37th Annual Annie Award Winners

Best Animated Feature
Up — Pixar Animation Studios

Best Home Entertainment Production
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder — The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Best Animated Short Subject
Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5 — ShadowMachine

Best Animated Television Commercial
Spanish Lottery “Deportees” — Acme Filmworks, Inc.

Best Animated Television Production
Prep and Landing — ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Animated Television Production for Children
The Penguins of Madagascar — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

Animated Effects
James Mansfield “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Television Production
Phillip To “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” — DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Eric Goldberg “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Design in a Television Production
Bill Schwab “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Design in a Feature Production
Shane Prigmore “Coraline” — Laika

Directing in a Television Production
Bret Haaland “The Penguins of Madagascar - Launchtime” — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

Directing in a Feature Production
Pete Docter “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios

Music in a Television Production
Guy Moon “The Fairly OddParents: “Wishology-The Big Beginning” — Nickelodeon

Music in a Feature Production
Bruno Coulais “Coraline” — Laika

Production Design in a Television Production
Andy Harkness “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Production Design in a Feature Production
Tadahiro Uesugi “Coraline — Laika

Storyboarding in a Television Production
Robert Koo “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in a Feature Production
Tom Owens “Monsters vs. Aliens” — DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in a Television Production
Tom Kenny - Voice of SpongeBob - “SpongeBob SquarePants — Truth or Square” — Nickelodeon

Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Jen Cody - Voice of Charlotte - “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Writing in a Television Production
Daniel Chun - “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX” — Gracie Films

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox

List of Oscar Nominees in Best Animated Feature & Best Animated Short Film for 2010

The list of nominees for animation Oscars, have been announced.

They are:

Best Animated Feature

Coraline

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Princess & The Frog

The Secret Of Kells

Up

Best Animated Short

French Roast

Granny O'Grimm

The Lady & The Reaper

Logorama

A Matter of Loaf and Death

Congrats to Brown Bag Films & Cartoon Saloon! Best of luck next month.

Irish Animators Drawing International Attention

IRISH TIMES

Mon, Feb 01, 2010

ANALYSIS: Aside from plaudits, Irish animation also earns its keep with revenues of over €40m, writes PAMELA DUNCAN

IRISH ANIMATORS are continuing to draw international attention with two Irish animated films on the shortlist for Oscar nomination, and two more shown at Sundance Film Festival.

The Secret of Kells has made the last 16 in the animated feature film section at the Oscars, while Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty has been shortlisted for nomination in the animated short film category. The final five nominations in each category are to be announced tomorrow. Old Fangs, produced by Kilkenny company Cartoon Saloon, and Please Say Something , directed by David O’Reilly, also from Kilkenny, were both shown at Sundance.

But aside from earning plaudits, the Irish animation sector is also earning its keep. Dubbed the “star performer” of the film and TV industry in this year’s report of the Audiovisual Federation, the sector’s total output reached €38.9 million in 2008, with €43 million estimated for 2009. Animation is the only independent audiovisual sector which predicts growth this year. It is now the largest provider of full-time employment in the Irish independent film and television sector, with 337 jobs in 2008.

Kevin Moriarty, chairman of the Audiovisual Federation steering committee, says that the animation industry is a perfect example of the smart economy.

There are innate advantages to animation. Firstly, there is a wide audience given that animation is easily dubbed into other languages. Good for employees is that it takes time: 30 seconds of animation can take a week. “The gestation period for productions can be one, two or three years – so . . . people have regular employment,” Moriarty says.

Cathal Gaffney, co-founder of Dublin-based Brown Bag Films, and a nominee for this year’s Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, says that the success of the Irish animation sector is bigger than the sum of its parts.

“A lot of the studios have matured and have a strong presence in the international marketplace now,” he says.

Brown Bag Films currently has 55 full-time staff, providing another 15 jobs on a freelance basis. Gaffney says that, as indigenous studios invest money back into Irish animation, they are building the industry and securing long-term work. Gaffney points to Nicky Phelan, who joined Brown Bag Films after college and worked his way up to direct the Ifta-winning short Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty .

“The people working in animation . . . they’re building a career, and you can see them moving around studios and staying in studios for a number of years. It is very heartening because it makes the animation sector very strong internationally,” says Gaffney.

However, difficulties remain. Gaffney says that Irish studios succeed in spite of the absence of a strong domestic market. “We really have no option but to become an export-focused sector,” he says, adding that 90 per cent of Brown Bag’s business is export-based.

Irish studios have built up good relationships in different territories to ensure a flow of work into the country.

Through a combination of collaborations, work-for-hire productions and creating, producing and exploiting intellectual property, Ireland has made a name for itself as “a safe pair of hands”.

Paul Young is a partner with Cartoon Saloon and a producer on The Secret of Kells . In its day-to-day operations Cartoon Saloon employs 17 people, 10 full-time. While producing The Secret of Kells and Skunk Fu! it employed 75 people full-time.

Young says that “design, artistic and storytelling talent” here in Ireland coupled with the attractiveness of the section 481 tax incentive are driving the sector forward.

However, he says that it’s necessary for Irish studios to collaborate with foreign studios. The Secret of Kells , for example, was co-produced in Belgium and France, but the Kilkenny-based studio took the lead – the creative blueprints, key animation and backgrounds, storyboard, voice recording and design were all carried out in Ireland.

Young says that the goal for Irish studios is not simply to provide service work for foreign studios but to produce and own a catalogue of content which will continue to generate sales and revenue.

“That’s what the whole smart economy thing is all about,” Young says.

Studios are also exploiting technological avenues. JAM Media is in the process of further developing its “head-hunter” technology, which allows users to use their image to become the star of their own show. Chief executive John Rice says Irish studios are “punching above their weight” on the international market, aided by the tax incentive and Irish Film Board support.

Emma Scott, production executive with the Irish Film Board, which provides around €1 million for animation projects each year, says that, while Irish studios continue to demonstrate a high level of creativity, they are also astute business people who recognise the commercial opportunities which exist around holding the rights to productions. Licensing, merchandise and personalised technology are just some of the wider opportunities.

“It’s a commodity. They’re creating a product and they see it as that – it’s a creative product which they can go out and exploit on a number of different platforms,” Scott says.

Star studios: top producers

Brown Bag Films

Best known for Oscar-nominated short Give Up Yer Aul Sins . Successful TV series include Olivia for US Nickelodeon and Noddy in Toyland .

Cartoon Saloon

Producer of the Year at Cartoon Forum in 2008 and Producer of the Year at Cartoon Movie in 2009. Tomm Moore, director of The Secret of Kells , was named Director of the Year at Cartoon Movie in 2009. The Secret is one of two 2D films on the shortlist for nomination in the animated feature film category for the Oscars. The studio’s Skunk Fu! series has been broadcast in over 120 countries.

JAM Media

Achieved critical acclaim with the BBC series Roy , which centres on the trials and tribulations of a cartoon boy who lives in the real world. The series was born out of a short called Badly Drawn Roy .

Barley Films

Currently working on a feature length animation, Little Caribou .

Kavaleer

Series Garth and Bev is broadcast on CBeebies. The company has just signed a deal with Yowza to bring Mort Walker’s comic strip Hi Lois to the small screen.

Monster Animation

Series Ballybraddan was launched on RTÉ in 2009. Its Fluffy Gardens series was a global success.

Magma Films

Niko and the Stars was distributed worldwide.

Where do animators fit into the 'fame' chain?

Thanks to CG at BBF for this one!

Kidscreen 2010

Kidscreen Summit 2010

Next month, a host of Irish Animation companies will be back at Kidscreen in New York.

“Over 1500 Kids entertainment execs from around the world are expected to attend the three day event to engage in critical dialogue on issues that affect the industry; take advantage of some of the industry’s best networking opportunities; recognize and understand current market needs, opportunities and challenges; learn more about key innovators and their vision; and find and share ideas that will drive their businesses forward.”

And the Irish animation headlines keep getting better and better, with Brown Bag Films and Cartoon Saloon no doubt the names on everyones lips following 12 months of great success with 'Granny O'Grimm' and 'The Secret Of Kells' respectively. And almost every other Irish animation studio has things to shout about too as their work now airs in many countries around the world, on most of the leading networks.

The Irish animation sector has also made the headlines of the business pages aswell. According to the recently published IBEC report, the Irish animation sector is the only part of the Irish audio visual industry to demonstrate increased growth over the past numbers of years, creating sustainable employment with ongoing investment in staff and training. All this despite receiving the smallest share of available public funding for production which has meant that Irish producers have to look to international co-productions with the UK, Europe, US & Canada as a way of funding their own projects. So it's by no means an industry without it's challenges!

Supported by Enterprise Ireland, 'Animation Ireland', the brand under which the Irish studios collectively market themselves, has also picked up momentum representing the interests of the animation studios to Irish broadcasters and funding bodies aswell as hosting events with animation historian John Canemaker and participation in ISA CON 2010.

And we think the government are at last taking notice of the sector's growing success with an Irish government minister scheduled to drop by at Kidscreen to witness first hand the Irish producers hard at work. He will also be attending a networking reception on the Wednesday evening for Irish and international producers to swap stories.

If you are attending Kidscreen 2010 and interested in finding out more about producing animation in Ireland, check out www.animationireland.com