Freelancing stories from Animation Mentor

Yep, I'm still alive. :) I just noticed this article in this week's AM newsletter, which has some stories from animators who for one reason or another settled into a freelance lifestyle. They're all quite different stories from when I freelanced, I didn't seek out clients to create work myself out of my home, (I sought out work at studios), but the mindset about permanent vs temporary work was the same. Permanent work is hard to come by, and while I lucked out with my current position, I still think many animators and artists just don't know about opportunities outside of film or vfx, or think that's the only venue to produce high quality, gratifying work.  I also didn't find working job to job so bad when I didn't have to move to another city for each one, and was plugged into a good network of friends.  Anyway, it's always good to learn a bit more about the scope of our industry, if you find yourself looking for work.  The article has stories from Avner Engel, Martin Bell, Kenny Roy, and Chad Stewart.

Oh, and sorry that my blog update is half done, and that "test page" is still there ;) At some point I will get the full revamp up and running with links to my work, etc!

Mark Behm, "Nightwork"

To start off on what might be a few more posts revolving around inspiration, here's an interview of Mark Behm on Strut Your Reel, about his new art book. Since one of my main goals is to keep drawing and keep improving on what is ultimately my first passion, this stuff just blows me away.

We all need inspiration to keep the creative juices flowing, especially during or after times of extreme hours and work. It's so easy to lose yourself at work, and not nurture your personal art in some way or another (especially when you have no time to do anything but go to work and sleep), but it's even easier to just be too lazy to do something. Hence, I plan on posting some more on inspiration, which is so critical to being motivated. Maybe these posts will not only lend some inspiration to anyone reading this, but also to myself when I need a kick in the pants!

Lasseter and Jobs on Charlie Rose

Yeah, I know that's a picture of David Copperfield in the preview still, but the first interview in this episode is in fact of John Lasseter and Steve Jobs.

I stumbled upon this video while searching for Toy Story clips. It's a great glimpse back a few years, as it takes place right after the release of the first Toy Story. Lasseter is a young film director, Jobs has not yet returned to Apple for the iPod Age, and Pixar is still a name that people don't really understand. While that sort of nostalgia is fun to watch, what I find the most interesting is how these 3 different characters, Rose, Lasseter, and Jobs, interact with each other. Each one of them comes from a completely different perspective, and hence uses vocabulary that they are comfortable using.

Charlie Rose is the outsider, the journalist, trying to use what he has learned over the years about businesses and computers and apply it to the making of Toy Story. He asks a lot of questions about how the computer makes the process "easier", "faster", "cheaper". Lasseter is the filmmaker trying to explain his craft, using an explanation that makes sense to him, which is that the computer is an expensive pencil. Steve Jobs is the computer business man, once referring to the story/production process as "beta testing" the film before release.

Charlie Rose is in some ways entertainingly ignorant of "computer" animation, and no matter how much Lasseter tries he just can't seem to get the point across that computers didn't make the movie faster, easier, or cheaper. And even though he gets the point that the ideas come from the artists, I don't think he ever quite gets to the point of full understanding that computers are just a new tool and not creators in the process. I found it very interesting how at around 5:20, when Lasseter is trying to explain the differences between 2D and 3D, Rose seems completely lost and almost tunes out as he starts shuffling his papers and looking at his notes, maybe for the next question. In all fairness, how can he understand? To him, a picture is a picture, he doesn't seem to understand the difference between a flat drawing and a virtual 3D environment, he seems to still be stuck in the mindset that somehow the computer can just draw things faster and do them better...somehow...

Steve Jobs is also incredibly interesting to watch, especially if you consider the point at which he is at in his life. I'm not extremely knowledgeable on his business history, but I think the general summary is that at this time he had been fired from Apple, and was working for (or started?) "Next" Computers. This is well before he became one of the top CEO's of the country, well before the iPod and Apple became a status symbol on the streets of SoHo and 5th Avenue, and everywhere else. He seems a little like a broken man, though he tries to hide it, especially when Rose asks him for his thoughts on the fall of Apple. Jobs breaks from his normal catchprases of "We're about (blah blah)" and relevant cultural examples that support his topic, and instead takes a moment to think, and kinda quietly states that the innovation he made at Apple lives on in other forms, even though the Apple Company may not be succeeding, and he might not be a part of it. He seems genuinely proud of that, not in a boasting way, because he has to admit that he failed in other ways. There are many times when he still talks as he does on those Apple Keynote addresses of today, but somehow it's really only the words and his strategies that are similar. I'd have to study it more to see exactly what it is, but he doesn't seem to have the same confidence as he does now when he addresses his theatre of fans waiting with anxiety for him to reveal their new toys. What an interesting comparison between then and now! He's definitely the same person, but his life is changing as he speaks.

Jobs is also interesting to listen to because he seems to be at a point of understanding well past Charlie Rose's (concerning animation), but shares a similar point of view as having been a bit of an outsider to the filmmaking process. Jobs has obviously embraced the filmmaking process, no doubt in part to his view that it will continue to be a success for him, but the way he explains how the product, in business terms, continues to live on (read: is profitable) for decades in contrast to computers that have a very short life span--shows a deeper understanding of the product. He also seems to have an understanding of the inherit value of the creativity of filmmaking. I think that's the paradox of Steve Jobs--he's an incredibly saavy business man and of course his products are results of decisions he thinks will make his business succeed. At the same time, he comes off as someone who understands creativity and innovation. He has a great talent of speaking to both left minded and right minded people, and you've gotta admire his talents.

I was asking myself earlier today why I animate. What is it about animation that draws me to it?
It seems silly to ask that now, but sometimes I wonder. When I look at this, I think I know one reason. I found the juxtaposition of these three guy's distinct personalities very interesting to watch, and I really love analyzing personalities and characters. If you're the same, take a look at the interview. If you have more time, the David Copperfield interview is fun to watch too. He talks a lot about his goals as a performer, and how his inspiration comes from films and stories.

Horton on CG Talk

Check out this article (and pretty pictures) about Horton on CG talk!

Brad Bird interview on Fandango (*update* and Time Out)

Fandango has a short interview with Brad Bird here. It's not much, but I thought this article might get overlooked by the other animation sites. Probably not, but who knows :P

Ratatouille tomorrow! I'm going to go see it again :)

*update* Here's an even better interview with Brad Bird on Time Out that I found via Mark Mayerson's blog. This one is really worth reading. Here's a quote from Bird:

See, that’s what I mean. People on the far right and the far left only see their own myopic little agendas and are not awake to many other things that are going on. And I think there’s a tendency to polarize all thought and speech by relegating it all to one of two categories, far left or far right, which doesn’t serve any of us. I’m one of the people who think the whole red state/blue state dichotomy is ridiculous, because if you actually go down to the level where actual people are, it’s pretty much purple. Most people are right around the center, but these straitjacket categories get imposed on the map because it makes good TV, and it’s good strategy for both sides to sell this idea of a compartmentalized society. So I’m glad my films are politically confusing.

Man..I know how he feels.

Interview: Kylie Matulick and Todd Mueller of Psyop (via Motionographer)

This is a fairly old interview, sounds like it happened last summer after Happiness Factory 1 was finished, but I found it randomly online tonight! I have the pleasure of working under Todd and Kylie again for Happiness Factory 2 right now. But it's interesting to hear their story about how HF1 came about, because I've never heard it! I wish I had more time to work directly with both of them, but with the MUCH larger team on HF2, there's a structured hierarchy of directors-leads-juniors that seems to be working out well. Psyop functioned that way before, but the team is so much bigger now that it certainly requires more of that. I think there's 30 some people on this project alone, a dozen of which are animators. Definitely the biggest team I've ever been on in NY so far, and Psyop is becoming one of the largest places around here.

It still blows my mind a little that during the time I was working at other places in New York, the HF stuff was taking on a whole life of its own and becoming this huge project! Now it seems like the bulk of freelancers in the city are at Psyop working on this, and they're all very talented. I really feel like I'm learning a lot from the people around me, in terms of both animation, and working on a production. When you work with talented people, you can't help but want to push your work to be the best you can make it.

Brad Bird is crazy

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4617804532425813974

I can't remember where, but somewhere in my news reader I found a link to this video. It's a panel of Ed Catmull, Alvy Ray Smith, Andrew Stanton, and Brad Bird, talking about the origins of computer animation (and consequently Pixar), and much more. It's long, but if you have an hour to kill sometime this weekend, come back and watch it! Watch it in shifts if you have to, but it's really great.

Brad Bird is the craziest animator I've seen :P He's sort of like Robin Williams in the spontaneous way of how he talks. I can't help but crack up whenever I see him interviewed! In some ways I can imagine how hard it must be to work under him, I'm sure he's every bit as picky as Walt Disney was. On the other hand, I can see his talent as a director by how he communicates his thoughts with such specificity and physicality. The guy knows how to communicate a story, whether it's The Iron Giant or the meal he ate last week.

Psyop--an inside look

I found an interview with people from Psyop, talking about how they started, what they do, etc. Psyop is developing quite a name for itself around NYC, the most frequent question when I tell people where I've freelanced is "How did you like Psyop?" I can't figure out who was actually interviewed for this article, but it's obviously one of the heads.

http://www.luminescene.com/interviews/psyop/

The pictures make me laugh a bit because they remind me of the photos I used to see of buildings in SCAD catalogs, that conveniently crop the pictures at strategic places, so as not to show the neighborhood that the building is actually in :P But hey, I put my best foot forward on my promo material, so I guess they do too.

Posting about Psyop has gotten me to think that maybe I'll talk more in future posts about my experience freelancing in New York. So many people are totally unaware of what the industry is like here, and at present it looks to be very healthy, with some great work going on in commercials vfx. Also, freelancing is a totally different world than having a steady job somewhere, and maybe I can dive into the pros and cons for anyone who's considering it. It's opened my eyes to the fact that every studio is unique in atmosphere, projects, people, and just about everything else. But I'm thankful for getting the chance to see what it's like to work in different places. I could get into more now, but it's best saved for later ;)

Interviews: Podcasts

For those who want to listen to some great in-depth conversations with our favorite artists.

Animation Podcast archive
Interviews with Disney greats--Andreas Deja, Nik Ranieri, Ron Clements and John Musker, Eamonn Butler, Milt Kahl (recordings), Glen Keane, and Burny Mattinson.
Subscribe via iTunes, mp3 (regular), AAC (enhanced, w/pictures).

SplineCasts (Spline Doctors)
Interviews and discussions by Pixar folks
Brad Bird (w/chapters)
Animation Round Table, (Adam Burke, Angus Maclane, Scott Clark, Stephen Gregory, Andrew Gordon) mp3 or m4a w/chapters.
Subscribe via iTunes for interviews with Andrew Stanton (Director, Finding Nemo), Nate Stanton, Ralph Eggleston, and other Pixar guys.

Interviews: Video

Interviews you can watch! Again, you can access all interview posts by clicking the "Interviews" label in the right column. This will be an ongoing list as well. I didn't upload or conduct any of these myself of course, these are just things I've found around the web.

Brad Bird on Good Morning America
(probably a temporarily available on the ABC website)

Interviews: Text

An in-progress list of interviews you may wanna read. I'll be updating this post with new ones as I find them!

Featured Artists interviews @ strutyourreel.com
Victor Navone (Pixar)
Doug Bennet (Disney Feature)
Aaron Hartline (Blue Sky)
Bobby Beck (Animation Mentor, Pixar)
James Baxter (Disney, DreamWorks)
Jason Schleifer (DreamWorks, WETA
**many more interviews available at the Feature Artist page...I've yet to read all of them, I've fallen behind!**

CGCHAR interviews
Tim Johnson (Director, Over the Hedge)

Animated-News
Andreas Deja (Disney)
Eric Goldberg (Disney)