Red Stick International Animation Festival

Red Stick offers an easy and affordable way for aspiring animators to meet with some of the top names in the animation, video game and digital media industries. Come to Baton Rouge to get the positive feedback you need to make your idea for the next big thing in video games, movies, television or art a success!

Each year, top names in the animation industry attend Red Stick to host workshops for aspiring professionals and students. Below is a list of workshops offered at Red Stick 2009:

Creating the Perfect Pitch 
With Heather Kenyon, animation and intellectual property consultant
If you have a great idea for your own animated series and you want to begin to submit it to networks and producers, then you cannot miss this workshop!  Heather Kenyon will begin with an overview of the pitching process, and then will move into what the industry expects to see in the way of a pitch document.  A certain format needs to be followed in order to be professional, concise and start your project out on the right foot.  How much art do you need?  Do you need a finished pilot?  Are story lines important? What's a logline?  All of this and more will be revealed.  Kenyon will then take brave candidates from the audience to pitch their ideas, live and participants will critique them in a loving and supportive way.  From their bravery we will all learn!

Animation Express
With Chris Williams and Dougy Pincott, Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games
Chris Williams and Dougy Pincott from the Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games in the UK have built an international reputation for their work within schools and community groups. Chris and Dougy come to Red Stick to work with groups from Louisiana to show them just what it takes to make a short animated film, whether you are a complete beginner or seasoned expert! Participants will be taken through the entire production process in just four hours, and they will leave with a complete film.  Come along to create your very own animated masterpiece in the style of Wallace and Gromit.

Visual Effects with 3-D Studio Max
With Pete Draper, visual effects animator and author
Visual effects animator and author Pete Draper will demonstrate how to produce effective visual effects simulations, concentrating on analyzing real-world elements and transferring this observational knowledge into breaking down the effect to be used within the base 3D software. In this workshop, participants will be blowing stuff up, crashing stuff into other stuff and generally making a total mess of things (but all under control, of course!) This workshop is aimed at users who are experienced with 3-DS Max who already have an in-depth knowledge of the software and want to further their knowledge (and learn some cool tricks and tips on the way!)

Guerilla Animation Workshop
With Walter Santucci, animator
While the recent economic downturn seems to have made success in the animation industry harder than ever, it has actually created more opportunities for animators who work outside the mainstream. No matter how much the big studios lay off workers and cut expenses, they can never make their operating costs lower than that of the Guerrilla animator, who operates solely with a drawing table and a home computer. Using lessons from his recently published book, Guerrilla Guide to Animation, (Continuum Press) 20-year veteran animator Walter Santucci offers a workshop to illustrate many animation shortcuts and clever production methods, as well as suggestions on how the outsider animator can take advantage of the much lower budgets offered today as a way to break into the industry. He will show simple ways for outsiders with little or no formal training to elevate the quality of their work so it will outshine the thousands of little animated films floating around the Internet. Accompanied by many vibrant, funny and often rare clips from his past work, Santucci will discuss how he learned to animate, how he began selling his films and how he eventually started getting hired by established companies and doing big budget corporate work, while never losing his indie roots. His stories illustrate not only how to produce animation in a DIY fashion, but also how having a “guerrilla” attitude can be an asset when working with mainstream companies, and include encounters with lots of famous and infamous people along the way.

Playing Games All Day: Video Game Development Workshop
With Clint Ourso, Volition, Inc. video game developer
Clint Ourso, Studio Project Management Manager at video game developer Volition, Inc. will take the workshop participants from brainstorming original game ideas through the development process to getting the product on the store shelves. He will go through each major phase of development and guide the group through various development challenges as they take their game to the marketplace. He will introduce inevitable real-world situations that threaten to delay the project and assist the group with managing through them. He'll disprove the theory that game developers just play games all day.

Animal Anatomy for Animators
With Dr. Stuart Sumida, animal locomotion animation expert
Stuart Sumida, a professor of biology at California State University-San Bernardino, and anatomical consultant on the Academy Award-nominated films Bolt from Walt Disney Feature Animation and Kung Fu Panda from DreamWorks Animation, will present a half-day workshop on the movement of four-legged animals (mostly mammals), aimed at understanding them for the animation process.

Creating Motion Capture for Video Games
With Jim Gentile, motion capture artist for Midway Games
Jim Gentile of Midway Amusement Games will show how his company employs the use of motion capture data to create animation for current-generation video games. Gentile will demonstrate how to import motion data onto a model and animate it using Motion Analysis editing software and Motion Builder animation software.

Character Development
With Jason Sadler, animator
Jason Sadler, who has worked on various educational products and toys for Leapfrog Enterprises and animated on numerous projects, including the cult animated hit Happy Tree Friends, will give tips on creating, developing and sustaining animated characters.

Introduction to Stop Motion Animation
With Walt Hyneman, Hollowman animator
Walt Hyneman, a scientific animator who works in the special effects industry, will give a crash course in how to develop breathtaking sequences and anatomical visualization.

How to Draw Dinosaurs
With David Krentz, expert dinosaur animator
David Krentz, animator, professional clay sculptor and renowned dinosaur designer, will show some tips and techniques for bringing these large lizards to life through drawing for animation, video games or other live-action sequences.

Baton Rouge Cartoonist Society Workshop
The local cartoonist society will host a FREE workshop for kids of all ages who are interested in learning how to draw cartoons. Both Gold and Red Pass holders may attend this workshop.

Stop Motion Animated Movies for Families
With Walt Hyneman, Hollowman animator
Walt Hyneman, a scientific animator, will offer a workshop designed for families to give them an idea of the tricks and techniques that go into the special effects they see in animated films.