Go Canada – Grain Elevators – Pilot Episode

Go Canada is an animation/live action documentary series developed by Cheshire Smile Animation, Kids CBC, and SCN, for 2-6 year old children starring Canada: an inspired, animated map of our favorite country.

Inspired by kids, her audience, Canada travels our nation discovering and exploring entertaining, educational and cool stories about iconic elements of Canadian geography, locations and life. Canada is possessed by an insatiable curiosity for the country where she lives. As the host, Canada, leads the adventure, but she learns alongside the children viewing the show as she discovers, explores and experiences special places within the Canadian Community.

 

 

Side Show Christmas is in the can!!!

Final online and print to tape on the Cheshire Smile Animation digibeta

After a week of trials and tribulations beginning with the botched importation of a digibeta deck from LA and culminating in the mysterious appearance of an additional 3 seconds and thee frames of video content “The Side Show Christmas” has finally wrapped.

We are looking forward to the French Broadcast premier on TELETOON December 7th at 5 pm EST, the English Broadcast premier is on TELETOON on Friday December 12th at 5 pm.

If you live in Saskatoon, you are invited to attend our premier at The Roxy Theatre on Sunday December 14th at 7pm.

 

Seelenheil screening online in the National Screen Institute online film festival

Seelnheil, the short film I directed and co-produced with Rick Stefanowski, is now screening in the NSI online Film Festival. Seelenheil is the graphic tale of a bloodthirsty killer in Nazi Germany. Some people might find this film disturbing (others might find it extremely disturbing – it takes a dark twist fast.).

 

Side Show Christmas Logo

The Side Show Christmas Logo

This is the proposed logo and title treatment for “The Side Show Christmas”.

 

Side Show Christmas Peeks – I

The Side Show Christmas is on the verge of animation production. Finally!!! Here are some pics from scenes that have been posed out in Flash.

A scene from The Side Show Christmas

It takes so long to move an animated show through a development and production pipeline that it is really exciting to start seeing it come together. I can’t wait to see what some of these shots look like when they are moving.

 

Watch “A Fairy Tale Christmas” on YTV

Make sure to gather up all your young ones and settle in to watch “A Fairy Tale Christmas” on YTV this Christmas. It’s the perfect distraction after all the gifts have been opened and Dad’s hands are way too numb to assemble any more toys.

A Fairytale Christmas – Dec 22nd @ 2pm EST, Dec 25th @ 1pm EST – Kidnapping the King’s daughter is no way to get onto Santa’s “nice” list.

“A Fairy Tale Christmas” was animated entirely in Saskatchewan in 2004-05 using a combination of classical and Flash animation techniques and has helped to launch to careers of many great Saskatchewan animators.

“A Fairy Tale Christmas” is a Christmas Adventure Musical featuring songs by Jay Semko (The Northern Pikes) and Ross Nykiforiuk (Cosmic Pad Studios)

It is also my broadcast directorial debut and was responsible for a 160% increase in the size of my bald spot. It is rumored to be for sale in Wall Mart but I have not seen it there myself.

 

BarCamp Saskatoon 2007

http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/BarCampSaskatoon2007

BarCamp is an international network of unconferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies and social protocols.

BarCampSaskatoon2007 is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. BarCampSaskatoon2007 is open to all who love technology as a place to talk and to learn.

BarCampSaskatoon2007 will take place on September 29th, 2007 at The Cellar in the basement of the Senator Hotel (243 21st Street East).

From all reports, last year’s BarCamp in Saskatoon was a huge smash. Sadly I was out of town and was unable to attend. I will be attending this year and look foward to participating in this years BarCamp. It is being organized by many of the same people who organized the recent Saskatchewan Interactive Summit 2007, an event that absolutely blew my mind – in a positive way that is If you are going to be attending, make sure to drop me a line, I would love to talk to you about your projects!

To find out more about BarCampSaskatoon2007 visit Ryan’s Blog or check out the highlights from last years BarCamp.

If you are interested in interactive technology, sharing about interactive technology, or networking with people who love interactive technology there is a good chance that this could be a great event for you to attend.

Space is limited to only 100 participants so make sure to sign up soon. If you do it before September 15, the word on the street is that you will get a free and groovy T-Shirt.

http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/BarCampSaskatoon2007

 

Seelenheil Animation Preview

I have been working on an “epic” 3 minute animated film for about the last year. It is a period piece that is adapted from a graphic novella called Seelenheil, and is set during WWII. It has been a very involved film to animate with intense subject matter and a wide range of characters and locations. Rick Stefanowski is producing and put together financing for the film from SaskFilm, the National Film Board of Canada (FAP), and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

The film is animated using hand drawn assets within Flash. It is at that exciting point of creation because right now the animation is finished, we are very close to locking the picture now, and all the colored backgrounds (we are going for a film noir / watercolor look) are starting to appear.

Here are a couple of shots from the show.

 

Side Show Christmas – Animation Designs

The Side Show Christmas is a 1 hour Flash animated Christmas Special in development with Teletoon Canada and SCN. I am producing for Cheshire Smile Animation Inc. Ideally we are looking at production this Fall / Winter with the broadcast premier in 2008.

I have been working with Chris Steininger to develop the character designs for the show. Jeff Martel created Side Show Christmas and is currently writing the 2nd Draft of the screenplay. I pitched the show to Teletoon at 2006 Banff Television Festival and have been developing the show with them since then.

These are some of the characters Chris has conceived to date. The animation design phase of developing this project has been a challenging experience because in the beginning we conceived and pitched the story to our broadcasters without any artwork. We have have had to work with the Broadcaster to develop a style for the show which fits their vision. Needless to say, these have not been our first attempts.

 

More Toby Thoughts

We have been rolling along on the re-development of this concept and have a one sheet that we are now starting to shop around to broadcasters. I am going to pitch this to Treehouse next week.

Any comments / criticism / insights would be greatly appreciated.

Toby’s Time

13 x 3 minute animation / documentary

Preschool (3-5)

Toby’s Time is a 13 X 3 minute animation / documentary series for 3 – 5 year old children starring Toby, a digi-savy seven year old who makes and stars in his own short docu-videocasts about his experiences discovering the magic and diversity of life in the world around him.

Toby is an inspired, animated (literally and figuratively) child in a live-action world who is passionate about discovering the many facets to life in the world around him. Toby goes to great effort to share his findings with his friends in the TV audience all over the world.

Children love Toby. They look up to him because he is versatile and talented with computers, cameras and technology and he uses those skills and his natural curiosity to explore stories that children want to know and learn more about.

From behind the scenes at the Rodeo, to shearing sheep, model railroads, or fighting forest fires in Northern Saskatchewan, Toby is in front of the camera and behind it all the while providing a youthful point of view for the children in his viewing audience.

Toby is not afraid to get to the heart of the story and find out in a sometimes serious, sometimes cheeky way the facts that only children can truly appreciate. That’s right everything from how many pounds of poo gets mucked out of the Rodeo Stalls in a day to the number of pieces of railroad track it would take to make a model railroad that could span the planet or go to the moon. These are just some of the facts that Toby will share with his friends along the way.

As an animated child, Toby has access to a wide range of places and situations that most children never experience. Toby uses that access to provide a unique point of entry into the exciting world that exists just beyond the front door.

Toby’s Time is a series that aims to introduce children, in a fun, educational manner, to the diversity of life and experience that can be found within Canada, this great land of ours.

For more information about this show please contact Tim Tyler, Producer.
tel: 306.652.2102 email:tim@cheshiresmile.com http://www.cheshiresmile.com
2007 Birkland Bros. Entertainment and Cheshire Smile Animation Inc.
All Rights Reserved