Base14

So in an effort to promote the upcoming online release of “The Girl and the Fox” and provide some context as to how the film was made, we’ve launched our first “making-of” tutorial for “The Girl and the Fox.”  This one is all about our process for creating hand-drawn animation using Adobe Flash. It’s been over TWO YEARS since our last YouTube tutorial so I hope everyone waiting for some more Base14 secrets can now rest easy. Below you’ll find the link to download the Flash files (CS5 version). Enjoy!

» Download the tutorial files right here

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for! The online premiere of “The Girl and the Fox” has been set for June 4th, 2012. Look for it on Vimeo and YouTube.

A lot is going into preparations for the online premiere. The entire film is being remastered in 32-bit color, animating and compositing are getting some touch-ups, and an entirely new musical score has been written just for this version! We’ll also be releasing some “Behind the Scenes” tutorials on YouTube to give fans a better idea of how the film was made.

So mark your calendars! It’s going to be an exciting month!

It’s a great month for residents of Northern California! We’ll be screening “The Girl and the Fox” five times over the next two weekends. First, at the San Joaquin Children’s Film Festival in Stockton, CA. They’ve made a lovely little page for our film on their website, where you can also buy tickets. We’ll be screening twice, on Sat. 21st and Sun. 22nd.

The following weekend will be my next in-person appearance, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. I’ll be there for three separate screenings of the film. The main event and official competition showing is on Sunday, April 29 at 12:00 PM, as part of The Storytellers Show. That’s the show anyone reading this should attend, if interested. But also exciting is two educational screenings for local school groups. I’ll be attending those and fielding questions provided by the kiddies, hoping to inspire at least a few young filmmakers in the process.

So for anyone in the great NorCal region, please pay a visit! I’ll be giving out cupcakes, as always.

So I have about a bajillion new festivals I need to add to our tour list and blog about, but for now let me note that the next festival screening “The Girl and the Fox” that I will be personally attending is the Los Angeles Animation Festival this Sunday, March 11th, 4:00pm at the Regent Showcase Theatre at 614 N La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90036. Tickets are… relatively cheap. Mention this blog post and receive a free autograph!*

I’m also planning on being in town for the San Francisco International Film Festival in April. It’s been a while since I’ve visited the Bay Area so that should be a fun one, too!

*The size and legibility of your autograph may vary

If you can’t make it out to the UCLA campus this Saturday evening for The 39th Annual Annie Awards, I have good news for you. Several sites will be streaming a live feed of the show, showing all the presenters, winners and acceptance speeches. You can watch it on any of these sites:

• The Official Annie Awards Website [http://annieawards.org/watch-it-live/]
• Cartoon Brew [http://www.cartoonbrew.com]
• The Animation Guild [http://animationguild.org/2012-annie-awards/]
• UStream [http://www.ustream.tv/annieawards]

The show begins at 7pm PST, and if you’re a Base14 fan be sure to be prompt. I suspect the award for Best Short Subject will be one of the first presented. Excitement!!!

It’s been a long while since our last update because the company has spent the last two months relocating to Los Angeles! Not surprisingly, this is far from a simple process. But this means a lot of great things for the studio, including:

• We are now much closer to many screenings and award shows that will be featuring “The Girl and the Fox.”
• Tyler and Nate are reunited in the same city, expediting the process of completing our next film “Rain Dance.”
• The Annie Awards are this weekend and we’ll have several crew members attending.
• Most importantly we are now in the heart of the animation industry, where we can network, recruit and work with best best and brightest in this amazing art form!

It’s the biggest step for Base14 yet, and I couldn’t be happier. We all knew we’d get here eventually; honestly I’m a bit surprised it took this long. But now we’re settled in and here to stay. Hello, L.A.!

Yesterday, the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood announced the nominees for the 39th Annual Annie Awards, the highest honor in the animation industry. Included on that list? “The Girl and the Fox.” Right beside all the best studios like Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, Warner Bros. and the National Film Board, Base14 stood proudly as a candidate for Best Short Subject. As a growing animation studio, this is undoubtedly the greatest honor we have ever received.

The nomination alone is a stunning testament to our entire crew of talented artists, animators, musicians, sound engineers and producers. As director, I want to thank each and every one of them for making this vision a reality. I’ll be in LA for the Award Ceremony on Feb. 4th, and hopefully we can get a few of our other key crew members to attend as well.

Finally, as a necessity to the film gaining a new place in the spotlight, I’ve launched the official website for “The Girl and the Fox”. For now it features a modest view of the tour schedule and trailer, but will grow as time goes on. We still have about a year’s worth of festivals on our tour schedule.

Here’s to many more exciting days ahead of “The Girl and the Fox”!