2016 - Angry Birds, Storks and The Little Prince

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I've had time to sit down and do a blog post. 2015 was a huge year. 


While working on "The Angry Birds Movie" at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver I was presented with the opportunity to be a lead. I must admit it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional career. It was tough and a huge learning experience, but I'm so happy I did it. The entire team was amazing, from the director to the animators on the team. The final product is going to look amazing.

Over Christmas, a super cute and adorable tv spot was released showing the hatchlings of the movie. Check out it below but beware...your head may explode into candy due to the cuteness.




After a much needed (albeit short) holiday I'm back at Sony in the new year for "Storks" a Warner Bros production being done at Imageworks also being released in 2016. I'm going back to animating on this project which I'm super excited about. Being a lead on ABM didn't leave me much time to animate myself, which I was okay with but I'm looking forward to keeping my speed back and learning more about animating on this fun project.

Check out the teaser trailer here:



Finally some good news about "The Little Prince" which I worked on out in Montreal roughly for a year through 2013-2014 before returning to Vancouver. It now has a release date for all the English territories! March 18 2016! I'm super excited for this to finally be released in English as it's been making the rounds in other countries to much success.

Here's the trailer in case you haven't seen it yet:



So 2016 is looking to be another big year, I'll hopefully be able to post more updates about these amazing upcoming movies.

Wishing you an amazing 2016!

RA Podcast - Dan Pozo

Recently I was asked by good friend and fellow animator Rusty Gray to be a guest on his animation podcast series entitled 'The Rusty Animator Podcast'.

So we organised a skype date and chatted for about 2 hours on subjects including my professional history, moving and working in different countries and the challenges that have arisen over the years from working in TV, VFX, and feature film. Then Rusty's hard drive died suspiciously in some alien abduction time traveling mutant robot zombie apocalypse, or he plainly forgot to back it up somewhere. I still like to think it was the mutant robot zombies, but I digress.

So we decided to do it again, I had heaps of fun the first time and it was interesting being on the other side of the podcast experience, having had recorded a bunch while living in London. And this is what came of it!

I was humbled and super fortunate to be apart of this series he has going. Hopefully I don't ramble on too long in this one.

Here is the link to the episode :

Thanks once again to Rusty for organising this and wanting me to be apart of his podcast series. Be sure to listen to Rusty's other animation podcasts with some amazingly talented people.

The Little Prince - Japanese post

Recently a Japanese poster for "The Little Prince" was released.  Check it out below!

"The Little Prince" Article

"The Independent" have released an article about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" and subsequently the animated feature coming out in 2015.

Follow the link below:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/the-little-prince-the-new-film-of-the-boy-who-fell-to-earth-9949079.html

"The Little Prince" International Trailer #2

A second international trailer for "The Little Prince" has been released. With Japanese subtitles this trailer shows a bit more and introduces the voice and look of the mother character voiced by Rachel McAdams.

The renders are looking amazing, I'm so excited to see how this all came together in the end.

"The Little Prince" English Trailer

"The Little Prince" English trailer has been released on YouTube! Working on this in Montreal we worked with the English speaking dialogue using the amazing vocal talents of Jeff Bridges and Mackenzie Foy (just to name a few).




Can't wait to post more stuff about this movie!

"The Little Prince" International Trailer

 

The International trailer for "The Little Prince" directed by Mark Osbourne has finally been released! Unfortunately for English speakers, it's in french but I'm assuming a English trailer will be released soon.

It's great to finally start to see trailers and promotional materials be released to the public, this movie was amazing to work on and hopefully it will be received well around the world.

Vancouver 2.0

  

(I spent a lot of time making this)

Back to the beautiful west coast city of Vancouver. After a year stint out 'east' in Montreal, my time at Mikros and on "The Little Prince" finished up and I have fortunately returned to Sony Pictures Imageworks to work on the "Angry Birds" movie directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly set to be released in 2016.

I had a great time in Montreal (even though half the year was covered in snow), and "The Little Prince" was amazing to work on.

Can't wait to post more "The Little Prince" and "Angry Birds" movie related posts on here!

Angry Birds Movie

Sony Imageworks have released a promo pic and a list of the vocal talent that will providing voices for their upcoming feature film based on the crazy popular "Angry Birds" franchise.


Link to the article:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jason-sudeikis-bill-hader-maya-737141

Cloudy 2 Animation Reel

While being back home in Sydney on a short vacation, I've finally had enough time (and motivation) to put together the shots I did while at Sony Imageworks on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" back in 2013.

Looking back at this amazing and fun project, I became all nostalgic with a permanent smile on my dial as I reminisced on the good times and great friends I made. Not to say it wasn't a challenging and or difficult show, but I have incredibly fond memories of the time spent working on this film.

Here is my reel:



Thanks for viewing :D

Sony's Popeye Animation Test

Sony Imageworks have released the animation test for "Popeye" directed by Genndy Tartakovsky on to their YouTube page.

Incredibly inspirational and insanely cartoony!



I'm so glad they decided to release this and hopefully it becomes a feature sometime in the near future!

"The Little Prince" First Japanese Teaser

Here's the first of many posts that will be "The Little Prince" related over the next several months as more and more start to become released.

A Japanese teaser (that can only be described as the teaser-iest of teasers) has been released. Showing one shot of the fantastic stop-motion work and one tiny slivered sampled section of a huge amazingly animated 3d shot done by Tania Simeons.




Here's the translation : 
Dear Le Petit Prince, where are you now, what are you doing? I miss you........(StopMo)....(CG).......Title: The Little Prince and Me.....brought by the original animation... to you... 2015 WINTER

Tiny Worlds - Submarine

Super cute and unique animation. I love these shorts and wish there were more of them.

Cloudy 2 - Kris Pearn drawing

Sony Pictures Imageworks have released a 'Thank you' drawing from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 co-director Kris Pearn, after reaching 1 million facebook fans.



Both Kris and Cody Cameron we're amazing to work with, they were one of the main reasons why Cloudy2 was the most rewarding project I've ever had the privledge to work on.

Cloudy 2 in your home!

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 is out on DVD and Blu-ray! Yay! By far the best and most rewarding project I've ever had the pleasure of working on. Go buy it now!

Cloudy 2 Deleted Scene

With the release of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" on DVD and bluray EVEN SOONER THEN BEFORE, Sony have released a deleted scene.

Watch it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/01/23/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-2-exclusive-deleted-scene/4789893/

I'm super glad this was released as so much amazing work went into every shot of this movie, and even though it happens on every movie, its always hard to see such great work and gags get cut from the movie. I love Flint's puppetry arm waving at his dad, it was such a brilliantly executed gag. And the glimpse into Flint's OCD neurotic behavior when he fixes the remote on the table.

Cloudy 2 - Chester V featurette

With the release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 on DVD and bluray in a few weeks, Sony have released a short featurette about the movie's antagonist 'Chester V' with commentary from Senior Animation Supervisor Peter Nash.



Chester was one of the best characters I've ever had the pleasure of animating. The insane ideas we were able to get away with on this movie, made it a once in a life time experience for me.

Simon Black Animation Reel

Check out Simon Black's new animation reel which includes his awesome work on "Smurfs 2" and "Legend of the Guardians: The Owl's of Ga'Hoole"

Cloudy 2 - trailer 2!

It's been a while since I've posted frequently on this blog. Here's the second trailer for 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2' which I just finished up on!

So excited to see this!

Cloudy 2 Trailer

Finally, the first trailer of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. I have the greatest pleasure and am so fortunate to be working on this movie with such talented and amazing friends.


Excited?