Backstage

Zeroes and Ones

Title: Zeroes and Ones
Sponsored by The Creative Talent Network
Length 45 min

tsito_thumbModerator Tom Sito:

Tom Sito is a thirty year veteran of animated film production.

His screen credits include the Disney classics THE LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT ? POCAHONTAS,DINOSAURS and FANTASIA 2000.  Animation World Network called Tom “one of the key players in the Disney Animation Revival” ( January 2001 ) In 1995 he left a Disney to help set up the Dreamworks Animation unit. He worked on THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, ANTZ, PAULIE, SPIRIT- STALLION OF THE CIMMARON and SHREK.

Tom also helped animate the title sequence of CITY SLICKERS, the 1982 Emmy award winning ABC special ZIGGY’S GIFT, directed 22 hours of Sat morning television including FAT ALBERT, HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, SHE-RA, BIKER MICE FROM MARS , CLICK AND CLACK’S AS THE WRENCH TURNS, and numerous commercials. Tom co-directed the animation for Warner Bros. OSMOSIS JONES 2001, was a storyboard artist, animator for Warner’s Bros THE LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION 2003. And he led the storyboard team for Fox’s GARFIELD THE MOVIE in 2004.

Tom Sito has produced short films, is an Adjunct Professor of Animation at the University of Southern California and UCLA and has written numerous articles for Animation Magazine and Animation World Network. He has lectured on animation at NYU, SVA, Cal Arts, AFI, SCAD, Univ.of Washington, Microsoft, Woodbury College, VFS, Capilano College and Sheridan College in Canada, EURO-CARTOON, the Ecole Du Grand Gobelin in Paris and Cartoon Masters in Erfurt Germany, ICA Channel 4/MESH in London, The Animar Festival in Palma Majorca, The Animation Workshop of Viborg Denmark and the Beijing Film Academy.  He was a key note speaker at the International Technologies Forum in Angouleme France and the Yomiuri New Media Forum in Tokyo.

He served three terms as President of the Hollywood Animation Guild 1992-2001 and was named President Emeritus. He is vice president of the International Animator’s Society (ASIFA/Hollywood), is a member of the Motion Picture Academy, the National Cartoonists Society and Hollywood Heritage.  His book DRAWING THE LINE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ANIMATION LABOR FROM BOSKO TO BART SIMPSON( Univ Press of Kentucky 2006) has been hailed by Leonard Maltin, and the London  Review of Books as a must read.  It has received a distinguished mention in the Princeton University List of Recommended Books for 2006. He also wrote the animation chapter of the three volume anthology JEWS IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE ( Praeger/Greenwood 2007). This fall his update to the classic animation manual TIMING FOR ANIMATION is due for release.

In 1998 he was named in Animation Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Important People in Animation.

Panelist Tad Gielow:

Tad Gielow has been in the Animation industry for the past 25 years providing technical expertise and leadership on such feature films as “The Great Mouse Detective”, “Oliver And Company”, “Aladdin”, “Pocahontas”, “Mulan”, “The Iron Giant”, “Osmosis Jones”, “Monster House”, and “Beowulf”.

Whether integrating 3D elements with 2D drawings, supervising animators and technical directors, or architecting software solutions, his knowledge of the artistic and technical aspects of producing animated films keeps growing. He is currently a Lead Engineer in the Pipeline/Software Group at Sony Pictures Imageworks providing software solutions for the upcoming films “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” and “Alice in Wonderland”.

Along with his day job, Tad is also an avid nature photographer.  His work can be seen at www.tadgielow.com

pbergeron_thumbPanelist Philippe Bergeron:

Philippe Bergeron is President of PaintScaping Inc, a company that produces animation projected on the real world, which combines his three passions: CG, acting, and landscape design.

As a CG animator, Philippe holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science.  He wrote over a dozen articles on computer graphics. He co-directed the groundbreaking short “Tony de Peltrie,” the world’s first CGI human with emotions. It closed SIGGRAPH’85. Time Magazine called it a “breakthrough.” He also character animated Stanley and Stella in “Breaking the Ice.” He was research technical director at Digital Productions, and the Head of Production Research at Whitney/Demos Productions.  He co-wrote the critically-acclaimed CGI 3-D IMAX “Adventures in Animation,” aka “The Boxer.”

As an actor, you’ve seen him in “Mad Men,” “Entourage,” “E.R.,” “The Shield,” “Rush Hour 3,” “Contact,” and “Godzilla.” He guest starred in the first episode of “The Sopranos” final season.  Recently, you’ve seen him with Alan Rickman in “Bottle Shock.”  He will next be in one scene with Robert Downey Jr. in “Iron Man 2.”

As a landscape designer, Philippe created “The Forest of Mirrors,” one of the most unique gardens in the world.  Built in a house owned by Buster Keaton, it was the site of “The Greatest 80’s CG Party of all Time,” at the close of SIGGRAPH’08.

lwilliams_thumbPanelist Lance Williams:

Lance J. Williams is an Academy Award and Steven A. Coons Award-winning graphics researcher who made major contributions to texture map prefiltering, shadowing algorithms, facial animation, and image-based rendering.

Prior to his current position as principal researcher at Nokia Research Center Hollywood, Lance was a software engineer for Google Earth, senior scientist at Applied Minds, Chief Scientist at Walt Disney Feature Animation, senior software engineer at DreamWorks SKG, and member of technical staff in Apple’s Advanced Technology Group, where he contributed to QuickTime VR.

In the late ’70’s and early ’80’s, he was a principal contributor at the  New York Institute of Technology’s Computer Graphics Lab, which pioneered digital foundations in both drawn and 3D character animation.

He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1972, and attended graduate school at the University of Utah.  He was awarded a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah in 2000.

rcartwright_thumb2Panelist Randy Cartwright:

Randy Cartwright started in the animation industry at Walt Disney Studios where he worked with several of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men”. He animated on “Pete’s Dragon”, “The Fox and the Hound” and “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” among others.

He then moved to Japan where he worked with Japanese animators on “Little Nemo In Slumberland” and was a directing animator on “The Brave Little Toaster” in Taiwan.

He returned to Disney as the artistic development lead for the Disney CAPS computer system and received an Academy Scientific Award for this work.

He animated on “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Lion King” and was the directing animator of the Magic Carpet in “Aladdin”. He became story head for “Antz” and “Shrek” at Dreamworks and did some CG animation on “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “The Hulk”, and “The Polar Express”.

Most recently he has been back at Disney Feature Animation where he storyboarded and animated on “The Princess and the Frog”.

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One Response to “Zeroes and Ones”


  1. philippe bergeron says:
    April 3, 2010 at 12:13 am

    [...] saint as Claude Dubois-Millot , Philippe Bergeron as Pierre Tari , Jean-Pierre Gillain as …Zeroes and Ones CTN Animation ExpoPanelist Philippe Bergeron: Philippe Bergeron is President of PaintScaping Inc, a company … As a [...]