How was it like to meet “virtual” collaborators on the award-winning animation short “Guard Dog Global Jam” for the first time at the film’s Los Angeles premiere? Exciting and “Perrific!” On May 20, 2011, seven animators from the film came to the New Media Film Festival to watch the film open the festival to an enthusiastic crowd who cheered and laughed during the screening. The animators are: Ansar Sattar, Alta Berri, Grey Wears, Jessica Bayliss, Larry Loc, Linda Lee, and Perry Chen. Immediately following the screening, the animators were invited on stage by festival director Susan Johnston for a lively Q&A with moderator Jeanette DePatie. They remarked on how exciting it was to see such a variety of styles and to see the project take shape.
In 2010, renowned animation master Bill Plympton decided to remake via the internet his 2005 wildly popular Oscar-nominated animated short, “Guard Dog” about an over-protective pug who imagines every flora and fauna is out to kill his beloved master. Perry Chen is among over 70 artists from around the world invited to make “Guard Dog Global Jam,” each with different levels of expertise, recreating each shot of the film in their own style. The global team represents animators from Canada, the UK, Scotland, Ireland, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Argentina, the U.S., and beyond. All animators are fans of Bill Plympton’s animation, and heard about the Guard Dog Global Jam project through emails, website, at Comic-Con, and friends. The film recently won “Best Experimental Film” Award at the ASIFA-EAST Animation Festival on May 1, 2011.
Before the festival was over, Perry and mom Zhu Shen spotted great movie posters in the hallway of LA Film School, where the New Media Film Festival was hosted. Perry saw Oscar-winning Up director Pete Docter and co-writer Bob Peterson’s autograph on “Up” poster, and mom saw one of her favorite 2010 film “Black Swan” poster:
Perry Chen has been reviewing movies since he was 8 in third grade. He is also a young animator, collaborating with Oscar-nominated Bill Plympton. He was among 75 animators around the world to animate Plympton's "Guard Dog Global Jam" based on the Oscar-nominated "Guard Dog." "Guard Dog Global Jam" premiered at SXSW film festival in March 2011.
Perry is the youngest winner of San Diego Press Club 2010 Excellence in Journalism awards for his movie review, and was featured in “The Young Icons” TV show. He reviews G/PG-rated movies for the San Diego Union Tribune with over 1 million weekly readers. Perry is also the resident film critic for Amazing Kids, a non-profit organization with kids-generated content on its monthly magazine with about 1 million readers.
Perry regularly covers red carpet premieres, press junkets, film festivals and awards, interviewing Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning directors and producers. He was the first child film critic invited to present at the Annie Awards for animation in 2010, and was featured on Variety for being one of the leading young film critics:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026037.html?categoryid=4137&cs=1 [1]
Read all of Perry’s reviews and upcoming events on his website http://www.perryspreviews.com [2] Watch his on camera interviews of filmmakers on http://www.YouTube.com/perryspreviews [3]
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/perryspreviewsfan [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026037.html?categoryid=4137&cs=1
[2] http://www.perryspreviews.com/
[3] http://www.youtube.com/perryspreviews
[4] http://tinyurl.com/3aktsmu