Wednesday, August 30, 2006

DLS-CSB Int'l Animation Entry

Dear All,

Just sharing with you our little victories in the SDA...


RP entry to int’l animation tilt

By Marinel Cruz Inquirer
Last updated 09:27pm (Mla time) 08/29/2006
Published on Page F1 of the August 30, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

INQUIRER comics strip contributor Blog Caliguia’s short animation film “Doodle of Doom” is the Philippine representative to the prestigious Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons Network Animation Festival.

Caliguia and partner Jason Confesor are competing with 30 other finalists from countries like France, Canada, Germany, England and the United States to win a cash prize of $10,000.

According to its website, www.nicktoonsnetwork.com, the festival was launched in 2004. Its aim: “To showcase the diversity of worldwide animation filmmaking.”

Animators from around the world were asked to submit entries until May 31. “Doodle of Doom” and Yeo Lee Nah’s “Crocodile Journals” (Singapore) are the only two entries from Asia. Korean finalist Dong Jun-heo, whose film is titled “Egg Song,” is based in the United States.

Judging this year’s competition are Hollywood comedians Shawn and Marlon Wayans (“Little Man,” “White Chicks” and the new animated special “Thugaboo”), Seth MacFarlane (creator of “Family Guy”), Andreas Deja (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Lilo & Stitch”), independent animator Bill Plympton (“The Tune,” “Microtoons,” “Boomtown” and “Plymptoons”), and last year’s Producers Choice and Student Award Winner, JG Quintel.

All six judges screened the submitted films during the festival held in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 12 and 13, and rated them based on “story, animation, design, entertainment value and fun factor.” Winners will be announced tomorrow.

Other prizes at stake are the Producer’s Choice Award, Student Award, Diversity Award and Viewer’s Choice Award.

Already a winnerNelson “Blog” Caliguia Jr., 21, is a multimedia arts student at the College of St. Benilde. He is the creator of “Inday Wanda,” which comes out weekly in the Inquirer’s Comics section. Confesor is his classmate.

Caliguia said “Doodle of Doom” was initially made as an entry to two local contests—the 4th Animazing Shorts competition and The Graphic Expo. It won the grand prize (amateur level) in both contests.

“It was just a school project,” Caliguia told Inquirer Entertainment on Saturday. “Our instructors exempted us from other school work just so we could concentrate on it. They said it had been four years since the school won any animation award over Ateneo.”

When Caliguia’s mom, Mina, first told him about the Nickelodeon contest, the young artist was hesitant. “It’s an international contest. We really didn’t think our work stood a chance,” he pointed out.

He added that the other finalists are already professionals—art directors and animation directors in their respective countries.

“Milya-milya ang layo namin sa mga kalaban (We were miles behind),” said Mina, who is the managing director of Artfarm Asia Animation, an RP-based animation training and service provider. “I think Blog and Jason’s work was chosen because it’s a novelty. It really looks like something from a Third World country. Seeing people living in shanties maybe common to us Filipinos, but not to Westerners. Most of the other entries are comedy films.”

The Caliguias said they didn’t expect “Doodle of Doom” to win the top Nicktoons prize, and that they considered being part of the competition prestige enough.

But there’s another prize that Caliguia and Confesor could bring home—the Viewer’s Choice Award, whose winner will be announced on Sept. 18. Viewers could vote online until Sept. 15. The finalists are already being aired on Nickelodeon.

Animation forumMeanwhile, Artfarm Asia hosted an animation forum held last week with Pixar Animation Studio’s Ronnie del Carmen as main speaker.

Del Carmen, a Filipino, worked on the hit animation film “Finding Nemo” as head of story. Prior to joining Pixar, he worked at Dreamworks and Warner Bros.

Reported Mina: “What we got out of the forum was a commitment from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Film Development Council (FDCP) to come up with something written and tangible for the animation industry. This will either be to set up an agency for local animators, or to look for grants.”

Panelists at the forum were: Christine Dayrit, chair of the Cinema Evaluation Board and vice chair of FDCP, Mark Meily, filmmaker, Tony Gloria, Unitel Pictures producer, Clodualdo del Mundo, filmmaker and head of the National Committee on Cinema of the NCCA, Tikoy Aguiluz, founder of the Cinemanila International Film Festival, Cecille Alvarez, NCCA chair and Rod Cornejo, GMA Network’s communications relation officer.

“It’s good that we’re now discussing the state of the animation industry here,” said Mina. “Even (Hollywood production firm) Bigfoot Entertainment has announced that it has a film fund that can be made available to local filmmakers. This could also [benefit] the animation industry. Not all films are shot live; there could be opportunities for animators, too.”

Bigfoot recently announced it was willing to finance or co-produce a movie “with a Filipino concept and an English script” for as much as $1-2 million. The Cebu-based Hollywood production company is working with the FDCP on this project.

1 Comments:

At 1:54 PM , Blogger Adi said...

This is the same article being linked to by Caths. Better use hyperlinks instead of embedding the text in the post.

 

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