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| A group shot in front of the doors of Sony. |
Sony was the second stop on the L.A. leg of the Oscar Showcase tour this year. See the day in pics.
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| Introducing myself to Oktapodi director Julien Bocabeille. |
written by Bill Kroyer
Wednesday I had the pleasure of joining Ron Diamond and the players in the traveling Oscar Tour on their visit to Sony Pictures Animation. The Oscar-nominated directors of the animated short films “Oktapodi,” “La Maison en Petits Cubes,” and “Lavatory Lovestory” had a chance to tour the studio and answer questions from the animation crew.
Not lost on the Sony audience was the fact that there is not a single spoken word in the five nominated films, a condition that emphasizes the international make-up of the nominees and the universal appeal of the films. The top Sony animation executives, including Hannah Minghella and Barry Weiss, hosted a luncheon following the screening.
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| The nominees meet their latest Academy guest Bill Kroyer (r). |
Well, the second to last tour stop brings the filmmakers to Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. For Emud, it was a return to his workplace where he is on the Disney live-action/CG flick, “G-Force.” He was thankful that Sony gave him ten days off to tour both in San Francisco and L.A.
We arrived and were greeted by a dapper looking Don Levy, marketing master for Sony, who had to leave us early to hand out an award at the publicist’s awards that afternoon. For each stop of the L.A. leg, Ron invited a different member of the Academy board. At Sony, the filmmakers had the pleasure of meeting Bill Kroyer. FX was particularly impressed with meeting someone who worked on “Tron.” Bill shared a story of “Ice Age” director Chris Wedge entering x-sheet data into the computer on the film. Bill said he was glad that Chris stuck with computers after the job.
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At the Sony Pictures Animation lunch, Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis talks about how they worked with actress Laurie Maher to inform their stop-motion animation and provide the eyes for their puppets.
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| I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin (2nd left) talks about how he has been describing his producer Jerry Levitan (center). © 2008 AWN Inc. |
Here are some more pics from the first stop on the L.A. leg of the Oscar Showcase tour - Sony Pictures Animation.
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| Josh Raskin (l to r), Chris Lavis, David Verrall, Samuel Tourneux, Marcy Page, Jerry Levitan, Rick DeMott, Suzie Templeton, James Braithwaite, Ron Diamond, Hugh Welchman, Rosto and Alan Dewhurst. © 2008 AWN Inc. |
The Los Angeles leg of the Oscar Showcase tour kicked off at Sony Pictures Animation. The group congregated in the lobby where I met the new members of our merry band — I Met the Walrus producer Jerry Levitan, Madame Tutli-Putli executive producer David Verrall and Even Pigeons Go to Heaven producer Simon Vanesse. Not joining us for the first two events of the day was Madame director Maciek Szczerbowski, whose lobster taco from the night before was not sitting well with him. Jerry laughed when Walrus director Josh Raskin revealed that he had been describing him as “a 14-year-old kid with balls of steel.” I leave Jerry’s response to your imagination, because Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite warned Jerry not to say things like that around the human mimeograph as he pointed to me. I like to think of myself as the unofficial stenographer of the animated Oscar nominees.
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| The nominees answer the questions of the literary agents at William Morris. © AWN Inc. |
Seeing the pictures from the Oscar Showcase tour is a great way to convey all the events that took place. Here are some more shots from Ron from William Morris, the AWN/Acme Oscar party, Sony Animation and CAA.
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| Don Hahn answers a question about Little Matchgirl at Sony. © AWN Inc. |
The second and final Friday of the Oscar Showcase tour began with a screening at Sony Animation. In an effort to get up a new photo gallery before I left, I didn’t leave enough time to get to screening, only making my journey a chore. I ended up arriving just as The Danish Poet was ending. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I’m sick of the films after seeing them so many times in a short span of time, but a trial separation might be good. Roger Allers said he can’t watch Little Matchgirl anymore. Like No Time for Nuts directors Mike Thurmeier and Chris Renaud, he keeps seeing things he wishes that he could change.
When it came time for the Q&A, many of the Sony artists had some of the same questions as the other studios like whether Geza Toth’s single camera move was intended from the start, which it was, and how Roger and Don Hahn convinced Disney to go with the sad ending on Little Matchgirl, which was by waiting until Michael Eisner had left the studio. There was a question about how the co-production between Canada and Norway worked out on The Danish Poet. The producers Marcy and Lise said it worked out wonderfully. Lise joked that it’s perfect because Canada thinks director Torill Kove is Canadian and Norway knows that she is Norwegian. Marcy added that the co-production on Torill’s first short My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts helped launch a co-production treaty between the two countries. That first film’s Oscar nomination was a sensation in Norway with the king actually seeing the film. The hoopla around that film made it easier to find funding for The Danish Poet.
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| Bill Kroyer poses for a pic with Little Matchgirl's Don Hahn and Roger Allers at Sony. © AWN Inc. |
Ron Diamond has created as new Oscar tradition: his yearly tour of the major West coast animation studios by the nominees for Best Animated Short Film. In a few short years this has become such an established event that all of the nominated films are represented by their respective directors, producers or both. At studios, which include ILM, Pixar, PDI, DreamWorks. and Sony, all five of the nominated films are screened for crowds of enthusiastic employees. The nominees have a chance to meet their professional counterparts and see their facilities.
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| Canemaker & producer Peggy Stern |
It’s exciting to able to share with the rest of the community the thoughts and experiences of the Oscar nominees. And it’s a great pleasure to share with you today the feelings of last year’s Oscar winner John Canemaker. The Moon and the Son director tells us why the Oscar Tour was such a special event in the whole Oscar extravaganza. Here is what he had to say:
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AWN travels along with the Oscar animated shorts nominees to bring you their journey to the big night. Rick DeMott, AWN's managing editor, has chronicled the tour since 2007.
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