Animators to be honored at Annie Awards in Royce Hall
38th Annual Annie Awards
Saturday, 7 p.m.
Royce Hall, $25
By Corinne Cunard
Feb. 4, 2011 12:39 a.m.
Gerard Butler, Steve Carell, Mandy Moore and Tom Hanks are just some of the well-known voices of this year’s animated films, but the true stars of the Annie Awards are the animators. The 38th annual Annie Awards ceremony will recognize various achievements in animation this Saturday in Royce Hall.
This year’s awards will be hosted by the comedic voice actor Tom Kenny, known for his animated role as SpongeBob SquarePants.
Though they had a small start in 1972, the Annie Awards have since grown to a larger venue, run by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, and are now a red carpet event.
In addition to the important names in the animation industry, some recognizable actors such as Billy Crystal and Seth Green have made past appearances as presenters at the award ceremony. The Annie Awards not only recognize the large productions in animation, but they also award the individuals behind the scenes, according to ASIFA President Antran Manoogian.
“Animation people have always been the anonymous gnomes behind the scenes,” ASIFA Vice President Tom Sito said. “Out front there would be Walt Disney or a larger-than-life spokesperson, but they would always talk about Walt’s anonymous elves in the background. Well, we (animators) don’t want to be anonymous ““ we like a little attention once in a while.”
The Annie Awards are commonly referred to as “the Oscars for animation” because the program is dedicated to animation, much as the Academy Awards are dedicated to live action. According to UCLA animation Professor Chuck Sheetz, it is nice to have more than a couple of awards for animation.
“Animation is an art form to itself,” Sito said. “It’s not just a trick or a technique or a software packaging, … it’s a performance art. … The people who dedicate their lives to creating these performances deserve to be recognized for their outstanding achievements as artists.”
UCLA alumni from the animation department have been nominated in past years, but this year there are no nominees from UCLA.
UCLA alumnus Mike Anderson won an Annie Award in 1997 for his work directing on “The Simpsons.” The physical award itself is a working zoetrope, a machine that spins around a series of static images ““ a tribute to the early stages of animation.
“It’s nice to see my peers get saluted for the great work that they have done,” Sito said. “It’s a chance to meet a lot of colleagues in the industry, and we get to put on tuxedos and act like grown-ups for one night.”
Anderson said he remembers working with animator Brad Bird, who will be recognized this Saturday for his lifetime contribution to animation with the Winsor McCay Award. Bird directed “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles” and worked with “The Simpsons.”
“There is so much going on in the contemporary animation world that people in the middle of their careers, like Matt Groening and Brad Bird (are being awarded). These are people that haven’t retired ““ they have a long stretch ahead of them still, and I think that’s exciting,” Sheetz said.
Animation has grown immensely over the years, and Sheetz recalled that there was once a time when the five films nominated for Best Animated Feature were some of the only animated features of the year. The list of nominations celebrates all categories of animation ranging from film to television to video games.
Some of the nominated works include major films such as “Tangled,” “Despicable Me,” “How To Train Your Dragon” and other animated works such as “Futurama” and “Adventure Time.”
“If it weren’t for the Annie Awards, there would be a lot of animation that just goes unrecognized,” Anderson said. “It’s all things animation all night, and this is the one place you will find that.”
