 |
 |
 |
|
         |
|
September 17 - 21, 2008
The Ottawa International Animation Festival is held every year in the fall. It’s a great meeting place for top animators and companies from all over North America and the world. Max the Mutt has attended every year since the school was founded, and we’ll be back again in 2008.
This year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival poster was designed by Ottawa artist Howie Tsui.
Brad Johnston was a sensitive, talented young artist whose life ended too soon. He was a graduate of Max the Mutt and his family and friends established the scholarship foundation as a memorial. As a registered charity, donations are tax deductible. So far, the foundation has raised enough money to provide one full scholarship a year. The school itself grants two three year scholarships every year and simply doesn’t receive revenue for these students! Since our mandate is to keep tuition as affordable as possible without compromising the quality of our programs, this is difficult for us to maintain.
Max the Mutt also helps students who are working hard, have run into financial difficulties and don’t qualify for student loans from the bank. We provide them with tuition loans which are interest free until six months after they graduate or leave the program, and are then paid back to us at the lowest possible interest rate (bank prime until this year, and now prime).
These policies reflect our commitment to our students. However, we really could use some assistance! The scholarship fund is a totally independent non-profit registered charity for which donor companies or individuals can claim tax deductions and will get public recognition.
Checks made out to The Bradley Mark Johnston Educational Foundation can be sent to us at Max the Mutt and we will forward them to Mr. Stewart Johnston. Scholarships may also be established in your company’s name, and will be listed on our website. Every endowed scholarship will have a plaque at the school with the name of the endowing individual or company, and a brass nameplate for each recipient.
All donations, no matter how small, are welcome and will make a difference in a talented young artist’s life. If you share our commitment to passing on traditional skills, please consider helping our community.
The foundation is in its infancy and we need your help to build it. We are also interested in any ideas you may have for fund raising.
For more information, please check the website and/or feel free to contact us at 416-703-6877 (1-877-486-MUTT) or info@maxthmutt.com. You may also leave a message on this blog.
Thank you all.
What’s been happening lately? Oh, so much! Tina’s (Tina Seemann, Animation Director) returned from vacation in Vancouver and is raring to go, setting up new equipment and getting ready for September. The “Learn to Draw” summer workshops have completed their first week . Dave Ross has developed a new first year illustration course on drawing figures from your imagination, and, with Ty’s assistance, several new enthusiastic and talented instructors will be joining the Illustration for Sequential Arts program.
In fact we have many new instructors joining us in all the programs and I’m personally excited about them. Sometime soon, in addition to our faculty listings, we’ll try to introduce them all to you in greater depth.
We’ve been working very hard on all those things I never knew took so much time. Besides looking for instructors who are right for our programs, we’ve been trying to get all the scheduling done. A faculty composed of working professionals makes the school exciting and I wouldn’t have it any other way…but you can imagine what it means to schedule them all!
By the way, we plan to update the student galleries as soon as we can get to it. This year’s work is outstanding. Most of it is still on display, so if you live near by please come and take a look.
I’m hoping to get all my work done by the end of July so I can have a real break in August. I will take my own advice and get into my studio without any distractions and get re-energized before September. I’m full of painting ideas.
By the way, we will continue to accept applications for ‘08. Last year we had a sudden rush of applications in July, and at least 8 of them were people we really wanted with us. We finally decided to open a new section, and were glad we did since many of those students turned out to be great additions to the community. Based on that experience, we’re doing the same thing this year.
I hope more of you will start to leave comments. Please feel free to let me know if there are subjects you’d like me to speak about. If I don’t have the answers, I’ll find someone who does.
I hope you are all having fun, painting and drawing, spending time looking at nature, getting some exercise, and enjoying some night life too! This season seems to go so quickly….
Starts July 6, 2009.
Want to learn the basics of drawing? Of interest to the novice and seasoned artist are the Summer Learn to Draw sessions at Max the Mutt in July. The following limited enrollment classes are available (to save cash consider enrolling in the full program).
I’ve been taking a vacation from writing for the Blog, but this news is too important to the animation and comic book industry, and I wanted to share it with all of you. I found it on the Huffington Post.
Seth MacFarlane, the 34-year-old creator of “Family Guy.”
In September, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy” on television, will unveil a carefully guarded new project called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unlike “Family Guy,” which is broadcast on Fox, this animation series will appear exclusively on the Internet.
The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip.
Advertising will be incorporated into the clips in varying ways. In some cases, there will be “preroll” ads, which ask viewers to sit through a TV-style commercial before getting to the video. Some advertisers may opt for a banner to be placed at the bottom of the video clip or a simple “brought to you by” note at the beginning.
Mr. MacFarlane, who will receive a percentage of the ad revenue, has created a stable of new characters to star in the series, which will be served up in 50 two-minute episodes.
In an interview, he described the installments as “animated versions of the one-frame cartoons you might see in The New Yorker, only edgier.”
For a more substantial fee, Mr. MacFarlane has been working with advertisers to animate original commercials that will run with “Cavalcade.” Google and Mr. MacFarlane would not reveal any of the advertisers, but the two said that several deals are among the largest ever landed by AdSense, which went into business in 2003.
Google, which calls the distribution service the Google Content Network, until now has only dabbled in distributing original content. In May, it announced a deal with The Washington Post to distribute real estate listings from the newspaper’s Web site in a similar manner.
But the partnership with Mr. MacFarlane represents a bold step into the distribution business, one that, if successful, will surely send shock waves through the entertainment business. “Cavalcade” is not only from a high-profile Hollywood talent, but also carries a multimillion-dollar production price tag, by far the largest amount spent on original Internet content to date.
“We feel that we have recreated the mass media,” said Kim Malone Scott, director of sales and operations for AdSense.
Until now, budgets for original Webisodes have peaked in the low six figures because creators have not been able to figure out a business model that allows for higher spending. Either advertisers have not wanted to pay, or it has been too difficult to attract a large enough audience to support the cost of television or movie-quality work.
But Media Rights Capital, a boutique production company that has the ability to invest about $400 million a year in movies, television and Internet episodes, thinks it has figured out a sustainable business model with the Google Content Network. Every time someone clicks on one of the syndicated videos, the associated advertiser pays a fee, with shares going to Mr. MacFarlane, Media Rights, Google and the Web site that generated the click.
“We believe the revenue could be formidable,” said Karl Austen, a lawyer who worked on the deal. “What is exciting is that this is a way to monetize the Internet immediately. Instead of creating a Web site and hoping Seth’s fans find it, we are going to push the content to where people are already at.”
Media Rights sells the advertising inventory. Asif Satchu, the company’s co-chief executive, would not reveal how much advertisers were being asked to pay, except to say that it is “significantly higher” than if they were placing the same ad via AdSense.
Hollywood’s powerful Endeavor talent agency helped shepherd Mr. MacFarlane through the negotiations, which started during a recent gap in the animator’s contract with 20th Century Fox. Mr. MacFarlane said he wanted to take a stab at an original Internet program because he was feeling constrained by the “taste police,” a k a the Federal Communications Commission.
Sitting in his office wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, Mr. MacFarlane described feeling stifled as a comedian by an F.C.C. crackdown in recent years on what it views as unsuitable language and situations on television. Mr. MacFarlane said he believed that the public’s appetite for raunchy humor and coarse language was only expanding and that television networks like Fox were having a harder time capturing viewers in part because they had to tread carefully or risk fines.
“I just felt I could be a lot more honest on the Internet,” he said.
Mr. MacFarlane started the project on the assumption that he would do 20-minute television episodes and break them into segments to dole out online.
“But that seemed a little odd and a little pointless,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you just release the whole thing at once?”
Google executives also provided him with stacks of data showing how people interact with Web video, including how long the average user will watch before clicking on something new. That prompted Mr. MacFarlane to scrap his original project and rebuild the idea from the ground up.
Each installment is different, but a typical one is titled “Mad Cow Disease.” The clip, which is 38 seconds long, opens with a news anchor reporting on an outbreak of mad cow disease in a dry fashion, detailing the debilitating effects of eating tainted beef. The clip cuts to a shocked male and female cow seated in a tidy kitchen with giant steaks on their plates.
For Mr. MacFarlane, 34, the venture is more than just adding to his already sizable fortune. (His new multiyear contract with Fox, signed this spring, is valued at nine figures.) One goal is to use the venture as a testing ground for new material and a way to ignite attention. At the very least, “Cavalcade” will become a DVD, but the hope is that part of the series will click with audiences and perhaps lead to television or even animated movie projects.
Indeed, in a watch-what-you-want, when-you-want world, the standard processes of rolling out new television programs are breaking down. Even a decade ago, putting a new show on a network schedule would assure that it would be exposed to most of the country; people would either respond or they wouldn’t. Today, with television ratings in particular dwindling, creators like Mr. MacFarlane have to find new ways to introduce new material.
Nobody knows how content can catch fire in unexpected ways more than Mr. MacFarlane. In 2002, “Family Guy” was canceled for poor ratings after running for three seasons. But the irreverent series continued to make new fans through DVD sales. In 2005, Fox reversed itself, citing strong DVD sales, and “Family Guy” has gone on to be one of the biggest comedy hits on television.
(Note: for many years there was no market for shorts. Now there’s a market for short shorts….)
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Photoshop for Beginners: Starts October 7, 2008
Flash Professional CS3 : Starting Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Max the Mutt Animation Graduates Class of 2008
School Directors Tina Seemann (left) and Maxine Schacker (right) were pleased to grant Diplomas to the following students:
Andreas Anler
I am from Sweden. I arrived in Canada in 2005 to study at Max the Mutt. I’ve always loved animation and drawing for as long as I can remember. Before I came to Canada I studied at a small art school in Stockholm and before that I played around with some of the 3D software. Finally getting to be in a place where people are as passionate about art as me has been fantastic.
Rebecca Arnold
I grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo. After a few years in the service industry I came to Toronto. I was walking up Spadina Avenue when I discovered Max the Mutt Animation School. I decided to pop in and see what the school was about when I met Maxine Schacker. She really inspired me so I decided to get some formal training in the animation field. After graduation in May I am thankful for the experiences I have gained at the school and what I have learned about myself along the way.
Thomas Deak
Since I was young, I loved to draw. I never considered it a career but only a hobby. My high school art teacher introduced me to Max The Mutt. Now I am a graduate, looking to be a successful full time animator. I start my internship at 9-Story Production Company next week!
Raechel Dickey
I was born in Toronto and raised in London, Ontario. After High School I came to Toronto where I discovered Max the Mutt Animation School. I learned more in my first four months here than all my high school years. I won a partial scholarship for my 3rd year studies and I am looking forward to returning for the 4th year MAYA program in the fall.
Matthew DilLallo
I took several art classes at Sheridan College and I became interested in animation. I decided to enroll in Max the Mutt Animation School because of their strong ties to the industry and the caliber of work produced by their 3rd year students. I’m particularly interested in character design and Flash Animation.
Ian Haines
I grew up in Cambridge, Ontario. Ever since I could remember I loved to draw. Watching cartoons and reading comic books, I would try to draw characters that captured my imagination, like He-Man and Marvel comic characters. I took a tour of Max the Mutt and immediately I knew it was the place. Three years have passed and I’ve gained a great deal of skill and knowledge and have made life long friends. I am working as an intern for Big Soul Productions for the summer and returning in the Fall for his 4th year in 3D Computer Animation and Production.
Lindsey Herrmann
I was raised in the suburbs of Detroit. Shortly after high school, I became involved in artistic classes and contests at the local college. After realizing that these courses weren’t challenging enough, I searched for a school that would provide me with the discipline and skills that I longed for. I found that Max the Mutt Animation School of Toronto was the place for me. Now, after completing the three-year program, I have the knowledge, and a solid portfolio which gives me the confidence I need to enter the animation industry.
Jesse Jind
I recently graduated from Max the Mutt Animation School’s Classical Animation Diploma program. Prior to that I received my honours BA from McMaster University. After working in the automotive industry for two years I decided to go back to school to pursue a career I was truly passionate about. Having now attended a university and a private college I gained a great appreciation for the level of personal attention a career college can offer. Over the summers I have also interned at several studios where I utilized the skills and professional
attitude I gained from Max the Mutt in a real production environment.
Steven Seres, Raechel Dickey, Isaac Yakabuskie and Elizabeth Romo Marcos.
Maxine Schacker -Director of Max the Mutt Animation School.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
