Angry Birds Animation Wraps

A handful of people here at Sony Pictures were asked to stop working on the movie for a little while and make this cute little Christmas greeting. It's been nice to see it come together in only a couple of weeks. Everyone is so familiar with the characters and work flow at this point that we've been cranking out footage like nobody's business. Most animators have moved onto other projects or are celebrating on some beach having a well deserved break. I finished my last shot last week (I wasn't involved with the above clip), and am developing walk cycles for one of the main characters in Storks, Warner Bros.' next feature, on which more later.

Angry Birds Teaser

I've been working on this silly thing since January. I know, it's Angry Birds. It shouldn't be allowed. It's not supposed to be any good. But it is. And it's coming. You'll go see it. And you'll love it. Just wait.

The Prophet

I had the pleasure of seeing Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet the other week here in Vancouver, and was blown away by the incredible visuals of some of the segments. It's always lovely to see some top notch 2d animation and I hope it does well. For now it's quite hard to find as it slowly makes its way around the world in a very select few theaters but I hope it gets a wider release in the future and the attention and accolades it deserves.

Ciggie

Christopher Lee

Hearing of Sir Christopher Lee's passing last week instantly brought me back to 2007 when I had the pleasure and honor of working with him. Uli Meyer had hired Lee's acting services for his feature film "Monstermania!" which I was storyboarding on at the time and in which Lee voiced the mysterious Professor Hieronymus Price. Needless to say we were all incredibly excited to meet and work with the legendary actor.

 Because I did the scratch track (temp) voice of the main character Max who Lee had all his scenes with I was asked to go into the booth with the man to give him Max's lines so he had something to bounce off of and act with, an incredible experience!

After the recording session Lee mesmerized us all for quite some time with stories about his incredible life. We heard about his royal heritage, his time in the RAF's intelligence division, a sword fight with Errol Flynn which went awry, his lamentations on always being asked to play villains and monsters, his opera singing career, and his opinions about and experiences with the likes of Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Tolkien, Ian Fleming, Sean Connery, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson to name but a few. A cab had been called after the recording to take Sir Christopher home, but because nobody wanted to end the session/storytime, the cabbie waited outside with the meter running for several hours. The cab fare must have been astronomical....

With fellow storyboard artist/film maker/animator/silly voice man/beer quaffer Elliot Cowan.

The Don revisited

I've found myself revisiting an old friend a lot recently, doodling mentally impaired and spaghetti loving mafia boss the Don. Might have to do some animation with him...