Jewish Animation is the fo-shizzle

Last night's showcase of Jewish animated films was such a hit, I could just plotz. According to Madi, it was a packed house, with 130 people in attendance including Arnie Lipsey, Eugene Fedorenko and Nick Fox-Gieg. All in all, a darn good time.

Speakin' o' good times, don't forget our upcoming workshops with the forementioned Mr. Fox-Gieg and Mike Weiss. More info in the Workshops section of the TAIS site, or just hit the link. I'm out, cheers!

Fred loves the chicken! (not literally, you pervs...)

Just a quick post with Episode #176 (!) of Channel Frederator, now featuring more chicken! Yep, the powers that be at the big red Fred were nice enough to program the ChickenJam trailer into this week's episode...look for it at around the five minute mark. And stick around for the rest of the show, o' course! From the site:

"First up, we have a sweet music video for Broken Social Scene's "Pitter Patter Goes by Heart" called "Note To Self." Second is the Manila Folder Classifieds and the adventures therein. Certainly, there are no adventures quite like the ones in the Manila Folder Classifieds, as you will see. and finally, we have something cool with "I've Got Nothing," a look at the creative process and the response to the blank page."

Sounds cool. Check it. And start makin' your chicken-a-mations, right after you mark May 29th and June 25th on your calendars. Get it to us by the first date, so we can throw it up on the big screen at the NFB Cinema come the second. I'm out...more later!

TAIS Showcase and Jam info!

Seems to be a bit o' confoosion on dates n' stuff, so here' s a followup to letcha know when everything surrounding the TAIS Summer Showcase is happenin'. Remember, if you got any questions about anything TAIS, the contact info is under the pic of the cute lil' foxy guy with the big green sword off to the right, in me profile.

TAIS Summer Showcase

Deadline: May 29, 2009 - 5:00 pm

Have you made an animated short film in the last two years? Want it to screen to a packed house as part of the fantastic TAIS Animation Showcase at the NFB this June? Then submit!

All Genres, mediums, themes! Films must be under 15 minutes in length.

Screeners should be in either MiniDV or Quick Time Movie films on DVD/CD. (NOTE: we'll accept FTP submissions as well, just e-mail us to let us know that's your plan first!)

Send your submission to:
Toronto Animated Image Society
TAIS Showcase 2009
60 Atlantic Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6K 1X9

Please include the submission form, a brief description, an artist bio and contact information, as well as two film stills (tiff or jpg @ 300 dpi - 2 x 3) . Description, bio, contact info and film stills may be emailed to tais@bellnet.ca or included in submission package.

TAIS ChickenJam

Deadline: May 29, 2009

TAIS is at it again with its annual Animated Jam session, or Anijam!

This year’s theme is... Chickens! Yes, you heard right. Chickens of the World, chickens of the sea, chickens of the forest, chicken scratch. Poulet of all sorts.

Create a 10 second long animated film that somehow encompasses our chicken theme! Use any animation technique you want... just make it delicious! Submit it to TAIS and we’ll edit the submissions into a chicken AniJam film which will screen at the TAIS Summer Showcase at the National Film Board this June!

Plus, we’ve got tons of giveaways!

Submit your films on CD/DVD-Rom or via email/file hosting link with the submission form, a brief bio and 2 stills (jpeg) from your film. Format of all Chicken Jam submissions should be a 720 x 480 Quicktime.

Send submissions with the submission form, a brief bio and two stills (jpeg) from your film to:

Toronto Animated Image Society
Chicken Jam
60 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 102
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 1X9
CANADA

Want to send it digitally? OK! Email us a zipped file, email us an ftp link to download from, email us a file hosting link to:

tais@bellnet.ca

There you is! We had an anonymous person o' interest leave commentary that they didn't know the dates...hope this gives you the info you needs. Now submit them films! And give a hand to our erstwhile admin Tara for putting all the website stuffs together. More later!

EDIT: Our anonymous friend is back, makin' this ol' pooch feel like an idiot...justifiably so, tho'. He/she points out that I forgot to post the event date and locale! The TAIS Summer Showcase and ChickenJam will be screened at the National Film Board of Canda Cinema, here in Toronto, on June 25th. Here's a link to the map: I'll do a follow-up post with screen times and ticket prices (should be about five bucks...bargoon) closer to the event. Thanks for the reminder, Anonymous...love yer poetry!

TAIS nooze! April edition

Hookay, bunch o' stuff to cover here. Latest TAIS newsletter done be out (thank you Tara and Madi), but there's just too much goodness to post it all here. Honestly, it's huge. So, if ya wanna reads it, become a member! Come on, ya know ya wanna.

I finally managed to get the DEFINITIVE version of the ChickenJam trailer up...for a while there, we was going through sponsors like nobodies bidness. I originally wanted to get Toon Boom onboard, but them's busy folks...hopefully I'll get ahold of somebody there before the big date. And MyToons? Ah, alas, MyToons. Amid has posted about it, read it here. So, officially, our event sponsors are:

Channel Frederator: Eric Homan's given the green light to run the trailer in the April 21st episode of the big red cartoon show. Noice!

Line Boil: Aaron Simpson's sister site for all things animated. Aaron already gave us some of that there pimpage, and he's also shippin' us some shoits. My man!

NFB: Michael Fukushima over at the National Film Board got us 9 dvd's of chicken-flava'd short animated goodness, as well as a venue (The most awesome NFB Cinematheque here in Toronto) to host the event. Good on ya!

Finally, I've got a line on some prizing from afar...specifically, Honalulu. More on that later. Meanwhile, relax, sit back, watch a decidely green ep. of the Fred, and I'll be back with more nooze. Be sure to drop by the TAIS website and click on the links on the left...Tara's been updating like mad!

The Brothers Krause go Upstate on yo' ass.

Da hardest workin' man in Flash-biz...

Gotta love that Aaron Simpson...dude not only takes time to give TAIS some serious pimpage on Cold Hard Flash, but now, he's a one-man employment site, tryin' to get his animation homies work in these troubled times. Check out da amination from Brittney Lee above. Then hire her, 'cuz Aaron sez to. Yep, he's a great representative of the online animation community.

Plus, I hear he makes one hell of a vodka martini.

O.k., 'nuff with the gush. Check out CHF and the sister site Line Boil for animation shtuffs that you will likes. More on the ChickenJam later...with possible mentions of Hawaii?

TAIS Info Bomb!

Brace yerselves, buckaroos...here's all what's goin' downs at TAIS currently. And we've got more stuffs planned! Yeah, we're nuts. Here's the skinny:

------------------
1 CUT AND PASTE ­ PHOTO COLLAGE ANIMATION PROJECT
Toronto Animated Image Society & Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary
Photography ­ Call for Applications

Gallery 44 and TAIS are seeking proposals for a commissioned project that
brings together photography and animation. Each successful applicant will
produce a 1 to 3 minute photo-based animation exploring the subject of
³feeling photography², the title and theme of a conference hosted by the
Toronto Photography Seminar in October 2009. The animations will be
premiered in the Vitrines of Gallery 44 during the Feeling Photography
conference.

The conference "Feeling Photography" will bring together scholars working in a range of interpretive and theoretical approaches to interrogate the relationship between affect, emotion, and/or feeling and photographic meaning. Gallery 44 and TAIS want to support the creation of artworks that explore similar themes.

Projects will be completed between May and August 2009. TAIS and Gallery 44 will offer support for the development and production process of the projects.

Selected artists will receive:
· Gallery 44 Membership
· TAIS Full Studio Membership
· $300 honorarium
· Photo Animation Workshop at TAIS
· Imacon and Flatbed Scanning workshop at Gallery 44
· $50 materials fee

Each application must include:
· Project description ­ 200 to 300 words
· CV, resume, or brief bio
· Samples of recent work (i.e., CD or DVD for time-based artists;
maximum of 10 images on CD for visual artists)
· A self-addressed, stamped envelope. Submissions without a SASE will
not be returned.

Submit to the TAIS office via email or Snail Mail by April 24, 2009
60 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 102
Toronto. Ontario
M6K 1X9
Email: tais@bellnet.ca

For more info, please visit www.tais.ca/cutnpaste.html


2 TAIS ANIMATION SHOWCASE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Have you made an animated short film in the last two years? Want it to
screen to a packed house as part of the fantastic TAIS Animation Showcase atthe NFB this June? Then submit!

All Genres, mediums, subjects, themes- Under 15 minutes in length.

Screeners should be in either MiniDV or Quick Time Movie files on DVD/CD.

Send your submission to:
Toronto Animated Image Society
TAIS Showcase 2009
60 Atlantic Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6K 1X9

Please include the submission form below, a brief description, an artist bio
and contact information, as well as two film stills (tiff or jpg @ 300 dpi -
2 x 3) . Description, bio, contact info and film stills may be emailed to
tais@bellnet.ca or included in submission package. Application form can be
found here: http://www.tais.ca/opencall.html

Deadline for submissions: Friday May 29, 5:00 pm


3 TAIS ANIMATED JAM 2009 ­ CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
We are proud to announce this year¹s theme for the TAIS AniJam, ten second animations that will screen in rapid succession at the TAIS Showcase in June. This year's theme is... Chickens! Yes, you heard right. Chickens of the World, chickens of the sea, chickens of the forest, chicken scratch...poulet of all sorts.

Get cracking on those animations!
Deadline for submissions is May 29th, 2009 at 5:00 pm.
For more info or to download a submission form visit:
http://www.tais.ca/chickenjam.html


4 STOP MOTION WORKSHOP WITH MIKE WEISS
Puppet building, puppet animation fundamentals, and a "How To" intro to
independent Stop Motion.

April 26th, 2009
10 am ­ 5 pm
At the TAIS Studio, 60 Atlantic Avenue
$35 members, $50 non-members (Pre-registration required)
Only a few spots left. Register soon to avoid disappointment.
To register, contact the TAIS office at tais@bellnet.ca or by calling
416-533-7889


5 LEARN HOW TO MAKE AN ANIMATED FILM FROM SCRATCH IN FLASH
Mentor/workshop facilitator Nick Fox-Gieg will lead a group of participants
from start to finish on the ³how-to² of making an animated film in flash.
This two month workshop will include instruction in using flash for
animation, creative consultation on your project¹s structure, and access to
the TAIS studio for completion of your film. The course will culminate in a
public screening of the works created.

Dates:
May 9, 2009 ­ 11 am ­ 5 pm
Every other Thursday evening in May/June from 7-9 pm
May 14, May 28, June 11, June 25

Cost: $250 members, $300 non-members

Interested participants should send expressions of interest to the TAIS
office by April 25, 2009. Submissions should include:
· Contact information
· 1-2 paragraph proposal of work to be created
· A brief bio that outlines what skills or relevant experience you have
with animation/illustration/digital imaging
· Samples of your work (i.e., website portfolio, CD or DVD for
time-based artists; maximum of 10 images on CD for visual artists)
· Please also include what, if any, equipment you can bring to aid in
the creation of your project. A Wacom tablet and a laptop with Flash 8 or
later installed will be especially useful.

Send submissions to:
Flash Workshop
Toronto Animated Image Society
60 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 102
Toronto, On M6K 1X9
Via email:
tais@bellnet.ca


6 THE RETURN OF THE INCUBATOR EXTENDS...
We¹ve had so much fun and such good response to the incubators over the
winter months that we¹re going to keep them going! Join us on the 1st
Wednesday of every month for our quilting circle style incubators, where
guests show their works in process, share animation knowledge and gossip
while keeping their fingers busy with related crafts. This month, TAIS
representatives will be on hand with all the tools and know how you¹ll
require to get working on some simple DIY cameraless animation.

Wednesday, May 6th
60 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 102
7:00 pm ­ 9:00 pm
$5 suggested donation for scratchers to cover the cost of materials


7 A SHOWCASE OF JEWISH ANIMATED FILMS
In conjunction with Mural Routes, TAIS is pleased to present a screening of
eight short Jewish animated films curated by TAIS president Madi Piller,
followed by a discussion & light refreshments.

Following the presentation, one of the animated films will be chosen as the
subject of a colourful mosaic mural to be installed on Bathurst St. (at
Lawrence avenue) as part of a community beatification project.

A Showcase of Jewish Animated Films
Thursday, April 23 ­ 6:30 pm
at Barbara Frum Branch, Toronto Public Library (20 Covington Road)
Admission: FREE!

For more info, visit www.muralroutes.com
------------

Whoof! Did I say skinny? Well, there's plenny to keep y'all busy there, so hit them links, sign up or get more info. Cheers!

Jon Izen rides that Magic Pony

Just got an e-mail via Tara at TAIS HQ from merry nutbar Jon Izen, he of 'Black and White' fame! Seems he's gonna have hisself an art opening at one of my fave joints, The Magic Pony, on April 17th! Naturally, I'll have to be there. I'll bring the Xacti and grab some vids of the show for all to enjoy. If you're in T'rawna that day, drop by and show the dude some love...after all, he animated what you see above, along with homey Ivan Rusev. Enjoy!

Recyclamation, Disney styles

Someone done gone and compiled all the re-uses from 'Robin Hood', which, becuz of a teeny budget, sourced characters and animation sequences from 'Jungle Book', 'Aristocats' and 'Snow White'. Either this is a 'hah, gotcha!' moment, or a rare glimpse at how to creatively re-use old footage as source for a budget title. Me, I'm kinda in the middle...'Robin' had it's moments, but generally was a big pile 'o lackluster, and this montage just goes to prove the point. Don't be too hard on the folks back then, though...this was the first animated flick produced after ol' Walt shuffled off the mortal coil. Courtesy of web culture site Dark Roasted Blend.