Santa Barbara Film Festival Open

By on January 30, 2012 in News

Few things at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival generate as much chatter as the introduction video, which shows before every movie. Art Critics… your thoughts?

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12 Responses to Santa Barbara Film Festival Open

  1. I♥SB January 30, 2012 at 12:41 pm #

    This open was created by a professional animator who lives in Santa Barbara. He does amazing work.

    Reply
  2. Local January 30, 2012 at 1:02 pm #

    This is one of the best ones. Short and related to this years festival. Others have been long and loud. Thumbs up!

    Reply
  3. keith english January 30, 2012 at 1:05 pm #

    A couple of shots in this opening were indeed done by a young 21 year old animator from Stafford VA. Well actually he’s a cashier at Wall-mart working from 3-Midnight 5 days a week and has taken courses in the Animation Mentor program. He did a really good job and we brought him out here for opening night; his first professional work to ever play on the big screen, and for his first visit to CA. Very kindly the Film Fest comped him a room for two nights. He was over the wall about being here and hearing people respond on opening night. Probably a magic moment in his life.

    Some of the models (Taxi, Shark, Titanic, Vader helmet) were donated by world class modelers after SBCC, who I was trying to work with on the opening, totally dropped the ball. With 3 months lost and only three weeks to create the opening it limited what we could do. Nigel Poole, came on board to help me and the result from working around the clock is the opening you’ve seen.

    Keith English

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    • keith english January 30, 2012 at 1:32 pm #

      BTW we asked Lucas Films for permission to use Mr Vader’s helmet, which was really the only might-be-copyright-problem model we used. They asked to see the opening we were working on and the model we would use and came back saying they’d love Mr Vader’s image to be in the fest. Thought that was a pretty cool.

      Reply
  4. Anonymous January 30, 2012 at 4:00 pm #

    Just wonderful! So evocative of iconic Hollywood moments, with great music and a light, highly creative touch. A real winner. Congratulations to all involved.

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  5. Goleta Jim January 30, 2012 at 8:17 pm #

    Like it too. Tribute to cinema and the Scorsese films. Good job, Jim

    Reply
  6. anon. January 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm #

    Really, really like it and have heard over and over in the theaters positive comments! Sorry to read that SBCC “dropped the ball” – what happened?

    Anyway, the result is wonderful; I particularly like the shark — and then the closing scene opening to the SBIFF title. Only problem I’ve had is the significance of the wand or baton – I wondered if it’s a bow to orchestration; a friend suggested Harry Potter – but it looks to me like a different kind of wand. (And I haven’t been able to read the writing on the box!). Whatever, it’s a wonderful opening.

    Reply
    • keith english January 31, 2012 at 1:13 pm #

      It’s a wand from Harry Potter. The wands in Potter all look a bit like that with various different color woods. On the box it says “Handcrafted of solid Vine Wood in UK”

      Reply
      • anon. January 31, 2012 at 4:55 pm #

        Thanks!!! Although I have enjoyed the Potter movies I have not looked at them as much as I’ve looked at your opening!

        Reply
  7. keith english February 1, 2012 at 6:45 am #

    Lol. Thank you. It’s so nice to hear people like it and it’s fun to hear people respond to it after it plays in the theaters. This is really a reprise of the character I did for the SBIFF opening in 2006 … http://web.me.com/keefy/Keith_English/Samples_files/SBIFF06_Hi_Rez_trimmed.mov

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    • anon. February 2, 2012 at 8:16 am #

      Ah, yes, I remember that now! No wonder the figure seemed faintly familiar! I liked that one, too, very much, and I note that the bows are very similar, but although comparisons are odious, I prefer this year’s for the taste of nostalgia and lightness. Without bothering to count the films seen so far, I am guessing I’ve seen it about 20 times … and it hasn’t palled.

      Reply
  8. keith english February 2, 2012 at 10:07 am #

    Very cool. That’s great to hear. Thanks

    Reply

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