Nostalgia Envy

Over at Jim Hull's blog there's a really great post about his getting back into traditional animation once again, after a long stint sitting in front of computers. He describes the feeling of setting pencil to paper once again, and the rush of flipping his drawings in his fingers. Reading this and his other informative posts on the old greats makes me feel kind of ignorant to the work done by my peers, particularly those no longer around, and the knowledge they passed on.

Jim, like many of the 2D animators in America, has been immersed in animation lore since college, met some of the old masters and has even worked with a few of the big names. Clearly this is in stark contrast to my own educational endeavours, (as outlined in my previous posts), coming from the more techie computer side of things. I wish I could have been exposed to similar influences during university. Although there is no accounting for talent, how much further down the road would I be if armed with that little bag of tricks?

Of course, tricks can be acquired, and maybe I'm just being impatient. I do feel that I am improving steadily, so maybe I just need to be more inquisitive, and I'll trip over that trick bag on the way.

History 2

I went back to Bournemouth in September 2002 to do the MA in Computer Animation. My aim for the year was to spend all of my time working on my animation skills, so that I may produce a final year project featuring a great performance. At that stage, the school wasn't really geared for returning students, but I ignored those modules reiterating stuff I already knew, and just concentrated on the projects. (Indeed, in spite of having 100% attendance for all 3 years on my BA, I managed to rack up an impressive 0% for the entire Masters programme. How's that for single-minded?)

I made a film called Block Test for my final project. It is a short little piece of character animation, simple in premise, but tough to animate, (45 seconds of lip-synch and acting with no cutting? Yikes!) It turned out OK, I suppose, but only really came alive in a few little spots. Also, the industry humour doesn't really stand the test of time, I don't think. I think most people prefer my undergraduate film, and I'm certainly one of them.

Oops. Seems like I've missed out one bit - I got a call from PDI in the November, just after I had started the course, the upshot of which was to ask if I could get out of my uni course and make the move. Unfortunately I just couldn't do it. I had just got funding to do the course, and I really wanted that extra bit of paper with Masters written on it. It was quiet for a couple of months, and then they flew me out to California early the next year. Everything went well, but a few months later I got an email saying that while everyone liked my stuff, there weren't any spots available.

: (

I didn't ever think it was ever going to go all the way anyway, and to even be flown out and interviewed was an amazing achievement, but I was still disappointed all the same.
What with finishing the course and all, I soon got used to the idea of starting my working life in the UK, and completed the course before attempting to secure a job. I did get a very nice letter from Aardman in Bristol though, (thanks guys!).

I've never been a big city person, but with most of the UK animation jobs in London, that was my only real option, and in Double Negative, I found a really cool company to work for...

History

OK chums, gather round, for I am about to tell the second part of my amazing voyage to the New World.

My time at Bournemouth was pretty amazing really. I learnt lots about computer graphics and my year group became very close. I think that engendered a sense of openness and creativity that certainly benefitted us all; indeed 2001 provided arguably the best graduating results the course has ever had. That said, the course was very much geared towards producing great TD's and 3D artists, rather than great 3D animators, and those of us who wished to pursue this discipline had to feel our own way, for the most part.

With the emphasis on the more techy elements of the course, we could really only try out animation on the project wor, and so for my undergraduate film, I decided to try and make something with a traditional animation sensibility.

My aims for Joe's Playtime were to make a short film with a story that could stand up on it's own, and with high production values, particularly in the animation side of things. For me, these things remain the criteria I look for in student work. It doesn't need to be flashy as such, it just needs a bit of heart, and a sense of life.
To be honest, I possibly went a little overboard with my back story - practically everything in the set design had some reasoning behind it. For it's 50's setting I researched furniture, films, fashion, and all that stuff so it's all pretty accurate. I'll have to find a sketch of the set and add it later.
Anyhoo, I learnt lots of about moving stuff around, and it turned out OK in the end, getting me a pretty good grade.

At the end of the course, the NCCA holds a degree show in London, with lots of people from the industry coming to drink the free booze and maybe take a look at the student work. I would say that most of my year had received some interest during the day. It is here that I had my first contact with PDI/Dreamworks, for although I had already decided to stay on another year to take the Masters programme, Shelley Page the UK DW representative was there, liked my reel and subsequently sent it over to California.

Looking back, I think I was in a daze when talking to Shelley. I really wasn't expecting any interest at all, let alone people from famous American studios. Now that I'm here, I realise just how rare something like this is. For a student to land a job at one of the big companies straight out of college is one thing, but the fact that they were interesting in taking an overseas student is amazing, for it is so hard to justify to the US government that this one person is worthy of a work visa, particularly given the competition for jobs in feature animation.

Perhaps even more amazing is that PDI got back to me, and arranged an interview at Siggraph in LA. I was to be in CA anyway for a wedding, so making the extra trip down wasn't a biggie. It seemed to go well, and I went back to Bournemouth for my Masters thinking that I had a shot at making it over here afterwards....

History 1

A question I am asked a fair amount is, "How did you get to animate at PDI (you lucky %$#@)?". Rather than rehashing the same old history every few months, I thought that I would commit my (not very) amazing story to words so that I can lazily direct people here, henceforth.

As a child, I was always drawing, and upon my introduction to computers in school, I realised that I wanted to "draw with computers". Where the moving drawings come in, is, I suppose, a result of the combination of "Toy Story" and the original Star Wars films mixing in my brain and making a popping noise. I was around fifteen at that point I suppose, and I began tailoring my studies to achieve that goal. I took Mathematics and Design subjects for my chosen subjects, and began looking for university courses that could teach me the other stuff.

Looking through all of the prospecti for various places around Britain, it was actually my dad who found the listing for "Computer Visualisation & Animation" at the National Centre for Computer Animation, Bounemouth University. Straight away, that seemed like the right place to go, and so I applied for the undergraduate program. Unfortunately the programme is ridiculously over-subscribed, but I managed to secure one of the 50 places available annually through the winning tactic of desperation and jammy babbling. Note to future applicants: I don't know if they still ask this one, but make sure you have a decent answer to, "From a cinematographic point-of-view, what is your favourite film?".

With my place in the bag, I realised that before I jumped straight into computer geekery, I wanted to learn a little more about using a pencil and paper, and that kind of stuff, so i deferred my place at the NCCA and went to the Glamorgan Centre for Art & Design Technology to take an Art & Design foundation course. Although a great place to learn in many respects, it was there that I was told I would never make an animator because my drawings were too static (read, rubbish), and that I was better off with graphic design. (Good call on that one, squire!)

Ho hum. So anyway I ignored that advice and started at Bournemouth in 1998, and now nursing a massive inferiority complex....

Time to stop here for now, I think, and I will continue this journey down memory lane later.
: )

New

Bloop!

This is my first original post on this 'ere new blogging system. It is linked to my currently underwhelming website, and I've moved over all of the posts/comments from the old Friendster blog, so that I've got everything in one place.
I'll be using this from now on, but regular readers will see that the content will continue to include nonsense, moaning, and maybe a bit of animation-related stuff.

Thanks for reading,
Kevan

Woofers

Yesterday lunchtime I went with local hero Mr. Jason Schliefer to give his dogs a bit of a run around. We don't get much chance to hang out and have a chat whilst at work so this was an excellent opportunity for talking nonsense. Also, growing up with dogs and now having to lead a pet-free existence means that I relish every opportunity to run around shouting and waving my arms about with man's best friend, even if the aformentioned canines aren't my own.
Watching the dogs run about, it's amazing to witness their different personalities, and something that gave me pause for thought. Milo would only chase the frisbee, obediently dropping it at our feet, whereas Bean, the more excitable one, loved tearing after the ball but didn't like to let go of it. Furthermore, Milo would wait to see if Bean was bringing her toy back before returning, and if so, would wait for her to go first, (and on doing so, would still compulsively turn 360 degrees counter-clockwise to check again one last time).

I don't really have much of a point in recounting this tale, but it made me think about how we would approach something like this if we were to animate it. You're given this scene - "Family takes dogs to park to play fetch", and told to get going. Would you have ever thought to put in this little dynamic that Milo and Bean have into your film? Doubtful, but there it is, in real life!

I suppose a great example of such a personality would be Little Brother in "Mulan". He has bags of character that makes him so fun to watch, charging around stupidly chasing the bone that's tied to his back. I'm sure some Disney animator somewhere (Florida?) can tell a tale whereby their dog can be made to do all sorts of fun stuff in pursuit of food.

It's stuff like this that can add so much to an animated tale, and I hope I will remember this anecdote next time I'm given the "Dog in Park" shot.

: )

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Comments

AWESOME point.

Posted by: Jason | June 23, 2005 06:30 PM

good eyes

Posted by: Rini | June 24, 2005 09:03 PM

Congrats

Congratulations Cassidy on becoming even more famous than before!

Woo! A web Oscar, no less...

Sweetening

So now I'm at the final stage with my shot - the sweetening stage. It's the bit I always find the toughest, but why? It should be the easiest bit; after all, it comes right at the very end, when all the hard work and thinking has been done, right? Just what is scaring me off? To be honest, I really can't work it out. I know exactly what I have to do to get the performance ready for final (working on some inbetweens, arcs etc) and yet I tiptoe around the character like it's about to bite my nose off. I wonder if any of the big names ever get this. Um, maybe it's just me?

...


OK Shorey, get back to work.


Nnggh!

French

Spurred on to dizzy new heights by my second reader, I have decided to post another couple of links to cool animated shorts by people who aren't me.

Un Amour Mobile by my friend Ian. It was his final year piece at Bournemouth University, the school I attended.

Le Building by some students at Le Gobelins in Paris. I don't think these guys will have trouble finding a job.

JCB

Here is a link to the best music video ever:

JCB song

enjoy!


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Comments



thanks for the link.
thats a sweet vid.
love it.
dan

Posted by: Daniel | June 16, 2005 10:46 PM

Hi Dan,

Are you visitor number 2?!
Blimey! Thanks for reading!

Posted by: Kevan | June 17, 2005 08:18 AM

Apples

Before moving to the States, I had never owned an Apple product. Coveted them maybe, but never owned. So of course it must go without saying that the first thing I bought when landing on these shores was a shiny new iPod. I've used the little piece of kit a lot since then, and must confess to being caught up in the "iPod Halo" effect described on some media websites. I've long being eyeing-up Apple's range of computers, so I finally purchased a mac mini and display, with an aim to maybe completing the switch from PC fully one day. I've had the machine for about 3 months now, so will i be discarding my Windows machine for a white shiny piece of industrial design?

Nope.

I really like the Apple machines, but both of my purchases have had problems, and which are proving to be somewhat tiresome. The power adapter for the display is faulty and requires replacement, whereas the battery for the iPod is, and has ever only been, around 4 1/2 hours. Contrast this to a decade of non-Apple use, in which I have had not one problem.

I'll continue to enjoy using my little mac for web browsing, iTunes etc, but there'll always be a PC around for all of the other stuff, (and when the little white box just doesn't want to play at all).

Shots Two

OK, another shot.

The Zoosters reach Madagascar and are being shown what life in Paradise is like. Alex is charged up as his natural instincts awaken. Gloria, with fruit slices on her eyes, is wallowing in a jacuzzi-like pool fed by a waterfall, and fanned by lemurs with palm fronds. She tells Marty how cool this place is, when Alex bounces in and finishes her sentence for her, before bouncing off again.

I was really lucky to get this shot, and it is probably the hardest one I have tackled at work. Alex wasn't always in this shot, but his inclusion gives it much more energy. Animating Gloria turned out to be pretty easy after I had a quick sit-down with a few of my peers to discuss how I could achieve herlaid-back pose. Using a secret technique handed down by ninja monks to Mr Jason Schleifer, I had a nice little system for manipulating the fruit, so bish bash bosh, job down.

Approaching Alex was a different story altogether, resulting in the most cartoony animation I have done so far. He enters frame and pings around in the background before jumping in behind Gloria and delivering his line. I had quite a few considerations to be aware of - the distances Alex had to travel, the time he had to do them, and to make sure he was posed in plenty of time for the viewer to read him during his line.
I really didn't have that much time to get him from place to place, so Alex spends time on his contacts, and covers the distance between them by smearing from one pose to the other. By smearing, I mean the complete distortion of the character in one or two frames, that allows the transition between fast poses, like in the image below. It is a 2D technique that we've been able to start playing with on Mad, thanks to the rather spiffy character setup made by really clever people.

Whew! So now we've got our hero to the foreground, avoiding all of the tricky water hazards that would have made things tough for the Effects crew. This shot was a big eye-opener for me, and the basic principles of squash and stretch really helped to give the shot some energy.

One more shot to follow, I think...

Shots

Now that "Madagascar" is playing in cinemas across the globe, I thought that I would note down a few of the shots I animated, and what I learnt from them. I guess this will be more useful to myself than to anyone else, but who knows?

Tarzan zebra - That's right! The first shot in the movie was mine! Silhouetted by the rising sun, Marty swings across screen on a vine. This shot, while at first seeming pretty easy, somehow proved to be quite tough. We really only see his outline, and making it read as if his body pushes through as the vine swings whilst pulling back and coming around the vine (to hook up with the next shot) tured out to be tricky. Using the negative space was the most important thing - separating the head and the vine silhouettes helps the viewer to read the action. The same principle is applicable to every shot, but this certainly makes it nice and clear to explain.

I'll post another shot soon!