So remember a year ago when Base14 had a huge rally to be featured on WNET 13 in New York? We came so very close to winning the voting contest, but missed it by a millimeter. Well, justice returns, because “The Girl and the Fox” will be playing on that very station as part of the KQED Film School Shorts programming block, tonight at 10:30pm. The same showcase has actually been playing on other PBS stations across the country as well. So check your local listings and maybe it’ll be coming to a station near you too!

Time for a Base14 news roundup! We’re proud to finally announce that after two years in the film festival circuit, “The Girl and the Fox” has been picked up for television distribution in the United States! What that means is that our distributor will be able to grant television stations, video-on-demand and streaming services the right to air TGTF on their networks. There was once a time when this meant EVERYTHING to a indie film, before the Internet revolution. Today we have many ways of getting our film seen, but the recognition and support of a professional distributor is something we take with great pride. We’ll pass along airing information about the film as we come upon it in the future.

In other news, the company has been featured in two online articles recently that we wanted to highlight. Just this week, Alysha and I were featured on the Purdue Innovation and Commercialization Center website. It’s a site dedicated to Purdue University staff and alumni that have found success as entrepreneurs, inventors or artists. The profile chronicles the origins of Base14 and how Purdue fueled the success of the company for both of us, albeit in very different ways.

Secondly we wanted to highlight “The Girl and the Fox” being featured on studentanimations.com. Alongside the embedded film, it’s got a nice summary of the stats of the production. Here’s the article.

Lastly, as we celebrate the two-year anniversary of our world premiere for “The Girl and the Fox” this month, we want to mention that TGTF is still getting into festivals around the world. Just this month it screened at the Ashland Film Festival in Oregon, the Reel 2 Real Film Festival in Vancouver, and has upcoming screenings at the Phoenix Comicon Film Festival and all the way over in the Czech Republic. We’re amazed by the enduring love people have shown for the film and the continued requests for it to screen at festivals of all types.

So things have been pretty quiet this winter on the Base14 Blog, but that’s all with good reason. Those of you that follow my personal Twitter account know this already, but I was recently recruited by Walt Disney Animation Studios to work in the Layout Department on their upcoming feature film “Frozen.” After many years of working on animated shorts, the chance to work on a feature was very exciting. So I’m happy to report that I’ve settled in at the studio and am thrilled to be involved in such a rich legacy of animated filmmaking.

The best part is that Base14 isn’t going anywhere. I can still manage the company in my spare time, so we’ll continue our role as a producer of original animated content. “The Girl and the Fox” still has a handful of screenings planned for 2013, and our next short film “Rain Dance” is in the final stages of post-production. The released date had to be delayed from 2012 to 2013 because of a slowed-down production process, but rest assured the film is still on a path to completion. It can then pick up a festival run right where “The Girl and the Fox” left off, so we’re very happy to have new content to share with many of our old, familiar audiences.

I apologize for the lapse in posts, but it’s been a crazy few months transitioning to my new roles and responsibilities. Rest assured all news about Base14 films will continue to be posted right here on Base14.com! And remember you can track our blog updates on our Twitter and Facebook Pages as well. Thanks to all our fans to their continued support!

-Tyler J. Kupferer
President, Base14

I suppose this would be a good time to point out the obvious. Over the past three years, Base14 has coalesced into an animation-centric company. It’s far and above the best type of work we put out, and with “Rain Dance” being released in the near future, it’s likely we’ll continue to build our brand as an animation studio. What would you like to see more of on Base14.com? Behind-the-scenes artwork? More tutorials? A web series? Let us know!

It’s been a good three days for “The Girl and the Fox”. We’ve been featured on a boatload more blogs and websites, including The Curious Brain, Film School Rejects, i09, and one of my very favorites, Short of the Week. The good folks at SotW touched on what really makes TGTF strong:

“…for many animators—especially those behind short films—the medium becomes a celebration of speaking with one’s pictures. Story through action, emotion through motion. So is the case with Base14’s The Girl and the Fox, a lyrical, dialogue-free fairy tale that is as easily accessible as it is deep.”

– Ivan Kander

Here’s a round-up of other blog mentions and my favorite lines from select articles.

i09
“This short, silent fairy tale illustrates the more tender side of the state of nature, and the animation thoroughly evokes a story book come to life.”

Film School Rejects
“Pay close attention to the outstanding lighting design in this animated short from Base14. It’s a combination of exaggeratedly detailed backgrounds and comic-strip-simple characters, but even beyond the beauty, the real joy is the story.”

Kuriositas
“I have to admit to being rather surprised to discover that they are based in Los Angeles as to me The Girl and the Fox had a much more European feel to it – perhaps because of the costumes the characters wear – it felt very much like an Old World fable.”

The San Francisco Egotist
“This film has been nominated and awarded all over the place. It won’t take long for you to see why.”

Forbidden Planet
“…the fox turns out to be rather handsome, with a wonderfully bushy tail and she’s not sure she can bring herself to harm him – but if she doesn’t what will happen between human girl and fox?”

The Curious Brain

Parka Blogs

Sopitas

Arte y Animación

Cold Hard Flash

OnAnimation

Dooby Brain

Update: I almost forgot, we were also featured on the central hub of Vimeo itself, as part of the Vimeo Staff picks. Thanks Vimeo!

Last night amid a flurry of tweets and status updates, “The Girl and the Fox” went live on Vimeo and Youtube! We’re already off to a great start across the blogosphere, with mentions on Coldhardflash.com and Kuriositas.com. Our next big goal is to get featured on Short of the Week, and you can help us do that by voting for the film did a great job voting! We made it!

Did you know we’re still showing in theaters, too? It’s true. We’ve got big appearances coming up at the Nantucket Film Festival at the end of this month and the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International in July. In fact, I believe that’s TGTF on the front page! Head on over to girlandthefox.com/festivals for the complete literary.

Thanks again to everyone that helped create, promote and support the film. It means the world to this small studio. We hope we’ll mean something special to the world.

• We’ve been updating the official “Girl and the Fox” website
  www.girlandthefox.com
• Base14 got a facelift on all its Facebook pages
  Base14 Facebook Page
  Duck Heart Teslacoil Facebook Page
  The Girl and the Fox Facebook Page
  Rain Dance Facebook Page
• Our YouTube account has been bustling with new tutorials
  Hand-Drawn Animation in Adobe Flash Tutorial
  Painting Hand-Drawn Animation in Adobe Flash Tutorial
• We made a Facebook Event for the premiere
  TGTF Online Premiere Event
• This picture exists
  This one

That’s all for now! Check back on Monday bright and early for the big premiere!!!

My work from the last six months has continued with themes from my senior collection such as topography and mapping, and has introduced investigations into memory, personal relationships and how I spend my time.

If you are in the Indiana area, you can view my new work starting on the 15th at the MFA Exhibition in the Grunwald Gallery of Art.

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.!

Well the time has arrived to announce the official world premiere of “The Girl and the Fox,” since as it is only two weeks away! Already we have been accepted to a few festivals, but it turns out that the Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival will be the first one out of the gates. A big event for animation enthusiasts across the South,  the Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, April 8th through the 10th.

“The Girl and the Fox” will be showing as part of the Tangerine Dreams showcase, which features animation that deals with the fantastic and supernatural, and will take place Saturday, April 9th at 4:00pm in the 5 Points Theatre in Jacksonville. I would be there to see the premiere in person if I wasn’t already spending that weekend in Los Angeles for the College Television Awards! But if you’ll be in or around Florida that weekend, be sure to stop by and support a great animation event!

To go along with the announcement, I’ve relaunched the Base14 Tour Page, which will track and display every festival that “The Girl and the Fox” visits. I’ll be updating it regularly as more festivals get back to us, so be sure to watch for a screening near you sometime in the next year!