Cool behind the scenes Avatar clip

Heres a cool behind the scenes clip that I’m sure you have seen… Yeah, we get it… This is not animators doing the performance… Cameron did everything… I wonder if they should have given another name for the “animators” working on this project since they don’t seem to respect the job of what an animator does. I am blown away by the work on Avatar, but I don’t understand how the animators did not get any love on this film… There was so much great creature/robot stuff. I’d love to hear from some people on the crew about how the roles of an animator were defined on this picture…Expressions must have been pushed, Physicality, interaction… What is the Motion capture to animation ratio?

-Andrew

Marty Says Passion and Story…

Martin Scorsese was honored with a Cecil B Demil Award last night at the Golden Globes. When interviewed by the press afterward he was asked about what students need to have in order to make movies. The common theme that always comes up is passion and story.

Click the image for the link….

John K Letter

Not sure if you have seen this, I had not. Someone from work sent this out and I thought it was great. Its so cool to see some of the giants of the industry respond to students of animation with  such honesty.

Check it out.

Andrew

Chart of Fame

Former Spline Doctor Angus Maclane made this funny chart of fame. We always joke how animators are one of the least recognized people in the entertainment industry… Oh well, I sure didnt get into animation because I wanted to be famous…I’ll leave that to the Mo-cap actors…(I mean, performance capture)

New Years Resolutions

The new semester is about to start for students and a new year for everyone working. I have been thinking about what I want to do better in terms of animation this coming year. I always remember way back on A Bugs Life a certain animator who would get a specific note all the time. “Less is More” It seems that most good art has to do with boiling down an idea to its core. Here is a list of a few things I want to try and do better in my work this coming year.

1) Gesture Less

2) Block out shots more clearly and with less controls

3) Utilize my time in a smart way that lets me be more efficient (less web surfing)

4) Explore more entertainment value in each shot. How can the idea be pushed to the place where it becomes better than just executing a story point?

5) Work on Physicality

6) Push acting ideas.

7) Stay healthy

In the crunch of any production its so hard to have anytime to really spend on making your shots have it all. You are rushing to meet the deadline. I get that. I can understand how game animators or TV productions just dont have the time to pull off all the stuff that they want. I guess the best thing to do is to try and choose the areas that you want to put the most effort into. Anyway, thats going off on a tangent. I’d love to hear what other animators want to concentrate on for 2010.

-Andrew