Sorry for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks. Have been busy working. Anyways, I wanted to see what additional topics you'd like me to bring up. Sometimes if I don't get as much time to reply individual emails, I may be able to bring up some of those particular subjects so that it helps more people instead. I wanted to work on a this post I have in mind, but it's going to take some time to put it together. So, maybe pass me other topics for the meantime.
Also, this upcoming weekend is Totoro Forest Auction at Pixar. It looks to be a really exciting event. They asked me to photograph the event, so I'll be posting some pictures of it next week for those that don't get a chance to be there. They also added a Blog to their site, so be sure to check it out. Some of the artwork is more than impressive and certainly inspirational.
I hope everyone's week is rocking out. Don't forget to eat tons of food...especially the kinds you like most. :)
I wanted to talk a bit about TEXTURE. It's still something that's really difficult to put into words. So I'll do my best in passing what I know about it. I'm referencing the character of Feather's McGraw in the shortfilm "The Wrong Trousers" once again, beause of the simplicity of this film in many levels. Also because I can't get enough of this film and this character, period.
Now, one thing I wanted to point out, just because the character design seems simple, doesn't mean that what's achieved through this film and this acting is any less challenging. In some cases, it's even more challenging. Through the performance/timing/holds of this character I thought animator Steve Box more than succeeded in creating an interesting, misterious, rich and deep character, when all he had to work with was a simple ball, two flappy arms, two simple legs and dotted eyes. It goes to show you how skilled this animator is.
So first watch this clip from the short. I'm only going to be talking about what I thought of the performance and how the breakup of the timing really created the scene and added texture to the scene. Other elements such as the score and the direction played a big role in this segment. But the acting portion of Feathers is so strong already, I wanted to focus on this:
This character still blows me away. Ok, I thought this would be a good introduction to texture in movement/timing. Currently we have different things going on timing wise in here.
Feathers finishes his calculations. Starts to walk at a certain speed/timing. The timing of the walk almost feels as if Feathers is in a hurry to get somewhere.
The scene builds suspense as Feathers is aproximating the cardboard box.
Feathers suddenly stops and looks at the box. The move is really fast.
Feathers just holds there. Staring.
The score/cutting to Gromit's ECU do the rest in the next shot.
Feathers starts a different type of timing/feel on his walk. This time, the tilt side to side, is giving us a different attitude on the walk. Almost as if the walk is saying "who do we have here....". Note this walk is a lot slower than when he was in a hurry.
Comes to another pause. This time the timing and starting to look away is almost saying "oh, maybe it was nothing"
Starts to walk away again, this time with a walk with timing in between the hurry walk and the curious walk.
So, what the timing in the walks and pauses have given us, is some sort of texture. Think of it as a way to breakdown movement/timing. Not all walks are the same. There is contrast between one walk, the sudden turn...and instead of walking again fast, there is some nice slow walking. Basically almost giving us some musicality in the pace of the shot somehow. In terms of timing blocks, this shot in my head could almost be represented as follows:
You can almost plan out the pacing of your shot, and how fast things will go or not. At the very least, it'll give you an idea of the overall structure of your shot. Where do you want things to go fast, how about slow moments in your shot. But always remember to ask yourself WHY. Why are you choosing a particular moment to go slow (whether it's a walk, an action, an attitude). Is it because of the story? the personality of the character? a reaction to something that happened (like in the Feathers example).
So it's always good to step back at your shot...and think about what you are going to do with the shot. Not just performance wise...but also timing/pacing wise. Whichever way you want to represent it. I have found animating and testing shots to music sometimes helps in getting a better understanding on keeping an audience enganged through texture, through breaking things down in a shot. That way the audience won't be either bored with repetition, or exhausted/lost from trying to follow unexpected/uneven patters.
Somewhere in the middle. Have a great week everyone.
By far one of the most inspiring people I know in this industry. Do listen to this interview. It's more than inspirational to hear this from someone who's had so much experience, has seen so many things, and has put Pixar where it is. This interview is very genuine and also direct. And I find that very educational. Also I find it particularly great how he embraces making mistakes as part of the process, and part of taking risks.
Overall, this was an interview I really enjoyed listening to and wanted to pass this around. Ed Catmull may not make many interviews or talks, but whenever he does, he makes really unique and educational points.
It's been busy, but I have some useful stuff I'll be posting soon. In the meantime, check out this nice interview with Dan Lebental, editor of the film "IronMan". Some good info.
So much can be told in the editing...from the style of a film, to the pacing of the entire structure, the rhythm of the sequences...even editing can dictate the mood of a particular character's introduction. Therefore, the cutting is easily one of the most important parts of the process in making a film. So check out this three part interview. Dan Lebental - Part 1 Dan Lebental - Part 2 Dan Lebental - Part 3
This last week has been quite an special one. On Saturday we had the Summer 2008 Graduation...and well, I was more than blown away.
I laughed, I had an amazing time, I totally cried. I tried to keep it together since I cried in a previous Graduation that my parents and my niece came to from Spain. (Ok, fine...maybe I did cry in another one as well). However, I was doing so good in this one...until we found out in the very last minute, that the students had a surprise for us (I hope it's ok to show this and share this with everyone that wasn't there on Saturday):
So now it's my turn to thank you...back. Thank you for one of the best gifts we've ever gotten. Thank you for making me laugh/smile EVERY single time I watch this. Thank you for finding beautiful ways to make us continue giving/teaching. Thank you for the BEST community I've ever been priviledge to be part of. Thank you for making every minute working on the School, more than worth it. Thank you for the keeping us always inspired.
"I don't know how to draw. My drawings are too poor. Therefore I can't thumbnail or plan my shot properly"
So I wanted to bring up simplicity in the planning process. Just because your drawings are not refined, or are Picasso pieces of art, that doesn't mean it should stop you from being able to thumbnail your shot and plan it out more efficiently. I still feel like thumbnailing is one of those tools that allows me to road map my shot. Even if I'm still relying heavily on video reference...I've found, it's nice to have some poses/notes/thoughts on a piece of paper, next to the shot I'm working on.
My drawing skills are definitely not good ones. That doesn't stop me from planning my shot even if the drawings are fast drawings or really simple ones. Think of a Stick Figure style of drawing. It's just a circle, a bar for the spine, bars for the arms, legs...and if it helps, two bars for the shoulders and hips to see how one relates to the other.
I wanted to show a couple of examples of simple thumbs. Sometimes, even just a simple scribble or line will do to show an idea for an acting shot or a physical move. Things like the line of action of the spine are important to represent when planning shots. What's important is to focus on the IDEA...and hopefully show it through a simple drawing regardless of how good/bad the drawing is. Also depending on the design, things can also be simplified by drawing circles or squares.
This is really well represented in this next image, of a Yoga posture chart I found online. See how every pose reads almost immediately. And again, it's just using simple stick figure lines and a simple small line representing the nose and where the head is pointing at.
To finish, I wanted to show one of my favourite examples of amazing thumbnails where the idea/choices/enterntainment/posing is the priority, and not the details. These are thumbnails from animator Tasha Harris, former Pixar animator who worked on "Toy Story 2" (Thanks Tasha for letting me use these). This to me is a wonderful example of how the shot reads right away, the acting, the status and the personalities of both characters Woody and Jessie, without wasting any time in the details of the drawing itself.
Something to keep in mind when planning your shots. I hope this helps. Have a great week.
Carlos.
ps: Thanks to Kyu-bo Choi for translating this post to Korean:
For those who didn't have a chance to make it to the Webinar, I wanted to pass the link to where you can watch it. I again wanted to thank my co-workers especially for passing out reel tips from their experience, particularly Dawn Haagstad, Andrew Beall, Pamela Harbidge, Dylan Brown, Robin McDonald and Andrew Gordon. They have gone out of their way many times to share information with me, and this is something I more than appreciate. Additionally been pretty much writting notes from whoever I'd talk to on this particular matter. I wanted to make sure this information was upfront as I know how much it means to many people. I hope this helps.
My friend Eric passed me a link to some Puppet clips he's been gathering and analizing. Some great stuff, especially to those like me that are so much into that kind of stuff. As mentioned before, a lot can be learned from the simplicity of these. Definitely check it out. Thanks Eric.
One of the hardest areas in CG in my opinion is the finished part of a shot. You can present your ideas clearly, but you also do have to be efficient as to how these ideas are properly displayed. It goes in many ways. In some ways I refer to it in the cleaning portion of things, but in other ways I'm also thinking as to where/how are we spending time in finishing our shots.
Attention to Detail is on those things that really takes time but that should be taken into account in every single shot we animate.
I found this shot from "The Third Man" (1949), a Carol Reed/Graham Green film that was notoriously famous by its cinematography...but that also for me had a lot of other useful learning material. This particular shot I wanted to point out about attention to detail. Pay close attention to the hands:
The amount of detail that goes into the way the hands are moving, is something that you don't get to see in CG as often. Especially on body parts like hands where so many controls are at and you have to be a lot more organized. In this case, noticed how the shot is so much more alive by the details of the hands interacting. However, when I look at this shot, these details don't take away from the acting. Instead, the details add to it:
they add texture.
they keep things alive.
they add character (combined in this clip with strong posing/timing).
they play well in the context of the character/dialogue.
they let other areas breath (such as the part "do keep out of touble").
they are not overdone.
When putting details and polishing shots, a few things I've noticed throughout the years:
Detail should be placed economically. Makes no sense to put a ton of detail/polish on something like foot work, when the focus of the acting is in the acting/upper part of the body and compositionally, you barely get to look elsewhere. So be economical as to where to put detail, especially if you are under deadlines.
Be clean about it (curves). This always starts on the driving forces of whichever part of the body you are animating. The moment you start putting detail to an area that to begin with is not as clean, the result may end up being all over the place.
Details/polish should never take attention away from the action/acting itself. This is a fine line I've had to learn overtime...and something you see often in CG.
Be careful how much is too much. Sometimes we can get carried away when adding details on a drag, an overlap, facial work, weight, etc...so be careful about putting too much detail when it may not be as necessary.
I'm going away for a few days. Not sure how much access to internet I'll have while away or if I'll be able to post anything. Been also busy a bunch at work these last few weeks. So the little extra time left, it's been nice playing more with pictures in general. It's been good learning for me in general, especially camera/composition/feel which I find it really interesting and helps me for other things I'm working on.
Additionally, keep bringing those questions you may have. I do get emails asking several different questions, so to help everyone else I'm trying to answer some of those questions through the blog whenever I find the time. So keep the questions/feedback coming and I'll try my best to answer.
On a different topic. I'm sure you guys know these sites, but just in case, be sure to check them out as they are posting really good stuff lately. I would of flip out if I had access to this kind of information back 10 years ago. So take advantage of it:
