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The Nicktoons
Film Festival Announces
Screening:
5-The All-Pro Show
The Nicktoons
Film Festival continues this Sunday, with Screening:
5, a selection of seven shorts that just happen to be
made by professional animators from around the globe. 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: 5–The All-Pro
Show are: Heads, You Lose by Philip Vallentin,
head of Espresso Animation in London; Manbird from
Crank Yankers animator Mark Marek; Monstories: Fine
Diners from Lance Taylor, head of the Canadian-based studio
Facelift Entertainment; Interrogating Ernie from U.K.-based
director and co-founder of Loose Moose, Ken Lidster; Lou
& Costa–Burglar Welcome Mat from Art Institute
of Pittsburgh prof Michael Schwab; Roy & Dog from
Jesse Davidge, an animator with Electronic Arts; and Thirsty
from Robert Ramirez, the screenwriter for Clifford’s
Really Big Movie.
The
Nicktoons Film Festival:
Screening:
5–The All-Pro Show
Airdate &
Time: November 21, 2004, 10:00 p.m. (EST); 7:00 p.m. (PST),
Nicktoons
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Film #1: Heads, You Lose
(Length: 5:00; CG)–In Philip Vallentin’s wacky short
film, Heads, You Lose, we get to see what it’s really
like to be one of those poor stone heads stuck on Easter Island.
Director and owner of the busy commercial production house,
Espresso Animation in London, Vallentin is usually "found
tied to his lightbox drawing table with an espresso close at
hand," but "from time to time he doodles around and
comes up with ideas for short animation films." Here’s
what Vallentin has to say about the making of his film: "Why
Easter Island? Why 3D? Firstly, the desire was to tackle–at
long last–a little 3D in-house project, as we are mostly
a 2D studio. Then the priority was to do something character-ful
but also something that really needed to be done in 3D. As I
couldn’t recall seeing any of these fabulous stone heads
done yet in such a way, we jumped at the chance. The added attraction
to having just heads stuck on an island is that their predicament
feels much like the human condition. It’s surprising how
easy it was to think of ideas for these three disparate characters
just trying to cope. I’m very happy with the way these
little vignettes have turned out and stringing them together
as one week [in the lives of the characters] gives us a snapshot
view of real Pacific bliss (in 3D)." (For more information
on Philip Vallentin and Espresso Animation visit www.espressoanimation.com)
Film #2: Manbird
(Length: 3:07; Flash to Quicktime)–If you take Mark Marek’s
short Manbird as any sort of guide–you won’t
want to drink regular water again. Definitely buy the bottled
stuff! We like the unique design, great sound and retro look
of Manbird, but we also like the fact that Marek was
inspired to create the short by the 1960s Hanna-Barbera series
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. If you think about it hard
enough, you’ll recognize Marek’s animation style from
Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers. Right now he’s
working at the New York-based house, Funny Garbage, on a set
of Flash shorts for ESPN. (To learn more about Mark Marek and
his rather twisted mind, go to www.markmarek.org.)
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Film #3: Monstories: Fine
Diners (Length: 1:38; 2D/3D mix)–Lance Taylor helped
to develop and storyboard the Emmy-winning series Rolie Polie
Olie as well as the Emmy-winning special The Santa Claus
Brothers among many others. He founded the animation studio
Facelift Ent. Inc. to create and produce animated series, the
first of which is Monstories. Says Lance, "I created
Monstories to be a completely visual cartoon series–simple
in design, without human characters and not specific to any
place or time. They’re complete little stories too, with
beginnings, middles and ends, not just happenings. Creating
humourous cartoons with a fast pace that could be understood
by people of any language; that was important to me. Entertainment
for entertainment's sake." We happen to think this episode of
Monstories called Fine Diners is pretty darn entertaining–even
if it will keep us from eating for a while. (To find out more
about Lance Taylor’s work or that of his company, go to
www.facelift.net.)
Film #4: Interrogating Ernie
(Length: 5:00; Stopmotion & CG)– Filmmaker Ken Lidster
is co-founder of another highly successful U.K.-based commercial
production house called Loose Moose. Lidster’s film, Interrogating
Ernie won Best Animated Film at the Durango Film Festival
of 2002 and the Jury Award for Best Film by a Professional in
the Anima Mundi Fest of 2002. We like Interrogating Ernie
because it’s a nutty twist on the typical cop-interviews-criminal
set-up. (For more info on Ken Lidster and the work of Loose
Moose go to www.loosemoose.net.)
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Film #5: Lou & Costa–Burglar
Welcome Mat (Length: 1:48, 2D animation)–Michael
Schwab not only teaches animation at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh,
but runs his own 2D studio called Kensington Falls Animation.
Schwab’s film Lou & Costa–Burglar Welcome Mat
is one of our zaniest picks and, as it turns out, definitely
comes from a comedic-base. Says Schwab, "As an animation
producer/director, I was lucky to make the acquaintance of Tom
Megalis, a local Pittsburgh writer, comedian and filmmaker.
Tom asked me to produce Lou & Costa–Burglar Welcome
Mat. The cartoon’s concept originated with characters
that Megalis was portraying on a local radio morning show. Working
with Megalis was a real gas because he has a wacky personality
and offered complete creative freedom in the production and
direction of the cartoon. (To learn more about Michael Schwab
visit www.aip.aii.edu.)
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Film #6: Roy
and Dog (Length: 3:00; CG)–A grad of the Vancouver
Film School, filmmaker Jesse Davidge is now working at Electronic
Arts. His nutty Roy and Dog short definitely caught our
eye, mainly because of its out there designs and our emotional
attachment to Dog–a one-eyed slug. Roy is, of course, a
hammer-head shark. We look forward to Davidge’s next film
on which he is working after-hours. (For more information on
Jesse Davidge go to www.jessboy.com.)
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Film #7: Thirsty
(Length: 4:14; pencil & marker on paper)–Who knew the
desert could be such a tough place for a snake? Robert Ramirez’s
very funny short, Thirsty explores one reptile’s
Stooge-like challenge to get a little drink of water. "I’m
a CalArts grad," explains Ramirez, whose credits include
the script for the Clifford’s Really Big Movie and
co-director for the DreamWorks’ movie Joseph: King of
Dreams, "so I had some really great story teachers
like Joe Ranft (Pixar) who told me that when making a short,
it’s better to tell a simple story well than a complex
story poorly." Ramirez says that he actually created Thirsty
as an animatic for a 3D version of the short (which he is working
on), but we think it’s extremely appealing just as it is.
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