Mr. Schleif dresses up

On The Mend

I forgot to post that my geek-related arm injury is getting better. I don't think it will ever be perfect, but it's definitely 90% fixed now. When I'm at my desk I wear one of these 'ere things, and it seems to help a great deal.

Another thing I'm doing is that I'm forcing myself to do exercise as a break from geekery. I've always been reluctant to duck out during the day, but by taking a shorter lunch I think it's more than worth the feelings of guilt I get for not being at my desk. Swimming helps to get the circulation going, so I'm generally less sleepy and more productive during the late afternoon / early evening.

The moral of this tale is basically to get up and do something else for a bit every so often, for you will be able to work more efficiently in the long run. Sounds easy enough, but it's something that took me a long time to put into practice.

Animator of the Month: Denis Couchon

Employee of the Month: Denis Couchon
Originally uploaded by KevanShorey.

So, I bet you were all wondering what happened to my employee of the month thing, right? Well, here's the first of my illustrious peers to be thrust unceremoniously into the limelight - Monsieur Denis Couchon!

Now, Denis absolutely hates attention, so as a friend, it is of course, my duty to ignore this completely and write about the guy. As a matter of courtesy I told him of this post, and he squirmed and then
muttered that I am so "ollee-wood".

Heh.

Anyway...

Denis is classically trained (at Le Gobelins, in Paris, I believe) and upon graduating went to London to work on 2D films and commercials. He was Uli Meyer's assistant for a time, and I think worked with him on "American Tail 2". I afraid to say that this bit is a little nebulous, mainly because it gets complicated with his bouncing back and forth between France and Britain, but the important part is that our hero is an extremely accomplished 2D animator and draughtsman.

PDI snapped him up around 8 years ago to work on "Antz", and the lad hasn't left the building ever since, (Just kidding). After the success of Shrek, Denis was Senior Supervising Animator on "Madagascar", and along with Rex, the Head of Animation, they defined the animation style and rig design that let us have so much fun when production started.

I've learnt a lot from acting on his advice, for when he sidles over to my desk and casts his eye over my work the critique is usually right on the money. I'll press play and there will be silence for a couple of
minutes while he takes everything in. Then, like Mary Poppins opening her carpet-bag, the suggestions will start flying out and I'm left scrambling for a Post-It.
Thanks to an almost silly amount of talent, the comments will usually encompass most aspects of the animation, (whatever's broken, of course), but staging, asymmetry, arcs are things that seem to pop up frequently with my work. I've subsequently been much better at looking for these things, for Denis will jump on these straight out of the gate.

I thought that I would write about one of his shots, and should you wish you can cast your eyes over its greatness when you have the opportunity.

My favourite shot of his on "Madagascar" comes in the rescue on the beach. The boat arrives, and Marty decides to go back for Alex against the advice of Gloria and Melman. He goes to run off, and Denis
has Gloria grab his tail making him run on the spot, throwing up sand. There's so much amazing stuff going on in this shot, that it's really ace to play through slowly - Marty's expression as he strains to run, Gloria's pop as she lets go, and Melman's panicky expression as he frets about the situation. Once the DVD comes out, have a look and you'll see what I mean!

So there we go - the first "big-up" done. It only took a month or so, and I hope its subject doesn't come after me with a big, pointy stick!

UPDATE: If you know the lad, please feel free to write and add your testimonial!

Luxo Jr

To try out the video functionality of this fancy new iPod, I downloaded Luxo Jr from iTunes. It's been a while since I've seen the short, but it still amazes me. The animation is fabulous, and it's great how quickly you are drawn in just through the movements of the two characters. If you need any further proof that Mr. Lasseter is an amazing talent, then re-watch this short, since it's pretty much all him.

On thing though - I always thought that the big lamp was female, just through some its little movements. Some people agree with this, and others think that it's a paternal figure. Opinions anyone?

New movies

There are now a few extra movie links on my website, with the student projects re-encoded with the new Apple H.264 codec. That thing is amazing! My PAL-res uncompressed movie was around 2.5Gb. The H.264 file is 32Mb and I can't see any difference.

I've become so used to seeing those films (when I can stand to watch them) as a tiny little movie that it was a bit of a shock to see it full-screen. All those little errors are right there where I left them....

Enjoy.

Linky link

Reward

I received my new iPod today. It's a pretty impressive piece of engineering - even the packaging carries over that whole slick design. I guess the intended effect is pretty similar to that of those apes in "2001: A Space Odyssey" when they spotted the black monolith. It's funny how big, industrially milled cubes/cuboids have that reasonance, and are thus a common device of the technology industry to make us go "oooo" at their latest piece of kit.

Yes, I too am being manipulated.... what can I say? I love new gadgets!

Knackered

These last 3 weeks or so have been pretty tough for me. I've had a hard shot with tons of characters, and that has required some serious focus on my part to push it through to completion. I am happy to say that I 'finaled' it today, (Woo!) and now I can stop obsessing and worm my way back into reality. I always take it really badly when something isn't going that way I want it to, and the hard time I've been having was totally self-inflicted, I can assure you, so I am really pleased that I can stop beating myself up over stuff.

Hopefully with that small victory for the forces of good I'll be able to post a little more frequently again. I'm still working on one of my animator profile entries, but it's turning into quite a long process since I want to do it properly. Rest assured that when it's done it will be a captivating account of success, intrigue and terror. Not really, but if it keeps you coming back I'm going to say anything.

PS. I ordered a video iPod as a reward to myself. I am a super geek.

Watch This Space

Apologies for the lack of updates. I'm working hard to hit a deadline and haven't had any time to post. I will write something decent soon, but in the meantime, please remain in your current holding pattern and resume any anxious thumb-twiddling.

Thanks for clicking,
K

Aardman Fire

Practically all of their old props and characters have been destroyed.

: (

Read.

The Lure of the Yum Gromit

From A.O. Scott's review of "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the
Were-Rabbit":

I am thinking of Gromit, the mute and loyal animated dog whose selflessness and intelligence can be counted on, when things get really crazy, to save the day. Gromit has no mouth, and yet his face is one of the most expressive ever committed to the screen. In particular, his brow - a protuberance overhanging his spherical, googly eyes - is an almost unmatched register of emotion. Resignation, worry, tenderness and disgust all come alive in that plasticine nub. To keep matters within the DreamWorks menagerie, you might compare Gromit to Shrek, who has the genetic advantages of Mike Myers's Scots burr, a bevy of celebrity-voiced sidekicks and rivals, and state-of-the-art computer-animation technology. Good for him. But Gromit, made by hand and animated by a painstaking stop-motion process, has something Shrek
will never acquire in a hundred sequels: a soul.

He seems to share my love of Gromit, but why is the plasticine pooch so much more appealing to Mr. Scott than a more realistic character like our big, green friend?

I think the answer is a combination of a lot of things, so let's see.

Well, First off, A.O. Scott puts it down to the medium. Sorry Mister, but I don't think that's it at all. A well-animated CG character should tug the heart-strings just as one would when produced in another medium, but for some reason computer animation struggles with the stigma that it is heartless and somehow less creatively involved than the traditional animation disciplines. It's the easy thing to say; after all, computers can only crunch numbers, right? This is, of course, nonsense. Any good animator will approach their medium will a similar methodology, because it takes the same skills, imagination and talent to get the work done, and will usually even take about the same amount of time. The "Made by hand" thing is just the manifestation of creative elitism, and can be promptly discarded by anyone who gives it some real consideration.

>K gets out pipe and fills it thoughfully<

Another thing to factor in is the whole anthropomorphism issue. For some reason we find it easier to connect with animals than we do other people. I guess that's the isolationist society we live in, but it means that it is much easier to grab an audience with a cute, preferably furry creature than with a human. Related to this is the visual style and character design that an animated movie will go for. As we edge towards that "uncanny valley" we start to lose the audience, and means that a Shrek (I'm taking Shrek to be human) has to work much harder than a Gromit to get them back on side. That pooch is possibly about the best animated character ever, in my opinion. He is clean, graphic, expressive, emotive.... you get the idea.

>Inhaling deeply, he concludes<

So yeah, I think that the way we're (by we, I mean of course all of you lot and myself) going to keep our audience is to think very carefully about what the instant reaction to our characters is. Pitching it too low and you've got some generic thing that may or may not please the kids and turning the adults off. Aiming too high will give you a rainy holiday in the Valley that freaks everyone out. It's a toughy, and no mistake.

Good luck with your character designs, people!

Hedge Trailer

I worked on this film for a bit, so have a sneaky peek at the trailer.

It was ace fun to work on, and, although I will only have one shot in the final film, I think that it's actually one of the best ones I've done, so that makes me a happy bunny.

Speaking of bunnies, W&G is out today so please stop reading this nonsense and go and see it. 96% on rottentomatoes. Result!

Hmmm...

Would a blind person who has been unable to see since birth move through 180 degree turn differently to someone who turned blind later on in life?

Kind of a random question, I know, but it does bear consideration for what I am doing. For example, someone used to seeing where they were going might lead the turn with their head, whereas someone to whom this had never made a difference might not, and simply keep it looking up/skewed sideways etc.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was planning out a shot. I have to do this action a number of times I may just mix it up a bit anyway, but it's interesting to think about all this stuff, just to keep things in character.

Um... It is to me, anyway.