I'm still reliving the highlights from the Platform Animation Festival last week. I confess I didn't get quite as much sleep as I should have, and upon my return from Portland, I found myself struck down with the common cold. There is something terribly wrong about catching a cold in July. I digress. In case you missed out on Platform, here's your chance to catch a few festival clips, without catching the common cold. Regretfully, presentation on a glorious big screen with a room full of animation fanatics from around the world are not included:

The Platform trailer (Smith & Foulkes of Nexus Productions)

From the Portland Animation Showcase (not in the official competition) here's a clip from a personal favourite, the memorable Operation Fish (Jeff Riley)

Party clips:




Impromptu tabletop animation by Audrey M. Eschright at the LAIKA picnic.

drinking + drawing, the party hosted by Dan Meth and Channel Frederator. The finished film premiered close to 2am, after many sharpies had been put to good use.



PikaPika 2007. Check out this impressive trailer of light painting.

And of course, a few winning films:





Best Film For the Internet: Secret Lives of Robots (Lee Rubenstein and Dan Meth)

Best Sound: I Met the Walrus (Josh Raskin)
Perhaps some controversy could be stirred up here, as the audio was recorded almost 40 years ago. However, it is the meticulous timing of the visuals to the audio that creates a most compelling storytelling experience.

Best Performance by Animated Character: No Room For Gerold (Daniel Nocke) Feel the tension of simple human conversation.

Best Series for Children: Shaun the Sheep: Still Life (Chris Sadler)
Aardman shines with this series, cleverly illustrating their nack for picking up clay and making something great.

Check out this local community radio interview of Scott McCloud by illustrator/animator S.W. Conser. It's currently available as a podcast from KBOO FM.

Another radio interview podcast discussing the animation installations, one of the truly hybrid elements of this festival.

A few more things to look forward to:

Amid & Jerry at Cartoon Brew previewed a handful of exciting new projects. In addition to their beta portal http://www.cartoonbrewfilms.com/, they've crafted a glorious collection of the Worst Cartoons Ever! http://www.cartoondump.com/ is coming soon! Jerry also happens to have two new books forthcoming. The Hanna-Barbera Treasury (Hardcover) (October 23, 2007) and Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper (Paperback) (August 1, 2007)

Check out the Sita Sings the Blues clips online to see how the film is progressing. Nina Paley previewed a work in progress screening of her very own Flash feature film on Friday, and she indicated it should be wrapping up production in approximately 8 months!

Last month, CBS aired 3 episodes of the American Creature Comforts before pulling the plug on the show. Sadly, there are no plans to broadcast episodes 4-7. American producer Kit Boss gave us an elaborate look at the production of the series, and we were given a very special screening of episode 4.

Kit also happened to mention despite the disappointing cancellation, a DVD release of the entire series would be forthcoming, perhaps even ready for a fall release.

Labels: festivals, Platform, Portland