Nina and Bill trailers

Trailers for Nina's "Sita Sings the Blues" and Bill's "Idiots and Angels". Enjoy.

Nina and Bill at Tribeca

Man, it's been nuts this week. The floodgates have opened on MONSTERJAM entries, and apparently Madi has her hands more full than usual, which is sayin' sumpin. To tide you over until I've got more news for the upcoming TAIS summer showcase, here's Nina Paley and Bill Plympton givin' good interview to IFC. Enjoy.

Blu: Muto

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This one has been picked up not only by our good friend John Martz, but erstwhile lexiconnoisseur Tycho over at Penny Arcade has been enraptured by it as well. And with good reason. A wonderfully inventive surreal stream of consciousness short on its own, made all the more inventive by the fact that it was animated in graffiti on public walls in Buenos Ares. Link to the artist's site here. Enjoy.

Dave Redl: Family Pants

Sorry for the long post hiatus...things are gonna be heating up here at TAIS as we approach the MONSTERJAM and Animation Showcase submission deadlines. Madi's been running around doing her crazy woman routine, promoting the event and grabbing submissions. And I've been working behind them scenes with MyToon's Michele Krier and Raleigh Melancon to get the word out. Speakin' o' which, a lil' 60's flavoured slapstick featured on MyToons front page for your delectation today. Family Pants is based on Dave Redl's experiences with his dad. Hopefully, the events depicted here are not historically accuarate. More later!

Badjoojoo: The Cliche list

I try to avoid re-blogging at all times, but blog comments I consider fair game. For example, Jerry and Amid over at Cartoon Brew recently posted a quick round-up of summer animated features, and blog-goer BadJooJoo felt the need to drop the knowledge. Below is a nicely thought out list of all the crap feature studios needs to stop pulling for awhile, in hopes that they don't appear to be freakin' hacks. Above, the trailer for 'Space Chimps', appearing this summer, illustrates many of Badjoojoo's points. Enjoy. Oh, and more MONSTERJAM nooze next week.

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Here my a top ten list of animated movie cliches (that must be banned for 25 years.) It can be used as a drinking game. I noticed that approximately 80% appear in the Space Chimps trailer alone.

1, THE SLO-MO NO - This is a scene played for laughs which usually involves some kind of (usually mid-air) slow-motion action. Extra points for scenes that involve slow-motion speech. Extra-extra points if that speech is the word “Nooooooo!”

2. YESSSS! - This involves a character (it’s usually a kid) pumping his fist and saying “Yesssss!” aloud or simply mouthing the word.

3. GREETING THA ‘HOOD - This usually occurs at the opening of a movie where a character (typically the protagonist) is stolling through his “neighborhood” greeting everybody he passes (typically with a big wave and/or a high-five). Extra points if the character does the “wink and point.” Extra-extra points if he uses both hands to do the “wink and point”.

4. AAAAAAAAAAAAGH! (a.k.a. Whoooooaaaaa!) - This is a scene that includes a reaction shot in which one or more characters engage in a prolonged scream in a frightening situation. Extra points if one character continues screaming long after all the other characters have stopped.

5. THE CRASH AND SLIDE - This is where a character crashes into some sort of obstacle (typically a window, but sometimes a wall or ceiling) then sticks there for a moment (usually to make some offbeat remark) before sliding off.

6. THAT’S GOTTA HURT - Right after some slapstick calamity, some other character fliply remarks, “That’s gotta hurt.” or something similar.

7. THE MILITARY MANEUVER - Typically happening right before the final showdown, The Military Maneuver involves civilian protagonists in non-military situations springing into action and adopting military mannerisms. These include call and response chants, training montages, lots of inspections and saluting and are usually accompanied by lots of snare drums and horns on the music track.

8. THE ANIMATED BOOGALOO - When a character in a non-musical suddenly busts out into a fit of spontaneous dancing (usually breakdancing).

9. THE RIGHT STUFF REVISITED - Scene which parodies the slow-motion walking scene from “The Right Stuff.”

10. ANNOYING A.D.D. SIDEKICK - Blabbermouthed sidekick or secondary character with Attention Deficit Disorder. Males are usually cowards, females are usually loud and sassy. Bonus points awarded when the character is portrayed by an African American actor.

TAIS@Ottawa '07: Animator's Picnic

A rare Saturday post, with me here at Splashy headquarters crashing a Monday deadline for our updated skateboarding game (I'll post a level flythrough sometime this month.) Here it is, finally: footage from the Ottawa '07 picnic in Strathcona Park. Beautiful day, and everyone was in a freaky fabulous mood. Got some great stuff, with interviews featuring Emru Townsend (yer gonna get well, man...you just are), Pilar Newton, the students from Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and some of the standard Chris whackiness-ness we've come to know and love. Plus, Joanna Quinn drops a pumpkin.

I'll try to post more in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, I'll have a follow-up post soon covering details of the MonsterJam and the upcoming TAIS animation showcase in June. Cheers!