Ringling alum wins Oscar for animated 'Feast'

When it comes to Ringling College of Art and Design graduate reunions, it might not be a bad idea to start scheduling them around Hollywood’s annual glitter event, the Academy Awards.

Twenty-one Ringling College alums contributed to two of this year’s Oscar winning films, including Patrick Osborne, who conceived of and directed the 2015 Best Animated Short Film “Feast.” His six-minute film chronicles a man’s love life through the appetites of his dog, an adorable Boston Terrier named Winston.

Patrick Osborne, left, and Kristina Reed hold their awards for best animated short film for their work on "Feast" at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP)

The other 20 Ringling College of Art and Design alums were part of an animation team that created the Best Animated Feature Film winner, “Big Hero 6.” The film is the story of Hiro, a 14-year-old science prodigy and robot builder, who teams up with a health care robot named Baymax to fight a dangerous villain.

Osborne, who graduated with a major in computer animation in 2003, joined the Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2008 as an animator on “Bolt” and also worked on big-budget films such as “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Tangled.” He won his first Oscar in 2012 as part of the team that created the Oscar-winning short “Paperman.”

That win led to his being named co-head of animation for “Big Hero 6,” Disney’s next planned big release. However, Osborne left that team after making a successful pitch for “Feast,” which he originally conceived as a live action film.

Actors Kevin Hart and Anna Kendrick presented Oscar statuettes to producer Kristina Reed and Osborne, who thanked his new wife, Allison, his parents and supporters in his hometown of Cincinnati. (His father, a former toy designer for Kenner, is the one who got him started drawing.)

In a Skype interview with an Ohio television station minutes after accepting the award, Osborne said he prepared for the film by taking one-second videos of every dinner he ate in 2012.

Jason Figliozzi was one of five supervisors for the animation team on “Big Hero 6,” overseeing a team of about 80 animators that included 19 other Ringling College alums. Figliozzi said several members of the team gathered at a bar in Hollywood to watch the Academy Award broadcast and were “ecstatic” when the win was announced.

“It was a surreal moment,” said Figlizzi, a 2008 RCAD grad in computer animation. “We each have a very small contribution to the film because so many people work on it. But we all recognize we helped make an amazing film and everyone was very humbled.”

Figliozzi said while there are a good number of Ringling graduates at Disney, “they’re not just in the animation department, they’re all over the studio.” In an industry where who you know can go a long way, the college has earned a reputation for producing capable, creative and hard-working collaborators.

Ringling’s film department has had a computer animation program for more than 20 years. Including this year’s 65 freshmen, there are approximately 180 current students in the program.

Ringling at the Oscars

The following Ringling College of Arts and Design graduates were involved in 2015 Oscar-winning films. (Names are followed by RCAD major and year of graduation.)

Patrick Osborne, winner of Best Animated Short for “Feast” (computer animation, 2003)

Members of the animation team for “Big Hero 6,” winner of Best Animated Feature Film:

Sarah Kambara (business of art and design, 2014)

Joon Shik Song (computer animation, 2013)

Lindsey St. Pierre (computer animation, 2013)

Matthew Sullivan (computer animation, 2012)

Zac Cavaliero (computer animation, 2011)

Ramya Chidanand (computer animation, 2011)

Robert Showalter (computer animation, 2011)

Ryan DeYoung (computer animation, 2009)

Jorge Garcia (computer animation, 2009)

Christopher Hendryx (computer animation, 2009)