Stuff From Today...

The Zeldin...

I've been informed that Gerry Zeldin will have an opening reception for his new show on Sunday, October 14, from 2-4 PM (remarks at 2:30). The show is at the the AGH on 123 King St. West in Hamilton.

Life...

Feels good to be back...

John Lounsbery Linetest

Embedded at left and found here.

Assisted by Chuck Williams.

Ottawa (Last Day)

First thing I saw today was the amazing panel on the making of the Goofy short. It was paneled by Stevie and Kevin (the directors), Marlon West (FX), Mark Henn, and Tamara Boutcher (Producer)





Also, there was the final showing (best of festival)

The list of winners:
Best Animated Feature: Persepolis

Best Independant Short Animation: Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor

Best Student Animation: Milk Teeth

Best Commissioned Animation: Golden Age

Best Canadian Animation: Sleeping Betty
Honourable Mention: I Met The Walrus

School Showreel: Bezalel Academy for Art and Design (Israel)

Independant Shorts:
Narrative Short Animation under 35 minutes: Madame Tutli-Putli

Experimental / Abstract Animation under 35 minutes: Framing (Bildfenster / Fensterbilder)
Honourable Mention: Teat Beat of Sex [2007] Signe Baumane, USA

Student Animation:
Adobe Prize for Best High School Animation: Herbert

Undergraduate Animation: Doxology

Graduate Animation: t.o.m.

Commissioned Animation:
Promotional Animation: National Lottery ‘The Big Win’

Music Video: OOIOO ‘UMO’

Television Animation for Adults: John and Karen

New Media:
AniBoom Prize for Animation Short Made for the Internet: L’eau Life

Animation Made for Children:
Best Short Animation: Zhiharka
Honourable Mention: Nightmare at School
Honourable Mention: Aston's Stones

Television Animation for Children: Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 'Squeeze the Day'
Honourable Mention: Pocoyo 'Dance Off'

NFB Public Prize (Voted by the Audience): Sleeping Betty (Isabelle au bois dormant)

And with that, Ottawa's done!

Ottawa (Day Four)

Second last day of the festival! It's been awesome so far!



First thing I was able to catch was (most of) the Kids Competition (Shorts). Bora Moon's film, "Special Delivery" is pretty great.



The Teletoon award winners were also announced today. 1st prize in the high school division was Aven Fisher's stop motion flick about a Chameleon, "Herbert". Continuing Education went to Nathan Boey's "Family Picture", and Most Promising Student went to Trevor Jimenez's Key Lime Pie. For those wanting to know about Sheridan winners, James Higuchi's "Babushki" won third place in the Con. Ed, and Brandon Scott's "Cruel Fauna" won third place in Most Promising Student. I don't remember all the rest of the winners, but congrats to all who got in! Here is the full list of screening.



Short Competition 4 was probably the weakest of the pack, but still featured some great films. Matthew Walker's funny situational comedy "John and Karen", Ariel Belinco & Michael Faust's "Beton", Marc Craste's "National Lottery", and Jean-Loup Felicioli & Alain Gagnol's "Mauvais Temps" were the notable films.



I also attended the "Blogging and Animation" panel consisting of Jerry Beck, Jeff Hasulo, Michael Barrier, and Mark Mayerson, and discussed motivations for posting, the volatility of the medium, its benefits and shortcomings, among many other things. Quite the intelligent panel.



The international showcase is always a packed powerhouse, and this year was no exception. Standouts were Stefan Eling's "Cyber", Rune Christensen's "Down the Road", Arnaud Demuynck's "Breakout", Anna Solanas and Marc Riba's "Violeta", Grzegorz Jonkajtys's "Ark", and of course, Disney's Goofy short, "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater". Disney's new foray in 2D looked great and packed lots of gags - I just wish it were longer!

Anyways, looking forward to the last day here in Ottawa!

Ottawa (Day Three)

Caught quite a bit yesterday and what's turning out to be a great festival.

The fairly strong showing included standouts like the hypnotic "A Country Doctor" by Koji Yamamura, The manic "Exit 2" by Satoshi Tomioka, and "I Met the Walrus" by Josh Raskin. Check out the full list here.


Marlon West from Walt Disney Animation Studios was in attendance yesterday to give a presentation on the Paperless system in "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater". Of note, the Disney studio chose to use Toon Boom Harmony with Wacom Cintiqs for the rough animation, cleanup, and color of their animation level and plan to use it for future productions (such as the Princess and the Frog). I noted too that there were still holdouts (Such as Andreas Deja) against using the paperless system, so they have also designed a traditional workflow that eventually ends up in harmony as well. Cool stuff.

I also caught the Saul Steinberg and Animation screening and the Animator's Picnic, both of which were exactly as expected. If you're a fan of Saul Steinberg, definitely check out the screening!

Ottawa (Day Two)

Caught three short showings this time round.



The Canadian Showcase consisted of mostly more abstract work. The standouts for me were Casper Konefal's "Kat Fight", Chris Walsh's "The Magic Projector", and Julie Rocheleau's "The Flour Face Ballad". If you plan to attend, check out the full lineup here.


Short Competition 2 was probably the best I've seen all festival (so far). Standouts were the clever "Paradise" by Jesse Rosensweet, the Supinfocom short "8848", and Claude Cloutier's "Sleeping Betty" (Probably the best short I've seen here so far). Full list here



I also got to check out Short Competition 5, featuring the notable "Moodbot" by Rob Shaw, NFB's "Madame Tutli-Putli", and Aardman's "Pearce Sisters". Full lineup here.

Ottawa (Day One)

Just got in to catch Short Competition One at the OIAF.

Standouts (for me) were Gabriela Gruber's "Strange", Ian Mackinnon's "Adjustment", Trevor Jimenez's "Key Lime Pie", The Gobelins Short "Cocotte Minute", And Kazuto Nakazawa "Hairy Tale" (Produced at Production I.G.).

It was great to see some of the shorts I have seen in the past up on a film screen and a treat to see all the films that I hadn't seen at all.

Though, for the first time since I've been at Ottawa, they ran into technical difficulties that put the showing to a halt and one short was only partially screened, with the last not being screened at all.

The whole list of films screened in Competition One can be found here.

Life

I'm heading to Ottawa tomorrow for the festival. Hope to see you all there!

Some Trash...

Unused and unusable designs for the short.









More to come from Joe in the future...

Sheridan Animation Links...

Mark Mayerson has started an informal and unofficial Sheridan Animation blog setup mainly to point to people who are currently in the Sheridan Animation Program. It's split up by year and is a very handy resource.

Check it out here.

If you are a Sheridan Animation student and not on this list, make sure to email Mark Mayerson @mark(dot)mayerson(at)sheridanc(dot)on(dot)ca.

Back in Action!

Just a quick post....

JibJab released two new Starring You! Shorts - Cancan and Square Dance. I worked on both of these and it's great to see them out.

And by the way..

I am one of the default heads on both of these videos (Diana's the other). Pretty disturbing. I guess now know what it felt like for Mr. Worrel to be the default heads for the rest of the dances...



I'll be back to regular posting in a jiffy! Sorry for such a long dry spell! (Probably one of the longest ever (or at least, in a long time...)

Coming up soon is the OIAF (Ottawa Internation Animational Festival). I will for sure be blogging from there starting this wednesday. I hope to see you all there, and hope to post about the Festival for those who can't make it. For all students who haven't gone to Ottawa before, I'd highly recommend it - It's a great way to get some inspiration heading into the year!