Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Like-Minded Bodies

Lately I've been going bananas over this piece animated by Pixar's Michal Makarewicz for a lecture he gave some time ago for Animation Mentor:



Like most things that intrigue me, I immediately wanted to analyze it. Initially I wanted to break down its narrative phrases, maybe write about acting patterns (because this has a good one), but that made me want to write up a quick post about something that I've been thinking about more and more-- character arcs. Specifically, the way in which a character's emotional arc is mirrored in their physical arc.

Now, there are countless great examples of this sort of thing in both live action and animated films, and maybe I'll write more extensively on the subject later on, but for now I'm just going to dig into this one piece.

Short as this shot is, it provides the character with a nice emotional arc-- he starts off hushed and timid, gains some backbone, becoming tenacious and inquisitive, before escalating into straight-up enraged. There's your character arc. Easy peasy, lemon squeezey (I heard that in a movie once).

Now, what makes this piece so well done is the manner in which that character arc is manifested physically. Check it out:


Quiet, timid, feels his fate is at the mercy of external forces...


Gains some backbone (literally and figuratively)...


Acquisition of backbone begets inquisitivity, no longer so timid, determined to take control of his fate...


Escalation...


Frustrated, Enraged.

Aside from the poses being so well constructed, and the arcs being so beautifully clean, the character moves seamlessly through this progression of poses, these physicalisations of emotion. You can't animate emotions, after all. Only actions. But that's another post entirely...

Anyway, it's something to be mindful of-- mirroring a character's thought process through physical action. It's the sort of thing that separates the good stuff from the really good stuff.

-Lucas

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Reelin'

Aloha!

I have emerged with a new reel. Links are for chumps, so I'm just going to post it right here. And there ain't nothin' you can do about it.

I've also posted a reel breakdown in the sidebar to your right (in pdf), for those interested.

Enjoy!




-L

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Evolution of Monsters

I had the pleasure of stumbling on this some time ago, and really wanted to share it. Pixar is known for spending roughly the first two years of every five-year production just working out the story, but aside from the odd deleted scene, or a vague mention of some scrapped idea in a podcast interview, we're rarely privy to these films' earlier iterations. That's why I was so intrigued when I found the original treatment for Monsters, Inc. posted on YouTube. Written and narrated by Pete Docter, I find this a thrilling insight into Pixar's darwinian story process.

PART 1


PART 2



More blog posts a-comin' soon!
-L

On Bow-Taking

I'm going to take a moment just to address something that has been bothering me, and has bothered me for some time. It's about us; animators.

As we all know, animators fufill the acting duties on any-- no, wait-- every animated film, tv show, video game, or whathaveyou. Animators are actors. I realise that many (most) non-animation types might not grasp that (at least not until it is pointed out to them-- usually by an animator), but what bothers me is that many animators don't give themselves the credit of being an actor. In behind-the-scenes interviews, or making-of documentaries, I'm constantly hearing animators articulate their jobs on the film, then undermining their own achievements with a bashful "we're basically like actors" or "kind of like actors" or "not at all like actors we just push buttons and the movie happens thank god for the voice talent." Well, not so much that last one, but in saying that you are "basically-kind-of-like" an actor, you negate all the tremendous acting work that goes into your animation.

Animation is comprised of many different things (physics, body mechanics, arcs, appeal, etc) and you wouldn't call yourself a physicist, but animation is-- at its core-- about performance. You know, kind of like acting. I think that it's important that we, as animators, stand tall and take credit for the performances we create. Isn't it bad enough that voice actors get all the credit? Next time someone asks, don't shy away from the fact that as an animator you are an actor. Own it!

-L