The 11SecondClub is a good online resource for animators gone rusty or those wanting to enhance their show reel with a dialogue/ character acting animation sequence.
The acclaimed, Oscar nominated, 2007 French feature animation "Persepolis" is one of the showcase films at the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF).
Matt, one of our international contributers, rates the film highly in his comments on the Kung Fu Panda topic.
It's playing on Friday 1 August, 12pm (lunch), and Friday 8 August, 7pm at The Regent, Cinema 3. Entry is $13.50 for full time students.
Jason Ryan is a supervising animator at major feature film studios. His resume includes working at Disney and Dreamworks.
Australian animators have the opportunity to discuss animation topics and solve animation problems in a series of live webinars.
Second year students at SBIT, just think about it... What a great way to continue building your show reel / demo reel after graduation. Each month potentially having an improved animation piece to replace student stumblings.
Other Jason Ryan posts on the ARC (find out why this bunch of Brisbane animation students are so excited*). Find out more about Jason Ryan.
*Ian said (previously), "I’m chuffed that there is a way we can teach 3D and keep drawing central to the process. Thankyou Jason Ryan. :)"
The Brothers Mcleod are innovative animators from the UK.
This is a YouTube clip, so if you can't view it @ school there's more about The Brothers Mcleod here and here.
What did you think of the film?
What do you think is the story in this French student animation? Do you need to understand French to understand the story?
If you understood the story, but not the spoken language, how was it told?
Benjamin Benouy, one of the animators, was a student who recently graduated from the college Emile Cohl. Check out some more of the work from Ecole Emile Cohl.
What made this film appeal to animators? There are some that are putting KFP in the same league as "The Incredibles" (That's just a bear scratch below "The Iron Giant"!).
Here's a few knowledgeable comments: Read more
So what did you knowledgeable animators reading this blog think of Kung Fu Panda? What impressed, what grated? If you found the animation, story or design appealing, why?
I'm not sure how I feel about this film. On the one hand it is well made and got a chuckle or two from me, but on the other I can't help but wonder if the original pioneers who are glorified so much in this film would have achieved what they did if they had spent their time sitting around longing for yester year. I think Walt Disney could be a bit of a corporate monster himself at times, and much of the technology the animators used back in the early years must have seemed strange and unruly to them. This film must have taken some time to make, a long time to be dwelling on how good things used to be. Not that I'm a stranger to making films as therapy, about 6 years ago I made a piece that was all about my frustration at being on the other side of the world to where all the animation action was. At the time I told myself it was for my showreel, but I look back now and realise I was just working things out. The piece didn't do me any good on the reel. There is so much to be said for a positive frame of mind and a constructive attitude. If animation is going to leap further forward it will be the proactive people who achieve it, not those looking wistfully out the rear vision mirror.
Found at: Cartoon Brew
"Each animator finds his/her groove when it comes to tools such as video planning. Some shoot their own video reference, and some gather video reference from all sorts of different sources. Video planning is as unique as the animator using it. However, there are some things to keep in mind when it comes to video planning and reference material," says the quote from the AnimationMentor Tips & Tricks blog.
Video referencing links nicely with the Jason Ryan techniques being learnt by the current 2nd years to create and ENJOY better 3D animation.
Ian even went down to the physical movement faculty gym with some second years (Steve and Cassie) to film walks on a treadmill for video reference material. Combining video reference with traditional 2D planning is an empowering (for the student animator) and powerful method (for the animation teacher) to create appealing 3D animation. What do you think of using live action reference?
And just to bounce your brain another way: "...you can learn more about line-of-action and dynamic posing by spending ten minutes in a good comic book than you can by watching hours of movie reference." Who said this? No, it wasn't Terry Oberg.
So what do you use for your animation reference material?
ARC InDepth post: Ian uses video references in a jumping ramble.
p.s. Read the chapter on "Reference Material" in the Tips & Tricks eBook.
p.p.s Remember Eaduard Muybridge? Some great movement reference here. Ref: "The Human Figure in Motion"
p.p.p.s Dr. Harold Edgerton. Ref: "Stopping Time".
This ad for a French childrens TV station is pretty much a short film in its own right. Very nice.
Found at: Motionographer
Yet another very cool Annecy opener from the Gobelins school.
Found at: No Fat Clips
In my studio animation class with the 1st years studying animation at Southbank, the students have just recently finished their first (and alas what may be their only) piece of animation that employs the old school full traditional animation process from beginning to end. I thought I would share some of my favourites out of those that have posted their work on their blog so far. Considering that in many cases this was the students very first full key frame animation with a character there is some good stuff here. I'm confident that we are raising the bar with each passing year :)
Its such a shame this film is not in English, I guess I'll just never know what message it is trying to communicate :P
Found at: No Fat Clips
Check out this amazing animation set to a theater sports improv game. The actors are only allowed to use one syllable words or they are out. Apparently the animation is by THE Eric Goldberg.
In 2006/7 I made a series of animated shorts mostly on my own, and I thought that was a seriously ambitious undertaking. But this woman made a whole feature film! Yikes.
Found at: Cartoon Brew
Rune Brandt Bennicke animates straight ahead into flipbook and gets some amazing results. Just goes to show that there are so many ways to approach this medium. I was particularly impressed with this clips.
An amazing and eerie piece based on the paintings of Stefanie Augustine.
Found at: FEED
