Annecy 2016: Special Events (Part 1)
In the week since Annecy 2016 wrapped up we’ve been positively spoiled by the wealth of new animation talent, upcoming projects and recent industry successes in its wake (it’s certainly made for a fine distraction from certain troubling current events). With focuses on French animation production, animation’s role in the lucrative world of advertising, supplemental screenings, works-in-progress and premieres, the sheer amount of events that the Annecy festival has to offer makes seeing everything an impossibility. Fortunately Skwigly were there with a full contingent this year and between us we managed to sit in on all of the major crowd draws of the week. In part one of our look at the Annecy 2016 special events we look at three such presentations.
Google Spotlight Stories – Once Upon a Time in 360
The world of immersive filmmaking is still in its relative infancy, but rather than baby steps we have been witnessing some pretty impressive strides. With moderator and Executive Producer of Google Spotlight Stories Karen Dufilho describing the ongoing endeavor as an R&D experiment, the potential for the marriage of animation, interactivity and digital storytelling is rather exciting.
Since Glen Keane’s Duet – itself an impressive affair – there have already been great leaps forward in how other directors and studios are approaching the Google ATAP initiative. On hand for this presentation were recent contributors Tim Ruffle (director of Aardman’s Special Delivery, joined by Peter Lord), Oscar-winner Patrick Osborne, whose own project Pearl launched last month, and Nexus Production talents Felix Massie and Chris o’Reilly, director and Creative Executive Director respectively of the upcoming Rain or Shine.
While Osborne’s Pearl is, oxymoronically, an ambitiously conventional project (in the sense that it effectively combines a number of cinematic devices one would consider to be jarring and uncomfortable in a VR environment, such as jump-cuts and a long-form, multi-generational story arc), Aardman and Nexus’s first dabblings in the Spotlight Stories universe eschews pathos for gags, to just as much success. While Special Delivery is a joyful, Cartoon Modern cavalcade that allows its viewer to indulge a certain voyeuristic impulse (think Hitchcock’s Rear Window as rendered by Jim Flora), Rain or Shine ups the ante as far as just how much the viewer’s behavior directly affects the pacing of the film, with expertly thought-out considerations to keep its audience from missing out on key plot moments and sight gags. While all parties offered much by way of insight into the complexity of the process and challenges of the unknown, the production breakdown provided by the Nexus team in particular fully conveyed to the audience just how much planning and forethought is required beyond that of any conventional animated short, and the degrees to which this alternate approach to storytelling actually opens up creative avenues. Wherever this R&D experiment leads to, the results we are seeing along the way are certainly entertaining.
A True Art Form – Aardman Animations & Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
In this presentation, one of several focuses on the marriage between animation and advertising, the UK powerhouse Aardman was paired with Stoopid Buddy, the talents of which perhaps known best as the team behind US hit series Robot Chicken. Introduced by David Sproxton, Aardman’s impressive reel of commissioned work stretched back to over thirty years ago, with suitably rustic, VHS-quality transfers of early adverts for Cadbury’s, and their iconic Creature Comforts Heat Electric (not British Gas, as history often misremembers) campaign. After establishing their visual roots, the retrospective shifted to projects largely completed within the past decade, such as Matt Walker’s spots for Toronto Zoo, Sumo Science’s Dot and Gulp for Nokia, recently-signed Magdalena Osinska’s Share The Orange piece for Alzheimer’s Research UK, Steve Harding-Hill’s Change 4 Life campaign as well as numerous commercials for brands including Visine and their recently-produced Beardimation for Braun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpYzbjGFkqc
Fending off the usual audience non-questions (every one of these goddamn talks has to have at least one superbly original smartarse asking for a job) to start with, the Q&A did eventually yield some interesting insights into the degree to which a brand as established as Aardman are afforded free creative reign.
Somewhat unfairly picked to go second, Burbank CA-based Stoopid Buddy has less to show, being a relatively new venture. Established in 2012, it is still finding its footing and may very well have a long row to hoe before breaking free of the “make it look like Robot Chicken” shackles their clients to date seem to have insisted upon. That being said, in the small handful of years they’ve been in operation they have already been responsible for some impressive work; a surprisingly self-effacing, tongue-in-cheek series of spots for KFC in which Colonel Sanders (reimagined as a space adventurer) ultimately convinces his chicken sidekick that cannibalism is the way to go. Similarly making effective use of their making-toys-move approach are witty ads for the video games Toy Soldiers: War Chest and Halo 5: Guardians, while their work with PES at the helm is perhaps the strongest. The much-acclaimed indie director’s Chex Mix series is immediately reminiscent of his popular ‘Food Trilogy’ series (it’s a popular approach; UK viewers have intuitively picked up on his peripheral involvement in a recent OXO campaign), while Swan Song takes things in a slightly different direction, animating origami-folded hotel towels with a satisfying twist that elevates it about standard commercial fare.
Cartoon Creator-Producer
John Kricfalusi’s masterclass was easily the most laid-back affair of the whole festival. Less a presentation than an informal journey through his hard drive, hopping from folder to folder in search of the next elusive clip, it painted a fairly incomplete picture of his work and just how significant an impact he’s had on the animation landscape. Some curious revelations reared their heads, in particular that animation hasn’t, in his estimation, made any significant progressions in the last thirty years (“I mean, there’s CG, I guess…”), his conflicted attitude about the maligned Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon (“I didn’t really want to do them”), and that the iconic duo were almost set to bookend the most recent Spongebob Squarepants movie of all things, the thumbnail-board pitch for which we were treated to. Focusing more on nods to moments from the original series than attempts to shock, had it been produced it might have paid more satisfyingly nostalgic lip-serve to fans than their doomed, ‘adult’ reboot. When thinking back to a similar presentation Kricfalusi made at Bristol’s Encounters Festival not that long ago, it did seem that the vim and vigour he’s known for wasn’t really present, though in all fairness that could probably be attributed to massive jetlag. Other recent projects included some short spots for UFC in which he has teamed up with Beavis & Butt-Head creator Mike Judge for a series of conversations between King of the Hill’s Hank Hill and Kricfalusi’s own creation George Liquor. No mention was made of the Liquor-centric crowdfunded short Cans Without Labels, although a rough cut (in lieu of a promised premiere, living up to his ‘Clip Not Done Yet’ legacy) was shown earlier in the week preceding a screening of Nerdland. It’s hard to review an unfinished work – Cans Without Backgrounds would be a more fitting title at this stage – but there are certainly moments of the old Kricfalusi magic present, juxtaposed against some atypical approaches to composition and parenting that will no doubt make more sense in the final product. When that will finally appear remains a mystery, though the finish line is clearly in sight.
Of course, the special-est of all the special events was Skwigly’s own impromptu foray into the world of live broadcast, with our first on-location festival report having streamed live via our Facebook page on the Friday. If you missed it live you can catch up below:
Be sure to stay notified of Facebook updates and keep your eyes on our Twitter feed, as this is something we hope to do more of in the future. Check back over the coming days for more coverage from Annecy 2016!