Pigeon Impossible competes at SIGGRAPH.

written by Lance Jones and Jessica Brown of the Animation and Visual Effects Program Louisiana State University Shreveport Evening Theater’s Festival Chair’s Reel included the following shorts. Pigeon: Impossible Lucas Martell USA Pigeon: Impossible is an antagonistic tale between a pigeon and an undercover agent. The scene opens with an establishing shot of the pigeon watching he agent in a secret package hand off. The agent casually sits on a bench with the package and a steel briefcase. He begins eating a donut under the watchful eye of the pigeon. The pigeon moves to confront him for a piece. Not satisfied with the crumbs that are offered, the pigeon attacks the agent for a larger portion. A struggle ensues in which the pigeon is accidently flung into the briefcase. Curiosity grasps the pigeon as it begins to experiment with the technology contained within the case. Social disruption, with hilarious jabs, follows as the pigeon takes flight within the briefcase, powered by hidden jet engines. Firing lasers and missiles, the pigeon pursues the agent for the donut. As the agent struggles, control shifts to the agent. Alas, it is too late, as the pigeon had already sent command to launch a nuclear warhead from the briefcase. The agent tosses the donut and focuses on the threat. He fires a missile at the warhead. It destroys the warhead. The agent gracefully descends to the ground by way of the jet- powered briefcase. Adjusting his tie and glancing once more at the pigeon, the agent walks away. One last laugh is had when the pigeon is crushed by the remains of the falling warhead.

Silhouettes of Jazz

Evening Theater’s Jury Chair’s Reel included the following shorts. Silhouettes of Jazz Dominik Kaser Martin-Sebastian Senn, Mario Deuss ETH Zurich Switzerland The first video shown was Silhouettes of Jazz. Jazz music plays as the camera takes you though a house where each room has a different 3D objects that look like a blob of plastic are turning in place. Light is casted on them to form shadows on the wall. These shadows turn out to be sculptures that highlight five milestones in the history of jazz. The music changes in each room. The first room represents field workers, the second is instruments that also turn into someone playing them, depending on how the light shines on it. The next is a dancing couple. Then a spade sculpture is hanging from the ceiling. The last objects were music notes. This video captured the jazz is a new light. The music chosen takes you through out different jazz eras.

Gungrave

2009 TV Series (episodes 1-26). Director: Toshiyuki Tsuru. 650 minutes. DVD, bilingual, $49.98. Distributor: Funimation.

Being dead isn’t such a drag for Brandon Heat – and yes, with a name like that you’re either on the street kicking ass or in porn. After all, he has a second chance at one thing: revenge.

Chris Landreth's The Spine

Naturally Autodesk had some big announcements, including 2010 versions of Maya, MotionBuilder and Mudbox and along with new suites for digital entertainment creation and new education initiatives.

Maya 2010 has all the features of Maya Unlimited 2009 and Maya Complete 2009, including the Maya Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, Maya nCloth, Maya nParticles, Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Hair, and Maya Fur.

Fjorg gets saucy!

Day 2 of the animation competition kicked off at 9am with a loud drumbeat and Afro Brazilian performers. The sound drew a large crowd in to watch the performances. The animation teams had worked through the night on their films so the very lively dancers lent some much needed energy to the competitors.

SIGGRAPH 09 Winner French Roast

Monday nights' Evening Theater began with the introduction of host Miles Perkins, senior staff at Industrial Light and Magic. He kicked off the award ceremony by paving the way for Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. Scott presented the awards for SIGGRAPH's 2009 animation festivals. Out of 770 submissions the following were selected for three categories.

Phantom Master

2009 Movie. Director: Joji Shimura. 90 minutes. DVD, bilingual, $19.98. Distributor: Funimation

The land of Jushin is all but a memory, fractured into numerous kingdoms run by corrupt tyrants. Once the Amen Osa, magic wielding warriors charged with upholding justice, kept the peace. But when the king was assassinated, they too disappeared. Or did they?

Day 1 and the contestants are already tired.

SIGGRAPH 2009 Fjorg! competition started at 9am Monday, August 3 in New Orleans. In it’s third year, the event attracted many talented animators both students and professionals.

The competition, created by Patricia Beckmann as an Iron Animator event challenges the competitors to create a short film (15-45 seconds) from concept to finish in the short time span of thirty-two hours. To make the task more demanding, distractions are scheduled throughout the day to entice them away from the film making process.

Half-Blood Prince's fire sim isn't the the only talk of the town at SIGGRAPH.

The exhibition opened today and, as expected, the show is small but quaint -- similar to San Antonio a few years back. Nothing wrong with that: it's manageable and in keeping with the New Orleans flavor. While the number of exhibitors is smaller than usual, it's a nice mix. You can traverse the floor in about half-an-hour. And there are plenty of students flocking the job fair, which is where most of the action is -- and rightly so, considering the job market. In fact, a few of the large studios such as Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks, opted to have a presence solely at the job fair.

Halo Anime

The transformation from game to animated movie is growing increasingly common. It’s usually driven by a title’s notoriety. Some translate well. Others do not. Enter Halo, one of the most popular franchises in the gaming world.