2012 Festival of Animation
Presented By The UCLA Animation Workshop
The Festival of Animation has been a tradition since the UCLA Animation Workshop was founded by Dan McLaughlin in 1959. And from the beginning, the Workshop has promoted its "one person, one film" philosophy, allowing animators of all types to realize their concepts independently.
Each year, all films completed by Workshop students are proudly shown at this yearend event, which embraces works in all media, from pencils to pixels.
[kml_flashembed movie="/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012-animation-prom_slideshow.swf" height="200" width="300" /]The UCLA Animation Workshop has been turning out innovative and accomplished artists for over half a century, never more so than in the past decade, as the popularity and commercial impact of the genre has exploded. The secret seems to be striking a perfect balance between technology and creativity. Although the Workshop has acknowledged the importance of staying abreast of the latest hardware and software, its central emphasis has always been originality. Workshop graduates frequently say that at TFT they learned to be filmmakers and storytellers whose medium happens to be animation.
It is not surprising that Workshop graduates have been well-prepared for the CG innovations that have transformed the field of animation. Established by gifts amounting to almost a million dollars from the Walter Lantz Foundation, the program's Walter Lantz Digital Animation Studio is a state of the art facility, a matchless resource for instruction, research and student film production.
Each year, all films completed by Workshop students are proudly shown at this yearend event, which embraces works in all media, from pencils or clay, paint or pixels. The evening screening included an awards ceremony where student-voted awards in certain categories were distributed, and a one of a kind reception organized by student volunteers and decorated with colorful animation-themed aplomb..
Award Winners
BEST OF SHOW (tie): "Carnotuarus" by Benett Kim and "Wepo" by Jackie Marion
BEST STORY: "The All-Nighter" by Yinglei Yang
BEST ANIMATION: "Terror in a Three-Piece Suit" by Ariel Goldberg
BEST ART DIRECTION: "To the Fairest" by Yangzi She
MOST INNOVATIVE: "Bacteria Buddies" by Marika Boehler
The Workshop is proud of all its graduates who have gone on to professional sucesses, whther it be directing films such as "9" and "Monster House" or developing TV shows such as, "Making Fiends" and directing the "Simpsons." Recent alumni of the program include Joaquin Baldwin, whose film "Sebastian’s Voodoo" won the Silver Medal for animation at the 2009 Student Academy Awards. Erick Oh’s thesis film "Heart" was a finalist for 2011 Student Academy Award, and recent graduate films, "Chocolate Milk" by Eliza Kinkz, shown at the Directors Showcase event at this year's Festival, and "The Jockstrap Raiders" by Mark Nelson, a Showcase film last year, were national finalists for the 2012 Student Academy Award in the animation category.
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