Now with the crazy award season over, AWN offers readers a chance to catch up with all the adventures of the animation nominees.

Watch interviews with the nominees and a who's who of the animation community as part of AWN's Oscar Showcase videoblog! New episodes will be posting weekly. Check them out on AWNtv.

 

 

By Lauren Brown

 On our way up PDI/DreamWorks to George Lucas’ Big Rock Ranch we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was another beautiful day in the Bay Area and we walked around a bit to stretch our legs. We were able to get some great photos overlooking the bay and the bridge. It was Marc Betrand and Patrick Doyon’s first time crossing this iconic American landmark. Bonnie Thompson said that she had been on it before, but it was quite a long time ago. Marc Bertrand said that he thought the bridge was very impressive and enjoyed the time we spent there.

 

By Kira Formina

We said goodbye to Pixar, then hopped back into the van, stopping at Tippett Studio in Berkeley. Tippett - the people famous for special effects, particularly monsters and creatures, pretty much all the major films from Star Wars to Twilight - is oddly located in a simple residential street, several streets in fact. Two of the buildings are across from each other, and the third is a few blocks away.

We are greeted by Tom “Gibby” Gibbon and a few others. Suddenly the talk turns shop, as Tom and Tim discuss puppet making and stop motion animation (fun fact: Head over Heels puppets were 3D printed with most of the face left soft and malleable for expressions. The head of Madge, the wife, kept falling off as the scenes were filmed upside down, with Tim having to constantly readjust it. He says if you pay attention, you can see it change levels throughout the film.)

I was lucky enough to be included in part of the Oscar Showcase tour this year. Every year the nominees for animated short films are given a tour and luncheon at some of the animation studios here in the Los Angeles area. The organizer of these celebrations, Ron Diamond, invited me to join them at DreamWorks on the last day of the tour. Ron and I are on the Executive Committee of the Short Films/Animation Branch of the Academy, and see scores of animated shorts every year. There is always a wide range of styles and ideas presented in various mediums. It’s always interesting to see which ones will make the final cut for the Oscar nominations. This year the field was exceptionally strong, with every film being quite unique and different from the rest. Meeting the filmmakers and hearing about their thought process and methods of getting it on the screen was extremely interesting and inspiring.

As the tour swings from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the Oscar Travelogue switches chroniclers from Barbara Robertson to Rick DeMott.

Walt Disney kicks off the L.A. leg. For a touch of morning inspiration, we gathered at the Animation Resource Library. Having traveled with the Oscar Tour for the past two years in both San Fran and Los Angeles, it feels strange coming in midstream. I missed out on the bonding that took place in the Bay Area as the filmmakers from around the globe were getting to know each other. For the "Oktapodi" crew, the tour was the first chance for them to be together since graduating from Gobelins. Julien Bocabeille and Thierry Marchand, who both work for DreamWorks in Bangalore, India, joined FX, Olivier, Quentin and Emud, who already had a taste of the tour last week. Joining the six "Oktapodi" directors were Konstantin and Kunio, who having met for the first time in San Fran, have clearly bonded quickly, despite not speaking the same language.

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At 20th Century Fox, I Met the Walrus producer Jerry Levitan talks about interviewing John Lennon when he was 14 years old.

The Oscar Showcase tour pulls into Walt Disney Animation. © 2008 AWN Inc.

The second day on the Oscar Showcase tour is a day at Disney with a screening for Walt Disney Feature Animation in the morning and Disney TV in the afternoon. Some miscommunication started the day and only the Madame Tutli-Putli team made it to Disney in time, thanks to exec producer David Verrall.

The nominees relax (and goof around if you look in the background) in the ILM lobby. © 2008 AWN Inc.

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 Disney leg of the Oscar Tour poses for a pic in front of the studio. Courtesy of Disney.

Officially one week of the Oscar Tour is up and we’re nearing the home stretch. Today was less crazed than yesterday, but still wonderfully eventful nonetheless. The day was a home coming for Roger and Don. Every time we turned a corner someone was ecstatic to see them. After Tenny Chonin, head of artistic development at Disney Features, introduced the screening, Don took us on a special tour of the old animation building across the street from the new animation complex (you know, the building with the big hat on it). On the way, even, someone crossing the street lit up when he saw Don and pleaded him to come back to work soon. He has been like the Zen master of the group. His peaceful nature is just unforgettable. I had thought before that it must be a pleasure to work for him and after today I think many of the Disney employees confirmed my feeling.

 

 

Day Two of the 2010 AWN Oscar Tour begins at Skywalker Ranch and continues on to ILM in San Francisco and then to an evening screening with ASIFA-San Francisco.