Shane Acker at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

For young animators, no story from last year’s Oscars was more inspiring than Shane Acker’s tale. His student film, 9, not only earned him an Academy Award nomination, but a feature production deal at Focus Features with Tim Burton and Night Watch director Timur Bekmambetov producing. The feature is now in production at Luxembourg-based Attitude Studios and the voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau. I really enjoyed 9 and I look forward to seeing the feature, which looks to be something potential unique in the world of 3D animation. As for his Oscar experience, this is what the talented young animator had to say:
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The Oscar Tour group at Skywalker Ranch. (l to r) Ron Diamond, Joe Kennedy, John Canemaker, Sharon Colman, Shane Acker and Anthony and Julia Lucas. © AWN Inc.

Okay, okay, I’ll get off my obsession with Skywalker Ranch. However, I did want to share some pics from the San Fran leg of last year’s Oscar Tour. Ron Diamond provided the images and they represent a great visual chronicle of the fun events the nominees get to experience. See whom they chatted with at lunch or who just happened to be at the Ranch when they arrived. Read the rest of this entry »