LAIKA made some big announcements earlier today. travis knight is stepping up to the position of CEO of the company, and claire jennings is taking a position as "president of entertainment". you can read the press release for all the gory details.
i think this is great news. i have a lot of confidence in both of these individuals. claire jennings is very well-respected throughout the animation industry, and she's already made a positive impact at LAIKA since she came aboard midway through coraline. i consider myself fortunate to have been able to work closely with travis knight over the past couple of years on coraline. he's an amazing animator, and was one of the most hardworking individuals on the project. i'm sure he'll be even more devoted to his new position as CEO.
who knows if any of this will speed up the timeline for another stop motion feature at LAIKA, but i have to assume so. good people are at the reigns, so i have hope.
3.05.2009
3.03.2009
special delivery
i got a call from harbor freight right round the time i finished that last post. my mill/drill came in!
initial thoughts:
bigger than i thought
much heavier than i thought
covered in nasty red grease
i think it'll work
i needed a good mini drill press, and i can't really afford the one i want right now. i hit the web to research what my other options might be, and i came up with this chinese made mini mill that is equipped with a levered handle for drilling. the seig company makes this tool, as well as several other models of varying sizes. several american companies rebrand these and sell in them in the US. this one is the smallest, the "X1" model. they get decent reviews. i'm not really counting on much from the milling side of things, but if i can do precise drilling i will be happy. right now i have to try to get all this slop off of it...
initial thoughts:
bigger than i thought
much heavier than i thought
covered in nasty red grease
i think it'll work
i needed a good mini drill press, and i can't really afford the one i want right now. i hit the web to research what my other options might be, and i came up with this chinese made mini mill that is equipped with a levered handle for drilling. the seig company makes this tool, as well as several other models of varying sizes. several american companies rebrand these and sell in them in the US. this one is the smallest, the "X1" model. they get decent reviews. i'm not really counting on much from the milling side of things, but if i can do precise drilling i will be happy. right now i have to try to get all this slop off of it...
recuperating
hello again. i've been keeping to myself for a bit, and i guess i owe you an apology. i've been sick with a cold or worse twice in the past month, and last weekend i caught the flu to end all flus. i thought it was the big one. i swear i have been sick every other week since november. jeremy is ready to be healthy, okay?
there's a different feeling in the air now that coraline is out in the world. it has been very satisfying to take in the public response to the film. people are talking about stop motion again. the press around coraline has been interesting. people are wondering what comes next for laika. people are starting to obsess over the technology behind 3D printing and RP machines. is it good for stop motion? is it bad? is just another product of mankind's relentless pursuit of technology for technology's sake? 3D projection is the other big topic right now. the consensus seems to be that there are not enough 3D screens to support the current slate of upcoming 3D films. like the highlander, there can only be one. even though the jonas bros movie was an epic fail last weekend, they still took most of the screens away from coraline, probably costing us several million dollars at the box office. next up in 3D land, moviegoers get yet another shiny new dreamworks cartoon packed full of hot celebrity voices. yay. perhaps the 3D run for coraline has come to an end? weird.
i guess i didn't have a whole lot to say today other than i have not fallen off the face of the earth. it looks like there might be some fun stuff right around the corner for me, so i'll keep you posted when i know more. i still plan on posting some pics from the premier, and then finally i'm going to get around to posting some work samples from coraline.
soon!
there's a different feeling in the air now that coraline is out in the world. it has been very satisfying to take in the public response to the film. people are talking about stop motion again. the press around coraline has been interesting. people are wondering what comes next for laika. people are starting to obsess over the technology behind 3D printing and RP machines. is it good for stop motion? is it bad? is just another product of mankind's relentless pursuit of technology for technology's sake? 3D projection is the other big topic right now. the consensus seems to be that there are not enough 3D screens to support the current slate of upcoming 3D films. like the highlander, there can only be one. even though the jonas bros movie was an epic fail last weekend, they still took most of the screens away from coraline, probably costing us several million dollars at the box office. next up in 3D land, moviegoers get yet another shiny new dreamworks cartoon packed full of hot celebrity voices. yay. perhaps the 3D run for coraline has come to an end? weird.
i guess i didn't have a whole lot to say today other than i have not fallen off the face of the earth. it looks like there might be some fun stuff right around the corner for me, so i'll keep you posted when i know more. i still plan on posting some pics from the premier, and then finally i'm going to get around to posting some work samples from coraline.
soon!
2.10.2009
strong opening
i'd say congratulations are in order for all the crew who worked on coraline. blood, sweat and tears were literally shed to make this movie happen. many people made huge sacrifices in their personal lives so this film could be what it is. i was very fortunate to play a small role in the creation of this film, but there were about 300 other amazing individuals who worked just as hard and if you know any of them, smack 'em on the back and say thanks!
(i got bored an ripped off shepard fairey last night)
and while it may not be immediately apparent, we performed really well last weekend. why? here's why. the final tally for the weekend B.O has been reported to be $16.8 million. most trackers had us coming in closer to half that. we opened on about 2,300 screens, which is about 1,000 less than most "wide releases", and still managed to come in 3rd for the weekend. interestingly, about 60% of the gross from opening weekend came from 3D theaters. (if you haven't yet, go see it in 3D before the jonas brothers run it out of the 3D theaters in 2 weeks) we beat out pink panther 2, which everyone predicted would bury us. the film "taken" came in second, but our per screen average was higher, so you could make an argument that we came in 2nd. maybe not technically, but... as for the number one spot, you can't really put coraline up against a movie like "she's just not that into you" and expect reason to prevail. funny thing is, a lot of people seem to be pretty "meh" about that one after having seen it, and the word of mouth of coraline has been terrific, so hopefully in the long weekend coming up (valentine's day too!) we will continue to see good things for coraline.
i was heartened by this picture my mom sent me a couple of days ago. she still lives in the town where i grew up, newnan, georgia, which is a suburb of atlanta, about 40 miles southwest of the city. not exactly ground central for film promotion, but someone lovingly painted this mural in the window for opening weekend!
in a couple of days i will post some pics from the premier and a DIY crew screening from opening night.
(i got bored an ripped off shepard fairey last night)
and while it may not be immediately apparent, we performed really well last weekend. why? here's why. the final tally for the weekend B.O has been reported to be $16.8 million. most trackers had us coming in closer to half that. we opened on about 2,300 screens, which is about 1,000 less than most "wide releases", and still managed to come in 3rd for the weekend. interestingly, about 60% of the gross from opening weekend came from 3D theaters. (if you haven't yet, go see it in 3D before the jonas brothers run it out of the 3D theaters in 2 weeks) we beat out pink panther 2, which everyone predicted would bury us. the film "taken" came in second, but our per screen average was higher, so you could make an argument that we came in 2nd. maybe not technically, but... as for the number one spot, you can't really put coraline up against a movie like "she's just not that into you" and expect reason to prevail. funny thing is, a lot of people seem to be pretty "meh" about that one after having seen it, and the word of mouth of coraline has been terrific, so hopefully in the long weekend coming up (valentine's day too!) we will continue to see good things for coraline.
i was heartened by this picture my mom sent me a couple of days ago. she still lives in the town where i grew up, newnan, georgia, which is a suburb of atlanta, about 40 miles southwest of the city. not exactly ground central for film promotion, but someone lovingly painted this mural in the window for opening weekend!
in a couple of days i will post some pics from the premier and a DIY crew screening from opening night.
2.05.2009
almost there
coraline is just about to make her grand arrival to the masses! so far the reviews have been very good! rotten tomatoes has it at 88% at the time of this posting. that's quite good! it is weird thinking that very soon all of the hard work that we've done will be unleashed onto the world. whether it is loved, hated, praised or ignored it will be out there. this may be the most important weekend of my life? a bunch of us crew folk practically bought out a theater locally to see the film tomorrow night, and i've made some special preparations!
custom rosewood and mohaghany 3D glasses!
also, this is pretty funny.
custom rosewood and mohaghany 3D glasses!
also, this is pretty funny.
2.03.2009
1.25.2009
SWEET
i can not seem to get rid of all this congestion in my head. it will not go away.
i'm not going to ramble on here today, i just wanted to re-post the new coraline trailer. in all honesty, it is totally badass. the last trailer was kind of... i dunno. i felt like it showed too much of the film's content (in sequence!) and the film comes across looking like it is meant for very young kids. at least that was my opinion. even neil gaiman is saying this is his favorite trailer thus far. it is a work of art in its own right. i think the pacing is great, and the music, especially toward the beginning, really makes you feel... cautious. i like it a lot. thanks again, W+K! now if only they had released this trailer first!
for now all i have is a youtube link. if i can find a high quality download i'll post that later.
a couple of new boxes have shown up too. check out the matrix to the right.
i'm not going to ramble on here today, i just wanted to re-post the new coraline trailer. in all honesty, it is totally badass. the last trailer was kind of... i dunno. i felt like it showed too much of the film's content (in sequence!) and the film comes across looking like it is meant for very young kids. at least that was my opinion. even neil gaiman is saying this is his favorite trailer thus far. it is a work of art in its own right. i think the pacing is great, and the music, especially toward the beginning, really makes you feel... cautious. i like it a lot. thanks again, W+K! now if only they had released this trailer first!
for now all i have is a youtube link. if i can find a high quality download i'll post that later.
a couple of new boxes have shown up too. check out the matrix to the right.
1.21.2009
Pretty Good Week
it feels better already, doesn't it? yay for us! the 20th was also my two year anniversary with a very special young lady, so that made the day even that much sweeter. the down side is that i've had a crazy cold for about a week now, and while i feel somewhat better, i am super congested. i'll get over it.
one of the projects that i took on a few weeks ago was to build a book for the "art of coraline" show at the cartoon art museum in san francisco. i kept process journals for all of my armature designs and doodles throughout the production, and someone thought it might be a good idea to put some of that work in the show. of course, instead of just scanning some pages and saying "here you go", i volunteered to make a replica of the whole dang book. the problem was, there were 2+ moleskine journals worth of crap to go through, so i wound up including only(?) 48 pages in the recreation. i'm not sure if they are having a fancy opening or closing reception, or if henry is going to make an appearance or anything, but regardless of fanfare the show is definitely worth a look. i've seen the selection of art and puppets that are going to be on display, and i think it will be a worthwhile trip for anyone who is interested in that sort of thing. there was so much beautiful artwork done for this film. really great work. seriously. and as an added bonus, if you visit the gallery before the 8th of february you can still see the current totoro forest project show, which is amazing. a few coraline artists have work in that exhibit as well. any of you fine folks who manage to check the show out should let me know if my book has been tagged or vandalized as of the date you see it! except for the stress of trying to get the thing finished on time it was a lot of fun to make the book. it has been a long time since i have done any book binding, and this little project reminded me how rewarding it can be to make your own journals. perhaps i shall make more.
how about a sneak preview?
one of the projects that i took on a few weeks ago was to build a book for the "art of coraline" show at the cartoon art museum in san francisco. i kept process journals for all of my armature designs and doodles throughout the production, and someone thought it might be a good idea to put some of that work in the show. of course, instead of just scanning some pages and saying "here you go", i volunteered to make a replica of the whole dang book. the problem was, there were 2+ moleskine journals worth of crap to go through, so i wound up including only(?) 48 pages in the recreation. i'm not sure if they are having a fancy opening or closing reception, or if henry is going to make an appearance or anything, but regardless of fanfare the show is definitely worth a look. i've seen the selection of art and puppets that are going to be on display, and i think it will be a worthwhile trip for anyone who is interested in that sort of thing. there was so much beautiful artwork done for this film. really great work. seriously. and as an added bonus, if you visit the gallery before the 8th of february you can still see the current totoro forest project show, which is amazing. a few coraline artists have work in that exhibit as well. any of you fine folks who manage to check the show out should let me know if my book has been tagged or vandalized as of the date you see it! except for the stress of trying to get the thing finished on time it was a lot of fun to make the book. it has been a long time since i have done any book binding, and this little project reminded me how rewarding it can be to make your own journals. perhaps i shall make more.
how about a sneak preview?
1.14.2009
ghost town
dang.
i'm tired.
out of the blue i got called back to work for a few weeks to get puppets ready for some publicity appearances. there is an exhibit at the cartoon art museum in san francisco that we are preparing stuff for, and there is a whole bunch of other crap that needs to be done for the premiere. its a madhouse. i hadn't really expected to be back at work any time soon, so i guess i'm going to be a little light on free time at least up until around the time the movie comes out. it is nice, but kind of weird to be back in that giant building which is now a ghost town. i think we had somewhere up around 60 people working in character fabrication at the height of production, and now there are about 5 of us working. needless to say it feels a little different. its good to spend a little time with coraline though. i kinda missed her.
(i just realized this is going to be a pretty coraline-centric post... sorry about that. i DO have a life.)
in other related news, boxes 21, and 28 have surfaced. there have also been several button boxes showing up at different places. i can't really tell if all of these (admittedly cool) word of mouth marketing schemes are resulting in much mainstream awareness. i don't have TV so i don't really know how much presence there is on air right now, but i know they are cranking things up starting this week. i also don't live in a huge metropolitan market, so we don't have massive billboards or plastered storefronts. at least not yet. i've had a couple of relatives send me emails saying they've seen TV promos and stuff. pretty cool.
it seems like people who are into sneakers are liking these coraline dunks. i've actually seen these in person and they are pretty nice. the sole glows in the dark. (just let your soul glow!) you guys probably already know about the contest for winning these.
speaking of coraline swag, there are some strange goings on over at ebay lately. most notably, there have been a ton of black coraline keys popping up and selling for up to 70 bucks a pop. that's a lot! i think those keys are pretty badass, but i don't think they're worth 70 dollars, especially when you know they are just being picked up off the ground by the people who are selling them. whatever. one guy has a listing that states that the keys were given to VIPs and people on the crew. RIGHT. and what's this scavenger hunt business all of the auctions are claiming. i think it is obvious that the scavenger hunt is to find the frigging keys. anyway, i think they're cool, even if people are getting ripped off. if you have one of these keys and want to part ways with it, send it to me and i'll make it worth your while.
i'm tired.
out of the blue i got called back to work for a few weeks to get puppets ready for some publicity appearances. there is an exhibit at the cartoon art museum in san francisco that we are preparing stuff for, and there is a whole bunch of other crap that needs to be done for the premiere. its a madhouse. i hadn't really expected to be back at work any time soon, so i guess i'm going to be a little light on free time at least up until around the time the movie comes out. it is nice, but kind of weird to be back in that giant building which is now a ghost town. i think we had somewhere up around 60 people working in character fabrication at the height of production, and now there are about 5 of us working. needless to say it feels a little different. its good to spend a little time with coraline though. i kinda missed her.
(i just realized this is going to be a pretty coraline-centric post... sorry about that. i DO have a life.)
in other related news, boxes 21, and 28 have surfaced. there have also been several button boxes showing up at different places. i can't really tell if all of these (admittedly cool) word of mouth marketing schemes are resulting in much mainstream awareness. i don't have TV so i don't really know how much presence there is on air right now, but i know they are cranking things up starting this week. i also don't live in a huge metropolitan market, so we don't have massive billboards or plastered storefronts. at least not yet. i've had a couple of relatives send me emails saying they've seen TV promos and stuff. pretty cool.
it seems like people who are into sneakers are liking these coraline dunks. i've actually seen these in person and they are pretty nice. the sole glows in the dark. (just let your soul glow!) you guys probably already know about the contest for winning these.
speaking of coraline swag, there are some strange goings on over at ebay lately. most notably, there have been a ton of black coraline keys popping up and selling for up to 70 bucks a pop. that's a lot! i think those keys are pretty badass, but i don't think they're worth 70 dollars, especially when you know they are just being picked up off the ground by the people who are selling them. whatever. one guy has a listing that states that the keys were given to VIPs and people on the crew. RIGHT. and what's this scavenger hunt business all of the auctions are claiming. i think it is obvious that the scavenger hunt is to find the frigging keys. anyway, i think they're cool, even if people are getting ripped off. if you have one of these keys and want to part ways with it, send it to me and i'll make it worth your while.
1.07.2009
holiday?
besides being snowed in for a couple of weeks just before christmas, i would say i had a fairly unremarkable holiday season. i guess that's not entirely true, but it kind of seems that way. i stayed in portland for christmas this year, marking the first time i've spent the holidays away from family. i'd have gone home if i'd been able to afford it, but i'm grateful that i didn't buy a ticket because due to the snow in portland i probably wouldn't have been able to make it out of town anyway. instead i had a couple of great dinners with other fellow holiday orphans from various parts of the world that could not make it home for similar reasons. i definitely ate some of the best home cooked meals i've ever had. thanks to george, vera, graham, and melena (and family) for your excellent holiday cooking and hospitality! i wasn't completely without the loving attentions of family though. it is always nice to get care packages, and it was especially nice to get some holiday cheer from the family. cards, books, batteries, candy, seasonal underwear, home baked cookies, and six pack of the world's greatest ginger ale all found their way to me before christmas morning, even though there was no one there to share hugs and thank-yous with. i think my favorite gift was a print of a scott campbell painting that vera gave me. the great thing about this painting is that it perfectly encompasses everything loved and hated when i was about 7 years old. even as a little squirt i loved all of the old classic universal monsters, but i was completely terrified of E.T.
not much has changed.
on new year's eve my buddy huy hosted an amazing party at his new place. he talked me into bringing over the poker gear for anyone who wanted to start up a game, and we wound up playing for a couple of hours. i don't know if it was meant to be an exclamation point at the end of a good year, or a sign of even better things to come, but i made a royal flush just after midnight!
apparently the probability of a hitting a royal flush is 1 in 649,740.
back in the real world, the snow kind of wreaked havoc on my whiteboard plans. i was literally housebound for about 2 weeks, so my gym routine is pretty much busted. i've basically broken rules 1-3 daily for the past 2-3 weeks. so sue me. i did finish one of my projects that has been looming over my head for several months, and i have made considerable progress on a couple of others. a couple of new things have come up to, so even though i've kind of been a chump about certain things, i've managed to keep myself moving forward, more or less. more show and tell in a couple of days.
things might be picking up soon?
not much has changed.
on new year's eve my buddy huy hosted an amazing party at his new place. he talked me into bringing over the poker gear for anyone who wanted to start up a game, and we wound up playing for a couple of hours. i don't know if it was meant to be an exclamation point at the end of a good year, or a sign of even better things to come, but i made a royal flush just after midnight!
apparently the probability of a hitting a royal flush is 1 in 649,740.
back in the real world, the snow kind of wreaked havoc on my whiteboard plans. i was literally housebound for about 2 weeks, so my gym routine is pretty much busted. i've basically broken rules 1-3 daily for the past 2-3 weeks. so sue me. i did finish one of my projects that has been looming over my head for several months, and i have made considerable progress on a couple of others. a couple of new things have come up to, so even though i've kind of been a chump about certain things, i've managed to keep myself moving forward, more or less. more show and tell in a couple of days.
things might be picking up soon?
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