Animation Employment and Showreels

I found an interesting, top secret document online that I thought I would share with just the readers of this blog. Only you. If you want to stay in your current employment hell, then don't read this.
There's stuff in it that starts off by saying, "You've just finished the course, you're all fired up and want to unleash your brilliance on the whole world..."

For the second years in the SBIT animation course the final semester looms. Some thoughts are turned to what we want to do in 2009. The first years have already built up quite a remarkable store of animation related work in just one semester. Well done. Will some of it appear on your showreel?

Design your showreel using the wealth of knowledge hidden in the ARC.

Animation Tip: Fast Background Art

When the animating time is short it means it is time to get creative with the background art. We can't all be painterly Studio Ghibli or Pixar layout artists.

BigFish.tv animators, by all accounts from reliable sources, follow the philosophy espoused by Ian of, "Work hard, play hard." Not many animators have fuel left in the tank to animate outside of work. These local Brisbane animators let their pressure cooker release with eclectic soundtracks and a flood of crazy consciousness ideas. It's brain twisting gobbledeegook of the highest order. Not only do they animate outside of work time but they have created a whole online festival called Fest.

This example shows how using photographic backgrounds have given this animation an urban jungle feel. So, if it is all about character animation in your soul, then get creative and quick on your backgrounds with ideas like this.

More: A flounder sings, "Why must you eat with your mouth so wide?" Ahoowr you gotta see it.

Show Reel Design - some thoughts

Check out the cool example show reel from RMIT graduate Avner Engel who I met at the 11 Second Club.

There's been much discussion on this blog and amongst the 2nd years about show reels and narrative films as methods to show off a student's skills as an animator to potential employers.

Read more in depth, including 10 top tips for your successful show reel and the chance to win chocolate (Mmm chocolate).

Sweet and Sour

I'm sure there was some guy in class the other day saying that there was no traditional animation being made in Australia any more. I wonder who that could have been?

Obviously I hadn't counted on the Peoples Republic of Animation from Adelaide, who have been plotting up this very original and mostly traditionally animated film. Before you get too excited and book yourself a bus ticket for Adelaide, it is a co-production with a Chinese studio, and you can guess where it would have been cheapest to do the bulk of the animation.

Still in this day and age of slim 2D pickings you have to look on the up side, an Australian studio was involved. Its an improvement on where I thought we were. The PRA have a showreel up on youtube as well.

Where to next? A map of the dark unknown...

As is common knowledge in the animation industry, it is way cool to drive an Italian scooter to prospective job interviews (and not a Camaro Bumble Bee). This clever advertisement has just enough animation in it to warrant a post. And enough humour to make you think about buying that scooter.

As Sean Leahy says, "Make them laugh then make them think" Related Post: Greatest Animation Quotes Evah!

The short clip illustrates where an animator may find employment, this example = an advertising firm (or Canada).
In our 2nd year "Develop Industry Knowledge", affectionately known as the "DIK" class, the students were put to wondering, "What is the animation industry?" ,and "How do we find our way around in it?"

Maybe industry animators can help point us in the right direction, please?

So, as a fact finding mission and for fledgling animators that do not wish to fly to far from the nest, an animation industry map of south-east Queensland has been started and we're looking for more coloured pins to add to it.

View Larger Map


Yes, the man catches on fire in the clip.

My Childhood Returns

I'm sure the constant recycling of old ideas can't be a good thing for the long term future of Hollywood. But I must confess to feeling a slight sentimental twinge when I see things like this. Especially Where The Wild Things Are. FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK EVER!

Art Babbitt: Richard Williams: Andreas Deja: Animators

Who animated the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, Geppetto in Pinnochio, The Evil Queen in Snow White?

Who inspired, provided the knowledge for, the Richard Williams (The Thief and The Cobbler, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) text: The Animator's Survival Kit?

The animator's name is Art Babbitt. There is an interesting group of 4 YouTube clips that make up a documentary on Art. They also feature commentary by Richard Williams and Andreas Deja (Disney Character Animator at the time the doco was made).


If you are looking for animation gold in the documentary, go to the 4th clip and watch the 90 seconds from the 5:40 mark. There's footage of Babbitt critiquing a walk cycle and Williams talks about Babbitt making his class animate with stick figures. How it stripped the animation down to movement, robbing the more fancy draftspeople (including Williams) of the ability to hide behind lovely drawings. But it did, "Give you the structure to be an artist (animator)." I think Ian did this to us in the first few weeks of first year.

There's other gems amongst the gold. Like, "keep your eyes open and observe things... don't copy previous (animator's) work", let your observations inform your own work.


An interesting extra for 2nd years starting 3D animation: Richard Williams Master Class Notes

Coraline

Henry Selick is working on what is reported as his first stop motion film since Nightmare Before Christmas. I thought or assumed he had something to do with James and the Giant Peach, still I can forgive people for forgetting it. This new one looks great, there is a real grainy quality to the darkness that nothing 3D has managed to capture yet.

Over the holidays I nerded it up by watch all of the Matrix movies and some of the "making of" extras. In the doco for the second film they were all rabbiting on about how the CG bullet time gave them so much more freedom than the stuff in the first movie that was made using an elaborate array of still cameras. I looked at some of the bullet time scenes from each film and the older one just looked better. I love computer 3D animation, it has empowered me as a solo animator like nothing before, but I sure am glad some are sticking to their old school guns.

Found at: Cooked Art

Female Characters in Animation

From Australia: "The criticism (one example) of Pixar over the role of women in their films doesn’t sit well with me. Its a bit like being angry at Martin Luther King because he didn't do enough to help the environment... read more"

From the USA (Cartoon Brew): "As if the animation industry weren’t bad enough with people who don’t know what they’re talking about breathing down the artists necks now THIS? Arggh this is agitating! None of the famous characters were black, Jewish or gay either so why don’t we censor them for THOSE reasons too?"

Regarding Miyazaki: "Yes, the young women are, independent, powerful and instinctively in tune with what is the environmentally correct message."

I think this all started with a newspaper film review of Ratatouille that was pinned on the animation studio noticeboard this year. It focused criticism the lack of female roles/role models in that movie rather than reviewing the animation.

This isn't a Pixar stoning (would anyone dare?). It would, however, be interesting to snapshot opinion on the evolution of female character roles in contemporary animation. So make a comment.

Do animation female characters reflect society? Or is the industry lagging behind real life? Whose princesses do you prefer?

Horton hears a Who - new trailer

new trailer for 'Horton Hears a Who' , and doesn't it look pretty! This is one film I really can't wait to see...the animation is superb! I'd love to see the rig systems they use on this ...so much beautiful stretch and squash. Click on the picture to take you to YouTube.

Starwars Wiiiiiiiiiii

This brief article tells of how Krome studios here in Brisbane will be developing a Star Wars game for Wii where you get to wield the controller like a light saber.

As a child Star Wars blew me away, in more recent years I've turned into a major Star Wars cynic, but I have to say this is a cool idea. I think I would have to turn the volume down and make my own sound fx, voom voooom bow voom bow ca ca caaaa voom.

2D On The March

Here is an article from Variety Magazine about the formation of a new production company that plans to make 2D feature films. Among the first three planned projects is a Samurai Jack Movie. Can't Wait!

Surfs Up Cliporama

Friend of the ARC, KT from Liquid Animation sent me a link to a whole page of clips from the upcoming Sony release Surfs Up.



KT says . . . . .

"there's a whole heap to watch...both movie clips and behind the scenes interviews etc... and from watching the animation, i must say i am really really looking forward to this movie... by judging the character animation in these short clips, i can see that this is going to surpass happy feet by a mile!!!!"

As with everything at Sony it dose look incredible, but after the enormous let down of Open Season (Shrek with fur), I'm not going to get my hopes up about the story. I read that this film had three different directors because Sony kept firing them, so it sounds like there is a high degree of studio interference in creative issues, which is usually a bad sign.

Never the less, the character design, art direction and old school toony acting are great to have a look at. Thanks KT.

Ratatouille

There is so much of Ratatouille on the net to see. I have made a conscious decision not to look at any of it since the first preview. I read that one of the clips online was 6 minutes long! That's just nuts, I think the whole promotional thing is way out of hand. Movies couldn't possibly live up to the hype they create these days.

That having been said, Victor Navone (Pixar Animator) has just posted some nice observations about the movie on his blog that are exciting without giving anything away and while still leaving plenty up to the imagination. Now that's my kind of Hype.

Speedracer

USA Today has a nice story about bringing a cartoon classic into live action.

Andreas Deja

Most of you grew up watching the animation of Andreas Deja, Jafar in Aladdin, Scar in The Lion King and Lilo in Lilo and Stitch just to name a few. He is one of few Disney animators who has stuck to his 2D guns (and managed to keep his job), and if you listen to this interview courtesy of Frames Per Second Magazine you will hear about some of the upcoming 2D Disney stuff he is involved with.

Dark future for spidey?

Barely animation related, but its been a slow news week. As Sony announces that it plans to make a 4th, 5th and 6th Spiderman movie and Sam Raimi not sure if he will direct them, Tobey Maguire says he won't stay on if Sam won't. Id have to say I would agree with Tobey, the films would just seem schmaltzy to me without Sam's unique edgy influence. Folow the link to an article on IESB, there are some way cool images there.

click the pic for the link

20 Years of Simpsons

A cool interview with Al Jean, executive producer from the Simpsons.

click the pic for the link

Life imitating art imitating life

As a promotional stunt for the upcoming Simpsons Movie, 7-eleven stores across America may be renamed as Kwik-E-Marts. Check out this article.

click the pic for the link
In other news, Aardman have made a deal to make films with Sony, and here is an article.

click the pic for the link
And finally in tonight's news round up here is a page of "behind the scenes" images from Shrek3.

click the pic for the link

I Failed to Meet the Robinsons

As I trowed through the animation Internet gobldy-goop over the past few months, I could see there were plenty of folks who were getting excited about the upcoming Disney Release, Meet The Robinson's. I wasn't one of em, I already had it pegged as yet another schmaltzy unoriginal piece of pretty puff, which is how I would categorize almost all of Disney's animated films in recent times. Perhaps I underestimated how quickly we would see the the influence of John Lasseter, who reportedly insisted on some significant re-writing within his first few week working in the Mouse House. A visit to Rotten Tomatoes reveals that the story is impressing viewers. Did everyone hear that THE STORY in a Disney film is impressing viewers! Who would a thunk it?