Españistán by Aleix Saló serves as a reminder that animation is a medium for educating and informing as well as entertaining. The topic: an explanation of Spain’s housing bubble and subsequent economic crisis. Sound familiar? It’s currently the most popular animated short in Spain, which has been mired in weeks of protests and sit-ins by people who are fed up by the country’s two-party political system and its class of arrogant and out of touch politicians. Sound even more familiar?

Above is an English fansub of Españistán; the original upload has garnered over 1.3 million in the six days since its debut.

(Thanks, Animaholic)

Digital Domain is jumping head first into the feature animation game. Veteran studio owner and director Uli Meyer suggested in our comments that DD should look carefully at the past and avoid repeating the mistakes of other vfx houses that have tried to do the same thing:

The big post production houses are all depending on service work and the idea of creating content must be very tempting. If successful, that could mean a certain independence and less having to bid against other post houses to secure a few effects shots on the next big blockbuster. It makes a lot of sense to try and do that from a business point of view.

Framestore in the UK did go part of the way towards that goal by making A Tale Of Desperaux as a service project but have not managed to follow with one of their own (as far as I know). Being good at running an effects company does not automatically make you a film maker. Hiring a hand-full of people who have been employed by one of the other content creators before is a start but if those guys do not have the infrastructure to support them, their best ideas won’t go very far. And with infrastructure I don’t mean render farms and fur software.

If the management will allow an entirely new structure to develop, there is a chance something good can happen. And should they manage to make one film, a second won’t happen immediately and I guess they can always use their new facility to work on effects shots.

Whenever I read about news like this, I have this idea that the people in charge should look at all the other failed similar attempts by others and try and learn from those mistakes. There are plenty of them. I sincerely hope those mistakes won’t happen here, only time will tell. As to family films – there is always room for another one as long as it is a good one, whatever that is. Good luck!

Visual effects house Digital Domain is building a $40 million, 120,000-square foot studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The plan: expand beyond service work for live-action features and create “extremely clean, family films that are memorable, strong, powerful stories.” Since feature animation is quite nearly the most lucrative thing going in Hollywood right now, everybody wants a piece of the action. Digital Domain is moving in the direction of vfx shops like Sony Imageworks and more recently ILM, which released its first original production, Rango, earlier this year. DD has already greenlit an idea for its first feature (what is it?) and hopes to have it in theaters by 2014.

The only hitch is that Digital Domain has been talking about creating original content since the mid-1990s. The company tried to launch an IPO a few years back which failed to ignite interest from investors. Now, they’re getting ready to try the IPO again. This time they hope the results will be different. For starters, the state of Florida and the city of Port St. Lucie has awarded them $70 million worth of incentive grants to set up shop down there. Second, they’ve hired Disney animator and Brother Bear co-director Aaron Blaise to helm their first feature, presumably so that he will recreate some of that Brother Bear magic.

They’ve also hired the executive producer of Brother Bear, Chuck Williams, who told the TCPalm that, “As Pixar is struggling with sequels and Disney’s struggling to find itself, I think it’s a good time for us to come in with a different point of view with great family films.” Frankly, other studios would kill to struggle as much as Disney/Pixar, which created the top grossing film at the worldwide box office last year, plus another animated feature in the top ten.

Plenty more details about DD’s plans in this TCPalm article, including this bit:

In exchange for incentives, the company agreed to create up to 500 jobs with an average annual salary of $65,000 by 2014. The company, now at 243 employees, is on its way to overwhelmingly exceeding that goal.

According to the article, only 15 of those employees work in its feature animation division. The photo up top is of (l. to r.) Chuck Williams, Aaron Blaise, and Craig Grasso. There’s also a solo photo of Aaron Blaise accompanying the TCPalm piece which has a special surprise that I’ve highlighted below:

I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything, but as a rule of thumb, if you’re launching a new animation studio, it’s a smart idea to make sure that logos of other studios’ animated films aren’t visible in publicity shots.

Here’s a toast to British animation legend Bob Godfrey who turns ninety years old today. Read a tribute to Bob on the VanArts school website. Better yet, watch this BBC TV episode about Bob from the 1970s:

(Bob Godfrey photo via Michael Sporn’s Splog, thanks Ken Priebe for sending the story)

In today’s edition of Kyle Carrozza and John Berry’s Frog Raccoon Strawberry, January and Strawberry attend a cartoon convention where they encounter a grouchy and pedantic animation historian named Imad Imadi. I’m so glad I don’t know anybody like that.

(Thanks, TempleDog)

This LA Times article about the changing role of women in animation offers the first quote I’ve seen from Brenda Chapman since she was kicked off of Pixar’s Brave:

“I think it’s a really sad state. We’re in the 21st century and there are so few stories geared towards girls, told from a female point of view.”

The article goes on to say that she was fired from Brave over “creative differences” and that she is currently on a leave of absence from Pixar, though she will receive a directing credit on the film. My guess — and it’s only a guess — is that she has to remain with the company contractually until the film is completed in order to receive her credit.

See also: Meet Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the director of Kung Fu Panda 2

Please look at these closely before deciding it’s a good idea to get a Disney image permanently stained onto your body.

(via Trexarms)

1. 3D Ruins Regular Movies Too
The Boston Globe published a damning exposé about irresponsible theater chains like AMC, National Amusements, and Regal that often leave the 3D projector lenses on for 2D movies, thereby dimming regular movies and draining them of color to the point where they can’t be enjoyed. So why don’t they just switch the lenses on the Sony digital projectors you ask? How about DRM foul-ups:

James Bond, a Chicago-based projection guru who serves as technical expert for Roger Ebert’s Ebertfest, said issues with the Sonys are more than mechanical. Opening the projector alone involves security clearances and Internet passwords, “and if you don’t do it right, the machine will shut down on you.” The result, in his view, is that often the lens change isn’t made and “audiences are getting shortchanged.”

2. Fake Indian Animation Schools
Times of India reports about an epidemic of fly-by-night animation schools in India. Over 10,000 students have been suckered by these schools with the promise of receiving a quality education and jobs:

Anshuman Kaushik, who took admission in 2D animation in Nupur Media, which collaborated with Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University said that he paid Rs 1.6 lakh for the 10-month course which the company terminated after the first six months. “There were 30 students in the class. Just before the company shut down, about 15 students were given offer letters by Nupur Media House. Later we realised that the company was not even registered,” said Kaushik who is now planning to take a regular course in animation from a reputed university.

3. Arnold’s Cartoon Probably Still Happening
After it was revealed that California’s inept ex-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was producing little Latino-American Arnolds with women that were not his wife, the producers of the Governator animated series announced that they “have chosen to not go forward with the Governator project.” That seemed like a prudent and responsible decision by the production companies, until they issued a revised statement that read, “In light of recent events, A Squared Entertainment, POW, Stan Lee Comics, and Archie Comics, have halted production.” Subtle wording change, but big difference. What they’re really saying is, “We’re probably still going to make this show even though Arnold is an awful role model for kids, but we’ll just wait until the whole affair business blows over.” Of course, they’ll have to make some minor changes to the original idea, which according to Stan Lee, would have used “all the personal elements of Arnold’s life. We’re using his wife. We’re using his kids.”

(Thanks, Karl Cohen, for the India link)

Advice from John Lasseter on how to wear Hawaiian shirts: “Don’t just pick a shirt to wear, but pick the subject matter of the shirt to match what you’re doing in the day.” That is, of course, easier to do when you own over one thousand Hawaiian shirts as Lasseter does, including 374 in active rotation.

Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle received a fun tour of the collection:

This photo of Kung Fu Panda 2 director Jennifer Yuh Nelson attending the film’s premiere earlier today was posted onto DreamWorks’s Twitter account. A Korean-American, she is (I believe) the first female Asian director of a major animated feature.

The lack of racial and gender diversity in Hollywood animation, particularly in the upper-tier creative positions, has always been disheartening to me, largely because the lack of different points of view is reflected in the animation that appear in theaters and on TV. It’s encouraging to see a new generation of directors, like Yuh Nelson and Rio’s Carlos Saldanha, who don’t fit the traditional animation director mold. Here’s her official bio from the studio:

Jennifer Yuh Nelson has lent her talents to four of DreamWorks Animation’s motion pictures: 2008’s Kung Fu Panda (as head of story), 2005’s Madagascar (as story artist), 2003’s Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (as head of story) and 2002’s Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (also as story artist).

Prior to joining DreamWorks, Nelson worked at HBO Animation, developing various projects and short series. She has worn many hats, serving as director, story artist and character designer for HBO’s animated series Spawn, which won an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Animated Program.

Nelson’s career in animation has spanned several countries, including Korea and Japan, where she oversaw animation for HBO. Nelson has also worked in Sydney, Australia, serving as a story artist and illustrator for the live-action feature Dark City for Mystery Clock Productions.

Nelson attended California State University, Long Beach where she received a BFA in Illustration. Nelson has also published several independent comic books.

And here’s an interview with her:

The LA Film Forum presents Triumph of the Wild: New Experimental Animation curated by Eric Leiser. The screening, which presents recent experimental films from the US and Europe, takes place on Sunday, May 22, at 7:30 pm at the Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd.) Three of the filmmakers—Eric Leiser, Alice Cohen, and Gina Marie Napolitan—will appear in person.

Tickets are $10/general admission, $6/students and seniors, and free for Filmforum members. To purchase advance tickets, visit the LA Film Forum website.

Here’s the screening line-up:

These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us by Michael Robinson
(2010, USA, 13 mins)

The External World by David OReilly
(2011, Ireland, 17 mins)

Triumph of the Wild by Martha Colburn
(2009, USA, 10 mins)

Battery Cage by Studio Smack
(2009, Netherlands, 4 mins)

Mirror Moves for Private Eyes by Alice Cohen
(2010, USA, 13 mins)

Mastering Bambi by Persijn Broerson and Margit Luckas
(2011, USA/Netherlands, 13 mins)

Remisequenz by Xenia Lesniewski
(2010, Germany, 3 mins)

City of Progress by Justine Bennet
(2008, Netherlands, 11 mins)

Forest by Eric Leiser
(2008, USA, 3 mins)

Demons and Cathedrals by Gina Marie Napolitan
(2010, USA, 5 mins)

One of my favorite student films from a few years back — 2008, to be exact — has finally appeared on-line: Michal Socha’s Chick (Laska) from Poland. The images in this short stay with the viewer long after the film has ended thanks to a combination of stark production design and energetic animation, especially the jaunty dance of the lady, who appears to be a prostitute. The sex scene (safe for work) illustrates the effectiveness of abstracting an idea in animation instead of literally showing it. It may surprise some viewers to learn that the film was made primarily in CG, using 3D Studio Max along with After Effects and Toon Boom. Dig around the film’s official website to see the storyboards and concept art.