Yellow Brick Road

Cartoons are more than just funny animated short films, sometimes they can inspire kids to grow up to become animators themselves. Follow Lead Animator and Supervisor Christina Sidoti and Senior Animator & Director Richard Engqvist for a stroll down memory lane as they discuss the cartoons that shaped their childhood and evoked their love for animation. Is it possible to watch too much cartoons and how will today’s unlimited access to animated entertainment affect the future of the kids that grow up today?

The VFX industry of today is very much a digital industry, but how did all that start? VFX Supervisor Filip Orrby and CG Supervisor Joakim Olsson takes us for a walk down Yellow Brick Road in search of the origins of the softwares we use today. How did the pioneers create the early digital effects in the late 1900s, what softwares did they use and which films were the milestones in this evolution?

Fredrikstad Animation Festival in Norway is one of the oldest Animation Festivals in the Nordics. Producer Johan Edström and Senior Animator Jonas Forsman talks about this year’s edition and list their favorite films. Jonas also talks about his animated short “Robot and the Whale”. Is it hard to produce animated films in the Nordics and how do you go about to get funding?

Yellow Brick Road’s Nils Lagergren ventures into the shadows with horror film cineasts Anton Söderhäll and Samuel Tyskling. What horror films are their favorites, what makes a film scary and why do we love to be scared? We revisit classics like “The Exorcist”, “Halloween, “The Thing”, “Silent Hill” and “The Blair Witch Project”. And dive into recent scary ones like Aronofsky’s “Mother” and the blood soaked revenge of Nicholas Cage in “Mandy”.

This week we roll out the red carpet on the Yellow Brick Road and take a closer look at the upcoming 29th Stockholm International Film Festival. Three devoted cineasts from Goodbye Kansas – Harrison Ryder, Sandra Frisell and Denys Holovyanko - talk about this year’s line up and list their favorites.

In episode #25 we meet Compositing Supervisor Jim Parsons from Goodbye Kansas Studios in London and talk about the VFX work on the TV series “A Discovery of Witches”. How do you convey “vampire speed” without making it look silly, why have vampires started to drink wine and how has the portrayal of vampires and witches evolved through the years?

In episode #24 we discuss the VFX work on Oscar winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s

new film “Never Look Away”. VFX Supervisor Ben White and Art Director & Environment Supervisor Raf Morant from Goodbye Kansas Studios in London talk about how they recreated the massive WW2 bombings of Dresden for the film, how to convey a creative vision through VFX and how destruction VFX techniques have evolved through the years.

Did you know that every 10th person in the world has played a Swedish computer game? This week it’s all about gaming in Yellow Brick Road, as we talk about the new Game Exposition “Play Beyond Play” at the Swedish National Museum of Science & Technology in Stockholm. Per Strömbäck from the Swedish trade association for video game companies and Sebastian Flavet from National Museum of Science & Technology discuss how Sweden could get so good at creating great games. Has Ingmar Bergman something to do with it? And are museums and computer games actually more closely related than for example movies and games?

In episode 22 we dive into the wonderful world of Kaijus, gigantic monsters wrecking havoc in countless films filled with plenty of VFX and both amazing and silly creatures of really great size. Movie buffs Matilda Olsson and Denys Holovyanko discuss Godzilla, Mothra, Hedorah and all their friends, enemies and followers. What Kaiju films are the best – and worst. And why do we love that genre so much?

Meet some mean and green goblins and ogres as we talk about the production of the game trailer for the German game ”Warlords of Aternum”. Director Rickard Engqvist and VFX Supervisor Henrik Eklundh share memories from the production.