Best of Ottawa Screening, February 28, 6pm

Visiting Filmmaker: Kevin Schreck, February 14, 6pm

Striving to make the best animated film of all time, visionary animator Richard Williams (Oscar-winning animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit) toiled for nearly three decades on his masterpiece, The Thief and the Cobbler -- only to have it torn from his hands.  Filmmaker Kevin Schreck has woven together mind-blowing animation, rare archival footage, and exclusive interviews with key animators and artists who worked with Williams on his ill-fated magnum opus to bring this legendary, forgotten chapter of cinema history to the screen for the very first time.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION 
with Kevin Schreck in person!
Friday, Feb, 14th
6 p.m.
The CDM Theater
14 E. Jackson, LL

This event is FREE but seating is limited so come early!

PERSISTENCE OF VISION - Trailer from Kevin Schreck on Vimeo.

Need Extra Drawing Practice?

Heat Spell!

Heat Spell, directed by DePaul Animation's Jo Dery and produced by Simple Machine Studio, will debut on November 19 at 6pm in the CDM Theater, 14 East Jackson. Join us for the celebration!

Re-Title projects from Advanced Motion Graphics, Fall quarter 2013

The Advanced Motion Graphics students were assigned to create title sequences for films in the style of a designer whose work they studied.

Samantha Harris: The Wizard of Oz (1939), in the style of Enter the Void (2009) designed by Tom Kan.



Tyler Gobberdiel: Moon (2009), in the style of Yusaka Kamekura.


Chelsea Henshaw: Almost Famous (2000) in the style of Stefan Sagmeister


More videos from the project here.

Self-portrait Films

Here are some great examples of self-portrait films made in my Production I class this winter, from Michelle Verceles and Taylor Harrington.

Experimental Animation: Boot Rotation

Here's a collaborative project from ANI356/456 Experimental Animation: Everyone sat in a circle around a boot and drew several sketches of it. Then we animated the drawings to show the boot rotating. We were discussing the threshold for seeing continuous motion, especially with very different graphic styles, from one frame to the next.

Sketchbook Club!

Animators! There is a new opportunity this Winter quarter -- Sketchbook Club! Grab your sketchbook and your favorite drawing supplies and join us every Wednesday afternoon at 5pm, in room 803 (the Solid Objects Lab on the 8th floor). We will draw from life and our imaginations, and I will give you challenges that you can work on throughout the week. 

Hang out with fellow animators and faculty, practice drawing, generate project ideas, and get into the best habit you can have besides brushing your teeth -- keeping a sketchbook! 

First meeting is January 9th, and every Wednesday following for Winter quarter. 

2012 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, Oct. 27-28

The 2012 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation will be held Oct. 27-28. The opening program is at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., at 2 PM on Saturday Oct. 27. Festival guest Nancy Andrews will present her films at the 7 PM program on Saturday at DePaul in the Daley Building theater, 247 S. State St, and there will be two programs on Sunday at 1 PM and 4 PM at DePaul.

Eyeworks is a festival focusing on abstract animation and unconventional character animation. Festival programs showcase outstanding experimental animation of all sorts: classic films, new works and rare masterpieces. We have collected some really amazing short films this year, including some classic abstract films, some rarely-seen treasures, and some of the best new experimental work being made by animators today. We're especially excited about our festival guest, Nancy Andrews, who will be showing three of her beautiful puppet films on Saturday evening. And, DePaul's very own Jo Dery will have a piece showing on loop in the theater lobby throughout the weekend.

The full details on the festival, including showtimes, lineup of work, and tickets, are on the festival website: www.eyeworksfestival.com.

We would be thrilled if you would join us for the festival! No matter what kind of animation you like, I guarantee that you will see something unexpected, inspiring, hilarious, and amazing at Eyeworks.

"Make It A Great Day" screening, Friday, September 28th

Join us this Friday, September 28, at 5:30pm in the CDM Theater, 14 East Jackson, for a very special screening of Assistant Professor Josh Jones' new film, Make It A Great Day. The film was written by fellow faculty member, Dan Klein, and worked on by a Project Bluelight team. Hooray for Josh! 

Two-Week Projects - Fall 2012

The Animation Production II class had the assignment to make an entire short piece in two weeks. We started by pulling scenarios from a hat, and hit the ground running. A few pieces are below, and you can see more pieces on our class Vimeo page.

Strike by Jonathan Karavas:
A Thief in the Night by Ben Conrad:
Mine-Eee-Ay-Tour by Marc Walls:

Amy Lockhart visits DePaul Animation

Canadian artist and animator Amy Lockhart will screen works and give an artist talk today, Thursday, September 13, at 6:30pm in room 708 of the CDM building. Join us!

From Amy's film "Walk for Walk"

And the winner is...

Last week's Senior Capstone screening was a big success, with friends and family cheering on the accomplished filmmakers in a full CDM theater. The faculty wanted to recognize the outstanding capstone projects so we handed out a number of awards, as well as polled the audience about their favorite film. Here are the results and a few pics of the proud filmmakers! 


Faculty Award: Doublington's Disorder by Michael Tran


Below: Michael with his award, a half-lumberjack/half-werewolf stuffed doll! 





Audience Choice: (tie) Doublington's Disorder by Michael Tran and Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy! by Molly McCandless


Audience Choice, 2nd place: The Golfer and the Goose by Andrez Aguayo and David Johnson


The "Up All Night" award (recognizing the most hours spent on a film): Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy! by Molly McCandless


Below: Molly with her prize, a token for a free cup of coffee! 




The "Most Punk" award (recognizing the most raw animation): The Hour of the Wolf by Frank Shuford 


Below: Frank with his award, a yo-yo! 




The "Future Blockbuster" award (recognizing great production values): The Golfer and the Goose by Andrez Aguayo and David Johnson


"Best film from and Engaged Couple" (recognizing exemplary team-work): The Axius Trials by Alex Keller and AJ Klingelhoffer

"Best Poop Joke in a Film" (recognizing great character design!): Hometree Nursing by Alex Dejak & Alex Bull

Below: Alex and Alex and their trophy, a giant pencil! 

The "Wiggly Belly" award (recognizing great exaggerated animation): A Miniature Matter by Sarah Feldman

The "Cute Overload" award (recognizing  a too-cute film!): Teddy by Margaret Orr

The "Miniature Epic" award (recognizing the shortest saga): Shattered World by Trevor Kettelkamp 

Below: Trevor with his award, a light-up bouncy ball! 

DePaul Animation faculty represent at C.A.K.E.

The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo is almost upon us! This exciting event will take place on June 16 and 17, at Columbia College's Ludington Building, 1104 South Wabash (that's right down the street from CDM). Artists from all over the world will be presenting comics for sale -- including our very own Associate Professor of Animation, Scott Roberts! Scott will be there with his comic, The Hound and the Musch. 


On C.A.K.E.'s opening day, June 16, Assistant Professor Alexander Stewart will present a program of short animations, an extravaganza co-curated by his Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation partner, Lilli Carre. Titled Double Vision: Comics and Animation, the program showcases work from artists that cross over from comics to animation and vice versa. Filmmakers Jim Trainor, Nate Beaty, Amy Lockhart, Marc Bell, and Assistant Professor Jo Dery will be present to introduce the work, and to give insight on the parallel creative processes of comics and animation. Check out the Eyeworks website for more info, and for details on the other screenings Alexander and Lilli are organizing this month -- not only in Chicago, but in France and Croatia! 


Below, Scott's comic on the shelf at Quimby's. 

Fatal Vittles

The Animation program is proud to announce the completion of Assistant Professor Devin Bell's Fatal Vittles, which was produced with the help of a student crew as a Project Bluelight. 

Below are some stills from the film, which premiered to an audience of faculty, staff, students, family, and friends just last week at the CDM Theater on Jackson Street! 

Congratulations Devin! We are all very proud of you and your students! Bravo! 

Be sure to look for Fatal Vittles at a film festival near you! 

The Gift

As a final project in the Animation Graduate Seminar, everyone was asked to pick one thing that resonated with them from the material covered and make an animation based on it. I was extremely pleased to see such a great variety of influences and approaches, so I will be posting several projects throughout the month of December. Enjoy!

Lisa

1. Christal Charlery's "The Gift" (This is all your fault, Devin.)

Animation I: Final Projects

Animation I students finished up the quarter by producing a final project of their choosing, developing the work from storyboard through sound design. Below is a slimy sampling of the great projects produced by students!

First, let me introduce you to "Simba the Snail" -- created by Brian Almalvez.

And what follows is "A Strange Encounter" with the work of Aaron Hunt.

A Strange Encounter from Aaron Hunt on Vimeo.

It was a real treat for me to work with such great students during my first term as a faculty member in the DePaul animation program.

Our new MFA program

The deadline for our new MFA in Animation program is February 1, 2012. Everyone is very excited about this new offering, and to share the news we created a promotional poster that will be mailed to schools nation-wide in the coming weeks. Spread the word!

Malcolm Sutherland at OIAF 2011

Meghann Artes and I went to the Ottawa International Animation Festival this year, which was a valuable and inspirational event for anyone in the field of animation. One of my favorite filmmakers in attendance was Malcolm Sutherland. He had two short yet substantial films featured in a very competitive category in the same year. He mentioned that he cranks out a film in about 3-4 months. He picks up an occasional freelance job, then works like mad for a concentrated period of time on his own films. Here are the two screened at Ottawa.

Animation I: Evolving Cycle Projects

Last week in Animation I, we dove into Flash with a fun "evolving cycle" project. In this assignment, students had to make a short 3-5 second animation that repeats. With each repetition, they were to add a new animated element until they completed 5 full cycles.

Diana Moya-James created "Out at Sea," which you can watch below:

David Shastry took a non-narrative approach, instead drawing inspiration from Rudolf Arnheim's writings about symmetry and color.