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Shane Acker
American animator, film director, screenwriter and animation teacher

Shane Acker

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
American animator, film director, screenwriter and animation teacher
Gender
Male
Birth
Place of birth
Wheaton, DuPage County, Illinois, USA
Age
53 years
Education
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Florida
Springbrook High School
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Shane Richard Acker (born 1971 in Wheaton, Illinois) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter and animation teacher known for directing 9, which is based on his 2005 Academy Award-nominated short film of the same title. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Early life

As a child Acker was hyperactive, so his parents encouraged him to draw. Acker originally set a goal of becoming an architect; he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Florida in 1994 as well as a master's degree from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.

Career

Upon graduating in 1999, Acker decided to become a film-maker and went to study at UCLA's Animation Workshop. There he created The Hangnail, The Astounding Talents of Mr. Grenade, and 9. In 2004, Acker earned a master's degree in animation. 9 took him four and a half years to complete and was released in 2005. Acker concurrently held a position at Wētā FX in 2004 as an animator, where he focused on CG characters and creatures, followed by NCsoft from 2005 to 2006 as both an animator and CG generalist.

Acker wrote, directed, and co-animated the award-winning animated short film 9, which won a student award, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and was shown at SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater. Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Batman and The Nightmare Before Christmas) saw Acker's short film and, with Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) from Focus Features, produced the feature film with Attitude Studios in Luxembourg and Starz Animation in Toronto. Acker was the head director and storywriter.

He is also a visiting professor at Loyola Marymount University.

From January 2009 to 2010 Acker worked as an instructor for an advanced animation class at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. He worked at Gnomon on a short film Plus Minus, co-directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas which was due for release in late 2011 but has yet to be released.

In June 2011, Acker was chosen to direct a new live-action adaptation of the children's book and TV series Thomas & Friends. He was set to work from a script by Chris Viscardi, Will McRobb and Josh Klausner. Wētā FX would have created the film's visual effects with design by Wētā Workshop Design Dept, but the film was canceled due to Mattel's acquisition of HIT Entertainment.

In 2011, Acker formed Benthos Studio, an animation production company with partners Greg Little, Jack Mitchell and Brown Bag Films.

In 2012, Shane Acker confirmed that he planned to work with Valve to create his next film, Deep. Like 9, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, although it has no relation to 9 and is set in a different universe, where World War III has forced humans underground. Shane Acker has expressed his interest in creating more PG-13 animated films, of which 9 and Deep are such.

As of 2021, most of Acker's feature films, including his animated feature film Deep, are in development hell despite yet to be released. Acker completed the short film Crusoe, the only film which he produced over the years after 9, was shown at the Berlin Short Film Festival. The film won the award for Best Science Fiction Short Film at the festival.

Influences

Shane Acker has cited The Brothers Quay, Don Hertzfeldt, Jan Švankmajer, and brothers Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein as inspirations.

Filmography

Feature films and TV series

YearTitleDirectorWriterNotes
20099YesYesDirectorial debut
Wrote story
2023Fright KreweTV series; Executive producer

Short films

YearTitleDirectorWriterAnimatorNotes
1999The HangnailYesYesYes
2003The Astounding Talents of Mr. GrenadeYesYesAlso cinematographer
20059YesYesYes
2010A Jake and a TomYes
Plus MinusYes
2021CrusoeYesYesYesAlso cinematographer, production designer, and producer.

Other works from films

YearTitleVisual EffectsNotes
2003The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingYesAnimator
2012Journey 2: The Mysterious IslandYesPrevisualization Artist
Total RecallYes
2013Oz the Great and PowerfulYes
47 RoninYesPrevisualization Supervisor

Video games

YearTitleAnimatorNotes
2005Guild WarsYesCutscene animator

Critical reception

FilmRotten TomatoesIMDbMetacritic
958%7.1/1060

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryTitleResult
1999MicroCineFest Audience Choice AwardBest ShortThe HangnailWon
2005Annecy International Animated Film FestivalGraduation Films (Junior Jury Award)9Won
Graduation Films (Special Distinction)Won
BendFilm Festival Jury PrizeBest Animated ShortWon
Student Academy AwardAnimationWon
2006Academy AwardBest Animated Short FilmNominated
2021Berlin Short Film FestivalBest Science-Fiction Short FilmCrusoeWon
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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