Just a quick note about Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival. It’s a great idea, and one that is sorely needed. It is a wee bit regretful that only one film a week will be shown, but that is perhaps a result of the Brew’s finances rather than then whims of the Brewmasters.
I am very curious to see what comes of this. Having seen the quality of some students’ work last year at the ASIFA-East Festival, it will be interesting to see how Jerry and Amid curate their own. Will it contain mainly serious pieces or technologically perfect yet personality sterile films? Can we expect a few funny ones in there to lighten the mood? I sure hope so, the world is dour enough as it is at the moment.
The only gripe I have, and I’m sure there is a plausible reason for this is that the film may not have been posted online prior to it’s showing on Cartoon Brew. I can see why this might be so, but I do not see the logical reason behind it. In any event, student films are unlikely to be available from a school standpoint before they are shown in the festival, but c’mon, if I was a student making a film the first thing I would want to do is get it out there in the ether on as many video websites and blogs as possible, especially my own.
Nonetheless, having your film shown on Cartoon Brew will ensure that it is seen by a substantial amount of animation professionals and fans alike, which is certainly the best free advertising you will find anywhere. I’m also sure that if you are enterprising enough to enter your student film in a festival, you will also have the requisite website or blog to back it up. Nothing pains me more than seeing a great student film but having nowhere to find additional information. Hopefully these are smart students and I’ll have no problems finding their blogs.
Nonetheless, I admire the effort of both Amid and Jerry and judging by their previous broadcasts on CBTV, I think we will not be disappointed.
Hi Charles – Thanks for your thoughtful write-up. I’m happy to hear that others are as excited about the idea as we are.
We definitely have plans to grow this in the future. Admittedly, we’re being cautious because this is the first time we’ve done something like this, but expect to see an expansion of the idea in 2011.
Also, to clarify, though we do ask for exclusivity, our window for exclusivity is limited. We’re cognizant that a lot of filmmakers already have online plans for their film, and we’ve always encouraged filmmakers to post their films on other sites after its Brew debut.
Hi Amid,
Thanks so much for the comment!
I believe very strongly in encouraging and promoting new ideas in the animation world. It is only through such endeavours that we can continue to grow the industry as a whole.
Charles