Walt Disney takes Torontonians up...up...and away

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada is taking Torontonians up and away with an outdoor campaign promoting the Friday release of Disney Pixar’s latest animated feature, Up.
Starcom Worldwide’s Toronto office is outfitting 10 transit shelters, owned by Astral Media Outdoor, with 72 helium-filled balloons.
Astral obtained a one-time approval from the City of Toronto to use actual balloons for the TSAs, which will appear in high-profile locations throughout the downtown core this week.
“It was critical to have the city on board, so we are thrilled that Astral was able to find a way to execute the balloon extension concept within the city’s bylaws,” said Jennifer Lewis, associate media director at Starcom Worldwide. “This execution will really bring the creative to life.”
The TSAs’ creative shows characters hanging from a garden hose attached to a house that is being carried away by hundreds of balloons.
“In the movie, there is a wonderful scene with thousands of balloons lifting [main character] Carl Fredricksen’s house, and this imagery just begs for a creative outdoor campaign,” said Greg Mason, vice-president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada, in a release.
Other out-of-home executions include a three-dimensional superboard featuring more multi-coloured balloons, with TSAs in suburban areas featuring standard movie creative, while other executions include GO station posters around Toronto and Astral street columns in Montreal.
Originally published in Marketing Magazine, May 2009

Test Pilot Takes Flight

Toronto, Canada, May 21st, 2009: Test Pilot (www.testpilotspot.com) launches the first 3D CINEMATIC production company in Canada. Lead by Creative Director, Tony Cleave and Producer Alexis Victor, Test Pilot will provide agencies the ability to produce 3D animated test commercials for link testing and focus group surveys.

Test Pilot takes the agency script and creates tangible, 3D sequences that fly the creative team’s concept through the focus group session and into real live action production. Our virtual actors read the agency script as it was intended – with emotion. They achieve this because they are not flat 2D illustrations. Leveraging their expertise in 3D character animation and direction, Test Pilot’s virtual actors give their best performance on the first take.

We believe the test commercial market is under-served. Test Pilot aims to raise the production standard by providing a higher caliber of work. Our expertise in character animation and story telling allows us to effectively convey the agency script with 3D actors and environments says, Test Pilot’s Creative Director, Tony Cleave.

Test Pilot’s Producer, Alexis Victor further explains, “Our test commercials are revolutionary. Our actors are 3D living virtual characters. They express themselves with dialogue and body language. Our environments are immersive because they are 3D. There are no limitations in the virtual realm.”

Toronto After Dark Film Festival

Starz Recruiting Event - Thursday, May 14th

Disney's Pixar to open Vancouver studio

DAVID EBNER
Globe and Mail Update
May 8, 2009 at 1:56 PM EDT

VANCOUVER — The Hollywood studio behind landmark animated films such as Wall-E and Toy Story is setting up shop in Vancouver.
In its first expansion beyond California, Pixar Animation Studios, owned by Walt Disney Co. [DIS-N], plans to open a 20,000-square-foot studio in the fall in downtown Vancouver, hiring up to 100 people, to supplement the company's headquarters near San Francisco that employs about 900.
Feature film work remains in California. The Vancouver studio will focus on the short-form computer animation that first launched Pixar in the mid-1980s.
Pixar's Vancouver operation would serve as a springboard to San Francisco for young animators, most of whom are expected to be Vancouver locals, and will also handle work for theme parks, television and DVDs to keep alive such iconic characters such as Woody from Toy Story. The studio will produce material for Pixar and Disney.
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“We're all thrilled,” said Alan Phillips, president of Vancouver Institute of Media Arts in the city's downtown core, where about 150 full-time students study computer animation and related topics, and also has a twice-monthly seminar taught by Pixar animators.
“It is fabulous news. Vancouver's been in a bit of a slump with animation – this is definitely positive news,” Mr. Phillips said in an interview Friday.
The arrival of Pixar, the pioneer and world leader in computer animation, is a major endorsement for the city's industry, which is still reeling from this year's layoffs of 600 people at video game designer Black Box, which video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. bought in 2002.
Vancouver attracted Pixar because of provincial tax breaks for computer animation, which were introduced in 2003. Pixar also cited a strong local talent base, and proximity to company headquarters.
“Canada, and Vancouver specifically, has had terrific tax incentives for this type of work,” Pixar general manager Jim Morris told Reuters News. “I think they have a desire to grow this sort of business activity and get a critical mass. This will allow us to do more with the budgets that we have.”
Pixar has mulled its move north for some months and last fall met with British Columbia Finance Minister Colin Hansen to discuss the tax credit.
Beyond the bad news of Black Box/EA, the Vancouver animation industry has also watched Mainframe Entertainment wither. The studio once employed as many as 300 animators in the late 1990s and created the world's first 3-D animated television series, ReBoot. Mainframe was bought by Rainmaker Entertainment, a Vancouver rival, in 2006, and local animators say the company has pared back.
The Vancouver Pixar studio will focus on work that goes all the way back to Pixar's birth. In 1984, according to Pixar's website, John Lasseter–now chief creative officer–left his animation job at Disney to work for George Lucas's special-effects computer group. Two years later, that division was bought by Steve Jobs (of Apple Inc. fame) for $10-million (U.S.) and was christened Pixar. The same year, the Pixar short film Luxo Jr. made its premier and the next year received an Academy Award nomiation for best animated short film.
Pixar won its first Oscar in 1989 for the short Tin Toy. The company branched in to commercial work and it wasn't until in 1995 that the company made its major splash in the mainstream. Toy Story, a magical story of toys come to life, was the first-ever fully computer-animated feature film and became the biggest money-making film of the year, grossing close to $200-million. Pixar also went public in 1995 in an initial public offering that raised $140-million (which, the company website notes, beat out Netscape Communications as that year's biggest IPO).
Disney, which distributed Toy Story and subsequent films, bought Pixar for $7.4-billion in 2006.
The company's nine feature films also include Finding Nemo, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar's 10th feature – a $175-million production entitled Up – is out this month.

Match Studio PRO Demo May 5th

Thank you

Thank you to everyone that came out for the 2nd annual Toronto Animation Industry Night. It was a huge success and we look forward to hearing your feeback for next years event. Picture, Video and the Ottawa Animation Pass Winners will be posted and announced this week so please stay posted for more info.

Quality is King. Or so I've heard, at least in the production business. But like most things, it's not always so simple. Case in point: 'XMen Origins: Wolverine'. By now everyone is fully aware of the dramatic (if not terrifying to some) news that a working copy of the latest flick somehow found its way into circulation. I won't go into the various implications or indeed broader threats to the animation industry, but certainly there is a lot at stake. The reason I mention it though is that the people who may be seeking to acquire the movie by whatever means don't seem to care that in large part it is not yet complete! Unfinished or missing FX, uncorrected colour, placeholder music and sound - likely whole shots that have as yet not been added or may be removed in final edit. So why do it? Who knows for sure. To me it seems a little bit like a child peeking at a their presents before its time to open them (our first experience with spoilers). I am pulling for you Wolverine, but I suspect in spite of such information, lots of people would be content to view it regardless. Which raises an interesting question...

How much do people really care about quality. There are the "Blu-ray'er" types who you meet at parties who are always happy to describe the quality difference from regular DVD's with almost religious zeal, and there are plenty of other tech-minded aficionados that demand better color range or resoluiton in the material they watch (and are in large part prepared to pay for it ...imagine). However, these remind me of the old stereo/hi-fi buffs of yesteryear who would refuse to listen to an inferior version of good music or was played back on sub-standard equipment. In other words, a minority (though Glod bless them). So why care? Why spend all that time and money adding so much polish to content for the mass market? It still matters, and I think I can explain why.

Cheap almost always means a short life-span and lesser experience. You know it's throw-away or second best (I never knew what "white-metal" meant until I bought a cheap discount tool). I'm not talking about a genuine deal you might score for a good sale item of course, and nor am I referring to otherwise expensive products being sold out of trunks of cars in a parking lot. Actually, to be fair, there is something that adds to the quality of the experience when you save up to afford the genuine article and can't wait to get home and crack it open (unless it was something like 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' remake). ANYWAY, point is, cheap things tend not to last and often look or work like crap. So you don't get much out of them.

Lack of quality is also linked heavily to the perception that you don't care. Like it or not, the person with the ironed, stain-free outfit, fresh breath, buttons all done up and shoes polished will inevitably pull off a better interview. I know, I know - shouldn't matter, but it does. I am no fool, and I have interviewed plenty of artists and managers in my time. I know talent when I see it, but something in each of us can't quite ignore that the person who seems to have their personal life in order may just care more than others - and vis a vis are more likely to take better care in their work as well. It doesn't have to be fair to be real.

This is why when I see really really good work, especially in the film and games business, I can appreciate the quiet message that is being spoken behind it by the creators; that they honestly care and hope you notice and enjoy what you see. They care so much in fact that they want you to believe for the rest of your life that you experienced something that was unforgettable - that had "quality". That message is actually being delivered from the writers and directors on down to the last artist tweaking final shots late into the night. Again, that they actually give a crap, and we could all use much more of that in today's crazy, disposable-minded world. The message rings out loud to me every time the movie 'Jaws' plays that's for sure, and it almost killed a young Spielberg to make sure we heard it. Which is the reason why I would watch it again in higher def, wider screen, or restored color - so I could squeeze every last bit of quality out of it whenever I experience it again. And if there is a personal message for any artists and directors out there, it's that you should strive to be just as detail and quality minded. Remember that this sort of work is more of a craft than an assembly line job or free flowing art piece. You need to learn to be m-e-t-i-c-u-l-o-u-s. Do that, and you should be all set.

For the same reason I think the current interest in the Wolverine WIP (work in progress) cut is just a temporary thing. The finished stuff is what will really last and therefore be worth seeing/experiencing. Quality sticks with us and impresses. Something in us registers it, just like when you meet someone that has their act "wired-tight" as they say (in Platoon at least). You don't immediately notice why they made such a good impression. Often it's in the details that are felt as much as seen, and it makes you remember the person - or the artwork in this case - and want to see more.

I had an early career lesson from a friend and colleague when I was starting out. I was coming in more junior and had completed what I thought was a careful, professional job - a tedious build of some complex model - but it wouldn't render right for some mysterious reason. I was confident the work was sound, but he took a moment to sit down and started checking it out more closely. Remember, this is an important senior person taking time out to review my work. I noticed him zooming in on some geometry where the artifacting was happening. I recall that I blathered out (cuz, you know, I knew sooo damn much) that I had already done that, but he ignored me and kept zooming in. Zooming..., zooming... It felt like we were heading down some insane level of a mine shaft. I could feel the heat rise. An uncomfortable drip ran down to the small of my back, and beyond. And then...there it was - a set of points at some crazy, microscopic level that had not welded. All I got from him was a passing sympathetic look (if I read it right) and a shrug before he walked away. I NEVER forgot that moment. Precision is a skill. So be as thorough, careful, and polished as you can. It's takes patience and effort to train yourself to operate at that level; to strive to be impeccable. The speed can come later. Hell, it's what I call "smart-speed" anyways because this mindset often helps avoid bigger problems later, as I have experienced time and again. There are enough people out there creating mediocre or unpolished content, and making decent money doing it, sadly, but it is usually forgettable. It's missing the magic. People like to see or own things they can't dream of being able to create themselves because they can feel it's value. Which brings me back to Wolverine...

I have a feeling the official release and follow-up products will likely do well in the end. This is new ground for everyone, another test for the emerging digital world, so it will be interesting to witness the results. It is possible that the average Joe will have no desire (or opportunity) to see the unfinished bootleg version. They'll go see it when officially released. I know the Blu-ray types will want to wait to see it on the big screen, and/or will purchase the official disc release after that. And then there may be a whack of people that have perhaps seen the unfinished version and can't help wanting to see what the final version looks like in comparison - especially on the big screen - so they can feel the great sound hit them, see the true depth of color, quality of simulation, or subtle sound effects that all help to create a more imersive, believable experience. No. I don't have a sense it will be a disaster in the end, and if not it will all be due to good ol' dependable quality.

Doug Masters, Apr, 2009