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Nominations for the 44th ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards were announced this morning, and Disney’s Zootopia led the way with 11 nominations. Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings was close behind with 10 nominations.

The leading performance by the Walt Disney Company comes one year after Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out scored a record-breaking 25 nominations and the Walt Disney Company won 75% of the categories in which it was eligible, sparking widespread complaints that the Annies do not accurately reflect the accomplishments of everyone who work in the animation industry.

Across its various divisions, the Walt Disney Company took 38 nominations this year. It’s a curious turn of events considering that the Walt Disney Company claimed that the Annie Awards voting was rigged and pressured ASIFA-Hollywood to overhaul the awards voting process just a few years ago. In 2010, Disney Animation and Pixar president Ed Catmull, along with John Lasseter, withdrew all of Disney’s productions from the Annie Awards in protest that Kung Fu Panda had won too many awards the previous year.

“We believe there is an issue with the way the Annies are judged, and have been seeking a mutually agreeable solution with the board,” Catmull told Variety at the time. “Although some initial steps have been taken, the board informed us that no further changes would be made to address our concerns.”

Catmull and Lasseter’s strong-arm tactic eventually led to the ouster of ASIFA-Hollywood’s president, Antran Manoogian, who was replaced by the duo of Frank Gladstone and (Cartoon Brew co-founder) Jerry Beck. An advisory committee of feature animation studios was formed, and numerous changes were made to the voting procedures to ensure that voters would judge categories on the merits of individual accomplishment rather than voting for a single popular film.

This year, three of the five nominees for best animated feature were Disney productions—Moana, Zootopia, and Finding Dory. Shockingly, Mark Osborne’s The Little Prince, which won France’s Cesar Award earlier this year for best animated feature, was locked out of nearly every category, garnering just two nods for production design and music. On a positive note, The Red Turtle picked up five nominations, and My Life As A Zucchini picked up thre.

On the shorts side, four of the ten films shortlisted by the Academy this year were also nominated for Annie Awards: Theodore Ushev’s Blinda Vaysha, Patrick Osborne’s Pearl, Alan Barillaro’s Piper, and Rob Valley’s Pear Cider and Cigarettes.

Below is a list of all of 2016’s Annie Awards nominees:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

• Finding Dory – Pixar Animation Studios
• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA
• Kung Fu Panda 3 – DreamWorks Animation
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Animated Feature – Independent

• Long Way North – Produced by Sacrebleu Productions, Maybe Movies, Norlum Studios, France 3 Cinéma and 2 Minutes
• Miss Hokusai – Production I.G
• My Life As A Zucchini – Rita Productions, Blue Spirit Productions, Gebeka Films, KNM
• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions
• Your Name. – CoMix Wave Films

Best Animated Special Production

• Audrie & Daisy – A production of AfterImage Public Media in association with Actual Films for Netflix
• Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll – DreamWorks Animation
• Little Big Awesome – Titmouse, Inc. / Amazon Studios
• Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life – CBS Films/J.P. Entertainment/Participant Media
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation

Best Animated Short Subject

• Blind Vaysha – National Film Board of Canada
• Deer Flower – Studio ZAZAC
• Path Title Sequence – Acme Filmworks
• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
• Piper – Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial

• Duelyst – Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc.
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer – Plastic Wax
• Lily & the Snowman – Hornet
• Loteria ‘Night Shift’ – Passion Pictures Ltd
• The Importance of Paying Attention: Teeth – Bill Plympton Studio

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children

• Ask the StoryBots – Episode: Why Do I Have to Brush My Teeth? – JibJab Bros. Studios for Netflix
• Peg + Cat – Episode: The Disappearing Art – Problem – The Fred Rogers Company/ 9ate7 Productions
• Puffin Rock – The First Snow – Episode: 59 – Cartoon Saloon, Dog Ears, Penguin Random House
• The Stinky & Dirty Show – Episode: Squeak – Amazon Studios and Brown Bag Films
• Tumble Leaf – Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children

• Adventure Time – Episode: Bad Jubies – Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios
• DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender – Episode: Return of the Gladiator – DreamWorks Animation Television
• Elena of Avalor – Episode: A Day to Remember – Disney Television Animation
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Episode: Trans-Dimensional Turtles – Nickelodeon
• Wander Over Yonder – Episode: My Fair Hatey – Disney Television Animation

Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob? – Bento Box Entertainment
• BoJack Horseman – Episode: Fish Out Of Water – Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix
• Long Live the Royals – Episode: Punk Show – Cartoon Network Studios
• The Simpsons – Barthood – Episode: Barthood- Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox Television
• The Venture Bros – Episode: Hostile Makeover – Titmouse, Inc.

Best Student Film

• Citipati – Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
• Fishwitch – Adrienne Dowling
• The Abyss – Liying Huang
• The Wrong End of the Stick – Terri Matthews
• Twiddly Things – Adara Todd

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Lead Effects Artist: David Horsley, CG Look Development Lead: Eric Wachtman, Senior Compositor: Timur Khodzhaev, Compositor: Daniel Leatherdale, Lead CG Lighter: Terrance Tomberg
• Kung Fu Panda 3 – DreamWorks Animation – Effects Sequence Lead: Matt Titus, Effects Sequence Lead: Jeff Budsberg, Effects Sequence Lead: Carl Hooper, Effects Sequence Lead: Louis Flores, Effects Sequence Lead: Jason Mayer
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Head of Effects Animation: Marlon West, Effects Lead: Erin V. Ramos, Effects Lead: Blair Pierpont, Foundation Effects Lead: Ian J. Coony
  Effects Lead: John M. Kosnik
• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions – Special Effects Supervisor: Mouloud Oussid
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Effects Lead: Thom Wickes, Effects Lead: Henrik Fält, Effects Animator: Dong Joo Byun, Effects Animator: Rattanin Sirinaruemarn, Effects Animator: Sam Klock

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

• Deepwater Horizon – The Rig – Lionsgate – Effects TD Supervisor: Raul Essig, Digital Artist : Mark Chataway, Lead Digital Artist : George Kuruvilla, Digital Artist : Mihai Cioroba
• Dr. Strange – Mirror Dimension – Marvel Studios – FX Supervisor: Georg Kaltenbrunner, Digital Artist : Michael Marcuzzi, Digital Artist : Thomas Bevan, Digital Artist : Andrew Graham, Digital Artist: Jihyun Yoon
• Ghostbusters – Iloura – Animator: Terry Bannon, Animator: Nicholas Tripodi, Animator: Daniel Fotheringham, Animator: Matt Weaver, Animator: Julien Boudou
• The BFG – Amblin Entertainment Walt Disney Pictures – Lead Effects TD: Claude Schitter, Senior Previs Animator: Benjaman Folkman, Senior Effects TD: Gary Boyle, FX Supervisor: David Caeiro, CG Supervisor: Luke Millar
• Warcraft – Magic – Legendary/ Universal – FX Supervisor: John Hansen, Lead Artist : George Kuruvilla, Lead Artist : Alexis Hall, Lead Artist : Gordon Chapman, Lead Artist : Ben O’Brien

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Atomic Puppet – Mercury Filmworks, Gaumont Animation, Technicolor – Character Animator: Barry Kennedy, Character: Disastro, Phil Felt, Joey Felt, Old Man, Atomic Puppet, Mookie, Vivian Felt, Smoke Monster, Principal Wartickle, Sword Sister (Paulina), Were-chicken, Chicken, Mr. Inkwood, Cornelius (Octopus), Atomic Android, incidental characters
• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Becoming, Part 1, DreamWorks Animation Television, Character Animator: Mike Chaffe Character: Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!
• The Snowy Day – Amazon Studios and Karrot Entertainment – Lead Animator: Rob Thomson Character: Peter, Mom, Nana + all characters included in reel
• Tumble Leaf – Episode: Thinking Outside The Hoop / Fig’s Hay- Maze-ing Wander – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment – Lead Animator: Dan MacKenzie Character: Fig, Hedge, Stick, Okra, Maple, Pine, Buckeye, Gourd, Chickens
• Tumble Leaf – Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having A Ball – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment – Lead Animator: Joe Heinen Character: Fig, Hedge, Stick, Buckeye, Pine, Beetles

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production

• Finding Dory – Pixar Animation Studios – Character Development and Animation: Erick Oh Character: All Characters
• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Animator: Jan Maas Character: Multiple
• Kung Fu Panda 3 – DreamWorks Animation – Animation Supervisor: Ludovic Bouancheau, Character: Various
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Animator : Dave Hardin Character: Judy Hopps, Stu Hopps, Bonnie Hopps, Chief Bogo, Nick Wilde
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Animator : Chad Sellers Character: Mr. Big, Koslov, Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Flash

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production

• Captain America: Civil War – Spider-man – Marvel Studios – ILM Animation Supervisor: Steve Rawlins, CG Lead Artist: Ebrahim Jahromi, Associate Animation Supervisor: Cedric Lo,
  CG Lead Artist: Stephen King, Digital Artist: Yair Gutierrez
• Games of Thrones Battle of the Bastards – Series 6 Episode 9 – HBO – Visual Effects By Iloura: Nicholas Tripodi, Visual Effects By Iloura: Dean Elliott, Visual Effects By Iloura: James Hollingworth, Visual Effects By Iloura: Matt Weaver
• The Jungle Book – Walt Disney Pictures – Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Animation Supervisor: Peta Bayley, Animation Supervisor: Gabriele Zucchelli, Character Supervisor: Benjamin Jones
• The Jungle Book – Walt Disney Pictures – Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Senior Animation Supervior: Paul Story, Animation Supervisor: Dennis Yoo, Motion Editor: Eteuati Tema, Senior Facial Modeller: Andrei Coval
• Warcraft – Orcs – Legendary/ Universal – Animation Supervisor: Hal Hickel, Digital Artist : Jee Young Park, Digital Artist: Kai-Hua Lan, Animation Supervisor: Cedric Lo, Animation Supervisor: KimHuat Ooi

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Video Game

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legends – Ludia Inc. – Character Animator: Lucio Mennillo, Character: Donatello Vision, Character Animator: Martine Quesnel, Character: Leonardo Vision, Character Animator: Alexandre Cheff, Character: Donatello LARP, Character Animator: Laura Gorrie, Character: Leatherhead LARP, Lead Animator: Guillaume Charrin, Character: Raphael Vision
• Titanf all 2 – Respawn Entertainment, LLC – Character Animator: Ranon Sarono, Character: Jack Cooper, BT-7274, Weapons, Character Animator: Shawn Wilson, Character: BT-7274, Creatures, Lead Animator: Mark Grigsby Character: BT- 7274, Jack Cooper, Viper, Weapons, Lead Animator: Paul Messerly Character: BT-7274, Jack Cooper, AI, Character Animator: Moy Parra Character: BT-7274, Villains
• Uncharted 4: A Thief ‘s End – Naughty Dog – Lead Animator: Jeremy Yates Character: All, Lead Animator: Almudena Soria Character: All, Lead Animator: Eric Baldwin Character: All, Lead Animator: Paul Davies Character: All, Lead Animator: Tom Bland Character: All
• Witcher 3 Expansion Packs – Character Animation Reel – CDProjekt Red – Lead Animator: Sebastian Kalemba, Character: Directing role

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Counterfeit Cat – Episode: 28 Seconds Later – Tricon Kids & Family and Wildseed Kids – Art Director: Raphaël Chabassol Character: Full cast: Max, Gark, Betty, etc.
• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Character Designer: Victor Maldonado, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Alfredo Torres, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Jules Rigolle Character: All Characters
• Pig Goat Banana Cricket – Episode: It’s Time to Slumber Party – Nickelodeon – Character Designer: Jennifer Wood, Character: Cricket with Turbine Nose, Burgerstein Nose Picking, Pig Window Squished, Moms Raisin, Angry Old Raisin Toothless, Angry Old Raisin Falling, Pig Melting, Incidental Adult 0014 Army, Sergeant Broseph Red Eyes, General Potato, Goat Soldier Dizz
• Rain or Shine – Google Spotlight Stories/Nexus Studios – Character Design: Robin Davey Character: Multiple
• Wander Over Yonder – Episode: The Night Out – Disney Television Animation – Character Designer: Benjamin Balistreri, Character: multiple characters

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Character Designer: Shannon Tindle, Character: Multiple
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Art Director Characters: Bill Schwab, Character: Moana, Maui, Pua, Heihei, Tamatoa, Kakamora, Lalotai Characters (Realm of Monsters), Visual Development Artist: Jin Kim Character: Moana, Maui, Gramma Tala, Sina, Ancestor, Wayfinders, Lalotai Characters (Realm of Monsters), Te Kā
• The Secret Life of Pets – Illumination Entertainment – Character Design by: Eric Guillon Character: All
• Trolls – DreamWorks Animation – Art Director: Tim Lamb Character: Trolls, Character Designer: Craig Kellman, Character: Bergens
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Character Design : Cory Loftis Character: Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Flash, Chief Bogo, Clawhauser, Mr. Big, Fru Fru, Koslov, Bellwether, Yax, Finnick, Doug, Mr. and Mrs. Otterton, Duke Weaselton, Misc. Characters

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• A Love Story – Passion Pictures – Director: Saschka Unseld
• Adventure Time – Episode: Bad Jubies – Cartoon Network Studios – Director: Kirsten Lepore
• Open Season: Scared Silly – Episode: Open Season: Scared Silly – Sony Pictures Animation – Director: David Feiss
• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Director: Patrick Osborne
• Wander Over Yonder – Episode: My Fair Hatey – Disney Television Animation – Director: Dave Thomas, Director: Eddie Trigueros, Director: Justin Nichols

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA– Director: Travis Knight
• My Life As A Zucchini – Rita Productions, Blue Spirit Productions, Gebeka Films, KNM – Director: Claude Barras
• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions – Director: MICHAEL DUDOK DE WIT
• Your Name. – CoMix Wave Films – Director: Makoto Shinkai
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Director: Byron Howard, Director: Rich Moore

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob? – Bento Box Entertainment – Composer: Loren Bouchard, Composer: John Dylan Keith
• Disney Mickey Mouse – Episode: Dancevidaniya – Disney Television Animation – Composer: Christopher Willis
• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Becoming, Part 1 – DreamWorks Animation Television – Composer: Alexandre Desplat, Composer: Tim Davis
• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Composer: Scot Stafford, Composer/Lyricist: Alexis Harte, Composer/Lyricist: JJ Wiesler
• Star Wars Rebels – Episode: #2-24: “Twilight of the Apprentice” – Lucasfilm Ltd. / Disney XD – Composer: Kevin Kiner

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production

• Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders – Warner Bros. Animation – Composer: Kristopher Carter, Composer: Lolita Ritmanis, Composer: Michael McCuistion
• Sing – Illumination Entertainment – Composer: Joby Talbot
• The Little Prince – Netflix and On Animation Studios – Composer: Hans Zimmer, Composer: Richard Harvey, Composer/Lyricist: Camille (no last name)
• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions – Composer: LAURENT PEREZ DEL MAR
• The Secret Life of Pets – Illumination Entertainment – Composer: Alexandre Desplat

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Adventure TIme – Episode: Bad Jubies – Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios – Production Design: Jason Kolowski
• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Production Design: Tuna Bora
• Puffin Rock – Episode: The First Snow – Cartoon Saloon, Dog Ears and Penguin for Netflix – Production Design: Lily Bernard
• Rain or Shine – Google Spotlight Stories/Nexus Studios – Production Design: Robin Davey
• The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show – Episode: The Wrath of Hughes – DreamWorks Animation Television – Production Design: Kevin Dart, Production Design: Sylvia Liu, Production Design: Chris Turnham, Production Design: Eastwood Wong

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Production Design: Nelson Lowry, Production Design: Trevor Dalmer, Production Design: August Hall, Production Design: Ean McNamara
• Kung Fu Panda 3 – DreamWorks Animation – Production Design: Raymond Zibach, Production Design: Max Boas
• The Little Prince – Netflix and On Animation Studio – Production Design: Lou Romano, Production Design: Alexander Juhasz, Production Design: Celine Desrumaux
• Trolls – DreamWorks Animation – Production Design: Kendal Cronkhite, Production Design: Tim Lamb
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Production Design: David Goetz, Production Design: Matthias Lechner

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Atomic Puppet – Episode: Sick Day – Mercury Filmworks, Gaumont Animation, Technicolor – Storyboard Artist: Kyle Marshall
• Disney Mickey Mouse – Episode: Road Hogs – Disney Television Animation – Storyboard Artist: Heiko Von Drengenberg
• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Storyboard Artist: Hyunjoo Song
• Milo Murphy’s Law – Episode: “Going the Extra Milo” – Disney Television Animation – Storyboard Artist: Dan Povenmire, Storyboard Artist: Kyle Menke
• The Adventures of Puss in Boots – Episode: Prey Time – DreamWorks Animation Television – Storyboard Artist: Ben Juwono

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

• Finding Dory – Pixar Animation Studios – Storyboard Artist: Trevor Jimenez
• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Storyboard Artist: Mark Garcia
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Storyboard Artist: Normand Lemay
• Trolls – DreamWorks Animation – Storyboard Artist: Claire Morrissey
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Storyboard Artist: Dean Wellins

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• BoJack Horseman – Episode: Multiple Episodes – Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix – Starring: Alison Brie Character: Diane Nguyen
• Open Season: Scared Silly – Episode: Open Season: Scared Silly – Sony Pictures Animation – Voice Actor: Will Townsend Character: Mr. Weenie
• Splash and Bubbles – Episode: #102 “I Only Have Eyespots”/”Double Bubbles” – The Jim Henson Compay and Herschend Entertainment – Puppeteer: Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Character: Bubbles
• Star Wars Rebels – Episode: #3-05: “Hera’s Heroes” – Lucasfilm Ltd. / Disney XD – Starring: Lars Mikkelsen Character: Grand Admiral Thrawn
• The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show – Episode: Ponce de León – DreamWorks Animation Television – Cast: Carlos Alazaraqui Character: Ponce de León

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Kubo: Art Parkinson Character: Kubo
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Voice Actress: Auli’i Cravalho Character: Moana
• STORKS – Warner Animation Group – Voice of Tulip : Katie Crown Character: Tulip
• Trolls – DreamWorks Animation – Cast: Zooey Deschanel Character: Bridget
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Voice Actor: Jason Bateman Character: Nick Wilde

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: The Hormone-iums – Bento Box Entertainment – Writer: Lizzie Molyneux, Writer: Wendy Molyneux
• Gravity Falls – Episode: Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls – Disney TV Animation – Writer: Shion Takeuchi, Writer: Mark Rizzo, Writer: Jeff Rowe, Writer: Josh Weinstein, Writer: Alex Hirsch
• Puffin Rock – The First Snow – Episode: 59 – Cartoon Saloon, Dog Ears, Penguin Random House – Writer: Davey Moore
• The Simpsons – Barthood – Episode: Barthood – Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox Television – Writer: Dan Greaney
• The Simpsons – The Burns Cage – Episode: The Burns Cage – Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox Television – Writer: Rob LaZebnik

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Writer: Marc Haimes, Writer: Chris Butler
• My Life As A Zucchini – Rita Productions, Blue Spirit Productions, Gebeka Films, KNM – Writer: Céline Sciamma
• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions – Writer: Michael Dudok de Wit, Writer: Pascale Ferran
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Writer: Jared Bush, Writer: Phil Johnston

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• All Hail King Julien – Episode: King Julien Superstar! – DreamWorks Animation Television – Nominee: David Craig, Nominee: Jeff Adams
• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: Sea Me Now – Bento Box Entertainment – Nominee: Mark Seymour, Nominee: Chuck Smith, Nominee: Eric Davidson
• Disney Mickey Mouse – Episode: Sock Burglar – Disney Television Animation – Nominee: Illya Owens
• Gravity Falls – Episode: Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls – Disney TV Animation – Nominee: Kevin Locarro, Nominee: Andrew Sorcini, Nominee: Nancy Frazen, Nominee: Tony Mizgalski
• Star Wars Rebels – Episode: #2-24: “Twilight of the Apprentice” – Lucasfilm Ltd. / Disney XD, Nominee: Joe E. Elwood, Nominee: Alex McDonnell

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

• April and the Extraordinary World – Je Suis Bien Content, Studiocanal – Nominee: Nazim Meslem
• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Nominee: Christopher Murrie
• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Nominee: Jeff Draheim
• SAUSAGE PARTY – Columbia Pictures Annapurna Pictures – Nominee: Kevin Pavlovic
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Nominee: Fabienne Rawley – Nominee: Jeremy Milton

JURIED AWARDS

• Dale Baer
• Caroline Leaf
• Mamoru Oshii

Ub Iwerks Award – for technical advancement in the art of animation

• Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform

Special Achievement Award

• Life, Animated

June Foray Award – for their significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation

• Bill & Sue Kroyer

Certificate of Merit

• Leslie Ezeh
• Gary Perkovac

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Thomas Piketty won the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year for his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty earned a £30,000 (about $48,711) prize, and the other shortlisted authors received £10,000 (about $16,237).

According to the press release, “the book is an account of the historical evolution of inequality in advanced economies, presenting key economic and social patterns uncovered through an analysis of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century.” Follow this link to watch Piketty’s TED talk.

We’ve posted the entire short list below. Lionel Barber, an editor for the Financial Times, served as the chair for the judging panel. Other members of this group include Steve Coll, Steven Denning, Mohamed El-Erian, Herminia Ibarra, Rik Kirkland, and Shriti Vadera.

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Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace

Part Pixar-history, part management how-to, Catmull lays out his management philosophy with examples of how he’s implemented it.

One of the things that Catmull really values is candor and building a culture where everyone feels free and safe to give honest feedback, and where speaking truth to power is welcome and encouraged. He shows this well in his book, because he illustrates his ideas with real-life examples, and he is very honest about his missteps and what happened when things didn’t work.

And I think that’s what I appreciated most about this book--Pixar isn’t a perfect company. Many beloved movies failed multiple times before hitting the theaters. I don’t want to say this is a “warts and all” because it’s not a tell-all airing out the dirty laundry, but, at the same time, it is very honest. Catmull shows where things have gone wrong and then parses it to try to examine why and what they changed to make things better.

One the other big underlying themes is letting go of ego. When people point out ways your project isn’t working, it’s not personal. (Of course as he readily admits, not taking it personally is really hard and much easier said than done, but it’s something to strive for). You should hire people smarter than you are, and then trust them to grow and you should listen to them. I think another very good point he makes is that when managers first learn about problems in meetings, or when told about something not-in-private, it’s not a sign of disrespect and that they need to GET OVER IT.

Personally, this is something I strive for in my own management. I told everyone who works at the library in my first few weeks here that if something isn’t working, I need to know. If I’m doing something that’s not helpful, they need to tell me. I have bigger things to worry about and deal with than being personally offended when you rightfully call me out on my bullshit. (Easier said than done, but I’ve been working on separating stuff out. Dealing with the issue, and then going home and acknowledging my sad feelings and wallowing a bit, and then getting on with it.)

He’s also a big proponent of creating a culture where it’s safe to take a risk and it’s safe to fail. (As Robert Reich said in his commencement speech when I graduated from college, if you’re not occasionally failing, you’re not reaching far enough or trying hard enough.)

I like that he gets into the specifics of culture clash issues when Disney bought Pixar and he became the head of Disney Animation. He then talks about what he did to change the Disney culture and that, like most things worth doing, it didn’t happen overnight and it wasn’t always smooth.

But, one of his big things, and I think this is a good take-away for libraries is that everyone’s responsible for quality. And this ties back with his points on candor--everyone should feel empowered to look for quality issues and to go ahead and fix them or bring them to the attention of someone who can help fix them. Problems are not solutions. Often the person who notices the issue won’t have the solution, because often solutions aren’t that easy, but everyone is responsible for quality. One of the ways they foster this is to bring people from different areas and departments together. When movies are in progress, works-in-progress are routinely shown to, and commented on, by people who aren’t involved in the movie. When Pixar had grown so big some of the candor was being lost, they had a notes day where people from all across the company (including kitchen staff) got together to talk about issues and possible solutions.

I spent a number of years in a large library where departments were very separate--the children’s staff had a different work room than the adult services staff, which was different than circ, etc. Since switching systems, I’ve been at branches, which are smaller. At my last branch, only 1 person could physically be on the desk at a time, so they did reference and circ, and helped people of all ages. There’s much more fluidity between departments because that’s how we need to function. I love it. We all have the areas we specialize in, but we all have our fingers in other things, which makes us understand each other a lot better, and we have a bigger pool of people to bounce ideas off, because even if it’s not their department, they know the basics of your resources and constrictions. It doesn’t always work and it’s not always good, BUT one of things I really want to do as a manager is foster this type of cross team collaboration and minimize some of the us vs. them dynamic that I often see in libraries that can get really poisonous really quickly. And this is where Creativity, Inc. really spoke to me, both with ideas on how to nurture this, but in just reaffirming its great importance. (And, here I’m going to plug my friend Rachel’s new blog, Constructive Summer: Building the Unified Library Scene which is about this very thing)

So, overall, obviously, I loved this book. I found a lot of inspiration, but it was also just a fun read (let’s face it, when your examples are about making Toy Story, I will find it more engaging than an example about making a car.) Also, the Afterword: The Steve We Knew made me cry, which was embarrassing, because I was on the bus. Steve Jobs (owner of Pixar) came up frequently in the bulk of the book, but the afterword really looked at his role, but more importantly was Catmull talking about a friend who died. Catmull really looks at the biographical books and articles about Steve and talks about how they jived and did not jive with the person he knew. As someone who’s read Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different a countless number of times, it was really interesting to see some of the big points directly rebutted.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Shocking details of wage-theft conspiracy emerge in a class action lawsuit filed against DreamWorks, Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Digital Domain 3.0, Sony Pictures Imageworks and others.

Pixar and Disney Animation president Ed Catmull has always had a reputation as a decent person, but newly revealed court documents show that he's been working against the interests of Pixar's employees for years, as well as trying to hurt other studios who didn't play by his rules.

Tech site Pando Daily has been providing amazing coverage of the Department of Justice antitrust invesigation and subsequent class action lawsuits over wage-fixing amongst Silicon Valley tech companies and animation studios.

One of the big questions surrounding the recent removal of Bob Peterson as director of The Good Dinosaur was how would Pixar finish the film in time for its May 2014 release date.

The answer: they won’t.

The Walt Disney Studios announced today that they are pushing back the release date of the director-less The Good Dinosaur from May 30, 2014, to Nov. 25, 2015. That will also bump the release of Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory from November 25, 2015 to June 17, 2016.

Pixar president Ed Catmull told the LA Times, “Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the [dinosaur] film some more time.”

Pixar will not release a film in 2014. Their next film will be Pete Docter’s Inside Out due on June 19, 2015.

Last weekend, the New York Times Sunday Magazine published a proile of the computer animation program at Brigham Young University. The school has gained a reputation in the last decade for its student films which are typically produced as group projects by the entire class, and thus exhibit high production values. (Some of these films have been featured on Cartoon Brew in the past.)

The focus of the article is the creative tension that exists between the students who attend the school and their Hollywood aspirations because Brigham Young is a Mormon-owned university run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

Students must regularly attend church services. No sex outside of marriage. (“Live a chaste and virtuous life.”) No alcohol or coffee. (There aren’t even caffeinated sodas in the vending machines.) No swearing. No deviations from the university’s meticulous grooming standards. (“If a yearly beard exception is granted, a new Student ID will be issued after the beard has been fully grown and must be renewed every year by repeating the process.”)

The director of B.Y.U.’s animation program, R. Brent Adams, says that the students who come out of the program have a different approach to filmmaking and life in general than the average fresh-out-of-school film industry pro: “Without being preachy about it, if we can add something to the culture that makes people think about being better human beings—more productive, more kind, more forgiving—that’s what we want to do.”

Curiously, the write-up mentions praise for the school from Disney Animation and Pixar president Ed Catmull, the highest-profile Mormon working in animation, but neglects to mention that he is a Mormon, too. The films that Catmull oversees, such as Wreck-It Ralph, get an ethical pass from at least one student interviewed for the piece:

It wasn’t simply a matter of avoiding sex and violence. (A few times, I heard even Shrek described disapprovingly: too many fart jokes, too much cynicism.) There was, instead, a fixation on whether you walked away from the movie feeling uplifted. That question superseded everything, even the usual genre and age-demographic lines. A senior, Megan Lloyd, told me: “I just saw The Dark Knight. It was wonderful, but it’s just so dark. I didn’t feel better about myself after I saw it. Instead, I felt like, I’m a horrible human being—like all human beings are. Now,” she went on, nearly in the same breath, “contrast that with a film like Wreck-It Ralph. That teaches you: Hey, you can be a better person. Here’s how!”

Anyone interested in the history of computer animation and the roots of Pixar is in for a treat. Headlining this post is a forty-year-old video created by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull and classmate Fred Parke at the University of Utah. The animation of the hand, which is among the earliest examples of rendered 3D animation, was reused in the 1976 feature Futureworld. It was the first use of computer modeled animation in a feature film. The backstory of who had a copy of the entire film and why it’s posted on Vimeo is also fascinating and worth a read.

Next up is Vol Libre by Loren Carpenter. The film is considered a classic of early computer graphics and caused a huge stir when it debuted at SIGGRAPH in 1980. In fact, Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith walked up to Carpenter after the screening and offered him a job on the spot in George Lucas’s Computer Division, which eventually became Pixar. Carpenter has been with the studio ever since. Here’s what he wrote about Vol Libre in the video description on Vimeo:

I made this film in 1979-80 to accompany a SIGGRAPH paper on how to synthesize fractal geometry with a computer. It is the world’s first fractal movie. It utilizes 8-10 different fractal generating algorithms. I used an antialiased version of this software to create the fractal planet in the Genesis Sequence of Star Trek 2, the Wrath of Khan. These frames were computed on a VAX-11/780 at about 20-40 minutes each.

I didn’t interview Catmull or Carpenter when I wrote The Art of Pixar Short Films, but I did speak to three of their colleagues on the technology side—Alvy Ray Smith, Eben Ostby and Bill Reeves. Of the hundreds of interviews I’ve conducted over the years, I’ll admit that these were the only times I’d ever felt intimidated. These folks are brilliant minds who are smarter than I could ever hope to be. I have a layman’s understanding of how computer animation works, but I can’t pretend to grasp the nuances of how they write code that translates ones and zeros into fantastic computer animated imagery. I’d be willing to be wager that very few of the artists who work in computer animation have any clue either. The technology is taken for granted; it simply exists.

It didn’t exist four decades ago though. Watching these early pieces of computer animation only reinforces my sense of awe and admiration for the scientists and technologists who have made computer animation possible. In a mere blip of time, they’ve built the technological platform that makes possible every one of today’s computer-animated and effects-laden films. Not to mention that their discoveries have led to the development of entirely new forms of entertainment like video games. They are some very smart people indeed.

(Thanks, Brian Hoary, for the Ed Catmull link)

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Ed Catmull, Loren Carpenter