SWEET!

man, one of the best things about having Disney distributing the film here in Ireland is getting to the premieres!
Couple of weeks back we went to the Prince Caspian premiere in Dublintown and Ruth gave us a shout out in the intro speech!
Now I just got an invite to the Irish premiere of Wall.E

joy.

The Song of the Sea

Just a note to point anyone interested towards a new blog about my new project -
The Song of the Sea.

Over the next few months I will be dividing my time between developing this , working on the music and sound of Kells and of course the comic book version of Brendan.

http://theblogofthesea.blogspot.com/

last scene approved on Hobsoft

I think (touch wood) I justa pproved the last scene ever on Hobsoft.

weird.

Bruno started sending some sample tracks of music yesterday.
Its gas how long everything has taken..how spread out it all is time wise.. once animation wrapped last year Nora had time to go have a baby, wean him on to solids and now shes back helping me with music notes!

Tidying up the old room we found some newspaper cuttings from 2000 about the imminent release of the film!


...ahh sure nearly there...

flemish voices

So had a quick Skype contact with the voice director in Belgium and Vivianne the Belgian producer as they are recording the Flemish voices at the moment. Seems to be going well from the little bit I heard. I'm happy about that. It would be nice to be in Sunny Belgium instead of rainy Kilkenny but I am too busy here unfortunately to get there. Anyway I dont speak Flemish. I think its in good hands anyway!

original animation drawings

APB to anyone who worked on Brendan , I have all he folders from the scenes animated in Kilkenny and Brussels , here in the studio, with the original layout posing and clean up drawings.

I am gonna recycle the whole lot very soon as we are moving to a different space and just wanted to give anyone who wants their original drawings back the chance to let us know.
I can't afford to post them out so anyone who wants it will have to pay for whatever it costs to get them to you .
Let me know as soon as you can.
Its a pity to recycle all those drawings but sure thats life .

I already have boxes and boxes of stuff going back years and years so I really need to clear out!

Just to be clear I have nothing that was cleaned up or animated in Kecskemet ...just scenes sent back from Lightstar in Brazil after clean up and inbetween was finished..

I really think we'll go to digital 2d for the next production....;)

OMG! So Excited!

http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/volumes_13_16.html

The mastah.

(thanks for the heads up Darko!)

jean baptiste ven damme

i just love that name.
at the annecy presentation i took a moment to enjoy it and said it a few times.
some guys are just born lucky eh?
sounds good with a microphone.

cool name, killer drawing skills, sideburns that rock so bad the Kilkenny girls all melted in the presence of their awesomeness.

oh yeh.

jean baptiste van damme,
so hot right now,
jean baptiste van damme.

;)

http://thedoberman.deviantart.com/gallery/#_popular

online

http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=1754&document=1

mad - just found this article.

oslo chat

http://www.animationconversation.com/

those nice fellows in Oslo interviewed me back then. here it is.

UPDATE - emmm just a note to warn you that I swear like the proverbial sailor in this and also have an annoyingly goofy laugh

editing finished + annecy

it was so hectic again this week , my head is spinning.
In Paris we finally locked the editing. Kinda scary , thats it.
Some retakes still to come for a few scenes and some changes on the last sequence
based on the screening but other than that the visuals are done.
Its kinda weird. I'll have to find a way to show all the cut stuff some day too.

on Wednesday when the editing was finished I traveled to Annecy , its such a beautiful part of the world and the festival is so exciting. I really hope to go for the whole thing next year hopefully less tired and able to see more and enjoy it at a leisurely pace.
Met plenty of old friends and it was good old craic. It was great to meet the old Skunkers and Joost and Eric of KACHING cartoons for a few scoops.
The presentation went well maybe a bit too much stuff crammed into the time we had but I think it was interesting for people in general.

Even have my mug in the latest Animation Magazine so thats kinda cool.

The Richard Williams exhibition in Annecy was very impressive and I'm looking forward to getting the DVD of his masterclasses he is bringing out. At the Belgian party after the presentation I met to lucky sould who have been working with him on it in Bristol.

Unfortunatly our presentation clashed with his so I did'nt even get to see that.

Rene Broca and Christelle Rony were very nice and helpful and it was really great to be asked to go to Annecy, Big thanks to them!

dublin airport my old friend

just for the craic heres a post from my old friend the surfbox coin operated terminal in dublin airport.

heading over for some final editing and also the annecy presentation.

basically hope this is the last week long trip for a looong while.

need to catch up on a lot of stuff in kilkenny.
like my marriage, sleep and plenty of neglected cartoon saloon stuff....

still its all good - annecy in the sunshine ...happy days...sure even annecy in the rain is fairly deadly!

woah

last week I -

drove at 2am to airport with sleepy wife and son , went to Brussels checked Viking attack with Frits, had meeting with Vivianne, met Benoit by accident - hi Benoit , went to Liege saw Chi Rho page , had champagne , had lots of Beers hi Damien, Celine, Eric , Serge , Iwan and co, sleep a bit , went to Paris made some editing updates , went to sleep, woke up, had shower, flooded my hotel room, went to Les Armateurs , met Paul and Ladies from Irish Film Board and Buena Vista , got drunk , staggered home, slept a bit , went to screening, got some nice feedback , ate nice dinner, walked around all happy about everyone liking it , thought about all changes suggested, found a veggie restaurant, ate more, slept a bit, went to sound studio, spotted effects , missed plane, ate a bit , hung around a bit, best wifey in world drove to Dublin , drove home from airport at 2 am.

Tommorow I start all over again.

funny belgians

dublin airport again

yawn.

drove up at 2.30 am to be here in plenty of time.
checked in.
bags have kilkenny colours tied to them this time.

here I go!

This is a big week. Finalise the compositing in Belgium.
Finalise the editing. Show a cut to distributors and investors.
If needed edit again based on their comments.
Meet with Piste Rouge sound designer about the sound effects and mix.
Paul will be over to help with that. He and I went thru' the Avid project spotting the important stuff on Saturday.
Noras temp sounds from 2006 are a good starting point anyway.
Meeting Bruno again to see about getting the music recorded soon....

here I go....

if at first you dont succeed

try try again.

hokay off to Brussels and Liege on Monday. Really gonna try not to lose my bag this time:)

Then Paris for some final editing, some sound design stuff.
Have to show the latest cut to the distributors and the Irish Film Board.
Gulp.

Then back home . get sorted for Annecy.

Gulp.

Come to Annecy folks! Myself , Ross Stewart , Serge Ume and Toon Roebbens are doinga presentation of our work in progress (but almost finshed , honest!)

hooray.

editing

Fabienne the editor sent me the close to final edit today via Hobsoft.
I was supposed to be there with her working today but if you've been following my adventures you'll know I'm grounded until Monday!
Anyway it was quiet cool because although we ares till busy with the Chi Rho page and the attack sequence compositing its almost completely there as a movie - well pictures anyway, its still the temp sound effects and music since 2006 so thats kinda weird.
But since I was here Nora and Ross Stewart and even Baby Oliver gathered around the Avid and had a watch.

Feels like a big ,big part is almost over after a loooooong journey.
I know sound is 50% of the viewing experience and it would be foolhardy to imagine there are no big adventures ahead during the sound design and scoring process, but y'know I'm mainly a pictures kinda guy and the pictures being almost wrapped is very satisfying.
Everyone says its looking really great and Didier and Ivan at Les Armateurs are reportedly very happy with it.

The buzz in Cannes was very positive by all accounts.
The Celluloid Dreams brochure has some great images in it.

:)

Praise be!

Wow.

Thanks be to all thats holy!

The Fedex guy just got here and my passport and computer are in tact.
So glad the computer is in working order.

so, via internet I am working with Serge and his team in Belgium today.
No beer , but we are at least still productive this way.

Not the same as being there, but not bad!

Better try and get my presentation for annecy sorted now.
There won't be another chance I think.....

nightmare update

back home ,

Lovely Liselott just made it up as I was preparing my application for a new passport.
Then Kairen in the studio called to say someone in Nice had called to say they had my bag.
So fingers, and indeed all extremities crossed , the bag will find its way back to me this week.
I am supposed to go to Brussels again on Monday...so hopefully.

Thanks for the kind words fellow bloggers.

Its a tough old week, supposed to be finishing everything for the Chi Rho page this week as well as tidying up the editing on Friday. Tight . tight . tight.

I think I can keep up via internet and Hobsoft and all...but its not the same as being there...

oh boyoyoboy

dublin airport nightmare

Am stuck in dublin airport.

Picked up the wrong bag getting off the coach this morning at 4.30am.

Now have lost my bag , my passport, my credit cards, my computer even.
I do however have a bag of womans clothing. hoo boy.
Better leave that at lost and found.

What a nightmare.

Where ever you are out there fellow traveller! - Please send my stuff home when you realise you've got 'em!

Purrrrrleeeaasssee.

sigh.

gotta try and get an emergency passport today some how... wish me luck blogosphere!

folimage show how its done again!

http://www.celluloid-dreams.com/current_slate/all_films/mia_the_migoo/trailer/

most gorgeous thing I've seen in a long long time.

practically perfect in everyway, am absolutly dying to see this.