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T H E B U S I N E S 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
Anniversary
Edition
2007
™

$5.95 U.S. $7.95 CAN

01 >

0 7447 0 82258 5 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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______________________

From our family toyours...

Happy20th Anniversary.

________________

“See it in the next generation of 3-D, In select theatres, baby!”

Volume 21, Issue 1, Number 168, January 2007

C
10 Frame-by-Frame
20
O
N
The monthly animation planner…Close Encounter with Disney Channel’s T
Mike Moon … Chiodo Bros.’ Christmas treat … Peter and the Wolf howls on E
DVD…holiday toon books.
N
T
16 Gaming
S
16 Riding Dragons. Sierra Ent. and Stormfront Studios breathe ﬁre 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 Charlotte’s Web weaves in numerous
digital sequences from various vfx houses around the world [by Ellen Wolff]
28 Oscar Watch. An Ode to the Year of the Hyperactive CG-Animated

24 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 magniﬁcent 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 Pan’s
Labyrinth to life. [by Barbara Robertson] 42 Ain’t 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 Gold’s 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, Re-
Animated.[by Ramin Zahed] 54 Bix Pix Takes a Holiday. The proliﬁc 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

32 are celebrating landmark anniversaries in 2007. 86 40 Auteurs We Love (1987-2006). The essential list of 40 animator/
auteurs who have inﬂuenced 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-Deﬁning 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 Sail’s new high-tech facility promises a taste of what awaits
students in the real world. [by Ellen Wolff]

34 126 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 7

ANIMATION MAGAZINE
January 2007

E Vol. 21, Issue 1, No. 168

____________
T [email protected]

I
t was 20 years ago today (well, sort of) when this
   O magazine’s founder and original publisher Terry Thoren
   N decided to launch a venture that chronicled the exciting President Jean Thoren
Publisher Jodi Bluth
   S
   ’
and vibrant world of animation. A lot has happened in our
toon world since then, so much that we all experience some Accounting Jan Bayouth
   R whiplash as we try to keep up with the dizzying pace of Webmaster Eric Brandenberg
   O
   T
   I
change in the animated milieu.
We have compiled a wonderful “that was then, this is now” kind of a flashback ______________
EDITORIAL [email protected]
   D book that will be available in the first quarter of 2007, which will allow you
   E to see how far we have come in the past two decades. So I will not dwell on
Editor-in-Chief Ramin Zahed
that subject in this brief letter. However, I would like to say that it has been an Web and Gaming Editor Ryan Ball
honor and absolute pleasure to observe this thriving industry and to follow in Contributing Editors Chris Grove, Ron Magid,
the footsteps of this magazine’s past editors—Jerry Beck, Sarah Baisley, Rita Barbara Robertson
Street and Bill Desowitz to name a few. Editorial Assistant Claire Webb
Of course, we couldn’t have done it without the support of all of you brilliant
Copy Editor Roberta Street
and hard-working people who work in the toon business. I am always in awe of
your talent, drive and enthusiasm. I can’t count the times you have inspired us Animation Art Advisor Ron Barbagallo
all with your phone calls, emails and in-person meetings at industry screenings Digital Reviews Editor Todd Sheridan Perry
and markets. Contributors Patrick Drazen, Mike Fisher,
By the way, how about this funny piece of trivia to help put everything in Jake Friedman, Evelyn Jacobson, Robby London,
perspective (which also makes me feel ancient!): Monster House director Gil
Michael Mallory, Thomas J. McLean,
Kenan was only ten years old when the first issue of Animation Magazine went
to the printers! Mercedes Milligan, Charles Solomon, Ellen Wolff
Thanks for keeping us animated for 20 fantastic years.
ADVERTISING SALES
_______________
[email protected]
Sheri Shelton

Ramin Zahed PRODUCTION ______________

[email protected]
Editor-in-Chief Art and Production Director Susanne Rector
__________________
[email protected]
______________
CIRCULATION [email protected]
Circulation Director Jan Bayouth
O ver the past two decades we have been blessed by
many dedicated and passi onate editors who have made
this magazine what it is today. All of these individuals
TO ADVERTISE:
Phone: 818-991-2884
are not only talented journalists, but are also animation Fax: 818-991-3773
enthusiasts who love animation and the people who make _____________
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.animationmagazine.net
it, sell it, distribute or exhibit it. Their stewardship and
creative energy has brought the world of animation alive List Rental
for thousands over these years and hopefully furthered the cause of bringing Quantum List Marketing
this fabulous medium to the forefront of the entertainment world. 480-860-6036
Starting from our early days there was Terry Thoren, our founder who with ANIMATION MAGAZINE
(USPS 015-877/ISSN 1041-617X)
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 Published monthly by:
Street, Barbra Wexler, Christine Ferriter, Sarah Baisley and of course our Animation Magazine
current editor-in-chief, the dedicated and wonderful Ramin Zahed. All of 30941 West Agoura Road, Suite 102
these people have continued on to contribute to our industry in many ways. Westlake Village, CA 91361
We have fond memories associated with this group and I personally would
Periodicals postage paid at Thousand Oaks Post Ofﬁce, CA,
like to thank them all for their many contributions. and additional mailing ofﬁces.
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 POSTMASTER:
as “Specialists of all tasks” in a small company like ours. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO:
The list of contributors is endless but not any less important to our ANIMATION MAGAZINE
30941 West Agoura Road, Suite 102
continued success of publishing against many odds for these 20 years. I Westlake Village, CA 91361
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 TO SUBSCRIBE:
of you and are grateful for your contributions to this phenomenal business For the U.S., the rate is $50 for 12 issues or $85 for 24 issues. Rates for Canada and
Mexico are US$65 for 12 issues or US$110 for 24 issues delivered by foreign airmail.
and art form. Foreign rates are US$80 for 12 issues or US$136 for 24 issues delivered by foreign
Lastly I must express my deepest gratitude to those of you, who through airmail. Please allow six to eight weeks for initial delivery.
Also available in a digital version for $36 for 12 issues or $60 for 24 issues.
advertising or subscri ptions have supported us throughout the years, wit hout
you none of this would be possible. Thank you so much! Animation Magazine
Jean Thoren © 2007 Animation Magazine
Prior written approval must be obtained to duplicate any and all contents.
President of Animation Magazine 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.

8 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

The Animation Planner

January
5 The wait is over! 8 Taffy 9 Now that
Lionsgate releases Vanguard/ Enter- you’ve ﬁnally
   E BFC’s long-anticipated tainment recovered
   Manimated feature Happily launches Kabillion, a new kids’ from all the New
   A gorefest that is Eli Roth’s
N’Ever After  in theaters. The Video-On-Demand channel. The Year’s Eve parties, you can
   R new service will offer original chill at home with two hot
   F Hostel 2 also hits theaters
  - today. animated series entertainment new animated DVDs—A Pup
   Y for Comcast Cable’s On Demand Named Scooby-Doo Vol. 5
   B
  -
customers. But if you don’t have and SpongeBob
   E Comcast Cable, don’t panic, SquarePants—
the programs can be accessed Season 4 Vol. 2 .
   M
,

A Happily N’Ever After online at www.kabillion.com.

   R Miss Potter
   F 10 Check out the Random 12 Luc Besson’s CG-animated feature Arthur and the 16 The
Cartoons Screening in Invisibles  gets a wider release in theaters nationwide. Fans of young toon fan in your
Burbank California today. Beatrix Potter and her children’s books will be taking in Miss household may be asking
ASIFA- Hollywood is hosting a Potter , starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. Directed about the new Go Diego
screening of Frederator’s new by Chris Noonan, the Go! The Great Jaguar Race
series of cartoon shorts with all biopic will feature DVD out
39 creators. Members can get a some animated in stores
sneek peek at some of the new sequences. today.
cartoons in addition to hearing
creators discuss their short
___
ﬁlms. For more info, visit www.
__________
asifa-hollywood.org. Arthur and the Invisibles
Avatar
18-28 Based in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film
23 The TV hit parade
Festival offers a cool collection of animation shorts from
continues on DVD this week
indie artists from all over the world (http://festival.sundance.
with Gundam Seed: Destiny
org/2007). You can also ﬁnd more off-beat projects at the
Vol. 6, Avatar: Book Two:
Slamdance Film Festival (www.slamdance.com).
Earth Vol. 1 and Alvin and
the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk
Valentine.

26 If you have a craving 29-30 Worried about the state of television? Then you Jan. 29-Feb. 2 Forget about the slot machines
for brooding Euro vampires, should hop a ﬂight to the Big Apple and attend the Future TV
then you should check out Show North America, where many of the small-screen movers and blackjack tables! This
the new movie, Blood and and shakers address issues shaping the future of television week, the real action in Monte
Chocolate , starring Hugh as well as all the new platforms that are waiting in the aisles Carlo happens at the IMAGINA
Dancy and Olivier Martinez in (www.futuretvna.com). 2007 market, a cool event
theaters today. focusing
on 3D
___
digital content creation (www.
______
imagina.mc).

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

10 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

FRAME-BY-FRAME
Close Encounters with Toon Players
Mike Moon,
VP of Animation, Disney Channel
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 Network’s Foster’s Home for F
Imaginary Friends. His other credits include Clone R
High, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, House of Mouse
A
M
and 101 Dalmatians: The Series. ]
Hometown: Simi Valley, Calif. E
-
Background notes: I studied character animation at CalArts during the ‘90s where it was B
truly a hotbed for talent during the toon boom of that era. Y
What I thought I wanted to do when I was a kid: I knew I wanted to have a career in animation since I
-
F
was six or seven. But I also considered the theme park world as well as a career in music. I knew I wasn’t R
going to be a banker or doctor or lawyer! A
Toons I love: I grew up on the Warner Bros. cartoons, the classic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts as
M
well as the Disney features from the ’40s all the way to the ’70s. E
Role models: I was fortunate to have wonderful art teachers along the way—my 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 doesn’t go by that I don’t 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.
He’s 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 Office and Survivorman.
Musical tastes: I listen to all kinds of music on satellite radio. I’m 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
definitions 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. It’s 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 we’re
moving more towards a mix of comedy and adventure. With the success ofYin Yang Yo!, we’ve seen
that comedy performs really well internationally. What we’re not looking for is your standard muscle-
guy-in-a-spandex-suit action show. You can see a strong influence of vinyl toys, motion graphics and
infusion of the pop culture around us.
Do’s and don’ts of pitching: It’s 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 don’t 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 we’re absolutely in love with. We
want to play with genres and big conceptual ideas and find things that don’t fit the usual molds.
The Big Picture: I am a firm believer that the good stuff will always rise to the top no matter how much
content is out there. It’s 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. It’s staggering to see how far we’ve come in one or two decades. We’re
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.
It’s called Phineus Ferb and created by Dan Povelmeyer. It’s 2D animated and our first board-driven
project, which is a great way of constructing a show.
What I’m doing on a typical Sunday: I am usually hanging out with my family. I have a seven-year-old
son and a five-and-a-half-year-old daughter (my own focus group). You’ll find us at an ice skating rink,
occasionally at Disneyland or just hanging out at Griffith Park. 

_________________

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 11

Animation Lovers’ Holiday Reading Guide

I 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
hurts to brush up on your knowledge of the biz.
And while we’re discussing helpful breaking-into-
the-business books, we just have to mention the 3rd
releases which will offer you solace for hours! edition of Mark Simon’s beautiful Storyboards: Mo-
Neal Gabler’s richly detailed biography Walt Disney: tion in Art   primer (Focal Press, $39.95). The day we
The Triumph of the American Imagination (Knopf, received this book at the office, I dropped everything
$35) is a must-read for anyone who and simply spent at least half an hour admiring its
   E has even a passing interest in one richly illustrated pages. Simon, a frequent contributor
of the most influential figures in to Animag and a true veteran
   M
   A American culture. This 880-page bi- of the animation and movie in-
   R ography offers an insightful look at dustry, packs a wealth of
   F
  - the man and his remarkable achieve- knowledge and handy informa-
   Y ments, from his early days in a small tion about drawing, coloring,
   B
  - town in Kansas to the birth of the special effects and previz in
   E studio and creation of Disneyland, this volume. He has added new
   M to his role in the flourishing of fea- chapters on gaming, multime-
   A tures such as Snow White, Fantasia dia boards, perspective, sketch-
   R
   F and Pinocchio. Although Gabler ing and more. Simon has also
spends a little too much time dwell- included revealing interviews with artists such as
ing on typical bio-book psychobabble, there are plenty Alex Saviuk, ILM’s Mark Moore, Sean Cushing and Tim
of important revelations about the day-to-day life at Burgard as well as some top-notch exercises for neo-
the studio, the employees’ strike in 1941 and the busi- phytes. If you’re seriously considering a career as a
ness and creative models that built the Mouse Empire. storyboard artist, you can’t possibly find a better in-
Disney was once quoted as saying, “I only hope that vestment for your money. (Come on, you can even get
we don’t lose sight of one thing—that it was all start- _________
it for around $27 on amazon.com!)
ed by a mouse.” Gabler’s tome certainly doesn’t lose This holiday season, fans of fantasy films and crea-
sight of the impact of that little rodent. Moreover, he ture features are patiently awaiting the big-screen
offers a well-researched testament to the legacy of a adaptation of Eragon (see related story on page 34).
brilliant man whose legacy continues to inspire new To whet your appetite for the dragon epic, you can
artists and animators every day. check out Richard Rickitt’s Designing Movie Crea-
Christy Marx begins her helpful how-to book about tures and Characters , (Focal Press, $36.95) an image-
writing for animation with a packed volume about of some of the most beloved
great quote from an unlikely monster movies in cinema. Although some may argue
source, Thomas Jefferson. “The about the comprehensiveness of the volume (obvi-
most valuable of all talents is ously, Rickitt couldn’t include every  title and monster
that of never using two words creator), he does a great job of offering chapters on
when one will do!” And she the top craftsmen such as Walt Conti, Patrick Tato-
sticks with that line of thought poulos, Mike Elizalde, Carlos Huante, Nuje Ekzakdem
throughout the volume titled Steve Wang, Kazuchrio Tjusi and Jeff Himmel as well
Writing for Animation, Comics, as acclaimed shops like Weta. There are behind-the-
and Games   (Focal Press, scenes pieces on King Kong, Star Wars, X-Men, Alien,
$34.95). A veteran of TV ( Jem and the Holograms, X- Hellboy and The Chronicles of Narnia and revealing
Men, Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ), details about how molds, creature suits, eye mecha-
graphic novels ( Conan, Red Sonja) and gaming world nisms and masks are creat-
(Conquests of Camelot ), she offers practical advice on ed and used in conjunction
how to navigate the treacherous waters of these with animatronics, CGI and
three converging media. Included in the book are dis- special suits. The author also
cussions of the role of the writer, useful terminology throws in filmographies, a
and script formats, as well as tips on landing the right glossary of terms and doz-
agent and finding resources and organizations that ens of concept illustrations
can assist you. Many of the readers of this magazine and sketches. It’s a mon-
may already be familiar with these topics, but it never strous treat, by any standard.

12 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

___________________________

X-mas Meets
X-Files Russian Classic Gets
Stop Mo Treatment
W hile we’re not in the practice of re-
viewing children’s books, it’s hard
not to recommend one created by talent-
ed animators and creature effects special-
A lthough many animation lovers are familiar with Clyde
Geronimi’s classic 1946 Disney version of the Peter &
the Wolf   tale, a new stop-motion adaptation of the Rus-
ists Stephen, Charles and Edward Chiodo, especially when
it comes with a forward by legendary vfx master Ray Harryhau- sian folk tale has been getting a lot of attention in Europe.
sen and an endorsement by iconic sci-fi author Ray Bradbury. Produced by Hugh Welchman and Alan Dewhurst of Break-
Published by Baby Tattoo Books, Alien Xmas  is available at book- Thru films, this half-hour project is directed by BAFTA-win-
   E stores and on amazon.com just in time for the holidays.
ning animator Suzie Templteon (Dog ). Using Sergei Pro-
   M Alien X-Mas is the story of X, one of the thieving inhabitants
kofiev’s familiar classical piece, the project tells tale of a
   A of the planet Klepto. Sent to Earth to steal its gravity, the gray
brave young boy who outsmarts
   R and captures a wolf that has been
   F
  -
extraterrestrial arrives at the North Pole and mistakes Santa’s
stalking his grandfather’s country
   Y workshop for a weapons-building facility and launches an all-out
home. Peter slips the guard of his
   B
  -
alien invasion. It’s up to Santa and his top elf to save Christmas
over-protective grandfather and,
   E and the human race, unless the Klepts can learn that it’s better
with help from a crazy bird and a
   M to give than to steal.
dreamy duck, manages to put an
   A Co-written by Stephen Chiodo and Jumanji screenwriter Jim
end to the beastly threat.
   R Strain, the book combines traditional holiday concepts with
   F sci-fi fun and a sly sense of humor, all beautifully illustrated by
Shot in SeMaFor Studio in Lodz,
Charles Chiodo. If the book sells well, the brothers will be in a
Poland, the naturalist stop-mo
good spot to make a stop-motion animated feature based on it,
animation has been described by
and that we’ve gotta see!
some critics as “unburnished with
—Ryan Ball
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 London’s Roy-
al Albert Hall in September, with the Philharmonia Orches-
tra providing live accompaniment. The film 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.breakthrufilms.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)
• Disney’s 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

14 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

the studio to record their characters for

the game. Additionally, we secured the
likenesses of all the major characters, in-
cluding Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and
Djimon Hounsou.”
The game assets were created mostly
with Autodesk’s Maya and Ramage tells
us one of the main goals for the animation
was to find a happy medium between the
realism that gamers expect from next-
gen technology and defining the narrative
through a highly-stylized “fairy tale” filter.
“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

Riding Dragons ﬁghts and the co-op capabilities. Speciﬁc

levels of the game will put the player in
control of Saphira and Eragon in the air
Sierra Ent. and Stormfront Studios breathe fire into Eragon. as they rein fire and other devastating
attacks down on their enemies. In two-
by Ryan Ball player mode, one player controls Saphira
   S
C
hristoper Paolini was just a teenag- Producer Tim Ramage and his team at while the other manipulates Eragon on her
   E er when he wrote Eragon, the first Sierra Ent. worked closely with 20th Cen- back. At any time during the game, a sec-
   M book in a fantasy series that was tury Fox and the filmmakers early on to ond player can also take on the role of an
   A acquired by 20th Century Fox and made make sure their visions were in sync. How- ally character —wise mentor Brom in the
   G into an effects-laden, big-screen holiday ever, since game development often works first half and flashy, wisecracking Murtagh
release. And like all big tentpole film fran- very far in advance of the film production in the second half of the game.
chises, it has also moved into the interac- timeline, the folks at Sierra and Stormfront While games featuring dragons are a
tive realm where gamers can try out their had to use their imaginations with a lot of dime a dozen, Ramage says Eragon stands
dragon-riding skills and partake of some elements. out from the pack because Paolini’s story
good, old-fashioned medieval warfare. Pub- “By the time we were receiving actual lends itself perfectly to exciting gameplay.
lished by Sierra Ent., the title is now out for hard assets, such as movie set reference, “Think about it,” he implores, “Eragon has a
Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC, with concept art, shooting scripts, etc., we sword, a bow and the ability to use magic…
PSP, Nintendo DS, GameBoy Advance and found we weren’t far off on some things, and then add a dragon into the mix. This is
mobile versions also available. and almost dead on with other elements,” the stuff that great fantasy video games
The Eragon story centers on a farm Ramage notes. “We were also able to bring are made of.”
boy who discovers a dragon egg and em- [cast members] Ed Speleers (Eragon), Handheld versions of the game were
barks on a journey to take up the mantle Sienna Guillory (Arya), Garrett Hedlund developed by Amaze. The PSP game is a
of the legendary Dragon Riders and save (Murtagh) and Robert Carlyle (Durza) into dragon-riding sim that has players test
his land of Alagaesia from the their mettle in six different are-
devious plans of the evil king nas and the Nintendo DS title is
Galbatorix. Developed for conan action RPG with an upgrade-
soles by Stormfront Studios, able combat system. Meanwhile,
the game lets players take on Gameboy Advance owners can
the role of Eragon or play as his take part in turn-based RPG fun
dragon, Saphira, as they battle with ten playable characters
the king’s sinister forces. A from the film and a few others
deep combat system allows for from the book. We’re just hoping
grapples, combos and magic nobody has their cell phones to
attacks, and two-player co-op play developer Kaolink’s mobile
mode lets a friend get in on the game in the theater when we go
action. to see the movie on Dec. 15! 

16 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Game On for the Holidays!

Yep, it’s hard to believe but it’s that time again. As Santa
checks his naughty and nice list to see who’s going to get
a PlayStation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, we’ve come up with our
own list of favorites that would make perfect stocking Loosey. Five campaigns each contain
stuffers for the gamer in your life. by Ryan Ball three missions featuring soldier, tank
and spaceship action while multiplay-
er mini-games are available through
Flushed Away this set is available for a limited time local two-person wireless.
DreamWorks and includes a free, 14-day trial of the
and Aardman popular massively multiplayer online Xiaolin Showdown
Ani mat ion s game Star Wars: Galaxies . With this Everybody will be kung fu fighting with
managed to deal, you get Star Wars: Empire at War , this game based on the popular War-
turn the sewer Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , ner Bros. animated series. Available
into a cool place Star Wars Battlefront , Star Wars Jedi for PSP, PlaySta-
to visit and now Knight II: Jedi Outcast , and Star Wars tion 2, Xbox and
fans can take Republic Commando, all for just Nintendo DS, the
the plunge into $39.99. title features
that world with four playable
this humorous WTF (Work Time Fun) characters from
   S adventure from D3 Publisher and de- While playing video games normally the show on a
   E veloper Monkey Bar Games. The game gets in the way of finding a job, this quest to find
   M casts players as of one of three char- casual PSP entry from Japan has play- mystical power-
   A acters from the film—Roddy, Rita and ers taking on various part-time jobs in granting objects
   G the Jammy Dodger, Rita’s boat which order to earn money known as Shen
has a unique personality of its own. to buy more mini- Gong Wu and keep them from falling
Navigating more than 10 levels and a games and various into the hands of evil boy genius Jack
number of mini-games, gamers can items including prac- Spicer and his army of robots. And, of
utilize such weapons as a rat trap cat- tical tools and use- course, it wouldn’t be Xiaolin Show-
apult, a cocktail sword, pudding mix less trinkets. You down without a little less-than-friend-
and other items found in the sewer to can also subcon- ly martial arts competition.
defeat enemies and dodge floating tract work to friends
debris. The game features some im- via wi-fi and collect Elebits
pressive character animation and is the money they In Konami’s first game for the Ninten-
now available for PlayStation 2. earn. D3 Publisher and Sony Computer do Wii, players must search high and
Entertainment International have even low for for Elebits, mischievous little
Star Wars: Best of PC included a personal e-mail account creatures that are the source of the
For those of you who like all the great- complete with scam messages that world’s power. The Wii’s innovative
est hits on one disc, LucasArts has can cost you virtual money if you open controller allows gamers to push, pull,
combined five of the most popular them. Almost like having a real job, lift and throw anything in the environ-
Star Wars games developed for per- just much more fun! ment in order to get to the playful crit-
sonal computers in one package ters, which in turn power up various
dubbed Star Chicken Little: Ace in Action implements used
Wars: The Tykes will love this Buena Vista Games to continue the
Best of PC . movie tie-in developed by DC Studios search. Since you
Boa sti ng for Nintendo’s DS and Wii platforms. don’t have to be a
hundreds of Playing as Chicken Little’s superhero hard-core gamer
hours of ac- alter ego and Hollywood versions of to figure this one
tion, strate- his misfit friends, players must save out, it’s great fun
gy and role- the world from the evil Foxy Loxy and for the whole
playing fun, her Amazonian sidekick, Goosey family. 

18 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

_______

How the team at French

vfx house BUF helped Luc
Besson bring his Arthur
and the Invisibles world to
animated life.
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 before—and in case you were
one of the few moviegoers who caught
last summer’s The Ant Bully —you
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
   E that their holiday movie Arthur and the
   R Invisibles (Arthur and the Minimoys) will
   U
   T be unlike anything else in toon town. Garcia first made a one-minute short with the fantasy world, books often
   A Besson, who is best known in the U.S. film exploring a smooth mix of live help generate interest among future
   E
   F for directing the genre-defining visual action, mo-cap and CG animation. filmgoers,” explains Besson. “You can
effects-driven The Fifth Element (as Then, they went to vfx expert Pierre see this trend reflected in the success
well as La Femme Nikita, Subway and Buffin and his BUF studio in Paris, which of movies such as Lord of the Rings,
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc ) have done impressive work on many Chronicles of Narnia and all the Harry
recalls the day he found the inspiration features including Finding Neverland, Potter  films.”
for the project. “Patrice Garcia, one of Alexander, Harry Potter and the Goblet The storyline required a seamless
the main designers on Fifth Element   of Fire, Batman Begins and The City of blending of live action (Freddie
came to see me one day and showed Lost Children. Highmore and Mia Farrow star in the
me a drawing he had done of a little guy With the help of Garcia and his wife non-animated parts of the movie which
on a leaf,” says Besson during a recent Céline, Besson created a magical world is shot on 35 mm film) and the CG-based
visit to New York City. “He asked me to inhabited by miniature creatures. portion, which lasts about an hour. “To
help him develop a TV series based on The helmer actually wrote four refine our methodology, we conducted
the drawing, but I was so amazed by his books about these characters which many different tests, adapting Patrice’s
work that I immediately decided that I became bestsellers in his native drawings to 3D, model lighting tests
wanted to do a movie centered on it.” country and have sold half a million and reporting on the 3D scenes,” says
To test the waters, Besson and copies worldwide. “When you deal Buffin. “Our initial idea was to have

20 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

micro-models built to a one scale, but the 3D models.” based on the drawings, the team
we soon realized that shooting on this In addition, the R&D team worked created a template for the models
scale presented a series of restraints.” continuously to make sure all the using simple volumes in Styrofoam.
Thanks to the special proprietary shaders and renderings were up to speed Then came the task of building the
tools developed specifically at BUF, and optimized, improving the particles initial animatic (one pose per second)
Buffin knew he had what he needed and fluids, managing the color pass and with a basic render to allow the
to go forward with the project. He improvingvariousalgorithms.Additionally, anticipation of the problems before
explains, “We had an excellent modeling the artists used Mental Image’s popular building the final models.
artist, a revolutionary animation Mental Ray software program to render This was followed by building the
program that allowed us to free the project. “It’s the only outside software actual models based on the uploaded
ourselves from the constraints and we use,” says Buffin. “We’ve been using it template (built three times the real
for over 15 years and have developed a size of objects in the real world). As
a methodology that let us build any lot around it!” Buffin explains, “This was the right F
humanoid made up of a skeleton For Besson, the initial stages of compromise between a model too E
with muscles and facial expressions, the film were no different than all small to photograph and build and
A
T
a model too big to allow the use of U
“Sometimes, it’s the simple shots—a certain look, natural resources such as wood and R
leaves.” E
a really genuine human expression— After Besson reviewed this initial
that’s what makes it worthwhile in the end.” animation and gave his notes and
suggestions, the team went to work
—Director Luc Besson on the 3D lighting of the shots and
shooting of the models. The images
etc., photogrammetry [technology in his live-action projects. “For the first were then projected onto the 3D
which the 3D coordinates of points nine months, I simply worked with the volumes which allowed the camera
on an object are determined by actors—this is the job I know,” he notes. to move around them. This step was
measurements made in photographic “To create the reference point for the followed by the actual rendering of
images taken from various positions], animation team, I shot everything like the characters so that they would be
a useful task manager, compositing a live-action movie on a mini-digital integrated into the sets.
software and real-time image video camera.” “One of the most important points of
verification at any resolution, in-house As Buffin explains, after Garcia’s our process was the way Buffin does
2D drawing software and a 3D paint storyboard was edited with voice-over motion capture,” says Besson. “He’s a
which let us make changes directly on and the 3D characters were created genius—a little French John Lasseter!

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 21

He has invented a system that doesn’t

require wiring the actors [as perhaps
audiences have seen with Tom Hanks
in The Polar Express ]. We were able to The toughest part of the job for renaissance in French animation in
use this wonderful reference we got Besson, however, was convincing recent years, Besson says he thinks
from the actors without any trappings himself that he was making the right Americans had a lot to do with it! “To
of the wiring system people associate decisions. “I started five years ago, be honest, I think a lot of French artists
with motion capture.” and nobody gets to see the first 30 got hired at Pixar and DreamWorks
After many months of development million euros you spend on the movie. and Disney about 10 years ago. They
and prep work, the actual production of You have to trust your vision and thank acquired a lot of knowledge in the
Arthur began in January of 2004. With the people around you who let you go States, and they brought it back to
an estimated price tag of 60 million ahead without seeing anything for the France. A decade ago, the technique
euros (over $70 million), the film may first three years!” was very expensive and slow, and
still be considered cheap by U.S. studio Besson admits that there were now it’s more affordable to make CG-
standards. However, both Besson and times when he had to fight depression animated features.”
Buffin point out that a lot of hard labor because he had nothing to show for A fan of classic Disney features
went into the creation of this magical all his work. “Then, suddenly, in a week such as The Jungle Book   and The
world. “We created 1,600 shots, 1,350 or two, there were hundreds of shots Lady and the Tramp and the poetry of
of which actually made it to the film,” ready to go—and then you had to make Hayao Miyazaki movies, Besson says
says Buffin. “It took about 27 months some tough choices to edit and refine he’s saddened by the short shift 2D
for an average of 100 people to create the images. Sometimes, I would cut a animation has been getting in the U.S.
35 sequences—80 of whom had never few shots, and the animation team “Some subjects are better told in 2D
worked in feature animation before!” would say, ‘Are you kidding? We spent animation and we should keep that
“We’re very proud of our method six months on those shots!’ But then, tradition alive,” he notes.
which allowed a live-action director we cut them and had to do what we There have been rumors in France
   E to direct an animated movie while had to do—and in the long run, it was that Arthur and the Invisibles may be
   R directing the actors and moving the the right decision. Anyway, these days, Besson’s final directing effort. Some say
   U
   T camera around,” says Buffin. “In short, you can always release the edited he may quit the business and devote his
   A he was able to direct the movie he footage as DVD bonuses!” time to one of his Parisian-based youth
   E
   F wanted to make.” When asked about the the amazing charities. For now, at least, he seems
pretty happy about his adventure in
the realm of childhood fantasy. “I saw
the first 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, it’s the simple
shots—a certain look, a really genuine
human expression—that’s what makes
it worthwhile in the end.” 
The Weinstein Co. releases Arthur
and the Invisibles   in select theaters
on Dec. 15. The movie gets a wider
release on January 12.

22 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

_______________________________

Spinning
Spinning a Magical
agical
Digital Web
igital W eb
The new adaptation of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s 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

Director Gary Winick

   E here’s something about the frey, John Cleese and Dakota Fanning. who headed this large animation pro-
   R holiday season that invites the But Fanning alone—playing a farm girl duction. “Rather than think about
   U
   T best digital menagerie to the enamored with Wilbur the pig—ap- these animals as animated effects,
   A big screen. As it was with last year’s pears on film. The others voiced ani- Gary considered them actors,” says
   E
   F Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong mal characters that were animated to the film’s vfx supervisor John Berton,
and 2004’s Lord of the Rings finale, look alive, created by artists from Aus- who teamed with animation supervi-
filmmakers are saving some of their tralia and America to bring the much- sor Eric Leighton to wrangle the film’s
best CG-animated handiwork for the loved 1952 children’s book to the digital barnyard.
end of the year. And director Gary Win- screen. Making the animated characters ap-
ick’s adaptation of E.B. White’s heart- White’s poignant tale of a pig whose pear photoreal—even while they spoke
warming classic, Charlotte’s Web, is no life is saved by a heroic spider and a lines—was the key challenge. It was
exception to the rule. wisecracking rat has long intrigued tackled by “casting” different studios
The live-action/CG feature (a joint filmmakers. (Toon fans may recall the to perform specific characters.
venture between Paramount Pictures, 1973 version produced by Hanna-Bar- “Animators are actors,” asserts Ber-
Walden Media, Kerner Entertainment bera and Sagittarius which featured ton. “They may think they’re hiding
Co. and Nickelodeon Movies) boasts a the voice of Debbie Reynolds as the from the cameras, but they’re not.”
host of big names—Julia Roberts, lead arachnid.) Notably, it was Winick The role of Wilbur, who was filmed with
Kathy Bates, Steve Buscemi, Robert (Tadpole, 13 Going on 30)—an actors’ face replacement in mind, went to L.
Redford, Jennifer Garner, Oprah Win- director, not an effects filmmaker— A.’s Rhythm & Hues (Oscar winner for

24 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Smelling a Rat: Tippet Studios created

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

Babe). Templeton the rat and Char- ‘Shared shots—NIGHTMARE .’ So no- manoid, it would break the movie. So
lotte the spider were “played,” respec- body had any illusions.” we hit the books on rat motion and
tively, by Berkeley, Calif.-based Tippett To provide a guide via moving story- also filmed our pet rat. By stepping
Studio and Rising Sun Pictures in Ade- boards, Charlotte’s Web was previsual- through lots of reference footage, we
laide, Australia. Charlotte’s swarm of ized in Softimage|XSI by L.A.-based broke down ‘ratty’ motion signatures.”
offspring came from down under as Proof. “We tried to get it correct in pre- But creating facial expressiveness
well, courtesy of Sydney’s Fuel Inter- viz before it went to the effects hous- wasn’t easy. “Rats’ eyes don’t face for-
national. es,” says Berton. To create approxi- ward, and they can’t furrow their
As Berton notes, “If we had to show mately 1,000 effects shots, such prep- brows. So we moved lots of flesh
behaviors that a photographed animal aration was essential, particularly for around.” While Labonte’s team used
couldn’t perform, we replaced the houses creating characters in full CG. Autodesk’s Maya, Templeton’s fur was
whole thing.” That’s when Melbourne’s added at render time with proprietary
Finishing the Rat
F
Digital Pictures Iloura stepped in. Over- software. “Adding fur can cost you E
all, the goal was consistency. “We Among those was Templeton, voiced some expressiveness. It’s as if I sud-
A
T
didn’t worry about one vendor trying by Steve Buscemi. Tippett Studio’s denly sprouted a 12-inch beard all over U
to animate two characters talking to task was to make the CG rat rant sar- my face.” R
each other. That would have been eas- castically without straying far from Also among Tippett’s assignment E
were shots where Templeton is chased
“Animators are actors … They may think by crows. “Grooming feathers meant
extending our fur tool,” recalls Labon-
they’re hiding from the cameras, te. “Some shots had a CG crow flying
alongside a real one. Once or twice,
but they’re not.” the director even asked for changes in
—Charlotte’s Web ’s vfx supervisor, John Berton the performance of the real crow!”
Rising Sun Pictures also grappled
ier logistically, but we went for perfor- what real rats can do. Animation su- with fur on Charlotte herself. VFX su-
mances first.” Yet mixing animals from pervisor Todd Labonte observes, “Rats pervisor John Dietz reports, “With spiky
different houses within single shots don’t emote with their tails like dogs, fur she looked scary, but up close her
required careful matching of eye lines and we couldn’t put him up on his back fur looks groomed and she’s more en-
and lighting styles. “We sat everybody legs or have him point at things. If dearing.” The bigger challenges in-
down at the beginning and said: Templeton jumped around like a hu- volved managing Charlotte’s eight

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 25

eyes and legs and suggesting a ‘faux

mouth’ behind her mandibles—a mouth
that speaks with Julia Roberts’ voice.
RSP used Softimage|XSI and 3Delight’s
renderer to create Charlotte but wrote
proprietary software to simulate her
intricate webs. The star spider’s web-
weaving 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 spi-
der presented problems of scale. As
Dietz explains, “We had to convey the
feeling that she’s small, even when
she fills up the screen.” Fortunately,
Charlotte’s key scenes were com-
pletely CG, so Berton notes, “We could
cheat the depth-of-field. Charlotte’s ing. We got a couple of minutes of tools. Animation Supervisor Craig
world is very macro. Anything beyond footage that we could reference. It Talmy remarks, “The majority involved
three inches is out of focus. So we was amazing.” live-action footage of cows, sheep and
digitally ‘photographed’ her as if we Fuel’s portfolio also included beak dozens of pigs representing Wilbur. We
were shooting with macro lenses.” replacements for Stan Winston’s ani- made wire frames of everything from
The animated spiders assigned to matronic geese when post-production the pigs’ shoulders forward, so we’d
Fuel International included Charlotte’s changes in dialogue were made. “The have accurate match-moves in every
babies crawling from their eggs, and geese have lots of comic lines,” says frame. Then we’d put the film footage
vfx supervisor Simon Maddison ad- Maddison. Winick thought they’d be onto the wire frame. It had to work
mits, “It was tricky.” While Fuel typically more expressive if Fuel animated some perfectly, so that once we animated
animates with Maya, they used Enge- tongues because, as Maddison ex- Wilbur’s dialogue, everything lined up.”
nuity’s A.I. Implant software to simu- plains, “Lip syncing is difficult when While Wilbur is a star of Charlotte’s
late those swarms of babies. An equal- characters can only open and close Web, Talmy recalls, “Everybody wanted
ly difficult sequence showed Char- their mouths. Add a tongue and sud- to animate the sheep. The one voiced
lotte’s offspring descending en masse denly you have a whole new world of by John Cleese had the best lines.
from the sky. “I didn’t believe that ac- readability.” Since he’s an old sage, we put Andy
tually could occur,” says Maddison. Face replacement was also central Rooney eyebrows on him to add ex-
“But on set one day, somebody looked to the shots done at Rhythm & Hues, pressiveness!” Berton adds, “R&H’s
   E up and sure enough, that was happen- which used its suite of proprietary results always stayed true to the per-
   R formance of the live animals.” He be-
   U Funny Farm: Rhythm & Hues created
   T many of the film’s face replacements lieves this is crucial to make audiences
   A for the cows, sheep and dozens of pigs think they’re watching live action. “We
   E
   F representing Wilbur, using wire frames want people to believe it was the most
to get accurate match moves. amazing job of animal training.”
After two years of web-based inter-
national collaboration (using Apple’s
Quicktime and iChat software) the mo-
ment of truth arrived in the Digital In-
termediate session for the feature. As
Berton watched countless elements
blend together, he admits, “One of my
proudest moments was when every-
thing matched.” Or as Charlotte seam-
lessly wrote on her web, “Terrific.” 
Paramount releases Charlotte’s Web
in U.S. theaters on December 15. The
feature will roll out internationally
through February.

26 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

_____________________ ________________

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An Ode to the Year of the Hyperactive

CG-Animated Animals!
by Thomas J. McLean

T
he 16 films that qualified for the aptation of Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi classic the race this year,” says Tom O’Neil, col-
fifth animated features Oscar A Scanner Darkly and French-Belgian umnist for The Envelope.com. “Every
race show just how far the cat- produced action tale Renaissance . Tra- Pixar film in the existence of this cate-
egory has come in a short time. ditional animation is represented by gory has been nominated, and two of
The list shows the validity of com- Universal’s Curious George and the them have won.”
plaints that there are too many funny soon-to-be-released anime feature Pa- “I would think Cars is a given,” agrees
talking animals films—Barnyard, Ice prika. critic Leonard Maltin, author of several
Age: The Meltdown, Open Season, Over But as the Oscars loom once again, books on animation. “Beyond that, all
the Hedge, The Wild —but also shows most films will fade to also-ran status bets are off.”
the increasing diversity of the field. as the Academy’s nominating commit- The onslaught of movies about hip
Motion capture, which qualifies under tee pares the list down to five nomi- talking animals on a big adventure jour-
the Academy’s definition of animation nees. The only film experts agree is ney is going to play some kind of fac-
by virtue of being a frame-by-frame guaranteed a nomination is Pixar’s tor. The achievements of those films
technique, made the list via Sony’s smash-hit Cars.
Monster House, Richard Linklater’s ad- “Cars seems to be zooming ahead in continued on page 30

   E
   R
   U
   T
   A
   E
   F

Digging for Oscar Gold: Among the animated ﬁlms 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, Everyone’s Hero, Cars, Flushed Away, Open Season,
Over the Hedge, Happy Feet, Curious George and Barnyard.

28 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

______________

_______________________ ____________________

Oscar Race films has its supporters and figuring entire academy membership, but it
continued from page 28
out the race truly becomes a guessing could be a subconscious factor in the
may be overlooked by voters who are game. “People have strong feelings nominating process. Nominees are
frustrated with their similarities and about some of these other films,” he chosen by a screening committee
the underlying cynicism of studios all says. “It’s a wide open race.” made up of members invited to join by
swallowing the same formula in an at- O’Neil says he expects Ice Age as a a committee chairman named by the
tempt to establish a foothold in the sequel will not make the cut, and ex- academy president. Committee mem-
potentially lucrative market for ani- pects the race for the final nomination bers must see at least 80 percent of
mated features. will come down to Over the Hedge and the eligible films in a theatrical setting
“The studios seem to be trying to hit Flushed Away , with the latter being the and then will vote on the nominees.
home runs with these big productions true wildcard in the race. “It not only In previous years, the academy’s nom-
packed with celebrity voices,” says had the advantage of being newer, but inations have included CGI, anime and
O’Neil. “They tend to be too formulaic the story of a pampered rich rat sud- stop motion, indicating openness to the
in terms of the little lost kid or the talk- denly having everything literally flushed quality of films regardless of technique.
ing animals voiced by superstars who away and being lost is the core neurosis The Polar Express failed to add motion
don’t have to sit in a makeup chair.” of filmmakers in the chancy Hollywood capture to that list two years ago. How-
Maltin says the number of movies world, that any minute everything they ever, Monster House pushed the tech-
and their similarities is enough to try have could be stolen away.” nology forward and was a critical and
the patience of even the most enthusi- It’s unclear if the use of motion cap- commercial success, giving it a much
astic animation fan. “I never thought ture will affect the chances of a film better chance at a nomination.
the day would come when I would be such as Monster House. The technique A Scanner Darkly and Renaissance
dreading a new animated feature, but I qualifies as animation under the Acad- are less likely to make such a break-
got to the same point as everybody emy’s rules, but converting the perfor- through, not so much because of their
else this year,” he says. mances of real actors into animated use of motion capture and rotoscoping
Animated features also have started characters is not without controversy. as their poor critical reception. “There
to feel overlong, he says. “For the first Maltin says he has yet to hear a con- will be some resistance to films that go
time ever, animated mov- too far off the beaten path ei-
ies are suffering from the “There will be some resistance to films ther in technology or story ma-
same malady that plagues terial,” says Maltin. “But I don’t
live-action pictures, which
that go too far off the beaten path think the people who vote in
is they’re too long,” says either in technology or story material the academy are necessarily
Maltin, who says Happy … but I don’t think people who vote in savvy enough about animation
Feet and Open Season to break down in their minds
both could have been
the Academy are savvy enough about what the components of a
tightened up. animation to break down in their minds movie are. They’re just going to
   E This makes figuring out what the components of a movie are.” judge them as movies.”
   R which films will make the As the lone anime entry, Pa-
   U
   T nominating cut hard to prika also faces an uphill bat-
   A figure out. Looking at his-
—Movie historian and critic Leonard Maltin
tle. While the techniques and
   E
   F torical factors, at least style of anime are not an is-
seven films have a serious shot at a vincing reason about the benefits of sue, Paprika lacks the name identifica-
nomination—Cars, Flushed Away, Hap- the technique. “The answers I’ve got- tion of Hayao Miyazaki, who directed
py Feet, Ice Age 2, Monster House, ten about the level of nuance in the last year’s nominee Howl’s Moving Cas-
Open Season and Over the Hedge. The performance don’t wash because I’ve tle and 2002 winner Spirited Away . 
academy’s rules say with 16 films qual- seen the work of great animators who Thomas J. Mclean is a Los Angeles-
ifying, there will be five nominees, can accomplish the very same thing,” based journalist who specializes in
meaning at least two of those films he says. animation, comic books and visual ef-
will not get a nomination. If one of the The category, however, is best ani- fects. You can read his Bags & Boards
few films slated for late-year releases mated feature—not best animation in blog about the comic-book industry
were to for some reason fail to qualify, a feature. The rules and the spirit of at http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_
the rules say the category will feature the category are intended for voters to ________
and_boards.
three nominations. consider the overall quality of the film Next month, you can read all about
Animation historian and author Jerry and not the technique used to achieve the tricky visual effects Oscar race.
Beck (cartoonbrew.com, The Animated it. That is certain to be the case in vot- We’ll also focus on the animated
Movie Guide) says that each of those ing for the winner, which is done by the shorts category in our March issue.

30 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________

The Return of the

Artiste
French director Michel Ocelot’s 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

I
f Michel Ocelot’s latest film Azur After a brutal separation, their desti- sage from desert to luxuriant forest.”
and Asmar , a medieval Arabic fairy nies become intertwined once again The sheer poetry and originality of
tale, is any indication of the vitality as young men when Azur, who pines to Azur and Asmar   not only rivals previ-
of French animation, we are now offi- visit the idyllic country described to ous efforts like his two Kirikou films
cially in what can only be called a Gold- him as a child by his surrogate mother and Princes and Princesses, but the
en Age. And, thanks in large part to (complete with genies and magical film feels like an oasis. The courage
the trailblazing of Ocelot’s mystical, creatures), embarks on a journey to and audacity and complete disregard
culture-spanning genius, the words free the Fairy of the Djinns, whom As- for the aesthetic and narrative conven-
   E “astonishing” and “lyrical” are now be- mar is also determined to liberate. tions of Hollywood are sure to inspire
   R ing used as they were meant to be, They are reunited under strange and independents everywhere to tran-
   U
   T not as buzz words for a rap sample or cruel circumstances and ultimately scend the norm, to challenge the exist-
   A car accessory but to describe some- help one another to succeed in, against ing and to leap into the void of faith …
   E
   F thing exquisite and noble. the odds, establishing peace and har- in the future and the paying public.
While it may have taken a while to mony in their world. One of the strengths of Ocelot’s
gather a head of steam, the animation films, ironically, is that he doesn’t even
feature revolution is well under way— Authentic Visions fit into the romantic “know the rules in
at least in Europe. And the success of When asked about his take on the order to break them” cliché. And the
Ocelot’s latest films indicates that not French animation miracle of the past rules, as we all know, were created in
only is the public a willing participant, decade, Ocelot describes it as a “pas- Hollywood. What does the self-taught
but artists, producers and financiers Ocelot think of American animated
are happy to be riding along. feature films? “To continually do films
Inspired by a familiar situation in the that reference or mock other films, in-
West today (i.e., the hostilities be- stead of making original, solid, person-
tween older and recent immigrants), al, stand-alone films—seems a pity.”
the film centers on two boys, blond- He adds, “I never learned how to make
haired, blue-eyed Azur, son of a French a film … and I’ve never made a children’s
nobleman, and black-haired, brown- film, since children couldn’t care less
eyed Asmar, whose immigrant mother, about films made for them! Kids need
their nurse, raises them as brothers. to learn … to learn about the world, to

32 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

learn new things. It’s Not Normal the digital work), the 430,753 tickets
And they don’t need In stark contrast to some of the oth- sold in the first week of release in No-
safe knowledge ei- er animated features audiences have vember must have been pleasing also.
ther, or need to un- seen in 2006, Ocelot’s labor of love With this kind of public approval, one
derstand immedi- took six years to make (from develop- might be apprehensive about the crit-
ately. My films are ment to delivery) and cost 10 million ics’ reponse to the movie, but Ocelot
family films, and I’m euros ($12.9 million U.S.). It mixes 2D says the reviews have all been good.
Michel Ocelot glad that I can bring backgrounds with CG-animated char- With customarily tender wit, he mus- F
the family together. acters and showcases the talents of es, “It’s not normal.” E
There are certain things that I don’t Ocelot as writer/primary character Besides releasing two films in the
A
T
say as crudely because there are chil- designer/director; head background theaters in the same year, writing books, U
dren in the audience, but I try to be artist Anne-Lise Lourdelet-Koehler; six teaching, a magazine and a musical R
truthful and to tell the whole truth.” color background artists; Oscar-win- comedy … what’s next for Ocelot? “First E
Azur and Asmar   embodies the bra- ning composer Gabriel Yared (The Eng- of all, several of my older short films are
vura of a maestro—a mature, loving, lish Patient, Cold Mountain ); a bevy of going to be released [BAFTA-winning
sophisticated original storyteller. But secondary character designers, layout Les 3 inventeurs (1979), Les Filles de
Ocelot, who spent his childhood in and background artists; a 50-person l’égalité (1981), César-winner La Légen-
Equatorial Guinea, is also folksy and a team for the digital preparation, ani- de du pauvre bossu  (1982), Les 4 voeux
provocateur, bucking not only “com- mation and rendering; seven voice ac- (1987)]… and, at the moment, I’m hesi-
mon sense” (half the film’s in Arabic, tors and a team of technicians. And, in tating between a sensual, baroque fea-
without subtitles !) but political correct- contrast to Hollywood, every creative ture for adults or a family fairy tale that
ness (immigration is a touchy subject decision on the film was made by the takes place in Paris in 1900...”
after riots ravaged France a year ago) director! The film was also made en- Whew! No wonder his secretary
and tradition (both sides of the story tirely in France and, says Ocelot proud- skipped town with a jazz musician! 
are told). And, once again, the film has ly, “… was delivered on time!” Chris Panzner recently created the pro-
nudity in the form of breastfeeding—in Although delivering on time must duction/distribution company Eye&Ear
the opening scene—perhaps guaran- have pleased producers Christophe and is currently working on the blueprints
teeing it won’t get distribution, like the Rossignon and Jacques Bled (whose to the gravy train. When he’s not writing,
Kirikou  films, in the U.S.! Mac Guff Ligne was responsible for all he’s in the kitchen cooking chicken.

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 33

A Female Firebreather had a track, but we

didn’t,” Hoon says.
“We gave a lot of at-

Is Hatched tention to the eyes,

to make them alive,
because her eyes had
to express a lot.”
Director Stefen Fangmeier conjures up a magniﬁcent Stefen Fangmeier
“Saphira had to be
dragon in the vfx-laden holiday feature, Eragon. by Ron a character—an ani-
Magid mal with human char-
acteristics —so we

E
ragon, Christopher Paolini’s block- creatures of that size that are vibrant were always walking
buster novel about a boy and his blue, so we had to come up with sophis- a very fine line of,
dragon, is brought to life by first ticated rendering techniques of irides- ‘How human do we
   E time director and former visual effects cence and scale patterns where she make this perfor-
   R supervisor Stefen Fangmeier, who en- could be blue and still look like she be- mance?’” adds ILM
   U Samir Hoon
   T listed his home base, ILM, and Weta to longs in the shot.” animation supervisor
   A create the female firebreather, Saphira.
   E “As animators, we’re always trying to find a reference that
   F Good choice since ILM’s dragons—fea-
tured in Dragonslayer , Willow, Dragon-
can connect with the audience, and lions had the right emo-
heart  and Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire—remain unrivalled in the realm of tional range for Saphira [the female dragon]: She would never
visual effects (except arguably by those smile, but you would know when she was mad or concerned.”
Weta created for Lord of the Rings).
But there were daunting challenges —ILM animation supervisor Glen McIntosh
facing both houses as they tackled
Eragon ’s 400-plus dragon shots. First off, Second, Saphira communicates tele- Glen McIntosh. “As ani-
in the novel Saphira is blue, an unlikely pathically, but since the actress vocaliz- mators, we’re always
color even for a dragon. “You want to be ing the part hadn’t yet been cast, the trying to find a refer-
true to the essence of her character be- animators couldn’t impart the unknown ence that can connect
cause the book has a huge fan following, performer’s mannerisms to the CG char- with the audience, and
but you still have to fit her into the acter. (Actress Rachel Weisz is rumored lions had the right
scene,” says ILM visual effects supervi- to provide the dragon’s voice in the final emotional range for
sor Samir Hoon. “In nature, you don’t see version.) “It would’ve been better if we’d continued on page 36 Glen McIntosh

34 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

______________
_____________________________

Eragon
continued from page 34

Saphira. When lions close their eyes,

they look content; when they’re angry,
their ears go flat, 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 lan-
guage for the dragon—at least when
she was on the ground. “Saphira’s body
structure is similar to a lion,” McIntosh Intosh says. “So when she flew, we Last, she had to be animated from a
continues. “They’re very large animals: looked at how eagles soar—they don’t hatchling to maturity, with lots of in-
They can weigh up to 500 pounds, yet need a lot of energy to sustain their teraction with her lifelong friend,
they’re very fast and look stoic and re- flight—and how their wings are always Eragon (Edward Speleers), particularly
gal, which embodied all the qualities we moving, making subtle adjustments in during the two major aerial sequences
needed for Saphira.” the air. The final design is really neat, where Saphira soars heavenward. To
And then the CG model changed. something you’ve never seen before.” achieve the best effect, nearly two
“Originally, her neck was longer, more But Saphira didn’t just have to look months of bluescreen photography
like a Loch Ness monster, and her front sleek—she had to appear feminine. “It ensued with Speleers on a saddle
legs were shorter,” McIntosh recalls. “We was an interesting problem,” McIntosh straddling a mockup of Saphira’s torso
said, ‘If we’re going with this lion [ap- admits. “We didn’t want to bare her and neck atop a motion rig, which was
proach], we have to make her front legs teeth much, which might make her too driven by the animation and later re-
equal to her back legs if we want that masculine; other times, her move- placed with a digital dragon.
lion-like gait—otherwise her back legs ments were a little too feminine so we “We wanted to get as much realistic
and hips would be higher. Stefen insist- added more weight to make her more motion from the live action as possi-
ed, ‘I don’t want her butt up in the air. I animalistic. One of the trickiest things ble,” Hoon says. “For some shots, we
want her to walk like a lion,’ which meant in traditional or CG animation is making used the Cyclops motion-control cam-
making subtle adjustments to the mod- something look heavy. For shots where era, so both the rig and the camera
el. Shortening her neck allowed us to she’d come in for a landing, I would do were locked to the animation and we
have Saphira and Eragon in a two-shot. all this scientific reasoning: ‘OK, she’s could almost see the final shot in real
When her neck was longer, her head was got hollow bones, but she weighs time on-set. But there were other
out of frame, so it was hard to make an roughly 3,000 pounds—roughly the times where we’ve added more sec-
emotional connection between them.” size of a full grown rhino.’ Other times ondary motion or more sweeping cam-
When Saphira was airborne, the ani- I’d think, ‘Whatever—just make it look era moves. It was all about making
   E mators referenced eagles, which com- cool’ and throw science out the win- Saphira’s flight look sleek and fast.”
   R bined with her leonine aspects created a dow, while trying to keep the suspen- “There’s a fine line between elegant
   U
   T character that believably resembled the sion of disbelief grounded in reality. and heavy,” McIntosh concludes. “In
   A mythical griffin. “Then the wings changed Sometimes she would make a landing, the initial stages when Saphira’s grow-
   E
   F from bat wings, which were a little too and look too heavy, so we’d rein back a ing up, getting more adept at becom-
demonic, to scaly, feathered wings,” Mc- bit so she felt like a real creature.” ing a flying creature—we referenced a
seal which on land is very gangly and
awkward, but when it gets into its ele-
ment, water, has these gorgeous bal-
letic movements. Because Saphira’s a
creature of the air, once she gets used
to her wings, she’s like a Peregrine fal-
con, doing these really dramatic dives
and streaking across the sky at 200
miles per hour.” 
Ron Magid is a Los Angeles-based jour-
nalist who specializes in visual effects.
20th Century Fox’s Eragon will pre-
miere in U.S. theaters on December
15.

36 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

________________

he was in
Madrid work-
ing on the
script. “We
fol lowe d
those story-
boards on
set,” says
Burrell. Dur-
ing filming,
Burrell spent
Everett Burell around five
months on
location in Spain with del Toro, primarily
in and around a mill—the stepfather’s
house—built in the middle of a forest.
“The labyrinth was built there as well,”
Burrell says. “That’s where they shot the
film. When it was night, it was night.

Photographing Fairies When it was cold and rainy, we got cold

and wet.”

(and Stick Bug)

Back in sunny California, CafeFX deep-
ened a well at the bottom of the laby-
rinth—the real well was ﬁtted with a
greenscreen. In addition, the crew built a
How a team of talented vfx artists brought the surreal fairy throne room. “That was almost all
creatures of Pan’s Labyrinth to cinematic life. by Barbara CG,” says Burrell. “Only the ﬂoor, a few
Robertson pedestals and one door were practical.”
To communicate with del Toro, the

I
n 1944, in the grim, violent aftermath ranged between 40 and 50, nearly half studio used its CafeSync tool, which is a
of the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s vic- the studio, worked on Pan’s Labyrinth QuickTime Java program. “We could up-
torious fascists spared no mercy for from June 2005 until April 2006, and cre- load QuickTime files to Guillermo,” says
those who still resisted. In his new movie ated around 300 shots. Burrell. “He put them into a movie folder
Pan’s Labyrinth, writer-director Guillermo “Our main jobs were the green stick and then we could draw images and
del Toro (Hellboy, The Devil’s Backbone) bug, the fairies, some of the environ- notes on top of the QuickTime files and
has planted a young girl inside a fairy ments, and fixing Pan’s legs,” says save JPG images for reference.”
   E tale set against this harsh historic reali- Burrell. In addition, the team matched a Much of the studio’s work centered on
   R ty. CG toad to a practical effects toad for the characters. For the green stick bug,
   U
   T On her way to her evil stepfather’s some shots, and created CG legs for a which appears in around 30 shots, an in-
   A house (a brutal captain in Franco’s army) character in this low-budget film. It was sect wrangler provided reference mate-
   E
   F the girl befriends a greenish stick bug. the small studio’s first big character rial. “The [CG] model is incredibly com-
Later, the stick bug leads her to a laby- show and the first film on which CafeFX plex,” says Burrell. “Each little plate, shell
rinth. There, a faun (Doug Jones) gives was the sole effects house. and wing had to be separate pieces, and
her tests involving a fat toad and a crea- Although they created previsualiza- there were four wings, two tiny ones at
ture with eyes in his hands. But, don’t be tions for a few key shots, the visual ef- front and a big ones at back.” Animators
deceived. This is no child’s fairy tale; del fects team worked largely from elabo- worked with one rig whether the bug
Toro’s film is as much a horrorfest as a rate storyboards drawn by del Toro while crawled or flew.
surrealistic fantasy. For the fairies and the green stick bug,
Beginning with its premiere at Cannes, the crew used Softimage|XSI for model-
critics have raved about the film and its ing, Autodesk’s Maya for rigging, anima-
“mesmerizing visual effects” which are tion, texturing and shading, Mental Ray
“sparingly and precisely applied” in the for rendering and eyeon’s Digital Fusion
trades. Santa Maria, Calif.-based visual for compositing.
effects studio CafeFX handled all the To create the stick bug’s transforma-
digital visual effects under the supervi- tion into the green fairy, the crew mod-
sion of Everett Burrell. A crew that
continued on page 40

38 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________________________
____________________________ __________________________ _________________________

Pan’s Labyrinth
continued from page 38
and the Pale Man, both played by actor And we had 300 shots to render.”
Doug Jones who also portrayed Abe Sa- By rendering out numerous passes for
eled both creatures in Softimage|XSI pien in Hellboy. For Pan, Jones wore green each character, ambient, beauty, self-
and then used an XSI feature called stockings and walked on stilts; prosthet- shadowing, ground passes and so forth,
ShrinkWrap to blend the models. “It’s like ic goat legs attached to the backs of his compositors could change lighting within
a super high-end morph,” says Burrell. legs followed along. Painters at CafeFX Digital Fusion and help meet the studio’s
Capuchin monkeys guided work on the removed the actors’ green legs and the goal—to integrate the effects within the
fairies, one red, one blue and a third, a stilts in post-production. “This was an film and to move the story forward.
metamorph from “The most sat-
the stick bug, is isfactory part of
green. “The green our work was
fairy looks like a lit- that we weren’t
tle bald monkey, just doing ef-
and acts a little like fects,” says
one, too,” says Burrell. “We usu-
Burrell. The blue ally blow some-
and red fairies look thing up and cre-
similar, but be- ate environ-
cause they aren’t ments, but our
as smart as the characters were
green fairy, the a huge part of
crew gave them this story.”
heavier brows and Burrell calls
more ape-like per- the work a labor
formances. “The of love for Cafe-
red and blue fairies FX. “It was a big
are a little more out investment for
of control and fight us, a big step,” he
more,” he says. says. “But it was
“The green fairy is great working
more of an adult.” idea Guillermo had,” says Burrell. “The with Guillermo. He loves and respects
Although insects and animals from film had a small budget. We had to come effects.”
the real world provided physical refer- up with a lot of creative solutions.” With critics raving about the results,
ence, for animation inspiration del Toro The studio also replaced Jones’ green that investment is proving its worth.
and Burrell turned to effects master Ray legs when he played the Pale Man, this “We’ve already gotten more work because
   EHarryhausen. “We were both inspired by time with CG legs. “He’s skinny and ema- of it,” says Burrell. And that means we can
   Rhim as a child,” says Burrell. “This is an ciated,” says Burrell. “We gave him skel- certainly look for more fantastic effects
   Uhomage to him.” They looked, in particu-
   T
   Alar, at Harryhausen’s tiny, winged Ho- “The most satisfactory part of our work was that we
   Emunculus from The Golden Voyage of
   F weren’t just doing effects. We usually blow something
Sinbad   and the Trog in Sinbad and the
Eye of the Tiger, and adapted some of up and create environments, but our characters were a
their mannerisms and poses for the fair- huge part of this story.”
ies especially, less so for the stick bug.
“We tried to be as realistic as we could, —Vfx supervisor Everett Burrell of CafeFX
but we also tried to get those Harryhau-
sen moments,” Burrell says. “The Ho- etal legs from the waist down.” from this small studio in the future. 
munculus and Trog are very curious. You To integrate the characters into the Barbara Robertson is an award-winning
see it in the way they move their shoul- live-action footage, CafeFX used the journalist who specializes in vfx and CG
ders, face and head. We tried to get that LightGen plug-in for HDR Shop to gener- technologies. If you have a suggestion
sympathetic curiosity across with our ate lights from HDRI images taken on lo- for her, you can email her at ______
brobert-
animation.” cation. “It sets up a Maya scene or Maya ____________________
[email protected].
In addition to these digital creatures, lights,” says Burrell. “It’s a little bit of a Picturehouse releases Pan’s Laby-
CafeFX also helped del Toro create the hack, but although Final Gathering looks rinth in select U.S. theaters on De-
two fantastical human creatures, Pan great for stills, it takes forever to render. cember 29.

40 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________________________

Best Friends Forever. An excellent mix of 2D

and CG animation, a strong voice cast led by
Reba McEntire, Patrick Swayze and Jeff Fox-
worthy and music by Trisha Yearwood and Lu-
cas Grabeel make Disney’s The Fox and the
Hound 2 stand out in the sequel market.

the ﬁlm which the director points out was

used primarily in scenes to accentuate fun
and motion like the fair rides and the car-
ousel sequences. Although this mix of
styles was at times challenging, the result
breathes new life into the story.
As in the ﬁrst ﬁlm, the soundtrack plays
an important role in the overall production.
Kammerud, along with musical supervisor
Kim Oliver, Matt Walker and noted compos-
er Joel McNeely went back to bluegrass

Ain’t Nothing Like a

roots in Nashville, Tennessee to get a really
authentic country sound in the music.
They recruited Grammy-winning artists

Hound Dog! Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood as well

as some of the greatest bluegrass players
and songwriters to create original scores
for the ﬁlm. Kammerud explains that the
Unlikely friends from the 1981 feature kick up their heels music was one of most challenging as-
in The Fox and the Hound 2. by Claire Webb pects of the movie. “The movie features

G
et ready to kick up your heels for Jim Kammerud (101 Dalmatians II, Little seven songs or so, and it’s definitely the
an animated country experience! Mermaid II ). “We were trying to make a sto- most music the department has ever had.”
Originally introduced in the 1981 ry about young people and make a story Although he has worked on many se-
Disney feature (directed by Ted Berman, for ourselves as well.” He also stresses the quels before, the director adds, “This is the
Richard Rich and Art Stevens), unlikely importance of the central friendship, which first one that I just generally like all   the
friends Tod the fox and Copper, the spunky is indispensable in both the original and songs; and Reba and Trisha were just amaz-
hound puppy, are back for more adven- the sequel. ing and so fun the whole time!”
tures in a new direct-to-DVD sequel this With the incorporation of CG elements Even with all the musical highlights and
month. along with 2D, the animation in Fox and the jazzed-up animation, the heart and soul of
   E In this new chapter, diva extraordinaire Hound 2 is vastly improved from the origi- Fox and the Hound 2 is still its heartwarm-
   R Dixie (voiced by Reba McEntire) leaves The nal film. Kammerud and his team took ing story about a lasting friendship. Kam-
   U
   T Singin’ Strays—a canine musical act with a close to three years to produce the fea- merud notes that he recognizes some of
   A banjo-picking owner Lyle (Jeff Foxwor- ture with the animation coordinated be- the criticisms aimed at the lucrative sequel
   E
   F thy)—and Copper gets a shot to sing with tween the base of operations in Ohio and market, but he maintains that there is a
the group and its talented leader Cash Toon City’s studio in the Philippines. Kam- healthy audience for these titles. “A lot of
(Patrick Swayze). But Copper’s time in the merud expresses his initial reservations these [titles] aren’t as sacred say as a
spotlight puts his friendship with Tod to about the outcome of creating the anima- Dumbo, but its fun to make these movies
the test when the young fox and a disgrun- tion so far away from home, but he adds for kids.” He reverts back to the simplicity
tled Dixie realize they’re not cut out for that he’s been very pleased with the out- of the sweet and earnest story of Copper
roles behind the scenes. After much come of the collaborative efforts. and Tod that makes this film so fun and ir-
scheming on the part of Tod and Dixie that The characters are done mostly in 2D, resistible. “I think we hit it!” he proclaims
results in disaster, everyone decides show- like the first film, and many of the back- enthusiastically. 
biz must be put aside and harmony must grounds are animated in CG, which height- Disney’s The Fox and the Hound 2
be restored between friends. ens the vibrancy of the rich autumn land- DVD is released on Dec. 12 . Bonus
“We took part of the original feature— scapes. “I didn’t want to completely follow features include a “Making of the
two friends who are not supposed to be the color of the original because it was a Music” feature, interactive “Mutt
friends with each other—and we took little dark—sort of part Bambi and part Mix Master” game and the classic
them out of their world and put them at a Aristocats,” explains Kammerud. The CG 1939 Disney animated short Goofy
little county fair,” says the film’s director certainly does add another dimension to and Wilbur. [$29.99]

42 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

____________

   T
   N
   E
   M
   N
   I
   A
A Space Saga Gets a
   T
   R
   E
   T
Second Act
   N
   E Harmony Gold’s Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
   E
   M continues the epic story of the classic anime series.
   O by Patrick Drazen
   H

T
he animated series that seemed des-
Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mo-
tined never to have a sequel finally
speada. These were rewritten to create a
has one in Robotech: The Shadow continuity (of sorts) in the story of alien in-
Chronicles. The original Robotech, the clas-
vasion and personal drama.
sic anime show which was actually three Harmony Gold’s creative director Tommy
anime series pasted together, set the stan-
Yune says the idea of a sequel had been
dard for post-Star Wars animated spacekicking around for years. Robotech left off
operas. Now, a feature-length continuation
with “the cataclysmic departure of the [in- feature a digital 2D/3D production process.
of the epic is finally here, and we’re glad to
vading alien] Invid and the mysterious dis- Cel-shading algorithms and compositing
appearance of the expedition’s stalwart
report, it’s doing quite well. Winning Best technology has matured to the point where
Animated Feature honors at the Interna-leader, Admiral Rick Hunter. This unresolved we can have the best of both worlds, incor-
tional Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, and
cliffhanger had left fans hanging since porating the traditional look of anime cels
screenings in Cannes, Toronto, New York1985.” seamlessly combined with cutting-edge CG
and Los Angeles, Robotech: The Shadow Yune points out, “It was very important mecha animation.”
Chronicles brings the story back to life for a
for us to involve Tatsunoko once again when Much of the animation was by the Korean
new generation of fans. FUNimation is slat-
preparing to create a new show that was studio DR Movie, which also contributed to
ed to distribute the DVD in 2007 after a the-
true to its anime roots. We were taking on the original Macross saga by working on
atrical release. quite a challenge with this new project and Macross Plus. Recognizing, however, that
It all began in 1982 in Japan as a series
consulted extensively with Mospeada’s much of the current anime audience doesn’t
original writer Kenji Terada (who had also
called Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, go back far enough to remember the origi-
produced by the influential Tatsunoko ani-
worked on Southern Cross). In the end we nal Robotech broadcasts, the film was writ-
mation studio, captured the imagination of
were quite fortunate to have the talented ten both to evoke the old series and to work
mass audiences. In 1985, the series found a
Ford Riley come on board and help shape as a stand-alone; Yune calls it “newbie-
home in syndication in the U.S., where it
this complex storyline with all its depth into friendly.”
was rechristened Robotech. It’s an elabo-
a tight and cohesive screenplay.” Yune also reached back to secure some
rate plot and a variety of moods, from the“Tight and cohesive” might have been of the old voice talent; this wasn’t too hard,
super-cuteness of pop singer Lin Minmei to
the last words to apply to a story that not since many had already worked on the 2002
the ill-fated love of Roy Fokker and Claudia
only stitched together three different tele- videogame Robotech: Battlecry . Veterans
Grant (an interracial couple at a time when
vision series but also the 1986 Robotech include Tony Oliver, Richard Epcar, Greg Sne-
American television still shied away from
spinoff film The Sentinels, which was itself goff and Mike Sorich. Iona Morris, the voice
the subject) to the battlefield heroics of
amplified by a series of comics and novels. of Claudia Grant in the original Robotech,
Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, hypnotized its
In 2005 another series of comic books was provides the voice for Jean Grant (the simi-
audience. When the series ran out, distribu-
begun to bridge The Sentinels and the new lar name is no accident; the character is
tion and production company Harmony Gold
movie: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles married to Claudia Grant’s brother). The
USA acquired two more Tatsunoko series,was drawn by Omar Dogan and co-written fresh faces include Chase Masterson as the
by Yune and Jason and John Wal- android Janice, Yuri Lowenthal as Marcus
A Robotech Chronology trip. and sci-fi icon Mark Hamill as Commander
Rather than try to re-create Taylor.
1985 Robotech: The Macross Saga (1919-2014) the “old school anime” look of the For the serious fans of Robotech, this
1986 Robotech II: The Sentinels (2022-2044) 1980s TV series, Yune turned to movie is just the beginning: according to
1986 Robotech The Movie: The Untold Story (2027) the modern ability to meld 3-di- Yune, a 26-week TV series is also in the
1985 Robotech: The Masters (2029-2030) mensional and 2-dimensional works! 
1985 Robotech: The New Generation (2042-2044) computer animation almost For more info, visit www.robotech.
2006 Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2044) seamlessly. “New animation will ___
com.

44 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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The Samurai Critic:

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N by Charles Solomon

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Y
ears ago, the great Disney stor- natural power to Ichigo. His latent spir- mystery of the Blade Children. As he
   O yman and children’s book au- itual powers make him a redoubtable begins to explore the mystery, Ayumu
   H thor Bill Peet told me, “For The stand-in Soul Reaper, and Rukia insists reluctantly allies with bouncy school
Sword in the Stone I dared he take her place until her strength re- newspaper editor Hiyono, who main-
to change the legend: Wart turns. But Ichigo doesn’t want to face tains an information network J. Edgar
was supposed to be the risks and moral decisions the job Hoover would envy.
Uther’s son, who was requires. He and Rukia bicker as end- Ayumu and Hiyono find themselves
born to be a king. I didn’t lessly as Ranma and Akane in Ranma caught between the Blade Children
like the idea that any- 1/2. and the Hunters who have sworn to
one was born to be Bleach mixes an argumenta- exterminate them. But Ayumu can
a king. To inherit tive hero and heroine with handle any plot either side devises. By
power whether you de- well-staged sword-fights adhering to the principle, “the melody
serve it or not, was not a good and supernatural adven- of logic always plays the notes of
message. So I left that out, tures that may remind truth,” he
Spiral
and made him a waif from otaku   of Yu Yu performs
nowhere.” Hakusho. The se- amazing
Peet was correct, of ries, which debuted feats of
course. The best heroes earlier this fall on deduc-
are made, not born, and Cartoon Network’s tion, often
they’re generally made [adult swim] block, scored at the last
when they stumble a big hit in Japan when it possible
onto a challenge that first aired on TV Tokyo in minute,
brings out abilities they Bleach 2004. It ran for more than when the
didn’t know they pos- 100 episodes, and was followed stakes are
sessed. The moody, hot-tempered he- by two OVA’s and a theatrical very high.
roes of the popular anime series feature. Bleach should find an Created by Kyou Shirodaira and Eita
Bleach and Spiral   seem more like ordi- equally enthusiastic following in the Mizuno, Spiral   ran for 25 episodes
nary, sullen teen-agers than glorious US. (from Oct. 2002 through March 2003
warriors-to-be. on TV Tokyo), and director Shingo
In Bleach, orange-haired high school An Unsolved Mystery Kaneko manages to maintain the sus-
freshman Ichigo Kurosaki seems odd Since he was a child, Ayumu Narumi, pense to the last scene. Unfortunate-
instead of heroic. His nutty father at- the hero of Spiral , has been told he’ll ly, the series reaches an annoyingly
tacks him unexpectedly to test his never match the achievements of his inconclusive finale: the audience never
martial arts skills, and he has the un- older brother Kiyotaka, a world-class discovers who or what the Blade Chil-
nerving ability to see dead people pianist and detective. But Kiyotaka dren are, why the Hunters are intent
whose unresolved business on Earth vanished when he began investigating on destroying them or what became
prevents them from resting in peace. the mystery of the “Blade Children” of Kiyotaka. Perhaps that was going to
No wonder he has an attitude prob- two years ago. be revealed during a second season or
lem. Since then, Ayumu has preferred to in a later OVA. (The original manga Sui-
Ichigo can also see Rukia, a Soul spend his time napping on the high ri no Kizuna (Spiral Bonds of Reason-
Reaper whose job consists of slaying school roof. He’s stopped playing the ing ) ran for 15 volumes.) Yet, despite
soul-devouring creatures called Hol- piano, and although he’s a talented its weak ending, Spiral   is a cracking
lows and ensuring the deceased find chef, he cooks only for himself and his good adventure. 
eternal repose with the Soul Society. police detective sister-in-law, Madoka. Bleach Vol. 1—The Substitute
When a ferocious, masked Hollow But when mysterious accidents—and [Viz: $24.98]
wounds Rukia in battle, she’s forced to deaths—begin occurring at school, Spiral Box Set
give her sword and much of her super- Ayumu is unwillingly drawn into the [FUNimation: $79.98, six discs]

46 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Hot Discs watching this collection
of Family Guy. In addition,
   A
   T Four New DVDs to Get You Through Fruitcake Season the set is chock-full of
   R deleted scenes to enter-
   E by Claire Webb
   T tain you into the wee
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   E hours as well as fea-
   E Cars to the seasonal favorites list. In this turettes “Peter Shin
   M [Disney, $ 29.99] update, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian, Draws Stewie” and “A
   O Vrooom, vrooom. That’s the sound of direc- Speedy Gonzales and Elmer Fudd—are Tour of the Family Guy
   H tor John Lasseter’s shiny automotive come- employees at Luck-Duck mega-mart Offices”, and optional
dy (co-directed by Joe and fall victim to the evil ways of greedy uncensored audio track. This volume should
Ranft) racing into DVD boss, Daffy. Since he is consumed by definitely keep fans occupied until the re-
stores this month. One thoughts of money during the holiday sea- lease of season five.
of the summer’s biggest son, Daffy refuses to close the shop on [Release Date: Nov. 14]
hits, Cars is a beautifully Christmas and give his workers a much
executed feature backed needed break. Now it is up to the ghost of Robin Hood:
by stunning landscapes Christmases Past (Granny and Tweety), Most Wanted Edition
that revolves around a Present (Yosemite Sam) and Future (Taz) as [Disney, $29.99]
flashy stock car Light- well as Bugs to save the holiday and open You no longer have to wait for the Disney
ning McQueen (voiced by Daffy’s eyes to the true meaning of Christ- Channel to run this 1973 animated version
Owen Wilson). Our hot- mas. It’s great to hear the voices of great of the philantrhopic Sherwood Forest’s hero,
shot hero learns about pros such as Joe Alaskey, June Foray, Bob all set in the animal kingdom! Now you can
the real meaning of life and friendship from Bergen, Billy West and Dee Bradley Baker. own it on DVD in widescreen format with
the charming four-wheeled inhabitants of This Warner Bros. animation project will have surround sound. Directed by Wolfgang Rei-
the Southwest town of Radiator Springs. you singin’ holiday tunes along with added therman, Robin Hood  is the tale of one man
Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, audio tracks, bonus scenes and an interac- and his heroic band of men in their quest to
Michael Keaton and George Carlin are a few tive game. Bah Humduck, indeed! rob from the rich and give to the needy. They
of the top-notch voice stars. The DVD is ac- [Release Date: Nov. 14] seek to rid the
companied by deleted scenes and a making- people of the evil
of interview with Lasseter who discusses Family Guy Vol. 4 Sheriff Notting-
his inspiration for his studio’s seventh fea- [Fox, $39.98] ham who levies
ture. In addition, you can check out all-new For those avid fans disgruntled by the delay unjust taxes on
Pixar short Mater and Ghostlight (Larry The in the release of the last chunk of season his subjects. The
Cable Guy) and last year’s delightful Oscar four, the wonderfully dysfunctional Rhode movie boasts an
nominated short One Man Band . And if that Island family is back with comedic ven- all-star voice
isn’t enough, you can also catch a glimpse of geance. This four-disc set features the sec- cast that in-
Brad Bird’s upcoming flick Ratatouille (slated ond half of season four (the first half was cludes Brian Bed-
for the summer of 2007). Put the pedal to released last year) with more of the same ford, Phil Harris,
the metal to get your hands on this DVD. antics from the Griffin household. Peter, Monica Evans
[Release Date: Nov. 7] Lois, their two teens, wise- and the late Sir Peter Ustinov. There are also
cracking dog and mutant deleted scenes and an alternate ending as
Bah Humduck! A Looney baby show their family humor well as an animated short Ye Old Days for
Toons Christmas with just the right amount your viewing pleasure. Although the movie
[Warner Home of pop-culture referenc- may not compare to the features made
Video, $19.98] es in the fourteen epi- when Disney was still alive, it still has its
Scrooge has got nothing on Daffy sodes included in this share of enjoyable moments and delightful
Duck in the first made-for-video volume. Episodes such characters. Toon connoisseurs will definitely
Looney Toons feature (well, as “Fat Guy Strangler”, realize that “The Phony King of England” se-
they’re calling it a feature, but it’s “The Father, The Son and quence borrows animation from Snow White
only 44-minutes long!). Directed the Holy Fonz” and “Peter- and the Seven Dwarfs, The Aristocats and
by Charles Visser, this umpteenth geist”, all accompanied with even from earlier in the movie itself! It ain’t
version of Dickens’ classic A commentary by from series called the Most Wanted Edition for nothing!
Christmas Carol  story is another one to add creator Seth McFarlane, make side-splitting [Release Date: Nov. 28] 

48 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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The Padded Cel

20 Years of Hard Labor:
The Best and Worst in Animation Since 1986
by Robby London

A
nimation Magazine is 20 years old this animation. Worst: The Simpsons ultimately value. Worst: Animation employees don’t
year. To put this in perspective, con- leads to a wave of failed primetime animated “hold shares.” (We’re too busy trying to figure
   N sider that it is older than most of our series. If you remember Capitol Critters; God, out The Matrix .)
   O
   I bosses. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggera- The Devil and Bob or Father Of The Pride raise Early 2000s:
   S
   I tion. But it is true that any dog or cat that was your hand. (Unless you’re the one who pro- Best: Pixar leads a new golden age of 3D
   V disciplined by the sound of its owner palm- grammed them, in which case just waive your animated theatrical features, finally fulfill-
   E
   L slapping a rolled-up copy of the very first issue unemployment check!) ing the digital promise. Worst: Ageism and
   E of Animation … is now dead. (Not in any way to Mid 1990s: consolidation result in layoffs of the anima-
   T imply a cause-and-effect relationship.) Best: Digital technology comes of age in tion writers, artists and executives whose
Speaking of dead, take my careers were launched in the mid
animation career. It seems like 1980s (see above). As thanks for
only yesterday when it was in years of service, studios offer
its infancy—20 years ago. And it terminated employees a different
seems like only a year later when it kind   of “digital promise.” (Hint: it
peaked—19 years ago. The coming involves the second digit on the
sea changes were unimaginable right hand.)
back then. So, on the occasion of Mid 2000s:
this publication’s 20th Anniver- Best: Animation Magazine, ex-
sary, let’s acknowledge some of periencing a renaissance of jour-
the best industry developments nalistic excellence accompanied
of these past twenty years. At the by a renewed spirit of altruism, of-
same time, we’ll highlight some of fers fading hack writer a shot at
the WORST and most disappointing creative redemption. Worst: I’ve
events—strictly for instructional actually got to write one of these
purposes, of course. things every month. You think it’s
Mid 1980s: easy ? YOU   try it! (On second
Best: Waves of 65-episode toy- thought, please don’t. I need re-
driven animated series launch the demption more than ever since
careers of literally hundreds of ani- my application to be adopted was
mation writers, artists and execu- turned down by Madonna.)
tives. Worst: Somebody actually A serious thank you and heart-
has to watch these shows. felt congratulations to Animag
Late 1980s: The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat © Steve Krantz Prods.
president Jean Thoren , publisher
Best: The three-network he- Jodi Bluth, editor-in-chief Ramin,
gemony—whose all-powerful despotic ex- the animation workplace. The arrival of the former editor and publisher Rita Street and
ecutives tormented, terrorized and tortured Internet is hailed as the “second coming of all the other wonderful and creative people
animation creators—is finally broken by the the industrial revolution!” Worst: Distractions who have worked so hard over the years to
launch of new networks, both broadcast and of the Internet result in massive productivity bring us Animation Magazine. It’s an honor to
cable. Worst: Suddenly there are even great- decline and provide multiple second comings be even a tiny part of this legacy. (By the
er numbers of despotic network executives. for pervert evangelists, Republican congress- way, guys, I’ll be sending my check in a little
And they discover “waterboarding.” men and future Animation Magazine colum- late this month.) 
Early 1990s: nists. When he’s not working on developing
Best: The Simpsons takes off—big time! Late 1990s: animated properties, Robby London flies Tom
This shatters, once and for all, the prevail- Best: “Go-Go 90s” culminates in a tsunami Cruise and his new bride to Planet Zeno in his
ing myth that adults won’t watch primetime of media consolidation building “shareholder” spacious aircraft.

50 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Seeing Toons
Not only does the movie allow viewers to
chuckle about characters in animation his-
tory and to enjoy the interaction between
the main character and the goofy toons
A 12-year-old boy is visited by classic animated characters that visit him and cause all kinds of trouble,
after getting brain surgery in the new Cartoon Network there are plenty of other offbeat elements.
“There are some unexpected details,” notes
offering, Re-Animated. by Ramin Zahed Ouweleen. “Jimmy’s mom is an astronaut,

Q
uestion: Why would Cartoon Net- Renegade Animation—allows us to pay his stepsister is a green-skinned alien, his
work produce a live-action movie homage to all the classic cartoons,” says classmate is 12-feet-tall and his dad is a
about a 12-year-old boy who gets McKeon. “Jimmy can see all these wonder- seven-year-old trapped in a 40-year-old
an emergency brain transplant? The an- ful iconic characters … that could’ve been man’s body. Everything is kind of twisted,
swer has to do with whose frozen brain is around for 75 years. It’s great to have this but it’s also about animation history.”
used to save the kid during the operation. show on Cartoon Network because we try The team at Glendale, Calif.-based
Our hero Jimmy ends up with the noggin of to reﬂect our love for the great characters Renegade Animation ( Hi Hi Puffy Ami
famous cartoonist Milt Appleday, which in cartoon history.” Yumi ) was tapped about a year ago to
leads to him being visited (and, at times, As Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Network’s create the show’s retro animated cast
harassed) by a bunch of animated charac- senior VP of programming and develop- which includes Golly and Dolly Gopher
ters. That means the movie (Re-Animated ) ment, explains, “Adam and Tim write at the (Paul Reubens and Ellen Greene), Tux
gets to have all kinds of Roger Rabbit -type studio, and they are very familiar with our (Tom Kenny) and Crocco the Alligator
of fun with the intersection of the real brand tone. We were exploring the poten- (Brian Posehn). Having delivered numer-
world and Toon Town. tial of other media and formats, and they ous live action and animation hybrid TV
The movie is the brainchild of Adam Pava came up with this great idea which was a ads and promo spots, they proved to be
and Tim McKeon, veterans of Foster’s Home perfect ﬁt for us although it’s long-form the perfect go-to studio for the movie.
for Imaginary Friends and The Life & Times and it mixes animation with live action.” As animation director Scott O’Brien ex-
of Juniper Lee. “The animated part of the There are numerous reasons the idea plains, “Four years ago, we were still doing
show—which is done in Flash by L.A.-based clicked with the folks at Cartoon Network. drawings and scanning them in. Flash tech-

52 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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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 What’s important to remember is that Flash Overall, both O’Brien and Postlewaite are
get the work done.” is a lovely, lovely tool, but it’s the artists quite proud of the seamless work their 25-
The animators first delivered story- who use it and the pipeline that supports member team has done for the film. “There
boards for the movie, in hopes that the live the work that’s pushing the industry for- was such a positive vibe on the set,” says
action portion would follow the story- ward.” O’Brien. “Everything seemed to really jell
boards—well, things don’t always work out For O’Brien, it was important to empha- well together and we hope it all shows in
that way in real life. Then large foam-board size that these animated characters be- the final product.” Postlewaite agrees. “We
cutouts of the toons were put in the scenes longed to previous eras. “We were trying to think the concept really works for Cartoon
so that the actors could interact with them. mimic some of the icons of the 1940s and Network. What kid wouldn’t love the idea of
“Real eye contact is essential,” says O’Brien. ’50s,” he notes. “We looked at older school being able to see cartoons. It also gives a
“We’d then draw the rough poses right on toons such as The Three Caballeros and re- nod to animation history and that’s cool.”
the plate. Characters were then put to- visited a lot of classic Tom and Jerry shorts. “It’s one of the most ambitious, risk-tak-
gether in Flash, and then the compositing We didn’t need a lot of shadows.” ing projects Cartoon Network has done
since creating Adult Swim,” says Ouweleen.
“I think that’s when we’re at our best—doing things we’ve “I think that’s when we’re at our best, doing
never done before. You can’t take the cartoon out of Cartoon things we’ve never done before. What I can
say to all of the critics who are worried
Network, but that doesn’t mean we’re not evolving.”
about us not doing animated projects is
—Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Network’s senior VP of programming and development
that their hatred is immature! The folks at
department would combine the live-action One of the film’s highlights, accord- Renegade have done a lot of wonderful ani-
footage with animation.” ing to O’Brien, is a sequence in which mation for this movie. You can’t take the
Renegade exec producer Ashley Postle- Jimmy is running through a park along cartoon out of Cartoon Network. But that
waite adds, “We did our first live action/ani- with the animated characters. “The doesn’t mean that we’re not evolving—af-
mation mix for Space Jam and that was 15 camera is panning the scene and you ter all, the distinction between live action
years ago. To watch Scott working on his have Jimmy and Golly the Gopher run- and cartoons is also evolving.” 
laptop, drawing right over the live-action ning side by side—I think that particu- Re-Animated premieres on Cartoon
scene that’s being shot—that’s amazing. lar scene really worked out well.” Network at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8.

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 53

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Bix Pix Takes a Holiday the role of a depart-

ment-store Santa.
The show is directed
by Bix Pix’s Dave
Stop-motion studio starts a new tradition with Holidaze .
Brooks from a script
by Ryan Ball by TV veterans Peter

F
or millions of people around the of living in the shadow of his famous, Murrieta and Jona-
world, stop-motion animation red-nosed brother and longs to ﬁnd his than Prince. Kelly Bixler
has been part of the winter holi- own place in the Christmas tradition. Bix Pix was work-
day tradition for as long as they can To this end, he sets out to the “Big ing with Madison Road on another proj-
remember. Starting in the early ’60s, City” in search of answers and stum- ect when studio founder Kelli Bixler
producers Arthur Rankin and Jules bles into a support group attended by pitched them on the idea of doing a
Bass brought timeless Christmas sto- Candie the Easter Bunny (Gladys package of animated holiday specials.
ries to life by animating puppets one Knight), Cupid (Paul Rodriguez), Albert Madison Road then brought on Prince,
frame at a time, creating beloved spe- the Thanksgiving Turkey (Harland Wil- who also exec produced the ﬁrst in-
cials such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed liams) and a pair of Valley-girl Hallow- stallment through his Once A Frog
Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin’ to een ghosts Trick (Emily Osment) and Prods. He came up with the idea of fo-
Town, which are still broadcast on net- Treat (Brenda Song). With the help of cusing on iconic holiday characters
work television each year to huge rat- these new friends and a young boy and he, Bixler and fellow exec produc-
ings. In this tradition comes Holidaze: who is losing faith in Santa, Rusty just er Jak Severson set about developing
The Christmas That Almost Didn’t Hap- might have what it takes to save a franchise.
pen, a funny and charming new addi- Christmas, as long as he can avoid With just six months to produce 60
tion from Bix Pix Ent. and Madison capture by a visually impaired dog- minutes of animation, Bix Pix moved
Road Ent. The hour-long special is catcher. its operations from Chicago to Los An-
available on DVD at Wal-Mart stores The voice cast also includes Fred geles and set up shop in a former art
and will air on ABC this month. Willard (Chicken Little) as Santa Claus, school in Sherman Oaks. In fewer than
Holidaze is the story of Rusty Rein- Edie McClurg (The Little Mermaid ) as eight weeks they managed to build
deer (voiced by Fred Savage), a young Mrs. Claus and John O’Hurley (Seinfeld )
resident of the North Pole who is tired as a serious thespian currently playing continued on page 56

54 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Holidaze
continued from page 56
more than 120 puppets, which, if had
not been built properly could cause a
loss of time and limit creative move-
ment. Bixler says the fabrication team
did a stellar job, but the rush to deliver
on time made for a somewhat rough
start of filming. “When we looked at
the first week of footage, we said,
‘Whoa, we have to slow down and be
cleaner,’” she says.
The time crunch required some of
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   E while she would have liked the luxury
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   T on the screen, she also feels that the able look and feel of stop-motion. De- Bixler says she was thrilled to get
hurried pace of production brought a signed by Andrew Hodges, the pup- such a great voice cast, and particu-
certain energy to the proceedings. pets were cast in foam, some with larly enjoyed working with legendary
“There’s not any time to argue, you metal ball-and-socket joints and oth- songstress Gladys Knight, who didn’t
just gotta do it!,” she comments. “Also, ers with aluminum wire armatures. bring any diva attitude into the record-
I think it put everybody in the same The animation was shot by director of ing booth for her part as Candie the
boat. Every single department was un- photography Christopher Warren with Easter Bunny. “When she came into
der the same deadline challenge.” Cannon HD digital still cameras on the studio, she said, ‘I’ll do it the way
In Holidaze, an elf character makes elaborately constructed miniature you say I should do it. If I were doing a
reference to Rankin and Bass’s Ru- sets with some forced-perspective song, I’d tell you how I want to do it,’”
dolph, noting that his Uncle Herbie is a camera tricks employed to make the Bixler recalls.
dentist. And while the animators at Bix world seem more expansive. Accord- On DVD, Holidaze features 15 addi-
Pix were very much inspired by the ing to Bixler, they wanted to get every- tional minutes of content, as well as
holiday classic, they brought a much thing done in camera and avoid using bloopers and outtakes. The produc-
more polished animation style to the green-screen setups and digital com- tion is the first in a series of holiday
specials Bix Pix and Madison Road plan
The Bix Mix : Although the new special focuses
on Rusty the Reindeer and Christmas, Bix Pix and to create. Albert the turkey, Candie
Madison Road are planning more holiday-themed the bunny, Cupid and the Halloween
stop-motion specials featuring Albert the turkey, ghosts will each get their own chance
Candie the bunny, Cupid and the Halloween Ghosts. to star in upcoming releases. Produc-
tion 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 com-
forting considering just a few years
ago stop-motion was all but declared
dead with the rise of computer-gener-
ated animation. Just as Christmas
needs to be saved by somebody at
least once a year, traditional anima-
tion needs people like Bixler and crew
to keep it viable in the digital age. 
Bix Pix’s Holidaze is available on DVD
at Wal-Mart stores and will air on
ABC on Dec. 9 at 8 p.m.

56 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Top 20 Toon Characters:

Kids’ Choice Edition!
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 it’s good to know that old-timers like Bugs, Mickey and Casper continue to
have some star appeal! To ﬁnd out which characters were more popular with kids these
days, we took an unscientiﬁc survey of eight- to ten-year-olds in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Not
surprisingly, Steve Hillenburg’s yellow absorbent charmer outranked everybody else by a
mile. Here are the top 20 characters as voted by the helpful students in Mrs. Oppenheimer’s
fourth-grade class at Ladera Elementary School!

1. SpongeBob SquarePants
2. Bart Simpson
3. Scooby-Doo
4. Fairly OddParents
5. Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy
   T
   R 6. Mickey Mouse
   O
   P
   E 7. Grim, Billy and Mandy
   R
   L 8. Bugs Bunny
   A
   I
   C 9. Avatar
   E
   P 10. Pixar’s Cars
   S
11. Kim Possible
12. Donald Duck
13. Tweety Bird
14. Nemo (Finding Nemo )
15. Casper the Friendly Ghost
16. Kronk (Kronk’s New School )
17. Bloo and Mac ( Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends )
18. Scrat (Ice Age )
19. Pokémon
20. Fantastic Four

58 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE January 2007 59

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

T 20 TV Shows That Changed Our Toon Landscape

   R
   O (1986-2006)
   P
   E
   R The Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989)
   L
   A
   I
Rugrats (Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, Paul Germain, 1991)
   C The Ren & Stimpy Show (John Kricfalusi, 1991)
   E
   P Ed Edd ‘n’ Eddy (Danny Antonucci, 1991)
   S Batman: The Animated Series (Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, 1992) Futurama
Beavis and Butt-head (Mike Judge, 1993)
Pokémon (Satoshi Tajiri, 1995) Samurai Jack
Blue’s 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
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (Craig McCracken, 2004)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, 2005)

60 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Company Town:
Animation & VFX House Milestones in 2007
Five-Year
Five Year Anniversaries

Engine Room FUNimation’s Operation Anime

The vfx house that gave us the killer The folks at the anime powerhouse will be marking
theatrical teaser for last summer’s The the fifth year of their Operation Anime program,
Da Vinci Code will be celebrating its fifth which brings anime content for screenings to anime
year of delivering cool eye candy in the clubs at schools, public libraries and community
fall. Founded and headed by Dan Schmit, groups across the U.S. The outfit boasts 1,370 clubs with a 43,000
the company membership. According to the company’s spokesperson Jackie Smith,
recently FUNimation attends over 25 Con events a year, reaching over 500,000
moved to the fans. Upcoming projects include the January launch of the new Spike
Hollywood TV toon Afro Samurai, starring Samuel L. Jackson, which will be out on
Center Studios DVD in March. The shop’s founding branding Dragon Ball Z (all 270-plus
and is currently episodes) will be digitally remastered, restored and released in February.
working on When asked to tell us the silliest thing they ever did, Smith says,
the new F/X “In our campaign to bring more Fruits Basket  episodes to the U.S., we
Network series wanted the producer
Dirt as well to understand how
as the 3D horror flick Scar . “We have popular the series
   T the most diverse client base around,”
   R says Schmit. “We also have the tools to
truly was here. So we
   O challenged fans to
   P conquer any production challenge. Our send us a thousand
   E clients get this and come from every paper cranes [symbols
   R corner of the entertainment industry of peace] that we would then forward to Japan. Little did we know that
   L to collaborate. It makes our lives
   A
   I interesting!”
we’d receive more than 10,000 paper cranes! We had to dedicate a whole
office to those cranes alone!”
   C Website: www.engineroomvfx.com
   E Website:www.funimation.com
   P
   S
Luxology
Luxology, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company behind the successful modo
artist’s tool, is also celebrating its fifth year in the business in ’07. Founded by Stuart
Ferguson, Allen Hastings and Brad Peebler (pictured), Luxology has people working
on modo in five 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 workflow 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 company’s 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 you’re a fan already, you’ll be happy to know that they will release modo
301 in 2007! Huzzah!
Website: www.luxology.com

62 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

____________

_______________

______________

Sony Pictures Animation wondertouch

This May will mark the fifth anniversary of the In June 2002, Alan
launch of Sony Pictures Animation. It’s been great Lorence started a software
fun to see the creation of this state-of-the-art development company called
toon studio in Culver City, Calif., and wonderful to wondertouch in Madison, MO,
see its first feature-length release Open Season which has changed the way
(directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony artists create particle effects.
Stacchi) receive strong reviews and perform nicely ParticleIllusion, the shop’s
at the box office in 06. Founded by Yair Landau, award-winning tool has opened
president of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, the toon division is led by new doors to both vfx pros and
industry veterans Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkleman Cox. amateur artists. The clever
The studio will release its second feature Surf’s Up, directed by Ash Brannon folks at the company tell us
and Chris Buck, a behind-the-scenes “documentary” toon about the Penguin that their biggest role models
World Surfing Championship competition, in the summer. Then, there’s the are “any programmer, artist or
adaptation of the children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , which will poducer who has ever added
be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (MTV’s Clone High). any type of CG explosion to a
Also in the busy CG production pipeline is Hotel videogame, TV show or movie,
Transylvania, to be directed by David Feiss (Open especially where it really wasn’t
Season, Cow and Chicken) and Anthony Stacchi necessary or even made sense
(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 to put one!” Next up for the
   T thing’s for sure: It’s going to be company are particleIllusion
   R great fun to see this new kid in
   O AE (After Effects plug-in) and
   P town grow, evolve and entertain us particleIllusion 3.5. We can’t
   E with more top-notch movies in the wait to see what Alan and his
   R years ahead. buddies come up with in the
   L Website: www.imageworks.com next five years!
   A
   I Website: www.wondertouch.
   C ___
com
   E
   P Ten-Year Anniversaries
Ten Year Anniversaries
   S

ACME Animation
It’s 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 aﬁcionados 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

64 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

DQ Entertainment
Amberwood Entertainment
Ten years Ago, Tapaas
PBS viewers who enjoy this holiday season’s live-action/CG mix special The Snow Chakravarti founded his
Queen will get a good idea of the cool things this Ottawa- lucrative state-of the-
based shop has been up to lately. Founded by Sheldon S. art animation studio DQ
Wiseman in 1997, the shop’s most famous animated show is Entertainment in Hyderabad, India. In recent years, the
The Secret World of Benjamin Bear , which has been sold in studio has worked on acclaimed animated series such as
over 80 territories. Delta State, Curious George, Todd World and Tutenstein,
Amberwood’s other well-know toons include Zeroman, Hoze as well as the Choose Your Own Adventure DVD feature
Houndz, Katie & Orbie and Under the Umbrella Tree, many for Mike Young Productions and Forward Media. Along the
of which were commissioned by Canada’s Family Channel and Teletoon. Kids can also 2D/Flash projects, DQ has also kept a healthy CG pipeline,
look forward to projects RollBots, Rob the Robot and Debra the Zebra in future years. working on prestigious toons such as Skyland, Donkey
Wiseman says he has stayed in this unpredictable Ollie, Mikido and Barbie Diaries.
business because “We love providing the world with Picked by Red Herring  magazine as one of the top
quality children’s programming made in Canada.” 100 private companies in the world, DQE has over 2500
Website: www.amberwoodentertainment.com 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
TOKYOPOP for 3D features to better accommodate the needs of the
latest gaming devices and titles. DQ also launched a joint
L.A.-based manga powerhouse TOKYOPOP will venture with France’s Onyx Films and bought a strategic
stake of up to 20 percent in Method Films. We wish the
hit the big one-o in 2007. Founded by Stu Levy, the
company has had a huge impact in bringing the very best for Tapaas and his multi-national corporation
influential Japanese comic-book revolution to hungry which is fast becoming one of the key players in the global
American readers. The publishing entity also branched toon and gaming business. What a way to go in only one
out to the TV toon and DVD arenas with titles such as decade of operation!
Website:www.dqentertainment.com
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 The Visual Effects Society
   T now expanded to numerous original title as well as comic-book versions of
   R American favorite such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek  and Family Guy.
   O “We are not geeks, just ask our other halves!” That’s
   P In 2006, TOKYOPOP began a co-venture with HarperCollins and launched a
what the hard-working folks at the Visual Effects Society
   E new website which allowed fans to create blogs, post artwork, videos and want the world to understand! Founded ten years ago by
   R manga. Also in the pipeline are the company’s first Manga Movies animated Tom Atkin, this effective organization has been putting
   L shorts, new digital content such as iManga and feature films such as
   A
   I Lament of the Lamb.
on the glitzy VES Awards ceremony since 2003. This
February, they’ll be upping the glam factor even more as
   C And what does keep the crew at TOKYOPOP inspired? “Our passion for
   E artists, for audiences, for storytelling and bringing the world together,”
the ceremony will be taking place at the Kodak Grand
   P Ballroom.
   S says the shop’s public relations diva Susan Hale. Here’s to another great
They tell us that they’re proud of “creating a sense
decade for the enterprising company.
of community and camaraderie for our 1500 members
Website:www.tokyopop.com
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!
15-Year
5 Year Anniversaries Website:www.visualeffectssociety.com

Renegade Animation
If you’ve 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 boffins at Glendale,
Calif.-based Renegade Animation.
Founded by Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postlewaite, the studio will be releasing its first animated feature in the near future. Directed by Robert
Zappia, Who Stole Santa’s Sack?  has lined up a top-notch list of voice actors. On the TV front you can catch the work they did for Cartoon Network’s
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 aren’t married to each
other … and never were!” They also site “anyone who has ever started a business and stayed in it longer than five years” as their
role models! Since they will be celebrating their 15th anniversary in 2007, they definitely know what they’re talking about!
Website:www.renegadeanimation.com

66 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Sony Pictures ImageWorks

Cuppa Coffee Under the sharp eye and astute leadership of
president and CEO Tim Sarnoff, SPI has become
With a name like Cuppa Coffee, it’s not surprising that the slogan for one of the most influential CG operations in
Adam Shaheen’s hopping toon house is “Good animation, bad coffee!” the world in the past 15 years. The shop that
Established in 1992, the Toronto-based company has given us many gave us the space shuttle rescue sequence
reasons to love them throughout the years. Renowned toons such as in Superman Returns and the completely CG-
Playhouse Disney’s Jo Jo’s Circus to MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch and animated Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2.
Bruno have been keeping the shop quite busy and popular recently. “The best
Next up for the house is a 26 x 11-minute spin-off series featuring thing we ever
everyone’s favorite Flash monkey, Bruno. did was to
The in-house animators are also working identify character animation as an essential
on Rick and Steve (The Happiest Gay component of our business,” says SPI’s
Couple in the World) , the new series spokesperson Don Levy. “Every project we’ve
for MTV’s sister channel LOGO, a new done exemplifies that,
season of Deathmatch and E! Network’s from the spectacular
Starveillance. clock tower/subway fight
Among the many feathers in their cap is The Adventures of Sam in Spider-Man 2 to the
Digital , an award-winning short (for Nick’s Short Films by Short People ) tiniest tuft of fur in Open
conceived and written by an 11-year-old student. Season.”
We asked them to tell us about their silliest thing they ever did. “On The new year will see
a lark, we rebuilt a stock car and entered into a country fair demolition more cool SPI signature
derby. Unfortunately, come derby time, we couldn’t get the car out of razzle dazzle sequences
reverse! We did, however, win best-looking car, which is really the most in features such as Ghost
important category for an animation and design house!” Rider   (February), Spider-Man 3 (May), Surf’s Up
Shaheen says he and his team “got into the business because we (June), Beowulf  (November). Come Oscar time,
love what we do … and it’s stayed that way for 15 years.” Good thing we we’re sure we’ll have several of the studio’s
all love what they do as well. handiwork duking it out for the Golden Boy. So,
   T Website: www.cuppacoffee.com to all the talented folks working over at the lot
   R on Culver, keep ’em coming. We’ve got our eyes
   O on you.
   P
   E 20-Year
2 Year Anniversaries Website: www.sonypictures.com/imageworks
   R
   L
   A
   I Blue Sky Studios
   C
   E
   P It would be quite difficult to find someone who hasn’t instantly fallen in love with Scrat, the nut-hording
   S critter from the Ice Age movies (and the star of the Oscar-nominated short Gone Nutty  and this year’s No Time
for Nuts). Director Chris Wedge and the studio that gave us this delightful pop culture hero will be turning
20 this February—and judging by the list of the shop’s 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 Joe’s 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 great-
looking 2005 feature Robots which made over $128 million at the U.S. box
office 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 sky’s the limit for this shop of wonders.
Website: www.blueskystudios.com

68 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Bardel Entertainment The Right Stuf

“The best thing about working in animation are the fantastic CEO Shawne Klecker
people working in it and seeing great ideas come to life,” says Barry and his team at Grimes,
Ward, the man who co-founded Vancouver toon house Bardel, along Iowa-based The Right
with his wife Delna Bhesania 20 years ago. Back in the 80s, Bardel’s Stuf have been delivering
staple work came from commercials and series, but by 1995, it had English-lingo versions of
transitioned to A-list features such as Warner Bros.’ Space Jams, Don hot anime titles to U.S. audiences since 1987. The com-
Bluth’s Anastasia and a solid relationship with DreamWorks for all of pany’s first title was none other than Osamu Tezuka’s
its 2D films. Astro Boy (circa 1963), which was a childhood favorite
In 1999, Barry and Delna opened Bardel Entertainment to develop of the the
and produce their own properties such as The Christmas Orange and company
the popular adaptation of Kenneth Opel’s Silverwing books (which has founder Rob-
been edited into three 72-minute movies on DVD and VHS). In 2004, ert Ferson. The initial VHS cassettes of the show de-
they also delivered the fantasy project Dragons: Fire and Ice on DVD. buted in 1989, and in 2006, the company released two
Barry says the most difficult part of running a top-notch studio Ultra Collector’s Edition box sets of the series with fully
these days is finalizing the deal. But that hasn’t restored video and bonus footage previously unavail-
stopped their brilliant team from working on some able in the U.S. According to Klekner, few people know
amazing projects. Next up is Los Camperones, a Flash- that Right Stuf was initially founded to purchase and
animated feature produced by the creators of Mucha sell telescopes—thus, the name! He also sites Tezuka,
Lucha!, Eddie Mort and Lili Chin, and the Edgar and the “father” of anime and manga, as his role model “for
Ellen series, the hilarious 2D series produced with Star his creativity and innovative spirit.” He tells us that the
Farm, which is coming to Nickelodeon in 2007. Bardel best thing they did was to partner with a great dubbing
is also busy working on the 4Kids shows Viva Piñata studio, Headline Sound, for their English-language dubs.
and Chaotic . We just know these guys will continue to raise the bar in And the most dubious thing? “Sublicensing our DVDs
their their next two dynamic decades. to other people instead of just doing them ourselves!—
Website:www.bardelentertainment.com Needless to say, we don’t do that anymore!” Aah, the
sweet wisdom of hindsight!
Website:www.rightstuf.com

T Side Effects

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

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25-Year
25 Year Anniversaries

Chiodo Brothers S4C

Perhaps best known The Welsh Fourth TV authority recently marked its 25th
for writing, directing and anniversary. This public service broadcasting station covers all of
creating the creature Wales and focuses on the needs of the Welsh-speaking population.
effects for the sci-fi cult The company’s areas of activities include distribution, co-
classic Killer Klowns from production and multi-media. Back in 92, S4C initiated a long-term
Outer Space, brothers policy aimed at producing quality animation for television.
Stephen, Charles and “S4C is committed to developing a range of creative animation
Edward Chiodo have been projects across different genres and for multi-platform use,
making films since they from short promotional trails which can be zapped to mobile
were kids and have spent phones to prime-time programming,” says Meirion Davies, S4C’s
the last 25 years creating Commissioning Editor Entertainment. “We look forward to working
memorable visual effects alongside the talented
for film and television.  teams at the successful
Recent accomplishments companies.”
include providing stop-motion animation for the Will Calon is currently in
Ferrell holiday movie Elf , and marionette puppetry for production on S4C’s new
the feature film Team America: World Police from South animated pre-school
Park  creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They’ve also series, Hana’s Helpline a
produced stop-motion segments for Fox’s The Simpsons co-production with Five
and have supplied effects for such leading filmmakers as and Germany’s ZDF with
Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and Paul Verhoven. This fall, the support from the EU’s Media+ program and the National Assembly
brothers released their first children’s book, Alien Xmas, for Wales. Griffilms is also working on a 30-minute animated
   T
   R which they plan to make into a stop-motion animated film based on the Welsh legend of Gelert for S4C’s 2007 holiday
   O feature. On an interesting note, up-and-coming rock band schedule, and Dinamo is producing CWM Teg , a series of 20 five-
   P The Chiodos (Chi-oh-dose) named themselves after the minute nursery rhymes for the broadcaster. Other new S4C toons
   E Chiodo (Kee-oh-do) brothers because they’re such big fans
   R of Killer Klowns.
include Happy Valley  and Where’s My Dinner .
   L Website:www.s4c.co.uk
   A
   I
Website: www.chiodobros.com

   C
   E
   P 35-Year
35 Year Anniversaries
   S
BRB Internacional

Forget the ditty about the rain in Spain. The real news coming out of the beautiful country is the Madrid-
based BRB Internacional which will be celebrating its 35th year in the business in 2007. As Carlos Biern, the
company’s 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 studio’s 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 introducedAngus 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 developThe 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. “It’s 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 there’s only one Spanish word that describes this sensational studio:maravilloso!
Website: www.brb.es 

72 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Top 20 Grossing Animated Movies

Rank Film (Year) Studio $ Domestic Total $ Foreign
1. Shrek 2 (2004) DreamWorks $600,788,188 $479,439,411
2. Finding Nemo (2003) Buena Vista $339,714,978 $524,911,000
3. The Lion King (1994) Buena Vista $328,541,776 $455,300,000
4. Shrek (2001) DreamWorks $267,665,011 $479,439,411
5. The Incredibles (2004) Buena Vista $261,441,092 $369,995,000
6. Monsters, Inc. (2001) Buena Vista $255,873,250 $269,493,347
7. Toy Story 2 (1999) Buena Vista $245,852,179 $239,163,000
8. Cars (2006) Buena Vista $244,082,982 $216,899,000
9. 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 Bug’s 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

   T
   R
   O
Top 20 Grossing VFX-Driven Movies
   P
   E Rank Film (Year) Studio $ Domestic Total $ Foreign
   R 1. Titanic (1997) Paramount $600,788,188 $1,244,246,000
   L
   A
   I
2. Star Wars: Ep. IV (1977) Fox $460,998,007 $314,400,000

C 3. E.T. (1982) Universal $434,974,579 $357,800,000

   E 4. Star Wars: Ep. I (1999) Fox $431,088,295 $493,229,257
   P
   S 5. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (2006) Buena Vista $423,032,628 $641,055,000
6. Spider-Man (2002) Sony Pictures $403,706,375 $418,002,176
7. Star Wars: Ep. III (2005) Fox $380,270,577 $469,727,028
8. LoTR: Return of the King (2003) New Line $377,027,325 $741,861,654
9. 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 Sorceror’s 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

74 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________

Toon Town Milestones:

The 2007 Edition
75 Years Ago
175 95 Years Ago
Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and his Animation pioneer Winsor
sons introduce the Phenakistoscope , McCay delights audiences
an early animation device which was the with his How a Mosquito
predecessor to the zoetrope. Operates .

8 Years Ago
80 75 Years Ago
Walt Disney and Ub Burt Gillett’s Flowers and the Trees , the Oscar-
Iwerks’ new animated winning Silly Symphonies toon is the
character Oswald the ﬁrst short made with Technicolor’s
Lucky Rabbit makes three-strip process.
his debut in the short George Pal introduces the famous Puppetoon series as part
Trolley Troubles . of an ad campaign.
Goofy, Disney’s dim-witted and lovable canine, makes his
ﬁrst appearance in the 1932 short Mickey’s Revue .

T 7 Years Ago

70
   R
   O
   P Directed by David Hand, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Disney’s first full-
   E length animated feature, premieres on December 21, 1937. The film receives
   R a special Oscar in 1939—one full-size Oscar and seven dwarf
   L
   A
   I
Oscars—presented to Disney by Shirley Temple.
Released on Nov. 5, 1937, Disney’s Oscar-winning short, The Old
   C
   E Mill, tells a story without relying on anthropomorphic characters.
   P Tex Avery introduces Daffy Duck in the short Porky’s Duck Hunt .
   S Mel Blanc does his first voice work in Picador Porky .
Also, Elmer Fudd makes his debut in Egghead Rules —he was known as Egghead in his early
days!

65 Years Ago 6 Years Ago

60
Bambi , David Hand’s unforgettable forest That feisty canary Tweety Bird
fable, becomes Disney’s ﬁfth full-length and scheming cat Sylvester make
feature. A pair of four-month-old fawns, their ﬁrst appearance together in
several squirrels, birds, Friz Freleng’s Oscar-winning short
rabbits, chipmunks Tweetie Pie .
and other woodland Donald Duck
creatures were brought meets two of
to the studio for the his favorite chipmunks
animators to study in Jack Hannah’s Oscar-
during the six-year nominated short Chip an’
production period. Dale.
continued on page 78

76 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Toon Timeline
continued from page 76

55 Years Ago 5 Years Ago

50
William Hanna and William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera hit Joseph Barbera leave
another home run with MGM and form Hanna
the Oscar-winning Barbera Studios.
Johann Mouse , Friz Freleng’s Oscar-
considered one of the winning short Birds Anonymous  puts Sylvester in
best Tom and Jerry   a 12-step program for bird-eating addicts.
toons of all time. Chuck Jones puts Bugs Bunny in drag as the
Valkyrie Brunhilde against hot-to-trot demi-god
Siegfried played by Elmer
45 Years Ago Fudd in the much-loved short,
What’s Opera, Doc?
Two men discuss Among the popular animated
accidents and shows debuting on TV this
the possibility of year are The Gumby Show,
nuclear war in John Tom Terriﬁc and The Woody
and Faith Hubley’s Woodpecker Show.
Oscar-winning
short, The Hole . 4 Years Ago
40
The Jetsons
and Wally Directed by
Gator  are the Wolfgang
   T latest TV toon Reitherman,
   R series out of The Jungle
   O the Hanna
   P Book is
   E Barbera hit released in
   R factory. theaters. This
   L adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story, which was the last movie Disney
   A
   I worked on before his death, is released in theaters. It features the
   C catchy song “Bare Necessities” which earns an Oscar nom in 1968.
   E Fred Wolf and Jimmy Murakami team up to create the Oscar-winning
   P
   S 35 Years Ago eight-minute short, The Box .
Tansunoko’s 1967 series Speed Racer  introduces anime to American
audiences in a big way.
Ralph Bakshi rocks the toon Animated TV properties such as The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show,
world with his outrageous cult Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, George of the Jungle, Spider-Man and The
movie Fritz the Cat, based on the Superman/Aquaman Adventure Hour  win fans all over the country.
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 .
continued on page 80

78 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________________________________

Toon Timeline
continued from page78

3 Years Ago
30
Director George Lucas and his
team of vfx masters (John
Dykstra, John Stears, Richard
Edlund, Phil Tippett, Dennis
Muren, Grant McCune, Robert 25 Years Ago
Blalack) rewrote the book on
fantasy ﬁlmmaking with the Directed by Disney renegade
seminal epic Star Wars. Don Bluth, the hugely underrated The Secret of NIMH ,
Italian toon maestro Bruno based on the book, opens a new chapter in the history of
Bozzetto has fun with classical traditionally animated features.
music in the global cult hit Vincent , Tim Burton’s animated homage to his favorite
Allegro non troppo. actor Vincent Price, offers a glimpse of what to expect
The world meets from the acclaimed director in the years to come.
Bernard and Bianca Polish animator Zingier Rybczynski delights
(voiced by Bob festivalgoers with his Oscar-winning short Tango.
Newhart and Eva Dianne Jackson and John Coates bring
Gabor), the animated Raymond Briggs’ successful children’s book, The
mice from Disney’s Snowman, to animated life in a timeless Oscar-
popular feature, The nominated Channel 4 special.
Rescuers . Among the shows debuting on TV this year are
Disney mixes live Robotech: The Macross
action with an animated character in Don Saga, Pac-Man and The
   T Chaffey’s Pete’s Dragon. Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy
   R Hour.
   O
   P
   E
   R
   L 2 Years Ago
20
   A
   I
   C Matt Groening’s dysfunctional family The Simpsons  makes its debut on FOX-TV’s
   E The Tracey Ullman Show.
   P
   S Frederic Back’s beautifully animated Oscar-winning short, The Man Who Planted
Trees , delights animation fans and ecologically minded audiences everywhere.
Disney’s TV Animation division delivers the delightfully retro
series, DuckTales.
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s 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 inﬂuential
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.

continued on page 82

80 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Toon Timeline
continued from page 80

5 Years Ago
15
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 cabler’s
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 ﬁrst feature-
length ﬁlm, The Tune.

Years Ago
10
   T Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s envelope-pushing, irreverent South Park  bows
   R on Comedy Central.
   O It’s a great year for girlcentric toons with
   P
   E MTV’s Daria, Warner Bros.’ The Legend of
   R Calamity Jane  and Disney’s Pepper Ann
   L premiering on the small screen.
   A
   I Hayao Miyazaki ’s beautiful and haunting
   C movie, Princess Mononoke, is released on
   E July 12 in Japan.
   P Cartoon Network’s Cow and Chicken and Johnny
   S Bravo  reaffirm the cabler’s influential style.
Mark Dindal directs the critically acclaimed 2D toon Cat’s Don’t Dance  (produced
by Turner and released by Warner Bros.). The late Gene Kelly was the film’s
choreographer.
Created by Mitch Schauer, The Angry Beavers  (about the bachelor brothers
Daggett and Norbert Beaver) debuts on Nickelodeon.
Pokémon’s Ash and Pikachu get their first 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 film 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 Judge’s slice-of-Texas life series King of the Hill debuts on the Fox network.
Geri’s 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
continued on page 84 the Oscar the following year.

82 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Toon Timeline
continued from page 82

Five Years Ago

Hayao Miyazaki ’s Oscar-winning feature, Spirited Away
earns new fans for the master Japanese animator when it’s
released by Disney in U.S. theaters in the summer.
DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
gives horse lovers a traditionally Treasure Planet
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!, What’s New, Scooby-Doo?  and
Baby Looney Tunes  to its popular TV family.
Directed and written by Chris Sanders and Dean
DeBlois , Disney’s beautifully animated Lilo & Stitch hits theaters in
June. The film picks up an Oscar nomination
in 2003. Jimmy Neutron
Blue Sky joins forces with Fox to create the
Oscar-nominated CG hit Ice Age  (directed by
What’s New Scooby-Doo? Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha), which
introduces auds to the popular character
Scrat and spawns a sequel in 2006.
Two eccentric new toons— The Adventures of Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius  and ChalkZone  —bow on
   T Nickelodeon.
   R Cartoon Network welcomes the mischief-
   O making clan of Tom Warburton’s Codename:
   P
   E Kids Next Door and Greg Miller’s Whatever
   R Happened to Robot Jones , a cool toon with
   L a serious ’70s vibe.
   A
   I Created by Mark McCorkle and Robert
   C Schooley, the spunky, red-haired Mobile Suite:
   E crimefighter known as Kim Possible Gundam SEED
   P
   S begins her wacky adventures on the
Disney Channel.
Masashi Kishimoto’s 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 five year
Naruto
anniversaries this year are The Wild
The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Strange
Thornberrys Movie Invaders, Return to Never
Land, Pokémon 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! 

84 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

40 Auteurs We Love (1987-2006)

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 it’s impossible to narrow the field
down in this small space. So please don’t be upset if you or your favorite genius auteurs
don’t show up on this very subjective list. We’ll be compiling another one for our 25th
anniversary!
Andrew Adamson.
Adamson The talented vfx pro-turned-blockbuster director from Auckland, New
Zealand, has been topping himself ever since his first big helming effort on Shrek in 2001. He continued his
winning streak with the movie’s sequel and managed to bring together several top vfx houses from around
the world to deliver the magical holiday treat that was the first Chronicles of Narnia in 2005. C.S. Lewis fans
are thrilled that he’s already working on the second Narnia movie, Prince Caspian.

Roger Allers
Allers. It’s 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
Emperor’s New Groove. In 2006, he co-directed Sony Animation’s CG-animated hit Open Season and offered
a poignant, poetic short based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Matchgirl —great work from a very
gifted guy.

Danny Antonucci.
Antonucci We kind of knew back when Danny’s 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 MTV’s The
   T Brothers Grunt and working on Cartoon Sushi , he really hit his groove with the 1999 Cartoon Network show
   R Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy. Six seasons later, the three underdog boys and Danny’s Vancouver-based a.k.a. Cartoon
   O studio continue to ride a much-deserved popularity wave.
   P
   E
   R Gary Baseman.
Baseman Whether you love his illustrations (Cranium, anyone?) or fell for his Emmy-winning
   L show Teacher’s Pet and the underrated feature movie that got buried in the avalanche of CG movies two
   A
   I years ago, you know that Baseman is the real thing. The L.A.-based artist works hard on his line of ﬁrst-rate
   C vinyl toys, sculptures and collectibles—and you can visit his website (www.garybaseman.com) for more info
   E
   P on his latest creations.
   S
Brad Bird.
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
didn’t resort to condescending formulas. Then he did it again with his Oscar-winning cartoony CG-animated
The Incredibles in 2004. We wonder how he’s going to exceed our expectations with his upcoming Pixar
summer treat, Ratatouille ?

Don Bluth.
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 Fox’s 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.
Burton There’s a wonderfully complex career arc that has taken the former Disney animator
from his stop-motion short, Vincent (1982), to last year’s 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 we’re in the
hands of a visual demon. Next stop is his ﬁlm adaptation of Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp.
continued on page 88

86 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

________________

___________________ __________________

Auteurs
continued from page 86
Sylvain Chomet.
Chomet We ﬁrst fell in love with the French animator’s 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 here’s the good news for all those who are complaining that
all animated features are beginning to look alike: Chomet’s next big project is The Illusionist , featuring an
animated version of French comic Jacques Tati. Magniﬁque!

Peter Chung.
Chung When we ﬁrst saw Chung’s progressive and starkly unique animation on display in
MTV’s Aeon Flux  in the ’90s, we knew a new star had been born. He followed that inﬂuential 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. Let’s hope it’s true that he’s working on more episodes
of Flux for a direct-to-DVD project and feature called Luvula.

Ron Clements & John Musker.

Musker We treasure these guys because they’re 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 Disney’s smart new leadership
asked them to come back to look after the upcoming new feature, The Frog Princess. Here’s to
many more happy endings from the dynamic duo.

Matt Groening
Groening. Forget all those cute CG-animated critters—the summer of 2007 may very well
belong to Groening and his delightfully dysfunctional Springﬁeld clan as The Simpsons Movie hits theaters
in July. There’s 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.

Butch Hartman.
Hartman Kids really get a kick out of the snappy humor and situations of Hartman’s
monster hits The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, and it’s easy to see why. His distinctive vision and
   T
   R infectious energy have put him far ahead of his contemporaries in the TV business. The good news is that
   O he’s developing two more shows for Nickelodeon. And, yes, we forgive him for the English dub of Doogal .
   P
   E Stephen Hillenburg.
Hillenburg The one-time marine biology teacher hit the once-in-a-lifetime toon jackpot
   R with his lovable yellow absorbent hero, SpongeBob SquarePants. Who could have predicted that the goofy
   L
   A
   I
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
   C
   E every optimist listen to his or her inner SpongeBob for decades to come.
   P
   S Faith Hubley.
Hubley Although Faith and John Hubley did the bulk of their joint projects during the ‘60s and
‘70s, Faith continued to be a proliﬁc artist after her husband’s death in 1977. Her teachings inspired a new
generation of experimental animators until she passed away ﬁve years ago. These days her daughter Emily
continues the family tradition of creating personal and artistic shorts.

Christy Hui.
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 . We’ll follow her
gladly no matter to which far island of the world she takes us next.

Peter Jackson.
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 won’t be directing The Hobbit; otherwise we’d have more fun on the Shire in the future.

continued on page 90

88 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Auteurs
continued from page 88
Mike Judge.
Judge Even if this Austin-based animator/director/writer/and sometime actor had only
created Beavis and Butt-Head in the past 20 years, he’d 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 11 th season on FOX this January). And if you still haven’t caught his brilliantly
funny live-action movies Ofﬁce Space and Idiocracy, then you’re truly in for a treat!

Arlene Klasky & Gabor Csupo.

Csupo For several years in the ’90s, you couldn’t turn
on the TV or go to the movies or even shop at the market without being reminded of Klasky and Csupo’s
(and Paul Germain’s) phenomenally popular Rugrats series. Artist/producer Klasky and master animator
Gabor Csupo founded the inﬂuential 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.
Kon If you like your anime layered with psychological complexity and love movies that play
with notions of reality, then you’ve probably built a DVD shrine to this Japanese master. He’s played mind
games with beautifully crafted movies such as Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and the TV
series Paranoia Agent . He’s back this year with the delicious Paprika. Too bad Hitchock isn’t alive to appreciate
the homage.

John Kricfalusi.
Kricfalusi Ah, the amazing John K. Do we love him because he gave us the wild and
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 it’s because he
represents everyone’s 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.

T John Lasseter.

Lasseter All eyes have been on the brilliant and well-liked Pixar maestro ever since he took
   R over the animation division at Disney. His most recent effort Cars raced to the top of the box-ofﬁce and
   O DVD charts in 2006 and is considered a frontrunner in the Oscar race. Not only did he win our hearts with his
   P
   E beautiful CG-animated movies such as Toy Story  and A Bug’s Life, he was also instrumental in introducing
   R Miyazaki’s movies to a whole new audience of U.S. moviegoers. On top of that, he’s promised never to let
   L Disney forget about 2D animation. What a guy!
   A
   I George Lucas
   C Lucas. Yes, the Force will always be with the man who reshaped the fantasy landscape
   E with his six Star Wars movies and introduced us to the legend of Indiana Jones. Not only did he give us the
   P vfx powerhouse known as Industrial Light & Magic, he also re-conﬁgured the entertainment landscape with
   S LucasFilm, LucasArt, Skywalker Ranch and Skywalker Sound, and now he has launched a new animation
empire in Singapore. So what if he hated Frank Darabont’s script for the fourth Indiana Jones movie? Patience
is a virtue!

Seth MacFarlane.
MacFarlane Yes, he only turned 33 last October, and he’s 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 Grifﬁn, as well as four other main
characters on the show. Sheesh!

Todd McFarlane.
McFarlane Comic-book fanatics knew about Todd back when he revitalized Marvel’s
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, he’s
the CEO of McFarlane Toys, which has produced some amazing collectibles featuring some of our favorite
toons. (We’re talking Wallace and Gromit, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons and Corpse Bride, not to mention the
supercool Lost ﬁgurines.) He’s 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.
continued on page 92

90 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

________________________________

Auteurs
continued from page 90

Craig McCracken.
McCracken The folks at Cartoon Network knew they had hit the jackpot when they saw
McCracken’s ﬁrst big series, The PowerPuff Girls in 1998. But who knew he’d be back to steal the hearts of
young viewers again six years later with his delightful Flash-animated show, Foster’s 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
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, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl’s
Moving Castle without resorting to superlatives? All we know is that we can’t wait for the next movie by
Studio Ghibli’s genius in residence, which is reportedly based on a Chinese book called I Lost My Little Boy .

Michel Ocelot.
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
Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Ôtomo. Ever since Akira changed the anime landscape in 1988, fans have counted on
the influential Japanese helmer and manga artist for his rebellious visions of the future. Although his most
recent animated movies Metropolis and Steamboy didn’t make as big a splash in the U.S., we all have our
fingers crossed for his new live-action movie, Mushishi , which is based on a manga about ubiquitous floating
creatures with supernatural powers.

Nick
Nick Park
Park. As supremely talented as he is patient and modest, the four-time Oscar winning stop-
motion master of Bristol-based Aardman Animations studio should be the role model for any aspiring artist.
You’d have to be mentally deranged not to admire the wit and charm of his Creature Comforts and Wallace
   T and Gromit  shorts. He has continued to put his stamp of excellence on his two big-screen releases, Chicken
   R
   O Run and W&G: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit . If he started a cult tomorrow, we’d all sign up immediately.
   P
   E Bill Plympton.
Plympton Master of quirky hand-drawn shorts such as the 1987 Oscar-nominated Your Face
   R and 2005’s Guard Dog , as well as features such as The Tune, I Married a Strange Person!  and the recently
   L released Hair High, the indie toon master continues to push the envelope with his artistic creations. Don’t
   A
   I miss his latest side-splitting work on Weird Al Yankovic’s music video Don’t Download This Song.
   C
   E Joanna Priestley.
Priestley Next time someone tries to tell you that you have to sell out to mainstream
   P
   S 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 ﬁlms. We still can’t
think of that Tears for Fears’ “Sowing the Seeds of Love” song without remembering Priestley’s remarkable
animation for its music video!

Joanna Quinn.
Quinn Even if you haven’t seen this Birmingham, U.K.-born’s 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.
Selick It’s 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 can’t wait until he ﬁnishes his next Laika studio feature, the ﬁlm version of Neil Gaiman’s
haunting tale, Coraline.

continued on page 94

92 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

______________

Here’s to Animation Magazine on it’s

20th Anniversary.

We are proud to be part of the

world of animation.

    

Auteurs
continued from page 94

Matt Stone & Trey Parker

Parker. The world has changed a lot since August of 1997,
when Matt and Trey ﬁrst 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 Cruise—nothing is sacred in Stone-and-Parker-ville
and that’s why we admire the efﬁng talented duo so much.

Genndy Tartakovsky.
Tartakovsky For many artists, having created two wildly inﬂuential and artistically
praised toons would have been enough. But Genndy had to continue pushing his artistic boundaries. After
giving us Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack , he delivered Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was actually
better than the last three chapters of the ﬁlm saga! Now he and his team at San Francisco’s 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.

Radomski Timm was once quoted as saying
“We’re not trying to destroy the boys of America. We’re 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 deﬁnitely 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. Let’s hope they join forces
for a feature next.

Bruce W.
W Smith.
Smith To give you an idea of the longevity of Smith’s career, all you need to know is
   T that he worked as animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? . Since then, he’s directed numerous TV shows,
   R held top character design and animator jobs on Disney movies such as Tarzan and The Emperor’s New Groove,
   O
   P directed a movie (Bebe’s Kids) and created Disney Channel’s long-running hit series The Proud Family . We have
   E a feeling he’s going to come up with more cool toons featuring positive role models in the years to come.
   R
   L
   A
   I Jhonen Vasquez
Vasquez. Has it really been almost six years since Nickelodeon ﬁrst aired this comic-
   C book-artist turned cult hero animator’s series Invader ZIM? Was it the dark humor, the crazy animation or the
   E
   P wonderful wry tone of the show that totally brainwashed us into becoming a Vasquez groupie? How many
   S 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.
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 he’s working on an adaptation of William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the
Brave Good Bugs. Don’t believe him when he says he’s not related to the Energizer Bunny.

Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro

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. 

94 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

20 Things to Look Forward to in ’07

eah, we know, another year is over and we’ll all be one year older! But, hey,

Y there are plenty of cool things awaiting us in 2007—we hope! Time to put on
those rose-colored glasses and cross our fingers because no refunds are given
on the time we’ll spend on these movies and TV shows!
Bridge to Terabithia. Katherine Paterson’s widely read fantasy be- movie is directed by Stephen J. Anderson, who has worked on a wide
comes a vfx-laden live-action feature, directed by toon veteran Gabor range of Mouse House projects, including Tarzan, Brother Bear and Em-
Csupo (Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys). The plot centers on the friend- peror’s New Groove. [Opens March 30]
ship between a fifth-grader and the new girl in town who discover a
magical kingdom in a nearby forest. Don’t forget your hanky for this one! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Writer-director Kevin Munroe is bring-
[Opens Feb. 16] ing a darker edge to this much-anticipated CG-animated adaptation of
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comic-book characters. Animated by
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie. Never before have we had so Imagi and distributed by Warner Bros. and The Weinstein Co., the film
much love and admiration for a meatball, a bag of fries and a milkshake. finds Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo lost and directionless in the
Yes, Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis’ [adult swim] faves make the leap to Big Apple until Master Splinter and Leonardo unite the green pals against
the big screen this winter. The feature tackles the mysterious circum- a dangerous tech industrialist. [Opens March 23]
stances that brought Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake together and
offers guest voices such as Rush drummer Neil Peart, Jon Benjamin and My Friends Tigger & Pooh. A.A. Milne’s honey-loving bear and his
Bruce Campbell. Reportedly, the movie was a huge crowd-pleaser when it colorful collection of pals get the CG
opened on Pluto last year. [Opens February] treatment in Disney Channel’s new pre-
school toon, which also centers on a
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. Created by husband- six-year-old girl named Darby—sorry,
and-wife team Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, this colorful new Christopher Robin, you had your share
   T toon centers on a 13- of the limelight already! Veteran voice
   R year-old who has to star Jim Cummings does double duty as
   O figure out whether to both Pooh and Tigger. [Premieres on
   P
   E use his superpowers for Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney
   R good or for not so good! block in the spring.]
   L The look of the show is
   A
   I inspired by both classic Persepolis. Three cheers for Sony Pictures Classic for releasing this
   C spaghetti Westerns super-cool adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed graphic novel. Di-
   E and Latino folk art! rected by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the black-and-white 2D-ani-
   P
   S [Premieres on Nickel- mated movie follows the coming of age of a spirited young girl during the
odeon in March.] 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The voice list includes Catherine Deneuve,
Gena Rowlands and Chiara Mastroianni. Produced by Marc-Antoine Rob-
300. Graphic novel guruFrank Miller says he was blown away by the first ert and Xavier Rigault of 2.4.7. Films, Kathleen Kennedy of Kennedy Mar-
footage of director Zack Synder’s fea- shall and France 3 Cinema. [Opens in the spring.]
ture adaptation of his project about the
mythic Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B. Spider-Man 3. Could third time still be a charm for Tobey Maguire as
C. Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey angst-ridden Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter ego?
and Dominic West, the vfx-laden epic Directed by masterful helmer Sam Raimi, this first entry
promises to be one of the visual spec- in the summer blockbuster derby finds Spidey bonding
tacles of the spring season. [Opens March 9] with a dark entity from another world, as well as dealing
with villains such as Sandman (Thomas Haden Church)
Meet the Robinsons. All eyes are on the Disney CG-animation team and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Kirsten Dunst and James
this spring to see how their follow-up to Chicken Little will fare critically Franco reprise their roles as Mary Jane and Harry. Bryce
and commercially. Based Dallas Howard also stars as Gwen Stacy. [Opens May 4]
on the popular children’s
book by William Joyce (A Shrek the Third. The secret weapon in this third out-
Day with Wilbur Robin- ing for the lovable CG ogre (voice of Mike Myers) and his talented wife,
son), the retro-futuristic continued on page 98

96 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

Looking Forward
continued from page 98 is fired from his job after poisoning the
town’s water supply and all the town
Princess Fiona (the effervescent Cameron Diaz), is the little bun- folks have to flee their homes. Minnie
dle of greenish joy they add to their family. Julie Andrews, John Driver, Albert Brooks, Kelsey Grammer
Cleese, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Larry King, Ian Mc- and Joe Mantegna are some of the guest
Shane, Regis Philbin, Rupert Everett, Amy Sedaris, Maya Rudolph, stars; David Silverman directs.[Opens
Amy Poehler and Cheri Oteri are all part of the royal cast, direct- July 27]
ed by DreamWorks’ Chris Miller and Raman Hui. [Opens May 18]
Igor. The talented team at Exodus Entertainment have cooked up a
Surf’s Up. After their fall hunting world adventure last year, the tasty CG-animated treat for all of us who have a soft spot for the hunch-
team at Sony Animation is offering a wonderful back assistants of evil scientists in B-movieland. Directed by Anthony
animated mockumentary about the Penguin Leondis (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch ), the toon features the voices
World Surfing Championship. The totally dudali- of Christian Slater as the lead character, Molly Shannon as his indestruc-
cious cast is led by Jeff Bridges, Mario Cantone, tible female monster creation. John Cleese, Steve Buscemi and Jeremy
Shia LaBeouf, James Woods and Zooey Descha- Piven co-star. [Third Quarter, 2007]
nel. Ash Brannon and Chris Buck are at the helm
of this perfect summer offering. [Opens June 8] Underdog. Almost 43 years after the goofy rhyming superhero made
TV audiences fall for his canine charms, he gets his own movie in which
Ratatouille. What would the summer be with- he’ll be voiced by none other than Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl ). The live-
out another clever, offering from the brilliant action/CG-animated movie is directed by Frederik Du Chau (Quest for
boffins at Pixar? Co-directed by Brad Bird and Camelot, Racing Stripes) and features Amy Adams as the voice of love
Jan Pinkava, this seventh Pixar feature release tells the story of an eager interest, Sweet Polly Purebred. Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage and Patrick
rat who dreams of being a chef at a Parisian bistro! Brad Garrett, Ian Warburton are also on board. [Opens Aug. 3]
Holm, Patton Oswalt, Ja-
neane Garofalo and Brian Tak and the Power of Juju. The hit videogame becomes a CG-ani-
Dennehy round up the mated show about a jungle boy (voiced by Hal Sparks)
voice cast. [Opens June who acquires some magical powers thanks to some of
   T 29] his friends in the Juju realm. Of course, his new abilities
   R always get him and his best friend Jeera and the Pupu-
   O Transformers. Geek nunu villagers into trouble. [Premieres on Nickelodeon
   P
   E alert! Action auteur Mi- in Oct.]
   R chael Bay directs this anticipated live-action version of the popular ’80s
   L toon. Produced by Steven Spielberg, this one has major summer block- Bee Movie. The Internet is already abuzz about the
   A
   I buster potential. The ubiquitous Shia LaBeouf plays the lead, and Peter clever live-action trailer featuring lead voice Jerry Sein-
   C Cullen returns as the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime. [Opens July feld. The famous comic stars as the heroic bee Barry B.
   E 4] Benson who thinks there should be more to life than making honey.
   P
   S Renée Zellweger
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry, Hermione and supplies the voice
Ron are older and wiser in this fifth outing for the Hogwart wizards but of a New York city
their powerful adversary Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has also upped florist who saves
the ante by undermining their pro- his life. The Dream-
tective headmaster, Dumbledore Works Animation
(Michael Gambon). Helena Bonham project is directed
Carter and Imelda Staunton join the by Steve Hickner
cast as Death Eater Bellatrix and Simon J. Smith.
Lestrange and the evil Dolores Um- [Opens Nov. 2]
bridge. David Yates (HBO’s The Girl in
the Café) takes over as director. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. Philip Pullman’s fan-
[Opens July 13] tasy about a young girl with magical powers and a shape-shifting animal
soul (Yeah, we know, it’s complicated!) who fights evil in a parallel world
The Simpsons Movie. You must have taken a sabbatical to the moon in the far North has been begging to be adapted into a live-action Narnia-
if you aren’t aware of this summer’s hugely anticipated big-screen adven- like epic. Next year’s holiday treat is directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy,
ture of Springfield’s dysfunctional family. After 18 seasons on Fox, the American Pie) and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as two of the
clan (all voiced by the original stars of the show) is finally ready for its film’s mystical characters. To make comparisons with Lord of the Rings
close-up! The heavily guarded plotline reportedly takes off when Homer even easier, it’s the first part of a trilogy! [Opens Dec. 7] 

98 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

____________________

_____________ __________

13 People, Platforms and Fred Siebert and channelfredera-

Trends That Are Reshaping tor.com:While the Internet remains a vast
public marketplace of ideas (and not yet to-

Our World tally controlled by big corporations), media

veteran Fred Siebert has created a spot in
by Chris Grove the market where creative democracy is
flourishing. Any animator in the world can
Steve Jobs—iPod Nation: When Jobs stores were longer than those for a Harry send their short subject to frederator.com
came back to Apple in 1996 he was the com- Potter book signing. And as for the media where, if picked to be in that week’s podcast,
pany’s last best hope. And it dirge that there are no titles for PS3. Not for can be seen by millions worldwide.
seems to be panning out! Jobs long. A reporter on a major network recently
and his team quickly made the asked a business analyst whether delays John Evershed: No not   the John Ever-
company relevant again when it over PS3 (and the computer battery recall) shed who was a reasonably
introduced the iMac computer. meant the end of Sony. The analyst should famous British astronomer,
That and its progeny—espe- have called the reporter an idiot but instead the guy behind Mondo Media
cially the transformational patiently explained that Sony was the big- and Happy Tree Friends . Pro-
iPod, iTunes and everything gest electronics company in the world, that ducing content exclusively for
else “i”—have moved the they had thousands of consumer products, the Internet and mobile devic-
company and its aesthetic so no, the sky wasn’t falling on Sony. The es, Evershed’s fantastically
into an entirely different video game market is still Sony’s to lose, inappropriate toons typify the
level. however. Market researcher Yankee Group best of what can be accomplished
The iPod will, no doubt, stand for many says that by 2011, PlayStation 3 will hold 44 on the web. Since the company’s
years to come as a case study of how to de- percent of the console market, followed by inception in 1988, Evershed’s focus
sign and launch a new product and then keep Microsoft with 40 percent and Nintendo, with has been on the creation and distri-
it relevant and cool well beyond the normal 16 percent. bution of animated entertainment for
life cycle of a “hot” consumer toy. And then a wide range of platforms—videogames,
   T there’s the ultimate pop culture achieve- Rupert Murdoch: I know. He’s definitely online content, television and, most recently,
   R ment: Having a populist activity (in this case, an old, old-guard guy. But he’s a very rich old, for mobile and other wireless devices. For its
   O downloading video and audio content to a old-guard guy. And when he makes a big part, Happy Tree Friends has become a world-
   P
   E mobile device) named after your  product. Not move, most of us are going to feel it. Young wide franchise on all platforms (including
   R Windows MP3casting (or Zunecasting), but people “don’t want to rely on a God-like figure iTunes podcasts, where it’s always in the top
   L pod casting. Jobs has a reputation as being a from above to 25), and a full line of merchandise.
   A
   I mercurial and terrorizing boss. But when you tell them what’s
   C buy a company like Pixar (which he did for $5 important,” Mur- homestarrunner.com: Another online ani-
   E million dollars) and sell it 20 years later for doch told a gath- mation channel that’s making some waves is
   P
   S over $7 billion, and when you rescue a mori- ering of newspa- home to a number of Flash toon series where
bund company like Apple and turn it into the per execs in the the low-tech of the character design and the
coolest computer company in the world, have spring of 2005. animation are an integral part of the edgy
at it Steve. Three months later News Corp. paid $580 satire. Think The Simpsons redux. Created by
million dollars to buy myspace.com. Early in Atlanta natives Mike Chapman and Craig Zo-
Sir Howard Stringer—and His Prob- 2005, Murdoch had ridiculed the concept of bel, the flagship series centers on Homestar
lematic PlayStation: While many people podcasting. “Who wants to pay $1.99 to Runner, a talented
have had a lot of schadenfreude-fun roasting watch a show on a one-inch screen?” was the but very dumb ath-
Sony over its PlayStation 3 delays, they gist of what he said. But there’s a reason he lete. Homestar’s
missed the essence of the has built one of the biggest media companies main antagonist,
story. The technology comin the world: He has a wicked learning curve. Strong Bad, is also in
panies such as Sony are put- Industry observers said Murdoch’s unusual a series called Strong
ting into these players is “mea culpa” was a sign that News Corp was Bad Email , one of the most popular features
vastly more complicated gearing up for a wholesale revamp of its ap- of the site. There are about another dozen
than that used to put a man proach to the Internet. The other shoe hasn’t recurring characters in Homestar’s roster. Zo-
on the moon—even if the dropped. Yet. bel, while still a contributor, has moved on to
downside is less dire. Finally, other things. Chapman and his brother Matt
after over-promising, PlayStation 3 is here. The Podcasting Revolution—The New Wave: now run the site day-to-day.
When the first machines hit the market in Ja- Among the emerging players in the podcast space,
pan in November 2006, the lines outside the talent is as wide as it is deep. Consider: continued on page 102

100 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

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Reshaping the World

continued from page 100 through PayPal donations, which generally would be ridiculous. Even when they make
YouTube: When Bill Gates (see below) offsets the cost of running the website. mistakes, what they do is shift people’s per-
famously said that he liked to hire young, in- ceptions and behavior.
experienced programmers because they It’s Jerry Time : If anyone proves the cli-
didn’t know what was impossible, he may ché that no matter what the technology, Cold Hard Flash: With Flash animation
have had people such as YouTube founders ideas still count, it’s the guys behind the la- everywhere, it only follows that the Flash co-
Chad Hurley and Steve Chen in mind. Similar conic web presence itsjerrytime.com . The gnoscente need a place to hang on the web.
to Gates and Microsoft, series is the creation of Needham, Mass.- Coldhardflash.com is the brainchild of Aaron
Hurley and Chen start- based Orrin and Jerry Zucker. With a tone Simpson, vice president, Interactive at JibJab
ed their company in a that suggests a non-conflicted Harvey Pekar, Media. He was, among other things, nominat-
garage (Hurley’s) and in the series of quirky Flash shorts follows the ed for an Emmy for his work on Coconut Fred’s
a mind-blowing 18 exploits Fruit Salad Island , a Flash series on Kids’ WB!
months went from of Jerry Prior to Warner Bros., Simpson was senior pro-
broke start-up guys to as he en- ducer of original content at Sony, where he
billionaires. Just like a flashback to the insane dures the helped build a forward-thinking entertain-
dot.com daze of the late 1990s, Google po- vicissi- ment portal, Screen-
nied up $1.65 billion for the company a few tudes of blast. Coldhardflash,
months ago. his life in meanwhile, now is a
Needham, Massachusetts. very popular news
JibJab: Is there anyone who didn’t   see Jerry Zucker works at his source focusing on
JibJab’s breakthrough online Bush/Kerry ren-
brother’s broadcast design TV production and
dition of This Land Is My firm, Ozone. It was there that online shorts being produced with Flash.
Land   during the 2004 the idea for the series was Three years ago, says Simpson, there were no
presidential race? What-
hatched. Nominated for a non- more than five Flash-animated shows airing
ever, it put founding
traditional platform Emmy (in a new category on TV. Today, that number is closer to 40. Be-
brothers Gregg and Evan for programming created specifically for non- yond TV, the web is now full of independent
Spiridellis on the map,
traditional viewing platforms), the series animators making a living solely off their orig-
after six years of trying didn’t even exist as an idea until late 2005. inal series work. The site is maintained by in-
   T to build a presence online. “There is some very cool stuff going on in dustry professionals, and is not affiliated with
   R podcasting,” says Jerry Zucker. “It’s very much any studio, company or organization.
   O By the end of the election
a people’s medium and I think it fills in a lot of
   P season both This Land
   E and the follow-up Good cracks in information and entertainment.” Small Screen Grows More Tenta-
   R To Be In D.C.!  had been seen cles: When it came to greenlighting new proj-
   L more than 80 million times Microsoft: If ever there was a case of ects, it used to be that TV and cable execs
   A
   I online on every continent, first-in wins, it’s Microsoft. Because Bill Gates were tough-as-nails gatekeepers of the busi-
   C including Antarctica. Last had the chutzpah and luck to get IBM to give ness. Now that homegrown podcasts and
   E him licensing rights to provide the OS for all desktop toons are rocking our world, it’s good
   P month, they premiered a new short spoofing
   S American Idol   champ Taylor Hicks, sung by non-IBM PCs in the early 1980s (IBM mistak- to see all the old media types extending their
none other than Weird Al Yankovic titled Do I enly believed the PC clone market would reach to the new media world and opening
Creep You Out?  Now that’s what we call a per- never happen) he’s now worth $53 billion. new doors for creators. Here’s to the folks at
fect marriage of old (circa ’80s) and new me- Since then, almost all Microsoft’s new prod- Cartoon Network’s adultswim.com, Comedy
dia. ucts and initiatives have more or less sucked. Central’s Motherload site, Nickelodeon’s Nick.
Windows 98, Vista? Not as cool as Mac OS or com and Disney.com which are extending
angryalien.com : Though maybe not as as robust. And as for Zune 2006? Looks and their brands’ reach and offering new opportu-
high-profile as the brothers Spiridellis, Jenni- feels like an iPod. If you want to know how nities for up-and-coming animation talent.
fer Shiman’s Bunny Movie spoofs are another ham-handed Microsoft remains, the subscrip-
example of how great content can prevail in a tion business-model for their music download Triumphant Tools: It’s almost impossible
field of tens of thou- service is so much more awkward than iTunes to list them all, but if you’re an animator or a
sands. Now featured streamlined pay-as-you-go method, it’s hard time- and cash-stripped executive, you know
on the Starz movie to figure out what Microsoft’s rationale is. how much we all owe to the new generations of
channel, the 30-sec- While Zune’s WiFi capability and interactivity vfx and animation tools. Alias Maya, Autodesk’s
ond animated versions with Xbox 360 are interesting, it’s probably Motionbuilder and 3ds Max, Softimage|XSI,
of Hollywood films first not enough to derail or even rival iPod’s five- Toon Boom’s Storyboard and Studio, CelAction
came to life on her year head start. Nonetheless, to say that MS 2D, Nvidia’s Gelato, Houdini, Carrara, Adobe
website. The site has no advertising, so, for isn’t a mov- Macromedia’s Flash, Wacom’s Cintiq tablets
the moment, Shiman earns income from the er and and all the other toon essentials (too many to
sale of Bunny-related merchandise and sh ak er mention here), we all salute you! 

102 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

__________________ __________________

____________

20
1. Really, it’s all about
Things the story.
2. We are huge fans

We Hope of the classic Looney

Tunes.

We Never 3. Our CGI animation

Have to pays homage to the old
Fleischer cartoons.
4. We like to think of
Hear Again in ourselves as the next
Pixar—well, make that the
the Next 20 Years! 5. Not only are we trying to
Pixar of Baden Baden at
least.
push the envelope with our
multiplatform webisodes,
we’re going to blow up the
6. We’re really honored to
envelope to teeny little
have Mark Hamill provide
7. My kids love the smithereens.
the voices of all of our
characters I’ve created. characters—even those
My Timmy was just telling really toothy ankle-biting
me that our alien Zoda 8. Although we’re relying on the same
technology and production process, we’re moss-covered characters.
clone reminds him a lot of
SpongeBob. I kid you not! re-inventing the way cartoons are made in
the next century.
   T 9. I actually modeled my career on
   R that of John Lasseter, well, without
   O all the redundant education,
   P 10. If you don’t watch
   E 11. Pamela Anderson has craftsmanship and random
   R our show that means expressed interest in doing inspiration.
   L the terrorists have won. the voice of our space
   A
   I vixen/island goddess/sexy 12. Our development
   C fly/hot urban robot crack executives may still be
   E 13. The film’s animation
   P whore. in their teens but they
   S 14. Lindsay Lohan was like are really huge fans of director despises all things
spotted at Hyde last week classic animation. American. He only cares
wearing a t-shirt with our about avant garde abstract
lead character’s design on it. expressionism and movies
It was so totally hot. 15. The test audiences for our CG- about how fascism kills the
animated movie, which is about the little human spirit.
lost CG-animated barnyard pet who loses
his parents in a tragic fire, 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 network’s 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 film.
usual animation fan—we parents as kids growing up in the 60s and
want to reach the Home and 70s.
Garden Network crowd as
well as the flyfishing fanatic, 18. Our Dung Beetle
the geriatric Jerry Springer movie has the poetry 19. Our merchandising and
20. We’re all about
audience, the reality show and majesty of a mid- licensing program got a
the squash and
addict base as well as the career Miyazaki classic. huge write-up in Kidscreen!
stretch!
diehard fans of Lost .

104 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

______________
__________________

20 Zeitgeist-Deﬁning demonstrably better than the other. Because Hard-

er is the capper to the story, we pick it as the one to

Animated Music Videos

make the list. Or as, Ali G would say, respec’.

Coldplay: Don’t Panic . Some fans grouse that Tim

Hope’s animation for this video
t’s no secret that some of the most cutting-edge, envelope-

I
doesn’t match the brilliance of
pushing animation of the past two decades has been created the early Coldplay hit Don’t
for music videos. While MTV has opted to air vapid reality Panic . But as it is (a) a promise
of even greater things to come
shows about spoiled rich white teenagers in Orange County, song-wise and (b) because it
we can still hope that new platforms will allow music videos had two passes on the charts (first as a 2001 hit for
to take back the high place they held in pop culture during the the band upon the song’s release and later in 2004
day-glo-wake-me-up-before-you-go-go ’80s. by Chrishris Grove when actor/director Zach Braff used the track in
Garden State) it’s on. The central irony of the video
is the contrast of the lyric (“We Live in a Beautiful
A-ha: Take on Me . The roto- music video format was getting pretty stale. It World”) with images of rampant consumerism and
scope animation in A-ha’s one swept the MTV video music awards in 1987. Sledge- pollution defiling the planet’s ecosystem care of
hit-wonder Take on Me was an hammer  is 4th on MTV’s Top 100 Of All Time list (one Hope’s underrated images.
eye-opener when it was re- through three, in case you’re interested, being
leased in 1985. At the time, Thriller, Vogue and Smells Like Teen Spirit ). Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood . This video deserves a
the vid was definitely in the place in line because it’s the first from the world’s
how-did-they-do-that catego- Radiohead: Paranoid Android . A great song born purported first virtual hip-hop
ry, as lead singer/quasi-castrati Morten Harket out of bandleader Thom Yorke’s bizarre and unset- group. The on-screen look of
walked through mirrors and walls into a black and tling experience in a trendy Los Angeles bar, Para- the band comes from the
white, pencil-drawn world. The vid won a 1986 MTV noid   has been de- mind and imagination of Tank
Viewer’s Choice award, which was given by the scribed by the band Girl   comic artist Jamie
   T members of Van Halen (post David Lee Roth) as three songs in Hewlett. The single/video
   R dressed in orange jump suits and looking like a one (much as John that established the band as a force to be reckoned
   O chain gang from a California men’s penal colony. Lennon’s Happi- with was directed/animated by Jamie Hewlett and
   P
   E ness is a Warm Gun Pete Candeland of U.K.-based Passion Pictures.
   R Dire Straits: Money for was a pastiche of Last year’s CG-animated Feel Good, Inc . video was
   L Nothing . Around the same Lennon bits). Directed by Swedish animator Magnus also a beautiful sight to behold. Directed by Peter
   A
   I time as the three lads from Carlsson, the 1997 six-minute video has the distinc- Candeland, the toon made you wish you could actu-
   C Norway were making a tion of being censored by MTV. Apparently, cartoon ally visit the band’s floating windmill in the sky.
   E splash in their denim jackets nipples are not allowed on MTV even if sweaty, gy-
   P
   S and pompadours, Mark rating, barely clothed, booty-bumping, live action, Kraftwerk: Autobahn. At first listen (22.5- minutes
Knopfler and Dire Straits gun-toting young adults are. long), the groundbreaking Autobahn just sounds
broke the monotony of MTV’s early and sometimes like good parody material. But the 1974 release was
laughably low-tech music videos with an animated Daft Punk: Harder, a very early example of electronica and established
version of Money for Nothing . Animation for the vid Better, Faster, the genre in the minds of young music fans around
marked an early example of 3D CGI, albeit crude and Stronger. French the world. The video for the song wasn’t produced
totally unsophisticated by Toy Story  standards. techno-pop duo until 1979 by the then-67-year-old Oscar-nominat-
Thomas Bangalter ed John Halas and animator Roger Mainwood.
Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer . Even if you don’t like and Guy-Manuel
Peter Gabriel’s music, it’s sort of impossible not to De Homem-Christo renamed their act after a re- Elvis Costello: Accidents Will Happen. At what was
admire and even groove to the video of the 1986 viewer in British music rag Melody Maker said their arguably the height of the popularity of Elvis
single Sledgehammer   (from the multi-platinum al- first collaboration was “a bunch of daft punk.” Either Costello and the Attractions, his record label hired
bum So). Partly animated by a then-unknown stu- sensing or helping develop the anime rage in the the animation team of Rocky Morton and Annabel
dent, Nick Park (and directed by Steve Jordan), the West, the group used the talents of Japanese leg- Jankel of Max Headroom fame to produce the video
surrealist video with stop-motion claymation and end Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999 and Cap- for this top Costello hit. Despite their success as
multi-layering tain Harlock ) for the vids for their hit 2001 album animators, Morton and Jankel’s foray into features
gave viewers Discovery . The animes for tracks One More Time, was less stellar—D.O.A. (1988), starring Dennis
some relief at a Aerodynamic, Digital Love and Harder, Better, Faster, Quaid and Meg Ryan and Super Mario Bros. (1993)
time when the Stronger are all part of the same story, and no one is were both box-office flops.
continued on page 108

106 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

_________

Music Videos
continued from page 106 was seen only once before Barry White had the Talking Heads: And She Was . From the 1985 al-
Rolling Stones: Harlem Shuffle . Even though the thing banned. (If you want to know why see: bum Little Creatures (when they still released
Stones haven’t done anything musically interest- ___________________________
www.williamharleymather.co.uk/videos/Ti- vinyl as well as CDs), Portland, Oregon-based
ing in 25 years, as the most successful rock and ________
naTurner.html.) The Tina Turner/Barry White filmmaker and media artist Jim Blashfield got the
roll ever , they had to be included. The lads’ re- song only hit number 32 on the U.K. charts and call to direct and animate the video. Blashfield
make of soul legend Bobby Womack’s Harlem number 36 in the U.S. But it’s arresting visually has worked with Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Tears
Shuffle saw the light of day on MTV et. al., as a and is a terrific early example of the cheeky, For Fears, Peter Gabriel and Michael Jackson
cartoon. The three-minute vid combines live ac- witty humor that has become one of Aardman’s among others. Blashfield has been much reward-
tion with animation and was directed by Ralph signatures. ed for his work over the years, winning a Cannes
Bakshi. The animation was directed by future Golden Lion, a Grammy, an Emmy nomination and
Ren and Stimpy  creator John Kricfalusi. White Stripes: The Hardest Button to Button . several MTV nominations and awards.
Continuing his penchant for stop motion, director
New Order: Blue Monday . Arising out of the ash- Michel Gondry had to secure the use of a New Röyksopp: Eple . Watch the first minute of this
es of Joy Division, New Order became one of the York City subway car, 32 identical Ludwig drum video and it’s hard not to think of Austin Powers
most influential post-punk/electronic dance mu- kits, 32 guitar lowering the lights. Röyksopp is an electronic
sic acts of the 1980s. Blue Monday   was one of amplifiers and 16 music duo (Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein
their biggest hits. To animate the video for the microphone Berge) headquartered in Bergen, Norway. They
song, the band turned to an experimental film- stands to make released their debut album Melody A.M. in 2002.
maker who’d first made a splash in the 1950s. this one happen. The hypnotic video for Eple came about when
Robert Breer is widely considered to be the fa- The concept was London-based ad agency Mother   and Oslo-
ther of American experimental animation much simple but logis- based video graphics house Toxic  went through
as Norman McClaren was in Canada. tically hard to do. In the video, the Stripes play the duo’s old photo albums. Also of note, the
their blues number as lead singer Jack struts song has been licensed by Apple Computer for
Howie B: Music for Babies . Ambient music, as down the streets of Manhattan and drummer use as the startup music to the company’s up-
someone has said elsewhere, isn’t music to be Meg hops from kit to kit. The journey takes them coming Mac OS X Panther operating system.
listened to. It’s music to be heard. Scotland- through the city, into a park and down into the Now that’s groovy.
based Howie B, is one of the most successful subway, while accompanied by multiplying and
   T composers of ambient. In this case, Music For retracting sets of drum kits and amplifiers. Each His Name Is Alive: Are We Still Married?   God
   R Babies was inspired by the birth of Howie B’s first time the duo moved forward, the last set of in- knows what happened to the Brothers Quay
   O child. Even though the music might put one to struments in line would be peeled off and brought when they were kids, but few people can evoke a
   P sleep, British animator Run Wrake’s (Rabbit ) ar-
   E to the front. It was a laborious process that led to mood (even if it’s deeply depressed) in such a
   R resting visuals for the song, will keep you awake. three 16-hour days of shooting. For trivia buffs, at short time as these two guys. So for the somber
   L At least for a few minutes. the end of the video, Beck makes a cameo. track, they seemed a natural with their night-
   A
   I marish use of stop motion and recurring images
   C Korn: Freak on a Leash. Korn’s Bakersfield brand Audio Bullys: Shot You Down . If you’re going to dredged from someone’s psyche.
   E of nu heavy metal certainly isn’t for meditation. sample someone make it as kitsch as possible.
   P Freak on a Leash, directed by Jonathan Dayton
   S And few things are more kitsch than Nancy Sina- Bjørk: I Miss You . She’s a lark Bjørk, whether or
and Valerie Faris (Smashing Pumpkins videos, tra. The bastion of electronic music that it is, not you can take her music. And if you hate the
Little Miss Sunshine), is a tense film that follows Audio Bullys are from England, natch. Simon pretension of the Oscars,
the journey of an errant bullet through to the Franks and Tom Dinsdale’s Shot You Down few things can match her in-
surprising end. The image reached number three on the U.K. charts in 2005. famous 2001 Oscar appear-
of the indestructible bullet, Sampling the Nancy Sinatra version of the song ance dressed as a swan
literally and figuratively, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), the song singing the mournful and
drives the suspense of the was also featured on the 2005 CBS iteration of slightly avant garde I’ve Seen
film’s brief narrative. the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, headlined by It All . A performance that
Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell. Swedish film- had the Hollywood cogno-
Tina Turner & Barry White: Never in Your Wildest maker Jonas Odell, one of the co-founders of scente scratching their heads while they tried to
Dreams . This video is notable for a number of FilmTecknarna, directed the mixed-media video. find the beat. Part Flintstones, part early (and
things. First, it was produced by Aardman artist In addition to com- menacing) Looney Tunes, the I Miss You   vid re-
Bill Mather (Batman Returns, Forrest Gump, Star mercials and mu- minds you how genre-defying Bjørk’s music is.
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace) before the sic videos, Odell’s
company became a household name stateside. title/I.D. work can Chris Grove is a Los Angeles-based actor and
Second, it features a cameo by Wallace and be seen on Car- journalist who knows a few things about music
Gromit, who had also yet to become widely fa- toon Network and too. You can visit his website at ________
http://christo-
mous beyond the shores of Blighty. And third, it MTV. phergrove.com/
_________

108 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

20 Tips on Surviving the

Con, SIGGRAPH, MIP and
MIPCOM.
15. Stay up to date. Build

Toon Rollercoaster Ride a strong web presence

and a solid show reel.
They will help you deﬁne
by Terry Thoren how you are perceived
and help you clarify what Terry Thoren
he magazine you hold in your hands began that will stand the test of time. your company does.

T life 20 years ago as ten photocopied pag-

es written for the avid devotees of the
International Tournees of Animation and the L.A.
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
16. Pay attention to the audience. Watch the
numbers and know who is consuming
animation?Research what audiences are buy-
Animation Celebrations. Today it has evolved to getting complacent they recruited Brad Bird to ing.
become a true voice of the animation industry. join their team. He madeThe Incredibles, won an 17. Learn to think like a consumer. Watch ani-
I’m proud of the achievements of the magazine Academy Award and pushed Pixar to a new level mation on television with kids. Watch kids play-
and the people who put it together. of excellence. ing video games. Go to the DVD store and see
As the original founder, editor and publisher 6. You need to attract great talent. Talented what is moving off the shelves. Listen to what
of Animation Magazine, I have experienced all artists go where the great projects are. Develop people say when they shop. Watch every ani-
the changes the publication has encountered in or acquire a great project and the
the past two decades. Its growth and evolution, talent will follow.
in many ways, have paralleled the changes in the 7. Think outside the box. Don’t allow
animation industry. Today animation has become analysis to freeze you into paralysis.
one of the key forces in the entertainment busi- Produce something that makes you
ness. The next 20 years will see changes in this stand out in the crowd.
business that will be lead by artists working in all 8. You are building a brand. Your
forms of animation. New companies will rise up company is a brand. What you do
and change our perception of what entertain- brands you. Like it or not, what you
ment is. Companies come and go based upon produce will define you and this will
   T their ability to stay in tune with the marketplace become your brand.
   R and stay in front of the creative curve. Here are 9. Build a strong management team.
   O 20 tips that I would give to any new company Surround yourself with good people
   P
   E hoping to enjoy success in coming years: and let them do their job. Your line
   R 1. Define your business. Decide what area of producers are the lifeline for your production. mated movie that comes out on the opening
   L the business you are strongest at. What will be 10. Be passionate and set clearly defined goals. weekend in prime time in a crowded theater.
   A
   I your core focus of production? Will you be a Do what you love and the passion will follow. 18. The big money is in licensing and merchan-
   C world-class production service company doing Your team will only be as passionate as the dise. Go to the toy store and see what is on the
   E other people’s work or a world-class intellectual people who are steering the ship. Then clearly shelves. Keep your eyes open in the grocery
   P
   S property company producing your own work and define your company goals and share them with store. Notice how many products include ani-
building a library of characters? Or a combina- your team. Employees want to be included. Art- mated characters.
tion of the two. ists must be included. 19. Invest in the solid concepts. The formula for
2. Identify your strengths. Remember that to- 11. Secure distribution. Well-conceived ideas successful animation concepts is strong story
day’s world-class animation companies are di- that are in tune with the global marketplace will writing, memorable characters, quality voice
vided into three categories: feature film produc- find distribution. Without distribution you casting, an iron-clad pre-production plan, cut-
tion, television production and the production of will find it hard to survive. ting edge animation filmmaking, world-class
games. Very few excel at all three categories. 12. Stay informed. You need to know who the music and sound effects and top-notch post-
3. Know who the leading companies are. You buyers are and what they are buying. You must production.
must know the competition. Don’t be afraid of know the global business of animation. You 20. Never stop planning. Prepare for the famine
the competition—they will pave the way for your need to know what sells and what doesn’t sell. while you are in the feast. 
success. Hollywood is a business 13. Embrace marketing and publicity. Learn Terry Thoren, the founder and original pub-
that is governed by followers: how to market your company so you stand out lisher of Animation Magazine, is currently
Leaders are hard to find. in the crowd. What sets you apart from every- the CEO and president of an entertainment
4. You must invest in de- body else? Why are you different? company developing and producing high-
velopment. The foundation 14. Use Festivals and Markets for positioning. quality animated feature films, TV series,
for success is built on strong Position your company in the marketplace as webisodes, multi-platform projects and
ideas and talent. To succeed special. The place to stand out in the crowd is at DVDs. Formerly, Thoren was CEO of Klasky
you must develop characters the big events—Annecy, The San Diego Comic- Csupo for 11 years.

110 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

________________

“Animation is the place to

be for the next 20 years at
A Few Thoughts least! Kids are global and do
not care about where the
on Animation, this programs come from as long as they
can mirror in them. Should we be looking
Magazine and the “Animation is art,
entertainment for a positive and fruitful example of
globalization: animation is the one!”
Meaning of It All! and my livelihood.
Animation Magazine Animation Magazine is the only one of
is a lifeline to the industry.” its kind at the crossroad of talents and
Marc Dole business.
CEO/Producer Definitely to be pursued for another 20
Hatchling Studios years!”
Christian Davin
“Animation regularly pokes fun CEO, Alphanim
at itself and its egomaniacs who
are piñatas in a room filled with
basement dwellers starved of “Happy Birthday, I am
celebrating my 35th “I knew I would
sugar with plastic light sabers …
year in animation. I have dedicate my life
fun, yup!”
always believed in world to animation the
Isabelle Babici
domination through first time I saw
Program Assistant
animation, I am not sure anyone would the International
Animation Arts Centre
have known about it without the Tournee of Animation in 1978.
continuing coverage from Animation It was a moment of epiphany.”
Magazine. You have helped to make Terry Thoren
“I might be naive, but I still think animation is animation a more important field, and
among the most exciting types of for that I am thankful.”
creative film and video production to be Michael Hirsh
involved with. I think with the blending CEO, Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc.
of opportunities that CGI and traditional
   T animation have to offer, it’s a very
   R interesting time for this nascent part of the “2007 is Decode’s 10th
   O industry.” Anniversary. We have a lot
   P Scott Essman to celebrate after going
   E VISIONARY CINEMA public. In 10 years we
   R “In the beginning, there was
have produced 26 series,
   L just bad coffee and me.
which adds up to 1,062 half hours of
   A
   I
Now there’s a staff of 253.
programming. Growing a business and
   C Went from eight hours a day
working on great shows is wonderful,
   E to eight days a week,
but what keeps me interested are
   P developing new animation techniques.
   S Bought a new building, dropped 6 million
the people I’ve met in the children’s
business over the years.”
“Twelve years ago, I bucks. The animation’s never been
Neil Court
directed a documentary better, but the coffee still sucks.”
President, DECODE Enterprises Ltd.
on American animation’s Adam Shaheen
golden years. I needed an President, Cuppa Coffee Studios
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 “I was a beautiful
me. Thank you AniMag for bringing to child—golden curls,
me the most wonderful gift of all … my Shirley Temple type.
“Congratulations,
cherished wife.” Then I became an
Animation Magazine,
Thierry Rivard animation producer, and
on your well-deserved
Managing Director it happened: The brain took over from
20th birthday. From
Kayenta Production the looks. Our latest animated movie
BRB Internacional, we wish you
is The Ugly Duckling and Me, the story
many, many happy returns. You
of my life, in reverse.”
are a big part of us!” (Though, of
Ralph Christians
course, you are so much younger!)
Magma Films
Carlos Biern
BRB Internacional

continued on page 114

112 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

 
 
       
       
       

          

       
        
         
            
       

        

   
      
    


_____________________________________________________

Thoughts
continued from page 112

On his ﬁrst job:

“It was the first professional animation “I feel so passionate about
job that I did. I wrote, animated, cel animation and I applaud
painted, and shot it myself. It was Animation Magazine for
a five-minute short about a family of genetically “I love Animation supporting an industry
mutated rejects. I stayed up three nights in a row to Magazine. It is that has meant so much to
finish it, with animation cels spread throughout my required reading so many and will continue to have the
apartment, including the bathroom floor. I was at the for every Cartoon same impact on new generations. For
premiere sitting in the audience sweating, my heart Shelpper!” me personally, it’s a life tonic and no
pounding, not really sure if I got the sound in sync, Andy Heyward one can express how it makes me
when the film started and the audience started to Chariman & CEO, DIC feel everyday working in the business
laugh the feeling that I got was euphoric. I woke up Entertainment better than Peter Pan himself – ‘Forget
at the end of the screening knowing that this would them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come
be my life.” with me where you’ll never, never have
Genndy Tartakovsky to worry about grown up things again.’”
Orphanage Animation Studios Michael Carrington
“Animation imitates (my) life Creative Director, CBeebies
(Or what I learned from 20 BBC Children’s
years of makin’ toons.)
Believe in your ideas….
“John Lennon once said Have a plan…
to me that if The Beatles Open your thinking…
had not happened, he “Is animation ... a calling?
Enjoy the process….
probably would have You bet!
Be grateful for retakes…
been an assistant Artistic fulfillment and
Embrace imperfection….
hairdresser to Cynthia (his first runaway debt.
And … If all else fails, blow it up!
wife). Similarly, I would be running Our studio’s roots to the ‘80s we trace;
We could be working in live action…”
an arts and crafts business deep in Nomadic producers and transient work
Eric Rollman
the heart of rural Wales if ‘SuperTed,’ space.
EVP of TV/Animation, Marvel Studios
Welsh Television and Liz Young had Now: Help, I’m A Fish, Ugly Duckling
not changed my life and enabled me and Me,
   T to open my own animation studio.” Asterix , series and ads for TV.
   R Mike Young CG, 2D, EU, USA:
   O Co-CEO Mike Young Productions Persistence of vision—the A. Film way.”
   P Hans Perk
   E “Animation changed my life many years
   R ago (at least 10) when I was asked by the A. Film L.A.

L executive producer of a brand new block

   A
   I
of programs for teenagers to go and find
some animation! Of course I hadn’t a clue what he was
   C “Congratulations to all our friends
   E at Animation Magazine - Oink
talking about and was sent (keeping costs very low)
   P Oink!”
on a package deal holiday to Nice to attend MIPCOM!
   S Phil Davis, Mark Baker and Neville
Apart from the short film from Holland about nuns
having sex—which by the way went down a storm—my
Astley of Astley Baker Davis Ltd.
love affair with animation began and, of course, will
and all at the Peppa Pig Studio never end!
So many congratulations to Animation Magazine—
almost as old as me—and thanks over the years for
“Animation is a truly supporting our industry with the same passion “Animation
international business – it’s a that we all have.” Magazine was
fun, ingenious and sometimes Joan Lofts the sponsor
completely crazy industry to be Contender Entertainment Group of the first
in. Colleagues are exceptionally event (WAC)
nice, curious, entertaining and creative. we attended as Foothill Entertainment,
It’s amazing that sometimes the most Inc., so it will always have a warm
unbelievable characters or crazy formats are spot in our hearts. It was also the first
the biggest success which make you rich— magazine we would turn to for up-to-
just remember the yellow sponge that lives the-minute news about the industry;
in Bikini Bottom, in a pineapple and works in a well done Animation Magazine!!”
crab burger diner!” Gregory Paine and Jo Kavanagh-Paine,
Susanne Schosser Foothill Entertainment
Managing Director, EM. Entertainment
GmbH
continued on page 116

114 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

____________

_____________________________________________________

Thoughts
continued from page 114
“Onscreen animation can
“In the Computer make you laugh and cry;
Animation Department the business of animation
here at Ringling School of is more extreme. You really
Art and Design, we have a have to believe in it to do it
saying we like to use: and it is great to have a magazine like
‘I used to think that animator meant Animation that genuinely supports the
moving objects. Later, I learned that industry’s efforts.” “I once thought being an artist
being an animator means moving an Jonathan Peel was serious business, and was
audience.’ Millimages UK Ltd. all about realism. After years of
It serves as a reminder to us about reading Animation Magazine I
what is truly important, and keeps realized realism was boring, and
us on track. Learn to do that, and evolved a distorted perception of
you will have a highly successful things. Comedy was in everything
animation career no matter where “Animation has taught me that color, and everyone. This condition is
the future takes us.” whimsy and joy are three facets of art permanent so don’t laugh, it could
Jim Campbell that are so important to me that my happen to you.”
Computer Animation Department life must always revolve around them. Dayan Paul
Head Art CAN be unpretentious and delightful, and I Antipode Entertainment Inc.
Ringling School of Art and Design 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

“Naïve, fearless and

passionate about
photography, dance and
“Animation has been berry, berry good to me. I am thankful mathematics (I know…
every day that I get to do what I love, surrounded by people I like, weird combination of passions)
   T inﬂuencing and entertaining people I’ll never know. Animation has it was an ad for an animation
   R given me the opportunity to travel to the four corners of the globe camera man (yes man) that
   O
   P and make friends with talented and interesting people from all walks of life. leapt off the pages of the local
   E Animation Magazine is the monthly (and now daily) pulse that we all put our Toronto newspaper. I went for
   R ﬁngers on to determine if our industry is dead, alive or still breathing. But mostly it and 30 years later am still
   L Animation Magazine is a great group of people who are dedicated to helping to thrilled I did....Nelvana, Disney
   A
   I
preserve the spirit and integrity of our business and art form while having a good and now HIT.”
   C ol’ time. Lenora Hume,
   E Happy Anniversary. Party on!” EVP Programming & Production,
   P Frank Saperstein HIT Entertainment Limited
   S CEO/Executive Producer
Surprise Bag, Inc.

“I have read Animation Magazine

“Telescreen is built around animation. We
from, I think, the very ﬁrst issue. Over
are internationally recognized for it.
the years they have even printed
Animation is, like music, one of the few
things I’ve written and interviewed
ways to easily communicate internationally,
me on many occasions, which just goes to show
universal language so to speak. Animation produced by
how dubious their editorial policies actually are!
Telescreen over the past 23 years is ﬁnding audiences
Seriously, I have always been able to count on the
over and over again amongst every new generation.
magazine to publish insightful stories germane
It has therefore proven to be for us a very appreciative
to our craft and its progress, not shying away
way to produce content and something we are proud
from controversial issues either. Congratulations
of. So in short: It gives us a good feeling, it is fun, others
to Animation Magazine for your service to our
seem to enjoy it and thus in a nutshell: What more can
industry, for sticking to your guns and for surviving
one expect from life?”
this long in our whacky business.”
Theo van der Schaaf & Sjoerd Raemakers
Frank Gladstone
Telescreen Distribution
IDT Entertainment

116 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

____________________

_______

Tech Reviews by Todd

Sheridan
Perry

upgrade, you have to update your specialized Boolean that breaks apart
Autodesk’s hardware as well. Nevertheless, let’s an object on fissures determined by
3ds Max 9 take a look at the nice new tools that other “cutting” objects. Again, the op-
are common to both 64 and 32-bit pro- eration is quite efficient, and therefore
When I heard that 3ds Max 9 was grams. fast. Even though there are many ben-
going to be the first release since Au- In my mind, the most evident tool efits in these tools the best part, in my
todesk acquired Alias (and its flagship, advance is the ProBoolean and ProCut- mind, is that they are exposed to Max-
Maya), I’d been wondering about how ter tools, which, like many new tools Script, which means that more tools
recently, are can be customized around the new
an absorp- Booleans.
tion of a tool On the animation side, it’s important
written by a to point out that layers have been
third party— added. These are similar to the func-
in this case, tionality that Character Studio has
PowerBool- where you can add layers of animation
eans. A Bool- to make minor (or major) tweaks to a
ean is the act base animation. The function has been
of taking two extended to all animatable parame-
objects and ters. Animators can make fine adjust-
combining ments and go back into the curves and
them in any adjust how much influence each layer
number of has on the overall animation. You really
math opera- could do this in previous versions, to a
tions. You degree, using list animation control-
can add them lers. But the layer method is much
together, more straightforward and easier to
subtract one manage—much like the animation mix-
   S the two programs would start to meld from the other, take the intersection er in XSI or the Trax Editor in Maya.
   T into one. I’ve already seen it in Maya,
   C of the two or remove where they inter- Other advances include the ability
   E which took baby steps toward unifor- sect. It’s a very fast method for model- to reference animation controllers, IK
   F mity.
   F ing complex objects. However, tradi- rigs, and systems, as well as not only
   E Most of the time, I take a cursory tionally, Booleans are very messy. They the objects you wish, but any objects
   L glance at a new release and if some- create ragged edges, or misshapen that might influence that object. The
   A thing doesn’t scream “change” imme- polygons. Generally,
   U diately, I’ll have to pull up the hood and
   S
   I start poking around to find the new
the result is an ugly
mesh. And you can for-
   V stuff. In the case of Max 9, even after get about any mesh-
some deep poking, I can’t say there smoothing to create a
were enormous changes in the tool denser mesh. The poor
set. It almost feels like a point upgrade, geo simply gets
if it were not for the fact that Max 9 is worse.
available in a 64-bit form as well as 32- The new ProBoolean
bit. Therefore, if you happen to be us- function has much
ing Windows 64 on a 64 bit processor, smarter math involved in the opera- influence objects can also be selected
you will see pretty substantial speed tions. When the objects are combined, in the scene and during merger from
increases simply based on the fact coplanar triangles are determined and other scenes. There are some sub-
that the software and processor can incident edges removed. This leaves n- stantial advances in the cloth and hair
handle larger chunks of data at one sided polygons which are a modeler’s systems and grooming tools. Reactor
time, not to mention raising the RAM best friends. The result is a much more
limit to 8GB. To really benefit from this efficient mesh. The ProCutter tool is a continued on page 120

118 December 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

___________________________

______________
___________

Tech Reviews plate to be tracked, put in the lens

continued from page 121
data (if it existed), and hit Feature
has been updated with more controls 2ds’ Boujou 4 Track. Boujou would jaw on the frame
as well as common constraints to al- for a while and try to come up with a
low for objects to be held together un- Boujou has been the Emmy-winning solution. When it worked, it worked
til a force great enough splits them industry standard for camera and ob- well, and when it didn’t, it was easier
apart. The point cache tool has also ject tracking software for quite a few to move to a manual solution—in a dif-
been upgraded to use John Burnett’s years now. But, like most software, it ferent piece of software. At least, that
Point Cache 2 code (which is compati- has had its drawbacks, which most of was my experience on numerous proj-
ble to XSI through KPPointCache). the ingenious tracking artists have ects with numerous effects houses.
As I mentioned before, the largest found workaround for. In its latest in- In Boujou 4, I discovered so many
jump in this version is moving from 32- carnation, 2d3 has
bit to 64-bit. I like Max in general, and I answered these
like the workﬂow, but I’m not sure if I problems by open-
can say that 9 has absolute essentials ing the back box
that a production pipeline couldn’t live and letting the us-
without. So, unless you are upgrading ers tinker around.
your workstations to Windows 64 or In years past,
Windows Vista, you can probably hold Boujou was used to
out for a point upgrade. However, if track point data in
you do a lot of cloth and hair work, the the same way a sol-
grooming and tailoring tools alone dier uses an auto-
make the new release worth having. matic weapon. You
Website: www.autodesk.com/ simply ﬁre and see
_____
3dsmax what you hit. An
Price: $3,495 ($795 for upgrade from ver- artist would bring
sion 8; $1,395 for upgrade from version 7) in the background

   S
   T
   C
   E
   F
   F
   E
   L
   A
   U
   S
   I
   V

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120 December 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

nice tools that I didn’t know what to do ated beautifully on numerous projects quite expensive for an individual by
with myself. First off, there is a zoomed I’ve been a part of. It may still need a any definition.
window which is centered around the couple of features, like the ability to Website: __________________
www.2d3.com/html/prod-
tracker currently being edited. Within calibrate or refine a track of one cam- ____________________
ucts/boujou4_overview.html
the window, you can make slight ad- era using the view of another camera Price: $10,000 (Network License Up-
justments to the tracker while tog- or using the track view to indicate the grade: $1000 single payment per site;
gling between frames, allowing you to probability of a successful track based upgrade from Boujou 2 or 3: $2,500) 
compare the track shape. Since the on the number of active trackers in Todd Sheridan Perry is the co-owner
frame is locked to the tracker, you can frame. I also have an issue with its and vfx supervisor for Max Ink Cafe
detect subtle shifts in the shape being price point as $10,000 may be fine for and Max Ink Productions. You can
tracked. This feature is absolutely es- a mid- to large-sized vfx house, but its email him at _________________
[email protected].
sential when you are trying to track
very non-descript patterns, or pat-
terns that have softened to a wash of
color because of a rack focus in the
shot. The lack of this feature in previ-
ous 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 mod-
el 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 refine the track ac-
cordingly. Obviously, the accuracy of
this depends on the accuracy of the
3D model to the real object—so, 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 V
mesh from tracked points and loca- I
S
tors to provide geometry for masks or U
shadow catching surfaces. A
The tools are all about refining the ini- L
tial solution to a point where you get an E
accurate solve for the camera. In the
F
F
previous version, most of the time would E
C
be spent choosing points, and solving T
the entire scene to see if it worked—and S
then if it didn’t, 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 refin-
ing so that Boujou can make improve-
ments 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 impres-
sive piece of software, and it has oper-
___________

www.animationmagazine.net ANIMATION MAGAZINE December 2007 121

Granting Full Access Noteboom, who oversees curricula

for Game Development and Digital Arts
as well as Computer Animation, says

to the Next Level the Game Development people inspired

the circular workstation structures in
the new Center. “We had planned to
build rows with everybody facing for-
Full Sail’s new high-tech facility promises a taste of what
ward, so instructors could walk behind
awaits students in the real world. by Ellen Wolff students,” he notes. “That works great
in programming courses but less well in

A
new high-tech Computer Anima- people who’ve worked on films like the artistic courses. When Game Develop-
tion Center has added more digi- three most recent Star Wars episodes ment students began working in
tal glitter to Full Sail’s campus and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as teams—because you need at least five
near Orlando, Fla. It’s still too new to videogames like Medal of Honor   and people to even think about building a
have had a class of students spend Grand Theft Auto. game—they discovered it was better
their entire 21-month program there, Noteboom says in addition to inspir- to sit in a circle. That was our test case
so nobody knows the impact this facil- ing students, the Wall of Fame allows for the design of this new facility.”
ity will have on students’ preparation everyone to live vicariously through the Noteboom and his team also con-
for the world of work. But this facility graduates’ success! He explains that sulted with animation industry people
was clearly designed to live up to the the Center was designed to foster a to learn how modern studios are being
school’s motto of offering a real world sense of a computer animation com- structured. “But we keep in mind that
   S education, and indications of this await munity . Its hub is a large student hang- Full Sail is an educational environment,
   E
   I visitors the moment they walk through out—with WiFi access, of course —sur- and if a student needs help, he or she
   T
   I the doors. rounded by labs and art studios. He can’t be in some corner that an instruc-
   N “Plasma screens on the walls show notes, “Between classes, lots of stu- tor can’t see.”
   U animated sequences and advanced dents congregate there, and you fre- Another major change wrought by
   T rendering techniques,” says Erik Note- quently hear: ‘Hey, check this out!’ The this new building is that it brings all the
   R
   O boom, executive director of education students there are either in the com- Computer Animation facilities—and its
   P for Digital Arts. “There’s also a Wall of puter animation program or they’re staff of 80 full-time teachers—under
   P Maquettes, as well as a Wall of Fame computer animation ‘interested’; like one roof. In years past, says Noteboom,
   O where we honor the accomplishments game developers or film students who
continued on page 124
of graduates.” Those grads include want to know about visual effects.”

122 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

_________

____________________________ ________________

Opportunities
continued from page 122
“We tended to group the computer ani-
mation 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 any-
one who’s attended day classes at a
traditional college campus, but it’s not
trivial at Full Sail, which operates
around-the-clock. As Noteboom re-
marks, “We have classes at one in the
morning.”
The school’s immersive approach to
teaching computer animation means
that after the students graduate, they
won’t have a problem working long
hours. It also means that classes are
hands-on with software from day one.
(They work primarily with Autodesk’s
Maya, Adobe’s After Effects and Ap-
ple’s Shake and Final Cut Pro.) “We don’t
inch them along, so they’ll realize right
away if this is for them or not,” explains
Noteboom. more nights because they’re rigging is laid out—with a room for a visual ef-
Still, he admits it’s tough to foster characters while another is building fects supervisor and a room for dailies.
industry-ready collaborative skills, cars. To tell the truth, we struggle to That’s the next evolution.” Fortunately
even in such a modern teaching envi- find the right balance.” for Full Sail, the school possesses the
ronment. “You don’t want to discourage If nothing else, Full Sail’s investment land on which to expand. “Next door to
someone who has a true vision, just as in its sophisticated new facility is yet Computer Animation there’s good
long as it’s realistic. But if someone
   S wants to animate dinosaurs riding “Our next computer labs will be built the way a visual effects
   E
   I space shuttles —do they have time to studio is laid out—with a room for a vfx supervisor and a
   T
   I do that? Yet forcing everyone together
   N on a project is also difficult. It’s hard to room for dailies. That’s the next evolution.”
   U get more than two characters in any — Erik Noteboom, exec director of education for Full Sail’s Digital Arts program
   T one piece, given the amount of time,
   R expertise and learning factors involved.
   O another sign of the explosive interest space to build. Ah, space—the final
   P If we get five people together and in computer animation. frontier!” 
   P someone wants to model while another And Noteboom is already planning Ellen Wolff is a Los Angeles-based
   O wants to animate, that’s great. But for more. “Our next computer labs will journalist who specializes in anima-
there’s always somebody staying up be built the way a visual effects studio tion, visual effects and education.

124 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

United States Postal Service 14. Issue date for Circulation Data Below
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30941 West Agoura Road Ste 102 1,105 1,200
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____________________________

Event Date Place Website

         S
         L Int’l Film Festival Rotterdam Jan. 4-15 Rotterdam, Holland www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
         A
         V British Int’l Toy and Hobby Fair Jan. 5-14 London, U.K. www.britishtoyfair.co.uk
         I
         T Future Film Festival-New Animation Cinema Technologies Jan. 7-10 Bologna, Italy www.futurefilmfestival.org
         S TGSNT - The Greatest Story Never Told Flash Storytelling Competition Jan. 8-11 online www.tgsnt.com
         E
         F KidFilm Festival Jan. 8-12 Dallas, TX www.usafilmfestival.com
NATPE 2007 Jan. 8-21 Las Vegas, NV www.natpe.org
Transmediale - Int’l 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
Int’l 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 Int’l Film Festival Jan. 18-21 Göteborg, Sweden _______________
www.filmfestival.org/filmfestival
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival Jan. 18-27 Claremont-Ferrand, France www.clermont-filmfest.com
Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival Jan. 18-28 Santa Barbara, CA ww.sbfilmfestival.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.filmwinter.de
NATPE Mobile + + Jan. 31-Feb. 4 Las Vegas, NV www.natpe.org/conference/register

In the Next Issue of


A Fairy Tale Ending for 
What’s New at
Happily N’Ever After ? NATPE 2007!


Studio B Launches 
Spending a vfx-ﬁlled
Ricky Sprocket. Night at the Museum.

126 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

               
       
 
       
         
          
         
          
         
 

       

       
       
         
             
      
         
       
         
    

      

        


_________________

SUSANNE RECTOR

   E RYAN BALL
   F
   I
T
he past 20 years have been very kind to the hardworking and slightly
   L
   E
   H
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

   T animation and vfx worlds a fantastic holiday season and a great new year!
Thanks for keeping us off the streets and out of trouble.
   N
   I
ERIC BRANDENBERG
   Y JODI BLUTH
   A
   D
   A 1987
MERCEDES MILLIGAN
JEAN THOREN

2006
2 6
CLAIRE WEBB RAMIN ZAHED
JAN BAYOUTH
SHERI SHELTON

128 January 2007 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net

______________________________

____________________

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