Pictorial by Dan Sarto

Our final studio tour this year is DreamWorks Animation, a bustling campus that serves as HQ for the company's ever-growing global operations.  Having released two features, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss In Boots, since our last visit, both of which are nominated for an Oscar this year, the studio continues to expand its slate of productions.  The recently announced plans for a studio in China serve as further illustration of these expansion efforts. 

Each year on the Oscar Showcase Tour, our day at DreamWorks is always great.  The studio goes out of its way to provide a full day of demonstrations, a great lunch with executives and a packed screening of the nominated shorts.  Of all the stops on the tour, DreamWorks always shares the most detailed and intimate look at films in progress, which for an assembly of animation directors and producers, is always a welcome treat.  This year was no different. 

Producers Sue Goffe, Bonnie Thompson, Marci Page and Michael Fukushima wait for the tour to begin.

Ron Diamond, Bob and Cima Balser join our tour host, Connie Siu, as we begin our tour.

Right outside the cafeteria looking down to the lower level of the lovely studio campus.

Senior animator Dave Burgess demonstrated for the assembled group some of the studio's inhouse animation tools.

Studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg joined us for a few minutes to congratulate all the nominees on their work.

The group watches a demonstration in the expansive motion capture studio.

The DreamWorks Q&A was lively and lengthy. One question would be posed and each of the 4 sets of filmmakers present were asked to answer.

Lampton Enochs, Brandon Oldenburg and Bill Joyce field a question about their film, The Amazing Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

The Hidden Lounge is exactly that, a lounge hidden behind this seemingly innocuous bookshelf.

NFB producer Michael Fukushima outside the hidden door to the Hidden Lounge.

Bob and Cima Balser inside the Hidden Lounge.

Patrick Doyon and his girlfriend enjoy a brief moment of relaxation.

No lounge is complete without the means to dispense fine adult beverages.

No pictorial is complete without a picture of two of my cats, the demon Dexter and his little ginger-haired devil buddy, AJ. You can never have too many pictures of cats.