The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival

At the Penguin Day Spa, penguins are massaged, pampered, and treated to only the finest. Because the tour is conducted entirely in Penguin, Chinese subtitles are necessary. Filmmaker Ming Xeien Yeo was kind enough to forward me the translated subtitles at one point, and here they are:

Penguins Are To Be Obeyed.
Look At His Puffy Cheeks.
Monkeys Like Penguins.
Chilly Penguins.
Silly Billies!
Look At His Puffy Cheeks.
Ooh Glow In the Dark Eyes.
Saucy Monkey!
Does It Hurt when Penguins…
Bellyflop?
Nice Reflecting Penguins.
I think Penguins Like Cheese.
Runaway!
They Like To Go To Discos.
I like Cheese.
Especially with Crackers.

Ming Xien Yeo took the Computer Animation Course at Sheridan College, which is where she made this film. She really wanted to create a film about penguins or monkeys. The penguins won out!

“Penguin Day Spa Commercial” will be showcased on Episode 2 of the Nicktoons Film Festival at 10:30PM EST/ 7:30 PST.

Unlucky Sheep 13 runs away from the flock causing a young boy insomnia. It’s up to the rest of the flock to get him back!

Filmmaker Kyle McQueen wanted to do a story about seeing the big picture in life and not getting caught up in the small details, so he settled on a narrative about a sheep who has one single purpose in life but can never fullfill it. “Ballad” was produced in part by Sheridan College. McQueen came up with the idea after rejecting three other half finished ones.

“The Ballad of Sheep 13″ will be showcased on Episode 2 of the Nicktoons Film Festival at 10:30PM EST/ 7:30 PST.

Melissa

In this animated film, an innocent greeting between two people is quickly transformed into a tangled struggle, illustrating the twists and turns of a full-fledged relationship.

A quick bio by Patrick: Filmmaker Patrick Smith wanted to be a professional skateboarder, but hurt himself and became an animator. His films have been featured on MTV, several Spike and Mike Collections, and over a hundred other international film festivals. He’s also the creator of the Zoloft Dot character, which he conceived under the influence of alcohol, a known depressant.

If there’s one thing that Patrick Smith isn’t lacking, it’s a point of view. I am always impressed by the strength and visceral quality of his animation. Says Smith, “Handshake was a fun film to draw. I consider myself an expert on relationships, and it was great to illustrate the emotions and experiences I’ve had. The film can be abstract at times, just like real relationships can [Read more…]

The robotic king of the jungle ascends for a plantain of epic proportions and finds much more in the eyes of a beauty. Great Apespectations is a riveting, introspective look into the human psyche, and what it really means to be hungry.

Filmmaker Joel Yaw found himself drawing dinosaurs and tanks from a very young age. By the end of high school, he enrolled in Sheridan College’s Computer Animation Program. Here he learned the joys of modeling and animating as well as the evils of render times and system crashes.

“Great Apespectations” will be part of Screening One, airing on Nicktoons Network August 26th at 10PM EST/7PM PST.

Melissa

When life throws you lemons, just say “Bip Bip”! This highly stylized stop-motion digital cut-out video by Romaine Segaud tells the story of a man stuck in traffic, and the hot headed girl he saves from the rain. Watch out, the tune is very catchy.

For all the Americans out there, the title of the film should be pronounced “Beep Beep”–like the sound a car makes!

Says Segaud, “This idea came from a test I did for my grandfather. For his birthday, I cutout a black and white picture of him when he was 8 years old. I put a guitar in his hands and made him play a song I wrote specially for this gift. I just loved this technique and decided to move foward with a music video.”

Romaine has worked as a 3D animator and collaborated on several productions with Michel GONDRY. He is also a director of music videos [Read more…]

When I first saw “The Tale of How” by The Blackheart Gang, my first thought was…how? How in the world did this collaboration of animators come up with such a unique story, beautiful animation, and haunting music? These guys are a force to be reckoned with.

Says Blackheart Ganger Markus Smit, “The Tale of How tells the story of the piranha birds, who are born from the blossoms of a tree growing on Otto the Monster’s head. (Otto is a giant octopus with a broken heart.) Otto is insane and eats the piranhas. The piranha birds aren’t happy and decide to plot their escape.”

The Blackheart Gang is a collective of friends with a passion for the arts. The idea for Tale of How was to create something original, inspirational, beautiful, and sincere. The story is the second part of a three-part story, developed by Ree Treweek and Markus Smit. Jannes Hendrikz composited, stylised, [Read more…]

The films for the 2006 Nicktoons Network Animation Festival have been chosen!

First up on the blogging block is “A Great Big Giant Robot From Outer Space Ate My Homework” by Mark Shirra. If the dog didn’t do it, who did? Bertie is late with his homework … again! He better have a good excuse, because Miss Spleen, his embittered teacher from the depths of Hades, is waiting impatiently in the shadows.

For his character animation, Vancouver Film School’s Mark Shirra filmed himself “acting out” many of the motions & expressions of the characters in the film on a webcam—embarassing to do at first, but it really helped with the character reference!

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Sirra at SIGGRAPH this week after he finished a presentation on how he made this film. Truly amazing.

“Robot” will be part of Screening One, airing on Nicktoons Network August 26th at 10PM EST/7PM PST.

Melissa