I would like to thank the random person on the animation message board I happened to be reading for bringing my attention to this short film. It's called "Thought of You". It is by animator Ryan Woodward. And it is kind of mind-blowing.
And this is because, as far as I can determine from scouring Woodward's website, the whole thing is hand-drawn. This is worth watching in fullscreen, and while the song is a little blah, it is astonishing to realize that there's no rotoscoping, no motion capture (go look at that still from the "Tintin" trailer again, or better yet wait until Friday), just obsessively gorgeous observational drawing based off live dancers. There are no words for how simple and beautiful this is.
Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
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Speaking of little treasures of animation, it's incredibly rare to see any "news" about "The Brave Little Toaster". Thank Heaven I stumbled upon this interview with the film's director, Jerry Rees, and voice actress Deanna Oliver.
It's an hour long, but it's worth it for their stories of the symbolism of the characters, the absurdly small budget, the very strange release schedule, the deeply infuriating reaction of the judges at Cannes, sequel denial, deleted scenes that will never see the light of day (shades of "The Land Before Time"), and (Yes!) that scene with the flower. Obviously, don't watch this if you haven't seen the movie yet. But for longtime fans, it's a reminder of why "BLT" was one of those rare movies that feels like it appeared right out of the blue, in complete defiance of everything you know about mainstream animation, like a gift just to make you happy.
