Art of Glen Keane
In case you haven't been on this site yet, check out these sweet animation tests (thanks Andrew Shannon!).
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
There Will Be Blood - Trailer
Check out the new trailer for P.T. Anderson's "There Will be Blood". Daniel Day-Lewis is always awesome. If you want reference for great acting, watch any of his movies. I love the end of the trailer, how his expression changes before "... people". That's why I love pauses during dialogue clips, it gives you the opportunity to do stuff like that.
Go to Apple for the trailer.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Homework for Friday/Saturday
Hey guys,
so here a quick recap about the homework and new info for the class ditchers and Pixar attendees :)
For Friday and no later than Saturday, think about a topic or technique or anything else that you need to know about your shots, animation, work flow, etc.
I got a question before about moving holds, or how do you keep them once you go from stepped to linear/spline, how do you keep something alive during holds, how many keys do I set during blocking, etc.
So instead of doing a demo about one little thing, I wanted to hear from all of you guys first so that I get an overview of what you are missing. That way I can prepare little movies and demos for next class.
Depending on the amount of questions, critique might get a bit shorter in class, but bring all your work and drop it into the usual folder. I'll take it home and will continue the critique that night so that everybody gets feedback Thursday night/Friday morning.
Thanks!
JD
Brad Bird interview about "Ratatouille" Blu-Ray
Great passage from this Brad Bird Interview:
What do you think of the motion-capture films, like Beowulf?
Brad Bird: I think that Mo-Cap is a wonderful tool. Just look at how Peter Jackson used it, to see how affective it can be. I think the dirty little secret of Mo-Cap is that the little things that you really like have been massaged by animators. With Gollum, Andy Serkis did a wonderful job of physicalizing that character. I think that is brilliant. I also know that those scenes were massaged a lot, to look the way they do, by animators. Several of the most emotional moments with Gollum were key-framed. The animators looked at Andy, but they didn't use the Mo-Cap. They key-framed it. The scene that impressed me the most, where Frodo calls him Smigel, and Gollum goes, "What did you call me?" "Your real name." And Gollum thinks, "My name? My name?" And he starts to remember this part of himself that he has forgotten. You can see it in his eyes. And it's magnificent. I found out that it was entirely animated. It was not Mo-Cap. That's what people "don't" talk about. And I think it does a tremendous disservice to animators. There is nothing wrong with animation. Animators are not technicians. They are artists. They think about performance. I would implore actors to consider animators as brethren. We use different techniques, but we are just as much about the way someone stands, what they are thinking, are they hiding their thoughts? Is that depicted in their eyes? So, I feel like, if you don't muck with Mo-Cap, you don't get the performance from the actors, and you don't get the characteristics of anime. The best Mo-Cap I have seen has all been mucked with by animators. Much the same way the best roto-scope in Disney's time was mucked with. I'm not against Mo-Cap. But I think it has limitations if you don't mess with it.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Jae Ham Reel 2007
Reminder: Movie File Size and Audio Clips
Try to keep your movie file sizes small (especially when you send them to me).
Once you did the playblast in Maya, open that .avi movie in quicktime. Then go to File>Export..., choose Movie to Quicktime Movie, then Options. Under Settings use H.264, Key Frames: Every 100 Frames, Quality around 65. OK all that and save the file. Voila.
Audio clips. Please do not use clips from other animated movies and other students (especially in your class), make an effort to be original.
Tata
JD
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Dennis Muren
"The New Yorker" got a clip of Dennis Muren, who's been at ILM for over 30 years, talking about his career. Isn't he the only living artist with the most Oscars?
There are breakdowns of shots in "War of the Worlds" and "Pirates 2", . It's always sweet to see that. Except the part where he goes "The performance comes through. It's not being interpreted by an animator". Riiiiiight.
It's not character animation related per se, but still worth a look.
Daniel Chou
Sorry for the lack of posting. Halloween parties, project wrap up at work, a (probably) broken toe, enjoying the iPod Touch, geeking out on the Indy TV show, etc. so many distractions...
In the meantime, check out Daniel Chou's site and blog. Very cool! - found @ Cookedart
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