The Captain

Une Vie de Maigre

Probably should have mentioned I was going on vacation for 5 weeks. Oh well.

Anyway, my amazing voyage to the far east has yielded much inspiration. Here's a concept for my latest project:

Merure 3: ON SALE NOW!

Merure 3 is now officially on sale at Drownspire. Get your copy now for the low low price of $20 can.

This year's volume features the work of many young talented Montreal illustrators and animators, including (besides myself) Cheyenne Curtis, Samantha Leriche-Gionet, Paule Trudel-Bellemare, Valérie Bastille and Guillaume Blackburn among many others!

F

Gare à la dragonne élégante

Cat & Mouse Couples

Some character sketches I made for a music video that never went into production due to financial difficulties.

Huzzah!

THUNDERSTRIKE took the prize for Best Music Video at the 2010 Young Cuts Film Festival!

I think I'm actually glad that I won for Best Music Video rather than Best Animated Film, though it is nice to have gotten the nomination for it. TS also got a nomination for Best Quebec Film.

Check out the full list of winners here.

Spillz' Guide to 4th Year

I wanted to make this post in early September, but I never got around to it. The following is a a bunch of notes I made near the end of my 4th year at Sheridan during the production of THUNDERSTRIKE. I've compiled them into a guide for your viewing pleasure. I hope this will help out current 4th year students, as well as the ones after that. I like to believe that many of these concepts can be applied to any kind of independent film production, but they are certainly catered to the way things were and probably still are at Sheridan.

I don't consider myself to have been a model student, nor to have made a phenomenal film, however I still finished it in full color with proper clean-up, and have had some moderate success with it in the festival circuit. I also got work right out of school, whether that was because i followed these guidelines is a matter of debate. HOWEVER, many successful Sheridan graduates had completely different work methods and were still very successful. So please take it or leave.

Here we go:

1- Start EARLY, Have story beats and rough designs by the beginning of September at least.

2- DON'T waste time constantly talking about what you're going to do with your film, just do it already.

3- Try to work within a semi-rigid schedule, like 9 to 5 or 10 to 6. Treat it like your job, not like school you can just blow off.

4- AVOID the internet and other intense distractions, working at school can help with this. Unfortunately, you'll still get people with laptops blaring YouTube cat videos and cackling incessantly. Don't be shy to kindly ask them to keep it down if it's excessive.

5 - Eat well and sleep well. Your waking hours won't be nearly as effective otherwise. Regular exercise helps too. Try saving time by playing less games, rather than by buying all your meals at Rabba's and Harvey's.

6- Make your own deadlines. Work within the Milestones, but try to be ahead of them.

7- NEVER compromise the look of your film to save time. Plan properly and do your best to avoid this temptation. A sketchy clean-up style is fine if it goes with your Art Direction and Story, but don't just decide to do it last minute because you think it's faster and hate clean-up.

8 - Take breaks and time off, but BEWARE of slacking off.

9 - Do elective class work when breaking from your film.

10- Test out your full pipeline early to help plan your production schedule.

11- Keep your film as short as possible. You'll thank yourself later.

12- Vary your workload. If you're stumped and fed up with animating, paint a few backgrounds to switch things up a little.

13- Avoid drastic changes to your story in the middle of production. You may not find a gag funny anymore 4 months in, but try to remember what it was like initially. Show your film to fresh eyes if need be.

14- Take advantage of the teachers and technicians. Don't be shy to get comments and feedback from them, HOWEVER, beware of asking too many people for feedback, it may cause more doubt and confusion than anything else. Only ask for feedback when you're stumped or uncertain about something, and be sure to get it from people with opinions that you personally value.

15- Pick a story and theme that you like. Don't make a film because you think it's what prospective employers want to see. Chances are you're already qualified enough for a job, the film is just a bonus. So be sure to do something you're passionate about.

16- Have fun. 4th year is only as difficult as you make it out to be.

Hope that'll help some. Good luck to y'all!

Young Cuts Film Festival

Lots of stuff going on lately...


My short film THUNDERSTRIKE was officially selected for the 2010 Young Cuts Film Festival. Not only that, but it was also selected for the top 10, Best-Of competition.

Pretty exciting, especially since thus far, it's the only festival I've been able to get into!

For those of you in Montreal, the festival will be held on September 24th & 25th @ Cinemas du Parc.

My friends Kevin & Boum's films will also be screened!

Merure 3!

Merure 3, the comic collective I'm occasionally a part of, is on it's way!

Merure 3 is a collection of 23 montreal-based artists who each contributed a 3 page comic of their own design. Nearly all of the comics lack any kind of text, so anybody can enjoy them, no matter where they're from! My good friend Cheyenne from Sheridan is part of the line up, as well as a host other very talented individuals, like my personal fave, Boum!

The official launch will be October 22nd @ Restaurant Le Grillon in sunny Montreal! If you can't make it, you'll be able to order your copies online @ Ika & EsSe's trinket shop Drownspire. Pricing is to be announced, but it will likely be the same as previous Machine Machine books, so like $20.

Join the Facebook event here.

Here's an epic video preview for your viewing pleasure:

TS @ Bang-Awards

My film THUNDERSTRIKE is currently featured @ the Bang- Awards website.



If you want to support me and my work, you can vote for it here.

Douglas In Dandanland

Here is the fruit of Jess and I's labor at the Bivouac Urbain 2010:



This film was made in 36 hours and the theme of this year's competition was Misteure Valaire's song "Dan Dan".

Bivouac Urbain 2010!

Last year I participated in a weekend long video game creation competition and lost miserably due to some programming problems with our game. This year however, the Bivouac Urbain has two new categories; Animated Short Films and Concept Art!

Needless to say, I'll be participating in the Short Film category rather than the gaming one, and this time, I'll be teamed up with my good friend Jess Lindsay! Cheer us on as we just may well be the only team making a 2D film!

Here's our logo and team name:



You can can comment on our team page here.

Oil Spill

Just an short exercise I did using some live action footage and applying straight ahead animation to it.

Don't Let Age Slow You Down...

A sneak peak at my latest project:

Tee Designs

Some unused Tee designs for my friends at Drownspire, based on their mascot logo creature thingy:

THUNDERSTRIKE!

Crank the volume, fullscreen and enjoy!

The Girl & the Robot

SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER!

Well maybe not. Who knows, I might decide to go do a Master's someday, or maybe even go to Gobelins. Suffice it to say that I now have a Bachelor's Degree in animation.

Here's my latest demo reel:



The rest of my portfolio may be viewed by clicking any of the tab links at the top of this page, or by going to this address:
angelilloportfolio.blogspot.com

BBQ Snake Attack!

Took a day off from my film to dick around in the ol' Stop-Mo studio.

THUNDERSTRIKE - Sneak Peek Screenshots

Still working nonstop on my latest film. Here are a few screenshots from it:





Will hopefully be finished clean-up and animation in the next week.

Film Posters

Some friends (notably Andrew) and I, held foreign film screenings at school last semester. We designed our own posters to announce the weekly events. We stuck to high contrast black & white.

Here are some that I made:

Dédé - Behind the Scenes

This a "making of" / Diary from the production of the animated sequences from "Dédé à Travers les Brumes", the film i worked on two summers ago:



Unfortunately there are no English subs, but you can skip to 5:35 to see me flipping like an amateur, or to 7:19 where I say 3 words before the camera goes over to my lead who explains that he desperately needed to hire me in order to save him from death by overworking.

What's the difference between Tiger Woods & Santa Claus?

Santa stops after three hoes!

HO! HO! HO!



A little late for a blog post, made this as a Christmas card for friends & family.