“Animation Fascination” Episode 64: AF News – Week of March 2, 2014

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Site columnist Jessica Wersky joins Marc to catch up on and discuss all the latest animation news. This episode is full of Disney properties with a dash of DreamWorks and Reel FX.

News discussed this episode: Frozen joining the one billion dollars club at the box office as well as winning the Oscar for best animated feature and a possible ride we’d like to see built at Disney World/Disneyland. Star Wars Rebels character profiles, and a possible new Shrek film in the future.

(Recorded on 03/03/14)

‘Frozen’ Wins Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Song

Walt Disney Animation Studios‘ Frozen took home the Oscar for both Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony held on Sunday, March 2, in Hollywood. The Oscar for Best Animated Short Film was awarded to Mr. Hublot, the CG-animated short produced in Europe by ZEILT Productions. Warner Bros.’ VFX extravaganza Gravity took home the award for Best Visual Effects.

“Animation Fascination” Episode 58: Farhan Qureshi – Visual Effects Artist

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In this special episode, Stanford and Marc interview visual effects artist Farhan Qureshi. He’s worked on everything from the Harry Potter films, to Batman Begins, and of course Aardman’s The Pirates: Band of Misfits.

Also Discussed: Farhan’s short films Digitopia: Discover Me, NitroDust and his book VFX and CG Survival Guide for Producers and Filmmakers, as well as the Oscar nominations for animation.

(Recorded on 01/19/14)

2014 Oscar Nominations Announced

The nominees were announced today for the 2014 Academy Awards. In the animation categories, five feature films and five short films were nominated (see below). Also, two songs from animated films have been nominated in the Original Song category: “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 and “Let It Go” from Frozen. And Pixar Animation Studios was snubbed again by not receiving any nominations for the great Monsters University and their beautiful short film The Blue Umbrella.  Here are the animation nominees…

Short List Announced for Best Animated Short Oscar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscars) recently released their short list of candidates for the Best Animated Short Film category.