Monthly Archives: December 2010

Audiences Choose Crude Stop Motion over Slick CGI

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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Would you rather watch a creaky stop motion cartoon from nearly fifty years ago or a splashy computer animated cartoon from today? Audiences were faced with that decision on Tuesday night when CBS programmed the venerable Rankin/Bass special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer against DreamWorks’ Shrek the Halls and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas on ABC.

Rudolph soundly drubbed its competition with 11.3 million viewers and was the second highest-rated program on network TV during the entire night trailing only Fox’s Glee. Shrek the Halls meanwhile delivered 7.4 million viewers and Grinch 6.9 million viewers. Rudolph had a ratings gain from 2009, whereas both Shrek and Grinch had significant year-to-year rating declines. Everybody say it with me: audiences don’t watch animation for technique; it’s about how much they love your characters and story.

(Thanks, Mark Caballero)

“Paths Of Hate” trailer

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Here’s the trailer for the latest short from the Polish Film Institute and Platige Image, the Polish studio behind Tomek Baginski’s award winning films (Fallen Art, Cathedral). Director Damian Nenow was the key member of Baginski’s team last few years, responsible for editing his last shorts. His Paths of Hate is a 3D animation stylized as 2D comic book (though not based on any actual comic). The film had its premiere last week in Warsaw and has just started screening on the festival circuit. Can’t wait to see it.

Can This Man Make An Animated Feature in One Month?

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One Month Animated Feature

Cartoonist Ryan Estrada has always dreamt of making his own animated feature. Well, he’s finally going to do it. This month. And he’ll be done with it in 31 days. The complete movie will debut on-line on January 1st. He’s currently set up his studio in a Costa Rican jungle and has made a light box out of a baking tray. In other words, he’s ready to create. There’s an entertaining Tumblr blog to accompany the project. Good luck, Ryan!

Where Cartoon Brew Readers are From: 2010 Edition, Part 2

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Yesterday, we looked at which studios and schools send the most traffic to Cartoon Brew. Today, we’re going to look at which countries visit Cartoon Brew most often.

So far, this year Cartoon Brew has had visitors from 215 countries or territories. As is to be expected, the United States comprises the largest percentage of our readership (64%) and the top five countries account for 82% of our traffic. Other countries in the top five, like Canada, UK and Spain, have each generated hundreds of thousands of visits in 2010. Our US readership reaches well into the millions. (The biggest surprise for us is Spain, where our readership has dramatically expanded in the second half of 2010. The Spanish cities that deliver the most visitors are, in order, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla and Bilbao.)

Below is a list of countries that have recorded at least 1,000 visits so far in 2010.
Continue reading →

“Crossover” by Fabian Grodde

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Beautiful mix of photography and CG characters – and an intriguing subtext. Fabian Grodde produced and directed his thesis film for Germany’s Bauhaus-University through Berlin-based Quent Film.

DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY:
Fabian Grodde
3D ARTISTS:
Alexander Schumann, Christian Brinkmann, Stephan Hempel
COMPOSITING:
Fabian Grodde
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:
Rafael Köhler
SOUND:
Johann Niegl, Alexander Binder

(Thanks, Ivan Sarosacz)

TODAY: Jerry on Stu’s Show

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Turn on, tune in, and toon up! I will be the featured guest today on Shokus Internet Radio’s Stu’s Show. It’ll air live beginning at 4:00 p.m. Pacific (7:00 p.m. Eastern). Topics will include Looney Tunes on DVD, the Oscar race, Tangled, Yogi Bear and as always, whatever the listeners want to talk about. You are encouraged to call in with your questions and comments on the station’s toll-free telephone number.

Stu’s Show airs live each Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. PST, with rebroadcasts at the same time each day through next Tuesday Dec. 7th. Access to the station’s feed is free, with no registration required, and is available either by clicking on the Enter Site button on the home page (www.shokusradio.com), by choosing one of the audio player links on the site’s main page.