Here it is the long awaited gallery of select pics from Ron’s camera from the Oscar Showcase tour’s swing by DreamWorks, Fox, the Academy, Disney and ICM. There’s also a couple special pics at the end courtesy of No Time for Nuts director Mike Thurmeier.

Chris Renaud and No Time for Nuts producer Lori Forte lead the way along the beautiful DreamWorks campus. © AWN Inc.

Roger Allers catches up with Kathy Altieri, the production designer of The Lion King and DreamWorks upcoming How to Train Your Dragon. © AWN Inc.

Roger poses for a picture with Lorna Cook, the director of Spirit and DreamWorks' forthcoming How to Train Your Dragon. © AWN Inc.

Geza, Marcy and Katherine admire the NYC street set on the Fox lot. © AWN Inc.

This is much better New York weather than when Geza was stuck in the airport in the real NYC. © AWN Inc.

Lifted duo Katherine and Gary pose for a picture on the NYC set. © AWN Inc.

Group photo op on the Fox lot. Chris Renaud (l to r), Marcy Page, Katherine Sarafian, Gary Rydstrom, Geza Toth, Torill Kove, Don Hahn and Lise Fearnley. © AWN Inc.

The nominees field questions at Fox studios. © AWN Inc.

The nominees grab a bite to eat at Kate Mantellini's before heading over to the Academy screening. © AWN Inc.

Roger gets interviewed before the Academy screening. © AWN Inc.

The nominees field Taylor Hackford's questions. © AWN Inc.

The nominees and Taylor Hackford pose with the big gold guy. © AWN Inc.

Roger talks with Geza and Tamas before the Disney screening. © AWN Inc.

As Roger calls it, the animation oxymoron — Big Dwarves. © AWN Inc.

Torill answers questions about The Danish Poet after the Disney screening. © AWN Inc.

The curved, striped wall's vertigo causing effect made Roy Disney leave the office after two weeks. © AWN Inc.

An artsy shot up at the ceiling of the sorcerer's hat ceiling at Disney. © AWN Inc.

Thanks to Ed and John, offices were removed to make room for the new coffee lounge. © AWN Inc.

Marcy poses on the newly installed American Dog pod. © AWN Inc.

The nominees get a chance to mingle with ICM agents after the screening. © AWN Inc.

As the nominees and agents chat, ICM vice chairman Bob Broder introduces Ron to Henry Winkler (on left). © AWN Inc.

Roger considers what he'll draw in Ron's special guest book featuring drawings by Animation Show of Shows, Oscar Showcase and Acme/AWN guests. © AWN Inc.

No Time for Nuts director Mike Thurmeier had to leave the tour early to receive another special award.

Introducing Katelyn Ivy Thurmeier.

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Officially one week of the Oscar Tour is up and we’re nearing the home stretch. Today was less crazed than yesterday, but still wonderfully eventful nonetheless. The day was a home coming for Roger and Don. Every time we turned a corner someone was ecstatic to see them. After Tenny Chonin, head of artistic development at Disney Features, introduced the screening, Don took us on a special tour of the old animation building across the street from the new animation complex (you know, the building with the big hat on it). On the way, even, someone crossing the street lit up when he saw Don and pleaded him to come back to work soon. He has been like the Zen master of the group. His peaceful nature is just unforgettable. I had thought before that it must be a pleasure to work for him and after today I think many of the Disney employees confirmed my feeling.

Ed Catmull and John Lasseter surprised to run into the Oscar nominees. © AWN Inc.

Right as Don got into the swing of his tour guide mode, he goes “and there’s John Lasseter and Ed Cutmall coming our way.” And sure enough everyone turns around and there is John and Ed. I think John was just as surprised to run into a crowd of Oscar nominees as we were to run into him. Ron introduced everyone to John and Ed. Having seen all the shorts, John was complimentary to all the nominees. Marcy has known John for years and he gave her a big hug when he saw her. Marcy reminisced about when back in the day John was her tour guide around Pixar. John asked about Frédéric Back and Marcy was sad to report that he isn’t doing well. His wife suffered a stroke recently and he was skin cancer. After each of the filmmakers had a chance to chat with John, he and Ed had to leave. Now that was a seriously awesome star sighting.

Oscar Tour poses at the corner of Dopey Drive & Mickey Lane. Roger Allers (l to r), Geza Toth, Marcy Page, Tamas Liszkas, Torill Kove, Lise Fearnley, Don Hahn, Chris Renaud, Katherine Sarafian, VFXWorld editor Bill Desowitz, Ron Diamond & AWN co-founder Dan Sarto. © AWN Inc.

Don resumed the tour taking us into the old animation building. A tunnel runs underground connecting the animation building to the ink & paint building so that cels never had to be transported outside. Don also pointed out Walt Disney’s corner office. Throughout the building, there’s great artwork hung on the walls from the classic films. Don pointed to a beautiful Lion King background and commented that it was still hard for him to see projects he worked on at Disney up on the wall alongside classics like Snow White.

We made it back to the packed auditorium just as the final film was hitting the mid-point. Ron introduced the filmmakers and opened it up for questions. The audience asked similar questions about the inspiration for the shorts and distribution means. Marcy was very happy to share the fact that the Magnolia Pictures compilation film of the Oscar shorts that is playing in the U.S. finished 44th at the box office in its debut weekend. I went and looked up the stats — it’s playing on 38 screens and garnered a per screen average of $2,781, which is almost a $1,000 better than the 7th ranked film, Hannibal Rising, scored per screen.

Disney employees stood in line to get into the packed screening. © AWN Inc.

The final question asked was what everyone is working on. Geza is working on a new 3D animated short, which will be completed later in the year. Chris is working on Horton Hears a Who. Torill isn’t finished with The Danish Poet; she’s working on a picture book based on the film. Marcy is producing shorts at the NFB with Chris Landreth, Chris Hinton and Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis. Lise Fearnley is working at the Norwegian Broadcast company as well as producing two additional shorts. Katherine Sarafian is producing Lifted director Gary Rydstrom’s next project. Roger is working on the book for a Broadway musical, titled Grasshopper. Don said he was working on changing the oil in his car this afternoon.

After the Q&A, we were again treated to a nice lunch. I joked with Lise that after the tour I’m really going to have to go back to the gym, because I’ve been fed so well. Ron encouraged everyone to sit by people they don’t know so that everyone could get more out of the experience. I’m glad he did, because I had a wonderful chance to chat with Lise. In Norway, The Danish Poet’s nomination is a big deal, because it’s only one of five or six nominations the country has ever received. And two of them have gone to Torill. However, Lise said that many of the Norwegian film fan sites were debating for months which Norwegian film would get an Oscar nod and when the Norwegian entry didn’t even make the Foreign Language category shortlist, they were writing off any Norwegian nods at all. It goes to show that all around the world shorts aren’t even on the radar. But it also shows how much an Oscar nomination sends them into orbit.

Everyone chats over lunch at Disney. But whose job is it to water the flower in the middle of the table? © AWN Inc.

I asked Lise, “how big will it be in Norway, if Torill wins? Will they throw a parade and erect statues in her honor?” She laughed and said, “We hope so.” But she also made an interesting comment about he nature of fame and success in Norway. Norwegians, she said, seem to hate people who get too famous. Some very much rejected the idea of Liv Ullmann providing the voice over for the film. It’s surprising that in the States several people, including myself, couldn’t think of a better voice. Ullman’s tone and delivery matches Torill’s low-key, sardonic humor perfectly. As for distribution, she told me that in the main theater in Oslo, there is a free screening at 6 pm on weekends of short Norwegian productions. Additionally, studios in Norway still have the opportunity to distribute their films before feature films much like the U.S. in the 1940s. However, just like the States now, the theaters want shorter shorts around five minutes long so that they can fit in more screenings of the features in a day.

After we all finished eating, we were treated to a thorough tour of the new animation studio. Our tour guide Jay took us first into the new coffee lounge, which was proposed courtesy of John Lasseter as an area for the artists to gather, relax and communicate. Disney provides an extensive reference library for the artists to use for inspiration and a recording of the Oscar Showcase will be added to that collection. The building is set up to hold two full productions. Each production has its own pod. Currently, the studio is about to wrap on Meet the Robinsons and is gearing up to finish American Dog. The various pods are filled with artwork and style inspirations. American Dog has a very unique look unlike anything Disney has made in CG thus far. The style is inspired by the work of painter Edward Hopper. Some of the cinematic references that were posted include Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Thelma and Louise. The pods are also decorated in a similar style to that of the picture. The American Dog pod includes an authentic 1950s dinner and refrigerator.

Jay shows us the secret behind the star. © AWN Inc.

Ever wonder what’s in the sorcerer’s apprentice’s hat, which tops the animation building at Disney? Well, originally it was Roy Disney’s office, however the curved, striped walls cause a feeling of vertigo. An interesting factoid about the room was that at the time it was built, Roy smoked and was going to be the only person allowed to smoke in the building. So a special air ventilation system was installed in the sorcerer hat bookshelf so that the smoke would be filtered outside. However, Roy quit smoking soon before moving into the office, which he only stayed in for two weeks anyway. Now the room is used as a conference room. And another secret factoid that Jay shared was that the middle star in the bookshelf actually pops out to provide access to the ventilation system, which was something no one knew about until someone investigated why the middle star was the only star on the bookshelf to have a dark border around it.

Next we ventured up to the third floor were development of future projects takes place. The first short we saw artwork from was the new 2D Goofy short, How To Install Your Home Theater, which will return Goofy to his popular “How To” shorts, which were popular in the ’40s and ’50s. The project is being co-directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers. Katherine commented that she has seen the Goofy short at Pixar and promises that it’s hilarious. The next film was a CG short titled, Golgo’s Guest, where a Russian frontier guard meets a space alien. Chris Williams is doing double directing duty, juggling both Golgo’s and American Dog. The stark design style of Golgo’s matches the Siberian setting nicely. The design of the main character is wonderful as well. There’s a lived in look to the character’s face that I liked. We also saw two sketches from the two other shorts in development — The Ballad of Nessie, an origin story of the Loch Ness monster, and Prep and Landing, which has two hapless elves wreck havoc on a house in preparation for Santa’s arrival. Jay told us that John Lasseter likes the Prep and Landing idea so much that he’s considering turning into an ABC Christmas special. Last, but not least, we were able to gaze upon the character and production designs for Glen Keane’s Rapunzel. Keeping true to the original fairy tale, the look of the film is like Victorian paintings coming to life. If the CG looks anything like what Tenny described to us, it’s going to be breathtaking.

Bob Broder, Henry Winkler and Ron Diamond talk in the lobby of ICM. © AWN Inc.

With the tour coming to a close, the nominees were appreciative of being given the chance to see things that others do not get to see. We had to say good-bye to Katherine who was hopping into a cab to head back to Pixar while the rest of the group was headed to the agency ICM. No Time for Nuts producer Lori, who works around the corner from ICM at Fox, joined us for the second screening of the day. Robert Lazar greeted us and told us that the screening was the first in their new swank screening room. Attending the screening was ICM vice chairman Bob Broder, who had warm congratulations for all. The shorts went over pretty well. Afterward, the agents mingled with the nominees, chatting with the filmmakers of their favorite shorts. And the nominees were treated to a second surprise celebrity sighting of the day when Henry Winkler came into the lobby to talk to Bob Broder.

That closed another filled day on the Oscar Showcase tour. Tomorrow, I’ll be accompanying Ron to an NFB luncheon at the Canadian consulate, followed by a screening of the shorts at the William Morris agency. Check back soon for new updated pictures in this post as well as a new photo gallery with some great pictures from DreamWorks, the Academy screening and Disney as well as Mike’s beautiful baby girl.

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Well, I just got back from the Academy screening, which closed another whirlwind day on the Oscar Showcase tour. In addition, to Roger, Don, Marcy, Geza and Tamas, Gary Rydstrom, Lifted producer Katherine Sarafian (who we’d all meet at the Pixar screening), Torill Kove, The Danish Poet’s Norwegian producer Lise Fearnley, co-director of No Time for Nuts Chris Renaud and No Time for Nuts producer Lori Forte all joined the fun. Mike Thurmeier is back in New York with his wife and we’re happy to announce their new daughter has arrived. Her named is Katelyn Ivy. She was born on Feb. 18th at 2:23 in the afternoon. She was 21 inches long and a healthy 8lbs 10ozs!!!

We began our day at DreamWorks, where we were greeted by John Tarnoff, the head of the studio’s “incubator” department, which develops the initial artistic designs and storyboards for the company’s feature animated films. Jeffery Katzenberg came to meet the nominees and introduce the screening. He commented that the current renaissance in animated shorts is inspiring. He added that one of his dreams when he started in the industry was to be involved with a project that was nominated for an Academy Award, because it was an acknowledgement from your peers, and told the nominees to cherish this moment. In addition, he was delighted to finally have Roger and Don, who he worked with at Disney, visit the DreamWorks studio. During the screening, Jeffery requested a private screening of Lifted, which Ron provided for him. The audience at the screening was receptive and had many of the same questions that artists at the other studios had such as “what was your inspiration” and “how long did it take to make the film?”

Over lunch, DreamWorks animators Simon Otto and Fabio Lignini discuss filmmaking with The Danish Poet producer Lise Fearnley. © AWN Inc.

Following the screening, we were treated to lunch with some of the artists, which included last year’s Oscar nominee Sharon Colman, and executives from DreamWorks. Simon Otto, who has been an animator at DreamWorks since The Prince of Egypt, and Fabio Lignini, who is head of character animation on Bee Movie, wanted to know more about Geza and his film Maestro. Simon asked why Geza made the film and with his trademark sly grin, Geza said, “So that I can meet all of you.” All joking aside, Geza loves meeting other animators and talking about the filmmaking process.

Simon seemed a bit envious of animators who can make shorts just because they have a need to express themselves. This was especially so when The Danish Poet producer Lise Fearnley answered Simon’s question to “why her company would want to make a short film if there were no chance of making money,” by saying, “because we wanted to make this film.” Simon, who was also trained in 2D, seemed very impressed to hear that Maestro was Geza’s first CG film and that the character animation and intricate camera moves were done together. Having the ability and means to do anything you want inside a big studio, Simon observed, is a hindrance to innovation sometimes.

The nominees check out some Shrek the Third artwork in the DreamWorks Animation building. © AWN Inc.

After our nice lunch, the nominees were treated to some DreamWorks shwag. John Tarnoff gave us a tour of the studio, which started off with the famed conference room. The new additions to the tour were just as marveled with the high-tech facility as the rest of us were when we saw the PDI/DreamWorks mirror version last week. We got to walk through the animation building and gaze upon the artwork for the upcoming films. Roger admired the character design work of Nicolas Marlet and the production design work of Pierre-Olivier Vincent on How to Train Your Dragon. We also learned that Madagascar 2, or Madagascar: The Crate Escape, will have Alex the lion meeting his family in Africa on his way back to the zoo. The new characters for the sequel still retain the wonderful angular design style of the original. Torill said that on Christmas day her daughter was uninterested in opening presents and was more excited about watching Madagascar again. Another nice treat was the chance to peak in the offices of the animators, especially Dave Burgess who’s hard at work on Bee Movie. Rumor has it that Jerry Seinfeld will be at the DreamWorks brunch on Saturday. Check back later to find out if that’s true.

The Oscar Tour takes a right turn on Pico Blvd. and ends up in New York City. © AWN Inc.

Next on the day’s lineup was the debut Oscar Showcase screening at Fox. Having a bit of spare time before the screening, we were let loose on the Fox lot. The photo op over on the old New York set was irresistible. While we were there the conversation turned to a very important Oscar concern — what are you wearing? Katherine had picked out a dress she liked, but when her friends objected she felt obligated to go with their choice. Torill had friends help her pick out a dress, but was unhappy with the beige color. When she showed her husband, he simply said, “no” and she went back to the store and picked out another. Geza’s designer friend begged him to let her make his suit for the awards show. Marcy is living out a childhood fantasy and wearing a red Spanish flamenco style gown. Chris is sporting the Calvin Klein tux that he wore at his wedding while Gary is just happy that long ties are en vogue again so he doesn’t have to struggle getting his bowtie just right.

Fox Animation vp John Cohen and president Vanessa Morrison meet the nominees, including Katherine Sarafian (foreground), Lori Forte (l to r), Chris Renaud and Gary Rydstrom. © AWN Inc.

As we arrived back at The Little Theater for the screening, Ron introduced all the nominees to Vanessa Morrison, the new president of Fox Animation. She was very excited to see the films and Geza and Torill had a chance to give her copies of their films. While the screening took place, Geza was whisked away to encounter the dreaded Errol Morris interview for the Academy documentary. I had warned Geza that Mike and Roger had said that the interview with Morris was strange. However, it seems that Geza had no problem with the Interrotron. Ron told me that he came off very charming. As for questions from the small crowd, they were similar to the other studios. However, unique to Fox was an applause for Roger in fighting to keep the ending he wanted for Little Matchgirl.

No Time for Nuts co-director Chris Renaud gets interview for a podcast. © AWN Inc.

From Fox, we hopped in our cars and headed to Beverly Hills for the Academy Shorts screening. It was lucky that I met up with Geza and Tamas, because I wasn’t on the guest list and ended up slipping in as Tamas’ guest. Knowing Oscar nominees is already paying off. In a very Hollywood fashion, there was a small section set up for press to interview the nominees. As Academy receptions usually are, the crowd was a collection of Academy members and the nominees with their guests. Photographers with print outs of what the nominees looked like buzzed around the room snapping photos. Academy staff collected the nominees for a nice group photo as well.

Oscar nominee Helen Mirren chats with Oscar nominee Geza Toth. © AWN Inc.

Because Taylor Hackford, director of Ray, was the host of the evening, his wife and Oscar nominee Helen Mirren was at the event. She was very receptive when meeting Geza and Torill. As a fan, Marcy was delighted to meet the star of the Best Picture nominated The Queen. Tamas grabbed me to take pictures of Geza hobnobbing with movie stars so that they can send the picture back to Hungary. It’s kind of nice to think that my picture could be in every Hungarian newspaper in the not so distant future.

Roger Allers, Leslie Iwerks and Don Hahn pose for a pic at the Academy reception. © AWN Inc.

During the reception, I had a chance to talk with Lori, who used to work on live-action sitcoms before coming into animation. Crazy as it sounds she is busily unpacking the boxes in her new home in L.A. before jetting off to New York where she will be staying for the next two years producing a new animated feature at Blue Sky. Throughout the day, I had a chance to talk with Torill, who seemed more interested in finding out how I got wrapped up in animation then answering questions about herself. The humble filmmaker seems uneasy about all the praise she has been getting. But the day couldn’t have ended any better for her. The sold-out crowd loved her film, receiving choruses of laughs throughout. I actually heard an audible gasp of dismay during the screening of The Danish Poet when the mailman loses the lover’s letter. However, The Danish Poet wasn’t the only film that had the audience in stitches. All the films (except for Little Matchgirl for obvious reasons) all received huge laughs. Having been a part of the tour for almost week now and having gotten to know the filmmakers, it was strangely gratifying for myself to live vicariously through their experience. It’s the kind of audience everyone hopes for. I was so happy for everyone and eagerly awaited the next joke, knowing what was in store for the audience next.

The screening was followed up with a short Q&A with the filmmakers, moderated by Hackford, who asked the filmmaker about their inspiration for the various films. Torill said The Danish Poet was inspired by a time in her life when she wondered about how she got to where she was in life. Gary’s wonderful sense of humor shined through in saying his film was an act of revenge on years as a soundman. Roger and Don said they had loved the original Hans Christian Andersen story and felt the pre-revolution Russian setting fit the material best. And apparently the Borodin piece of music fit the original storyboards so well that only bits had to be cut. Geza’s witty response was that he wanted to make a successful film and this was the story he came up with. Chris said that when Blue Sky wanted to make a new Scrat short, he thought it would be a good idea to take a cue from classic Looney Tunes shorts where Daffy Duck started out as a duck in the marsh and ended up as Robin Hood.

Director Taylor Hackford poses with animated shorts nominees -- Roger Allers (l to r), Don Hahn, Gary Rydstrom, Torill Kove, Chris Renaud and Geza Toth. © AWN Inc.

Hackford’s second question was how the filmmakers got into animation. Torill originally studied urban planning, but found it unfulfilling. So she contacted an animation professor she made meet and studied for a year. Then she showed her portfolio at the NFB and landed a post as an assistant. She worked up ideas on her own and eventually pitched them and her first short, My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts, was nominated for an Oscar. Gary said he took the quick way into animation and worked for 20 years in sound. When he was offered the chance to make an animated short at Pixar he jumped at it. He said that he saw a level of control in animation that was similar to post-production, which was appealing. Roger said he was sold on being in animation when he was 6 years old and saw his first Disney film. Don, who was a music major in college, got an assistant job in the archive department at Disney. Upon meeting such legendary animators as Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas and Grim Natwick, he was hooked. He started out as a clean-up artist and eventually moved into producing, which lead to him eventually becoming president of feature animation. Geza had debated on becoming a pharmacist, but felt animation was the only way he could truly express himself. Chris started as an illustrator for comics and applied to Blue Sky when they first began work on Ice Age.

During the intermission, many in the crowd came up to the filmmakers and expressed how much they loved their films. It seems to me this screening will be hard to top. Tomorrow is yet another busy day with a screening at Disney and our first agency screening at ICM, which will be very interesting.

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While you wait for more details from the San Fran leg of the tour. Here’s some more pics to check out from Skywalker Ranch and Pixar, courtesy of Ron.

Before the Ranch, we had dinner with ILM. Rick DeMott (r to l), Roger Allers, journalist Barbara Robertson, ILM animator Steve Rowlins & Clone Wars' Athena Yvette Portillo. © AWN Inc.

Geza Toth (l) and Mike Thurmeier eat some breakfast before the Ranch tour. © AWN Inc.

The nomiees (and me) chat over breakfast at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

Oscar Tour members pose for an artsy shot in the Skywalker Ranch library. © AWN Inc.

Roger gets a closer look at what appears to be a gorgeous original Maxfield Parrish painting at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

Marcy Page stands for a snapshot on the Skywalker Ranch porch. © AWN Inc.

Roger Allers and Don Hahn welcome everyone to Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

The nominees head past the vineyard on their way to Skywalker Sound. © AWN Inc.

On the Foley stage, the nominees chat with the artists working on the Clone Wars TV series. © AWN Inc.

It's off to Pixar. © AWN Inc.

Pixar's Kumiko Hidaka (r) lays out the itinerary for Roger. © AWN Inc.

Monster, Inc. director Pete Docter chats with Roger Allers while Mike Thurmeier talks with Gary Rydstrom in the background. © AWN Inc.

Pixar artists get a chance to chat with the nominees over lunch. © AWN Inc.

Roger Allers enjoys a conversation with Pete Docter. © AWN Inc.

Everyone poses for a group pic! © AWN Inc.

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

Friday morning I went to sleep at 6:20 am and woke up around 7:40 am. That may have been the most restful hour and 20 minutes of sleep I’ve ever had. The comfortable beds and soft pillows at Skywalker Ranch were hard to leave. The last time I ran on so little sleep was in college during my senior year while we were filming long hours over a weekend on the bedroom set I built. This trip has certainly recharged the creative juices in me.

After a call to my wife and a hot shower, I was ready to meet the others. Marcy introduced me to Tamas, who is representing Maestro. He and Maestro director Geza arrived at 2 am from the airport. Geza was in the breakfast area with Mike and Roger while Ron was near by trying to keep the workmen at his rental house from jack hammering the foundation. Roger was telling them stories of his many adventures abroad. On a river ride in China, he saw bodies strung up on the cavern walls, an ancient burial ritual of the area. Roger mentioned to Geza that he had visited Budapest while he was backpacking across Europe after college. He remembered having the feeling that the beautiful city had an oppressive cloud hanging over it. Geza assured him that his cloud had long gone. At the time, Roger was full-fledged hippie with his red hair grown to his waist, which received many curious stares from the locals. During the trip, for a time, he lived in a cave along the water. It was a very old shepherd’s dwelling, which had formed a smooth flat floor from years of animal dung being stamped down. Marcy shared an interesting fact that she had heard that more people are living in caves in China today than there are people living in all of Canada.

Mike Thurmeier poses by the Skywalker Ranch fire engine. © AWN Inc.

Because none of us were all that anxious to leave the Ranch, Ron had to prod us to get our bags to the door. We congregated in front of “The Inn” where we had stayed the night and were greeted by the Ranch’s manager and Candy, our tour guide. First, she took us to the Ranch’s private firehouse. The nearest fire station is 20 minutes away so George bought his own. There has never been a fire, however the Ranch station has attend to many traffic accidents along the windy Lucas Valley Road, which actually wasn’t named after the man behind Skywalker Ranch.

Next, we headed over to the main house, which was a mile away, along mossy brink-lined roadways that gently flowed through the trees and green hills. Ron told us an interesting story about the long horned cattle that were grazing on top of the hill. Apparently, George wanted cattle to roam the property, but was unsure what cattle to purchase. So he had life-sized cutouts made of the various breeds and had them taken to the top of the hills so that he could see which ones looked the best. Now that’s serious previzing.

Mike Thurmeier with two former Blue Skyers. © AWN Inc.

At the main house, we meet up with two former Blue Skyers, who of course of have forgotten their names. I’ll have to ask Mike when I see him at the end of next week. I know one of them was the original designer on the Scrat character. Candy led us through the elegantly decorated building with its early Rockwell paintings and gorgeous stained glass. The library, which offers its researchers for any film, is filled with books on any subject one could think of. Right in the center is an intricate stained glass dome. I have to get

Next we headed over to the sound studio, where we strolled by Lake Ewok and past the vineyard, which makes its own wine that is distributed through the Coppola label. When we arrived at the sound studio, Candy turned the tour over to John, the manager of Skywalker Sound. On the big sound stage, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra was recording classical music for a CD. Hung on the walls throughout the buildings is George’s amazing collection of movie posters. Roger mentioned that he loves to collect old movie posters too, but doesn’t have enough walls in this home to display them all. Don joked that he needs to invest in more real estate. In a brick-lined central meeting area, there was a huge, vibrantly colored poster of Jackie Coogan’s Treasure Island. In the center of the room was a green garden and in the center of the garden stood Tick Tock from Return to Oz.

On one of the mixing stages, Christopher Boyes was mixing sound effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. We had run into him the night before as we arrived at the Ranch and he remembered Mike from the nominee luncheon. He too had a very negative experience with the Interrotron and Errol Morris’ aggressive questioning. On the other stage, sound mixers were hard at work on a trailer for Ratatouille, which we didn’t get to see because it was top secret. We also got to see the foley stage where they were working on Clone Wars, but that too is top secret and we were foiled yet again at seeing something that no one else has seen before. We went down on the stage and talked with the foley artists. Roger said he’s so impressed with foley artists because they are like actors and marvels at their precise timing. One overriding impression that I got from all the nominees was their love and appreciation for art in general. They’re professionals, but they were fans first and they are still great admirers today.

And as they say, all good things must come to an end. But it wasn’t that bad, because we were now off for Pixar. Along the way, Tamas was snapping dozens of pictures. He promised us that we could get some of them to share. I sat in the back of the van with Marcy and asked her how she left San Francisco to go work at the NFB. And it turns out to be a romantic tale. She meet composer Normand Roger while she was teaching in San Fran and asked him if he would compose the music for the film she was working on. She went to Canada to mix the film and found love in the process. After returning to the States, her music man asked her to move to Canada where she would come to work for the NFB. As we talked, she told me that she’s actually getting a chance to animate for a documentary she is working on. The budget can’t afford to purchase a certain clip so she is drawing a sequence to fill the spot. Art will find a way I guess.

So often in this industry the path takes us down roads we never thought we’d travel, yet we find ways to make the journey as close to our dreams as we can. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with Don at the ILM dinner. I was telling him about how my wife just couldn’t understand how I could write TV scripts and have them completely changed by the studio. I said it’s just the way the industry is and at this early point in my career if one gag that I wrote still remains, it’s still a part of me in there. I’m learning from the experience and it’s making me a better writer. Don told me it was great to hear that I had a day job at AWN and still had the chance to express myself creatively in other ways. I guess there is an innate understanding in all those who spend their lives creating — it’s not a choice we make, it’s a need we must fulfill.

Pixar's Gary Rydstrom chats with Marcy and Geza. © AWN Inc.

Okay, that ends the Hallmark section of this post just in time for our arrival at Pixar. Our host Kumiko Hidaka greeted us as we arrived. As we waited for the screening to begin, we were joined by Lifted nominee Gary Rydstrom and Monster, Inc. director Pete Docter. Gary quickly had us laughing about his nerve-wrenching experience pitching his new project that morning. He has a welcoming personality that puts one instantly at ease. One is drawn in by his humor, which is fast and witty with a touch of self-deprecation and sly cynicism. Which of course made me like him instantly. As we sat down in the auditorium, someone asked if he was excited to watch his film with an audience and he commented that it was actually painful. The crowd at Pixar was much more receptive to the shorts than any of the other studios. The comedies all received the biggest laughs of the tour thus far. And with the home court advantage, Gary got the loudest response from the crowd as he was introduced. It’s funny; now that I’ve seen all the films on the tour three times I’m beginning to notice new things that I never saw before. The cat climbing the wall in the background trying to get the bug in The Danish Poet. The mix of irritation and determination as the girl strikes the last matches in Little Matchgirl.

As for the questions from the crowd, Mike had wondered before the screening, which would be the first question asked — what was the inspiration for Little Matchgirl or was The Danish Poet based on a true story. He picked one of them, but check back later to find out which one when I do a recap posting on all the questions asked during the San Fran leg of the tour. Following the screening, Pixar provided lunch for us and we were visited by some of the artists. It was nice to sit down with Gary and Bob Peterson, who did story on A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. Currently, he’s working on Pete Docter’s new project. Gary was very complementary of Mike’s work on No Time for Nuts, especially jealous of all the sets he had. Marcy brought up a conversation that we had with Mike about the montage sequence in No Time for Nuts, which quickly transports Scrat from location to location. During the first edit, the sequence wasn’t as funny as they liked, but Mike and co-director Chris Renaud were afraid to cut too much. So in frustration they just shortened each shot to five frames and the sequence began to work. From that point they added to each shot accordingly until it felt just right. Bob wondered whether there was a budget for a lion in the coliseum sequence, but Mike said they didn’t have the time or money to build new characters, so they had to work with what they had.

Gary said that when Torill Kove, who directed The Danish Poet, came to Pixar for the Animation Show of Shows screening, she said that she has a knitting group where they just come up with stories much like the one in The Danish Poet, which tells the story of how random choices can affect our lives in ways we could never think of. He asked Marcy if she’s ever been to one of the group meetings and she said Torill wouldn’t let her because she doesn’t knit. She couldn’t even come to listen. Gary liked the quirky humor of The Danish Poet and admired all the details worked into the backgrounds and sides of the frame. Marcy said that it was the first production for the animator who worked on the backgrounds and when Torill let him loose to experiment, he turned in way more than was needed and they had to cut a lot. It’s funny, with so many people talking about Torill during the tour, it seems like I already know her. You know if I didn’t follow my producer Kristi from college to California and went to New York instead, she would have never helped me get the PA job at Acme Filmworks where I worked for Ron who gave me the job at AWN, which brought me to this point where I will meet Torill next week.

The nominees have a fun lunch with Pixar artists. © AWN Inc.

After Gary mentioned some the audio touches in The Danish Poet, Marcy asked Gary, who worked 20 years in sound, if the sound was worked out early on. He said that he began working out the sound design during the storyboard stage. Because he didn’t have a background in animation per se, Gary said he used sounds to communicate his ideas to the animators. He was worried when he first started that he didn’t know enough animation terminology, but found that just telling the animators, he goes “whiz, bang, whoop,” was enough for them to get the what he wanted. He also found that when it came to rhythm and timing his sound training came in handy when working in animation.

Mike really appreciated the design work on the little alien in Lifted, whose head twists like gelatinous material. Gary’s original intention was to twist the character and form creases like a bendy toy. But the creases were a tall order and in the end a widget had to be created to get the look he desired. He also wanted the ability to change eye size and move the eyes around. He found it ironic that details that were common in classic 2D animated shorts are harder to pull off in CG. Mike commented that they have been trying for a while to figure out how to show a character moving so fast that you see multiple limbs. Blue Sky finally found a solution that they are using on Horton where three identically animated characters are added to the scene and the shutter speed is changed. Gary commented that what someone would just draw in traditional animation now takes a team of scientists in lab coats to figure out.

As the Pixar employees went back to work after lunch, the nominees gathered for the studio tour. Because Roger and Don have seen the studio before, they opted to take the van to Oakland to see if they could get an earlier flight back to Los Angeles. So Mike, Marcy, Tamas, Geza and I followed our tour guide Randy as he laid out the Pixar philosophy. Everyone was bit disappointed in the tour, feeling it was very sterile and overly rehearsed. Mike wished we could have seen some of the artists working and I think everyone felt the same way. Marcy did find something new and revealing in the section of the tour where Randy discussed the story problems on the original Toy Story. It was interesting to see how the filmmakers recognized that Woody wasn’t working as a ventriloquist dummy. There also seems to remain some hostility toward the executive regime that tried to force “edginess” on this family film.

When we arrived at the airport, everyone said their good-byes. You could tell that Mike was happy to be on his way home to see his wife. He admitted that being away from her while she was so close to having the baby made him far more anxious than he thought it would before he left. We all look forward to seeing pictures of the new baby. But that’s not to say he regretted coming. While we were waiting to leave for the airport, he called his co-director Chris to tell him what he has in store when he joins the tour in L.A.

While Ron and I waited stand-by, we chatted with Geza and Tamas, who were very sick of airports and airplanes at this point. Geza apologized to me for speaking Hungarian to Tamas, which I told him he shouldn’t be. Though he isn’t as comfortable with English as his native language, Geza’s wit is not lost in translation. When I asked him what software he used on Maestro, he said, “for the script, Microsoft Word 2003.” With a sly grin he then told me he used 3ds Max. With the Hungarian government funding their trip, Geza and Tamas plan to make the best out of the experience, requesting a big American car with a GPS system to use while they are in California. The two really want to throw a party on the beach where they will cook Hungarian fish soup for all their guests. Geza seems somewhat overwhelmed by all the attention. This is the biggest drama of his life he said. Though he likes to take life a bit slower than the fast paced Oscar extravaganza, he doesn’t seem to be dreading the experience either.

Well that wraps up the San Fran leg of the tour. But check back soon for more pictures from the San Francisco studios, more observations from the nominees and other interesting tidbits.

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