Have you heard of 9? No, not District 9, but the computer animated feature set in a post-apocalyptic future called 9 which is set to arrive in theatres on September 9, 2009, (yes that would be 9-9-09).

Whether or not you’ve heard of this movie is a testament to the effectiveness of its marketing. Judging by the people I’ve talked to, this is not a film that many outside die-hard animation fans recognize. Personally, I think it’s a bit of a shame since I like the look of the film and I think it could be a pretty interesting movie. Because of that I’ve been following the build-up to the release of 9 and have been quite intrigued by how its web marketing has been handled. Read the rest of this entry

This past week, actress Felicia Day and the makers of The Guild released a music video to the web entitled Do you want to date my avatar? The video kicks off the popular series’ third season on the web. To my thinking three seasons, no matter how short the length of those webisodes are, is a huge accomplishment.

For my own television viewing, I always seem to wind up watching series that are either on the cusp of cancellation or are shot down in their prime. Series like Firefly and Farscape which were critically successful with a vocal cult following, but ultimately cut down by the studio and the network axe. Why? Because they were niche-market science fiction and there simply wasn’t enough interest among the general TV watching audience to justify the air time and the cost to produce it.

That’s what I find so fascinating about something like The Guild.

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In the animation world, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s massive tome, The Illusion of Life, is considered to be the animator’s bible. Those who may be tempted to sneer at all things Disney should pause in their judgment. While this hard cover book is filled with gorgeous full-colour illustrations from Disney short films and features from the early 20s to its publication in the 1980, this is not some coffee table book for rabid fans being pushed by Disney corporate bigwigs to make a quick buck. This book is essentially the passing of the torch, a history of western animation and innovation being passed from the first generation who created the art form to the next generation that would carry it into the future.

I’ve owned a copy of this book since I was in my teens. It was a Christmas present from my parents and I always looked upon it with great pride, particularly after I learned how sought after a volume it had become. Oddly though, I never really sat down to read it. I’ve flipped through its pages on occasion, but for some reason the book itself felt intimidating. This strange queasy feeling you get when you approach a teacher you particularly admire. Of course, it is only a book and I know rationally that I’m not actually sitting at the knee of these two famed, talented animators, but still, the mind can be a strange and tricky thing. It was only recently, when I realized that one of my lingering hang ups was centered around the notion of “how could I call myself an animator and not read Illusion of Life, despite the fact that I’ve owned a copy for over 10 years?”

Upon putting that lunacy into words, I sternly took my skittish psyche by the ear and plunked her down in front of this book. Even though I’m only a few chapters in at this point, the queasy feeling has been replaced with a sense of awe and humility. Read the rest of this entry