Look test for "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs"

Thanks Cassidy, yep, it looks like they took it down.

Sony has published a look test for their upcoming feature animated film: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. You can find it here:

http://www.imageworks.com/

Click on shows, then click on recent. Then click on the picture on the bottom of the screen. It took a long time for it to load up for me, but it is worth the wait.

Ira Glass on Story

This is the a must see clip:



I really this clip. It's true for story, and I feel like it's true with animation (or any creative endeavor.) I can really relate to it. I've worked on shots where I had a really strong idea what I wanted to do with a shot and it just didn't work. For example I've worked on shots where I had a specific pose that I wanted to hit. And for some reason I'll struggle with it for days trying to keep that pose in there . Eventually I'll remove that pose and then the shot will work much better and I'll spend the rest of the day kicking myself for not seeing it in the first place.

It's important to be flexible when working on a shot. You might have good ideas, but they might be wrong for the shot. If you really believe in an idea it's not bad to stick up for it but it is also important to show your shot to other people to help ground yourself.

Sorry no updates

I hate to post "sorry no updates" posts but few people have been asking me why there's been no updates.

The truth is I've been working 60-70 hour weeks and I just haven't had the time or the energy.

I'll be back with more soon.

Bolt Trailer On Line (if you can find it)

The trailer for Bolt is now on line. Over all I'm pretty happy with the way the trailer turned out. You can find it at the Disney website, but you'll have to look for it. (it's next to the screen in the middle on the lower right) The last 15 frames of one of my shots is in it. It's the shot just before he jumps over something:) Look for those frames here:

http://disney.go.com/index

Added: Here's a better bigger more direct link:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1631243518/bctid1631227711

Presto Clip

Wow, this looks amazing:

Nice ad from Framestore

I like the animation, really natural looking.

The Animation Survival Kit DVD

It looks like the Richard Williams book "The Animation Survival Kit" is being turned into a DVD. A trailer for the DVD just hit the tube:



Here's the website: http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/ It doesn't say when the DVD will be coming out, I guess we'll have to wait tell next week to find out.

I think the idea of a DVD is promising. The book is excellent, but it's hard to show moving examples in a book. I'm hoping that the DVD will be more interactive and will let you see what he's talking about.

The Animation Survival Kit is one of five books that I always recommend that my students get. It's one of the books that I feel should be on every animators bookshelf:

The Animator's Survival Kit

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (It's good to see this one is still in print)

Cartoon Animation (The Collector's Series) (I do prefer the tall paperback editions but this volume has all the books together.

Timing for Animation(This is a must read for any animator.)

Animation: From Script to Screen (I put this one on the list because of Chapter 3 where he talks about getting into the animators state of mind.)

There are many others that are good, but these are the five standard ones. If there's something I missed please feel free to leave me feedback.


They've updated their website, it looks like the set will be sold for just under $1000 USD but only if you buy it before November. No word on what region it is or if it's in PAL.

Thanks to Brew for pointing it out.