I spent this past week in Portland, Oregon for the 1st Annual Platform International Animation Festival. Portland itself was a thrill, and the festival surely lived up to expectations.
I joined Dan Sarto’s (AWN.com) Attack of the Blog: Meet the Bloggers panel on Wednesday (see Charles Zembillas’ photos), and then moderated The Flashers Convention, a panel covering the use of Flash in the world of character animation. Joining me on the panel were Brendan Burch (Six Point Harness), Nina Paley, Delna Bhesania (Bardel), Chris Staples (Cartoon Network) and David SanAngelo (Soup2Nuts).
We covered the benefits of Flash to independent animators, cost savings in the TV world and whether or not ‘Flash’ is still a dirty word in the animation industry. Harmony, the digital 2D software from Toonboom, ended as a topic multiple times, and seems to be making headway versus Flash.
Thanks to all who attended, and to Cartoon Network, Irene Kotlarz and Anne Denman for inviting me. I’ll surely be back next year.
Nina Paley, a self-professed “cynical cartoonist” turned independent animator, began working on Sita Sings the Blues in December of 2004. This week Paley unveiled her first trailer for this 72-minute film, which she has been slowly releasing in sections, chapter by chapter.
Paley is aiming to finish the film by 2008, but in the meantime, enjoy some of her other award-winning films like Stork or my personal favorite Fetch!.
Nina Paley’s 72-minute feature ‘Sita Sings the Blues’ is yet another in a growing list of ultra-low budget Flash features. She’s been slowly releasing segments of the film, and Chapter 4 (MOV) is now available for download at archive.org.
The film is based on the ancient Indian epic called ‘The Ramayana,’ and her interpretation has been met with praise, but also anger – and according to Nina, mostly anger from men.
She’s currently projecting a 2008 end-date, and as a crew of one, that alone would be an incredible feat. Nina is still in need of completion financing, and she’s encouraging interested investors to contact her.
A massive update to the Cold, Hard Flash links section has just been posted. The section has nearly doubled, due surely to the increasing number of emails I’ve been receiving from studios and artists. Thanks much to everyone who’s contributed, and please keep ‘em coming.
I spent this past week in Portland, Oregon for the 1st Annual Platform International Animation Festival. Portland itself was a thrill, and the festival surely lived up to expectations.
just been posted. The section has nearly doubled, due surely to the increasing number of emails I’ve been receiving from studios and artists. Thanks much to everyone who’s contributed, and please keep ‘em coming. 
