It was announced on last night’s Season Finale of The Simpsons that Maggie will star in her own stand-alone 3D animated theatrical short. The Longest Daycare will debut before Ice Age: Continental Drift opening in theaters on July 13th, 2012.
UPDATE: David Silverman appeared to confirm on Twitter that he is directing the short.
Luca Raffaelli’s Le anime disegnate: Il pensiero nei cartoon da Disney ai giapponesi e oltre may be a very good book, but this cover for its new edition is something else. Share your nominations for ugliest animation book covers in the comments.
Storyboard artist Jane Wu (Mulan II, Shane Acker’s 9) has posted two of her dynamic boards from Marvel’s The Avengers. Click on images below to see them in animatic form. It’s nice to know that strong work like this, from seasoned animation professionals like Wu, went into creating the blockbuster hit movie.
Tonight at 9:30pm Eastern/Pacific, Disney’s Tron Uprising airs its pilot on Disney Channel (it’s also available online). I personally think this series is a breakthrough for a US-generated animated action series; a game changer.
For decades the standard look for adventure cartoons was the model started by Doug Wildey on Hanna Barbera’s Jonny Quest (1964). Later, Bruce Timm and the team at Warner Animation advanced the field with Batman: the Animated Series (1992), and there’s no denying Anime certainly brought a new feel to the genre.
Tron Uprising certainly borrows from those traditions and ups it a notch – a BIG notch. To be fair, the pilot airing tonight only shows off half the picture – the beautiful visuals designed by Art Director Alberto Mielgo and Lead Character Designer Robert Valley. The pilot Beck’s Beginning is a bit of a paste-up – as its constructed from the elements of the previously announced mini-sodes which were originally planned to preview the show (Disney execs decided to edit them into one 31 minute episode instead of presenting them as serialized bite-sized pieces, as first intended). Producer/director Charlie Bean (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, The Amazing World of Gumball) has the perfect sensibility for this show – and from what I understand the storyline for the actual series is far more complex than the set-up presented tonight.
But so far, I love what I see. How about you? What’s your take? You have no excuse not to give it a try. Take a look at some of this gorgeous production material below. Top row: two of Mielgo’s magnificent production paintings, and a third by Joon Ahn; second row: a model sheet for some of the lead characters; third row: a few of Valley’s storyboards and (at my request) a Beck model sheet (click thumbnails to enlarge). Click all images for larger, fuller views.
Festivals rarely make animated spots to encourage film submissions, much less spots that are as cool as the one above. The piece was created by Diego Akel to encourage filmmakers to submit to the MUMIA Underground World Animation Festival. The festival, which is celebrating its 10th edition this fall, screens in various Brazilian cities including Belo Horizonte, Betim and Nova Lima.
If I understood their submission rules correctly, they also have an awesomely renegade film selection process: “There will not be selection of the films and videos submitted. As long as four hours of the festival programming is completed, the selection will be over.” If you’re interested in showing your film at MUMIA, go here for submission details. Entries need to be postmarked by May 31.
Perhaps this should be subtitled: “How an animator sees the world.” The visuals in this delightful short film are, according to the filmmaker, from the POV of a very imaginative child wandering through France. Filmed with a mobile phone with integrated 2D animation by David Martins da Silva, a student at EMCA (Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d’Animation) the famed animation school located in Angoulême, France.
Cartoon Brew reader J. M. Walter imagined Pixar characters in the role of The Avengers and shared this image on our Facebook page. Click to embiggen.
We’re excited to announce a call for entries for our third annual Student Film Festival, a yearly showcase of outstanding student films from around the globe. We’ve received hundreds of submissions in our first two years that have resulted in a fantastic selection of films, and we hope to continue that trend this year. Click to see the 2010 lineup and 2011 lineup.
Our mission for the festival is simple: to share student-produced animated shorts with the widest possible community of industry artists, fellow students and animation fans. And not just any student films, but films of the highest caliber…the most original, the most thought-provoking, the ones that make us laugh hardest and engage us emotionally. Of course, we present student films throughout the year on Cartoon Brew, but we want the festival to direct even greater attention to the exciting work being produced by today’s up-and-coming filmmakers.
Filmmakers who are selected to screen in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival will each receive $300. We’re also adding a new twist this year. After all the films have debuted, there will be an audience poll where Cartoon Brew viewers can vote on their favorite film. The winner of the audience choice award will earn an additional $500.
Here’s all the info you need:
RULES
1. It has to be animated. (Obviously.)
2. It has to be a student film. (Even more obvious.)
3. Must have been completed after May 1, 2011.
4. Must be an online premiere. (Films that are accessible online to the public will not be considered.)
5. Submissions due by Sunday, June 3, 2012Thursday, May 31, 2012
SUBMIT
To submit, send an email to studentfest (at) cartoonbrew (dot) com with the following info:
• Your name, school and country
• Film title and synopsis
• Private link and password (ex: Password-Protected Vimeo link, Private or Unlisted YouTube link, or a website download link).
WHAT HAPPENS IF I’M SELECTED
Up to 12 films will be selected for the festival. We will announce the festival selections in early June. Screenings will begin on Cartoon Brew in late June. Every film that is selected to screen as part of the Cartoon Brew Student Film Festival will be paid a screening fee of $300(US). We don’t assume any exclusivity or ownership of your film. In other words, you are still free to submit to festivals, sell it to distributors, and post it anywhere else on-line shortly after its online debut in our festival.
ONE FINAL NOTE
Many students are informed in school that posting their film on-line ruins their festival chances. We’ve explored the issue before by speaking with festival directors and recommend reading this. None of the major animation festivals enforce such a rule today. However, some non-animation festivals, like Sundance, ask that a film be taken off-line during the course of their festival. As far as we know, the only awards organization that strictly demands films remain off-line is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, so if you’re trying to qualify for a Student Academy Award, you don’t want to post your film on-line. To understand the issues better, read this case study written by Avner Geller, who co-directed Defective Detective, a film that appeared in last year’s Student Animation Festival as well as won a Student Academy Award.
(Submit photo via Shutterstock)
We’ve entered a new era of Disney-related memoirs–books written by artists who worked at the tail end of animation’s Golden Age or memoirs written by friends and relatives of the artists. Below is a look at four such books. At least a couple of them are self-published. And while some of them may be short on Disney or animation-related content, they should be worth a look for those who are interested in the lives of animation artists.
Warp and Weft: Life Canvas of Herbert Ryman is a memoir/bio of Herb Ryman by his longtime friend John Stanley Donaldson. Ryman worked as an art director on a number of early Disney features, including Dumbo, Fantasia and The Three Caballeros. He was selected by Walt Disney as one of the artists to accompany him on the famous 1941 South America trip, and he later spent many years working as an Imagineer, where he famously drew the first comprehensive map of Disneyland in 1953.
Warp and Weft has garned more than its share of controversy: this review of the book alludes to the author’s personal squabbles with the Ryman family and rhyming ‘beat poetry’ writing style. Historian Didier Ghez, who is an authority on Disney literature, warned on his blog that, “This book is highly problematic and should be read with an extremely critical mind.” If you’re adventurous enough to try it, it’s available for $20 on the author’s website.
Disney veteran Floyd Norman has put together Animated Life: A Lifetime of Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Stories from an Animation Legend
Hanna-Barbera designer (and Milt Kahl’s clean-up man) Iwao Takamoto wrote his autobiography
A limited edition numbered hardbound can be pre-ordered on Leslie’s website for $79.95. I hope a less expensive edition will be made available, too.
It’s Kind of a Cute Story is a memoir by Rolly Crump, written in collaboration with Jeff Heimbuch. Crump started working in Disney’s animation department in 1952, but made his greatest contributions to the company as an Imagineer, where he worked on classic rides and shows like the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, and It’s A Small World. Crump was a pretty chill dude, and I’m looking forward to learning more about him. There’s no official release date for the book yet.
Animator Ken Harris becomes a meme. Via Reddit. (Ironically, Harris was one of the fastest animators at Warner Bros. and would often leave work early to play tennis. Does anybody have that luxury nowadays?)
The Hub has responded to yesterday’s brouhaha caused by this Care Bears press release from their pr agency, BWR Public Relations. Crystal Williams, the Hub’s manager of communications and publicity, sent me the following note this afternoon:
Hi Amid,
Last night I came across your story on Cartoon Brew titled “The Hub Hopes Men Will Start Calling Themselves “Belly Bros” and “Care Dudes.” In response, I wanted to let you know that this was an unapproved and unsanctioned pitch by our PR agency that we are completely taken aback by. Both The Hub TV Network nor American Greetings Properties had any knowledge of the pitch angle. It is not our intention to compare Care Bears to My Little Pony and/or the Brony community.
All the best,
Crystal Williams
Manager, Communications & Publicity
The Hub
Another year, another funny little film from graduating student Brian Carter (I posted his Give Me Space last year). Here is his final film (4th year) at CalArts, Princess of the Magical Tears:
What if a couple of guys decorated a van with colorful images, drove around the countryside, and invited children to come into their van to watch cartoons? Normally, I’d caution parents to be wary, but Spanish artists Carles Porta and Toni Tomà s are the real deal.
Their whimsical art project on wheels, Puck Cinema Caravana, is returning for its fourth season. They bill themselves as the smallest cinema on earth, and with only seven seats in their van-theater, they’re probably pretty close to that. The trailer above, created by Carles Porta, promotes this year’s programming theme, “Follies de la Simpatia a l’Absurd.”
Everything about Puck is thoughtfully designed from their promotional materials to the van itself. They also have great taste in curating films, and do a great job of introducing quality animated shorts to an audience that may not otherwise experience such films. This year’s all-star line-up of filmmakers includes Mark Baker, Grant Orchard, Torill Kove, Bruno Bozzetto, Alexey Alexeev, Juan Pablo Zaramella, Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Txesco Montalt, Yann Benedi, Antoine Robert, Dorianne Fibleuil, Maud Sertour, Paulin Cointot, and Nathan Hall.
Puck travels around Spain throughout the summer months. Visit PuckCinema.com for more details.
Thank you Facebook, for allowing us to to see another side of Disney – off model Mickeys, awkward Donalds and suggestive Pigs – courtesy of postings from around the world. Just had to share some of my favorites:
French newspaper Le Figaro confirms that Oscar-winning Dutch short filmmaker Michael Dudok de Wit (Father and Daughter, The Monk and the Fish) is directing his first feature film The Red Turtle. Dudok de Wit is long overdue for his shot at helming a feature, and whatever he comes up with, it’s surely guaranteed to be thoughtful, original, and high quality. More intriguingly, Studio Ghibli is co-producing the film, along with French companies Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch.
(Micahel Dudok de Wit photo by M. Hambledon; story via Catsuka)
