Saturday, January 29, 2011

Memory Lane 7 - Sheridan College 1983


 Sheridan College in Oakville Canada 1983. It was first year college for myself and many of my friends. As I teach my students today, I tell them that some of their fellow students sitting next to them may very well be with them for their careers. Maybe coming and going as jobs start and finish, but the connections made in college can last a lifetime. I just had Dinner with 2 college buddies last weekend with my family. We joined another 2 for ' American ' thanksgiving up here in Vancouver. Just congratulated another close college friend about his new gig at Pixar. And the list goes on. It's such a Industry of networking. Animation is very much a small and tight Industry. And within it, a lot of people know a lot of people. So the connections you make, the friendships you make can very much help direct your path as you go forward once you leave college.


Below are scanned photos from my first year in college. It was a great time with fond memories. I'll list some of the people that I had worked with at various studios as the years went on. { I may have a few listed in the wrong class, but I think this is where everyone was. }
Click their names to see their animation path since these photos were taken. 


Blair Peters { who went on to be one of the owners of STUDIO B here in vancouver } , Jon Hooper { worked with Jon at Nelvana, DON BLUTH Studios, WB/Amblin, Hollywood Cartoon Co, Disney Feature }
Andy Bartlett { Storyboarding and teaching here in Vancouver }, John Hill { Animation Supervisor. Worked with John at various companies } , Dave Pemberton { Layout Storyboard Artist Toronto } Chris Minz { Layout / Storyboard Artist Toronto } Faye Hamilton { Layout / Design }





Lars Pindal , Jean Morel { worked with Jean for many years at various companies } Karen Lessman, { I sat next to Karen in 2nd year college. Our area was myself, Karen and Dick + Ralph Zondag. 3 guys and 1 girl ... not really fair ..lol } Lyndon Ruddy { Layout / Storyboard artist }, Mike Girard { overseas animation director }, Mike Bass { animation director }
btw, that's me in the far back row, upper right corner. Sitting right behind those two hippies Lyndon and Mike ;-)




Chris Doyle { Animation Supervisor. I still have his googly-eyed character model sheet for this 2nd year film. } Ken Duncan { Animation Supervisor. Worked with ken in many studios, as well as working on his Disney crew during the production of Hercules. He is now the owner of Duncan Studio in Pasadena California }




Dick Zondag { animation supervisor } and his brother Ralph { director } were missing for photo day.
Jerry Fournier { Layout / Storyboard artist } Chris Labonte { production designer / Layout }, Chis Roberts { animation design }, Greg Sullivan { animation director }




Rej Bourdages { good friend and even better poker player }, Howy Parkins { Layout / Storyboard artist / Director, and a great hockey player. Played in front of me on a few teams { I was the goalie } while I lived down in southern California }, Steve Williams, { visual effects supervisor }, Harland Williams, { Left animation for stand up comedy, voice acting then onto hollywood. The rest is history. He actually did return to animation as he did the voice for a character { Carl the robot } in Disney's ' Meet the Robinsons as well as other projects }, Shane Doyle, { timing director / storyboard artist } Bob Angelini { color designer / timing director / instructor Mohawk College Canada} Nik Ranieri { Supervising Animator. Worked with Nik twice at Disney, once on his crew for Kuzco { Emperors New Groove} and the other on Lewis for ' Meet the Robinsons ' } Neil Hunter { Storyboard artist, animator, instructor @ Algonquin College Ontario Canada },  Chris Damboise { overseas supervisor, assistant director, timing director, animator }, Tom Higgerty  [ deceased ] { assistant animator }









Rej, Harland, Eric, Chris and Steve somehow turn up in another photo. ;-)







Jamie Oliff, { worked with him at Disney and he also was a great defenceman on the Ice }, Caroyln Gair, { storyboard artist }, Roger Jakubiec { Layout, Sound editing }



Tuesday, January 25, 2011

2010 Oscar Nominations :


Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Here are today's nominations:
BEST PICTURE
127 HOURS (Fox Searchlight)An Hours Production Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
BLACK SWAN (Fox Searchlight)
A Protozoa and Phoenix Pictures Production Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
INCEPTION (Warner Bros)
A Warner Bros. UK Services Production Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
THE FIGHTER (Paramount)
A Relativity Media Production David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Focus Features)
An Antidote Films, Mandalay Vision and Gilbert Films Production Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
THE KING'S SPEECH (The Weinstein Co)
A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Sony Pictures)
A Columbia Pictures Production Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
TOY STORY 3 (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production Darla K. Anderson, Producer

TRUE GRIT (Paramount)
A Paramount Pictures Production Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
WINTER'S BONE (Roadside Attractions)
A Winter's Bone Production Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
BEST ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES - TRUE GRIT (Paramount)
JAVIER BARDEM - BIUTIFUL (Roadside Attractions)
JESSE EISENBERG - THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Sony Pictures)
COLIN FIRTH - THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
JAMES FRANCO - 127 HOURS (Fox Searchlight)
BEST ACTRESS
ANNETTE BENING - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Focus Features)
NICOLE KIDMAN - RABBIT HOLE (Lionsgate)
JENNIFER LAWRENCE - WINTER’S BONE (Roadside Attractions)
NATALIE PORTMAN - BLACK SWAN (Fox Searchlight)
MICHELLE WILLIAMS - BLUE VALENTINE (The Weinstein Co)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
CHRISTIAN BALE - THE FIGHTER (Paramount)
JOHN HAWKES - WINTER’S BONE (Roadside Attractions)
JEREMY RENNER - THE TOWN (Warner Bros)
MARK RUFFALO - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Focus Features)
GEOFFREY RUSH - THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
AMY ADAMS - THE FIGHTER (Paramount)
HELENA BONHAM CARTER - THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
MELISSA LEO - THE FIGHTER (Paramount)
HAILEE STEINFELD - TRUE GRIT (Paramount)
JACKI WEAVER - ANIMAL KINGDOM (Sony Pictures Classics)
BEST ANIMATED PICTURE
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (DreamWorks Animation)
TOY STORY 3 (Walt Disney)
THE ILLUSIONIST (Sony Pictures Classics)
BEST DIRECTOR
DARREN ARONOFSKY - BLACK SWAN (Fox Searchlight)
DAVID FINCHER - THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Sony Pictures)
TOM HOOPER - THE KING'S SPEECH (The Weinstein Co.)
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN - TRUE GRIT (Paramount)
DAVID O. RUSSELL - THE FIGHTER (Paramount)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANOTHER YEAR, Mike Leigh (Sony Pictures Classics)
THE FIGHTER, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Paramount)
INCEPTION, Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg (Focus Features)
THE KING'S SPEECH, David Seidler (The Weinstein Co)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 HOURS, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy (Fox Searchlight)
TOY STORY 3, Michael Arndt, Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich (Walt Disney)
THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Aaron Sorkin (Sony Pictures)
WINTER'S BONE, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini (Roadside Attractions)
TRUE GRIT, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Paramount)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Algeria, Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Cohen Media Group) - A Tassili Films Production
Canada, Incendies (Sony Pictures Classics) - A Micro-Scope Production
Denmark, In a Better World (Sony Pictures Classics) - A Zentropa Production
Greece, Dogtooth (Kino International) - A Boo Production
Mexico, Biutiful (Roadside Attractions) - A Menage Atroz, Mod Producciones and Ikiru Films Production
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHYBlack Swan (Fox Searchlight) - Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) - Wally Pfister
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) - Roger Deakins
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATUREExit Through The Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) A Paranoid Pictures Production Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
Gasland - A Gasland Production Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) - A Representational Pictures Production Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) - An Outpost Films Production Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land (Arthouse Films) - An Almega Projects Production Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECTKilling In The Name - A Moxie Firecracker Films Production Nominees to be determined
Poster Girl - A Portrayal Films Production Nominees to be determined
Strangers No More - A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up - A Sun Come Up Production Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors Of Qiugang - A Thomas Lennon Films Production Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITINGBlack Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter (Paramount) Pamela Martin
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTSAlice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros) - Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros) - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) - Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTIONAlice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Production Design: Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) - Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Inception (Warner Bros) - Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas, Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Judy Farr
True Grit (Paramount) - Production Design: Jess Gonchor, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGNAlice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) - Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) - Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) - Mary Zophres
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Barney's Version (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films/Wrekin Hill Entertainment/Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) - John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) - Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) - A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)“Coming Home” from Country Strong (Sony Pictures/Screen Gems) - Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) - Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) - Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Day & Night (Walt Disney) - A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo - A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute - A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) - A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) - A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILMThe Confession (National Film and Television School) - A National Film and Television School Production - Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) - A Purdy Pictures Production - Michael Creagh
God Of Love - A Luke Matheny Production - Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) - A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 - A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Inception (Warner Bros) - Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) - Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) - Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) - Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) - Mark P. Stoeckinger
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXINGInception (Warner Bros) - Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy new Year 2011 !


For all my family, friends and new Bloggers that stumble across this site, I wish you all a very happy new year full of positives.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!