Who ya gonna call?

By Dan Sarto

Our day began at Sony Pictures in Culver City.  We watched a short film detailing the history of the studio dating back to brothers Harry and Jack Cohn’s 1918 partnership with Joe Brandt to form CBC Film Sales, or as it was then known as Corn Beef and Cabbage.  CBC became Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1924, with original offices located on Gower Street in Hollywood. The studio’s fortunes changed dramatically with the hiring of Frank Capra in 1927, who over the next decades helped chart a course of excellence starting with their first Best Picture Oscar in 1934 for It Happened One Night.  The list of legendary films produced at the studio is immense, including From Here to Eternity, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Taxi Driver, Gandhi, Ghostbusters and The Last Emperor to name but a few.  Sony purchased the studio from Coca Cola in 1989, changed its name to Sony Picture Entertainment and relocated to the former MGM lot in Culver City.  I’ve skipped numerous pieces of the studio’s story, including the growth of its vast TV operations, and of course, the creations of Sony Pictures Imageworks and Sony Pictures Animation, our ultimate destination for the morning tour and screening.

This Way Up's producer Charlotte Bavasso, writer/producer Chris O’Reilly, director Adam Foulkes, and director Alan Smith.

One of the highlights of the tour is always the public screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. This year the Academy not only hosted a night highlighting the shorts, but also the animated features. Check out the pics for both events.

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi, Robot Communications' Taki Tsuyoshi, Ron Diamond, Ed Catmull, Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bronzit, Oktapodi's Olivier Delabarre, Oktapodi's Quentin Marmier, Gobelins' Eric Riewer, Oktapodi's Francois-Xavier Chanioux, and La Maison's Kunio Kato.

Every year Pixar host the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short. It's always an exciting chance for the filmmakers to interact with the artists at the studio. Follow their day in pictures.

At the Pixar Q&A, director Maciek Szczerbowski answers the most asked question about his film Madame Tutli-Putli - how did you do the eyes?

Here is the last photo gallery from the San Francisco leg of the Oscar Showcase tour. We closed out the event at PDI/DreamWorks, where the Q&A audience asked some new questions and the nominees had a chance to chat with the studio’s artists.

Even Pigeons Go To Heaven was a project that director Sam Tourneux started then abandoned. Well, I’m sure he’s glad that he picked it back up again. Here is what the filmmaker had to say about his film and the Oscar experience thus far.

Friday morning I went to sleep at 6:20 am and woke up around 7:40 am. That may have been the most restful hour and 20 minutes of sleep I’ve ever had. The comfortable beds and soft pillows at Skywalker Ranch were hard to leave. The last time I ran on so little sleep was in college during my senior year while we were filming long hours over a weekend on the bedroom set I built. This trip has certainly recharged the creative juices in me.

Who says there are no celebrities in Animation?  We arrive at Pixar an hour early, the van is buzzing with excitement.  We are about to meet some of the ROCK STARS of animation.  To be granted a tour at Pixar is a privilege not extended to everyone!

Backlot Stage 20.

By Zoe Chevat

Wednesday afternoon found the Oscar shorts nominees at 20th Century Fox's sprawling backlot, located in the heart of Century City. After checking in at the Little Theater, used by the studio for on-site screenings, it was off for some behind-the-scenes looks at one of television's biggest studios.

The campus itself is sun-lit and greenery-filled, dotted with elaborate topiary that resembles horses, elephants, and, in the case of the bushes in front of The Simpsons offices, Bart Simpson. But, though things were relatively quiet when we were there, we know that behind soundproof doors the truth is quite the opposite. With dozens of on-site and off-site productions going at once, Fox's soundstages currently house the permanent sets for many of their TV network's long-running hits, including Bones and House. We were lucky enough to be taken through the Bones set, where shooting is down for the season, but there are plenty of autopsy tables, fabricated cadavers, and chemical bottles still around. Large sets for multi-season hits like Bones, which cost millions of dollars to construct, will stay intact for the duration of the show's time on air, until final cancellation.

(From left to right) Tim Reckart, Fondhla Cronin O'Reilly and Minkyu Lee in the lobby of Sony Pictures Animation / Sony Pictures Imageworks. All images courtesy of Dan Sarto.

By Dan Sarto.

Our tour continued with a screening and lunch at Sony Pictures Animation.  It’s always a treat to go to SPA – we’re always greeted warmly and the audience is always enthusiastic.  Today was no exception.