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Animation Magazine January 2007

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Animation Magazine January 2007

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Contents | Zoom In | Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page

T H E

B U S I N E S S ,

Anniversary
Edition
2007

$5.95 U.S.

T E C H N O L O G Y

A R T

O F

A N I M A T I O N

$7.95 CAN

01 >

7447 0 82258

w w w . a n i m a t i o n m a g a z i n e . n e t

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Contents | Zoom In | Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page

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From our family to yours...

Happy20th Anniversary.

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See it in the next generation of 3- D,

In select theatres, baby!

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Volume 21, Issue 1, Number 168, January 2007

CONTENTS

10 Frame-by-Frame
The monthly animation plannerClose Encounter with Disney Channels
Mike Moon Chiodo Bros. Christmas treat Peter and the Wolf howls on
DVDholiday toon books.

16 Gaming
16 Riding Dragons. Sierra Ent. and Stormfront Studios breathe re into the
hot new Eragon Game. [by Ryan Ball] 18 Game On for the Holidays! Five
games that make awesome presents. [by Ryan Ball]

20 Features
20 The Incredible Shrinking Boy. French vfx house BUF helps Luc Besson
bring his Arthur and the Invisibles world to animated life. [by Ramin Zahed]
24 Some Pig! The new adaptation of Charlottes Web weaves in numerous
digital sequences from various vfx houses around the world [by Ellen Wolff]

Oscar Watch. An Ode to the Year of the Hyperactive CG-Animated

Animals! [by Thomas J. McLean] 32 The Return of the Artiste. French director Michel Ocelot returns
with the triumphant Azur and Asmar. [by Christopher Panzner] 34 A Female Firebreather Is Hatched.
Stefen Fangmeier conjures up a magnicent dragon in the vfx-laden holiday feature, Eragon. [by Ron Magid]
38 Photographing Fairies. How a team of talented vfx artists brought the surreal creatures of Pans
Labyrinth to life. [by Barbara Robertson] 42 Aint Nothing Like a Hound Dog! Unlikely friends from the
1981 feature kick up their heels in The Fox and the Hound 2. [by Claire Webb]

44 Home Entertainment
44 A Space Saga Gets a Second Act. Harmony Golds Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles continues the
epic story of the classic anime series. [by Patrick Drazen] 46 The Samurai Critic. Reviews of the latest
anime releases on DVD. [by Charles Solomon] 48 Hot Discs. Four new animated DVDs to help you survive
fruitcake season.[by Claire Webb]

50 Television
50

The Padded Cel. 20 Years of Hard Labor: The Best and Worst in Animation Since 1987. [by Robby London]

52 Seeing Toons. A 12-year-old boy is visited by classic animated characters in the new Cartoon Network movie, ReAnimated.[by Ramin Zahed] 54 Bix Pix Takes a Holiday. The prolic stop-motion studio starts a new tradition with
Holidaze. [by Ryan Ball]

58 Special 20th Anniversary Section

58 Top 20 Toon Characters: Kids Choice Edition 60 20 Animated Movies You Must Already Own on DVD
60 20 TV Shows That Changed Our Toon Landscape 62 Company Town: Milestones in 2007

74 Top 20 Grossing Animated and VFX-Laden Movies 76 Toon Town Milestones. Characters, toons and movies that
are celebrating landmark anniversaries in 2007. 86 40 Auteurs We Love (1987-2006). The essential list of 40 animator/
auteurs who have inuenced the animation and vfx scene. 96 20 Animated Things to Look Forward to in 07 100 13
People, Platforms and Trends That Are Reshaping Our World. A list of new media visionaries and trend-setters.
[by Chris Grove] 104 20 Things We Hope We Never Have to Hear Again! 106 20 Zeitgeist-Dening Animated
Music Videos. Our picks for 20 toon-centric music videos of the past two decades. [by Chris Grove] 110 20 Tips
on Surviving the Toon Rollercoaster Ride [by Terry Thoren] 112 A Few Thoughts on Animation, this Magazine
and the Meaning of It All!. A few of our friends in the industry discuss how the medium has inspired and changed
their lives.

118 VFX
118 Tech Reviews [by Todd Sheridan Perry]

122 Opportunities

122 Granting Full Access to the Next Level. Full Sails new high-tech facility promises a taste of what awaits
students in the real world. [by Ellen Wolff]
126 Festivals/Coming Next Month
128 A Day in the Life. A look at how the passage of time has changed the delirious, yet dedicated staff of this
publication!

www.animationmagazine.net

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

January 2007

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ANIMATION MAGAZINE
January 2007

EDITORS NOTE

Vol. 21, Issue 1, No. 168

t was 20 years ago today (well, sort of) when this

magazines founder and original publisher Terry Thoren
decided to launch a venture that chronicled the exciting
and vibrant world of animation. A lot has happened in our
toon world since then, so much that we all experience some
whiplash as we try to keep up with the dizzying pace of
change in the animated milieu.
We have compiled a wonderful that was then, this is now kind of a ashback
book that will be available in the rst quarter of 2007, which will allow you
to see how far we have come in the past two decades. So I will not dwell on
that subject in this brief letter. However, I would like to say that it has been an
honor and absolute pleasure to observe this thriving industry and to follow in
the footsteps of this magazines past editorsJerry Beck, Sarah Baisley, Rita
Street and Bill Desowitz to name a few.
Of course, we couldnt have done it without the support of all of you brilliant
and hard-working people who work in the toon business. I am always in awe of
your talent, drive and enthusiasm. I cant count the times you have inspired us
all with your phone calls, emails and in-person meetings at industry screenings
and markets.
By the way, how about this funny piece of trivia to help put everything in
perspective (which also makes me feel ancient!): Monster House director Gil
Kenan was only ten years old when the rst issue of Animation Magazine went
to the printers!
Thanks for keeping us animated for 20 fantastic years.

[email protected]
____________

President Jean Thoren

Publisher Jodi Bluth
Accounting Jan Bayouth
Webmaster Eric Brandenberg
EDITORIAL [email protected]
______________
Editor-in-Chief Ramin Zahed
Web and Gaming Editor Ryan Ball
Contributing Editors Chris Grove, Ron Magid,
Barbara Robertson
Editorial Assistant Claire Webb
Copy Editor Roberta Street
Animation Art Advisor Ron Barbagallo
Digital Reviews Editor Todd Sheridan Perry
Contributors Patrick Drazen, Mike Fisher,
Jake Friedman, Evelyn Jacobson, Robby London,
Michael Mallory, Thomas J. McLean,
Mercedes Milligan, Charles Solomon, Ellen Wolff
ADVERTISING SALES
[email protected]
_______________

Sheri Shelton
Ramin Zahed
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
__________________

ver the past two decades we have been blessed by

many dedicated and passionate editors who have made
this magazine what it is today. All of these individuals
are not only talented journalists, but are also animation
enthusiasts who love animation and the people who make
it, sell it, distribute or exhibit it. Their stewardship and
creative energy has brought the world of animation alive
for thousands over these years and hopefully furthered the cause of bringing
this fabulous medium to the forefront of the entertainment world.
Starting from our early days there was Terry Thoren, our founder who with
the help of Jerry Beck, conceived of, laid out and wrote the first magazines.
After their passage to other pursuits in the animation world came, Rita
Street, Barbra Wexler, Christine Ferriter, Sarah Baisley and of course our
current editor-in-chief, the dedicated and wonderful Ramin Zahed. All of
these people have continued on to contribute to our industry in many ways.
We have fond memories associated with this group and I personally would
like to thank them all for their many contributions.
In addition we are indebted to, Leslie Sullivan, Dan Bolton, Bill Buck and
currently Jodi Bluth who have served as our publishers, or otherwise known
as Specialists of all tasks in a small company like ours.
The list of contributors is endless but not any less important to our
continued success of publishing against many odds for these 20 years. I
would wish to thank them all personally and in print, but do not have the
room on this page, so suffice it to say that we remember and appreciate all
of you and are grateful for your contributions to this phenomenal business
and art form.
Lastly I must express my deepest gratitude to those of you, who through
advertising or subscriptions have supported us throughout the years, without
you none of this would be possible. Thank you so much!
Jean Thoren
President of Animation Magazine

January 2007

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

PRODUCTION ______________
[email protected]
Art and Production Director Susanne Rector
CIRCULATION [email protected]
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Circulation Director Jan Bayouth
TO ADVERTISE:
Phone: 818-991-2884
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Email: [email protected]
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Website: www.animationmagazine.net
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POSTMASTER:
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For the U.S., the rate is $50 for 12 issues or $85 for 24 issues. Rates for Canada and
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Also available in a digital version for $36 for 12 issues or $60 for 24 issues.
Animation Magazine
2007 Animation Magazine
Prior written approval must be obtained to duplicate any and all contents.
The copyrights and trademarks of images featured herein are the property of their
respective owners. Animation Magazine acknowledges the creators and copyright
holders of the materials mentioned herein, and does not seek to infringe on those rights.
Printed in the U.S.A.

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The Animation Planner

January
FRAME-BY-FRAME

The wait is over!

Lionsgate releases Vanguard/
BFCs long-anticipated
animated feature Happily
NEver After in theaters. The
gorefest that is Eli Roths
Hostel 2 also hits theaters
today.

Happily NEver After

Taffy
Entertainment
launches Kabillion, a new kids
Video-On-Demand channel. The
new service will offer original
animated series entertainment
for Comcast Cables On Demand
customers. But if you dont have
Comcast Cable, dont panic,
the programs can be accessed
online at www.kabillion.com.
Miss Potter

Based in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film

Festival offers a cool collection of animation shorts from
indie artists from all over the world (http://festival.sundance.
org/2007). You can also nd more off-beat projects at the
Slamdance Film Festival (www.slamdance.com).

If you have a craving

for brooding Euro vampires,
then you should check out
the new movie, Blood and
Chocolate, starring Hugh
Dancy and Olivier Martinez in
theaters today.

The
young toon fan in your
household may be asking
about the new Go Diego
Go! The Great Jaguar Race
DVD out
in stores
today.

Luc Bessons CG-animated feature Arthur and the

Check out the Random
Invisibles gets a wider release in theaters nationwide. Fans of
Cartoons Screening in
Beatrix Potter and her childrens books will be taking in Miss
Burbank California today.
Potter, starring Rene Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. Directed
ASIFA- Hollywood is hosting a
by Chris Noonan, the
screening of Frederators new
series of cartoon shorts with all
biopic will feature
39 creators. Members can get a
some animated
sneek peek at some of the new
sequences.
cartoons in addition to hearing
creators discuss their short
lms. For more info, visit www.
___
Arthur and the Invisibles
asifa-hollywood.org.
__________

18-28

Now that
youve nally
recovered
from all the New
Years Eve parties, you can
chill at home with two hot
new animated DVDsA Pup
Named Scooby-Doo Vol. 5
and SpongeBob
SquarePants
Season 4, Vol. 2.

Avatar

The TV hit parade

continues on DVD this week
with Gundam Seed: Destiny
Vol. 6, Avatar: Book Two:
Earth Vol. 1 and Alvin and
the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk
Valentine.

29-30

Worried about the state of television? Then you

should hop a ight to the Big Apple and attend the Future TV
Show North America, where many of the small-screen movers
and shakers address issues shaping the future of television
as well as all the new platforms that are waiting in the aisles
(www.futuretvna.com).

Jan. 29-Feb. 2
Forget about the slot machines
and blackjack tables! This
week, the real action in Monte
Carlo happens at the IMAGINA
2007 market, a cool event
focusing
on 3D
digital content creation (www.
___
imagina.mc).
______

To get your companys events and products listed in this monthly calendar, please e-mail [email protected]
_______________________

January 2007

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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FRAME-BY-FRAME

Close Encounters with Toon Players

Mike Moon,
VP of Animation, Disney Channel

FRAME-BY-FRAME

Phineus Ferb
Years in the Biz: I began working on The Simpsons
at Klasky Csupo in 1990. I started my new position
at Disney Channel in March of 2006. [Mike is an
Emmy-winner for his work as an art director and
writer for Cartoon Networks Fosters Home for
Imaginary Friends. His other credits include Clone
High, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, House of Mouse
and 101 Dalmatians: The Series.]
Hometown: Simi Valley, Calif.
Background notes: I studied character animation at CalArts during the 90s where it was
truly a hotbed for talent during the toon boom of that era.
What I thought I wanted to do when I was a kid: I knew I wanted to have a career in animation since I
was six or seven. But I also considered the theme park world as well as a career in music. I knew I wasnt
going to be a banker or doctor or lawyer!
Toons I love: I grew up on the Warner Bros. cartoons, the classic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts as
well as the Disney features from the 40s all the way to the 70s.
Role models: I was fortunate to have wonderful art teachers along the waymy eighth grade art
teacher encouraged me to consider a career in the arts. At CalArts, it was Bob Winquist, the head of
the character animation program. A day doesnt go by that I dont think of him. So many of the students
who studied at the program during his watch went on to become great forces in the animation world.
Hes the perfect example of how one person can affect so many lives in our world. In the animation
business, I look at artists like Maurice Noble, Mary Blair, Ivan Earl, Marc Davis and Ward Kimball for
inspiration.
TV shows I never miss: I love The Shield, The Ofce and Survivorman.
Musical tastes: I listen to all kinds of music on satellite radio. Im a big fan of the old country stuff.
Things I look for: We have multiple platforms for Disney Channel and Jetix. We are really expanding our
denitions for what we look for on Disney Channel. We are really exploring new production pipelines,
new narrative forms and opening up the talent pool worldwide. Its crazy how much great talent is out
there. We are also expanding our world on Jetix. We started out as a boy action outlet, but now were
moving more towards a mix of comedy and adventure. With the success of Yin Yang Yo!, weve seen
that comedy performs really well internationally. What were not looking for is your standard muscleguy-in-a-spandex-suit action show. You can see a strong inuence of vinyl toys, motion graphics and
infusion of the pop culture around us.
Dos and donts of pitching: Its always important to know the brand and the whole animation
landscape. The pitches that excite me have a strong sense of the characters. Many of the biggest hits
of our time have to do with the characters and not the high concept.
I hope I never have to hear any pitch that ends with and hilarity ensues.
Future Plans: We want to really expand the ways we construct our production pipeline and tap into all
kinds of visual styles and fresh talent. I dont want the word generic to be associated with anything
that we do here. The bar is raised everywhere in pop culture and our biggest challenge is to take Disney
Channel to unchartered territory. We want to develop projects that were absolutely in love with. We
want to play with genres and big conceptual ideas and nd things that dont t the usual molds.
The Big Picture: I am a rm believer that the good stuff will always rise to the top no matter how much
content is out there. Its interesting to see the convergence of all the new platforms and watching how
it all plays out. Overall, TV animation has never been in a better place. There has been so much quality
work done in the past ten years. Its staggering to see how far weve come in one or two decades. Were
right on the cusp of some huge innovations which may change the landscape even further.
Coming Attractions: We have high hopes for our next new show which rolls out in September of 2007.
Its called Phineus Ferb and created by Dan Povelmeyer. Its 2D animated and our rst board-driven
project, which is a great way of constructing a show.
What Im doing on a typical Sunday: I am usually hanging out with my family. I have a seven-year-old
son and a ve-and-a-half-year-old daughter (my own focus group). Youll nd us at an ice skating rink,
occasionally at Disneyland or just hanging out at Grifth Park. Q
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Animation Lovers Holiday Reading Guide

FRAME-BY-FRAME

f you are looking for ways to escape the demons of

dysfunctional family get-togethers this holiday
season, we have four perfect animation-related book
releases which will offer you solace for hours!
Neal Gablers richly detailed biography Walt Disney:
The Triumph of the American Imagination (Knopf,
$35) is a must-read for anyone who
has even a passing interest in one
of the most inuential gures in
American culture. This 880-page biography offers an insightful look at
the man and his remarkable achievements, from his early days in a small
town in Kansas to the birth of the
studio and creation of Disneyland,
to his role in the ourishing of features such as Snow White, Fantasia
and Pinocchio. Although Gabler
spends a little too much time dwelling on typical bio-book psychobabble, there are plenty
of important revelations about the day-to-day life at
the studio, the employees strike in 1941 and the business and creative models that built the Mouse Empire.
Disney was once quoted as saying, I only hope that
we dont lose sight of one thingthat it was all started by a mouse. Gablers tome certainly doesnt lose
sight of the impact of that little rodent. Moreover, he
offers a well-researched testament to the legacy of a
brilliant man whose legacy continues to inspire new
artists and animators every day.
Christy Marx begins her helpful how-to book about
writing for animation with a
great quote from an unlikely
source, Thomas Jefferson. The
most valuable of all talents is
that of never using two words
when one will do! And she
sticks with that line of thought
throughout the volume titled
Writing for Animation, Comics,
and Games (Focal Press,
$34.95). A veteran of TV (Jem and the Holograms, XMen, Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles),
graphic novels (Conan, Red Sonja) and gaming world
(Conquests of Camelot), she offers practical advice on
how to navigate the treacherous waters of these
three converging media. Included in the book are discussions of the role of the writer, useful terminology
and script formats, as well as tips on landing the right
agent and nding resources and organizations that
can assist you. Many of the readers of this magazine
may already be familiar with these topics, but it never

January 2007

hurts to brush up on your knowledge of the biz.

And while were discussing helpful breaking-intothe-business books, we just have to mention the 3rd
edition of Mark Simons beautiful Storyboards: Motion in Art primer (Focal Press, $39.95). The day we
received this book at the ofce, I dropped everything
and simply spent at least half an hour admiring its
richly illustrated pages. Simon, a frequent contributor
to Animag and a true veteran
of the animation and movie industry, packs a wealth of
knowledge and handy information about drawing, coloring,
special effects and previz in
this volume. He has added new
chapters on gaming, multimedia boards, perspective, sketching and more. Simon has also
included revealing interviews with artists such as
Alex Saviuk, ILMs Mark Moore, Sean Cushing and Tim
Burgard as well as some top-notch exercises for neophytes. If youre seriously considering a career as a
storyboard artist, you cant possibly nd a better investment for your money. (Come on, you can even get
it for around $27 on amazon.com!)
_________
This holiday season, fans of fantasy lms and creature features are patiently awaiting the big-screen
adaptation of Eragon (see related story on page 34).
To whet your appetite for the dragon epic, you can
check out Richard Rickitts Designing Movie Creatures and Characters, (Focal Press, $36.95) an imagepacked volume about of some of the most beloved
monster movies in cinema. Although some may argue
about the comprehensiveness of the volume (obviously, Rickitt couldnt include every title and monster
creator), he does a great job of offering chapters on
the top craftsmen such as Walt Conti, Patrick Tatopoulos, Mike Elizalde, Carlos Huante, Nuje Ekzakdem
Steve Wang, Kazuchrio Tjusi and Jeff Himmel as well
as acclaimed shops like Weta. There are behind-thescenes pieces on King Kong, Star Wars, X-Men, Alien,
Hellboy and The Chronicles of Narnia and revealing
details about how molds, creature suits, eye mechanisms and masks are created and used in conjunction
with animatronics, CGI and
special suits. The author also
throws in lmographies, a
glossary of terms and dozens of concept illustrations
and sketches. Its a monstrous treat, by any standard.

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X-mas Meets
X-Files

FRAME-BY-FRAME

hile were not in the practice of reviewing childrens books, its hard
not to recommend one created by talented animators and creature effects specialists Stephen, Charles and Edward Chiodo, especially when
it comes with a forward by legendary vfx master Ray Harryhausen and an endorsement by iconic sci- author Ray Bradbury.
Published by Baby Tattoo Books, Alien Xmas is available at bookstores and on amazon.com just in time for the holidays.
Alien X-Mas is the story of X, one of the thieving inhabitants
of the planet Klepto. Sent to Earth to steal its gravity, the gray
extraterrestrial arrives at the North Pole and mistakes Santas
workshop for a weapons-building facility and launches an all-out
alien invasion. Its up to Santa and his top elf to save Christmas
and the human race, unless the Klepts can learn that its better
to give than to steal.
Co-written by Stephen Chiodo and Jumanji screenwriter Jim
Strain, the book combines traditional holiday concepts with
sci- fun and a sly sense of humor, all beautifully illustrated by
Charles Chiodo. If the book sells well, the brothers will be in a
good spot to make a stop-motion animated feature based on it,
and that weve gotta see!
Ryan Ball

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Russian Classic Gets

Stop Mo Treatment

lthough many animation lovers are familiar with Clyde

Geronimis classic 1946 Disney version of the Peter &
the Wolf tale, a new stop-motion adaptation of the Russian folk tale has been getting a lot of attention in Europe.
Produced by Hugh Welchman and Alan Dewhurst of BreakThru lms, this half-hour project is directed by BAFTA-winning animator Suzie Templteon (Dog). Using Sergei Prokoevs familiar classical piece, the project tells tale of a
brave young boy who outsmarts
and captures a wolf that has been
stalking his grandfathers country
home. Peter slips the guard of his
over-protective grandfather and,
with help from a crazy bird and a
dreamy duck, manages to put an
end to the beastly threat.
Shot in SeMaFor Studio in Lodz,
Poland, the naturalist stop-mo
animation has been described by
some critics as unburnished with
an almost ghoulish appeal and
praised for the manner in which it
works seamlessly in conjunction
with the music.
Peter & the Wolf had its world premiere at Londons Royal Albert Hall in September, with the Philharmonia Orchestra providing live accompaniment. The lm will continue to
screen in a series of live orchestral performances in 2007.
Details on upcoming live events as well as information on
how to purchase the recently released DVD can be found
at www.breakthru
lms.co.uk. The DVD can also be pur__________________
chased online at www.amazon.co.uk.

10 New Toon Collectibles

Speed Racer Mach 5 Playset (Toynami, $24.99)
Batman Black & White Kelly Jones Statue (DC Direct, $65.99)
Corpse Bride Bust Ups Series 2 (Gentle Giant, $114.99)
Disneys Giggle With Me Plush Flounder (Mattel, $19.99)
Fraggle Rock Boober Fraggle Plush (Sababa, $11.99)
Gundam Seed Destiny Lunamaria Hawke (Bandai, $59.99)
________________

Kingdom Hearts 2 Sora Action Figure (Diamond Select, $25.99)

Naruto 8-Inch Action Figure Wave 3 (Mattel, $59.99)
Superman Action Cape (Mattel, $29.99)
The Muppets: Gonzo 18-Inch Plush (Sababa, $15.99)
Source: EntertainmentEarth.com, 11/22/2006

January 2007

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Riding Dragons
GAMES

Sierra Ent. and Stormfront Studios breathe re into Eragon.

by Ryan Ball

hristoper Paolini was just a teenager when he wrote Eragon, the rst
book in a fantasy series that was
acquired by 20th Century Fox and made
into an effects-laden, big-screen holiday
release. And like all big tentpole lm franchises, it has also moved into the interactive realm where gamers can try out their
dragon-riding skills and partake of some
good, old-fashioned medieval warfare. Published by Sierra Ent., the title is now out for
Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC, with
PSP, Nintendo DS, GameBoy Advance and
mobile versions also available.
The Eragon story centers on a farm
boy who discovers a dragon egg and embarks on a journey to take up the mantle
of the legendary Dragon Riders and save
his land of Alagaesia from the
devious plans of the evil king
Galbatorix. Developed for consoles by Stormfront Studios,
the game lets players take on
the role of Eragon or play as his
dragon, Saphira, as they battle
the kings sinister forces. A
deep combat system allows for
grapples, combos and magic
attacks, and two-player co-op
mode lets a friend get in on the
action.

January 2007

Producer Tim Ramage and his team at

Sierra Ent. worked closely with 20th Century Fox and the lmmakers early on to
make sure their visions were in sync. However, since game development often works
very far in advance of the lm production
timeline, the folks at Sierra and Stormfront
had to use their imaginations with a lot of
elements.
By the time we were receiving actual
hard assets, such as movie set reference,
concept art, shooting scripts, etc., we
found we werent far off on some things,
and almost dead on with other elements,
Ramage notes. We were also able to bring
[cast members] Ed Speleers (Eragon),
Sienna Guillory (Arya), Garrett Hedlund
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the studio to record their characters for

the game. Additionally, we secured the
likenesses of all the major characters, including Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and
Djimon Hounsou.
The game assets were created mostly
with Autodesks Maya and Ramage tells
us one of the main goals for the animation
was to nd a happy medium between the
realism that gamers expect from nextgen technology and dening the narrative
through a highly-stylized fairy tale lter.
Through the technique of blendo, a visual
collage of real photos, CG and hand-drawn
images, we accomplished this vision, he
remarks.
According to Ramage, players will be
most enthralled with the aerial dragon
ghts and the co-op capabilities. Specic
levels of the game will put the player in
control of Saphira and Eragon in the air
as they rein re and other devastating
attacks down on their enemies. In twoplayer mode, one player controls Saphira
while the other manipulates Eragon on her
back. At any time during the game, a second player can also take on the role of an
ally character wise mentor Brom in the
rst half and ashy, wisecracking Murtagh
in the second half of the game.
While games featuring dragons are a
dime a dozen, Ramage says Eragon stands
out from the pack because Paolinis story
lends itself perfectly to exciting gameplay.
Think about it, he implores, Eragon has a
sword, a bow and the ability to use magic
and then add a dragon into the mix. This is
the stuff that great fantasy video games
are made of.
Handheld versions of the game were
developed by Amaze. The PSP game is a
dragon-riding sim that has players test
their mettle in six different arenas and the Nintendo DS title is
an action RPG with an upgradeable combat system. Meanwhile,
Gameboy Advance owners can
take part in turn-based RPG fun
with ten playable characters
from the lm and a few others
from the book. Were just hoping
nobody has their cell phones to
play developer Kaolinks mobile
game in the theater when we go
to see the movie on Dec. 15! Q

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Game On for the Holidays!

Yep, its hard to believe but its that time again. As Santa
checks his naughty and nice list to see whos going to get
a PlayStation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, weve come up with our
own list of favorites that would make perfect stocking
stuffers for the gamer in your life. by Ryan Ball

GAMES

Flushed Away
D re a m Wo r ks
and
Aardman
Animations
managed
to
turn the sewer
into a cool place
to visit and now
fans can take
the plunge into
that world with
this humorous
adventure from D3 Publisher and developer Monkey Bar Games. The game
casts players as of one of three characters from the lmRoddy, Rita and
the Jammy Dodger, Ritas boat which
has a unique personality of its own.
Navigating more than 10 levels and a
number of mini-games, gamers can
utilize such weapons as a rat trap catapult, a cocktail sword, pudding mix
and other items found in the sewer to
defeat enemies and dodge oating
debris. The game features some impressive character animation and is
now available for PlayStation 2.

Star Wars: Best of PC

For those of you who like all the greatest hits on one disc, LucasArts has
combined ve of the most popular
Star Wars games developed for personal computers in one package
dubbed Star
Wars:
The
Best of PC.
Boasting
hundreds of
hours of action, strategy and roleplaying fun,

January 2007

this set is available for a limited time

and includes a free, 14-day trial of the
popular massively multiplayer online
game Star Wars: Galaxies. With this
deal, you get Star Wars: Empire at War,
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,
Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Jedi
Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Star Wars
Republic Commando, all for just
$39.99.

WTF (Work Time Fun)

While playing video games normally
gets in the way of nding a job, this
casual PSP entry from Japan has players taking on various part-time jobs in
order to earn money
to buy more minigames and various
items including practical tools and useless trinkets. You
can also subcontract work to friends
via wi- and collect
the money they
earn. D3 Publisher and Sony Computer
Entertainment International have even
included a personal e-mail account
complete with scam messages that
can cost you virtual money if you open
them. Almost like having a real job,
just much more fun!

Chicken Little: Ace in Action

Tykes will love this Buena Vista Games
movie tie-in developed by DC Studios
for Nintendos DS and Wii platforms.
Playing as Chicken Littles superhero
alter ego and Hollywood versions of
his mist friends, players must save
the world from the evil Foxy Loxy and
her Amazonian sidekick, Goosey

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Loosey. Five campaigns each contain

three missions featuring soldier, tank
and spaceship action while multiplayer mini-games are available through
local two-person wireless.

Xiaolin Showdown
Everybody will be kung fu ghting with
this game based on the popular Warner Bros. animated series. Available
for PSP, PlayStation 2, Xbox and
Nintendo DS, the
title
features
four
playable
characters from
the show on a
quest to nd
mystical powergranting objects
known as Shen
Gong Wu and keep them from falling
into the hands of evil boy genius Jack
Spicer and his army of robots. And, of
course, it wouldnt be Xiaolin Showdown without a little less-than-friendly martial arts competition.

Elebits
In Konamis rst game for the Nintendo Wii, players must search high and
low for for Elebits, mischievous little
creatures that are the source of the
worlds power. The Wiis innovative
controller allows gamers to push, pull,
lift and throw anything in the environment in order to get to the playful critters, which in turn power up various
implements used
to continue the
search. Since you
dont have to be a
hard-core gamer
to gure this one
out, its great fun
for the whole
family. Q

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How the team at French

vfx house BUF helped Luc
Besson bring his Arthur
and the Invisibles world to
animated life.

FEATURE

by Ramin Zahed
brave young boy shrinks down
in size and enters a magical
world invisible to the human
eye. Yes, you might have heard the
premise beforeand in case you were
one of the few moviegoers who caught
last summers The Ant Bullyyou
might have even seen a CG-animated
movie built on that theme. However,
French writer-director Luc Besson and
his team of tech wizards at Paris-based
fx house BUF want audiences to know
that their holiday movie Arthur and the
Invisibles (Arthur and the Minimoys) will
be unlike anything else in toon town.
Besson, who is best known in the U.S.
for directing the genre-dening visual
effects-driven The Fifth Element (as
well as La Femme Nikita, Subway and
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc)
recalls the day he found the inspiration
for the project. Patrice Garcia, one of
the main designers on Fifth Element
came to see me one day and showed
me a drawing he had done of a little guy
on a leaf, says Besson during a recent
visit to New York City. He asked me to
help him develop a TV series based on
the drawing, but I was so amazed by his
work that I immediately decided that I
wanted to do a movie centered on it.
To test the waters, Besson and

January 2007

Garcia rst made a one-minute short

lm exploring a smooth mix of live
action, mo-cap and CG animation.
Then, they went to vfx expert Pierre
Bufn and his BUF studio in Paris, which
have done impressive work on many
features including Finding Neverland,
Alexander, Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire, Batman Begins and The City of
Lost Children.
With the help of Garcia and his wife
Cline, Besson created a magical world
inhabited by miniature creatures.
The helmer actually wrote four
books about these characters which
became bestsellers in his native
country and have sold half a million
copies worldwide. When you deal

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

with the fantasy world, books often

help generate interest among future
lmgoers, explains Besson. You can
see this trend reected in the success
of movies such as Lord of the Rings,
Chronicles of Narnia and all the Harry
Potter lms.
The storyline required a seamless
blending of live action (Freddie
Highmore and Mia Farrow star in the
non-animated parts of the movie which
is shot on 35 mm lm) and the CG-based
portion, which lasts about an hour. To
rene our methodology, we conducted
many different tests, adapting Patrices
drawings to 3D, model lighting tests
and reporting on the 3D scenes, says
Bufn. Our initial idea was to have

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micro-models built to a one scale, but

we soon realized that shooting on this
scale presented a series of restraints.
Thanks to the special proprietary
tools developed specically at BUF,
Bufn knew he had what he needed
to go forward with the project. He
explains, We had an excellent modeling
artist, a revolutionary animation
program that allowed us to free
ourselves from the constraints and

Sometimes, its the simple shotsa certain look,

a really genuine human expression
thats what makes it worthwhile in the end.
Director Luc Besson
etc., photogrammetry [technology in
which the 3D coordinates of points
on an object are determined by
measurements made in photographic
images taken from various positions],
a useful task manager, compositing
software
and
real-time
image
verication at any resolution, in-house
2D drawing software and a 3D paint
which let us make changes directly on

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his live-action projects. For the rst

nine months, I simply worked with the
actorsthis is the job I know, he notes.
To create the reference point for the
animation team, I shot everything like
a live-action movie on a mini-digital
video camera.
As Bufn explains, after Garcias
storyboard was edited with voice-over
and the 3D characters were created

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based on the drawings, the team

created a template for the models
using simple volumes in Styrofoam.
Then came the task of building the
initial animatic (one pose per second)
with a basic render to allow the
anticipation of the problems before
building the nal models.
This was followed by building the
actual models based on the uploaded
template (built three times the real
size of objects in the real world). As
Bufn explains, This was the right
compromise between a model too
small to photograph and build and
a model too big to allow the use of
natural resources such as wood and
leaves.
After Besson reviewed this initial
animation and gave his notes and
suggestions, the team went to work
on the 3D lighting of the shots and
shooting of the models. The images
were then projected onto the 3D
volumes which allowed the camera
to move around them. This step was
followed by the actual rendering of
the characters so that they would be
integrated into the sets.
One of the most important points of
our process was the way Bufn does
motion capture, says Besson. Hes a
geniusa little French John Lasseter!

January 2007

FEATURE

a methodology that let us build any

humanoid made up of a skeleton
with muscles and facial expressions,

the 3D models.
In addition, the R&D team worked
continuously to make sure all the
shaders and renderings were up to speed
and optimized, improving the particles
and uids, managing the color pass and
improving various algorithms. Additionally,
the artists used Mental Images popular
Mental Ray software program to render
the project. Its the only outside software
we use, says Bufn. Weve been using it
for over 15 years and have developed a
lot around it!
For Besson, the initial stages of
the lm were no different than all

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He has invented a system that doesnt

require wiring the actors [as perhaps
audiences have seen with Tom Hanks
in The Polar Express]. We were able to
use this wonderful reference we got
from the actors without any trappings
of the wiring system people associate
with motion capture.
After many months of development
and prep work, the actual production of
Arthur began in January of 2004. With
an estimated price tag of 60 million
euros (over $70 million), the lm may
still be considered cheap by U.S. studio
standards. However, both Besson and
Bufn point out that a lot of hard labor
went into the creation of this magical
world. We created 1,600 shots, 1,350
of which actually made it to the lm,
says Bufn. It took about 27 months
for an average of 100 people to create
35 sequences80 of whom had never
worked in feature animation before!
Were very proud of our method
which allowed a live-action director
to direct an animated movie while
directing the actors and moving the
camera around, says Bufn. In short,
he was able to direct the movie he
wanted to make.

January 2007

The toughest part of the job for

Besson, however, was convincing
himself that he was making the right
decisions. I started ve years ago,
and nobody gets to see the rst 30
million euros you spend on the movie.
You have to trust your vision and thank
the people around you who let you go
ahead without seeing anything for the
rst three years!
Besson admits that there were
times when he had to ght depression
because he had nothing to show for
all his work. Then, suddenly, in a week
or two, there were hundreds of shots
ready to goand then you had to make
some tough choices to edit and rene
the images. Sometimes, I would cut a
few shots, and the animation team
would say, Are you kidding? We spent
six months on those shots! But then,
we cut them and had to do what we
had to doand in the long run, it was
the right decision. Anyway, these days,
you can always release the edited
footage as DVD bonuses!
When asked about the the amazing

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renaissance in French animation in

recent years, Besson says he thinks
Americans had a lot to do with it! To
be honest, I think a lot of French artists
got hired at Pixar and DreamWorks
and Disney about 10 years ago. They
acquired a lot of knowledge in the
States, and they brought it back to
France. A decade ago, the technique
was very expensive and slow, and
now its more affordable to make CGanimated features.
A fan of classic Disney features
such as The Jungle Book and The
Lady and the Tramp and the poetry of
Hayao Miyazaki movies, Besson says
hes saddened by the short shift 2D
animation has been getting in the U.S.
Some subjects are better told in 2D
animation and we should keep that
tradition alive, he notes.
There have been rumors in France
that Arthur and the Invisibles may be
Bessons nal directing effort. Some say
he may quit the business and devote his
time to one of his Parisian-based youth
charities. For now, at least, he seems
pretty happy about his adventure in
the realm of childhood fantasy. I saw
the rst print of the movie in Paris
only a week ago, and I was surprised
that I got really caught up in it! The
fact that we were able to capture
genuine emotional moments came as
a surprise. Sometimes, its the simple
shotsa certain look, a really genuine
human expressionthats what makes
it worthwhile in the end. Q
The Weinstein Co. releases Arthur
and the Invisibles in select theaters
on Dec. 15. The movie gets a wider
release on January 12.

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Spinning a Magical
Digital Web
The new adaptation of E.B. Whites Charlottes Web
weaves in numerous digital sequences from various
vfx houses around the world to bring its cast of
talking animals to realistic life. by Ellen Wolff

FEATURE

Director Gary Winick

heres something about the
holiday season that invites the
best digital menagerie to the
big screen. As it was with last years
Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong
and 2004s Lord of the Rings nale,
lmmakers are saving some of their
best CG-animated handiwork for the
end of the year. And director Gary Winicks adaptation of E.B. Whites heartwarming classic, Charlottes Web, is no
exception to the rule.
The live-action/CG feature (a joint
venture between Paramount Pictures,
Walden Media, Kerner Entertainment
Co. and Nickelodeon Movies) boasts a
host of big namesJulia Roberts,
Kathy Bates, Steve Buscemi, Robert
Redford, Jennifer Garner, Oprah Win-

January 2007

frey, John Cleese and Dakota Fanning.

But Fanning aloneplaying a farm girl
enamored with Wilbur the pigappears on lm. The others voiced animal characters that were animated to
look alive, created by artists from Australia and America to bring the muchloved 1952 childrens book to the
screen.
Whites poignant tale of a pig whose
life is saved by a heroic spider and a
wisecracking rat has long intrigued
lmmakers. (Toon fans may recall the
1973 version produced by Hanna-Barbera and Sagittarius which featured
the voice of Debbie Reynolds as the
lead arachnid.) Notably, it was Winick
(Tadpole, 13 Going on 30)an actors
director, not an effects lmmaker

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

who headed this large animation production. Rather than think about
these animals as animated effects,
Gary considered them actors, says
the lms vfx supervisor John Berton,
who teamed with animation supervisor Eric Leighton to wrangle the lms
digital barnyard.
Making the animated characters appear photorealeven while they spoke
lineswas the key challenge. It was
tackled by casting different studios
to perform specic characters.
Animators are actors, asserts Berton. They may think theyre hiding
from the cameras, but theyre not.
The role of Wilbur, who was lmed with
face replacement in mind, went to L.
A.s Rhythm & Hues (Oscar winner for

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Smelling a Rat: Tippet Studios created

a realistic CG version of Templeton, the
lms sarcastic rat (with a heart of gold,
of course) for the movie.

Shared shotsNIGHTMARE. So nobody had any illusions.

To provide a guide via moving storyboards, Charlottes Web was previsualized in Softimage|XSI by L.A.-based
Proof. We tried to get it correct in previz before it went to the effects houses, says Berton. To create approximately 1,000 effects shots, such preparation was essential, particularly for
houses creating characters in full CG.

Finishing the Rat

Among those was Templeton, voiced
by Steve Buscemi. Tippett Studios
task was to make the CG rat rant sarcastically without straying far from

Animators are actors They may think

theyre hiding from the cameras,
but theyre not.
Charlottes Webs vfx supervisor, John Berton
ier logistically, but we went for performances rst. Yet mixing animals from
different houses within single shots
required careful matching of eye lines
and lighting styles. We sat everybody
down at the beginning and said:

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what real rats can do. Animation supervisor Todd Labonte observes, Rats
dont emote with their tails like dogs,
and we couldnt put him up on his back
legs or have him point at things. If
Templeton jumped around like a hu-

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manoid, it would break the movie. So

we hit the books on rat motion and
also lmed our pet rat. By stepping
through lots of reference footage, we
broke down ratty motion signatures.
But creating facial expressiveness
wasnt easy. Rats eyes dont face forward, and they cant furrow their
brows. So we moved lots of esh
around. While Labontes team used
Autodesks Maya, Templetons fur was
added at render time with proprietary
software. Adding fur can cost you
some expressiveness. Its as if I suddenly sprouted a 12-inch beard all over
my face.
Also among Tippetts assignment
were shots where Templeton is chased
by crows. Grooming feathers meant
extending our fur tool, recalls Labonte. Some shots had a CG crow ying
alongside a real one. Once or twice,
the director even asked for changes in
the performance of the real crow!
Rising Sun Pictures also grappled
with fur on Charlotte herself. VFX supervisor John Dietz reports, With spiky
fur she looked scary, but up close her
fur looks groomed and shes more endearing. The bigger challenges involved managing Charlottes eight

January 2007

FEATURE

Babe). Templeton the rat and Charlotte the spider were played, respectively, by Berkeley, Calif.-based Tippett
Studio and Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide, Australia. Charlottes swarm of
offspring came from down under as
well, courtesy of Sydneys Fuel International.
As Berton notes, If we had to show
behaviors that a photographed animal
couldnt perform, we replaced the
whole thing. Thats when Melbournes
Digital Pictures Iloura stepped in. Overall, the goal was consistency. We
didnt worry about one vendor trying
to animate two characters talking to
each other. That would have been eas-

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eyes and legs and suggesting a faux

mouth behind her mandiblesa mouth
that speaks with Julia Roberts voice.
RSP used Softimage|XSI and 3Delights
renderer to create Charlotte but wrote
proprietary software to simulate her
intricate webs. The star spiders webweaving is pivotal to the plot, and she
has to scurry through her handiwork
while it sways in the breeze.
Depicting a two-and-a-half-inch spider presented problems of scale. As
Dietz explains, We had to convey the
feeling that shes small, even when
she lls up the screen. Fortunately,
Charlottes key scenes were completely CG, so Berton notes, We could
cheat the depth-of-eld. Charlottes
world is very macro. Anything beyond
three inches is out of focus. So we
digitally photographed her as if we
were shooting with macro lenses.
The animated spiders assigned to
Fuel International included Charlottes
babies crawling from their eggs, and
vfx supervisor Simon Maddison admits, It was tricky. While Fuel typically
animates with Maya, they used Engenuitys A.I. Implant software to simulate those swarms of babies. An equally difcult sequence showed Charlottes offspring descending en masse
from the sky. I didnt believe that actually could occur, says Maddison.
But on set one day, somebody looked
up and sure enough, that was happen-

ing. We got a couple of minutes of

footage that we could reference. It
was amazing.
Fuels portfolio also included beak
replacements for Stan Winstons animatronic geese when post-production
changes in dialogue were made. The
geese have lots of comic lines, says
Maddison. Winick thought theyd be
more expressive if Fuel animated some
tongues because, as Maddison explains, Lip syncing is difcult when
characters can only open and close
their mouths. Add a tongue and suddenly you have a whole new world of
readability.
Face replacement was also central
to the shots done at Rhythm & Hues,
which used its suite of proprietary

Funny Farm: Rhythm & Hues created

many of the lms face replacements
for the cows, sheep and dozens of pigs
representing Wilbur, using wire frames
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tools. Animation Supervisor Craig

Talmy remarks, The majority involved
live-action footage of cows, sheep and
dozens of pigs representing Wilbur. We
made wire frames of everything from
the pigs shoulders forward, so wed
have accurate match-moves in every
frame. Then wed put the lm footage
onto the wire frame. It had to work
perfectly, so that once we animated
Wilburs dialogue, everything lined up.
While Wilbur is a star of Charlottes
Web, Talmy recalls, Everybody wanted
to animate the sheep. The one voiced
by John Cleese had the best lines.
Since hes an old sage, we put Andy
Rooney eyebrows on him to add expressiveness! Berton adds, R&Hs
results always stayed true to the performance of the live animals. He believes this is crucial to make audiences
think theyre watching live action. We
want people to believe it was the most
amazing job of animal training.
After two years of web-based international collaboration (using Apples
Quicktime and iChat software) the moment of truth arrived in the Digital Intermediate session for the feature. As
Berton watched countless elements
blend together, he admits, One of my
proudest moments was when everything matched. Or as Charlotte seamlessly wrote on her web, Terric. Q
Paramount releases Charlottes Web
in U.S. theaters on December 15. The
feature will roll out internationally
through February.

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A.M.P.A.S.

(Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Science)

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An Ode to the Year of the Hyperactive

CG-Animated Animals!
by Thomas J. McLean

aptation of Philip K. Dicks sci- classic

A Scanner Darkly and French-Belgian
produced action tale Renaissance. Traditional animation is represented by
Universals Curious George and the
soon-to-be-released anime feature Paprika.
But as the Oscars loom once again,
most lms will fade to also-ran status
as the Academys nominating committee pares the list down to ve nominees. The only lm experts agree is
guaranteed a nomination is Pixars
smash-hit Cars.
Cars seems to be zooming ahead in

the race this year, says Tom ONeil, columnist for The Envelope.com. Every
Pixar lm in the existence of this category has been nominated, and two of
them have won.
I would think Cars is a given, agrees
critic Leonard Maltin, author of several
books on animation. Beyond that, all
bets are off.
The onslaught of movies about hip
talking animals on a big adventure journey is going to play some kind of factor. The achievements of those lms
continued on page 30

FEATURE

he 16 lms that qualied for the

fth animated features Oscar
race show just how far the category has come in a short time.
The list shows the validity of complaints that there are too many funny
talking animals lmsBarnyard, Ice
Age: The Meltdown, Open Season, Over
the Hedge, The Wildbut also shows
the increasing diversity of the eld.
Motion capture, which qualies under
the Academys denition of animation
by virtue of being a frame-by-frame
technique, made the list via Sonys
Monster House, Richard Linklaters ad-

Digging for Oscar Gold: Among the animated lms that made the eligibility requirements this year are (clockwise from top left) Arthur and
the Invisibles, Renaissance, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Monster house, A Scanner Darkly, Everyones Hero, Cars, Flushed Away, Open Season,
Over the Hedge, Happy Feet, Curious George and Barnyard.

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Oscar Race

FEATURE

continued from page 28

may be overlooked by voters who are

frustrated with their similarities and
the underlying cynicism of studios all
swallowing the same formula in an attempt to establish a foothold in the
potentially lucrative market for animated features.
The studios seem to be trying to hit
home runs with these big productions
packed with celebrity voices, says
ONeil. They tend to be too formulaic
in terms of the little lost kid or the talking animals voiced by superstars who
dont have to sit in a makeup chair.
Maltin says the number of movies
and their similarities is enough to try
the patience of even the most enthusiastic animation fan. I never thought
the day would come when I would be
dreading a new animated feature, but I
got to the same point as everybody
else this year, he says.
Animated features also have started
to feel overlong, he says. For the rst
time ever, animated movies are suffering from the
same malady that plagues
live-action pictures, which
is theyre too long, says
Maltin, who says Happy
Feet and Open Season
both could have been
tightened up.
This makes guring out
which lms will make the
nominating cut hard to
gure out. Looking at historical factors, at least
seven lms have a serious shot at a
nominationCars, Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Ice Age 2, Monster House,
Open Season and Over the Hedge. The
academys rules say with 16 lms qualifying, there will be ve nominees,
meaning at least two of those lms
will not get a nomination. If one of the
few lms slated for late-year releases
were to for some reason fail to qualify,
the rules say the category will feature
three nominations.
Animation historian and author Jerry
Beck (cartoonbrew.com, The Animated
Movie Guide) says that each of those

January 2007

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lms has its supporters and guring

out the race truly becomes a guessing
game. People have strong feelings
about some of these other lms, he
says. Its a wide open race.
ONeil says he expects Ice Age as a
sequel will not make the cut, and expects the race for the nal nomination
will come down to Over the Hedge and
Flushed Away, with the latter being the
true wildcard in the race. It not only
had the advantage of being newer, but
the story of a pampered rich rat suddenly having everything literally ushed
away and being lost is the core neurosis
of lmmakers in the chancy Hollywood
world, that any minute everything they
have could be stolen away.
Its unclear if the use of motion capture will affect the chances of a lm
such as Monster House. The technique
qualies as animation under the Academys rules, but converting the performances of real actors into animated
characters is not without controversy.
Maltin says he has yet to hear a con-

entire academy membership, but it

could be a subconscious factor in the
nominating process. Nominees are
chosen by a screening committee
made up of members invited to join by
a committee chairman named by the
academy president. Committee members must see at least 80 percent of
the eligible lms in a theatrical setting
and then will vote on the nominees.
In previous years, the academys nominations have included CGI, anime and
stop motion, indicating openness to the
quality of lms regardless of technique.
The Polar Express failed to add motion
capture to that list two years ago. However, Monster House pushed the technology forward and was a critical and
commercial success, giving it a much
better chance at a nomination.
A Scanner Darkly and Renaissance
are less likely to make such a breakthrough, not so much because of their
use of motion capture and rotoscoping
as their poor critical reception. There
will be some resistance to lms that go
too far off the beaten path either in technology or story maThere will be some resistance to lms
terial, says Maltin. But I dont
that go too far off the beaten path
think the people who vote in
either in technology or story material
the academy are necessarily
savvy enough about animation
but I dont think people who vote in
to break down in their minds
the Academy are savvy enough about
what the components of a
animation to break down in their minds
movie are. Theyre just going to
judge them as movies.
what the components of a movie are.
As the lone anime entry, Paprika also faces an uphill batMovie historian and critic Leonard Maltin
tle. While the techniques and
style of anime are not an isvincing reason about the benets of
sue, Paprika lacks the name identicathe technique. The answers Ive gottion of Hayao Miyazaki, who directed
ten about the level of nuance in the
last years nominee Howls Moving Casperformance dont wash because Ive
tle and 2002 winner Spirited Away. Q
seen the work of great animators who
Thomas J. Mclean is a Los Angelescan accomplish the very same thing,
based journalist who specializes in
he says.
animation, comic books and visual efThe category, however, is best anifects. You can read his Bags & Boards
mated featurenot best animation in
blog about the comic-book industry
a feature. The rules and the spirit of
at http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_
the category are intended for voters to
and_boards.
________
consider the overall quality of the lm
Next month, you can read all about
and not the technique used to achieve
the tricky visual effects Oscar race.
it. That is certain to be the case in votWell also focus on the animated
ing for the winner, which is done by the
shorts category in our March issue.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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The Return of the

Artiste
French director Michel Ocelots triumphant Azur and
Asmar is the perfect example of how to make artistic
indie feature animated projects without relying on tired,
idiotic formulas. by Christopher Panzner

FEATURE

f Michel Ocelots latest lm Azur

and Asmar, a medieval Arabic fairy
tale, is any indication of the vitality
of French animation, we are now ofcially in what can only be called a Golden Age. And, thanks in large part to
the trailblazing of Ocelots mystical,
culture-spanning genius, the words
astonishing and lyrical are now being used as they were meant to be,
not as buzz words for a rap sample or
car accessory but to describe something exquisite and noble.
While it may have taken a while to
gather a head of steam, the animation
feature revolution is well under way
at least in Europe. And the success of
Ocelots latest lms indicates that not
only is the public a willing participant,
but artists, producers and nanciers
are happy to be riding along.
Inspired by a familiar situation in the
West today (i.e., the hostilities between older and recent immigrants),
the lm centers on two boys, blondhaired, blue-eyed Azur, son of a French
nobleman, and black-haired, browneyed Asmar, whose immigrant mother,
their nurse, raises them as brothers.
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January 2007

After a brutal separation, their destinies become intertwined once again

as young men when Azur, who pines to
visit the idyllic country described to
him as a child by his surrogate mother
(complete with genies and magical
creatures), embarks on a journey to
free the Fairy of the Djinns, whom Asmar is also determined to liberate.
They are reunited under strange and
cruel circumstances and ultimately
help one another to succeed in, against
the odds, establishing peace and harmony in their world.
Authentic Visions
When asked about his take on the
French animation miracle of the past
decade, Ocelot describes it as a pas-

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

sage from desert to luxuriant forest.

The sheer poetry and originality of
Azur and Asmar not only rivals previous efforts like his two Kirikou lms
and Princes and Princesses, but the
lm feels like an oasis. The courage
and audacity and complete disregard
for the aesthetic and narrative conventions of Hollywood are sure to inspire
independents everywhere to transcend the norm, to challenge the existing and to leap into the void of faith
in the future and the paying public.
One of the strengths of Ocelots
lms, ironically, is that he doesnt even
t into the romantic know the rules in
order to break them clich. And the
rules, as we all know, were created in
Hollywood. What does the self-taught
Ocelot think of American animated
feature lms? To continually do lms
that reference or mock other lms, instead of making original, solid, personal, stand-alone lmsseems a pity.
He adds, I never learned how to make
a lm and Ive never made a childrens
lm, since children couldnt care less
about lms made for them! Kids need
to learn to learn about the world, to
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Its Not Normal

In stark contrast to some of the other animated features audiences have
seen in 2006, Ocelots labor of love
took six years to make (from development to delivery) and cost 10 million
euros ($12.9 million U.S.). It mixes 2D
backgrounds with CG-animated characters and showcases the talents of
Ocelot as writer/primary character
designer/director; head background
artist Anne-Lise Lourdelet-Koehler; six
color background artists; Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, Cold Mountain); a bevy of
secondary character designers, layout
and background artists; a 50-person
team for the digital preparation, animation and rendering; seven voice actors and a team of technicians. And, in
contrast to Hollywood, every creative
decision on the lm was made by the
director! The lm was also made entirely in France and, says Ocelot proudly, was delivered on time!
Although delivering on time must
have pleased producers Christophe
Rossignon and Jacques Bled (whose
Mac Guff Ligne was responsible for all
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the digital work), the 430,753 tickets

sold in the rst week of release in November must have been pleasing also.
With this kind of public approval, one
might be apprehensive about the critics reponse to the movie, but Ocelot
says the reviews have all been good.
With customarily tender wit, he muses, Its not normal.
Besides releasing two lms in the
theaters in the same year, writing books,
teaching, a magazine and a musical
comedy whats next for Ocelot? First
of all, several of my older short lms are
going to be released [BAFTA-winning
Les 3 inventeurs (1979), Les Filles de
lgalit (1981), Csar-winner La Lgende du pauvre bossu (1982), Les 4 voeux
(1987)] and, at the moment, Im hesitating between a sensual, baroque feature for adults or a family fairy tale that
takes place in Paris in 1900...
Whew! No wonder his secretary
skipped town with a jazz musician! Q
Chris Panzner recently created the production/distribution company Eye&Ear
and is currently working on the blueprints
to the gravy train. When hes not writing,
hes in the kitchen cooking chicken.
January 2007

FEATURE

learn new things.

And they dont need
safe knowledge either, or need to understand
immediately. My lms are
family lms, and Im
glad that I can bring
Michel Ocelot
the family together.
There are certain things that I dont
say as crudely because there are children in the audience, but I try to be
truthful and to tell the whole truth.
Azur and Asmar embodies the bravura of a maestroa mature, loving,
sophisticated original storyteller. But
Ocelot, who spent his childhood in
Equatorial Guinea, is also folksy and a
provocateur, bucking not only common sense (half the lms in Arabic,
without subtitles!) but political correctness (immigration is a touchy subject
after riots ravaged France a year ago)
and tradition (both sides of the story
are told). And, once again, the lm has
nudity in the form of breastfeedingin
the opening sceneperhaps guaranteeing it wont get distribution, like the
Kirikou lms, in the U.S.!

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A Female Firebreather
Is Hatched
Director Stefen Fangmeier conjures up a magnicent
dragon in the vfx-laden holiday feature, Eragon. by Ron

FEATURE

Magid

ragon, Christopher Paolinis blockbuster novel about a boy and his

dragon, is brought to life by rst
time director and former visual effects
supervisor Stefen Fangmeier, who enlisted his home base, ILM, and Weta to
create the female rebreather, Saphira.
Good choice since ILMs dragonsfeatured in Dragonslayer, Willow, Dragonheart and Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fireremain unrivalled in the realm of
visual effects (except arguably by those
Weta created for Lord of the Rings).
But there were daunting challenges
facing both houses as they tackled
Eragons 400-plus dragon shots. First off,
in the novel Saphira is blue, an unlikely
color even for a dragon. You want to be
true to the essence of her character because the book has a huge fan following,
but you still have to t her into the
scene, says ILM visual effects supervisor Samir Hoon. In nature, you dont see

January 2007

creatures of that size that are vibrant

blue, so we had to come up with sophisticated rendering techniques of iridescence and scale patterns where she
could be blue and still look like she belongs in the shot.

had a track, but we

didnt, Hoon says.
We gave a lot of attention to the eyes,
to make them alive,
because her eyes had
to express a lot.
Saphira had to be
a characteran animal with human characteristics so we
were always walking
a very ne line of,
How human do we
make this performance? adds ILM
animation supervisor

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Stefen Fangmeier

Samir Hoon

As animators, were always trying to nd a reference that

can connect with the audience, and lions had the right emotional range for Saphira [the female dragon]: She would never
smile, but you would know when she was mad or concerned.
ILM animation supervisor Glen McIntosh
Second, Saphira communicates telepathically, but since the actress vocalizing the part hadnt yet been cast, the
animators couldnt impart the unknown
performers mannerisms to the CG character. (Actress Rachel Weisz is rumored
to provide the dragons voice in the nal
version.) It wouldve been better if wed

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Glen McIntosh. As animators, were always

trying to nd a reference that can connect
with the audience, and
lions had the right
emotional range for
continued on page 36

Glen McIntosh

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continued from page 34

Saphira. When lions close their eyes,

they look content; when theyre angry,
their ears go at, their muzzle scrunches
up and they bare their teeth. Saphira
would never smile, but you would know
when she was mad or concerned.
Lions also provided the body language for the dragonat least when
she was on the ground. Saphiras body
structure is similar to a lion, McIntosh
continues. Theyre very large animals:
They can weigh up to 500 pounds, yet
theyre very fast and look stoic and regal, which embodied all the qualities we
needed for Saphira.
And then the CG model changed.
Originally, her neck was longer, more
like a Loch Ness monster, and her front
legs were shorter, McIntosh recalls. We
said, If were going with this lion [approach], we have to make her front legs
equal to her back legs if we want that
lion-like gaitotherwise her back legs
and hips would be higher. Stefen insisted, I dont want her butt up in the air. I
want her to walk like a lion, which meant
making subtle adjustments to the model. Shortening her neck allowed us to
have Saphira and Eragon in a two-shot.
When her neck was longer, her head was
out of frame, so it was hard to make an
emotional connection between them.
When Saphira was airborne, the animators referenced eagles, which combined with her leonine aspects created a
character that believably resembled the
mythical grifn. Then the wings changed
from bat wings, which were a little too
demonic, to scaly, feathered wings, Mc-

January 2007

Intosh says. So when she ew, we

looked at how eagles soarthey dont
need a lot of energy to sustain their
ightand how their wings are always
moving, making subtle adjustments in
the air. The nal design is really neat,
something youve never seen before.
But Saphira didnt just have to look
sleekshe had to appear feminine. It
was an interesting problem, McIntosh
admits. We didnt want to bare her
teeth much, which might make her too
masculine; other times, her movements were a little too feminine so we
added more weight to make her more
animalistic. One of the trickiest things
in traditional or CG animation is making
something look heavy. For shots where
shed come in for a landing, I would do
all this scientic reasoning: OK, shes
got hollow bones, but she weighs
roughly 3,000 poundsroughly the
size of a full grown rhino. Other times
Id think, Whateverjust make it look
cool and throw science out the window, while trying to keep the suspension of disbelief grounded in reality.
Sometimes she would make a landing,
and look too heavy, so wed rein back a
bit so she felt like a real creature.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Last, she had to be animated from a

hatchling to maturity, with lots of interaction with her lifelong friend,
Eragon (Edward Speleers), particularly
during the two major aerial sequences
where Saphira soars heavenward. To
achieve the best effect, nearly two
months of bluescreen photography
ensued with Speleers on a saddle
straddling a mockup of Saphiras torso
and neck atop a motion rig, which was
driven by the animation and later replaced with a digital dragon.
We wanted to get as much realistic
motion from the live action as possible, Hoon says. For some shots, we
used the Cyclops motion-control camera, so both the rig and the camera
were locked to the animation and we
could almost see the nal shot in real
time on-set. But there were other
times where weve added more secondary motion or more sweeping camera moves. It was all about making
Saphiras ight look sleek and fast.
Theres a ne line between elegant
and heavy, McIntosh concludes. In
the initial stages when Saphiras growing up, getting more adept at becoming a ying creaturewe referenced a
seal which on land is very gangly and
awkward, but when it gets into its element, water, has these gorgeous balletic movements. Because Saphiras a
creature of the air, once she gets used
to her wings, shes like a Peregrine falcon, doing these really dramatic dives
and streaking across the sky at 200
miles per hour. Q
Ron Magid is a Los Angeles-based journalist who specializes in visual effects.
20th Century Foxs Eragon will premiere in U.S. theaters on December
15.

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Photographing Fairies
(and Stick Bug)
How a team of talented vfx artists brought the surreal
creatures of Pans Labyrinth to cinematic life. by Barbara
Robertson

FEATURE

n 1944, in the grim, violent aftermath

of the Spanish Civil War, Francos victorious fascists spared no mercy for
those who still resisted. In his new movie
Pans Labyrinth, writer-director Guillermo
del Toro (Hellboy, The Devils Backbone)
has planted a young girl inside a fairy
tale set against this harsh historic reality.
On her way to her evil stepfathers
house (a brutal captain in Francos army)
the girl befriends a greenish stick bug.
Later, the stick bug leads her to a labyrinth. There, a faun (Doug Jones) gives
her tests involving a fat toad and a creature with eyes in his hands. But, dont be
deceived. This is no childs fairy tale; del
Toros lm is as much a horrorfest as a
surrealistic fantasy.
Beginning with its premiere at Cannes,
critics have raved about the lm and its
mesmerizing visual effects which are
sparingly and precisely applied in the
trades. Santa Maria, Calif.-based visual
effects studio CafeFX handled all the
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January 2007

ranged between 40 and 50, nearly half

the studio, worked on Pans Labyrinth
from June 2005 until April 2006, and created around 300 shots.
Our main jobs were the green stick
bug, the fairies, some of the environments, and xing Pans legs, says
Burrell. In addition, the team matched a
CG toad to a practical effects toad for
some shots, and created CG legs for a
character in this low-budget lm. It was
the small studios rst big character
show and the rst lm on which CafeFX
was the sole effects house.
Although they created previsualizations for a few key shots, the visual effects team worked largely from elaborate storyboards drawn by del Toro while

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he was in
Madrid working on the
script. We
followed
those storyboards
on
set,
says
Burrell. During lming,
Burrell spent
around ve
Everett Burell
months on
location in Spain with del Toro, primarily
in and around a millthe stepfathers
housebuilt in the middle of a forest.
The labyrinth was built there as well,
Burrell says. Thats where they shot the
lm. When it was night, it was night.
When it was cold and rainy, we got cold
and wet.
Back in sunny California, CafeFX deepened a well at the bottom of the labyrinththe real well was tted with a
greenscreen. In addition, the crew built a
fairy throne room. That was almost all
CG, says Burrell. Only the oor, a few
pedestals and one door were practical.
To communicate with del Toro, the
studio used its CafeSync tool, which is a
QuickTime Java program. We could upload QuickTime les to Guillermo, says
Burrell. He put them into a movie folder
and then we could draw images and
notes on top of the QuickTime les and
save JPG images for reference.
Much of the studios work centered on
the characters. For the green stick bug,
which appears in around 30 shots, an insect wrangler provided reference material. The [CG] model is incredibly complex, says Burrell. Each little plate, shell
and wing had to be separate pieces, and
there were four wings, two tiny ones at
front and a big ones at back. Animators
worked with one rig whether the bug
crawled or ew.
For the fairies and the green stick bug,
the crew used Softimage|XSI for modeling, Autodesks Maya for rigging, animation, texturing and shading, Mental Ray
for rendering and eyeons Digital Fusion
for compositing.
To create the stick bugs transformation into the green fairy, the crew modcontinued on page 40

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continued from page 38

eled both creatures in Softimage|XSI

and then used an XSI feature called
ShrinkWrap to blend the models. Its like
a super high-end morph, says Burrell.
Capuchin monkeys guided work on the
fairies, one red, one blue and a third, a
metamorph from
the stick bug, is
green. The green
fairy looks like a little bald monkey,
and acts a little like
one, too, says
Burrell. The blue
and red fairies look
similar, but because they arent
as smart as the
green fairy, the
crew gave them
heavier brows and
more ape-like performances.
The
red and blue fairies
are a little more out
of control and ght
more, he says.
The green fairy is
more of an adult.
Although insects and animals from
the real world provided physical reference, for animation inspiration del Toro
and Burrell turned to effects master Ray
Harryhausen. We were both inspired by
him as a child, says Burrell. This is an
homage to him. They looked, in particular, at Harryhausens tiny, winged Homunculus from The Golden Voyage of
Sinbad and the Trog in Sinbad and the
Eye of the Tiger, and adapted some of
their mannerisms and poses for the fairies especially, less so for the stick bug.
We tried to be as realistic as we could,
but we also tried to get those Harryhausen moments, Burrell says. The Homunculus and Trog are very curious. You
see it in the way they move their shoulders, face and head. We tried to get that
sympathetic curiosity across with our
animation.
In addition to these digital creatures,
CafeFX also helped del Toro create the
two fantastical human creatures, Pan

January 2007

and the Pale Man, both played by actor

Doug Jones who also portrayed Abe Sapien in Hellboy. For Pan, Jones wore green
stockings and walked on stilts; prosthetic goat legs attached to the backs of his
legs followed along. Painters at CafeFX
removed the actors green legs and the
stilts in post-production. This was an

idea Guillermo had, says Burrell. The

lm had a small budget. We had to come
up with a lot of creative solutions.
The studio also replaced Jones green
legs when he played the Pale Man, this
time with CG legs. Hes skinny and emaciated, says Burrell. We gave him skel-

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And we had 300 shots to render.

By rendering out numerous passes for
each character, ambient, beauty, selfshadowing, ground passes and so forth,
compositors could change lighting within
Digital Fusion and help meet the studios
goalto integrate the effects within the
lm and to move the story forward.
The most satisfactory part of
our work was
that we werent
just doing effects,
says
Burrell. We usually blow something up and create
environments, but our
characters were
a huge part of
this story.
Burrell
calls
the work a labor
of love for CafeFX. It was a big
investment for
us, a big step, he
says. But it was
great
working
with Guillermo. He loves and respects
effects.
With critics raving about the results,
that investment is proving its worth.
Weve already gotten more work because
of it, says Burrell. And that means we can
certainly look for more fantastic effects

The most satisfactory part of our work was that we

werent just doing effects. We usually blow something
up and create environments, but our characters were a
huge part of this story.
Vfx supervisor Everett Burrell of CafeFX
etal legs from the waist down.
To integrate the characters into the
live-action footage, CafeFX used the
LightGen plug-in for HDR Shop to generate lights from HDRI images taken on location. It sets up a Maya scene or Maya
lights, says Burrell. Its a little bit of a
hack, but although Final Gathering looks
great for stills, it takes forever to render.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

from this small studio in the future. Q

Barbara Robertson is an award-winning
journalist who specializes in vfx and CG
technologies. If you have a suggestion
for her, you can email her at brobert______
[email protected].
____________________
Picturehouse releases Pans Labyrinth in select U.S. theaters on December 29.

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Best Friends Forever. An excellent mix of 2D

and CG animation, a strong voice cast led by
Reba McEntire, Patrick Swayze and Jeff Foxworthy and music by Trisha Yearwood and Lucas Grabeel make Disneys The Fox and the
Hound 2 stand out in the sequel market.

Aint Nothing Like a

Hound Dog!
Unlikely friends from the 1981 feature kick up their heels
in The Fox and the Hound 2. by Claire Webb

FEATURE

et ready to kick up your heels for

an animated country experience!
Originally introduced in the 1981
Disney feature (directed by Ted Berman,
Richard Rich and Art Stevens), unlikely
friends Tod the fox and Copper, the spunky
hound puppy, are back for more adventures in a new direct-to-DVD sequel this
month.
In this new chapter, diva extraordinaire
Dixie (voiced by Reba McEntire) leaves The
Singin Straysa canine musical act with a
banjo-picking owner Lyle (Jeff Foxworthy)and Copper gets a shot to sing with
the group and its talented leader Cash
(Patrick Swayze). But Coppers time in the
spotlight puts his friendship with Tod to
the test when the young fox and a disgruntled Dixie realize theyre not cut out for
roles behind the scenes. After much
scheming on the part of Tod and Dixie that
results in disaster, everyone decides showbiz must be put aside and harmony must
be restored between friends.
We took part of the original feature
two friends who are not supposed to be
friends with each otherand we took
them out of their world and put them at a
little county fair, says the lms director

January 2007

Jim Kammerud (101 Dalmatians II, Little

Mermaid II). We were trying to make a story about young people and make a story
for ourselves as well. He also stresses the
importance of the central friendship, which
is indispensable in both the original and
the sequel.
With the incorporation of CG elements
along with 2D, the animation in Fox and the
Hound 2 is vastly improved from the original lm. Kammerud and his team took
close to three years to produce the feature with the animation coordinated between the base of operations in Ohio and
Toon Citys studio in the Philippines. Kammerud expresses his initial reservations
about the outcome of creating the animation so far away from home, but he adds
that hes been very pleased with the outcome of the collaborative efforts.
The characters are done mostly in 2D,
like the rst lm, and many of the backgrounds are animated in CG, which heightens the vibrancy of the rich autumn landscapes. I didnt want to completely follow
the color of the original because it was a
little darksort of part Bambi and part
Aristocats, explains Kammerud. The CG
certainly does add another dimension to

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

the lm which the director points out was

used primarily in scenes to accentuate fun
and motion like the fair rides and the carousel sequences. Although this mix of
styles was at times challenging, the result
breathes new life into the story.
As in the rst lm, the soundtrack plays
an important role in the overall production.
Kammerud, along with musical supervisor
Kim Oliver, Matt Walker and noted composer Joel McNeely went back to bluegrass
roots in Nashville, Tennessee to get a really
authentic country sound in the music.
They recruited Grammy-winning artists
Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood as well
as some of the greatest bluegrass players
and songwriters to create original scores
for the lm. Kammerud explains that the
music was one of most challenging aspects of the movie. The movie features
seven songs or so, and its denitely the
most music the department has ever had.
Although he has worked on many sequels before, the director adds, This is the
rst one that I just generally like all the
songs; and Reba and Trisha were just amazing and so fun the whole time!
Even with all the musical highlights and
jazzed-up animation, the heart and soul of
Fox and the Hound 2 is still its heartwarming story about a lasting friendship. Kammerud notes that he recognizes some of
the criticisms aimed at the lucrative sequel
market, but he maintains that there is a
healthy audience for these titles. A lot of
these [titles] arent as sacred say as a
Dumbo, but its fun to make these movies
for kids. He reverts back to the simplicity
of the sweet and earnest story of Copper
and Tod that makes this lm so fun and irresistible. I think we hit it! he proclaims
enthusiastically. Q
Disneys The Fox and the Hound 2
DVD is released on Dec. 12 . Bonus
features include a Making of the
Music feature, interactive Mutt
Mix Master game and the classic
1939 Disney animated short Goofy
and Wilbur. [$29.99]

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A Space Saga Gets a

Second Act
Harmony Golds Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
continues the epic story of the classic anime series.
by Patrick Drazen

Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada. These were rewritten to create a
continuity (of sorts) in the story of alien invasion and personal drama.
Harmony Golds creative director Tommy
Yune says the idea of a sequel had been
kicking around for years. Robotech left off
with the cataclysmic departure of the [invading alien] Invid and the mysterious disappearance of the expeditions stalwart
leader, Admiral Rick Hunter. This unresolved
cliffhanger had left fans hanging since
1985.
Yune points out, It was very important
for us to involve Tatsunoko once again when
preparing to create a new show that was
true to its anime roots. We were taking on
quite a challenge with this new project and
consulted extensively with Mospeadas
original writer Kenji Terada (who had also
worked on Southern Cross). In the end we
were quite fortunate to have the talented
Ford Riley come on board and help shape
this complex storyline with all its depth into
a tight and cohesive screenplay.
Tight and cohesive might have been
the last words to apply to a story that not
only stitched together three different television series but also the 1986 Robotech
spinoff lm The Sentinels, which was itself
amplied by a series of comics and novels.
In 2005 another series of comic books was
begun to bridge The Sentinels and the new
movie: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles
was drawn by Omar Dogan and co-written
by Yune and Jason and John WalA Robotech Chronology
trip.
Rather than try to re-create
1985 Robotech: The Macross Saga (1919-2014)
the old school anime look of the
1986 Robotech II: The Sentinels (2022-2044)
1980s TV series, Yune turned to
1986 Robotech The Movie: The Untold Story (2027)
the modern ability to meld 3-di1985 Robotech: The Masters (2029-2030)
mensional and 2-dimensional
1985 Robotech: The New Generation (2042-2044)
computer animation almost
2006 Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2044)
seamlessly. New animation will
he animated series that seemed destined never to have a sequel nally
has one in Robotech: The Shadow
Chronicles. The original Robotech, the classic anime show which was actually three
anime series pasted together, set the standard for post-Star Wars animated space
operas. Now, a feature-length continuation
of the epic is nally here, and were glad to
report, its doing quite well. Winning Best
Animated Feature honors at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, and
screenings in Cannes, Toronto, New York
and Los Angeles, Robotech: The Shadow
Chronicles brings the story back to life for a
new generation of fans. FUNimation is slated to distribute the DVD in 2007 after a theatrical release.
It all began in 1982 in Japan as a series
called Super Dimensional Fortress Macross,
produced by the inuential Tatsunoko animation studio, captured the imagination of
mass audiences. In 1985, the series found a
home in syndication in the U.S., where it
was rechristened Robotech. Its an elaborate plot and a variety of moods, from the
super-cuteness of pop singer Lin Minmei to
the ill-fated love of Roy Fokker and Claudia
Grant (an interracial couple at a time when
American television still shied away from
the subject) to the battleeld heroics of
Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, hypnotized its
audience. When the series ran out, distribution and production company Harmony Gold
USA acquired two more Tatsunoko series,

January 2007

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

feature a digital 2D/3D production process.

Cel-shading algorithms and compositing
technology has matured to the point where
we can have the best of both worlds, incorporating the traditional look of anime cels
seamlessly combined with cutting-edge CG
mecha animation.
Much of the animation was by the Korean
studio DR Movie, which also contributed to
the original Macross saga by working on
Macross Plus. Recognizing, however, that
much of the current anime audience doesnt
go back far enough to remember the original Robotech broadcasts, the lm was written both to evoke the old series and to work
as a stand-alone; Yune calls it newbiefriendly.
Yune also reached back to secure some
of the old voice talent; this wasnt too hard,
since many had already worked on the 2002
videogame Robotech: Battlecry. Veterans
include Tony Oliver, Richard Epcar, Greg Snegoff and Mike Sorich. Iona Morris, the voice
of Claudia Grant in the original Robotech,
provides the voice for Jean Grant (the similar name is no accident; the character is
married to Claudia Grants brother). The
fresh faces include Chase Masterson as the
android Janice, Yuri Lowenthal as Marcus
and sci- icon Mark Hamill as Commander
Taylor.
For the serious fans of Robotech, this
movie is just the beginning: according to
Yune, a 26-week TV series is also in the
works! Q
For more info, visit www.robotech.
com.
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The Samurai Critic:

Rev i ew s o f t h e l a t e s t a n i m e re l e a s e s o n DV D

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Illustration by Pres Romanillos

by Charles Solomon

ears ago, the great Disney storyman and childrens book author Bill Peet told me, For The
Sword in the Stone I dared
to change the legend: Wart
was supposed to be
Uthers son, who was
born to be a king. I didnt
like the idea that anyone was born to be
a king. To inherit
power whether you deserve it or not, was not a good
message. So I left that out,
and made him a waif from
nowhere.
Peet was correct, of
course. The best heroes
are made, not born, and
theyre generally made
when they stumble
onto a challenge that
brings out abilities they
Bleach
didnt know they possessed. The moody, hot-tempered heroes of the popular anime series
Bleach and Spiral seem more like ordinary, sullen teen-agers than glorious
warriors-to-be.
In Bleach, orange-haired high school
freshman Ichigo Kurosaki seems odd
instead of heroic. His nutty father attacks him unexpectedly to test his
martial arts skills, and he has the unnerving ability to see dead people
whose unresolved business on Earth
prevents them from resting in peace.
No wonder he has an attitude problem.
Ichigo can also see Rukia, a Soul
Reaper whose job consists of slaying
soul-devouring creatures called Hollows and ensuring the deceased nd
eternal repose with the Soul Society.
When a ferocious, masked Hollow
wounds Rukia in battle, shes forced to
give her sword and much of her super-

January 2007

natural power to Ichigo. His latent spiritual powers make him a redoubtable
stand-in Soul Reaper, and Rukia insists
he take her place until her strength returns. But Ichigo doesnt want to face
the risks and moral decisions the job
requires. He and Rukia bicker as endlessly as Ranma and Akane in Ranma
1/2.
Bleach mixes an argumentative hero and heroine with
well-staged sword-ghts
and supernatural adventures that may remind
otaku of Yu Yu
Hakusho. The series, which debuted
earlier this fall on
Cartoon Networks
[adult swim] block, scored
a big hit in Japan when it
rst aired on TV Tokyo in
2004. It ran for more than
100 episodes, and was followed
by two OVAs and a theatrical
feature. Bleach should nd an
equally enthusiastic following in the
US.

An Unsolved Mystery
Since he was a child, Ayumu Narumi,
the hero of Spiral, has been told hell
never match the achievements of his
older brother Kiyotaka, a world-class
pianist and detective. But Kiyotaka
vanished when he began investigating
the mystery of the Blade Children
two years ago.
Since then, Ayumu has preferred to
spend his time napping on the high
school roof. Hes stopped playing the
piano, and although hes a talented
chef, he cooks only for himself and his
police detective sister-in-law, Madoka.
But when mysterious accidentsand
deathsbegin occurring at school,
Ayumu is unwillingly drawn into the

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

mystery of the Blade Children. As he

begins to explore the mystery, Ayumu
reluctantly allies with bouncy school
newspaper editor Hiyono, who maintains an information network J. Edgar
Hoover would envy.
Ayumu and Hiyono nd themselves
caught between the Blade Children
and the Hunters who have sworn to
exterminate them. But Ayumu can
handle any plot either side devises. By
adhering to the principle, the melody
of logic always plays the notes of
truth, he
Spiral
performs
amazing
feats of
deduction, often
at the last
possible
minute,
when the
stakes are
very high.
Created by Kyou Shirodaira and Eita
Mizuno, Spiral ran for 25 episodes
(from Oct. 2002 through March 2003
on TV Tokyo), and director Shingo
Kaneko manages to maintain the suspense to the last scene. Unfortunately, the series reaches an annoyingly
inconclusive nale: the audience never
discovers who or what the Blade Children are, why the Hunters are intent
on destroying them or what became
of Kiyotaka. Perhaps that was going to
be revealed during a second season or
in a later OVA. (The original manga Suiri no Kizuna (Spiral Bonds of Reasoning) ran for 15 volumes.) Yet, despite
its weak ending, Spiral is a cracking
good adventure. Q

Bleach Vol. 1The Substitute

[Viz: $24.98]
Spiral Box Set
[FUNimation: $79.98, six discs]
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Hot Discs
Four New DVDs to Get You Through Fruitcake Season
by Claire Webb
Cars
[Disney, $ 29.99]
Vrooom, vrooom. Thats the sound of director John Lasseters shiny automotive comedy (co-directed by Joe
Ranft) racing into DVD
stores this month. One
of the summers biggest
hits, Cars is a beautifully
executed feature backed
by stunning landscapes
that revolves around a
ashy stock car Lightning McQueen (voiced by
Owen Wilson). Our hotshot hero learns about
the real meaning of life and friendship from
the charming four-wheeled inhabitants of
the Southwest town of Radiator Springs.
Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin,
Michael Keaton and George Carlin are a few
of the top-notch voice stars. The DVD is accompanied by deleted scenes and a makingof interview with Lasseter who discusses
his inspiration for his studios seventh feature. In addition, you can check out all-new
Pixar short Mater and Ghostlight (Larry The
Cable Guy) and last years delightful Oscar
nominated short One Man Band. And if that
isnt enough, you can also catch a glimpse of
Brad Birds upcoming ick Ratatouille (slated
for the summer of 2007). Put the pedal to
the metal to get your hands on this DVD.
[Release Date: Nov. 7]

Bah Humduck! A Looney

Toons Christmas
[Warner Home
Video, $19.98]
Scrooge has got nothing on Daffy
Duck in the rst made-for-video
Looney Toons feature (well,
theyre calling it a feature, but its
only 44-minutes long!). Directed
by Charles Visser, this umpteenth
version of Dickens classic A
Christmas Carol story is another one to add

January 2007

to the seasonal favorites list. In this

update, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian,
Speedy Gonzales and Elmer Fuddare
employees at Luck-Duck mega-mart
and fall victim to the evil ways of greedy
boss, Daffy. Since he is consumed by
thoughts of money during the holiday season, Daffy refuses to close the shop on
Christmas and give his workers a much
needed break. Now it is up to the ghost of
Christmases Past (Granny and Tweety),
Present (Yosemite Sam) and Future (Taz) as
well as Bugs to save the holiday and open
Daffys eyes to the true meaning of Christmas. Its great to hear the voices of great
pros such as Joe Alaskey, June Foray, Bob
Bergen, Billy West and Dee Bradley Baker.
This Warner Bros. animation project will have
you singin holiday tunes along with added
audio tracks, bonus scenes and an interactive game. Bah Humduck, indeed!
[Release Date: Nov. 14]

Family Guy Vol. 4

[Fox, $39.98]
For those avid fans disgruntled by the delay
in the release of the last chunk of season
four, the wonderfully dysfunctional Rhode
Island family is back with comedic vengeance. This four-disc set features the second half of season four (the rst half was
released last year) with more of the same
antics from the Grifn household. Peter,
Lois, their two teens, wisecracking dog and mutant
baby show their family humor
with just the right amount
of pop-culture references in the fourteen episodes included in this
volume. Episodes such
as Fat Guy Strangler,
The Father, The Son and
the Holy Fonz and Petergeist, all accompanied with
commentary by from series
creator Seth McFarlane, make side-splitting

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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laughter inevitable when

watching this collection
of Family Guy. In addition,
the set is chock-full of
deleted scenes to entertain you into the wee
hours as well as featurettes Peter Shin
Draws Stewie and A
Tour of the Family Guy
Ofces, and optional
uncensored audio track. This volume should
denitely keep fans occupied until the release of season ve.
[Release Date: Nov. 14]

Robin Hood:
Most Wanted Edition
[Disney, $29.99]
You no longer have to wait for the Disney
Channel to run this 1973 animated version
of the philantrhopic Sherwood Forests hero,
all set in the animal kingdom! Now you can
own it on DVD in widescreen format with
surround sound. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Robin Hood is the tale of one man
and his heroic band of men in their quest to
rob from the rich and give to the needy. They
seek to rid the
people of the evil
Sheriff Nottingham who levies
unjust taxes on
his subjects. The
movie boasts an
all-star
voice
cast that includes Brian Bedford, Phil Harris,
Monica
Evans
and the late Sir Peter Ustinov. There are also
deleted scenes and an alternate ending as
well as an animated short Ye Old Days for
your viewing pleasure. Although the movie
may not compare to the features made
when Disney was still alive, it still has its
share of enjoyable moments and delightful
characters. Toon connoisseurs will denitely
realize that The Phony King of England sequence borrows animation from Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs, The Aristocats and
even from earlier in the movie itself! It aint
called the Most Wanted Edition for nothing!
[Release Date: Nov. 28] Q

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The Padded Cel

20 Years of Hard Labor:

The Best and Worst in Animation Since 1986

TELEVISION

by Robby London

nimation Magazine is 20 years old this

year. To put this in perspective, consider that it is older than most of our
bosses. Okay, maybe thats a slight exaggeration. But it is true that any dog or cat that was
disciplined by the sound of its owner palmslapping a rolled-up copy of the very rst issue
of Animation is now dead. (Not in any way to
imply a cause-and-effect relationship.)
Speaking of dead, take my
animation career. It seems like
only yesterday when it was in
its infancy20 years ago. And it
seems like only a year later when it
peaked19 years ago. The coming
sea changes were unimaginable
back then. So, on the occasion of
this publications 20th Anniversary, lets acknowledge some of
the best industry developments
of these past twenty years. At the
same time, well highlight some of
the WORST and most disappointing
eventsstrictly for instructional
purposes, of course.

Mid 1980s:
Best: Waves of 65-episode toydriven animated series launch the
careers of literally hundreds of animation writers, artists and executives. Worst: Somebody actually
has to watch these shows.

Late 1980s:
Best: The three-network hegemonywhose all-powerful despotic executives tormented, terrorized and tortured
animation creatorsis nally broken by the
launch of new networks, both broadcast and
cable. Worst: Suddenly there are even greater numbers of despotic network executives.
And they discover waterboarding.

Early 1990s:
Best: The Simpsons takes offbig time!
This shatters, once and for all, the prevailing myth that adults wont watch primetime

January 2007

animation. Worst: The Simpsons ultimately

leads to a wave of failed primetime animated
series. If you remember Capitol Critters; God,
The Devil and Bob or Father Of The Pride raise
your hand. (Unless youre the one who programmed them, in which case just waive your
unemployment check!)

Mid 1990s:
Best: Digital technology comes of age in

value. Worst: Animation employees dont

hold shares. (Were too busy trying to gure
out The Matrix.)

Early 2000s:
Best: Pixar leads a new golden age of 3D
animated theatrical features, nally fullling the digital promise. Worst: Ageism and
consolidation result in layoffs of the animation writers, artists and executives whose
careers were launched in the mid
1980s (see above). As thanks for
years of service, studios offer
terminated employees a different
kind of digital promise. (Hint: it
involves the second digit on the
right hand.)

Mid 2000s:
Best: Animation Magazine, experiencing a renaissance of journalistic excellence accompanied
by a renewed spirit of altruism, offers fading hack writer a shot at
creative redemption. Worst: Ive
actually got to write one of these
things every month. You think its
easy? YOU try it! (On second
thought, please dont. I need redemption more than ever since
my application to be adopted was
turned down by Madonna.)
A serious thank you and heartfelt congratulations to Animag
president Jean Thoren , publisher
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat Steve Krantz Prods.
Jodi Bluth, editor-in-chief Ramin,
former editor and publisher Rita Street and
the animation workplace. The arrival of the
all the other wonderful and creative people
Internet is hailed as the second coming of
who have worked so hard over the years to
the industrial revolution! Worst: Distractions
bring us Animation Magazine. Its an honor to
of the Internet result in massive productivity
be even a tiny part of this legacy. (By the
decline and provide multiple second comings
way, guys, Ill be sending my check in a little
for pervert evangelists, Republican congresslate this month.) Q
men and future Animation Magazine columnists.
When hes not working on developing
animated properties, Robby London ies Tom
Late 1990s:
Cruise and his new bride to Planet Zeno in his
Best: Go-Go 90s culminates in a tsunami
spacious aircraft.
of media consolidation building shareholder

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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TELEVISION

M A G A Z I N E

Seeing Toons
A 12-year-old boy is visited by classic animated characters
after getting brain surgery in the new Cartoon Network
offering, Re-Animated. by Ramin Zahed

uestion: Why would Cartoon Network produce a live-action movie

about a 12-year-old boy who gets
an emergency brain transplant? The answer has to do with whose frozen brain is
used to save the kid during the operation.
Our hero Jimmy ends up with the noggin of
famous cartoonist Milt Appleday, which
leads to him being visited (and, at times,
harassed) by a bunch of animated characters. That means the movie (Re-Animated)
gets to have all kinds of Roger Rabbit-type
of fun with the intersection of the real
world and Toon Town.
The movie is the brainchild of Adam Pava
and Tim McKeon, veterans of Fosters Home
for Imaginary Friends and The Life & Times
of Juniper Lee. The animated part of the
showwhich is done in Flash by L.A.-based

January 2007

Renegade Animationallows us to pay

homage to all the classic cartoons, says
McKeon. Jimmy can see all these wonderful iconic characters that couldve been
around for 75 years. Its great to have this
show on Cartoon Network because we try
to reect our love for the great characters
in cartoon history.
As Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Networks
senior VP of programming and development, explains, Adam and Tim write at the
studio, and they are very familiar with our
brand tone. We were exploring the potential of other media and formats, and they
came up with this great idea which was a
perfect t for us although its long-form
and it mixes animation with live action.
There are numerous reasons the idea
clicked with the folks at Cartoon Network.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Not only does the movie allow viewers to

chuckle about characters in animation history and to enjoy the interaction between
the main character and the goofy toons
that visit him and cause all kinds of trouble,
there are plenty of other offbeat elements.
There are some unexpected details, notes
Ouweleen. Jimmys mom is an astronaut,
his stepsister is a green-skinned alien, his
classmate is 12-feet-tall and his dad is a
seven-year-old trapped in a 40-year-old
mans body. Everything is kind of twisted,
but its also about animation history.
The team at Glendale, Calif.-based
Renegade Animation (Hi Hi Puffy Ami
Yumi) was tapped about a year ago to
create the shows retro animated cast
which includes Golly and Dolly Gopher
(Paul Reubens and Ellen Greene), Tux
(Tom Kenny) and Crocco the Alligator
(Brian Posehn). Having delivered numerous live action and animation hybrid TV
ads and promo spots, they proved to be
the perfect go-to studio for the movie.
As animation director Scott OBrien explains, Four years ago, we were still doing
drawings and scanning them in. Flash tech-

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TELEVISION

Adding the Critters: The team at

Renegade Animation added the
Flash-animated characters after the
live-action scenes were shot. Current
technologies allowed the animators to
draw the rough poses right on laptops
as the scenes were being shot.

nology was the reason why we were able to

get the work done.
The animators rst delivered storyboards for the movie, in hopes that the live
action portion would follow the storyboardswell, things dont always work out
that way in real life. Then large foam-board
cutouts of the toons were put in the scenes
so that the actors could interact with them.
Real eye contact is essential, says OBrien.
Wed then draw the rough poses right on
the plate. Characters were then put together in Flash, and then the compositing

Whats important to remember is that Flash

is a lovely, lovely tool, but its the artists
who use it and the pipeline that supports
the work thats pushing the industry forward.
For OBrien, it was important to emphasize that these animated characters belonged to previous eras. We were trying to
mimic some of the icons of the 1940s and
50s, he notes. We looked at older school
toons such as The Three Caballeros and revisited a lot of classic Tom and Jerry shorts.
We didnt need a lot of shadows.

I think thats when were at our bestdoing things weve

never done before. You cant take the cartoon out of Cartoon
Network, but that doesnt mean were not evolving.
Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Networks senior VP of programming and development

department would combine the live-action

footage with animation.
Renegade exec producer Ashley Postlewaite adds, We did our rst live action/animation mix for Space Jam and that was 15
years ago. To watch Scott working on his
laptop, drawing right over the live-action
scene thats being shotthats amazing.

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One of the lms highlights, according to OBrien, is a sequence in which

Jimmy is running through a park along
with the animated characters. The
camera is panning the scene and you
have Jimmy and Golly the Gopher running side by sideI think that particular scene really worked out well.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Overall, both OBrien and Postlewaite are

quite proud of the seamless work their 25member team has done for the lm. There
was such a positive vibe on the set, says
OBrien. Everything seemed to really jell
well together and we hope it all shows in
the nal product. Postlewaite agrees. We
think the concept really works for Cartoon
Network. What kid wouldnt love the idea of
being able to see cartoons. It also gives a
nod to animation history and thats cool.
Its one of the most ambitious, risk-taking projects Cartoon Network has done
since creating Adult Swim, says Ouweleen.
I think thats when were at our best, doing
things weve never done before. What I can
say to all of the critics who are worried
about us not doing animated projects is
that their hatred is immature! The folks at
Renegade have done a lot of wonderful animation for this movie. You cant take the
cartoon out of Cartoon Network. But that
doesnt mean that were not evolvingafter all, the distinction between live action
and cartoons is also evolving. Q
Re-Animated premieres on Cartoon
Network at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8.

January 2007

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Bix Pix Takes a Holiday

Stop-motion studio starts a new tradition with Holidaze.
by Ryan Ball

or millions of people around the

world, stop-motion animation
has been part of the winter holiday tradition for as long as they can
remember. Starting in the early 60s,
producers Arthur Rankin and Jules
Bass brought timeless Christmas stories to life by animating puppets one
frame at a time, creating beloved specials such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin to
Town, which are still broadcast on network television each year to huge ratings. In this tradition comes Holidaze:
The Christmas That Almost Didnt Happen, a funny and charming new addition from Bix Pix Ent. and Madison
Road Ent. The hour-long special is
available on DVD at Wal-Mart stores
and will air on ABC this month.
Holidaze is the story of Rusty Reindeer (voiced by Fred Savage), a young
resident of the North Pole who is tired

January 2007

of living in the shadow of his famous,

red-nosed brother and longs to nd his
own place in the Christmas tradition.
To this end, he sets out to the Big
City in search of answers and stumbles into a support group attended by
Candie the Easter Bunny (Gladys
Knight), Cupid (Paul Rodriguez), Albert
the Thanksgiving Turkey (Harland Williams) and a pair of Valley-girl Halloween ghosts Trick (Emily Osment) and
Treat (Brenda Song). With the help of
these new friends and a young boy
who is losing faith in Santa, Rusty just
might have what it takes to save
Christmas, as long as he can avoid
capture by a visually impaired dogcatcher.
The voice cast also includes Fred
Willard (Chicken Little) as Santa Claus,
Edie McClurg (The Little Mermaid) as
Mrs. Claus and John OHurley (Seinfeld)
as a serious thespian currently playing

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

the role of a department-store Santa.

The show is directed
by Bix Pixs Dave
Brooks from a script
by TV veterans Peter
Murrieta and JonaKelly Bixler
than Prince.
Bix Pix was working with Madison Road on another project when studio founder Kelli Bixler
pitched them on the idea of doing a
package of animated holiday specials.
Madison Road then brought on Prince,
who also exec produced the rst installment through his Once A Frog
Prods. He came up with the idea of focusing on iconic holiday characters
and he, Bixler and fellow exec producer Jak Severson set about developing
a franchise.
With just six months to produce 60
minutes of animation, Bix Pix moved
its operations from Chicago to Los Angeles and set up shop in a former art
school in Sherman Oaks. In fewer than
eight weeks they managed to build
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Holidaze

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continued from page 56

more than 120 puppets, which, if had

not been built properly could cause a
loss of time and limit creative movement. Bixler says the fabrication team
did a stellar job, but the rush to deliver
on time made for a somewhat rough
start of lming. When we looked at
the rst week of footage, we said,
Whoa, we have to slow down and be
cleaner, she says.
The time crunch required some of
the more grandiose ideas to be scaled
back, but Bixler says shes proud of
the number of tracking shots and the
quality of the lighting in the lm. And
while she would have liked the luxury
of putting more movement and action
on the screen, she also feels that the
hurried pace of production brought a
certain energy to the proceedings.
Theres not any time to argue, you
just gotta do it!, she comments. Also,
I think it put everybody in the same
boat. Every single department was under the same deadline challenge.
In Holidaze, an elf character makes
reference to Rankin and Basss Rudolph, noting that his Uncle Herbie is a
dentist. And while the animators at Bix
Pix were very much inspired by the
holiday classic, they brought a much
more polished animation style to the

project, while retaining the unmistakable look and feel of stop-motion. Designed by Andrew Hodges, the puppets were cast in foam, some with
metal ball-and-socket joints and others with aluminum wire armatures.
The animation was shot by director of
photography Christopher Warren with
Cannon HD digital still cameras on
elaborately constructed miniature
sets with some forced-perspective
camera tricks employed to make the
world seem more expansive. According to Bixler, they wanted to get everything done in camera and avoid using
green-screen setups and digital com-

The Bix Mix: Although the new special focuses

on Rusty the Reindeer and Christmas, Bix Pix and
Madison Road are planning more holiday-themed
stop-motion specials featuring Albert the turkey,
Candie the bunny, Cupid and the Halloween Ghosts.

positing tricks.
Bixler says she was thrilled to get
such a great voice cast, and particularly enjoyed working with legendary
songstress Gladys Knight, who didnt
bring any diva attitude into the recording booth for her part as Candie the
Easter Bunny. When she came into
the studio, she said, Ill do it the way
you say I should do it. If I were doing a
song, Id tell you how I want to do it,
Bixler recalls.
On DVD, Holidaze features 15 additional minutes of content, as well as
bloopers and outtakes. The production is the rst in a series of holiday
specials Bix Pix and Madison Road plan
to create. Albert the turkey, Candie
the bunny, Cupid and the Halloween
ghosts will each get their own chance
to star in upcoming releases. Production on the Thanksgiving installment
may start as early as next month.
If all goes as planned, the series will
keep Bix Pix and a large percentage of
Los Angeles stop-motion community
busy for quite a while, which is comforting considering just a few years
ago stop-motion was all but declared
dead with the rise of computer-generated animation. Just as Christmas
needs to be saved by somebody at
least once a year, traditional animation needs people like Bixler and crew
to keep it viable in the digital age. Q
Bix Pixs Holidaze is available on DVD
at Wal-Mart stores and will air on
ABC on Dec. 9 at 8 p.m.

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Top 20 Toon Characters:

Kids Choice Edition!

SPECIAL REPORT

Animated characters have ruled the hearts and minds of children for nine decades. Of course,
Ignatz Mouse, Felix the Cat and Popeye the Sailorman hold no appeal to the new generation
of kids, but its good to know that old-timers like Bugs, Mickey and Casper continue to
have some star appeal! To nd out which characters were more popular with kids these
days, we took an unscientic survey of eight- to ten-year-olds in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Not
surprisingly, Steve Hillenburgs yellow absorbent charmer outranked everybody else by a
mile. Here are the top 20 characters as voted by the helpful students in Mrs. Oppenheimers
fourth-grade class at Ladera Elementary School!
1.

SpongeBob SquarePants

Bart Simpson

Scooby-Doo

Fairly OddParents

Ed, Edd n Eddy

Mickey Mouse

Grim, Billy and Mandy

Bugs Bunny

Avatar

10. Pixars Cars

11. Kim Possible
12. Donald Duck
13. Tweety Bird
14. Nemo (Finding Nemo)
15. Casper the Friendly Ghost
16. Kronk (Kronks New School)
17. Bloo and Mac (Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends)
18. Scrat (Ice Age)
19. Pokmon
20. Fantastic Four
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ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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20 Animated Movies You Must Already Own on DVD

(1986-2006)
An American Tale (Don Bluth, 1986)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Robert Zemeckis, 1988)
The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1989)
The Lion King (Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, 1994)
Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991)
My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Tim Burton, 1993)
The Iron Giant (Brad Bird, 1999)
Toy Story I and II (John Lasseter, 1995 and 1999)
Kirikou and the Sorcerer (Michel Ocelot, 1998)
Shrek I and II (Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, 2001; Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon, 2004)
Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
Waking Life (Richard Linklater, 2001)
Ice Age (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2002)
Lilo & Stitch (Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, 2002)
The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, 2004)
The Polar Express (Robert Zemeckis, 2004)
The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004)

SPECIAL REPORT

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park, Steve Box, 2005)

20 TV Shows That Changed Our Toon Landscape

(1986-2006)
The Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989)
Rugrats (Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, Paul Germain, 1991)
The Ren & Stimpy Show (John Kricfalusi, 1991)
Ed Edd n Eddy (Danny Antonucci, 1991)
Batman: The Animated Series (Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, 1992)

Futurama

Beavis and Butt-head (Mike Judge, 1993)

Pokmon (Satoshi Tajiri, 1995)

Samurai Jack

Blues Clues (Todd Kessler, Angela Santomero, Traci Paige Johnson, 1996)
South Park (Matt Stone, Trey Parker, 1997)
SpongeBob SquarePants (Stephen Hillenburg, 1999)
Family Guy (Seth MacFarlane, 1999)
Futurama (Groening, David X. Cohen, 1999)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis, 2000)

Ren & Stimpy

The Fairly OddParents (Butch Hartman, 2001)

Samurai Jack (Genndy Tartakovski, 2001)
Invader ZIM (Jhonen Vasquez, 2001)

Invader ZIM

Kim Possible (Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley, 2002)

Teen Titans (Sam Register, Glen Murakami, 2003)

Kim Possible

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends (Craig McCracken, 2004)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, 2005)
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Company Town:
Animation & VFX House Milestones in 2007
Five-Year Anniversaries
Engine Room

SPECIAL REPORT

The vfx house that gave us the killer

theatrical teaser for last summers The
Da Vinci Code will be celebrating its fth
year of delivering cool eye candy in the
fall. Founded and headed by Dan Schmit,
the company
recently
moved to the
Hollywood
Center Studios
and is currently
working on
the new F/X
Network series
Dirt as well
as the 3D horror ick Scar. We have
the most diverse client base around,
says Schmit. We also have the tools to
conquer any production challenge. Our
clients get this and come from every
corner of the entertainment industry
to collaborate. It makes our lives
interesting!
Website: www.engineroomvfx.com

FUNimations Operation Anime

The folks at the anime powerhouse will be marking
the fth year of their Operation Anime program,
which brings anime content for screenings to anime
clubs at schools, public libraries and community
groups across the U.S. The outt boasts 1,370 clubs with a 43,000
membership. According to the companys spokesperson Jackie Smith,
FUNimation attends over 25 Con events a year, reaching over 500,000
fans. Upcoming projects include the January launch of the new Spike
TV toon Afro Samurai, starring Samuel L. Jackson, which will be out on
DVD in March. The shops founding branding Dragon Ball Z (all 270-plus
episodes) will be digitally remastered, restored and released in February.
When asked to tell us the silliest thing they ever did, Smith says,
In our campaign to bring more Fruits Basket episodes to the U.S., we
wanted the producer
to understand how
popular the series
truly was here. So we
challenged fans to
send us a thousand
paper cranes [symbols
of peace] that we would then forward to Japan. Little did we know that
wed receive more than 10,000 paper cranes! We had to dedicate a whole
ofce to those cranes alone!
Website:www.funimation.com

Luxology
Luxology, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company behind the successful modo
artists tool, is also celebrating its fth year in the business in 07. Founded by Stuart
Ferguson, Allen Hastings and Brad Peebler (pictured), Luxology has people working
on modo in ve countries. People said we were completely insane to start a new
company and write applications from the ground up in this competitive, jam-packed
market! says current CEO and president Peebler. Now that modo is out in the wild
and artists all over the world are creating inspirational content, we think we have
made our point! Artists do care about workow and ease of use. Our attention to the little details as well as pouring in a ton of
technology has proven to be just what the market needed!
So what is their secret of the companys success? We have a delicious blend of talented engineers, passion, a
touch of insanity and a genuine simpatico with our end users. Community, community, community! We have the best!
We also love their out-of-house slogans Create at the speed of thought and You are not a number! AND the fact that
they consider Snoopy their role model! And if youre a fan already, youll be happy to know that they will release modo
301 in 2007! Huzzah!
Website: www.luxology.com

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wondertouch

This May will mark the fth anniversary of the

launch of Sony Pictures Animation. Its been great
fun to see the creation of this state-of-the-art
toon studio in Culver City, Calif., and wonderful to
see its rst feature-length release Open Season
(directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony
Stacchi) receive strong reviews and perform nicely
at the box ofce in 06. Founded by Yair Landau,
president of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, the toon division is led by
industry veterans Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkleman Cox.
The studio will release its second feature Surfs Up, directed by Ash Brannon
and Chris Buck, a behind-the-scenes documentary toon about the Penguin
World Surng Championship competition, in the summer. Then, theres the
adaptation of the childrens book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which will
be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (MTVs Clone High).
Also in the busy CG production pipeline is Hotel
Transylvania, to be directed by David Feiss (Open
Season, Cow and Chicken) and Anthony Stacchi
(Open Season, Antz). This kooky monster movie will
visit Dracula, the Wolf Man and other classic creeps, who all hang out together
and try to cope with the notion that they are no longer relevant in modern
times.
As SPA excellent spokesman
Jerry Schimtz tells us the in-house
slogan is story, story, story! One
things for sure: Its going to be
great fun to see this new kid in
town grow, evolve and entertain us
with more top-notch movies in the
years ahead.
Website: www.imageworks.com

SPECIAL REPORT

Ten-Year Anniversaries

In June 2002, Alan

Lorence started a software
development company called
wondertouch in Madison, MO,
which has changed the way
artists create particle effects.
ParticleIllusion, the shops
award-winning tool has opened
new doors to both vfx pros and
amateur artists. The clever
folks at the company tell us
that their biggest role models
are any programmer, artist or
poducer who has ever added
any type of CG explosion to a
videogame, TV show or movie,
especially where it really wasnt
necessary or even made sense

to put one! Next up for the

company are particleIllusion
AE (After Effects plug-in) and
particleIllusion 3.5. We cant
wait to see what Alan and his
buddies come up with in the
next ve years!
Website: www.wondertouch.
com
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ACME Animation
Its been almost a decade since Dave Master decided to create a network that
would allow world-class animation pros to offer instruction and advice to high
school animation students and enthusiasts. His wonderful brainchild, The ACME
Network, has placed hundreds of animators working in the industry and taught
thousands of visually literate acionados about the art from.
Dave tells us that the best thing the program did was to learn from the
elements that resulted in the success of his Rowland High School Animation
program and provide them as utility for a growing community of enterprising
teachers and enthusiastic students from the inner cities to rural outposts.
Their next project is a cross-cultural ACME Online pilot which will connect
young students in the favelas of Brazil to kids in the U.S. to share their animation projects, with mentoring from
animation pros in both countries.
Website:www.acmeanimation.org

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DQ Entertainment

Amberwood Entertainment
PBS viewers who enjoy this holiday seasons live-action/CG mix special The Snow
Queen will get a good idea of the cool things this Ottawabased shop has been up to lately. Founded by Sheldon S.
Wiseman in 1997, the shops most famous animated show is
The Secret World of Benjamin Bear, which has been sold in
over 80 territories.
Amberwoods other well-know toons include Zeroman, Hoze
Houndz, Katie & Orbie and Under the Umbrella Tree, many
of which were commissioned by Canadas Family Channel and Teletoon. Kids can also
look forward to projects RollBots, Rob the Robot and Debra the Zebra in future years.
Wiseman says he has stayed in this unpredictable
business because We love providing the world with
quality childrens programming made in Canada.
Website: www.amberwoodentertainment.com

TOKYOPOP

SPECIAL REPORT

L.A.-based manga powerhouse TOKYOPOP will

hit the big one-o in 2007. Founded by Stu Levy, the
company has had a huge impact in bringing the
inuential Japanese comic-book revolution to hungry
American readers. The publishing entity also branched
out to the TV toon and DVD arenas with titles such as
Reign: The Conqueror and Rave Master.
Under the leadership of Levy and company president John Parker,
the house which began modestly a decade ago with a line of volumes has
now expanded to numerous original title as well as comic-book versions of
American favorite such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek and Family Guy.
In 2006, TOKYOPOP began a co-venture with HarperCollins and launched a
new website which allowed fans to create blogs, post artwork, videos and
manga. Also in the pipeline are the companys rst Manga Movies animated
shorts, new digital content such as iManga and feature lms such as
Lament of the Lamb.
And what does keep the crew at TOKYOPOP inspired? Our passion for
artists, for audiences, for storytelling and bringing the world together,
says the shops public relations diva Susan Hale. Heres to another great
decade for the enterprising company.
Website:www.tokyopop.com

15-Year Anniversaries

Ten years Ago, Tapaas

Chakravarti founded his
lucrative state-of theart animation studio DQ
Entertainment in Hyderabad, India. In recent years, the
studio has worked on acclaimed animated series such as
Delta State, Curious George, Todd World and Tutenstein,
as well as the Choose Your Own Adventure DVD feature
for Mike Young Productions and Forward Media. Along the
2D/Flash projects, DQ has also kept a healthy CG pipeline,
working on prestigious toons such as Skyland, Donkey
Ollie, Mikido and Barbie Diaries.
Picked by Red Herring magazine as one of the top
100 private companies in the world, DQE has over 2500
permanent employees and 500-plus contract jobs out of
its Hyderabad and Far East locations. The studio recently
added a new gaming division and expanded its capacity
for 3D features to better accommodate the needs of the
latest gaming devices and titles. DQ also launched a joint
venture with Frances Onyx Films and bought a strategic
stake of up to 20 percent in Method Films. We wish the
very best for Tapaas and his multi-national corporation
which is fast becoming one of the key players in the global
toon and gaming business. What a way to go in only one
decade of operation!
Website:www.dqentertainment.com

The Visual Effects Society

We are not geeks, just ask our other halves! Thats
what the hard-working folks at the Visual Effects Society
want the world to understand! Founded ten years ago by
Tom Atkin, this effective organization has been putting
on the glitzy VES Awards ceremony since 2003. This
February, theyll be upping the glam factor even more as
the ceremony will be taking place at the Kodak Grand
Ballroom.
They tell us that theyre proud of creating a sense
of community and camaraderie for our 1500 members
worldwide. And the reason they keep going is because
we love it and we are crazy! Truer words were never
spoken! Keep up the great work, folks!
Website:www.visualeffectssociety.com

Renegade Animation
If youve ever seen an episode of Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi or admired some of the awesome live-action/animated commercials for Target, Cheetos
or station ID spots for Cartoon Network and Boomerang, then you are quite familiar with the awesome work delivered by the bofns at Glendale,
Calif.-based Renegade Animation.
Founded by Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postlewaite, the studio will be releasing its rst animated feature in the near future. Directed by Robert
Zappia, Who Stole Santas Sack? has lined up a top-notch list of voice actors. On the TV front you can catch the work they did for Cartoon Networks
new toon/live-action hybrid project Re-Animated in December.
When we asked them to tell us something nobody can guess about Renegade, they wrote The founders arent married to each
other and never were! They also site anyone who has ever started a business and stayed in it longer than ve years as their
role models! Since they will be celebrating their 15th anniversary in 2007, they denitely know what theyre talking about!
Website:www.renegadeanimation.com
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Sony Pictures ImageWorks

SPECIAL REPORT

Cuppa Coffee
With a name like Cuppa Coffee, its not surprising that the slogan for
Adam Shaheens hopping toon house is Good animation, bad coffee!
Established in 1992, the Toronto-based company has given us many
reasons to love them throughout the years. Renowned toons such as
Playhouse Disneys Jo Jos Circus to MTVs Celebrity Deathmatch and
Bruno have been keeping the shop quite busy and popular recently.
Next up for the house is a 26 x 11-minute spin-off series featuring
everyones favorite Flash monkey, Bruno.
The in-house animators are also working
on Rick and Steve (The Happiest Gay
Couple in the World), the new series
for MTVs sister channel LOGO, a new
season of Deathmatch and E! Networks
Starveillance.
Among the many feathers in their cap is The Adventures of Sam
Digital, an award-winning short (for Nicks Short Films by Short People)
conceived and written by an 11-year-old student.
We asked them to tell us about their silliest thing they ever did. On
a lark, we rebuilt a stock car and entered into a country fair demolition
derby. Unfortunately, come derby time, we couldnt get the car out of
reverse! We did, however, win best-looking car, which is really the most
important category for an animation and design house!
Shaheen says he and his team got into the business because we
love what we do and its stayed that way for 15 years. Good thing we
all love what they do as well.
Website: www.cuppacoffee.com

20-Year Anniversaries

Under the sharp eye and astute leadership of

president and CEO Tim Sarnoff, SPI has become
one of the most inuential CG operations in
the world in the past 15 years. The shop that
gave us the space shuttle rescue sequence
in Superman Returns and the completely CGanimated Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2.
The best
thing we ever
did was to
identify character animation as an essential
component of our business, says SPIs
spokesperson Don Levy. Every project weve
done exemplies that,
from the spectacular
clock tower/subway ght
in Spider-Man 2 to the
tiniest tuft of fur in Open
Season.
The new year will see
more cool SPI signature
razzle dazzle sequences
in features such as Ghost
Rider (February), Spider-Man 3 (May), Surfs Up
(June), Beowulf (November). Come Oscar time,
were sure well have several of the studios
handiwork duking it out for the Golden Boy. So,
to all the talented folks working over at the lot
on Culver, keep em coming. Weve got our eyes
on you.
Website: www.sonypictures.com/imageworks

Blue Sky Studios

It would be quite difcult to nd someone who hasnt instantly fallen in love with Scrat, the nut-hording
critter from the Ice Age movies (and the star of the Oscar-nominated short Gone Nutty and this years No Time
for Nuts). Director Chris Wedge and the studio that gave us this delightful pop culture hero will be turning
20 this Februaryand judging by the list of the shops top-caliber projects in the next few years, there are no
signs of dark clouds for Blue Sky.
After rising from the ashes of MAGI/Synthanvision, the White Plains, New York-based studio broke into
features when MTV hired it to create the creepy cockroaches in Joes Apartment. Using its proprietary
software, the studio produced over 200 spots for clients such as Chrysler, M&M, General Foods and Texaco. As
the result of the acquisition by 20th Century Fox, Chris Wedge and this talented crew gave us the stunningly
animated Oscar-winning short Bunny, which was only an appetizer for the
Oscar-nominated 2002 feature Ice Age.
Next up for Wedge and co-director Carlos Saldanha was the greatlooking 2005 feature Robots which made over $128 million at the U.S. box
ofce alone, which was followed by the biggest animated blockbuster of
06, Ice Age: The Meltdown. With much-anticipated CG-animated features
such as Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age 3 planned for 2008 and Fox Dogs
for 2009, we know the skys the limit for this shop of wonders.
Website: www.blueskystudios.com

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Bardel Entertainment

The Right Stuf

The best thing about working in animation are the fantastic

people working in it and seeing great ideas come to life, says Barry
Ward, the man who co-founded Vancouver toon house Bardel, along
with his wife Delna Bhesania 20 years ago. Back in the 80s, Bardels
staple work came from commercials and series, but by 1995, it had
transitioned to A-list features such as Warner Bros. Space Jams, Don
Bluths Anastasia and a solid relationship with DreamWorks for all of
its 2D lms.
In 1999, Barry and Delna opened Bardel Entertainment to develop
and produce their own properties such as The Christmas Orange and
the popular adaptation of Kenneth Opels Silverwing books (which has
been edited into three 72-minute movies on DVD and VHS). In 2004,
they also delivered the fantasy project Dragons: Fire and Ice on DVD.
Barry says the most difcult part of running a top-notch studio
these days is nalizing the deal. But that hasnt
stopped their brilliant team from working on some
amazing projects. Next up is Los Camperones, a Flashanimated feature produced by the creators of Mucha
Lucha!, Eddie Mort and Lili Chin, and the Edgar and
Ellen series, the hilarious 2D series produced with Star
Farm, which is coming to Nickelodeon in 2007. Bardel
is also busy working on the 4Kids shows Viva Piata
and Chaotic. We just know these guys will continue to raise the bar in
their their next two dynamic decades.
Website:www.bardelentertainment.com

CEO Shawne Klecker

and his team at Grimes,
Iowa-based The Right
Stuf have been delivering
English-lingo versions of
hot anime titles to U.S. audiences since 1987. The companys rst title was none other than Osamu Tezukas
Astro Boy (circa 1963), which was a childhood favorite
of the the
company
founder Robert Ferson. The initial VHS cassettes of the show debuted in 1989, and in 2006, the company released two
Ultra Collectors Edition box sets of the series with fully
restored video and bonus footage previously unavailable in the U.S. According to Klekner, few people know
that Right Stuf was initially founded to purchase and
sell telescopesthus, the name! He also sites Tezuka,
the father of anime and manga, as his role model for
his creativity and innovative spirit. He tells us that the
best thing they did was to partner with a great dubbing
studio, Headline Sound, for their English-language dubs.
And the most dubious thing? Sublicensing our DVDs
to other people instead of just doing them ourselves!
Needless to say, we dont do that anymore! Aah, the
sweet wisdom of hindsight!
Website:www.rightstuf.com

SPECIAL REPORT

Side Effects
Rhythm & Hues
Side Effects Software was born in 1987
when Greg Hermanovic and Kim Davidson
began working with the PRISMS software
acquired from Omnibus, the largest
computer animation company at the time.
Today, the
company
is best
known for
Houdini, its
award-winning procedural 3D animation
software, which allows both professionals
and beginners to create sophisticated
effects by simply stringing together
nodes. Davidson, the current president
and CEO, says putting their procedural
architecture at the center of all Side
Effects products to give customers
essential exibility is the best thing
the company has ever done. They say
the worst thing they ever did was push
a quarter-of-a-million-dollar SGI ONYX
computer across a busy street for
SIGGRAPH 94. The company is currently
working on Houdini 9, a major milestone
that promises to dramatically improve
user interaction and workow.
Website: www.sidefx.com
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Looking back at the list of the movies this award-winning visual effects house
has worked on since its creation in 1987 by six former
employees of Robert Abel and Associates is like reading a
list of the best vfx pics of the past two decades. Although
the studio is best know of its Oscar-winning work on
George Millers 1995 talking-pig movie Babe, it has dazzled
audiences with its uncanny handiwork in projects as
wide-ranging as those famous Polar Bear spots for Coke,
GEICOs Gecko ads, Batman Forever, Star Trek: The Next
Generation, Scooby-Doo, Cats and Dogs and Stuart Little.
In 2006 alone, R&Hs clients included Gareld 2: A Tale
of Two Kitties, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Lake House,
Superman Returns, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift,
Happy Feet, Charlottes Web and A Night at the Museum.
Led by vfx pioneer John Hughes, the L.A.-based studio has proven its ability to
produce dynamic effects that push the status quo in motion pictures. In 2005,
Andrew Adamsons remarkable epic Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe owed a huge portion of its success to the team at R&H. Not surprisingly,
the Academy recognized their top-notch work with another Oscar nomination.
When we asked them to tell us something nobody knows about them, company
spokesperson Scot Byrd wrote, Talking animals are fun, but its not all we do! Were
sure moviegoers will be oohing and aahing over R&Hs next two big projects in 2007,
Evan Almighty and His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass will agree with Byrd.
Website: www.rhythm.com

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25-Year Anniversaries

SPECIAL REPORT

Chiodo Brothers
Perhaps best known
for writing, directing and
creating the creature
effects for the sci- cult
classic Killer Klowns from
Outer Space, brothers
Stephen, Charles and
Edward Chiodo have been
making lms since they
were kids and have spent
the last 25 years creating
memorable visual effects
for lm and television.

Recent accomplishments
include providing stop-motion animation for the Will
Ferrell holiday movie Elf, and marionette puppetry for
the feature lm Team America: World Police from South
Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Theyve also
produced stop-motion segments for Foxs The Simpsons
and have supplied effects for such leading lmmakers as
Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and Paul Verhoven. This fall, the
brothers released their rst childrens book, Alien Xmas,
which they plan to make into a stop-motion animated
feature. On an interesting note, up-and-coming rock band
The Chiodos (Chi-oh-dose) named themselves after the
Chiodo (Kee-oh-do) brothers because theyre such big fans
of Killer Klowns.
Website: www.chiodobros.com

S4C
The Welsh Fourth TV authority recently marked its 25th
anniversary. This public service broadcasting station covers all of
Wales and focuses on the needs of the Welsh-speaking population.
The companys areas of activities include distribution, coproduction and multi-media. Back in 92, S4C initiated a long-term
policy aimed at producing quality animation for television.
S4C is committed to developing a range of creative animation
projects across different genres and for multi-platform use,
from short promotional trails which can be zapped to mobile
phones to prime-time programming, says Meirion Davies, S4Cs
Commissioning Editor Entertainment. We look forward to working
alongside the talented
teams at the successful
companies.
Calon is currently in
production on S4Cs new
animated pre-school
series, Hanas Helpline a
co-production with Five
and Germanys ZDF with
support from the EUs Media+ program and the National Assembly
for Wales. Griflms is also working on a 30-minute animated
lm based on the Welsh legend of Gelert for S4Cs 2007 holiday
schedule, and Dinamo is producing CWM Teg, a series of 20 veminute nursery rhymes for the broadcaster. Other new S4C toons
include Happy Valley and Wheres My Dinner.
Website:www.s4c.co.uk

35-Year Anniversaries
BRB Internacional
Forget the ditty about the rain in Spain. The real news coming out of the beautiful country is the Madridbased BRB Internacional which will be celebrating its 35th year in the business in 2007. As Carlos Biern, the
companys charming director of development and sales recalls, I was born at the same time as the company I
work for, which was founded by my father Claudio in Madrid! I guess 1972 was the year all his troubles began!
he jokes! Biern senior is still the company president and CEO and Javier Robles de Acuna is the current CEO.
Among the studios greatest hits from the past couple of decades are David the
Gnome, Dogtanian and Willy Fog. In 2005, the shop added the shows Papawa, Iron Kid and The Invisible Man to its list of hits, followed by
Bernard, a huge international sensation which follows the misadventures of an accident-prone CG-animated polar bear. This past year has
also been a prosperous one, as the shop introduced Angus and Cheryl at TV markets, a delightful show about the never-ending battles
and differences between boys and girls. BRB also had the smarts to develop The Imp, a hilarious new short-format series that is ideal for
new platforms and won the Licensing Challenge at the MIPCOM Junior event in October. Its a delicious comedy, packed with high-calorie
evil! notes Biern.
So what is the little fact nobody can guess about the studio? Despite being such an old company, we try to innovate on every single project we get
started. We work as a team and think four years in advance! We think theres only one Spanish word that describes this sensational studio: maravilloso!
Website: www.brb.es Q
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Top 20 Grossing Animated Movies

Rank

Film (Year)

Studio

$ Domestic Total

$ Foreign

Shrek 2 (2004)

DreamWorks

$600,788,188

$479,439,411

Finding Nemo (2003)

Buena Vista

$339,714,978

$524,911,000

The Lion King (1994)

Buena Vista

$328,541,776

$455,300,000

Shrek (2001)

DreamWorks

$267,665,011

$479,439,411

The Incredibles (2004)

Buena Vista

$261,441,092

$369,995,000

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Buena Vista

$255,873,250

$269,493,347

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Buena Vista

$245,852,179

$239,163,000

Cars (2006)

Buena Vista

$244,082,982

$216,899,000

Aladdin (1992)

Buena Vista

$217,350,219

$286,700,000

10.

Ice Age 2 (2006)

Fox

$195,330,621

$451,833,448

11.

Toy Story (1995)

Buena Vista

$191,780,865

$170,162,503

12.

Ice Age (2002)

Fox

$176,387,405

$206,871,808

13.

The Polar Express (2004)

Warner Bros.

$173,675,955

$124,100,000

14.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Buena Vista

$171,350,553

$206,000,000

15.

Tarzan (1999)

Buena Vista

$170,742,341

$277,100,000

16.

A Bugs Life (1998)

Buena Vista

$162,798,565

$200,600,000

17.

Shark Tale (2004)

DreamWorks

$160,861,908

$202,668,288

18.

Over the Hedge (2006)

Paramount

$155,019,340

$175,678,100

19.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

Buena Vista

$154,112,492

$173,351,588

20.

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Buena Vista

$145,771,527

$127,349,813

SPECIAL REPORT

Top 20 Grossing VFX-Driven Movies

Rank

Film (Year)

Studio

$ Domestic Total

$ Foreign

Titanic (1997)

Paramount

$600,788,188

$1,244,246,000

Star Wars: Ep. IV (1977)

Fox

$460,998,007

$314,400,000

E.T. (1982)

Universal

$434,974,579

$357,800,000

Star Wars: Ep. I (1999)

Fox

$431,088,295

$493,229,257

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (2006)

Buena Vista

$423,032,628

$641,055,000

Spider-Man (2002)

Sony Pictures

$403,706,375

$418,002,176

Star Wars: Ep. III (2005)

Fox

$380,270,577

$469,727,028

LoTR: Return of the King (2003)

New Line

$377,027,325

$741,861,654

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Sony Pictures

$373,377,893

$410,180,516

10.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Universal

$357,067,947

$557,623,171

11.

LoTR: The Two Towers (2002)

New Line

$341,786,758

$584,500,642

12.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone (2001)

Warner Bros.

$317,575,550

$658,900,000

13.

LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

New Line

$314,776,170

$556,592,194

14.

Star Wars: Ep. II (2002)

Fox

$310,676,740

$338,721,588

15.

Star Wars: Ep. VI (1983)

Fox

$306,169,255

$165,800,000

16.

Independence Day (1996)

Fox

$306,169,255

$510,800,000

17.

Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)

Buena Vista

$305,413,918

$348,500,000

18.

The Chronicles of Narnia (2005)

Buena Vista

$291,710,957

$453,073,000

19.

Star Wars: Ep. V (1980)

Fox

$290,271,960

$247,900,000

20.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Warner Bros.

$290,013,036

$602,200,000
Source: EDI FilmSource/ Variety

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Toon Town Milestones:

The 2007 Edition
175 Years Ago

95 Years Ago

Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and his

sons introduce the Phenakistoscope,
an early animation device which was the
predecessor to the zoetrope.

Animation pioneer Winsor

McCay delights audiences
with his How a Mosquito
Operates.

80 Years Ago

75 Years Ago

Walt Disney and Ub

Iwerks new animated
character Oswald the
Lucky Rabbit makes
his debut in the short
Trolley Troubles.

Burt Gilletts Flowers and the Trees, the Oscarwinning Silly Symphonies toon is the
rst short made with Technicolors
three-strip process.
George Pal introduces the famous Puppetoon series as part
of an ad campaign.
Goofy, Disneys dim-witted and lovable canine, makes his
rst appearance in the 1932 short Mickeys Revue.

SPECIAL REPORT

70 Years Ago
Directed by David Hand, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disneys rst fulllength animated feature, premieres on December 21, 1937. The lm receives
a special Oscar in 1939one full-size Oscar and seven dwarf
Oscarspresented to Disney by Shirley Temple.
Released on Nov. 5, 1937, Disneys Oscar-winning short, The Old
Mill, tells a story without relying on anthropomorphic characters.
Tex Avery introduces Daffy Duck in the short Porkys Duck Hunt.
Mel Blanc does his rst voice work in Picador Porky.
Also, Elmer Fudd makes his debut in Egghead Ruleshe was known as Egghead in his early
days!

65 Years Ago
Bambi, David Hands unforgettable forest
fable, becomes Disneys fth full-length
feature. A pair of four-month-old fawns,
several squirrels, birds,
rabbits, chipmunks
and other woodland
creatures were brought
to the studio for the
animators to study
during the six-year
production period.

60 Years Ago
That feisty canary Tweety Bird
and scheming cat Sylvester make
their rst appearance together in
Friz Frelengs Oscar-winning short
Tweetie Pie.
Donald Duck
meets two of
his favorite chipmunks
in Jack Hannahs Oscarnominated short Chip an
Dale.
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Toon Timeline
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55 Years Ago

50 Years Ago

William Hanna and

Joseph Barbera hit
another home run with
the Oscar-winning
Johann Mouse,
considered one of the
best Tom and Jerry
toons of all time.

William Hanna and

Joseph Barbera leave
MGM and form Hanna
Barbera Studios.
Friz Frelengs Oscarwinning short Birds Anonymous puts Sylvester in
a 12-step program for bird-eating addicts.
Chuck Jones puts Bugs Bunny in drag as the
Valkyrie Brunhilde against hot-to-trot demi-god
Siegfried played by Elmer
Fudd in the much-loved short,
Whats Opera, Doc?
Among the popular animated
shows debuting on TV this
year are The Gumby Show,
Tom Terric and The Woody
Woodpecker Show.

45 Years Ago
Two men discuss
accidents and
the possibility of
nuclear war in John
and Faith Hubleys
Oscar-winning
short, The Hole.

SPECIAL REPORT

The Jetsons
and Wally
Gator are the
latest TV toon
series out of
the Hanna
Barbera hit
factory.

35 Years Ago

40 Years Ago
Directed by
Wolfgang
Reitherman,
The Jungle
Book is
released in
theaters. This
adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story, which was the last movie Disney
worked on before his death, is released in theaters. It features the
catchy song Bare Necessities which earns an Oscar nom in 1968.
Fred Wolf and Jimmy Murakami team up to create the Oscar-winning
eight-minute short, The Box.
Tansunokos 1967 series Speed Racer introduces anime to American
audiences in a big way.
Animated TV properties such as The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show,
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, George of the Jungle, Spider-Man and The
Superman/Aquaman Adventure Hour win fans all over the country.

Ralph Bakshi rocks the toon

world with his outrageous cult
movie Fritz the Cat, based on the
comics by Robert Crumb.
A mysterious creature warns the world about the dangers of cutting down trees in the CBS
special, The Lorax, based on the book by Dr. Seuss and directed by Hawley Pratt.
Baby boomers take in the wild colors and funkadelic sounds
of animated TV shows such as Fat Albert and the Cosby kids,
Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, The Osmonds, The
Roman Holidays, Sealab 2020 and Wait Till Your Father Gets
Home.
Producers Lee Mendelson and Charles
M. Schulz offered the second feature
based on the popular Peanuts strip
titled Snoopy, Come Home.
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Toon Timeline
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30 Years Ago

SPECIAL REPORT

Director George Lucas and his

team of vfx masters (John
Dykstra, John Stears, Richard
Edlund, Phil Tippett, Dennis
Muren, Grant McCune, Robert
Blalack) rewrote the book on
fantasy lmmaking with the
seminal epic Star Wars.
Italian toon maestro Bruno
Bozzetto has fun with classical
music in the global cult hit
Allegro non troppo.
The world meets
Bernard and Bianca
(voiced by Bob
Newhart and Eva
Gabor), the animated
mice from Disneys
popular feature, The
Rescuers.
Disney mixes live
action with an animated character in Don
Chaffeys Petes Dragon.

25 Years Ago
Directed by Disney renegade
Don Bluth, the hugely underrated The Secret of NIMH,
based on the book, opens a new chapter in the history of
traditionally animated features.
Vincent, Tim Burtons animated homage to his favorite
actor Vincent Price, offers a glimpse of what to expect
from the acclaimed director in the years to come.
Polish animator Zingier Rybczynski delights
festivalgoers with his Oscar-winning short Tango.
Dianne Jackson and John Coates bring
Raymond Briggs successful childrens book, The
Snowman, to animated life in a timeless Oscarnominated Channel 4 special.
Among the shows debuting on TV this year are
Robotech: The Macross
Saga, Pac-Man and The
Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy
Hour.

20 Years Ago
Matt Groenings dysfunctional family The Simpsons makes its debut on FOX-TVs
The Tracey Ullman Show.
Frederic Backs beautifully animated Oscar-winning short, The Man Who Planted
Trees, delights animation fans and ecologically minded audiences everywhere.
Disneys TV Animation division delivers the delightfully retro
series, DuckTales.
Kevin Eastman and Peter Lairds Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles leaps from the pages of the popular comics to the
small screen thanks to a syndicated show produced by
Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Films Productions.
Animator Ralph Bakshi and producer John W. Hyde team up for the brilliant and inuential
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures series which debuts on CBS. The
show served as a springboard for the likes of John Kricfalusi, Bruce
Timm, Jim Reardon, Tom Minton, Lynne Naylor and Rich Moore.
The acclaimed Oscar-nominated short, Your Face, puts New York indie
animator Bill Plympton on the map.
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15 Years Ago
Ron Clements and John Musker continue the new wave of Disney
animated features with their colorful Aladdin feature. The movie wins two
Oscars (Best Score, Best Song A Whole New World by Alan Menken and
Tim Rice) in 1988.
Cartoon Network switches the on button in 2 million homes. By 1995, the revolutionary toon cablers
subscriber numbers go up to 22 million.
Joan C. Gratz takes a survey of 20th century art in the Oscar-winning short Mona Lisa Descending a
Staircase.
The TV series Bananas in Pyjamas are all the rage in Australia and abroad.
Warner Bros. Animation delivers the stylish and well-received Batman: The
Animated Series, produced by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski.
Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Wolverine
are among the characters featured in
The X-Men animated series on Fox.
Bill Kroyer directs the feature toon
FernGully: The Last Rainforest, a
charming 2D movie with an ecologically
correct message.
Bill Plympton completes his rst featurelength lm, The Tune.

10 Years Ago
SPECIAL REPORT

Matt Stone and Trey Parkers envelope-pushing, irreverent South Park bows
on Comedy Central.
Its a great year for girlcentric toons with
MTVs Daria, Warner Bros. The Legend of
Calamity Jane and Disneys Pepper Ann
premiering on the small screen.
Hayao Miyazakis beautiful and haunting
movie, Princess Mononoke, is released on
July 12 in Japan.
Cartoon Networks Cow and Chicken and Johnny
Bravo reafrm the cablers inuential style.
Mark Dindal directs the critically acclaimed 2D toon Cats Dont Dance (produced
by Turner and released by Warner Bros.). The late Gene Kelly was the lms
choreographer.
Created by Mitch Schauer, The Angry Beavers (about the bachelor brothers
Daggett and Norbert Beaver) debuts on Nickelodeon.
Pokmons Ash and Pikachu get their rst animated TV series on TV Tokyo.
Directors Ron Clements and John Musker put an animated, musical spin on the
Greek legend in the stylized Disney toon, Hercules.
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman explore the mystery of the Romanov Royalty in the
traditionally drawn lm Anastasia, featuring the voices of Meg Ryan and John
Cusack.
The folks at Disney TV Animation offer viewers 101 Dalmatians: The Series and
Recess.
Mike Judges slice-of-Texas life series King of the Hill debuts on the Fox network.
Geris Game, a charming animated short by Pixar animator Jan Pinkava grabs a lot
of attention thanks to its realistic CG depiction of clothing and textures. It wins
the Oscar the following year.
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SPECIAL REPORT

Five Years Ago

Hayao Miyazakis Oscar-winning feature, Spirited Away
earns new fans for the master Japanese animator when its
released by Disney in U.S. theaters in the summer.
DreamWorks Animations Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Treasure Planet
gives horse lovers a traditionally
Spirited Away animated feature to love and admire.
Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna
Cooke, the pic earns an Oscar nom for Best Feature Animation as does Ron
Clements underrated adventure pic, Treasure Planet.
Warner Bros. Animation welcomes Ozzy and Drix,
!Mucha Lucha!, Whats New, Scooby-Doo? and
Baby Looney Tunes to its popular TV family.
Directed and written by Chris Sanders and Dean
DeBlois, Disneys beautifully animated Lilo & Stitch hits theaters in
June. The lm picks up an Oscar nomination
Jimmy Neutron
in 2003.
Blue Sky joins forces with Fox to create the
Oscar-nominated CG hit Ice Age (directed by
Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha), which
Whats New Scooby-Doo?
introduces auds to the popular character
Scrat and spawns a sequel in 2006.
Two eccentric new toonsThe Adventures of Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius and ChalkZone bow on
Nickelodeon.
Cartoon Network welcomes the mischiefmaking clan of Tom Warburtons Codename:
Kids Next Door and Greg Millers Whatever
Happened to Robot Jones, a cool toon with
a serious 70s vibe.
Created by Mark McCorkle and Robert
Schooley, the spunky, red-haired
Mobile Suite:
crimeghter known as Kim Possible
Gundam SEED
begins her wacky adventures on the
Disney Channel.
Masashi Kishimotos hit manga series
Naruto gets its own TV show on TV
Tokyo and Animax in Japan. Also, Mobile
Suit: Gundam SEED debuts on Tokyo
Broadcasting System in October.
Other movies celebrating ve year
Naruto
anniversaries this year are The Wild
Thornberrys Movie, Strange
The Wild
Invaders, Return to Never
Thornberrys Movie
Land, Pokmon 4Ever,
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie,
Hey Arnold! The Movie and
Eight Crazy Nights.
Eric Armstrong creates
some amazing CG-animated
Return to Neverland
aliens in his Oscar-winning
short, The ChubbChubbs! Q

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40 Auteurs We Love (1987-2006)

Making this list was a dirty job, but someone had to do it. The animation and vfx world
is blessed with so many brilliant visionaries that its impossible to narrow the eld
down in this small space. So please dont be upset if you or your favorite genius auteurs
dont show up on this very subjective list. Well be compiling another one for our 25th
anniversary!

Andrew Adamson. The talented vfx pro-turned-blockbuster director from Auckland, New
Zealand, has been topping himself ever since his rst big helming effort on Shrek in 2001. He continued his
winning streak with the movies sequel and managed to bring together several top vfx houses from around
the world to deliver the magical holiday treat that was the rst Chronicles of Narnia in 2005. C.S. Lewis fans
are thrilled that hes already working on the second Narnia movie, Prince Caspian.

Roger Allers. Its hard to think about the heights of 2D animation in Disney during the last two
decades without the ferociously skilled animator/writer/director who brought The Lion King to life, as
well as playing key roles in Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The
Emperors New Groove. In 2006, he co-directed Sony Animations CG-animated hit Open Season and offered
a poignant, poetic short based on Hans Christian Andersens The Little Matchgirlgreat work from a very
gifted guy.

SPECIAL REPORT

Danny Antonucci.

We kind of knew back when Dannys short Lupo the Butcher took the festival
world by storm in 1987 to expect great things from this one-of-a-kind animator. After creating MTVs The
Brothers Grunt and working on Cartoon Sushi, he really hit his groove with the 1999 Cartoon Network show
Ed, Edd n Eddy. Six seasons later, the three underdog boys and Dannys Vancouver-based a.k.a. Cartoon
studio continue to ride a much-deserved popularity wave.

Gary Baseman. Whether you love his illustrations (Cranium, anyone?) or fell for his Emmy-winning
show Teachers Pet and the underrated feature movie that got buried in the avalanche of CG movies two
years ago, you know that Baseman is the real thing. The L.A.-based artist works hard on his line of rst-rate
vinyl toys, sculptures and collectiblesand you can visit his website (www.garybaseman.com) for more info
on his latest creations.

Brad Bird. Funny how Bird gives you hope about the future of the medium whenever things look
bleak. In 1989, with The Iron Giant he showed the world how you could do a traditionally animated movie that
didnt resort to condescending formulas. Then he did it again with his Oscar-winning cartoony CG-animated
The Incredibles in 2004. We wonder how hes going to exceed our expectations with his upcoming Pixar
summer treat, Ratatouille?

Don Bluth. The brilliant talent that gave us the gentle 2D animated worlds of The Secret of NIMH,
An American Tail, The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven (and that kitchy animated bit in Xanadu)
is also the enterprising man who set up his own indie studio and headed up Foxs animation shop in Phoenix
and gave Disney stiff competition for a good while. Even his underrated projects such as Titan A.E. and the
Dragon Lair 3D game have numerous inspired moments. The animation he created for Scissor Sisters Mary
video in 2004 may just be an indication of more wonderful stuff ahead from the Bluthmeister.

Tim Burton. Theres a wonderfully complex career arc that has taken the former Disney animator
from his stop-motion short, Vincent (1982), to last years Oscar-nominated piece de resistance The Corpse
Bride. He penned the script for The Nightmare Before Christmas and took us along the dizzying heights of
Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and we always knew were in the
hands of a visual demon. Next stop is his lm adaptation of Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp.
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Auteurs
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Sylvain Chomet.

We rst fell in love with the French animators work in the 1993 Oscar-winning
short The Old Lady and the Pigeon. Then in 2002, he really knocked our socks off with the poetic, funny and
very unusual feature The Triplets of Belleville. So we all cheered as his movie landed two Oscar nominations
(Best Animated Feature and Best Song). And heres the good news for all those who are complaining that
all animated features are beginning to look alike: Chomets next big project is The Illusionist, featuring an
animated version of French comic Jacques Tati. Magnique!

Peter Chung. When we rst saw Chungs progressive and starkly unique animation on display in
MTVs Aeon Flux in the 90s, we knew a new star had been born. He followed that inuential toon with
Phantom 2040 and Reign: The Conqueror. His directing credits include The Matriculated segment in The
Animatrix and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. Lets hope its true that hes working on more episodes
of Flux for a direct-to-DVD project and feature called Luvula.

Ron Clements & John Musker. We treasure these guys because theyre the
true links between the Disney toons from another era such as The Fox and the Hound and The Great
Mouse Detective to the majestic heights of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. We love the risks they
took with Hercules and Treasure Planet, and our hearts sang when Disneys smart new leadership
asked them to come back to look after the upcoming new feature, The Frog Princess. Heres to
many more happy endings from the dynamic duo.

Matt Groening. Forget all those cute CG-animated crittersthe summer of 2007 may very well
belong to Groening and his delightfully dysfunctional Springeld clan as The Simpsons Movie hits theaters
in July. Theres no way around it: The man behind the longest-running American sitcom (and animated
series) of all time has arguably inspired and warped more minds than anyone else in the past 20 years.

SPECIAL REPORT

Butch Hartman.

Kids really get a kick out of the snappy humor and situations of Hartmans
monster hits The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, and its easy to see why. His distinctive vision and
infectious energy have put him far ahead of his contemporaries in the TV business. The good news is that
hes developing two more shows for Nickelodeon. And, yes, we forgive him for the English dub of Doogal.

Stephen Hillenburg. The one-time marine biology teacher hit the once-in-a-lifetime toon jackpot
with his lovable yellow absorbent hero, SpongeBob SquarePants. Who could have predicted that the goofy
residents of Bikini Bottom would leave such a lasting impact on our pop culture world. The 2004 feature
release was a surreal blast, and we are so grateful to Hillenburg for giving us so many chuckles and making
every optimist listen to his or her inner SpongeBob for decades to come.

Faith Hubley. Although Faith and John Hubley did the bulk of their joint projects during the 60s and
70s, Faith continued to be a prolic artist after her husbands death in 1977. Her teachings inspired a new
generation of experimental animators until she passed away ve years ago. These days her daughter Emily
continues the family tradition of creating personal and artistic shorts.

Christy Hui. Born and raised in China and the founder of L.A.-based toon shop ActionFliks, Christy
is the epitome of a multicultural world where eastern and western cultures blend together to create
cool entertainment. After introducing us to monk-in-training Omi and his buddies (street smart Brazilian
Raimundo, tech-savvy Kimiko and Texan cowboy Clay) in the hit Kids WB! toon Xiaolin Showdown, Christy
is now working on another awesome project called The Hulala Girls: Goddesses of Nature. Well follow her
gladly no matter to which far island of the world she takes us next.

Peter Jackson. One director to rule them all and one Gollum to show everyone else how CG
effects can really improve the cinematic landscape. He pushed the envelope with his brilliant and visually
arresting Lord of the Rings trilogy, then gave us a King Kong that would make Ray Harryhausen proud. His
New Zealand-based vfx shop Weta continues to deliver interesting work. Too bad Jackson is suing New Line
and wont be directing The Hobbit; otherwise wed have more fun on the Shire in the future.
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Mike Judge. Even if this Austin-based animator/director/writer/and sometime actor had only

created Beavis and Butt-Head in the past 20 years, hed be guaranteed a spot on this list. But he (along with
co-creator Greg Daniels) also brought us the offbeat and consistently funny world of Hank Hill and family in
King of the Hill (which begins its 11th season on FOX this January). And if you still havent caught his brilliantly
funny live-action movies Ofce Space and Idiocracy, then youre truly in for a treat!

Arlene Klasky & Gabor Csupo.

For several years in the 90s, you couldnt turn

on the TV or go to the movies or even shop at the market without being reminded of Klasky and Csupos
(and Paul Germains) phenomenally popular Rugrats series. Artist/producer Klasky and master animator
Gabor Csupo founded the inuential animation studio Klasky Csupo in 1982 and created several hip,
stylish toons for Nickelodeon (Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, The Wild Thornberrys, to name a few)
and four hit movies based on Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. They certainly left a huge impression on
all the kids who grew up with Chucky, Angelica and the rest of the Carmichael clan.

Satoshi Kon. If you like your anime layered with psychological complexity and love movies that play
with notions of reality, then youve probably built a DVD shrine to this Japanese master. Hes played mind
games with beautifully crafted movies such as Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and the TV
series Paranoia Agent. Hes back this year with the delicious Paprika. Too bad Hitchock isnt alive to appreciate
the homage.

John Kricfalusi. Ah, the amazing John K. Do we love him because he gave us the wild and

SPECIAL REPORT

twisted world of Ren & Stimpy? Or because he is always pushing the limits of good taste with eccentric
creations such as The Ripping Friends and The Goddamn George Liquor Program? Maybe its because he
represents everyones ideal of the irreverent, risk-taking, living-life-to-the-max artistic hero. Either way, we
hope he keeps making our eyeballs bulge out of their sockets over and over again.

John Lasseter. All eyes have been on the brilliant and well-liked Pixar maestro ever since he took
over the animation division at Disney. His most recent effort Cars raced to the top of the box-ofce and
DVD charts in 2006 and is considered a frontrunner in the Oscar race. Not only did he win our hearts with his
beautiful CG-animated movies such as Toy Story and A Bugs Life, he was also instrumental in introducing
Miyazakis movies to a whole new audience of U.S. moviegoers. On top of that, hes promised never to let
Disney forget about 2D animation. What a guy!

George Lucas.

Yes, the Force will always be with the man who reshaped the fantasy landscape
with his six Star Wars movies and introduced us to the legend of Indiana Jones. Not only did he give us the
vfx powerhouse known as Industrial Light & Magic, he also re-congured the entertainment landscape with
LucasFilm, LucasArt, Skywalker Ranch and Skywalker Sound, and now he has launched a new animation
empire in Singapore. So what if he hated Frank Darabonts script for the fourth Indiana Jones movie? Patience
is a virtue!

Seth MacFarlane.

Yes, he only turned 33 last October, and hes already made a huge impact
on the TV animation scene of the past 20 years. With the phenomenal success of his Family Guy TV show
(and DVDs), and the subsequent re-order by FOX TV, he gave his fans a second treat with the irreverent and
politically incorrect American Dad series in 2005. To prove that some people have talent to burn, he
also provides the Emmy-winning voice of power-hungry baby Stewie Grifn, as well as four other main
characters on the show. Sheesh!

Todd McFarlane.

Comic-book fanatics knew about Todd back when he revitalized Marvels

Spider-Man franchise in the late 80s. The rest of us discovered his talents when HBO aired his occult-themed
animated superhero series, Spawn, from 1997 to 1999. Not only does he have his own animation studio, hes
the CEO of McFarlane Toys, which has produced some amazing collectibles featuring some of our favorite
toons. (Were talking Wallace and Gromit, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons and Corpse Bride, not to mention the
supercool Lost gurines.) Hes the perfect example of a modern pro who can switch gears in the busy highway
of American pop culture with the ease of a Zen master.

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Craig McCracken. The folks at Cartoon Network knew they had hit the jackpot when they saw
McCrackens rst big series, The PowerPuff Girls in 1998. But who knew hed be back to steal the hearts of
young viewers again six years later with his delightful Flash-animated show, Fosters Home for Imaginary
Friends? The good news is that the likable creator of these toons is only 35 and in great health, so we can
expect a lot of awesome animation from him in the next 20 years.

Hayao Miyazaki. So much has been written about the poetic, strange and visionary work of this
Japanse master that it seems redundant to bring them up again. How can you really verbalize the impact
of movies such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kikis Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howls
Moving Castle without resorting to superlatives? All we know is that we cant wait for the next movie by
Studio Ghiblis genius in residence, which is reportedly based on a Chinese book called I Lost My Little Boy.

Michel Ocelot. If we lived in a perfect world, every household would know the name of this
amazing French helmer, and every child would have seen his two beautiful Kirikou movies. This year, he
dazzled French audiences with his latest fable, Azur and Asmar. Maybe a smart studio exec will reverse the
trend and start distributing his movies in the U.S. We can dream, right?

Katsuhiro tomo. Ever since Akira changed the anime landscape in 1988, fans have counted on
the inuential Japanese helmer and manga artist for his rebellious visions of the future. Although his most
recent animated movies Metropolis and Steamboy didnt make as big a splash in the U.S., we all have our
ngers crossed for his new live-action movie, Mushishi, which is based on a manga about ubiquitous oating
creatures with supernatural powers.

SPECIAL REPORT

Nick Park. As supremely talented as he is patient and modest, the four-time Oscar winning stopmotion master of Bristol-based Aardman Animations studio should be the role model for any aspiring artist.
Youd have to be mentally deranged not to admire the wit and charm of his Creature Comforts and Wallace
and Gromit shorts. He has continued to put his stamp of excellence on his two big-screen releases, Chicken
Run and W&G: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. If he started a cult tomorrow, wed all sign up immediately.

Bill Plympton. Master of quirky hand-drawn shorts such as the 1987 Oscar-nominated Your Face
and 2005s Guard Dog, as well as features such as The Tune, I Married a Strange Person! and the recently
released Hair High, the indie toon master continues to push the envelope with his artistic creations. Dont
miss his latest side-splitting work on Weird Al Yankovics music video Dont Download This Song.

Joanna Priestley. Next time someone tries to tell you that you have to sell out to mainstream
appetites, tell them to check out the amazing career and accomplishments of this talented Portland,
Oregon-based experimental animator, who has directed and produced over 17 animated lms. We still cant
think of that Tears for Fears Sowing the Seeds of Love song without remembering Priestleys remarkable
animation for its music video!

Joanna Quinn. Even if you havent seen this Birmingham, U.K.-borns Oscar-nominated shorts
Famous Fred and The Canterbury Tales, you will instantly recognize her distinctive hand-drawn style from
her popular ads for Charmin toilet paper and Whiskas cat food. Her latest effort, Dreams and Desires: Family
Ties, has already won a truckload of international prizes and many predict will also be nominated for an
Animated Short Oscar next month. We are simply in awe of her funny, poignant and most unique visions.

Henry Selick.

Its easy to see why stop-mo students consider Selick a god. Meticulously crafted and
exquisitely directed, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach have certainly left a
huge impact on the cinematic landscape of the past two decades. We also admired his award-winning 2005
short, Moongirl, and cant wait until he nishes his next Laika studio feature, the lm version of Neil Gaimans
haunting tale, Coraline.
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Heres to Animation Magazine on its

20th Anniversary.
We are proud to be part of the
world of animation.

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Matt Stone & Trey Parker.

The world has changed a lot since August of 1997,

when Matt and Trey rst introduced us to the crudely animated, insan world of South Park. Yet, the
Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning show has continued to stay on the cutting-edge of pop culture
10Scientologists, gays, handicapped people, Tom Cruisenothing is sacred in Stone-and-Parker-ville
and thats why we admire the efng talented duo so much.

Genndy Tartakovsky. For many artists, having created two wildly inuential and artistically
praised toons would have been enough. But Genndy had to continue pushing his artistic boundaries. After
giving us Dexters Laboratory and Samurai Jack, he delivered Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was actually
better than the last three chapters of the lm saga! Now he and his team at San Franciscos The Orphanage
are working on the sequel to The Dark Crystal. He is also involved with the upcoming [adult swim] offering
Korgoth of Barbaria. How much more brilliance can we possibly take?

Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski.

SPECIAL REPORT

Timm was once quoted as saying

Were not trying to destroy the boys of America. Were just trying to make a good show!
Judging from the unique look and critical raves of the Batman and Superman series they
created at Warner Bros. Animation in the 90s, they denitely did a heck of a job. Timm
continued the winning streak with Batman Beyond, Justice League and Teen Titans while
Radomski got busy with Freakazoid!, Spawn and Xiaolin Showdown. Lets hope they join forces
for a feature next.

Bruce W. Smith.

To give you an idea of the longevity of Smiths career, all you need to know is
that he worked as animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Since then, hes directed numerous TV shows,
held top character design and animator jobs on Disney movies such as Tarzan and The Emperors New Groove,
directed a movie (Bebes Kids) and created Disney Channels long-running hit series The Proud Family. We have
a feeling hes going to come up with more cool toons featuring positive role models in the years to come.

Jhonen Vasquez. Has it really been almost six years since Nickelodeon rst aired this comicbook-artist turned cult hero animators series Invader ZIM? Was it the dark humor, the crazy animation or the
wonderful wry tone of the show that totally brainwashed us into becoming a Vasquez groupie? How many
times have we watched the 27 episodes of the show? How many rivers have formed from the tears of fans
who are still hoping he will bounce back with another killer toon?

Chris Wedge.

Winning an Oscar for his haunting short, Bunny, in 1998 was just the beginning for
this talented helmer and Blue Sky Studio creative titan. Since then, he has directed two smash CG-animated
features (Ice Age, Robots) AND provided the hilarious squeaky voice of the tormented critter Scrat in the two
Ice Age movies and shorts. These days hes working on an adaptation of William Joyces The Leaf Men and the
Brave Good Bugs. Dont believe him when he says hes not related to the Energizer Bunny.

Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro.

To say that Willis and Maiellaro have

forever warped the distinctly ho-hum feel of late-night TV in America would be an understatement.
Master Shake, Meatwad and Frylock have played with our heads for so long on [adult swim], that we
take it for granted that they have a movie coming out this spring. This diabolical duo has truly set
the tone for a new generation of adult cartoons, and we love them for being so utterly and deeply
disturbed. Q

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20 Things to Look Forward to in 07

eah, we know, another year is over and well all be one year older! But, hey,
there are plenty of cool things awaiting us in 2007we hope! Time to put on
those rose-colored glasses and cross our ngers because no refunds are given
on the time well spend on these movies and TV shows!
Bridge to Terabithia. Katherine Patersons widely read fantasy becomes a vfx-laden live-action feature, directed by toon veteran Gabor
Csupo (Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys). The plot centers on the friendship between a fth-grader and the new girl in town who discover a
magical kingdom in a nearby forest. Dont forget your hanky for this one!
[Opens Feb. 16]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie. Never before have we had so
much love and admiration for a meatball, a bag of fries and a milkshake.
Yes, Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis [adult swim] faves make the leap to
the big screen this winter. The feature tackles the mysterious circumstances that brought Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake together and
offers guest voices such as Rush drummer Neil Peart, Jon Benjamin and
Bruce Campbell. Reportedly, the movie was a huge crowd-pleaser when it
opened on Pluto last year. [Opens February]

movie is directed by Stephen J. Anderson, who has worked on a wide

range of Mouse House projects, including Tarzan, Brother Bear and Emperors New Groove. [Opens March 30]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Writer-director Kevin Munroe is bringing a darker edge to this much-anticipated CG-animated adaptation of
Kevin Eastman and Peter Lairds comic-book characters. Animated by
Imagi and distributed by Warner Bros. and The Weinstein Co., the lm
nds Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo lost and directionless in the
Big Apple until Master Splinter and Leonardo unite the green pals against
a dangerous tech industrialist. [Opens March 23]
My Friends Tigger & Pooh. A.A. Milnes honey-loving bear and his
colorful collection of pals get the CG
treatment in Disney Channels new preschool toon, which also centers on a
six-year-old girl named Darbysorry,
Christopher Robin, you had your share
of the limelight already! Veteran voice
star Jim Cummings does double duty as
both Pooh and Tigger. [Premieres on
Disney Channels Playhouse Disney
block in the spring.]

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. Created by husband-

SPECIAL REPORT

and-wife team Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, this colorful new
toon centers on a 13year-old who has to
gure out whether to
use his superpowers for
good or for not so good!
The look of the show is
inspired by both classic
spaghetti
Westerns
and Latino folk art!
[Premieres on Nickelodeon in March.]

300. Graphic novel guru Frank Miller says he was blown away by the rst
footage of director Zack Synders feature adaptation of his project about the
mythic Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.
C. Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey
and Dominic West, the vfx-laden epic
promises to be one of the visual spectacles of the spring season. [Opens March 9]

Meet the Robinsons. All eyes are on the Disney CG-animation team
this spring to see how their follow-up to Chicken Little will fare critically
and commercially. Based
on the popular childrens
book by William Joyce (A
Day with Wilbur Robinson), the retro-futuristic

January 2007

Persepolis. Three cheers for Sony Pictures Classic for releasing this
super-cool adaptation of Marjane Satrapis acclaimed graphic novel. Directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the black-and-white 2D-animated movie follows the coming of age of a spirited young girl during the
1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The voice list includes Catherine Deneuve,
Gena Rowlands and Chiara Mastroianni. Produced by Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Rigault of 2.4.7. Films, Kathleen Kennedy of Kennedy Marshall and France 3 Cinema. [Opens in the spring.]
Spider-Man 3. Could third time still be a charm for Tobey Maguire as
angst-ridden Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter ego?
Directed by masterful helmer Sam Raimi, this rst entry
in the summer blockbuster derby nds Spidey bonding
with a dark entity from another world, as well as dealing
with villains such as Sandman (Thomas Haden Church)
and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Kirsten Dunst and James
Franco reprise their roles as Mary Jane and Harry. Bryce
Dallas Howard also stars as Gwen Stacy. [Opens May 4]

Shrek the Third. The secret weapon in this third outing for the lovable CG ogre (voice of Mike Myers) and his talented wife,
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Princess Fiona (the effervescent Cameron Diaz), is the little bundle of greenish joy they add to their family. Julie Andrews, John
Cleese, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Larry King, Ian McShane, Regis Philbin, Rupert Everett, Amy Sedaris, Maya Rudolph,
Amy Poehler and Cheri Oteri are all part of the royal cast, directed by DreamWorks Chris Miller and Raman Hui. [Opens May 18]

Surfs Up. After their fall hunting world adventure last year, the
team at Sony Animation is offering a wonderful
animated mockumentary about the Penguin
World Surng Championship. The totally dudalicious cast is led by Jeff Bridges, Mario Cantone,
Shia LaBeouf, James Woods and Zooey Deschanel. Ash Brannon and Chris Buck are at the helm
of this perfect summer offering. [Opens June 8]

Ratatouille. What would the summer be with-

SPECIAL REPORT

out another clever, offering from the brilliant

bofns at Pixar? Co-directed by Brad Bird and
Jan Pinkava, this seventh Pixar feature release tells the story of an eager
rat who dreams of being a chef at a Parisian bistro! Brad Garrett, Ian
Holm, Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofalo and Brian
Dennehy round up the
voice cast. [Opens June
29]

Transformers.

Geek
alert! Action auteur Michael Bay directs this anticipated live-action version of the popular 80s
toon. Produced by Steven Spielberg, this one has major summer blockbuster potential. The ubiquitous Shia LaBeouf plays the lead, and Peter
Cullen returns as the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime. [Opens July
4]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry, Hermione and
Ron are older and wiser in this fth outing for the Hogwart wizards but
their powerful adversary Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has also upped
the ante by undermining their protective headmaster, Dumbledore
(Michael Gambon). Helena Bonham
Carter and Imelda Staunton join the
cast as Death Eater Bellatrix
Lestrange and the evil Dolores Umbridge. David Yates (HBOs The Girl in
the Caf) takes over as director.
[Opens July 13]

The Simpsons Movie. You must have taken a sabbatical to the moon
if you arent aware of this summers hugely anticipated big-screen adventure of Springelds dysfunctional family. After 18 seasons on Fox, the
clan (all voiced by the original stars of the show) is nally ready for its
close-up! The heavily guarded plotline reportedly takes off when Homer

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is red from his job after poisoning the

towns water supply and all the town
folks have to ee their homes. Minnie
Driver, Albert Brooks, Kelsey Grammer
and Joe Mantegna are some of the guest
stars; David Silverman directs.[Opens
July 27]

Igor. The talented team at Exodus Entertainment have cooked up a

tasty CG-animated treat for all of us who have a soft spot for the hunchback assistants of evil scientists in B-movieland. Directed by Anthony
Leondis (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch), the toon features the voices
of Christian Slater as the lead character, Molly Shannon as his indestructible female monster creation. John Cleese, Steve Buscemi and Jeremy
Piven co-star. [Third Quarter, 2007]
Underdog. Almost 43 years after the goofy rhyming superhero made
TV audiences fall for his canine charms, he gets his own movie in which
hell be voiced by none other than Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl). The liveaction/CG-animated movie is directed by Frederik Du Chau (Quest for
Camelot, Racing Stripes) and features Amy Adams as the voice of love
interest, Sweet Polly Purebred. Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage and Patrick
Warburton are also on board. [Opens Aug. 3]
Tak and the Power of Juju. The hit videogame becomes a CG-animated show about a jungle boy (voiced by Hal Sparks)
who acquires some magical powers thanks to some of
his friends in the Juju realm. Of course, his new abilities
always get him and his best friend Jeera and the Pupununu villagers into trouble. [Premieres on Nickelodeon
in Oct.]

Bee Movie. The Internet is already abuzz about the

clever live-action trailer featuring lead voice Jerry Seinfeld. The famous comic stars as the heroic bee Barry B.
Benson who thinks there should be more to life than making honey.
Rene Zellweger
supplies the voice
of a New York city
orist who saves
his life. The DreamWorks Animation
project is directed
by Steve Hickner
and Simon J. Smith.
[Opens Nov. 2]
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. Philip Pullmans fantasy about a young girl with magical powers and a shape-shifting animal
soul (Yeah, we know, its complicated!) who ghts evil in a parallel world
in the far North has been begging to be adapted into a live-action Narnialike epic. Next years holiday treat is directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy,
American Pie) and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as two of the
lms mystical characters. To make comparisons with Lord of the Rings
even easier, its the rst part of a trilogy! [Opens Dec. 7] Q

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13 People, Platforms and

Trends That Are Reshaping
Our World

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by Chris Grove
Steve JobsiPod Nation: When Jobs
came back to Apple in 1996 he was the companys last best hope. And it
seems to be panning out! Jobs
and his team quickly made the
company relevant again when it
introduced the iMac computer.
That and its progenyespecially the transformational
iPod, iTunes and everything
else ihave moved the
company and its aesthetic
into an entirely different
level.
The iPod will, no doubt, stand for many
years to come as a case study of how to design and launch a new product and then keep
it relevant and cool well beyond the normal
life cycle of a hot consumer toy. And then
theres the ultimate pop culture achievement: Having a populist activity (in this case,
downloading video and audio content to a
mobile device) named after your product. Not
Windows MP3casting (or Zunecasting), but
podcasting. Jobs has a reputation as being a
mercurial and terrorizing boss. But when you
buy a company like Pixar (which he did for $5
million dollars) and sell it 20 years later for
over $7 billion, and when you rescue a moribund company like Apple and turn it into the
coolest computer company in the world, have
at it Steve.
Sir Howard Stringerand His Problematic PlayStation: While many people
have had a lot of schadenfreude-fun roasting
Sony over its PlayStation 3 delays, they
missed the essence of the
story. The technology companies such as Sony are putting into these players is
vastly more complicated
than that used to put a man
on the mooneven if the
downside is less dire. Finally,
after over-promising, PlayStation 3 is here.
When the rst machines hit the market in Japan in November 2006, the lines outside
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January 2007

stores were longer than those for a Harry

Potter book signing. And as for the media
dirge that there are no titles for PS3. Not for
long. A reporter on a major network recently
asked a business analyst whether delays
over PS3 (and the computer battery recall)
meant the end of Sony. The analyst should
have called the reporter an idiot but instead
patiently explained that Sony was the biggest electronics company in the world, that
they had thousands of consumer products,
so no, the sky wasnt falling on Sony. The
video game market is still Sonys to lose,
however. Market researcher Yankee Group
says that by 2011, PlayStation 3 will hold 44
percent of the console market, followed by
Microsoft with 40 percent and Nintendo, with
16 percent.

Rupert Murdoch: I know. Hes denitely

an old, old-guard guy. But hes a very rich old,
old-guard guy. And when he makes a big
move, most of us are going to feel it. Young
people dont want to rely on a God-like gure
from above to
tell them whats
important, Murdoch told a gathering of newspaper execs in the
spring of 2005.
Three months later News Corp. paid $580
million dollars to buy myspace.com. Early in
2005, Murdoch had ridiculed the concept of
podcasting. Who wants to pay $1.99 to
watch a show on a one-inch screen? was the
gist of what he said. But theres a reason he
has built one of the biggest media companies
in the world: He has a wicked learning curve.
Industry observers said Murdochs unusual
mea culpa was a sign that News Corp was
gearing up for a wholesale revamp of its approach to the Internet. The other shoe hasnt
dropped. Yet.
The Podcasting RevolutionThe New Wave:
Among the emerging players in the podcast space,
the talent is as wide as it is deep. Consider:
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Fred Siebert and channelfrederator.com:While the Internet remains a vast

public marketplace of ideas (and not yet totally controlled by big corporations), media
veteran Fred Siebert has created a spot in
the market where creative democracy is
ourishing. Any animator in the world can
send their short subject to frederator.com
where, if picked to be in that weeks podcast,
can be seen by millions worldwide.

John Evershed: No not the John Evershed who was a reasonably

famous British astronomer,
the guy behind Mondo Media
and Happy Tree Friends. Producing content exclusively for
the Internet and mobile devices, Eversheds fantastically
inappropriate toons typify the
best of what can be accomplished
on the web. Since the companys
inception in 1988, Eversheds focus
has been on the creation and distribution of animated entertainment for
a wide range of platformsvideogames,
online content, television and, most recently,
for mobile and other wireless devices. For its
part, Happy Tree Friends has become a worldwide franchise on all platforms (including
iTunes podcasts, where its always in the top
25), and a full line of merchandise.
homestarrunner.com: Another online animation channel thats making some waves is
home to a number of Flash toon series where
the low-tech of the character design and the
animation are an integral part of the edgy
satire. Think The Simpsons redux. Created by
Atlanta natives Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel, the agship series centers on Homestar
Runner, a talented
but very dumb athlete.
Homestars
main
antagonist,
Strong Bad, is also in
a series called Strong
Bad Email, one of the most popular features
of the site. There are about another dozen
recurring characters in Homestars roster. Zobel, while still a contributor, has moved on to
other things. Chapman and his brother Matt
now run the site day-to-day.
continued on page 102
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Reshaping the World

continued from page 100

SPECIAL REPORT

YouTube: When Bill Gates (see below)

famously said that he liked to hire young, inexperienced programmers because they
didnt know what was impossible, he may
have had people such as YouTube founders
Chad Hurley and Steve Chen in mind. Similar
to Gates and Microsoft,
Hurley and Chen started their company in a
garage (Hurleys) and in
a mind-blowing 18
months went from
broke start-up guys to
billionaires. Just like a ashback to the insane
dot.com daze of the late 1990s, Google ponied up $1.65 billion for the company a few
months ago.
JibJab: Is there anyone who didnt see
JibJabs breakthrough online Bush/Kerry rendition of This Land Is My
Land during the 2004
presidential race? Whatever, it put founding
brothers Gregg and Evan
Spiridellis on the map,
after six years of trying
to build a presence online.
By the end of the election
season both This Land
and the follow-up Good
To Be In D.C.! had been seen
more than 80 million times
online on every continent,
including Antarctica. Last
month, they premiered a new short spoong
American Idol champ Taylor Hicks, sung by
none other than Weird Al Yankovic titled Do I
Creep You Out? Now thats what we call a perfect marriage of old (circa 80s) and new media.
angryalien.com: Though maybe not as
high-prole as the brothers Spiridellis, Jennifer Shimans Bunny Movie spoofs are another
example of how great content can prevail in a
eld of tens of thousands. Now featured
on the Starz movie
channel, the 30-second animated versions
of Hollywood lms rst
came to life on her
website. The site has no advertising, so, for
the moment, Shiman earns income from the
sale of Bunny-related merchandise and
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January 2007

through PayPal donations, which generally

offsets the cost of running the website.

Its Jerry Time: If anyone proves the clich that no matter what the technology,
ideas still count, its the guys behind the laconic web presence itsjerrytime.com. The
series is the creation of Needham, Mass.based Orrin and Jerry Zucker. With a tone
that suggests a non-conicted Harvey Pekar,
the series of quirky Flash shorts follows the
ex p l o i t s
of Jerry
as he endures the
vicissitudes of
his life in
Needham, Massachusetts.
Jerry Zucker works at his
brothers broadcast design
rm, Ozone. It was there that
the idea for the series was
hatched. Nominated for a nontraditional platform Emmy (in a new category
for programming created specically for nontraditional viewing platforms), the series
didnt even exist as an idea until late 2005.
There is some very cool stuff going on in
podcasting, says Jerry Zucker. Its very much
a peoples medium and I think it lls in a lot of
cracks in information and entertainment.
Microsoft: If ever there was a case of
rst-in wins, its Microsoft. Because Bill Gates
had the chutzpah and luck to get IBM to give
him licensing rights to provide the OS for all
non-IBM PCs in the early 1980s (IBM mistakenly believed the PC clone market would
never happen) hes now worth $53 billion.
Since then, almost all Microsofts new products and initiatives have more or less sucked.
Windows 98, Vista? Not as cool as Mac OS or
as robust. And as for Zune 2006? Looks and
feels like an iPod. If you want to know how
ham-handed Microsoft remains, the subscription business-model for their music download
service is so much more awkward than iTunes
streamlined pay-as-you-go method, its hard
to gure out what Microsofts rationale is.
While Zunes WiFi capability and interactivity
with Xbox 360 are interesting, its probably
not enough to derail or even rival iPods veyear head start. Nonetheless, to say that MS
isnt a mover
and
s h a ke r
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would be ridiculous. Even when they make

mistakes, what they do is shift peoples perceptions and behavior.

Cold Hard Flash: With Flash animation

everywhere, it only follows that the Flash cognoscente need a place to hang on the web.
Coldhardash.com is the brainchild of Aaron
Simpson, vice president, Interactive at JibJab
Media. He was, among other things, nominated for an Emmy for his work on Coconut Freds
Fruit Salad Island, a Flash series on Kids WB!
Prior to Warner Bros., Simpson was senior producer of original content at Sony, where he
helped build a forward-thinking entertainment portal, Screenblast. Coldhardash,
meanwhile, now is a
very popular news
source focusing on
TV production and
online shorts being produced with Flash.
Three years ago, says Simpson, there were no
more than ve Flash-animated shows airing
on TV. Today, that number is closer to 40. Beyond TV, the web is now full of independent
animators making a living solely off their original series work. The site is maintained by industry professionals, and is not afliated with
any studio, company or organization.
Small Screen Grows More Tentacles: When it came to greenlighting new projects, it used to be that TV and cable execs
were tough-as-nails gatekeepers of the business. Now that homegrown podcasts and
desktop toons are rocking our world, its good
to see all the old media types extending their
reach to the new media world and opening
new doors for creators. Heres to the folks at
Cartoon Networks adultswim.com, Comedy
Centrals Motherload site, Nickelodeons Nick.
com and Disney.com which are extending
their brands reach and offering new opportunities for up-and-coming animation talent.

Triumphant Tools: Its almost impossible

to list them all, but if youre an animator or a
time- and cash-stripped executive, you know
how much we all owe to the new generations of
vfx and animation tools. Alias Maya, Autodesks
Motionbuilder and 3ds Max, Softimage|XSI,
Toon Booms Storyboard and Studio, CelAction
2D, Nvidias Gelato, Houdini, Carrara, Adobe
Macromedias Flash, Wacoms Cintiq tablets
and all the other toon essentials (too many to
mention here), we all salute you! Q
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20
Things
We Hope
We Never
Have to
Hear Again in
the Next 20 Years!

SPECIAL REPORT

7. My kids love the

characters Ive created.
My Timmy was just telling
me that our alien Zoda
clone reminds him a lot of
SpongeBob. I kid you not!

1. Really, its all about

the story.

3. Our CGI animation

pays homage to the old
Fleischer cartoons.

5. Not only are we trying to

push the envelope with our
multiplatform webisodes,
were going to blow up the
envelope to teeny little
smithereens.

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2. We are huge fans

of the classic Looney
Tunes.

4. We like to think of
ourselves as the next
Pixarwell, make that the
Pixar of Baden Baden at
least.

6. Were really honored to

have Mark Hamill provide
the voices of all of our
characterseven those
really toothy ankle-biting
moss-covered characters.

8. Although were relying on the same

technology and production process, were
re-inventing the way cartoons are made in
the next century.
9. I actually modeled my career on
that of John Lasseter, well, without
all the redundant education,
11. Pamela Anderson has
craftsmanship and random
10. If you dont watch
expressed interest in doing
inspiration.
our show that means
the
voice
of
our
space
the terrorists have won.
vixen/island goddess/sexy
12. Our development
y/hot urban robot crack
executives may still be
13. The lms animation
whore.
in their teens but they
director
despises all things
14. Lindsay Lohan was like
are really huge fans of
American.
He only cares
spotted at Hyde last week
classic animation.
about avant garde abstract
wearing a t-shirt with our
expressionism and movies
lead characters design on it.
about
how fascism kills the
15.
The
test
audiences
for
our
CGIt was so totally hot.
human spirit.
animated movie, which is about the little
lost CG-animated barnyard pet who loses
his parents in a tragic re, so he shrinks
17. We really want to open
16. Our writers wanted to pay tribute
down and joins an ant colony, then bonds
our networks demographics
to the same crappy shows they used to
with all the other lost zoo animals in
so that it goes beyond your
watch when they were neglected by their
Africa, went crazy for the lm.
usual animation fanwe
parents as kids growing up in the 60s and
want to reach the Home and
70s.
Garden Network crowd as
well as the yshing fanatic,
18. Our Dung Beetle
19. Our merchandising and
the geriatric Jerry Springer
movie has the poetry
20. Were all about
licensing program got a
audience, the reality show
and majesty of a midthe squash and
huge write-up in Kidscreen!
addict base as well as the
career Miyazaki classic.
stretch!
diehard fans of Lost.
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20 Zeitgeist-Dening
Animated Music Videos

SPECIAL REPORT

ts no secret that some of the most cutting-edge, envelopepushing animation of the past two decades has been created
for music videos. While MTV has opted to air vapid reality
shows about spoiled rich white teenagers in Orange County,
we can still hope that new platforms will allow music videos
to take back the high place they held in pop culture during the
day-glo-wake-me-up-before-you-go-go 80s. by Chris Grove

A-ha: Take on Me. The rotoscope animation in A-has one

hit-wonder Take on Me was an
eye-opener when it was released in 1985. At the time,
the vid was denitely in the
how-did-they-do-that category, as lead singer/quasi-castrati Morten Harket
walked through mirrors and walls into a black and
white, pencil-drawn world. The vid won a 1986 MTV
Viewers Choice award, which was given by the
members of Van Halen (post David Lee Roth)
dressed in orange jump suits and looking like a
chain gang from a California mens penal colony.
Dire Straits: Money for
Nothing. Around the same
time as the three lads from
Norway were making a
splash in their denim jackets
and pompadours, Mark
Knoper and Dire Straits
broke the monotony of MTVs early and sometimes
laughably low-tech music videos with an animated
version of Money for Nothing. Animation for the vid
marked an early example of 3D CGI, albeit crude and
totally unsophisticated by Toy Story standards.
Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer. Even if you dont like
Peter Gabriels music, its sort of impossible not to
admire and even groove to the video of the 1986
single Sledgehammer (from the multi-platinum album So). Partly animated by a then-unknown student, Nick Park (and directed by Steve Jordan), the
surrealist video with stop-motion claymation and
multi-layering
gave
viewers
some relief at a
time when the

music video format was getting pretty stale. It

swept the MTV video music awards in 1987. Sledgehammer is 4th on MTVs Top 100 Of All Time list (one
through three, in case youre interested, being
Thriller, Vogue and Smells Like Teen Spirit).
Radiohead: Paranoid Android. A great song born
out of bandleader Thom Yorkes bizarre and unsettling experience in a trendy Los Angeles bar, Paranoid has been described by the band
as three songs in
one (much as John
Lennons Happiness is a Warm Gun
was a pastiche of
Lennon bits). Directed by Swedish animator Magnus
Carlsson, the 1997 six-minute video has the distinction of being censored by MTV. Apparently, cartoon
nipples are not allowed on MTV even if sweaty, gyrating, barely clothed, booty-bumping, live action,
gun-toting young adults are.
Daft Punk: Harder,
Better,
Faster,
Stronger. French
techno-pop duo
Thomas Bangalter
and Guy-Manuel
De Homem-Christo renamed their act after a reviewer in British music rag Melody Maker said their
rst collaboration was a bunch of daft punk. Either
sensing or helping develop the anime rage in the
West, the group used the talents of Japanese legend Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock) for the vids for their hit 2001 album
Discovery. The animes for tracks One More Time,
Aerodynamic, Digital Love and Harder, Better, Faster,
Stronger are all part of the same story, and no one is

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demonstrably better than the other. Because Harder is the capper to the story, we pick it as the one to
make the list. Or as, Ali G would say, respec.
Coldplay: Dont Panic. Some fans grouse that Tim
Hopes animation for this video
doesnt match the brilliance of
the early Coldplay hit Dont
Panic. But as it is (a) a promise
of even greater things to come
song-wise and (b) because it
had two passes on the charts (rst as a 2001 hit for
the band upon the songs release and later in 2004
when actor/director Zach Braff used the track in
Garden State) its on. The central irony of the video
is the contrast of the lyric (We Live in a Beautiful
World) with images of rampant consumerism and
pollution deling the planets ecosystem care of
Hopes underrated images.
Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood. This video deserves a
place in line because its the rst from the worlds
purported rst virtual hip-hop
group. The on-screen look of
the band comes from the
mind and imagination of Tank
Girl comic artist Jamie
Hewlett. The single/video
that established the band as a force to be reckoned
with was directed/animated by Jamie Hewlett and
Pete Candeland of U.K.-based Passion Pictures.
Last years CG-animated Feel Good, Inc. video was
also a beautiful sight to behold. Directed by Peter
Candeland, the toon made you wish you could actually visit the bands oating windmill in the sky.
Kraftwerk: Autobahn. At rst listen (22.5- minutes
long), the groundbreaking Autobahn just sounds
like good parody material. But the 1974 release was
a very early example of electronica and established
the genre in the minds of young music fans around
the world. The video for the song wasnt produced
until 1979 by the then-67-year-old Oscar-nominated John Halas and animator Roger Mainwood.
Elvis Costello: Accidents Will Happen. At what was
arguably the height of the popularity of Elvis
Costello and the Attractions, his record label hired
the animation team of Rocky Morton and Annabel
Jankel of Max Headroom fame to produce the video
for this top Costello hit. Despite their success as
animators, Morton and Jankels foray into features
was less stellarD.O.A. (1988), starring Dennis
Quaid and Meg Ryan and Super Mario Bros. (1993)
were both box-ofce ops.
continued on page 108

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Music Videos
continued from page 106

Rolling Stones: Harlem Shufe. Even though the

Stones havent done anything musically interesting in 25 years, as the most successful rock and
roll ever, they had to be included. The lads remake of soul legend Bobby Womacks Harlem
Shufe saw the light of day on MTV et. al., as a
cartoon. The three-minute vid combines live action with animation and was directed by Ralph
Bakshi. The animation was directed by future
Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi.

SPECIAL REPORT

New Order: Blue Monday. Arising out of the ashes of Joy Division, New Order became one of the
most inuential post-punk/electronic dance music acts of the 1980s. Blue Monday was one of
their biggest hits. To animate the video for the
song, the band turned to an experimental lmmaker whod rst made a splash in the 1950s.
Robert Breer is widely considered to be the father of American experimental animation much
as Norman McClaren was in Canada.
Howie B: Music for Babies. Ambient music, as
someone has said elsewhere, isnt music to be
listened to. Its music to be heard. Scotlandbased Howie B, is one of the most successful
composers of ambient. In this case, Music For
Babies was inspired by the birth of Howie Bs rst
child. Even though the music might put one to
sleep, British animator Run Wrakes (Rabbit) arresting visuals for the song, will keep you awake.
At least for a few minutes.
Korn: Freak on a Leash. Korns Bakerseld brand
of nu heavy metal certainly isnt for meditation.
Freak on a Leash, directed by Jonathan Dayton
and Valerie Faris (Smashing Pumpkins videos,
Little Miss Sunshine), is a tense lm that follows
the journey of an errant bullet through to the
surprising end. The image
of the indestructible bullet,
literally and guratively,
drives the suspense of the
lms brief narrative.
Tina Turner & Barry White: Never in Your Wildest
Dreams. This video is notable for a number of
things. First, it was produced by Aardman artist
Bill Mather (Batman Returns, Forrest Gump, Star
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace) before the
company became a household name stateside.
Second, it features a cameo by Wallace and
Gromit, who had also yet to become widely famous beyond the shores of Blighty. And third, it

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January 2007

was seen only once before Barry White had the

thing banned. (If you want to know why see:
www.williamharleymather.co.uk/videos/Ti___________________________
naTurner.html.) The Tina Turner/Barry White
________
song only hit number 32 on the U.K. charts and
number 36 in the U.S. But its arresting visually
and is a terric early example of the cheeky,
witty humor that has become one of Aardmans
signatures.
White Stripes: The Hardest Button to Button.
Continuing his penchant for stop motion, director
Michel Gondry had to secure the use of a New
York City subway car, 32 identical Ludwig drum
kits, 32 guitar
ampliers and 16
microphone
stands to make
this one happen.
The concept was
simple but logistically hard to do. In the video, the Stripes play
their blues number as lead singer Jack struts
down the streets of Manhattan and drummer
Meg hops from kit to kit. The journey takes them
through the city, into a park and down into the
subway, while accompanied by multiplying and
retracting sets of drum kits and ampliers. Each
time the duo moved forward, the last set of instruments in line would be peeled off and brought
to the front. It was a laborious process that led to
three 16-hour days of shooting. For trivia buffs, at
the end of the video, Beck makes a cameo.
Audio Bullys: Shot You Down. If youre going to
sample someone make it as kitsch as possible.
And few things are more kitsch than Nancy Sinatra. The bastion of electronic music that it is,
Audio Bullys are from England, natch. Simon
Franks and Tom Dinsdales Shot You Down
reached number three on the U.K. charts in 2005.
Sampling the Nancy Sinatra version of the song
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), the song
was also featured on the 2005 CBS iteration of
the Victorias Secret Fashion Show, headlined by
Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell. Swedish lmmaker Jonas Odell, one of the co-founders of
FilmTecknarna, directed the mixed-media video.
In addition to commercials and music videos, Odells
title/I.D. work can
be seen on Cartoon Network and
MTV.

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Talking Heads: And She Was. From the 1985 album Little Creatures (when they still released
vinyl as well as CDs), Portland, Oregon-based
lmmaker and media artist Jim Blasheld got the
call to direct and animate the video. Blasheld
has worked with Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Tears
For Fears, Peter Gabriel and Michael Jackson
among others. Blasheld has been much rewarded for his work over the years, winning a Cannes
Golden Lion, a Grammy, an Emmy nomination and
several MTV nominations and awards.
Ryksopp: Eple. Watch the rst minute of this
video and its hard not to think of Austin Powers
lowering the lights. Ryksopp is an electronic
music duo (Torbjrn Brundtland and Svein
Berge) headquartered in Bergen, Norway. They
released their debut album Melody A.M. in 2002.
The hypnotic video for Eple came about when
London-based ad agency Mother and Oslobased video graphics house Toxic went through
the duos old photo albums. Also of note, the
song has been licensed by Apple Computer for
use as the startup music to the companys upcoming Mac OS X Panther operating system.
Now thats groovy.
His Name Is Alive: Are We Still Married? God
knows what happened to the Brothers Quay
when they were kids, but few people can evoke a
mood (even if its deeply depressed) in such a
short time as these two guys. So for the somber
track, they seemed a natural with their nightmarish use of stop motion and recurring images
dredged from someones psyche.
Bjrk: I Miss You. Shes a lark Bjrk, whether or
not you can take her music. And if you hate the
pretension of the Oscars,
few things can match her infamous 2001 Oscar appearance dressed as a swan
singing the mournful and
slightly avant garde Ive Seen
It All. A performance that
had the Hollywood cognoscente scratching their heads while they tried to
nd the beat. Part Flintstones, part early (and
menacing) Looney Tunes, the I Miss You vid reminds you how genre-defying Bjrks music is.
Chris Grove is a Los Angeles-based actor and
journalist who knows a few things about music
too. You can visit his website at ________
http://christophergrove.com/
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20 Tips on Surviving the

Toon Rollercoaster Ride
by Terry Thoren

SPECIAL REPORT

he magazine you hold in your hands began

life 20 years ago as ten photocopied pages written for the avid devotees of the
International Tournees of Animation and the L.A.
Animation Celebrations. Today it has evolved to
become a true voice of the animation industry.
Im proud of the achievements of the magazine
and the people who put it together.
As the original founder, editor and publisher
of Animation Magazine, I have experienced all
the changes the publication has encountered in
the past two decades. Its growth and evolution,
in many ways, have paralleled the changes in the
animation industry. Today animation has become
one of the key forces in the entertainment business. The next 20 years will see changes in this
business that will be lead by artists working in all
forms of animation. New companies will rise up
and change our perception of what entertainment is. Companies come and go based upon
their ability to stay in tune with the marketplace
and stay in front of the creative curve. Here are
20 tips that I would give to any new company
hoping to enjoy success in coming years:
1. Dene your business. Decide what area of
the business you are strongest at. What will be
your core focus of production? Will you be a
world-class production service company doing
other peoples work or a world-class intellectual
property company producing your own work and
building a library of characters? Or a combination of the two.
2. Identify your strengths. Remember that todays world-class animation companies are divided into three categories: feature lm production, television production and the production of
games. Very few excel at all three categories.
3. Know who the leading companies are. You
must know the competition. Dont be afraid of
the competitionthey will pave the way for your
success. Hollywood is a business
that is governed by followers:
Leaders are hard to nd.
4. You must invest in development. The foundation
for success is built on strong
ideas and talent. To succeed
you must develop characters

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that will stand the test of time.

5. Invest in ideas. The ideas you produce do not
have to be your own. You can provide a cocoon
for animation talent. When Pixar felt they were
getting complacent they recruited Brad Bird to
join their team. He made The Incredibles, won an
Academy Award and pushed Pixar to a new level
of excellence.
6. You need to attract great talent. Talented
artists go where the great projects are. Develop
or acquire a great project and the
talent will follow.
7. Think outside the box. Dont allow
analysis to freeze you into paralysis.
Produce something that makes you
stand out in the crowd.
8. You are building a brand. Your
company is a brand. What you do
brands you. Like it or not, what you
produce will dene you and this will
become your brand.
9. Build a strong management team.
Surround yourself with good people
and let them do their job. Your line
producers are the lifeline for your production.
10. Be passionate and set clearly dened goals.
Do what you love and the passion will follow.
Your team will only be as passionate as the
people who are steering the ship. Then clearly
dene your company goals and share them with
your team. Employees want to be included. Artists must be included.
11. Secure distribution. Well-conceived ideas
that are in tune with the global marketplace will
nd distribution. Without distribution you
will nd it hard to survive.
12. Stay informed. You need to know who the
buyers are and what they are buying. You must
know the global business of animation. You
need to know what sells and what doesnt sell.
13. Embrace marketing and publicity. Learn
how to market your company so you stand out
in the crowd. What sets you apart from everybody else? Why are you different?
14. Use Festivals and Markets for positioning.
Position your company in the marketplace as
special. The place to stand out in the crowd is at
the big eventsAnnecy, The San Diego Comic-

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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Con, SIGGRAPH, MIP and

MIPCOM.
15. Stay up to date. Build
a strong web presence
and a solid show reel.
They will help you dene
how you are perceived
and help you clarify what
Terry Thoren
your company does.
16. Pay attention to the audience.Watch the
numbers and know who is consuming
animation?Research what audiences are buying.
17. Learn to think like a consumer. Watch animation on television with kids. Watch kids playing video games. Go to the DVD store and see
what is moving off the shelves. Listen to what
people say when they shop. Watch every ani-

mated movie that comes out on the opening

weekend in prime time in a crowded theater.
18. The big money is in licensing and merchandise. Go to the toy store and see what is on the
shelves. Keep your eyes open in the grocery
store. Notice how many products include animated characters.
19. Invest in the solid concepts. The formula for
successful animation concepts is strong story
writing, memorable characters, quality voice
casting, an iron-clad pre-production plan, cutting edge animation lmmaking, world-class
music and sound effects and top-notch postproduction.
20. Never stop planning. Prepare for the famine
while you are in the feast. Q
Terry Thoren, the founder and original publisher of Animation Magazine, is currently
the CEO and president of an entertainment
company developing and producing highquality animated feature lms, TV series,
webisodes, multi-platform projects and
DVDs. Formerly, Thoren was CEO of Klasky
Csupo for 11 years.

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A Few Thoughts
on Animation, this
Magazine and the
Meaning of It All!

SPECIAL REPORT

Animation regularly pokes fun

at itself and its egomaniacs who
are piatas in a room lled with
basement dwellers starved of
sugar with plastic light sabers
fun, yup!
Isabelle Babici
Program Assistant
Animation Arts Centre

I might be naive, but I still think animation is

among the most exciting types of
creative lm and video production to be
involved with. I think with the blending
of opportunities that CGI and traditional
animation have to offer, its a very
interesting time for this nascent part of the
industry.
Scott Essman
VISIONARY CINEMA

Twelve years ago, I

directed a documentary
on American animations
golden years. I needed an
expert to interview some of the greats,
like Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng. A
young editor with Animation Magazine,
Kourtney Kaye, stepped up and dazzled
me. Thank you AniMag for bringing to
me the most wonderful gift of all my
cherished wife.
Thierry Rivard
Managing Director
Kayenta Production

Animation is art,
entertainment
and my livelihood.
Animation Magazine
is a lifeline to the industry.
Marc Dole
CEO/Producer
Hatchling Studios

Happy Birthday, I am
celebrating my 35th
year in animation. I have
always believed in world
domination through
animation, I am not sure anyone would
have known about it without the
continuing coverage from Animation
Magazine. You have helped to make
animation a more important eld, and
for that I am thankful.
Michael Hirsh
CEO, Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc.

In the beginning, there was

just bad coffee and me.
Now theres a staff of 253.
Went from eight hours a day
to eight days a week,
developing new animation techniques.
Bought a new building, dropped 6 million
bucks. The animations never been
better, but the coffee still sucks.
Adam Shaheen
President, Cuppa Coffee Studios

Congratulations,
Animation Magazine,
on your well-deserved
20th birthday. From
BRB Internacional, we wish you
many, many happy returns. You
are a big part of us! (Though, of
course, you are so much younger!)
Carlos Biern
BRB Internacional

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Animation is the place to

be for the next 20 years at
least! Kids are global and do
not care about where the
programs come from as long as they
can mirror in them. Should we be looking
for a positive and fruitful example of
globalization: animation is the one!
Animation Magazine is the only one of
its kind at the crossroad of talents and
business.
Denitely to be pursued for another 20
years!
Christian Davin
CEO, Alphanim

I knew I would
dedicate my life
to animation the
rst time I saw
the International
Tournee of Animation in 1978.
It was a moment of epiphany.
Terry Thoren

2007 is Decodes 10th

Anniversary. We have a lot
to celebrate after going
public. In 10 years we
have produced 26 series,
which adds up to 1,062 half hours of
programming. Growing a business and
working on great shows is wonderful,
but what keeps me interested are
the people Ive met in the childrens
business over the years.
Neil Court
President, DECODE Enterprises Ltd.

I was a beautiful
childgolden curls,
Shirley Temple type.
Then I became an
animation producer, and
it happened: The brain took over from
the looks. Our latest animated movie
is The Ugly Duckling and Me, the story
of my life, in reverse.
Ralph Christians
Magma Films

continued on page 114

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eeeO\W[ObW]\[OUOhW\S\SbO[WR
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Thoughts
continued from page 112

SPECIAL REPORT

On his rst job:

It was the rst professional animation
job that I did. I wrote, animated, cel
painted, and shot it myself. It was
a ve-minute short about a family of genetically
mutated rejects. I stayed up three nights in a row to
nish it, with animation cels spread throughout my
apartment, including the bathroom oor. I was at the
premiere sitting in the audience sweating, my heart
pounding, not really sure if I got the sound in sync,
when the lm started and the audience started to
laugh the feeling that I got was euphoric. I woke up
at the end of the screening knowing that this would
be my life.
Genndy Tartakovsky
Orphanage Animation Studios

John Lennon once said

to me that if The Beatles
had not happened, he
probably would have
been an assistant
hairdresser to Cynthia (his rst
wife). Similarly, I would be running
an arts and crafts business deep in
the heart of rural Wales if SuperTed,
Welsh Television and Liz Young had
not changed my life and enabled me
to open my own animation studio.
Mike Young
Co-CEO Mike Young Productions

Congratulations to all our friends

at Animation Magazine - Oink
Oink!
Phil Davis, Mark Baker and Neville
Astley of Astley Baker Davis Ltd.
and all at the Peppa Pig Studio

Animation is a truly
international business its a
fun, ingenious and sometimes
completely crazy industry to be
in. Colleagues are exceptionally
nice, curious, entertaining and creative.
Its amazing that sometimes the most
unbelievable characters or crazy formats are
the biggest success which make you rich
just remember the yellow sponge that lives
in Bikini Bottom, in a pineapple and works in a
crab burger diner!
Susanne Schosser
Managing Director, EM. Entertainment
GmbH

114

January 2007

I love Animation
Magazine. It is
required reading
for every Cartoon
Shelpper!
Andy Heyward
Chariman & CEO, DIC
Entertainment

Animation imitates (my) life

(Or what I learned from 20
years of makin toons.)
Believe in your ideas.
Have a plan
Open your thinking
Enjoy the process.
Be grateful for retakes
Embrace imperfection.
And If all else fails, blow it up!
We could be working in live action
Eric Rollman
EVP of TV/Animation, Marvel Studios

I feel so passionate about

animation and I applaud
Animation Magazine for
supporting an industry
that has meant so much to
so many and will continue to have the
same impact on new generations. For
me personally, its a life tonic and no
one can express how it makes me
feel everyday working in the business
better than Peter Pan himself Forget
them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come
with me where youll never, never have
to worry about grown up things again.
Michael Carrington
Creative Director, CBeebies
BBC Childrens

Is animation ... a calling?

You bet!
Artistic fulllment and
runaway debt.
Our studios roots to the 80s we trace;
Nomadic producers and transient work
space.
Now: Help, Im A Fish, Ugly Duckling
and Me,
Asterix, series and ads for TV.
CG, 2D, EU, USA:
Persistence of visionthe A. Film way.
Hans Perk
Animation changed my life many years
A. Film L.A.
ago (at least 10) when I was asked by the

executive producer of a brand new block

of programs for teenagers to go and nd
some animation! Of course I hadnt a clue what he was
talking about and was sent (keeping costs very low)
on a package deal holiday to Nice to attend MIPCOM!
Apart from the short lm from Holland about nuns
having sexwhich by the way went down a stormmy
love affair with animation began and, of course, will
never end!
So many congratulations to Animation Magazine
almost as old as meand thanks over the years for
supporting our industry with the same passion
that we all have.
Joan Lofts
Contender Entertainment Group

Animation
Magazine was
the sponsor
of the rst
event (WAC)
we attended as Foothill Entertainment,
Inc., so it will always have a warm
spot in our hearts. It was also the rst
magazine we would turn to for up-tothe-minute news about the industry;
well done Animation Magazine!!
Gregory Paine and Jo Kavanagh-Paine,
Foothill Entertainment

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Thoughts
continued from page 114
In the Computer
Animation Department
here at Ringling School of
Art and Design, we have a
saying we like to use:
I used to think that animator meant
moving objects. Later, I learned that
being an animator means moving an
audience.
It serves as a reminder to us about
what is truly important, and keeps
us on track. Learn to do that, and
you will have a highly successful
animation career no matter where
the future takes us.
Jim Campbell
Computer Animation Department
Head
Ringling School of Art and Design

Onscreen animation can

make you laugh and cry;
the business of animation
is more extreme. You really
have to believe in it to do it
and it is great to have a magazine like
Animation that genuinely supports the
industrys efforts.
Jonathan Peel
Millimages UK Ltd.

Animation has taught me that color,

whimsy and joy are three facets of art
that are so important to me that my
life must always revolve around them.
Art CAN be unpretentious and delightful, and I
hope that every great animator will laugh their
way to the bank forever!
Animation Magazine has validated this industry
... has provided a focal point for all contacts, and
educated novices and old timers!
Heidi Leigh
Director, Animazing Gallery

SPECIAL REPORT

Animation has been berry, berry good to me. I am thankful

every day that I get to do what I love, surrounded by people I like,
inuencing and entertaining people Ill never know. Animation has
given me the opportunity to travel to the four corners of the globe
and make friends with talented and interesting people from all walks of life.
Animation Magazine is the monthly (and now daily) pulse that we all put our
ngers on to determine if our industry is dead, alive or still breathing. But mostly
Animation Magazine is a great group of people who are dedicated to helping to
preserve the spirit and integrity of our business and art form while having a good
ol time.
Happy Anniversary. Party on!
Frank Saperstein
CEO/Executive Producer
Surprise Bag, Inc.

I have read Animation Magazine

from, I think, the very rst issue. Over
the years they have even printed
things Ive written and interviewed
me on many occasions, which just goes to show
how dubious their editorial policies actually are!
Seriously, I have always been able to count on the
magazine to publish insightful stories germane
to our craft and its progress, not shying away
from controversial issues either. Congratulations
to Animation Magazine for your service to our
industry, for sticking to your guns and for surviving
this long in our whacky business.
Frank Gladstone
IDT Entertainment

116

January 2007

I once thought being an artist

was serious business, and was
all about realism. After years of
reading Animation Magazine I
realized realism was boring, and
evolved a distorted perception of
things. Comedy was in everything
and everyone. This condition is
permanent so dont laugh, it could
happen to you.
Dayan Paul
Antipode Entertainment Inc.

Nave, fearless and

passionate about
photography, dance and
mathematics (I know
weird combination of passions)
it was an ad for an animation
camera man (yes man) that
leapt off the pages of the local
Toronto newspaper. I went for
it and 30 years later am still
thrilled I did....Nelvana, Disney
and now HIT.
Lenora Hume,
EVP Programming & Production,
HIT Entertainment Limited

Telescreen is built around animation. We

are internationally recognized for it.
Animation is, like music, one of the few
ways to easily communicate internationally,
universal language so to speak. Animation produced by
Telescreen over the past 23 years is nding audiences
over and over again amongst every new generation.
It has therefore proven to be for us a very appreciative
way to produce content and something we are proud
of. So in short: It gives us a good feeling, it is fun, others
seem to enjoy it and thus in a nutshell: What more can
one expect from life?
Theo van der Schaaf & Sjoerd Raemakers
Telescreen Distribution

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VISUAL EFFECTS

When I heard that 3ds Max 9 was

going to be the rst release since Autodesk acquired Alias (and its agship,
Maya), Id been wondering about how

the two programs would start to meld

into one. Ive already seen it in Maya,
which took baby steps toward uniformity.
Most of the time, I take a cursory
glance at a new release and if something doesnt scream change immediately, Ill have to pull up the hood and
start poking around to nd the new
stuff. In the case of Max 9, even after
some deep poking, I cant say there
were enormous changes in the tool
set. It almost feels like a point upgrade,
if it were not for the fact that Max 9 is
available in a 64-bit form as well as 32bit. Therefore, if you happen to be using Windows 64 on a 64 bit processor,
you will see pretty substantial speed
increases simply based on the fact
that the software and processor can
handle larger chunks of data at one
time, not to mention raising the RAM
limit to 8GB. To really benet from this
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by Todd
Sheridan
Perry

Tech Reviews

Autodesks
3ds Max 9

upgrade, you have to update your

hardware as well. Nevertheless, lets
take a look at the nice new tools that
are common to both 64 and 32-bit programs.
In my mind, the most evident tool
advance is the ProBoolean and ProCutter tools, which, like many new tools
recently, are
an
absorption of a tool
written by a
third party
in this case,
Powe r B o o l eans. A Boolean is the act
of taking two
objects and
combining
them in any
number
of
math operations.
You
can add them
together,
subtract one
from the other, take the intersection
of the two or remove where they intersect. Its a very fast method for modeling complex objects. However, traditionally, Booleans are very messy. They
create ragged edges, or misshapen
polygons.
Generally,
the result is an ugly
mesh. And you can forget about any meshsmoothing to create a
denser mesh. The poor
geo
simply
gets
worse.
The new ProBoolean
function has much
smarter math involved in the operations. When the objects are combined,
coplanar triangles are determined and
incident edges removed. This leaves nsided polygons which are a modelers
best friends. The result is a much more
efcient mesh. The ProCutter tool is a
ANIMATION MAGAZINE

specialized Boolean that breaks apart

an object on ssures determined by
other cutting objects. Again, the operation is quite efcient, and therefore
fast. Even though there are many benets in these tools the best part, in my
mind, is that they are exposed to MaxScript, which means that more tools
can be customized around the new
Booleans.
On the animation side, its important
to point out that layers have been
added. These are similar to the functionality that Character Studio has
where you can add layers of animation
to make minor (or major) tweaks to a
base animation. The function has been
extended to all animatable parameters. Animators can make ne adjustments and go back into the curves and
adjust how much inuence each layer
has on the overall animation. You really
could do this in previous versions, to a
degree, using list animation controllers. But the layer method is much
more straightforward and easier to
managemuch like the animation mixer in XSI or the Trax Editor in Maya.
Other advances include the ability
to reference animation controllers, IK
rigs, and systems, as well as not only
the objects you wish, but any objects
that might inuence that object. The

inuence objects can also be selected

in the scene and during merger from
other scenes. There are some substantial advances in the cloth and hair
systems and grooming tools. Reactor
continued on page 120
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2ds Boujou 4
Boujou has been the Emmy-winning
industry standard for camera and object tracking software for quite a few
years now. But, like most software, it
has had its drawbacks, which most of
the ingenious tracking artists have
found workaround for. In its latest incarnation, 2d3 has
answered
these
problems by opening the back box
and letting the users tinker around.
In years past,
Boujou was used to
track point data in
the same way a soldier uses an automatic weapon. You
simply re and see
what you hit. An
artist would bring
in the background

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plate to be tracked, put in the lens

data (if it existed), and hit Feature
Track. Boujou would jaw on the frame
for a while and try to come up with a
solution. When it worked, it worked
well, and when it didnt, it was easier
to move to a manual solutionin a different piece of software. At least, that
was my experience on numerous projects with numerous effects houses.
In Boujou 4, I discovered so many

VISUAL EFFECTS

has been updated with more controls

as well as common constraints to allow for objects to be held together until a force great enough splits them
apart. The point cache tool has also
been upgraded to use John Burnetts
Point Cache 2 code (which is compatible to XSI through KPPointCache).
As I mentioned before, the largest
jump in this version is moving from 32bit to 64-bit. I like Max in general, and I
like the workow, but Im not sure if I
can say that 9 has absolute essentials
that a production pipeline couldnt live
without. So, unless you are upgrading
your workstations to Windows 64 or
Windows Vista, you can probably hold
out for a point upgrade. However, if
you do a lot of cloth and hair work, the
grooming and tailoring tools alone
make the new release worth having.
Website: www.autodesk.com/
3dsmax
_____
Price: $3,495 ($795 for upgrade from version 8; $1,395 for upgrade from version 7)

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ated beautifully on numerous projects

Ive been a part of. It may still need a
couple of features, like the ability to
calibrate or rene a track of one camera using the view of another camera
or using the track view to indicate the
probability of a successful track based
on the number of active trackers in
frame. I also have an issue with its
price point as $10,000 may be ne for
a mid- to large-sized vfx house, but its

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quite expensive for an individual by

any denition.
Website: www.2d3.com/html/prod__________________
ucts/boujou4_overview.html
____________________
Price: $10,000 (Network License Upgrade: $1000 single payment per site;
upgrade from Boujou 2 or 3: $2,500) Q
Todd Sheridan Perry is the co-owner
and vfx supervisor for Max Ink Cafe
and Max Ink Productions. You can
email him at _________________
[email protected].

VISUAL EFFECTS

nice tools that I didnt know what to do

with myself. First off, there is a zoomed
window which is centered around the
tracker currently being edited. Within
the window, you can make slight adjustments to the tracker while toggling between frames, allowing you to
compare the track shape. Since the
frame is locked to the tracker, you can
detect subtle shifts in the shape being
tracked. This feature is absolutely essential when you are trying to track
very non-descript patterns, or patterns that have softened to a wash of
color because of a rack focus in the
shot. The lack of this feature in previous versions was unbearable.
Another aid in the tracking process
is the ability to import 3D models into
the track scene. So, if you have a model that represents something in the
scene, you can eyeball the camera to
match the mesh to the object in the
plate. This gives Boujou a hint as to
where the camera should be at that
frame and it will rene the track accordingly. Obviously, the accuracy of
this depends on the accuracy of the
3D model to the real objectso, best
not to depend on the technique as a
cure-all, but mainly as something to
guide Boujou in the right direction. You
can now also let Boujou create a 3D
mesh from tracked points and locators to provide geometry for masks or
shadow catching surfaces.
The tools are all about rening the initial solution to a point where you get an
accurate solve for the camera. In the
previous version, most of the time would
be spent choosing points, and solving
the entire scene to see if it workedand
then if it didnt, you had to choose more
or other points and re-solve the entire
scene. Now, most of the track artists
time can be spent in adjusting and rening so that Boujou can make improvements to the initial track.
Finally, the most important feature,
as I say with all software, is the new
scripting language that really lets you
get under the hood and customize the
program for your own needs.
Overall, I think Boujou is an impressive piece of software, and it has oper-

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Granting Full Access

to the Next Level
Full Sails new high-tech facility promises a taste of what
awaits students in the real world. by Ellen Wolff

OPPORTUNITIES

new high-tech Computer Animation Center has added more digital glitter to Full Sails campus
near Orlando, Fla. Its still too new to
have had a class of students spend
their entire 21-month program there,
so nobody knows the impact this facility will have on students preparation
for the world of work. But this facility
was clearly designed to live up to the
schools motto of offering a real world
education, and indications of this await
visitors the moment they walk through
the doors.
Plasma screens on the walls show
animated sequences and advanced
rendering techniques, says Erik Noteboom, executive director of education
for Digital Arts. Theres also a Wall of
Maquettes, as well as a Wall of Fame
where we honor the accomplishments
of graduates. Those grads include

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January 2007

people whove worked on lms like the

three most recent Star Wars episodes
and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as
videogames like Medal of Honor and
Grand Theft Auto.
Noteboom says in addition to inspiring students, the Wall of Fame allows
everyone to live vicariously through the
graduates success! He explains that
the Center was designed to foster a
sense of a computer animation community. Its hub is a large student hangoutwith WiFi access, of course surrounded by labs and art studios. He
notes, Between classes, lots of students congregate there, and you frequently hear: Hey, check this out! The
students there are either in the computer animation program or theyre
computer animation interested; like
game developers or lm students who
want to know about visual effects.

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Noteboom, who oversees curricula

for Game Development and Digital Arts
as well as Computer Animation, says
the Game Development people inspired
the circular workstation structures in
the new Center. We had planned to
build rows with everybody facing forward, so instructors could walk behind
students, he notes. That works great
in programming courses but less well in
artistic courses. When Game Development students began working in
teamsbecause you need at least ve
people to even think about building a
gamethey discovered it was better
to sit in a circle. That was our test case
for the design of this new facility.
Noteboom and his team also consulted with animation industry people
to learn how modern studios are being
structured. But we keep in mind that
Full Sail is an educational environment,
and if a student needs help, he or she
cant be in some corner that an instructor cant see.
Another major change wrought by
this new building is that it brings all the
Computer Animation facilitiesand its
staff of 80 full-time teachersunder
one roof. In years past, says Noteboom,
continued on page 124

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Opportunities

OPPORTUNITIES

continued from page 122

We tended to group the computer animation labs together, but if students

had to go to an art studio, that may
have been in another building. This
might not seem like a big deal to anyone whos attended day classes at a
traditional college campus, but its not
trivial at Full Sail, which operates
around-the-clock. As Noteboom remarks, We have classes at one in the
morning.
The schools immersive approach to
teaching computer animation means
that after the students graduate, they
wont have a problem working long
hours. It also means that classes are
hands-on with software from day one.
(They work primarily with Autodesks
Maya, Adobes After Effects and Apples Shake and Final Cut Pro.) We dont
inch them along, so theyll realize right
away if this is for them or not, explains
Noteboom.
Still, he admits its tough to foster
industry-ready collaborative skills,
even in such a modern teaching environment. You dont want to discourage
someone who has a true vision, just as
long as its realistic. But if someone
wants to animate dinosaurs riding
space shuttles do they have time to
do that? Yet forcing everyone together
on a project is also difcult. Its hard to
get more than two characters in any
one piece, given the amount of time,
expertise and learning factors involved.
If we get ve people together and
someone wants to model while another
wants to animate, thats great. But
theres always somebody staying up

124

January 2007

more nights because theyre rigging

characters while another is building
cars. To tell the truth, we struggle to
nd the right balance.
If nothing else, Full Sails investment
in its sophisticated new facility is yet

is laid outwith a room for a visual effects supervisor and a room for dailies.
Thats the next evolution. Fortunately
for Full Sail, the school possesses the
land on which to expand. Next door to
Computer Animation theres good

Our next computer labs will be built the way a visual effects
studio is laid outwith a room for a vfx supervisor and a
room for dailies. Thats the next evolution.
Erik Noteboom, exec director of education for Full Sails Digital Arts program

another sign of the explosive interest

in computer animation.
And Noteboom is already planning
for more. Our next computer labs will
be built the way a visual effects studio

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

space to build. Ah, spacethe nal

frontier! Q
Ellen Wolff is a Los Angeles-based
journalist who specializes in animation, visual effects and education.

www.animationmagazine.net

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United States Postal Service

Statement of Ownership, Management and
Circulation
1. Publication Title Animation Magazine
2.Publication Number 1041-617X
3. Filing Date
11/10/06
4. Issue Frequency Monthly
5. Number if Issues Published Annually (12)
6. Annual Sub Price $50.00
7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Ofce of
Publication
30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102
Westlake Village, CA 91361
Contact Person Jan Bayouth
818-991-2884
8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters
30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102
Westlake Village, CA 91361
9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of
Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor
Publisher Jodi Bluth
30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102
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Editor Ramin Zahed
30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102
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Managing Editor
10. Owner Jean Thoren
30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102
Westlake Village, CA 91361
11. Known Bondholders, Mortages and Other
Security Holders
X NONE
12. Tax Status
The Purpose ,function and nonprot status of
this organization and the exempt status for
federal income tax purposes:
X Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months
13. Publication Title Animation Magazine

14. Issue date for Circulation Data Below

December 2006
15. Extent and Nature of Circulation
Average # Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12
Months 16,495
# Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to
Filing Date 12,069
b. Paid and/or Requested Circulation
Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541
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3,000
Paid In-County Subscriptions
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f. Total Free Distribution
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g. Total Distribution
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h. Copies Not Distributed
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16. Publication of Statement of Ownership
X Publication required. Will be printed in the DEC
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FESTIVALS

M A G A Z I N E

Event

Date

Intl Film Festival Rotterdam

Jan. 4-15

Place

Website

Rotterdam, Holland

www.lmfestivalrotterdam.com

British Intl Toy and Hobby Fair

Jan. 5-14

London, U.K.

www.britishtoyfair.co.uk

Future Film Festival-New Animation Cinema Technologies

Jan. 7-10

Bologna, Italy

www.futurelmfestival.org

TGSNT - The Greatest Story Never Told Flash Storytelling Competition Jan. 8-11

online

www.tgsnt.com

KidFilm Festival

Jan. 8-12

Dallas, TX

www.usalmfestival.com

NATPE 2007

Jan. 8-21

Las Vegas, NV

www.natpe.org

Transmediale - Intl Media Art Festival Berlin

Jan. 12-14

Berlin, Germany

www.transmediale.de

Macworld Conference and Expo

Jan. 15

San Francisco, CA

www.macworldexpo.com

Imagina

Jan. 15-18

Monaco

www.imagina.mc

RealScreen Summit

Jan. 15-18

Washington, DC

www.realscreensummit.com

Intl CES

Jan. 17-21

Las Vegas, NV

www.cesweb.org

Future TV Show North America

Jan. 18-21

New York, NY

www.futuretvna.com

Goteborg Intl Film Festival

Jan. 18-21

Gteborg, Sweden

www.lmfestival.org/lmfestival
_______________

Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival

Jan. 18-27

Claremont-Ferrand, France

www.clermont-lmfest.com

Santa Barbara Intl Film Festival

Jan. 18-28

Santa Barbara, CA

ww.sblmfestival.org

Digital Hollywood at 2005 CES Consumer Electronics Show

Jan. 24-27

Las Vegas, NV

www.digitalhollywood.com

Sundance Film Festival

Jan. 26- Feb. 3

Park City, UT

www.sundance.org

Slamdance Film Festival

Jan. 26-Feb. 5

Park City UT

www.slamdance.com

Stuttgart Filmwinter Festival

Jan. 29-31

Stuttgart, Germany

www.lmwinter.de
________

NATPE Mobile + +

Jan. 31-Feb. 4

Las Vegas, NV

www.natpe.org/conference/register

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In the Next Issue of

126

2A Fairy Tale Ending for

2
Happily NEver After?

2 Whats New at
NATPE 2007!

2 Studio B Launches
Ricky Sprocket.

2 Spending a vfx-lled
Night at the Museum.

January 2007

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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UIFUSBOTJUJPOUP)% QSFQBSJOHUPCSPBEDBTUUIF0MZNQJD
(BNFT MPPLJOHUPJOWFTUJOIPUUFDIOPMPHJFTMJLF*157BOENPCJMF
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A DAY IN THE LIFE

SUSANNE RECTOR
RYAN BALL

he past 20 years have been very kind to the hardworking and slightly
disturbed staff of Animation Magazine and their alter egos. All of us here
at Animag wish our faithful readers and the brilliant folks who work in the
animation and vfx worlds a fantastic holiday season and a great new year!
Thanks for keeping us off the streets and out of trouble.
ERIC BRANDENBERG

JODI BLUTH

1987
MERCEDES MILLIGAN

JEAN THOREN

2006
CLAIRE WEBB

JAN BAYOUTH

RAMIN ZAHED

SHERI SHELTON

128

January 2007

ANIMATION MAGAZINE

www.animationmagazine.net

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