
One of our members, Charlotte (“Char”) Rinderknecht and her business partner/husband, Bill own and operate the entertainment production studio, STUDIO KINATE in Northern Virginia. We were invited to share their special day today, at one of this area’s most authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant, The Auld Shebeen, in Old Town Fairfax, VA.
A few weeks ago, Char was interviewed by The Washington Post. The article was published today (1/24/2010), (online 1/23/2010) so today was a celebration of getting recognition from The Post on her achievements to date. Read the article linked above and congratulate her when she comes to visit us this summer as our featured guest speaker for July 2010.
Studio Kinate recently won some top Animation Awards for their animated short,”Pete’s Odydessy”. A sample clip from the short is below with other editons also available on YouTube.
Pete’s Odydessy was produced with a team of artists, led by former Director of the Disney Institute, Larry Lauria. Larry currently runs the Larry’s Toon Institute.




On the back of Char Rinderknecht’s business cards is the Walt Disney quote:
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Today’s lunch meeting demonstrated again that this region is rich with talent, vision and kindred spirits. Rekindling DCFCPUG, some would say, is a similar challenge (doing the impossible…) but with a focused approach to build a working community of digital artists, we can all ride on the successes of each others’ endeavors and give back to one another so we grow as a family. For example, Char and DCFCPUG intersected at our first CDIA Georgetown Screenwriter’s Event in April 2009, featuring Jim Mercurio. Char and I have been leveraging the social media technologies to stay in touch and help each other. At today’s meeting, I shared how DCFCPUG partners with our corporate sponsors which now will allow her to maximize her resources and create a shared benefit to create a win-win scenario.
DCFCPUG and Studio Kinate are now exploring ways to grow an ANIMATION TBUG (ToomBoom) microsite in Northern Virginia, leveraging our relationship we are building with
ToomBoom. Thanks to the generosity of the VP, Marketing and Communications, Karina Bessoudo at ToomBoom for the interest in DCFCPUG. ToomBoom is a sponsor of the DCFCPUG and are fans of their
Storyboard Pro and
Animate Pro software applications. Char and I both agree, that
the art of storytelling is at the heart of what we do, whether it be on Apple’s Final Cut Studio, or ToomBoom’s Storyboard Pro and
Animate Pro. We all use the right tool for the job to get the story told . Char is a fan of DCFCPUG and we appreciate her telling everyone in her circle of influence about the world of Final Cut Studio and its tie in with the creative 2D animation world.
I appreciate Char and Bill’s contributions to putting American animators to work and her involvement in the Tyson Animation Program at the
Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey. I personally am looking forward to the continued collaboration with Char, Bill, and Larry. We (DCFCPUG) will get a shot at assisting her toward her dream, while giving DCFCPUG members opportunities to get involved in the production workflow. If you are interested in participating, let me know, as I will be discussing an upcoming project where we will be potentially given an opportunity to shoot, edit, produce training videos for Larry Lauria. Leave a comment or email me if you are interested in getting involved.
Here’s to a successful 2010!
Warm regards,
Rodney Mitchell
President, Final Cut Pro Leader and Apple Ambassador
DCFCPUG
http://www.dcfcpug.org
