Frog Feet -Animations and Babbles

HungerCount 2011 PSA wins Pixie Award

2012-01-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

I must say, working with Flash Frame Digital to create the Food Banks Canada PSA was one of the highlights of 2011. It was just a lot of fun doing the animation and design on their projects and collaborating with them. I guess the fun and effort we put into it all has paid off. Two of our animations, "FoodBanks Canada Holiday Greeting 2010" and "HungerCount 2011" PSA, have won Gold and Platinum 2012 Pixie Awards respectively, for Animation Commercial/ PSA category. Yaaaaay!

HungerCount was also featured as an official selection at the California International Shorts Festival 2011 In December.I've already linked to these in previous posts so please feel free to scroll down if you wish to see them.

So 2011 ended on a pretty high note for Frog Feet Productions and here's hoping for more great things in 2012.

cheers!

-B

2011-12-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope every one out there has a great Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Solstice, Festivus... just all around happy holidays folks!
Enjoy time with your families and/ or friends and may 2012 be full of awesome things ahead!
cheers!
-Bryce

FoodBanks Canada HungerCount 2011 Animation

2011-11-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

I need to come up with catchier titles that aren't merely literal descriptions.
ha ha
Anyway, I'm very proud to have designed and animated this piece for Food Banks Canada. (Produced by the fine folks at FlashFrame Digital here in Toronto so i could just concentrate on the animation and final composite).Please feel free to pass this animation along and share it around the interwebs. It's not just pretty but also for a good cause!
Cheers!
-Bryce

English Version

Version Français

Win! Two Frog Feet animations win Platinum Empixx Awards!

2011-09-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

In the tooting our own horn category...( because otherwise who willl?)Two projects we've worked on and helped create have won Empixx Awards!!

Firstly: Stan (the man) Olthuis at Sharpshooter Inc. hired us to design, direct and animate this piece for "4carfinder.com" titled "Where's my Car?". It won Platinum Empixx Awards for Animation and in the category: Advertising- Consumer.

Written/Directed by: Bryce Hallett
Animation by Bryce Hallett and Jett Atwood
Additional assistance by Anna Oster.
Music & Sound by Matthew Reid
It was produced by Stan Olthuis of Sharphooter Inc. for 4Carfinder.com.

Secondly we won platinum awards for animation and in the category "Direct Marketing" for this spot for Foodbank Canada produced by FlashFrame Digital.The fine folks of FlashFrame Digital had the original concept and hired us to execute the animation and style. It was produced for Foodbank Canada as a special holiday greeting.

Animation, design and storyboards by Bryce Hallett, (Frog Feet Productions)
Sound by Lee Delang, (FlashFrame Digital)
Produced by Mike Welker (FlashFrame Digital)

So many congrats to all involved on these very fun projects and here's to more fun and exciting things ahead!

Foodbank Canada: Happy Hollidays

4Carfinder :"Where's my #$@ Car!"

Need a date? Here's an Animated Commercial!

2011-07-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks. I wish i could come up with a better title or a witty pun but that's never been my strong suit. Animation is though!

Here's a commercial i designed and animated recently for a dating website.

It was a lot of fun to do some more classical cartoon style full colour animation.

This was a really fun project to work on, despite a really short turn around time, and the people who hired me were great to work with. I have to give credit to Marc Morgenstern, their creative director who did some additional editing on the final piece. I don't know who did the music or wrote the lyrics to the funny song or i'd give them a shout out as well.

There's lots i like about how this turned out and there are plenty of things i would have like to have added or altered had there been more time. That's always the case though. Really fun job.

Anyway. Enjoy!

-Bryce

BunnyJam Jury Award winner! TAIS Showcase 2011

2011-06-25T09:48:00.001-07:00

Hurray us!
During the TAIS Animation Showcase 2011 we were awarded the BunnyJam Jury Award.

Every year as part of the TAIS Showcase they hold an "Anijam" where animators can submit a 10 sec animated piece, using any style or technique, based on that year's theme. This year it was "bunnies". Previous years have had monsters, robots, chickens..etc etc all the entries are then strung together into one big mega animation and shown in the theatre before the main Showcase begins.

The Jury, which selects the best film for the Showcase, also has an award for the BunnyJam and there is an Audience Award for both categories as well. ( Jamie Metzger 's film "Pasa Doble" won the Jury Award for best in Showcase, Aaron Long won the audience award for his film "Fester Goes Fishing" as well as an honourable mention from the Jury and Nick Cross won the Audience Award for his BunnyJam entry. So congrats to all of them and really to everyone who had animation screened at the showcase it was a very good year with some really great pieces.)

Here's the link to our little BunnyJam submission and as soon as their is a link for the complete TAIS entries we'll post it as well.

Emma Lander suggested we animate something using rice or beans so we went to the bulk foods store and got a few things to try out and rice worked the best. It's shot stop motion style under the camera on a piece of glass and a cardboard background using a Nikon D5000 slr and Dragon Stop Motion.

If anyone is interested i can give more specific details of what we did. In all it 6 or 7 hours from initial set up to shooting the final frame.

Emily Shapiro created the music for us on clarinet. Thanks Emily!

TAIS ANIMATION SHOWCASE AND BUNNY JAM THIS THURSDAY!!!

2011-06-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

I'm excited for this thursday and want it to come along sooner.
Why?
Because it's the TAIS animation showcase!
it's happening this thursday and i'm looking forward to a bunch of great animation on the big screen form local talent and animators around the world
and also the TAIS ANiJAm.
basically every year TAIS holds an Anijam and then screens it as part of the showcase.
every year its on a different theme. This year it's BUnnies!
basically animators create a 10 sec animation based on the theme , any style or technique and then all the submissions get strung together into a MEGA ANIMATION!

and i submitted one . I made it with rice and beans
come check it out!

TAIS Showcase 2011 on June 23 at the Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto. 7:30pm
$10

cheers!
-Bryce

Some inspiration for other cartoonists out there.

2011-05-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a blog by cartoonist Phil McAndrew. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK.

It's a nice simple insightful post about being a freelance cartoonist "Super Obvious Secrets That I Wish They’d Teach In Art School"
It's a great little piece of inspiration and insight into a fellow cartoonist's working philosophy.

Go read that then get your sketch book out and get drawing!

(also credit to Mike Valiquette for linking it as well where i saw it in the first place. heh)

cheers!
-Bryce

Cool TAIS event tonight special guests John Porcellino and Matt den Boer

2011-05-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

If you are in Toronto tonight, Wed May 4th, i highly recommend checking out this month's TAIS INCUBATOR. Illustrator John Porcellino and animator Matt den Boer will be there to give a short presentation on their new project "the Next Day". It's a graphic novel and online interactive animated documentary "constructed from intimate interviews with survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts."

They'll be talking about their collaborative process and the challenges of animating Procellino's illustrations and creating the interactive animations. It will be a very interesting incubator this month indeed.
(TAIS holds an animation incubator the first wed of each month if you are interested in attending.)

So check it out!
-Bryce

DotRights

2010-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

A little thing I animated last year for the ACLU.

( Produced by Tracepictures. )

It's actual a good and interesting explanation of the trail of information you leave behind when you surf online and what happens to it.

TAIS ANIMATION SHOWCASE! TONIGHT

2010-06-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

TONIGHT!
THURSDAY THURSDAY THURSDAAAY!

IF you're in Toronto , near Toronto or have teleportation technology come out to the TRANZAC club at 292 Brunswick avenue for the TAIS ANIMATION SHOWCASE!

a whole whack of interesting films in a variety of styles by a plethora of people.
also as a bonus screening the 2010 Tais Anijam.. Aquajam!

Come out see some great short films have a beverage !

cheers!
FrogFeet

Check out the Canadian Animation Resources website

2010-05-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

f you're a Canadian animator I'd highly recommend checking out the Canadian Animation Resources website.
It's run by volunteers and is an invaluable resource for jobs, articles and other tidbits of Canadian Animation goodness.

LINK.

( Sure this link features a clip of me but really i'm not biased in anyway. Also go to their main page for more articles and animation job news.)

Seriously if you are someone working or hoping to work in this business or even just an animation enthusiast this site is well worth checking out. They're also doing a funding drive at the moment to raise a little cash to keep it going. So if you have a couple bucks to spare why not send 'em their way and we can all continue to enjoy this site.

Cheers!
-Bryce

Official trailer for "At Home By Myself...with You"

2010-03-06T13:21:00.001-08:00

Here's the Official Trailer for the movie directed by Kris Booth. I'm very proud to have been a part of and had fun creating animation for. If you're in the Toronto area it's Playing at the ROYAL Cinema (College St and Clinton) from March 5th to March 11th! (longer if lots of people go see it) Go check it out and Support independent film!

See our latest animations at the Royal Cinema!

2010-03-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

This week only from March 5 to March 11, the Royal Cinema on College St in Toronto, will be premiering the movie "At Home by Myself... with You" directed by Kris Booth and starring Kristin Booth ( no relation). It's a fun quirky live action rom-com feature animated opening credits and a number of other dream sequences created by Bryce Hallett . So go check it out on the big screen while you can!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

We'd like to wish everyone a happy new year and all the best in 2010! Now get animating stuff! Cheers!

Great interview with the Toronto Public Library's word out 2009

2009-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

This interview is a couple weeks old but i've been so busy i only just saw it now.
Ellen Besen and I were interviewed for the Toronto Public Library, as part of their Word Out Teen Summer reading series to talk about animation and out book Animation Unleashed.

Part 1:
Ellen's interview .

Part 2:
Bryce's interview .

I'm especially a fan of all the positive comments form the kids. Makes me happy!
I really should re-read what i type more thoroughly though next time. I could really use an editor! ha ha

cheers!
-Bryce

Where the BLEEP is my car?!

2009-08-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a project we just finished for 4carfinder.com. A little mix of rough 2d animation, photos and stop motion. We got to be totally over the top and it was just way too much fun to do!

Credits where credits is due:

Client: Sharpshooter inc.
Exec Producer: Stan Olthuis
Director/Designer/Compositor: Bryce Hallett
Animators: Bryce Hallett and Jett Atwood
Music and Sound: Matt Reid
Cel Colouring: Anna Oster

2009-06-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

There's been much happening here at Frog Feet these past couple months. In addition to creating various animatics for the fine folks at Storieboards a music video for Delica and a PSA for Trace Pictures , I've just finished animation for the opening of Pocket Change Films' feature film: "At Home By Myself... With You". It's a fun little rom-comedy about a girl (Kristin Booth) who develops so many phobias growing up she never leaves her apartment, even though she is a travel agent. Eventually a new neighbour moves in next door..and well you can see the movie. Hopefully it will be in the 2009 Toronto Film Fest but we're still waiting to here and find out for sure.

Here's a couple of screen shots from the opening animation of "At Home By Myself... With You". All done in a sort of paper cut-out animation style. Several other animated sequences were also created for the film and I'm anxious to see them on the big screen!

enjoy!
-Frog Feet

click image for larger view

Another good review and fun times at Kalamazoo.

2009-05-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

I've been busy animating today. I'm all pumped and inspired after attending the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International this weekend. It was a lot of fun. I got to speak on a few panels, dust off my student film from years back to screen, and it was well received, and got to hang out and meet many fun and interesting animation types.
(Quick shout out to all the students who competed in the KAFI Cartoon Challenge 2009. They made some really good PSA's and were a lot of fun to meet and talk to. Cheers guys and gals and congrats on your hard work and well made films! It was fun! ).

It was a pretty decent drive from Toronto to Kalamazoo too. The 6 or 7 hours just flew by. Gotta thank Bruce Simpson for the ride!

At some point i'll have to start actually adding sketches to my skethblog again. heh
in the meantime here's a link to a nice review of "Animation Unleashed" i came across while procrastinating.

BC Blogcritics LINK. Thanks to BlogCritics.org and especially Tim Girard for writing this great little review! That made my day.

In lieu of some sketches here's screen shots from "Delica: Counting Stars". A little music video i've been working on whenever i could get the chance that i finally finished last week.
Look for it at the next Delica concert!
cheers!
-Frog Feet

the TAIS chicken jam!

2009-03-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hey there animation enthusiasts!!
TAIS, the Toronto Animates Image Society is putting the call out for this year's Anijam. Make a 10 second animation with this year's theme, send it in by May 29th, they'll edit everyone's entries into one big cartoon jam and screen it at the open screening June 5th at the NFB in Toronto. They'll also post it online and there's some fun prizes!
CHeck out the clip below or go to www.tais.ca for more details.
It's a lot of fun and good to stretch those creative muscles!

Last year's "MonsterJam" was a bit hit and lots of people turned out.
It's loads of fun. So come on out!

Happy Sunday

2009-03-22T22:28:00.001-07:00

So we posted our first podcast yesterday and already got a shout out for it and a great review of the book ! Check it out here:Link to Ian's Animation Blog review
Thanks to Ian Lumsden for the great review. Check out his blog descriptively called "Animation Blog" which has many other great reviews of animation, animators and things animation related. Good stuff.
Link
cheers!

Animation Unleashed the Podcast! #1

2009-03-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Ellen Besen and myself have started creating video podcasts that allow Ellen to discuss various concepts and topics from her Book, "Animation Unleashed", while I ( Bryce), sketch along as she goes.
It's pretty interesting so far and not bad for our first attempt. It will be great to see where our collaboration goes, as we have lots of good ideas for future versions.
Check it out!

Congrats to everyone who participated in the SuperU and TAC.tv animation contest

2009-03-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd give a little shout out to David Wesch for winning the SuperU-TAC.tv Animation Contest Part 2 with his film "Blind Date".
I had the pleasure of being on "the panel of expert judges". It was a lot of fun and there were some really good little animations but this one I believe was the strongest and deserving of it's award. Actually I'm kinda jealous! I wish this website was around when I graduated from animation school! It has cash prizes and a chance to show your films on the TV!
heh

Anyway congrats David and to the other finalists and participants!
If there are other aspiring canadian animators and filmakers out there you may wanna check out their site and see some fun short films!

cheers!
-Bryce
Frog Feet

Whooo Hoo an AWN review!

2008-12-09T02:40:00.000-08:00

I'm excited! Ellen just forwarded me this link to the Animation World Network Site where they give an awesome review of our book " Animation Unleashed" ( Yeah I've become too lazy to type the rest of the title.

Click this AWN BOOK REVIEW LINK. To read!

Thanks to David B. Levy for the great review! He's also the author of Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive. Definitely worth checking out if you're interested in the biz.

cheers!
-Bryce

Animation Unleashed...uh, animated...roughly, but animated! heh

2008-11-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

A rough animation /little self promo for the book I illustrated, written by Ellen Besen: "Animation Unleashed: 100 Principles Every Animator, Comic Book Writer, Filmmaker, Video Artist, and Game Developer Should Know"

Whew! Long title I know but really good book and I'm proud to have been able to work on it. It's out and available now and comes in delightful holiday RED! Just in time to give to that animator, writer, comics artist, film maker or film buff/animation fan on your list!
heh

If you're curious or want to know more about it you can follow this Book Link to Animation Unleashed.

Unused/ missing art from "Animation Unleashed"

2008-11-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pieces a created for Animation Unleashed that didn't make the cut. For one reason or another we chose not to include these in the book. Usually because we came up with a better idea or found a way to make some thing more clear. I actually forgot about a few of them completely and can't even remember why we chose not to use it them the end.
oh well.
I now unleash it on the world!

cheers!
-Bryce

Welcome

2008-11-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

In a shameless act of self promotion I thought I'd add a little blog to the frog feet productions site on you tube to explain or answer questions for anything we've done here. Often people send us questions about animation or how to pitch a show or what's it like to do animation for a living and we thought maybe it would be fun to post some of these things here.

Also it's a good way to let people know what we're up to. If we don't toot our own horn nobody else will!

So here's to semi regular updates!

cheers!

-Frog Feet

p.s. also feel free to check out our main web site and sketchblog at www.frogfeet.ca