Inspiration for animation fans, students and professionals
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Is Animation an art or a craft?
Aug 28th
Confession time: I don’t like being called an artist.
At Dr D Studios, the producers refer to all of the animators as artists. They might say: “I’ll assign this shot to one of the artists” or “Let’s gather the artists around to have a meeting about the schedule”.
Even now, it’s not a term I’m 100% comfortable with.
Honestly – I’d rather be known as a craftsman.
And there is a big difference between artists and craftsmen (of course I’m including craftswomen here as well).
Art with a capital “A” is what happens when someone hangs your painting in a gallery, or selects your film for a festival.
Craft is what you do when you’re by yourself making stuff.
Think about what it means to be a craftsman:
Craftsmen care.
They concern themselves with quality of their materials and their technique.
A master pastry chef, or a furniture maker, or a fashion designer all put their talents towards making their work as good as it can be.
An artist might worry about getting “discovered”. But a craftsman worries about the details.
The good news is: you can get better at your craft.
Learn something new. Read a book. Watch a tutorial. Get a critique from a trusted mentor. Experiment with techniques. Practise.
Every single one of these activities makes you better at what you do, and is completely within your own scope to control.
The bad news is: you can’t control whether your work is deemed “art”.
Producing quailty work certainly helps. So does maintaining good relationships with people, protecting your reputation, meeting your deadlines and building networks.
But ultimately – that decision is in the hands of someone else.
I’ve always been an enthusiastic supporter of people who want to show their animated film in front of a live audience, but don’t let the fear of not getting selected put you off doing the hard effort involved in making a film.
Gatekeepers may well decide what the public see as art, but it is the diligence of craftsmen and creators that impresses me more.
I say: Let the critics curate, and let the craftsmen create.
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The perfect animation education
May 31st
What does the perfect animation education look like?
In a previous post, I stressed the importance of focussing on one specific skill as the fastest way into the animation industry.
Which is not to say there isn’t value in good general education.
In a perfect world, someone going into a character animation role would have extensive study and experience in live theatre, writing, literature, film studies, photography, cinematography, world travel, drawing skills, mime, dance, stand-up comedy and be able speak at least one foreign language.
All of those skills would help make an extremely well-rounded and highly-sought-after animator.
But it would take twenty years.
Best to study one thing first, find work and then continue your education once you’re at a studio.
To me an ideal, industry-focussed education looks something like this:
- no more than 12 months of general study, followed by
- however long it takes to become a professional at one skill.
Start general to find out what you like
In the beginning, you may not know exactly what skill you want to focus on. At this stage, try as many different aspects to animation as you can: lighting, texturing, simulation, modelling and rigging.
There are so many specialized roles within filmmaking. How would you know if you enjoy editing or not if you hadn’t tried it?
But after six months, if you’ve decided you want to be a character designer – just focus on the skills you need to make you employable as one.
Start general to learn the software
If you’re anything like me, the first time you opened Maya or switched on a digital SLR camera you were probably bamboozled by all the menu items, knobs and dials.
Spending time at the start of your schooling to learn what all the buttons do is incredibly helpful.
In my case – I started with nine months to get a general overview of Maya. Every Saturday I spent the day at a local design college learning as much as I could about the software.
And I made some terrible animation.
But I learned enough for me to no longer be terrified of the software, and plenty of time to get a sense of what was available in Maya and how to do most things.
Finish specific
By this stage, I knew I wanted to be a character animator, so I went specific and joined the Animation Mentor program. For these reasons:
- The instructors were all working as animators in the film industry – not just academics and theoreticians.
- The work of their graduating students was of a quality that made them employable.
- They only taught character animation.
- Online study meant I could study from my location.
That’s not to say everyone should study with Animation Mentor. If you wanted to be a modeller it would be a terrible choice – but it is an example of picking the best school for your skill of choice.
If I had wanted to be a TD, or a compositor, or a rigger, or a matte painter I would have selected a program that best suited those roles.
The result
Your mileage may vary, but two and a half years after I first opened Maya, I landed my first job on an animated feature film.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
In a future post, I’ll talk about my thoughts on whether you need a degree or not to be an animator and how to pick the best school for you.
What has been your experience? Care to share your thoughts on the state of animation education?
Post a comment. I’d be interested to hear your view.
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Animation education: general or specific?
Animation education: general or specific?
May 24th
When students ask me “What is the fastest way into the animation industry?” I always say the same thing:
Pick one discipline and get your work to a professional standard.
You may disagree, but here’s why I say it.
Get good
No-one will hire you if you’re work isn’t worth paying for.
If you take an honest look at your work and compare it to people you will be competing with for jobs, then you will have a better idea what level of expertise you should be shooting for.
When I was at Animation Mentor, I spent way too long comparing my reel to the other students in the course.
Although it’s great to be ambitious and push yourself, the smarter thing for me would have been to assess my reel in comparison to people already working in the industry.
Some schools are better than others – and being the best in your class at a crummy school may not make you as employable as being a B+ student at a world-class school.
Why not start with IMDB and look through the credits of films you like, jot down the names of the people that worked on the film in the role you want and check out their showreels online.
Now you will have decent benchmark to see what you should be shooting for.
Get good fast
The slowest way to get anything done is by doing ten different things at once.
Let’s be honest.
If you want to get good at photography in a short amount of time, you need to drop the acting classes. If you want to be great at drawing quickly, forget about that short course on web design for the time being.
David B Levy in a recent post on his blog Animondays had this to say about schools that teach many different skills at once:
I think this is a big problem with the local animation educations. How does it make sense to take a senior who is still having problems doing basic animation and require them to take on those other roles at the same time? – David B Levy
I love that some schools want to foster a new breed of auteur all-rounders, but I worry that students run the risk of emerging with broad experience, but a sub-par demo reel.
Better to focus on one thing you like doing and become world-class. There will be time to build new skills and add new interests once you’re working.
I might save what I think the perfect animation education looks like for a later post, but I’ll give you a hint:
Start general and finish specific.
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Learn from your animation mistakes
Learn from your animation mistakes
May 17th
Everyone has heard: “You learn from your mistakes”, but flip that around and it turns out the reverse is also true:
If you’re not making mistakes, then you might be too conservative in your ambitions.
Learning requires you to push beyond the boundaries of what you’re comfortable with, and lead you into a place where failure is a real (and scary) option.
It would be easier if you could gain experience from other people’s disasters. But most people don’t.
As an example: I was doing a 2D animated test with some objects from the foreground moving away from camera to disappear way off into the distance.
After animating the characters I had a quick flip through Richard Williams’ book The Animator’s Survival Kit – only to stumble on the exact page that explained why I had the perspective completely wrong.
Here’s the frightening thing:
I’d read The Animator’s Survival Kit many times, but because this was the first time I was actually animating this particular scenario, the knowledge didn’t sink in until I had made the rookie mistake for myself.
Advice and aphorisms do their best to steer people through life’s lessons without the pain of failure.
But mostly – you just have to learn from practical experience and take your lumps.
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Fighting the irrational fear of lost ideas
Apr 19th
One of the key attributes that separates creative professionals from other people is the value they bring to the table with their ideas.
No ideas = no art.
Artists often worry about their ideas in two ways
- They worry someone will steal their ideas.
- They worry they will run out of ideas.
While it’s hard to calm yourself down if you’re particularly vulnerable to either (or both) of these fears, you can reduce your anxiety by admitting that these are largely irrational concerns.
Ideas by themselves aren’t worth that much
I’ve got an idea for a movie.
I’m thinking of a science fiction movie with an intricate storyline, huge battles with spaceships populated by exotic aliens in an epic battle of good versus evil.
What movie am I describing? Star Wars or Battlefield Earth?
One is a critically-acclaimed, genre-defining classic that has become a cultural touchstone. And the other is Battlefield Earth.
The truth is: an idea by itself without at least some execution is nearly worthless.
When thinking about what true creative professionals do with their ideas, one of the key differences is that they take their idea and turn it into something concrete.
It could be a script, a sketch, a storyboard. But in order for an idea to be worth stealing, it has to have some physical form.
It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an NDA to tell me the simplest idea.) To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions. – Derek Sivers
Worrying about someone stealing your script might be a leigitimate concern, but at least then you have copyright law on your side if you have to mount a challenge.
You cannot copyright an idea – only the execution of an idea. Which makes it even more critical to get your ideas into an artifact as soon as you can.
No-one knows where ideas come from
This comes to the heart of the fear of either running out of ideas, or having yours stolen by someone else.
David Lynch is one of the most creative filmmakers in the world. In his book on creativity, Catching the Big Fish, he freely admits he worries about where the next idea will come from.
It’s like fishing. You caught a beautiful fish yesterday, and you’re out today with the same bait, and you’re wondering if you’re going to catch another. – David Lynch
Ideas are unlimited
If you want to have some fun, sit down and make a list of as many things you can think of to decorate a child’s party with.
Go on.
After half a dozen or so items, you probably think you’ve exhausted your ideas. Balloons, streamers, hats, candles, stars, table cloths etc.
But now – narrow the birthday party to a pirate theme. Ironically, adding constraints to the problem, will allow you to come up with a dozen or more new ideas.
Trust your process
One of the things that gives Lynch confidence is his awareness of his process and what works for him. With his method, ideas come gradually.
It would be great if the entire film came all at once. But it comes, for me, in fragments. Soon there are more and more fragments, and the whole thing emerges. – David Lynch
There is evidence to suggest that changing your surroundings can help with creativity. Maybe, like Lynch, it’s a particular diner you visit to drink coffee and think deeply.
It’s important to be aware of what works for you and believe in your process.
There are no new ideas
Everything has been done before, but not by you.
Even using the oldest archetypes can allow you to bring your own unique take on an idea.
Human beings have been telling a fairly limited number of stories over thousands of years, and yet we still find ways to retell ancient tales using modern methods.
Once you understand how irrational the fear of lost ideas is, you can divert your energy into executing your concept.
And then you’ll really have something to worry about.
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Networking for the shy guy part 2
Apr 12th
As promised – here is the second, and final part of the ultimate film festival networking guide.
If you haven’t read the first part of networking for the shy guy then have a quick look and come back.
In truth, all of these tips and techniques work, regardless of whether you see yourself as super confident, or as a retiring wallflower.
In order to get around the “but I don’t know what to say” problem, I’ve tried to be as practical as possible.
This is what works for me, and once you get comfortable, you’ll establish your own method as well.
Here’s what’s next after doing these things from the first part:
- Bring a friend if you like
- Look for opportunities to start a conversation
- Use a pickup line
- Remembering names
- Share a story
Include others
Seek to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
If you’re talking to someone and another person joins the group, make sure you introduce your new friend.
Acting as the person who helps people meet each other at a festival or conference is an incredibly useful role. You are doing the festival organizers a massive service.
And here’s the bonus: knowing that you need to introduce people you’ve just met in the next few minutes will help you remember their name.
If you get their name wrong, it doesn’t matter. It just gives them another opportunity to correct you and maybe re-ask for your name.
“Hey Chris have you met Sharyn. Sorry Sharyn, did I get your name right? Oh Sally. Sorry – there’s so many people here. Sally was just saying she’s working on an animated film for her final year student project …”
Not only have you helped connect two people, but you’ve given yourself an option to leave the group politely once the new conversation gets started.
Exchange details
Sometimes the conversation goes extremely well and you will want to exchange contact details.
Instead of just thrusting your business card into their hands, why not just start by asking: “I’d love to see more of your work. Do you have a website or a blog where I can learn more?”
You can always find a way to reach someone through the “about” or “contact” section on their website.
I’ve never been a big fan of business cards. For me, my personal website is my business card.
Always accept a business card if presented with one. If you don’t have one, offer to write your details on the front of one of theirs. If you write on the back, you run the risk of them accidentally giving the card (and your details) away to someone else.
Say goodbye
After a few minutes, when it’s polite to do so, it’s okay to excuse yourself and leave.
Good cues are when you’ve finished your drink, when they start calling people into the next session, if either of your phones ring, or when another person has been introduced into the group.
I normally finish with something like “Well it was good to meet you. Best of luck with your final year project. Enjoy the rest of the festival.”
Making a quick exit not only frees you up to meet other people, but it also lets your new friend know that you’re not going to stalk them for the entire festival.
Follow up
Immediately post-festival, it’s important to drop a quick email to everyone you met.
Three quick sentences is enough to be polite and remind them who you are:
“Hi Mark. It was good to meet you at the festival. Looking forward to hearing how the new project turns out. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
If they’ve been as busy as you in gathering new acquaintences, this is handy reminder for who you are. Plus – now you have an email on file with the person’s details and a few short lines about the project they’re working on.
Meeting celebrities
Do these methods work with “famous people”?
Sure.
I’ve met Oscar winners and movie stars using these methods, so it will definitely work for you.
Honestly, if you spot Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch or Brad Bird by themselves at the bar, you can consider it a sign from above. If they’re on their own, not talking to someone, by all means, go up and say hi.
Just don’t turn it into a nightmare for them.
Here are some extra guidelines for the celebrity guests at your film festival:
- Don’t be a pest. Don’t ask for a photo or an autograph right off the bat. There might be an oportunity to ask for one at the end of your encounter, but not at the start.
- Say something complimentary and specific about their work.
- Instead of saying “I love your movies”, it’s much better to say: “I really liked the opening title sequence where you used shadow puppets to introduce the main characters.”
- Ask about what projects they’re currently working on.
- And then leave.
- No seriously. Leave.
There are a lot of demands put on special guests at festivals. They have interviews, photos, panel discussions, keynote presentations, their own friends they want to catch up with. They need to know that you’re not going to follow them around and make a nuisance of yourself.
Now is the perfect opportunity to say: “Okay – well it certainly was a treat to meet you. I’ll let you enjoy the rest of the festival. Would it be all right if we had a picture taken?”
Simple.
Hopefully that has taken some of the mystery and awkwardness out of meeting people at festivals.
Remember, the next time you’re at an event: watching films is only half of the reason you’re there.
Make enough new friends, and you might have already found the cast and crew for your own next film.
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Networking for the shy guy
Apr 5th
Other than watching heaps of interesting films, the best thing you can do at a film festival is to meet heaps of interesting people.
You’re not allowed excuse yourself from this important activity because you think you’re shy.
Everybody is shy, but working in a small industry means that knowing a lot of people gives you a massive advantage in securing new work.
Meeting people at festivals is easier than you think, and networking doesn’t have to feel like you’re playing the role of a slick used-car salesman with a fist full of business cards.
Networking is about technique and practice. It has nothing to do with bluster and confidence.
This is one of the longest topics I’ve covered, so I’ve broken it up into two parts.
Here’s part one of the ultimate film festival networking guide for the shy guy.
Bring a friend if you like
If the film festival is a nine-hour retrospective of rare Estonian animated shorts, then your options of dragging a buddy along might be limited.
But do your best to use the opportunity to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in a while. Invite them.
If they say yes, cool. If not, go by yourself.
Networking at film festivals can often be easier if you’re on your own, but if you feel like you need back up – by all means bring a friend.
Look for opportunities to start a conversation
This one is easy.
Look for people that aren’t talking to other people.
They’re easy to spot. They will typically be on the fringe of the crowd, with their back to a wall – normally with something in their hand, like a drink or a phone to keep themselves occupied.
Wander up. Stand beside them for a minute just to make sure they’re not actually on a Bluetooth making a phone all. And then say hi.
Believe me: you are helping them. Maybe they’re the shy person who would love to meet some people but they don’t know how.
Other likely suspects: People by themselves at the bar, people in queues, heck – why not make friends with the volunteers? They can’t run away. They have to be there.
Try not to approach anyone who is already deep in a conversation, or in a small group. No need to interrupt them. If you’re desperate to meet them, there will be other opportunities.
Use a pickup line
Okay. Not that kind of pickup line.
I think this is where most shy folks apply the “I don’t know what to say” excuse.
Really?
You’re both at the same event, so you must have at least one thing in common: the films.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Were you in that last session?
- What did you think of that film with the goat in it?
- Don’t worry, we’ll get there eventually. (If you’re in a line for the bar, bathroom or box office.)
- Have you been here for the whole festival?
- What are you looking forward to seeing?
- Are you a filmmaker yourself?
- What’s been your favorite film so far?
- Is this your first time at this festival?
- What did you think of the panel session?
- Are you a fan of the guest speaker’s work?
And so on.
Talking to random people at a festival isn’t entirely random, because you’re all there for the same reason. To watch cool films.
Remembering names
Most people will admit they are terrible at remembering people’s names. The good news is, you can get better the more you practise.
I’m sure if you searched on the internet you could find a million methods for remembering people’s names, but here’s a technique that works for me.
I like to say the other person’s name at least once or twice in the next few minutes just to remind me.
And you know what – if you forget. Don’t worry. You only just met them.
Apologise and say “I’m sorry what was your name again? David. Yeah David right. Sorry David.”
Honestly – they won’t mind. It might even given them the opportunity to ask what your name is again.
Share a story
One of the best ways to move the conversation along once you’ve made the initial connection is to give an opinion of something you’ve seen in the festival so far.
If you’ve been paying attention at all during the festival you must have seen something you liked, or found interesting, or contraversial. Share your thoughts and ask what they thought.
The only caution I would add here is to keep your opinion positive. You don’t want to get into a situation where you criticize a film, only to have the person tell you it was directed by their boyfriend.
Coming up in part two of the ultimate networking guide for the shy guy:
- Introducing others into the conversation
- Knowing when it’s time to leave
- Following up after the event
- Meeting “famous people” at an event
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Creation versus curation
Mar 25th
While I was working on a short film, I spent an unhealthy amount of time worrying about things like:
- What will people think of the finished product?
- Is it good enough to get selected for the festival?
- Does the film have a shot to win an award?
The common theme of all this anxiety was an attempt to answer the question “Is it good enough?”.
Although the thoughts that kept me awake at night may have seemed like legitimate concerns, none of these “problems” were within my scope to control.
So I decided to stop fretting about it.
I determined it was my job to create the film, and it was someone else’s job to curate the film.
And a strange thing happened.
Once I delegated the task of answering “Is it good enough?” to someone else, I had fewer things to worry about and I could focus on making the film and hitting the deadline.
The simple fact is: I would know if my work was “good enough” to make selection, because at some point in the future someone else would inform me.
And I was okay with that – no matter which way the decision went.
Fortunately story has a happy ending, and on opening night at the Sydney International Animation Festival I was able to see my film in front of a packed audience.
But what if I’d let the fear of “is it good enough” take over and tempt me into quitting?
By all means: set high standards and do the best you can, but save the judgement for other people at a later time.
When it comes to your own work, let other people play the role of critic.
Aspire to be a creator, not a curator.
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