Aaron Davies.

Chasing Bacon

2011-06-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Looking back over my posts the bike riding part of this blog doesn't get much of a look in. Mainly because I haven't been able to enjoy this outlet of mine quite as much as I'd have liked since becoming a dad and rarely does animation and bike riding ever intersect in my life. Until now.

Tree changing was one of the most difficult things I've done in my life. The move from Melbourne to central Victoria was made all the more difficult because I did it at the same time my first son was born and off the back of directing a TV series for 2 years. I was a burnt out, emotionally drained new dad and unaware at the time that I was heading for a long period of depression as I adjusted to my new situation. An existential crisis my therapist called it.

Anyway one thing I did to help me adjust when I made the move was to tap into the local mountain bike club. The trails and excellent riding in the region were, after all, one of the reasons I convinced myself to make the move. The club committee are a great bunch of people and upon joining they indulged me and many of the left field ideas for spicing up their calendar of events I put on the table. Over the years some of these ideas turned out to be fizzers but then there were a few that have some how captured peoples imaginations and have helped differentiate the club's events from others in the region.

I had an opportunity recently to do up a flier for what is normally a pretty low key mid winter cross country MTB race. Most clubs would put a picture of a dude riding a bike on their flier with all the relevant details. I yawn at these because they fail to imbue their event with any personality or suggest why this multi hour foray through the bush would be any more fun than other ones they've done or the rides they do with their mates for free. What follows is a breakdown of the process of creating this flier.

Firstly I'm told by the club committee what the event is, when and where it is and that I am to do a flier for it. They liked a flier I did for a social ride a while back and thought I could just re-purpose that.

Re-purposing old work doesn't excite me much so I decided to try and come up with something more dynamic that would stand out from all other MTB event promotions and hopfully get people excited about our event.

Because I'm a cartoonist first, a graphic designer sixth and don't have heaps of time to waste I roughed up the idea and sent it off to the committee for feedback. This represents 3-4 hours of work since there were many other sketches, layouts and ideas drawn up before I settled on this one as being the best.

The race is being held on a track behind a bacon factory which the locals have named the baco trails. I think simple strong themes are essential for effective branding and make an illustrator's job so much easier. This rough was done to communicate the idea and suggest how I was going to lay it out and incorporate things like sponsor logos and the club colors. The theme and event name were all my invention and the first time the committee were introduced to the idea. The feedback from the committee was overwhelmingly positive aside from a few alternate event names later considered not PG enough to run with.

While those details were being hammered out via email I got to work on polishing the main graphic. I find Photoshop is a dog for drawing so I turned to Sketch Book Pro. It's not as fully featured as Photoshop but is far more intuitive and quicker to draw with. I'm still finding my way around SB pro so this illustration took me about 8 hours. (If anyone can tell me how to get the rotate canvas function to work you'd make me a very happy bike riding animation professional.)

I'm predominantly a storyboard artist and I don't get to play with color much so it's not one of my strengths. With this I aimed to keep the whole thing simple, bold and complimentary. I wanted that pig to really jump off the page and for the most part I think I succeeded.

Finally came all the typesetting. The graphic design part. Working in the animation industry this is something I have never had to do. To be honest my tasks in the animation pipe line never involve the production of finished art so this whole experience was a bit alien. Setting the type, picking the colors and doing spelling corrections almost took as long as the illustration. SB pro is not suited at all to typesetting so the final product was all worked up in Photoshop. 6 hours later.

There are a few things I'd like to improve in the typesetting and illustration but the final graphic is striking and I committee's enthusiasm for staging this event has morphed from keen mountain bikers just putting on a race to excited friends wanting to throw a great party around a race. Even the feedback from the punters has been overwhelming, ranging from curious amusement to plans for costumed shenanigans. But what this really all boils down to is buzz. I'd love to be able to take credit for that but to be honest I did this because I didn't want to do just another boring flier with a picture of a dude riding a bike and it would seem that the mountain bike community are happy not to see one. I can only thank the Castlemaine Rocky Riders for the opportunity to contribute once again.

Winning!

2011-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

A panel from a storyboard I did depicting Bob Hawke's election victory. (FYI: Bob Hawke kissed my sister. True story.)

Ok so it's been 6 months since my last post. To be honest I felt like the floods at the beginning of the year swept away a lot of my enthusiasm for many things I previously enjoyed and were subsequently replaced by bureaucratic wrangling with our insurance company, ongoing house repairs and the ever shifting sands of being a stay at home dad to my two, simultaneously ingratiating and infuriating sons.

One thing that has taken a major back seat has been my career and my freight train of ambitions I was preparing to unleash on the world since completing my arts management studies last year. So the year started out crappy, it's been a bit of a slog for the past 6 months and the repairs on the majority of the flood damage on the house are still yet to start, but apart from all that I'm feeling a bit like Charlie Sheen minus the delusion and I've actually been doing a bit of winning! Here's the update to try and fill in the last 6 months.

Win No.1: I finally get closure on the whole Ettamogah drama.

And my super also received a healthy injection of funds.

The wonderful people at the MEAA were successful in extracting most of the money owed to its members from the now liquidated animation company. I haven't the words to describe the relief that receiving this cheque in the mail brought. The former owner of Ettamogah is still making headlines with his business acumen.

Win No.2: I won out against our insurance company.

Our house is the one with the white picket fence.

Thousands of Australians affected by the floods discovered this year that there is a difference in what they think is a flood and what an insurance company thinks is a flood. What it boils down to is where the waters that entered your property originated. If it's from a river or a creek it's not a flood. Anywhere else and it is. Having a creek directly at the rear of our property, the insurance company took the default position and declared we weren't flooded. We were creeked or something that they didn't cover us for. Luckily for us we had the presence of mind to film the blocked and over flowing storm water drain flooding our property from across the road while the creek was still contained by the levy bank. It wasn't hard to poke holes in the insurance report, just very, very time consuming. With tiger blood flowing though my veins I managed to convince our insurer to honor our claim. Winning! Repairs have yet to start and we haven't got a cheque for our contents yet but it will be another one for the win column when we have heating again and the house is straightened out and a whole lot of new stuff.

Win No.3: There are still people who love me.

My brother, uncle and cousin muck out the man cave.

When the flood came I was half way to completing the renovations on my home office in preparation for doing a JJ Abrams style reboot on my career. The inundation undid much of my work and any ambitions I had for adding extraneous lens flare an implausible time travel gimmicks to my career went down the Lodden river. You never realize how a natural disaster can really knock the wind out of your sails until it happens to you. The up side to having a house filled with mud is that you find out that there are some people that really do care about you and will drop everything to come and help you get back on your feet. Having moved to a small country town where I knew no-one 4 years ago I've felt very isolated ever since. So when all of my my family from Melbourne and my local riding buddies showed up to lend a hand, it has made me feel a lot more connected long after the 2 days it took to make the house livable again. People rock.

Win No. 4: There are still people who love my work.

A monkey searching for a bra strap with his tail. What a fun storyboard this was.

Dealing with insurance companies, doing house repairs and being stay at home dad kind of pushed the career thing to the side. Way over to the "I've got enough on my plate so I'm not even going to bother looking for work" side. Despite that there are some that still believe I'm the man for the job and are willing to accommodate my needs so I can do what they need me to do. For this I get paid and for that I am thankful but I am most grateful for the opportunity to do some work and still keep some toes in the animation industry pool. I didn't realize how much I missed working and forgot how much I actually enjoy it and the people I'm working for. Forgetting the things you like is surprisingly easy to do when life gets in the way.

Win No.5: I'm blogging again.
I've started it now so I have to keep it going again. I've got a couple of projects I need to create some momentum and self motivation for so I'm committing to weekly blog posts again with drawings.

The Black Hole!

2010-12-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

Entering the black hole I was comforted to find that it wasn't a gigantic ball of super dense matter poised to tear my atoms apart and distort space time, but instead it was a gentle space whirlpool decorated in comforting womb like tones.

I'd spent so many weeks researching and writing assignments that I'd forgotten to shave and was in desperate need of a hair cut. My children started asking mummy where daddy had gone and why was there a homeless man living in his office watching episodes of the Venture Brothers.

I finished my last assignment and before submitting it I ran a spell check. This creepy yet strangely attractive robot appeared. All power and confidence it had a mischievous glint in its mono eye. Our combined desire to know each other was overwhelming!

We made love.

As I stared longingly into its crimson viewfinder I could feel myself inside of it....

Literally....

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that it was over so quickly. Feeling a little cheap I decided to take in the view from inside my new robot spellchecker lover who I think was waving to some friends or something.

At first I don't know where I was but then I heard the approaching sound of sick children crying through the night and realized that this is the place where an unbroken nights sleep cannot exist. Yep. Hell.

Lucky I have a robot body.

PS: I don't wish to sound so woe is me because things have been on the steady improve since getting through my assessment. A few small boarding jobs fell into my lap which has helped to get the drawing hand working again. But then our house got flooded and I'm now trying to claim a flood damaged robot body on my insurance. I know it's an arbitrary distinction but I'm looking forward to this year being over.

Ettamogah in Voluntary Administration

2010-11-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

The old blog has been a bit quiet lately then this bit of news popped up on Screenhub which was worth reposting. I promise to get back to my regular blog posting schedule soon.

UPDATED Ettamogah Entertainment: enters voluntary administration

Screen Hub
Friday 19 November, 2010

Melbourne-based animation company Ettamogah Entertainment has entered voluntary administration (Wakkaville, L'il Larrikins following a third motion to wind up the company, this time from international finance and leasing company De Lage Landen.

According to the Australian Securities & Investment Committee, administrators were appointed on 17 November.

Ettamogah has been under pressure since November, 2009 when staff asked the union to get involved to secure unpaid wages.

In January, 2010 New Zealand company Flux Animation joined the fray, seeking to place Ettamogah in receivership over unpaid bills from the Wakkaville series. Ettamogah eventually settled with Flux in April, only to have the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance petition the court to take over Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance petition the court to take over motion to wind up the company. MEAA was successful, and that action continues.

The De Lage Landen motion was filed on 12 October, and had its first directions hearing on November 17, the same day that Ettamogah entered administration.

A second meeting must be held within a month to decide the future of the company, with outcomes including accepting a deed of company arrangement (usually involving a partial payment to creditors) and putting the company into liquidation.

The De Lage Landen motion was filed on November 9, and had its first directions hearing on November 17.

Voluntary administration is a legal mechanism designed to resolve a company’s future direction quickly. An independent administrator takes full control of the company to try to work out a way to save either the company or its business. If that it isn’t possible, the aim is to administer the affairs of the company in a way that results in a better return to creditors than they would have received if the company had instead been placed straight into liquidation.

Within eight business days of the appointment, the administrator must call a meeting of creditors – in this case numbering among them writers and animators who have not been paid.

According to ASIC: “The appointment of a voluntary administrator does not automatically terminate the employment of the company’s employees. As a result, unless the voluntary administrator adopts the employment contracts or enters into new contracts of employment with employees, they are not personally liable for any employee entitlements that arise during voluntary administration.

“As voluntary administration is an interim form of external administration, employee entitlements that arose prior to voluntary administration are not usually paid during voluntary administration.
How and when these employee entitlements are paid depends on the option passed at the creditors’ meeting (i.e. company returned to directors, a deed of company arrangement, or liquidation).”

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance was not available for comment at the time of publication.

I'm going to run with the Black Hole analogy I started in my last post. I'm past the event horizon of my son's heart surgery and well on my way to spaghettified oblivion that is four weeks of writing essays about things I'd be a lot more interested in if I only had the time. As my one year of being a full time student again draws to a close, I'd have to say it has been one of the most challenging things I've ever tried to do in my life. Mind you, since becoming a dad, something like simply reading a news paper from cover to cover in one sitting, I now consider the crazed imaginings of a deranged madman so my definition of 'most challenging' and that of the rest of the world may differ significantly. So with out further ado I offer you a bit of a brain dump to make up for the irregularity of my postings over the last couple of weeks.

My youngest son came through his surgery with flying colors. He is now the proud owner of two fully functioning pulmonary arteries and is enjoying the increased blood oxygen supply offered by his previously underutilized other lung. Thank you to all who sent us their thoughts and prayers.

Parents who send their gastro infected children to child care have a lot to answer for. Please email me your address so I can forward to you the stinking custard like excrement that is the distillation of a toddlers four days of needless suffering. I never thought my son would question the existence of an all loving god at such a young age. Pray we never meet.

On a lighter note the Ig Noble prizes for this year have been announced. The one that caught my eye was the award for management because in my management class the previous week my lecturer was bemoaning the lack of empirical studies in a lot of management theory texts. Well I found one and it is an interesting and amusing read.

2010 Ig Nobel MANAGEMENT PRIZE: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.
REFERENCE: “The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study,” Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo, Physica A, vol. 389, no. 3, February 2010, pp. 467-72.

I can't help but wonder if this approach would work in an animation studio.

Event Horizon

2010-09-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

I've developed a theory about the gravitational force of life events. Like regular gravity it is a weak force which you only really notice when a planet sized mass is nearby. In the case of life events little things don't exert much gravitational force but every now and then you get one of those planet sized events that come along and all those smaller events are sucked into it so that they all land on your year planner in the same week. This creates some sort of event black hole that not even light can escape. That's where I am at the moment. Just about to pass the event horizon.

The planet sized event this time is more heart surgery for my youngest son. So this and my accumulating assignment load are preventing me from engaging in regular blogular activity, drawing, or writing anything remotely enjoyable. I'm hoping that in just over a months time I will emerge from the other side of the event black hole in a parallel universe much more to my liking.

Here's a picture of a sad panda from an old sketch book.

The Big Ettamogah Compendium

2010-09-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

To aid people in finding the various articles about Ettamogah Entertainment I thought I'd link to all of my postings all in one big post which I'll continue to add to as more news comes to light.

Plan B FTW

30/08/2010

Light at The End of the Tunnel: Ettamogah Update

30/07/2010

Busy Busy an Ettamogah Update

25/05/2010

Big Animation Fail Special

01/05/2010

The Spirit of Brian Boru Lives On

31/03/2010

Stay on Target

24/03/2010

That Letter

22/02/2010

Animation Fail Evil Lair Sold

15/02/2010

Movement on the Front

29/01/2010

The Latest Article About Ettamogah from Screenhub

11/01/2010

Never Talk To A Cop

28/12/2009

Satire is the Sincerest Form of Flatery

16/12/2009

Offer on the Table for Ettamogah Entertainment Workers

12/12/2009

Ettamogah Eyes Restructure

02/12/2009

Animation Workers of Australia Unite

30/11/2009

More Ettamogah News from Screenhub

26/11/2009

Here's the Article About the Ettamogah Stand down from the Age

23/11/2009

It's Not A Question Of If But When

20/11/2009

Plan B FTW

2010-08-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

I've been hammered for time lately. Squeezed by the vice like grip of university and family commitments it's sometimes difficult to gather my thoughts long enough to put them down in type or pictorial format so here's a quick thought purge to indicate that my blog still has a pulse.

Avatar, that overblown, blue, stereoscopic, cgi Camerongasm has been on my mind lately because of an assignment I recently had to curate. I say curate because I didn't so much as write the essay as I did arrange the words on the page to look pretty and make up the required word length. As I struggled to shoe horn abstract contemporary film theory of ideological reception in relation to Avatar onto the page in a coherent argument that wasn't a parody of itself, I was constantly reminded of one of the things that shitted me almost as much as the stupid 3D glasses. Why is the the guy in charge an idiot?!

Which brings me to my second thought dump. There has been a little more news on the Ettamogah situation appearing on the interweb. This article from the "creative consultant" hired to direct Lil Larakins ( who wishes to remain anonymous so I won't out him) came to my attention recently and paints the train wreck in graphic detail. Like Avatar after reading this article I'm left with the same question. Why is the the guy in charge an idiot?!

Screen hub's latest on Ettamogah.

All Writers Are Created Equal.

2010-08-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

There was something of a quiet victory for animation in Australia this month with the news that the AWG (Australian Writers Guild) and SPAA (Screen Producers Association of Australia) have come to an agreement that writers for C classification and Animation deserve to be paid the same rates and receive the same benefits as their live action counterparts.

It may not sound like much but in my opinion it's a pretty big deal. Animation writers in the Unites States have been fighting for similar recognition for years and have made little if any progress. Not only will the standard rate of pay go up but writers on animation and C class content will be entitled to royalty options. Something previously unheard of in the industry.

The changes will be phased in over 5 years and I'm hoping it will result in more good writers being compelled to write for animation and a slew of new, exciting and original projects being developed in the not to distant future. The first step towards a renascence for Australian animation.

Screen Hub link to full story.

Something I'm Working On

2010-08-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

I've been a little jealous lately of all my friends constantly posting awesome drawings on their blogs regularly. I wanted to try out a freebee paint program called My Paint because photoshop feels too cumbersome for a lot of what I use it for. Anyway I've been dying to do some concept art for a short film script I wrote a few weeks ago and while babies slept I whipped this up. This is the villain of my story a 10000 Thylacoleo carnifex or marsupial lion. I don't think I nailed her age very well. I think she needs to look a little more mummified but for the time I spent on it I'm quite happy with the result. Especially her burn scarred forequarters and musculature. Anatomy wise she's somewhere between a lion and a bear.

Light at the end of the Tunnel: Ettamogah Update.

2010-07-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ten months after staff were stood down without notice a resolution brokered by the MEAA on behalf of its members may finally see Ettamogah Entertainment paying it's former staff what they are owed. From the MEAA Alliance E-Bulletin 30/07/2010:

Draw a happy face: In a last minute deal to avoid liquidation, animation company Ettamogah Entertainment put a proposal to settle an outstanding wage and entitlements claim of around $220,000, owed to members since October 2009. Members will be paid unpaid wages, annual leave and two weeks termination pay, after being stood down without warning.

I've known about this for some weeks now but have not wanted to report anything until the money was in the bank. Well the money still isn't in the bank but the MEAA seem to be confident enough to have published the news so that's something. Sadly though this deal only covers the MEAA members who were involved in the the legal action and those staff who were not MEAA members still have to fight for their entitlements through the FWO (Fair Work Ombudsman).

While everyone is moving on it will be a welcome relief when this ugly incident is resolved and we can really put it behind us. I can't thank the MEAA enough for their tireless efforts in perusing Ettamogah Entertainment on behalf of it's members.

On a related note. Blogger introduced a nice little stats function last month which displayed some enlightening information. Strangely there seems to be a lot of interest in Kangaroos in Animation which makes me think I need to write a follow up article with a few more animated kangaroos that have since come to light. But most intriguingly I've been getting a lot of traffic to Ettamogah related posts from all over the world. I am actually astounded by the traffic numbers I've been getting and admit to seriously underestimating the reach of something like this blog.

Studio Politics

2010-07-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

I've worked in a couple of studios over the years, on many projects in varying capacities. Each one has been a unique experience along a spectrum of "I didn't sleep last night because I just wanted to get back to work" to "So this is why we aren't allowed to bring guns to the studio."

The good studios are full of people who love what they do, encourage each other, believe in a project and who's efforts are appreciated, respected and rewarded appropriately. The worst...Well they are completely devoid in most of those things and sadly it doesn't take much to transform a decent place to work into an animation equivalent of the Stanford Prison Experiment.

I don't draw this comparison lightly since I've experienced first hand what it's like work in a studio which used Lord of the Flies as a manifesto of model business practice.

For those unfamiliar with the Stanford Prison Experiment it was a psychological simulation conducted in 1971 at Stanford University to discover what happens to good people when you put them in an evil place. Whilst the experiment remains controversial to this day the results were shocking, with many claiming that the experiment foretold with chilling inevitability what would eventuate at Abu Grahib in Iraq during the American occupation. Needless to say the findings of the experiment weren't a poster child for the innate good of the human species.

While I could draw several parallels with the Stanford Prison Experiment and any work place, I'd like to focus on the one thing most people agree the experiment effectively illustrated. That is the concept of cognitive dissonance. To quote wikipedia "Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously." For example: In animation you commonly see this when an artist's work is critiqued. The artist believes his work is the best but the director finds many faults with it. The artists work can't both be the best and faulty so instead of the artist adjusting their perception of their own work they conclude that the director is an idiot. Thus they preserve their perception of their work as being the best since the idea of the director being an idiot doesn't contradict that notion. Most of us, myself included, have done this or something like it at some time.

So lets run with the above example a little longer. Lets assume that the director isn't an idiot and does actually know what they are doing. (For idiot directors we move into "Peter Principal" territory and that is a whole other blog post.) There is a definite right way and a wrong way for the artist to deal with the cognitive dissonance they feel when their perfect work is citicized. The previous example is the wrong way and pretty much leads to the dark side of hate , resentment, loathing and and uncooperative working environment. Put a bunch of people like that in a room together and you can guarantee no one will enjoy working there. The right way is for the artist to adjust their opinion of their own work , realize it could be better and improve on it. This leads to mutual respect, personal growth and an environment where people encourage each other to better them selves. Put a bunch of people like that in a room together and great things happen.

Of course this is an overly simplistic example. I'm also only barely scratching the surface of how cognitive dissonance on a personal level can affect a work place in profound ways. But it's one of those things that if enough people are aware of and how it affects themselves and others then maybe we can collectively apply ourselves to make better working environments for us all.

For an interesting podcast about the Stanford Prison Experiment go to the ABC All In the Mind podcast titled "When Good People Turn Bad".

Light Saber Battles....Yawn.

2010-07-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a regular reader of Sci Fi Wire and recently they had an article featuring a bunch of You Tube videos of Star Wars fan boys (and a few girls) wailing on each other with light sabers home movie style. Most of them captured the tedious, yawn inducing choreography of the Star Wars prequels perfectly but in my opinion, making a You Tube video of you and your mates fighting with light sabers is the equivalent of masturbating in public.

The light saber has become a pop culture icon and rightly so. It's shiny, cuts stuff, comes in an assortment of colors and is compact enough to fit in a ladies purse. If only Apple had an app for the i phone that allowed it to be used to peel an orange. Sadly though, as an invention it is impossible and also very stupid. You can read a scientists view and the incoherent wishful counter arguments for why Light Sabers are as plausible as perpetual motion powered unicorn farm here. As for the stupidity of them in a practical sense; I'll let the following piece of sequential art of two fan boys pretending to be Jedi explain.

My Son Wants to be Me!

2010-06-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic work and study wise, which has resulted in me spending way to much time in front of the computer and not enough time with the family. One night recently before the kids' bedtime my eldest was having a little play at his wooden tool bench. He was just sitting there, unusually quiet and making little motions with a wooden peg he held in his hand. I asked him what he was doing and after an uncharacteristically shy pause he whispered, "I'm being daddy."

I almost burst into tears. I realize that sons have wanted to be like their dads since the dawn of time but at this moment I felt like I had failed him in the worst possible way. I wanted him to be daddy riding a bike or fixing the house daddy or walking the dogs daddy , anything but hunched over the computer for hours and farting into his chair daddy.

I picked him up, hugged and kissed him and before putting him to bed promised him I'd make 'being daddy' a bit more fun from now on.

Before Everyone Thought it was Cool.

2010-06-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

When I left Melbourne three and a half years ago for a tree change in the country I was one of a few freaks who commuted to work on a "Fixy". Now that I'm again spending more time in Melbourne with my trusty commuter beneath me I am, all of a sudden, trendy for the first time in my life!

I've always thought single speed bikes are a good idea for commuting especially in a place like Melbourne where it's pretty flat. I also think riding bikes is a good idea, so I take a certain pleasure in seeing so many other people in Melbourne agreeing with me after years of scorn and derision from riders addicted to gears. While I'm genuinely happy that single speed cycle commuting and the love for color coordinated rims is on the rise, I can't help but feel a discomfort at now being considered 'hip'.

Where once I was derided for being an unfashionable drive train luddite I now get lambasted for being a try hard trendy hipster. Once I could honorably defend myself with the practicalities of a shifter-less setup and claim my colored rims were just an extension of my artistic aesthetic but now those appeals to logic fall on deaf ears. So as I ironically ride my fixy whilst weathering the gazes of a judgmental fashion obsessed population all I can do is resign myself to my new role in society. Not as the snappily dressed hipster every one wants to be like but as one of those douches who is always saying, "I was doing it before everyone thought it was cool."

Busy Busy and an Ettamogah Update.

2010-05-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

I've fallen off my blogging wagon recently because of the assignment load in the Arts Management course I'm doing and I'm also juggling a few freelance jobs. Naturally all due dates and deadlines coincidentally align meaning I haven't had a weekend for a while now. It's inconvenient but I actually enjoy being a bit busy and I look forward to a bit of a breather in June. I also threw a leg over a bike for the first time in weeks this morning and almost burst into flames as I stepped out into the morning sun after weeks of being locked in my study with my computer. So anyway I stumbled on a Screen Hub article this morning that slipped through the net updating the ongoing and still unresolved Ettamogah debacle. Since this, Docklands Entertainment and Richard Bailey's blog rated a mention I though it worth reposting here. It quotes Richard from when a few of us were all sent threatening legal letters on behalf of Leigh O'brien. His sentiment was something I wanted to post but lacked the brevity at the time so I applaud him for saying what we were all thinking. Congratulations to Flux for finally getting paid. The Screen Hub articles after the jump.

Ettamogah: MEAA takes over drive for liquidation
Has Ettamogah finally shuttered its doors? Have the last crows fled the roofline as the mounted coppers ride up, one two three? Has Managing Director Leigh O'Brien been embarassed? Is the company about to move production to Singapore? The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is saying little, but the words are pungent.

According to the Victorian branch of MEAA, "Several arrangements have been made for this matter to be settled, that haven't been seen through. So we've decided to take the ultimate step towards liquidating the company."

This morning, MEAA applied to the court to be substituted as creditor, taking over from Flux Media. The request was granted. The parties will be back in court on May 5th.

The Australian Writers' Guild, meanwhile, continues to move towards confronting Ettamogah in the Magistrates' Court over fees which still remain unpaid. According Angela Keefe, the Guild is monitoring the legal situation with the MEAA, and may join the liquidation action. She also said that "they are claiming to have a refinancing deal of some sort."

Meanwhile, Flux Media in New Zealand, has finally been paid, twelve months late. As Brent Chambers said on the phone, "At 6pm tonight [New Zealand time] we received an email from our debt collectors to say it had all been sorted out. My wife and I had a glass of wine to celebrate."

Faced with the claim that Ettamogah had closed its doors and fired its last staff, Annette Cullen told us -presumably from inside the premises - that was emphatically not true. Ms Cullen is listed on the website as General Manager and Producer.

She would not comment on suggestions that Ettamogah intends to move the production of L'il Larrikins to Singapore, however Screen Hub has reliable sources who have confirmed that this is the case.

Ms Cullen did invite us to call back for an interview with Leigh O'Brien in "two or three weeks' time"

Since late February, by the way, the legal firm of TressCox Lawyers sent letters to four former employees of Ettamogah, insisting they remove material. To quote Draw!, which is a fine blog for other reasons too,

"So here we were in a position where we’d been stood down from our jobs unlawfully and without notice, we’re fighting for our entitlements and the company is being investigated by Fair Work Australia, The MEAA and the ATO and yet in voicing our disgust we were now in trouble.

The letter from TressCox pointed out that “Mr O’Brien is a well known and respected figure” and “enjoys an enviable reputation within the broader business community, and in particular, within the entertainment, animation, hospitality and tourism industries”. The letter proceeded to claim that statements made on this blog “convey imputations which are grossly defamatory of him” and that “these statements have caused [him] much hurt, distress and embarrassment.” Whilst I can’t speak for my fellow stood down colleagues, I will say that as an actual member of the animation industry I wasn’t consulted to give Mr O’Brien a character reference."

Aaron Davies has more:

"The letter went on to claim that this blog has content that:
is defamatory to Mr O'brien
- infringes Ettamogah's intellectual property rights, including copyright and
- breaches terms and conditions of my Employment agreement with Ettamogah.

A list of statements and pictures they wanted removed from this blog followed."

Such is the nature of justice.

The Docklands Entertainment Blog, which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the company, is now up to episode 17 in its delightful comic, full of insights about how to ruin a production company.

Screen Hub understands that TressCox is not the solicitors for Ettamogah Entertainment the company, so might be acting on behalf of Leigh O'Brien in his personal capacity, or for a related company.

And this is Flux's story also from Screen Hub

Ettamogah: New Zealand company continues fight to secure money

by: David Tiley

Screen Hub
Wednesday 13 January, 2010

Flux Media, an Auckland animation company, has been pursuing debts that producer Brent Chambers claims it is owed by Ettamogah. He is happy to go public with his story.

Now Flux is actively seeking the legal orders to put Ettamogah into liquidation - a move which will change the game for the other debtors.

Chambers, a former graphic artist and newspaper cartoonist who started as a trainee animator for Freelance Animators in New Zealand, cut his teeth on work for Disney and Warner Brothers, along with Flipper via Yoram Gross. He started his own company from his basement in 1997.

After a string of commercials, he worked on Staines down Drains in 2005. With that, he presided over the second largest animation house in New Zealand.

Wishing to move further into the Australian market, his staff hungry for more work, he signed a contract for three episodes of Ettamogah's Wakaville (26 x 30'). He is very clear that this was not a lucrative deal. Instead, he decided to offset the limited commercial value of the project by using it as an opportunity to upskill some staff. Having borne the costs of purchasing and training on the Toon Boom animation software, Wakkaville became an at-cost delivery.

Chambers told Screen Hub the final work was delivered in April 2009, at which point the payments stopped. He claimed then that the company was still owed in excess of $20,000 for its work on the series. Flux initiated legal proceedings against Ettamogah to recover the outstanding monies when the amount owing was over $30,000.

At the beginning of October, according to Chambers, Ettamogah offered a regular payment arrangement to clear the outstanding amount. The offer was accepted, but no payments were made in the next month, and Ettamogah stopped taking calls from Flux.

Since then, Ettamogah has made two payments to Flux, neither of them on time, each of $4,000, a large part of which has been swallowed up by the debt collectors appointed by Flux.

Now Brent Chambers has told our NZ editor that the only realistic way to achieve more payments is through continued legal pressure on Ettamogah.

For him, this is also a point of principle. He is actively progressing towards seeking orders to have the company placed in liquidation.

It is fair to say he is a very angry man, and feels that, unlike other people who are owed money, he is free to pursue the matter.

David Tiley

David Tiley is the editor of Screenhub, and can be contacted at editor@screenhub.com.au. or 03 9690 6893.

Big Animation Fail Special

2010-05-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

I have two animation fail files both taken from Screen Hub, which by the way is well worth subscribing to.
The fist is just me continuing to archive any published documentation of the still as yet unresolved industrial dispute with Ettamogah. Since I would be set on by hungry lawyer dogs made of sweaty money with razor blades for teeth if I publish a personal comment I have to just publish words by those not so prone to sweaty money, lawyer dog attack. The second article is a very insightful autopsy of Imagi the Hong Kong animation company responsible for the latest Astro Boy movie and the CGi animated TMNT. I didn't like either of these movies mainly because they lacked the sole of the original source material but Imagi still did decent work and it's a shame it ended the way it did.

Ettamogah: Ten unconcerned

Screen Hub
Thursday 22 April, 2010

Cherrie Bottger, the Head of Children’s Television and Documentary Unit at Network Ten Pty Ltd, is the ultimate recipient of the vexed Li'l Larrikins series. Has she been drawn into the story?

"Of course I share everyone else's concerns about this situation," Ms Bottger told us. It is painful for the people involved. But she went on to say that in practical terms, Ten remains unaffected.

The project is not due for delivery until the end of the year. So far, Ettamogah has met all its delivery dates and deliverables.

Ten has a license deal with Ettamogah, and has no equity in the project.

She said that the company realised "eighteen months to two years ago" that the worsening financial situation was likely to affect production in children's television. Unsure how long the Global Financial Crisis would continue, they "kind of stockpiled. We have quite a lot of programs in pre-and-post production at the moment."

Because the production company is located in Australia, and the characters are clearly Australian, it should still count towards the first run Classification quota, even if the production work is outsourced overseas.

Astro Boy: how the box office sunk Imagi

Screen Hub
Tuesday 20 April, 2010

Propping up the NZ box office chart for the last weekend was Astro Boy, an animated feature out of Hong Kong's Imagi Studios. This is the sad and cautionary tale of how one poor performer can bankrupt a company.

In 13 weeks Astro Boy has taken $251,318 here and, currently on one screen, is unlikely to add much to that total. Worldwide it has taken US31.5 million, plus US$4 million in DVD sales: all this against a US$65 million production budget.

Here, it has performed poorly when compared to other children's fare currently doing the rounds in the school holiday charts. Currently screening here for the delight and delectation of younger eyes are Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang ($2,269,241); Alice in Wonderland ($5,129,726); Fantastic Mr Fox ($837,621); and Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel ($3,904,462).

What went wrong with Astro Boy and how did it bring down a company, forcing over 300 people out of work?

Imagi began life looking very different to the animation company it grew into. In 1983, it was established – under the name Boto – as a manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees and other giftware and decorative items. By 1997 it had listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as Boto International Holdings. In 1999 the founder's son, Francis Kao, joined the company, diversified into online business and during the following year initiated a plan to create “a world-class CG animation studio” in Hong Kong.

Two years later the company sold off the Christmas tree and giftware business, rebranded as Imagi International Holdings, and delivered its first animation project, TV series Zentrix, which screened in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK.

The following year (2003), the company entered into a relationship with DreamWorks, to supply CG work for TV show Father of the Pride, which screened in the US on NBC. Buoyed by this success, and the work it gained from Japanese film production company Toei on the first CG exploitation of Japan's popular Digimon franchise, Imagi opened offices in the US and Japan.

In 2005, Imagi began work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was picked up by Warner Brothers and the Weinstein Company.

Along the way, the quality of Imagi's work (which was never an issue according to people who dealt with the company on other projects) and its business model attracted a number of US animation experts – many of them from DreamWorks – to the company. Imagi planned to produce one CGI feature every 8 months, all based on existing franchises, predominantly comic book and anime properties.

One might question the capability of turning around a complete production in 8 months, but in Hong Kong at least one studio turns around features in less than 2, including post-production and delivery.

Imagi's business plan included the intention to sell worldwide distribution rights to each film, excluding Hong Kong, China and Japan, but to retain licensing rights and any sequel rights.

The plan, while ambitious and expensive to implement, was not pie-in-the-sky. Franchise films traditionally do good business, and Hong Kong is considerably cheaper than the US (or Australia and NZ for that matter) on labour costs. Since computers and software cost much the same anywhere, the numbers stacked up.

As Imagi CEO Douglas Glen said, “You only have to look at the number of animations, action films and sequels in the box office top 10 last year to see where we are aiming.”

Imagi built a staff of 400+ people, mostly animators working in its Hong Kong facility, but based several of its key personnel in its Los Angeles offices.

Cecil Kramer (Shrek, Antz, Chicken Run) took the role of executive VP of production; Maryann Garger, (producer Flushed Away) came on board as producer for Astroboy; Lynne Southerland (co-director Mulan 2 signed on for Gatchaman; DreamWorks' Mark Tarbox took the job of line producer, overseeing all Imagi output. Animal Logic's Brett Feeney (Happy Feet, The Matrix Reloaded) became Imagi's Production VP.

In 2007 TMNT released in the US market, debuting at #1, the first time an Asian produced feature had achieved that result. TMNT took over US$24 million on its opening weekend, and went on to take over US$54 million (US) and over $95 million (worldwide). It also sold over 2 million units on DVD.

The film didn't generate enormous revenue for Imagi, but was profitable against its production budget of US$33 million. More importantly, it cemented Imagi's reputation internationally as an animation house capable of delivering feature work for the US market.

A few days ahead of the opening of TMNT, Imagi released a Gatchaman trailer to very positive response at the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF) in Hong Kong. “Absolutely incredible and gorgeous and we cannot believe how cool this looks NOT coming from Japan,” said one attendee.

Also taking part in DELF that year was Scott Ross, founder of FX house Digital Domain (True Lies, Titanic, Apollo 13, Benjamin Button and about 50 other films), who hailed Imagi as a future “Pixar-sized powerhouse for Asia”.

In 2008, as well as advancing work on Gatchaman, based on an established Japanese anime franchise, it confirmed production had commenced on Astro Boy (first announced in 2006). Very much with a view to the US market, Imagi cast voice talent including Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nicholas Cage and Charlize Theron.

Late in 2008, Imagi announced licensing deals around Astro Boy, with a distribution deal in place with Summit (the Twilight franchise).

American Greetings (a participant at Animfx 2009) licensed greeting cards, stationery, gift wrap and party goods in a deal intended to extend beyond Astro Boy. Toy company Jazwares took the toy rights; Penguin took some publication rights with IDW Publishing taking rights for comics and graphic novel titles; D3Publisher took rights for game software.

It seemed that all was well, although in early 2009, Imagi had announced that it lacked the funds to complete production on Astro Boy and Gatchaman as planned, due to previously secured funding of US$20 million not eventuating. It rescheduled Gatchaman as a 3D release for 2011. Some US-based staff were stood down for two weeks, while replacement funding was put in place. Hong Kong staff were less affected as the shut-down coincided with the national holidays around Chinese New Year.

Work resumed in early February, with the company still on target to deliver Astro Boy late in the year as planned.

Given that other larger companies and countries were having financial issues last year, little attention was paid to the difficulties at Imagi, especially since the planned rescheduling of Gatchaman and confirmation of the release date for Astro Boy gave confidence that the company was in good hands and making sensible financial decisions.

Astro Boy premiered in October 2009, worldwide in Japan and two weeks later in the US. And the problems started to escalate.

Projected earnings were streets ahead of its eventual US$35.5 million. Produced for US$65 million, the poor box office return spelt trouble from its opening weekend in the US of $6.7 million. It placed 6th, with Paranormal Activity taking the top spot (US$21.1 million) and Where the Wild Things Are third (US$14 million).

Reviews were mixed, although none were either horrible or ecstatic. Both The Hollywood Reporter (“Derivative bits aside, the pint-sized Japanese icon takes flight in vibrant CG animation -- no 3D glasses required”) and Variety (“a well-oiled CG-animated superhero pic that makes up in competence and vitality what it lacks in originality … the film easily should draw sizable family crowds and hold their attention well”) gave it decent reviews.

Locally, Flicks gave it little credit (“this film is severely lacking in rocket power. A tired, paint-by-numbers storyline”), while TVNZ gave it 6/10 (“not the most original film - but for a younger core of the audience it will prove to be a diverting use of their time”).

In Hong Kong, Astro Boy did US$390,901, placing 91 on the annual chart (top films were Avatar US$22.4 million, 2012 US$6.3 million and Transformers 2 US$6.2 million). In Japan it did US$864,683, ranking outside the top 100 for last year (top three were Avatar US$162,664,539, Rookies: Sotsugyô US$87,999,688 and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince US$83,776,293.

Imagi, relying on earnings that did not appear from Astro Boy to continue production on Gatchaman and other projects, began to reduce costs. On 11 December it laid off 100 of the 450 staff (mostly animators) working in Hong Kong and made an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 30 December, outlining plans to seek additional financing and to restructure the company.

Imagi made further announcements on its situation on 20 and 26 January.

The second announcement, referring to the review of operations outlined in warlier announcements, contained the statement:

As part of this exercise, with effect from 25 January 2010, the Company has withdrawn funding support from its United States subsidiaries in order to safeguard working capital. The Company has terminated the employment contracts of approximately 30 staff, and the United States office in Los Angeles has now been closed.

It also gave notice of the possibility of closing the doors in Hong Kong, saying:

If the possible investment in the Company does not successfully complete and/or the Company is unable to obtain other funding, the Company may be unable to meet its financial obligations and its ability to operate as a going concern in such circumstances would be in doubt.

Two weeks later, the company was effectively gone, at least as a functioning animation house.

On 5 February, a week ahead of Chinese New Year, the company laid off 300 people - its remaining Hong Kong staff – in order to “protect the interests of its parent company”.

The closure of the animation house, with an estimated US$4.6 million owing to staff, led to the appointment of a liquidator. In the US, Imagi assets were auctioned online.

A week later, unemployment seemed a more palatable option with the company's announcement on 12 February of the death of one of the company's three directors and acting CEO, William Courtauld.

Imagi is not dead, however. It will continue to produce animated films, although it will “outsource the labour intensive digital production elements of this film making process to other animation houses, or use third party animation capacity available in [mainland China].”

The company will also continue to operate its subsidiary, Imagi Services, “to develop the commercial potential of its IP rights and exploit the creative aspects of its CGI movie business.”

Last week, the company's share price yo-yoed on the back of a number of announcements. Starting the week at HK$0.038 (a little over half a NZ cent), it climbed as high as HK$0.24 (4 cents NZ) on news of a restructuring deal and a cash injection from selling half the company to Idea Talent. By the end of Friday, with further details announced, the value fell back to around HK$0.14.

Viewed from a distance, there is a sad irony to even Asian companies needing to outsource work to China for cost reasons, but the bigger picture is even more unhappy.

In the same way that Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings boosted awareness of New Zealand's filmmaking capabilities internationally, Imagi was one of a small number of Hong Kong companies making the breakthrough into international markets.

Had Astro Boy soared, rather than plummeted, there would have been a strong Asian player in the world animation marketplace. There are many animation companies in the region capable of playing on the world stage, and indeed Weta has an interest in one of them (Chengdu-based Green Leaf Studios). Until one of them has a breakthrough success, which TMNT almost was for Imagi, the concentration of power will remain in the US.

Cheaper labour markets such as those in Asia will continue to operate as service providers, delivering much of the donkey work for American and other animated features, but will not achieve the rewards of creating and exploiting their own successful IP.

DIGGER! DIGGER! DIGGER!

2010-04-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a dad. I have two lovely boys. One is at that age where he knows exactly what make's him happy. Basically the measure of how well his day has gone is directly related to the amount of heavy earth moving equipment he has seen before bed time.

It is during moments when I have taken he and his brother for a walk in the pram to see a battle scared Caterpillar render an old cottage into kindling, that I envy the way they they get so much joy out of something so simple. For a moment I'm there with them. Who wouldn't be? It's a house being pulverized, but as the parent I'm also painfully aware that dinner time is looming, I have work to do, assignments to write and a blog to update. All these things are meaningless to a three year old watching a digger smash a house to death. So we linger a few moments more because it is pretty cool to watch and to postpone the inevitable. You see, the down side to the gushing fountain of joy kids experience while watching their favorite thing in the whole wide world dismantle a residential abode is that the ensuing digger withdrawal tantrum is just as intense, lasts twice as long and is shared with the neighbors. Ah bless their little obsessive hearts.

So I have been a little slack on the updates but I've actually been doing quite a lot of drawing lately. Just not anything permanent because when I'm not taking my son to watch diggers or pretending to be a digger or repairing the lego digger, I'm drawing him diggers on the etcher sketch of rodent bane, or the original i-pad as I like to think of it. I'm getting pretty good at fast gesture drawings of earth movers now. Unfortunately they don't last very long as my boy seems to delight more in removing all trace of my skillfully drawn magnetic masterpieces than in appreciating them. I think he's a Da Da-ist.

The spirit of Brian Boru lives on.

2010-03-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

One thousand years ago Brian Boru succeeded in freeing Ireland from the vikings, became high king of Ireland and founded the O'brien clan. In a millennium his descendants have gone on to do great things like host popular late night talk shows, be the chief engineer on the universe's most boring space station and start a successful windscreen repair franchise. On the 28th of March The Age featured this small article on the O'brien who is the managing director of Ettamogah Entertainment.

Stay On Target...

2010-03-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well I finally get to use this banner. There has been a development in the ongoing Ettamogah Entertainment payment dispute that has sent a wave of excitement through Melbourne's animation community this week.

I can only imagine that this is how the rebel alliance felt when they realized Luke had a shot at the Death Star after loosing all their best overweight pilots to tie fighter attack. And like all good things in animation at the moment the whinny Jedi in question comes from New Zealand . Flux Animation Studios is one of several businesses owed money for work they did for Ettamogah early in 2009. They have apparently had no luck in obtaining payment from ~~Darth Vader~~ Ettamogah and have filed a "519A Notification of Filing of Application For Winding Up Order" with ASIC. Basically as I understand it Ettamogah will have to prove it is not trading insolvent or otherwise it will be facing involuntary bankruptcy. Of coarse things are never as simple as they appear especially where corporate law is concerned and it will take some time for this to play out.

Myself an many others in the animation community would like to extend our support to Flux for having the stones to follow through in this way and wish them all the best with their action. May the force and a favorable ruling be with you.

Ageing Dogs and New Tricks

2010-03-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to to have a long lived sustainable career in the animation industry? Not if you don't take steps of your own to constantly update your skills.

Gone are the days in animation when you could draw and learn to animate and the rest would take care of it's self. Not only have the tools and techniques changed and continue to change but we are only just cresting a wave of enormous change in how animated product is viewed, distributed, interacted with and used. This explosion of technological, distribution and viewing innovation has also led to an industry that increasingly relies on specialists which only further compounds the issue of skills obsolescence in a rapidly evolving industry. Specialists more than anyone need to remain aware of where trends are moving and be ready to move with them and acquire the relevant skills in order to stay in the game.

So the question I've had to ask myself is how does an animated TV series director and storyboard artist keep him self relevant in the industry today? For me, with more of a passion for story than animation, it is to become the person I've always had to answer to. The oft maligned, sometimes misunderstood but always under appreciated person who without, there would be no jobs in the animation industry to enjoy. I'm going to attempt to become a Producer!

It's a bit of a gamble I admit and my family and I have a tough year ahead as I become a born again uni student. But hopefully it will pay dividends in years to come as I try to make a positive impact on the industry and my career longevity. Wish us luck.

That Letter

2010-02-22T03:46:00.000-08:00

The other day I was one of but a lucky few to receive a cease and desist demand from TressCox Lawyers who represent Ettamogah Entertainment and Mr Leigh O'Brien the Managing director of Ettamogah.

The letter went on to claim that this blog has content that:

is defamatory to Mr O'brien
infringes Ettamogah's intellectual property rights, including copyright and
breaches terms and conditions of my Employment agreement with Ettamogah.

A list of statements and pictures they wanted removed from this blog followed.

With death there is the seven stages of grief and with the threat of legal action there is the seven stages of "What The Fuck!"

Stage 1- Shock and Denial

You react to the threat of legal action with disbelief that some one who owes you money probably just gave the the same amount if not more to a lawyer to make you stop making noise about the money he owes you. You go into denial when your wife tells you to just comply with the demands to make the situation go away.

Stage 2 - Pain and Guilt

As the shock wears off you feel the anxiety that comes when you realize things just got a lot more serious and you get agitated and snippy at your loved ones and then feel guilty for taking out your frustrations on them.

Stage 3 - Anger and Bargaining

You get angry that someone would dare challenge your right to freedom of speech or claim copyright infringement when the cartoons you drew were clearly satirical and fall under fair dealing provisions in Australian copy right law. You try to get your legal adviser to see your point of view but they tell you straight up to "Take the deal. It's just a blog."

Stage 4- Depression Reflection and Loneliness

All your friends tell you "it's just a blog" and you feel alone with your need to stand up for what you believe and desperately search for a way to turn the situation to your advantage. Gung ho revolutionary types and their boisterous chants of "Stick it too the man!" should be ignored.

Stage 5- The Upward Turn

You realize your wife, friends and legal council were right all along and decide to let the pride go and just comply with the demands. After all it's just a Blog.

Stage 6- Reconstruction , Working through

You do all the things you need to do to get the lawyers off your back and enjoy being nice to your family again. You draw non copyright infringing satirical cartoons to express your point of view and compose a mildly amusing blog post about your experience.

Stage 7- Acceptance and Hope.

You accept that someone has every right to call you on your mistakes in defense of their reputation , intellectual property and copyright and you take measures to correct and educate yourself on such matters so that you can apply that knowledge to make a better blog. Then you hope that you've appeased the lawyers client so you can concentrate on more important things like your babies open heart surgery and starting back at uni.

It's been a hell of a week.

Animation Fail Evil Lair SOLD!

2010-02-15T02:28:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted an evil lair to lay down your plans for world animation domination in? How much would one cost? Well this preloved beauty will get you making poorly conceived children's television content and spending your employees superannuation in no time for a mere 8 million dollars.

Screen Hub reports that the owner of Ettamogah Entertainment, Leigh O'brien has just sold his house. Four days after the sale several more Ettamogah staff where sent home. It's not clear if his house keeper or the pool boy were among the retrenchments. Apart form the desirable location just minutes from the animation fail factory Ettamogah studio, the property comes with many useful features to make even the most misguided animation dictator green with envy.

It's master bedroom is perfectly suited to dreaming up nefarious kitch cartoon and theme park concepts whilst addressing the need of every overworked industrial villain, to stare at pictures of giant bosoms to unwind at the end of the day.

Then there's the out door entertainment area featuring a pool that you can fill with vodka bought with with your employee's leave entitlements. The pool also retracts to reveal a concealed missile silo where you can store all of your unpaid invoices.

Lastly what evil animation lair isn't complete without a home cinema. In this theater, tastefully decorated with the blood of your workers, you can watch the shows you never got made in perfect dalby surround sound. You can also subject your enemy's to the ones you did finish comfortable in the knowledge that their exploding heads and entrails won't stain the carpet or walls.

In related news Screen Hub also reports a bunch of script writers still haven't been paid by Ettamogah and when they outsourced to Canada they didn't pay them either.

Interzone in Western Austraila

2010-02-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

The year has only just started and there is already a major contender for the animation fail title. Interzone in WA is days away from liquidation owing $1.5M to the ATO and staff. I sounds like the whole mess has been dragging on for months with staff hanging in there to finish the project so the company could be saved. Sadly, as many others have found, loyalty isn't a highly valued commodity these days.

You can read about the recent developments here and here.

One thing that happens when employees find themselves working for a company that is struggling is they try to assess the situation to decide what to do. Motivated out of insecurity many will soldier on and hope for the best. Others will draw on their sense of loyalty and make sacrifices for what they believe is the greater good. And some will bail at the first sign of trouble. When a company gets into financial trouble it can be a confusing time for all concerned especially those not privy to the machinations of management. All you usually have to go on is some rumors, maybe a statement from management to waylay your fears, your intuition and an unfortunate abundance of lies. So how do you work out what is the right thing to do when you find yourself in a situation like this?

In my experience, knowing when to pull the pin on an employer comes down to one simple principal. Actions speak louder than words. Basically don't place any stock in what you are told but pay close attention to your employer's actions. The action you are wanting to keep your eye on is being adequately compensated for your work. If your employer stops paying you for over 2 weeks then in all likely hood the situation is not likely to improve, especially if they are expecting you to keep on working. You should walk. It may sound overly simplistic but that's because it is. If someone can pay you or not is very black and white and if you make the call sooner rather than later you will be doing yourself, your work mates and the company a favor . Here's why.

You benefit from making a quick decision because you will be owed less money and you haven't lost any time in finding a new job. Your workmates benefit because they will be more likely to follow your decisive example and benefit the same way as you. Your employer benefits because you and your colleges are effectively doing what they should have done months earlier. By leaving, you downsize the company meaning you prevent them from incurring further debt and they can no longer effectively produce a salable product. With nothing to sell and no one to make it , means they have to take stock of their business and it's viability . Without an ever increasing debt load of wages, superannuation and tax they will be in a much better position to responsibly plan and navigate their way out of trouble as opposed to gambling their way out as seems to be the fashion. If they can do this then there will be a better chance of sustainable paid employment with them in the future and hopefully they'll have learned from their mistakes.

One more point I need to make is to all the graduates trying to get their foot in the door. Never sell your self so short that you allow yourself to work for little or no money simply because you think the dodgy job you you've landed is your big break. Treat the situation as part of your training. The sooner you can recognize you're in a no win situation and can act quickly to get out the better it will be for you in the long run. The only thing staying in a job where you are being exploited does for you is keep you from the job you want longer.

My Love. My Joy. My Torment. My Lack of Sleep.

2010-02-05T01:46:00.000-08:00

In about three weeks the youngest of my little boys is going to have his second heart surgery since he was born ten months ago. Despite the staggering procedural advances and the relatively routine nature of the operation there is just something about knowing that someone is going to crack open your baby's chest and stop his heart that makes you feel uneasy.

For a couple of weeks now I've been meaning to post about Ethan's impending operation and I've had the idea for the above image rattling around in my skull even longer. In all honestly this topic is something I'd prefer not to think about. My wife on the other hand is the complete opposite. She reads every story and article she can and has joined facebook groups of other parents going through similar ordeals. She even follows the ones where things aren't going so well and is forever sending gifts and messages of support to parents who's babies have spent more time in an ICU than in their mothers arms. Not me though. I've actually forbidden her from sharing with me the countless stories of suffering children and medical complications . Somehow I think it's easier for me to think of my baby as a car that just needs a bit of an engine overhaul. It's just plumbing after all and we have a good mechanic with all the right tools so it should be simple and straight forward right. Most importantly cars don't feel pain.

I think that maybe it's because I'm creative and have an overactive imagination that I don't need to hear the stories of babies in induced comas due to secondary infection to imagine the worst. I had to go through this all before inside of two weeks of his birth and it's a sobering moment when you ask the surgeon if he has ever had a child die on him whilst undergoing the same procedure and he says without hesitation. "Yes". So hearing other peoples stories is going to do nothing to put my mind at ease.

The majority of heart repairs proceed without incident and complications are the exceptional minority. When I do think about it, this is probably the only time in his life where I'll ever find myself hoping that Ethan is average. He's been a constant part of my life for almost a year now and despite being the central cause of my miserable sleep deprived existence I do love him. He has a smile that lights up a room and a whine that can empty it as quickly. His unrestrained joy when eating or learning to stand is contagious and he is a person I'm looking forward to getting to know. He's not a car so it is going to hurt us both and I prefer to accept that his surgical team know what they are doing than worry about the unknowable. I can only hope that Ethan is average with flying colors and I get to see him walk and make him cake for his birthday. But like I said. I try not to think about it too much.

We have received a great deal of assistance and support from Heart Kids over the year and my wonderful wife is trying to raise some money for them by auctioning off some limited edition luxury change mats that she makes and sells called Nudie Mats. If you're after a unique gift for a friend or family member with a child or who is expecting and would like to support a good cause then follow the link. Rear Gear Heart Kids Auction.

Movement on the Front

2010-01-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

Well there's been lots of movement on the "Battle of Brighton" as some are calling it .Which means there hasn't been very much going on at all. That's not for want of trying.

Allegedly a member of Ettamogah management has been calling people individually to tell them off the record that Ettamogah would like to have them back but if they don’t take their name off the list with the union then they will never work for the company again........If this is their policy then I'd like to add my name to the list a few more times and the names of my friends, a few builders, and other random professions just to protect them from ever coming in contact and being burned by this company and Leigh O'Brien.

Screen Hub reports that the few people that are still working there have been told to distance themselves from anyone associated with the MEAA, unless they also wish to lose their jobs. The thing that bothers me the most is there are people who continue to work for this company, under the direction of Leigh O'brien the managing director of Ettamogah, while all this is going on. Some of these people I have known a long time so it pains me a great deal that they could be ok with being told by their employer that they aren't to talk to any one who is a MEAA member and if they do there will be consequences. Not only am I led to believe this sort of discrimination is illegal but I just can't understand it.

Animators often talk about working on a shitty production in terms of selling their sole. This got shitty a long time ago so when the sole is sold, what's left to sell?

Screen Hub have a write up of pretty much what I've just covered and the Docklands Entertainment comic is up to episode 8. It just keeps getting better.

Piggy Back

2010-01-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

Some times I read stories or in this case it was a short film script that really grabs my attention so much that I become obsessed with getting an image out of my head.

The script in question was a torments of hell meets Ground Hog Day where the main character had to find a key in the arse of a pig that was tied to his back in order to escape purgatory. I found the idea of a naked guy desperately trying to fish a key out of a pigs bum with a bunch of shovel wielding zombies closing in, just too good to pass up. And being the irreverent fellow that I am I thought I'd make the main character look Jewish . Jewish hell would be all about the pigs and sodomizing them right. Or eating them. Bah! What do I know. Sticking with the Jewish theme I think the style was influenced by a recent viewing of Waltz with Bashir which is a lovely thought provoking film well worth watching.

I just had to post this so I would stop working on it. I'm not really pleased with it but as a piece of concept art I think it works to convey the appropriate mood and tone I was going for. It's not often I get sent a script that isn't a Care Bears inspired children's cartoon so it was most pleasant to have a crack at something a bit darker.

Wednesday Night Carnage

2010-01-16T03:45:00.000-08:00

We had ridden these trails heaps of times. We are so familiar with them that we know the perfect speed for every turn and where all the best rocks to launch off are. It was blessedly cool that afternoon, which followed a string of 40 plus degree days so everyone seemed to have a little bit more pep in their legs. We were restless to be on our way as the drifters rolled in to the bike shop late but raring to go. Apart from the later than usual departure it was just another Wednesday night ride with the Castlemaine crew. That was until our tires started crunching on dry earth and some divine wind blew turning our usual uneventful hit out into an epic of bike failures and bruised bodies.

Fifteen minutes in we lost a man to a flat tire. Having adopted the motto of the American Rangers, to" Never leave a man behind" , a couple of the guys rode back to assist. Having a motto like that is all well and good so long as your man is where you left him. With our new motto, "Never leave a man behind unless he's vanished," we rode on.

Quickly casualties started to mount . One of our number was swallowed by a fox hole and another became intimate with a tree. There was some bike damage and the obligatory cursing but no serious injuries. There was however a bit of head scratching with us all wondering what the heck was going on.

Bruises rubbed and bikes mended onward we ventured. Telecom track is a daunting climb preceded by a brakes off, balls out descent which you can use to propel yourself most of the way up the incline. That is so long as you have a clear run. It was remarked upon at the time that I believe this is the first time I've ever done a two meter skid UP a hill. I had carried a bit more momentum into the vert than my lead out man and had to hit the anchors to avoid ploughing into him.

After this it was a succession of blown tubes and stupid crashes that started to give this normally run of the mill mountain bike ride an epic adventure quality. By the final down hill the group was fractured and riders were limping home via alternate routes to retire their machines, bodies or both. One thing that was certain though , that it was one of the best rides we'd been on in ages.

The Latest Article about Ettamogah from Screen Hub

2010-01-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to post an "animation win" banner but this quite detailed article appeared on Screen Hub so I thought I'd repost it here for those with out a subscription. If you do here's the link. Otherwise read on.

Melbourne Animation Turmoil: battle moves to art

Screen Hub
Monday 11 January, 2010

With the Melbourne animation community buzzing with the matters surrounding Ettamogah, there are many theories about the problem. But nobody will go on record...

The industry knows there is problem. With a maximum of around 120 official staff, very few are actually working. The rest are suspended in limbo, pending promises to return, to bring pay up to date, to deal with the unpaid superannuation.

The other Melbourne animation outfits have been fielding emails for months from Ettamogah staff looking for work.

As of the beginning of December, the company was being advised by "a production consultant". Managing Director Leigh O'Brien was reassuring his staff that entitlements were a priority, and they would be notified about a new structure.

The phrase "production consultant" is code for "completion guarantor."

We know that the MEAA is involved. We know that the Australian Writers' Guild is in there too. We know that a heap of people have discovered good reasons to join a Union.

We also know that Li'l Larrikins is an ambitious 3D animation series, with a presale from Network Ten. The amount is confidential, but the deal has not been put to Screen Australia, where it would be subject to the floor price of $95.000 per half hour.

We understand that Ten has stockpiled enough material that it is not in desperate need of the show to satisfy its content requirements.

Ettamogah has never announced an international presale for Li'l Larrikins. Ettamogah execs hired a booth at MIPCOM and worked hard to create interest in the series.

A hypthetical production of this scale, with around 120 staff, paid a conservative $60k each on average, shooting for twelve months, will cost around $7.2m in wages.

This hypthetical show has a low presale figure of $55,000 in Australia. This hypothetical show will recover its costs solely from international acquisitions.

You can see why the financiers of this show would be concerned. And why such a show might have a cash flow problem.

Any attempts to deal with schedule problems by outsourcing work overseas will ultimately create an income problem - that expenditure is not a qualifying Australiean expenditure according to the tax regulations.

Everyone with any internal knowledge of Ettamogah has private theories about the situation. They will inform the thinking of a generation of animators as they build their own projects and companies. Trauma does that to people.

Now, an anonymous cartoonist has arrived on Blogger to publish a series on the workings of a company called Docklands Entertainment.

In the about section, it says

"Sally Quince and Bret Braddock are not real people. They only seem like they might be.

Docklands Entertainment is not a real company. No real company would function like this.

Nobody writes or draws this comic strip. Who would bother?"

You can decide for yourself which company is being parodied.

We will give you one hint - it is neither Channel Seven, which has a studio in Docklands, or the Melbourne Central City Studios, based in Docklands.

Perhaps you too can learn something about the adventure of building a new enterprise. With just a few clicks, you may avoid the suffering that the good folks at Ettamogah are surely enduring.

As Colin South is prepared to say on the record, "It is really sad that this has happened. It is sad that people will always remember the bad stories."

"The guy [Leigh O'Brien] has to take responsibility for what he has done, but there are no books on how to set up a studio, and you have to learn from experience. We made a lot of mistakes at the outset, like everyone else, and at the end of the day, it is the people you want to protect."

"I am really disappointed, particularly in an environment where everyone is looking at co-productions as a solution. A studio which produces internally is helping to create the next generation of designers and board artists and lead animators and production managers. That is the sad part about it, and I do hope they manage to keep going somehow."

Death By Etcher Sketch

2010-01-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

My new years eve was spent trying to explain Lord of the Rings to a six year old. The third movie, Return of the King, was being played by one of the TV stations in an obvious decision by them to appeal and advertise to the only people who would be watching TV on new years eve. Socially reclusive nerds and geeks with kids who couldn't find a baby sitter for the night. Though I can identify with the former I defiantly fit into the sitter deprived offspring encumbered group.

The six year old in question wasn't one of mine but belonged to one of the four adults at this low key new years get together. He was an inquisitive young fellow who was preoccupied with when the movie would end so he could play wii on the enormous flat screen. Once he realized I wasn't going to be swayed by his persistent badgering he then wanted to know what the movie was about. Why I felt the need to try and explain the plot let alone the entire back story to him I do not know. Maybe it was the beer or some misdirection of primal brain energy that would usually be spent coercing the nearest female into a an awkward new years kiss. What ever it was I found myself engaged in an exercise in futility that I persisted in performing right up until Frodo sailed into the sunset with the elves and midnight had truly come and gone.

New years day was marked by our house being invaded by mice and my wife screaming like a girl. Thankfully she is a girl so I don't respect her any less. The particular rodent that had my wife conforming to a sexual stereotype I ended up killing with my child's etcher sketch. Strangely, this act of dispatching a 20 gram rodent with a magnetic drawing toy impressed my beloved a great deal. I'm hoping that it was my creative and rather ironic choice of weapon that had her thinking I was great genetic stock rather than my ability to best a 5 centimeter long mouse in combat . Otherwise it's a sad reflection on our proud hunter ancestors if this is what the concept of glorious battle has been reduced to.

Many believe that the way you see in the new year is significant as it dictates how you'll proceed to tackle the coming 12 months. I personally don't subscribe to such notions but for those of you that feel some how my actions were some what auspicious, be ware. For this year I will be be unstoppable in my efforts to further my futile ambitions. My enemies will know fear for should they cross my path I will crush them with my artistic might and the women will sing my praises for mundane deeds completely devoid of brevity or heroism. 2010 will be mine!

Never Talk to a Cop

2009-12-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

I was reminded by recent developments in resolving the Ettamogah Entertainment stand down dispute of some youtube videos I saw a while back explaining why you should never talk to a cop.

We've all seen the scene in a a cop drama where the cop pulls a suspect in for questioning and the suspect talks for a bit until the cop says something to make the suspect uncomfortable then they clam up and demand a lawyer. By this time, it's a bit late in the day to be asking for a lawyer because the suspect has most likely incriminated themselves enough for the police to charge them with whatever they see fit despite the suspect being completely innocent and only trying to be cooperative. This is American cop drama so it is about a person giving up their constitutional right under the 5th amendment not to incriminate themselves by talking to police.

On Christmas eve many employees were sent an email signed by Leigh O'brien ,the managing director of Ettamogah, asking them to contact Ettamogah directly to organize a settlement despite being represented by the Media Entertainment Arts Alliance in this matter up to this point. In recent weeks Ettamogah have become increasingly lax in honoring deadlines for a settlement negotiated by the MEAA and this latest move by them is an obvious ploy to try and get around dealing with them all together. Basically what Ettamogah are effectively asking these stood down employees to do is to negotiate a settlement with them as individuals without their rightful legal representation! Obviously as in the example of being a suspect in an American crime drama, giving up your right to legal representation in this needlessly drawn out dispute and effectively talking to the cop would not be prudent.

You have rights and unless you stand up to protect them and insist that that they be observed then there are those out there who will be only too happy to take them from you. Insist on legal representation.

I'm really hoping to be able to retire the "animation fail" banner soon and just post more pretty drawings of ex-girlfriends and Star Wars characters. For those interested in those videos about why you should protect your rights and why you shouldn't talk to a cop from both the lawyer's and the cop's perspective check these out. Part one is the lawyer. Part two is the cop. Enjoy.

A Jedi Killed my Father

2009-12-20T03:23:00.000-08:00

In 1999 the most hideous crime against modern cinema and the worlds most loyal and dedicated fan base was committed. Star Wars the Phantom Menace was released. The disturbance in the force created by the collective disappointment of millions of Star Wars fans was enough to turn many of them into Treckies. There were so many faults with the film but at the end of the day if a film totally sucks ass as this one did it's usually because the script was a stinker to start with.

During my formative years working as an animation drone on various TV series I was constantly astounded at how many truly terrible scripts made it into production. Sadly not much seems to have changed over the years except for my position in the pipe line. It's much easier to fix glaring plot holes and narrative shortfalls as a storyboard artist than it is as an animator but it's still an unsavory chore.

My first conclusion whenever I read a bad script was always that the writer obviously didn't care or they were phoning it in. That was before I saw the Phantom Menace. I mean George Lucas was the creator, writer, producer and director on that thing. He had a huge legacy to live up to and was intimately involved in every aspect of production. The last thing you could ever accuse him of was not caring or phoning it in, but for some reason The Phantom Menace stank so bad the smell still lingers today 10 years on. Which brings me to this excellent series of youtube videos. It's a 70 minute review of The Phantom Menace in 7 parts done in a very quirky comedic fashion. Beyond being just a review, the narrator entertainingly walks the viewer through the basics of screen writing and how these obvious conventions were ignored by George Lucas to create this epic failure of a story. It's Well worth a look if you care about telling stories.

Perspective

2009-12-18T03:24:00.000-08:00

A nice fellow called Will from up north contacted the local bike shop asking if they knew anyone that could act as a mountain bike trail guide for a couple of hours. Due to the hole in my schedule due to lack of gainful employment I found myself uniquely positioned to get out of the house all in the name of furthering interstate mountain bike relations. It was perfect weather and an excellent way to blow out some cob webs I was starting to feel the weight of.

Earlier that morning I'd been mining my sketch books for photoshop fodder and amongst the stinkers, some gold, some accounts of events I'd rather never be reminded of I found a little gem that made me laugh out loud. In this case it's a drawing done by a good friend for my birthday years ago but it may as well have been done yesterday because it's as true now as it was then. Because I had a great day on the bike it felt proper I post it here.

An Old Flame

2009-12-17T02:43:00.000-08:00

We were young. An animation career was but a twinkle in my eye, I was riding to uni on a $50 mountain bike made of lead and could only dream of index shifting. She was my sweetheart for 5 years and she broke my heart in ways only your first love can. Actually it wasn't really broken since hearts are all soft and gushy so it was more like sliced, diced, salted, shot a few times and set on fire. Good times.

Anyway I loved her quite a bit at the time so I drew a nice picture of her. Musos sing love songs. Writers write poems. Accountants buy their ladies pretty things but animation geeks end up drawing idealized cartoon versions of their hearts true love as a display of affection. Sadly such a gesture only serves to confirm said girl's suspicions that she really would be much better off dating a muso, writer, accountant or some Japanese guy. It's for this reason I developed the superstitious notion about drawing my girl friends and for years I never drew another picture of a girlfriend until one agreed to marry me and then I drew a picture of her on our wedding invite. We're still married 5 years on so take that cruel gods of fate!

So this picture is a reworking of a sketch book drawing from 15 years ago to commemorate our Christmas break up in 1994. The worst Christmas ever. Despite my quite obvious deep purple and ugly emotional scaring I did learn several important lessons out of the ordeal. Long distance relation ships are a waste of time. All the things she thought I was doing but wasn't, I should have been doing. And never ever under any circumstances ever take a 24hr bus ride knowing you are going to be dumped when you arrive.

Satire is the Sincerest Form of Flatery.

2009-12-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

No real news on the ongoing industrial dispute with Ettamogah today but instead I offer you the comic stylings of David Blumenstein who has started a comic inspired by the characters and events at this noble establishment. Please note that I have posted his work and links with his permission and he wishes to advise that his comic is in no way a factual account of what may or may not have taken place in the establishment that inspired it. Follow the link to view the comic in it's entirety.

Showman

A Drawing For a Change

2009-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

I've been tooling around with photo shop trying to become more familiar with it today. I've worked as a storyboard artist for so long I've forgotten what it's like to finish and color a drawing. Inspired by George Lucas this is a re-imaging of a quicker and much rougher drawing I did a while ago.

I liked the concept but not the execution. I'm still not super pleased with how this new version turned out except for the injection of a bit more subtext and I think the composition is better.

CVRR Christmas Ride

2009-12-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

The Perfect Blend of Vetinary Science and Completely Making Shit UP

2009-12-13T04:12:00.000-08:00

I read an article the other day about how the Australian film industry is in a slump and Aussies on the whole aren't really interested in seeing Aussie films. It was a bit depressing so I decided to take my dogs for a run.

I am the proud owner of two beautiful Siberian huskies. They are very friendly, love chasing kangaroos and, as most dog owners can attest to, they love helping you empty your wallet every now and then by needing to visit a vet.

For those not familiar with the breed, huskies have a double layered coat. They have and inner layer of fur that is short, soft and downy and a longer coarser top coat. It's these two coats that make these dogs look so adorable and so nice to cuddle. Unfortunately that same cuddly fur is incredibly efficient at capturing and entangling grass seeds. If not removed these pointy seeds can work there way under the dog's skin where they can cause an infection. It just so happens that ,despite my diligence, my black and white husky Otto is particularly prone to this affliction. So naturally it's off to the vet to have it seen to.

After I steeled myself for the financial punch in the face I went looking for the vet's number in the local paper. It is here that I came across the add for a new kind of vet. A vet with over twenty years of experience and a bachelor of veterinary science with honors under her belt. But that's not all. She will also happily treat your animal with the very best completely made up shit people have ever imagined.

Now I'm no vet. I got my degree in Animation. (Seriously) And in animation it is our stock and trade to just make shit up. It's what we do. We mine the imaginative recesses of our brains to come up with cool baseball cap wearing kangaroos who run around with their anthropomorphic friends having adventures and then we sell it as quality children's entertainment. But if I know anything it's that my finely honed making shit up skills are next to useless when it comes to treating a sick husky.

Apparently this bachelor of veterinary science didn't pay much attention in the science part of her degree for alongside all of the scientifically proven, effective methodologies and treatments this new breed of vet was taught at university she also offers a range of completely ineffective methodologies and treatments. Things like acupressure, healing touch and homeopathy which have all failed to stand up under the simplest of scientific studies are all available services to the pet owner who enjoys the feeling of emptying their wallet more than seeing their animal receive anything more than an exotic massage and a sugar pill. This practice is the perfect blend of veterinary science and completely making shit up. If there is such a thing.

And this is where it really gets to me. I'm really good at making shit up and I know people equally good and better at making shit up. I work in an industry that prides it's self on the shit it makes up but none of us could ever convince anyone that a talking kangaroo wearing a baseball cap would come along and save them if they ever fell down a well. But here we have a vet, who is apparently versed in the scientific method and graduated with honors, convinced that by diluting a substance in water to the point where not a single molecule of the original substance is left she can cure what ails your moggy.

I have a theory about why the Australian film industry is in as bad a shape as it has been reported. It's because all the people best at making shit up aren't in the film and TV industry. The real masters of making shit up are all working in alternative medicine and the most incredible part is that these masters of making shit up don't even realize they are making it up! And while our industry flounders in self concious imaginings theirs is growing out of ignorant bullshit. So maybe the take away here is that for the Austrailian Film industry to flourish we all have to start believing the shit we make up. Is that how Michel Bay sustains his career?

As for Otto and his grass seed. I've never been a fan of psychic surgery so I took him to a vet who couldn't care less about his chi and is more handy with a scalpel and anesthetic than she is with an ear candle. And now the dogs and I are off to chase a chatty kangaroo wearing his cap backwards.

Offer on the table for Ettamogah Entertainment workers

2009-12-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

The MEAA returned to Fair Work Australia to discuss the latest offer from Ettamogah Entertainment, which recently stood down approximately 100 staff out of around 120 employees and had not paid many of its staff for a number of weeks dating back to October. The Alliance now has an offer from the company to pay all entitlements including unpaid wages, 2 weeks termination pay as per the contract and any other entitlements such as annual leave. The only outstanding matters now is compensation for the stand down period, a set time frame for payments to take place and some matters relating to 457 visa holders.

We're still a little way off a settlement but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel and if Ettamogah can settle this thing before Christmas it will go a long way towards restoring peoples faith in the management.

Texture

2009-12-06T19:51:00.000-08:00

Spring has finally sprung and it was a perfect weekend to take my son in the bike trailer to see if we could find a steam train. Over hill and dale, a stop to look at some sheep, we finally arrived at the tiny disused railway station in Muckleford in time to see this beautiful anachronism chug by. For a boy just going on three it was like staring into the face of god.

The really cool thing for me is that this little station in the middle of no where is also a small carriage grave yard. Far away enough from spraycan wielding adolescents these hulking masses of steel and wood are left to decay at natures convenience. I took some photos on my crappy camera phone of some of the beautiful textures and colors I found. I find a field trip like this humbling as an artist in that textures like these are really hard to imagine and the only way you'd be able to conceive them in the future is through research like this.

A fun day was had by all.

Ettamogah Eyes Restructure

2009-12-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

The saga continues. There's more to it than this but I can only report what is in the public domain for now.

Original Article Here.

Ettamogah eyes restructure

[Tue 01/12/2009 03:39:28]
By Brendan Swift

Ettamogah Entertainment has employed a production consultant to help restructure the struggling animation business after it was forced to stand down the majority of its staff.

It comes some six weeks after the company’s problems first came to light amid staff claims of unpaid wages and superannuation entitlements.

Managing director Leigh O’Brien told staff on Monday that a core team will continue producing its troubled Li’L Larrikins kids TV series while the consultant reviews the business.

“We expect to know over the next two weeks what this structure will be, what departments and roles will be required and when they will restart,” O’Brien said in a letter to staff.

The 26-part Li’L Larrikins production, set to be sold to Channel Ten, appears to have prompted the company’s problems due to schedule and budget overruns.

Nonetheless, Ettamogah has also pledged to meet all outstanding staff entitlements, including superannuation.

“As previously indicated, we are in the process of refinancing pending receipt of funds owed to us, and our priority is to ensure that staff entitlements are met,” the letter said.

The unpaid entitlements have sparked an investigation by Victoria's Fair Work Ombudsman. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the Australian Writers’ Guild are also representing unpaid staff.

O’Brien did not respond to a voicemail message asking for further comment.

Kangaroos in Animation

2009-12-02T04:34:00.000-08:00

I love kangaroos. To me they're like the dry land equivalent of dolphins. I live in the country and love it when these energetic graceful nomads join me on a mountain bike ride. Once in Western Australia I had a 2m big red hopping a meter and a half off my front wheel. I could feel the heavy thud through the bike every time his feet hit the ground. These animals are so cool and unique that they have inspired me to write a screen play about them. But when I went looking for Kangaroo role models in animation I found there isn't that much to draw on. Here's my list of the good the bad and the ugly of animated macropods.

At the bottom of the heap is Skippy Adventures in Bush Town. This abomination hails from 1997 and bastardizes its classic 1960s live action name sake. Until I saw this image I never thought it would be possible to give a kangaroo a mullet. The producers obviously hail from the "Poochie" school of cool. Ironically the "Poochie" episode of the Simpsons also aired in 1997. As for the yellow bandanna. There is only one dude a yellow bandanna looks good on and that's Monkey Magic. If you ever saw this try hard standing in the middle of the road you'd swerve to hit and back over it a few times to make sure the job was done right.

Next on the list is Kangaroo Jack. He earns his place due to being predominantly CG in the movie and then spawning a animated TV series. From 2003 the "cool" wardrobe has been updated from skippy's to bring it into the 90s. Hoodie and sunglasses means this bad boy can hang down with Jenny on the block and be instantly recognized as a drug dealer. The producers of this one were obviously impressed by Poochie's universal appeal but missed the point entirely. Jacks lame attempt at cool just comes of as patronizing. An Australian marsupial dressed up like one of the Beastie Boys is just sad. Please double tap his punk ass and skin him along with the writers and producers.

Originally conceived in 1899 and bought to the big screen in 1977 Dot and the Kangaroo was, and still is one of the more original takes on the kangaroo character. I actually found the films a bit trippy which is probably an artifact of the era in which it was made. Cutting edge and innovative in it's day, this film actually came out of the same studio as Skippy Adventures in Bush Town thus supplying us with a perfect example of the backwards evolution of the Australian animation industry. This movie also popularized the cartoon sport of kangaroo pouch riding. A feminist friend of mine once told me that the desire of cartoonists to stick all manor of things in a kangaroos pouch was Faudian and akin to the desire all men have when they encounter a vagina.

Moving right along. We come to Hippedy Hopper (Bet you didn't know that was his name.) Next to Tweety Bird, Hippedy was Silvester the cat's number one nemesis. Most likely raised on the mean streets of Charaville in western Queensland, Hippedy is truly the smiling assassin. Likable but deadly he would be the Ultimate Fighting Champion if the safety of a small defenseless rodent were on the line. Now this guy is cool. See people. No cap. No mullet, No sunglasses or hoodie. Just cross eyes a goofy grin and a simple pair of regulation boxing gloves. He's the Forrest Gump of Kangaroos and as a cool kangaroo, his actions do the talking. You know where you stand with Hippedy. He's an unpretentious stand up guy who dispenses his brand of justice with a complete lack of malice.

Lastly I give you the Fonzie of kangaroos. Booger from Tank girl. Technically he's not animated. He is a comic book character though and the opening and end titles of the tank girl the movie were animated so that gets him across the line. So this big red is a stoner, grunge punk who has a hot kick ass screwy girlfriend. He's easy going and totally clillaxed. The thing I liked most about Booger in the Tank Girl series is that he's never explained. He's just there having sex with tank girl and in my book a six foot macropod getting it on with a hot punk rocker chic who doesn't need to explain him self is the epitome of cool.

The lesson here is it's not a characters wardrobe that defines or creates audience appeal but it's their actions. So in my screen play my roos are going to be naked over sexed retarded boxing champions who go around beating the crap out of homeboys and other animals with mullets whilst carrying all manner of marital aids in their pouches so they can give Monkey Magic back his yellow bandanna. It practically writes it's self.

Animation workers of Australia unite!

2009-11-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

I love the weight of a pitch fork in my hand and the smell of a burning fire brand just gets me all goose bumpy. No I'm not fantasizing about hunting Frankenstein's monster, I've just been to another union meeting in which we were presented with the latest round of conciliatory proposals made by Ettamogah management. I'm sitting there amongst a score of like minded, garden tool wielding soles thinking to my self, "Thank goodness for the union."

I've not really been into this whole union thing most of my career. I've always known they were there but didn't think I'd have much need for them since every employer I've had gave me a decent contract and that contract was my guarantee right? Well as I have now discovered that kind of thinking is a bit naive.

Now this is where I'm just going to cut to the chase. If you work in the animation industry or intend on doing so, join the union. And this is why. That contract you think you have that protects your rights isn't worth squat unless it's written properly and that's something only a lawyer can tell you. The first thing you must realize is that no matter how smart you think you are, you're not a lawyer so you are not going to know a good contract from a crap one. You suck at legalese the same way a lawyer sucks at animating a walk cycle. You suck that bad. So being a member of a union, you can take your contract to them to look over and because they suck at walk cycles they can tell a good contract from a bad one and advise you accordingly.

One of the fortunate things about the Ettamogah situation is that there is a lot of people involved which means we have critical mass levels of leverage in negotiations. This is only doable via the union, who does all the wheeling and dealing on our behalf so we can spend our time animating beautiful walk cycles for our showreels and looking for better jobs. If not for the union it'd be up to us to resolve our individual issues with the company on our own. A formidable task which most would end up just throwing their hands in the air and not bothering. Which means the douche bags win and this is often what they count on. So if you don't want the douche bags to win and want someone else to do your heavy lifting join the union.

Union membership is like vaccination. If you know me you'd know that I'm an outspoken advocate for vaccines. Vaccines are the single most effective medical intervention ever devised by man. They have saved millions of lives for a negligible risk. They could probably understand legalese and animate walk cycles too they are that good. Union membership is like a vaccine for your pay packet. An anti douche bag vaccine. And like vaccines, if enough people are unionized, a work force benefits from herd immunity making it much more unlikely that any one member of the work force will become seriously afflicted with a douche bag employer.

Union membership is relatively cheap, tax deductible and when you need it you'll be glad you have it. It's one of those things we can do as individuals to help protect our industry and interests from unscrupulous business proprietors. So grab those pitch forks, light the torches, there's trouble at the mill!

You can get more information at http://www.alliance.org.au/

Robot Photoshop Fun

2009-11-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm brushing up on my photoshop skills and I decided to have a bit of fun with the red robot. As a kid I was into building plastic model airplanes and mechs. I remember being able to stare at the cover art on the boxes for hours wondering at all the marvelous detail and imagining the battle scenes depicted. Thus the inspiration for this piece. A pair of red robots patrol the devastated wasteland that is the front path outside my house. Enjoy.

Care Cycle Part 2

2009-11-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Wow. All I can say is thanks Scott and Emma for sending me through some truly awesome pictures of the robot I built and mentioned in a previous post. Happy ending. More pictures after the jump.

More Ettamogah News from Sceen Hub

2009-11-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of recent articles from Screen hub on the amazing imploding animation studio.

Ettamogah Entertainment: claims go international

Screen Hub
Wednesday 11 November, 2009

A New Zealand animation company completed work on Australian production company Ettamogah's Wakkaville several months ago. The company now says that it is still waiting for more than $30,000 in overdue payments.

The company worked on 3 episodes of the series and delivered the final work in April. That was when the staged payments ceased.

The company is also put-out because it claims that the contract was not a lucrative one to start with. It decided to offset the limited commercial value of the project by using it as an opportunity to upskill some staff. Having borne the costs of purchasing and training on the Toon Boom animation software, Wakkaville became an at-cost delivery.

In Melbourne, one creditor who does not wish to be named describes the industry perception of the financial position of Ettamogah Entertainment like this: "They owe everybody money - it is probably easier to make a few phone calls to try and find out who they don't owe money to."

Ettamogah is a significant force in the Melbourne animation community, with up to 120 people depending on its wages, payments for scripts, and artist's fees for voice over work.

The operation is based in a purpose built studio, which observers have described as lavish, and very well equipped. This decision has acted to limit the exposure of post production companies to any financial stress inside Ettamogah.

It is well known that Ettamogah Entertainment has chosen an unorthodox financing arrangement for its two series, Wakkaville and Li'l Larrikins. With single domestic presales to Nine and Ten respectively, the company has financed production internally, without an international sales agent or overseas presale.

The usual arrangement to finance Australian children's animation series involves all these elements, which are then put to Screen Australia, which also requires the 20% rebate to be a budget line in the production. Screen Australia has a floor price of $95,000 per half hour for the domestic presale.

By working outside this system, Ettamogah is free to undercut the floor price to create a more attractive deal for the domestic presale. This does, of course, increase the capital requirements during production.

For a short period of time, the Australian Children's Television Foundation acted as sales agent for Wakkaville. Though one sale was made to an overseas broadcaster, the ACTF has notified its overseas customers that it no longer handles the property.

Li'l Larrikins has had an unusual production path. In most cases, production companies will talk widely to potential customers to assess the possible audience, financing path and market for a project - a form of tyre kicking. Across the established industry, this is regarded as a valuable source of development information.

The wider industry noticed no public moves with Li'l Larrikins beyond the deal and discussions with Network Ten until the company set up a stand at MIPCOM to sell the project, which was by then already in production.

The company did not announce any sales as a result of the exposure. Because of the cost, stands are normally taken only by the larger companies such as Beyond and Southern Star.

According to the NZ company, four weeks ago Ettamogah offered a regular payment arrangement to clear the outstanding amount. The offer was accepted, but no payments have been forthcoming and Ettamogah have stopped taking calls from the Kiwis.

Screen Hub has now heard from two people in Australia who claim that Ettamogah has not adhered to a negotiated payment arrangement. In both cases, the dispute involves payments which were due after delivery of the work.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance last night told Screen Hub that the company has replied to a request to move a meeting to earlier in the week by cancelling it.

Unfortunately for staff, already owed back pay, work in the industry is decreasing for the summer break, and will not return to full capacity until February.

The MEAA has negotiated with Centrelink so members can receive unemployment benefits, even though they have not been sacked or retrenched, but are "in hibernation", as management has allegedly told key staff.

- report compiled by David Tiley in Melbourne, and Keith Barclay in Auckland.

Ettamogah Entertainment: Lil Larrikins in industrial battle, animators get real

by: David Tiley

Screen Hub
Monday 9 November, 2009

More Tiger Kelly than Ginger Meggs, Ettamogah's Melbourne-based animation series Lil Larrikins is rapidly becoming an industrial battlefield, with animation staff asking the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance to become involved.

One source described last Thursday as the snapping point for the animation staff of Ettamogah Entertainment, which is making the ambitious 3D animation series, Li'l Larrikins for Network Ten.

That was when they spoke to MEAA's lead organiser for the Victorian branch, Eleisha Mullane. At its peak, Ettamogah employed between 100 and 120 people, but according to Mullane, on or about the 21st of October, between forty and fifty were stood down, and - as she paraphrased - "told that we may not be able to put you back on for between two and eight weeks."

MEAA is also representing the voice over artists, and has said that it is happy to talk to writers who have not been paid, on an informal basis - with official representation remaining with the Australian Writers' Guild.

A number of staff members also checked realised their superannuation had not been paid for several months, Mullane said.

The animators told her that as of last Thursday, only a group of lead animators had been asked to stay on, to maintain the project. A company representative allegedly told several people that the project had "gone into hibernation."

These people too were not sure when they would be paid - again the company suggested that it would take between two and eight weeks, Mullane said.

The MEAA wrote to the owner, Leigh O’Brien on Thursday, asking Ettamogah Enterprises "to prove they are a going concern, and they are financially viable. And they haven't been able to provide us with any evidence at ths stage." Further conversations occured on the phone on Friday, which did not advance the situation, according to Mullane.

MEAA has asked that a meeting set up for the end of the week be brought forward to Tuesday.

Cherrie Bottger, Head of Children's Television at Network Ten, and Board Member of Screen Australia, told Screen Hub today that Ettamogah had adhered to its expected deadlines for the scripts, and that nothing untoward was apparent to her. She expected the series to be delivered in 2010, for broadcast in the second half of the year.

The show is a part of Ten's children's television content requirements.

David Tiley

David Tiley is the editor of Screenhub, and can be contacted at editor@screenhub.com.au. or 03 9690 6893.

I'm gona get me a job at Pixar!

2009-11-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

So I started working through the Maya tutorials in a very expensive book I bought. Expensive books a the best ones to get I'm told. The last time I did any 3D animation was in 1993 on an Amiga using a program called Real 3d and the funny thing is it's all pretty much the same. It just has a lot more bells and whistles, can do things faster and I'm less stressed out this time around due to improved system stability. Strangely the compulsion to spend in excess of 10 hours straight in front of the computer so you can actually achieve something is also still there despite the technological gains.

I was also pleased to note one of the lovely features included in this modern software package is the ability to automatically cell render. Back in 93 I printed out every wire frame drawing of animation, registered it on punched paper, traced the outlines onto cell and added the detail. Then I had to hand paint each cell. If memory serves, that was 4 months of work in itself for around 20 seconds of animation. The end result was well worth it.

So after my first tutorial which involved modeling and animating a solar system I feel like a 3d animation god. Only because I breathed life into some virtual planetary bodies not because I spin things real good. Anyway I think I'm good to go now after seeing the preview for the new yet to be released Pixar film. I recon I now have the right stuff to join that elite cadre in animation nirvana.

Big time here I come.

What's Old is New Again

2009-11-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so two of the recurring themes in this blog so far are the fanciful trip down memory lane and this old dog wanting to learn a new trick. At last those two things come together in one amazing post.

Let me take you back to a time when Tasmania finally decriminalizes homosexuality, the first Harry Potter book is published and Elton John reinvigorates his bank account by dedicating an old song about a dead blond to another dead blond. That's right. It's 1997, you have the Spice Girls on high rotation on your walkman and you live your life quite happily with out a mobile phone. This was also the year I decided I was going to make my mark as an independent film maker in Australia.

The reason for my optimism was because of a new wave of Film Victoria funding grants dedicated to animated short films and my little 24 year old brain was overflowing with good ideas. The good idea I pitched was called Men's Room which was about a urinal shy pub patron and his 5 minute quest to pee in private. I wrote it , story boarded it up and collaborated with Scott Vandenbosch on all the character designs. Sadly my epic scatological vision wasn't appreciated by the stuffy suits at the funding office, we were passed over for the grant and I had the wind knocked out of my sails. The project got stuffed in to a folder,shelved and I decided my time was better spent riding mountain bikes more.

Present day and I look through the storyboard and it is still a funny idea. I'd change a shot here or there but I still think it'd actually make a very funny animation. Back then I actually conceived it as something I'd like to do in model animation but now with a computer in every home and any teenager able animate his own overly endowed avatars I'm thinking this might make a great learning project for my 3D escapades. Failing that I'm going to follow Hollywood's lead and ~~remake~~ re-image my student film. I always thought it could have used a time travel element and more hand held camera.

Here's the article about the Ettamogah standown from The Age.

2009-11-23T04:13:00.000-08:00

I particularly like the claim made by Leigh in this article. "We've created 120 jobs here and trained everyone in animation". I'm pretty sure I got my animation training elsewhere in my 20 years leading up to when they employed me and as for the 120 jobs created. In the short term maybe but this episode and the way it has been handled to date has done nothing to foster or grow the flagging Melbourne animation industry. When this kind of thing happens as often as it seems to in this industry you see talented and experienced people just get fed up and pack ther bags for more steady work in other industries. I've seen people with over 10 years of experience just turn their backs on animation for good to become barmen and cooks. How on earth this industry in Melbourne is going to grow and mature into something that is competitive on the world stage when this is the pervasive environment I don't know. What I do know is that this sort of mismanagement needs to be opposed with the full force we can bring to bear so that we can send a clear message that those of us that care about the industry here in Melbourne won't stand for it or let it go unchallenged.

Ettamogah article from The Age

Animation group faces scrutiny as 100 stood down

MARK RUSSELL

November 22, 2009

THE company behind the themed Ettamogah pubs is being investigated by Victoria's Fair Work Ombudsman for allegedly failing to pay wages owed to staff - some dating back almost a year.

Ettamogah Entertainment has stood down more than 100 employees without pay at its animation production studio in Brighton.

Managing director Leigh O'Brien ordered up to 50 staff to leave the Bay Street studio on October 21 because of budget overruns on the Li'l Larrikins children's TV series being produced for the Ten Network.

Most of the remaining staff were then stood down on November 5.

Writers, voice-over artists and animators say they are owed more than $100,000 in unpaid wages. There are claims superannuation payments have not been made for several months, and that some staff, mainly writers, have not been paid since last December.

One animator, who asked not to be named, said staff were struggling to cope financially as no warnings had been given before people were stood down.

''There's real desperation because people are having trouble keeping a roof over their heads and feeding their families, it's as simple as that,'' he said.

Fair Work Ombudsman spokesman Craig Bildstien confirmed that complaints had been lodged by employees and discussions had been held with the company and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

''Our preliminary advice is that employees have not been terminated but stood down without pay,'' Mr Bildstien said.

''We will be investigating this matter to ensure all employees have received their proper entitlements and the company is fulfilling its legal obligations to its workforce.''

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance spokeswoman Eleisha Mullane said the union would take the case to Fair Work Australia, the national workplace relations tribunal.

''The main thing for the staff is that they're in limbo and don't know what's happening,'' Ms Mullane said. Staff could not apply for Centrelink payments because they were still technically employed by the company.

Mr O'Brien, a property developer, said the company was not in financial trouble.

''No, definitely not. It's just an issue we had with the production, which we're trying to resolve,'' he said.

''If you've got budget overruns, you've got to fix it up. We've created 120 jobs here and trained everyone in animation and there's no financial problems whatsoever.''

Mr O'Brien bought the worldwide rights in 1994 to the Ettamogah Mob cartoons created by the late artist Ken Maynard and now owns four themed pubs - in Albury and Rouse Hill in NSW, Caloundra in Queensland and Cunderdin in Western Australia.

Maynard created the comic strip featuring the Ettamogah pub and a motley bunch of locals, koalas, kangaroos, kids and Struth, the Australian boot-wearing cockatoo, in 1959. The cartoons became famous in the now defunct Australasian Post.

The first Ettamogah Pub, built at Caloundra in 1989, has become one of Queensland's leading tourist attractions, with claims it is the most photographed pub in the world.

Ettamogah Entertainment opened a state-of-the-art production studio in Brighton last year and started production on two children's shows that are yet to be aired.

It's not a question of if but when.

2009-11-20T01:33:00.000-08:00

I've had an interesting metaphorical ride in the past year in my time employed at Ettamogah Entertainment. I had two major "not if but when moments."

The first was when I was commuting on my trusty fixy. I was on my way across town from the office to the editor in a frantic effort to meet some seriously stupid deadlines and keep a bunch of people in a job.

I ride my bike a lot and it is my prefered mode of transport and I know it's my life in someone else's hands every time i do. That day, the moment I had avoided all my life but knew would happen eventually, happened. I was cleaned up by really nice guy driving a red 2 door hatch back. The collision flipped me onto the asphalt, totaled my front wheel, smashed my helmet and put a little black scuff mark on the side of the dudes car. I ride mountain bikes so I'm kind of used to being thrown off the bike. This landing was a bit harder than what I was used to but after regaining my breath and doing the closed eye, can I feel all my limbs test, I got up and told the guy if he gave me and my bike a lift to where I was going we could call it even. He was very nice about it and I was grateful for the favor.

You see when I'm on the job, nothing is going to stop me getting done what I've promised to do. Like a lot of the other people I work with, I take great pride in what I do and I have a very tenacious work ethic. This was an accident and no real fault of anyone since the guy couldn't have seen me coming down along side a row of towering SUVs. So we worked out a deal and every one went home happy.

Which brings me to my second "not if but when moment." When I started at Ettamogah the owner made some big promises and talked of his big dreams and bigger ambitions. Anyone who's worked in this biz a few years knows this is a big red flag. You basically say to your self "ok lets see how good your money is" and try to make sure you get out before the thing goes tits up and they owe you weeks of unpaid wages.

Well I didn't get out in time and that little red hatch back called managerial incompetence had my self and a studio full of equally undeserving soles face planting on the unemployment highway. This time it was different from my previous red hatch back encounter. The driver of this little two door saw us blocking the road but chose to plow into us anyway. I think he even had a traffic report telling him we'd be there before he even left home. And instead of stopping to offer assistance he drove over a couple of people on working visas again and then pointed to someone bleeding out on the road and said they did it before driving to the nearest air port and leaving the country.

I knew it was coming, I took my chances and got a bit banged up. I and the other victims of this unnecessary debacle will use all the tools at out disposal to right this wrong and we'll all be Ok in time. I just wish our collective dedication and loyalty to the project and the company was not wasted an such a twat.

The Care Cycle

2009-11-19T02:30:00.000-08:00

Over a decade ago now when I was working as a real pencil drawing animator at Melbourne studio, I and a few fellow artists decided to have a friendly model robot building competition. We would draw up our designs on discarded animation paper and then we all agreed to go away and build what we had come up with. Sadly they weren't life size and I think the largest came in at 12" tall.

My entry was a modest 4" if that and based on WH40K dreadnought miniature, since I was into miniature gaming at the time. I had scratch built it slavishly from milliput, wooden beads, styrene, brass and aluminum and all manner of little greeblies I'd collected over the years. I spent hours painting it bright red and applying the highlights , weathering and insignia. I loved every minute of the eye straining labor.

The end product was hands down the best model I had ever built and for once I had exceeded my own expectations. But I wasn't filled with that much joy. I was actually a bit depressed that I'd finished. It made a cool gaming minature but once I gave up gaming it served no purpose in my life so I gave it away to one of my friends who I thought would appreciate it in that he was an avid collector of all manor of model robots.

As a thing I didn't care for that model much and it was the process of constructing it that I enjoyed the most. This is a painful reality of my creative existence. I thrive in the process and wither in the completion. Maybe that's why I have I have folders of unfinished projects. I must be waiting for the day when I can summon the mental fortitude to bear finishing one of them.

Fast forward 10 years and there's been a lot of water under the bridge. My friend and I are not really friends any more and just the other day I found all the original concept sketches I did for that little model robot. For some odd reason I care about it now more than I ever did. I think it's the same feeling people get when they look at a photo of a dead loved one who was a bit annoying when alive but they can only remember the good times now.

I find myself wondering if my friend still has it and if he'd send me a photo if asked.

If you could turn back time.

2009-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

That time between jobs is one of those times you gather what is your history and try to repackage it so that it might convince some one to give you something that looks like the future you want.

As an animation industry professional, where other people have CVs and a string of references as mementos of their chosen career, I have drawings on scrap paper, sketch books, bits of film, vhs tapes, and since the new millennium, lots and lots of digital files. A perfect hand drawn record of my triumphs, failures, dead ends and most often wrong turns. A wrong turn in an animation career is a very serious matter because they can quite often cost you a great deal of time and opportunity due to the protracted nature of animation production.

For me my wrong turn was not jumping on the 3D boat back in the mid 90s. Instead I decided to stay with the traditional hand drawn thing and to eventually be seduced by the cheep whore of cgi that is Flash animation. They say hind sight is 20 20 but seriously if you want anything looking like career progression in the animation industry do not get involved in flash animation. It's cheap, dirty and no matter how good you are at polishing it, all it will ever get you is recognized as a really good flash animator which might translate into a mediocre intermittent paycheck. If you are lucky.

3D on the other hand really is the not so new frontier where you can explore the cheap and cheerful, become really good at cycles in the games industry or go for a stroll through uncanny valley with Robert Zemeckis but most importantly keep learning and stay employed.

So if I could, would I go back in time to step out of a smoking crater naked and tell my past self to buy a IBM586 instead of a new mountain bike? Well I think the lotto numbers would be a better choice of information to impart. Then I could have the IBM and the new mountain bike. So if I could call a do over would I? Well I can't so it's a pointless thought experiment.

The point is that despite doing quite well through having Flash as my mistress I do on the whole regret not breaking up with her years ago. And despite what you may think, regret is a very good thing. It motivates us to change for the better and not make the same mistake twice and move to where we think we want to be. So armed with memory as uzi 9mm I look back at Flash and say-" Flash we've had some good times but I have a family now and I can't keep sucking from your vector bong no more. I won't be back......."

Aaron Davies.

Chasing Bacon

Winning!

The Black Hole!

Ettamogah in Voluntary Administration

You Are Here

Event Horizon

The Big Ettamogah Compendium

Plan B FTW

All Writers Are Created Equal.

Something I'm Working On

Light at the end of the Tunnel: Ettamogah Update.

Studio Politics

Light Saber Battles....Yawn.

My Son Wants to be Me!

Before Everyone Thought it was Cool.

Busy Busy and an Ettamogah Update.

Big Animation Fail Special

DIGGER! DIGGER! DIGGER!

The spirit of Brian Boru lives on.

Stay On Target...

Ageing Dogs and New Tricks

That Letter

Animation Fail Evil Lair SOLD!

Interzone in Western Austraila

My Love. My Joy. My Torment. My Lack of Sleep.

Movement on the Front

Piggy Back

Wednesday Night Carnage

The Latest Article about Ettamogah from Screen Hub

Death By Etcher Sketch

Never Talk to a Cop

A Jedi Killed my Father

Perspective

An Old Flame

Satire is the Sincerest Form of Flatery.

A Drawing For a Change

CVRR Christmas Ride

The Perfect Blend of Vetinary Science and Completely Making Shit UP

Offer on the table for Ettamogah Entertainment workers

Texture

Ettamogah Eyes Restructure

Kangaroos in Animation

Animation workers of Australia unite!

Robot Photoshop Fun

Care Cycle Part 2

More Ettamogah News from Sceen Hub

I'm gona get me a job at Pixar!

What's Old is New Again

Here's the article about the Ettamogah standown from The Age.

Animation group faces scrutiny as 100 stood down

MARK RUSSELL

It's not a question of if but when.

The Care Cycle

If you could turn back time.