Watchcat, the Special Edition

Making films is always a learning experience and from the beginning we've thought of making a series of shorts which we could edit together to tell a longer story. We've screened Watchcat01 and 02 to several audiences and discovered that we got a few laughs in Watchcat 01, but less in Watchcat 02. And we've discovered that part 1 and part 2 needed to be shown together as they were intended.

Part 1 sets up the character, his world, his personality, while Part 2 begins with the criminals describing a monster and we discover its only a cat instead. I feel like we should have figured this out a few years ago, but it was the audience reaction that made us finally realize what we had to do. 

And so, here is Watchcat, the special edition.

Please leave a comment below or email me heyjimr@gmail.com if you like this version better than Watchcat separate episodes and to let us know if we finally got it right, 

Thank you!...

 

Watchcat at the World Animation Celebration

Last weekend, I was in Dallas,TX at a Portfolio Day event while Greg visited the World Animation Celebration festival in Culver City which our film Watchcat was in. I really would have preferred to go to this festival too, but Greg went to represent our film and hand out Watchcat postcards to as many people as he met along the way.

The festival was held at Sony Pictures Animation studio and was a great venue for portfolio viewing, meeting professionals in the animation industry and seeing a lot of animated films.

At a panel about Classic Disney animators, Greg ran into this classic, Nik Ranieri, Disney Animator of characters including Lumiere, Jafar, Meeko, Hades and Mother Gothel, just to name a few.

First of all, Greg doesn't know who people are in the animation world and he reported that at first, he felt like the festival was a very small event, unlike the CTN Expo. Greg said, " It felt like a small gathering of folks, but you felt very welcomed to all the events and I had a better  time than I thought I would."

Greg even got to meet Glen Keene, who I met years ago at Siggraph. There's Mike Cedeno, another famous Disney animator photobombing behind.

So while I was sitting in the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX, in this giant room waiting for arriving art students to show us their portfolios...

Greg was sitting in a crowded theater, listening to Glen Keane talk about his latest animation film entitled "Dear Basketball". Animated by Keane about Kobe Bryant's tribute to his sport.

Written by Kobe Bryant, animated by Glen Keane and a music score by John Williams.

Dear Basketball,

From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all — From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.

And so I ran. I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

And that’s OK. I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have. 

And we both know, no matter what I do next I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always, Kobe

In this 5 minute and 22 second film, Kobe Bryant narrates this emotional tribute about his life, career and love for Basketball. With amazing animation by Glen Keane and a music score by

John Williams, I am putting my money on this film animation short for this year's Oscars.

Thank you Mr. Keane!

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and become our 110th or more subscriber!

Well now, if you enjoyed anything from the above post, please leave a comment below. Or better yet, help us raise some money for an Animal Shelter. Google pays if viewers click on the ads and we intend to donate that money to an Animal Shelter in need. 

But, we are only at $ 50.58, and Google won't send us a check until after we reach $100 or more. So every little click helps and it won't cost you anything, only a click on your mouse. Thank you!

Please Click today!

Watchcat Wednesday for Sept 27th

This week, we got some really great news! Besides getting a 105th subscriber to our Watchcat Films Yotube channel, Watchcat Episode 2 has been accepted and will be screened at...  

 

International Short Film Animation Festival

 Held at... 

 9050 Washington Blvd. Culver City, California 

Saturday, Sept 30th & Sunday, Oct 1st

 https://www.worldanimationcelebration.com/

During this weekend's festival, I will be in Dallas for a Portfolio Review Day, while Greg will be working the crowd at the above event. Look for the guy in the Watchcat T-shirt...

(Kevin Conroy might be there too.)

And if you mention Watchcat, you'll get a free Watchcat postcard! Greg will also have a few XL Watchcat logo T-shirts and some collector WC pins for sale. Become a subscriber to our Watchcat Films channel on Youtube at the event and you'll get a free pin!

We will post if we win anything, but right now just getting in the festival is a great reward! If anyone visited the festival, please let us know what you thought of it in the comments below.

And if you enjoyed this blog, please let us know...

We now have 17,370 all time views! 

Please become a Follower of our Watchcat files blog.

or

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and become our 110th or more subscriber!

Help an Animal Shelter Click on the ads!

A few more clicks yielded .86 cents this week and this month so far, we have $1.67. Our grand total is still at $48.06, and we encourage you to click on the ads to show your support. We are hoping to pass the $50 mark this month with your help. 

Google won't write us a check until they get $100 or more in clicks. So 15 viewers might read this and only one person will click on an ad. However, if every viewer clicked, I wouldn't have to write this stuff on every post.

When we do get a check from Google, we want to donate the money to a local animal shelter. Every little click will help an Animal in need.

Thank You and keep clicking!

 

 

Watchcat Hurricane Irma

The real news story this week is, if the Hemingway Cats on Key West survived Hurricane Irma? Ernest Hemingway liked cats, especially a 6 toed breed which now inhabits his home in Key West. From the video below, these cats have a very lazy life which has changed due to hurricane winds and rain. 

Being a native Floridian and having been through several hurricanes, I would not like to be any pet left outside during a storm like this. For many years, Florida has been dodging hurricanes, only to have a few storms hit hard and do some major damage. A lot of people still think they can wait out the storm by staying put. The Hemingway house and their cats decided to do just that. Hurricanes can kill and create a lot of damage, but its the clean up that takes the most time to recover from one. 

We at the Watchcat files are happy to report that the 54 Hemingway house cats have survived Irma after all. Hopefully, the rest of our Florida friends did too.

History for 9/13/2017 Birthdays: Richard Kiel – Jaws in the James Bond movies,

Roald Dahl and Don Bluth is 80.

1928- Riding high on their big hit film the Jazz Singer, the Warner Bros. buy out First National Pictures and move into their big Burbank studio lot, where they still are today.

1969-Hanna & Barbera's "Scooby-Doo, where are you?" and "Dastardly and Mutley and their Flying Machines" premiered.

1979- Animator Don Bluth quits Walt Disney Studios taking a third of the top artists with him. Bluth becomes Disney's most serious rival since Max Fleischer and helps sparked the animation renaissance of the 1990s. A whole new group of young talent, "bluthies", exert great influence throughout the animation business.

These days, Bluth has his own theatre and is attempt to make "Dragon's Lair" into a movie.

1993- The Animaniacs Show premiered. 

Animaniacs was one of the first animated TV series that I worked on back in Chicago during the 1990's. I worked at Startoons, an animation studio started by Jon McClenahan, who had secured a Hollywood contract from Warner Bros and hired Columbia College Animation Alums like myself to learn the ways of the force. We all worked on Tiny Toons, the Tiny Toons Christmas special, the Tazmania intro and some episodes and Animaniacs. Check out Jon's animation of the William Shatner character.

Startoons was a great little studio to work for, once hired, everyone got a lot of animation experience right out of school in traditional animation. I worked there for almost 2 years and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks Jon!

And so, if you enjoyed this blog, please let us know...

We now have 17,176 all time views! 

Please become a Follower of our Watchcat files blog.

or

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and become our 105th or more subscriber!

Help an Animal Shelter Click on the ads!

No clicks this week. But when you click on an ad, money appears like magic! Our grand total is still at $48.06, but every time you visit this blog, click on the ads to show your support. We are hoping to pass the $50 mark this month with your help. 
Google won't write us a check until they get $100 or more in clicks. When they do send us a check, we want to donate to a local animal shelter. Every little click will help an Animal in need.

Thank You and keep clicking!

Watchcat Wednesday for Sept 6

Famous Birthdays!
Max Schreck (Nosferatu), Felix Salten- the author of Bambi, Buddy Holly, Jane Curtin, Sergio Aragones, Jo Ann Worley and Idris Elba is 45.

1958- The Spunky and Tadpole show debuts!

1969- DePatie-Freleng's the Pink Panther TV Show premiered.

1968- Many momentous events occurred in 1968: assassinations, riots, the Vietnamese Tet offensive, the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, Easy Rider, 2001 a Space Odyssey and the Beatles Sgt Pepper. But that’s nothing compared to the television premiere of H.R. PUFNSTUF on this day! 

Even when I was 6 years old, I thought there was something a little weird about this show.

Witchipoo, Orson and the Vroom Broom. Whether or not Sid and Marty Kroffts strange kiddie show was a code for drug use -HR meaning Hand-Rolled Puffing Stuff, is a matter for scholastic conjecture.

Work has been moving forward on Watchcat. On Friday, we sent in a request to see if we could get a few interns to help with the next episode. We will be working on improving the design and backgrounds. And with the extra help, I'm hoping to improve the animation since I've been doing everything myself.

My friend, Greg came up with the originaI character and together we figured out the first two episodes. It almost took me a year to do one episode, working alone on and off, as much as I could do. We didn't go the crowd funding route, because we wanted to make sure we had an audience that wanted to see more of our Watchcat episodes. Our episodes are getting views and we have 103 subscribers to our Watchcat Films Channel on Youtube.

Do you have a real Watchcat story or a picture of your real life Watchcat? Let us know and we will include it on this blog. Send your stories, images, etc to heyjimr@gmail.com

We now have 17,013 all time views! 

Please become a Follower of our Watchcat files blog.

or

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and be our 105th or more subscriber!

Click on the ads to help an Animal Shelter!

The clicks are coming in little by little and our grand total is still at $48.06, but every time you visit this blog, click on the ads to show your support. We are hoping to pass the $50 mark this month with your help. 
Google won't write us a check until they get $100 or more in clicks. When they do send us a check, we want to donate to a local animal shelter. Every little click will help an Animal in need.

Thank You and keep clicking!

Watchcat Wednesday for Aug 30th

Today in Animation history...

1936- First newspaper comic strip entirely devoted to Donald Duck. 

1968- The first 7-11 store opened in Palmdale California. Have a Slurpee !

1975- Ralph Bakshi's film "Coonskin". 

 

Bad boy Bakshi's portrayal of African-American urban violence was deemed so offensive that it caused the first riot ever at the Museum of Modern Art, and died at the boxoffice. The film was retitled on video "Streetfight". When Ralph resurfaced he turned his attention to Sword & Fantasy films.

Watchcat 2 was entered in the Planet 9 film festival and we will have to wait until Oct to see if it gets in. The screening will be held at the California Institute of Abnormal Arts in Burbank, CA, the Phoenix Cafe in Hazel Park, MI and at a Chicago venue is still tbd. We will let you know when we hear anything official.

We are still waiting to hear if Watchcat will be in two other festivals; the World Animation festival in LA and the London short film festival. Both decisions will be announced the week of Sept 24th.

Do you have a real Watchcat story or a picture of your real life Watchcat? Let us know and we will include it on this blog. Send your stories, images, etc to heyjimr@gmail.com

We have 16,949 all time views! 

Please become a Follower to our Watchcat files blog.

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and be our 105th or more subscriber!

Click on the ads to help an Animal Shelter!

The clicks are coming in little by little (one click can turn into .41 cents) and our grand total is still at $48.07. We are want to pass the $50 mark this month with your help. 
Google won't write us a check until they get $100 or more in clicks, we want to donate it to a local animal shelter. Every little click helps to help an Animal in need, so click on the ads!

Keep clicking, Thank You!

Watchcat Wednesday: August 23

Animation related Birthdays: Gene Kelly, Kobe Bryant, Ed Benedict the designer of the Flintstones, Barbara Eden is 82, Nik Ranieri, supervising Animator of Disney characters Lumiere, Meeko,  Hades, and currently animation director for World War Toons videogames and Oscar Grillo  
and of course, how about that solar eclipse...

And on this Watchcat Wednesday or close to it, "Gasoline Alley" a cartoon strip created by Frank King, premieres in the Chicago Tribune in 1919. “Gasoline Alley,” would become King’s long-running comic strip about the Chicagoan Walt Wallet and his adopted son, Skeezix, an infant left on his doorstep in 1921. He nicknamed the boy “Skeezix,” after a ranching term for a calf with no mother; Skeezix would always call him “Uncle Walt.”

In real life, King’s relationship to fatherhood was never easy. His wife Delia’s first pregnancy ended in a stillbirth in 1913. Three years later, their son, Robert Drew King, was born, but according to King-family diaries they were emotionally distant parents. By 1924, they sent Robert to boarding school. “I never knew who my parents were,” Robert said years later. “I only saw them in the summer.”

In 1954, King donated 283 of his comic strips to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida where they still are today. Rollins College is same college that Fred "Mister Rogers" Rogers attended. Rogers' famous tennis shoes and sweater are also apart of their library collection. 

http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/libraryarchives/2011/07/15/gasoline-alley-comic-strips-a-rediscovered-treasure/

 

Watchcat is still in Pre-Production, details coming soon. 

Do you have a real Watchcat story or a picture of your real life Watchcat? Let us know and we will include it on this blog. Send your stories, images, etc to heyjimr@gmail.com

We have 16,896 all time views! 

Please become a Follower of our Watchcat files blog.

Please support us by Subscribing to our Watchcat Films Youtube Channel! and be our 105th or more subscriber!

Click on the ads to help an Animal Shelter!

The clicks are coming in little by little (one click turned into .41 cents) and our grand total is still at $47.65, but every time you visit this blog, click on the ads to show your support. We are hoping to pass the $50 mark this month with your help. 
Google won't write us a check until they get $100 or more in clicks. When they do send us a check, we want to donate to a loczal animal shelter. Every little click helps to help an Animal in need, so click like the wind!

Keep clicking, Thank You!