Tea Time and the AAU ShowReel.

It appears there was a bit of a misunderstanding regarding Tea Time Animation's involvement with the facilitation and compilation of the AAU Animation Showreel. The following letter was drafted in response to concerns from the online department. We hope you find it useful in determining Tea Time's responsibilities and the ways in which you can get connected with your animation community.

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I'm Lana Bachynski, Tea Time Co-Founder and Senior Board Member. I can assure you that nothing goes through Tea Time without my knowledge of it -- particularly not anything of this magnitude! Please allow me to shed a little light on this misunderstanding.

The Showreel, worthy as it is, is most certainly NOT in direct affiliation with Tea Time. Our board members have done our best to relay information and answer questions when asked, but we are in no way responsible for the collection of work, the accessibility of resources, or the selection of work to be shown in the final product. Tea Time is simply a network to help broadcast opportunities such as this on a larger scale.

While it is regretful that there has been much confusion around this subject for the students and instructors alike - and we are very thankful to all those currently helping to resolve the issue in a mutually satisfying way - frankly, it is an insult to us - and to me, personally - that you would take information handed to you and use it to speak poorly of Tea Time’s initiative towards online students – Particularly because we pride ourselves as being one of, if not the only community, that actively reaches out to the online student body in ways far beyond the casual group on Facebook.

Since day one, Tea Time has made sure to take comprehensive notes of guest speakers, in-club lectures or demos, and events we host or attend, posting them to our blog (teatimeanimation.blogspot.com), so that those who cannot be in attendance might still be able to glean something that benefits them. Over the last year, we have expanded upon this – specifically with the hopes of creating a stronger bond with the online community. Our website (teatimeanimation.com) features a structured forum for giving/receiving feedback on work; sharing industry news and job openings; space to ask technical questions and get support; and a growing resource library of tutorials, rigs and props available for free use.

Furthermore, because we know it gets tiresome to just have to read a bunch of notes, we have started to bring everything Tea Time directly to the online community. Our weekly meetings are streamed live every week from our dedicated site (hangout.teatimeanimation.com), and, when possible, we have begun to live stream some of our Guest Speaker events as Webinars with Watch Later capabilities (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grUatd29ZNU). Tea Time has even launched a secondary chapter in Pittsburgh, PA, that we openly invite online students in that region to join, or, if they are so inspired, to begin their own local chapters with our full and direct support.

Finally, I should like to point out to you that Tea Time Animation is an Alumni/Student run organization. While we are largely affiliated with and greatly supported by the Academy, Tea Time is not directly maintained by any AAU faculty or personnel, which means Chris Armstrong is not the authority figure whose word you should hold to in future matters regarding Tea Time. I am.
I would be happy to answer any further questions or concerns you may have about ways the online student body can get involved. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me through our e-mail, teatimeanimationclub@gmail.com; or our twitter, @TeaTimeAnimates, or our Instagram, @TeaTimeAnimation.

Happy Animating!

The Usual Summer Hiatus

We hope you've been enjoying as much of the sun-soaking, free-slurpee season as you can because - you guessed it - fall is just around the bend, and with it, the end of our usual summer hiatus.

If you weren't aware, summer tends to lend itself to a lull in our regularly scheduled programming, as many of our on-site crew members depart for vacation -- but fret not! While we are getting a healthy dose of some Vitamin D (hissss, sunlight, hissss), we've also been busy preparing for another amazing year! Here's a quick update on what has been going down, a taste of what we're working on, and some things you can look forward to in the future:

First a shout out to our newly-annointed alumni leadership! Yes, three of our on-site leaders are all grown up and moving on to big-kid jobs - Thank you for all of your hard work Jonathan Marshall, Mendel Reis and Mike Kersey. While we will miss them dearly, this opened us up for the next generation of Tea Time Leadership, and we have been taking applications for our three new board members. After receiving many promising applications, we are nearly ready to make an official announcement, so stay tuned.

Speaking of new leadership, we are exceedingly proud to announce that we have just launched our very first additional Tea Time Chapter all the way in Pittsburgh, PA! They've just finished their first, successful semester, and you can look forward to hearing more from them in the future. Tea Time Pittsburgh is run by the charming and talented Justin Hartman (@JustinHartArt) and Tyler Palladino (@PallaSculpt). Please contact them if you're in the area and looking to participate!
Additionally, if you're interested in starting a Tea Time chapter of your own, don't hesitate to contact us at info@teatimeanimation.com. We have an amazing info package to help you get started!

If you hadn't heard already, a while back we launched our official community site teatimeanimation.com. If you want to be a part of our community, but sadly aren't located in San Francisco or Pittsburgh, we have some excellent discussions, amazing job opportunity postings, and even some events with prizes. The forums has been steadily growing and we can't wait to see more! Come discover important news, share what inspires you, or get feedback on your latest work. There is room for all facets of the animation pipeline, so amaze us with some drawings, rigs, models, or VFX. Remember, Tea Time is open to everyone -- whether you are just starting out or are currently an industry professional -- so don't hesitate to sign up (we're integrated with Facebook so it only takes on click) and start sharing.

This summer has been particularly exciting for many of our members, with the involvement and success of the Borderlands 2 Short Film partnership with Gearbox and 2K Games. Congratulations to everyone and their hard work. You can check out the delightful spot Kotaku did on the project here, and you can watch the full documentary below!

Finally (I told you we've been busy), we are thinking of starting a YouTube channel! The success of the Clothing the Morpheus Rig tutorial has been overwhelming, getting nearly a thousand hits in a matter of hours. Thus, we have decided to create a dedicated channel that will consist of video tutorials, industry news, and most likely one-on-one interviews with professionals. That being said - we're open to feedback! Let us know what you'd like to see in the comments below, or tweet us @TeaTimeAnimates.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest that summer has to offer and we'll be seeing you soon.

Happy animating!


Don't forget to join the conversation at www.teatimeanimation.com

Questions? Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at info@teatimeanimation.com
Twitter: @TeaTimeAnimates
Instagram: @TeaTimeAnimation

Welcome to Spring 2014!

Good afternoon and happy last day of freedom before the spring madness begins! It's been yet another excessively long break, and though we managed to keep fairly busy, I'm sure everyone is more than eager to hunker down and get to work.

First things first: A HUGE congratulations is in order for Tea Time's one and only Frank-Joseph Frelier on obtaining the Pixar spring semester Production Internship! Not that any of us doubted it for a second, we are unspeakably proud of you and wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.


For any of you joining us for the first time this year - Welcome!
Frank, along with fantastic Tea Time board members Mendel, Andy, and dedicated Tea Timer George had the privilege of chatting with you at the Meet and Greet over at Kezar Pavillion yesterday! We can't wait to see all your smiling faces at our first meeting this Friday, January 31. Location and Time is TBD right now, so keep your eyes peeled - but I'm willing to tell you that we may be visited by some very special friends, so you don't want to miss out!

Happy animating, and we'll see you Friday!

Don't forget to join the conversation at www.teatimeanimation.com

Questions? Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at info@teatimeanimation.com
Twitter: @TeaTimeAnimates
Instagram: @TeaTimeAnimation

PIXAR - Production Management Intern - Spring 2014

Photo courtesy of pixar.com

Due to some of our even more connected connections - and of course the magic of the world wide interweb - a little birdie has told us that PIXAR is hoping to begin reviewing resumes for a Production Management Intern as early as this Monday, December 16th. Opportunity is limited to current students only (sorry, grads), and the start date would be sometime in January.

Please visit our forums for full details on required skills and abilities.

Interested candidates can apply at pixar.com/careers.

Good luck, and Happy Animating.