YouTube and National Film Board of Canada Strike Deal For Oscar Shorts

Seven NFB shorts will be featured on YouTube's new channel The Screening Room, which offers viewers a selection of the best international animated shorts. The first NFB gem to screen on the video-sharing Web
site will be the 2007 Oscar winner THE DANISH POET by Torill Kove, who attended the launch in Los Angeles on June 23rd.

The selected NFB animated shorts will screen on www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom, each for six consecutive weeks.

Now easily access the best of shorts in a dedicated YOUTUBE channel !

This is what the Screening Room is all about -

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 21st June 2008 - 27th June 2008

Memento (2000)

Genre - Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Cast - Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss

Whats It About - A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.

Why You Should Watch It - Apart from an interesting plot, what is brilliant about this movie is the execution by the director and the choice of narration for his story. Memento" mines this psychological terrain, using non-linear film narrative to mirror Leonard's own effort to interpret the random pieces of evidence he hoards. The murder, rewound in the opening frames, we discover, is logically the endpoint of Leonard's story. What we learn comes from a point earlier in time, a few moments and a few sentences prior to what we've already been shown. As Leonard's story unfolds, the meaning of events changes. Allies, enemies, victims, victimizers swap place almost kaleidoscopically.

It simply blew me away and chances are it will blow you too. This is one of those very rare movies which kind of makes you think a long long time even after you have finished the movie.

Enjoy a glimpse right here -

BLOGS will never be the same again - Animation Mentor launches its own BLOG !

Animation Mentor and its team of crazy enthusiastic talented people never ceases to innovate and surprise me !

After building a world class animation school and that too online, after hosting webinars, where their co-founders share their knowledge and after having their monthly newsletter (full of informative stuff regarding the school, animation related insights, cool tips and tricks to improve our animation) and which has a huge fan following month after month, they have gone one step ahead and started their own blog !!! Yes you heard me right !

To quote Shawn Kelly, one of the co-founders and author of the Tips & Tricks section of their monthly newsletter -

"Hello there! Welcome to the first AM blog!

If you're reading this, you probably already know that I write an animation Tips & Tricks article for our monthly newsletter. This blog will be a place where I can publicly answer some of the emailed questions I get that I just don't have room to answer in the newsletter. (Let's face it - if my newsletter articles get any longer, they'll have to design a whole new internet to accommodate them!)

We'll also be posting some stuff from the newsletters in here (mostly stuff that didn't make it into the ebook) in the hopes of spreading that info around a bit more, so if you're a longtime reader you'll probably notice some repeats, but there will be plenty of new content for you guys as well...

As always, feel free to email questions, complaints, ideas, feedback, and your favorite drink recipes to me at: tipsandtricks@animationmentor.com

And a big special thanks to Eunice Park, Kris Larson, Rachel Ito, and Big Michael Dauz for helping get this set up and making it look so pretty!


Shawn :)"

So what are you waiting, join the party !!!

Wall-E Vignettes #4 : Pixar's new short animations featuring Wall-E

Wall-E having fun with Hula Hoop !

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 14th June 2008 - 20th June 2008

Minority Report(2002)

Genre - Action, Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Cast - Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell

Whats It About - In the future, criminals are caught before the crimes they commit, but one of the officers in the special unit is accused of one such crime and sets out to prove his innocence.

Why To Watch It - MINORITY REPORT is a dark, brooding vision of the future. Spielberg expertly mixes thrilling chase and suspense sequences (the best of which involves Anderton being pursued by eye-scanning mechanical spiders) and stunning special effects with a challenging look at society's willingness to sacrifice privacy and the notion of free will for convenience and security. MINORITY REPORT is a thought-provoking and exciting film that ranks with Spielberg's best.

Steven Spielberg is at his directorial best with this action, adventure. Tom Cruise is at his acting best as a futuristic cop on the run. This movie reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.


Have a look at the future right here -