24fps: An Animation Blog

     When The Matrix premiered in 1999, no one thought it was going to be a huge hit, least of which, the directors. The Wachowskis believed in their film, and they had some big studio backing, but no one knew what the Matrix was going to blow up to be. So when it was finally released, and changed the filmmaking landscape, the studios wanted a sequel, immediately. Unfortunately, a big-budget film takes a lot of time to produce, and they hadn't really started yet, but they still had some stories up their sleeves, a bunch of little stories actually. They decided to give the fans a little something while waiting for the Matrix sequels, and they thought animation was the perfect way to do it.     The Animatrix is a collection of nine short films that take place in the world of The Matrix. It's not meant to be a sequel, maybe more of a 1.5. It's a deeper dive into the Matrix as it affects others living in it, some aware, others not, and everyone in between. A nd, since it's

     Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble, known as "Spike & Mike" started a film festival  in the 1970s as a means of promoting rock bands, horror films, and classic movies. Around 1977 they started airing very popular anaimtion shorts from the local area, and these became so popular that it spawned it's own Festival of Animation. Soon, Spike and Mike were getting so many requests from filmmakers all over the country, it became obvious that they needed to expand. Soon they were taking the festival on a 50-city tour.     Responding to the social demands at the time, Spike and Mike started the Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation  in 1990. There were alot of R-rated animations being produced in the states and overseas, that could not get distribution in the states. These film makers were looking for a way to show their films to a more open-minded audience, and the Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation was a great way to do that. These were uncensored and

      The Passenger is an animated short film released in 2006, written, directed, and produced by Melbourne animator Chris Jones. The Passenger is an impressive film, not only in the quality of animation, but also in the cinematography, lighting, FX, and countless other achievements. The most impressive aspect of the film is, however, that it was done entirely by Chris Jones.     In the modern day, it's easy to say that this is no longer possible, to complete such a high-end film by one's self. I would argue, that that's also what you may have said in 2006, when the film was released. Maybe even more so considering how much CG filmmaking was still growing. The quality of the FX, lighting, and texturing of The Passenger easily still holds up today and I find that the older it gets the more impressive it is.     Chris completed the film by himself, but he had one thing many of us just do not allow for. Time.     As documented in Chris's blog, this film took over 8 years

     Just 25 years ago, having an animation studio in your home would have been a distant dream. The tools themselves were often out of financial reach. Just to get started you would need, an animation desk(with an animation disc), a stack of animation paper, a camera that could shoot high resolution in single frames, a filming desk, and editing software. And that was just for one person. If you needed more than one animator, and you most definitely would, you would need to double a lot of that equipment.     Sure, you could do a homemade animation desk, and the camera did not have to be high-end, and the lights for filming could be taped on. But this isn't a school project anymore. You have clients and you need a professional-level animation product if you expect to make a real go of it.     Present-day is a completely different situation, with modern computers and software, you can get up and running within a day and produce high-quality animation by the end of the week. Modern o

      As an animator, and an artist in general, I am always looking for inspiration, something to make me keep pushing my art and my medium. Some animators look to the past, some of the old veterans, others look to the future, trying to navigate an exciting world of ever-evolving new technology. I like to look under rocks, well, that is to say, I like to look where others might not be. I like to find independant animtors, experimenting not only with form, but also story telling and movement. How can an expertly crafted line tell a love story. I found a beautiful piece of animation that I still use for inspiration.      Thought of You , by Ryan Woodward, is an exempliary piece of animation art that I still watch regularly years after discovering it. It feels liek one of the purest pieces of the artform I have yet seen. There's no dialogue, there's no color, or any details for that matter. What ther is, is form and movement, the short lets the animation do all the talking.     Ry

      In the early nineties, the world of television animation was experiencing a boom. Theatrical animation was changing direction to new and refreshing directors and artists, and the world of television decided to go in a new direction as well. It decided it was time for some more provocative, experimental, and adult-oriented material. It was time to push the boundaries of animation and test the audiences consuming it. It was time for Liquid Television.     MTV was the home for music throughout the eighties. With almost nonstop music videos, paired with music news and talk shows, MTV was the place for the young and hip. The young MTV audience was growing up a little, generation X was pushing into other mediums and MTV wanted to jump on that train, so they started offering other shows like Real World, Road Rules, and other youth-centric programming. They also began airing more isolated and specific content late at night on weekdays, when kids were up and parents were asleep. One of th