If you’re in Toronto July 6-8th and you like animation the TIFF Bell Lightbox is the place to go!

R2R fest is a fantastic film festival that takes place in Vancouver BC every year.  If you’re a ‘youth’ or know anyone who is that’s interested in film then take note!  With screening and workshops for kids of all ages this festival is tons of fun.

I’m proud to have taken part and even prouder of the award, Thanks!

That’s two festivals in the same day!

In Nashville my film will be in the “Shorts for the Whole Family” program playing on April 19th at 2pm and on the 21st at 10:15 am.

In Vancouver my film will be in the “Animation Fascination” program playing on April 19th at 10 & 11:15 am.

I won’t be making it to Nashville, but I will be attending the Vancouver R2R fest for the Q&A after the screenings and I’ll be at the closing Gala on the evening of the 19th.  A little bird told me there’s a reason I’ll want to attend that .

If you’re at the Vancouver event come up and say hello!

Digging through the archives turned up this gem, a student film from 1998. That’s before the turn of the millenium for those keeping track.

MessAges was finished on 16mm film, which is a strange way to finish a project based completely on low res TV.

Some captured sequences on film were edited by splicing prints. This meant physically moving the film strip back and forth through the edit machine so you’d hear everything forwards and backwards.

Looking through some of the discarded scenes afterwards I remember finding one gem. A scene of Barney saying “it’s fun when everyone has a special job to do!” .. when you played that backwards its sounded quite a bit like “Follow me and leave this world”.

There are no backwards scenes in this film. No television personalities were harmed in the making of this film.

In 2007 I directed an animated kids series called All Terrain Brain at Global Mechanic for Three Chicks Media. All Terrain Brain was a series of 1 minute animated musical episodes focused on entrepreneurial thinking. Each episode had a topic or inspirational story about starting a business by following your passion or seeing problems that need solving.

In the 23rd episode there’s a kid who’s sick of lugging a heavy backpack full of books. Through a series of trial and error he developes a ‘ride-a-pack’. It’s a fantastical automated folding backpack with integrated scooter so that you can coast with your pack instead of lugging it.

It turns out that the ATB ride-a-pack and Brencks Scooter Backpack aren’t the only ones out there. There are several products on the market, like this Samsonite Microscooter and one from Glydegear.

Then there’s the Scooter Backpack RE-Kick from a company called Evoluggage. It looks like this was introduced at a Kansas City invention convention in 2009. I found this news clip featuring the invention, and the interesting thing is the interview takes place at the Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation is the organization that funded production of All Terrain Brain.

This is not to detract from the great design work that went into any of the real life versions of the Scooter Backpack. I have no idea if any of the inventors ever saw the All Terrain Brain show, and in any case it’s a completely different process to draw something fantastical and make it work in real life.

…But I would be curious to hear if there were any scooter backpacks on the market before 2007.

Here’s the episode with the Scooter Backpack:

Happy Holidays!

This is a sweet little 30 second holiday greeting video in a cross stitch style. A simple reminder to jackbooted thugs everywhere.

Check it out and remember: Be nice to elves, Santa is watching you.

It’s the largest animation festival in North America. If you love animation it’s a great place to be.

And if you are here, come check out the Canadian showcase as the Bytown Cinema at 1:00 on Sunday September 25th. My short film will be playing and I’ll be there!

A Tax on Bunny Rabbits is an short film in a text animation based format from Director Nathaniel Akin. Stylistically the film falls somewhere between LOL emoticons and retro typewriter love, with a dash of Aesops.

What’s a fuzzy little bunny to do when approached by a menacing metal robot? The solution is simpler than you may think.

A Tax on Bunny Rabbits will be premiering in the Showcase at this years Ottawa International Animation Festival. The OIAF is the largest animation festival in North America and a must-see for any fan of animated films.

Like animation loops? The Loop de Loop @ Loop is a monthly animation challenge in Melbourne Australia. There are only a few limits: submissions must be animation, they must loop and they should have some relation to the months theme word. This months theme word is ‘Launch’. Its a great way for animators to keep the creative juices flowing. Click here to check out my submission: Rat Race and vote me up to five stars!