ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE
3.7 - October 1998
Films
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| Animator David Candelaria, left, and director/animator Mark Osborne working on the stop-motion film More. Image courtesy of Bad Clams Productions. |
Stop-Motion Short Headed for Big, Big Screen.
Animator Mark Osborne is wrapping up production on a new short film. Titled
More, the film is believed to be the first stop-motion animated large-format
film. It is being shot on 65mm film that will be printed on 70mm for projection
in large-format cinemas such as the IMAX chains. The film, a co-production
of Swell Productions and Bad Clams Productions, is being funded by a private
investor, was shown in trailer form at last week's International Space Theater
Consortium conference in Australia. Osborne, a 1992 Cal Arts graduate, is
shooting the film at the school's facilities in Valencia, California, with
donated equipment made possible by support from the Large Format Cinema Association
(LFCA). Animators rarely work in this specialized and costly film format,
but the use of animation in large-format films is increasing, said producer
Debra Callabresi of Swell Productions, who, earlier this year, produced a
large-format version of the Absolut Panushka animation series, as well
as shorts by Jules Engel and Bärbel Neubauer and a soon-to-be-completed
new film by Christine Panushka. "Large format films present a perfect
opportunity for experimentation in animation," enthused Callabresi. "The
sheer size of the screen offers the potential to create worlds and environments
impossible in any other visual medium." For instance, Russian paint-on-glass
animator Alexander Petrov is expected to complete his 70mm Old Man and
the Sea by the end of this year [AF 6/03/98]. The LFCA's third annual
conference and film festival will take place in Los Angeles, May 18-22, 1999.
Nick Movies Picks Bone. Nickelodeon Movies has acquired the
feature film rights to Jeff Smith's comic book, Bone for an unspecified
amount of money in the "high six-figure" range. The property is
being developed as an animated feature film to be directed by Smith. Albie
Hecht, president of film and television entertainment at Nickelodeon said,
"Bone is a comic fantasy adventure in the tradition of Star
Wars and Lord of the Rings." The story is about three lost
cousins who become stranded in an uncharted land filled with rat creatures
and beetle-like dragons. Nickelodeon expects this film to appeal to a wider
and older audience than its upcoming animated feature The Rugrats Movie,
because it extends to the property's existing fan base. To date, 90,000 English-language
copies of Bone have been sold since it was first published in 1991.
Nickelodeon Movies also recently acquired the feature film, ancillary and
television rights to the works and life of cartoonist Rube Goldberg, but at
this point no plans for animated projects based on the property have been
announced.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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