The FLiP Annecy Survival Guide

Annecy - an ancient medieval town in the French Alps

The International Festival of Animation at Annecy is the world’s biggest animation festival. It can be a slightly overwhelming experience; there are so many things going on at once that it can be hard to feel like you really get to make the most of being there. Alongside the film festival is MIFA – the world’s biggest animation marketplace, a brain-boiling congress of industry types furiously buying and selling. But Annecy is an event that every animator should go to at least once – if only to get a feeling for the sheer size and diversity of the modern animation industry.

The Thief and The Cobbler At Annecy

On stage at Annecy - Le Voleur et Le Cordonnier

Friday 19 June was the last day of the MIFA marketplace at Annecy, and also a rare chance to see The Thief and The Cobbler (en Francais: “Le voleur et le cordonnier”) original director’s cut – presented by the director himself.  Dad got a standing ovation when he came on stage, and he dedicated the screening to the memory of Ken Harris, one of Chuck Jones’ top animators on the Looney Tunes series and the man responsible for much of the animation of The Thief himself.

Lovelace and Babbage in Print At Last

Sydney Padua's long awaited graphic novel, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, is now on sale. Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage were 19th century inventors who between them pioneered the world's first programmable computer - still in working order in London's Science Museum. To read more about Sydney's book, see our 2013 interview here at FLiP.

All Aboard The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Harry Potter Tour

I recently took the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden, visiting the 80-hectare studio complex which was used for filming the Harry Potter series of films. The tour might sound like a three hour trivia odyssey for Potter fans, but in fact it turned out to be as good an introduction to the art, craft and science of visual effects film-making as almost any amount of classroom instruction - and far more fun.

Thursdays at Pinks with Dad

Animation veteran Rebecca Rees writes of her weekly lunch outings with her 89 year-old father, Richard Lodolo.

by Rebecca Rees

Our family moved to Hollywood in 1968.  We discovered hippies, unconventional life styles and PINKS.  We ate at PINKS all the time.  It was cheap, really good, and legal.  We would order our hot dogs and eat them in our car, which was a 1949 Ford.

About two years ago,  I was driving my dad around looking for a place to eat lunch.  We were on LaBrea in Hollywood and my dad suggested McDonald's....which sounded horrifying to me.  I just kept driving hoping we didn't pass a McDonald's, and then I saw PINKS up ahead.  Neither of us had been there in years, even though my dad only lives about 6 blocks away.  So I pulled over and parked, extremely happy that he forgot all about McDonald's.

Cutting Edge Technology In 1976: The Lyon Lamb Video Animation System

Lyon Lamb Video Animation System - a Revolution

Recently Disney producer Don Hahn posted a nostalgic piece at the Disney FaceBook Group about some cutting edge technology from 1976: the then brand-new Lyon Lamb Video Animation System. It was an astonishing development - you could shoot your animation and see a pencil test immediately instead of sending it off to the rostrum camera dept to be filmed, and then having to wait for the developed film to come back the next day. Nowadays all animators take real-time playback for granted. Until the Lyon Lamb, the only real-time playback was in the imagination of the animator. So, how did the animators do it? How could they possibly know in advance how their work would come out?

Will Finn On Loving Disney - Even Back In The 1970s

To have been a Disney fan during the 1970’s was truly to believe in magic, sappy as that sounds. In high school my peers mocked me for going to things like the re-release of Dumbo and 101 Dalmations. These were old cartoons that had lost their relevance to the general audience stoked on 1970s hits like The Godfather and Blazing Saddles. During my time at art school, the instructors warned me not to bother…

Help Sue Nichols Maciorowski SMAC Down Cancer

Once again, the call goes out to you in the animation community to help one of our own.  Sue Nichols Maciorowski, a 30 year animation veteran, is battling cancer.  The out-of-pocket costs are staggering.  To help pay for treatment, her best pal Brenda Chapman came up with Operation SMAC Down, and, with Tina Price, has created a donor page on the Give Forward website.  Over $9000 has been raised so far toward the goal of $25,000.

FLiP is asking you dear readers for two things:
1. Go to the site and donate to the SMAC down, anything you can.
2. Spread to word to friends and colleagues.

Click here to help.  And thank you.

Go Sue!

-Steve

We Worked At Disney Animation In the 80's and 90's

Back in the day

In this era of digital saturation it is not often that a mere Facebook Group stops you in your tracks, grabs your attention, and won't let you go.  Less than a week ago Disney producer Don Hahn started a Facebook Group titled We Worked At Disney Animation In the 80's and 90's. I won't post the URL here because the group is a closed group: open only to, well, people who worked at Disney Animation in the 80's and 90's. Already it has well over a thousand members and a ridiculous number of posts. Like many of its members, I can't stop reading it.

DreamWorks Layoffs - What Does It All Mean?

DreamWorks - big layoffs

At the end of Januaury DreamWorks announced big layoffs in their animation division, bad enough for the Los Angeles based artists who were laid off, but a disaster for Bay Area studio PDI, which is now to be closed.  PDI, for those who don't know, created ANTZ, the first non-Pixar CG animated feature film to reach the big screen. So, what does all this mean for our industry?

Animator's Survival Kit Now Released for iBooks

Animator's Survival Kit - now on iBooks

Faber and Faber has just announced the launch of the Animator's Survival Kit for iBooks.  The new edition brings together the complete 'Expanded Edition' of The Animator's Survival Kit with over 100 animated examples from The Animator's Survival Kit Animated DVD box set. It will be available globally, priced at £19.99/$28.99.  What does this mean for students of animation? It means you can now use the ASK on your Mac laptop - you don't need an iPad.

The World's First Online MA in Animation

I teach animation at a university in the UK, and my superiors are forever nagging me about the need to get an MA in my subject area. Trouble is, I need something I can do online, so I don't have to give up my day job.  But try looking around for something suitable, and there isn't anything out there. Which got me thinking - why not create one? Why not create the world's first MA in animation, completely online?  And, best of all, we could use the content from my online school - Animation Apprentice - and make it a course that would actually teach students how to animate. Properly.

Nassos Vakalis Talks about "Dinner For Few", and Reveals the Secrets of Entering and Winning Festivals

Dinner for Few

Nassos Vakalis' film “Dinner for Few” has been entering and winning festivals all over the world. We asked Nassos, who by day is a storyboard artist at DreamWorks, to explain the secrets of entering and winning film competitions. What does it make to make a success of a short film project?

Today, We Are All Charlie Hebdo

Paul Shardlow, art director and friend of FLiP,  expresses our feelings perfectly

Today at FLiP we stand shoulder to shoulder with our French colleagues to uphold the right of all artists and cartoonists to speak their mind and express their views regardless of who might be offended. Cartoonists are not used to being murder victims.  Our hearts go out to the victims themselves, and the families of those who were murdered in the course of doing their jobs, fighting to the last for freedom of speech.

Natasha Sutton-Williams Presents "Freud, The Musical"

Freud - The Musical

Natasha Sutton-Williams presents "Freud, The Musical", opening in London this weekend. The show is described as  "A One Woman Show about Sex, Madness and Medicine", and plays at The Space Theatre on Westferry Road for three nights only. Natasha is the youngest daughter of animator Richard Williams, now embarking on her own career as a writer, actor and performer.

New Year's Resolutions for Animators

What should an animator's new year's resolutions be? Animation is a huge and growing business, a far cry from the cottage industry it used to be even twenty years ago. But it is a competitive world, and good animators need to be smart to stay on top of their game. So here's a checklist for some simple ways to maintain your edge in 2015

Merry Christmas from the REAL Tiny Tim

Spot the Difference

Way back in 1971 my Dad's animation studio at no. 13 Soho Square in London took on their biggest project yet - a TV adaptation of Charles Dickens'  A Christmas Carol. The twenty-two minute TV special was produced by Chuck Jones and many scenes were animated by Ken Harris, one of Chuck's star animators from Road Runner days. Other animators included Grim Natwick and Emery Hawkins.

What Does It Take To Become a Successful Character Designer? - Luis Grane Explains

BoxTrolls - designs by Luis Grane

Luis Grane is an animator and character designer whose work can be seen on dozens of animated films including Prince of Eqypt,  Hotel Transylvania, Ratatouille, and Open Season. Most recently he did character design work for The Box Trolls, recently released worldwide in theatres. FLiP asked him to talk about the work of a character designer at a big studio - and how the heck you get there in the first place.

What Makes a Great Animator? A Personal View from Mike Nguyen

Korean Goshawk - animation by Mike Nguyen

Mike Nguyen is a veteran animator who has worked on many classic Hollywood feature films such as "Beauty and The Beast" and "Space Jam".  He was a lead animator on Brad Bird's classic "The Iron Giant" and also on "Osmosis Jones", and has been working for a number of years on his own independent animated feature film  "My Little World".  FLiP asked him to talk about what makes a great animator.

The World of Free - How Can Freelance Artists Survive in Modern Digital Media? Garrett Gilchrist Explains

Freelance artists, especially those just starting out, often feel like everyone wants stuff done for free. Unpaid internships, free work "to get your name out there", or payment deferred "until the project gets financed" - such are the perils of the modern digital economy. Garrett Gilchrist has been working as an independent artist, writer and filmmaker for twenty years, and is best known for his "Recobbled Cut" of Richard Williams' unfinished animated feature The Thief and the Cobbler. In this interview he talks about what is wrong with modern digital media, how the "World of Free" came about - and what can be done about it.

SONG OF THE SEA: Not Quite a Review - by Steve Burch

Song of The Sea premiered in London on Sunday Night

It is not often that you get a European animated feature released. It is not often that you get an animated movie, be it a short or feature length, that is an absolute delight to watch. Song of the Sea is both of these. Directed by Academy award-nominated filmmaker Tomm Moore and released by Cartoon Saloon, the movie Song of the Sea transports you into an astounding multi layered magical world, filled with a wonderful collection of Irish human and fairy folk lore characters, whose personalities both unfold and grow richer as the tale develops.

Mikkel Brons-Frandsen Launches His Free Game "Look"

Look byMikkel Brons-Frandsen

Mikkel Brøns-Frandsen is one of a number of talented students to have graduated from the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark in recent years. Mikkel has just released a free new game for the PC, titled "Look - an Interactive Poem". FLiP asked him to talk about the game and how it came about. 

Happy Birthday Pete Western! - as Drawn by Comic legend Mike Western

Happy Birthday Pete!

Today is the birthday of animator and director Pete Western, and here at FLiP we thought we would share some of the hand-drawn cards sent to him by his illustrator father Mike Western over the years. They serve as snapshots through the decades from the 70s to the noughties. I have know Pete for almost 30 years - we first met on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - but I had no idea his dad was a famous comic book artist. More than that, I recognise Mike Western's style from the war comics that I and my friends read avidly as a child, re-fighting WW2 in our living rooms with plastic soldiers and hand-painted Spitfires.

Remembering Donna

Remembering Donna

Readers of FLiP may have noticed that Steve, FliP's founder and the authentic voice of this blog, hasn't posted much lately. Steve lost his wife Donna to cancer earlier this year, and blogging hasn't been high on his list of priorities since then. Donna may not be with us, but she is certainly not forgotten. Steve recently unveiled a memorial to her at the skate park that she was so much responsible for - taking on the burden of mayoral office in a small town to try to make things better for her local community.

Submit your Indie Film Project now to Cartoon Movie

Cartoon Movie 2014

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 26 November 2014. Are you looking for co-producers, financing and distributors for your animated feature film project? If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie! If your film gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries. Present at Cartoon Movie are 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.