Animated Oscar Winners 2020

Its been an interesting year for animation with the return of a more traditional hand drawn look with films like Klaus and shorts films as well. Two animated shorts, which are in competition for this year's Oscars Short Film(animated) catagory are "Hair Love" and "Kitbull". 

Both are in color and are traditionally animated. Both films are sponsored by movie studios; "Hair Love" with Sony Picture Animation and "Kitbull" with Pixar SparkShorts program.

I had seen Hair Love and was sure it would win, however after seeing Kitbull, Hair Love has found its competition.

I'm going out on a limb here to make a prediction, Hair Love is a human film about love, hair and the black community, but its more of a universal story with appeal. Its has a lot of strong storytelling inside it, as well as a message of hope. I am predicting that "Hair Love" will win the Oscar!

If it does, please take a look/listen to this recent interview with the directors of the film. https://youtu.be/7CPvoVOooPk  

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Kitbull too. The story is about a small abandoned kitten who meets an abandoned Pitbull. We learn that the Pitbull wants to play, but is chained up and used in a bad way by his owner. 

The animation of the kitten is great and like Hair Love its colorful, traditionally animated and told with music. Kitbull also is a story of hope, where the two animals finally find a better home together.

I know there is not much time before the Oscars begin on this wet and rainy Sunday, but please leave a comment below. Which film did you like like the most?

Twas a busy week

I'm working on a new radio show that hit the ear waves last week called "The Ambassador Goodtime Ear Tango Radio Hour" on WU Radio. 
Take a listen every night at 10pm PDT, with  new shows premiering on Monday night. 
              Here's a link to the show.

Upcoming shows

Show 01: Animation: Author Mindy Johnson and Animator/producer Jane Baer.

Show 02: Superheroes: "The Helm", author J.R.R.R. (jim) Hardison. (now playing until 10/14)

10/15 Show 03: Hands: Author David Hale Hand's new book about his dad, who was Walt Disney's right hand man. 

10/22 Show 04: Hollywood: Actor, Writer and Director, Jeremy Foley talks about life in front and behind the camera.

10/29 Show 05: This is Halloween:
Stop by WU Radio in costume on 10/30 between 2pm - 3:30pm and get a treat.

All interviews will be posted to YouTube channel, Animateducated. Subscribe now and listen in later.

Every beginning of October, the 24 hour animation contest rolls around and animation school across the world participate in this event which grows larger every year.


Woodbury University this year, participated with 8 teams taking on the 24 hour challenge and here's more about those teams and their films.

And here's the announcement of this year's Winning teams...

And what about Watchcat???
Check in next Watchcat Wednesday and find out!

Good news, Bad News

So October is finally here and since Halloween lands on a Watchcat Wednesday this year, I wanted to premiere a Halloween episode of Watchcat. 

Well, a lot of things have been keeping me from that goal lately and the original idea turned out to be over a minute long. Even with some help on it, I haven't been able to get it together.
  And that's where you gotta get creative and I think I did just that by producing a much shorter idea. I can't really post much about it right now, because its so short and simple, that I would ruin the surprise. However, here are some of my reference images...





Our last post got over 1,081 views and hoping new viewers might check back more often.

Watchcat was started to see if I could animate a cat who fights crime in his neighborhood. We wanted to make several episodes and be able to string them together to tell a bigger story. We also wanted to upload it to Youtube to see if we could build an audience.

This weekend passed 5,300 views on our Watchcat Films Youtube channel, up to 156 subscribers and I'm pretty sure we would have more if our cat farted, barfed or pissed on something. But our subscribers are classier than that and deserve a lot more.

This blog is now up to 45,055, views and getting more everyday.

Viewers are showing their support by clicking on the blog ads more than ever before, or whenever I beg them to click on the ads. We received $6.62 in September.

Bad News

My biggest complaint is that we still don't have a solid story about this character. I discovered after making the first two episodes, which were edited together to make one, that our cat  goes after the bad guys and that's it. No flaws in his character, he's got powers, but how or why was never explained. I have suggested to Greg to come up with a graphic novel story, because making 2 to 3 minute animation shorts is very time consuming, since I'm the only person animating it. And whatever we do next, we need a solid character, not just one that chases the bad guys here or there. We need to show what is he afraid of, where does he come from, why is he doing this? And most importantly, Why do we care about this character?

The Good News

Animating a character in development with humor in very short pieces of :15 to :30 second is doable. Currently changing our animation design a bit to experiment with using a different animation technique called Cut Out animation in hopes to making the animation more efficient. This pipeline will be used for our upcoming Halloween short. So keep clicking those ads and get ready for Halloween.

Please show your support by clicking on the ads or subscribing to our YouTube channel Watchcat Films.

Next WeeK: follow this link Superheroes on a new radio show.

Happy 4th Watchcat Wednesday!

Happy Birthday America and welcome to a very special Watchcat Wednesday. As promised, here are a few fun things to celebrate the national holiday including Kittens!

Meet Betty and Barney, who we are fostering and will be up for adoption as soon. You see more cats and kittens on the BAS website. 

To help out the Burbank Animal Shelter this summer, my family is fostering groups of kittens. The BAS assigns us the kittens that we take of and get them use to living with people. Once they are old enough, we take them to the adoption fair in hopes to find them permanent homes.



Its a very good program to volunteer for, because there are so many kittens that are found or abandon. If you're interested, contact the BAS here or your local animal shelter, many have similar programs.

Still only $5.14 ad clicks away from our $100 goal. In June, we only got 2 clicks which  generated .34 cents, but in previous months we have received 3 to 5 bucks per month. I'm not sure if anyone is clicking or not, since Google is not reporting any ad clicks. Please click on the ads (upper right), let us know if you did it and help us hit our final goal this July.

But you didn't come here just to look at cute kittens, or did you? 

Here's a hilarious Mash-Up Trailer from our friend Brandon Swafford, who was nice enough to give Watchcat a shout out at the end of his latest parody. Check it out.

And speaking of cats, here's another exciting episode of Jim Draws where he draws his 5 cats!

And this just in, 4 clicks on the 4th of July yielded $2.88, giving us only $2.27 to reach our $100 goal. Have a Happy 4th of July and a great Watchcat Wednesday and click on our ads. Thank You!

Watchcat Reviews: The Incredibles

Here is an incredible Watchcat files featuring Greg's incredible essay on the first film, an incredible new Jim Draws for Father's Day featuring Mr. Incredible and more begging for your ad clicks! 


And we are sooooo close to crossing the $100 finish line and helping out our local Animal Shelter. Only $5.47 in ad clicks, only a few clicks will do it. That's all we need to stop this endless begging. Click on the ad to the right or below if you have a laptop or desktop computer. Some Smartphones aren't that smart and won't allow ads to be seen or clicked on. Let's finish this thing! Thank you.


This Watchcat Wednesday we'll premiere "Watchcat Reviews" on our YouTube channel, Watchcat Films.

It was November, 5, 2004...

The Incredibles was first released 14 years ago and now The Incredibles 2 hits the big screen on June 15th nationwide. Greg and Jim sat down to talk about the original film that started it all. Hope you enjoy our first "Watchcat Reviews"...

The Incredibles by Gregory J. Bradley

In my opinion, The Incredibles is a perfect movie. And I'll give you 8 reasons why:

1. Story & Relatability
The Incredibles does this very nifty trick of giving us something that we've seen before and yet still make it seem fresh. It's the story of the Parr family, and in particular, patriarch Bob Parr, a husband and father who's having a hard time adjusting to normal suburban life with his family, his job and himself. He constantly feels as if he should be doing more and that family life is a constant burden, especially when his wife Helen is always struggling to engage him in his children's lives.

Family drama. We've seen this type of story before.

But if you include the fact that both Bob and Helen used to be superheroes with superpowers (that were also passed down to their children) who were forced into retirement by the government and are supposed to be living a normal life,  well... now you've got something! And its very well-crafted story is one of the secrets of the film's success. 

The story opens with interviews with Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, superheroes at the height of their power, who just happen to be Bob and Helen. But because of an incident in which Mr. Incredible saves a man who didn't asked to be saved and sues the government (very funny idea), the Feds institute a ban on all superheroes.

 

Our story picks up 15 years after the Parrs and the other superheroes are forced to retire and join a kind of superhero witness protection program. Director Brad Bird heightens things by showing them as relatable people as they try (and miserably fail) to lead a normal life with normal family drama. Bird created strong characters with wants and desires that really show the characters' motivations: Bob still wants to fight crime. Helen wants him to be a good dad and role model. Their daughter, Violet, wants to be noticed by a boy she likes at school. And their son, Dash, wants to constantly use his superspeed power.

We can all relate to the struggles that Bob and Helen are going through. Who hasn't hated their job or felt isolated from the world or failed to connect with others? And raising children is hard work, much harder than being a superhero. This is the real world.


One of the themes of the film is conformity and that being different from everyone else is somehow threatening. This theme hits the kids hardest because Helen is constantly telling them not to use their superpowers and to just be normal and conform to society's norms. In one of the film's tensest scenes, Helen and the kids are in danger and Helen is forced to tell Violet that she has to use her superpowers or they'll all die. Talk about pressure! But this approach is a way for Bird to send one of the powerful mixed messages that the movie conveys so well. 

It's also interesting that the film's villain mirrors Bob's weaknesses. Bird absolutely knows that a hero is only as good as his or her enemy and Syndrome is definitely Bob's kryptonite. How great was Bird's twist to create a villain who knows everything about our hero because he was his number one fan when he was a kid! Bird uses fandom as a double-edge sword revealing the sad fact that you can hate the thing you love the most. The irony, of course, is that Bob, who always works alone, brushes off a kid who only wanted to be his sidekick and inadvertently turned him into a villain.

  

This also frames the problems that Bob has with his family. He has to sneak out to fight crime with his buddy, Frozone (another retired superhero) which leads to stress in his marriage, and which presents Syndrome with the opportunity to lure Bob into a secret mission that only a superhero can handle. Poor Bob so desperately needs recognition he doesn't see that he's walking into a trap. Only when his family comes to his aid does Bob realize that he works better with a team than he ever did alone. And his family is the best team possible. Now that's an incredible character arc if I've ever seen one.

Very powerful messages that the story tackles with familiar story tropes. But executed so very well.


2. World Building & Style
The setting of The Incredibles is interesting. The story is set in a kind of '60s metropolis complete with Art Deco-like buildings and design. It reminds me of a lot of the high concept drawings of "The City of the Future" from the '50s. The film even has a Jetsons color vibe which makes it futuristic cool. It's evident that Bird borrowed a lot of references from the '60s spy genre such as the early Bond films in terms of look, style and even danger level. It's hard to believe that characters actually died in a Disney film. It's also the first Pixar film with a high body count (plus all the superheroes that died wearing their capes). 

3. James Bond meets The Fantastic Four meets The Watchmen

Not only did this film play like a Bond film, complete with the villain's headquarters being inside a volcano on a private island (Dr. No, You only Live Twice), but it's obvious that Edna Mode (played nicely by Bird himself) is Q in this nod to both Bond and The Fantastic Four, except there's five of them. It's interesting that both Bond and The Fantastic Four came out during the '60s. Maybe that's why Bird decided to set the story in that decade. It's been said that The Incredibles is the best Fantastic Four film ever and I think that's true. The way the characters use their powers individually as well as together is very exciting and reminiscent of those earlier Fantastic Four comics. But, I also think they borrowed a lot from The Watchmen comics as well. The concept that there are no more superheroes left in the world is very Watchmenesque.

4. Animation
The animation was amazing, especially the night scenes on the island. This was also the first Pixar film that featured human beings instead of toys, bugs or fish (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo). I've always though that CG humans never looked real, but the CG in The Incredibles was incredible!

5. Superhero Mythology
I loved how they used the superhero genre. It does an amazing job of spoofing the genre without actually being a spoof. It embraces the fund of being a superhero and all the collateral damage that they create. the film doesn't just borrow from The Fantastic Four and The Watchmen, it also borrows from the golden age of comics. There's a scene with a B&W news reel that looks straight from a '40s Superman serial.

6. Music
Michael Giacchino's music was fantastic. It made me feel like I was watching a John Barry Bond film. Take a listen to this link.

7. Cast
Perfect casting: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson and Brad Bird.

8. Brad Bird
Finally, the real success of The Incredibles is due to Brad Bird. It's apparent that he put a lot of himself and his family into this film. Elastigirl is based on his wife ad he uses some of his children's names in the story. I think that's why all the characters felt real to me. The direction and pacing is always flawless and the film is always exciting and funny, Bird did a wonderful job of creating a world based on his life experiences and filling that world with characters that felt real and three-dimensional. He told a totally relatable story about family and sacrifice and made it feel original. This isn't only my favorite Pixar film -- it's one of my top five superhero movies of all time. The Incredibles is a perfect film.

A Watchcat 4 paw rating!

 

Your favorite animated film too? Or have you never seen it before? This was our first show and we would like to know what you thought about it. Please let us know your opinion, any feedback, comments, your suggestions. 
Let us know in the comments section below!


And here's a new episode of Jim Draws. Jim draws Mr. Incredible and Jack Jack from Incredibles 2 in honor of this upcoming Father's Day...

Click on our blog ads to help an Animal Shelter in need.


And more good times to come!
This Summer, my family again will be fostering kittens to help out the local Animal Shelter mentioned above. Our cats won't be too happy about this, but you may be seeing some photos or videos of the little ones in upcoming Watchcat Files posts. The kittens will also be up for adoption thru the shelter if you would like to own one or two.