Animation Nation

Here's a short film that many can relate to. Animated in the classic silhouette cut out technique, directed, illustrated and animated by Jesse Bond with an array of many talented individuals who took part in the creation of the film. "The Question" was produced by Port City Community Church of Wilmington, North Carolina and was recently submitted to the 2012 Telly Awards.

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Just when you think that teaser trailers for upcoming video games couldn't get any better, you see something that let's you know how much better they're getting.

Case in point, "Diablo III" on its way from Blizzard Entertainment this May 15, 2012. Take a look at the TV commercial that went online a couple of days ago and you'll see what I'm talking about.

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Saw this film on YouTube and recognized the moniker of 'hett15' as someone who was active on the old AN forums prior to the switch to the new format we currently use. Sure enough, looks like it's the same person.

This is "Lucille IV" which is a 2009 senior thesis film from the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. The filmmaker is Greg Hettinger and he did an incredible job with this very entertaining animated short. Greg is now an environment artist and animator at DreamWorks in Glendale, California.

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A new trailer for "Prometheus" is out and it gives us a better glimpse into the movie than what we were seeing before. This is a trailer for the film's international release and according to the date we see here it will be opening a month from now on June 1. The official website for Prometheus is at this link. There's also lots to see at the Forum topic that's being maintained for this high end FX heavy film.

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This weekend on Sunday, May 6, 2012 the Staffordshire Film Festival will be taking place as part of the Staffordshire Festival of Performing Arts.

The festival will be showcasing films from talented filmmakers locally, nationally and internationally, and will include competition for Best Animation. There will be numerous industry experts speaking on the day as well as representatives from different companies. There will also be numerous networking opportunities for those who wish to have one to one talks with people actually working in the film industry. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information and to make arrangements to reserve seating follow this link to the Forum topic brought to us by StaffsFilm.

Can't get enough of these "Brave" trailers. Here's another one just out from Pixar in conjunction with the National Football League draft in the US. Brave will be in general release on June 22, 2012. There's a well viewed Forum topic that features quite a bit of content from the film.  

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The latest from Ray William Johnson, YouTube superstar. Animated just down the road by Cosmic Toast of Burbank, California.

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The proliferation of high quality student films from animation schools worldwide is an amazing thing to behold in our day. Many of these films are way beyond what anyone would have envisioned just a few years ago. At the launch of AN in early 1999, the content coming from film schools was nothing like what we're seeing today. Student films have become a genre onto themselves and oftentimes matching or even exceeding studio content.

Here's another example. This is "Carrot Crazy" from the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. A film by Dylan Vanwormer and Logan Scelina.

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More great student animation from the French to admire and enjoy. This film originates from Supinfocom in Arles. Directed by Bertrand Avril, Pierre Chomarat, David Dangin and Thea Matland. A dedicated website for "Slimtime" can be found at this link.

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This is year 43 for America's, and possibly even the world's longest annual animation festival!

If you're in the New York City area this Sunday, you're most cordially invited to attend the 43rd ASIFA-East Festival Awards. Admission ifs free and open to all. There's an after-party as well. Here's the Facebook evite and you can also access the ASIFA-East site here.

ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d' Animation) was formed in 1960 by an international group of animators to coordinate and increase world-wide visibility of animated film. ASIFA's membership includes animation professionals and fans from more than 50 countries. ASIFA-East is the Eastern U.S. chapter of ASIFA, based in New York City.