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Welcome!
Animation Universe, the 2007 Conference of the Society for Animation Studies (SAS), was held at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon (USA), Friday, June 29 through Sunday, July 1, 2007. Animation Universe was hosted by the School of Fine and Performing Arts and the Department of Art at Portland State University.
As our international membership meets for our 19th annual conference, we welcome students, educators, and animation scholars, as well as animators and filmmakers, to explore the multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary, and multi-cultural dimensions of animation's history, theory, practice, challenges, and future trends.
Limited only by space, time, and imagination, in all its myriad forms, animation continues to expand boundaries of human storytelling and artistic expression. Always inventing, always evolving new technologies, techniques, and applications, we use animation to depict, communicate, and visualize our world and ideas in ways not possible in other media. From cartoons to special effects in feature films—to computer games, digital installations, and experimental art—to architectural and interactive simulations, and advertising all kinds of products on television and the Internet—animation plays an increasingly pervasive role in entertainment, art, industry, and science.
Our theme, "Animation Universe," therefore continues our previous discussions with as broad and inclusive a perspective as possible as we explore the many roles and influences animation has in global society. From film to theme-park to gallery to mobile handheld, animation pervades contemporary media and calls for a lively discussion of its tremendous cultural and creative impact.
Keynote Address
Animation Universe is very excited to announce that Dan McLaughlin, Chair of the MFA Program in Animation at UCLA will present our Keynote Address, Friday, June 29 at 9AM. Dan will no doubt illuminate us on the history of animation, our own history, and the amazing future for animation in the hands of our student animators and filmmakers.
Dan McLaughlin, MFA Program in Animation, UCLA
Friday, June 29
9:00-10:00 am
 | The animation universe today is more than watching a Bugs Bunny short, a Disney feature, or an Oscar Fischinger Absolute Animation film. The animation universe has exploded and is expanding at galactic speed in ever changing directions and this keynote address will be a brief overview of where we were, where we are, and some thoughts on where we are going. |  |
Dan McLaughlin was born in Hollywood, California, in August 1932 and started work in Hollywood features four months later. The medical costs of his birth were paid for from his first paycheck. After working in more than 35 films as an extra, stand-in, and bit player, he decided that education was more important and quit film at the age of 13. Some of the memories from that period were his off-screen fights with the fat kid from the Our Gang comedies, and almost being shot by John Wayne for using his makeup. After serving in Korea and working as a shill in Nevada, he entered the UCLA Animation Workshop in 1956. After graduating he became the staff assistant in the Workshop. Since 1970 he has been a Professor and Chair of the MFA Program in Animation. He has made 22 animated films, from the traditional to the experimental, which have won both national and international awards. GOD IS DOG SPELLED BACKWARDS (1963), which started the style and technique of Kinestasis, CLAUDE (1963), and Animation for Sesame Street, are some of his films. In Jos, Nigeria he designed and directed a national animation studio for Nigeria. He has twenty published articles on animation. He introduced computer animation into the Workshop in 1968 and interactive animation in 1989. Today the workshop is one of the finest animation and computer animation programs in higher education, with many of its graduates leaders in the field. In 1995 he was the recipient of the ASIFA Hollywood's Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in Animation. Today he is writing Animation Rules, The Complete Book on Animation.
Conference Panel
Animation Universe Panel—Pervasive Animation: From Mobile Telephony to Gallery Installation
We are also excited to present a special panel discussion, "Pervasive Animation: From Mobile Telephony to Gallery Installation," that will address the multidisciplinary nature and cultural impact of animation, foster collaboration between disciplines and cultures, and generate debates around the animated form. The panel, that includes members of the editorial team of animation: an interdisciplinary journal, and is chaired by the Editor, will open a discussion about animation in its myriad forms and applications across a wide band of creative and professional practice and industrial implementation, and will open to a discussion with the about how it will occupy increasing influence on our understanding of how we see the world through these fields.
Panel Chair: Dr. Suzanne Buchan, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK
Panelists:
Dr. Paul Ward, Arts Institute at Bournemouth, UK
Bob Rehak, Swarthmore College, USA
Dr. Karin Wehn, University of Leipzig, Germany
Conference Closing Reception and PanelHosted with a generous grant from Pacific Northwest College of Art.
We are also pleased to announce the addition of a special Closing Reception and Closing Panel, "Thinking the Visual: Seeing Narrative, Moving Boundaries", both hosted by the Pacific Northwest College of Art for SAS Conference and Platform Festival attendees.
The reception at PNCA will begin at 5:30pm Sunday, July 1 and will be followed by the panel discussion from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.
Panel Chair: Rose Bond, animator and educator, Pacific Northwest College of Art, USA
Panelists:
Scott McLoud, comic artist, theorist, and author, USA
J.J. Sedelmaier, Director, J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., USA
Paul Wells, author and educator, Loughborough University, UK
So don't fly out immediately Sunday evening! Stay with us for the evening to relax, enjoy our short time together, and wrap up the festivities with a brilliant discussion of everything we have seen and heard the past three days.
Use the links provided to view the conference program, find information on travel and lodging, and register to attend. Early registration for a reduced rate ends April 30, 2007.
Daniel
Pirofsky, Conference Chair, pirofskyd@pdx.edu
Brian Wells, Conference Associate Chair, mindfulwhim@gmail.com
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