Missed KAFI again...

Another year of KAFI has gone by and I have missed it. It's really aggravating. I've known about KAFI since 2003 and have missed the last 4 times it's been held (2003, 2005, 2007, & 2009). Here I am trying to go into animation and be a 'student to-beat' and I don't even make it to the big animation bash for the central US. Anyways, I have to wait another two years before the next KAFI and I may have graduated by then. I'll just need to dive into my studies and not worry about it.
I guess one of the biggest let downs was that I missed meeting up with Jim Middleton. I was really excited to see one of his programs. I guess that's what I get for living so far away from home. Money is also tight, so I am not even sure how much I would get to see at KAFI if I had made it.

When I was able to do this weekend is make it to Manifest, which really was lame due to the rain. I didn't really seek much out, but a lot of the outdoor events had been canceled. But what was really fun was the animation premiere for the APS films at Columbia. It was exciting to see those student's hard work projected on the big screen and many of the animation students in the audience felt excited for them since they're waiting for there chance to be in APS. It was spectacular. There were two films to be shown from this year's APS and a lieca reel for next semester's class. The two films were 'HEAD IN THE CLOUDS' and 'OFF THE WALL'. The posters for these film had been posted on the animation dept. floor for about a month beforehand and generated some excitement about the films. The one expected to excel was HEAD IN THE CLOUDS. The poster for that film was just excellent with a great sense of longing as a boy looks into the distant sky. At the premiere it was a very different story. Head it the clouds was.... 'alright'. The computer animation lacked a solid definition and it felt like they used it too often and for items that could have been drawn backgrounds with camera pans. The main character was drawn in 2D animation and was not very fluid, like he was drawn on 4's or 6's. But it was cute in the end. The real star of the show was OFF THE WALL. It had very little appeal with a typical computer animated boy in dinosaur pajamas and a 2D animated monster. Visually it was noting new and lacked a definitive style like HEAD IN THE CLOUDS carried. But the film itself was excellent. The computer animation was well defined and the lighting of the film was superb. The editing and shot composition was also very good. The 2D animated shadow monster was also animated well with smooth timing on 1's or 2's. The story was also very entertaining and funny. It may not have been excessively original, but it was entertaining and the best thing to come out of APS so far! It's the new 'ONE TO BEAT'.

I'm gonna beat it.