Animation

The Animation Guild reviews two or more O-1 immigration visas per week. They are (mostly) for CG workers, but there are a sprinkling of others. Should we be letting more foreign-born workers in? Should we be training more of our own people here? The questions constantly get asked, but not just in the U.S. of A. here's what's going on in a small country on the other side of the globe: [In New Zealand], foreign workers are being targeted for more than 500 visual-effects jobs for the production of the next mega-movie in The Hobbit series. Wellington-based special-effects giant Weta Digital, co-owned by Sir Peter Jackson, has asked Immigration New Zealand for approval in principle to outsource 526 positions. Weta says most are just extensions to visas that are about to expire and the company has a great record of hiring Kiwis, but Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly is questioning the company's commitment to the local industry. Apart from ads on the company website, she could not find evidence Weta had let Kiwis know opportunities were available, and questioned why another application was being made when Weta asked for 369 temporary work visas last year. "They've done very little to bridge that gap. They don't want to invest in (our) people." But Weta general manager Tom Greally said the company had proved its commitment to this country - 70 per cent of its 1,100-strong workforce were New Zealand citizens or residents. The temporary work visas were for roles that would be spilt between about 140 new employees and 250 people who were already working for the company, but who needed new visas. ... There are a lot of people being trained in the U.S. for high tech jobs, but clearly more education needs to be done. Most of the foreign applicants the Animation Guild sees are artists with production experience, and many (though not all) command big salaries. Unions and guilds have had the right to review 0-1 immigration visas since the 1990s. We know of a few IA unions that reject almost every visa application that comes across their desk. This is a fine strategy, only it doesn't work. I've talked to lawyers inside and outside the Immigration and Nationalization Service who tell me when a union rejects everybody, no matter how well-qualified they are, its credibility is blown to bits with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the agency stops paying attention to the union's letters. A guild/union can be as tough as it likes reviewing applications, but it's got to have credible reasons for writing a "No Entry!" letter. Otherwise the guild's believability and leverage with the INS dwindle away to nothing. And the INS (like it or not) is the government bureaucracy the guild needs to convince. I don't know New Zealand's immigration laws, but the country is letting a lot of foreign workers in for effects work. I understand why native Kiwis don't like it, but I'm stumped about what exactly should be done about it. (Weta can always take its moveable feast elsewhere. Isn't that the threat that's always being made here?)

Here’s an recent car commercial for the Peugeot 208 by Partizan, where the car outperforms the cast of Wacky Races. While it’s kinda fun to see these characters and their outlandish vehicles being translated into live-action, it’s a bit horrifying seeing these real-life versions of the characters getting into this ultra-realistic crashes and fiery explosions. At least puppet Muttley made it through in one piece. Credits Client: Peugeot Product: Peugeot 208 Title: Wacky Races Agency: YR Brasil Creative VP: Rui Branquinho Creative Director: Victor Sant’Anna/ Rui Branquinho Creatives: Fabio Tedeschi/ Leandro Camara/ Felipe Pavani/ Victor Sant’Anna/ Rui Branquinho Agency Producer: Nicole Godoy Production Company: Partizan/ Movie & Art Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet DOP: Damien Morisot Executive Producer: Douglas Costa/ David Stewart, Paulo Dantas Editor: Bill Smedley Post production: Electric Theatre Collective Music: A9 Audio Music Producer: Apollo 9/ Henrique Racz Sound Design/Final Mix: Factory UK For comparison, here’s the opening to the original 1968 television series:

Directed by Ham Luske assisted by Jim Swain. Laid out by Al Zinnen, Thor Putnam and Lance Nolley. Secretary Ruth Wright.This Final draft dated 8/10/54.

Desperate-for-a-new-hit-show Nickelodeon debuted a new animated series Sanjay and Craig this morning. The show, which is about an Indian boy Sanjay and his talking pet snake Craig, was created by Jim Dirschberger, Jay Howell (designer, Bob’s Burgers) and Andreas Trolf, and exec produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi (The Adventures of Pete and Pete, KaBlam!, Bravest Warriors). Early reviews have been positive for the hand-drawn series. Entertainment Weekly says that the show is “a quick-paced, eminently GIF-able product of the Internet age,” while also being “a clear throwback to a simpler time.” The AV Club acknowledges the show’s Calvin & Hobbes-like dynamic” and says that it has “wonderful messages of friendship, joy, intelligence, and most importantly, imagination.” And the San Francisco Chronicle calls the show “juvenile, but also smart and very, very funny” and applauds the creators who “gets that kids are kids, but also that they are often more sophisticated than children’s TV gives them credit for.” If you’ve seen the show, report back here with your thoughts. As always, these talkbacks are open only to those who have seen a show and wish to discuss it.

A reminder to student filmmakers that just SIX days remain to submit your film to Cartoon Brew’s 4th annual Student Animation Festival. We’ve already had a record number of submissions this year, but we’re still looking for great student films to share with the animation community. Every filmmaker whose work is selected to screen in the online festival will receive $500 US. This year, guest judge Evan Spiridellis, the co-founder of JibJab, will select one additional film to receive the Grand Prize and a $1,000 cash prize. Go HERE for all the details.

Today, we wrap up our week of featuring artists who worked on Blue Sky’s Epic by focusing on the drawings of Jake Panian. Jake Panian works as a visual development artist at Blue Sky, where he started as a junior designer during the production of Ice Age: Continental Drift. A few of his pieces from that production are below, and some larger pieces can be seen here: Jake’s personal drawings are often created in pencil and explore how shadows and light impact characters. He posts personal drawings and sketchbook work on his blog JakePanian.blogspot.com.

Theatrical box office is off to a rousing holiday start. ... The combined B.O. of “Fast and Furious” and “Hangover” — along with Fox-Blue Sky Animation’s $93 million family film, “Epic,” with a projected $40 million four-day opening — should propel Memorial Day weekend box office to record heights, surpassing the $273 million benchmark set in 2011. ... I guess we're slowly edging out of the recession.

It used to be that the only place animation could be screened was on a rectangular screen, be it a large theatrical screen, or more modest TV and computer screens. Things are changing though. Today, animation is projected onto irregularly-shaped three-dimensional buildings and trees in nature. It’s painted on subway tunnels where it can be viewed from a moving subway car. And now, thanks to MonkeyLectric, animation can be seen on bicycle wheels: Over the past few years, the small Berkeley, California-based company has developed a number of prototypes. The Monkey Light Pro Bicycle Wheel Display System is their most advanced product to date with over 256 full-color LEDs on each wheel. Their system allows users to upload approximately 90 seconds of animation in a variety of media formats including AVI, MPEG, MOV, Quicktime, and FLV, and to display it to the public while riding a bike. To start manufacturing the Monkey Light Pro, they’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign with a funding goal of $180,000 by July 21st. They’ve already raised over $68,000 during the first three days of the campaign. The lights aren’t cheap—prices range from $495 to $795 per wheel depending at what stage of the campaign the product is ordered—but that’s a small price to pay to advance animation beyond the rectangular screen and share it throughout the city streets.

Bernard Waber 1921-2013 Bernard Waber was an author/illustrator I worked with twice animating his two most popular books for HBO. He was an enormously sweet fellow who enjoyed coming to my studio to see his projects in production. He wanted little to no involvement in that actual production but we tried to involve him just as well. Mr. Waber died last Thursday at the age of 91. The favorite story I tell about him is that HBO had little party for him on the celebration of the completion of Lyle Lyle Crocodile. It was a pleasant party with several of the animation voices present. There were half children and half adult, and there was a guy dressed like Lyle who wandered about the party. At one point a large cake shaped like Lyle the Crocodile was brought out and Mr. Waber was handed a knife to cut the cake. Staring at his cartoon creation he couldn’t cut the cake, so he handed the knife to the guy in the Lyle suit to lit him do the duty. With that, the Lyle impersonator cut off the head of the Lyle cake and began to dole out pieces. It was an interesting moment few people took notice of. Mr. Waber was a delightful person, and his art was truly fund to draw. I miss now knowing that he’s no longer around. It’d take the fun out of animating any of his other, many books. ___________________ Epic of Course The MP Academy hosted a screening of Blue Sky’s film, Epic. Director, Chris Wedge attended the screening for a Q&A afterward. (Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera went sour and I wasn’t able to get a photo.) Last weekend, Candy Kugel got the Academy to offer seats to anyone who’d seen it on my blog. However, the day before the screening, we were told that only guests of members would be allowed to attend. Sure enough come showtime, they allowed all the young people who’d shown up to see the film. Good thing too since there was a poor turnout from Academy members. However, with the ASIFA members anxious to see the show rhere was a decent sized crowd. It was a rather generic Q&A, but it went well and quickly. Chris Wedge is a very amicable guy and made a positive out of the program. The film itself is an attractive and very quick paced action-adventure film. It should do pretty well especially with music celebrities like Beyoncé (who isn’t ready to become an actor just yet.) I have to say that I’m a fan of Blue Sky’s work. There’s always a real attempt to do something more than give something generic; they really want to make something rich. And, maybe because they’re so far from the people in LA, they do things that are totally original and theirs. All those Ice Age films are good examples, but add Rio or the Horton movie, you get a good idea of what I’m talking about. Now with Epic, they’re doing a giant of a movie that takes place in Wiliam Joyce’s world of little people. Fighting fairies that go to war on the backs of hummingbirds. It’s original, to say the least. Unfortunately,it can’t take the backbone of Myazaki’s Princess Mononoke where the majesty of the forest is shown amidst all the battles. Yes, the forest and the woodland creatures are both beautiful and endangereed, but we have to see and understand this as part of the life and and death of battle, It isn’t enough to be part of ecosystem (albeit one we don’t know about), but it would be more courageous to show HOW they fit into that system and why they are so important – as are those endless battles. And the excellent art direction. ___________________ Another Epic – one from 1995 This article by Barbara Robertson in CGW Magazine August 1995, is an excellent report about the ways and means of making the first cgi animated feature, Toy Story. Ms. Robertson writes about the programs used, the methods of lighting and even their casting of the cartoon characters. (Rather than casting each character–that is, assigning a

Late Night Tokusatsu Sketchiness....©2013 T.N.Perkins IV All rights reserved.