Do You Have a Method for Studying Live Action for Your Own Live Action Scenes? Do You Have Recommendations for Films or Books That May Help?

In the past, I've recommended "In the Blink of an Eye" By Walter Murch, which was recommended to me by a few animators back in the day and continues to have great insights into filmmaking and behaviors every time I open it up. There are other great acting books and so forth, but honestly, I think the best advice is to just get out there and crank up your observation skills!

Go to a park or a beach or a cafe - somewhere that you can observe people interacting or running around -- and just really take a look at the people around you. What are they doing? How are they moving? Why? What happens when she reaches out and touches his hand? How does the little kid blink when he sees the ice cream cone? When the dog is chasing after the ball, how are his hips pushing him along, and how does that timing relate to the way his shoulders react?

There is life happening around us EVERY DAY. All we need to do is pay attention. If you see something interesting, write it down or do a little sketch to remind you of a pose or action. Keep a notebook in your back pocket or work on having a strong memory for actions and emotions so that you can draw on these inspirations and observations when the time comes to use them in your work.

If you're talking about a specific action or emotion that you need to study for a specific shot, then my advice is to seek out reference anywhere you can find it, including in the mirror. Check YouTube, your dvd library, the BBC motion library, your TV, favorite movies, your family, friends, neighbors - it doesn't matter where you find the appropriate reference. What matters is that you find it. And what matters even more than that is that you THEN take the time to make a careful STUDY of it. Don't just look at it! Observation is not just "seeing" something. It's STUDYING it. Figure out the WHYs of it.

Noticing what is moving in the body is great, but it's far better to figure out WHY. That way when you're deep in your scene, you'll know exactly what to do, because you'll know WHY the timing and poses have to be the way they have to be.

Best of luck!

Shawn :)

Students of Animation Need to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder

For example, I see students most of the time do the absolute highest frame count allowed for a particular assignment. Let’s say the frame count suggested is 150-300. Guess what? You’ll learn TEN TIMES as much if you do two 150 frame shots than a single 300 frame shot. Yep. Betcha didn’t think so. Why is this? Because whenever you start a new shot, you are resetting the part of your brain that organizes, retrieves and implements your workflow. You are starting fresh, but your brain has to reenact all the steps to take based on your experience. Putting yourself in as many new situations is the most sure-fire way to put the most demand on your workflow. If it’s not working, it will break. If it breaks, you will have to fix it. And if you’ve fixed a part of your workflow, you are exponentially better for it.

Another example: When it comes time to animate a dialogue shot, most new animators try to choose a piece of dialogue that is rife with emotion and subtlety. This is commendable, but what invariably happens is that student falls into the trap of putting the character in a chair, behind a table or desk, or in some other low-energy situation. This is a huge mistake. It takes much more time to animate a character on his feet, I know, so shorten the clip to make it doable in the time you have. But stand them up, and animate the full body performance of that dialogue. Why? Dialogue is not just a pantomime shot with added lip sync. It’s so much more. A person’s idiosyncrasies come out to such a great extent when they are balancing control of their gestures, and forming complete sentences at the same time. If you do not practice animating the subtle ways a character moves their body to reinforce, combat, play off of, or betray their words, you are only getting half the practice. What I see frequently is a 500 frame dialogue shot with a person speaking a mile a minute in a diner booth. What I should see is five 100 frame dialogue shots of different characters, head to toe, performing with their whole person. Work smarter, not harder.

One last example: When it comes time to create a short film, reach out to friends and colleagues who can help you with the effort. Modeling, rigging, texturing, lighting, rendering, compositing, and many more processes go into the best short films ever created. There is no need for your film to be a single stock character performing against a white wall, but the planning stage of a compelling story is no time to also be learning about the paramaterization of NURBS curves. Accept all the help you can, and seek out the talented artists who can help you create your vision.

Guest Blogger Kenny Roy

Does Animation Play an Important Role in Keeping History Alive?

What an interesting question!

I believe that animation is the ultimate art form. It's painting, sculpting, dance, rhythm, martial arts, music, photography, acting, filmmaking, and editing all crammed into one!

All human cultures have eventually relied on some kind of art in order to keep their history alive, with sculpting and painting probably being chief among them. Animation is still fairly new, but through 1930's Disney cartoons I can learn about a part of American society and culture that I have little to no real connection with from 2009. For example, Mickey's Polo Team from 1936 features such 1930's celebrities as Harpo Marx, Laurel & Hardy, and others. I think it's fair to assume that most kids today aren't familiar with the Marx Brothers, but they might get a little flavor of the comedy from seeing this short film. So, is Mickey's Polo team helping hand down history? Honestly, I don't really know. It isn't really teaching history, merely giving modern audiences slight hints as to what these comedians were like. Most of the jokes are very specific to the events of the day, and most of us wouldn't understand half of what they're talking about. Does that count? It's like getting a tiny bit of the flavor of the day, but without the context to help it make sense.

A better example might be the Disney wartime cartoons created to sell War Bonds during WWII or to help train the troops. I suppose these are passing down a bit of history, and from a unique point of view, but again, it isn't history that you couldn't find elsewhere, and as well done as these films were, I don't think many people would seek them out specifically for a history lesson.

I suppose animation is too new for a cohesive answer yet, but because I do believe that animation will continue to grow, continue to evolve, and continue to become more and more deeply ingrained in our cultures -- I DO think that in the future, there's a chance that people may look back on "ancient animation" to see what they can learn, the same way we might study hieroglyphics or Greek sculpture!

So brush up on your animation, gang! We need to impress those future animation historians!

Shawn :)

How Do You Plan a Shot?

I think this might be a good moment for me to depart the role of animator, and talk a little bit about how a shot comes to life at a small studio, such as Arconyx. When I plan a shot with a client, it goes through many different iterations before the final concept is decided upon. Normally, it is up to the client to provide the ‘creative’ – this is a document, or presentation, or even animatic that has a little (document) or a lot (animatic) of description of the shots we are to create. What happens next is the creative is translated into a plan for what has to be done technically and artistically to achieve the shot. I will decide which artists have the experience and skills to create the shot in question. On the animation side, and especially dealing with creatures, the decision is more heavily weighted towards experience; I’d say 60-40 as a guess. What this should reinforce for all animators reading this is that doing little tests is the most valuable use of your time. In fact, if you are an animator and as of the moment you are reading this you’ve never animated a quadruped, then drop what you are doing and go animate a dog walk cycle. Now! I’ll wait.

Ok welcome back. The point here is I know that when I am planning on the animation phase of a shot, I need to rely on the animator to create the performance that is going to be approved in the shortest time possible. If an animator has to learn a technique, style, or entirely new body mechanics on the job, I can’t be certain that I will be able to budget a project in a way that will not bankrupt the company. In addition to that, the animator’s individual plan for the shot sometimes may come into question, a plan such as the one that was asked about here. For instance, if the client has chronically rejected ideas that are not supported by boards or thumbnails, I will want an animator that is comfortable with (read: uses all the time on their own) a workflow that includes a detailed thumbnailing phase. More often however, I’ll need to recoup for lost time in development of a shot, and will need an animator that can block like lightning. Frequent restarts on a shot can’t hold up the studio from performing, so I may need someone who can give very quick and decent looking blocking for a few ideas. I need not plan too far after animation; lighting, rendering, and compositing is the same for most shots for the kinds of work that my company deals with. And most decisions, such as fur or muscle dynamics, are made and tested long before any real production shots are ready to go through the last stages of the pipeline.

This may not be what was meant by “How do you plan a shot?” However, I thought that many animators would like to know what they can do to make the best choices when their supervisor is doing the major planning.

Guest Blogger Kenny Roy

How Do You Come up with a Good Story Idea for a Short Film?

This is something we spend a fair amount of time on with our students at Animation Mentor, but if I had to come up with just a few quick suggestions, they would be:

1) Write what you know. That's a big cliche for writers -- the idea that they will come up with the most genuine stories by writing about things they are familiar with from their own lives, but I think it holds true for animated short films as well. You can draw on your own experiences, your own emotions, your own stories, and then expand from there! The whole short film doesn't have to be autobiographical, you might start with a seed of truth and reality and then careen off into something wholly imagined!

2) Don't hold yourself back! If you're trying to come up with film ideas, then no idea is too silly, too difficult, or too strange. Let your mind wander, and let one idea lead you to the next, and see what crazy places your imagination might take you! Sometimes the weirdest idea can be molded into a cohesive short story that people can identify with.

3) What's your twist? Every short film doesn't HAVE to have a twist at the end, but if you're talking about a 1 minute short film, it sure doesn't hurt to give it a punchline or a twist ending. Something unexpected that sheds new light on the story, the situation, or the characters is great.

4) Pitch your story!! Don't just think about it on your own for a while and then settle on the idea. Pitch the idea to your friends, family, and colleagues and see what they have to say! If one person has a suggestion, that's all it is - just an idea or suggestion that you can take or leave. But if 3 or 4 people have the same reaction, be sure to pay close attention to what they are saying - that should be a red flag that probably needs to be addressed.

Hope that helps! Looking forward to seeing some cool new short films!

Shawn :)

Can You Talk about Speeds in a Shot? How Many Speeds Should You Use in a Shot?

Animation mirrors life on the most basic and most elevated levels. In life, no motion, no gesture, no idea, literally no moment should repeat the timing, size, weight, and in this case, speed of another. Using different speeds in a shot is what we do to avoid the dreaded twinning in timing. What this means is that if a character raises his hand to wave out his kitchen window, you should use a different speed a moment later when he raises his arm to open the cupboard to get some delicious fudge brownies. I see lots of animation by students in which they rely too much on what they are comfortable with which can lead to a lack of variety in speeds. I don’t blame them either; if a 4 frame anticipation and a 10 frame jump worked a second ago why not repeat that success? Well, the effect of not changing up the speeds can be devastating – monotonous, mechanical, robotic.

When planning a shot, be sure to keep in mind that the speed of gestures should vary, but also don't go too far the other way. That is, don't break the performance to add superfluous variety in your speeds. Things can get out of hand fairly quickly. So as with all your work, strike a balance to get interesting variety in your shots that stays true to your performance choices.

Guest Blogger Kenny Roy

When Looking for an Animator Job, What is the Best Way to Approach a Company?

This depends a little on the type of studio you are applying to.

For smaller, local studios, it might be a great idea to show up in person and inquire about a job. This may give you the chance to meet someone "on the inside," or give them a chance to place a face with the name. If you do this, be armed with questions about the studio/jobs/internships/whatever, and be sure to not take up much of anyone's time. Assume they are really busy, and if you get a chance to talk to someone, make it a short introduction/inquiry, and try to set up a future chance to follow up with them.

For medium-sized or large studios, this is probably not the best idea, as it wouldn't be considered as professional, and the chances are slim that the receptionist or whoever you'd run into could help you very much. In these cases, you are better off following the standard application submission protocol that the studio likely details on their website.

And then for all companies, a great way to make contacts, ask about jobs, and get questions answered is to go to job fairs or conventions such as Siggraph where there are a lot of studios represented by a lot of recruiters and employees. This is the best environment to find out more about jobs and companies, and again, be sure to try to make solid contacts and follow up with them in the future! (And again, if you do follow up via email or phone, be sure not to be a pest! If you start calling them every week, you will NOT be getting a job with them!)

Best of luck!

Shawn :)

How Do You Make a Scene from Another Movie Relate to Your Scene? What are Some Key Things You Look for in Those Scenes?

When I go to an animated film in the theater, I try as much as I can to watch objectively – but it NEVER WORKS! I’m always on the edge of my seat, watching the animation as closely as possible for new techniques, and emerging styles. When it’s time to get back to work on my own stuff, normally what occurs is a little bit of a download at the beginning of a shot. I ask myself some brief but important questions – Have I animated something similar to this in the past? If no, have I seen animation that relates to this scene, or has similar dynamics? For instance, I had a shot in Kong where the “V-Rex” snaps at Ann as she swings in the vines. I was getting great direction from my supervisor on that shot, but I wanted to see how close the Velociraptor got to the camera in the kitchen scene in the original “Jurassic Park”. Lo and behold, he get’s RIGHT up in there. I was amazed. My supe was right; we need to get him almost to swallow the camera. It’s great that there is so much animated reference out there now. Anyone learning animation now has all the materials they need to really research any shot.

One does not necessarily have to look for something in a shot to use – it will speak to YOU! It may be a design, it may be a pose, a timing choice, but most animated films leave us inspired to return to our work. Remember: never to copy a shot, only borrow and adapt. Be inspired by others’ work, and take the facet of the animation that has you excited and try to emulate that in your own work. If it is the slapstick style of Ice Age that really excites you, put some really cartoon stretches into your short film, and watch the key smooshes frame-by-frame, to see how to get that hilarious impact. If it is the surprising subtlety in Wall-E’s face that keeps you up at night, then feel free to refer to that film when deciding on what parts of your character design to emphasize for very emotive, minimalist effects. You may discover that Wall-E’s eyesockets were designed in such a way that some extreme “brow” poses can be achieved through very little rotation; why not strive for the same effect in your character’s mouth, or cheeks?

Newton said “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” We are all working together to advance the art of animation. By watching and adapting the styles of others, we are all lifting eachother up, and seeing further each day.

Guest Blogger Kenny Roy