Peter and the Wolf Takes the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film
Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman won the Oscar for best animated short, Peter and the Wolf, as Dimples predicted they would. Congratulations!
It was a great movie and we loved the goose. However, did anyone really watch anything last night except Marion Cotillard? La Vie en Rose was a badly made movie. The way the timeline was used to tell the story was very confusing and yet, no one can deny that Cotillard was absolutely brilliant.
Oscar Nominees for Best Animated Short on CBS Sunday Morning
CBS Sunday Morning did a great segment on the nominees for Best Animated Short today. The video for that segment isn’t available yet on their web page yet but it should be by the end of the day. It’s wonderful that CBS took the time to profile these fine examples of animation art on their Oscar show. They gave these animators more time than some of the high profile nominees in the major categories. Also, some of the scenes they showed are not available in on-line trailers.
T-Works – New Portal Planned for Warner Brothers’ Classic Animation
Warner Brothers promises a new web portal for their classic Looney Tunes animation as well as other properties. From The Hollywood Reporter:
Warner Bros. Entertainment will launch T-Works next spring, an interactive home for its iconic characters from Warner Bros. Animation, “Looney Tunes,” Hanna-Barbara and DC Comics along with newer animation.
T-Works will present old “Looney Tunes” cartoons, featuring characters like Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, alongside Hanna-Barbara offerings like “Scooby-Doo” and “The Flintstones,” as well as more contemporary animation like “Batman Beyond.”
This sounds like a Dimples dream come true.
[tags]2D animation, animation, warner brothers, t-works, looney tunes[/tags]
Australian International Animation Festival September 14-15
All folks in one of the most wonderful spots on this planet, Australia, listen up. You’re in for a treat next week as the Australian International Animation Festival comes to Southern Cross University, Lismore, September 14-15. From the Northern Rivers Echo News:
The films have been sourced from American, European and Asian festivals and with 17 sessions over two days, including a special schools program next Friday, September 14, there’s sure to be something for everyone.
Meanwhile, a master class on Saturday, September 15, will see one of Australia’s most accomplished animators/directors, Tim Adlide, give the low down on how to bring your animation to life – whether you’re working with flash cartoons, motion graphics, stop motion or 3-D CGI.
Dimples wants to call attention to Tim Adlide‘s forum which will be fantastic. He’s fantastic and he’s a hero to more than one of the Dimple’s team. He creates wonderful characters. Tim is giving a “master class” in creating flow effects in Flash at 3:10 pm on September 15. Don’t miss it. From the AIAF website:
Tim who will demonstrate the creation of “flow” effects for simulating wind, water and/or cloth waves using Flash. This is an advanced class for the adult audience already familiar with Flash.
Dimples sure wishes they could hop on a magic bus and be there, but, alas, we can’t. We’d love to hear from anyone who is able to attend this event.
[tags]Animation, 2D Animation, Flash Animation, AIAF, Australian International Animation Festival, Tim Adlide[/tags]
DVD Alert – 2006 Oscar Nominated Short Films Are Released on DVD this Week
You don’t have to live near a film festival to see this year’s Oscar nominees for best animated short. They’re being released on DVD this week together with the rest of the short film nominees. From the Netflix blurb:
Enjoy the best live-action and animated shorts from the 2006 Academy Awards. This eclectic collection includes live-action winner “West Bank Story,” a hummus-rich Middle Eastern parody of West Side Story, and animated winner “The Danish Poet,” which follows the title character on an adventure into romance and inspiration. Also included are nominees “Binta and the Great Idea,” “One Too Many,” “Helmer & Son,” “The Saviour” and “Maestro.”
Dimples is a Netflix junkie and this is one of the reasons why: You get immediate access to small treasures like these. The exact title of the DVD is “The 2006 Academy Award Short Films Collection
p.s. After viewing the DVD, I found the blurb to be misleading. “The Danish Poet” and “Maestro” are the only animated shorts from 2006 on this DVD. The other animated shorts are from the previous year. I assume this is an innocent error since many people confuse the year the film was made with the year the awards were made. Films released in 2006 would be eligible for the awards made in 2007. In any event, the rest of the animated shorts on this DVD were released in 2005 which wasn’t nearly as strong a year as 2006. Dimples suggestion is to rent this and not buy it.
[tags]Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners, Animated Short Film, 2D Animation, DVD[/tags]
Ottawa 2007 International Animation Festival
This is one great Animation Festival. Ottawa International Animation Festival, Sept. 19 – Sept. 23, 2007, is heralded as the biggest event of its kind in North America. Entry forms for the festival became available on March 21st. The deadline for entry form submission is June 1 and video must be in by June 15. The festival offers a wide variety of categories for your submission running the gamit from theatrical feature to school showreel. There’s even a separate category for high school students to submit their films. A great way to keep up to date on the happenings leading up to and during the festival is through their podcasts. From their press release:
“It’s that time again,†says Chris Robinson, the Festival’s Artistic Director. “This year we’re putting some emphasis on reaching out to the gaming, mobile, wireless and interactive world. With more and more animation being made for non-traditional distribution platforms, it’s important that the OIAF celebrate the work being done in these new forms, so we’ve expanded our New Media Competition to include mobile content and interactive educational and gaming animation as well as shorts made for the internet.â€
This is a great event and Ottawa is a beautiful city. Make your reservations to attend now.
[tags]OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Animation[/tags]
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