Research out of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ (IfA) is the focus of an , but viewer beware, you may end with a really catchy tune stuck in your head.

In January, IfA astronomers announced that they discovered a rocky planet known as a “Super-Earth TOI 561b” using the telescopes on Maunakea. The planet orbits the star TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 561, and has sparked interest around the world.

“Kids Learning Tube” recently posted explaining the Super-Earth TOI 561b and it received more than 100,000 views in less than a week. One of the scenes in the video shows a picture of the face of Lauren Weiss, the Beatrice Watson Parrent Postdoctoral Fellow at IfA and leader of the team that discovered the TOI-561 planetary system.

“It is an honor to have our work highlighted, though I was surprised to see my face,” said Weiss. “It’s educational and funny, and best of all, it exposes kids to science.”

• Related UH News story: Rocky planet discovered around one of the galaxy’s oldest stars, January 11, 2021

IfA astronomers discovered TOI 561b in the Milky Way galaxy. By measuring the wobble of the star induced by the planet’s gravity, they were able to infer that the planet has three times the mass of Earth.

“The rocky planet orbiting TOI-561 is one of the oldest rocky planets yet discovered. Its existence shows that the universe has been forming rocky planets almost since its inception 14 billion years ago,” said Weiss when the discovery was announced.

The discovery is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (ACM) will be featured at the 2020 (HIFF), and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual event will allow viewers to enjoy the films from the comfort of their homes. An ACM professor and alumna’s horror film, and an ACM alumnus’ film about a young Hawaiian activist will also premiere at HIFF to drive-in audiences.

Student and alumni showcase

Seven students and alumni will showcase their films in the UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ ACM showcase, November 5–29. Joshua Co, a senior digital cinema major, will feature two films. is about a young girl preparing to defend her home after hearing about an incoming hurricane and is about a middle school student finding more about who he is as his world around him is falling apart.

“The intent behind these two films was to share the Â鶹´«Ã½ that I know, living in my little corner of it,” Co said. “Both films were extremely personal. Brown Bodies in a Far Sea was shot in my family home and with that, I wanted to bring an art house style to an indigenous aesthetic. With Ikaika I wanted to create a piece that felt like a distant memory, a piece that strung together little moments that evoke a sense of both loss and understanding.”

, directed by senior creative media major Briana Smith, is about a woman who runs a program for special needs young adults at Pali Lanes in Windward Oʻahu. The inspiration for the film came after Smith stumbled upon an online article that focused on a grassroots campaign attempting to save the bowling alley from a difficult financial situation.

“I contacted the Save Pali Lanes committee and got to meet Rosemarie (also known as Ms. Rosie), the wonderful subject of my film,” Smith said. “After that, I visited her group, W.I.N.G.S., every Tuesday for about two months before shooting. I am a big proponent of personal narrative, so I’m very grateful that Rosemarie was so willing to share her story.”

, directed by spring 2020 creative media graduate Sophia Whalen, is an animated action film about magical girls who need to prevent a sludge monster from destroying their town on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island. The film is set in Whalen’s hometown of Kailua-Kona.

“All the action happens on this very specific part of Aliʻi Drive. There’s Huliheʻe Palace, Mokuaikaua Church, the sea wall, etc.,” Whalen said. “It’s not common for films to be set in this town and I want the people who live here to see their home on the screen.”

More films

• , a horror/comedy short about an exhausted movie theater usher who is tormented by a phantom haunting his workplace, directed by Gavin Arucan
• , a film about two friends who are on the run from their Kauaʻi home and make their way up Waimea Canyon, directed by Arucan
• is about Pele, a young and hot-tempered volcano goddess, who has been challenged by Kamapuaʻa, a shapeshifting trickster in a race around Â鶹´«Ã½ Island, directed by Kalilinoe Detwiler
• is based on Mexican folklore La Lechuza involving a mother who transforms into a barn owl taking care of her young son and preparing him for his first flight, directed by Molly Tapken
• is a short drama about a teenage boy who is afraid of being transparent, directed by Justin Kimata

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the .

Story Game

A new horror/thriller film, , will premiere at HIFF 2020. UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ ACM Associate Professor and ACM alumna Anne Misawa was the film’s cinematographer, and ACM alumna Nikki Lau was one of the film’s producers. Story Game features three students camping on a remote beach during spring break. After meeting a park ranger, they all make a bet to tell the scariest story. The three scary stories are infused with Pan-Pacific flavor as they were shot in Japan and Â鶹´«Ã½.

Story Game will be featured online, and in-person at an Ala Moana drive-in event (November 5) and at Olino by Consolidated Theatres (November 15). For more information and to purchase tickets, .

Hawaiian Soul

A film written and directed by ACM alumnus ʻÄ€¾±²Ô²¹ Paikai and produced by ACM alumnus Kaliko Maʻiʻi will premiere at HIFF 2020. tells the story of George Helm, a musician who used his gift of song to become a leader in the movement to protect Hawaiian land and Native Hawaiian rights.

Hawaiian Soul will be featured online, and in-person at a Windward Mall drive-in event (November 22) and at Consolidated Theatres Ward (November 29). For more information and to purchase tickets, .

—By Marc Arakaki

What do Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Ice Age, Corpse Bride and covers of the New Yorker magazine have in common? Four acclaimed artists, with top-tier animation and illustration credits such as the aforementioned, will share their knowledge with animation students at .

The students will meet with the animators on February 7, 2020. Later that night, at a free public event at 7 p.m., the award-winning artists will discuss their art, work and collaborations at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre in “Casting Call: Populating Feature Animated Movies.”

Andrea Blasich

has worked in the animation industry for 30 years. Some of the animations he has worked on include How to Train your Dragon, Shark Tale, Ice Age, Brave and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. He has worked on the video games BioShock 2 and The Witness and the animated short The Dam Keeper.

Two of his sculptures were selected as finalists for the National Sculpture Society Awards.

Peter de Sève

was the sole character designer for the film Ice Age including the iconic Scrat. A few of the many other films he has worked on include Finding Nemo, Robots, The Little Prince and The Grinch.

His many distinctions include the Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators, and a Daytime Emmy Award for best character design in a television show. In 2016 he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators prestigious Hall of Fame. He is, perhaps, best recognized for his many New Yorker covers.

Carter Goodrich

has designed characters for numerous feature animations including Prince of Egypt, Monsters Inc., Sinbad, Finding Nemo, Brave, Open Season, Hotel Transylvania, Coco and Despicable Me.

He has won Annie Awards for his designs for Ratatouille and The Croods. He has two Society of Illustrators Gold Medal Awards and 21 New Yorker covers. He has written and illustrated seven award winning children’s books.

Carlos Grangel

designed characters for DreamWorks from 1993 including Prince of Egypt, Spirit, Sinbad, Madagascar, Flushed Away, Kung-Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. He was handpicked by Tim Burton to not only design all the characters for Corpse Bride, but also logo, title, prop and costume design.

He won the Annie Award for character design for Spirit. His work has been exhibited at museums around the world including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and The World Expo Shanghai 2010.

For more information, contact Kapiʻolani CC Professor Sharon Sussman at (808) 734-9382. The New Arts Lectures 2020 event is supported by the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Wallis Foundation and Kapiʻolani CC.

An exciting collaboration is underway this semester between students from Honolulu Community College’s (MELE) and the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹’s (ACM) programs.

ACM animation students in the ACM 420 Animation Production II course are working in two groups to create two separate short, animated films that will be completed by the end of the fall semester. The students plan to submit their films to festivals including the spring ACM showcase and the Â鶹´«Ã½ International Film Festival. The films will also be useful material for the students’ demo reels, which is a necessary component for future employment and/or graduate school applications.

The first film, Poked, is about a pokey aloe plant displayed at a flower shop that struggles between keeping himself unblemished and befriending his neighbor, an extra spiky cactus, only to discover that there is more than one way to get sold.

The second film, Midnight Showing, is a wacky animated horror film about Angel, an utterly exhausted movie theater usher eager to close up early, when a spooky, movie-loving phantom arrives to torment him.

MELE students in the MELE 211 Audio Engineering 1 course recorded the actors’ voice over dialog for both animation projects in MELE‘s state-of-the-art recording studio facilities.

Students are contributing their areas of expertise to the projects, which gives them the experience of working with others in a professional setting. The MELE program is the only one in the state that offers associate of science degrees in music business or audio engineering technology.

“This was an amazing opportunity to experience a legit sound booth with sound engineers and gave me a chance to direct an actor,” said ACM animation student Tiffany Ganti.

“Having a session that closely mimics a real one with a client made me realize I am not just learning to be in the audio recording business but the people business too,” said MELE audio engineering student Timothy Manamtam.

A team of students from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ Academy for Creative Media (ACM) spent the first weekend of October competing with hundreds of students around the world in the 17th 24 Hours Animation Contest.

The five animation students, with the team name SPICY AHI, worked on a 30-second animated film. They had 24 hours to create the short from October 4-5. This year’s theme: What does family mean to you? There were about 1,500 students from 64 schools in nine countries competing.

The group included ACM junior Chandelle Oliver and ACM seniors Gavin Arucan, Mia Clause, Kalilinoe Detwiler and Sophia Whalen.

“We kept each other going with calisthenic exercises, fun music and yummy food,” said Clause about the team’s ability to work tirelessly for 24 hours straight to complete the film.

“I got energy from being around people,” said Arucan.

“I used all my animation skills in the last 24 hours,” said Detwiler.

Animation is a time-intensive craft, where 24 drawings comprise one second of a 2D hand-drawn film, equating to 720 drawings for a 30 second film. In 24 hours, the students conceived an idea based on the given theme, storyboarded the concept, designed every element on screen from scratch, animated anything requiring movement, added color, designed the sound and exported it to the final movie.

“The 24 Hours Animation Contest was a fun learning experience for the students, and they were able to interact with the international animation community,” said ACM Assistant Professor Brittany Biggs. “They got to flex the skills they’ve been developing from their classes while working together as a team. They walked away from this contest with the confidence that they can handle the pressure of tight deadlines in a professional production setting. I’m incredibly impressed and proud of the work they achieved.”

Work from animation students at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (ACM) and (LAVA) will be showcased in the 8th annual faculty submitted student work exhibit for in Los Angeles. The work will be screened throughout the conference, which runs July 28–August 1.

SIGGRAPH is one of the largest and most prestigious annual conferences for computer graphics and interactive techniques in the world. Ten minutes of student work was submitted, including LAVA‘s Destiny-Class CyberCANOE, 2D and 3D character animation scene assignments and animated short films.

The projects

For the LAVA project, undergraduate and graduate students worked together in the full design, prototyping, physical construction and software development (including application programming interface and demonstrational applications) of the 256 megapixel hybrid-reality environment Destiny-class CyberCANOE.

The 2D and 3D scene assignments consisted of short character performances that focused on a certain action while also exhibiting personality. These actions or assignment prompts included walk cycles, monolog scenes, dialog scenes between multiple characters and body mechanics exercises (such as pushing, pulling or lifting an object). The 2D assignments were from ACM 318 Classical 2D Full Animation course and the 3D character assignments were from ACM 316 3D Character Animation course. There were 3D environment scenes from ACM 215 3D Scene Design, where students modeled, textured, lit and rendered an environment using Maya, the industry standard 3D animation software package.

The animated short films were completed in a semester during ACM 320 and ACM 216, with students working independently from concept to completion.

“SIGGRAPH is one of the most prestigious computer graphics conferences in the world. Having our ACM animation and LAVA students’ work showcased during the event is exciting exposure for them, as countless industry professionals, artists, researchers, and technologists will see their work,” said Brittany Biggs, ACM assistant professor.

The students

• Jon-Dominic Allen
• Gavin Arucan
• Jake Asentista
• Kalilinoe Detwiler
• Mauricio Farina
• Aubrey Gamboa
• Alberto Gonzalez
• Andrew Guagliardo
• Noel Kawano
• Dylan Kobayashi
• Jack Lam
• Chandelle Oliver
• Samuel Park
• Roberto Renteria
• Molly Tapken
• Ryan Theriot
• Ken Uchida
• Eric Wu
• Suky Zhao

Legendary animators Ron Clements and John Musker headline ’s New Arts Lecture series at the Honolulu Museum of Art at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3. Their appearance is spearheaded by Professor Sharon Sussman, in partnership with and the .

Sussman said “I’m looking forward to seeing how this very special visit by these giants of the animation industry will inspire the Kapiʻolani CC New Media Arts students—the next generation of animation storytellers.”

Among Clementʻs and Muskerʻs collaborations are the Oscar-nominated Moana and Disneyʻs 2009 return to hand-drawn animation The Princess and the Frog.

Clements is a renowned storyteller and filmmaker at Walt Disney Animation Studios. With his longtime collaborator Musker, Clements has written and directed iconic feature films that have become part of Disney’s legacy. They include beloved classics like The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992).

Musker is a 40-year veteran of the Walt Disney Animation Studios where he was an animator, storyboard artist, writer, director and producer. He became an animator on The Fox and the Hound (1981), and later joined Clements to direct The Great Mouse Detective (1986) alongside Disney veterans Burny Mattinson and Dave Michener.

The duo’s credits also include 1997’s epic comedy Hercules and the intergalactic adventure Treasure Planet (2002).

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The lecture is supported by the Honolulu Museum of Art, Wallis Foundation and Kapiʻolani Community College. For more information, contact Sharon Sussman at (808) 734-9382 or ssussman@hawaii.edu.

Approximately 5,000 Â鶹´«Ã½ students had the opportunity to see and hear the diversity of ±á²¹·É²¹¾±ʻ¾±â€™s native birds as well as feel the loss of extinction and the urgency for conservation at the . The performed four concerts that brought together science education, art and music at the Neal S. Blaisdell concert hall October 31–November 1.

“Working with children is a great way to go for training up the next generation of people who can have the toolsets and the passion to solve the really big problems like we’re facing with endangered species in Â鶹´«Ã½,” said Melissa Price, project co-coordinator and assistant professor of natural resources and environmental management at the .

• Read more about the first Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds concert in May

The performances were the culmination of a multidisciplinary collaboration between faculty from the UH Mānoa , , , , , as well as the and .

“It’s a project that brings together all these different kinds of arts and sciences to education all these kids about birds and also show them what new music, new art looks like,” said Takuma Itoh, associate professor of music.

Prior to the concert, the students grades 4–12 learned about Hawaiian bird biology, ecology and conservation efforts through a program developed by the UH Mānoa College of Education, and UH music education students went into classrooms to teach a hula and demonstrate instruments in preparation for the concert.

“Students got to learn about the native species, specifically the native birds like the iʻiwi, and their adaptations. They adapted to our trees and now they’re going extinct,” said Waiʻanae Intermediate School science teacher Brigitte Russo, whose class attended the concert. “I just wanted to thank UH for giving us this opportunity. They gave us a free field trip, which a lot of students aren’t able to get.”

The Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds will have its first public performance on November 14, 7 p.m. at the Blaisdell concert hall. For ticket information on the , see the .

—By Heidi Sakuma

Few Â鶹´«Ã½ residents have seen or heard one of Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s native forest birds, but a partnership between the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ and the aims to introduce the birds to the next generation through music and art.

The is a multidisciplinary effort to educate elementary and secondary students on Oʻahu about Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s endangered native bird species and the importance of conservation efforts.

“The sound of extinction isn’t silence, but a decrease in complexity as species, or variations on a theme, disappear,” said , assistant professor in the . “Whether cars and city noise or the sound of introduced species, the sounds of the extinct species are often replaced.”

On May 9, an educational concert by the Â鶹´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra brought together approximately 3,000 students, teachers, parents, scientists, educators, composers, artists and conservationists to celebrate Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s endangered native forest birds and hear their songs.

Composers worked with visual artists to create six new movements partnered with video and animation all illustrating Hawaiian forest birds.

“We delved into the subject, appreciating the specific nature and characteristics of these endangered and extinct birds that we were tasked to bring to life through animation,” said , lecturer in the and one of the artists for the project. “Not only did the keiki become enriched, the artists did as well.”

• See the (PDF) for more on the composers, artists, performers and birds.

Experts in many fields

The project is a collaboration of UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s , , , , , , , and local artists. More information about .

“There are so many creative minds and talent in our community, and it was thrilling to have so many of them come together for a project that everyone believed in so deeply,” said , associate professor in the .

Prior to the concert, the nearly 30 public, private and home schools involved were asked to participate in a set of lesson plans, available at the , to introduce the birds through science, music, art, social studies and other means.

Educating future conservationists

“During the symphony, I recalled Maya Angelou’s words, ‘People will forget what you said and did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,’” said Charlotte Frambaugh-Kritzer, associate professor in the . “Indeed, the music and animation presented at the symphony became the vehicle for us all to feel the plight of the Hawaiian forest birds. In my opinion, you cannot receive a more compelling learning opportunity for our keiki.”

Teachers had access to full lesson plans for grades 4–12 developed by the College of Education and a graduate student in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. The plans included links to readings and audio and video resources to prepare students for the concert. The lessons focused on the biology of Hawaiian forest birds, their place in culture and the threats to their continued survival, while also exploring the structure of a symphony and how some instruments can sound like birds.

UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ music education students visited many of the participating schools to teach the students an original hula about Hawaiian birds that was created specifically for this project, so the students could join in with music and movement during the concert.

“This project shows what new art can do: We can react to issues important to us today, create something that is unique and local, and bring entire communities together,” said Itoh. “There was nowhere else besides Â鶹´«Ã½ that this project could have been created, and I think it resonated with people here so much more profoundly as a result.”

Going forward, the project members are planning to adapt the music and visuals for display at the Bishop Museum, as well as future performances to bring the music of Hawaiian forest birds to an even greater audience on Oʻahu and the neighbor islands.

“If we could get every fourth grade class learning the hula, learning the science, learning the music and attending the symphony every year, that would be a dream come true,” said Price.

—By Heidi Sakuma

Kathy Altieri, production designer for How to Train Your Dragon, the DreamWorks Animation, academy award-nominated film, will give a free public talk on visual storytelling using color at on Tuesday, March 13, 7–9 p.m. in ʻÅŒ³ó¾±ʻ²¹ 118.

Altieri will present an overview and comparison of several animated features and discuss how color was utilized in each to emphasize the emotional arc of the story. She will cover how lighting, color and tone are all orchestrated in a film to subtly guide viewers’ emotions.

She has visited Kapiʻolani CC twice before and will work with animation students during her current visit, as she has in the past.

Altieri also served as production designer on Over the Hedge and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. She worked as art director on the critically acclaimed film The Prince of Egypt. Before joining DreamWorks Animation, Altieri worked as a background painter and supervisor on the Disney films: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.

Additional workshops

Altieri will be teaching additional workshops at Kapiʻolani CC. Seating is limited, and students will be given priority. RSVP required to Sharon Sussman by Thursday, March 8.

• March 13, 8–10 a.m, How to Train your Dragon—the real story: change, drama and metamorphosis
• March 15, 8–10 a.m., the emotional power of design