In fact the one thing I found that was more rewarding was working for a small insignificant studio because they just didn’t care what you did so you had an opportunity without it being cut out or altered because they had a rigid notion about something. You’d get that chance to do it.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Emery Hawkins interview
This isn't really a new item, but I stumbled across it going through Thad Komorowski's blog the other day. This is a transcript of an interview that John Canemaker had with Emery Hawkins back in the 1970's. Hawkins is an old time animator from back in the 'golden era'. I found his story resonated with me. He never did settle in and become known as a 'great' animator on the strength of his film animation at the big Disney studio, even though he worked there at different times. In fact he never settled down into much. By his own account he'd changed jobs 47 times in his career. He spent time doing all kinds of different types of animation. Mostly shorts and commercials. He never did work on a big feature film (until his work on the Raggedy Anne & Andy movie at R. Williams' studio at the time of the interview- and even that wasn't a smashing box office or critical success), but you don't get the sense that he felt like it diminished his career. He certainly didn't seem bitter about it. Seems he enjoyed his non-standard career rather much, actually. He spent a good number of years at Sutherland's studio doing corporate animation, and other years doing commercials. Basically he is the polar opposite of the 9 Old Men in nearly every way except in his skill. I definitely empathize with his wandering attention span. I too get bored really quickly if all I do is the same thing every day. And repeating a single style or formula of animation is also not something I find terribly interesting or fun. This quote pretty much sums up my feelings about my own career....
I realized this about myself some years back and I came to see that I'd be a terrible fit at a big studio- so I stopped looking for work in one. Every now and then a person (often a student) asks me why I never worked at one of the big film studios. Like there's something wrong with me (some folks maintain it's because I'm a 'failure'. Whatever narrative works for your worldview is fine with me). But I know myself well enough to understand that it's just not my bag o' bagels, ya know? And if it's not mine, then there's a good chance that there are others out there who feel the same way. The animation biz doesn't do much to validate those outside the big film studio systems, which is kinda sad, but understandable on a base human level. It's for this reason that I find non-conformist stories like Hawkins' to be refreshing and even a little liberating.
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9 comments:
As somebody who has been drawing and animating his entire life and never even came close to having a chance to even go to art school I definitely feel you. Haven't worked for a small studio (unless you count mine) let alone a big one. : )
There's a BBC documentary called Status Anxiety, which basically states that most of us equate happiness with social staus and the opinions of our peers:
Staus Anxiety
It's a long watch, but it makes you really question what your motivations are, at least professionally.
I had the privilege of working as an inbetweener on several commercials animated by Emery Hawkins in the 1970's. His stuff was fun to look at. The drawings were funny and the action was nice and broad.
The work he did at Warner Bros. (he worked for Jones, McKimson, Freleng and Davis) and at Lantz is wonderful stuff, with tons of stretch and squash and lots of drag.
As an animator, Hawkins had his own style and the people who hired him knew it and were happy to let him be himself. He had a good career and he stayed vital as an artist for more than 40 years.
Thanks for the link C.Fram!
But you work for Valve Keith! Isn't it fairly big?
@Mike:
Valve isn't really that big. I think we're about 220 people now, about a third of that is customer support for Steam. The actual development crew is pretty small by industry standards. DNA & Big Idea were about the same size and Blur and ReelFX were slightly smaller operations when I worked there.
I've started wondering if I'm sort of the same way, and it is nice to know it's at least an option that others have found successful. So much cool stuff to do and learn that it seems sort of stifling at times to try and concentrate on only one thing. Of course, all this is coming from a student who has yet to work at any studio, big or small. :)
It's interesting you post this now Keith as that's exactly the fork in the road I've come to regarding future work. Do i strive to gain work in a feature studio which will make me look good on any showreel, or do i stick with the people I have worked with over the years and enjoy creating animation on a smaller scale with.
Word up Keith!
That is a great analysis on what creative freedom is about in the workplace. I can see how big corporations like to stick to their 'rigid formulas' because they invest millions of dollars and do not want to be too risky investing it in something wild and different. (Exceptions it seems are usually story ideas... less for animation styles.)
I am really interested in working in the games industry and it seems that the most innovative, strange, and creative games are created by smaller studios. I guess smaller studios are more flexible than rigid corporate ones.
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