IN 3D

IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!

Scrap Metal is now available to view in 3D exclusively only on Youtube! And its not that fancy-pants, polarized 3D crap you see now. No, this is Sheridan Scope - hard core, blue-and-red, 50's monster-flick 3D where the colours are all screwed up, but you don't mind in this case cause its all nostalgic and junk! So dig out those old 3D glasses you cut out of your cereal box 15 years ago and put them to good use!



*NOTE: After launching the video, click the 'change quality' icon, which is the little gear in the lower, right-hand corner and change the video to 720p for best resolution, then click the little 3D icon which will then appear just left of this icon. You get some 3D options, I'd suggest 'full colour'. For best results watch in full-screen and, if this embed gives you any trouble, just click the little YouTube icon in the lower-right corner to go straight to the YouTube page.

**UPDATE: YouTube no longer seems to have the 3D feature, but you can still enjoy the film in high resoltion.



Scrap Metal is Invading Now!

Well, its midnight, December 21, 2012. The Mayans predicted the end of the world and here it is... in the form of my stop-motion film, Scrap Metal!

 

 



Scrap Metal from Anthony Straus on Vimeo.

 

Merry Doomsday! And a happy New Year!

Teaser and December 21 Release Date!

Well, we've all been patiently waiting for the Mayan calendar to end and now it is almost upon us. And you all know what that means right? Armageddon!! And what better way to celebrate the end of civilization than with the worldwide release of Scrap Metal? That's right, one year and eight months after the completion of my thesis film, I've finally decided to release it on the web for everyone to stream absolutely free! Why free? Well, money isn't really going to be worth anything in 2013 now is it? Except maybe to burn for warmth after solar flares knock us into the dark ages! One problem with my plan though, if the grid does go down, how will anyone be able to watch Scrap Metal on the Internet? Well, just be ready on the 21st to catch it before the grid is gone, don't wait, watch it while you can and send it to everyone you know so that they can get a quick glimpse of what the end of the world looks like before enjoying it firsthand!

 

I can't just leave you all high and dry though, so here is a little teaser that has been a long time coming:

 



View in HD: Scrap Metal Teaser from Anthony Straus on Vimeo.

Local Focus 5 Film Festival Winner!

Scrap Metal is this year's winner Animated Film category of the Local Focus 5 Film Festvial!

This is the fifth annual festival of its kind, hosted in my hometown by the Multicultural Cinema Club. Scrap Metal screened in the 8pm block at Queen Street Commons Café on November 22, 2012.
I meant to go to this but, unfortunately, completely forgot because I just finished moving back home from California. It`s a real shame I didn't go.

My prizes include a $600 HD Equipment Package & One Year Membership at the Multicultural Cinema Club! In addition, I'm receiving a certificate and getting paid CARFAC recommended artist fees. CARFAC is an organisation that makes it their priority to ensure artists are paid a cut of profits resulting from the screening or distribution of their work. This is fantastic and I think other festivals should make this a priority as most other festivals actually cost the artist money to submit, but don't offer any financial return or reimbursement after the festival is over.

Props to the Multcultural Cinema Club, you guys are awesome!

2012 St. Louis International Film Festival

Scrap Metal has been accepted into the narrative shorts category of the 21st annual St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF).

 

 

SLIFF offers an official Academy-sanctioned short subject competition, which allows winners in all categories to be eligible for consideration for an Oscar nomination without doing a theatrical release. So this is a very prestigious festival to be a part of!

 

Scrap Metal will be screening Sunday, November 11th at 9pm at the Tivoli Theatre as part of the Animation 2 program.

2012 Zero Film Festival - Canada

Scrap Metal recently screened as part of the 2012 Zero Film Festival in Toronto and Montreal.

 

 

 

This was launched very last minute, so I only got around to posting about it now and I was unable to attend, but its still pretty cool!

 

Scrap Metal showed in the Toronto Festival On September 28th in the 9pm block of Toronto filmmaker shorts



Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival 2012

Scrap Metal has been offically selected for the first ever Mt Hood Independent Film Festival for the "horror/sci-fi short" category

 

 

The Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival seeks to bring films of multiple genres including Narrative, Animation, Documentary, and Sports Documentary to the community of Hood River, OR and the Columbia River Gorge area. The Film Festival also seeks to provide a venue to screen films from around the world which otherwise would not be seen in this area.

 

October 26-28 at the Columbia Centre for Arts in Hood River, Oregon.



Grand River Film Festival 2012

Scrap Metal will be screening in my own backyard! Come out for the 6th annual GRFF!

 

I am featured in the Waterloo Region Short Film portion of the festival, taking place Tuesday, October 16 at 7pm at the Princess Twin Waterloo at 46 King Street North, Waterloo.

 

This includes the awards presentation as well as the screening of the finalists, followed by a catered networking event.

 

GRFF runs October 16-21, 2012.

 



Toronto International Film and Video Awards

Scrap Metal is nominated as one of four finalist for an award in the children's category for the 2nd annual Toronto International Film and Video Awards

 

 

The festival organisers seem to have a pretty cool arsenal of firearms, so make sure you all check out this festival or your car could be next!

 

They've started an indiegogo campaign if you can't go but would still like to support.

I can't find information on the website about the time and place, but I am assuming that TIFVA is being held on October 12-14, 2012

UPDATE:

Scrap Metal won for Best Children's Film!

 

 



Off International 2012

Scrap Metal is officially selected in the animated shorts category of the 15th annual Okanagan Film Festival

 

 

 Off is an exclusive multimedia event showcasing talent in international works of cinema. Their  mission is to bring the culture of international cinema to the Okanagan. To Inspire. To Encourage. To Support.

 

Off International takes place on October 11-14  at the at the Paramount theatre in downtown Kelowna, BC.

 

 

The schedule has been released.


UPDATE:

Scrap Metal won the award for Best Animated Short. Thank you to those who organised and supported Off International.



Toronto International Student Animation Festival 2011

Just found out that Scrap Metal was featured in the 5th Annual Toronto International Student Animation Festival

 

 

 

 

Sheridan must have submitted my film, because I did not and I only found out now when I googled by film name. Scrap Metal showed in the stop-motion category of the post-secondary section on Friday, November 4th 2011. It was shown at the NFB in Toronto too, which is really awesome! Wish I knew about it when it showed...



New Orleans Horror Film Festival 2012

Scrap Metal has been accepted to the Sci-Fi Shorts category for the 2nd annual New Orleans Horror Film Festival.

 

 

 

The Festival takes place October 25th - 28th

 

at

 

The Inn on Bourbon, 541 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

 

The Schedule has yet to be released. This looks like a fun and cool festival though. I hope my film plays okay, it will be surrounded by intense horror flicks whereas Scrap Metal is intended as a family accessible Sci-Fi monster flick; hopefully the audience will be open to that and/or at least enjoy the visuals.

 

At the very least, it has an awesome laurel to put on my site!

2012 SoCal Film Fest

Scrap Metal has been accepted to the short film category for the 8th annual SoCal Film Fest which strives to be an outlet for independent films.

 

 

 

 

The schedule is available here

 

Location:

 

Huntington Beach Library Theatre at 7111 Talbert Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

 

 

Scrap Metal will show at 2:35 pm, on September 28th

BuddyFest 2012

Scrap Metal has been awarded the coveted Spirit of Eagle Award for great vision in BuddyFest 2012, the first ( annual?) animation festival held privately at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios on Friday, August 25th.

 

 

 

I cannot express what a tremendous honour this is. Oscars? That's so yesterday; a BuddyFest award? Now that's once in a lifetime! Thank you Buddyfest and everyone else that made this possible. Paul Levasseur, your music had some hefty bass that I haven't been able to fully appreciate for a while, it sounded just amazing, great work!

 

LA INDIE Film Festival

Scrap Metal has been accepted to screen in the 2012 LA INDIE Film Festival

September 7-13

Scrap Metal shows September 10 at 7:00pm

Los Feliz Cinema

Los Feliz, Los Angeles

California

2012 Brantford Film Festival

Scrap Metal is accepted into the third annual Brantford Film Festival which is not too far from home, so I'm hoping I make it to this.

November 1st to 3rd at Laurier Brantford University's Research and Acedemic Centre

Schedule available here

 

See Scrap Metal at:

 

Nov 1 - 7:00 pm - Laurier RCE 004

 

Nov 2 - 9:30 pm - Laurier RCE 004

 

Nov 3  - 1:00 pm - Laurier RCW 202 (Family Friendly screening!)

 

 

Mississauga Independent Film Festival

Scrap Metal has been accepted to the 2012 Mississauga Independent Film Festival

Scrap Metal will play on Saturday, July 28th in the 12 noon block.

Cineplex Odeon Winston Churchill

2081 Winston Park Drive, Oakville

Ontario, L6H 6P5

Canada

 On July 25, 2012 MIFF officially opens at 7:00pm with a formal Gala at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Awards ceremony and announcing of the winners on Sunday July 29th at 9:00pm.

Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival

Scrap Metal is accepted into the official selection for  the Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival! This is an awesome festival in Atlanta Georgia that is part of a larger Dragon*Con event full of panels, distributors and celebrities. It focuses of imaginative films, such as sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic book genre film, this this is right up my alley!

Aug 31- Sep 3, 2012

Atlanta, Georgia

The Schedule has yet to be released, I will update accordingly.

This was one of the festvials I really wanted to be a part of, so I am very excited. I'm working on a plan to go, not sure it will work out because that is the same weekend I want to visit home, so we'll see.

UPDATE:

Scrap Metal was one of three finalists for the Animated Fantasy category. In the end, Opening Day took the win, but it is still exciting to be one of the finalists!

2012 CalAniFest

Scrap Metal has been accepted into the 2012 California International Animation Festival as part of the Experimental/Other short film category.

The CalAniFest will show in the form of television broadcast segments on KAZV-TV, making this Scrap Metal's television debut!

KAZV-TV Comcast Channel 195

Broadcast Channel 14

CalAniFest screens:

Month of June, 2012

Weekdays 1pm - 3pm (PST)

Saturdays 12pm - 3pm (PST)

Mon/Wed 11pm

Schedule found here

Scrap Metal airs between 1pm and 3pm PST on:
June 8
June 14
June 19
June 25

KAZV is a local television station based in the same city as CalAniFest's headquarters, Modesto. Apparently it was recently dropped as channel 14 on Charter cable, limiting access to how many people can now view the CalAniFest. Shame on you Charter! I'm told that there is a potential audience of up to 1.5 million views for CalAniFest, though I am unsure if this statistic was taken before or after Charter cancelled its service.

I am also unsure as to what channel KAZV-TV can be found on outside of Modesto, but please tune in if you get the opportunity, as it is sure to be an awesome cartoon lineup!

You will have a chance to vote online!

Voting is available on CalAniFest's home page from June 1-28


UPDATE (July 6):

Scrap Metal wins! Twice!

• 1st place for Experimental/Mixed Media Category
• Audience Choice for the Experimental/Mixed Media Category

 

Voting is closed, I'm sending out a special thanks to everyone who voted, you know who you are, it was much appreciated.

Best Animation in "15 Minutes of Fame"

Scrap Metal is being awarded as "Best Animated" film in the 2012 15-Minutes of Fame Film Festival, the 4th year of this bi-annual fest.

“15-Minutes of Fame”

Festival of Short Films

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Palm Bay Dollar Movies
160 Malabar Road
(Palm Bay West Shopping Center)
Palm Bay, Florida 32908

Scrap Metal will show during the 7:00pm screening, along with several other great films for the low price of $2.00. So come on down if you are in the Palm Bay area!

Columbia Gorge International Film Festival

Scrap Metal has been selected to show in the fifth annual 2012 COLUMBIA GORGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, formerly known as the Washougal International Film Festival. The Festival is spread all over downtown Vancouver, Washington,  under an organisation called ANGAELICA. It is scheduled for August 15th to 19th, 2012. It not not decided yet which day(s) Scrap Metal will show.

Sounds to be a very prestigious event and I'm very excited to be a part of it! The film schedule has yet to be released, but here is the official selection: http://www.angaelica.com/festivals/2012cgiff/officialselections/

Pencils, Pixels and Puppets

Scrap Metal has been selected to show in Pencils, Pixels and Puppets, the Sheridan Animation Showcase being held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre on May 8th!!!

May 8, 2012
TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre
350 King Street West, Toronto
Cinema 2
7-9 P.M.  

The TIFF Theatre is famous for its Toronto International Film Festival, a highly prestigious festival which very few students have the opportunity to show in this because of tight competition, and also because it requires a 35 mm or beta print exhibition copy... which I do not have... *cough, cough*

This Sheridan Animation Showcase event consists of specially selected student films created at Sheridan College in the past 5 years. It is organised by Sheridan animation professors Chris Walsh and Angela, with input from various other professors. I do not know the specific line-up, but I do know that it will be an all-star line up of the best films to come out of Sheridan, including 3 other stop-motions shorts. If you are in or near the Toronto area, I highly recommend checking out this event, I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

 

Tickets are available to purchase online: http://animation.sheridanc.on.ca/TIFF2012/ I don't know how much, but it won't be too expensive. There will be mingling in the Lightbox lounge afterwards, hopefully with many old friends and the potential to create many new connections. Spread the word and come on out if you can!

Northwest Animation Festival

Hey all, Scrap Metal has just been accepted to screen in the Northwest Animation Festival in Portland Oregon! It will screen at one of these times at this location (I'll update the post as info becomes available):

 Friday May 18, 7:00-11:00pm

 Saturday May 19, 7:00-11:00pm

 @ the Hollywood Theatre

 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard

 Portland, Oregon  97212

Scrap Metal Played in Aniwow!2011 in Beijing!

Scrap Metal was selected in the Official Competition in the category of Animation for the [Aniwow!2011] 6th China (Beijing) International Student Animation Festival held from October 28th to 31st 2011.

I regret that I did not find out until months after the competition was over but I'm very honoured that my film featured in it.

http://www.aniwow-online.com/channel.v2?request_locale=en