Adoring animation at Auraria
by Terresa Redding
The Metropolitan
"Steamboat Willie"-the black and white Mickey Mouse, stands at one corner of the room. Shrek, the green, computer-generated ogre, stands at the other. They study each other, each wondering what the other is supposed to be. Shrek eventually ventures his way over to Mickey, while Mickey frantically searches for an escape.
Shrek finally reaches Mickey and in his trademark Scottish accent asks, "Wut are ewe?"
Mickey, confused, answers, "I'm an animated character. What are you?"
Shrek laughs, "New you're nut. Iye om an onimayted chadacter."
They are both correct. The world of animation has come a long way since Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," the first animated short to have sound.
The short was produced more than 75 years ago and decades later, in 2002, DreamWork's movie "Shrek" received the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Fans of animation, many of whom are members of the Auraria Animators, honor the art of animation with monthly public screenings of animation shorts on Auraria Campus.
The Auraria Animators held their final public screening of shorts for the Spring semester Wednesday at Auraria's Media Center. The screening featured over 50 different animation shorts and the audience kept growing as the show went on.
The Auraria Animators is a Metro club designed for students interested in animation, video art, visual effects, and other types of art.
The club was created in the Fall 2003 semester, founded by current Metro senior, Mike Hance. They are trying to be recognized by all three schools at Auraria as a tri-institutional club.
Hance said while the Auraria Animators may only be on Metro's club roster right now, the club embraces all who want to join.
Despite being less than a year old, the club has been catching on, some events more successfully than others, but that's something Hance takes in stride.
"We learn something new about our events each time. We don't consider any event a failure; we just try to look at the positive and see how we can improve things so that the next event will be better," Hance said.
Auraria Animators members have the opportunity to participate in many activities such as national animation conventions, animation competitions, and workshop and networking opportunities with professional animators.
The Auraria Animators try to put on a public screening at least once, sometimes twice a month. The screenings usually showcase animation shorts from professional artists, but before each screening there is an open-call for any attendees or members to showcase their work.
Due to the frequent number of screenings and little time between them, originality can prove to be a daunting task.
Sales of the "Finding Nemo" and "Shrek" DVDs prove that many people enjoy animated films enough to watch them more than once.
While the Auraria Animators appreciate animation just as much, they have never shown any animation short more than once.
"It's really tough and is a lot of work, but somehow we manage to show different and new material at each screening. We might have to hold a "Best of" animation screening pretty soon," Hance said.
Wednesday's screening showcased all types of animation, from commercials with credits to excerpts from cartoon series, some shorts ranging 30 seconds to others that ran for five minutes.
One highlight of the screening was the opportunity to see the 2003 Oscar winner for Best Animation short, "The Chubbchubbs!" a computer-animated short with the resounding moral that people should not be judged on appearance and kindness is the best way to go.
Another entertaining short was "Hiccup 101," a computer-animated short that portrayed hiccups as regular people, attending a class that teaches them that human remedies for hiccups (i.e.: sugar, water, holding our breath) are life-threatening occurrences that can happen to them and must be prevented.
Auraria Animator audiences view all types of animation and see how far the genre has come. The wide variety of animation is something Hance always strives to achieve in each screening.
"The hallmark of our screenings is collectivism. I show all types of animation, all years, and all topics, because I want to show people that there's not one superior medium of animation," Hance said.
Though the Auraria Animators will have no screenings for the rest of the Spring semester, they look forward to starting summer projects on campus such as possible outdoor family screenings and a future 3D graphics summit with professionals in the field.
"We look forward to becoming an integrated part of campus and look forward to having it (Auraria Animators) grow in the years to come," Hance said. |
