Our own pixar - Manila Bulletin October 10, 2008

Benedict Carandang was named by the British Council Philippines as this year’s Philippine representative to the London Film Festival after recently winning the International Young Screen Entrepreneur Award.

International Young Screen Entrepreneur is supported by the British Council, the UK’s international non-political organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations. They help build relationships and understanding between people in the UK and other countries to increase appreciation to the UK’s creative ideas and achievements overseas.

Carandang together with his team, Tuldok Animations, a non-stock non-profit organization that aims to promote the artistic and creative talent of the Filipino people in the medium of animation to the world, made a 20-minute animated short film entitled "Libingan" (The Burial) with a grant from National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA). "Libingan" went on to win the International Young Screen Entrepreneur Award.

The limitation of not having a physical office or studio didn’t hinder their collaborative approach to the production. Due to this web-based group’s strong advocacy of promoting Independent Original Filipino Animation production in the Philippines, their ingenuity, and effective use of guerilla marketing, it gave birth to numerous print, web, and TV features—proving that anything is possible despite limited resources. Presently, Benedict is working on a new co-production project of Tuldok with the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and the NCCA to produce a 40-minute Animated Short Film and an Animation Instructional Video that will distributed for free throughout the country. They plan to do this alongside with their affiliate, The Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), and they believe this will help spur the interest and involvement of more Filipino in this promising industry, which can provide jobs and help alleviate poverty in the country.

Carandang will be sent on a 12-day all-expenses paid trip to the UK where he will meet industry professionals and get the chance to tour leading organizations in the film ad TV industries in London, Bristol, and Cardiff. The UK trip cultivates with the Philippines representative attending the London Film Festival as an industry delegate.

-Jessie Morqueda

You can also read the article at http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2008/10/10/20081010137533.html

Libingan gets MTRCB "G" Rating

Click on the scanned image to read the details of the rating.

If you met the author of the Bible, what would you do?

Well that's almost what happened today, that is, if you are an animator or an animation enthusiast. Richard Williams, 3 time oscar winner and the man behind the successful book "The Animator's Survival Kit" was at the MoMA today and had a talk with fellow Oscar winner John Canemaker.

He probably has no idea how much he has contributed to the animation world today.
His book is practically the bible for all animators that I have met.

A great guy, despite all his achievements, he still remains very nice and humble
and I have to agree with the interviewer, Mr. Canemaker,
Mr. Williams is a very generous person.

Starting as an eager young animator, he relentlessly sought the advice from the masters of animation like Ken Harris, Milt Kahl, Grim Natwick and Art Babbit to name a few, and their great talents are only matched by their great hearts.

They shared what they knew, and Richard Williams, now a master himself, is continuing the selfless act and passing it to yet another generation of hungry animators.

This is the way to go. This is how you preserve an artform, a culture.

His message to us? "Best of luck!"


On behalf of the Tuldok Animators, thank you very much, Mr. Williams!

PS: if you need to spend wisely on just one animation book, I really recommend this one.



For the DVD version of his book, go to http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/

Libingan on .MOV International Digital Film Festival

(click image to go to site)

Libingan is an official entry in the Open category of the prestigious .MOV International Digital Film Festival. We are greatly honored to be part of this. Thank you .MOV!

The Opening Night will be on September 30, Tuesday, and the Closing & Awards Night will be on October 4, Saturday. Parallel screenings in the cities of Bacolod , Dumaguete, and Iloilo will be held from September 24 to October 7. The 3rd .MOV International Digital Film Festival, headed by Festival Director Khavn De La Cruz has six major sections consisting of foreign and local full-length and short films, tributes, workshops, film concerts, and after parties. The motto for this year’s festival is “Blind The Eye Of The Storm” --- losing sight of the limits and controls that plague cinema, so that we can stare at our infinite possibilities as a culture.

STUDENT CATEGORY:
1. "123" by Minco Fabregas, International Academy of Film and Television Cebu
2. "Anomi" by Renei Patricia Dimla, University of the Philippines
3. "June 9" by Cheiradee Villanueva, West Visayas State University
4. "Kamatis" (Tomato) by Brian Javier, Colegio de San Juan de Letran
5. "Kumot ng Panaginip" (Blanket Of Dreams) by Jedd Chris Dumaguina, University of the Philippines
6. "Papelove" (Paper Love) by Aissa Peñafiel, University of the Philippines
7. "Pisi" (String) by Mel Rose Aguilar, University of St. La Salle Bacolod
8. "Publico Macata: A Societal Eulogy" (Public Poet) by Mark Sherwin Maestro, De La Salle University - EAC
9. "Start Stop Play Pause" by Arby Mari Larano, Far Eastern University
10. "Ultra" by Juan Alcazaren, University of the Philippines

OPEN CATEGORY:
l. "#cafe" by Leo Valencia
2. "Andong" by Milo Tolentino
3. "Ambulancia" by Richard Legaspi
4. "Ampo" by Jose Maria Basa
5. "Libingan" (The Burial) by Ramon del Prado
6. "Nekro" by CJ Andaluz
7. "Saling Pusa" by Antoinette Jadaone
8. "The Prayer" by J.I.E. Teodoro
9. "Tiangge" (Bazaar) by Ray Gibraltar
10. "VTR" by JP Carpio

Improve your Animations

Improve your Animations
By Jeff Capili

So you already have a good story to animate…..at least you believe your story is good enough….BUT WHY ANIMATE?!??? !?!?! It’s comparably cheaper to shoot live footage not to mention less time consuming. It can take you days, even weeks to animate a 3 second shot. You definitely must have a reason for choosing this medium. I remember when Disney’s Tarzan was shown in theaters, there were already previous versions and even a TV series when I was a little kid. So, what’s the reason they animated Tarzan? Live actors cannot perform the athletic capabilities of the animated version. No actor can swing from one branch to another in that acrobatic manner. No actor can jump that high, no actor can walk on all fours (using knuckles like a gorilla) and still not look silly and stupid. No actor can move the way the animated Tarzan moves!

Always have a REASON to animate

Animation as defined in Wikipedia is “the rapid display of a sequence of artworks in order to create an illusion of movement”. There is a good animation and a bad animation. The way they move is what separates the two. Ah.. So, it’s all about movement? Well, not exactly! You can make an animation that has barely any movement and still prove effective to the audience. There is a beautiful scene in Disney’s “Dumbo” where Dumbo visits his mother who was chained and locked inside a trailer. His mother’s trunk extends from the small opening in the trailer and caresses Dumbo. It has very minimal movements but they were able to show a “humanness” in the characters. What do I mean by this? Your animation should display emotions that humans can relate to, emotions that everyone can understand. The mother elephant’s trunk was used to imitate a hug, showing how much he longs for her son. It’s an act that we humans experience, something as I mentioned earlier we can relate to. So, a regular animation is just a bunch of moving artworks….but a great animation is a bunch of moving artworks that is able to move the audience. If your genre is comedy, then you must be able to make them laugh; if it’s drama, then it must touch their hearts. So, how will you move the audience? By giving your characters an emotion, by applying “humanness” in them. Whatever type of animation it may be, the most important thing that you have to consider is PERFORMANCE. Remember that you are the actor now. Of course, nobody wants to watch a boring actor. Even worse, nobody appreciates bad acting! I’m blessed enough to have attended acting workshops. It helped the way I animate now. I’m not saying that you must attend acting workshops too (although it will really help). You can improve your performance by just OBSERVING which I practice everyday. I observe how people react, how they walk, how things move, how nature moves, how one action influences another action, I observe the laws of gravity, physics, I observe almost everything…and I try to apply that in my animations. Try to observe the world around you and it will greatly help you animate. Another thing about performance is that you can have a great performance even without any words being uttered. Take for example the latest Pixar Film “WALL E”. It’s almost a mime! The film is mostly silent and the main characters are simple. So, how did they achieve a great performance? By maximizing on the available facial expressions of the characters. But wait! Wall E doesn’t have a face, he’s only got eyes!!! Then use whatever your character has to convey emotions.

Moving artworks with emotions that can move the audience will make a good performance… Making it a GREAT animation.

“Bring the characters to life”- is almost a cliché! But how do you really apply that? Disney’s first full length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs did just that. They gave the characters a PERSONALITY. Everyone is unique and so should your characters be. How they walk, how they react, how they move will depend on this. Blue Sky’s Scratch of Ice Age has a personality that makes him more interesting than the main characters (maybe that’s why he’s always in the promotional trailers). Personality makes your characters entertaining, it’s the thing that makes them endearing. Without this, your characters will simply not come to life (and it’s very important that they come to life). Now it’s up to you as the “actor” to provide that personality.

A good story whose characters don’t have personalities won’t come to life. .. Making it a BAD film.

Another important thing in animation is BELIEVABILITY. I remember there was a scene in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (which I watched more than 8 times I think) where Mrs. Potts (the tea pot) jumped from a high place towards the floor. Naturally, a ceramic which she was made of should break at impact or should at least crack. So, how did the Disney animators solve that? By adding a pillow to the scene cushioning her fall. See, now that’s believable!

Even if it’s just in the world of make believe, it still has to be BELIEVABLE.

So always have a REASON to animate and show a great PERFORMANCE by giving your characters a PERSONALITY and make sure it’s BELIEVABLE. To wrap this up, I would like to share to you a story that I read in Richard Williams’ “Animator’s Survival Kit” about the 99 tricks.

It was about a decrepit old Zen master wrestler who was visited by a very fit and powerful young wrestler. “I beg you teach me your ninety nine tricks”, said the young wrestler. The old master replied, “look at me, I’m old and decrepit and I’m not interested”. The young man keeps pestering the old man who says, “Can’t you see that I’m fragile now and when I show you the ninety nine tricks, you’ll just challenge me, they always do. You’ll make a mincemeat of me.” “I beg you, please teach me and I promise I wont challenge you”, said the young powerful wrestler. Reluctantly, the old man teaches him until he mastered the ninety nine tricks. The young man became a famous wrestler and one day takes his master into a room, locks it and challenges him. “I knew this would happen – that’s why I didn’t want to teach you in the first place”, said the old master. “Come on old man, it’s just the two of us here. Lets see what you’re made of”, said the young man. They start wrestling and right away the decrepit old master throws the powerful wrestler out of the window. The crumpled-up young fellow moans up from the street below, “You didn’t show me that one!” “That was number 100”, said the old master.

It will depend on you to master all the 99 tricks but the 100th will depend only from the Master….if He’s gifted you by a tremendous TALENT.

------------------------------------

Jeffrey Capili was the winner of Animahenasyon 2007's short film professional category for his first short film "Malaya". He was one of the lead animators for the film Libingan, where he animated Rambo, the dog, Tenyong the bully, and several Kapres and other special effects and props.

He is currently directing Tuldok's second animated film, coming soon!

More than A DOT IN THE STRATOSPHERE - September Fudge Magazine

Please click on the scanned image of the article to read it.

Viewfinder - Philippine Daily Inquirer August 27, 2008

Young Screen Entrepreneur for 2008

Benedict Carandang, co-founder of Tuldok Animation studios, has been named by British Council Philippines as this year’s International Screen Entrepreneur. Ben will be sent on a 12-day all-expenses paid trip to the UK to meet industry pros and tour leading organizations in the film and TV industries.

-Nestor Torre, Viewfinder Columnist, PDI

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view/20080827-157180/Identity-hones-contestants-and-viewers-deductive-skills

British Council names International Young Screen Entrepreneur for 2008

Please click on the scanned image of the article to read it.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/philippines-arts-iyse_winner.htm

Libingan on Fantaspoa Film Festival

We have been honored to be part of the Fantaspoa Film festival held in Brazil, last August 2008.

To the festival organizers, you have our sincerest and utmost gratitude!
More power and best of luck in your succeeding festivals.

British Council cites Pinoy Animator

Congratulations to Tuldok co-founder Benedict Carandang! You make us all proud!
source: Manila Bulletin, August 7, 2008

MESSAGE TO ACCEPTED VOICE AUDITION PRE-QUALIFIER ENTRANTS

SOME OF OUR VOICE AUDITION PRE-QUALIFIER ENTRANTS

VOICE ACTORS NEEDED!

MAGANDA BA ANG BOSES MO?

SIGE NA…WAG KA NANG MAHIYA…

MAG-AUDITION PRE-QUALIFIER KA NA…

Tuldok Animation Studios Inc. ® , producer of the 20-minute Animated Short Film "Libingan," together with CreatiVoices Productions, the no. 1 provider of pre-qualified and professional Voice Artists in the Philippines, are looking for voice actors for its upcoming 40-minute Animated Short Film.

We are looking for the Voices of the following characters:

LOLO
-Albularyo from Visayas region
-75–80 years old but still pretty strong
- maamo and gentle

BOY
- Pilyo but still lovable
- 10 years old

NUNO1
- really old, wise, calm, patient
NUNO2
- really old, aggressive, leader of the three, may pagka masungit
NUNO3
- really old, always bullied by NUNO2 but never fights back, cutest among the three

MANGKUKULAM/PALENGKERA
- mataba, 45 –50 years old, wala ng kaasim asim pero malandi padin

PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:

EMAIL us the following at tuldok.voices@gmail.com for our audition pre-qualifier:
1. Submit a ONE (1) Page RESUME (with the following information such as your name, address, contact numbers, educational background, personal background, etc. briefly)
2. Answer this question: Why do you think we should choose you?
3. VIDEO yourself and UPLOAD it in YOUTUBE and email us the link.
Label the YOUTUBE ex. LOLO_LASTNAME, BOY_LASTNAME,
NUNO#_LASTNAME, MANGKUKULAM_LASTNAME

DEADLINE is on MAY 28 (WEDNESDAY).

If you pass the AUDITION PRE-QUALIFIER, we will INVITE you to the AUDITION PROPER slated on JUNE 2 (MONDAY). A decent HONORARIUM and a CHANCE to become a MEMBER of TULDOK ANIMATION STUDIOS INC. and be PART of CREATIVOICES PRODUCTIONS TALENT POOL, awaits those who pass the audition. For more information, please visit http://www.tuldokanimation.com/ and http://www.creativoices.com/

LINES FOR AUDITION:

LOLO

{nakita niyang tulog na tulog ang kanyang apo ngunit namamaga ang paa. Ang kumot ay nasa sahig}

Lolo: eto na nga ba sinasabi ko….Boy…gising apo..gamutin muna natin yang paa mo…{susubukang gisingin ni Lolo ang apo nya pero ayaw gumising}

Lolo: Boy?{tatapikin niya sa balikat ang apo para magising}{magpa-panic bigla si Lolo}{papakiramdaman sa dibdib kung humihinga pa ang apo}

Lolo: {kinakabahan} Dapat hindi mo ginawa yun apo….{kukumutan muli ni Lolo ang apo}{dali daling lalabas ng kwarto si Lolo}{nate-tense ang kanyang mga kamay}

BOY

Boy: {in panic} Lo? Gising lo!!! {kakalugin niya ang katawan ng kanyang Lolo. Hindi padin kikibo ang Lolo. Hahagulgol sa iyak si Boy} 'lo…{sniff} wag niyo ko iwan 'lo…{iiyak ng sobrang todo talaga}..LOOOOOO!!! (iyak , iyak) …..patawarin niyo po ako..…

NUNO

Nuno1: huwag ka ngang mag padalos-dalos! Paparusahan natin ang batang yan para huwag na niya muling gawin 'yon.

Nuno2: Sisiguraduhin kong hindi mo kame makakalimutan… (in a wicked, evil way)

Nuno3: aaaaah para dito pala yan? Kaya pala…{Gets, gets..super confident na naintindihan na niya}….pero teka panu kung buhok ni Lolo yan?

Mangkukulam/Palengkera

Mangkukulam/Palengkera: {interrupts} lolo mo yung albularyo, hindi ba? Balita ko magaling manggamot ang lolo mo….meron ngako konting nararamdaman dito (hihipuin ang boobs niya) ..pero ewan ko ba…

Mangkukulam/Palengkera: Basta't sisiguraduhin kong….. wala pang nakakaligtas….sa masamang panaginip…

The Benildean Design Section April Feature 2008

Please visit this link for the full version of the interview:
http://zappa1one.multiply.com/journal/item/69/Interview_-_Tuldok_Animation_Studios

2nd Young Multimedia & Graphic Designers Summit