tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73772775992196541692024-03-05T06:31:34.053-08:00Life in Animationtonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-71185664931492313422013-07-10T22:28:00.001-07:002013-07-10T22:28:55.661-07:00Engulfed in Artistry and growing within the flamesBeing here at Disney is an extraordinary experience and I'm thankful in more ways than the expected. Being surrounded by the talent and the resources here really opened my eyes to the scope that many of these artists can reach and are still reaching out for. I love how much fire burns within everyone here and how it feeds off of each other more and more.<br />
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As if that weren't great enough, the studio experience is also teaching me how to be a person. Sounds odd but it's sort of profound that way. Meeting all of these spectacular people puts me in a state of reflection a lot of the time and I've been learning a lot about what I myself am searching / reaching for. Animation always seems to be teaching me all the things I don't know about myself.<br />
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Here we are graduating from Trainee > Apprentice.<br />
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From left to right: Justin Weber, Tony Chau, Frank Abney, Jorge Garcia<br />
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Still so much road to cover in the journey... and it's going to be fantastic. Keep that fire burning!<br />
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Finished reading:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591844096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373520142&sr=8-1&keywords=linchpin">Linchpin</a> by Seth Godin<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373520172&sr=1-1&keywords=Framed+Ink">Framed Ink</a> by Marcos Mateu-Mestre<span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Theme-writing-highest-denominator/dp/0984178678/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373520254&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Golden+theme">The Golden Theme</a> by Brian McDonald<br />
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Reading:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Ink-Practical-Building-Resonate/dp/0984178627/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y">Invisible Ink</a> by Brian McDonald<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/PAPER-DREAMS-ARTISTS-DISNEY-STORYBOARDS/dp/B002ECEVPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373520324&sr=1-1&keywords=paper+dreams">Paper Dreams</a> by John Canemakertonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-15551909277728804692013-02-27T22:54:00.002-08:002013-02-27T22:59:02.468-08:00Dream Come TrueWelp, never thought I'd be saying this but it looks like I'll be going to a hat for work soon:<br />
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I was lucky enough to be invited to join their Talent Development program next month. Wreck it Ralph and Paperman really blew me away this past year and I'm honestly pee-your-pants intimidated right now about getting a chance to rub shoulders with the artists responsible for such awesomeness. But I know it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun.</div>
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Shout out to Animation Mentor for giving me <a href="http://blog.animationmentor.com/journey-to-disney-tony-chaus-story/">a spread on their blog</a>. </div>
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Here's to the future!</div>
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Reading:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961">Drawn to life</a></div>
tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-38397450641370993422012-09-07T10:49:00.004-07:002012-09-21T10:32:04.376-07:00Acting Notes (2)<b>Text / Context / Subtext</b><br />
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When approaching a piece of dialogue these three questions tend to be at the forefront of determining the performance. Text is pretty straight forward, what are they saying? This holds the most weight when trying to create believable lip-sync, understanding the words and sounds created by those words. In terms of character though, the following are particularly important.<br />
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Context - Why are they saying what they're saying? What is the situation that the character is in when this scene takes place? And how do they relate to this particular situation? Most scenes will have a reason to exist and most of the time that reason is rooted in the context of the scene / story. Try to be objective at this stage to realize the bigger picture so that you can make truthful decisions.<br />
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Subtext - This is where we tend to live as character animators. Questions to ask:<br />
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How does the character really feel about what they're saying?<br />
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How do they feel about the situation?<br />
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What is the character thinking at each moment and how does it progress throughout the shot?<br />
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How does the character feel and think about those around him? (Thanks Karoly!)<br />
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The idea of having an emotional blueprint stems from the subtext. If you can understand the character's mindset then you can be true to their motivations, following along their thought process to inform your gestures and actions.<br />
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One of the hardest things to convey is believable thought process, this is where (to me) the character really becomes alive. There is a brain inside of your characters, they act and react to stimuli in the scene. Takes a lot of observation and study to really dig into this kind of stuff; the most daunting yet awesome thing about it is the rabbit hole in this case keeps getting deeper and deeper.<br />
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I was introduced to this clip by a friend over at iAnimate. An instructor by the name of Ted Ty was picking it apart and I thought it'd be a really good exercise to break parts of it down in terms of text / context / subtext. In these clips, a guy named Ross Capicchioni retells a life-changing experience:<br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="376" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Me/ABERRICAN%20ME%20-%20Ross%20Capicchioni%20-%201.mov" width="640"></embed><br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="376" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Me/ABERRICAN%20ME%20-%20Ross%20Capicchioni%20-%202.mov" width="640"></embed>
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For reference here is the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3z4NMWdTcg">first part</a> of the entire story. I highly recommend watching, observing, and trying to pick apart his thought process as he goes along. He's a really great storyteller.<br />
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<b><br /></b>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-84248876694182917912012-08-31T11:00:00.001-07:002012-08-31T11:00:48.510-07:00Acting Notes (1)Acting is such an elusive beast and is something I'm constantly struggling with yet forever fascinated by. I've been taking notes on the subject, compiling it for myself and thought it might be worth sharing. I figured it would be good to start from a big picture perspective and dig deeper as the posts go on.<br />
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Sidenote: Here are <a href="http://monstroanimation.blogspot.com/p/animation-article-database.html#acting">some articles</a> on the subject worth reading.<br />
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<b>The Building Blocks</b><br />
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We start off with the ever-cliche pyramid.<br />
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This is something I indirectly learned from an instructor at Animation Mentor, James Chiang. I'm not sure if this is 100% the way everything goes, but I believe it to be true enough for my own path. Before we can get to acting, we need to have a solid understanding of the principles (fundamentals) and body mechanics. If we try to act without these skills, our animation will crumble without the foundation. And to me it makes sense. How can you show how excited someone is if your posing is weak. How can you show anger if your spacing is always off. How can you show exhaustion if your mechanics aren't strong.<br />
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The point of the artform (exceptions exist of course) is to present ideas. Each block informs the next, so I highly encourage starting from the bottom, up. Many times, students seem to forgo the foundation and "challenge" themselves by shooting for the craziest ideas. And in most of those cases, they've end up hurting their progress more than helping because it's so easy to get lost.<br />
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<b>Acting Hurdles</b><br />
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Acting is hard. Maybe that's just me, but I find it extremely difficult. One of the more common hurdles that I struggle with (hopefully I'm not on my own here) and that is the idea of letting yourself go. When I shoot video reference for my shots, there is this feeling of embarrassment that looms over me. There is a bit of a fear, a bit of discomfort, a lot of vulnerability. And it's only natural right? When we get up to act these bits, we start to reveal ourselves in a way that most just aren't comfortable with. For some, even just putting up your animation for a critique can be nerve-wracking, let alone putting your actual self out there. The solution for me is pretty straight forward though... get over it. Easy for me to say, but when you think about it we're just goofing around. It's playtime and we need to realize that screwing up, feeling scared, and generally being a fool is perfectly fine in this instance. Just relax and enjoy.<br />
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Now the other side of things is the vulnerability part. It's a very personal thing to allow everyone access to your true self. When we animate these characters, we imprint a part of us onto them and share a bit of ourselves with the world. A lot of these imprints come from a real place, a personal place. There's <a href="http://www.animationmentor.com/podcast/lee-unkrich-commencement-speech/">a really cool story from Director Lee Unkrich</a> that tells of this very topic. I think this explains it better than I ever can. It takes a lot of guts to tap into your own life, but I feel that's how we inject believably into our characters.<br />
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<b>Character</b><br />
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To get into character is to truly understand their situation. It requires us as the animator to get into their headspace and inhabit their story. If you understand their thought process, you will understand their motives and their motivation for every action that takes place in your shot. I call that the emotional blueprint, a stream of thoughts through-out your shots to keep your acting choices in check. Even if the character does something by accident, we have to understand where their thought process is at to then try and portray their action as an accident. So on our end, everything is done on purpose.<br />
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My take on acting is that we can present entertainment through sincerity. This is me vaguely saying "be true to the character". Certain characters do things in a very specific and particular way. Secondary action in a lot of cases is what really describes character.<br />
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When Pepe Le Pew waits for his lady friend, he doesn't just check his watch. He isn't bored, he isn't impatient. He looks suave while grooming in preparation for the girl to show up. That's such a Pepe Le Pew thing to do! And it makes sense that he would do so... cause that's what's on his mind!<br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="296" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Me/FindingNemoRef.mov" width="512"></embed><br />
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In this clip, there is a very particular way about how Coral responds. The quality of movement is something that just seems so believable as a fish. This goes back to fundamentals / mechanics. The animator here, Shawn Krause, sells the acting really well all the way up that pyramid we spoke of earlier. It may be deemed a "simple" shot, but it sparks with life.<br />
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During my time over at Reel FX I was lucky enough to be able to listen to Glen Keane give a talk at the studio. Something he spoke of really struck a chord with me. He mentioned Ariel and how he was contemplating a certain acting choice. He would mull over it constantly until he realized how it wasn't even up to him anymore. Ariel exists as her own being and would do this particular move this way because of these reasons. My interpretation of it was to let the character breathe through you. Become the conduit of which these existing characters can be revealed to the rest of the world.<br />
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Fun clip from Victor Navone:<br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="296" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Me/WALL-Eref.mov" width="512"></embed>
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There is a lot to view here, but something that Victor mentions <a href="http://blog.navone.org/2011/02/animating-limited-characters.html">on his blog in this post</a>, is how he injects some very minute but characteristic bits to the animation. She still feels feminine though she's a floating egg, but she still has attitude. Notice how what her eyes do when she lights up the light bulb, and how Wall-E rotates the rubix cube after Eve quickly solves it.<br />
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... more to come.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-72470391269435752882012-08-17T10:54:00.000-07:002012-08-17T13:25:01.068-07:00WeightJust typing that in makes me feel like I really need to exercise, but weight problems exist all over animation as well. I am not an expert on any of this so please take this material lightly, this is just me doing my own research and trying to figure it out myself.<br />
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As with all facets of animation, weight is also just an illusion of what we perceive to be "weighty" in real life. So let's start there with <b>Newton's laws of motion</b>:<br />
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1. Inertia : Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.<br />
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It's really important to realize all the forces happening in the scene to recreate the illusion of weight. It only takes a basic understanding of physics and will go a long way in connecting your scenes with your audience. Imagine the classic ball bounce again, starting with the ball in mid-air at rest. Now imagine the forces. If there was no force the ball would stay still in mid-air. One of the main forces is gravity which creates a downward force on the ball. This starts the ball coming down. Once it hits the ground there is a normal force that pushes it back up (more on that later). Even when the ball has stopped, gravity and the normal force are still acting on it, cancelling each other out in order for the ball to stay at rest. Technically there is also wind resistance, but unless it's being dropped from a really high height it tends to be negligible for most standard ball bounce assignments.<br />
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2. F=ma<br />
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This is where things get interesting. Force is equal to mass times acceleration. One of the early assignments from Animation Mentor deals with dropping two differently weighted balls and animating it until it rests. It's a deceivingly simple concept but gets skipped over sometimes. So starting with a question: I drop a basketball from 6 feet in the air and it takes 12 frames for it to hit the ground, how many frames would it take for a bowling ball to hit the ground from the same height?<br />
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They drop at <i>nearly</i> the same rate! Emphasis on nearly because although they look very close, there is a smidgen of difference since the heavier ball cuts through air resistance a tiny bit more. If we dropped these balls from 1000 ft, a difference would be seen.<br />
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The way to really sell it's weight is the reaction of the ball when it hits the ground. Heavier balls don't bounce back as high as lighter balls because it has more inertia to overcome when changing direction.<br />
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3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction<br />
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So going back to a ball at rest, it stays at rest because all the forces are being cancelled out. When we simply stand, we fight gravity by pushing down against the ground with our legs. We don't go crashing through the ground because the normal force is pushing back against us, allowing us to stand.<br />
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From Wayne Gilbert:<br />
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With more physical actions it requires more dissection and study, but understanding these forces will inform all of your animation principles.<br />
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<b>Posing</b><br />
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As said before, weight doesn't exist in a maya scene - you have to create the illusion of it's existence. With the knowledge of the forces at play you can then pose out your character in order to portray how heavy or light someone or something is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_2AEXkjqU852RhzQvPeEYRVkWOV7e4M3Ffwst6KOyxGuEktvGYWlx99B2RHyTScLLm26Vq6zo4-sgRw7bS24BeFK4tbpLw8AgsQ-OCHBAZC6xMsFeJohwUImq2NMi96JOc5trzTInf0/s1600/Animation_Physics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_2AEXkjqU852RhzQvPeEYRVkWOV7e4M3Ffwst6KOyxGuEktvGYWlx99B2RHyTScLLm26Vq6zo4-sgRw7bS24BeFK4tbpLw8AgsQ-OCHBAZC6xMsFeJohwUImq2NMi96JOc5trzTInf0/s640/Animation_Physics.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's a classic example from <a href="http://www.animationphysics.com/">http://www.animationphysics.com/</a> - if physics is something you feel like you need to brush up on, visit this site! Awesome stuff, free for your eyes to explore.<br />
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On a more complicated level, our bodies behave very organically (helps a lot to have a basic understanding of anatomy too) and weight can be accentuated with tilts, curves, flex, bends, squash / stretch, expressions, etc. All of these things help portray weight.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gaylehatch.com/Olympics7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.gaylehatch.com/Olympics7.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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Notice how "on the brink" this guy is, all of his muscles are engaged, he's got a smooth curve on his front side but a harsh angle on his back side (straight vs. curves). His hip-line is tilted to show which leg he's favoring, his arms wrists are near it's max rotation, his hands are really squashing against the bar. The bar itself is bending from the weights. His head is squashing into his body, his face is red, even his face squashes. There is a lot going on in just this pose. Take that all away and it's very hard to see how heavy something is.<br />
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<b>Timing and Spacing</b><br />
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A lot can be talked about this subject but I figure dissecting a shot might help us be concise yet informative. While I was going through AM I came across this shot by a very talented animator named Kevin Taylor. The weight in this shot really turned a switch for me (in showing how much I didn't know yet haha).<br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="496" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/KevinTaylor_Rambo.mov" width="720"></embed><br />
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There is so much consideration in this shot that deserve it's own topics. But check out the balance and forces at play. Look how deep he swings his hips down to lower his center of gravity in order to get as much under the gun as possible. He leans REALLY far back and you can feel the tension in the chest. The first jerk to the right gets the gun moving horizontally, but it takes a huge amount of time and effort to raise it up as well. The inertia that he has to overcome is really powerful which takes more time to get it moving and thus the spacing starts out small. However when the gun is in motion, it wants to stay in motion and takes significant amount of effort / force to stop it. Kevin treats this brilliantly by having the gun almost pull Stewie along for the ride just for a split second, causing him to readjust with each swing.<br />
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<b>Environment and Materials</b><br />
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Another important aspect that tends to get skimmed over is what the objects / characters are made of as well as what environment they are in. Is the object slippery? Is it made of rubber (and therefore prone to a lot of friction)? If you push down really hard on a chair, wouldn't it give way just a little bit? Yes, these are extra tidbits to the main action, but don't forget about them as they can add a lot to that illusion of weight. It's about making it relate-able to the audience, if the object or character doesn't interact believably with the environment, an audience member can snap out of your scene and realize it's just a piece of animation.<br />
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Likewise when a character acts on an object, be sure to remember Newton's third law! The object will also be acting on the character! <br />
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<a href="http://www.colourbox.com/preview/2736365-805908-feminine-hand-holding-a-pair-of-tweezers-gripping-a-small-splinter-in-light-grey-back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://www.colourbox.com/preview/2736365-805908-feminine-hand-holding-a-pair-of-tweezers-gripping-a-small-splinter-in-light-grey-back.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Totally exaggerated example, but just something to keep in mind. When pressing on a table (using your palm and finger tips to push with) the knuckles might buckle to give your fingertips more force. Also check out how the fingertips in this image are being shaped by the object. If you press the side of your arm against a wall the roundness of your arm might squash and conform to more of a line against it.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-91283069059124949032012-07-18T21:29:00.000-07:002012-07-20T10:14:40.203-07:00The Way of the StudentGoing through the Animation Mentor program has been a really rewarding experience. Along the way though I've been told that I seemed to "get it" easier than others, something I still don't completely understand, but thought I'd share my view on some of the topics on how to get the most out of AM and shed light on certain areas. Keep in mind that this comes from my own personal experiences and viewpoints, that it might not work for everyone, and I'm just a student like everyone else. But hopefully at least some part of this helps someone.<br />
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1. Collective Learning<br />
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Any kind of success I've had thus far I attribute mostly to the study group I've been lucky enough to be a part of. These people have been my friends, my teachers, and my partners in crime. Surround yourself with people you feel are better than you and have that unending drive for new input. Needless to say, you have to inhabit that same drive as well to make this successful. Having multiple brains to bounce ideas off of is something I feel holds so much importance to improving as an animator. When people of different backgrounds, trades, and skill levels are looking at your work you are reminded of so many fundamentals as well as exposed to many new ones. Because this art form is so vast, having this circle reels in a lot more information and serves as a great filter for new input to be easily digested. Another huge advantage of the study group I'm a part of is that we showed our work every week. It gave me a mini-deadline that I felt I needed to hit and it made me less shy about putting my work out there for people to critique. On top of that, you learn how to critique work, which improves your animation eye constantly.<br />
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2. Most Education is Self Education<br />
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One of the earliest realizations of my time at AM is that though they provide you an amazing platform for you to learn from, much of the effort is on you as the student to dig through the information as well as seek new information from outside sources. This is also why Collective Learning is so important because many times when someone stumbles upon new information - it gets shared! Further more, discussion on the topic solidifies understanding, which is the goal. It does take a lot of time and I empathize with those who don't have the luxury of just scrounging the web for notes, but try your best to make SOME time for it. There are critiques littered through the AM program that you can watch for tips. Split up some critiques with a few friends, take notes and share. There are tons of free tutorials and articles online, just to name a few of the goldmines I've stumbled upon: <br />
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<a href="http://www.synchrolux.com/">Kevin Koch's Synchrolux</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/keithlango/videos">Keith Lango's Youtube Channel</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.aaronkoressel.com/index.php?nav=tools">Aaron Koressel's Maya Tools</a><br />
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<a href="http://monstroanimation.blogspot.com/p/animation-article-database.html">Jonah Sidhom's Animation Article Database</a><br />
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<a href="http://brendanbody.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorials">Brendan Body's Tutorials</a><br />
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<a href="http://action-analysis.blogspot.com/">Michael Amos' Action Analysis</a><br />
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And there is sooo much more out there to be digested. Don't rely on the school to give you all the answers, the reality is that they are there to help - you have to do the legwork.<br />
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3. Be Scared, Not Lazy<br />
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It's alright to question if you're good enough to do something, or believe that you aren't ready to tackle a challenge. But it's another story to talk yourself out of something for the sake of not having to do it. A lot of the time, I've found that the obstacles I thought were too complicated turned out to be much easier than I thought. If you have a hard time figuring out what the graph editor does, go back to the basics with a bouncing ball and really dig into how the graphs work, how they work with each other, and how the tangents behave. If a ball is slowing down, how does that look in the graph editor? If someone runs into a wall, how does that look? Do you feel constraints are scary? Find someone who knows how to set it up and ask them to run through it with you (it honestly doesn't take that long) and take notes. A big one for me personally was (and still is) video reference. I find myself just sucking pretty badly when I shoot acting reference of myself, it's one of the biggest obstacles for my animation process - but I'm still chipping away at it. I really want to point out that failure IS an option. Especially now while you're in school - it's a perfect time for you to make mistakes. The key is to learn from them. In the end if you tackle something head on and honestly gave it your best shot, the worst case scenario is that you've learned a lot. You will run into people who make excuses and you'll find yourself making excuses as well. Don't be lazy.<br />
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4. Fundamentals<br />
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This is stressed in so many places on so many levels and yet it's still worth repeating. Know the rules, know the basics. One of the major pitfalls I see people trapped in is to move ahead of certain principles before really grasping them. If you don't understand the basics of something like gravity, or transfer of weight, tackle it immediately! It's true that we are always improving in all of these areas, but don't allow yourself to be put in a position where you're delivering two-person dialogue shots when you're unsure about how to correctly swing a pendulum. If you get that far, you completely stunt your education because you simply will be lost. The goal is to present our ideas to it's maximum capacity and in my personal case I'm trying to do that with acting. But I can't represent my acting well if I didn't know my mechanics. And I can't show my mechanics if I don't understand the fundamentals.<br />
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Take a step back sometimes and evaluate yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses. Pick a weakness and design your next assignment to improve that way. A good tip that helped me through some problems was to do very short mini-tests on the side in order to tackle some of my weaknesses.<br />
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5. People Like People<br />
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I am a pretty shy person and I know there are many out there who feel the same way. But a friend recently reminded me that people like people. Animation Mentor has one of the strongest communities out there. And the truth is a lot of these folks are extremely open and willing to help you out. Be reasonable and respectful of people's time, but if you're in deep doo doo don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid to reach out and help others. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there! More often than not, you'll be pleasantly surprised. This also gets you away from the danger that is corner-animating. The opposite of collective learning, where you go into a corner and animate by yourself - uploading your assignments five minutes before the deadline. Go the other way! Use your Public Reviews early and often. Put whatever you have up in the middle of the week. Your peers are a huge resource, use it well.<br />
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6. Be Curious<br />
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I feel like it's important to open your mind to allow yourself to be objective and have the ability to think outside the box. Discovering more provides more solutions, and if you break animation down to it's core it's really just problem solving. Plus it's just damn interesting. As I was getting into the acting courses I started reading all of these books on the human body and the human mind. I started learning things about myself I didn't even know about and that totally blew my mind. Fight, flight, or freeze. Micro-expressions. Anatomy and just how amazingly built the human body is. Heck I discovered how my hips actually move in Class 1 (up until then I had no idea the side with the foot in the air drops down in Z). It's just fascinating! So get out there and read some books, experience new things, play an instrument, pick up hobbies, travel, and be forever curious.<br />
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7. The Art of Feedback<br />
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It's imperative that you give and receive feedback. Giving feedback has been an essential tool for me to improve. Many times I've noticed an issue with someone's work only to go back to my shot and find myself making the exact same mistakes. Now there is an art to giving feedback on two levels - what your notes are and how your notes are delivered. When I approach someone's work I personally try to figure out the core ideas / fundamentals. It's very easy to get caught up in details at any stage and I try not to go there until the main building blocks are cleared up. While you're at it, study their work. I sometimes go look at the shots that really inspire me and pick THAT apart as a way to dissect their successes. It's important to be willing to give feedback completely void of expectation. Use feedback as a study tool and know that giving feedback is never a waste (even if it gets completely ignored). Feedback is animation eye-training. How you deliver your feedback can be pretty complicated in itself. My take on it is to approach with sincerity. I'm honest not to be blunt, but to be passionate. I try to be nice in the way of compassion, not to blow smoke. I feel like one of the biggest cheats it to run around and tell everyone they are awesome... and then that's it. I believe that anyone who takes the time to dissect someone's work is a person who actually cares. The goal is to plus the shot. Find bits you think could use some work, then offer a reason and a solution. <br />
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8. Attitude<br />
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Realize that the people you're studying with and from will likely be your colleagues at some point. I wasn't sure how to take it when I was constantly told that this is a tiny industry. But it couldn't be more true. This line of work requires a lot of collaboration, and nobody wants to work with a jerk. There is a fine line between being passionate and being mean and high-brow. You gotta stay humble. Not just for the sake of being easier to work with (which is huge), but to gain a wider perspective. People from all sorts of backgrounds and levels will teach you things that you can't see from your single vantage point. If you're willing to allow that to happen, you'll learn more! In the end, the field we've chosen is a team sport. The reason why a good attitude is treasured is because it improves everyone's work and is no longer just about the individual, yet individually everyone is better off.<br />
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9. Take Care of Yourself<br />
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Pretty self explanatory. Sickness and pain will completely put you out. The torture comes from sitting on the sidelines trying to heal when you want to be animating.<br />
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10. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish<br />
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I'll leave it with Steve Jobs' famous quote. This is a personal subject that I've been putting more stock in as time goes by. I was lucky enough to meet Glen Keane during my time at Reel FX and listen to him talk about his work. I immediately realized that when it came to animation we were looking at it from different sides. I saw animation as visual art. (I'm not claiming this is his view but this is how I came to interpret his talk) He saw animation as an extension of his soul. Think about how profound that difference is. As it should be, I'm new and right now I'm learning the craft. But I'm reminded that there is much more beyond mechanics, how many frames it takes for someone to blink, how a foot peels off the ground. There is character, there is connection, there is meaning, there is soul. There is you and all that you have to say.<br />
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There's so much more to talk about, but for now I think that covers a few major points.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
Finished Reading:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Damn-Good-Advice-People-Talent/dp/0714863483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342636730&sr=8-1&keywords=damn+good+advice">Damn Good Advice</a> by George Lois<br />
Similar to Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. Coming from the perspective of an advertisement man but has a lot of good tidbits on creativity and work ethic in general.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Edition/dp/0240808452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335157887&sr=8-1">Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators</a> by Mike Mattesi<br />
Anyone who is interested in drawing should probably own this book. I loved reading this as a newbie to drawing.<br />
<br />
Currently Reading:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Imagine-Creativity-Works-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0547386079/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342636928&sr=1-1&keywords=imagine">Imagine: How Creativity Works</a> by Jonah Lehrer<br />
I'm only half way through this book but it is so fascinating. He deconstructs some of the most creative people / companies out there to see how and why they are so successfully creative. I think there is a lot of golden information in this book for any artist.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-67333674809032801912012-04-22T22:24:00.000-07:002012-04-23T06:14:07.822-07:00The Bigger Picture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was lucky enough to find myself here in Dallas when Glen Keane rolled in to receive the Tex Avery Award. He spent a night at the studio to give a very inspirational talk about his life's work thus far. He ate lunch with us the next day and offered more words of wisdom. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nZELTCl32os" width="560"></iframe><br />
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What it boiled down to for me was this:<br />
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Creating moments on that screen that connects with an audience tends to come from a real place inside of you. The challenge is to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to reveal the truth about you through the characters.<br />
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If you're going to do this, do it with all of your heart. Something half-assed will never fulfill.
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Live the life of an artist, without walls. Explore it all, absorb it all, recreate it all. Stand on the shoulders of your predecessors and reach beyond.<br />
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This last tidbit had me thinking a lot about myself and made me take a step back to try and view animation as a whole. The grand message I got from these few nights was that the field of animation feels like it's being confined within corporate walls. Andreas Deja spoke of it much better than I can: <br />
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<a href="http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/04/animation-today.html">http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/04/animation-today.html</a><br />
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There are glimpses of hope in things like Spanish Buzz, Nigel from Finding Nemo, and Tangled. Overall though I find the smell of money (it is a business after all) veers the field off-track. Given my no-experience, I'm not really in a position to define the state of the industry, but never-the-less I was inspired to start exploring and absorbing so that one day I can recreate.<br />
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Finished Reading:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Strikes-Back-Screenwriters/dp/0984157603/ref=pd_sim_b_1">Save The Cat! Strikes Back</a> by Blake Snyder
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This book rocks. So much insight into story, definitely recommend to anyone related to the film / story process.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Storytelling-Powerful-Conventions-Filmmaker/dp/193290705X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325372973&sr=1-1">Cinematic Storytelling</a> by Jennifer Van Sijll
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A nice encyclopedia of film techniques. Nothing new but a good book for those trying to understand film language / need a reference for film techniques.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steal-Like-Artist-Things-Creative/dp/0761169253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335157474&sr=8-1">Steal Like an Artist </a> by Austin Kleon<br />
What started out as <a href="http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/">a cool posting</a> turned into a book. I really love this book, very small - huge on advice. Puts things into perspective and is a fun, quick read. I like having this one around.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Flinch-ebook/dp/B0062Q7S3S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335157522&sr=1-1">The Flinch</a> by Julien Smith (Free)<br />
This book summed up my life up to this point and has changed it forever. With many things now I'm learning not to flinch anymore.<br />
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Currently Reading:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Edition/dp/0240808452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335157887&sr=8-1">Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators</a> by Mike Mattesi<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Guys-Named-Joe-Storytellers/dp/1423110676/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335158090&sr=1-1">Two Guys Named Joe</a> by John Canemaker<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Revised-2nd-Edition/dp/1879505622/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335158396&sr=1-3">In the Blink of an Eye</a> by Walter Murchtonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-73746094265080945562011-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:002011-12-31T15:19:27.273-08:00ReelFX ApprenticeshipSo it looks like I'm Texas-bound and it feels a little something like this:<br />
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Everything is moving pretty darn fast and in just a couple of days I'll be driving down there with my brother. Questions like "Hey, where am I going to live?" and "What is cooking?" have been popping up lately. But I'm really grateful that the good people of ReelFX are willing to take me in for their Winter Apprenticeship. If all works out I'll be starting on January 9th. Exciting times. It wouldn't suck to come to this every morning:<br />
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The apprenticeship is going to last for 6 months and I can't wait to meet all the folks there. It's a huge opportunity for me to grow both personally and professionally. Here's to growing up, weee! Happy New Year!<br />
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Oh yeah, the current book list.<br />
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Recently Read:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Filmmakers-Eye-Learning-Cinematic-Composition/dp/0240812174/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325373119&sr=1-1">The Filmmaker's Eye</a> by Gustavo Mercado<br />
A compilation of camera shots / techniques explained with examples and breakdowns of it being in use. Also shows a case of breaking the technique / rule to great effect and explains that as well. It's a short picture-driven book as it should be and was a nice quick read for anyone new / not-so-new to cinematography. Also Juliette Binoche in Troi Couleurs: Bleu makes for a nice cover. Definitely check out <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Three-Colors-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B005HK13T0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325373524&sr=8-2">The Three Colors Trilogy</a> if you haven't seen that yet!<br />
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Currently Reading:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vilppu-Drawing-Manual-Glenn/dp/1892053039">The Vilppu Drawing Manual</a> by Glenn Vilppu<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Calm-Contentious-Merrill-Markoe/dp/0345518918/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325372899&sr=1-1">Cool, Calm and Contentious</a> by Merrill Markoe<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Storytelling-Powerful-Conventions-Filmmaker/dp/193290705X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325372973&sr=1-1">Cinematic Storytelling</a> by Jennifer Van Sijll<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Strikes-Back-Screenwriters/dp/0984157603/ref=pd_sim_b_1">Save The Cat! Strikes Back</a> by Blake Snydertonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-5730335531990085162011-12-16T18:06:00.000-08:002011-12-19T08:50:37.573-08:00Thanks Animation Mentor!Today marks the end of the term and the last day of my 18 month trek through AM. I've learned so much during my time here that not only improved my skills, but drastically changed my life.<br />
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Example: My niece and I had a terrible relationship. She was scared to talk to me because I was put in a position of "teacher" at the request of her parents. All I knew to do was make sure she gets her work done and that she behaved. That sounds quite normal, but our dynamic was one-way. We would go on days without having an actual conversation, which isn't much of a relationship at all.<br />
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Cut to Class 4, I'm learning about pantomime and acting. I read Keith Johnstone's "Impro" and discovered high / low status. I also read Joe Navarro's "What everyBODY is Saying" and keyed in on body language. One day I drove my niece home from school and it was obvious that something was bothering her. When I asked her what was wrong I noticed she had half her body already turned away from me, head down hiding her eyeline, and feet pointed in the direction she wanted to go (away). And I noticed what I was doing, arms crossed, leaning in, towering over her. I took what I gathered from these books and decided to try something new. I bent down on one knee, looked up at her and calmly asked her what was wrong. She took on a whole different attitude and we chatted about it.<br />
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It has to be a fluke of some sort, but it only took one single day, one moment to change our dynamic that was pretty much crap for the two years prior. It was amazing, and my niece and I have a newfound relationship. One day during a chat she asked me "Where did you learn to talk to me?" - and it all stemmed from learning animation during my time at AM. I told her that, and she concludes that animation rocks.<br />
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There are so many moments like this that came about during my classes that just have changed me as a person. I'm really grateful to everyone at Animation Mentor, faculty and students alike. The classes might be over but the journey stretches on. And damn it's gonna be fun.<br />
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Finished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Storm-Unleashing-Your-Creative/dp/1423140362/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321985091&sr=1-1">Brain Storm</a> - by Don Hahn. Awesome book! Definitely a keeper.<br />
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Finished <a href="http://theperfectbait.com/about.php">The Perfect Bait</a> - by Bobby Chiu. Very short, but also very good.<br />
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Currently reading: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Calm-Contentious-Merrill-Markoe/dp/0345518918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324089212&sr=8-1">Cool, Calm & Contentious</a> - by Merrill Markoe. Thought I'd read some comedy over the break :)tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-69901475407517060042011-11-22T09:38:00.000-08:002011-11-22T10:08:18.812-08:00That alone was worth the trip.The most common phrase we spoke during the whole CTN shindig. I can probably talk volumes of each of these, but then I'd be old and gray by the end of it and I'm sorta hungry and would love lunch. In chronological order, each of these in and of itself was worth the trip.<br /><br />1. Lunch at Dreamworks with some badass mentors.<br />2. Screening of Puss in Boots 3D in the Dreamworks theater, sat in Katzenburg's row.<br />3. Bill Plympton's Panel. What a way to start the event.<br />4. Rhinohouse.com - reference gold. Sadly I was worried about having enough cash to make it home... but they will have my money soon enough.<br />5. Sony Panel - Doug Sweetland was in the house!<br />6. Andreas Deja / Richard Sherman Panel. Might be the best damn thing that happened that weekend. It was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.<br />7. Ron and Jon Panel - The roast of Ron.<br />8. Demo reviews - some great notes from the reviewers and great to grab the contact info.<br />9. Meeting Bobby Beck - He's a hoot haha.<br />10. Alex Woo / Matt Jones - Pixar Gesture drawing Panel - Mind blown (Space!)<br />11. Lorenzo / Prep and Landing 2 screening at Disney. Prep was awesome (great animation). But Lorenzo really blew my mind. Also, I got a Winnie the Pooh Mug (Thanks Kitty!).<br /><br />And lastly, meeting all of my friends in person and realizing that none of them are crazy. Huge thanks to Mike, Marshall, and Reed for not being axe murderers and helping me along through the weekend. What a trip... can't wait to go back next year :)<br /><br />Currently reading Don Hahn's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Storm-Unleashing-Your-Creative/dp/1423140362/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321985091&sr=1-1">Brain Storm</a>. A great fun read, lotta fun little stories if you're into that thing.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-46593117424056295662011-11-16T12:51:00.000-08:002011-11-22T16:54:51.873-08:00CTN ReelPosting from Burbank! This is what I've come to CTN with as far as work goes. So far (and it's only been a day here) the trip has been fantastic.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32542651?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="672" height="378" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-73596851218485732342011-09-15T14:48:00.000-07:002011-12-17T07:04:53.473-08:00Heading towards the finish line.Tomorrow marks the end of the term and this one in particular just flew by. Other than the facial on the 1 person dialogue, we spent all term doing a 2-person shot. My mentor Greg Kyle suggested I try this piece out and this was what I ended up with:<br />
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<embed autoplay="false" height="376" src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/TonerHighResTest.mov" width="480"></embed><br />
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Even just being away from it a few days and rewatching it now, I notice some bits I can fix / tighten up and we'll be continuing work on these shots in the Polishing / Portfolio class, but boy this one was fun to work on. There were a lot of fun ideas being tossed around and even just trying them out was a hoot. I genuinely enjoyed animating this and felt that I learned a lot from it. Lots more to learn and I'm eager to do so!<br />
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On the book front, I picked up <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Mouse-Corporate-Killing-Innovation/dp/1580086330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316123790&sr=8-1">"Cult of the Mouse"</a>, which has a negative connotation in the title... but was a really great read. It talks about the stifling of creativity and how it's leading to a trend of unimaginative / boring films. But the author also cites examples of what's working and why it's working. This was written right when Pixar's contract with Disney was about to expire and having worked at Disney for a number of years he had first hand experience with this stuff. The message of the book though isn't "Suits Bad, Artist Good". It's about finding innovation within yourself and generating ideas. This spreads to someone making car models to an animator trying to create a fulfilling shot / story.<br />
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I put The Art Spirit on hold for that, but now that break is coming around I'm jumping back in.<br />
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And I leave you with this really cool article by Nick Bruno explaining how he studies an animated shot: <a href="http://theloztboyz.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-i-study-animation.html">How I Study Animation</a>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-78885553172646025962011-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:002011-08-23T11:28:23.694-07:00Inside the Mind of Jaws & The Art SpiritBeen awhile! School is coming down to it's final months and it's an amazing time. I feel a bit like Heimlich from A Bug's Life. Chubby yet Bubbly.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.wikia.com/pixar/images/7/7c/Heimlich-%22Butterfly%22.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 508px; height: 409px;" src="http://images.wikia.com/pixar/images/7/7c/Heimlich-%22Butterfly%22.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />CTN is rolling around the corner and I'm extremely excited to soak all of the knowledge that'll be exploding in Burbank. It'll be nice to just get away for a few days as well :)
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<br />So I came across this Panel that the DGA hosted honoring Steven Spielberg. JJ Abrams and James Cameron chatting along with him. Any aspiring filmmaker would geek out about the behind the scenes stuff he shares on stage. The panel lasts almost 2 hours long and is broken into clips, but the full coverage is on the top left of the little images they show.
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<br /><a href="http://www.dga.org/Events/2011/08-august-2011/75th-Spielberg-Event.aspx">DGA Tribute to Steven Spielberg</a>
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<br />On top of videos like that (CTN Vimeo has such great stuff!), I've also been piling up my book collection. A friend of mine at Animation Mentor had a substitute come in for his weekly Q&A. The sub was none other than James Chiang - an all-seeing animator who has worked along-side with and even trained some of the best in the business. Marshall shared his notes from that class with me and in the Q&A James mentions a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Spirit-Robert-Henri/dp/0465002633/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314123062&sr=8-1">The Art Spirit by Robert Henri</a>. The book is coming in the mail today and I'm excited because I hear nothing but good things about it. "A constant ever-lasting source if inspiration". Sounds awesome to me haha. I've got a lot of other books to go through, but I'll mention them when I've actually read through them.
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<br />Happy animating / art-making out there.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-91841242946746406072011-07-15T12:34:00.000-07:002011-07-15T12:45:56.273-07:00Old and NewAfter the much appreciated break we've been diving back into the 1-Person dialogue shot again. My mentor Greg Kyle has opened my eyes to a lot of problems with the shot I didn't realize existed at the time. Looking back at the old shot and comparing it to what it is now... I can only say: What was I thinking?!<br /><br />Old:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/AreYouCrying_Final_v13_DrewSuggestions.mov" width ="720" height="556" autoplay="false"></embed><br /><br />This was with a few notes added from various folks. New hand gesture on the "I dunno" (thanks Drew!) and a couple of tweaks here and there. What I didn't realize was just how watery everything was. At the time I thought this was snappy. Greg did not.<br /><br />New:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/AreYouCrying_Final_v21.mov" width ="720" height="556" autoplay="false"></embed><br /><br />With added facial animation here. I still think there are bits that I could speed up, but because the animation had become so convoluted there were a couple of areas where it would have been a ton of trouble to shave just a single frame. Learned a lot from these past 3 weeks though. I have to go in and polish this now, but the jist of the assignment is pretty set. Hope to bring this new-found sense into the next assignment :)<br /><br />Thanks to the plethora of teachers, students, and friends that helped me with this shot.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-58591597802507059892011-06-17T09:56:00.000-07:002011-07-15T12:54:14.023-07:00A Moment to BreatheCan't believe another class is over. Class 3 to 4 was the hardest transition since it rolled from one class right into the next. It was tough to delve that quickly into acting and I think everyone felt that. Never-the-less, here's the current progress reel. I just realized I didn't put up any shots of my Class 3 stuff. All is included here in all of it's unfinished playblast glory:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/AM%20Assignments/Class%204%20Progress%20Reel.mov" width="480" height="376" autoplay="FALSE"></embed><br /><br />This animjam (Class 3 work) will always hold a special place in my heart because I was taught so many lessons while going through it. By the end of the first shot I was planning to toss the idea out the window, but a quick pep talk by my buddy Mike showed me that the idea was limitless. I tried IK hands on that for the first time, I tried stretching into the more stylized animation, and even added a smear frame in there haha. It was tons of fun. The last lesson I learned from it is to put yourself out there. When we were finishing the last shot of Class 3 up, the AM showcase was taking submissions and because of my personal gripes with the shot I chose not to submit what I felt to be my most successful shot up to that point. Though the chances were very slim anyway, I'll always be left wondering "what if".<br /><br />But I'm glad that happened. Now I know I won't put myself in that situation again as I move on.<br /><br />The acting shots were really hard to do. That pantomime shot especially. We'll be going into the facial animation in the next class, but for now I'm just looking forward to taking a breather. What a rewarding class though, just learning about how people work has been such a highlight of Class 4. And I don't think this path of education is going to ever stop. I wouldn't have it any other way :)tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-48580756136245610892011-06-02T08:24:00.000-07:002011-06-02T09:25:46.684-07:00Blueprints / Fear of Failure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL44abwEXH6HTHIQlNAW4Te2SZk7O2CYIh4rZcLrslJH-TuF7FdijN9peose6oCNYH7XpJTzHwPBeHas7V4JLL0rngjlGlh-rRqCFgyilVXucuOscSm8zb197qXQhlxW5_299xomICLZpU/s1600/blueprint.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL44abwEXH6HTHIQlNAW4Te2SZk7O2CYIh4rZcLrslJH-TuF7FdijN9peose6oCNYH7XpJTzHwPBeHas7V4JLL0rngjlGlh-rRqCFgyilVXucuOscSm8zb197qXQhlxW5_299xomICLZpU/s400/blueprint.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613655308515212098" /></a><br /><br />An AM alumni by the name of Kelly Perez gave us a lecture / demo of herself planning a shot the other night and it was almost ridiculous how deep she went into each aspect of the shot. She posted the process over on this blog that covers her weekly Q&A stuff:<br /><br /><a href="http://theanimationschoolbus.blogspot.com/">Kelly Perez - The Animation School Bus</a><br /><br />I thought I broke down my reference and planned out my current shot pretty well - but when I was exposed to this, it really showed me just how slack I am at planning. I had a good basis, but I didn't know EXACTLY what I was going to do before I went into Maya. There will always be room to tweak things while you're animating, but having a clear plan first and not just "holds this pose for 24 frames" will save you headaches. In the end I had to improvise a few things that wasted a lot of time, but I'll definitely be taking this with me to the next assignment. And if you're reading this Jero, this goes for your walk cycles too! :)<br /><br />Check out some of the other topics posted on Kelly's blog as well - very good info there. And congrats to her for nabbing an internship at LAIKA.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://geektyrantsquared.squarespace.com/storage/post-images/FJ_laika1.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1266863788002"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 566px; height: 366px;" src="http://geektyrantsquared.squarespace.com/storage/post-images/FJ_laika1.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1266863788002" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Quick switch of topics here, but the fear of failure has been a reoccurring theme I've been seeing lately. Fear is a really nasty thing. Generally you'd want to avoid doing something because it's dangerous. But in animation, what's the worst that could happen? Maybe being new to animation gave me the luxury of not being attached to a specific workflow or have any preconceptions of what animation is / was. I came into this world knowing nothing and was a metaphorical sponge - just soaking up whatever came my way. But especially now, going through with my current assignment, I think we shouldn't fear "fear". With a slight change of perspective you can quickly turn it into a positive.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15eQnEnt5EOckxVy_SFwQudbQy5HTkbhKhvO_8zH1L6apa1KKK4O1jGhZNnN8usmx8fEBfIe-52c1b-I1N9pSz5xJR_imrcQpzk8xJGCix1WiIFA3ZZT4lgz150pyRlozjY_pbsdAMO6/s1600/scared_woman.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15eQnEnt5EOckxVy_SFwQudbQy5HTkbhKhvO_8zH1L6apa1KKK4O1jGhZNnN8usmx8fEBfIe-52c1b-I1N9pSz5xJR_imrcQpzk8xJGCix1WiIFA3ZZT4lgz150pyRlozjY_pbsdAMO6/s400/scared_woman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613655301517502498" /></a><br /><br />I've been hit with this many times during my time at AM so far and I look back just a short 3 months ago and see how silly I was. Fear is something that should be welcomed. If you're afraid to tackle something, it's probably because you don't know how to yet... and if you don't know how to yet - then you're going to learn! It's a surefire thing that even if you come out with a total failure of a shot, you'll learn something. The key is to know when you're stuck and search for the answers whether it be on your own or with help from someone else (and this is why we have mentors!). <br /><br />Don't be afraid to try new suggestions, new methods, new styles. Use common sense of course, you don't have to try EVERY suggestion that comes your way, but if there is a decent reason for it - just be open to giving it a shot. Embrace failure, it will always lead to you becoming a stronger animator. Don't let fear cheat you out of the learning process.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://readyforlearning.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/children_learning-zbbjrx.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 467px; height: 308px;" src="http://readyforlearning.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/children_learning-zbbjrx.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-62816779949034162122011-05-26T13:56:00.000-07:002011-05-26T21:48:18.130-07:00Put a Lid on that Iris<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.al7alem.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/eyes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 700px; height: 325px;" src="http://www.al7alem.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/eyes.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Last week I learned a very fascinating fact about eyes and I haven't been able to stop looking at eyelids since. <br /><br />When looking at eyes, generally the upper eyelid will keep in contact with the iris. Unless you're going for a specific expression; frightened, crazy, disgusted, dopey and hopeful etc. Something where the eyes are locked to a target (usually angled down) and the brows are pulling up, taking the lids for a ride.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/ernest-scared-stupid.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 290px;" src="http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/ernest-scared-stupid.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Otherwise, in most cases you won't likely see any white of the eyes above the iris. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://mychinaconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/see-eye-to-eye.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://mychinaconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/see-eye-to-eye.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <br /><br />Now this might seem trivial, but it's just an extra step in giving the audience something they can relate to... even if they don't know they're relating to it. A step towards believability. Personally though I find this a very important aspect to be aware of, since the viewer pays attention to and connects with the eyes the most. Even more so at AM since we're dealing with a character that has such huge eyes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=204">Kevin Koch's Article on Saccades / Fixations</a><br /><br />Check out the video at the top of this page and see the eyelid moving in sync with the eye darts (actually everyone should read all of Kevin's stuff about eyes, he's got a few articles that focuses just on eye movements). One interesting bit is that when the eye moves at the very end, the eyelid reacts pretty accurately to maintain it's relationship to the iris. There's sometimes a frame of drag or overshoot, but they're pretty spot on.<br /><br />I've never taken that close a look at this before and when I heard about it (source being my Class 1 mentor David Weatherly, relayed by my study mate Michael Amos), I went around looking at AM assignments and animation at the 11 second club, the white bug eyes are rampant. So go study some eyes, read Kevin's articles, and infuse that gold into your animation!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://intrawebnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/chuck-norris-thumbs-up.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 379px; height: 247px;" src="http://intrawebnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/chuck-norris-thumbs-up.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-64885990762483413822011-05-24T11:56:00.000-07:002011-05-27T17:50:49.396-07:00The Love for LearningLong time no post. It's been pretty crazy at the Animation Mentor scene and just when I've sorta grasped the current concept I was learning, ten more concepts show up right behind it.<br /><br />Sounds like a complaint, but it's really awesome. This part of my life has been missing since I was a kid: The quest for knowledge. I've always done well in school but there was no direction. I just aimlessly tried to get good grades because I was told that was the right thing to do. It wasn't until a few months ago that I started to get really excited about absorbing the knowledge of how humans and animals work in order to create more believable animation. I've been constantly digging deeper since. <br /><br />I woke up today, sat down at my desk, and realized there are stacks of books surrounding me now. Before AM, you'd never see me with a book. It made me realize how much I've changed since opening that stopmotionanimation.com webpage. <br /><br />Some of the books I've read recently that I found quite interesting:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306264127&sr=8-1">Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre</a> by Keith Johnstone<br /><br />This book probably got the ball rolling. There are really crazy bits in this book and some of it was admittedly hard for me to sludge through. But the meat of this book is pure gold. And not just from an animation perspective, but a life perspective. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Every-BODY-Saying-Speed-Reading/dp/0061438294/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306264734&sr=1-1">What Every BODY is Saying</a> by Joe Navarro<br /><br />An Ex-FBI Agent (who the TV Series "Lie to Me" was based on) deconstructs his process of human "tells" of the body that give away our inner thoughts and feelings. He goes through from head to toe and explains what, why, how. A very interesting and fun read.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Directing-Fourth-Techniques-Aesthetics-Screencraft/dp/0240808827">Directing Film Techniques and Aesthetics</a> by Michael Rabiger<br /><br />One of the first books I read when I was just digging into film making. It delves into very specific examples and explains why certain choices are made and how structuring and planning the scenes ultimately makes it clearer to the audience on both a conscious and subconscious level. Clarity, can't work without it!<br /><br />Hope to get back to this more regularly, with actual progress and tips to share :) Till then, have a good one!tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-70802481860303122212010-12-19T22:56:00.000-08:002010-12-19T23:14:36.211-08:00StewfasaaaBlocking 2:<br /><br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Tony%20Tests/Stewfasa%20Block%20v6.mov" width="720" height="421"></embed><br /><br />Changes:<br /><br />His leg poses were reading too human-like so now he lands hands first; more of a tigery fashion.<br /><br />Changed the other poses accordingly to accommodate the arc he creates in the air. Added a breakdown before and after the land. Kind of does a gallop to settle.<br /><br />Added anticipation before the jump.<br /><br />More neutral starting position for more reaction in the spine when he spots the bird (still pondering about this). <br /><br />Still lots to clean up. But I've already learned so much about workflow and the importance of showing your work at it's blueprint stages. I showed a friend of mine 9 poses and I had to go back and drastically change 6/9 which totally changed my entire shot. So on that front... woohoo!tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-47255020980315522842010-12-17T18:09:00.000-08:002010-12-17T18:35:59.663-08:00Time has wings.Continuing the adventures at Animation Mentor, these past 3 months just flew by in an instant. Overall the difficulty is rising, in part because I'm choosing to do harder assignments. My mentor even ended up stating in my overall assessment that I overextended myself :) But he quickly followed up with "... but I don't hold it against you." <br /><br />One thing I've noticed that I've been lacking is follow-through. Whenever I hit an obstacle my motivation meter depletes exponentially. This is something I've been working on all term and I'm glad to report that there is progress. At the end of the day, here is what my Class 2 ended with :<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/AM%20Assignments/Progress%20Reel%202.mov" width="480" height="376"></embed><br /><br />It turned out okay but I'm not 100% satisfied with my performance this term. And since we have a good amount of days off on this break, I've decided to buck up and go for another test. This time with some goals in mind:<br /><br />1. "One shot, one thought" (thanks Brian!)<br />2. Do first pass blocking with a minimal amount of poses.<br />3. Try IK Spine (and in this case IK hands).<br />4. Experiment with creature-like behavior.<br />5. Cartoony - break the rig like crazy. Defy physics (just a little)<br />6. 100 Frame limit.<br /><br />Plan: Stewfasa is stalking a bird as it's flying around the area. He notices it turning around, springs from atop his ledge and swipes him out of the air - landing on the ground in nothing less than an awesome fashion.<br /><br />Here goes pass 1:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Tony%20Tests/Stewfasa%20Block%201.1.mov" width="720" height="421"></embed>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-52473352838194133392010-09-25T22:20:00.000-07:002010-09-25T22:27:23.482-07:00Test TweakageMessing around with that test a little bit. I touched on the timing and the arcs a tad, toned down the legs rotation of the 2nd revolution on the 2nd bar, and started on the end spin. Here's the update:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Gym%20Test%204.mov" width="640" height="496"></embed>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-41015491700720561932010-09-24T20:38:00.000-07:002010-09-24T20:49:52.078-07:00On-Break TestA friend from the 11secondclub sent me a link to an Animator's site by the name of KC Roeyer. On it was this neat little gymnastics test he did with a cylinder that had a pivot point in the center. I thought I'd give it a shot! I ended up not planning it's bones out well (I'm not sure how KC had it done) but it was quite a chore to get it spinning in the air correctly. Hopefully there's a shortcut out there to make animating flips easier! In the meantime here is my attempt:<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Gymnastics%20Test.mov" width="640" height="496"></embed><br /><br />It's cool how after posting it up I want to fix so many things haha. Maybe tomorrow. I tried doing this all the way through without looking back at the original as reference. If interested you can see KC Roeyer's test here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kcroeyer.com/animation.htm">KC Roeyer's Gymnastics Test</a>tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-23002573315295584712010-09-14T15:11:00.000-07:002010-09-14T15:34:03.728-07:00What a Friggin' RIIIIDEThis Friday marks the official end of Class 1 at Animation Mentor and it's quite a bittersweet end. These past 3 months have very much flown right by me supporting the phrase, "Time flies when you're having fun". And it's been a whole lot of FUN for sure. I've met some of the most interesting people who come from the most interesting places / backgrounds ... then we all got together and formed a study group haha. I knew I would appreciate the school but after going through this term... I am enjoying the hell out of it. It was a bit more work than I had imagined but I really didn't mind. I also noticed how empty I left this blog for awhile but I didn't think a bouncing ball would be too exciting to post :)<br /><br />Here's the progress reel for the term (starting with most recent):<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Progress%20Reel%20Comp.mov" width="480" height="376"></embed><br /><br />A big big thanks to my mentor David Weatherly from Dreamworks for the attentive feedback and gratuitous links. It truly was a pleasure.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-62572781430331198482010-07-04T12:01:00.000-07:002010-12-18T17:03:57.358-08:00Don't fear the 3D SmearOne animation piece that blew my mind came from a student at Animation Mentor in 2008 by the name of Henry Sanchez. I remember hearing Eric Goldberg talking about a smear in CG - but this was the first time I saw it in action. And it was done well! Up until watching the Summer 2008 showcase, I had a pretty rigid viewpoint of how CG Animation looked. Sharp, clean, and clear. So when I was watching this... it opened a third eye for me when looking at CG Animation.<br /><br /><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7987271/Henry%20Sanchez%20-%20SFX%20Scene.mov" width="630" height="440" autoPlay="0"></embed><br /><br />I'm glad I saw this very early on when I was considering to pursue animation. Everytime I look at this piece I remember to think above and beyond. Once you get grounded (a far road ahead for me) in the fundamentals, take some chances. There's so much to this artform to learn and as the next week brings our first assignment... I can't wait to soak it all in.tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377277599219654169.post-47713040491261229912010-07-01T17:19:00.000-07:002010-07-01T18:00:25.130-07:00What the hell is happening?When I look back on life, I feel like I've always been more good than bad. My intentions were never purely evil no matter what I did. I'm not a genius, or an important name, or a very learned individual. I'm sort of a regular Joe... who happens to be named Tony. And I've always believed in the good in people. But every time I look out at what's happening in just these United States - that belief gets smashed time and time again.<br /><br />I doubt this is going to reach anyone, but I'm gonna rant anyway just for cathartic purposes. There are three major problems that the Earth faces:<br /><br />1. Global Warming. It boggles my mind that this is still in debate. Over the past decade the Summers got hotter and hotter hitting new records each year. What better proof than to walk outside and get burned by the evidence. We've lost over half of the world's ice caps and will soon be at a point of no return. With them gone, there won't be any stopping of the gradual rise in temperature and we'll slowly be cooking the planet. Oil companies are rooting for this to expand their offshore drilling territory. Russia is breaking apart the North Pole to extend their reach for the oil down under. We all know how awesome offshore drilling can be.<br /><br />2. The Oil Spill. It's pretty obvious that this whole system is jacked up. What many don't know is that the cause of the oil spill was the result of three consecutive screw-ups in a row. For one, they knew their equipment wasn't up to sound - yet they went ahead. Secondly, when someone spotted part of the seal showing up on deck, the BP Manager commanded them to continue. After the seal had broken, they called in Halliburton to plug it up. This plugging process takes three plugs to seal shut. Before the third one was in place, the BP Management had the crew proceed with the drilling. That was the moment the rig blew up. The response was slow, there were no emergency programs running, everything a mess. BP had an HD Camera down there but didn't even show the footage until 3 weeks into the spill. They gave everyone a crappy video feed instead. Energy companies cannot regulate themselves. Which brings us to:<br /><br />3. Gas Land. Many people hear "natural gas" and believe it to be the answer for our energy woes. It comes from the U.S. so less dependency on foreign oil, it's "cleaner", and more immediate. Except for the fact that it isn't clean at all. More than 30 states now have an immense amount of natural gas extraction happening. This process is called Hydraulic Fracturing. Hydraulic Fracturing uses over 500 toxic chemicals (something like 596) with a mix of millions of gallons of water per well to retrieve all of the natural gas in a particular area. The chemicals are seeping into the water supply and now tap water in homes everywhere are contaminated.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wwogQWLEqW8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wwogQWLEqW8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><br /><br />This was posted over a year ago on youtube, which means that with the time it took for someone to notice and then for someone to actually do reporting on it... it's been around for quite some time. This same lady was featured in a documentary called GasLand. Now over half of the United States is facing these problems. New York is in a battle to fend off Hydraulic Fracturing to save their unfiltered water shed. Contamination there means the entire city's water supply would be instantly poisonous.<br /><br />I've always wanted to get into animation to tell fun and uplifting stories. I always thought I'd be going around and picking these fun stories from my own life. But at the moment I can't help but think of my brother taking a drink of water from his house in Texas - a state rifled with Hydraulic Fracturing wells.<br /><br />A lot of people I know are in California and when I bring these issues up, 95% of the answers go something like this:<br /><br />Well if it isn't happening in California then I don't care. <br /><br />The world is being affected. If you're living then it affects you. It's sad that news isn't news and that politics is money. It's sad that people who aren't directly and immediately impacted by the situation aren't even sympathetic to what's going on. We're facing a global long term crisis, an immediate oil spill crisis, and OUR SINKS ARE PRONE TO EXPLOSIONS. What the hell is going on?tonychauzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14153605205914730722noreply@blogger.com1