Animation Nation

The more I see of student animated content the more amazed I am at just how incredible the level of creative brilliance is in our industry worldwide, and there's no shortage of it in France.

I don't know much about this particular animated short other than it has a funny twist to the ending. It originates from the Ecole Superieure Des Metiers Artistiques. Obviously a fine educational institution for the arts judging by this film entitled "Get Out". There's a website associated with it at getout-lefilm.com. Apparently it's won some prestigious awards at film festivals throughout Europe and the USA in 2009 and 2010. Here's the corresponding topic on the forums. Enjoy the film...

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Time to celebrate some Hungarian animation. Adrian Foster, our webmaster who goes by the moniker of Skynet on the forums, posted this video recently of an animated short by István Orosz. A Hungarian born painter, designer and animator, his work is inspired by the surreal art of M.C. Escher who created masterpieces of optical illusion throughout the 20th Century. Take a look at  István Orosz's amazing "Mazes" from 2008 and marvel at the mind of this great talent. Here's the topic on the forums.

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There's an animated Christmas special on the way from our friends Down Under. It's called "Santa's Apprentice" and it looks to be a real treat for the Season. Its release date is slated for November 10, 2011. It came out last Christmas for the French language market and did well. This Holiday Season it'll be in English. Richard Bailey is an artist in Melbourne, Australia who worked on the film. For more info on Santa's Apprentice visit the AN Forum topic which features a write up about the movie. Meantime, enjoy the trailer... 

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After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in September 2005, I had a student enroll in the Teen Program at my school The Animation Academy in Burbank. He was young man of 16 years, in town with his mother. They were from New Orleans and were refugees from the storm. They were staying in Los Angeles and for a few months, Nelson Boles was attending class. Afterwards, when things got back to normal in New Orleans, he returned home after leaving a very positive impression with me.

He was a talented fellow and took to what he was being taught very quickly. It was all fundamentals at that time. His drawing was good, his design skills unique, and it turns out his filmmaking abilities were just as remarkable as I was to learn in 2008 when he became the second student associated with my school to win the Warner Bros Hanna Barbera National Scholarship, which included acceptance into Cal Arts.

I'm happy to say that I had a look at Nelson Boles in his earliest days of his career as a great animator, and I'm happy to share with you his latest work which is getting online attention.

Here's the topic on the AN Forums, and here's "Little Boat"...

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There was a prime time animated series that aired on American TV in 1964. It was ground breaking in its day and is still considered one of the greatest made for television cartoons ever produced.

I mentioned a few posts ago that it seemed like there was a resurgence of stop motion animation happening. Thanks to ANer Greg Boone we can enjoy a remake of the opening of the Jonny Quest Show that features stop motion plus a little CG effects animation mixed in.

This video was created by Roger D. Evans, a life long Jonny Quest fan.

If you'd like to see how the original opening compares to this latest version, follow the link to the AN Forum topic where it's available to view.

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It's really amazing just how good student films have become over the years. There's never been a time in the history of the animated art form where so much outstanding content was being created by animation artists who are still in school.

Case in point, this fun little film entitled "Danger Planet" by Justin Burks and other students at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. In addition to the film, you can see video of the Making of Danger Planet at the topic on the AN Forums. 

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Credits include Justin Burks, Danny Cooper, Andrew Lopez, Chris Wombold, Brandon Bailie, Stephanie Miranda, Aaron Adams, Yannick Amegan, Cassidy Stone, Gareath Murray, Christine Turner, Beau Sherman, Matt Kidd.

Thanks to KennyRoy.com for the lead on this.

Star Wars fans have been buzzing loud and clear as to their dissatisfaction with the changes George Lucas has made on the original trilogy of films for the Blu-ray release. You can read all about it on the AN Forum topic. Meanwhile, take a look at an altered scene from Return of the Jedi to see one reason why fans are up in arms. The video's gotten 1,253,467 views on YouTube in three days as of this writing. 

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What kind of a story can be told with animated bubbles? We found out when Colin Giles shared his film with us on the AN Gallery. "Touched" is a charming tale of two bubbles who have found each other in a world that is not so distinct. Inspired by the quote, "The Measure of life is not it's duration but it's donation", Touched is traditionally animated in Flash and features the music of Colin's fiancee Crystal Sing. The topic on the Forums can be found here.  

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A big thank you going out to KennyRoy.com for posting this video and bringing it to the community. It's from Disney's recent D23 convention. Concept art for Brave that hasn't been seen so far until now. To view more art associated with Brave follow the link to the AN Forum topic.

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Feels like there's a ressurgence in stop motion animation going on. Quality content is being produced. Case in point, this short film via Mike Boas of MadDogMovies.com and the Rochester Audio Visual Association in New York. Mike also works with Animatus Studio in Rochester.

Check out this ode to B horror movies. '(Baby) It's You!', directed by David Cowles, Jeremy Galante, and Brad Pattullo. Excellent musical performance by The Boys, with puppet costumes by Victoria Rose Zalewski. Additional animation by Michael Genz and Rob Sassi. It was filmed at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Here's the forum topic.

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