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:

I had a great time this time last year. It was great meeting and traveling with the other nominees. We all had such unique films and approaches to animation; it was great to learn from each other’s experiences and to cross-pollinate ideas. Most memorable for me was our trip to San Francisco. I stayed in the Frank Lloyd Wright room at Skywalker Ranch, which was a blast for me because of my background in architecture. In the morning, by coincidence, we all had breakfast with Chris Wedge who was there working on Ice Age 2. How cool is that? Later that day we screened at Pixar and had lunch with most of their directors, which was a rare and unforgettable experience. By the time the week was over we had all become friends, which really took the edge off Oscar Night. I could just relax with my fellow nominees and enjoy the show.

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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.

Shane Acker and Sharon Colman get some reading in after breakfast. © AWN Inc.

The nominees had breakfast with Chris Wedge, who was at the Ranch working on the sound for ICE AGE 2. © AWN Inc.

John Canemaker signs the Skywalker Ranch Library's copy of his Winsor McCay book. © AWN Inc.

Shane Acker goes in for a closer look at some STAR WARS props. © AWN Inc.

Ron Diamond moderates a Q&A with the nominees at EA. © AWN Inc.

John Canemaker talks animation with Pixar's Pete Docter after lunch. © AWN Inc.

Anthony Lucas poses with George Lucas' creations. © AWN Inc.

Sharon Colman couldn't pass up a snapshot with R2 either. © AWN Inc.

This site is a member of Animation blogspot, part of the Animation World Network