Oscar news is enough to animate studio boss

'An Auckland animation company got an Oscar thrill yesterday - its work is part of a documentary in line for one of the Hollywood awards.

The Grey Lynn-based company, Flux Animation Studio, worked with former United States Vice-President Al Gore on his global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which is a frontrunner for best documentary at the Academy Awards on February 25 in Hollywood.

The feature-length film follows Mr Gore's campaign to spread the word about the effects of climate change and the dangers of global warming.

Flux created two animation sequences for the movie. The first, directed by Andrew Newland, is about a polar bear searching for a piece of ice.

The other, directed by Fraser Monroe, shows what happens to a frog when the water he is swimming in is heated to boiling point.

Company founder and creative director Brent Chambers was excited to find the movie was among the nominations yesterday.

"We're absolutely rapt because it was a bit of a punt initially but it seemed like a good cause," he said.....'

Source : NZ Herald

I'm really happy about this. I did some contract work for that studio on another project and thoroughly enjoyed working for them. It's good to see people's hard work being recognised.

Power of the Dark Crystal

Nothing I can write here can really do justice to the original Dark Crystal. It had Jim Henson's signature attention to details, an involved story and vibrant characters. The puppetry was excellent and even the jungle and swamps looked appropriately alien.

I couldn't contain my excitement when I first heard a sequel was being made, and anticipation doubled when I heard that Genndy Tartakovsky was tagged as director (by far one of my favourite directors and creator of cartoons..)

According to Variety.com, "The Power of the Dark Crystal" picks up several hundred to a thousand years after the conclusion of the first film, with Jen and Kira as rulers of the land. A myserious girl appears, trying to save her world, located within the centre of the planet. The sun of her world is dying, and the only thing that'll save it is a shard from the Dark Crystal.

Like the original film, this production will star puppets crafted and operated by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. However, the backgrounds will be CG. Normally I'd be against this (personal preference: I like the look of old fashioned sets and animatronics) but I think it'd work for this one.

I'm really looking forward to this. Release slated for Spring 2008.

In related news, it sounds like a Fraggle Rock movie and a sequel for The Labyrinth are also in preproduction.