At the beginning of our long ride to Skywalker Ranch, Marcy learned that the Oscar nominated shorts were written up in an extensive article in The New York Times. The piece was in conjunction with Magnolia’s theatrical release of the Oscar shorts in theaters. Josh said that Magnolia have been awesome, stating that they were willing to take the legal liability if rights issues were not worked out with the Lennon estate. In the future, Josh and James hope to turn their film into a book that goes into more detail about how Jerry Levitan made the Lennon recordings. Their idea is to make intricate handmade books that feature a DVD of the film. Hugh shared the advertising he had printed for the feature film he produced called Free Jimmy, which has been making the festival circuit and chronicles the adventures of a circus elephant that has heroin sown into its stomach. With Skywalker Ranch on everyone’s mind, the conversation turned to the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars, which it was just announced will be coming to theaters as a feature first before arriving on Cartoon Network in the fall. Chris coined the phrase inter-quel to describe it. Along the way, Hugh had us introduce ourselves for a video diary he is doing for Channel 5 in the U.K., which airs on Friday. So if you’re in England, set your TiVos, we want copies.

After the ILM Q&A, the studio hosted a dinner for the nominees, where we sat with animation supervisor Hal Hickel, who is nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Chris was impressed with the seamless work that Hal was involved with on Iron Man combining practical effects with CG. As for CG, Maciek feels he couldn’t work in CG, because he needs more hands on, tactile interaction with his art. He likes work environments were artists are talking and working out issues, not hidden behind iPods for five hours of straight work. In turn, Sam feels freed by the ability to create elaborate worlds with more control inside the computer. It just goes to show how the artistic experience differs from one person to the next.

With everyone attending the San Fran leg of the tour together, ILM’s Danielle O’Hare greeted us in the lobby and treated the filmmakers to a tour. Having taken the tour last year with our gracious host Kate Shaw, this year we learned some of the same history with a sprinkling of some new facts. For instance, on the wall is ILM’s last matte painting from Die Hard 2. At the time of its creation Jim Henson had just passed away, so as a tribute, the artists painted Kermit faces on the side of the trucks featured in the wide shot of the snowy tarmac at the close of the film. Hugh inquired what has happened to the traditional matte painters and Danielle said that many have transitioned over to CG, while James joked that the others having transitioned over into driving cabs.

The tour has begun. And what a way to begin – a screening at ILM. As Ron Diamond, host of the tour and publisher of AWN, and I pulled up to Sofitel hotel, I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin, Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite and Madame Tutli-Putli director Maciek Szczerbowski were standing outside. Having toured with the Animation Show of Shows, all three enthusiastically greeted Ron, like a reunion of old friends. As we made our way into the hotel to check-in, we were greeted by Oscar tour veteran Marcy Page, who traveled around with us last year for the Oscar-winning film The Danish Poet. This time I was able to engage in an “old friend” reunion myself. Last year’s event was such a wonderful bonding experience that I feel so excited to share with the others about the things we have in store.

Ron and I snapped quite a few pictures during the San Fran leg of the tour. Here’s a gallery of some of the pics that Ron took. Keep checking back for more exclusive photos from the Oscar Tour.

Thursday was an absolute whirlwind day on the tour. I couldn’t possibly write everything interesting that was said during the course of the day. So I’m going to set out to recap the day in full, but tease you with details to come later.

Okay, okay, I’ll get off my obsession with Skywalker Ranch. However, I did want to share some pics from the San Fran leg of last year’s Oscar Tour. Ron Diamond provided the images and they represent a great visual chronicle of the fun events the nominees get to experience. See whom they chatted with at lunch or who just happened to be at the Ranch when they arrived.