"One Rat Short" on Sundance Website/iTunes

Hey everyone, I wanted to post the link on here to Sundance Film Festival's website, where you can view "One Rat Short" in its entirety, for free! I've been told that it will also be on iTunes as part of Sundance's release of their selection of short films, but as of today I have not seen it there yet. (*update* It's now there! Buy it for $1.99 on iTunes!) My demo reel pretty much shows the shots that I animated, but to sum it up, I animated nearly all of the labrat crowd cycles (in the cages and running on the floor), as well as a handful of the shots of the main characters, Cagne and Audrey. It was such a great experience, making a film is such a team effort, and I had so much fun with everyone there!

Things at Framestore have been going very well, and I am continuing to enjoy working there too. We're wrapping up animation on the Geico Gecko spots, not sure when they will be airing yet.

I'm also desperately trying to finish a 2 character acting piece that I've been working periodically on for a while now. It will be done soon, and hopefully up on my Animation page soon after that! I still have a bunch of drawings I'd love to upload to my Artwork page, but first I need to get to a scanner. In additon to these website updates, I'm starting to think I may need to turn this homepage into an official blog format...this page is getting rather long!

I suppose I should call this the end of my post before I get long winded...oh wait, am I too late? ;)
Later,
--Kyle

Freelance has been good to me

Three weeks ago I started a freelance gig at Framestore here in New York, working on Geico Gecko spots! It's an animator's dream to go into work everyday, working on full character animation with dialogue! It's been so much fun this far, I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks. This is the great thing about working freelance in New York--getting to work at all sorts of places on all sorts of projects, and experiencing what different studios are like. Had I gotten a full time job out of school, I may be more financially stable now, but I feel like I've learned so much about the industry by freelancing than I would have otherwise. I think that knowledge will help me if and when I finally accept a staff position somewhere.

In other news, I've been told that "One Rat Short" has made it into Sundance Film Festival! It's still kind of surreal to think of all the attention that film is getting. When I was working at Charlex I was just happy to finally have landed a job! It truely shows how unpredictable animation/vsfx is, and you never know where it's going to take you, especially when freelancing. I'm very grateful for the opportunities I've had so far, because I know that I didn't get there on my own.

Take care folks,
--Kyle

an update??

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since the last update. It's been kind of a weird fall. I've got a few drawings I'd love to upload, but I don't have a scanner. And my most recent animation isn't quite finished yet, but hopefully that will be done before too long!

Where to start? Let's see, I finished the gig at Tronic about 2 weeks ago. There I worked on an M&M's project, making content for screens on the new M&M's World store in Times Square. It was a pretty challenging schedule, but I learned a lot from it. I'm lucky to already have another gig lined up, this time at Framestore, where I will get to work on a new bunch of Geico Gecko ads! That gig is supposed to run through the end of January.

So that job starts soon. I'm also looking forward to actually going home for the week of Christmas through New Year's! I haven't been home since May, so I can't wait to get back there to see my family, and also hang out with my friends at Camp Wyoming.

I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have that new acting exercise up in not too long, but I don't make any promises :-P Take Care everyone! I hope the Christmas season is good to you.
--Kyle

So that's what a video blog should be

Once upon a time, there was an animator, who just graduated from college. He spent the summer at home, working on his computer, and applying for jobs. One day, he decided to pass the time by making his first video blog, like his friend Ben. Unfortunatly, doing a blog at a time of unemployment resulted in a rather depressing, yet apparently amusing video (in a sad, sad way).

I just stumbled upon a video blog on YouTube called "LUCYinLA", and it made me realize what I should have done, haha. Well, I'm not an attractive young woman, but she also does a blog right ;) She picks a story from her life, and tells it with either enthusiasm or perfect honesty. She's an aspiring actress in LA (doh, why am I in NY?), and it's good to know that there are other people in the world struggling through times of unemployement as well. There's a lot of difference between the film world and the animation/vfx world for sure, but the nature of how hard it is to find work and how some people don't understand why it is hard--is similar. Anyway, if you are an animator like me, or an actor like her, check out her vblog on youtube. Cause chances are if you are employed right now, you will be going through times of unemployement, and boy is it good to know that even people on the other side of the country are going through the same thing, at the same time.

9/11 conspiracies? how sad

So I decided to check out that WTC movie group that was advertised on the front page of facebook, and I kinda regret that I did. I cannot believe how many people justify 9/11 as a government conspiracy. Holy cow. I could never believe that. It goes to show you how big of an event it was to comprehend, that people "just can't believe" that a group of terrorists could bring down the Word Trade Centers. It must have been too big for them to think that these people could just walk onto planes and do that. But why not? Are we so big, so powerful that the *only* way such a devestating blow could happen is if it were a huge conspiracy? Come on people, humble yourself for a moment. It's ironic that your opinions of conspiracy and power are actually the source of the *idea* that the U.S. government can do whatever it wants to. In your mind, you are giving the U.S. government the corruption and power that you so fear. Whether or not it is always true.

I more than strongly disagree with the whole conspiracy theory. It saddens me. Politics are something that I have never liked, and when things like 9/11 and Katrina get more focus because of politics than because of people, I think we've lost perspective on what's important. Before you take on this theory as your own, think about the people that lost their lives. Think about the mourning that EVERYONE, including those on our government, went through. Try telling the NYPD and NYFD your reasons for conspiracy. Try telling Rudy G. I dare you to go face to face with any U.S. public body or government, and tell them they did it on purpose. These people had friends and family who worked in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon too.

Call me a "hopeless optimist". Call me whatever you want. But remember, when it comes down to horrific tragedies and human suffering, those are people serving on our government. Not cartoons in black suits and sunglasses. You may find it hard to believe, but I bet they cried on that day too.

3:37am (13 hours 'til Boston)

Hi everyone! So the time has come again, where I am up late the night before I leave for SIGGRAPH, packing and getting everything around. Hopefully I will actually get some sleep this year! I am excited to meet up with fellow Scaddies, and friends from Charlex and Psyop. It is sure to be a good time, I can't wait to see Rats (or the proper name, "One Rat Short") on the big screen. I hope to be surprised by seeing other familiar faces!

Flux capacitor...fluxing, engaging warp drive--I'm headed to Boston!
--Kyle

An alien insight on facial expression

So I happened to come across an awesome quote from René Auberjonois who played Odo on Deep Space Nine. This guy really knows how to act.

"I think acting in the mask was probably easier than a lot of people might think. A lot of people have told me they couldn’t understand how Odo could be so expressive in terms of emotions when the mask I was in was even more limiting than the most grotesque Ferengi or Klingon make – up, because it was so neutral and inexpressive in repose. But while we tend to think all our emotions are expressed in our faces by things like smiling or frowning, in my years of study I have learned the mask does not hide emotions. Instead, it tends to amplify emotions because emotion is expressed more through the body and voice and eyes than it is through facial expressions; facial expressions are often used to hide what we’re really feeling rather than express it." (Quoted from trektoday.com, Star Trek Magazine)

Now if only I can find a way to incorporate that knowledge into my animation! Or at least a juicy dialogue clip that lends itself to that sort of duality.