Oscar winner Suzie Templeton gets a chance to talk with My Love director Alexander Petrov. © 2008 AWN Inc.

The day before the Oscars DreamWorks hosts a brunch at Campanile. Look at the animation who’s who gallery.

Among the items set out for our visit, books of Jungle Book sketches caught everyone's attention.

Written by Dan Sarto

One of the highlights of the week was a morning spent at Disney's Animation Research Library (ARL).  Housed in the non-descript former feature animation studio, the library houses more than 65 million pieces of animation art representing over 80 years of work from Walt Disney Animation.  Formerly housed in the basement of the Animation department in the aptly named "Morgue," the library opened in its current location in 1989.  Complete with fire supression systems, climate controled vaults and state of the art scanning and database systems, the library serves both to preserve the company's heritage as well as to provide an inhouse resource for studio personnel needing access to the immense repository of Disney animation assets. If you love animation, or have any sense of animation history, then the Disney ARL is a little slice of heaven.  Actually, it's the whole pie.

"We're almost there." I don't remember which nominee said it, but it was very fitting, given that Walt Disney Animation Studios was the last stop yesterday on the L.A. leg. Of course, "Almost There," from The Princess and the Frog, summarizes the hopes and dreams of all the nominees. So, it was also very fitting that Princess and the Frog directors Ron Clements and John Musker were on hand to view the shorts and meet with the nominees.

Bob and I, standing on the far left of the first row, join in the dramatic pose while 3-D stereo pictures of the entire group are being taken in front of the main campus fountain.

By Cima Balser

In all our travels, we’ve always found animation studios to be great fun to visit.  UPA in its day had a bookcase filled with faux books, with carefully lettered titles on the bindings, such as “Brain Surgery Can Be Fun.” 

During the entire time Yellow Submarine was being produced there, the receptionist at the entrance never recovered from shock as each day he watched the Carnaby-clothed artists march in and out.  One day there was a serious complaint from the tenant downstairs, and soon after the crew was reprimanded by a shamefaced John Coates.  We heard that a very, very large billboard size poster with carefully lettered “POOP” was being lowered and waved across all the windows of the office below. 

So yes, animators have traditionally played and had fun, along with their real work. However, as Bob and I tagged along with Ron and Dan’s group to DreamWorks’s campus in Glendale, we found that the bar had been lifted higher than we could have ever imagined.

The nominees check out Jungle Book and Alice in Wonderland art selected by Oktapodi director Julien Bocabeille (m) to view.

More amazing pics from the nominees experience at Disney's Animation Resource Library, where the history of Disney animation art is housed.

Oscar-winner Suzie Templeton (2nd left) hangs out in front of Joseph's with animator Rosto (l), along with BUF producer Lucie Bloze and Even Pigeons Go To Heaven producer Simon Vanesse. © 2008 AWN Inc.

After a long day at Disney, the evening of Feb. 20th was for fun. Check out the photos from the annual Acme/AWN Oscar party.

For half of the Oscar Showcase tour crew, Friday morning was a chance for some free time to roam around Los Angeles. For the Canadian contingent, it was a time for celebration with their fellow Canadians at the Canadian consulate. The annual event celebrates the accomplishments of Oscar nominated Canadians and Canadian productions. Madame Tutli-Putli directors Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin, producer Jerry Levitan and illustrator James Braithwaite were all treated like royalty with many Canadian media outlets clamoring to get interviews with the filmmakers. The event also gave the nominees a chance to mingle with some stars. Julie Christie, Oscar nominee for the Canadian production Away from Her, was gracious enough to pose for pictures with whoever asked. Chris introduced himself to Oscar-winning director Norman Jewison, who warmly congratulated him on his nomination. Other celebs on hand included Juno director Jason Reitman, producer Ivan Reitman and director Arthur Hiller.

Once arriving at Skywalker Ranch’s breakfast area, after much more sleep than I had on my last visit, many of the tour members were already having a bite to eat before starting the hectic three-screening day. Madame Tutli-Putli’s Chris and Maciek had already enjoyed the Ranch’s bikes, cycling around the beautiful grounds on the brisk February morning. Peter and the Wolf’s Suzie and Hugh took advantage of the one site fitness center. Hugh had a change to be rescued by a fireman from the Ranch’s private fire station when he accidentally locked himself out of the gym in his bare feet. With a 9 am screening set, we headed out to the tech building around 8:30. Some of the late risers like Josh and James used the courtesy bikes as a way to get some exercise and catch up with the group.

With the screenings now complete, Saturday — the day before the big event — was filled with parties to celebrate the nominees. Both the DreamWorks brunch at Campanile and the Chocolate Foscas were chances for the nominees to reconnect and meet other animation pros.