OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL

That's right Kats and Kittens! The Ottawa International Animation Festival or OIAF for short was here and gone this past week and what a blast! And I mean stupendous! Seeing this being my first animation festival and since being my first one I tried to take in the festival as well as the city as it is our great nations capital and the such...But none the less, talk about AMAZING!

I had such a blast being able to meet industry giants like Dan Sarto, who is the co-founder and publisher of Animation World Network and Richard Rosenman who is currently heading up the new and upcoming Hatch Studios who's client's list from Autodesk Media and Entertainment to Ford Motor Company!
But more than anything it was the chance of a lifetime to experience and sample the people and personalities that make up the animation community, and I have to say it leaves a minty yet, orange after taste. hehe All jokingly aside I had a blast from flying over my home province of Ontario to touch down to watch Big Show and Sir John A. have a moment together.
And Wanda has an electric LED trip...
A trip would not be a trip without a limo cruise, now now, I know we are to have one for the Fatkat Komedy night, but honestly, I couldn't nor could Big Show and Wanda resist the temptation of arriving in luxury, class, and beyond all measures, the pursuit of kicking back in a limo! WOO HOO!
So, I know what's on your mind now. And that is....how did the Pitch session go for Unidentified Flying Sombrero go? Well, it went great! As you can see Buddy and Keith working all hours to make sure that our pitch went successfully, and with time and patience great things ALWAYS happen! It's like a rule or something...
Check out all of the pretty people!
Since I was getting us all technically setup, I was blown away by all the toys I got to play with!
Also I got to layout all of our beautiful pitches for all of the panelists' to view while Buddy performed at his best!
Who were the panelists'? Well, we had Heather Kenyon, Senior Director of Original Animation, Cartoon Network, Marie McCann, Executive in Charge of Production, Children's TV, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Birk Rawlings, Director, Animation Development, NICKELODEON, Caroline Tyre, Manager, Acquisitions, TELETOON Canada Inc., Nathan Waddington, Director of Pan European Acquisitions, Jetix Europe Ltd! Whew! So much talent involved and wonderful eyes to feast upon UFS!
Here's Keith and I workin' on the sound and presentation, what a team!
We had some definitely big hits from Heather Kenyon from Cartoon Network who as far as to say that she would "...You are the kind of person I want to work with!" How amazing is that? That's right, frackin' incredible!
Stay tuned for part deux!

PS. Sorry for not posting earlier, no excuses me misses.

ANIMATION NEWS UPDATE!

September 27, 2007 - KidScreen Daily

Siegel let go as Corus "streamlines" opps

by Gary Rusak

In the wake of a major restructure announced yesterday by Toronto, Canada's Corus Entertainment, KidScreen has learned that Bonita Siegel, director of original productions for the company's kids unit, has been dropped. And several members of the production and development team that worked under Siegel, who oversaw commissions for Corus nets YTV and Treehouse TV, have also been given pink slips.

The YTV/Treehouse was part of a realignment that resulted in 53 job cuts across Corus, and it has independent producers worried about the future of the kids channels' production and development health.

"It was bad news for sure," says one independent Canadian producer, who currently has a co-pro deal at one of the Corus-owned kidnets. He adds that although he received a call yesterday assuring him that his company's relationship with Corus would continue as is, he does not know exactly who he will be dealing with now that Siegel is gone.

"Certainly it was worrying," he says. "But they did reach out to the producers, so we don't have our finger on the panic button yet."

The layoffs are believed include two other prominent development execs, which raises more questions about the media conglomerate's dedication to pursuing original commissions in the future. Representatives from Corus have not returned calls.

"Bonnie Siegel is an important person in the world market, and it's a big loss for the industry," says the producer. "The sky is not falling, but public companies need to increase profitability and evolve their business, as they say."

"Fatkat should hire Bonnie!!" - Gene.

BRATWURST!

A short cartoon by Mick Harrison with me doing some crazy tranny singing. Fun!



Mick did all the art an animation (don't let it go to his head) and Trimedia out of Moncton New Brunswick did the music.

I hope we get to do more!

SHADOWBOY UPDATE

As some of you know Mick and I are working on a pilot together, while he's vacationing here in Canadia. It's SHADOWBOY!

A few months ago we wrote a 7 minute script and started to cast all the voices only to realize that the star Shadowboy had about 3 lines and was in the pilot for a mere 3.23 seconds. So we re-wrote the script and then shelved it for a bit to work on other rubbish. But he's leaving again soon, vacation over! - so we gotta get back on it!


In recent weeks Mick and I are back at it. Mostly Mick as it's his creative force that's executing all the stunning visuals that are in shadowboy. Today, I wanna show off a bit of what he's up to.

Check out this delicious background action.


Mick was complimented about his colour theory the other day and he said "what colour theory, I just keep changing it all till I like it." - guess that is truly what it's all about.

This was a first stab at the character line up. It's changed since, however I believe Shadowboy was the only character to remain the same. The chief looks completley different now as does Big Toe. More pics to come soon.

You should see this shot animated, it's tastey!

Love this beach scene, check out that crazy road inside the villa. Freaky!

This is also a crazy shot. Shadowboy is going to have some real forced perspective shots.

Here's a little lick of the script.

Narrator

The city of Brightside. Population, mostly people. People with an illusive and ever present force for good. A guardian, an unflinching helper, a hero…. a stylist.

[Montage of SHADOWBOY about his work. Throws back teddy that falls from a baby’s pram. Shoves untucked shirt back into arse end of fat mans pants.]

Shadowboy

It isn’t easy being all those things…especially that last one

(Looking at his tucking in hand)

Narrator

Yes the city of Brightside of course is also home to that other side of the coin... the villain... the miscreant... the baaaaaaaaddie!

(cut to FLUGELBINDER walking up dock with large box on his back. He puts it down and wipes brow then addresses narrator)

Flugelbinder

Ya ya it sure isn’t easy being the rotten element either

Big Toe

Who are you talking to Flugelbinder?

Flugelbinder

Ermm… this box. here have a word yourself I hope it fits ze bill

Big Toe

I know it will, do you realise what I….

Flugelbinder

Ya that’s great… well must be going… goodbye darlinks

(jumps into the sea and swims away)

Dave

What is it boss?

Big Toe

It’s a Gravity Propostulator Dave

Dave

What’s it do?

Big Toe

It does this

(Presses button, Dave floats up into the air.

Dave

Oooooooooooo

Big Toe

It also makes delicious toast… here you go Not Dave

(presses button and toast shoots into Not Dave’s mouth then turns off machine. Dave hits floor with a right whack)

Tune in next week, there's more to come!

Gene.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S, NOT HERE!

From the kitchen of our pal Tony Grillo at Flinch Studio comes this crazy bottle of artificial buttery goodness.

Look at our little Spraychel, all grown'd up and on the cover of a spray bottle. It's weird that we did all this work on a product that is not even available in Canada. Oh well. One of these days we'll sneak down to Florida with Mr.Grillo and have a swig!

Thanks for the photos Tony!

gene.

SWEET CINTIQ ACTION

It's been a long time coming but we finally got them. Sweet delicious Cintiqs! Keith Dury, Character Designer on 3 Delivery gives thanks to the sweet heavens above.

First stop on the Cintiq drop off. The desks of the design team on our new show "3 Delivery".
Salma Hussain giver her new toy a lick. (That sounded dirty)

Dan Helle - Character Designer on 3 Delivery.

Andy Coyle, Director on 3 Delivery.

Mike Concannon, BG Designer on 3 Delivery.

There were more folks on this project and other projects that had recieved cintiq's but my batteries ran out on the camera! DAMN!

YEAH FOR CINTIQS! Let's get them for the whole studio! -

Send donations to info@fatkat.ca.

YUM!

gene.

RESULTS FOR POLLS 1 & 2

So it looks like the majority of the people that visit our blog are animators, with the majority of that group being employees here at fatkat. The other group being relatives of Fatkats. Very cool. Now we know our audience.

In the second Poll, it's obvious that people want more animation and art. But running a close second was more stories and articles about the fatkat krew. So it looks like we now know the content that our audience is looking for. Now we just need to deliver!


I'll keep posting more polls, defining this space a little more and getting it more focused on what you guys want to read about. Just so busy at the moment with Gavin! :)

I'm guessing that very last "other" comment was from our stalker pal in Kansas City, Poor Runny Legs, he's not over us.

Gene.

PS: Not sure what I can do about the naked girls comment, I'll do what I can though.

SILVERLIGHT 1.0 HAS BEEN RELEASED

Hey Kittens!

Long time no see! Bah! I know, I've been busy, you've been busy, my people will contact your people...

Anywho's here's some interesting tidbits about Microsoft's brand new competitor to flash. That's right, no longer is flash sitting cozy amongst browsers everywhere; as of September 5th Silverlight is on the prowl!

So beware and be ready for the new web 3.0! Not only can Silverlight connect your browser to big Hollywood debut movies in stunning VC-1 codec at staggering 1080p resolutions, but now Silverlight connects via Microsoft's programming standard .net framework! What does that mean? Get ready to rock teh web both online and offline! Of course, if you're running a Windows environment. But Microsoft did say that they are in the works for a fully working Linux version...YAY, but what about us Mac fans? Yep, nothin'. When will Bill and Steve get a long?

How's that tickle yer feet Jon? Ya, I didn't think so either!

TELETOON RETRO

TELETOON LAUNCHES RETRO SPECIALTY CHANNEL.

Teletoon Retro, a new digital specialty channel featuring classic cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons,Fat Albert, Tom & Jerry, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Superfriends, will premiere across Canada on Oct. 1, 2007 at 6:00 pm. The channel will be available as part of the Digital standard package on Bell ExpressVu, with additional carriers expected to be finalized by launch. Beginning Sept. 4,a special Teletoon Retro hour will air every evening at 7:30 pm ET/PT to promote the launch.

For advertisers, Teletoon Retro offers a targeted viewing environment,reaching adults 25 to 49, with substantial family co-viewing opportunities.The Teletoon sales team can build customized packages to fully meet client marketing objectives, from creatively re-purposing retro commercials to brandsell and custom-tailored, interactive promotions.

Available in both English and French in over 7.2 million Canadian homes,Teletoon brings kids, youths and adults the best in animated entertainment.It's also available On Demand and on mobile TV.

*Thanks to Dan Sarto for the news.

Gene.

PS: I wonder if they'd be interested in seeing new cartoons with old concepts? I doubt it, seems like acquisitions only and to grab back the 30 somethings. It'll work on me thats' for sure. :)

FATKAT FACEBALL GO!

We gotta do this!

Has your boss banned you from using Facebook? Need a new way to while away the tedium of office life? Look no further - here's Faceball.

The game - in which competitors attempt to keep their nerve while a colleague hurls a large beachball directly at their face - is taking London's workplaces by storm.

Pictures of players grimacing with fear as they await the impact of the ball, and frozen in shock after it has rebounded from their nose, are being forwarded to friends via the internet, ensuring the popularity of the game.

More than 130,000 people have visited www.faceball.org, set up to promote the pastime.

Matches have been played already at Tate Britain and Alexandra Palace.

The rules are simple. Players sit opposite each other, 10 feet apart. They are not allowed to flinch or move. Each hit to the face scores a point and gives the thrower another shot.

The game was invented by Dunstan Orchard and John Allspaw, two American employees at photo-sharing website Flickr.

They told how they first started throwing beachballs at each other when they found a batch of promotional balls left over from an office party.

"We had so many of those balls being hit around our office," said Flickr designer Mr Orchard.

"Accuracy competitions evolved between a couple of us and the end result was Faceball.

"Because the balls are light, they are tricky to aim when using any kind of force.

"The ability to hit people from a distance thus became a much sought-after skill.

"It's actually enjoyable getting hit in the face by your opponent. It's an excellent way to relax."

Soon after the pair invented it, the game became popular with technology firms, including Google and Apple, and spread to Britain.

Tom Hughes-Croucher, a Yahoo employee in London, said: "It's surprisingly difficult to play at first. The secret is in the flick of the wrist."

Thanks to Daily Mail for the content.