The third day of the LA Oscar tour actually began with a morning stop at CAA in Century City before a small gathering of agents and producers in their lavish screening room. However, the most memorable part was discussing animation over coffee with the directors. Bastien Dubois (Madagascar, carnet de voyage) divulged that he rotoscoped himself for the various characters, and how he came upon the idea of shooting stop-motion for the cars section after discovering a group of small kids playing with toy cars. He then hit the toy store and set up a course for them to play in while he shot two cars per kid. Meanwhile, when I asked Jakob Schuh (The Gruffalo) what he's learned from his studio visits, he divulged that the 3-D demo at DreamWorks made him rethink the whole concept of stereoscopic moviemaking. If they could make a photograph dramatically pop out, then there are some definite possibilities worth exploring, he suggested.

written by Rick DeMott

The Los Angeles leg of the tour picked up on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Sony. Jakob Schuh and Max Lang were back for the second round; while Bastien Dubois, the director of Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage, his producer Ron Dyens, and Michael Rose and Martin Pope, the producers of The Gruffalo, joined them for the first time.

The day began with a guided tour of the studio lot. The nominees had a chance to see the 12 Oscars the studio has won over the years, as well as the backlot and stage for Wheel of Fortune (which was less impressive to the European crowd.) On one of the soundstages, we saw a crew diligently constructing a sewer pipe set for a secret project filming pyrotechnics later in the week.

One of the yearly treats of the Oscar Showcase tour is DreamWorks' Saturday brunch. Check out who in the community came to celebrate.

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DreamWorks had a full day for the Oscar nominees when they came to visit. Here are their adventures in pictures.

In L.A., the nominees visted agencies ICM, CAA and William Morris. Here are their visits in pictures.

 

On the first day of the Los Angeles leg of the Oscar Showcase tour, the nominees had a chance to see the famed MGM backlot and the new Sony studios. Here are a collection of pics from the day.

written by Rick DeMott

For the third day of the L.A. leg, DreamWorks put together a full day of events for the nominees. Katie Koskenmaki, our host and artistic development coordinator for the studio, said that different departments were fighting to get a chance to meet the nominees. For the first time, French Roast director Fabrice Joubert joined the festivities.

First up, designer Pierre-Olivier Vincent, aka POV, ran through the visual development on DreamWorks' upcoming How to Train Your Dragon. The project began with the designs of the book, which was written and illustrated by Cressida Cowell. The designs and tone of the book was cartoony, but over the course of the film's development, which included three director changes, the script became more dramatic. For Cowell, she didn't mind the tone shift, but insisted that the core of the story remain the relationship between the main character Hiccup and his father Stoick.

 

On the first day of the L.A. leg, the tour swung by agency ICM. Due to another special Irish screening Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty's director Nicky Phelan and producer Darragh O'Connell couldn't make the event, but The Lady and the Reaper's director Javier Recio Gracia, producer Raul Garcia, and exec producer Enrique Posner were on hand.

More than a dozen agents showed up to watch the nominated films. Agent Craig Bernstein said that agents look at shorts to find the next hot filmmaker. They want to see that a filmmaker can tell a story with a beginning, middle and end in a short period of time. This shows a real solid understanding of story. One of the agency's success stories is hooking Oscar-nominated student filmmaker Shane Acker up with the deal to transform his short 9 in a feature.

After the screening in chatting with the agents, Raul said that in Spain they have to make their films in English because it makes it much easier to get international distribution. Right now Kandor's productions cost around $30 million, but still need to compete with the Pixar and DreamWorks films with budgets five times the size.

written by Rick DeMott

The L.A. leg of the Oscar Tour kicked off at the Sony lot. For the first time in the tour's history the participants, who include The Lady and the Reaper's director Javier Recio Gracia, producer Raul Garcia, and exec producer Enrique Posner, and Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty's director Nicky Phelan and producer Darragh O'Connell, received a tour of the legendary MGM Studios.

Stops included the Thalberg Building where the studio showcases its Best Picture Oscars, as well as the offices of Sony's top execs including Amy Pascal. For the game show fans out there, the nominees got a chance to see the sets of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. The legendary Stage 30 was being used as a commissary for Adam Sandler's new film, The Pretend Wife. But most of the time, the stage is known for housing the largest water tank where films such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button were filmed. The nominees were treated to the stages were Wizard of Oz and Married with Children were filmed, and there was some debate with our tour guide Tony on whether Oz is the most beloved movie in America or not. Along our walk through the backlot, we had the chance to see the art department building a New York city street set for the upcoming film Burlesque.