Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.) - location: Rochester, N.Y.

Support for Joey McIntosh Pays Off as He Captures Princess Grace Award
By Terry Jaakkola

Joey McIntosh has something to show for all of the support he received while entering the world of film animation. He just won the Princess Grace Foundation Award! Encouraged by his grandfather and a high school teacher, Joey McIntosh has followed his early interest in visual arts to what is becoming a successful and rewarding filmmaking career.

Joey McIntosh

Joey was about ten when his grandfather, Eddie Rowe, a WWII Army Air Corps photographer, gave him his first camera. Later, when Joey entered RIT, Eddie helped him financially, and it was Eddie's camera that Joey used as a freshman photo major. When his grandfather passed away, Joey inherited all of his photography equipment.

Bill Sumner, Joey's video production teacher during his junior and senior years was also supportive and instrumental in helping him get into RIT, find scholarships, and achieve the success he enjoys today. "[Sumner] pushed me to pursue those internships I did in high school," Joey says. "He also encouraged me by letting me make my own film on the days I was in class, and then pushed me to enter the completed film into the Rod Serling Video Festival, where it won for Best Computer Animation."

When Joey applied to RIT (Rochester Institute Technology School of Film & Animation), he was accepted in his second choice photo until he could get into animation a year later, but Joey thinks most of what he learned as a photo major can be applied to his study of film. "I even used a digital still camera to create a couple of my animated films. I still take photos, but now they move," he says.

Living up to the faith his mentors had in him, Joey has met what he considers to be one of the biggest trials of attending RIT: the hectic schedule. "The 10 week quarters, trying to juggle classes and producing a film, while working a full time job to pay the bills," he explains, "is possibly one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

Glarg and Fritz

Keeping up this pace and producing films that have taken Herculean effort has its rewards, though, like recognition and applause from fellow classmates and faculty and winning several awards. One of the most recent is the Princess Grace Foundation Award. To win the PGA, Joey submitted two films and his sketches for his thesis film, Glarg and Fritz.

ViewMaster, the first film, "tells the story of a young boy on a family car trip, whose parents are arguing in the front seat. He escapes into his ViewMaster toy, but begins to see premonitions of his own fate in the stereoscopic images. I completed this film in 10 weeks, at the end of my sophomore year, " Joey explains.

The second film, The Ghost of Eddie Rowe, as the title suggests, is about Joey's grandfather. "Using his original photography and recorded sound, I told the story of my grandfather's life, how he went deaf while training to become a pilot with the Army Air Corps, and because of that he was never able to become a pilot. I completed this film in about 20 weeks, fall and winter of my junior year. It was a way for me to explore my own roots and learn more about myself and my connection to the past."

Both of these films used stop-motion animation with computer animation, and both were in the RIT SOFA Honors show. Joey thinks what might have made his application unique was combining stop-motion with computer animation. "I'd like to think I was trying something new," he says.

Glarg and Fritz will be also be a stop motion short. The setting for this story is the creepy castle lab of a sub-par mad scientist. Glarg and Fritz, a couple of the scientist's failed experiments, who also happen to be lab residents, are the main characters.

Joey feels the stop-motion artists who have been strong influences on him are Tim Burton, The Brothers Quay, and Jan Svankmeier. "I feel like I learn from everything I watch, but, I really enjoy and emulate the work of [these artists]. [They are] huge inspirations for the thesis film I am working on right now," he says.

The $5,500.00 Princess Grace Foundation Award will give Joey and his project partner, Derek Bibb, more freedom in the way they produce Glarg and Fritz. "The award money is allowing [us] to create a film the way we want to create it, not just the way we can afford to create it," Joey says.

Joey is truly appreciative of the honor of receiving the Princess Grace Award. "To be recognized by an organization of such stature is more than I could have ever hoped for," he says. What means the most to me is the fact that they believe in me as an artist, and I intend to not let them down."

Unfortunately, Eddie Rowe and Bill Sumner have passed away, but their influence on Joey is still strong: "I'll never forget either of these men and the impact they have had on my life." Considering the body of work and number of awards Joey is amassing, the faith his mentors had in him was well founded. Joey will receive his B.F.A. from RIT in Spring 2006.