keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

John Lasseter's appearance at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Tuesday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m has been cancelled. Details are here .

Over at The Comics Journal website, Jeet Heer interviews designer, illustrator and animation director R. O. Blechman . Blechman talks a bit about the production of The Juggler of Our Lady at Terrytoons and his disappointment at never getting to direct a feature.

This is the fifth in a series analyzing a scene from The Grapes of Wrath . For this entry, I want to talk about business. Business is what performers do in a scene besides delivering dialogue. An awful lot of animation, especially TV animation, has degenerated into talking heads. All the audience sees on screen are shots of characters talking. The animator spends a lot of time figuring out where to put in an arm gesture or a head bob to keep the character alive while the dialogue is delivered. It's boring for both the animator and the audience. It's better for everyone if a character has something to do in addition to speaking and the obvious thing is to give the character something to do that relates to the setting or the meaning of the scene. Business is something that is usually not in the script and is the creation of the director and the actors in working out the staging of a scene. The above scene is in a roadside diner and there are obvious bits of business as a ...

Alimation - Annecy Festival 2011 from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo . Here is Alexandre Dubosc's edible animation done for the upcoming Annecy Festival. (Link via BoingBoing .)

The trailer for the mocapped The Adventures of Tintin is now online . Note how little the trailer focuses on the characters and especially the faces. Are they hiding something?

This is the fourth in a series analyzing a scene from The Grapes of Wrath . For this entry, I want to talk about conflict, obstacles and resolution. There are three types of conflict: character vs. character, character vs. circumstances, and character vs. self. In the past, these were often referred to as man vs. man, man vs. nature and man vs. self. What's important is understanding that without conflict, there is no drama. If Pa Joad walks in and asks for a 10 cent loaf of bread and they sell it to him, the scene is over. Furthermore, we've learned nothing new about the characters or the world they live in. Conflict by itself is valuable for what it reveals. The other important thing to realize is that there can be more than one kind of conflict in a scene. The more levels of conflict there are, the more interesting the scene and the more information gets revealed. In the above scene, we clearly have character vs. character. Pa Joad wants to buy bread and the waitres...

A reminder to everyone in the greater Toronto area that the Toronto Comic Arts Festival is this weekend at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge and Bloor. Admission is free. Guests include Seth, Chris Ware, Adrian Tomine, Chester Brown, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Boswell, John Porcellino and animation related guests include Vera Brosgal, Graham Annable and Pendleton Ward. The schedule of panels can be found here and exhibitors can be found on the first floor and the second floor . On Saturday at 2:15, there will be a panel entitled Comics & Animation: A Conversation with the Artists of Adventure Time featuring Michael DeForge, Bob Flynn, Andy Ristaino, Steve Wolfhard and Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward.

Jaime Weinman reflects on the latest updating of Bugs and Daffy, with quotes from Amid Amidi, Michael Barrier and yours truly.

(Updated Below.) The industry awaits the screening April 28 was Sheridan's annual industry day for its two animation programs. It wasn't until it was over that I realized that I took far fewer pictures this year than in years past and I don't know why that is. For photos of past industry days, click here . Each year, the student faces change, but the guests and the events stay pretty much the same. Based on industry attendance this year, it appears that the business is recovering from The Great Recession. There were companies from outside the local area attending, including DreamWorks, Walt Disney Television Animation, Bioware, Pixar, Atomic Cartoons, JibJab and Blue Sky. Nine studios conducted job interviews on campus on April 29. Many of the local studios prefer students to come to their premises for interviews. I didn't see any TV cameras this year, but the Toronto Star covered the event. Above, the students set up their presentations for their post-screening ...