|
The
Nicktoons Film Festival
Announces
Screening:
4-A Bit of Diversity
The
Nicktoons Film Festival continues
this Sunday, with Screening: 4–A Bit of Diversity,
a selection of seven different shorts. A co-production of
Frederator Studios and Animation Magazine for Nicktoons,
The Nicktoons Film Festival airs on the Nicktoons cable
channel Sunday nights 10:00 p.m (EST) and 7:00 p.m. (PST),
with a repeat at 1:00 p.m. (EST) and 10:00 p.m. (PST). The
films featured in Screening Number: 4–A Bit of Diversity
are: Birdon by Taiwanese filmmaker Chieh Huang;
Ape Escape from Sony Computer Entertainment and director
Yorifusa Yamaguchi; Winged Devices from Ex’pressions’
grad Damian Gregg; Miracle Koala: Belt For Punishment from
Nova Scotia animator Mark Capello and Canadian-based studio
Nelvana; Sucker from UCLA grad Ellen Brenner; Monkey
Fuss from New York City freelancer Daniel O’Conner;
and Bert from Korean-born animator Moonsung Lee.
The
Nicktoons Film Festival:
Screening:
4-A Bit of Diversity
Airdate
& Time: November 14, 2004, 10:00 p.m. (EST); 7:00 p.m.
(PST), Nicktoons
Film #1: Birdon
(Length: 3:00; CG)–The Taiwanese-born
filmmaker Chieh Huang is studying animation in San Francisco
at the Academy of Art College. Based on his marvelous and compelling
accomplishment, the three-minute Birdon, we have to suspect
his training must be almost complete. This award-winning film
poses the questions, "What is outside a bird’s cage?
What is outside our own cage?" Huang believes the second
question may not have an answer, as each escape may lock us
into a new narrow-minded point of view. Says Huang, "We
eat, sleep and think every day, and we are used to living in
this kind of style. The bird was locked up and he could see
the front view in the bird’s cage, but he couldn’t
see the whole world out of the cage. Many people don’t
like dangerous situations so they will never know what the real
world is ..." (To find out more about Chieh Huang’s
work go to www.birdonanimation.com.)
 |
Film #2: Ape
Escape (Length: 5:00; CG)–We’re running quite
a few Ape Escapes, little one-minute fun-packed adventures
of a boy and his crazy apes. We’d spend more time describing
them, but we’d spoil the punchlines. Let’s just say
if you like fart jokes, monkeys and wacky music, you won’t
want to let these little shorts get away. All of our Ape
Escape shorts were directed by Yorifusa Yamaguchi and come
to us from Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment, courtesy
of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
 |
Film
#3: Winged Devices (Length: 2:10; CG)–A mechanical
bird plants a seed that quickly grows into a tree in which the
bird can nest. Damian Gregg’s fanciful and intriguing short,
Winged Devices, is packed full of enough detailed art
to fill a feature film. It is, in fact, so powerful it’s
hard to catch all the beauty in one screening, but we challenge
you to do so nonetheless. Gregg, a graduate of Ex’pression
Center for New Media, is working as an animator on a special-venue
ride film called Robots of Mars. (To learn more about
Gregg’s work go to www.damiangregg.com.)
 |
Film
#4: Miracle Koala: Belt For Punishment (Length:
5:00; Animated in Flash)–Mark Capello manages a small animation
studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia called Helix Animation, Inc.
He explains that during his four years in Halifax, he has had
the great pleasure of working on many challenging projects with
a very "challenged" crew. Capello and team produced
five episodes of Miracle Koala for Nelvana’s FunPack
project. We chose to show you Belt for Punishment. Here’s
the description Mark and Nelvana supplied: "After running
afoul of some large scary wrestlers, our heroes are challenged
to a grueling championship match, with the winner moving on
to defend the titles in Australia! How will they win the match,
let alone survive the experience? Well, what do they have to
lose? Wrestling is all fake right? ... Right??" (For more
info on Mark Capello and the Funpack shorts e-mail funpak@corusent.com.)
 |
Film
#5: Sucker (Length: 3:00; 3D created in Alias’
Maya software)–There’s most likely not a nicer filmmaker
on the planet than Ellen Brenner, but even nice gals get miffed!
Brenner admits that although it’s "embarrassing,"
Sucker really is about a fight she had with a girlfriend
over a guy. If you’re a sucker for a good knock-down drag-out,
then you’ll get a kick out of this one, especially the
rather unexpected revenge gags. Sucker appeared in a
recent UCLA Director’s Spotlight showcase, in the SIGGRAPH
2004 Animation Theater and the 1 Reel Film Festival for 2004.
Brenner is working on her thesis film project at UCLA. (If you’d
like to contact Ellen Brenner, please e-mail her at herbalworm@aol.com.
 |
Film
#6: Monkey Fuss (Length: :33; Traditional 2D using
Adobe Premier, PhotoShop and After Effects)–New York City
animator Daniel O’Conner says, "I freelance at various
companies around town and when I have free time I work on my
own projects in my tiny lower Eastside apartment." Monkey
Fuss, is the wacky result of just this sort of endeavor.
Explains this Savannah College of Art & Design grad, "I
wanted to portray the idea that we are all responsible for our
own chaos. It is the malevolence of the bigger monkey that brings
his problems back to him. It was originally going to be a short
about a monkey and a robot who represent the id and the ego,
but why would a robot be in a jungle and up in a tree? I lost
a lot of sleep over that question." Whatever, Dan, we just
think Monkey Fuss is funny.
 |
Film
#7: Bert (Length: 4:30; CG with 2D textures)–What
can we say about Bert? Sure it’s a lovely retelling
of the Ugly Duckling, but these character designs are
so endearing, they just make us wanna smile. Created by Moonsung
Lee as his senior filmmaking project for the Academy Art College,
Bert is, as Lee puts it "a poignant tale of a young vegatable’s
search for family." Need you know more? The short has been
a popular item in numerous festivals around the world, including
SIGGRAPH 2003. (To check out Lee’s work out online go to
http://spiff73.greenhost.co.kr)
|
