How Does an Animation Supervisor of a Big Studio like ILM, Pixar or Blue Sky Plan the Distribution of the Shots Done by the Animators?

How does an animation supervisor of a big studio like ILM, Pixar or Blue Sky plan the distribution of the shots done by the animators? By sequence, by shots, by continuity shots, by animator's abilities?

This probably depends a lot on the size of the studio, the size of the animation crew, and the diversity of experience levels on that crew. The smaller the studio, the less options available to the supervisor, and the more likely it is that the animators may be thought of as interchangeable artists.

However, you ask about the larger studios, and you're right that it's treated differently.

The larger studios have the luxury of a larger animation crew, probably with a somewhat diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. The process that you're asking about (handing out shots) is often referred to as "casting" at these types of studios, and that's exactly how many of these studios approach the process.

They often view the assignment of animation shots or characters as "casting" those animators in the role that they are most appropriate for. Someone who's shown great comedic timing in the past may be cast to work on a lot of shots that feature comedy relief, for example. Or someone who's shown that they have amazing body mechanics might get cast on a lot of fight scenes.

However, many other factors come into play with casting, and it's rarely as defined and simple as I laid out above. While the goal for any of these larger studios is to use their crew as efficiently as possible, many other factors are considered. Among these would be:

• What the animator is most passionate to work on

• What the schedule and budget allows or forces

• Scene difficulty level vs. animator skill level

• What the surrounding shots are

• Crunch time

These are all important factors, and in any good studio, all would play a role to some degree in the casting of shots.

Near the end of a project, though, crunch time and deadlines increasingly become the deciding factor in crewing a shot or sequence. The project has a deadline, and when it really gets into the final weeks or months of a project, the most important deciding factor in casting becomes availability. Who is free to work on this? If the Supervisor feels that their talent level is sufficient, and they are done with their other shots, they'll probably get thrown onto whatever shot is next in line, regardless of any of the other considerations.

This is totally normal. Many projects at many studios start out by casting long strings of sequential shots to one animator, but by the end, it's natural for the schedule to force a more scatter-shot approach in order to hit the looming deadline.


Shawn :)

Are There Any Daily Practice Techniques That You Can Recommend to an Animator to Keep Your Animation Skills Sharp?

There is not a day that goes by that I don't ask a fellow animator to look at my shot. You may have a really strong idea for a shot, but I guarantee you that someone else can bring an idea to the table that you didn't think of. This kind of collaboration only makes your animation stronger. Also when you are finishing a shot, and you've been working on it for weeks, it always helps to have a fresh pair of eyes look at it to see all those little things that need attention. Animation is a team sport - you are only as strong as the people around you.

I make it a point to go into dailies every morning, even when I'm not showing my work. You can learn a lot by watching other animators' work. Seventy animators will animate one character differently, so its important to hear what the director feels the character should be doing, so everyone can be on the same page. Also, an animator might add one gesture, one movement that ends up defining that character. This will give you ideas for your own shots.

After animating all day, I like to watch a movie or a television show that has inspiring acting. Rarely do I watch cartoons at night, but rather a great actor. Watching an actor's performance can give you ideas that may not have been added in animation yet. Rather then just watching cartoons, open up your library to movies, plays, even photos. All these can help you progress farther as an artist.

Guest blogger Aaron Hartline

What Would You Suggest Are the Top 3 Types of Scenes to Include at the Start of a Demo Reel?

What would you suggest are the top 3 types of scenes to include at the start of a demo reel to catch the eye of the viewer? ( e.g. dialogue, walks, acting, etc.)

Your first shot on your demo reel should really grab your audience. It should be the shot that best represents your talents -- the one you are most proud of. If the viewer does not like your first shot, chances are, they are going to turn it off and put in the next demo reel.

I would suggest starting with a strong acting piece -- a line that shows a character's emotion change over the shot: sad to happy, worried to relief, anger to acceptance. This will enable you to showcase your range.

The second shot should show physical animation. "Physical" does not mean a walk cycle, but rather, getting the character from point A to point B in an interesting way. For example, instead of showing a character walk over to pick up a newspaper on the floor, perhaps the character is sipping coffee as he uses his behind to push open the front door and picks up the paper and puts it under his arm while still sipping his morning brew. By giving the audience something completely unexpected but still very much grounded in a realistic performance, you are showing your creativity and your ability to bring something new to the table.

Your last shot is just as important as your first. It's the last thing they are going to see - the last impression you are going leave with the viewer. I wouldn't base your decision on what the shot demonstrates as much as how memorable it is. This could be a catchy line that the viewers will be saying over and over again after they have watched your reel. Or maybe it's a moment that will leave your audience laughing. Whatever it is, the goal is to leave them wanting more.

The most important thing to remember when putting your reel together is that it's about quality, not quantity. One minute of really strong animation goes much farther then five minutes of so-so animation.

Guest blogger Aaron Hartline

Have You Ever Tried the Layered Approach with Something Where the Foot Placement Is a Little Less Flexible?

Have you ever tried the layered approach with something where the foot placement is a little less flexible? Like walking down stairs. Maybe it doesn't make any difference?

Generally, the foot placement in any scene is pretty well thought-out and planned in advance, but you're right that some scenes are more specific and others can certainly be more flexible.

However, the "hide the legs" layered approach isn't about just animating the upper body and then letting the feet fall wherever they may. You should pretty much know exactly where those feet are going to end up and exactly what your poses are going to look like. Where the layered approach helps more is with the TIMING of the feet rather than the position or posing. If the upper body feels correct in its timing, then that can help you know when to lift and plant the feet, but the actual posing of the legs should be something you've already planned out ahead of time.

Going downstairs is particularly exact, I suppose, but I think the layered "hide the legs" approach is something I would still likely use in a scene like that. I recently did a scene of a character climbing up something somewhat steep, and the foot placement was relatively inflexible, but the process seemed to work fine. It did require a little bit more back and forth than normal, though.

For something like going down a series of stairs, I would probably still hide the legs, animate the upper body going down the stairs until the timing felt correct, and then show and animate the legs. Most likely, I would have to readjust the upper body slightly here and there to accommodate the legs, so there would definitely be some back and forth, but overall I think it could still be useful, and certainly simplifies the blocking process.

And again, the "hide the legs" approach is something I would only recommend to those of you who have been animating for at least a few years already. You need the experience to be able to visualize ahead of time how the legs are going to be working, where the footfalls will likely be, etc.

Hope that helps!


Shawn :)

Do You Use the Same Workflow for Scenes that Are more Acting Focused vs. Scenes that Are more Action Oriented?

Do you use the same workflow for scenes that are more acting focused versus scenes that are more action oriented, or do you have a different process for each?

Fundamentally, yeah, the workflow is pretty similar because it all comes down to preparation. But in this case, I start by listening to the dialogue....over and over and over again. I look for anything that might give me a clue to the best way to approach the shot. I'll write down the dialogue and start marking where the beats are, the inflections, the pauses...any breaths, lip pops...anything that can add an additional layer to the character. This is also when I'll start some sketching and I'll rely more on my video reference initially to catch the subtleties that I wouldn't otherwise sketch out.

One thing that I've really come to enjoy is editing different pieces of video reference together to see how certain things in multiple takes play together. I'll shoot a minimum of 5-10 takes on any particular shot. There's always the possibility that more than one of those will have bits and pieces that I want to incorporate into the final piece. Looking over the video reference, I'll start to break down the actions, trying to find out what part of the body is the driving force behind the movement. More often then not it's the hips that are motivating the movement.

One of the things I do after I've gone in and done my blocking is to start splining out my hip controller. It helps me start to feel the timing and the weight. I also hide geometry that isn't needed on the character. There's a tool we have in-house that is a shortcut for "isolate selected" in Maya. If I'm focusing on the core of the character, I'll hide the arms and sometimes the legs so I can focus on the simple shapes of the torso, kinda reminds me of the flour sack animation tests. The thing I have to keep in mind when I'm "turning off" geometry is to make sure I keep in mind what those hidden parts are supposed to be doing. I have gotten to pre-occupied with what is on screen that when I show all of the character, things can feel somewhat unconnected. Once again, it all comes down to trying to have as clear an idea of what I want before I even start setting any keys in Maya.


Guest Blogger Matthew Russell

How Do You Go About Planning an Action that Already Has a Camera Moving?

Ah, the camera. Sometimes it's your best friend, and other times it's your worst enemy.

The camera is a very interesting part of what we do because it's one of the things that changes the workflow between different mediums. In hand-drawn animation, you're actually drawing the camera move and having to consider that move along with your character movements. In stop-mo, you're moving that camera one frame at a time. And then in CG animation, you have in-game videogame animation, live-action feature animation (such as Transformers) and all-CG work (cinematics, feature animation, etc.).

With in-game videogame work, you often have to animate as though the player can place the camera anywhere they want! Obviously, this is very tricky for the animator, and means that you really have to work hard to make sure that your animation works as well as possible from all angles.

With live-action feature work, the camera is usually locked, for the most part. If you're putting a giant robot into a scene that has already been filmed in the real world, with a real environment and real actors, then the camera is generally impossible to change or edit. If it's important to the scene and the studio has enough of a budget to allow for an altered camera (which would mean painting in a new background frame-by-frame), then every once in a while you can add a camera move or something, but this is pretty rare.

Because of that, part of your job as a live-action animator is to carefully create your character's performance in a way that makes it feel as though he was in the scene when it was filmed. If the camera moves, then you need to have your character move a little bit ahead of time, so it feels like the camera-man is following your action with his camera, etc. This is an art, in and of itself, and can often be an extremely challenging aspect of a scene, particularly an action-heavy scene with an active dynamic camera. It's fun, though! It's a big puzzle to put together.

For all-CG work (feature animation, cinematics, etc.), the camera is usually created by a layout department or camera department, but can also often be edited (or created) by the animator. In these cases, it is always best to try to determine your complete camera move ahead of time, and if at all possible, try to have that camera move approved and locked down.

You'll want to approach any scene with an eye towards staging and composition, silhouette and clarity. This is largely impossible to do without knowing exactly where your camera is, and how it will be moving.

If it is up to you to create the camera, then, my advice is to figure out your camera moves ahead of time (using just pawn animation, or the simplest of rough blocking), and to avoid starting any "real" animation until that camera is at least tentatively approved.

Hope that helps!

Shawn :)