Check Out the Trailer

Narratively the original HOODWINKED was a mess, but there were moments of general inspiration within cliché and tired routines. The sequel is just cliché and tired routines. The original was done independently on the cheap and looked it, but this one feels cheaper because it has no purpose other than to cash in on the surprise success of the original.

Unlike the mysterious RASHOMON-like plot of the first film, this picture is pretty straight forward. It’s perfectly structured as a “good” screenplay is supposed to be structured, but leaves no surprises along the way. Red (Hayden Panettiere, TV’s HEROES) is off training with the Sisters of the Hood, while Wolf (Patrick Warburton, TV’s SEINFELD) is manning the spy agency they now work for. After Red’s Granny (Glenn Close, FATAL ATTRACTION) is kidnapped by Verushka the witch (Joan Cusack, WORKING GIRL), Red is called back to investigate.

Halo Origins

This is your last chance to see the Halo Legends anime preview on Halo Waypoint and Xbox LIVE. On Saturday January 2^nd the final preview episode will run for 24-hours. Remember, DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital formats will be released on February 16^th 2010. 

Making these kind of lists is fun but once you sit down and start to do it you soon begin to second guess yourself.  In a way you start to ask yourself if it is even a good idea to set yourself up as a judge of others work and creative output.  For me it is particularly hard as I know many of the people that had a hand in making these shows, and even worked on some of the shows myself.  However at the end of the day I just pushed on - after all my judgement is only that, my judgement. Each reader will have their own ideas and ways of measuring and balancing their own decisions, which may be completely different than mine.. So take a look at what I came up with and feel free to let me know your thoughts...

Ren & Stimpy board 2

One by one, the folding chairs set up in New York City’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art are being occupied. It’s the first evening of a three-night course in storyboarding – part of MoCCA’s ongoing educational program – and the dozen or so folks filling those chairs are here to learn from Stephen DeStefano.  Stephen’s MoCCA students are looking for a leg up in the craft, or are simply curious about the nuts and bolts of an animation fundamental. CGI animators, comic book artists and even a handful of School of Visual Arts instructors (not to mention one AWN writer) have come to try their hand at boarding.

Lucasfilm Animation lobby

The boundless energy and enthusiasm I brought to Singapore Monday morning has dissipated somewhat now this fine Wednesday evening, done in by the heat, humidity and non-stop pace of our media tour.  It’s late and still quite hot, a sticky hot that’s like summer in Texas, without the pickup trucks or shotguns.  Our hosts and organizers have done a terrific job, herding us from one site visit to the next as we journey back and forth across Singapore visiting many of the main animation, vfx, gaming and educational organizations on the island.  Much has been learned, gleaned from what’s been said and what’s not been said. The pleasant formalities of company presentations disrupted now and then by a barrage of pointed questions by the attending journalists. Mostly, we sound pretty intelligent, though as I listen to some of my tapes sometimes I think I sound like a 5 year old.

It will take a bit of time to properly synthesize, plus there are still 2 more full days of meetings to go.  So my coverage here actually begins with a pictorial spread of the first couple days, which includes visits to Lucasfilm Animation, Sunwoo, Southern Star, EON Reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Digipen and LASALLE College, as well Contact Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board.  Picture-smithing is much easier than word-smithing at 2 in the morning after an evening of spicy Indian food and a number of adult beverages.

The reason I use Excel to develop story structure is based on a writing principle I discovered years ago.  I call it getting a God’s-Eye View of the story.

I realized that by writing my outline beats in a normal word processing program it took screen after screen to go through my scenes.  So while I was looking at one portion of my story, the rest of the story was out of sight.  And as they say, “Out of sight, out of mind”.

But when I write I want all of my story in mind.  And here’s how I do it...

When it comes to looking for work, how do you best approach your job search? Now that there is some movement in the job market with over 75,000 media & entertainment jobs posted on some of the job board aggregators, do you feel there is opportunity for you or do you like many, still hope that someone will notice your resume and pick you out of the countless number of others who may be applying for the same job? Are you confident that you can stand out in the crowd or, do you wonder whether you will fade into the background, resigned to post your resume and pray for a response?

The major hurdle with the unionization of visual effects artists is that we would need to gain support within the walls of the studios. Unfortunately the studios have long since written off our welfare.

Ted Soward's After Today Live.

Disney’s 1995 backup animated feature A Goofy Movie – and one of its songs in particular – struck a chord with a generation of school kids who are now in college. Fan videos and mash-ups are nothing new, but one student took it a step – or two – further…