PURE. PAYDIRT. Beginning with some networking I did at the afterparty the night previous, again, more teachers from other schools, I got to compare notes and got a lot of really good tips with my comparing notes. Biggest highlight of that networking, I got an NFB animator (Paton Francis, mentioned him earlier) to want to come speak at our school! He specializes in 2D animation, Flash animation, and Stop motion animation, which is quite an interesting combination. When, is something I need to work out with him when I return from the festival. I also have other candidates who were interested in doing the same, I am following up with them to confirm.
Now the best part of this paydirt day was easily the Disney/Pixar panel about 'how to make an animated short' On hand they had the Directors Teddy Newton (Director/creator of the Pixar short 'Day and Night' which preimiered in front of Toy Story 3) and DeanWilliams (Director/creator of the Disney short Tick Tock Tale.
The panel on Day and Night was an interesting look at the creative process, how to really get a ball rolling on something, starting with simply looking at things differently. It sounds so simple, and it's something I am very guilty of taking for granted, showing again how overcomplexifying any aspect of the process can conststrain your creativity. To illustrate this point, he introduced what he called 'the squiggle game' Where we would draw a.. random swooping squiggle (Very technical term!) and then, give it to another artist, who will take that squiggle, and use it as the base of a drawing. What do they see in shapes? Where will they take it? He
showed us one squiggle that produced no less than 12 completely different drawings out of the shapes that line provided. Totally mind blowing simplicity. Needless to say I'm bringing this exercise (among many others) back to the classroom for my students!
The Panel on Tick Tock Tale was equally interesting, this particular director says it's the first 3D short he's done, he's worked only in 2D up to that point. Dean: "It's a whole different thing! transisitoning from 2D to 3D. Normally I can just draw something down and be done with it, but now I find myself worrying about so many other things, like what a lightswitch cover is going to look like, how it needs to be textured, how a scuff on a shoe is going to look, what kind of materials actually make certain things look right. but what it does really lend itself to is actual environment, this really changed my line of thinking. I can't fudge small things in the background, and everything actually has to be built. It's a wholly different proccess than I'm used to. "He went on also to mention things that were the same, effective and plausible design of elements, and most importantly, something I stress very hard to my students: RESEARCH and lots of it! He described how he did research on the time period, the location (London in this case) what actually makes the aesthetic, people and clock proffessionals he spoke to to understand clocks and their workings, all the reference pictures he needed to take, so on and so forth.
I had the privelege of meeting them all, talking for a bit and even got them to sign some of my newfound Disney swag. That whole panel was a privelege. Such good insight into the creative proccess. Like so much, more on that when I return!
I was able to take in a Storyboard workshop as well. Though it was partly to showcase new industry software that's REALLY streamlining the process (I'm seriously considering adding this software to the school's regular lineup, but I want to evaluate it firsthand myself before I really give it a reccomendation) But when we weren't going over how this peice of software makes many aspects of boarding easier, and quicker there was a basic rundown of effective storyboarding, which was quite refreshing for me. A lot of questions came up centering around 'How do I board for such and such a genre' and got a surprisingly effective answer! Using horror as an example. To build effective horror, try watching a horror movie, like Alien, but on mute. without sound, you won't get caught up in the movie (especially a good one) but you can pay attention to the camera work, the angles used to build tension (in this case, usually just offset enough to not be natural, enough to make things not right. But the biggest thing in this genre is timing and pacing. Building tension and shattering it without the audience seeing it coming. Another major thing is framing your shot. A scary shot from the first
Terminator movie when he's rising from the fire. Look at how its framed. The heroes are in the shot, but there's a strange space in the frame that's not occupied by anything. This keeps the audience from buying into the joy our heroes are feeling, and tells us something isn't right. Sound advice!
The next workshop I took in at first was something I wasn't expecting to be offered. An Introduction to Voice Acting! Needless to say, I was interested. We did a lot of voice exercises and we began with finding the character, based soley on the illustration. These exercises, along with more suggestions, I fully plan on using in my Acting for Animation unit, as well as lipsyncing! for instance, one exercise; One of the easiest ways to get into a characters head is something I would have taken totally for granted! The Laugh. First, assume the pose and body language of the character you are about to act and analyze. Then, Laugh like you think they would.
Like everything else you do in animation, you cannot be tentative about it, really embrace it. Once you think you have it, simply introduce the character. (IE 'my name is Megatron, and I'm happy to be here') It's hard to communicate in type, it's something more easily understood in person, as my students are going to find! even topics, such as how to find a job in this field, where and how to find an agent, how to find and network with directors who are in need of voice talent, and it goes on! Needless to say, I got a lot out of this.
Afterwards there was another afterparty and the awards ceremonies for all the shorts that were screened and won the votes. Of course there were shorts that won in their catgories that I didn't think shoulda won, but that happens every festival I go to. Ironically, ranting about winnings ends up being another great way to meet and greet like minded people and do some more last minute networking (like the owner of Pilartoons, another 2D animation company specializing in Flash, and reconnecting, if only briefly to the Disney / Pixar directors from the earlier panel) but I've told so many networking stories this week, I'm not going to bore you all with another one, it's about time to wrap this mission up!
All in all, I got a lot out of this festival, a great deal of which made me change the way I think about teaching my classes, GREATLY enhanced my professional network and it's hard to beleive it's over already. As sad as I am to leave this wonderful world, I can't wait to get back into the class and start putting everything I got here to use! I'm sure my students will enjoy it as well.
Well, as it's been famously said in cartoons, That's all, Folks! I'll see you all upon my return tomorrow!
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