AMPAS hosts Oscar-nominated Animated Feature symposium 2/19

[ALIASd]

Oscar®-Nominated Animated Feature Symposium


MODERATED BY ANIMATOR AND ANIMATION HISTORIAN TOM SITO

The Animated Feature Symposium celebrates the work of the 2008 Oscar nominees in the Animated Feature Film category. The nominees (subject to availability) will discuss their film’s development and their creative process as well as present clips illustrating their techniques.

The 2008 nominees are:

“Bolt” – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda” – John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E” – Andrew Stanton

This is the first year the Academy is hosting this event as a part of its Oscar Week festivities.

Admission is free, but advance tickets are required.

When Thursday, February 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Where Samuel Goldwyn Theater
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

All seating is unreserved.
Tickets Admission is free.
Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis starting February 2 at 9 a.m. (Limit four) Contact Info (310) 247-3600
http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibit...edfeature.html

[a_shy_kid]

ooooooooooooooooo! how awesome!
thanks for the notice!!!!!!!!!!!

hopefully i can score some tickets.

[ALIASd]

This event is SOLD OUT.

A standby line will form at the theater’s west doors on the day of the event. Standby numbers will be assigned at approximately 5:30 p.m. Any available tickets will be distributed shortly before the program begins.

Animated Feature Symposium | Events Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

[Coheteboy]

I got my tickets!

[ALIASd]

See ya there!

[Coheteboy]

That was a very enjoyable evening! The event was hosted by Tom Sito, an animator and historian in his own right... he did okay I suppose. More awkward and unprepared than i was expecting. I think they should leave the hosting duties to the likes of Leonard Maltin or that other animation historian (his name escapes me). But he asked decent questions.

The night started with the action sequence of Bolt and a talk with the two directors. The two didn't really bring too much of interest to the table but they did explain from their point of view what happened with "american dog". It was creative differences between John Lasseter and Chris Sanders, and instead of trying to patch that up, they kept the concept a hollywood dog and started fresh.

Then they showed the clip from Bolt where Bolt and Rhino go to the pound to free Mittens.


Next up was Kung Fu Panda. The clip was the awkward scene of Po accidentally going to Crane's personal quarters and the scene where Master Ooguay and Po talk at the peach tree.

The two directors seemed to have a similar situation as the guys on Bolt, saying that when they came on board, it wasn't a pretty picture. It was a story that mocked kung fu movies, had plenty of pop culture references and modern gags.... just a mess they said. So they wiped the slate clean and aimed to make the best looking film that the studio has ever done. And I think they succeeded in doing just that.

The montage of Shi Fu and Po training was seen.

Then Wall-E. The clip from Wall-E returning to his home for the very first time was shown.

Andrew Stanton, very entertaining guy to listen to. I'll go into more detail later because I'm tired.

Scene of escape pod followed.


then every panelist was brought up for a big talk with Q&A as the directors talked about their roles as director and what that means. What makes a good leader, etc.

[ALIASd]

Was great to see you and your pals there. And 'The Simpsons' director David Silverman, 'Bolt' producer Clark Spencer and a number of Disney and DreamWorks animation employees.

It was also cool to run into one of the talented young artists from DCA's Animation Academy (she's one of my niece's favorite teachers there) and her friends. They asked Andrew Stanton to autograph a message that would be framed for everyone backstage at "Turtle Talk with Crush". He of course obliged with a nice note of thanks and signing it "You so rock! Andrew Stanton (aka CRUSH) & even added a small turtle shell sketch.

It was great fun chatting with 'Bolt' co-directors Byron Howard and Chris Williams ('Glago's Guest'). I asked Byron if the character design for the animals in their film provided any extra challenges considering Disney's great history of existing dogs and cats, such as Thunderbolt and Sgt. Tibs from '101 Dalmations.' He told me that indeed they did numerous versions based on not recreating anything done before, settling on the smaller Corgi dog-type. They felt a smaller dog involved in this type of adventure would play better overall for the audience. Here's a couple of their character pieces:

BOLT by Byron Howard



BOLT by Jin Kim



Byron and Chris were kind enough to sign two Little Golden Books for me:



The evening's program signed by Andrew Stanton



Next year's event should be great as well, looking forward to seeing 'The Princess and the Frog' on the Academy's screen.

[Coheteboy]

Yah, I kinda wish I had a BOLT or Kung Fu Panda book to get signed, but I didn't want my friends to be waiting forever for me.

[a_shy_kid]

I thought last night was great!

I agree Sito was kind of out of it last night, hahaha and the discussion with the Bolt directors was a bit slow at first but the night definitely got more entertaining as it progressed.

Still it was a treat to hear from all these directors, who have very different backgrounds and have varying levels of experiences but all produced strong films in their own right (well I believe they did). It was just great to get some understanding of their outlooks in creating their stories and their views of animation itself...very enlightening...I definitely have so much too learn, haha.

Chris Williams actually had way more interesting things to say after the symposium when I was waiting to get his autograph, hahaha. I tired asking Chris a question but I was so nervous and awkward it didn't pan out as I had hoped, hahaha.

+ if Andrew Stanton ever calls me "dude,"...I know I've failed in life, hahaha.


Thanks for posting this thread about the symposium in the first place. I'm happy I didn't miss out on all the fun.
Can't wait for next year!

[ALIASd]

Originally Posted by a_shy_kid

Thanks for posting this thread about the symposium in the first place. I'm happy I didn't miss out on all the fun.
Can't wait for next year!

No problem Dude...

just a suggestion be shy at McDonalds, homeroom or at the mall -

not at a relatively rare event or unique situation such as this was.

You'll missout on opportunities that you'll probably regret later, especially after you made such a trek to enjoy. See ya next year when you're chatting up Pete Docter!

[Aladdin]

THANKS for the mini - report! I would have LOVED to be there, too.

and THIS is just so cool:

Byron and Chris were kind enough to sign two Little Golden Books for me:

[ALIASd]

Oscar Nominees 2009: Conversations with the Animated Features Directors

AWN chats with the Oscar-nominated directors of Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and WALL•E.

February 20, 2009
By Bill Desowitz
AnimationWorldNetwork


(l to r) Mark Osborne, John Stevenson, Andrew Stanton, Byron Howard and Chris Williams
pose with Oscar at a symposium for the Oscar-nominated animated features.
Richard Harbaugh © A.M.P.A.S unless otherwise noted.

With the Oscars rapidly approaching on Sunday, we recently caught up with the Oscar-nominated directors of Disney's Bolt and DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda: Chris Williams & Byron Howard and John Stevenson & Mark Osborne. We also chatted with front runner Andrew Stanton (Pixar's WALL-E) at the Academy's inaugural Animated Feature Symposium on Thursday in Beverly Hills.

Bill Desowitz: What has been the biggest impact of WALL-E on you as a filmmaker?

Andrew Stanton: It has really emboldened me to want to keep pressing at the boundaries of what the animated medium can do in a film.

BD: As literally the underdogs, Chris and Byron, were you surprised by your Bolt nomination?

Chris Williams: I don't know. I hadn't put a lot of thought into it.

Byron Howard: It was a pretty strong year for animation, with WALL-E and Kung Fu Panda being so great. And there was also the question of Waltz with Bashir.

CW: And there were a few other hit movies as well. So it's a really good time right now to be in animation, and the animation community is pretty small, and there's a real push to make these films as good as they can be. So we feel especially honored to be nominated.

Chris Williams (left) and Byron Howard, directors of Bolt
at the reception for the Academy's symposium for the
Oscar-nominated animated features on Feb. 19.

BH: I think when it finally started sinking in is there's this packet that Chris and I both got in the mail with all sorts of forms and stuff and information about the Oscars, with a DVD you're supposed to watch with Tom Hanks.

CW: I watched it.

BH: You did. So what do you know now?

CW: Basically, don't be long and boring with your speeches.

BD: What has been the impact of Bolt at Disney?

CW: Up at Pixar, they have been able to achieve a great honesty. People are able to disagree and there's this great energy in their story rooms, and for us it's a reminder that you have to really take it to that place in order to get the best ideas on the table.

BH: The thing about watching them in action, which John (Lasseter)instilled in the Story Trust when he came down here, is that notion of "quality being the best business policy" and it's a good way to make decisions and always pushes you in the right directions.

BD: And what was the impact of the accelerated schedule?

CW: We knew we had a tough deadline and in a way there was a silver lining to all of it. Ed Catmull very much believes in setting hard deadlines and doing everything you can as a crew and as a studio. And he was very straightforward with us. He said that lethargy is the enemy of creativity and if you give people deadlines that are difficult, it will force them to confront any difficulty that comes along. You have to deal with it that day. And if you all sign on to this, then you start to build this momentum. And there was really something that I felt that we were going to achieve the impossible with Bolt. The way the studio rallied around the movie was unbelievable. And I think it was partially due to Ed's grand design.

full interview at:
Animation World Magazine

[Coheteboy]

I only took one photo while at the symposium.. didn't have a good angle for the rest:





And while I should have gotten autographs from everyone, all I did was get mine from Andrew Stanton (again) in my art of Wall-E book because I already had ralph eggleston and jason deamer in there. Might as well keep going!