I'm stoked to see another round of the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI for short) taking place this year. With screenings, workshops, a marketplace, and industry talks featuring some of the biggest pros in the business like Pixar and Hanna-Barbera, this is the event you cannot miss if you either have an interest in working for the animation industry or a fan of watching animated films.

TAAFI features an impressive lineup of local and international feature and short form animated works. Gary Ye's Antelope Richards (TYS2014) will be playing as part of their student shorts program. Their opening night film is the Canadian-Korean co-production, Spark, and will feature an introduction and follow up Q&A with director Aaron Woodley.

Being such great friends of Toronto Youth Shorts, TAAFI has offered us a discounted rate for their events. Use promo code FRIENDofTAAFI for 15% off on passes. Visit the TAAFI website for more information.

-Henry

By now you’ve probably heard of the wonders of 3D printing in science and medicine. Doctors have been able to print prosthetic limbs that are customized to the individual person. 3D technology is a new(ish) technology that is growing in almost every industry! And that includes film production. New technology in film often occurs on the consumer side but 3D scanning and printing are revolutionizing film production and one major way is in prop design and manufacturing. 

Traditionally, props were modeled and built by hand, a very time-consuming process that is well known to many Cosplay enthusiasts. With a 3D printer, there is an easy and efficient way to create complex designs for costumes and props. It’s 
simple, quick, cost-saving, very flexible, and creates amazing, detailed results. When we hear of technology changing the film industry it’s usually on the consumer side. This time it’s on the production side. 3D printing is a new (ish) technology that is growing in almost every industry. But what does it mean for film production? 3D printing is revolutionizing! One major way is the way props are made. It allows very detailed print and finish and is efficient, customizable.

One major prop production company, Propshop, has already accumulated a large CV with their 3D modeled and printed film props. The technology does not just stop at props. With 3D printing, they also work on set pieces, vehicles, creatures, costumes, exhibitions, and retail merchandise. In only the last year, they’ve worked on high-profile movies such as Star Wars: Episode VIII, Spectre, The Martian, The Jungle Book, Zoolander 2, and many more.  Some of their notable props include Thor’s hammer, Zero Dark Thirty masks, and multiple props from Skyfall.

What do you think about the new 3D printing technology and where would you like to see it applied?

​-Annie

When Queen Video announced it was closing down a couple weeks ago, I have to admit that I wasn’t that upset. For those of you who aren’t aware, the store called its Queen West location home for 35 years. With online streaming on the rise, this wasn’t a big shocker. It was just a regular news story in a list of many that I read that day.
 
It wasn’t until I talked to a friend of mine that I really started to think about what the store closing meant. My friend was devastated. Queen Video was his go to spot for movies and he wasn’t happy with having to find another spot or to resort to Netflix. I’m a big Netflix fan. I’m currently binge watching three shows and I’m “still watching” for most of my free time on weekends. I made this point to my friend. Why was he so upset? Movie surfing on the couch seems like nothing to complain about.
 
He brought up some great points about the loss of the overall experience Queen Video provided to its customers. It was more than just picking out a movie. It was a physical adventure through films – one that was quite entertaining alone and with company. He was totally right. Every time I went to Queen Video it was way more exciting then mindlessly scanning through my Netflix library. I always managed to find myself in these in-depth conversations about films and genres with the people I was with, the store staff, even strangers. Getting someone else’s opinion on a movie face-to-face is much more stimulating than reading through a Rotten Tomato review (does anyone even read more than the percentage?).
 
I guess my point here is that films inspire so many emotions and opinions and can lead to some great debates. I also can’t fail to mention that the selection of films at Queen Video was incredible! That played a huge part in the experience that many of us are really going to miss. With video stores like this one closing down, we’re losing a space that holds a great collection of movies and a space to connect with other people. It’s a terrible double whammy if you ask me. 

-Michelle I

It seems it's every year I see an article asking if short film is the future of advertising. I don't know about the future, but just a month ago I came across Oscar-winning director Joachim Back's short film, This Day Forward, for the MINI convertible. MINI, owned by BMW, adds itself to a growing roster of major brands that are recognizing the power of selling story over product, and are employing the medium of short film to do so.

Just this November Canada Goose released Out There, a short film also helmed by an Oscar winning director. And Rennaisance Hotel is doing something different. This January they debuted their short film, Business Unusual, declaring their intent to create short films that inspire travel.

This is by no means a new idea: there was Nike for the 2014 World Cup with The Last Game, an animated short with a star-studded lineup of the wold's most famous players. There was Lincoln in 2011 and a series of 8 shorts made by the likes of John Woo and Guy Ritchie for BMW in the early 2000s. We can go all the way back to Apple's 1984, and there's no need to stop there.

These works go beyond classic advertising and promotional spots as we know them. There is often no direct reference to the product – instead they rely on narratives that brands think encapsulate their values. Whether it is extraordinary individuals persevering and challenging their environment, to youthful positivity and a cosmopolitan free spirit – whatever it is, there is a lot of room to play in when trying to engage viewers that are becoming less and less receptive to classic (and crude?) product placement and 30-second TV spots.

How do we feel about advertising and the short film colliding in this manner? I'm not sure I can put myself in any particular camp. On the one hand, we have a subtle encroachment on art by corporate interests, but on the other we get more palatable advertisements. And as anyone who has suffered through enough Youtube ads knows, this is something we can infinitely use more of. Advertising isn't going anywhere after all.

-Sia

I had a wonderful experience volunteering for the TIFF March Break Camp. It was great to see that both camps, Film FUN-damentals (ages 8-10), and Marker/Creator Camps (ages 11-14), focused on more than just directing. Kids get the opportunity to learn about all aspects of filmmaking, including building props, special effects, and online media. 

This past Tuesday, the Maker/Creator kids built their own speakers in the morning, and Steve Wintercroft Low-Poly animal masks in the afternoon. Afterwards, they took photos wearing their impressive creations, and uploaded them to their own TIFF March Break Blog. Every now and then, the younger campers from Film FUN-damentals would pop in, showing off their gory special effect scars that they painted on themselves! Everyone was having fun with their creations, and I was inspired to build one of those awesome masks myself!

I think it’s amazing that TIFF, like Toronto Youth Shorts, is giving kids the opportunity to experience the filmmaking world at a young age. Film is a medium that captures the creative interests of all ages, and the more hands-on experience you can get, the better! Hopefully these campers will be inspired by their week at TIFF, and will have their films screened at Toronto Youth Shorts in the future! The TIFF March Break Camps run until March 18th.

If any of you TYS filmmakers have younger siblings who want to follow in your footsteps, you should definitely encourage them to sign up for next year's TIFF March Break Camps.

-Julia

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of experiencing virtual reality video during Murmurs, a Toronto arts event held at The Grand Hall. Among various media related art installations, guests had to opportunity to relax on a big beanbag chair and watch a short 360-degree music video. The piece itself followed a man through several locations in Toronto, starting in the exact room you were sitting in in The Great Hall. I had heard how incredible VR was, but I could never have imagined what I experienced. Having the ability to look in any direction and be surrounded by video makes you feel like you are literally inside the story. Knowing that you are sitting in a room but really feeling like you have been transported somewhere else is truly incredible and seems like such a far fetched concept- until now. After this experience, it occurred to me that this maybe the future for filmmaking. As VR technology matures, from video games to animation to music videos, this has become more and more possible.

Although I was extremely impressed and mesmerized by my experience, I feel conflicted with this being the future of filmmaking. Films by themselves should already be an immersive experience through the story, the characters, the setting etc. without the need to feel literally placed in the story. As VR emerges in the film scene, the whole act of movie watching will completely change. Audiences will no longer be able to passively enjoy a story as an outsider looking in, and rather consistently feel “involved” in the experience. I see the appeal for the art department as set design and set locations take on a 360-degree format, allowing audiences to see all parts of a setting rather than the usual specifically framed area. As a result of this, production costs are going to skyrocket, not only from the specialized equipment needed, but from the cost of having 360- degree friendly sets and spaces. Moving to post productions, editing VR footage for an entire film would require specialized software, not yet available. In addition to this, I wonder how you can edit 360-degree video clips on a two-dimensional screen.

​Immersive media experiences are the goal for many in the media industry, however film is a very old art that may struggle to fully embrace this level of immersion. In saying this, VR technology has a long way to come before it can be used for feature filmmaking. Only time will tell if this trend in technology will be picked up in the film industry- until then, we wait. 

-Gabby

Last week, Hot Docs announced their Special Presentations programme, consisting of films that explore food, music, dance and both the comic and tragic sides of life.

Highlights include:

Thank You Del: The Story of the Del Close Marathon: A tribute to the comedy giant, Del Close, who inspired the Upright Citizens Brigade improv group and taught such comedy icons as Amy Poehler and Bill Murray.

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You: A profile of the man behind groundbreaking sitcoms, including All In the Family.

Weiner: The Sundance Award winner about the ex-congressman's surprise comeback campaign in the New York mayoralty race that crashes and burns amidst new sexting allegations.

Gary Numan: Android in La La Land: This film follows the 80s electro-pop pioneer as he emerges from depression to return to the stage.

Strike a Pose: Features the dancers from Madonna’s 1991 concert doc Truth or Dare who open up about becoming queer icons at a young age.

What Tomorrow Brings: Optimism and excitement imbue a remote Afghanistan village’s first school to accept female students—an all-girls institution founded by an inspiring local woman. As U.S. troops depart, the next generation of Afghans study their past and dream of their future.

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival runs April 28 to May 8, 2016. The full lineup will be announced on March 22.

-Michelle

Maybe you dedicated this weekend to frantically binge-watching the new season of House of Cards on Netflix. Or maybe you spent the weekend avoiding Twitter for fear of having House of Cards spoiled. Or maybe you don’t care about House of Cards at all. But even if that’s the case, there has probably been a time where somebody ruined the ending of a movie or TV show that you were planning to watch. And it was probably pretty aggravating. But while spoilers are annoying, they’re also an unavoidable – and even more so now that social media gives people the platform to share their instant reaction to everything as it’s happening. The internet can sometimes seem like a spoiler minefield. However, I’d like to argue that spoilers actually aren’t such a big deal. And short films are a great example as to why.

While I personally think that it’s generally ideal to go into a movie know as little about it as possible, it doesn’t mean that knowing more (or even virtually everything) about a movie ruins the experience. Even the most plot-driven thrillers should have much more to offer than just a few main story points. That’s why good movies still hold up on a second viewing, even after you know how everything plays out. It’s also why movies based on famous real-life events like Apollo 13 or Zero Dark Thirty can still be exciting and worthwhile films, even though virtually every viewer goes into it knowing what will happen.

A lot of the pleasure of a good movie can come not from finding out what ultimately happens, but in the viewing experience you have getting to that point. Many short films illustrate this perfectly, since they work on a compacted timeline. Sometimes the plot synopsis of a short film tells you the bulk of what will happen in the film, but because of the format, no one would really claim that to be a “spoiler”. In a lot of cases, it’s more about the way the story is told – through sharp writing, evocative acting, dynamic cinematography, etc. – rather than the story itself.

So why is it any different in a feature-length film or a television series? Is it because we invest so much more time into watching six seasons of The Sopranos than we do into watching an 11-minute short film? Probably. And maybe that’s fair, since there is more room to develop storylines and ensure that the audience gets attached to the characters. But by focussing solely on the ultimate conclusion of a film or TV series, it seems to me like that actually undermines all of the craft that goes into making that final punch have the impact it does.

Someone could say that they don’t need to watch The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford because the title of the movie already tells them how it ends. But, as is obvious to anyone who has seen the movie, that’s not really what it’s about. And I think that’s the case with a lot of movies. To boil them down to who dies, who falls in love with who, and who turns out to secretly be the bad guy is to miss the point. No matter the format – a short film, a feature, or a series – we should take the piece as a whole. Not just cherry pick the flashy bits as the only parts that matter.

-Colleen

The Canadian Film Festival is back for their 2016 edition at the end of March and they will be screening 8 features and 17 shorts, all produced by Canadians. Their Opening Night film is How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town, directed by Jeremy Lalonde and starring Jewel Staite of Firefly fame. 

Everyone should come out and support the amazing Canadian talent on display. Amongst the short film lineup is Worst. Day. EVER. by  Adam Goldhammer (dir. Jesse, TYS2015) Cody Campanale (dir. Roofies and Romance, TYS2011) will be hosting the Toronto Premiere of his latest feature, Jackie Boy.

For tickets and more details, visit http://www.canfilmfest.ca

-Henry