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End of August Things That I Missed

Yes, I missed all of last week due to the unfortunate collision of events that forced the ol’ blog to take a back seat for a bit. Anyway, here’s a synopsis on things I missed and my thoughts on each:

Disney Ditching the Annie Awards

Normally I strive to avoid anything that borders on the political because let’s face it, I’m from Ireland, where politics might well have been invented at some point in the past. Nonetheless, it is disheartening to hear that Disney has yanked their support for the Annie Awards. This does not preclude their films from entering, and they are likely to continue to show up in the future.

It is the belief of many both in and outside the industry that the motivation for this abrupt announcement is that rival studio Dreamworks has somehow ‘bought’ recent awards through their granting an ASIFA-Hollywood membership to every employee, thus ensuring that they are more than adequately represented come awards season.

There is nothing wrong with a company gifting professional memberships on its employees. My company does it (and I assure you, with the prices they’re charging, I’m perfectly happy to let them do it) and plenty of others do too. ASIFA is one of the few professional associations for animators and the industry at large that has a fairly large presence. The question arises as to why Disney does not do the same. Perhaps they feel that coughing up for memberships will not necessarily encourage greater participation by employees in the organisation which would in turn result in an economic loss overall for the company. I can only hope that this isn’t the case.

I would like to believe that Dreamworks is not trying to play the system. Sadly, Annie Awards are rarely even mentioned in a film’s marketing materials, let alone nominations. So what is the point in amping up your chances of a win if it’s only industry professionals that take notice? Personally, I prefer to look at the hard numbers to sperate the successful from the mediocre when it comes to the business (personally, performanec matters diddly when it comes to what I love).

There is little point in sqabbling over such petty occurrances. It makes Disney look bad for pulling out and it puts ASIFA-Hollwood on the defensive for not real reason, all the while Dreamworks wisely keeps its mouth shut. In the end, everyone loses without exception.

The Passing of Kihachiro Kawamoto and Satoshi Kon

This week saw the passing of two legendary Japanese animators. I was not so much familar with Kihachiro Kawamoto, but from what i have read, he seems to have been one of those rare people who truly mastered his craft. Satoshi Kon was one of Japan’s most famous 2-D animators who also achieved widespread critical acclaim in the West.

The passing of these two gentlemen does not signal the beginning of the end for their respective styles of animation. If the past has taught us anything, it is that someone will emerge to fill the space left behind.

The Baltimore Comic-Con

I was just there yesterday (albeit it early) so I missed the apparent dust-up between Harvey Award winner Mark Waid and the legendary Sergio Argones. It seems Argones was upset about Waid’s support for putting comics in the public domain or something along those lines.

And sitting right next tom him was none other than Don Rosa, from whom I managed to procure a copy of the plans for Scrooge McDuck’s Money Bin. I found it rather apt that he gave me my change in the form of dollar coins

Tip of the Hat

Goes to the great folks over at Animation Ireland for putting a post by yours truly on the front page. Thanks guys, I guess I owe you all a round of pints next time I’m back home 😉

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Jumping Back Into the Fire

I’m jumping back into the fire again, God help me this time around what with work, school, weddings, Gaelic football and all rolled into the upcoming month!

There were plenty of exciting animation news announced while I was off. In case you missed them, here is a short list:

I also have a few ideas knocking around that i would like to post about but, but right now, the noggin is kinda fried as a result of a long day combined with pizza and ice-cream. See you tomorrow.

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Reminder: The Secret of Kells Outdoor Screening Tomorrow Night

Just a reminder to anyone even close to New York City that The Secret of Kells will be shown outdoors at the fancy sounding Socrates Sculpture Park as part of their 2010 season tomorrow night (July 14th). The event is organized by Rooftop Films, who basically do exactly what it says on the tin, showing films on rooftops!

As you should already know, The Secret of Kells is my absolute favourite animated film of the last couple of years and not just because it’s Irish! The film has had huge success in the US considering that it has received almost no promotion bar word of mouth!

This is an excellent opportunity to experience a wonderful film in an un usual place. Things kickoff at 7:00pm with live music before the film’s screening at 8:30pm.

Additional info can be found here.

THE SECRET OF KELLS – FREE SHOW
A free screening of this Academy Award nominated animated feature film
on the lawn at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens. A
surprise Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film, THE SECRET OF KELLS
follows the adventures of 12-year old Brendan on a dangerous mission
to help complete a magical illuminated manuscript. Almost entirely
hand-drawn, this dazzling film, made in the iconic style of medieval
art, is a gorgeous antidote to the familiar style of today’s digital
animation.
http://www.rooftopfilms.com/2010/schedule/50-the-secret-of-kells

WHERE:
On the grass along the water at Socrates Sculpture Park
3134 Vernon Blvd. (Long Island City, Queens)

WHEN:
7:00 Live Music
8:30 Film Begins

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Anomaly Approved: Asterisk Animation

Blogging, it’s a tough thing to get right at the best of times, heck, I screw it up on a fairly regular basis. There are a chosen few however that excel at the practise. Richard O’Connor is one of them.

Emanating from my favourite city in the whole wide world (New York), Richard writes for the Asterisk Animation blog. In case you didn’t already know, Asterisk is a studio based in New York that turns out many projects for private clients but also undertakes larger stuff, like the superb work they completed for PBS’ film, The Buddha (featuring the handiwork of everyone’s favourite Australian, Elliot Cowan).

Regular readers will note that Richard is not the sole animator blogger in New York, he’s not even the sole daily animator blogger in New York. He shares that distinction with Michael Sporn, a most unique animator whom I recommended just last month!

That is where the similarities end however. There are many differences between the two that serve to provide some fantastic variety in the New York animation scene. For one, Richards focuses much more on the practicalities of animation.

What I mean by this is that we get some original class notes from Tissa David! That is not all however, Richard also posts plenty of tips and tricks on how to create good animation, not just who we should look up to in the industry. Besides that, there are numerous posts filled with seasoned advice that can only come from someone who has been in the industry and has seen it all. Indeed, a series of posts has been posted on the correct way to cost a project. That is advice that can be hard to come by at the best of times and here it is being given away freely!

Richard also posts recaps from various events held in New York. Seeing as one person cannot make them all, it is nice to have a few blogs from where to read how events went. For those of us who don’t live in the Big Apple, these are a blessing.

Being the blog of an animation studio, it would be a crime if there weren’t plenty of posts about goings on in the place. Richard excels at posting about the ins and outs of working and running a studio. Besides that, he gives boatloads of background on many of the projects the studio works on. Although times are slowly changing, it is still rare to see first hand information about the nuts and bolts of a studio coming out on a regular basis.

An interesting aspect of the Asterisk blog is the numerous posts devoted to The Animator, the former newsletter of the trade union in the city. These offer a fascinating insight to the industry as it was many years ago and serve as a great reminder of how much things have changed. They are well worth a read if you have the time to spare.

Of course it wouldn’t be a blog if there weren’t a few personal posts here and there. Richard supplies the goods with posts on varying topics of interest. A notable pair of posts was centred on anime and how it came to be in this country.

As I said at the start, blogging is hard to do right. Doing it every day and getting it right is even harder. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Asterisk Animation blog is Anomaly Approved.

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Lessons From a Life in Showbiz

If you haven’t already, I strongly suggest you check out the excellent Scribble Junkies blog written by Patrick Smith and Bill Plympton. Despite it’s young age the wisdom of its authors is clearly evident.

As much as I’d like to do a full “Anomaly Approval” post today, I cannot. The reason? It’s my turn to make the dinner. So instead, here’s a link to the first of four posts posted by Bill containing the many lessons learned by David Brown (produced of “Jaws” among others.

Lessons From a Life in Showbiz

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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The Toy Story 3 Soundtrack: Where Disney Pinches the Pennies and Leaves You Short Changed

I learned yesterday that Disney plans to release the soundtrack to Toy Story 3 as a digital download only. This is not a good development on a number of fronts. Although I’m risking turning this into a gripe blog (which it isn’t!) it is a shame that Disney have decided to go down this route for the sake of saving a few cents.

Admittedly, most music is consumed nowadays in the form of music files rather than physical media. This is fantastic as it cuts out a lot of the cost of producing a record. I have long maintained that mp3 was the best thing to ever happen to the music industry. It set the music free from the restrictive media that are CDs and tapes. Suddenly, you could put your music anywhere and copy and share it easily. No more high-speed dubbing cassettes over at your friends house!

The only downside to mp3 and other lossy formats is that they compromise the quality of the recording. You may not know it, but plenty of audiophiles scoff at the humble CD. The basic reason is that the sampling rate for a CD or any digital medial for that matter, results in a waveform that does not accurately reflect the original analogue wave. In order to do that, you’ll need to dig up some vinyl records, either at your parents house or the lone record shop in your area that’s still open. Despite the apparent shortcomings of the CD, it has proven over the last 30 years to be a suitable successor to the vinyl record for the masses.

As for soundtracks, well they’re normally contain a fair amount of orchestral music. That is, if it really is a soundtrack with actual music from the film and not just one with a bunch of songs relating to the film. I’m looking at you Space Jam!

With natural music, I feel that you can only get the best experience from the best recording. With a CD, our in good shape, unless you know where you can find prerecorded SACDs. By using mp3 files, you are getting shortchanged, even if the music costs less. Don’t even get me started on the DRM they slap on there to stop you doing stuff with the music you bought.

If, like me, you enjoy listening to your music pretty loud, on a nice hi-fi, then you are out of luck. Mp3 sound like shite when you crank the volume up. A CD isn’t nearly as bad. Something along the like of EVE Retrieve from Wall-E need the highest bitrates to sound good. Anything less is in danger of leaving the listener feeling disappointed.

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