Tak Premieres in 2 Days!

Friday August 31st at 8:00 Tak premieres on Nickelodeon! But, you can see a preview on most video-on-demand services through cable or satellite. Here are some stills in the mean time...

Great Tak Review at Animation Insider!

My Google Alert is catching lots of Tak news now. With less than one week 'til the premiere (next Friday at 8:00!), there's a buzz generating. Check out the review at http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=1456&document=1, which also has a lot of pictures.

My favorite quotes below, with my responses in green:

The computer animation for this show is beautiful; it's far more visually complex and rendered, and far more flexible than any stiff preschool television program or even the moderately appealing nature of demographically similar productions (i.e. Jimmy Neutron via DNA Productions). Nickelodeon has always found one way or another to maintain a strong sense of innovation in creativity through animation, and it was only a matter of time until they broke into the realm of computer animated television cartoons, with the same high-quality standards that many of their 2D programs are known for.

When they gesture for example, the characters emote in a far smoother and far more elaborate nature than viewers may be familiar with in other CG series.' Rather than arbitrarily poking and jutting their arms out and in odd directions while speaking and emphasizing certain words or phrases, in Tak and the Power of Juju, character's fingers curl, their arms wave or dangle and their eyebrows tremble… the level detail and continuity is much higher here than elsewhere.

With "Tak" I really wanted to focus on performance, specifically in subtlety, in a way that you never see on TV. We did the "Tak" pilot, and the style that was being directed at the time was extremely typical of TV animation, with everything snappy and moving the same, even when it wasn't appropriate. After "The Incredibles" came out, I saw several of Pixar's animators discussing what they had learned in the course of that production, about how much they could leave out of scenes, and a new level of subtlety. The fast nature of TV production is an area where performance isn't usually stressed, but I wanted to see how good we could get it. For the first series episode of "Tak", I gave more animation notes that there are scenes, sometimes writing paragraphs about specific scenes about characters' intent, what poses to remove, etc. Our friends at DQE did a tremendous job with all this feedback, and the episode turned out wonderfully. This set the animation style for the series, and has remained very high quality, even in the heavy throws of production. By the way, that episode is "The Gift", which I think is airing the week after the premiere. Programming moves episodes around all the time - we have nothing to do with it.

Nevertheless, Tak and the Power of Juju is the first of what should be an interesting future of in-house computer animation at Nickelodeon.

Right now we're developing a second series, which is looking pretty amazing... I'm directing a CG short test that is going to show what it will look like, and it's real nice. Of course our second in-house CG project was the pilot for "Bubble Guppies", which got picked up. That one looked great as well... I'll have to write about it some time!

Interviewed by Animation Magazine

I was interviewed by Ramin Zahed for Animation Magazine this week for an upcoming article on "Tak". Very exciting! I think the article is going to be in the September issue. I blabbed on for 20 minutes about all things Tak and CG at Nickelodeon, so we'll see how Ramin can wade through my ramblings and hopefully find some useful information. :)

Ramin is clearly passionate about the industry and the art form, so it was a really fun interview. I'll post about it when it comes out!

Video: 'Tak' Brings Viewer to State of Pupununu

For those of you who didn't see it at SIGGRAPH, some of the video of "Tak" is in the video article below... I like how the reported pronounces "Tak" (with an "ah") as "Tohlk"... :)
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AP Television Writer Frazier Moore reviews 'Tak and the Power of Juju,' a new animated series premiering August 30 on Nickelodeon...
Direct Link Here

Article: Nick Gives Tak Scheduling Upgrade

Tak is now going to be a Saturday morning cartoon! It'll be on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. Read more below...
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From AnimationMagazine.net:

Nickelodeon has informed us that it has made a scheduling change for its new animated series, Tak and the Power of Juju. Previously slated to air on Sundays, the network’s first original CG-animated show is now a Saturday morning program.

and

The show will enjoy a primetime premiere on Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. before settling into its regular time slot on Saturdays at 10 a.m. However, the previously announced back-to-back episodes premiere will be scaled back to one half-hour episode.

Article: Tak's Got the Power, But He Hasn't Got a Clue!

New Series Tak and the Power of Juju Joins Nickelodeon's Hit Animation Line-UpAll-New CG-Animated TV Series Based on the Hit Nick/THQ Video Game Premieres With Two Back-To-Back Episodes on Friday, August 31 from 8:00 - 9:00 PM

Article Link

Article: Nick Brings on Power of Juju

From Animation Magazine.net:

Nick Brings on Power of Juju

Tak and the Power of Juju makes the leap from game consoles to the tube as Nickelodeon premieres its very first original CG-animated television series on Friday, Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The show will kick off with two back-to-back half-hour episodes on Nickelodeon, with repeats airing on Nicktoons Network the following day at 11 a.m. Nickelodeon will air the series regularly on Sundays at 10 a.m.

MORE

Article: Nickelodeon to Debut a New Show Based on Tak

The show will open with Tak getting "the Power of Juju," which grants him strange magic powers. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite know how to use his abilities responsibly. As you can imagine, hijinks ensue. That's good and all, ...Gaming Today - http://news.filefront.com

SIGGRAPH Wrap Up

SIGGRAPH was a blast. It's great to have a celebration of our industry and art once a year. It's a time to catch up with old friends, see what other people are working on, and for the industry's future to get it's start. Previous years at SIGGRAPH I was there for the first two reasons - this time it was for the third. I spent the majority of the two days there in the Nickelodeon recruiting booth in the job fair, talking mostly with students and recent grads looking to get into the business.

We decided, for better or for worse, to offer feedback on students' reels. The "for better" is that this is for the most part critical advice that students really need, but have a hard time getting. The "for worse" is that we were swamped with people who wanted feedback, literally having a line form out the door when the job fair opened. But, I'm always happy to help, so we started scheduling people at 10-minute intervals, which then turned into 5-minute, when the list filled up the full two days I'd be there in several minutes.

There was some solid work by the young folk looking to break in. One thing is clear - it's the student, not the school, that determines their success. I told a lot of students something along the lines of the following:

"You gotta keep going. Keep creating more. Everyone who's made it in this industry is here because we're all self-driven. You don't create because you have an assignment or a teacher telling you do finish, it comes from inside. We do this at nights, on weekends, after work, etc. You can have a million excuses why you can't work on something, but it takes the drive of always growing, always getting better, always pushing yourself, to make it. If you're not working on getting better, someone else is".

Or, as I've always said "It's about how bad you want it".

I don't want to scare people, but it is a very competitive industry - that's the truth. Now is a great time to get in, as the industry's growing, but it's still takes persistence and determination. And skill. And those all have to come from within.

Tak Premieres August 31st

"Tak and the Power of Juju" premieres August 31st on Nickelodeon, so be sure to check it out or set your TiVo! The ''Tak'' series web site is now up at www.nick.com/tak, where you can check out some shorts we did.