catching up on summer

Finally an update. :)

This year has been one of the most amazing in my life so far. It feels strange to say it now, but several dreams have come true this year.

Having my most recent film, "The Funny Thing About Lois," (on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/amelialorenz/lois) play in the Producer's Show earlier this year was really an honor; my second time in the show. And in case you're wondering, it doesn't get any less scary to have to watch it with hundreds of talented professional animators surrounding you in the dark. ;)

Several weeks before the end of school there was the annual Portfolio Day, where I was asked to meet up with some folks from Pixar to talk about art and animation, and with a nice guy from Disney about my story portfolio. The next day I got the call from Pixar, asking if I'd be interested in their animation internship.
Of course, I said yes, and the summer flew by in a day. Or, at least it felt like it.

"As few avars as possible!!!"

A sketching field trip to the Ferry Building in SF.
Being there was very surreal. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I tried not to imagine what it would be like. In a way it was like a very long, wonderfully geeky daydream. I met really talented interns there who taught me a lot. And of course I owe most everything else to Adam Burke and Gini Santos, our creative supervisors, for their incredible support and encouragement. My mentor, Jamie Landes, was also great. The assignments they gave us not only challenged my animation skills (like, a lot--and this is going to sound cheesy), but they also helped me grow as a person.

Really! I learned a lot about myself this summer. I can't say what career I'm set on yet--becoming an animator is certainly top of the list--but there are still a lot of questions I'm left with, now that summer is over and my fourth year at CalArts has begun.

For example, what will my film be this year? It's the first time in a few years when I've come to school with a completely blank slate. And what kind of portfolio(s) will I want to showcase next year? Animation and story have always been neck-in-neck vying for my attention, and I love them both. Last year I set my goal to animation, but I put together a story portfolio too. I got to spend a lot of time with CG animation this summer, and I learned a lot about it. Do I want to pursue it? Yes...but I also want to pursue hand-drawn animation and story. At the moment I'll just worry about school. But for after graduation, I just want a creatively stimulating job somewhere with awesome coworkers; hopefully with some classmates of mine now.

Here's a stitched-together look at where I'll be spending a lot of time doing animation homework this semester:
Just an end note... Another summer highlight was going to see one of my favorite bands, "Tally Hall," at the Bottom of the Hill music club in San Francisco. Pictured below: the band, in all their blurry glory, and below that: Meghan, Avner and Uri, three of my animation intern buddies. Uri apparently wasn't finished moving his face when the camera clicked...
That's it for now! Maybe next post I'll have something film-related to share...