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Pixar

“Up” takes it, but…

Feb 6th, 2010
by rodney.
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The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) presented the 37th annual Annie Awards  on Saturday, February 6th. The presentation was held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, and none other than William Shatner was the host.

As many had been expecting, Disney/Pixar’s Up took the honors for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as a Best Director win for co-director Pete Docter. But what was notable about the evening was that, unlike last year’s Kung Fu Panda sweep, no one film or TV show ran away with a multitude of awards. By sheer numbers, three items emerged victorious for winning three awards each: Coraline (Best Feature Character Design, Best Feature Production Design, Best Feature Music), Prep & Landing (Best TV Character Design, Best TV Production Design, Best TV Production), and The Princess and the Frog (Best Effects Animation, Best Feature Character Animation (Eric Goldberg for Lou the Alligator), and Best Feature Voice Acting (Jen Cody for Charlotte). The Penguins of Madagscar won two awards, Best TV Directing and Best TV Production for Children. Another 10 items won a single award each, including one for Fantastic Mr. Fox (for Best Writing in a Feature). In other words, the awards were spread around quite a bit!

Besides the regular awards, the evening also included several special awards and honors. Bruce Timm, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Tim Burton each received the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement in Animation. The June Foray Award for “Benevolent Impact” on Animation went to long-time animator and union activist Tom Sito. William T. Reeves of Pixar won the Ub Iwerks Award for Technical Achievement (he practically invented particle systems animation), while Martin Meunier and Brian McLean were given Special Achievement Awards for creating a new fabrication process used in making the film Coraline. Also, moving tributes were held for the late Roy E. Disney and Wayne Allwine (the voice of Mickey Mouse). A complete listing of the Awards and pictures from the ceremony will be up soon at the Annie Awards web site.

Squirrel!

Nov 5th, 2009
by rodney.
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Furry fans all know that the real break-out star of Disney-Pixar’s summer smash film, Up, was Dug the dog. For heaven’s sake, he’s got his own Facebook page! Now Dug and his pack of servant dogs, all fitted with their high-tech talking collars, find themselves starring in Dug’s Special Mission, a new CGI short film that will accompany Up on the new DVD and Blue-Ray release. Directed by Ronnie Del Carmen (who worked in the story department on Up), this new short tells the story of what happened right before Dug met Carl Fredricksen and intrepid explorer Russell… when Dug, on his birthday, is wishing for a new master who would be less cruel and maniacal than the one he had before.  Dug himself, of course, is voiced again by Up co-director Bob Peterson. The new DVD/Blue-Ray will be available November 10th.

Dug, dog. He just met you, and already he loves you.

Dug, dog. He just met you, and already he loves you.

More News From Boom! Studios

Oct 19th, 2009
by rodney.
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First up: It seems that the fans’ reaction to the various Farscape mini-series (plural!) put out by Boom! has been so positive that now it’s going to be an on-going full-color series.  What’s more, it’s a series written by the original creator of Farscape, Rockne S. O’Bannon. With art by Keith DeCandido and Will Sliney.

For something completely different, Boom! lets us return to Radiator Springs. The World of Cars: Radiator Springs is a new full-color trade paperback written by Alan J. Porter and illustrated by Magic Eye Studios. It takes place after the events of the Pixar movie. When he returns to Radiator Springs for good, racer Lightning McQueen realizes that everyone knows his story, but he doesn’t know anyone else’s! Tune in while he learns why his fellow anthropomorphic cars came to this little town — and why they stayed.

Very Short Notice!

Jun 2nd, 2009
by rodney.
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We just received word about a special event for animation fans taking place next week:

“Walt Stanchfield’s Drawn to Life
20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes
Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
Fletcher Jones Foundation Auditorium
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA

Join Don Hahn [producer of The Lion King and many other animated films — ye ed-otter] and a panel of distinguished guests for a discussion of Walt Stanchfield’s Drawn to Life series.

Drawn to Life is a two volume collection of the legendary lectures from long-time Disney animator Walt Stanchfield. Edited by Don Hahn, all of Walt Stanchfield’s handout notes and lectures have been assembled into a two volume collection titled Drawn to Life – 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes. Walt was an animator, trainer, mentor and coach for decades at Disney and helped breathe life into the new golden age of animation with his teachings. He influenced such talented artists as Tim Burton, Brad Bird, John Musker, Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, and John Lasseter.

Following the panel discussion, Don Hahn will sign copies of Drawn to Life. A limited number of copies of this two volume collection will be available for purchase at the event.

Reservations are not required for this program. Admission is free. Parking is free and available on the Woodbury University campus.”

Meanwhile the books, Drawn to Live Volumes 1 and 2, are available in trade paperback from Focal Press.

New from Boom!

May 6th, 2009
by rodney.
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Boom! Studios has quite a roster of full-color comic book mini-series coming along that should be of interest to furry fans of many stripes. Disney/Pixar’s Cars (by Alan J. Porter and Albert Carreres) takes us back to the origins of superstar (supercar?) Lightning McQueen. The Muppet Show (by Roger Langridge) takes us behind the scenes as Fozzie, Ms. Piggy, Gonzo, and the rest try to lift Kermit the Frog out of a deep blue funk — in the most surreal ways imaginable. And Farscape: Strange Detractors (by series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon, with Keith DeCandido and Will Sliney) brings us new adventures (and new dangers) for the crew of the living ship known and Moya. While you’re at it, look for the Farscape Volume 1 hardcover collection, which brings together the first four issues of the Farscape comic by O’Bannon, DeCandido, and Tommy Patterson. All of them should be on the shelves now.

Award Season Recap

Apr 9th, 2009
by rodney.
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Awards season came barreling in again — with a few unexpected results. As largely expected, Disney-Pixar’s robot tale known as Wall-E won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature.  Then along came the Annie Awards, presented by the International Animated Film Society… and Wall-E was shut out, taking home nothing that night.  The big winner?  Kung Fu Panda! Not only did it win Best Animated Feature, but between the feature film and the Secrets of the Furious Five DVD short, Dreamworks took home 15 of the 17 awards that the Panda franchise was nominated for.  Among them were multiple awards for Directing, Writing, Best Character Animation, Best Character Design, Best Production Design, Best Music, Best Voice Acting (Dustin Hoffman as Shifu), and Best Video Game. The big winners for the night in the TV animation categories were Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, and Avatar, The Last Air Bender.  Wallance and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death won for Best Animated Short Subject.

… and then along came the Oscars, and once again, Wall-E took home the statue for Best Animated Feature.

[And don’t forget — now it’s Furry Fandom’s turn to vote for the Ursa Major Awards!  Visit www.ursamajorawards.org to find out more — Rod O’Riley, ye ed-otter]

Two new books on CGI

Apr 2nd, 2009
by rodney.
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For fans of computer animation, two new books have hit the shelves: The Art of Pixar Short Films by Amid Amidi (hardcover, from Chronicle Books) uses essays, interviews, and artwork to take a look at Pixar’s groundbreaking shorts, from Andre and Wally B and Luxo, Jr. right up through Presto and Your Friend The Rat. Meanwhile, Imageworks by Michael Goldman (also hardcover, from Insight Editions) takes a look at the history of Sony Imageworks Studios, which brought us not only animated films like Open Season, Stuart Little (well, partly animated!), and Surf’s Up, but also the mad special effects on films like Spiderman and more.

New Disney 3D — from 2D!

Apr 1st, 2009
by rodney.
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Word has come down the pipe that Disney/Pixar will be revisiting some old favorite animated movies and re-releasing them in the new (and very popular) True 3D format. First up is a double-feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, coming this October. That’s to be followed by a special True 3D version of the 2D classic Beauty and the Beast, to be released in February of 2010.

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