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Gone Nutty: Distinction / Computer Animation / Visual Effects
One of the highlights of the 3D animation movies produced over the past years is the feature film Ice Age produced by Blue Sky Studios (20th Century Fox) - the follow-up Gone Nutty by director Carlos Saldanha is a firework of both fun and imagery, and a perfect example of what character animation is about.

Carlos Saldanha's Gone Nutty, also known as "Scrat's Missing Adventure", is a sharp follow-up to Blue Sky Studios' 2002 Oscar-nominated CG feature Ice Age. In this four-minute short, the beleaguered critter from the movie once again struggles to gain control of an oversized nut. Believe it or not, the short also clues in the viewers on the scientific basis of the formation of the continents as we know them today.
Scrat's frantic movements and the project's well-timed animation are reminiscent of classic Chuck Jones's Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote shorts. It's interesting to compare Blue Sky's latest achievement to the studio's 1998 Oscar-winning short Bunny (directed by Ice Age's Chris Wedge) and see the evolutionary power of the digital shop's proprietary renderer CGI Studio.
With the production of Bunny, the use of CGI Studio proved that Blue Sky could produce highly realistic fur effects and photorealistic non-organic textures. In Gone Nutty, advances in CGI Studio are showcased in a glorious ice-bound world, an extremely blue sky and the hyper-attractive movements of Scrat’s furry tail. This lovely fluffball squashes, stretches, whips, whirls and wobbles in every fantastic fashion imaginable, and yet, due to Blue Sky’s mastery of programming lines, the viewer is never aware that this on-screen representation is only a mass of 1s and 0s.
(By Ramin Zahed, Editor, Animation Magazine)
1.9.2003
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