An Animated Proposal

This was for my friend George. He had been thinking about proposing to his girlfriend for quite some time but wanted something unique. He wrote up a script of how they met and fell in love and came to me for the artwork.
On Thursday June 30th, this video screened in front of her and her classmates. She had no idea what she was watching. (I love the moment she realizes that the video is about her) She was even more surprised at the end of the film, when George walked in that very door and proposed to her.

SHE SAID YES!!!

Thanks George Szu-Han, I'm so happy that I could be apart of this special occasion! I wish you both love, happiness and an amazing life together!! CONGRATS!!

Drawings by Sam Chou & Firas Momani

Here are a couple of stills of a project I'm currently directing.

My Vimeo Director Reel

Creative Director for Animation - Sam Chou from Sam Chou on Vimeo.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I was invited to take part in an Art Show called "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Exciting! (Although I love the Film, it did not have to involve the Film in any way.)
Tammy Semen and Kyle Marshall are hosting it at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto from June 29- July 5 2011. The Reception is June 30 at 7pm. If you are in the neighborhood, come check it out!

It's featuring some pretty incredible artists from Toronto's Animation Scene.

Chuck Gammage
Scott Caple
Robin Budd
Mike Geiger
Rex Hackelberg
Mark Thornton
Larry Jacobs
Hobo Divine
Deanna Marsigliese
Sam Chou
James Walsh
Chris Land
Tom Gravestock
Colin Jack
Ivan Rusev
Matthew Fernandes
Ariel Villaverde
Pasquale La Montana
Kyle Marshall

The Wrong Block won a Pixie

Thank you APA!

Happy Holidays

Too late?

The Wrong Block * Official trailer

Style5.tv releases it's newest venture.





www.thewrongblock.com

Credits to my wonderful designers

Many of you were curious about my last post and I wanted to credit the two incredible designers that worked on them.

Garage - Seo Kim

I first met Seo when she was an intern at Chuck Gammage's studio. She was helping out Graham Falk on one of Chucks Promo's called "Fatass Cat." I remember being in awe of her work so I knew we had to get her back. She is an incredible artist and I don't mind saying that because she has absolutely no ego about it.
Check out her Blog.

The Wrong Block - Firas Momani

I met Firas Momani back in 2006. Chuck Gammage had brought him and Pasquale Lamontagna to the studio after Sherdian's Career day. These were the two "prospects" in Chuck's eyes. After seeing the work they produced, I understood why he brought them in. Firas was always floating around doing all sorts of amazing projects. Live Action, Stop-mo, traditional and he was always incredibly cerebral with whatever medium he was working with that given day. I knew I wanted him to redesign the Old Detective in a promo I was working on.

This will be taken down...

IN DEVELOPMENT - Here's a promo poster I designed for a series I created.

A FEW MORE IMAGES OF ANOTHER PROJECT I'M DEVELOPING.

More promo art.

More to come soon...

Published!

http://www.thehour.com/story/481068

Some questions and some answers...

and some of my random mumblings.....

Norwalk Seaport gets 'wild' with film festival

By A.J. O'CONNELL

Hour Staff Writer Posted on 01/24/2010

It is the second year the Norwalk Seaport Association has hosted The Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival, a traveling event which is based in California.

"Last year, we were granted funds through Patagonia [clothing store] to host the event, and we did, and it was a phenomenal success," said Susan Snider, executive director of the Norwalk Seaport Association. Snider said that 200 people came to the Dolce Center for last year's event. She expects to sell out this year.

Susie Sutphin, manager of the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival On Tour says the six-year-old festival has 90 tour locations across the United States.

The Norwalk event will feature 10 short films, selected by the Seaport Association from a catalogue, and a children's festival.

"Maybe," a two-minute animated film by director Sam Chou of Toronto, Canada, is one of the features. The film asks fundamental questions about human nature and humans' relationship to the environment. Chou says the work was inspired by a frustrating conversation he'd had with a friend.

"My friend didn't really believe anything was happening to the earth, or better yet, what we were doing to it. His view was 'What we take out of the earth, ultimately had no affect on us,'" said Chou. "But it got me thinking... There must be thousands of people that still think like that. Heck, our Prime Minister still hasn't admitted there's a problem."

He hopes his film will inspire people to think about how their choices impact the planet. "Maybe" urges audience members to examine their habits: What do they eat, drive and buy?

"Everything is connected and intertwined, all to condition us to be the ultimate consumers, and that's not healthy for us, our minds, the earth... etc.," said Chou.

The film is narrated by a young voice, Chou's niece, Makayla McLeod, then 10 years old.

"She had never done anything like this before so it was really interesting for her," he said "We rigged up a mic, and just sat at the kitchen table and talked. Sometimes a car would go by while we were recording, so there was a lot of sound editing I had to do."

On a Sunny Winter Afternoon

A second helping.

More Pitchwork. A nice, liberating experience creating something that wasn't "cute" or "wacky".

C###### Dinners!

I was asked to do some artwork and throw a pitch
together for a reality show title seq.
We were told it involved ex-convicts and overall bad-assery. (mixed with cooking)
After a couple of tame tries, this is what I came up with.



























Sometimes I'm asked to talk about my art and what I'm pitching. I feel weird talking about what my intentions were and why I did certain things.

Usually my attitude is, "you either like it or you don't, what's there to talk about? I just put eight hours in that. Everything I have to say is right on that page."

For this image the only thing I wrote was.

"ink + skin = life"

The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival

If you are in North California, check out this festival!


http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org



"Maybe" is playing this weekend!

If you haven't seen it yet, drop by for a viewing!

Schedule for maybe

Friday Evening
07:10 PM at the Nevada Theater (map)

Sunday Morning & Afternoon
09:42 AM at the Great Hall, Miners Foundry (map)

Sunday Morning & Afternoon
01:10 PM at the 227 Broad Street (map)

CICFF

Maybe is playing at the 25th annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival!

Join us Monday Oct 27th, at Facets Cinema for a collection of shorts is called "Meet me Halfway."

Title	Time	Venue	Ages
Meet Me Halfway	9:45 a.m.	Facets Cinema	8 to 10

"Maybe"

Maybe

Maybe is an animated short film by Sam Chou, co-produced by Style5 Animation and Chuck Gammage Animation.
The film is narrated by Makayla MacLeod.


In Maybe, a young perspective in a changing world asks the question: Why are we so scared? This 2-minute animated short follows the relationship between our decisions that we make everyday and the impact they have on our world. This piece was produced to show young people that their actions are important and that they shouldn't be afraid.

In the words of the writer-director, "all of our efforts accumulate to something in the end. Even though we may not see it, everything we do amounts to something and we are all connected." This film touches upon a familiar issue that has greatly become a common theme in our daily lives.


Festival Appearances and Recognition
2008

Sydney International Film Festival, Sydney, Australia

Anima Mundi Film Festival, Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Animation Block Party, Brooklyn, NY

Peace on Earth Film Festival, Chicago, Illinois

Hiroshima Animation Festival, Hiroshima, Japan

(UPDATE***More festivals added )

Chicago International Children's Film Festival, Chicago, Illinois

Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Nevada City, California





Credits
Producer: Sam Chou, Style5 Animation, Chuck Gammage Animation
Writer and Director: Sam Chou
Music: "One Minute" The Album Leaf
Narrator: Makayla MacLeod
Art Direction/Design: Raymond Xu, Clive Powsley
Animation: Sam Chou, Chris Land, Seamus O'Keeffe, Perry Osuna, Tapan Gandhi
Production Support: Suzy Bradshaw
Special Thanks To: Mom and Dad, Jaime, Chuck Gammage, David Cowdery

Official site Here.

Some artwork for my entry for the Radiohead music video contest.
http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=196141

Radiohead Music Vid

This is my entry for the Radiohead music video contest. PLEASE vote for me! (rate me)

http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=196141
or
http://www.aniboom.com/search/Animations/charlie%20buys/1/0
(click on "Charlie buys a Book")

Unfortunately you have to register to vote.
**BUT FORTUNATELY** it's real quick and it will only take a minute

after you register, you can go back to the LINK and click the "bomby" things at the bottom of the video)

Hope I become a finalist.

sexy

Someone wanted a sexy girl concept for "Luxury Brand" drink campaign.

Vanilla Vote

I finally got a copy of two commercials I directed in the summer at Chucks. The concept that was pitched was "the Office" meets Snap! Crackle! and Pop!
I tried to capture the cutty feel of reality TV and it was real fun to work on.

Vanilla Conflict

Vanilla Resolve