OK, let's try this instead...

Getting back up on the horse. Ahem.

Anyhow, following up on that last (embarrassing) post, here are some sequential drawings to check out for a few movements in the Sylvester clip. The first one is kinda neat- his tongue is completely in and then the next drawing is completely out- and not just out, but down to his belly out! Check it...

 

 

Each of these drawings were held for 2 frames. I think the reason you can get away with this is that the rest of the body isn't changing quite so drastically. It's changing, but the general silhouette is basically the same.

Now we get to the happy feet stamping. Again, back to back drawings held on 2's. First, the right foot is down and the left foot is up.

 

Next, the right foot is up and the left foot is down.

No breakdown or inbetweens. Just extremes. I've tried this in Cg and it's really hard to make it look as good as it does here. One thing I learned is to not cycle between two leg position/shapes that are exactly the same, but to keep it varied as the legs hammer back and forth like that. The dry brush is the real key, though. That's what I think, at least. But what do I know? I do know that motion blur doesn't work as a dry-brush replacement.

And now for giggles, we can check out how he switches from the foot stamping happiness to the scramble run off screen...

 

  

  

  

That's crazy stuff. Those 4 drawings are back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the scene, each held for 2 frames.

And this is a 'simple' scene. The stuff with him emptying out the drawers just before this is flat out amazing. Go watch the entire short. "Canned Feud". It's on the Loony Tunes Golden Collection DVD set, first volume, disc 4. The entire short is just jam-packed with gold like this. Who's doing stuff like this these days? Who in CG animation even thinks like this?

A study in cartoon timing.. UPDATED

UPDATE: Well, whaddya know- I'm an idiot.

Commenter Lampshademan suggested the timing might be a frame rate glitch in the movie file due to the DVD capture. So after trying to find the right combination of software that lets me get accurate frame stepping through a clip from a DVD I was finally able to verify that the scene is basically animated on 2's. All of the drawings, except for the first one of the hold and the last 8 (for the run off screen) are held for two frames each.

Nothing to see here folks. Well, except for a red-faced idiot.

But enjoy the fun animation anyhow.

h

And I will talk about the change from one drawing to the next because there's some fun stuff going on.

My take on the US election....

Would you like to be stabbed with a sharp stick in the right eye or the left eye?

That's it. Those are your choices.

We'll talk about this again in 4 years.

This is bad news...

I just got an email from Autodesk today saying they have bought out Softimage from Avid.

Bad, bad, bad, bad.

I'm not a user of XSi (Softimage's flagship 3d software). Except for reviewing the work of the occasional student who uses it I haven't felt a need to learn it. I've been using Maya for almost 10 years now and it just works for me with all the tools and stuff I have for it. But that's beside the point. As far as I can tell XSi is a solid tool. If there has been one group that has been the leader in innovative ideas for general purpose CG tools over the last few years it's been the XSi team. By contrast the stuff sitting under Autodesk's banner has languished. Except for the occasional tweak here or there, 3DS Max is still basically the same tool it was when I used it at Blur 5 years ago. And Maya hasn't moved very far since Alias sold out to Autodesk a few years ago. Just tweaks and window dressing. Autodesk is where 3d programs go to get stale.

Healthy competition is always better for customers than monopolies- and right now we have a veritable monopoly in the CG animation software business. Autodesk owns 3D Studio Max, Maya, Motion Builder, Mudbox and now Softimage XSi and it's ancillary technologies. What's left out there for commercially available professional level Cg production software? Um.. not much. Yes, there's Z-Brush, Silo, Modo, etc., but those aren't backbone systems, they're specific-use tools.  Basically the applications under the Autodesk name represent well north of 90% of the primary programs used in the CG business.

Most Cg products have seen a significant reduction in innovative development and thinking over the past few years, but expect that decline to accelerate. At some point consolidation of development is going to occur at Autodesk and we're going to end up with fewer choices.

If anything this development marks the end of the 'big backbone one stop shop' software solutions for CG. Look for more specific use tools that interface with back bone systems to emerge.

Good ol' Tommy boy made a lot of sense....

Too bad we stopped paying attention to him oh, about 100 years ago now.
A quote that speaks to today's world.

"The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution.... If the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."

There was one other trivial scrap of paper this fellow once authored. The Declaration of Independence.
More interesting thoughts from the third president of the United States can be found here...

I'd laugh...

.. if it weren't so sadly true.
From the Sinfest comic. Click it big...

APT Student Animation: Sunny Kharbanda

Sunny Kharbanda first took his first APT session this summer. He wanted to improve pushing his poses, add some texture to his phrasing, make better acting choices as well as tighten up his polishing skills. Here is one of the better pieces that he made before the APT...

click here to play

I like the boldness and willingness to take chances with such a challenging clip. But there's a few things here and there that could use some help. The poses are awkward at places, alot of the poses are the same intensity so the texture is lacking and the arcs, eases and overlap need more polish. It's not terrible, but it has areas that could use improvement.

After 4 weeks in the APT this is what Sunny was able to produce...

click here to play

The polish is much stronger, the acting is interesting (and funny), the phrasing and texture are more defined and his poses feel more comfortable while at the same time being stronger and more graphically appealing. Overall it's a solid improvement.

Sunny is currently wrapping up work on his second APT session. Wait until you see what he's done in this latest class- it's really, really good. I can't wait to show it to everybody when it's done.

Cars 2??

Hunh. I didn't know there was a sequel to Doc Hollywood.

This kinda flew under my radar. Am I the only one who missed this? Is this a for real movie or am I being punk'd? I thought Cars was arguably Pixar's weakest film to date. So if ever there was fertile ground for a sequel...

I'm certain it will make a tidy profit, though.
Just like Jungle Book 2.
Just like Shrek 3.

APT Student Animation: Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar is one of my favorite APT students. Anand has been in my APT twice, both times focusing on learning more extreme cartoon animation style. The first time was definitely a learning process as he broke out of his comfort zones as a Cg animator. During his second class I could really see that he was "getting it". He was beginning to think like a cartoon animator.

Here is a nice sample of what Anand was doing before this latest APT class...

Not bad. There's some nice stuff going on. It's a little lacking in some technical polish, but overall it's pretty solid. However it doesn't stand out- I don't think it's unfair to say that it's pretty typical of most CG scenes you see.

Now here are two scenes that he recently completed in APT. First an acting scene...

Kumar_toonActing.mov

And now a more 'technical' motion exercise...

 

Kumar_toonExit.mov

Now that's a different way to go. I really like seeing this style being explored in CG. It's been a lot of fun teaching this stuff. I grew up watching cartoons- it's what made me want to be an animator in the first place. Not surprisingly Anand felt the same way. He wrote me...

I will be doing more of this stuff :-) its fun and challenging to do.  ... This APT has really been an eye opener for me . ... I wanna do moreeeeee... :-)

So congrats to Anand for a job well done. I'm sure he's only going to get better and better at this sort of thing.

e-mail problems solved. (i hope)

Well, the new domain and host service is up and running and tests show that 4 out of 5 dentists are able to email me at my email addresses -- keith(at)keithlango(dot)com and keithlango(at)keithlango(dot)com.

So if you tried getting through to me before and it bounced or failed, try again. It should work. Heavy emphasis on "should".

VTS Back Issue store updated

Ahh, the world is indeed a better place for our children this morning.
I had fallen a bit behind on updating the VTS back issue store. Well, I got off my butt this morning and updated the store. (Well, I was sitting when I did it, so I guess I didn't actually get off my butt. Details, details.)
Anyhow, VTS36, 37 and 38 are now available if you were waiting for them. VTS36 and 37 are about animating to music and VTS38 is the first of a three video series on body mechanics. If you're interested in these or any of the other VTS back issue videos, well check out the VTS back issue store here.

And as for my loyal VTS subscribers I have updated your page, too. Now you guys can get VTS41, 42 and 43. VTS41 is a quick lesson on cartoon animation as it was taught to one of my advanced APT students. VTS42 and 43 are the first of many videos where I animate an actual scene from beginning to end, explaining every thought and action along the way. It's a different approach to the VTS that attempts to tie together all the various theories, tips and ideas that have been covered in the VTS from the very beginning.

What is this VTS of which I speak? I'm glad you asked, and I have this very handy-dandy FAQ about the subject. Check it out and be sure to speak to your doctor to see if the Video Tutorial Series is right for you.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Hell Kitchen -- short film

A former APT student of mine, Raoul Olou, - along with his friend Sigmund Payne - have recently posted their short film called Hell Kitchen online.
It's fun and I love the visual style of the short. It's a very clever use of CG. I love how europeans are able to think outside the hyper-realism box. Congrats go out to Raoul and Sigmund for a great job on a very cool little film

What's up with the APT?

A few weeks back I mentioned that I would announce some news regarding future APT classes here. (What's an APT class? Read the FAQ for all the info). Since I like to try and keep my word, here's the scoop.

APT class #4 was a great success. It wrapped up in the middle of August. The students all enjoyed the course and they showed a lot of improvement. I'm going to put together a few examples of their stuff here this week or next. I think you'll really like what they did.

So what about the next APT class? Funny you ask. It's actually already begun. But wait? When did I announced it? Who's taking it? Well, I didn't announce it publicly. I reserved APT #5 for former APT students who wanted another session, as well as a few folks I know who had been wanting to take the course for a while but kept missing out. So APT5 is full, and like I said, it's already begun. Sorry about that.

So what about the class after that? Will there be another class after APT5? Yes, there will. But there's a catch-  just like APT5, APT6 is already full. What!?!?! Yup, so many former students got so much out of their previous time in the APT that they filled up two sessions to get even more. So APT6 is scheduled for the middle of November to just before Christmas, but it's full.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the APT is sold out for the remainder of 2008. Yeah, kinda stinks, huh?

OK. Now I know what some of you are thinking. "Hey, I wanted to take an APT class. How can I sign up if I don't even know a class is coming up?" It's a fair question.  But fear not, weary traveler! I have plans for more APT classes after these next two are out of the way. And that's why I'm here talking about it. :)

I have plans for APT7 and APT8 to happen in early 2009. APT7 is tentatively scheduled for mid-January to mid-February of 2009. APT8 is tentatively scheduled for March of 2009. After that, we'll see where we stand. But the cool thing is that you don't need to wait until January or March to get your name on the list.

A list? Did he just say there's a list?

Yeah, I'm gonna have a list. See, in the past I would announce a registration date and it would be first come first served and anybody that missed out was just out of luck until the next announced class. But when APT4 sold out in under 25 minutes I realized that I need to create a waiting list for those who missed out. So that's what I'm going to do. Starting today- right now- I am taking names for APT7 and APT8. The names will go on a waiting list in the order they are received. Those first on the list will get first chance to take a spot for the class of their choice when the time comes for them to commit.

If you email me to get on the waiting list for APT7 or APT8 you won't be charged any money today. That will wait until we are much closer to the class dates. And no, there is no commitment by getting on the waiting list- but please only respond if you are serious about taking an APT class. I don't want the waiting list to be filled with a lot of names that will end up backing out later. But if you are serious about taking an APT class and if early 2009 fits your lifestyle then send me an email and get on the list!

Send your reply to....

keith(dot)lango(at)yahoo(dot)com

Be sure to put "APT List" in the subject somewhere, and if you have a preference for APT7 or APT8 be sure to let me know. Once I get your name I'll add it to the list of those in line to take an APT class. My inbox is waiting and ready to recieve your reply. :)

APT news coming later today...

I've been a bit behind on this, but I did promise to get an update out regarding the APT. Keep your eyes on this space for more news soon.

Pushing poses

Here's something I thought would be neat to pass along. One of my APT students emailed me expressing their frustration with when and how and how much to push a pose. They were struggling with making pushed poses that didn't feel broken, or just 'off'. As a result they tended to be very cautious in their efforts to push things. Here's what I wrote to them. See if maybe it helps some of you guys out there...

When it comes to poses you must always have a strong sense of balance. Even pushed poses need to have balance and proper weight. For any pose held for more than 2 frames balance is absolutely critical. So when you push a pose, don't push it to the point that it becomes awkward or off balance. You can go from big pose to big pose, but the poses themselves need to be functional. Another note on a pushed pose- you can push it, but the pose needs to feel like it wouldn't be breaking bones, pulling muscles or dislocating joints inside the body. A cartoon character can have more elastic anatomy, but they still have an anatomy. The poses you choose should be true to that anatomy. More normally proportioned and human the character looks, the narrower the range of what 'pushed' can be before things feel broken. The more cartoon the design the greater the range of pushed before things break. Push the pose, but honor the anatomy. Look at this Bugs Bunny pose...

That's pushed for sure, but it still has balance and it still looks like he's not broken inside. Would you or I look like that if we did that 'pose'? No, but we're made of different anatomical stuff. You need to respect the anatomy, but still not be afraid to make things with more energy. Here's a page from an old Disney 'How To Animate' book that really illustrates the idea.

I have another bit on pushing timing, but I'll save that for later.

MAJOR email problems

I'm having more problems with my hosting service. At any rate, my email addresses connected with the keithlango.com domain have been down since last Thursday. They have been behaving very erratically for over a month now, actually. A permanent solution is currently being enacted, but I do not know when it will be finalized.

So if you've been trying to reach me since last Thursday Sept 11th, and you have not heard back from me (or you have gotten an email bounce notice) then please know that I'm not blowing you off. I just have not received anything for days at these following addresses.....

• keith(at)keithlango(dot)com
• keithlango(at)keithlango(dot)com

If you need to reach me please email me at...

• keith(dot)lango(at)yahoo(dot)com

I'm sorry for the trouble. (sigh)

Zoe is green.

Here's a fun little something. A cute short film called L'amie de Zoe, directed by Matthieu Roussel. I really like the visual approach. Anytime people try to do something different with CG animation I feel happy. Take a moment and have a look.
click to watch the film.

Time & Chance

Here's a fun little diversion for your Labor Day weekend. I got this note from good friend of the Lango World Domination Headquarters, Tim Hodge...

"Time & Chance" is part of the GTTV Summer Film Competition. It's an online film festival that will be over before you know it.

Out of over 150 entries, "Time & Chance" was one of 6 that is being featured!

Click HERE to see it!

It is a subscription based viewership, so it will cost you about $1.50 to watch the film. (If you don't want to subscribe, you won't hurt my feelings.)

Feel free to forward this to your friends!

Enjoy!

- T

 

This is Tim's short film that he recently completed. I did some CG work for Tim on the short. My primary role was to texture, rig and animate the flies. Other folks contributed to the animation and did other things, but I can't remember everybody and what they did. I guess that's what the credits are for, huh? So if you contributed to this fine little film be sure to speak up in the comments and get your share of the love.

 

Check out all the fun on Tim's Time & Chance blog. It's fun for the whole family! And let's not forget to say Congrats to Tim on making the film! It's always a huge achievement to get one done. Now do more!  ;)

Animated "Acting"

How about this for a philosophical question...

Do animated characters "act"? And what about animators? Do we "act"?

Acting, by definition, is when a person pretends to behave like another person in another place at another time. Even if they're pretending to be themselves in a real place we are still stuck with a person pretending to live a moment that does not currently exist. All acting comes down to a falsehood. A false person, a false place or a false moment. One or more of the three. Acting is pretending. Without pretending you don't have acting.

So when I am animating, am I "acting"? Not really. When I animate I am not pretending to be a character in some other moment in some imaginary place. I make no pretense about it- I am Keith, sitting at my desk animating this scene.

Similarly the character on the screen is not pretending to be anything, either. Bugs Bunny running away from Elmer Fudd is Bugs Bunny running away from Elmer Fudd. He is not pretending to be Bugs Bunny running away from Elmer Fudd. The animated character is not pretending- they are just being themselves*. This is their life, this is their moment and there's nothing false about it.

As an animator am I pretending to be Bugs Bunny? Aside from the physical difficulties of such a thing, not really. So what is it that I'm doing if I'm not 'acting'? I prefer to think of it as imagining. I am most successful when I can simply imagine the character just being themselves in whatever moment of their lives that I am called upon to animate. The key to this is to know the character. That's it. Insofar as I struggle to express a character believably it shows that I don't really know that character. Want proof? OK, try this....

Think of someone you know very well. Then imagine they are running late for work and have just hit their 5th red light in a row. You can see them, can't you? You can imagine exactly what the look on their face would be, how their hands would be gripping the steering wheel- what they'd do and how they'd behave while they wait for that light to change to green. And you know that what you are 'seeing' in your mind's eye is not what you would do in that moment, but it is what this person you know very well would do. They have unique actions, mannerisms, expressions and gestures that you don't use, but you can "see" them.  At this very moment I can imagine my Dad in the situation I just described and I can see him as clear as day, how he'd act and everything- and he's been dead for 8 years. Today my Dad is no more physically real on this earth than Bugs Bunny- but as a character he's very real and I know him very well.

And this isn't hard at all. Why? Because I've already known how to do this from the time I was a kid. And so do you.

The hard part in this comes when a character hasn't been defined very well for you by the director/writer/story people. You don't have enough to get to 'know' the character. Or worse, we're too lazy to get to know the character. It's at that moment that we fall back on generic gestures or expressions, or we copy ourselves acting just to get some believable motion on the screen. To me that's a poorer solution compared to the power of knowing the character. In animation if we had characters that were more clearly defined and the imagination to see them being themselves, then perhaps we can maybe break free from the generic "everything same" characters we are so prone to make.

* OK, exception would be when Bugs Bunny dresses in drag to fool Elmer Fudd. So in that sense, yes an animated character does "act".

Messin' around with the 'toons

I've been messing around with various little animation tests done in a very cartoony style. You know, just for kicks.


click to play a very short clip

Animated on 2's, for those that are keeping score at home. I probably could have done the leg scrambles on 1's, but I wanted to see how it looked on 2's.

Aardman/Star Wars mash-up

Genius! I love silly stuff like this.  :)

A question from an APT student....

I just had an email with one of my APT students and I thought that it was an interesting one- so I thought I'd share it with you. It's a super common problem in animation. You think everything is OK in one phase of the scene, and then you move on to the next phase and suddenly the stuff looks like crud! Problems, problems everywhere. It can be discouraging if you let it. So in an effort to kinda "see ahead" and fix things before they get ugly my student asked...

How do I avoid running into the kind of problems that I faced on that scene? I ask because I couldn't see some problems in stepped mode. Is "more breakdowns" the answer? Then again, is it normal to see so much junk once we go to linear mode?

I remember this being perhaps the biggest struggle for so many CG animators- and I mean pros working on films. Everybody has that "Aw geez, this looks like crap!" stage right after blocking. When you watch your finished blocking in stepped mode things look like they have life and are so "right". Then you throw all the tangents to linear or spline and it seems like it all falls apart. Everybody wants to know some secret or trick to avoiding that ugly stage. Such a trick has always eluded us. The reason why is simple- it doesn't exist. Here's what I wrote in reply to the student's question...

I think there's a point where you can see what you see in a scene and you can't see anything more until you move on. Animating scenes is like exploring a wooded territory. You can fly over it with a plane, you can study maps, you can plan and practice- but until you start getting into the woods you don't really know everything that's there. And even when you get 1/3 of the way through the territory you can see ahead, you've learned some things and you can now make a solid plan of progress, but until you go forward you'll never really know what you have on your hands. Scenes are like that sometimes. You do what you can do in blocking and then when you're happy with it- allowing that you've thought it through and have worked it to your satisfaction- you move on. You'll find new things every step of the way. It's not a failing or a problem or a weakness that needs to be fixed. It's just animation. Funny, it's also exactly like life. :)

 There will always be problems in a scene no matter what stage you're at- even when it's "done". Just keep moving forward.

Wither the "inherent appeal" of CG?

Amid Amidi points up a nicely done bit of commercial advertising over on the Cartoon Brew. The animators used CG to emulate the old stop-motion look and palette from days gone by. And the spot is really, really well done. But Amid takes issue with the use of CG as merely a tool of emulation of other visual styles. To quote the man himself...

 It’s a well done spot, no question about it, but I have mixed feelings about it. Frankly I’m getting tired of CG directors evoking charm in their work by cashing in on the audience’s fondness for older animation techniques. If you’re using CG, why not explore the inherent appeal in your chosen technique instead of using it to mimic a look from decades ago?

 It's a fair question. However the reply comes in the form of yet another question- a simple, yet confounding one.

What is the inherent appeal of CG? Does it even have one?

The comments in response to the Brew post are actually very well thought out, including Amid's own replies. You should take the time to read them. These questions have been something I've kicked around here on this blog in the past. Ultimately I never was able to find a cohesive answer that laid all arguments and questions to rest. One commenter on the Cartoon Brew post has this to offer...

Couldn’t using CG to “mimic a look from decades ago” technically be considered “the inherent appeal in your chosen technique”?

That's probably the best answer yet. It's not too far from the one I came to last year. I see CG more as a tool of collage. It can be just about anything you want it to be. The untapped potential of CG (to me, at least) is that it removes the technical barriers that would otherwise keep diverse styles and techniques from being used together. I'd like to see what can be done with that potential for mixture.

What an elephant can teach you about your career in animation

Check it out.

This is a painting made by an elephant. Yes, that kind of elephant. The elephants at the Nashville Zoo  paint to help pass the time. Apparently it keeps them happy. I thumbed through a selection of original pieces at the zoo's gift shop and I was really taken aback at how cool some of the pieces were. I should have taken pictures.



But if that weren't cool enough, apparently they have elephants in Thailand that also paint- and several of them are quite accomplished. Check out this painting.

It's done by an elephant named SriSiam. You can check out a gallery of paintings by several different elephants here. Here's a video clip of the animals at work that is actually pretty cool...







And in case you think it's all rigged, nope.



So why am I going on about this? If you read up on how they paint it's pretty clear that they are following through on a good deal of training. It does seem like they enjoy it, though. But a quick look through the gallery linked above shows that different elephants made the same kind of paintings with the same tone and motive appear over and over. A pattern emerges and we can see the trainer's hand at work. The animals were given certain 'principles' of how to achieve a given subject and then through positive reinforcement learned to repeat the results. Sweeping lines for an elephant, vertical green lines and orange pokes for flowers, etc. I still think it's really cool (my cat can't do this), but I just can't make the jump to say that the elephants are expressing something artistic in themselves. Maybe they are, but it seems to me to be the product of a lot of training to make paintings for people to buy and like.



But how is that much different than us and our 'principles' and 'rules'? Modern western animators might not be that far removed from approaching their work like these trained elephants. The hegemony of the classic 'west coast film style' of animation (Disney in 2d, Pixar in CG, et al.) can be suffocating in it's near soviet insistence on conformity. We need to guard against letting our definition of what makes 'good' animation grow smaller and smaller. Watch a film like John Canemaker's "The Moon and the Son" and you'll see a fantastic example of expressive animation that is nothing at all like the dominant west coast film style. That style is good and has a place, but to me it's not terribly personal. It sells DVD's, though, and so we learn it (and in my case, teach it) to make a living. But I like stuff that possesses a personal voice for expression that is not leather bound by the strict adherence to a list of rules and principles. And more than any other medium CG suffers from a built in level of conformity that crushes independent style. Overcoming that oppression in CG takes far more effort than any other form of animation, in my opinion. Marc Craste is an example of a CG animator who has crafted his own style- one that doesn't thumb its nose at principles, but at the same time isn't stifled or bound by them. It would be good if more of us would find a way to rise above the overtly produced results that aren't that much more expressive than what a trained elephant can accomplish - yours truly included.

The evolution of Dreamworks storytelling...

Before you get your flamethrowers warmed up, I'm here to say I like where things are going over at DW land.



At first DW tried to do the Disney thing. They had limited success. They found that 900lb. gorilla really difficult to unseat. But with Shrek we saw DW's first big breakout hit. The general idea was to spoof two things- fairy tales and Disney. It did a servicable job of both, and raked in a ton of cash to boot. One of the core techniques in the film was the use of the 'pop culture reference'. Similar to TV shows like Family Guy or Disney's earlier Alladin, the idea is to make some obscure (or obvious) and subtle (or blatant) reference to some aspect of current (or relatively recent) popular culture. DW developed a real love for this idea. It was evident in just about every film following Shrek. The zenith of this approach was Bee Movie, a film that was really hard for me to sit through. It was a goofy patchwork narrative that filled the few cracks between a littany of pop-culture gags. But with Kung Fu Panda I noticed a switch in tack. As I see the premise and approach for the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens I see that maybe they are taking this pop-culture idea to the next logical level. They seem to be evolving from using pop culture reference as disparate gags in a film to using the film as one big pop culture reference. KFP spoofed the 1970's Kung Fu film genre, and did a pretty good (and fun!) job of it. Monsters vs. Aliens looks to spoof the 1950/1960's B-movie monster flicks. If it handles the subject as well as KFP handled its subject I think they may be on to something. In the end I think their efforts with the pop culutre reference spoof movies may be a more palatable and successful venture than just sprinkling in pop culture references in an otherwise non-pop movie. The biggest complaint about pop-cult references in a film is that they seemed forced- jammed in by unimaginative execs to get cheap laughs. It's a pretty fair assessment, I think. They often just break the flow of the narrative, resulting in a jangly effect that sounds just a little bit off. It's like jingling a pocket full of real coins mixed with a few Chuck-E-Cheese tokens. It jingles, but there are some notes in there that are most definitely off key. However by making the entire film one big pop culture reference they seem to be onto something that works better. The key appears to be keeping any pop culture references in these newer films germaine to the genre being spoofed. In other words, if KFP had some kind of gag revolving around a Chinese Kung Fu version of Wal-Mart or American Idol or something similarly indicative of the decline of civilization, then that would have sucked majorly. But if they remain sly and clever and true to the genre and period spoofed they stand a great chance of maintaining a cohesion between their films and gags that they haven't yet truly enjoyed. Some may argue that the effect is like jingling a pocket full of Chuck-E-Cheese tokens, but you gotta give them marks for at least getting all the notes to sound cohesive.  I, for one, am looking forward to seeing if they can keep the ball rolling with Monsters vs. Aliens. If nothing else you have to give props to DW for striking and and trying different things, every bit as much as (maybe even more than) Pixar/Disney.

Imagination vs. Knowledge

 Full quote:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

Don't let you pursuit of knowledge about animation (especially the nuts and bolts of how to do it, etc.) obscure your childlike imagination. And certainly never let it frighten you into never trying to do the unknown. And by 'unknown' I don't mean a universal unknown (ie: no human has ever tried or understood this thing you're confronted with). Rather I am talking about your personal universe- what is known and unknown to you. Students so often get caught up in trying to expand the size and scope of what they know. Thus the focus on principles, techniques, methods, etc and the quixotic quest for rock solid formulas and rules that will always work in any situation. The problem is if you're not careful that pursuit for knowledge can drastically shrink your world. Use your imagination to prop open the windows that look out over the wide expanse of the unknown. Try something - anything- that you don't know how to do. Jump and see what happens. If all you ever do is what you know how to do then you become small and limited. The key is to understand the fundamentals without letting them turn you into a fundamentalist. Keep an open mind about how to accomplish different things. Don't be afraid to try something that you've never tried before. And be especially willing to try something where you don't have the faintest clue about how you're going to do it. Once you do that then you have no choice but to unfurl the wings of your imagination and try to fly.



image courtesy of presentationzen.com

APT#4-- rollin' along

A quick update on the current Animation Personal Trainer session (#4 so far). We have 10 new students (plus one left over from a previous class). We're only one and a half weeks into the session and I'm having fun! This class has some talent and loads of potential.. It's a great mix of students. The first few assignments that have come back are looking solid. I can't wait to see how they improve by the time we're done.

What does this have to do with you? Well, to put it simply- I'm going to have another APT session not too long after this one wraps up in mid-August. After nearly a year hiatus, this latest class filled up in 25 minutes. Since then I've received quite a number of emails from folks who were disappointed that they missed out and they wanted to know when the next session will be.  So if you really want to participate in the next APT, be sure to keep an eye out here for info sometime in the next few weeks.

kill the www.

housekeeping note- If your bookmarks point to www.keithlango.com, you will find that your life will have a higher degree of suckitude. Why? My recent hosting switch did away with any compatibility with a URL address that uses www. So the official web address for your daily dose of lango-tastic wonder (now endorsed by the Queen and Yakov Smirnov) is merely keithlango.com. No www. needed nor accepted. The new streamlined URL of keithlango.com is a nutritious part of this complete breakfast...

 

The Garbage Plate from Nick Tahoes Restaurant in Rochester NY. I dare you to eat one sober.

Plussing in spite of limitations

 

A lot of animators on high footage projects (DVD, games, TV, commercials, etc.) often complain about the limitations of time and budget. And true enough, those limitations do exist. You only have so many dollars, so many days and so many animators. You're often not given a lot to work with. But then it's up to the animator to think outside the box. What one added ingredient or what one change in the way you present the scene would make the simple and plain into something pleasing and satisfying? After all the only difference between bread and toast is a little heat and some butter. What can you add to your scene to elevate it from bread & water into tea & toast?

Ordered mine today...

I finally have a good reason to check the mail each day as I wait for this to show up.

A little anecdote- about two years back I posted some Eric Goldberg notes on my blog that I got from Tim Hodge- which he got from somebody at Disney. Anyhow, a member of Eric's family (I think it was his daughter, can't remember now) emailed me and very sweetly asked me to take the notes down. The reason? Eric was writing a book! I was more than happy to take down the notes knowing that this genius of animation was writing a book. And now it's supposed to be shipping this month. Yay!

New feature -- Polls!

In the spirit of the presidential election this year, I have decided to add polls to my blog. Why? Because I said so!

(Did your dad ever say that to you? Mine did all the time. When all else fails, pull the Dad Card. You know the deal. Dad asks you to do something. Being an annoying little stinker you ask him why. He's either stressed out and doesn't have a good reason or he's too freakin' tired to explain his reason. So he yells "Because I said so, that's why!". Don't tell me I'm the only dad in the 21st century who has continued this time honored tradition passed down by our forefathers. Right? Right? Anybody? Is this thing on?)

Anyhow, check out the poll to the right and click on it. It could be a fun way to waste time and feel relevant. I'll add a new poll each week. Or so. Maybe. We'll see how it goes. Why? You know why....

Mayerson on Wall-E

It's been a while since I've really followed the online animation blogo-fest seriously. How long? Like, oh... a year? Anyhow I've slowly and intermittantly been toddling my way back into things, catching up on various musings from my old feed-list. One of my favorite animation bloggers, Mark Mayerson, has a very insightful review of Wall-E. There's spoilers in it, but if you've seen the film and want to read his erudite take on the topic, then I highly suggest that click here. And do it, like..um.. last week. Yeah.

Fixed link -- Do Me A Favor tutorial

One of the casualties of the switch to a new blogging system was my free animation tutorial named Do Me a Favor...Favors, Eases and Other Mysteries of Space.
Well the tutorial has been rescued, cleaned up and given a new set of shiny shoes. Check it out here at its new home. Thanks to those who wrote to let me know of the broken link.

Wall-E thoughts, other stuff

Spending a few days with family in the upstate NY area t celebrate Independence Day. I'd forgotten how pretty this place can be. But I'd also forgotten that it's also chilly here at night! The tropical Brazilian climate really thinned out this boy's blood.

Last weekend the Lango Crew made its way to the big cineplex to take in Pixar's Wall-E. Nice film. Very charming, great character development, funny as well. Check out Tim Hodge's take on it. His thoughts aren't too far from my own, but I think he was expecting it to be something more than I was. For myself, Wall-E was what I expected it would be so I wasn't disappointed or anything. My wife really enjoyed it due to the love story side of things. So I think Pixar has officially made the first CG chick-flick. Heh. But my kids still quote Kung Fu Panda lines.

"Don't tell Monkey."

On a housekeeping note here: There were a few bugs in the new online store regarding subscribing to the VTS. If you tried to subscribe in the last week but found it wasn't working correctly, try it again now. Everything should work.

More "Bad Luck Blackie" Analysis- beat timing

I was studying this clip from Tex Avery's Bad Luck Blackie some more and I noticed that the musical violin beats match the cat coming out of the hole onto the 'X', then looking left, then straight ahead and then the dog releasing the rope to start the violin cascade. They all seemed perfectly timed. So I used a digital metronome to tap out the beats for the cat's head turns. From that I found that the head turns were on (roughly) a 9 beat. (a new beat of timing for the action & music occurs every 9 frames. This comes out to 160 beats per minute musically). Anyhow I guessed that this 9 beat was consistent throughout the clip, so I set out to see if my guess was correct. Oddly enough it was. Here is the result...


right click and Save to download as Quicktime

I replaced the music with the 9 beat click track and added a flashing indicator to show where the beats are. It's hard to catch the beats exactly when you play it, but if you download the Quicktime movie and frame step through it you'll find that most of the actions for the character occur on the beat frame, or within 1 frame of it. And you'll notice that if you step forward every 9th frame has a new beat. Often you'll notice that a pose drawing (as opposed to an inbetween) for the dog hits right on the beat frame. This timing is so pervasive that it comes right down to the shot cuts as well. You'll notice that the cut from the two shot of the dog & cat to the falling safe happens right on a beat frame.

The director settled on the timing (and passed it along to the animator) before the music was composed and the motion was created to allow the composer the opportunity to match it perfectly without breaking stride in the musical beat. This connection between the motion and the music within a structure is a primary characteristic of classical golden age cartoons. This too seems to be a disappearing skill. Animators today generally don't think musically (unless we have pre-recorded music that we are animating to). Timing-wise we animators usually do whatever we want and leave the composer with a mish-mash of actions that lack a strong timing structure. While the shorts being done today are good, they lack this underlying structure for the most part. I think it'd be really neat to see this employed more- if only to know that the skill of musical timing to animation is alive and well.

Seriously cool stuff, man.

APT Session 4: Sold Out!

Um... yeah.

That went fast.

25 minutes.

Dang. I'm humbled. Thanks for the interest. It's gonna be a fun time. If you missed this time, like I said before, don't worry. There will be another APT session this year. I'm sure we'll do some more after that, too.

Thanks again everybody!

APT Session #4: Registration is Open!

The title says it all. It's gonna be a fun session. I can feel it. :o)

If you want to be a student in the next APT session then now's your time to sign up. Got questions? Well, then check out my previous post on the topic, as well as the spiffy new FAQ. Between those you should well informed. Good luck!

Register HERE.

Scrambled Legs

Long time readers here know how much I enjoy the golden age theatrical short film (1930's through 1950's WB, Lantz, MGM, et. al. etc.). There's just something about that format that seemed to invite the animators to really go for the gusto in the gags, the animation, the motion, the exaggeration- all of it. It was in some ways technically less polished than Disney feature animation (now emulated by most film animation studios), but in terms of pure energy it was in a class by itself.

Consider this scramble "take" from Tex Avery's very funny Bad Luck Blackie. Just watch this and feel how perfect the cat's scramble fits the moment.

Bad Luck Blackie- scrambled legs from klango on Vimeo.

Who thinks like that today? Who even tries it? But this stuff is really cool! If we're not careful this would slip right by us. In fact it slipped by me the first 20+ times I watched the short. Then it jumped at me. "What the heck was that?!" So I framed through it and I was even more confused. Here are the drawings (shot on 2's, meaning each drawing is exposed for two frames on the film resulting in a 12 frames per second playback)

In motion those drawings absolutely work. We understand it as controlled chaos that has a rhythm and a flow that fits into the film so seamlessly that it easily escapes our notice. It makes perfect sense to our eyes. But laid next to each other in stillness these drawings defy easy analysis. From drawing to drawing the body parts go all over the place, seemingly with little sense of connection between where they were and where they are and where they are going. There aren't many well defined motion arcs going on here and pretty much no breakdowns between the extremes to give a sense of continuity of motion. Conventional wisdom might suggest that this should not work- but it does. How? Is it because it's shot on 2's that we give the motion some freedom to be interpreted more loosely? Does the simplistic coloring and cel painting contribute to the overall effectiveness of the action? Does the ludicrous nature of the 'story' cause us to let it slide? Would this only work in hand drawn animation? Could the same work in CG? What about stop-motion? Or cut out? Is the current trend for using animation on 1's (especially in CG) something that wouldn't allow such craziness? And is there anything in the TV limited animation realm of today that would preclude using this technique (other than the drawings being very 'off model')? I'm very curious as to what combination of ingredients are absolutely critical to making this work.

Sadly most of the old experienced practitioners of this animation style have passed on. How many animators today have a firm grasp on these techniques and can pass them along? For many of us this kind of analysis is the only way we can learn it.

Now THIS is how you kick start a movie!

Check it out- free online....


'Kung Fu Panda' Exclusive Video: Opening Dream Sequence

I went to see KFP because I'd heard the buzz was really good. But I confess that was also a little wary. I don't think it's unfair to say that Dreamworks has had a uneven track record with their films (hey- it's not a knock. This stuff is hard to do and only the preternaturally lucky are able to whack it out of the park every single time.) Yet I also know they have made some films that are fun to watch, too. I just never know which it'll be, that's all. But folks were saying KFP was a far superior effort so I decided to take a look. I was unprepared for what followed. Trepidation was my traveling companion as I entered the cineplex that fateful night, yet after this opening trepidation was nowhere to be found. The cool part is that the rest of the movie didn't drop the ball after this- it just ran with it.

Kung Fu Panda is currently wrestling with The Incredibles for #1 spot on my CG animated films list. I don't know if it'll win that title, but it's putting up a good fight. Yeah, it's that good.

APT Session #4 (July 2008) Info

OK, the time has come to let the world know the details regarding the next Animation Personal Trainer class. So let’s get to it!

• APT Session #4 will begin July 14th, 2008 and will run until August 11th, 2008 (a little over 4 weeks).
• Class size will be limited to the first 10 students to sign up. No exceptions.
• The class will cost $995.00 USD payable in full at time of registration. No exceptions.
• Registration will open at 12:00am midnight EST (GMT -05:00) Thursday June 26th. To register go to my online store here. But be sharp because this session will fill up very quickly.
• Like previous APT classes, there won’t be any reel reviews to see if you are accepted or rejected for the class. It is a true open registration that is first-come first-served. I may change my mind on this policy for my next session, but for this class I’m keeping it open to any and all who care to join- regardless of experience.
• If you don’t get in this session, don’t worry because there will be at least one more session in 2008.
• If you have any questions, be sure to check out the APT FAQ.

Good luck and I look forward to a great session of learning character animation!

Changes coming to this site…

After a long while of letting the weeds grow around here, I’ve been working like a bee on getting the site & blog back to tip-top shape. A few things have been made very obvious to me. Such as…

• I need to free myself from silly tasks that take a lot of time and effort for very little in return. I have other things in life that are important- things that I really want to do and I don’t want to waste my time fighting software, hackers, spammers, SQL databases, etc.
• For the last two and a half years that I’ve used Wordpress I have found it to be a double edged sword. Wordpress is very flexible and powerful, but it requires a lot of upgrading to keep it safe and stable.
• I’ve never had an easy time upgrading Wordpress. Each time I tried to upgrade it I ended up spending waaaay too much time on it. Often I wasn’t even successful. I don’t have the time or energy to play blog-software-geek anymore. I want a simple, reliable and hacker free blog solution that doesn’t require me to do a darn thing to keep it that way.
• So I’m switching the blog back to the blogger service from Google. First, they’re not a fly by night. They’re huge. They have the bandwidth. They have the resources. They make it easy to do what I want to do (write posts) and they’ve gotten better at allowing me to customize the blog with widgets and stuff. But the biggest thing is they’ll keep the blog hacker, virus and bug free safe for my readers. And I don’t need to fart around with databases, PHP files, learning CSS and XML and all that other rot.
• Wordpress doesn’t have an “export” option for posts and comments. At least not the version I have. So I will manually copy & paste all the posts from the last two and a half years. Sounds fun, huh?
• Additionally I want a better hosting service for the site. My current service is fine, but I want phone support. I’ve found my new solution and so I’m making a change there as well.
• Oh, and I’ll be redirecting my Feedburner RSS system to the new blog once everything’s all solid. So you folks following in your feed readers shouldn’t miss a beat.

Overall it’ll be a simpler, cleaner system for me to admin and it will be a faster, safer place for you to visit. There may be the occasional service hiccup over the next few days as we switch things around, but by the end of the week we should be all set.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Home

Well, we finally made it back. The journey was crazy, my body is so sore from lifting furniture out of our old apartment in Brazil, hauling 15 overweight bags through 4 different airports, loading and loading U-Haul trucks and assembling way too much IKEA furniture. But we’re in our new home and things are getting settled. I’m looking forward to getting back to work. Lots of stuff to catch up on. Expect news about the next APT session in the next week to ten days or so.

Housekeeping: Feedburner RSS Subscription Link Fixed

Those of you who may have tried to RSS subscribe to this blog using Feedburner link I have over on the right hand sidebar have found that clicking on that little button didn’t really work properly. That’s a bit of a problem since the whole point of that thing was to let folks easily subscribe to this blog. Hmmm. (the little orange RSS chicklet up there in the address bar of the site has always worked, though)
But happy day- all that is fixed now. So if you want to RSS subscribe to my blog you can now easily (and successfully) do so using the Feedburner button over there on the right. It will make keeping track of this blog a lot easier. Not that it’s been active around here the last year or so, but I’m expecting things to pick back up in the coming months.

Housekeeping: Animation links updated

The links on my animation gallery and short film pages have been broken for a bit. I had the movies on another server which I cancelled some time ago. I’ve since updated the links to the new server and so the animation & short film links should work now.

I hope to have some new clips of my work on the animation gallery page later this year. I’ve got stuff piled up from the last few years of work that I haven’t bothered to put online yet. After I get settled back in the US I’ll be taking some time to update the animation page so that it better reflects what I’ve been doing.

9 Keys to Innovation: Brad Bird

I found this neat little interview/article linked from 3dTotal.com. I haven’t seen it linked in the usual animation related blogs I check now and then, so I thought I’d throw out a link. It’s a really great (and quick) read on how to keep innovation growing. An excerpt to whet your appetite….

Lesson Two: Perfect is the Enemy of Innovation

Brad Bird: I had to shake the purist out of them—essentially frighten them into realizing I was ready to use quick and dirty “cheats” to get something on screen… I’d say, “Look, I don’t have to do the water through a computer simulation program… I’m perfectly content to film a splash in a swimming pool and just composite the water in.” I never did film the pool splash [but] talking this way helped everyone understand that we didn’t have to make something that would work from every angle. Not all shots are created equal. Certain shots need to be perfect, others need to be very good, and there are some that only need to be good enough to not break the spell.

More cool stuff like this in the article. Take 10 minutes and check it out.

North!

Well, two years, lots of learning (some lessons harder than others, but that’s life) and some really positive efforts our time in Brazil is coming to a close. Soon the Lango clan will head back north to the USA, closer to family and to take some time to rest. I’m thankful for what I learned in Brazil, for the kindness of the brasileiros who showed us warmth and hospitality, and I’m proud to have been a part of helping people. Some really good things were done and a lot of people have been blessed. But the way of life dictates that all chapters must close so new ones can begin. So on to the fun job of packing up and moving on down the road begins. If I take a while to answer my emails, well, now you know why.

Behold the genius of Ballinger

It just doesn’t get any better than this…

Go here to find out the greasy details of how this glorious illustration was made. Be sure to watch the progression movie, complete with a near lethal use of the “wah pedal” in the theme music.

Your life will never be the same.

clumsy humanity in animation

Me again.

I find as I get older my tastes in animation are evolving. I suppose that’s not a bad thing, it’s a leading indicator that I’m alive, at least. When I was a younger animator I was really taken by the magic of technically excellent animation. You know, animation that is very smooth, highly polished with high production values. And if it closely mirrored the realistic workings of people in motion and behavior all the better. It was the gold standard we all aspired to achieve in our own work. I still like to see that these days, too. I’m not dogging it by any stretch. Shoot, it pays the bills so I’d be a hypocrite to say anything rotten about it. But I’m finding myself drawn more and more to simpler animation- something that may not be the most polished or technically sound animation. It’s got glitches, pops, imperfections. It’s inventive, offbeat, not afraid to be ‘wrong’ while still being somehow just right. I love anything that just shows signs of… humanity, I guess. To me these days it’s about energy, texture, a vibe, a sense of the artist’s hands touching the work, complete with all the quirks and clumsy foibles that our hands introduce. I dunno, it seems to be more accessible to me, it speaks to me more. The older I get and the more I see in life the more I realize that people are pretty messed up, dirty, clumsy, failing, hopeful, loving, forgiving, imperfectly funny things. When I see animation that in some way captures and reflects all that I get a sense that it’s the very real product of a very real person. I find the simpler it is, the more I like it. I still admire the craftsmanship and quality of highly refined technically excellent animation. In this modern day with the detail and level of infinite refinement available to animators in CG it’s easier than ever to keep at something until it’s pretty darn near perfect. That’s not something to dismiss offhand- it’s impressive. But stuff with life and energy that feels like someone imperfect touched it with their clumsy hands and hopeful heart, not just their minds, is what keeps me interested in this medium. Every piece is a surprise to be discovered, like a new friend that’s waiting to be found just on the other side of a handshake.

A cool way to write for animation

Yeah, I know. I’ve been away from the blog for a while. Just the way things are right now. Will I be more active here? Who knows. Life comes one day at a time. I’ve learned to write any future plans for my life in very light pencil, so we’ll see. But today I had a spare minute and thought I’d drop a note…

There’s been a bit of fighting back and forth in the animation blog world about the absolute bestest most purest and historically accurate way to write for animation. There are the “story board only!” people and the “written text!” people. Whatever. A lot of hot air over a pretty insignificant topic if you ask me. But then I’ve just described about 95% of what get’s bloviated about in the animation blogosphere- including here. Ahem.

Anyhow, I came across this and thought it was cool. Hans Perk over at his A Film blog posted a 1930 script/board outline for the Mickey Mouse short “The Firefighters”. Go check it out. He’s got great scans of it to download and look at. It mixes text and thumbnails to express the story. It does a great job of quickly getting the idea across. Seems like a nice compromise. But compromises aren’t any fun when you’re engaged in ego wars over who’s more smarter at knowing everything about animation.

Ahh, navel gazing. Nothing quite like the smell of belly button lint to start your day off right. Heh-heh

Til next time, be good, chill out, go outside and breathe.

My favorite Animated film of 2007?

2 months without a post. Yikes. I’d tell you why, but that’s a story too long (and too personal) for this space right now.

But hey, since we’re rolling up on the end of 2007 I figure I’d weigh in on what was my favorite animated film of 2007 (the only rule here is that it be a film I actually saw). My pick?

Surf’s Up from Sony Animation.

Why?

• The water is a technical marvel to behold. The more I watch it the more impressive it becomes.
• The production design is fun and beautiful to look at.
• The conceit of the film is imaginative (penguins invented surfing, documentary stylings, etc.)
• The acting was some of the best in a long while. Understated, but really, really strong. Normally I like my animation to be classic cartoon fun (Jones, Avery, etc.) but the subtlety of the voice performances were really rich. The animators really took that lead and ran with it in a style that I found engaging.
• The core message of the film spoke to me in a way that I needed to hear. Namely this: Loosen up, dude! This stuff is supposed to be fun. So let the business and the stress and the go-getter side of things slide and just enjoy the ride with thankfulness, peace and joy. It works for surfing, it works for animation and I’m learning that it works for life itself.

I’m praying for a fabulous, safe and joy-filled 2008 to everyone out there. May we all learn the strength and value of faith, family and friends. God bless!

Exuse the dust

We’re trying to upgrade the blog so that it is more secure (there has been a rash of virus warnings and such related to the site the last month or two). Things aren’t going smoothly at the moment. Par for the course. Still, what can you do but smile and keep trying?

New animatic

In version 1.0 of TSJOM I had a story reel animatic that ran roughly 9 minutes. Looking back at that original (actually 4th edit of the reel) that I was using as my ‘locked pre-production reel’ I see how I have grown as a story teller since then. The old reel had lots of rather pedantic shots that were exceedingly sequential and needlessly expositional. Too many small actions given too big a place in the narrative had a soporific effect on the pacing of the reel. (ie: it became slow, plodding and sleepy). I guess back in 2002 (when I made it) I felt that I needed to justify all of my story choices with full visual explanations of actions, reactions, events and consequences. These are indeed the core tools of story telling, but I didn’t leave a lot of room for the audience to ‘fill in the blanks’.

Thank heaven for personal growth, eh?

In version 2.0 I am currently working on a new story reel animatic. Now I am working to produce the film to a track of music that I am currently negotiating the license to. This marks a significant change in how I approach the story. The music, with some editing here and there will make the film less than 4 minutes in length. So the current task is seperating the old wheat from the chaff, tossing pedantic literalisms in the story telling and strengthening the core kernels of the idea. Making it all work on a 14 beat music timing only adds to the fun.

Tutorial translation- Breakdowns in Chinese

Thanks again to Victor Luo we have another tutorial in Chinese. My tutorial, Breakdowns Can Be Such a Drag, has been translated into Chinese. So if you’re into Chinese as a language (either for sport or for profit) then feel free to head over there for a look and say a word of thanks to Victor.

I’d say something funny if I could think of it,
but I left all my funny thoughts in my other suit.

Rough stuff

I first want to say ‘Thanks!’ to everybody who’s commented so far. It’s a big help to know folks are pulling for me while I try to make this film.

A few folks mentioned that they thought the new style of the paint animation was maybe a bit “too much”. I do appreciate the feedback and I can definitely see where they’re coming from. In fact I felt the same way years ago when I first started working on the film. But I’ve changed, thought through things more. Now if I hear that it’s a bit too much I reply: “Great! That’s just how I want it!”.

Going waaaay back to the very beginning I experimented a good deal with a painterly style I made this one short test that I felt was pretty solid. But something happened as I started to make the film with that render style. It seemed forced. I think this is because at the time I valued specific, smooth, tight animation over emotional expression. After all I’m supposed to be a good character animator, right? It’s something that I think all Cg animators stuggle with (and perhaps many hand drawn animators struggle as well)- the desire to achieve a high level of technical accomplishment, detail and polish as the primary metric for quality. (I’ll call it the Jungle Book Syndrome. Amazingly accomplished animation wasted on a nothing of a film. Heresy, yes, I know. The line for stoning forms to the left. Be sure to upgrade to the extra sharp rocks, folks!) Being a character animator I wanted to have smooth and clean character animation that wasn’t distracted by some rendering effect. The result was to animate on 1’s with lots of fun little details.

However there was a disconnect that I was feeling between the motion and the rendering. When I watched the rendered scenes with a rough painterly style the animation had a feeling similar to live action run through a bunch of photoshop filters (can we call this the Linklater Style yet?). There was a lack of cohesion. The rendering was expressive, the animation motion was more illiterative. The rendering was calling for something a little less polished. But conventional wisdom (and my understanding of animation at the time) says that good animation is polished animation. So unpolishing the animation couldn’t possibly be the right thing to do. So instead I over polished the painted rendering look, toning it way down.

Now I believe that less literal rendering styles work better using less literal motion styles. That means that if I am going to express a sense of emotion with the rougher rendering then all of those precious little Pixar inspired animation efforts would get lost in the shuffle. So for Version 2.0 0f TSJOM I decided to throw out all of my little animation goodies for the betterment of the film as a whole. There needs to be a balance in all of the ingredients, especially if that balance is a little on the rough side.

From a story standpoint it’s very important to me that this film be rough around the edges. In some way the film speaks to the homegenization of life in modern culture (but not exclusively to this). We’re losing our sense of adventure, our sense of connectedness to dirt, sweat, pain, joy - life. We choose the aenesthitized mediocrity of the branded homogenized life rather than run the risk of being inconvenienced, failing, getting dirty, sweaty or hurt. We choose the safe, the mediocre, the easy (and often the overly expensive thinking that this buys us security). But we also trade in the opportunity to find something new, the out of the way treasures, the different, the amazing- in life, in others, in ourselves. This creeping standard of polished mediocrity infiltrates every area of our lives. Where we live, how we move around, what we wear, what we eat, where we work, how we educate ourselves and our kids, our healthcare, our finances, how we spend our leisure time, our faith, the kinds of people we socialize with - and for those of us who animate, even the style of our animation- all are getting narrowed down to the muddled middle of safe, standardized life. Meanwhile our world grows stale, small and petty and our ability to tolerate that which isn’t juuuuust so wanes- but the grass was always perfectly cut and the stores are clean and (most importantly) we fit in.

Here in western Brazil Dirt is a daily friend. Sweat is Dirt’s little sister and she’s always around. Inconvenience is their tag along buddy. Here life isn’t quite as ‘managed’ as in the states. It’s less polished by far. And while that can be annoying at times, I never doubt that I am alive and connected to this place. Each day I find something that really stinks (sometimes literally!) and something so cool and amazing that I’d never find in my old life back in the U.S. So for me it’s important that TSJOM speaks to this.

The Secret Joys of Myopia — back in production

You can’t keep a good film down.

I’m very pleased to announce that I have resumed production on my short film The Secret Joys of Myopia. For a taste of what it could look like, have a peek at this new “2.0″ version production test.

Longtime friends and followers of my site may be familiar with the turbulent history of this short film (for those who aren’t, don’t worry, I’ll be writing to fill you in on the history of this project). So it’s a real joy to be able to resume work on it. I really believe in the story, more so now than ever before. And after a few months of trial and error and exploration I have finally found a production friendly way of capturing the expressive painterly look that marked the original. Meaning, making this film won’t kill me. It’ll just hurt me a little. Which is cool, that’s the way it should be. Anyhow, I just felt like the time was right to make this thing finally happen.

I will be posting a lot about the production of the film here on my site. In fact the “plog” (production blog) of TSJM might just dominate much of my writing here for the next few months. Which might be interesting. Or not. Heh.

Thanks to everybody for their support and their kind words. I’m hopeful that I can deliver the goods in a way that exceeds expectations.

And so, game on!

Took a break…

Wow, been a few weeks since I’ve posted here. The usual excuse applies- I’ve been very busy doing other things. Some of that busy-ness is animation related (more on that this week), while other stuff has been water filter ministry related (more on that as well). I’m weeks behind on my email, too. Go figure.

Anyhow, stick around and we’ll have some really fun stuff soon- with pictures!