Animation Nation

Something else to look forward to next year in terms of feature animated films. "ParaNorman" is an upcoming 3D stop-motion comedy thriller produced by Laika of Portland, Oregon and distributed by Focus Features. It's release date is August 17, 2012.

Featuring the voices of Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Elaine Stritch and Tucker Albrizzi among others.

In a small town that's under siege by zombies, only Norman, a misunderstood local boy who is able to speak with the dead, is able to rise to the challenge. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts, witches and grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Here's the trailer. The song is 'Season of the Witch' from 1966 by Donovan.

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If you were around in 1967, you would've enjoyed this stop motion animated TV special by Rankin Bass. "Mad Monster Party?" was a product of its day, a lot of groovy fun with Fankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and other ghouls including Phyllis Diller to round off the all star cast. Here's the trailer for the show. If you're looking to see extended video on the making of this iconic Halloween special follow this link to the documentary.

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There's a lot of chatter and anticipation as Tim Burton's stop motion feature film "Frankenweenie" is heading closer to release a year from now on October 5, 2012. Did you know that this movie is based on a previous live action film he produced in 1984? At the time, Disney considered it too scary for kids to watch. Here's Tim Burton himself introducing his original Frankenweenie followed by the film. There's also some recently released images of the upcoming feature that are available for viewing here.

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The journey of a boy as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. That's Hollywood's version. The original Lorax is a story about an entrepreneur getting in over his head and winds up destroying the environment. Directed by Chris Renaud and featuring the voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle and Betty White among others, it still looks to be an entertaining animated motion picture experience. Below is the trailer for the upcoming film by Universal, with the Forum topic here.

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Nerd Rage. How true. But it's also the title of the latest animated music video by that perpetual YouTube hit maker Ray William Johnson also known as Your Favorite Martian. This went up sometime yesterday and already has 385,965 views. Guaranteed to go much higher.

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Gameloft's New Orleans studio is open for business and looking to fill positions in their state-of-the-art studio. The lead came from CreativeHeads.net which is an excellent site for seeing what's up in animation employment opportunities. Gameloft is a French computer and video game developer and publisher headquartered in Paris. The company has subsidiaries in 31 countries around the world. Check out the videos below and follow this link for more info about what they're looking for at their New Orleans studio. This topic was first posted in AN 's Business Forum which is frequently updated with opportunities and business related information for the community.

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The popular video game characters are featured in a fun animated short for the Halloween season that's gone online on YouTube just four days ago and already has 2,063,708 views. Become a Facebook fan of Angry Birds, or follow them on Twitter, or buy their merchandise here. The AN Topic is at this link. 

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The Cisco Corporation has gotten into the animation game with a series of short films featuring a character named Ike Theodore Willis. The abbreviation of which is "IT" of course. He experiences adventures that provide an opportunity for him to save the day by virtue of utilizing Cisco networking systems. Very clever and nicely produced by Snowball VFX and Animation Studio in Tel Aviv. You can see more episodes of IT Willis on the Forum topic.

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Thanks to ANer Dave Lyman who posted the video on the Forums. Check out this hilarious music video produced by artists working on the 'Phineas and Ferb' series over at Disney. This was done by Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh, the creators of the series.

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See Google's homepage today?

That's in honor of Mary Blair, the great visual development artist / designer at Disney Studios.

Here's a video tribute to her on the occasion of her centennial birthday and Google's showcase.

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More can be found at the AN Forum topic.