vet that you really should be listening to if you want to learn the true ins & outs of character animation.
If I have a complaint about "Character Animation Crash Course !," it's just that ... Well, Eric's a guy who's worked in the industry for decades now and has had this incredibly colorful career. So you'd think that he'd sprinkle some juicy behind-the-scenes stories in there among the how-to-animate lessons. But -- sadly -- that's where you'd be wrong.
Copyright 1997 Disney. All Rights Reserved
Oh, sure. There are a few fun anecdotes here and there (Like how Goldberg likes to think of Phil -- the satyr character that he animated for "Hercules" -- as being the 8th dwarf, Horny). But for the most part, "Character Animation Crash Course !" is a book that just cuts to the chase. Its purpose -- plain & simple -- is to teach both begineers & professionals the principles of character animation. And on that level at least, this 218-page paperback delivers in spades.
And then when you factor in the DVD that comes along with "Character Animation Crash Course !" which features examples of Eric's hand-drawn animation that you can then step through plus Brad Bird's entertaining foreword ... This is a paperback that every fledgling animation student out there will want on their bookshelf.
Eric Goldberg signing copies of "Character Animation Crash Course !" at the 2008 Comic-Con International. Photo by Nancy Stadler
So if you're looking for something useful to toss into that Care package that you're getting ready to send off to RISD or SCAD, now might be a really good time to go pick up a copy of Eric Goldberg's 25-years-in-the-making instructional book. You (or the animation student that you know) can thank me later.
Free screening of "Wood & Stock" at Vancouver fest
Admission is free for Joao Jardim's cartoon feature film "Wood & Stock: Sexo, Oregano e Rock'n Roll," to be shown this Friday, September 12 as part of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.
Made in Brazil in 2006, Wood & Stock (in Portuguese with English subtitles) will screen at 5 p.m. at SFU Downtown Campus Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street (at Richards).
Dado Villa-Lobos' music helped the 81-minute film win the Special Prize of the Jury for Best Soundtrack at the Festival do Audiovisual. Wood & Stock was also named Best Animated Feature at Festival Internacional de Animación ANIMACOR and won the Audience's Choice Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Brasilia.
At a New Year's party at the beginning of 1972, at Cosmos's house, we find a few of young people: Wood, Stock, Lady Jane, Rê Bordosa, Rampal, Nanico and Meiaoito. They are immensely enjoying the total purple haze of the Brazilian flower power while the New Year's fireworks explode.
All of a sudden, 30 years have passed, and our heroes, now bald and potbellied, are facing the difficulties of a world more and more individualistic and consumerist. Family, children, work, bills to pay and solitude are concepts that do not fit in the inconsequent universe of these hairy people lost in time. The solution is to listen to the wise voice of Raulzito and bring back the old rock'n'roll band.
Preceding Wood & Stock is Pablo Alibaud's Chilean cartoon short V Al Paraiso. At the sound of music, the dead come out from the bottom of the sea to invade the city of Valparaíso.
Now underway, the 11-day VLAFF runs until Sunday, September 14.
For a link to the trailer for Wood & Stock: Sexo, Oregano e Rock'n Roll, visit www.vlaff.org/node/1786.
Scene from Joao Jardim's Wood & Stock: Sexo, Oregano e Rock'n Roll (2006).
FUNimation Has 1/3 Market Share
According to ICv2, FUNimation had 32.7% of the U.S. anime market in the first half of 2008. Note that the VideoScan data that determined this doesn't include Wal-Mart, so their percentage may be even higher. The second half of 2008 is expected to be even bigger for them, as they acquired numerous titles from ADV Films and Geneon.
Will Smith Is NOT Captain America!
Multiple sources from Marvel have confirmed that Derek Luke, of Spike Lee's Miracle At St. Anna's, doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to Will Smith and Captain America. Marvel never offered the part, nor did they approach or entertain a conversation about Will Smith for Captain America. That said - I'm sure they have a few parts that they'd like him for, just not Captain America.
So there ya go. They haven't gone insane and we don't need to be confused, angry and scared about it anymore.
Why is William Shatner Not in Star Trek?
AMC's SciFi Scanner talked to Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, who explained why you won't see William Shatner reprising the role of Captain James T. Kirk:
Q: How do you react to William Shatner's ire at not having a role in the movie?
A: It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn't quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn't want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It's funny -- a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.
Paramount Pictures will release Star Trek on May 8, 2009.
Barry Sonnenfeld is Developing The Nelsons
It's in the vein of "The Incredibles"
The Hollywood Reporter says that producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) has set up a superhero family show at ABC with feature writer Peter Steinfeld and Dee Steinfeld:
The ABC project, tentatively titled "The Nelsons," is a live-action one-hour in the vein of the Disney/Pixar animated feature "The Incredibles."
"It is a metaphor of what it is like to be a supermom and overworked dad in modern times," Sonnenfeld said of the project, which is co-produced by Sarah Timberman's Sony TV-based 25C Prods.
We'll bring you the latest on the show as it comes in.
Cannell Confirms Hero Movie
Stephen J. Cannell, creator of the cult '80s TV series The Greatest American Hero, confirmed to fans that a feature film is in the works."We've written a screenplay, and we've hired a director, and we're in the midst of putting this together for the future," Cannell told an audience in Hollywood on Sept. 7 at the Screen Actors Guild's 25th-anniversary reunion.
The director is reportedly Stephen Herek, known for such '80s kitsch as Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Critters--a fact Cannell did not confirm at the reunion panel.
The entire cast, producers, writers and famed stuntman Dennis "Danger" Madalone joined Cannell for a lengthy Q&A session moderated by John Tesh, a Hero historian and husband of star Connie Sellecca.
After Cannell's movie announcement, Sellecca took the opportunity to lock in roles for herself and fellow original cast members William Katt and Robert Culp.
"I'm going to put Stephen on the spot," Sellecca said with a grin. "Cameos for us?"
"Absolutely guaranteed," Cannell responded. "More than cameos: acting jobs."
"I took a sneak peek at the [feature] script, and it's absolutely charming and wonderful," Katt told the rapt audience. "I know people are going to love it."
The Greatest American Hero ran for three seasons on ABC, 1981-'83, and centered on Ralph Hinkley, a teacher who comes into possession of a red alien suit that endows its wearer with superpowers--but not the instruction manual. Culp played Hinkley's FBI minder and Sellecca his long-suffering girlfriend.
The show is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, with a new comic book produced by Katt and producing partner Chris Folino under their Catastrophic Comics banner. The first issue should hit shelves in November.
Additionally, there are plans for a series of four-minute animated Web shorts, voiced by Katt, Culp and Sellecca.
"It"s a litmus test for Stephen's [film plans]," Katt said of the comic and shorts.
"The cast all felt--and I think the writers as well--[that] we had stories left to tell, and so that's what we’re doing," Katt said. "We're picking up where we left off, and I know that there's a great audience out there that is going to be receptive to that."
Katt added: "In the public arena, at Comic-Con and other [conventions] out there, we've found that there is a tremendous warm welcome still left waiting for The Greatest American Hero."
DVD Review: Indie Flash Feature The Chosen One
Having “one of those days” takes on a whole new meaning in The Chosen One , a manic, hilarious Flash-animated romp by director Chris Lackey ( The Investigators —winner of the Atom Films Greenlight Award) that drops on DVD today. Written by Lackey and Chad Fifer ( The Investigators, The Call of Cthulhu) and produced by Bossa Nova Prods. founder Andreas Olavarria, the 80-minute feature boasts an all-star cast of a calibre seldom seen in shoe-string indies: Debra Wilson (Mad TV), Laura Prepon (That 70’s Show), Danielle Fishel (The Dish), Chris Sarandon (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Traci Lords (Blade), Lance Henriksen (Millenium) and the highly prolific Tim Curry (The Wild Thornberrys) as Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness.
Lou Hanske (Fifer) seems to have hit rock bottom: Kicked out of school, fired from his job, ditched by his sci-fi starlet girlfriend (Prepon) and, just for good measure, attacked by a rogue bear, he can’t imagine his day could get much worse. Luckily for the audience, it does. The leader of crackpot cult The Church of Frank (Wilson) decides that Lou is the long-awaited Chosen One, and sends him on a messianic road trip to Kansas to meet up with the big G Himself and fulfill his destiny. Accompanied by his elderly roommate (Sarandon), his scientist babe BFF (Fishel) and Lucifer, Lou embarks on an epic road trip with all the usual hazards: Religious zealots, a sexy super spy (Lords), ninjas, Kung Fu robots and your standard giant monsters. Chosen One is flawlessly funny throughout this bizarre exodus, during which Lou must learn to master his heavenly powers to defend his friends.
Accurately described as “a true labor of love,” The Chosen One was animated almost entirely by Lackey out of his Santa Monica, Calif. apartment, and from the start was intended as a truly independent answer to the influx of mega-budget animated films coming from the major studios. After teaming up with experienced producer Olavarria, Lackey and Fifer not only were able to accomplish this goal, but to set a new bar for animated independent features. Their efforts have been rewarded with a Best Experimental Feature award from the Ft. Lauderdale Int’l Film Festival in 2007 and an enthusiastic response at several more fests this year—most recently at the San Diego Comic-Con, where it screened as part of the official selection for their International Independent Film Festival.
More information on The Chosen One, including character bios, trailers and news, can be found at www.thechosenonemovie.com. To purchase the DVD, head over to www.thechosenonemovie.com/buy—if you hurry, you might catch the early bird price of $15 (list price: $24.99).
Nelvana Toons Headed to Home Vid
Animated shows from Nelvana Enterprises featured on Canadian TV outlets Treehouse, YTV and TELETOON will will be released on DVD on Sept. 23. The disc debuts will offer installments of Jane and the Dragon, Grossology, Ruby Gloom and Di-Gata Defenders, all available for the first time on DVD in Canada. Each release will include four episodes, plus a bonus episode and special features for a suggested retail price of $19.99Employing motion-capture CG animation created by Weta Workshop, Jane and the Dragon is set in the ninth-century English kingdom of Kippernium, where 12-year-old Jane Turnkey seeks to buck convention by becoming a brave knight. When she rescues Prince Cuthbert from a not-so-ferocious dragon, she’s granted special permission to begin training as a knight’s apprentice with the gentle, wisecracking dragon by her side. Based on a series of children’s books by Martin Baynton, the show will arrive on DVD in a compilation titled Jane and the Dragon: A Dragon’s Tail.
Experts in everything gross, friends and siblings Ty and Abby Archer confront the world's grossest villains in Grossology: The Perfect Stink. The 2D-animated series is based on the book Grossology by Sylvia Branzei and follows the crime-solving brother and sister team who report to the government’s secret Department of Grossology.
Ruby Gloom: Grounded in Gloomsville will offer four stories revolving around the happiest girl in the world and her offbeat circle of friends. The series is based on a licensing property owned by Mighty Fine, and produced by Nelvana in association with YTV.
The legendary Di-Gata Defenders star in Di-Gata Defenders: Trouble in Paradise. With the help of powerful Guardian creatures, the young defenders must learn to harness the energy of the Di-Gata stones before evil villains unlock the Megalith and trigger chaos throughout the realm. Created by Greg Collinson, the show is a Nelvana Limited/LuxAnimation co-production in association with TELETOON Canada Inc.
Comet, SOMUGA Go Around the World
Canadian animation production, content development and distribution group Comet Ent. and Spanish company SOMUGA Produktora SL. have joined forces to produce an 80-minute animated movie titled Around the World in 80 Days, Free! The co-production and worldwide distribution deal promises to yield a new twist on the classic Jules Verne tale.Around the world in 80 days, Free! begins when Sheepskin bets Kebab that he can travel around the world for free, and that he can do in 80 days, just like fictional hero Phileas Fogg. The two and their pack of wacky friends set out on the journey and find that the cities Fogg passed through roughly 200 years ago are now full of dangerous obstacles.
Comet Entertainment Inc. is the producer of animated primetime feature film Santa Vs. Claus and the adult tv series Wrappy, Sex Police. More information on the company can be found at www.cometentertainment.com.
Kutcher’s Katalyst Launches BlahGirls
Actor/producer Ashton Kutcher and fellow Katalyst Media principal Jason Goldberg are binging animation to the blog scene with BlahGirls.com. The website features an animated video blog series that combines celebrity news and commentary by three cartoon girls that surly must be the illegitimate offspring of the Powerpuff Girls and various South Park characters.Sponsored by Vitamin Water, BlahGirls is also available for viewing on YouTube and Yahoo/NBC Universal’s celeb news site, OMG. There are currently two episodes online that each run a couple minutes long. One pokes fun at the celebrity fad of adopting foreign babies, and the other has the girls debating the merits of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Hollywood Reporter also mentions that Katalyst is developing a user-generated version of Kutcher’s hit MTV prank show Punk’d. Other plans include a series for fans of fantasy-football. The company today launched a marketing campaign for its upcoming ABC series, Opportunity Knocks.
No more political crap: Ad drops pooping puffin
Canada's ruling Conservative Party has dropped a scene from an Internet ad showing an animated puffin defecating on Liberal leader Dion's shoulder.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the scene showing a defecating puffin. The party blamed a too-enthusiastic Web designer for the potty scene, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Tuesday
"It was tasteless and inappropriate. We have enough differences with the Liberals without getting into that kind of thing," Harper told a news conference Tuesday during a Winnipeg, Manitoba campaign stop. "I offer my sincere apologies to Mr. Dion. It has been removed and my apologies for it having been up."
The ad at the Conservatives' www.notaleader.ca Web site depicts Dion in front of a blackboard with comments such as "weak leader" and "out of touch." And it still shows a puffin flying around the opposition leader, a former professor of public administration at the Universite de Montreal. However, the bird is no longer shown pooping on his shoulder.
The scrappy Web site was one of the opening salvos in Canada's federal election, which Harper called Sunday for October 14.
Speaking at a vegetable warehouse, Harper apologized for the Web campaign designed to appeal to "South Park Conservatives."
Dion predicted that the guano scene, in which an animated puffin flies across the screen and emits a white blob, would backfire on the governing party.
"This is saying more about them than about us," he said in Montreal, drawing cheers from Liberal party faithful.
"I want to clarify my answer... not about them, about him (Harper). Because I know most Conservative voters last time will disagree with that... and they may change their vote."
The ad was first posted Monday evening. Although it was pulled Tuesday morning, it reran regularly on Canadian cable TV news stations.
Harper said that his campaign director told him about the ad Tuesday morning, but that he never saw it himself.
In a now-edited Conservative ad, an animated puffin flies over Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and leaves its mark.
Marvel.com Debuts "X-Men Evolution" in Streaming Video
Marvel.com has begun airing episodes of X-Men Evolution in streaming video format. According to a news article at Marvel.com, two new episodes will be posted every Monday for the next five weeks, and with one new episode debuting per week afterwards. All 52 episodes of the show will be made available on the web site.
The first episode, "Strategy X," can be viewed at the Marvel website or in the embedded streaming video player below:
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