GOTTA BARN PRODUCTIONS, LLC Presents Aria, a bovine diva, demands to be respected for more than just her dairy products. Featuring previously unreleased song by Howard Ashman & Alan Menken Directed by Dan Lund Produced by Dan Lund, Connie Nartonis Thompson, Amos Sussigan Release date: April 26, 2015 Running time: 7 minutes Press Contact: Jennifer Coyne [email protected] 503-544-0135 www.ariaforacow.com Rating: TBD Aspect Ratio: 2.35 ARIA FOR A COW - SYNOPSIS Aria for a Cow is an animated musical short based on a previously unreleased song by the Oscar winning team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (“Little Shop of Horrors”, “Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”). When a callow young farmer shows himself to be completely uninterested in the sensitive art of milking a dairy cow, Aria, a bovine diva, along with her singing and dancing back up bulls, belts out a tune demanding to be respected for more than just dairy products. Aria and her friends take us through a fast- paced musical journey. In the end, our young farmer learns to respect the collaborative effort that made Krelborn farms and its cows an award winning dairy farm. Sarah Ashman Gillespie, Howard Ashman’s sister, offered the song to Disney animator and independent film-maker, Dan Lund, so he could bring this long-forgotten tune to center stage. Lund and producer Connie Nartonis Thompson (“Frankenweenie”, and Disney colleague of Lund) launched Gotta Barn Productions, designed to bring together students and artists from across the world to get their shot at feeling the thrill of 'putting on a show'! Helping lead the creative effort were Amos Sussigan, Art Director, Siddhartha Maganti, as Production Manager, Kate Pazakis voicing Aria, and John deHaas as Musical Director. “I believe Howard would be thrilled to be contributing to the development of talented young people,” adds Sarah Gillespie. “He loved animation, and he specifically loved seeing his words come to new life through animation. Seeing Aria spring to life in the hands of such enthusiastic young talents is an absolute gift.” MAKING ARIA FOR A COW THE IDEA: The story of Aria for a Cow started over 30 years ago. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, then less known than they would become for their hit lyrics and music, wrote a few songs on spec for Sesame Street. At the time, the songs weren’t used, and Aria for a Cow remained unreleased. Ashman and Menken went on to become an Oscarwinning team known for the Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, and animated musical features Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Fast forward to three years ago. Dan Lund, Disney animator and independent filmmaker, had an idea. He wanted to showcase an Ashman & Menken song in an independently-produced animated short. Lund contacted Sarah Ashman Gillespie, sister of the late Howard Ashman. She offered this unknown song, which was a personal favorite of Sarah’s, to Dan. Dan said, “With a gift as rich as Howard Ashman & Alan Menken, circa 1988 this song was, I knew I needed to bring something unique and clever to the table. It was my way of earning the right to use the song.” Dan felt strongly about not just doing a music video for the song, but rather creating a story around the song that stood on its own and had a point to make. With that, Aria the bovine diva was born. Lund began weekly meetings with long-time colleague & producer Connie Nartonis Thompson at a Hollywood café, famously known as “the last cappuccino before the 101 Freeway”. Says Connie, “Dan and I worked at Disney together for 10 years. I had left the feature animation studio to make a documentary about the second golden age of animation at Disney called "Waking Sleeping Beauty." While making that film and reviewing all of the archival footage, I fell in love with Howard Ashman, his passion for music and story, the intelligent and intense way he had of working with talent, his commitment to these animated movies. When Dan approached me about working on this Howard Ashman and Alan Menken short, I was so excited to be a part of it." Six months and countless cappuccinos later, Dan & Connie launched the production with the idea of creating a “global barn”, in the spirit of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland putting on a show. In the time since, Team Cow & Gotta Barn Productions was established. This unique production experience would eventually bring together a group with immensely diverse skills & experiences, backgrounds & age, all contributing their time and effort toward this small-budget production. FROM IDEA TO VISUAL CONCEPTS: Amos Sussigan, a talented young animator & director Lund had been mentoring, was recruited as Art Director. Having never before seen a Broadway musical, Lund sent Sussigan on a trip to New York for his own musical theater boot camp. The trip was extremely inspirational to the artistic design of the film. Amos Sussigan & Sarah Ashman Gillespie in New York Amos was able to learn and collaborate with experienced artists such as Disney director and mentor to Lund, Leon Joosen, and choreographer Angel Reda, who was starring in Chicago on Broadway. The trip culminated with Sarah Ashman Gillespie taking Sussigan to dinner, where Amos was able to share the beginning of his Aria style guide and what he learned in his “Broadway Boot Camp”. Regarding the artistic design, Sussigan said: “Aria for a Cow was written when animation was still 2D. Because of that, I wanted to keep Aria’s art direction free of any extremely realistic or elaborate special effects, and go back to a more 2D-look.” Based on his art direction, Aria is painterly, colorful, with a cubistic approach. THE PRODUCTION: Aria for a Cow has, from the start, been a labor of love. With no funding or studio backing, Lund, Sussigan and Thompson had to think creatively to push the project forward. Siddhartha Maganti, a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, joined the Aria team as Production Manager. Team Cow took the opportunity to recruit animation leads and a crew including 40 from the Academy & other animators dispersed across the globe, who all volunteered their talents to the project. Other “Aria Angels”, as Dan Lund likes to call the film’s supporters, had students stay at their house during “production jams”, provided funding support for render farm time & other expenses, and donated time to the back-end production activities. Dan Lund liked the idea of having people involved with a passion for the project, and with something to gain, professionally or personally. The “global barn” concept harnessed the power of connection through social media and other collaborative technologies to bring in diverse perspectives and strong talents from around the world. “THE SONG” – Honoring the legacy of the Ashman & Menken team, the song had to be just right! Dan Lund notes that “the song, its origins and how the worlds of animation and musical theater influenced the filmmakers became something to honor and the Aria production team went to great care in keeping that balance evident in this short film”. Musical comedy veteran Kate Pazakis joined on in the role of Aria, with a group of back up “bull” singers harmonizing under the musical direction of John deHaas, who flew in from Singer Kate Pazakis under the Aria lights Florida for the production. Recorded in December 2013 at POP Sound in Santa Monica, California, the musical team conveyed a playfulness and joy through the recording that truly pays tribute to the legacy of the Ashman & Menken collaboration. The day before the recording session, Dan threw a cocktail party to assemble “the barn”, rehearse and get everyone in the mood for the recording. The whole musical team bonded to interpret and put their own stamp on the song, and created an The "backup Bulls": Bryan Blaskie (assistant music director), Aaron Scheff, Kevin Field, Wesley Alfvin improvised section that can be heard as the credits roll for the film. Dan Lund remarked “We were honored to have Sarah Ashman Gillespie attend the recording session, give her advice and approve the final cut. The global barn concept had really taken flight. THE GLOBAL BARN TAKES FULL EFFECT – Once the recording session was done, the animators took center stage. The “global barn” production yielded some surprises and presented challenges, but ultimately provided an incredible working experience for the whole team. Dan Lund stated that “we put the call out at the Academy of Art for some animators to help with our production. The school thought maybe we’d get 4 volunteers. We were blown away when 40 students showed up!” Having such a large turnout presented some leadership and managerial challenges. Lund: “We didn’t really have enough staff on the original team Team Cow featuring Academy of Art students to provide direction to all of the students. Some of the students stepped up and became team leads, such as Character Animator Cory Walker. Other contributors from around the world also joined the project. Throughout the days and nights, we’d see more pieces of work arrive in our cloud drive!” For Sussigan, this was a large leadership opportunity early in his professional career. “Before Aria, I had worked more as a student on my own projects or smaller group projects. On this film, I got the opportunity to lead, to really set deadlines and coordinate across different time zones and cultures to get everyone on the same page. Aria for a Cow, with its Broadway- musical-meets-farmlife style, has over 150 shots, requiring a tremendous amount of planning and coordination to ensure the work pieced together shot by shot. Sussigan continued, “I had to make sure that, from shot to shot, things stayed consistent, worked together, and preserved our vision of how the film should look”. Cory Walker similarly noted that challenge, adding: “It was a challenge to help everyone see that it was about more that maximizing the beauty of every shot, it was instead about the bigger picture and seeing it all come together.” Throughout the production, the team took advantage of advancing technology not just for traditional aspects like scheduling, rendering and compiling the film, but social technology such as Google® Hangouts to track progress, and talk about issues face to face. Sussigan believes that his and the other’s experience gained in the production will help accelerate their careers. “I really learned a lot, and I think the students learned a lot about working Team Cow uses social technology to collaborate on the film (L-R: Gunsic Kim, Dharmin Doshi & Andy Wu) on a professional production and how high the expectations are’, he says. The extraordinary blend of student and industry talent in Team Cow produced a compelling piece of film. Their accomplishment drew the attention of other top professionals, and prompted them to contribute to the project. Academy-Award winning re-recording mixer Gary Rizzo, of Skywalker Sound, and post-production pro Lori Korngiebel worked to make “Aria” complete. “Every student producer dreams of working with the best technicians and artists such as Gary and Dug at Skywalker. For me I didn't dream Aria would be as collaborative as it was,” said Siddhartha Maganti, production manager. ARIA TAKES THE STAGE – After two years of planning and thousands of hours of production, Aria the cow is finally ready to take the stage! Aria for a Cow is a story about valuing others’ contributions, about personal connection, and the value of collaboration. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Dan Lund and Team Cow have touched on those same themes through the Global Barn collaborative effort. Noted Maganti, “I had been a student from India. When we were at Skywalker, and I shared a room with the director and art director, I realized we were not just indie film makers, but family. Aria had given me a family.” Lund said, “I hope that Howard Ashman would love that we took his song and made it something with a special message.” Howard Ashman’s grave marker is inscribed: “Oh that he had one more song to sing, one more song…” With Aria for a Cow, the team hopes that wish for one more song is honored. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS Dan Lund (Director) has been an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1989. He has contributed to dozens of classic features including “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” as well as “Pocahontas”, “The Lion King”, “Tarzan”, “Mulan,” and “The Princess and the Frog.” Recently, he served as Effects Design Lead on 2013’s Academy Award®-winning “Frozen,” the biggest animated film of all time. Outside of the studio system, Dan has been very active in bringing non-Disney themed projects from concept to completion including the award-winning documentary “Death Becomes Them: The Musical” (Best Director, New York Film Fest) and “Dream On Silly Dreamer” (Certificate of Merit ASIFA AWARDS). His love of underground theater led to a collaboration with writer Patricia Scanlon that resulted in the animated series of shorts “Hildy Hildy.” His current project features the unheard song “Aria for a Cow” from the Academy Award®-winning songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Dan says, “Sarah Ashman Gillespie (Howard Ashman’s sister) took a huge leap of faith in saying yes to my request…and all she asked was that I give just a little love to a cow needing some respect.” Nothing could give Dan more creative pleasure than doing just that, giving respect to the art of theater, animation, film, story, music and the process of putting on a show. Connie Nartonis Thompson (Producer) began her animation career in 1992 working on “The Ren & Stimpy Show” and “Beavis & Butthead.” Following that, she started an 11 year run at Walt Disney Animation Studios where she worked on animated features including “Fantastia 2000,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Chicken Little,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and “Tangled” as well as award-winning shorts “The Little Matchgirl,” “Lorenzo,” and “Destino.” In 2007, she joined veteran producer Don Hahn at Disney’s live-action studio to associate produce the Disneynature documentaries “Earth,” “Oceans,” “African Cats,” and “Chimpanzee.” Hahn and Thompson also produced three other documentaries — “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” “Hand Held,” and “High Ground.” Connie then went on to associate produce the critically acclaimed “Frankenweenie,” directed by Tim Burton. In 2012, Connie left Disney for Illumination Entertainment to work on “Despicable Me 2,” one of the top five grossing animated films of all time. Currently, Connie is producing a stop-motion animated feature at Laika. She is honored to have produced the animated musical short, “Aria for a Cow” with her former Disney colleague, Director Dan Lund and Art Director Amos Sussigan. Connie lives in Portland with her husband, writer Bryan Thompson. Amos Sussigan (Art Director) has, at a relatively young age, already amassed an impressive list of accomplishments in TV, radio, animation, art design, and music videos and currently works at Paramount Pictures as a concept artist. Amos grew up in Switzerland where he completed his diploma in languages (Italian, English, Spanish, French, and German). After graduating, he worked on air for Swiss TV and radio. He came to Los Angeles to attend Woodbury University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and won the Departmental Award of Academic Excellence in 2013. Amos started a blog where he wrote about his sadness at being away from home. His blog became a radio program and then, in October 2011, when Amos was 22 years old, a book, “The Chocolate Oscar.” The book sold out three times. Amos created and coordinated the marketing campaign of the book on his own. He has also received nominations and awards at more than fifty film festivals around the world for writing and directing his two shorts, “Broken Wing” and “Swan Cake.” Working on “Aria For A Cow” is a professional and personal milestone for Amos. Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” featuring the music of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, was one of the first movies he ever saw. Says Amos, “When I go home to Switzerland, my grandparents and I still watch it together.” Gotta Barn Productions Presents ARIA FOR A COW Directed by Dan Lund Produced by Connie Nartonis Thompson, Dan Lund, Amos Sussigan Written by Dan Lund Lyrics by Howard Ashman Music by Alan Menken Executive Producers Art Director Lead Vocals Back Up Vocals “Aria For A Cow” Music Director Additional Music Direction “Appreciate A Cow” Written By Mixed By Post Production Producer Re-Recording Mixer Supervising Sound Editor Vocals & Instruments Sound Engineer Vocals & Instruments Sound Recordist Additional Sound Editor Temp Track Sound Engineer Color by DI Supervisor DI Producer DI Colorist Sarah Ashman Gillespie Alan Menken William Lauch Leon Joosen Amos Sussigan Kate Pazakis Wesley Alfvin Bryan Blaskie Kevin Field Aaron Scheff John B. deHaas Bryan Blaskie John B. deHaas Brandon Knechtel at The Jamnasium Lori Korngiebel Gary A. Rizzo, CAS Dug Winningham Michael Miller Kyle Krajewski Albert Casselhoff Paul Moser III Fotokem Digital Film Services Director of Engineering Nextlab Production Manager Siddhartha Maganti Background Designer Story Lead Modeling Lead CGI Supervisor Animation TD Rigging TD Stephanie Dominguez Jeremy Spears Xi Wang Dharmin Doshi Moe Myint Htet Nathan Lawrence Animation Supervisors Cory Walker Linda Bell Animation Leads Bruna Berford Ken Craig Daniel Rosales Andriy Muzychenko Chris Bowman Toshi Nakamura Jose Rodrigo Gandionco Animators Alex Bittner Alex Hong Bianca Lancu Chalisa Boonkasemsanti Channy Imada Christina Saenger Crystal Godat Obo Agboghidi Q Lee Mayra Rivera Nathaniel Fisher Paloma Diaz Srujith Kumar Adam Ampa Besigye Rhea Shetty Samantha Rose Montejo Thomas De Maleingreau Vera Chen Hyun Ji Kim Kelsey Heckenkamp Kullapat Srikrisanapol Lea Antonette Irlanda Mary Chang Ramez Mahdi Saloni Jain Seong Youn Kim Ting Chou Eke Seliawan 3D Layout Cory Walker Ken Craig Modelers Rolando Reyes Simon Kumar Pavan Mallaih Victou Kim Rigging Daniel Arata Plabon Bhattacharya Rajesh Bagdae Andrea Goh Lighting Patrick Bramley Andy Wu Gun Sik Kim Yeonkyeong Kang Cindy Jang Dharmin Doshi Catherine Wu Jainisha Patel Ramnath Sundaresan Character Clean Up Van Shirvanian Lisa Dossom Sign Construction Dado & Carson Lead Compositor Amos Sussigan Compositors Patrick Bramley Andy Wu Dave Scarpitti Dharmin Doshi Brenden Russert Render Wranglers Lucas Libardi Siddhartha Maganti Pre-Production Manager Production Accountant Production Coordinator Production Assistant Nikitha Mannam Scott C. Thompson Marina Niava Darnell Gooch Choreographer Assistant Choreographer Dance Animation Director Angel Reda Andrea Rosenthal Leon Joosen Live Action Reference Maragaret Shoop Angel Reda John Tucker Still Photographers David Rand Peitro Torrisi Post Production Sound Services by Skywalker Sound A Lucasfilm Ltd. Company Marin County, California Assistant Re-Recording Mixer Engineering Services Digital Editorial Support Audio/Visual Transfer Kevin Bolen Scott Brewer David Peifer John Countryman Bidding & Scheduling Post-Production Sound Accountant Client Services Skywalker Sound, Executive Staff Charlotte Moore Cathy Shirk Eva Porter John Lowden, General Manager Jon Null, Head of Production Steve Morris, Head of Engineering VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO ARIA’S SUPPORTERS Victoria Maus David Latour Nancy Parent David B. Oshinsky Charlie Anderson Don Hahn Ed Hooks Kiersten Eve Jonathan Lomma Ayyappa Veer Edwin Rhemrev Elements School of Visual Arts Animex Academy of Art University Chris Armstrong Galina Rozina Colter Coates Luke Klipp Erin Reilly Sasha Korellis Bonnie and Clyde P.R. Moo-vers & Shakers Fumiko Kitahara Mare Aehlich Jennifer Coyne Brigitte Haase Natural Talent, Inc. Donna Felten Kelly Calder-King Disney Feature Animation The “Pitches Be Crazy” Group Maria Gonzalez Dale Baer Doug Walker Kristina Reed Darin Hollings Brittany Lee Brett Boggs Howard Green Family Roberto & Maringela Sussigan Ron & Karolyn Lund Mason Racich John & Marianne Tucker Bryan Daniel Thompson Copyright © 2015 Gotta Barn Productions, LLC All Rights Reserved
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