alexiss dawn

Less than two weeks away from the opening of Ice Age 3, and several clips are popping up. Here’s the latest!

Just saw this over on the Puhala’s blog — a new set of shots from IA3! It’s soooo great to be seeing the final works coming out combining a bunch of our shots together. I’ll admit it’s kind of surreal to see some of the shots I worked on all finished up!

Meet Buck!

EDIT: And another clip! Meet the cast!

EDIT AGAIN: One more clip — “One Angry Fossil!”

ANOTHER EDIT: “Mommy!”

Got together with some local animators to see Up this last weekend…

Now I’ve never considered myself a Pixar fanboy — err, girl — and I go to see almost every animated film that is released despite the studio. Every studio has its up and downs in films and due to personal tastes, some we like better than others. That said, I have to say that Up caught me by surprise and may very well make it into my favorite animated films list.

*Now if you haven’t seen Up yet, quit reading and skip to the end. If you don’t, there may be potential spoilers, and it’s not my fault if you continue to keep reading. *

The first 15 minutes or so of the film are beautiful. That short part in itself could be a short film. It’s beautifully executed and shows in depth the relationship between Carl and Ellie. When she passes, it’s an ah-ha moment for the audience as to explain Carl’s current disposition. The film definitely wouldn’t have as much depth if they hadn’t explained why he was such a recluse old man.

The up beat, cheery attitude of Russell is a great contrast to the more negative Carl. His nonstop talking compliments Carl’s quietness. Their beginning treks in the jungle are a great back and forth. And they certainly captures the little kid essence well — complaining that he hurt himself, that he has to use the bathroom, and changing dispositions on a whim.

The film was simple and that’s one of the things that made it beautiful. It seemed to have a similar tie to Wall-E as it didn’t necessitate constant dialogue, but was able to tell the story by pure pantomime a lot of the time, thereby not overwhelming the audience. Even in that beginning fifteen minutes, there is so much emotion expressed, and a large story told, with very, very little dialogue. Driving a story with dialogue is one thing and can be beautiful as well, but there’s something special about driving a story by pantomime that shows a beautiful craft.

The little surprises through out the film had me laughing quite a bit. Alpha, the main evil dog, had me laughing when he first spoke. I did NOT expect that voice. And the discovery of Kevin’s “true” identity accompanied by Russell’s reaction was a great combination. The dogs’ short attention spans, and Dug’s way of talking…

Of course, there are places things could have been changed or tweaked, as with any film. Every person would approach the film differently, but I think Pete Doctor did a pretty dang great job at making such an obscure story believable, relatable, and lovable.

*End of spoilers.*

But above everything else, the biggest thing that hit me that night when I saw it wasn’t from the film itself, but from reactions of people in the audience. Right behind us there was a little boy, about five or six years old, who couldn’t help but bust a gut laughing. His attention was kept the entire film and during the credits even he was watching intently, pointing, and laughing hysterically. It was a big moment for me — THAT is why we do what we do. Seeing the reactions from people and making those little kids laugh hysterically and actually sit through a good hour and a half worth of a show.

It’s been quite a while since an update! I’m still alive and kicking.

Work is going great. I really have the best job in the world at Lumenas and have the great opportunity of working with an amazing team — a true blessing. It’s been great seeing things fall into place and see our company grow. The end result is going to be stunning.

I’m a Springboard mentor at Animation Mentor this term. Springboard is a class available before starting at AM in class 1, to learn about Maya and get used to the technical aspects of the massive application before diving into animation. It’s filled with info that I didn’t learn until class 4 when I bought some Digital Tutors DVDs to learn more about Maya. It’s definitely an excellent resource for those not familiar with Maya.

In other non-animation-related news, I’ve started a photoblog. It’s been wonderful being able to get back to some hobbies after work and have time to pursue them. Spring time is slowly creeping in here in Utah and you can’t help but get outside on those beautiful days.

Things at Lumenas are pushing ahead well. We’re continuing to do tests and play with new character rigs as they come out. We’re recording our voice actors bit by bit, so it’s been a lot of fun so far to do tests with dialogue clips and see our characters really start to come to life. We also worked on a few shots from a sequence in the movie and got to see them rendered. My oh my it’s beautiful. We’re taking a whole new approach and I think it’s going to pay off big time. The Lumenas family is smaller than those at big studios, but it’s amazing what we’re pushing out. I can’t wait until we get something out there publicly for all of you to see.

As a side note, there’s going to be a new Ice Age 3 trailer next week attached to Monsters Vs Aliens. So that gives you more reason to go see it next Friday. This time around you’re going to get to meet some of the new characters and actually get some info about what this movie is about. Time for the dinos!

So stay tuned, keep animating, keep living, and if you’re in that part of the world that’s going into Spring, enjoy that sun!

It’s up on Apple’s site now. Nice long sequence for you guys as the new trailer! And it’s even available in good ol’ HD. Go check it out!

edit: Here it is!

Blue Sky took us all to see Madagascar 2 today and it was well worth it! I really enjoyed the movie and found myself laughing quite a bit throughout it all. They have stuck true to the characters from the first movie and have kept it moving in a new, funny way. Stylized just like the first one, it has such a great look to it, and there were several parts that were animated beautifully. There were some key moments that were timed perfectly — awkward moments that had me rolling.

There was a lot of discussion about the movie afterwards, and, well, here’s my take. Mad2 is done in the Madagascar way. I think that’s the beauty of it. It’s not as easy to compare it to other movies, and the same goes for those other movies. Different styles, different approaches. I think that’s the beauty of these films. The difference between Mad2 and Dreamworks’ last film, Kung Fu Panda, is quite big. They’re two different styles both animation wise and story wise. Style wise I guess would be best to say. It’s great to see the studio making different types of films, telling different stories and exploring different unique styles, rather than sticking to one type of story with the same style throughout. Exploring and playing with different styles is what this industry needs. And in my humble opinion, Dreamworks succeeded with Madagascar 2. It entertained me as well as several of my coworkers, it kept true to the characters, it improved upon the visual elements, and it told a story with these beloved characters. I can guarantee that my nephew is going to be dancing in the aisles to this one - move it!

It also was great to see some friends’ names scroll by in the credits.

So go put on your shoes, grab your car keys, and go check it out!

Last Friday Blue Sky brought Ken Duncan to speak to the studio. It ended up being a pretty dang awesome experience. He spoke to the studio in early afternoon, but with plenty to share and teach, stuck around and came down to animation afterward and spoke with us till it was the end of the work day. A few of us stuck around longer chatting and ended up going to dinner, and then off to a farewell at a local pub for one of our animators. It was a great time and it was an excellent opportunity to get to chat with him for so long in such a small group.

He had a lot to say and it was brilliant to get to hear his take on things and talk about his days at Disney. There was also a lot of silly banter that induced quite a bit of laughing. It’s great to be able to be on that level with animators. Very genuine guy. He made a lot of points that stuck out to me. He’s pretty passionate about animation and pushing CG where it hasn’t gone yet. One of the common things that people get asked when they visit is what they think the next step for 3D is. Many times the answer is something specific relating to style. Ken’s answer really stuck out to me. Paraphrasing as my note taking skills aren’t that quick, but he said:

It’s the ideas in the future that are going to change things. It’s up to the people with imagination. You have a piece of paper and a pencil — what are you going to do with it? We need to explore different styles and not chase the same look as everyone else. Then the technology will be pushed.

No need to expand on that, but I thought he put it well. Inspiring stuff I tell ya. Now back to work!

Family is in town this week and work is pretty dang busy so my blog is getting a little left behind this week. But I wanted to post up a quick video that we’ve watched in my office countless times this week. It’s brought us to tears as we’ve laughed.

I know it’s been talked about in multiple places, but no hurt in noting it again. The muppets have such simple character designs and yet they bring such a great performance. A simple open/close puppet mouth and mounted eyes that stay in place, you still find yourself being pulled in and believing that this character is alive. They’re so simple and yet believable. I’m sure we all can learn a great deal from the muppets. That’s my goal — to be able to make my characters feel as a live as the muppets and keep things simple. I certainly have a long way to go.

Hello bloggers! Things are beginning to ramp up over here at Blue Sky. Lots of work to be done but we’re having a blast with it.

Over the last couple of weeks one of the things I’ve been working at is simplifying. We’ve heard it over and over and even after having it pounded into our minds week after week in school, you would think we’d get it. But we all need a reminder eh? K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid. A million ways to apply it, a couple of ideas from me…

First, with our animation. I’ve been finding at work that if I’ve overcomplicated actions with way too many keys, the action itself becomes way too complicated and is a pain to get working. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a heavy keyer (that’s not a word but you get what I mean), but when working out actions, I think it’s best to keep it simple. A few of those “golden” poses is what we need. I had to go back to a shot I did a bit ago to make some changes/tweaks and after struggling with it for a bit I finally just blasted away some keys and it started easing itself out making it easier to work with and tone again.

So with keys, but also with the actions those keys make up. I think we all (myself included, a lot) tend to start on shots and brainstorm ideas that are too big for the shot. If you think of some of the most funny moments in films you’ve seen, many of them are very subtle. Two examples!

Everyone knows Scrat’s eye twitch. That’s so simple, and yet gets people laughing. It didn’t take a big movement and huge amounts of exaggeration to convey. Even in the teaser trailer for IA3, Scrat’s movements are so simple and a huge portion is sold with just the eyes. And it’s successful as it gets the audience laughing. Watch for the eye twitch at the end.

One of my all time favorite scenes that gets me laughing to the point of tears every time is from Monsters, Inc. The sequence when Sulley is watching the trash compactor and thinks Boo is getting smashed into cubes. He makes all of these faces without moving too much. It’s the subtle changes and the differences between them each time that makes the shot succeed. (I can’t post up a clip but go pull out your Monsters, Inc. dvd and check it out!)

Obviously there could be a million examples. One of my good friends from Animation Mentor, Jules Jammal, started a saying around AM : Simpli Fi! It should be our motto as animators. And don’t think that by taking the simplified route that you’re taking the easy route. It’s those simple and subtle shots that prove to be some of the toughest! So there’s my tip and challenge for all of you (and myself!) until next time. Simpli Fi animators!