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 Anonymous posted on Thursday, February 18, 1999 - 12:52 am
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4047 Farmdale Ave. Studio City, CA 91604 Tel. 818/985-0721, Fax 818/985-8946
Email swell@westworld.com
PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release - Photos Available
Contact: Debra Callabresi or Kelly Moren, 818/985-0721
MORE OSCAR® NOMINATION PLACES CO-PRODUCER SWELL PRODUCTIONS AT THE FOREFRONT OF LARGE FORMAT ANIMATION
MORE is Swell’s Fifth Large Format Animation Project
LOS ANGELES, February 9, 1999 -- Swell Productions principals Debra Callabresi and Kelly Moren were delighted to learn that MORE, the animated film they co-produced, has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The nomination came on the heels of MORE winning the Jury Award for Special Recognition for Short Filmmaking at January’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Directed by Mark Osborne, MORE is a six-minute, stop-motion animation tale of an aging inventor trying to finish the invention he hopes will give his life meaning and worth. Accompanied by the song “Elegia” from the electronic pop band New Order, the story is told through an unusual mix of clay animation and cel animation.
MORE is presented by Flemington Pictures and was co-produced by Bad Clams Productions and Swell Productions, in association with the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA) Animation & Experimental Film Task Force. MORE is the first stop-motion animated film to be released simultaneously in standard 35mm and giant-screen 15/70 (70mm, 15-perforation). Both versions were created from a single 65mm master.
MORE premiered in its giant screen version last November at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it ran for four days with Everest. MacGillivray Freeman Films, producer of Everest, has announced that it will begin distributing MORE to large format theaters through its distribution arm, MacGillivray Freeman Films Distribution Company.
“The Academy nomination of MORE, its recognition at Sundance and its backing by a major large format distributor mean that hundreds of animators will be taking a new interest in 70mm large format,” says Debra Callabresi. “We believe it will open doors for many to discover this very exciting and very challenging medium, and we look forward to future projects.”
“Large format filmmakers enjoy creative opportunities that didn’t exist a few years ago,” adds Kelly Moren, who has four years’ experience as a large format visual effects supervisor. “The new commercial large format theaters want entertaining films that are different from the documentaries traditional for counterpart theaters in educational venues. And because the field is relatively new and relatively small, an artist has a great degree of creative freedom, and can experiment in ways that are impossible in the 35mm mainstream.”
Mark Osborne was at the point of beginning production for MORE in 35mm when he was approached by Callabresi and Moren. The two spearhead the LFCA Animation & Experimental Film Task Force, and they offered the organization’s support to undertake the production in 70mm, subsequently supervising and coordinating the donation of large format equipment and services from a variety of companies to make it happen.
“With the tremendous support of LFCA President Christopher Reyna and his company IMAGICA USA INC., and thanks to thousands of dollars of donated equipment and services from LFCA member companies, we managed to produce on a small budget a film that would otherwise have been cost-prohibitive,” says Callabresi.
Swell Productions played a major role in the production itself, which entailed a considerable amount of digital post production work. Using Macintosh workstations and digital software tools at the company’s Studio City facility, supplemented by digital equipment made available at IMAGICA USA INC., Swell built and composited MORE's cel animation sequences and green screen shots, created transitions and repaired various shots, working at high resolutions of 3k to 4k.
“Swell Productions played an essential and invaluable role in the making of MORE, and it wouldn’t have been the same without them,” says Mark Osborne. “I am in debt to Debra and Kelly for helping to bring my work to the cinematic giant screen, and for their exacting, professional and timely production assistance.”
MORE was Swell Productions’ fifth large format animation project. In their work with the LFCA Animation and Experimental Film Task Force, Callabresi and Moren shepherded production of three short animated works created in 70mm large format: Sky (1998, Barbel Neubauer); Aviary (1998, Jules Engel) and Singing Sticks (1998, Christine Panushka). In addition, Swell principal Callabresi supervised the creation and production of Absolut Panushka, an international animation showcase of 33 works sponsored by Absolut Vodka. Absolut Panushka received top commercial/promotional series honors at the Holland Animation Film Festival (1996) and the World Animation Festival in Pasadena (1997). With support from the LFCA task force, Absolut Panushka was blown up from 35mm to 15/70. All four projects were shown at the LFCA annual meeting in Los Angeles in May 1998.
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MORE was written and directed by Mark Osborne. Funding was provided by Flemington Pictures. MORE is a co-production of Bad Clams Productions, specializing in stop motion animation for any format, and Swell Productions, specializing in all forms of animation and their application to the Giant Screen format. MORE was produced in association with the Large Format Cinema Association, whose members provided generous support to make this project possible.
Swell Productions was founded in 1997 by filmmakers/animators Debra Callabresi and Kelly Moren. The company’s animation and digital production services include consulting, production, visual effects supervision and creative direction for all film and video formats, specializing in 70mm large format. Swell’s facilities in Studio City, California are equipped for digital production on Macintosh or Windows NT platforms, at resolutions up to 4k. In addition to the work described above, other notable Swell projects include a 30-second, animated commercial for the Consumer Credit Counselors of California (1998) and a 30-second, mixed media trailer for the 1998 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Callabresi and MOREn are both MFAs from the California Institute of the Arts, and their personal films as well as the projects of Swell Productions have received numerous awards.
For MORE information, contact:
Debra Callabresi or Kelly Moren
Tel. 818/985-0721, fax 818/985-8946, email swell@westworld.com
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Media relations by Judith Rubin, tel. 510/595-9664, email shmata@compuserve.com |
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