There was a front page article in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal about the brickfilm community. Brickfilms is a general description for any film made using LEGO bricks, and most of these shorts employ a stop-motion animation technique. For more information about brickfilming, see the definitive online resource BrickFilms.com.

I wish somebody would do a more in-depth exploration of all the new animation filmmaking techniques that have emerged as a result of today’s abundance and accessibility of digital technologies. Thanks to new ideas like Flash, Machinima, and brickfilming, there are more people producing animation today than there have ever been in the history of the art form. There are easily thousands, if not tens of thousands, of creators who are currently making their own animated shorts. Granted, in most cases these animated pieces are unable to transcend the novelties of their techniques and truly resonate as films, but the simple fact that there are so many people producing animation independently is a notable paradigm-shifting moment in the animation world.

It used to be that animation was the realm of specialists. Even a couple decades ago, an amateur would have to make a significant investment in resources to produce anything. Today, however, any 9-year-old can create animation using the laptop and digital camera in front of them. To my mind, this mainstreaming of animation production is one of the most exciting developments that has happened in years. It has yet to pay off in any appreciable manner but I can’t help and think that with so many young people knowledgeable about the animation process, good things won’t come from it.

UPDATE: I just noticed that the top post on BoingBoing is about the first brickfilm festival in Europe, which will take place tomorrow in Sweden.

(Image at top of this post from the brickfilm Gefunden - Found by GoLeGo. Watch it here)

We’ve all seen the 16mm color footage of Walt Disney visting South America in 1941. Now, courtesy of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Culture website, comes a segment from a 1941 newsreel (in Spanish) showing a little more of Mr. Disney’s trip to Argentina. Couple of nice shots of Disney signing his name and sketching (sketch above right) with Argentine cartoonist Ramon Columba (sketch above left).

Anyone care to translate the narration?

(Thanks, Oscar Grillo)

A little boy and his brain challenged teddy bear.

Spunky and Tadpole was one of the worst cartoon shows ever made. Originally distributed in 1958 by Guild Films, the show was quickly outclassed in every department by Hanna-Barbera’s Huckleberry Hound and trounced by all other kiddie competition. Your tip off that this going to be awful is the cheesy title card touting “Beverly Hills Productions.” There is nothing Beverly Hills about this production!

On the plus side, it does feature Don Messick doing voices… however, the ugly artwork, minimal animation and shoddy production values justify its place in the Cartoon Dump. The fifth episode of our original live-action/animation podcast is now up on CartoonBrewFilms.com

The second annual 2D OR NOT 2D Animated Film Festival will be held at the New Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington, on November 2nd and 3rd.

This year’s fest is promising to be even bigger and better than last year. The theme of Friday night’s event (11/2) will be Girls Night In (Animation), hosted by Nancy Beiman (Ex-Disney animator), Kathie Flood (Microsoft Games Producer) and Kureha Yokoo (Pixar supervising animator). On Saturday afternoon, artist/designer/animator Michel Gagne will show a unique selection of his amazing work for publishing, TV and the Movies. Saturday evening’s keynote speaker is Don Hahn (producer of Disney’s The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas).

There’s also an international animation competition, meet-and-greet networking opportunities and special feature screenings. For festival information contact Ken Rowe, Festival Director at ken-at-animaticus.com, or visit 2dornot2d.org. For ticket information contact The New Everett Theatre.

Head’s up: the Pixar Toy Story zoetrope created for their MoMA exhibit a couple years back is now on display at California Adventure. And if this still isn’t a good enough reason to visit California Adventure, then just check out the YouTube video below:

(Thanks, Joe Campana)

This stop-motion TV spot makes me feel good.

Replacement animation, using Play-Doh, on a scale George Pal never imagined. Bravo to Darren Walsh and his team at Passion Pictures. You can watch it again in hi-rez, and an amazing making-of/behind the scenes video, on the Sony website.

(Thanks, Tony Canepa)

Cold Rush is a new French student film created by Mikael Lynen, Simon Corbaux, Tristan Urbin and Rémi Certhoux at the Supinfocom school. My enthusiasm for the film was slightly dampened by the plodding pace of storytelling and unsatisfying ending, but the short has a lot going for it including a grand cinematic vision and a well-conceived near-monochromatic production design. As a piece of student CG, it’s undeniably impressive, and from a technical standpoint trumps many professional CG productions. Watch the film HERE (57mb QuickTime file) and read more behind-the-scenes details at CGSociety.com.

(Thanks, Tim Bjorklund)

Not quite as enchanted as Enchanted, this new Fling chocolate bar spot, from Australia, aimed at “self-assured women in their 20s-30s”, is a nice homage to/swipe at Disneyland fairy tales. The animation was done at Sydney’s Mad Cow Pictures, whose staff includes many ex-Disney Animation Australia (aka Disneytoon Studios) personnel.

(Thanks, Tom Dougherty)