Many of you have been asking how Annabelle’s Bistro has been going and unfortunately, I have been unable to let a lot of information out of the bag in recent months. Now that all the details have been worked out, and production is in full swing, I can reassure everyone that the film is alive and well…and better than ever!
I am an instructor in the Multimedia department at Bradley University, and recently the department expressed interest in producing the film at the university. This was an opportunity that I simply could not pass up. The only thing I love more than animation is teaching, and getting the chance to do both and have it relate directly to Annabelle’s Bistro is amazing! We have many talented students in the program and with their help, this film will become something that it would never had been had I continued to plug away on my own.
I have secured the domain annabelles-bistro.com. This will serve as a spot on the web for the film to live. The site will contain quite a few cool features including a detailed production blog maintained by everyone working on the film. Look for that to go live in early December.
In addition, two of my students are producing The Official Annabelle’s Bistro Podcast. This will be a weekly podcast which will chronicle the production of the short film. It is up and available now so feel free to follow along as we work diligently to complete the film by June 1st, 2009. (yikes!)
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, or grab the RSS.
I have been into animation all of my life. However, as a child I lived a pretty sheltered existence. I did not see Creature Comforts until I was well into my college years, yet it quickly became one of my favorite animated shorts.
What immediately struck me about the film was how natural the animation was. The characters acted and behaved as if they had reluctantly agreed to an on-the-spot interview. It was the subtlety of the animation that really drew me in. I learned that there is quite a bit of humor to be found in the small moments and that humor need not be as broad as smacking someone in the face with a frying pan, to get an audience to laugh.
Nick Park created Creature Comforts with Aardman Studios in 1989. The film one him his first Oscar the following year. Check it out for yourself by following this link.
In animation, careful attention to detail is essential to giving a character life and to making them feel as if they really exist on screen. It’s important to remember when animating a human face, is not simply a matter of moving the eyes, and mouth. There are a large number of factors to consider in even the most simple of moments.
For example, when a character furrows their brow. Its not simply a matter of lowering the eyebrows. A great animator considers that there are muscle groups in the forehead that tighten in a specific way to cause the skin (and thus, the eyebrows) to slide over the skull in specific way. Additional, muscles on the side of the face tighten almost involuntarily which causes the eyelids to draw closer together as well as causes the cheeks to tighten up. The skin on the top of the head may be drawn forward slightly as well, causing a persons hair to shift forward.
The human face is a surprisingly…malleable surface. Not convinced? Check this out.
This video serves as a perfect example of the surprising way the human face responds to “input”. Something to consider next time you set yourself to animating a furrowed brow…or a punch to the head.
This isn’t animation related, but I have really been getting into movie trailers lately. Here is the trailer for W. Director Oliver Stone brings us what looks to be an entertaining and enlightening look at our favorite president.
My hope is that this film continues in the tradition of JFK and Nixon in that it is a respectful, and introspective look at a very turbulent time in our nations history. (And I hope there is just a little bit of that crazy conspiracy “fun” that he likes to stick in his films as well.)
I was talking with someone over the weekend and they mentioned that they enjoyed listening to my appearances on LAML Radio (LEGO enthusiasts podcast show)
So, for the time being, I will continue to post the episodes I am involved with. Here are episodes 53 and 54 for your auditory enjoyment.
Josh Burton is always bringing us the very best stuff. In this case, it’s an amazing short film called Oktapodi. The official site also has a really awesome “making of” video. This makes me wish I knew how to rig characters better.
Continuing in the tradition of other filmmakers beating me to the punch; here is the production blog for a fantastic looking CG film currently in production called French Roast. There are plenty of pictures for those of us who can’t read french because we didn’t pay enough attention in our high school foreign language class. (Curse you Rachel Barber! Why did you have to be so hot!)
I have been into animation all of my life. However, as a child I lived a pretty sheltered existence. I did not see Creature Comforts until I was well into my college years, yet it quickly became one of my favorite animated shorts.
Continuing in the tradition of other filmmakers beating me to the punch; here is the production blog for a fantastic looking CG film currently in production called 
