Psyop's Coke "Happiness Factory" is out!

Maybe I can't show you One Rat Short online, but the Coke spot I worked on at Psyop has quickly made its way around the web already! I just saw the final 60 second version for the first time yesterday, and wow, was I amazed at what they did with it! I mean, I of course had seen a lot of the renders already and as an animator was well aware of how many characters there were--but seeing it with sound and music--I was completely blown away. (I don't feel bad saying that, cause I all I did was the animation part!) Without further ado, here's a link:

Coke commercial

If you go to a movie this summer, chances are you may see this there as it will be played in 87% of the theatres across the nation! I really can't believe that I've been so lucky to work on these two projects at Charlex and Psyop. I'm not exactly sure how it happened. Friends, faith, luck and timing I guess.

Lastly: Fill up the flux capacitor, charge your proton packs, accelerate to Warp 9--SIGGRAPH 2006 is coming up! Any scaddies out there who want to meet up in Boston, be sure to drop me an email.

Later!
--Kyle

FREDERATOR!!!

Wow, so much to talk about! First off, I'm very happy to report that my short film "Help Wanted!" was selected for this week's Channel Frederator video podcast! Download Episode 29 there or through iTunes to see it! (I suggest you subscribe for updates in iTunes, it's worth it) You don't need a video iPod to watch them, just Quicktime. Also click that link to see the blog post about my film, RATE my film, or post a comment :) Submit your shorts people, it's a great podcast.

Secondly, the success of "One Rat Short" continues on. It has now been accepted to both the L.A. Film Festival, as well as the Las Vegas Film Festival! I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work on that film. I'm still working at Psyop, this week we are finishing up a 60 second spot, and after that I will be working some on the 90 second version.

In other news, I recently had to re-install Windows on my comp. One day I think I deleted some "not-actually spyware" spyware (aka, Windows files), and my machine wouldn't even boot into Windows. Unfortunatly I didn't have my discs for 2000, so I ordered XP online. So I went for a week without a computer at home (oh no!), and consequently got a lot more sleep, haha. Long story short, I didn't lose any files, my comp is running faster, and I'm finally up to date with my OS (right before Windows Vista comes out, right?)

Finally, for the Quote-of-the-Update (not week) guess where it is from:
"Are you two brothers?
No....Yeees! MAN!"

Later all!
--Kyle

"Too early for flapjacks?"

I just discovered a couple cool things on iTunes. Check out "Channel Frederator" and "ReFrederator", awesome video podcasts. Channel Frederator airs animated shorts submitted by people and studios, the likes of Blur and Wild Brain. ReFrederator airs vintage toons, like Merry Melodies and Mighty Mouse. Sweet stuff indeed. Now the question is, when will I breakdown and buy an iPod so I can watch these on the train...

Another great podcast, this one audio, is The Animation Podcast. Clay Kaytis, animator most recently on Chicken Little, interviews animation legends, like Glen Keane and Andreas Deja. You won't be disappointed by this one!

That's all for now. Oh, congrats to Scott Englert, who guessed correctly that last week's quote was from Groundhog Day :)

Holy cow, congratulations to my bud Ben Willis, who just accepted a job at DREAMWORKS!! I think he's the first animator of our SCAD class of '05 to be hired to work on a feature film. Check out his blog for his official announcement. Good luck man, so happy for ya!

In other less exciting news, (or is it?), my taxes are done! I just have to mail them tomorrow. New York tax forms for part-year residents are so complicated. I hope I didn't mess anything up! For now, it is a relief to have it out of the way.Finally, for those of you who don't know, I have been working for the past week at Psyop, a commercial house here in New York. I'm workin on a pretty cool soda commercial, and there's a bunch of miscellaneous characters that I was hired to help animate. It's all super cartoony stuff, so that is a nice change of pace from the naturalistic animation I did at Charlex. It's a short gig, as of now I'm only set to work until April 21st, so I'm continuing on the hunt for the next job.I'm thinking of starting a Quote of the Week just for the heck of it :-P Grand prize goes to whoever guesses the movie first ;)

Guy1:" Ned... Ryerson!"Needlenose Ned"? "Ned the Head"? C'mon, buddy. Case Western High! I did the whistling belly-button trick at the high school talent show? Bing! Ned Ryerson, got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn't graduate? Bing, again. Ned Ryerson, I dated your sister Mary Pat a couple of times until you told me not to anymore? Well?
Guy2: Ned Ryerson?
Guy1: BING!

'Till next time,
--Kyle

forgot about this

Well, yeah, I kinda abandoned this, but I might get back into posting at least. Though probably not a video blog ;)

The last time I posted, I was unemployed. But not to fear, just before Thanksgiving '05 I was hired at Charlex in New York, to animate on their short film "Rats" (working title). Although my freelance gig there is almost up, it's been a great experience. And I've been so busy that I haven't had time to post!

Anyway, hopefully I'll find a good use for this blog, and keep it up :) Later!