GLOBAL ANIMATION
The Audience for Animation - 2:30PM
This panel will take a look at the use of animation as a storytelling tool across all media forms, genres and platforms
Featuring:
Jordan Kerner | Producer of SMURFS
Kevin Bannerman | Amazon Studios, former exec at Disney, Fox Animation
Candace Reckinger | Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract
Michael Patterson | A-ha's Take On Me
PANELISTS
Kevin Bannerman
An independent producer currently producing an untitled animated musical for Amazon Studios. Also serves as the Special Advisor to the Animation and Game Industries for the Los Angeles Film School. Credits as a producer include FOREVER PLAID: THE MOVIE, CURIOUS GEORGE and 30 DAYS UNTIL I’M FAMOUS. Projects developed and supervised as an executive at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Fox Animation and Fox Family Films include THE LION KING, POCAHONTAS, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, EVER AFTER, ANASTASIA, MONKEYBONE and ICE AGE. Currently serving on the Board of Directors of LiveArts Group, an organization which funds the production of music videos as a way to bring involvement in the arts to at-risk kids, as well as Make Music Los Angeles, a city-wide musical festival held annually on June 21.
Candace Reckinger
A film artist and director, Candace Reckinger has worked in both the commercial and independent realms blending live action with experimental techniques to produce short films, music videos and commercials. She received her MFA from UCLA and was mentored by pioneer independent director Shirley Clarke. While there, Candace documented legendary punk musician Patti Smith and LA bands "X", the Screamers, and the Go-Go's. She has a BFA in painting and animation from the School of Art & Design at University of Illinois Chicago.
Candace won acclaim for her experimental narratives 'Occupied Territory' and 'Clues to Her Whereabouts' . Working with Michael Patterson as a directing & animation team for over 10 years, she directed music videos and commercials combining animation and graphics with live action. Their work netted seven number one clips on MTV as well as top accolades by Rolling Stone, Billboard, MVPA, and the American Music Awards.
Her awards include a Grammy for Best Music Video for Paula Abdul's 'Opposites Attract', an MTV 'Moon Man' for best Female Video for Susanne Vega's 'Luka', and Women in Film's Lillian Gish Award for Sting's 'Be Still My Beating Heart'. At O Pictures and Rhythm and Hues Studios, Candace co-directed commercials winning a Clio award and a Silver Hugo/Chicago Film Festival. In 2008, the Museum of Modern Art (NY) added six Patterson & Reckinger music videos to their permanent collection.
Candace has taught animation and film production at several universities and currently teaches in the graduate animation program at USC. She is working on an extended project '(in search of) Paradise' and is filming in the Eastern Sierras and Mojave Desert.
Michael Patterson
Mike Patterson is an animator and director of music videos, commercials, and blended media projects. He began his career in 1985 by animating the epic MTV hit, Take On Me for A-Ha. Teaming up with his wife Candace Reckinger, they directed a string of MTV hits that include, Suzanne Vega's "Luka", Sting's "Be Still My Beating Heart" and Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract", which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video.
As a director at Rhythm & Hues Studios, he worked extensively with blending live action with animation and visual effects. Specializing in combining live action performance with animated characters and fx, his work has received numerous awards including Clios and appearances on the Superbowl. A DGA veteran since 1993, he continues to direct and design commercials internationally.
Patterson studied animation with Jules Engel at CalArts where he produced his Student Academy Award winning animated film "Commuter". In fall of 2006, Commuter was added into the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection along with seven Patterson-Reckinger music video clips.
Mike and Candace recently directed a large-scale visualization of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" for the gala opening of Frank Gehry's New World Center in Miami. The 35-minute, 5-screen, live animated program was a collaboration with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and 11 USC animation students and recent grads.
In April, Mike produced the live outdoor event, "Rhythms + Visions - Expanded + Live" on the Cinematic Arts campus. It featured performances by cutting edge international VJ's and live musicians. as well as multi-screen installations and stereoscopic architectural mapping.
Jordan Kerner
Jordan Kerner is a veteran live action and animated producer of over 50 feature films and television movies, including the highly-acclaimed FRIED GREEN TOMATOES as well as the animated features SMURFS and the upcoming sequel, SMURFS 2. Kerner is also a USC graduate and was most recently Dean of the Film School at the North Carolina School of the Arts.
MODERATOR
David Craig
David Craig is a media professor, producer and activist. As a Senior Lecturer at USC, Craig specializes in media industry studies, and the principles, practices, history, theories and research about the entertainment industry. He has developed courses on entertainment media management, television programming in the Digital Age, media convergence and the future of Hollywood, media ethics and regulation, global Hollywood and film producing and production culture. He has his Masters in Cinema Studies from NYU, and is pursuing his PhD in Education with an emphasis on Media and Culture from UCLA.
As a media producer, Craig is a veteran film and television producer and programming executive. Since 2007, he has been a producer-partner with Linda Berman in Media Nation, a cross-media production company. This summer, they shot Girl Fight and One of their Own for Lifetime . In addition, they have sold, developed and/or produced scripted and non-scripted series to HBO, ABC Network, CBS Television Studios and History, graphic novels to Hill & Wang Publishers and web pilots to Sony Digital. They are also developing educational software based on a format called “documation” that uniquely combines documentary source material with various forms of animation and digital effects to produce narratives for use by both teachers and students.
David was also an executive at A&E where he developed and supervised production of over 20 movies, mini-series and drama series. He was nominated for an Emmy for Napoleon and Ike: Countdown to D-Day and produced Flight 93, the most watched program in the history of the A&E Network. In addition, he was a Lifetime programming executive, a feature development executive at Haft-Nasatir Productions, a theatre producer and a consulting editor in publishing. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television and the Society for Cinema Studies.
As a media activist, Craig has primarily focused on issues affecting the LGBTQ community as well as those dealing with HIV and AIDS. He served on the Board of GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) In addition, he is working on a project called “Drop 50” that is trying to raise awareness about the rise in school drop out rates nationally and garner commitments from citizens and elected officials to lower the rate over the next five years.