After more than 14 years in production, Wall-E finally rolls his way onto the Big Screen.

Inspired by pair of binoculars, director Andrew Stanton continued to build and define the character design of Wall-E drawing inspiration from the original Pixar character, Luxo. 

Believing that Wall-E wouldn’t work with conventional dialogue, the team courted Ben Burtt to create a language of whirrs and electronic beeps; “It’s a pretty unconventional movie,” admits producer Jim Morris, “But we knew early on that it was the right way to tell the story.” 

The characters are, in fact, so emotive, that they almost communicate without any language at all.  Burtt phrases it perfectly, “The power those animators have to give life to non-human things, to make you love what is basically two eyes on a stick, was thrilling.”

Wall-E hits theaters worldwide beginning this Friday, June 27th. 

A round of applause for animators everywhere.  Thanks for keeping our imaginations alive!

The masses have spoken! It was a close race, but Raspberry Animation’s Jeroen Zijlstra pulled ahead to be named this week’s winner in our Get with the Times! HD Animation Contest.

His captivating stop motion animation, Awareness, was inspired by German Expressionistic films like Metropolis; TV shows like Big Brother; and films like The Matrix: “I wanted a mix of those all put in one little project.” With a dark, gloomy, and colorless atmosphere, the animation features a robot who lives alone – whose world exists of watching others on TV, without knowing that we’re all watching him at the same time. “It took me 16 weeks to make it from script to screen: 8 weeks for preparation and building it all, and 8 weeks for shooting effects and finishing.”

This cutting edge animation picked up 3,055 MyToons community votes, giving Jeroen his SECOND weekly win in the contest.

Don’t miss your chance to be the next Get with the Times! weekly winner! You can upload as many original HD animations as your heart desires, so be sure to enter to win! For more details check out the Get with the Times! contest page, and don’t forget to vote for your favorites.

TAIS showcase and Monster Jam
Friday June 27, 2008, Screening 7:OO pm
NFB Mediatheque, John Street at Richmond, Toronto
TAIS Members FREE, General Admission: $5

The National Film Board cinema in downtown Toronto is the place to be this Friday night! Emerging and established animators will be featured in the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) Animation Showcase. This evening of animation thrills features MONSTERJAM – an animated jam sesh full of 10 second monster films, all edited into one creepy anijam!
The best films in the showcase and jam have a chance to win hand-crafted monster stuffies from Monster Factory and author-signed copies of  Jellaby by Kean Soo and Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi.
This is a great opportunity to support independent animation! You can check out the TAIS Showcase, MONSTERJAM, and reception – all for only $5. Sounds like a blast!

Can’t make it? The edited MONSTERJAM will be uploaded to MyToons for everyone to enjoy!

The times, they are a-changin’ – and MyToons is changing right along with ‘em!  As a part of our cutting-edge HD campaign, we’ve teamed with Adobe to bring you Get with the Times! – our latest HD animation contest that takes your animation to the center of the Big Apple! 

Submit your best HD work from June 9 – September 4, 2008, and you could win a trip to NYC to see your creation grace Clear Channel’s state-of-the-art video billboard in Times Square – and, as a bonus, take home every creator’s dream toolkit: Adobe’s Creative Suite 3: Master Collection!

Winners are chosen every week, and just like NYC, MyToons voting never sleeps – so be sure to cast your votes on your favorite animations!  Weekly winners will not only receive an iPod Nano loaded with awesome animations, but will also be finalists in the running for the Grand Prize: an exciting weekend for two in NYC!  Plus, two runners-up will also receive a copy of Adobe’s CS3!

To upload your animation and cast your vote to win, visit the Get with the Times! contest page at MyToons.com/contests/TimesSquare.

Fifteen years have passed since Animaniacs first aired on television. At Warner Bros., we had been working for two years prior to the premiere, honing and polishing the series into what later became a huge phenomenon. It was, I believe, our commitment to quality that led to the success of the show - and it was definitely a commitment and a lot of hard work.

We did have some advantages. Today, for instance, shows don’t often get the kind of preparation time that we enjoyed. Whenever a new production is started, there is development time in which the crew has the opportunity to figure out particular aspects of the show. Animaniacs was no different, and here I will give you the rare opportunity to see some of the development work we did.

While we did have more lead time, we also had a few challenges to manage - a lack of modern technology definitely posed an obstacle in terms of time, and we also had to maneuver the same legal minefield that animators deal with today.

It’s hard to believe that just fifteen years ago digital animation didn’t really exist. Though some studios had the ability to do digital coloring, we did not have the luxury in our field - all the processes for television shows were still being done using traditional cells. During the years of production we did use digital methods for some parts of production, such as the title cards, but most of what you see on the screen was non-digital.

We also dealt with some of the same challenges that animators face today. Often a concept is thrown out or changed because of similarities to something else, or in favor of a funnier idea. Sometimes, too, you run into legal obstacles in trying to sort out contractual differences. Case in point - I shared an idea for a show within the Animaniacs series called Latidga (pronounced La- tea-ja). Latidga was a story about a futuristic android detective, but we ran into some contractual differences. Unfortunately, we were never able to come up with an agreeable contract, so we had to drop it from the Animaniacs line-up, though some of the early concept descriptions and the artwork still exist.

Another example of a fun idea that we had to put down, was a cartoon called Broccoli, an animation that I directed during the first season of Animaniacs. Broccoli was essentially the story of Green Eggs and Ham, with Yakko trying to convince George Bush Sr. to eat broccoli. That short was, unfortunately, never produced because, judging by Clinton’s lead in the polls, Bush would have been out of office by the time it would have aired. Instead, Warner Brothers repurposed the animation with different characters under the name Histeria, since that show focused on history rather than current events.

I can’t believe that all of this happened more than 15 years ago. I’m glad that Animaniacs had a good run and, I’m also glad to say, it still gets aired from time to time – not to mention the several volumes that are available on DVD. I hope that everyone enjoyed the show as much as we did, and I would love to hear your thoughts on favorite characters, favorite episodes - whatever!

Thanks for dropping by - Chat with you again next week!

Animaniacs premiered June 21, 1993, making the Animaniacs are 15 this week – that’s pretty old in cartoon years!

But nothing compares, of course, to the age of their predecessors. Inspired by the humor, violence, and general irreverence of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery in Looney Tunes, executive producer Steven Spielberg and senior producer Tom Ruegger created characters heavily influenced by the Marx Brothers, and Jerry Lewis. Spielberg defends the Looney Tunes-inspired edgy humor and cartoon violence, arguing that it had a “point of view” and did not “sit back passively and play both sides equally.” He believes that this edge balances out the educational aspects of the show, and prevents it from becoming too “benign.” (1)

Because of Spielberg’s vision and the flexible and almost amorphous structure of the show, writers were given incredible freedom with the script; as Peter Hastings explains, “We weren’t really there to tell compelling stories…You could do a real story, you could recite the Star-Spangled Banner, or you could parody a commercial – you could do all these kinds of things, and we had this tremendous freedom and the talent to back it up.” (2/5)

8 Emmies and 1 Peabody Award attest to this tremendous talent, as well as the quality of story, animation, and music that compose Animaniacs. To keep it fresh, active, and true to its roots – and to avoid pausing action for dialogue – the Animaniacs characters move fluidly and regularly, giving them a higher cel count than most animated shows.

Music on Animaniacs is both rich and profuse. Inspired by Carl Stalling, much of the music was recorded in the same studio and on the same piano that Carl had used years ago. Every episode boasts at least one original score, and the Animaniacs theme song flaunts a variety of alternate endings. To support his vision of a musically unique show, Spielberg ensured that the team had its very own 40 piece orchestra, and this dedication was recognized and awarded. The theme song, composed by Richard Stone and written by Tom Ruegger, won an Emmy Award for best song in the very first season. Yakko’s World, the song featuring Yakko singing the nations of the world, was written by Randy Rogel and directed by Rusty Mills, and rose quickly to fame as an excellent educational tool for teachers, parents, and, yes, couch-potatoes all around the world.

Haven’t quite satisfied your Animania? Head on over to this week’s Rusty’s Ramblings, where Rusty Mills shares his experience in creating and directing the series.

Quotes:
1. Closs, Larry (October 28, 1995), “Spielberg Toons In: Moviemaker extraordinaire Steven Spielberg reveals he’s also an animaniac at heart”, TV Guide: 33–36
2. Maurice LaMarche, Tom Ruegger, et al.. (2006). Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs: Volume 2. Special Features:The Writers Flipped They Have No Script. [DVD]. Warner Home Video. (5)