This past Monday, I was privileged to be one of several press members who attended the Brave Press Conference at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood. My fellow journalists and I were given the full VIP treatment, complete with parting gift bags, some snacks, and several beverages to choose from. But most importantly, Disney™ provided us with the opportunity to speak to the wonderful cast and crew of Disney•Pixar’s new Brave. Each Brave contributor gave us deeper insight into the film’s complex narrative, some behind-the-scenes factoids, and plenty of laughs as well. It was an excellent day, and all who came brought such wonderful bouts of energy and enthusiasm that it was just a joy to take part in this event. Below, you will find two audio files from the press conference, as well as a video I was able to record of Director Mark Andrews and Producer Katherine Sarafian’s Q&A with the press. The readers who’ve already seen Brave will hopefully get more insight with these sets of interviews, but if you don’t mind a spoiler or two and haven’t watched Brave, by all means dig in… Read more on ‘Brave’ Press Conference!…
Winners of last year's "Best Animated Short Film" for 'The Lost Thing.'
We draw closer and closer to that inevitable and exciting day when the Oscars are announced, seeing how our predictions stack up and whether our favorite films get their deserving honors. Like last week’s Oscar Circuit article on “Best Live Action Short,” the “Best Animated Short” category is often forgotten by moviegoers who just want to see the major awards announced. That’s a shame, because there are some truly innovative animated films out this award’s season whose studios, one in particular this year, have the potential to become major power players in the animation industry. I see animated short films as both poems and experiments. You have small studios like Moonbot Industries and StudioAKA unafraid to showcase their talents with great little stories featuring some often bizarre yet stylistically impressive animation. Everything is so compact and told in such little time, but the emotion that pours through in those brief minutes is often more gripping than a full length feature. The nominees this year are no exception.
The 2012 Nominees for “Best Animated Short Film” Are…
Sunday/Dimanche — Patrick Doyan
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
2011 has been widely considered a poor year for Animated Features. While I myself don’t feel like the animated films this year are a complete bust, I can understand some of these sentiments. However, looking at this year’s crop of “Best Animated Short” nominees,” you find that things don’t look so bad in animation after all. I’m amazed how even after revolutionary animated films like Toy Story 3 and Shrek, I can still find myself in awe when witnessing marvels in computer-animated technology. This was the case for many of the nominated films I saw at the NuArt theater in Los Angeles this weekend. While some I may not have completely fallen in love with, there is no denying that every single nominated film pushed the boundaries in animation on some level. In other words, I never witnessed anything I had seen in prior animated material. With that said, here are my official reviews of each of the 2012 Academy Award nominated films for “Best Animated Short:”Read more on Film Reviews: Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts…
