Why Was The Lego Movie Snubbed?

The Lego Movie was considered one of the best movies released in 2014, and was expected to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In mid-January, the nominees were announced, once they got to the animated film category, I was excited and nervous to hear who were chosen. After Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 were announced, people were ready for them to say The Lego Movie. But after the fourth nomination was revealed to be Song of the Sea, there were gasps and shocked expressions from viewers, the fifth nomination was given to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. After the announcement, fans and critics were ranting about the snub as it looked like that The Lego Movie was guaranteed a nomination.

I myself was shocked, and wondering how this could have happened, this is just my opinion but this seems to make sense in my eyes. Then it hit me after I told my father he should see this movie, but was uninterested by saying "It looks stupid, it's just a marketing tactic, they are just trying to get you to buy toys!" Was it the fact that it was a famous toy line as the subject that cost it? Most of the oscar voters are around the age of 60, and some say that the Academy does not take the oscar category seriously. Most adults find the idea of watching cartoons too childish, regardless of the target demographic, and that the main focus of The Lego Movie was a real life popular toy product made it a double whammy! Unlike the Toy Story movies where they made their own original toys as the main characters.

Recently people complained about wanting to diversifying the Oscar voters based on race, nationality, and ethnicity, I think we also need to diversify the voters based on age. If we add more younger voters, at least 18 years old, I think we can look at the animated feature category and animation more seriously, and gain a more current perspective on other films.

Sources:http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/oscar-voters-94-white-76-men-and-an-average-of-63-years-old/284163/
http://variety.com/2013/film/awards/oscars-should-end-prejudice-against-animation-and-its-crafts-1200919732/

Team Oscar Entry 2015

My entry for the Team Oscar contest for the 87th Academy Awards.

Ayden and Gwendoline's Enchanted Wedding

Fireworks Bomber Goblin

Naughty Dog Heroes

Please vote for my entry in the contest celebrating the 30th anniversary of Naughty Dog, the video game company behind multiple critically acclaimed games such as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us.

https://contest.welovefine.com/vote.php?id_contest=77&m=gallery#/id_submit=33892

Brazuca Takes Flight

This was an entry on Deviantart's Transformation Challenge. I was having a tough time coming up with an idea for this contest, until my younger brother, John suggested using the World Cup as an idea. We first started with the idea of the country of Brazil being turned into the Brazuca, the soccer ball of this year's world cup. The panels of the ball and the colors reminded me of tropical birds, and I thought of the idea of the Brazuca breaking apart and turning into colorful macaws. It worked perfectly since they live in the Amazon and are always used as inspiration for Carnival.

http://ai-don.deviantart.com/art/Brazuca-Takes-Flight-463143052

Kaiju Elephant

This was an entry for a Kaiju contest held by Helpful Bear Productions. https://www.facebook.com/events/452193294886894/
My little brother suggested the idea of an elephant as inspiration and I looked at pictures of pangolins as inspiration for the armor. I was also inspired by HR Giger's art of the Xenomorph from Alien. Ironically, the day after I submitted this online, I learned that HR Giger had died. I was very sad, because I lost one of my inspirations, and I would always look at his art for help in drawing scary monsters.

RIP HR Giger