Spread the Fred

Finally something cool I can post from my favorite podcast! The music video of The Jimmy Swift Band's song is well done, the animation is pretty good and well drawn--which is nice to see in an "anything goes" indy shorts venue. Although I think the puppet motif has been done a few too many times in animation, the great design makes up for it. The 2nd short "What About Lunch" is alright, but didn't strike me as all that entertaining. I like the art direction of the music vid too, although I there's not as cohesive of a story as in my favorite music video from CF, "The Wizard Needs Food Badly" (Episode 36). The Wizard one is by Ghostbot, which does the E-surance flash commericals. I like flash animation that's done with good taste, design, and attention to represent physics, even if in a limited manner.

You can now watch old episodes all on Channel Frederator's website, and download episodes for free on iTunes! Do it!


"Wizard Needs Food Badly", music by Five Iron Frenzy, animation by Ghostbot

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 ;)

Nathan Sawaya--Lego Artist

While flipping channels, I somehow caught something cool on CNBC tonight. They were interviewing this guy, Nathan Sawaya, who used to be a lawyer in NYC. At some point he quit his 6 figure job, to work at LegoLand for $13/hr (cause he had won a contest by Lego, to find the best Lego builder in the country, or something like that). But after he won, he decided to quit and build Lego sculptures. Now he freelances in New York, selling these things for hundreds or thousands of dollars a pop! Check out his site, amazing stuff:

http://brickartist.com

All because he's loved Legos his whole life! Cool story eh?

Lasseter article in the NY Times

Check out this great article in the New York Times about how Lasseter is running the show at Disney now. It talks a lot about the infamous story revisions of "Meet the Robinsons" that happened when Lasseter took the throne.

By the way, be sure to check out my Google Reader widget in the right column, where I share different things from my reader box that I don't have time to post about, but are well worth the look! I share more items there frequently, or at least as frequently as I find something that I think everyone should read :) If you click the 'Read more...' link at the *bottom* of the widget, you can look at all of the shared items on one page.

The Geck is back!

Keep an eye out for a couple of the Geico Gecko ads I worked on at Framestore, now airing! "Decisions" (the Gecko standing in a theatre lobby, talking about the decision of how to buy insurance from Geico--"online, over the phone, or just pop by the local Geico office"), and "Seconds" (the Gecko riding an escalator, trying to explain to everyone how tough of a job he has). "Puma" is also airing, (the Geck talks about choosing a mascot other than a gecko), but I did not work on that. The last one I worked on was called "Local" but I don't think that's aired yet.

On "Decisions" I animated the shot when he says "Then o'course, you got a decision to make, ainya?" And on "Seconds" I animated the first shot--"You can't even, *imagine*, the pressure..." We had quite a few animators working on these spots, there were a total of 7 spots that were divided between 2 teams of animators.

"Seconds" was my favorite of them all, because it is quite different from the other gecko ads. In pretty much all the ads, his job is to promote the 3 different ways to buy from Geico. But in this one, it's an almost pure character moment, where the geck is just trying to convince everyone that his life isn't as easy as it seems! It was a great opportunity to finally delve into as much emotion as we could get away with. The tough thing about animating the gecko is that he has a very reserved range of motion that the animators have to adhere to, but I think we were able to sqeeze a little more expression out of him this time around while still keeping him in character. Sometimes it was actually a nice challenge to try to keep him as expressive as possible, while still keeping the action as small as the client wanted. It's surprising how much so little can do at times. It's too bad we don't have a "deleted scenes" reel though, there was some great acting by my coworkers that didn't make the cut. Such is the life!

I'll definitly be updating my website once I get the render frames from Framestore. In the meantime, if anyone happens to see them on YouTube, let me know!

Cool Bugs Bunny

Found this clip over at Animation ID--a blog worth frequent visiting if you haven't been there already. (Link in right column under "Watch more") This clip was an example of Ken Harris' animation at Warner Bros. I think Bugs looks the best here ("Frigid Hare") of any cartoon I can remember, and I love the subtle acting that is rarely seen in the old Warner cartoons that usually relied heavily on the gags. Bugs' legs in the wide shot swim crazily, but I think the medium shot is gold. Clear poses, and a great little heartfelt moment that gives Bugs an unusual moment of compassion. I just think the poses are so expressive and natural, and the drawings have so much appeal here.

Frigid Hare 2
Uploaded by thadk

You can see Thad's post and comments on this and another clip via my little Google Reader widget on the right ("Ken Harris--Frigid Hare").

Back to the Future: Animation in the 90's

Hehe, this post title will hardly be the last time you hear me reference Back to the Future :P Anyway, my real point...

I found an interesting article from 1990 by Richard Zoglin in Time Magazine's free archives, talking about the boom of animation going on at the time. I'll be upfront here, and admit that I'm just starting my career now and do not have a first hand industry perspective, nor years of experience to help me interpret. But that's why I'm posting this. I've read on other blogs from people who say the current boom of CG mirrors what happened in the 90's, and this article gives a first hand account--sort of frozen in time. Anything sound familiar?

Time Magazine

Quote: "There are also possibilities for overkill. "Animation is an art form that, through the loss of care, fell by the wayside," says David Kirschner, the newly installed president of Hanna-Barbera. "If it's exploited again without care, it will again fall away." Should the field become glutted, the studios that are currently in love with cartoons might make a quick about-face and say, "That's all, folks." "

The question is when? And how bad? But I've started to wonder...with all the kids like me going into animation these days, if or when jobs start becoming scarce, how many of us are going to be able to be employed? It's a depressing thought, but all the more reason to take things like this seriously. People will call me naiive, but in most aspects of life I do not predict doom and gloom, and try to have faith that no matter what the circumstances, somehow things will work out, even if they aren't in the way we want them to. But cycles in any industry are part of the story. At least animation now is a much broader industry than before, with the growth of visual effects, games, and the internet. Will that have any effect?