Animation Nation

Located in London, Three Blind Mice is a studio that specializes in Concept Work, Storyboarding, Mood Films, 3D Animation and Animatics. In fact, they've created a video that describes their animatic production process. Three Blind Mice is a team of very talented artists who service the advertising market in the UK with their professional creative endeavors. The video was brought to our attention through a post in AN's Gallery. Designed and animated by Sam Burton and George Coffey, it also features music by Francis Sevier, Sound Design by Factory Studios, and the Narrated Voice Over skills of Simon Gregor. Check it out...

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Stash 92 drops a full three hours of extraordinary content including detailed production notes on 33 new animation and VFX projects, plus 11 insightful Behind the Scenes features, exclusive interviews, the newest advanced training course from Digital Tutors, and 10 downloadable music tracks from Zagreb drum and bass producer Beat Gates. Learn more about what's happening with the latest issue of Stash by heading to the Forum topic. You can subscribe, advertise and submit content to Stash as well by following the links provided. You can also get free 30 day access to Stash. Meanwhile, enjoy a peek at what Stash 92 has to offer...

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If you like hand drawn animation, you'll enjoy this video. It's the first year film project from Jared Liffreing, a student at Cal Arts in Valencia, California. Jared posted links to his film in AN's Gallery. I think it would be a nice addition and a change of pace to feature it on our home page.

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What happens when an American record producer, one who produces records for the likes of Elton John and k.d. lang, sets out to produce a music driven animation project by teaming up with the Japanese animation house Studio 4°C, and crowd funds the project with Kickstarter?

If Greg Penny can pull this off, he'll show the world that even with anime, a variety of genres can be made that can excite animation audiences worldwide. Project:13 is a music driven animation project that debuts as a trilogy of three 5 minute music video / mini movies, driven by strong songs with global hit potential.

Greg Penny"s company, Siwa Productions is seeking public funding of $390,000 to complete the project. Interested contributors may pledge their backing through Kickstarter. The first four contributors to donate $5,000 each will be offered the opportunity to be animated as a cameo character in one of the Project: 13 episodes.

Please see these links for more info, as well as with the Forum topic.

Greg Penny's 'Project 13' Kickstarter campaign.

Project 13 artwork, photos and video.

Here's some promotional material to enjoy. Beautiful artwork and impressive animation. 

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A holiday near and dear to us all is Mother's Day. In the US it occurs on the second Sunday of May. This year on May 13 which is this weekend. Pixar has produced a sentimental video in honor of Mother's Day in the form of a trailer for its upcoming feature, "Brave" which will be released next month on June 22, 2012. In the meantime, we can enjoy yet another peak at this highly anticipated film. There's a topic on the Forums dedicated to Brave developing for some time now with plenty of content pertaining to the movie. You can access it at this link.

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Here's the tale of an extraordinary animated effort. A stop-motion feature film by Director Adam Ciolfi. Primarily a solo effort, this Herculean effort has taken 15 years to complete. Adam was responsible for the construction of every model and set, the animating of every shot, the editing of both picture and sound and he also composed and performed the film's score. 

Since it began screening at festivals in September 2011, the film has won numerous awards and continues to entertain audiences around the world. It won Best Animated Feature at the Toronto Independent Film Festival 2011, the Philadelphia International Film and Animation Festival 2011, Eugene International Film Festival 2011 and the Garden State Film Festival 2012. It also won the Special Jury Prize at the Canada International Film Festival.

For more info and to see a special making of promotional trailer for The Lady of Names, follow this link to the Forums. Here's a look at the film.

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Here's an animated treat to enjoy! Last year DreamWorks produced a couple of sequels to their 2010 hit film "How To Train Your Dragon". One was entitled  "Book of Dragons". It was released on November 15, 2011 on DVD and Blu-ray, along with "Gift of the Night Fury". Much of Book of Dragons is animated in refreshing 2D. It's presented here in its entirety, along with subtitles in Arabic. To see the entire Gift of the Night Fury click here.

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Well on its way to becoming the biggest motion picture blockbuster of all time, "The Avengers" are storming through world cinemas and shattering records. With the biggest opening weekend in history, the box office is booming thanks to this film. Disney stands to do very well as a result, since they own Marvel Comics. Long time ANer Greg Boone brought us the news of the success of the movie in this topic. Adrian Skynet Foster brought the first trailer to our attention last October, and I came along later with the one you're about to see.

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The sad news came out today that famed children's book author Maurice Sendak has passed away. He was 83 years old. Thanks to ANer hoofprints who brought this to the Forums earlier today.

Mr. Sendak was best known for his masterpiece "Where the Wild Things Are" first published in 1963. The book became a feature film in 2009. Gene Deitch animated an American-Czech co-production of the book in 1973, which would make a fine tribute to Maurice Sendak by showcasing the video here.

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Nope, it's not the Disney version that was in development. This is from WizartAnimation, a studio located in Moscow. Here's the a recently released English version of an animated film they're producing, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen". Here's the film's site and this is where you can find Wizart's site in English.

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