Computer Animation Festival Award Winners Announced

Press Release from SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival

SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival, an internationally recognized world-class annual event for the world's most innovative, accomplished, and amazing digital film and animation shorts has announced the festival award winners. This year, the world-renowned jury has selected two very special pieces as the Best of Show and Best Technical award recipients.

The Best of Show award goes to "Anchored", directed by Lindsey Olivares from Ringling College of Art and Design. This is a heartfelt piece that shows beautiful integration of the many elements that make up a film:  sound, character design, art direction, and typography that are all applied skillfully to realize a clear emotional message.

At Ringling, SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia is emphasized as a very prestigious event.  SIGGRAPH Asia is a common place for people of like minds to gather and help push the industry forward. While working on my film I tried to push boundaries and innovate ways to use technology to create a film that felt like a moving painting. SIGGRAPH Asia exemplifies this idea of pushing the limits of technology and creativity. Im very excited to hear my film was accepted into the Computer Animation Festival and also chosen as the Best of Show piece. Its an honor to receive the best of show from as prestigious a conference as SIGGRAPH Asia said Lindsey Olivares, director of the winning animated film.

The Best Technical award is accorded to "Assassin's Creed 2" from Digic Pictures.  Produced by Alex Sandor Rabb, this clip shows distinct mastery of the elements of 3D CG production.  Incredibly detailed and realistic main characters, clear cinematography, amazing surfacing, and world-class rendering made this a standout in terms of the computer graphics technology applied to storytelling.

Digic Pictures is honored to have its work selected from so many outstanding animation projects of 2009. We are proud of our Assassins Creed 2 cinematic trailer, which reflects our relentless pursuit of excellence and commitment to push all boundaries of CG animation. This award truly belongs to everyone at Digic Pictures who have contributed to the film, outdoing themselves on a daily basis according to Alex Sandor Rabb, Managing Director of Digic Pictures.

This year's SIGGRAPH Asia Computer Animation Festival showcases the best and newest in computer animation from 15 countries over the past year.  I'm happy that we have quite a few pieces that showcase the emerging creative and production capabilities of Asia. The Best of Show winning piece is a substantial accomplishment as it told a beautiful tale without the clich鳠of expression, but finding her own way. The Best Technical piece already caught the immediate attention of the industry upon its release. With a small team behind it, they worked diligently to produce this cinematic. It well deserves the award.  Adding to the line-up are comedic student pieces, high-end commercial feature production, and independent animation from around the world, I am certain that we'll have a great festival for everyone who attends Leo Hourvitz, SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival Chair shared.

Japanese-centric Works from the Computer Animation Festival

Since the conference is being held in Yokohama, Japan, SIGGRAPH Asia will offer a number of pieces with very pronounced Japanese flavor. Besides the high-end graphics of the Tekken and Final Fantasy XIV promotional videos and the OLM reel, there are also some that takes on the quirkier approach on modern Japanese culture.

Cat Shit One (Electronic Theater)

This animation short attempts to bring Motofumi Kobayashi's groundbreaking and startling manga to the screen. The concept of this is the development of real and fierce combat by cute and fluffy animals.  Packy, Botasky and Rats are special operations experts working in a private military company. Every day they are embroiled in combat somewhere around the world. In the first episode, they intended to come to the assistance of a hostage captured by guerrillas demanding the withdrawal of the US Army, but instead become surrounded by a large number of guerrillas. It is the intention of the producers to ignite the interest and awareness of the misery of wars that are taking place in this world through this clip.

Peeping Life (Electronic Theater)

Peeping Life takes the classic Japanese form of comedy known as "manzai" and puts it over simplistic animations to great comic effect. Three short everyday stories are spun to create the humor and lasting impressions.

Other highlights from the Computer Animation Festival

Astro Boy (Electronic Theater)

Imagi provided a beautiful sequence of Astro Boy learning to fly for the Electronic Theater. The clip shows a beautiful balance between a realistic look with a cartoony sensibility as Astro interacts with the sea of clouds. In conjunction with the Astro Boy production sessions and other related activities at SIGGRAPH Asia, we'll get a really good look at this production, which incorporates a Japanese source and was produced in Asia.

Deadline (Electronic Theater)

Not only did this year's Best of Show winner, "Anchored," use computer graphics and typography in creative ways, animators find ever-newer ways to apply computer technology to other forms of animation.  In "Deadline" those reminder post-its come to haunt their author.  Be sure to catch the making-of movie in the Animation Theater to see how this charming piece was put together with computer pre-visualization!

Tom N Jerry (Animation Theater)

This 11-minute comedic chase is evidence that that 3D computer graphics can be a means of individual Expression. In this clip, Tom chases Jerry in the airport. Meantime, they bump into a terrorist who tries to threaten the police with a bomb. They finally get on the airplane. The inspiration behind this comedic piece came from the producers passion for original series Tom N Jerry. Upon learning the passing of Joseph Barbera, half of the legendary duo of Hanna-Barbera and the creators of Tom N Jerry, he was inspired to create an animation piece that is equally entertaining.

Entering the Mind through the Mouth (Animation Theater)

This 23-minute dramatic piece revolves around the love story of a cat with a boy's mind and a mouse with a girl's mind. They try to escape from a wicked tamer who wants to make a mutant of a cat. This story is interesting because it is not normal. A cat and a mouse are often regarded as enemies, so a blossoming love is not possible. This clip aims to send the message that these animals, like all humans, are able to develop feelings for each other despite their very different backgrounds.

Full information for the Computer Animation Festival can be found on http://www.siggraph.org/asia2009/for_attendees/computer_animation_festiv... [1]. For more information on SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 program updates, please visit www.siggraph.org/asia2009 [2].