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After some rumination on the state of the artistic process in our previous #GMretrospective entries, I thought we’d try on something a little “lighter” for size – by reminiscing about our old friend, Ruff Ruffman.
Meet Ruff Ruffman!
Ruff Ruffman is an anthropomorphic dog and host of PBS’s realty TV game show, Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman. Bruce designed the character and under Cliff‘s direction, Global Mechanic did the animations for each episode of the 5 seasons the show was aired. I spoke to Cliff to get a bit of a back story on how it all went down. It happened like this:
In 2005, our studio got the bid to produce 20 episodes of 6 minutes each after the WGBH loved Bruce’s character designs. Deciding to take a risk with a smaller animation studio by the name of Global Mechanic (then, our studio was still young!), the WGBH gave the team a [...]
Last week, I mentioned the Living Open Source project that Bruce, our creative director, is a part of on Fogo Island. The region has recently been spotlighted by the media because of the efforts being made to revitalize this geographically isolated area of Canada.
But reading up on the matter is not enough. I went straight to Bruce’s desk this morning and with a warm excitement, Bruce walked me through his personal photos from his trip to Fogo Island a few weeks ago. There was a back story too, which was filling in with more pictures – from his first September visit of Joe Batt’s Arm, the cove on which most of this is taking place.
Along the way, as Bruce and I sifted through his many photos, I was also privy to a colourful narrative, all of which I would like to share with you this week for our 5th installment [...]
Last week, CTV’s W5 streamed a documentary series about a place very near to our hearts: Fogo Island.
Spurred by a recent movement to revive geographically isolated regions of Newfoundland and Labrador, the documentary primarily follows the story of Zita Cobb. A businessperson-turned-philanthropist, Cobb cashed in her hard-earned dot-com stocks, returned to her birthplace of Fogo Island, and contributed six million dollars through the Shorefast Foundation (which she set up with her brother) to fund a regional revitalization project.
Cobb’s personal commitment has turned into an incredible movement – one that involves the efforts of organizations and individuals nationwide that also share in the hope of seeing the region brought back to life after decades of economic hardship.
Organizations like the NFB and the Fogo Island Arts Corporation have also partnered to finance the project (contributing 11 million dollars) in order to boost tourism and make the small townships on Fogo Island and [...]
A still from Wild Life.
Remember those two NFB animated shorts we blogged about? They’ve each been nominated for an Oscar!
Montreal-based filmmaker, Patrick Doyon, was delighted when he heard the news that his debut film, Dimanche/Sunday, was nominated (actually, he kept screaming out excitement). The film is a whimsical animated fable that follows a bored young boy attempting to escape a dreary Sunday (this instantly made me think of Murakami’s most recent main character in 1Q84, who loathes Sundays – but don’t we all just a little bit?)
Emily Carr alumni, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby also had a reason to celebrate, also having earned a nomination – for their Prairie-set short, Wild Life. Though this isn’t Forbis and Tilby’s first run at the Oscars, it definitely deserves a big congratulations!
It’s a good day to be in the Canadian film industry!
Tidbit: Check out this photo of Wendy and Amanda when they [...]
Vegas wows once again – but this time with an interactive experience paying homage to Chuck Jones, a renown artist and animation pioneer.
The Chuck Jones Experience opened its doors Thursday morning at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. Visitors of the 10,000 square-food destination will get a chance to learn more about the animator and his characters by, watching a short film in a 1930s-style theatre, discovering a wide collection of his work in the Animation Alley, as well as have an opportunity to play with sound effects, do voice-overs, and learn to ink and paint real animation cels in the Acme Workshop.
For $20, you get to spend the entire day exploring the fascinating worlds that Chuck Jones created in the span of his 60-year career. I know what I’ll be doing next time I’m on the strip!
Tidbit: Jones is known for his famed Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, Tom [...]
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