Up

Pixar's UP will be in UK cinemas from October 9th and in 3D in selected cinemas.



This latest CGI film is the story of an old man Carl and boy scout Russell who travel to South America by tying rather a lot of balloons to the house.

There were many interesting technical challenges for the animators as they chose to animate 10,000 balloons using physics and to promote their films this was done on a smaller scale with a real arm chair floated with balloons. Feathers, forest animals, the dog Dug, a Wedding dress and Carl's cube head and stubbly chin also challenged the Pixar animators who discussed some of the issues at presentation of UP at the Gnomon School

Where the wild things are

"Heads on and We Shoot: The Making of "Where the Wild Things are" will be released on 1 October 2009, but you can pre-order now.

Branchage Film Festival Jersey 2009

For the 1st 4 days of October the island of Jersey will be home to the Brachage Film Festival. There is a lot packed into those 4 days but here's some of the highlights for animators.

Friday 2nd October 2009 - Mont Orgueil Castle

The Secret of Kells is an animated fairytale for both children and adults. It won the audience award at both the Edinburgh Film Festival 2009 and the prestigious Annecy animation festival in France.


Friday 2nd October 2009 - Opera House

This is followed by Animagica Night. The Icelandic quartet Amiina performing an original soundtrack to classic Lotte Reiniger animations followed by the ‘live cinema’ experience of Paper Cinema. Inkblots, photocopies, cardboard, angle-poise lamps, the occasional table, video technology, a laptop and a banana box, are all put to use alongside a cast of hand-drawn marionettes magically brought to life.

Saturday 3rd October 2009 - Town Hall

Bev Sage is host to Richard Golesowski from Aardman Animations, for a special Shaun the Sheep masterclass, with models and images to show how little Shaun makes it to the big screen.

Also featuring trailer of new animation “The Puffas” by Ray Hedges and live performance by Simon MacDonald.

StopPress:

There will also be animation in the Max Hattler retrospective and in the London Short Film Festival presents Music & Video.

Follow the latest about the Branchage Festival on Twitter.

Aardman latest

Aardman have been busy over the summer. They have been moving into their new offices, creating animation on the Nintendo Wii® and have been commissioned to make a new inventing series for the BBC. They have also been involved in a range of adverts such as the Change for Life, Cherios, Marie Claire and Birds Eye 'Steakhouse'. The Aardman feature films teams are working on "Arthur Christmas" and "The Pirates! which they hope to release in 2012. They have also been building a digital WebbliWorld.

King Kong Auction

Frank Grimshaw reports in the Imagine Animation Blog of an auction of a 22-inch armature made by Willis O’Brien for the 1933 film of King Kong, it was used in the final scene on top of the Empire State Building.



This and other Vintage Film Posters and Entertainment Memorabilia will be on sale at Christies South Kensington Offices at 2pm on November 24th 2009.