Showcase 2011: Back to Basics

Please Follow the Bright Lights and Red Carpet

For this year’s Showcase, we invite all of you to step back in time — and to imagine the bright lights and red carpet of old Hollywood. This was a time when glitz and glamour dominated the entertainment scene. Eager movie goers packed the theaters and often found themselves leaning forward, mesmerized by the performers and hanging by their every word. “Back to Basics” honors this time when the character was king.

Today, we extend that same honor to our animators and their selected Showcase shots. You will see their work squarely in the spotlight — and you will see things as they do through the eyes of their characters.

“I was elated when I found out I was selected for Showcase!” said Michelle Ohana, one of the Animation Mentor students honored in Showcase 2011. Her place in the spotlight represents the true meaning of back to basics … and also celebrates how much she has grown as an animator. “I learned to bare my soul a little more with my work and now I don’t doubt my abilities when I receive criticism.”

Michelle’s time and work here at Animation Mentor are a culmination of her life experiences — and evidenced clearly in her Showcase shot. “Travelling makes the world feel smaller, and emphasizes that we're all going through the same human experience. I take that feeling and those emotions into my work. I feel like with acting, if you can really connect with the character, you'll do a better job of bringing out that performance.”

To view the selected shots from Michelle and the rest of our honored animators, please follow the bright lights and red carpet to Showcase 2011!