Channel Frederator Blog

CalArts student Marcos Cohen’s film “Madame Babette” is all at once retro, cute, hilarious, and dark. Check it out…

Channel Frederator: Where did you get the idea for Madame Babette?

Marcos Cohen: First off, I’d like to thank you guys for showing “Madame Babette”. It’s such a great honor to share it with you.

It took me a while to come out with the main idea for this film. I spent countless days thinking about what kind of story to make. The idea for “Madame Babette” actually started while watching a movie from one of my favorite Spanish filmmakers, Pedro Almodovar, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. There is a scene in this movie in which the main character throws a phone or answering machine out of the window. It was so hilarious the way the actress did it that it sparked in me the idea of making a short film about [Read more…]

“I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.” - Walt Disney

Jim Hill Media has reported that Pixar has no less than three sequels in the works. In addition to Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, Pixar is in the beginning phases of Monsters Inc 2.

First off, I don’t believe the first Toy Story warranted a sequel. Yes, the film was good, and the Sarah McLaughlin montage was a tear jerker, but did Buzz and Woody REALLY need a sequel? What more of their story needs to be told? Who will lose their arm in the third film?

I thought that Cars was the weakest film in the Pixar library thus far, but the sheer amount of Matchbox sized toys sold to date has got to be enough to buy a small island. I didn’t really feel for any of the characters in the first film, so maybe they [Read more…]

Animation Magazine is reporting that Disney is looking for Donald Duck portraits.

In honor of Donald’s birthday on June 9, D23  (the official community for Disney fans) is seeking submissions for the new portrait from fans.

Full-length oil, acrylic or watercolor canvas portraits of Donald Duck, no larger than 24” W x 36” H, are eligible. To enter, fans must submit original sketches of the planned artwork by June 15. Fans whose work is accepted must complete and delivere the finished portrait by Aug. 15.

Donald Duck turns 75 this year.

-Floyd Bishop

Disney has released the poster for The Princess and the Frog. The first real trailer was released last week, and the reception was mixed.

Some people call it groundbreaking, while others call it a pale imitation of a tired formula. For their part, Disney has tried to put this film up on a pedestal, placing it alongside some of their best films. In fact, the whole 30 second beginning of the trailer is a montage of “remember when we made this movie and this movie?”

We’ll have to wait until the end of this year to see if the film is actually any good, but the stage is set for either a great cinematic triumph, or a huge let down. I think the film has potential, but there are some weird things in the trailer that don’t get my hopes up. I’m looking at you, baby armed prince.

-Floyd Bishop

You have probably already heard about the plans for a Disney/Pixar Vancouver studio. I’ve been trying to find out more about the studio, and I have found that some of the information in the newspaper article was factually inaccurate and a bit misleading. Over on Mark Mayerson’s blog, he has a quote from someone at Pixar (south):

The Vancouver studio will only be producing ancillary work with legacy characters, like Cars and Toy Story. All the stuff that Pixar doesn’t have the time or money to do to keep the franchises alive. The original shorts and DVD shorts will still be done in Emeryville. As I understand it, Pixar will still generate all the stories for the ancillary work, and the Vancouver studio will be strictly for production.

So it would seem that, in regards to outsourcing, Canada is to Pixar what India and Korea are to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It would also seem that [Read more…]

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming animating and timing on “The Simpsons” to directing “God, The Devil, & Bob” to the pre-K “Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”. Here, in the second half of her interview, Sherie goes in depth about her lecture.

BD: In your lecture, what kind of things do you cover for aspiring pro animators?

SP: I basically want to share everything I wish I knew when I started. You know, how to get a union job. What is a union all about. What do I do if I’m not doing well on a job - how do I get my groove back? Carpal tunnel. Everyone gets it. Eye strain. How to [Read more…]

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that Pixar is planning to build a 20,000 square foot facility in Vancouver to produce its short features. The Walt Disney Studios is currently scouting locations in the downtown area, and hopes to be up and running as early as this fall.

From the article:

Amir Nasrabadi, who will run the Vancouver operation as studio general manager, said Vancouver was attractive to Pixar for a number of reasons. It’s an English-speaking city in the same time zone as Los Angeles; the B.C. production tax credits are attractive to an American company; and the city, with its numerous animation studios and quality schools, is a good source of talent.

“There’s a huge, very robust, and mature talent pool in Vancouver that we’d like to tap into and continue to develop,” Nasrabadi said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he has been vice-president of operations and finance for DisneyToon [Read more…]

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming (like animating and timing on “The Simpsons” and directing “God, The Devil, & Bob”) to pre-K entertainment like“Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”.

Bailee DesRocher: What got you started in animation?:

Sherie Pollack: I was 17 when I first started thinking about colleges, I flipped a coin - it was either going to be theatre, or fine arts. That’s when my mother pulled me into the pantry and said,”Do ya have to do this? Isn’t there anything else?”

Going forward, I combined the two. I didn’t know I wanted to be an animator. As a kid I was always drawing and I was very lucky - my parents would [Read more…]

Animation Magazine is reporting that Disney has bought an ownership stake in the popular online video website Hulu. The studio has agreed to a deal that will make it an equity partner in the site along with NBC Universal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners.The article goes on to say that Disney will make available full-length episodes of its popular ABC series, such as Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.I would hope that they also choose to open up their vast Disney archives and also include some of their older live action shows, such as Zorro, Davy Crockett, and The Mickey Mouse Club.  Some Wonderful World of Disney and classic animated shorts would be a welcome addition, too.

-Floyd Bishop 

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman is attached to “Ghostopolis,” an upcoming graphic novel from Doug TenNapel that the author recently set up at Disney.

With “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” pulling in an estimated 87 million this past weekend, the announcement couldn’t have beentimed any better.

Congratulations, Doug!

-Floyd Bishop