For Kunio Kato, the Oscars were a whirlwind experience. Here are some exclusive pics from his big night.

Kunio and Abe-san arrive at the Vanity Fair party.

Animation's new Oscar winners Kunio Kato and WALL-E's Andrew Stanton.

Oscar winners Ed Catmull and Kunio pose for a pic with Hirata.

Presto director Doug Sweetland toasts Kunio.

Kunio gets close with Jennifer Aniston.

Kunio with Monty Python legend John Cleese.

Kunio shakes hands with Oscar winner Sean Penn.

Kunio with Ben Stiller.

Oscar tour host Ron Diamond celebrates with Kunio.

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Time to take a quick trip back in time for some great additional pics from the Pixar visit in the Bay Area last week.

Konstantin Bronzit's Lavatory Lovestory screens at Pixar.

Presto producer Richard Hollander and journalist Barbara Robertson.

Oscar tour alums Andrew Jimenez and Ralph Eggleston.

Presto supervising animator Andrew Gordon shows the nominees some of his current work.

Andrew serves up some hospitality, single malt Scotch and Bourbon in his exclsuive Lucky 7 Lounge.

La Maison director Kunio Kato, Gobelins' Eric Riewer and Lavatory Lovestory director Konstantin Bronzit inside the Lucky 7 lounge.

Oktapodi directors Quentin Marmier, Olivier Delabarre, and Francois-Xavier Chanioux with Robot's Taki Tsuyoshi in the Lucky 7 lounge.

Finally, the Love Lounge!

Oktapodi directors FX and Emud Mokhberi relax in the Love Lounge.

FX and tour master Ron Diamond sit for a pic in the Love Lounge, where the walls are covered with the signatures of the visitors.

One last group shot before leaving Pixar.

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Ron introduces the boys to PDI's Eric Darnell and Gail Curry.

written by Barbara Robertson

The two and a half day fast forward is behind us, now. The nominees are on their way to Los Angeles for part two of Ron Diamond’s Oscar Tour, although for the second half, I don’t think he’ll be driving the giant white van (generously donated by PDI/DreamWorks), which he, amazingly, managed to squeeze into the only parking place in San Francisco’s Mission District that was big enough and still within walking distance to the ASIFA dinner. Finding a parking place for a Smart Car in San Francisco is hard, but somehow, the reality matched Ron’s optimism that it would all work out.

Now, for a rewind and some impressions from within the bubble.

At PDI/DreamWorks, in the conference wall room, watching the nominees wave at their image on the wall to check lag time while we waited for the system at the other end to come on screen.

During the Q&A, people at PDI, as had people at Pixar before them, asked Kunio why the title of his film is in French and he answered, as before, that the translation into English didn’t capture the meaning, so a French friend suggested a French title. And, once again during the Q&A session, Konstantin’s humor stole the show.

Question: How long did it take you to make the film?

Emud (“Oktapodi”): Between six and seven months.

Kunio (“La Maison en Petits Cubes”): One year. Four months of that for planning.

Konstantin (“Lavatory Lovestory”): Story, one year. Drawing two years. (pause) I’m slow thinking.

Question: What was the inspiration for your film?

Kunio: No special inspiration but I had the visual of a house on top of a house and drew a picture of that key image. I gave that to a scenario writer who made each floor a different stage of life.

Emud: Olivier saw a picture of Octopi in a book by Peter Seve and we thought why not? It would be interesting.

Konstantin: I go to the toilet more often than most people. I just looked at the woman’s eyes who worked there and found the story immediately.

Arriving at Skywalker Ranch at midnight. We each got a folder printed with our names on the front, a map, and a key to our room. We were all very tired, but as soon as we opened the doors to our rooms, we were so amazed that we had to share the experience, running from room to room to see what each one looked like inside. A grand piano in the George Gershwin room. A grand rock fireplace in the John Houston room.

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi, Gobelins' Eric Riewer, La Maison's Kunio Kato, Oktapodi's Quentin Marmier, Oktapodi's Olivier Delabarre, Oktapodi's Francois-Xavier Chanioux, Robot Communications' Taki Tsuyoshi, Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bronzit, Presto composer Scot Stafford, Presto's Doug Sweetland, and tour host Ron Diamond.

In the morning, Doug Sweetland from Pixar (“Presto”) and Scot Stafford, who wrote the original music for “Presto,” joined us. The chance to get out, stretch our legs, and walk a little between the buildings in the beautiful open space at Skywalker Ranch, rather than being locked into seats in the van or in a theater or at a dinner table, or on a tour, gave the nominees a chance to relax and move more easily from one group to another. It was fun to see the “Oktapodi” team re-bond with each other after each going his separate way for the last year or so, but also to begin to see some interaction between all the nominees.

Another group shot in front of the Technical Building.

As we walked from the parking lot at the “Technical Building,” past the vineyards, past the lake, Konstantin said to the group, “I will buy it. For filming. I will invite you.”

Quentin laughed, “You can call it Konstantin Farm.”

Inside the building, Glenn Kiser, the head of Skywalker Sound, which has received five Oscar nominations this year,” took us all into the scoring stage, demonstrating how the various panels in the walls and ceilings slide to change echo and decay for recording sessions. Kiser says that the studio is used 60% of the time for classical recording, but a library of 150,000 sound files makes it also a resource for lower-budget films including three that were at Sundance this year.

Inside the Big Rock theater.

At Big Rock, the animators working on the Clone Wars TV series saw a screening in yet another amazing theater. They asked about Kunio’s French title and also what inspired the filmmakers, but not surprisingly for crews working in television, they also asked how much each film cost.

Emud: We were students. We each had a machine and we had four render computers. It’s a mystery how much it cost.

Doug: I consider it a privilege that I don’t know how much it cost.

Kunio: About $50,000.

Konstantin: About $20,000. I had some government funding.

Question: Many of these films are about love. What is it about love?

Kunio: The main reason life is going on is to find love.

Konstantin: Love is all we need. But sometimes, we need toilets, too.

Boba Fett and Darth Vader joins the tour for a snapshot in the ILM lobby.

At ILM, the lunchtime screening in the studio’s huge theater played to a packed house. Once Ron had introduced all the nominees and they were standing on stage, before anyone raised a hand to ask the first question, Konstantin said, “Please, someone, ask Kunio why his title is in French.”

The humble George Lucas and the happy Ron Diamond.

Ron had told everyone that there was a chance they could meet with George Lucas for a few minutes, and sure enough, our host, Kate Shaw, led us to the seventh floor where Lucas has his office. Ron introduced Lucas to each of the directors, and Lucas greeted each nominee in turn, shaking his hand and congratulating him. I think that after spending the night at Skywalker Ranch’s fabulous guest suites, seeing the magnificent library in the main house with its stained glass cupola, and then the multi-building campus in San Francisco, they were unprepared to meet the master of this empire wearing bluejeans and a blue sweater. After the meeting, Francois – who everyone calls FX – said of George Lucas, with some astonishment, “He’s so humble.”

During the afternoon, I was sitting next to Kunio and Taki on the sky bridge that connects the main LucasFilm building and most of ILM’s facility in the park-like campus of the Presidio in San Francisco. By then, we had visited Pixar, PDI/DreamWorks, Lucas’s animation facility at Big Rock ranch in Marin County, and had met with George Lucas in his office at the Presidio. I asked him what he had learned from the visiting all these remarkable facilities and he answered, though Taki, “The work environment is really important.”

Following the screening, lunch, the meeting with George Lucas, and a tour of ILM, we had some down time before the ASIFA screening. It was pouring rain, which drowned any thoughts of walking around San Francisco. Instead, we moved to a nearby wine bar.

I asked Konstantin and Kunio, who were sitting together at the bar, whether they might ever work together on a film. Konstantin said, “But we’re already talking about it.” And, Kunio nodded. “I’m talking about it in Russian,” Konstantin said. “And Kunio is talking about it in Japanese.”

FX, sitting nearby, began teasing Konstantin about his name and they talked more seriously about how to get financing for films.

Then, back to the van and off to Dolby Labs for the ASIFA screening. Because the nominees had all seen all the films several times already, most of them stayed outside during the screening. When it was time to go in, we couldn’t find Kunio and FX.  Finally, someone said, “Oh, they’re in the bathroom. Kunio is doing a painting for FX, and he needed water.”

Konstatin entertains the crowd at the ASIFA-San Francisco screening.

At ASIFA, too, the first question from the audience was about what inspired the filmmakers and, as Konstantin said, they knew the answers by heart. By the time they meet the press in Los Angeles as they near Oscar time, these nominees will be well-prepared for that question.

The ASIFA audience, though, asked some new questions and in answering, the nominees discovered some insights.

Question: What was the most interesting thing you learned?

Emud: I had done one-director, one-film. I wanted to go to Gobelins to work with a team. I had to learn how to explain and how to trust what other people do.

Scot: Music can’t really be funny. The funniest thing is to take everything literally.

Kunio: This was the longest film with the largest number of people I’ve worked on. The challenging thing was to share what I’m thinking with my staff. To work in this way, I needed leadership and to keep the team motivated. That was the biggest thing I learned.

Konstantin: There was nothing interesting in the process. Just suffering. Every step trying to get closer and closer and nothing. Many people think you just sketch, sketch, sketch, and then it’s ho ho ho. No, it’s not that way.

Doug: I had been an animator, but, like Emud, to work on the story, I had to question all the time. I’d fight for things I thought were awesome and they’d bomb. And I’d fight against things I thought would bomb and they’d turn out to be awesome.

Question (paraphrasing): Why did you pick the theme you picked?

Emud: We were in school and had between six and seven months to make a short film. It’s easier if it’s comedy. Our group knew we wanted to push technology, and make a fast, cartoony, rhythmic film. They story came out of the brainstorming process. We banged our heads together 120 hours a week. After the fatigue wore off and we all wanted to go off and do something on our own. But now, I want to make another film with these guys.

Kunio: Taki answers for Kunio to much laughter… He always wanted to make a comedy film.

Taki then gives Kunio’s more serious answer: He didn’t pick comedy or drama. The main object was to depict a man’s life in a quiet and uneventful way, so it had to be a serious, quiet drama.

Konstantin: Every time, the story depends on an idea, on finding the only way to realize an idea. I realized all I need is love. But, also, I need toilet. So, I combined Love. Toilet.

Doug: I tried to make a three-minute film, but it’s five minutes, to make it as quick as possible. So, it borrows from classic cartoons, but it has a classic Hollywood reconciliation ending.

Question: What was your inspiration for becoming an animator?

Konstantin: Mickey Mouse

Doug: I just learned that Ron produced the Tourneys of Animation in the late 80’s and I saw that in middle school.  Also, Luxo Jr. When I saw universities listed at the end of the films, I realized I could study animation. I had an insatiable appetite.

Kunio: Originally, I wanted to be a painter, not an animator. I took a class in animation and wanted to move my drawings.

Quentin: All the great 2D films.

FX: I was always drawing. I saw a documentary of people drawing lions for “Lion King,” and that inspired me.

Emud: I went from computer science to computer graphics to moving CG parts to animation.

Question (paraphrased): What did you think of the reaction of audiences to your film?

Doug: I went through such a struggle to get this film made. I learned that I’m not funny. I pitched 10 stories in seven months and they bombed every time. Only the last one clicked. So that fact that people embrace this film so well is overwhelming.

Konstantin: When I first try to put comedy in action I learned it’s impossible to calculate how to do it. I suffer. I asked my teacher why I suffer every time I make a film and why I suffer when I show the films. He said, “You are clever minded and understand your mistakes and it looks for you like you are showing your mistakes and you think everyone sees your mistakes.” I thanked him. But I still suffer.

Kunio: I couldn’t help seeing my mistakes in the finished film. So I’m very grateful that the audience appreciates.

Emud: With multiple directors, I learned that if Olivier and Quentin both think something is funny, maybe it is. Our final animation is pretty much like our story reel. We had Chris Wedge come in and look at our story reel and he reacted well to it. The reaction of audiences has exceeded all our expectations. It’s hard to put into perspective when we killed ourselves making it.

When Ron introduced the nominees to the ASIFA group, he said, “Rarely does any other group [of Oscar nominees] come together like this to celebrate their work. We don’t have enough reason in our lives to celebrate and the fact that our community comes together to celebrate these Oscar nominees is really terrific. We had people packed into the theater at Pixar and standing in the aisles and also at ILM. We met with Ed Catmull, Tom McGrath, Eric Darnell, and George Lucas. The nominees met for the first time only on Wednesday and now we’ve become a small community. I think this is really important.”

And, it is.
END

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Every year Pixar host the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short. It’s always an exciting chance for the filmmakers to interact with the artists at the studio. Follow their day in pictures.

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi.

The tour loads the van for the trip to Pixar from the Sofitel Hotel.

Posing for one more group shot outside the hotel before heading to Pixar.

Presto director Doug Sweetland address his fellow Pixar artists.

Pixar employees pack the theater to watch the nominated shorts.

The filmmakers begin their special tour of Pixar studios.

Pixar's Andrew Gordon gets ready to take a pic of the nominees in the Lucky 7 Lounge.

Emud takes a pic as a memento of his time at Lucky 7.

The filmmakers get a chance to talk with Pixar artist, such as Tony Apodoca (r), over lunch.

Oktapodi's Olivier and Francois enjoy their lunch at Pixar.

Ron chats with Pixar artist and Oscar tour alum Andrew Jimenez after lunch.

Relaxing and chatting after lunch at Pixar.

The pensive Kunio Kato.

Pixar's Paul Topolos checks out Quentin's portfolio.

Konstantin likes to hang with incredible people.

Quentin leans on Dash.

The nominees check out things at the Pixar Studio Store.

Konstantin buys some souvenirs at the Pixar store.

Posing for a last minute pic under the giant Luxo Jr.

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Day 2 kicks off at Pixar.

written by Barbara Robertson

Long day, but a good day for the Oscar nominees. We started at Pixar where, first thing, right after taking pictures of each other in front of the giant Luxo lamp outside the front door and the monsters inside the Pixar’s enormous lobby / café / foosball court, they met Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s next feature, UP, matte painter Paul Topolos, and the Presto visual effects supervisor Tony Apodaca. Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios walked into the lobby to introduce himself and welcome everyone. And then we were swept into Pixar’s huge theater. Doug Sweetland, director of Pixar’s nominated short Presto introduced Ron and Ron introduced all the nominees in our travelling band.

The lights dimmed a little. Everyone in the audience went “oooooh.”  The lights went out, the ceiling became a starfield, and everyone said “aaaaaah.” The Pixar person sitting next to me explained, “It’s a tradition.” And the red curtain lifted.

Ron Diamond introduces the nominees at the Pixar Theater.

This was the first time many in the audience had seen the films and the reception was wonderful. After, all the nominees gathered on stage for questions and answers. They were all dressed in blue jeans and black sweater/shirt/T-shirt except for Konstantin who wore white pants with his black shirt and Kunio who had grey slacks and a black shirt. They looked like a team and after almost a day together are beginning to develop some camaraderie despite the language differences – the feeling that they’re in this amazing adventure together, not that they’re competitors. Now, back to the Pixar theater and the questions from the audience.

Q: Where did your inspiration come from?

A:
Konstantin (“Lavatory – Lovestory”): From the toilet, of course. And, from the lonely woman.

Kunio (“La Maison en Petits Cubes”): I saw a key visual in my head of many houses on top of each other. I showed that to our scriptwriter.

Emud (“Oktaodi): From drawings of Octopi and also pictures of Greece.

Q – to Kunio: Do you ever do comedy?

A: I love comedy as well, but for this film about a lonely old man, which does have a bit of humor, I wanted to describe it simply and straightforwardly.

Q: What were your technical challenges?

A:
Konstantin: You saw the film. There were no technical difficulties at all. I was drawing.

Kunio: The most technically challenging was texturing the hand drawings. There were many, many drawings. The coloring was done by computer. The challenge was to put the color into the drawings.

Emud: The octopi were most challenging– how to design, model, rig. But there were many challenges.

Q: Was it difficult to get agreement among the six directors of “Oktapodi?”

Emud: Yes. We talked it out until we all agreed. Everyone had a say. Then we went by the majority. Everyone was mature about it.

Eric added that Gobelins has determined that no one student should be responsible for the films. All the work on every part of the process should be a team effort all along. The school hopes the students come to a harmonious agreement because that’s what they will have to do in the real world.

Question to Kunio: Why the French title?

Kunio: Of course the original name is in Japanese. When we entered the film in International festivals, we needed a universal title. In English the title translated to something like houses of wood blocks and that didn’t feel right. A French friend said the film has a French feeling so it might be good to have a French name.

Q: What was the favorite aspect of the film?

A:
Konstantin: The story. Totally.

Kunio: To see and create a film with different people as the director. Before, I worked with two or three people, but for this film I had to communicate, talk, embody the story. It was a challenge.

Emud: It’s hard to pick one thing. Maybe the octopi on the clothesline. Maybe it was the story phase when we were all together pretty much the entire time. When we moved into production we split up.

As we left the theater, Konstantin turned to me and said, “That was too thrilling!”

And then, on to lunch. Pixar laid a lavish spread for us with salmon, ravioli, broccoli rabe, fruit, salad, and cookies. As I was waiting my turn, I heard someone from Pixar say, “I think we will always remember: What was your inspiration? The toilet.”

The filmmakers get a chance to visit Pixar's secret Lucky 7 room.

So… after lunch, we toured Pixar, saw the RenderFarm, and walked through the animation area, but the one thing everyone wanted to see was Andrew Gordon’s office because they’d heard the stories and sure enough, Andrew tipped back Shakespeare’s head on a shelf near the built-in bookcase in his office. The bookcase rotated, and his secret Lucky 7 room appeared behind the wall. We drank a toast to everyone’s good fortune and went in search of the legendary Love Lounge next.

All told, we were at Pixar for four or five hours. The nominees met with people from Pixar who dropped by the lunch area, they shopped in the Pixar store, they began to get to know each other a little more now that they had all seen each other’s films. They moved from table to table in the lunch room sharing stories, asking questions.

Next stop. PDI. Stay tuned.
Tomorrow is another big day, so I’m going to fall into my bed in the George Gershwin room in the bunk house at Skywalker Ranch. Although…. calling it a room is an understatement. It’s a suite with a full kitchen, couch, easy chairs and best of all, a Bosendorfer grand piano next to the dining room table. I promised Eric, who is in the John Houston room directly below, that I would not play any tunes until morning. G’night.

END

My humble accommodations at Skywalker Ranch.

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On Feb. 20th, the day belonged to Disney on the Oscar Showcase tour. Here is the photographic evidence.

Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis, I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin and Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Josh meets veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Maciek introduces himself to Little Mermaid director John Musker, who is currently working on The Princess and the Frog. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Walt Disney Animation Studios EVP Andrew Millstein drops by for lunch. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Ed Catmull. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Disney PR exec Howard Green introduces himself to Peter and the Wolf director Suzie Templeton. © 2008 AWN Inc.

The lunch gave Josh a chance to talk with Andreas, while Lorenzo director Mike Gabriel chats with Peter and the Wolf producer Hugh Welchman. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Oscar-winner Suzie Templeton and indie animator Rosto listen to Mike Gabriel, a past Oscar nominee. © 2008 AWN Inc.

I Met the Walrus producer Jerry Levitan. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Pocahontas director Mike Gabriel. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Kevin Deters, director of the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, chats with Even Pigeons Go To Heaven director Samuel Tourneux. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Madame Tutli-Putli producer Marcy Page, along with NFB exec producer David Verrall, is impressed with the multiplane camera. © 2008 AWN Inc.

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The second day on the Oscar Showcase tour is a day at Disney with a screening for Walt Disney Feature Animation in the morning and Disney TV in the afternoon. Some miscommunication started the day and only the Madame Tutli-Putli team made it to Disney in time, thanks to exec producer David Verrall.

Our tour began looking at the shorts program, which produced the Oscar short listed film Goofy’s How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. Their next animated short Glago’s Guest, a 3D short, will premiere at Annecy this year and is now complete. Following that film will be the 2D short The Ballad of Nessie from Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers, the directors of Home Theater. Nessie has 75% of its shots sent to animation. The shorts program has four other shorts in development, including another Goofy short. Next up we saw production art, including storyboards, from Disney’s fall release Bolt. Closing our tour, we got a glimpse of top-secret production art from The Princess and the Frog, as well as heard the full premise, which we have been vowed to keep secret. The artwork paints lush sceneries from the New Orleans location that is influenced by the painterly look of Bambi, while the indoor locations are infused with the vibe of Lady and the Tramp.

The filmmakers are introduced to the Disney execs and artists at the Disney hosted lunch. © 2008 AWN Inc.

After introducing the filmmakers to the audience, we headed off to lunch with a group of artists and execs from Disney. At my table I was joined by tour members Madame Tutli-Putli producer Marcy Page, Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond, Ed Catmull, Walt Disney Animation Studios EVP Andrew Millstein, Meet the Robinsons’ producer Dorothy McKim, and the Home Theater directors. Ed and Andrew are readying about their trip to India to visit one of their vendors. The conversation moved to the expansion of animation in the region, especially China. Ed said he was reluctant to get into China, because of the government hoops that doing business there entails. Earlier in the day, we learned that Pixar and Disney do not share staff and Ed informed us that the proprietary software used at Pixar is not used in Burbank, where they use Maya. This is done because Maya has Autodesk support behind it, but the Mendie software at Pixar only has an in-house support staff. As the talk turned to the tour, Kevin confessed that one of the most disappointing things about not getting nominated for his short was missing out on staying at Skywalker Ranch.

Suzie Templeton fills the handprints of one of the 9 Old Men - Ollie Johnston. © 2008 AWN Inc.

After eating, I caught up with some of the other conversations going on in the room. Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis was talking with The Princess and the Frog co-director John Musker about his upcoming projects. Peter and the Wolf producer Hugh Welchman came over with his iPod and shared his ironically titled short, The Princess and the Frog, with John. Disney animator Andreas Deja was chatting with I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin and Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite, talking about his work on Princess and the Frog. He is keeping to drawing on paper, fighting the move to computer tablets. He promised to take Josh and James to see the Disney art archive in Glendale the next time they are in town. Later Andreas struck up a conversation with Peter and the Wolf director Suzie Templeton about the sculpting of the puppets in her film. She said they auditioned the role to the artists at the Polish studio Se-Ma-For, where one woman instinctually understood what Suzie wanted even though they could not communicate verbally. Suzie added that the project really touched the artist, who said the film was the best collaborative artistic experience of her life. As thanks, the woman wants to sculpt Suzie. Another fact we learned is that Suzie’s mother is cousins with Disney legend Ollie Johnston, who Suzie has actually never met.

The nominees answer questions from the Disney crowd. © 2008 AWN Inc.

When it came to the Q&A the questions were the usual questions about how Madame Tutli-Putli was produced and how long each project took to make. With an hour gap before the screening, the group parted ways until the second Q&A. Some of us checked out the Disney archives, which features original art from Disney shorts like The Old Mill and costumes from films like The Rocketeer and 1001 Dalmatians.

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During our visit at Pixar we shot a great deal of wonderful pics with Pixar characters and employees, including Brad Bird and Ed Catmull.

I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin, Even Pigeons Go to Heaven director Sam Tourneux, Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis and Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite pose for a Pixar pic. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Peter and the Wolf producers Alan Dewhurst (l) and Hugh Welchman havea chat over coffee in Pixar's atrium. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Pixar's chief story man Bob Peterson. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Lifted producer Katherine Sarafian, an Oscar Showcase tour veteran. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Tour members relax in the sun outside Pixar. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Hugh introduces himself to Pixar director Brenda Chapman. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Ed Catmull, along with Ron Diamond and Suzie, listens intently to Marcy Page. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Brad Bird chats with Hugh at the Pixar lunch. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Brad Bird introduces himself to Alan and Even Pigeons Go To Heaven director Sam Tourneux. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Suzie says goodbye to Sulley. © 2008 AWN Inc.

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Like last year, a pattern of the same questions being asked at the various screenings continues. Of course the first question was to Chris and Maciek about the human eyes on the puppets in Tutli-Putli. Marcy said one of the difficulties of working with the eyes was timing out shots. Chris and Maciek found that the performance via the eyes sold some scenes quicker than when it was cut using the eyeless puppets. Josh was asked about the audio footage of John Lennon used in his film, which he said had never really been heard before they made I Met the Walrus. A first for the tour, but most likely not a first for the Madame Tutli-Putli team was about their enigmatic ending. Maciek explained that the intention of the film was less about plot and more like a poem where one scene doesn’t dictate the next, but informs the preceding scene. Chris added that the work of Carl Jung was also influential in setting the mood for the film. A little tidbit about the title is that in Hindi it means puppet, as well as delicate woman, which is a fact that the directors did not know before they were informed of it by a Hindi speaking member of one of their audiences.

Ralph Eggleston is just wrapping up work on Wall*E. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Gary Rydstrom (head of the table) joins the nominees for lunch. © 2008 AWN Inc.

After the studio screening, Pixar treated the nominees to lunch with some of the studio’s directors including For the Birds‘ Ralph Eggleston; Brenda Chapman, writer of Cars and the director of an upcoming Pixar feature that will be announced soon; and Gary Rydstrom, a veteran of the Oscar tour from last year with the film Lifted. Gary told us he’s currently working on a feature as a director based on an idea he pitched.

Brad Bird chats with Peter and the Wolf producer Hugh Welchman at lunch. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Ron Diamond (counter clockwise), Suzie Templeton and Marcy Page talk with Disney Animation head Ed Catmull. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Roger Gould also joined us and chatted with Chris about managing the creative process by experimenting. Chris said that their first hand drawn rendition of Madame Tutli-Putli was not good, so they brought in actors and workshopped the script, shooting it from every angle. Roger mentioned that one of the challenges on Ratatouille was the script change midway, which added new sets such as the farmhouse sequence that begins the movie. He also said that at Pixar they try to focus their features on personal stories and that The Incredibles and Ratatouille are very much Brad Bird as a guy trying to do something he loves, but isn’t allowed to. Speaking of Brad Bird, he was true to his promise and dropped by to chat with the nominees as did Ed Catmull. Both took time out of their busy Oscar schedules to spend real time talking with the animated shorts nominees.

Check back later to find out what Brad Bird and Ed Catmull had to say to the nominees.

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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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