Hey Doug, Are you folks at Disney doing anything to keep the old school Animator/Assistant Animator heirarchy from the 2d days (where the "animators" sets the keys and come up with the timing charts and then hand it off to an "assistant animator" to work the inbetweens and final)? Or are the animators on CL expected to do everything from start to finish, right on out to polish? Just curious because I'm aware that for Sharktale Dreamworks tried to make some accomodation to keep that old school heiarchy with the animator/asst. thing.
Thanks for the info.
-k
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keith lango storyteller/animator www.keithlango.com
I was just wondering, is there any shots you have done, or supervised that you are most proud of that stand out over the others?
Also, have you made any mistakes in your career that would be good advice for inexperienced animators to know (such as moving for jobs, not learning a certain technique or things like that)?
And Finally,
Do you miss Tim Hortons ?
« Last Edit: August 27, 2004, 02:24:47 PM by Christopher Kerr »
We did try that out but it didn't seem to work the way it did in 2d. Whether that was due to CG folks' different work habits, or the fact that people who are new to CG don't feel comfortable yet handing off assistant work, or maybe like me, I never really used assistants for that kind of thing, even in traditional. The assistants on CL ended up doing crowd scene animation mostly and some other stuff.
I think the Sharktale system was mainly due to Ken Duncan and Oskar Urretabizkaia setting it up that way. Ken has pretty well managed to duplicate his workflow from traditional to CG, achieving great results as far as quality and speed. Oskar did the same, and in fact he was the supervisor of B.E.N. on Treasure Planet and that was the way he worked even then.
So it certainly can work, and there is an argument to be made that it can help increase productivity.
I do have a few favourites that I would put on a reel. One character I really enjoyed animating was B.E.N. on Treasure Planet. I know lots of people trashed that movie and that character (lots of Martin Short haters out there) but I thought lots of his lines were funny. I did the "was I ever dancing with an android named Lupe" scene. That was fun to do. And there are a few shots on Chicken Little that I got a kick out of animating, but you'll have to wait for that one.
I suppose I am very fortunate that I don't feel I have done anything really wrong that I regret. Life's not about regrets is it?
And no I don't miss Tim Hortons. We have Krispy Kreme here. But I do miss Swiss Chalet, Harveys, California Sandwiches (oh those veal sandwiches!!), the Friendly Greek, Johnny's ( V.P. and Sheppard) and living in the Beaches.
I think the Sharktale system was mainly due to Ken Duncan and Oskar Urretabizkaia setting it up that way. Ken has pretty well managed to duplicate his workflow from traditional to CG, achieving great results as far as quality and speed. Oskar did the same, and in fact he was the supervisor of B.E.N. on Treasure Planet and that was the way he worked even then.
So it certainly can work, and there is an argument to be made that it can help increase productivity.
Right, I've been fortunate to see Ken & Oskar demo their workflow and rigs and found it to be an intriguing effort. One certainly can't argue with the results from them, the quality of their work is exceedingly tasty! But I also see where other (often Cg centric) animators like finishing up their own scenes, myself being one of them. What used to be assistants now seem to be juniors who end up doing secondary or as you noted BG characters in crowd scenes. It seems to be the CG equivalent of doing your time as an assistant, a safe place to learn at the hands of those who know their business and still contribute to the project in a meaningful fashion.
It's kinda cool to know that there exists the ability to make both work, breaking down the barriers between old and new, allowing talent to shine. And that's always a good thing.
Thanks for the info and best of succes on CL!
-k
ps: so that's how you spell his last name.
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keith lango storyteller/animator www.keithlango.com
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