Another round of Ask the Pro starts on November 26th and ends on Friday November 30th. This time, we will be having Mike Belzer of Disney Feature Animation joining us. Prepare your questions and don't miss this opportunity to ask that burning question to our guest.
Mike Belzer has been animating since he was 12 years old. His first animation job was on the "New Gumby Adventures" series in '87. He spent several years after Gumby animating after school specials, TV pilots, and numerous commercials including such icons as Hershey Kisses, Listerine bottles, and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Mike then began to animate on feature films. These films included "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "James and the Giant Peach" , "Walt Disney's Dinosaur" , "Kangaroo Jack"and most recently was the animation supervisor on Disney's "Meet the Robinsons".
When not busy with his wife and four children, Mike enjoys giving lectures and workshops in both Stop Motion and Computer animation. He has given these not only to numerous local schools, but also to studios and festivals as far away as Canada, Santo Domingo, London, Denmark, Germany, Guadalajara and Rio de Janeiro. Mike has also been a Mentor at Animation Mentor.com since the beginning.
Mike not only enjoys what he does for a living but also finds great pleasure in helping others to learn more about animation. He hopes to continue to grow in the field of animation while helping others along the way.
This forum is closed to everyone except Mike until Monday November 26th. At that time, you will be able to come in and post your message.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2007, 06:38:01 AM by Rick May »
This forum is now open to all registered and activated members.
Welcome to another week of Ask the Pro with Mike Belzer of Disney Feature! Starting now and lasting until Friday evening, you can post your questions for Mike. Please be patient and allow him time.
Would you be able to share with us your thought process accompanied with a possible check lists behind planning out a scene, before touching the computer?
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After all these years of animating , is there somewhere or someone that inspires you to keep learning about animation? Thanks Mike! -Steve
This is a great question to kick this off with. As far as process goes I think the number one thing to do is be clear about your actions/ideas. If you are not clear than your character and your audience will not see it either.
So take time to figure the best way to approach your shot. Understand the story of what is going on, where are you coming from and going to. Act it out, thumbnail, video reference. The point it do more than go with your first impression of what you think the character should do. Don’t cheat the audience by taking the easy way out.
After I thumbnail, act out and sometimes video record I’ll do a phrasing pass. This is where I block in the key poses to the shot to see how it is working. I’ll most likely go back in to strengthen the poses later but this will be the building blocks of the shot.
I work linear but shoot out my images with keys only. This way I see it in what looks like stepped mode but once I put breakdowns in the linear process gets me closer to the poses I’m looking for.
From here it’s adding breakdowns, refining main poses and adjusting timing.
Once I feel it’s pretty close I switch to spline mode and spend a fair amount of time cleaning up the crap that the computer gives me.
Then it’s onto the final steps of finesse and refinement of poses and checking arcs and whatnot.
That’s it in a nutshell as far as my approach. That said I don’t thing there is any one way that is right or wrong. If the results are on the screen, that’s all that matters.
As far as inspiration… it comes from so many places for me. My children are a constant library to draw from. I can’t get enough film… watch all kinds of films. Live action, animation and don’t forget CHAPLIN!!! I get inspired from his work every time.
For animation specific… I just love doing it and constantly pulling people in to help better my work. I’m also very inspired by students. I teach at Animation Mentor.com and I’m constantly blown away at both he quality of work and pure energy that comes from that school. I also love going to different festivals, schools, and studios and just geek out and talk about animation. I don’t grow tired of this art form. When I do I guess it’ll be time to go into another line of work. Till then I’m loving animating.
Thanks for the great questions.
I also want to thank Rick for turning me onto such a cool site and letting me be a part of it. Mike
I have a question that bugs me and would like to put it to you.
I love to draw and it it is a massive part of my process I believe in great design and character, yet I hear advice given to "CG" animators to only concentrate on animation like it is a seperate thing.
I believe drawing and "seeing" enrich animation and should not be discarded. It seems to be a product of the CG age.
I know the CG procees is a long one so even more reason to have a strong sense of design and characte I feel. People may misread this advice "only concentrate on animation."
I'm not saying you have to be the greatest draughtman in the world, or you must draw, entertainment is more important. Learning the design process certainly enriches us as artists and I feel and is very important in learning this stuff.
What is your take on it?
thanks
darren
« Last Edit: November 27, 2007, 12:46:26 AM by darren oakes »
Could you tell us what a typical day on the job as animation supervisor on Meet The Robinsons was like? I realize this was quite a time ago, so feel free to make something up if you don't remember exactly.
Hi Mike, thanks a lot for taking the time to share some ideas with us.
My questions are, what are the difficulties of a supervisor animator, if there is any, since the animators at Disney are pretty good.
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You mentioned before to watch all kinds of movies, specially Chaplin, but I usually get a little lost in what to study in those films, can you give us some advice for some key elements that I should look for in movies?
As to your question about… I love to draw and it is a massive part of my process I believe in great design and character, yet I hear advice given to "CG" animators to only concentrate on animation like it is a seperate thing.
WRONG!!! It certainly is true that you need not be the strong draftsman that you need to be in 2-D but there is so much to communicate with drawing. To be able to explore your shot before staring thumbnails is so important. This is a weakness of mine and I wish someone had told me “LEARN TO DRAW!!” To be able to communicate a quick idea to a co-worker, supervisor or director is very important in this visual world we work in. Also if you =ever get in the role of supervising a character it is very important to communicate what you want the character to move like for rigging, facial shapes for modeling/rigging. Talking about them can take you so far but as they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. Right now my pictures are only worth about 89 but I’m continuing to work on it.
I believe drawing and "seeing" enrich animation and should not be discarded. It seems to be a product of the CG age.
I agree with this as well. I believe through drawing you learn anatomy, composition, line quality for posing out a character and appeal. It’s such a rich tool it should not be discarded because you are in CG or even puppet animation for that matter.
I know the CG process is a long one so even more reason to have a strong sense of design and character I feel. People may misread this advice "only concentrate on animation."
To be a well-rounded artist will only strengthen you. I thin those who say you don’t need to draw have issues themselves with drawing. Again I am one who struggles with drawing… but I see the great importance it has in a visual medium that we work in.
I'm not saying you have to be the greatest draughtman in the world, or you must draw, entertainment is more important. Learning the design process certainly enriches us as artists and I feel and is very important in learning this stuff.
Well put. Bottom line… just because you are in a visual art form that does not show your drawings, it’s an important process to learn and know so that your talents will only become stronger.
Mike, Could you tell us what a typical day on the job as animation supervisor on Meet The Robinsons was like? I realize this was quite a time ago, so feel free to make something up if you don't remember exactly.
Thanks! Rick
Hi Rick
I don't think there is a typical day doing that job. The majority of it is putting out fires. As the project moves forward the job changes. In the beginning there are countless meeting to discuss how things are to be set up. Once the ball gets rolling and we are in production my day would typically begin around 5 or 6 where I could get through email and plan for the day and perhaps get some animation time in. Then by 9 or so we would have a dailies where all the animators and the director would look at shots in progress as well as shots going for final. Then the day goes into meeting overdrive. Things like… Casting of shots Meet with modelers Meet with riggers Meetings with other departments to trouble shoot sequences coming up Looking at what is coming out of layout Look at what is coming out of final More animation approval rounds Meetings about meetings (or at least it felt like it) Meetings with upper management And of course always putting out fires and issues that pop up all day long.
Then sometime around 6-8 I’d get a chance to sit and do some animation until whenever.
I guess it’s hard to put down in words the day in and day out because it’s constantly shifting and changing. It was a busy schedule for a few years but fun.
If there was time sleeping, eating and hanging out with the family was a good thing. In the 3 years I was on the project I never worked a Saturday. I’d burn the oil during the week but the weekend was time for my family. It’s a tough balance to find and I don’t think I was ever able to satisfy both family and work. Thankfully I have an understanding family for the job I had. Although it was a rollercoaster at times… it was fun.
Thanks, Mike
« Last Edit: November 28, 2007, 02:54:46 AM by Rick May »
Hi Mike, thanks a lot for taking the time to share some ideas with us.
My questions are, what are the difficulties of a supervisor animator, if there is any, since the animators at Disney are pretty good.
I think one of the most difficult aspects to being a supervising animator is time management. Being able to guide others along the way with the shots that they have while still being able to get the work done that is on your plate as well. I know for some supervisors they would have to post set times during the day to look at work. Since there may be multiple people working on your character it is conceivable that you will be asked throughout the day to check work. This makes it tough t find a rhythm of your own on the shots you’re working on.
One other aspect that is challenging is letting he animator who is working on your character bring something of their own to the table and not tell them exactly what to do. Controlling animators to the frame is frustrating to say the least and allows for no creative freedom on their behalf. Finding that balance of giving them guidance to the character and specifics needed for the shot and yet being flexible and open to their creative ideas.
You mentioned before to watch all kinds of movies, specially Chaplin, but I usually get a little lost in what to study in those films, can you give us some advice for some key elements that I should look for in movies? Again, thanks a lot,
Artur
I like to look at acting choices that different actors make. Subtle nuances that how one actor may bit his lip when being contemplative or where a character is looking when being confronted. There are so many things to watch for it would be to many to list. Look at how a shot is staged. The timing of how one character is working off of another character in the scene allowing one another to have their moment. Look at the comedic timing of a specific action. An example I love to show when I lecture on Chaplin is a scene in Modern Times. Chaplin is in jail and he is in the mess hall and he has this interplay with his large cellmate over a battle of who gets to eat a piece of bread. It all happens in one shot and it’s beautiful. The timing and clarity of actions is as close to perfect as I think you can get.
Bottom line is to be open and be a sponge and soak up all that film has to offer. Look at the film as a whole. Look at it frame by frame, in slow motion, without sound… these are all ways to see things in different ways. One other trick that is interesting to try is listening to a film without looking at the picture. Plan it out in your minds eye as to how you would approach a scene and then look at how the actors chose to act it out. The results will surprise you.
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