The term “overnight sensation” can be an insufficient one, describing recognition within the public sphere but failing to account for the years of work leading to that moment.
When Ringling College grad Brandon Oldenburg stood on the stage of the Kodak Theatre with collaborator William Joyce to accept the Academy Award for Best Animated Short for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, the joy on their faces told a story years in the making.
Oldenburg received formal education in his trade at Sarasota’s Ringling College of Art and Design, earning his BFA in illustration. (That talent has found its way to the covers of books by such renowned authors as Elmore Leonard.) In 1995, he cofounded Reel FX Creative Studios, where he served as senior creative director for 15 years. During that time, Oldenburg collaborated with entertainment industry heavyweights like Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks.
A film based on Oldenburg and Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood (which Joyce has penned as an ongoing picturebook series) is now in post-production at DreamWorks, to be released this November as Rise of the Guardians, and featuring a star-studded cast.
Oldenburg has stated in at least one interview that The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore was intended to earn an Academy Award nomination and serve as a calling card for his and Joyce’s Moonbot Studios. That it ended up earning the golden statuette should serve as inspiration for ambitious creatives in the Tampa Bay area.
The film is available for download from iTunes. For more information, about the short, visit morrislessmore.com. Or watch it on Youtube here:
This article appears in Mar 8-14, 2012.