I thought that if you're going to make the effort to come on Saturday the least I could do is give you a map of where the SIFF Theater is and where you can park! The parking spots shown above are paid parking lots but it might be possible to find free street parking a little further away in Queen Anne - if you're lucky. (Don't count on that though!) If you want to avoid driving and parking entirely, why not take a bus to the Seattle Center or even the monorail too. Its a very short walk within the Seattle Center once you're there.  :)

The film: A Parade for 3 managers & 4 performers. Mixing quotes from French composer Erik Satie’s essays with the music Parade, this is an animated re-creation of realist ballet images going beyond reality.

The filmmaker: Koji Yamamura, born on 1964 in Japan. He graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 1987. In 1993, he founded Yamamura Animation, Inc. Mt. Head (02) was nominated for an OscarⓇ in 2003, and awarded the 6 Grand Prix include Annecy 03, Zagreb 04 and Hiroshima 04. Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor (07) awarded the Grand Prix at Ottawa. He is also an illustrator and several picture books are published. He is currently a sub-chairman of the Japan Animation Association (JAA) and a member of the board of directors of the Japanese branch of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA). A visiting professor of Tokyo Zokei University and a professor of department of Animation, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts.

Director's statement: 'Since my twenties, I haven been familiar with Satie’s work thanks to music CDs. Most notably, I was mesmerized by the Dutch jazz musician Willem Breuker’s interpretation of Parade. While hearing his version of the piece, I started to daydream about the ballet’s visual image, and that became the direct motivation for doing this film. 
Later, I got my hands on a catalogue of Satie’s exhibition in Japan in 2000, and from the design drawings, stills, documents, and sketches of the Parade printed there, my visualization became bigger and bigger. Again, thanks to that catalogue, I found out that in his final year’s, Satie didn’t allowed anyone to come inside his home and, unnoticed by all, spent days doing sketches of imaginary places and stores on thousands cards. Such lonely sunset years made me interested in his personality. At that point, I got the idea of mixing elements of his autobiography with the animated view of Parade. 
Satie’s art and behavior are ahead of Surrealism and Dadaism, I recognize him as pioneer from the transition stage between modern and contemporary art. His Parade emulates cinema, inserts jazz and popular songs, makes use of noise, and has a full contemporary essence. I hope that my animation triggers a review of the concept we have of contemporary art. 
With the combination of text and collage, made of flatten picture planes and fragmentary images, this animation is seeking to achieve a unique visual language.'  ~  Koji Yamamura

After our 'GOLDEN PENCIL AWARDS' presentations on Saturday we'll be showing an exclusive English screening of this fabulous movie, 'LONG WAY NORTH'! How are you spending your dry, mild Saturday night in Seattle?  :) Tickets: CLICK HERE!

Its getting scarily close now folks, so here's another 3 very different films to get your animation juices going... 'ICKY', 'HEAD' and 'AETHER'.  

The film: In the world of people with Rubik's cube head, there is a kid who is different from the others...

The filmmaker: Parastoo Cardgar

The film: A man decides to separate from his head. Unfortunately, his decision has dire consequences.

The filmmaker: Stave Levi. This is Stav's graduate film in animation, from Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design. Stav is 26 and intends to remain 26.

The film: A young artist, dissatisfied with her efforts to draw, opens a portal that absorbs her within the pages of her sketchbook. There, she journeys through her subconscious mind in order to find inspiration. She confronts inner demons, comes to terms with her fears, and celebrates the power hidden inside her. Told through a combination of 2d, stop-motion, and 3d animation, Aether is a love letter to those who have ever struggled with a creative block.

The filmmaker: Sabrina Chaney is a multimedia artist from Spring, Texas. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Animation. She enjoys combining different animation techniques to create experimental mixed media work. These projects may include stop-motion, 2D, CG, or all of the above using a variety of physical materials or software. She is also experienced in puppet fabrication, character design, and illustration. She considers herself a storyteller above all else, with a desire to communicate a message through visual media.

We finally got the film order and screening session times down folks! Note that the first screening, 'SESSION A', now starts 5 minutes sooner at 12.25pm!

Three very different films we're delighted to be screening... 'Baby & Granny', 'Begone Dull Care' and 'Bella Dilemma TV Trailer'. You can see 'Baby & Granny' in 'Screening 2' and 'Begone Dull Care'/'Bella Dilemma TV Trailer' in 'Screening 3'.

The film: A 2D animated action-comedy about a baby and granny who share a common bond (Baby’s Mother is Granny’s Daughter) but who fight like crazy when left alone. The visuals are highly-influenced by the work of 60's Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein

The filmmaker: ZHENG KANG is a Chinese-born professional designer, working in the animation industry. Based in Los Angeles, Zheng’s experience encompasses award-winning industrial, graphic and animation design direction. Zheng holds an MFA in Animation and Digital Arts from John C Hench Division of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, class of 2016. Zheng’s creative vision and highly-stylized commercial sensibilities can be seen throughout his personal and professional works, which are grounded in solid draftsmanship and peppered with his own humor and subjects of interest such as design, fashion, and Western and Japanese animation. His approach is diversely collaborative, forming the open-minded and optimistic essence of Zheng’s storytelling portfolio.

The film: A re-imagining of 1949's "Begone Dull Care", this abstract animated short film features chiptune music and pixel-art, while maintaining the abstract spontenaity of the original. Created by 20-year animation industry veteran Paul Johnson between May and October of 2015 while on contract in Montreal."Begone Dull Care 2015" updates the 1949 NFB animated short film by providing a visual representation of 80's style chiptune music through a dance of tightly timed abstract paintings and pixel-art. Utilizing a musical structure and pacing similar to the original, the short becomes increasingly digitized and eventually devolves into one single video-game-like character devouring the final credit.

The filmmaker: PAUL JOHNSON has been animating, supervising, and teaching traditional, 2d, and 3d animation since 1995. Paul has taught at Vancouver Film School, VanArts, VCAD, AI Vancouver, Cap University Harbin, Mars Era Beijing, and Think Tank Training Centre. His current independent short film is due in October of 2015, with "The 8-Bit Cup" being recently finished and online at vimeo.com/113990979. Credit list: Charming (Theatrical film) (2015); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Seasons 1 and 2 (TV series) (2012,13,14,15); Fanboy and ChumChum: Season 2 (TV series) (2011) ; Planet Sheen (TV series) (2010) ; Neighbors from Hell (TV series) (2010); My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Season 1 (TV series) (2010); Kung Fu Magoo (Direct-to-video) (2009); The Adventures of Little Jake and Many Skies (TV interstitials) (2009); Pearlie (TV series) (2009); Edgar & Ellen (TV series) (2008); The Nutty Professor (Direct-to-video) (2007); Chaotic: Season 1 (TV Series) (2006); Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Seasons 1 and 2 (TV series) (2005,07); FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman: Season 2 (TV Series) (2005) Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: Season 2 (TV series) (2004); The Buzz on Maggie (TV series) (2003); ¡Mucha Lucha!: Season 3 (TV series) (2002); Return to Never Land (DTV Feature) (2000); Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (DTV Feature) (1999); Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (TV special) (1998); Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (TV special) (1998); Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (DTV Feature) (1997); Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (DTV Feature) (1996); Tales from the Far Side II (1-hour TV special) (1996); Kleo the Misfit Unicorn (TV pilot) (1995)

The film: Logline: A Hollywood Movie Queen and a diminutive stunt-man in a monster costume, lost in an alternate dimension where every movie is its own reality. Animated TV Show Premise: Bella Dilemma WAS the “World’s Greatest Movie Star” until one evening, while she slept soundly in the comfort of her Beverly Hills home, a shadowy figure broke in and absconded with her Oscar, after which she woke to find herself on the sound-stage of a world gone mad, where no one had ever heard of “Bella Dilemma” and she was just another stand-in on a Hollywood movie-set. This alternate dimension is the “Cine-Verse”, where all the movies ever made are their own reality and the Oscar is a mysterious Genie-like figure rumored to have the power to make dreams come true. Together with her unlikely companion, Al Z., a diminutive stunt-man in a monster suit and a grizzled vet of many a back-lot, she travels from one movie scenario to another in search of the elusive Oscar, and the life she once had.

The filmmaker: Geoff Grogan is a cartoonist and teacher; since 2013 he has produced the comic strip "Jetpack Jr." (formerly "Plastic Babyheads from Outer Space) 3 times per week for Universal Uclick( @ gocomics.com/jetpack-jr ) while also serving as Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. Prior to "Jetpack Jr." Grogan produced large format mixed-media comics, such as "Look Out! Monsters" for which he won a Xeric Grant in 2008, and "Fandancer", a "Notable Comic" in "America's Best Comics" of 2011. He was co-publisher/editor of the alternative comics broadsheet, "pood" in 2010-11 and prior to that published the graphic novel, "Nice Work" in 2006/7. He was also the cover illustrator for Professor Charles Hatfield's pioneering Eisner-winning study of the work of legendary cartoonist Jack Kirby, "Hand of Fire". Grogan has had a long and varied career in the arts; after studying film and animation as an undergrad at the Philadelphia College of Art, he began his career as a cartoonist, doing political cartoons for an independent newspaper in the 1980's. As a painter and collage artist he exhibited in a variety of venues throughout the United States, most notably at The Drawing Center in New York in 2004. Comics and animation have informed his work throughout his life, and with "Bella Dilemma" ( itself a spin-off from "Jetpack Jr.") he has come full-circle.

An animated 'Scary Story' by Joey Paone - to be screened during 'Session 3' on Saturday!

The film: A little girl tells us her idea of a scary story.

The filmmaker: All the way from Austin, Texas, Joseph Paone is an artist who is passionate about animation, character design, and making short films.

​When watching animation in a theater or on television many people are not aware of just how hard it is to do what they’re looking at. So perhaps it would be helpful to list out the process of animated filmmaking here.
 
This is not to say that all the films you see at DRAWTASTICON (or elsewhere) are done in this precise way. But it does at list give a generic process that professionals tend to use, and which non-professionals might benefit from. It will also help our audiences understand just how insane animators are to create what they’re looking at in the first place!
 
What follows is most applicable to a traditional, hand-drawn, 2D animated film. But the process will be almost identical for all other forms of animation production in general – with just slight modifications being made to accommodate the medium of animation being used...
 
With any production there are three stages of creation, ‘PRE-PRODUCTION’, ‘PRODUCTION’ and ‘POST PRODUCTION’. We’ll deal with them a briefly as we can, in separate blogs. Today we’ll deal with ‘PRE-PRODUCTION’...

Everything begins with an idea and the hardest thing ever is to come up with one! Many films emulate other films and its true to say that everything emerges from a very few core concepts. Suffice it to say, I hope you will appreciate some of the ideas that emerge from the films you’ll see at DRAWTASTIC – although every filmmaker accepts the notion that ‘you can’t please all of the people or all the time’!
 
Once you come up with your basic idea, the challenge next is to create a script that will work filmicly. Usually scripts are text based but with some more visually driven animators, they will sketch out a simple storyboard of their idea without needing to resort to words at all.

02: CONCEPT ART & VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

​As well as create a working script or storyboard of their idea, animators will also develop concept art and other visual development for the work they are about to attempt. This will give a flavor of the ‘look’ their film will have when its final produced. Concept art can be very comprehensive or it may be just a few color wash frames that suggest the final look the film will have. But doing this at such and early stage sets out a visual as well as a storytelling objective for the filmmaker in question.

Side-by-side with concept art goes ‘character design’. Here the animator will visually resolve what their animated character (or characters) will look like when they are animated. Usually a ‘turnaround model sheet’ will be arrived at which defines the look and structure of the character(s) from all viewpoints.

04: THUMBNAIL STORYBOARD

If the filmmaker wrote their story idea out as a text-based screenplay, they will now work out the visual storytelling of their film in a filmic way using a 'thumbnail storyboard’. A storyboard is very important to the filmmaker as if they don’t not create one and rush into the production on a scene-by-scene basis they will often find along the way that their ideas do not work filmicly when put together and therefore a lot of time, sweat and drawing will be wasted. A completed storyboard eliminates this risk as you work out all your filmic visual/storytelling ideas before a single frame is animated.

05: AUDIO TRACK

If the animation is dependent on dialogue or choreographed movement to music, it is really important to have your audio track in place prior to production starting. With dialogue its is really important to have the final track before animation starts but with music a guide track will do as long as the timing of the music doesn’t change when the final version is recorded.

06: ANIMATIC

A very helpful pre-production exercise, once the audio track and storyboard is complete, is to film your storyboard frames and edit them as a real-time video. Known as an ‘animatic’, this preliminary video approach will enable you to watch your film storyline unfold on the screen, as it will appear when you have animated it. Animatics are a really valuable way of testing all your ideas filmicly, providing you with a chance to modify and polish your pre-production work before you enter the full animation production process.

07: ANIMATION & BACKGROUND LAYOUTS

If you are a traditional, hand-drawn animation filmmaker you will need to pre-plan each scene so you know how large your character drawings need to be in each scene and exactly how their backgrounds are position. Consequently, it is good to draw up both animation and background layouts for you to work with in the future. The animation layouts will define the size of the character you will need to animate in each scene whereas the background layouts will define where the character is placed in each scene and what is behind and/or around them.
 
A really neat thing to do, once all the layouts are completed, is to shoot everything as a final animation, so you can check for any final adjustments you need to make before you animate your film.
 
08: AUDIO TRACK BREAKDOWN

One last thing you may need to do if you are animating lip-synced dialogue is to ‘breakdown’ (analyze) your final audio track, frame-by-frame, so you know what phonetic sound is going to match each single frame of your animation. To not do this will pretty much ensure your animated dialogue will not work. If you do not have dialogue with your animation however, you do not need to do a track breakdown - unless you are animating to a music track, in which case its valuable to know where the 'beats' of this track fall, frame-by-frame.
 
Next, we'll cover the PRODUCTION process...

3 heads are better than one! Featured here are 3 'head shots' of 3 very different films... 'Fulfillment', 'Killer Recipe' and 'Stardust Echoes'.

The film: 'Fulfillment' ~ Travel around the brain with a little, lost thought and discover what it takes to make a great idea.

The filmmaker: Rhiannon Evans is an award winning film-maker from South Wales. She studied animation at the University of Wales Newport and chose to specialise in stop motion for her graduation film 'Heartstrings'. After a few years of freelance work in commercials she began a postgraduate degree in Directing Animation at The National Film & Television School where she was chosen as a recipient of the prestigious BAFTA scholarship. 'Fulfilament' is her graduation film.

The film: 'Killer Recipe' ~ An avocado inadvertently invents tortilla chips that want to eat him. His tomato friend helps him destroy the menace and he learns to appreciate nature. But wait...

The filmmaker: Chadwick Whitehead is an American animator, illustrator and musician. He was born in Greece in 1977 and grew up mostly in Michigan. He studied cinematography and animation at Columbia College Chicago and received his BA in 2000. He worked on film productions and then spent two years in Tokyo studying and teaching. In 2004 he moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts from which he received an MFA in Illustration as a Visual Essay. He currently resides in Brooklyn, making images and music.

The film: 'Stardust Echoes' ~ In a world where the dead are forgotten and the stars are but a legend, a little boy follows in his brothers footsteps to reconnect the realm of the living and the dead.

The filmmaker: Kevin Molina-Ortiz

Films with a monochrome flair to them! 'Gift of the Woods', 'Fido' and 'A Miner Problem'.

The Film: 'Gift of the Woods' is an oddly touching dark animated fairytale about a girl who finds a doll in the woods.

The Filmmaker: Kris Theorin is a director, animator, editor, and VFX artist. He has created content for several national brands including LEGO, Tube Heroes, Tongal, Zooppa, StikBot and SOAP Creative. Stop motion animation is one of his specialties but he is equally as talented creating live action short films and commercials.

The Film: 'Fido' is about a loyal dog waiting for his master.

The Filmmaker: Yer 'Za' Vue: My passion for drawing and painting led me to attend The Kansas City Art Institute, where I received my BFA in Illustration in 1993. After interning at Hallmark Cards and Disney Feature Animation, I relocated to Orlando, Florida where I spent over 10 years working for Disney on traditional animated films and shorts. My list of credits include The Little Match Girl, Brother Bear, Lilo & Stitch, John Henry, Tarzan, Mulan, Pochontas, and Circle of Life. Since 2006, I’ve taught animation, illustration and on-location painting at The Art Institute in Portland, Oregon. I've directed numerous animated shorts including Fido, Cinderfella, Bubbles, Masterpiece Makeover, Ethos, and Paper Indians. Teaching allows me to fully pursue my love of painting.

The Film: 'A Miner Problem' is a Senior Animated Film for BFA Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

The Filmmaker: Kyle Mentus