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Dave Filoni has worked within Lucasfilm, particularly on the Star Wars franchise for several years. Having trained under franchise creator George Lucas, Filoni has gained plenty of experience crafting stories in the galaxy far, far away, that most filmmakers might envy.

Dave Filoni has vast experience working in the Star Wars universe (Credit: Star Wars | YouTube).

During an interview. Lucasfilm’s CG supervisor Joel Aron revealed Filoni’s philosophy for telling stories in the Star Wars universe. Aron’s comment about Filoni’s work on the Clone Wars animated series proves why he is arguably the best candidate to shape the franchise’s future.

Lucasfilm CG Supervisor Joel Aron Revealed Dave Filoni’s Simple Star Wars Philosophy

Dave Filoni first joined Lucasfilm to work on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which George Lucas created. Filoni essentially served as a showrunner during the show’s production, with Joel...

Despite the closure of Ilm Singapore, Star Wars animation will continue with The Bad Batch season 3 and Tales of the Jedi season 2. Lucasfilm Animation's Joel Aron clarified that Lucasfilm Animation is not affected by the closure and is located at Skywalker Ranch and San Francisco. The closure of Ilm Singapore and the Hollywood strikes do not impact the production of the animated projects, which are on track for release in 2024.

Despite the closure of an Ilm division, a Lucasfilm animator has confirmed Star Wars animation will continue with Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3 and Tales of the Jedi season 2 in the near future. Lucasfilm announced that Ilm Singapore will be closing, marking an end to the branch founded to help with the development of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Singapore Ilm team pivoted towards doing CG shots for Hollywood productions, but ultimately fell victim to economic circumstances.

"Star Wars" is often best in animation, where it can be allowed to be as weird and fantastical as the serials that inspired George Lucas in the first place, or as serious and operatic as any of the movies, all while giving us vastly different visual styles that can reflect the viewpoint of whoever is telling that story. Take Genndy Tartakovsky's "Clone Wars," which completely disregarded physics in order to depict the Jedi as the mythological, invincible warriors that citizens saw them as during the war, or how "Star Wars Visions" allowed different studios to reinterpret what "Star Wars" even is, giving us everything from samurai tales to a rock opera.

Or take "The Bad Batch," which follows in the style of "The Clone Wars" and its hyperrealistic cinematography with cartoonish character designs, giving viewers "Star Wars" tales on a smaller scale than any of the movies could while still feeling larger than life.

Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Three delivers all 22 action-packed episodes of the hit CG animated series’ third season, plus exclusive, never-before-seen bonus material on Blu-ray™ and DVD! The story threads begin to tighten in this thrilling season of Star Wars Rebels, drawing connections to The Clone Wars, Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy into the series’ epic storyline. Available August 29, Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Three delivers some of the most critically-acclaimed Star Wars storytelling to date, with engaging characters, harrowing conflicts, and spectacular space battles on par with those seen in the films.

Having established a secret base on Atollon, the Ghost crew, now led by a more powerful Ezra, strengthens the Rebel fleet by acquiring new resources and recruits eager to stand against the Empire. However, the Imperial efforts to eliminate the Rebellion are now being led by the coldly analytical Grand Admiral Thrawn,...

The third season of Star Wars Rebels is coming to blu-ray at the end of the Summer, giving you plenty of time to catch up before the final season begins. Come inside to check out all the details, including the bonus features that will be included!

If you've been waiting to bring the most recent season of Star Wars Rebels home on blu-ray, you'll get your chance near the end of Summer. The DVD/Blu-ray is launching on August 29, 2017 and will bring with it some heftier bonus features than we've had in the past:

Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Three delivers all 22 action-packed episodes of the hit CG animated series’ third season, plus exclusive, never-before-seen bonus material on Blu-ray™ and DVD! The story threads begin to tighten in this thrilling season of Star Wars Rebels, drawing connections to The Clone Wars, Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy into the series’ epic storyline.

"Visions of Hope” finds Ezra growing stronger with the Force. His lightsaber skills have improved, and during a training session, sees a vision through the Force. In it, he sees Gall Trayvis, who says he knew Ezra’s parents. Ezra interprets his vision literally, and as a result, leads his friends into a trap. They manage to escape, and Ezra learns to be more cautious. This week, the Recon team talks Lucasfilm’s Joel Aron and Chris Voy about lighting in Star Wars Rebels. "Lighting is something that needs to be thought of…from the very beginning to the very end of it," says CG supervisor Joel Aron. "Because we as humans react to shapes." Chris Voy, lighting concept artist, says that they look at storyboards to uncover places where lighting and color can play up emotional moments. “There’s no accidental lighting,” Aron adds. In this week's deep dive,...

The Star Wars Rebels one-hour TV movie premieres tonight at 9 p.m. Et/Pt on Disney Channel. This will lead into the series that will air on Disney Xd starting on Monday, October 13th, at 9 p.m. Et/Pt. Yesterday, Disney announced that the show has already been renewed for a second season. The fact that Rebels will be priming audiences and laying the groundwork for what to expect in the new trilogy is likely a more important factor in the decision than the early buzz, which has been very positive. Producer Simon Kinberg said in a previous interview,

"There are characters, vehicles, imagery that are introduced in the show before we've ever seen them in the movies, possibly including VII."

Like J.J. Abrams with Episode VII, the team behind Rebels is aiming to recapture the magic of the classic trilogy, and they’ve gone to painstaking lengths in their attempt to do so.

"Star Wars Rebels," an animated series coming to Disney Channel in the fall of 2014, tells the story of the Ghost Crew, a group fighting against the Empire. Hera, voiced by Vanessa Marshall, is an ace pilot and the "heart of the Ghost crew."

Described as strong-willed, warm and nurturing, Hera is a Twi'lek who keeps the crew together. "She knows how to talk to them to get the best out of themselves and to be part of that team," says Joel Aron, the CG supervisor for "Star Wars Rebels."

What are Hera's reasons for rebelling against the Empire? They start out being mysterious, but discovering them is part of the show.

"Star Wars Rebels" will have a one-hour premiere in the fall of 2014 with the series following on Disney Xd channels worldwide.

Following a week-long character rollout for "Star Wars Rebels," Lucasfilm and Disney have revealed the final character, Hera, who is the heart of the Ghost crew. The Twi'lek is an ace pilot, able fighter, and is revealed in this behind-the-scenes video featuring creator interviews, character sketches and animation previews. Hera is voiced by Vanessa Marshall, and is an especially gifted pilot. "I think she really makes flying the Ghost look easy," says Joel Aron, CG supervisor. And while she's strong-willed, Hera also keeps the group together, and can be warm and nurturing. "She knows how to talk to them to get the best out of themselves and to be part of that team," Aron says. "That to me is the commander of a ship." Hera wears...

I really don't put much stock in the International Animated Film Society's 2013 Annie Awards, which is why I didn't rush to report on their results on Saturday. One year Disney and Pixar boycott the event, feeling there was an unfair advantage paid to larger contributing sponsors, DreamWorks being the primary example. So with such a nasty stench over the event what good does it do to pay it much mind? That said, I'll be brief in mentioning Wreck-It Ralph topped Saturday night's winners with five awards, including Best Animated Picture. The awards have something like a 75% streak when it comes to helping predict the eventual Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature and as the days have gone on, it's looking more and more like Ralph will be this year's winner (see my predictions here). Pixar's Brave, Laika's ParaNorman and DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians each took home two awards in lesser,...

Disney's "Wreck-It-Ralph" was the big winner at the 40th Annie Awards held Saturday taking home the Best Animated Feature award. It is now officially the Oscar frontrunner in the Best Animated Film category.

Here's the complete list of winners/nominees; for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies this season, click here:

Animated Feature

"Brave" . Pixar Animation Studios

"Frankenweenie" . Walt Disney Studios

"Hotel Transylvania" . Sony Pictures Animation

"ParaNorman" . Focus Features

"Rise of the Guardians" . DreamWorks Animation

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" . Aardman Animations

"The Rabbi.s Cat ". Gkids

Winner "Wreck-It Ralph" . Walt Disney Animation Studios

Animated Special Production

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1" . Warner Bros. Animation

"Before Orel" . Trust . Starburns Industries, Inc.

Winner "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" . Illumination Entertainment

"Disney Tron: Uprising . Beck.s Beginning" . Disney TV Animation

"Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" . DreamWorks Animation

"Justice League: Doom" . Warner Bros. Animation

Animated Short Subject

"Brad and Gary" . Illumination...

I love the art of animation, and it's amazing to see how far things have come and advanced over the years. The industry is changing in terms of technology, but what it all really comes down to is telling good stories. There's been a lot of great animated movies this year, and many of them are up for several awards at the 40th Annual Annie Awards.

Some of the movies nomainated include Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph. Out of those films my favorite is a toss up between Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman, those were two pretty incredible films. I think ParaNorman has the edge though.

Some of the other animated properties nominated are Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Disney Tron: Uprising, Justice League: Doom, Robot Chicken ‘DC Comics Special', South Park ‘Raising the Bar’, and several others.

The International Animated Film Society (Asifa-Hollywood) has announced the nominees for the 40th Annie Awards also known as Animation's Highest Honor. Disney/Pixar led the nominees with "Brave," "Frankenweenie," and "Wreck-It-Ralph" getting Best Picture nods. The 40th Annual Annie Awards will take place on February 2, 2013 at UCLA.s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, California.

And the nominees for the 40th Annual Annie Awards are:

Best Picture nominees:

Brave - Disney/Pixar)

Frankenweenie -The Walt Disney Studios

Hotel Transylvania - Sony Pictures Animation

ParaNorman - Focus Features

Rise of the Guardians - DreamWorks Animation

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Aardman Animations

The Rabbi.s Cat - Gkids

Wreck-It Ralph - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 . Warner Bros. Animation

Best General Audience Animated Television Production

Archer .Space Race, Part 1. . Weissman Markovitz Communications for FX

Bob.S Burgers .Earsy Rider...

Disney withdrew from the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood back in 2010 and even before then it was hard to put much stock in the Annie Awards. Now it's just sort of a blip on the overall award season radar that manages headlines twice a year, once for their nominees and again for their winners, which this year will be announced on Saturday, February 2, 2013. That said, the org announced their 2013 nominees this morning and their Best Feature Film list was made up of eight nominees (a large list considering the lack of quality animated films I've seen this year) including Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Rabbi's Cat and Wreck-It Ralph. It is nice not to see something like The Lorax among that list, but I still think this was a year in which the field could have easily been limited to five nominees.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson's "Kung Fu Panda 2" dominated the Annie Awards nominations, but the International Animated Film Society decided to give its highest honor -- the Best Animated Feature award -- to Gore Verbinski's "Rango." Both films are from DreamWorks Animation and they still have to duke it out at the upcoming Oscars in the Best Animated Feature Film category.

Besides the Best Animated trophy, "Rango" also collected awards for Best Editing and Writing. But Nelson, the first woman to direct a feature film animation from a major Hollywood production company, won the Directing in a Feature Production award! Yay! (Check out my interview with Jennifer Yuh Nelson for "Kung Fu Panda 2" right here)

The Annie Awards winners were announced yesterday at the UCLA Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 39th Annual Annie Awards (to see winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies,...

Gore Verbinski's Rango, voiced by Johnny Depp Production Categories Best Animated Feature A Cat in Paris Arrugas (Wrinkles) Arthur Christmas Cars 2 Chico & Rita Kung Fu Panda 2 Puss in Boots * Rango Rio The Adventures of Tintin Best Animated Special Production Adventure Time: Thank You Batman: Year One Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas * Kung Fu Panda: Secret of the Masters Prey 2 Star Tours Best Animated Short Subject * Adam and Dog I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat La Luna (Notes on) Biology Paths of Hate Sunday The Ballad of Nessie The Girl and the Fox Wild Life and Studio Gds Individual Achievement Categories Animated Effects in an Animated Production Can Yuksel, Puss In Boots Chase Cooper, Rango Dan Lund, Winnie The Pooh Dave Tidgewell, Kung Fu Panda 2 Eric Froemling, Cars 2 Jason Mayer, Kung Fu Panda 2 Joel Aron, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Jon Reisch,...

Carlos Saldanha's Rio Production Categories Best Animated Feature A Cat in Paris – Folimage Arrugas (Wrinkles) – Perro Verde Films, S.L. Arthur Christmas – Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations Cars 2 – Pixar Animation Studios Chico & Rita – Chico & Rita Distribution Limited Kung Fu Panda 2 – DreamWorks Animation Puss In Boots – DreamWorks Animation Rango – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/Gk Films Production Rio – Blue Sky Studios The Adventures of Tintin – Amblin Entertainment, Wingnut Films and Kennedy/Marshall Best Animated Special Production Adventure Time: Thank You – Cartoon Network Studios Batman: Year One – Warner Bros. Animation Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas – Blue Sky Studios Kung Fu Panda – Secrets of the Masters – DreamWorks Animation Prey 2 – Blur Studio Star Tours – Industrial Light & Magic Best Animated Short Subject Adam and Dog – Lodge Films I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat – Warner Bros. Animation La Luna – Pixar Animation Studios (Notes on) Biology – Ornana...

I'm a huge fan of animation, animated films are getting better and better. Not only is the look and animation getting ridiculously awesome, but I find that many of these animated films actually have incredibly good stories. Not all of them are good though, for example, Cars 2 and Rio sucked. It will be interesting to see who ends up taking home the awards this year. Out of the movies on the list that I've seen and liked we have Puss in Boots, Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2. I guess it's no surprises that Kung Fu Panda 2 is leading the nominations with 9. Check out the list and let us know what your favorite animated movies of the year are!

Production Categories

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris – Folimage Arrugas (Wrinkles) - Perro Verde Films, S.L. Arthur Christmas – Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations Cars 2 – Pixar Animation...

"Kung Fu Panda 2" dominated the nominations for the 39th Annual Annie Awards. Given by the International Animated Film Society, the DreamWorks Animation sequel received 12 nods including Best Animated Feature. "Puss in Boots" and "Rango" each took nine noms. Pixar's "Cars 2" received seven nominations, while Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" took eight nods but was oddly missing in the Best Animated Feature category.

Winners of the 2011 Annie Awards will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Here's the complete list of nominees of the 39th Annual Annie Awards:

Production Categories

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris . Folimage

Arrugas (Wrinkles) - Perro Verde Films, S.L.

Arthur Christmas . Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations

Cars 2 . Pixar Animation Studios

Chico & Rita . Chico & Rita Distribution Limited

Kung Fu Panda 2 . DreamWorks Animation

Puss In Boots . DreamWorks Animation

Rango . Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/Gk Films Production

Rio . Blue Sky Studios

Tintin . Amblin Entertainment,...

I don't put much stock in the Annie Awards and neither does Disney after withdrawing from the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood back in 2010. I have personally never found them to be a good judge of quality and as such don't pay them any particular attention, though I will pass along the information as they have announced their 2011 nominees with Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda 2 leading the way with 12 nominations, followed by Puss in Boots and Rango each with nine. Of course, while Disney has withdrawn from the Annies that doesn't mean they aren't considered for the awards as Cars 2, Gnomeo and Juliet and Winnie the Pooh are among the nominees. Last year How to Train Your Dragon reigned supreme over Toy Story 3 and I wouldn't be surprised to see Kung Fu Panda 2 take home plenty of hardware, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, which beat out...

Star Wars will never end, nor will we ever see an end to its presence at San Diego Comic-Con (particularly girls in Slave Leia outfits), so celerate longevity with Star Wars: The Clone Wars!

Taking place in Room 6Bcf on Thursday July 21st from 4:45pm - 5:45pm, the panel should force out new footage and details from the coming fourth season, as well as answer fan questions on the past, present and future of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  But who will be on hand guiding us younglings?

Dave Filoni (Supervising Director)

Joel Aron (CG Supervisor)

Pablo Hidalgo (Moderator)

Not bad, eh Star Wars fans?  More updates will arrive, so keep it here for all the latest Star Wars: The Clone Wars news from Comic-Con 2011!

Like always, Comic Con International is revealing the schedule of events day by day. It certainly makes planning a lot easier. But that's neither here nor there. There's a lot of panels to cover, so let's just get to it. Check out the pertinent film and television panels set for the first two days of the show after the jump.

The first "day" of the show is Preview Night only, so there's only a couple things happening that night:

6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural: The Anime Series—

Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night tradition with exclusive world premiere screenings of the pilot episodes of three of the most highly anticipated TV series pilots of the 2011-12 television season — Alcatraz, Person of Interest, and The Secret Circle — as well as Supernatural: The Anime Series,...

Comic-Con 2011 Movie Panels: Thursday Schedule

11:15-12:15 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 — Summit Entertainment presents a sneak peek at the highly anticipated next chapter of The Twilight Saga. This is a must see for fans interested in the story’s final chapters. You’ll see exclusive footage fromThe Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 and be treated to a filmmaker and cast Q&A session providing details on the first half of the epic two-part finale. Hall H

12:45-1:45 Animation Showcase — Sony Pictures Animation plunges Hall H into a 3D animation universe with previews of upcoming films with Aardman, the home studio of Wallace and Gromit, as they make their first trip across the pond to Comic-Con to present a first look at two of their upcoming animated feature films:

Arthur Christmas — The 3D, CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible,...

We're less than two weeks away from the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, and convention organizers have finally released the schedule for the first day of programing. You can find the full schedule on comic-con.org [1], or after the jump I've listed the film and television highlights, which includes the Masters of the Web panel which I've been invited to be a panelist on (In full disclosure, I've been asked to be on this panel for a few years now, but I've only just recently gotten over my fear of speaking in front of large audiences). It should be a fun panel, and I hear they will be giving away some really cool prizes as well. Wednesday (Preview Night) 6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural: The Anime Series— Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night...

Why am I not watching The Clone Wars on a more regular basis? Better yet -- why aren't you? Maybe you are and you've just been keeping it a secret. Damn you.

Dave Filoni and Joel Aron, the masterminds behind Cartoon Networks' highly successful CG-animated Clone Wars series, appeared at Wondercon this weekend to talk the recent finale of Season 3, what it takes to bring the show to life and what's in store for Season 4. The message was clear: bigger. Much, much bigger.

Most of the discussion of Season 3 revolved around the finale, in which a familiar Wookie made an appearance. Filoni told Entertainment Weekly in an interview Sunday that he didn't know if Chewie could be a regular: "Every time you use one of the classic characters, you have to wonder, 'How would this affect what he’s thinking later on?' But I love that we have him and other Wookiees now,...

Tonight, Star Wars: The Clone Wars will conclude its third season with an hour-long finale beginning with Ahsoka Tano taken captive and stranded with a familiar furry character in “Padawan Lost” and “Wookiee Hunt.” Check out this excerpt from the press release and a sneak peek of the season finale below.

In the pulse-pounding, hour-long season finale, Ahsoka Tano is taken captive and stranded on a planetary game preserve, where she finds herself on the run from merciless and sadistic Trandoshan hunting parties. With the odds stacked against her and no rescue in sight, hope for survival begins to dwindle – that is, until her escape efforts receive an unexpected boost from a friendly – and furry! – fellow captive. The chase begins with “Padawan Lost” and continues into “Wookiee Hunt” – it’s a must-see, double dose of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, airing at 8:00 p.m. Et/Pt Friday, April 1 on Cartoon Network.

Friday's schedule has just gone up for the 2010 Comic-Con at San Diego. As was the case with yesterday's breakdown, I'm focusing on film/TV/DVD related events, screenings and panels.

Read about Thursday's line-up of events.

10:00-11:00 Comedy Central: Ugly Americans— David M. Stern (showrunner and executive producer), Dan Powell (executive producer), Jeff Poliquin (supervising producer), Devin Clark (producer and series creator), Aaron Augenblick (director of animation), Matt Oberg (voice of Mark Lilly), Kurt Metzger (voice of Randall Skeffington), and Randy Pearlstein (voice of Leonard) take you behind the scenes at this animated series sensation. Featuring a sneak peek of the new season, Q&A, and more. One audience member selected will be drawn into an upcoming episode! Room 25Abc

10:15-11:15 Aloha, Earth!— Lost castaway found! Battlestar Cylon becomes human! Star Trek writers return from space! A supernatural force has drawn some of sci-fi's giants...

Hey Gang! Comic-Con International has released the full schedule for Friday July 23rd and its another full day crazy awesomeness!

Friday is traditionally known as Star Wars day at the convention. This year feature 6 Special Programs featuring official news, announcements and more from the Star Wars universe. There is also the classic march of the Stormtroopers which is always cool.

I honestly don't know how were going to cover everything we want to, but we will find away! We did it last year! I've hilighted all of the events and panels that we are looking forward to seeing. So check out the full schedule below and start planning out your epic Friday at Comic-Con!

Friday, July 23

Last changed: Fri, Jul 9, 11:26am

10:00-11:00 DC Talent Search 2— DC's editorial art director Mark Chiarello presents an informative orientation session that will explain how DC's Talent Search works and discuss the different needs of DC Universe,...

Here are the movie and TV highlights

The San Diego Comic-Con has posted the schedule for Friday, July 23. You can view the full schedule here, but below are the movie and TV events that ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype/ShockTillYouDrop.com will be concentrating on.

Friday, July 23

10:00-11:00 Comedy Central: Ugly Americans— David M. Stern (showrunner and executive producer), Dan Powell (executive producer), Jeff Poliquin (supervising producer), Devin Clark (producer and series creator), Aaron Augenblick (director of animation), Matt Oberg (voice of Mark Lilly), Kurt Metzger (voice of Randall Skeffington), and Randy Pearlstein (voice of Leonard) take you behind the scenes at this animated series sensation. Featuring a sneak peek of the new season, Q&A, and more. One audience member selected will be drawn into an upcoming episode! Room 25Abc

10:15-11:15 Aloha, Earth!— Lost castaway found! Battlestar Cylon becomes human! Star Trek writers return from space!