The Making of Tangled - Soho, London.

What an absolutely amazing evening! These events rarely come by England, so it was something I couldn't help but get excited about - Walt Disney Animation Studios were in town!!! = D

It was an absolute pleasure meeting Clay Kaytis and Mohit Kallainpur. They gave a fantastic talk on the types of challenges the crew faced when making Tangled. Character development, shot progression videos, environment choices, light and colour direction, and a treasure trove of Jin Kim and Glen Keane sketches and draw overs. 

Showing so much awe inspiring content, it was an evening of inspiration that I'll be carrying with me for years to come. 

... i even got my book signed. ^_^

Me and Clay Kaytis (Animation Supervisor)

Me with Clay and Mohit Kallainpur (Lighting and Look Director)

Acting Test - "The Idea" (blocking)

The Audio clip's in, and the blocking's finished! Have had some great feedback along the way so here's progress so far.

Next steps - the first spline pass!

The audio search begins...

I've been wanting to complete an acting piece for a long time now, and although I've shoe boxed so many attempts due to time, I'm determined to finish one!

What I forgot, was how much time I need to invest trying to find a sound clip I find interesting, has enough juice to take further during animation, has clean sound, and hopefully contains an emotional beat change.

What I have found in my search though are these! A friend of mine at work passed them on to me as a suggestion. And my... they're pretty awesome! The main trouble I'm having with them though is the fast edits and background music. Making it very difficult to give enough padding at the start and end of the audio.

Still... they're funny to watch and great reference! I love the pained expression of Raleigh in the second video (22 seconds in) as he searches for the words in his head! He tries so hard to stay positive but his body language screams uncomfort. Brilliant.






So although these might not be packed full of theatrical performance, I love how genuine they sound and all the speech nuances as they mess up their lines, speaking faster than they can think.

Muybridge Exhibition Visit

I'm glad I made time to visit the Tate Britain Muybridge Exhibition this month. It was great to see his work on a larger scale and read into his life stories. It wasn't long before my wrists were slapped by museum curators so not many photos unfortunately, I did however come away with a nice bit of holographic swag though! ^_^

CTN Animation Expo 2010

What more can I say about this event apart from it being absolutely astonishing!!! A friend (Owen Williams) and I went over to LA to attend the event, never before did I imagine being able to meet so many of my heroes all in one place! The event was kick ass and filled with so many passionate people; I never thought I’d have the opportunity to hang out and catch up with animators from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Warner Bros, Blue Sky, Sony, ILM, and so many other great studios. Not only that but we made some great friends during our adventures. = )

Here are just some highlights!

Registration:

Us with Andreas Deja:

Me and Dean DeBlois:

Me and Eric Goldberg:

Us and Sergio Pablos:

Us with John Nevarez and his wife (nicest people ever!):

Dreamworks reception:

Inside Dreamworks with Steve Hickner:

Outside Disney Animation Studios:

Inside Nickelodeon with Oggy (what a cool guy!):

Some new friends!

-As you might guess, I can't wait 'till next year's event! = D

Kitsu - Hunted

So here's as far as I took it!

As you can see a fair few things changed when compared to the blocking - proof that not everything ends as intended! It's not far off though.

I took a lot from this, but most importantly - a scene presented without context can definitely make or break how it's understood by an audience. Fact is in a piece like this the audience doesn't see the 'setup' (what happened before the scene - regardless of how much thought went into it). Feedback from others shows I should have went all out around the set theme to help ensure things are clearly understood and not too thought out.

Kitsu - Hunted (blocking)

I figured it's about time i posted this stuff, it's been on my list a while. In an attempt to clear the sheet in time for the new year here's a quick overview of how this next test came about... At work we hold after hours animation sessions where we show inspiring work found recently, and talk about anything animation related. It was at one of these sessions we decided to set an animation exercise for us all to learn and strengthen our animations skills from. The rules were simple...

Animate a 120 frame piece at 30 fps around an agreed theme - 'Hunted'.
  
This was my blocking (not properly timed):

And some failing reference - proof that animation can CAN be dangerous! = D
 

Felicity Loveshot - Jump Out

This anim turned out pretty close to the blocking actually. I just wish I'd explored more ideas with other people before starting on the piece. There were a lot of good suggestions thrown around from altering how she might jump out, to alternative ideas on her final pose. I guess that's the beauty of these tests, I learn a little more with each one! :)