This excellent spot for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Blue Water Project is among those rare pieces of design-oriented animation in which an equal amount of thought is given to the movement of the artwork as to its production design. There’s only one cut in the entire commercial; the scenes flow smoothly into one another in a way that drives home the commercial’s subject matter—water. The spot is directed by Convert for The Ebeling Group and designed by Jon Klassen, who has posted his illustration designs for the commercial on his blog. Klassen also co-directed a fine student film at Sheridan a few years ago called An Eye For Annai.

We may have a Felix Chevrolet dealer in Southern California, but Ben at the Japanese Nostalgic Car blog reports on a new chain of Speed Racer themed gas stations in Japan. Here’s the Official Web Site.

(Thanks, Doran Gaston)

A new series of British TV spots, featuring Paddington Bear for Marmite, are quite refreshing. They mimic the cartoon series from the 70’s and are made the old fashioned way - animated by hand, using stop motion, 2D and cut-out animation techniques. Here’s a short making-of video:

(Thanks, Scott Harpel)

Apparently my last post about Sarah Palin wasn’t animated enough for some readers, so here is “Sarah Palin and the Bush Doctrine: An Animated Interview” by Joe Fournier. It’s the second animated short he’s created for the Chicago Tribune website.

There’s a great ASIFA-East panel coming up this Tuesday, September 23, in New York. It’s billed as a panel discussion on the state of NY animated features with panelists Emily Hubley, Daniel Kanemoto, Bill Plympton, Michael Sporn and Tatia Rosenthal. Every single one of these artists is currently making or has made an animated feature in the past year. Other East Coasters who aren’t on the panel but could be added to this list are Nina Paley and Paul Fierlinger. Never before in the history of animation have so many indie animated features been produced. We’re currently in the middle of an animation revolution and this panel will try to give some perspective to this unique moment in the history of the art form. How are these features being made? Who’s supporting them? Where is all this headed? There’s a lot to talk about. I’m moderating the panel and I’m really looking forward to having this discussion with such an esteemed group of filmmakers. Best of all, admission is FREE. It takes place at the School of Visual Arts (209 East 23rd Street in the 3rd floor Amphitheater).

I’m moderating a panel at the Ottawa International Animation Festival this weekend. It’s called “Animation Makes Me Laugh: Ha!” and it’s all about what’s funny and what isn’t in animation. There’s no sure-fire formula to funny so I can’t guarantee we’ll unlock any secret keys to humor, but I can guarantee you’ll get to hear from four funny and talented filmmakers: Nick Cross, Will Krause, Fran Krause and Superjail creator Christy Karacas. The panel takes place Sunday, September 21, at 3pm in the National Gallery (Lecture Hall). Drop by and say hello.

On Friday, October 3, Brad Bird will present a screening of David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago at the Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.) in Los Angeles. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $6 for students. Here is the website for additional details and tickets.

(Thanks, Matt Jones)

Animator Mike Kazaleh found this incredible Pink-Panther-meets-Bugs -Bunny sketch by Friz Freleng (click on thumbnail below to see full image). Says Mike:

As usual, I went looking for something in my house, and I found something else. It’s a Friz sketch from 1974. Please bear in mind that I scanned this picture from an ancient thermal fax, and the image had all but disappeared. It took a bit of work in Photoshop to make the image semi clear again. If memory serves me correctly, the “Lance” that the picture was drawn for was (writer/character designer) Lance Falk, and I believe it was he who faxed it to me in the first place. Quite an artifact, eh?

(Thanks Mike!)