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[Excerpted from, Chapter 1: Getting Started, Computer Animation: Expert Advice on Breaking into the Business by Dale K. Myers, © 1999 DKM, All Rights Reserved. This excerpt is made available for the purpose of evaluating the book, and may not be reposted or reprinted without expressed written permission from Oak Cliff Press, Inc.] Colleges and Animation Schools Universities and animation trade schools are fast becoming a favorite choice for eager animation wannabes. They’re taught by skilled animators, allow you to interact and share ideas with other students, and the best ones have connections within the industry to encourage placement upon graduation. The downside of attending a trade school is that they require on campus attendance (which may be in another state), and you’ll share machine time with other students - something you can’t afford to do when you’re developing skill levels. Cost is another major factor. On top of tuition, you’ll need money to sleep, eat, and buy animation supplies. Course focus There are a wide range of choices when it comes to selecting a curriculum. Experts in the field tend to favor courses that develop skills specific to their particular area of focus. Here are some suggestions: Film "If you go to school, take classes in film and art composition," says P.J. Foley, Visual Effects Supervisor with Foundation Imaging. "And then supplement it with practical, hands-on experience on a home computer. Learn film technique, editing, camera work and then go home and apply that knowledge to computer animation. My only regret is that I did not take more film classes." "I never had the opportunity to go to film school," confirms John Allardice, Visual Effects Supervisor at Foundation Imaging. "But if anything will serve you in this business, it’s a film education. It is not a technical education. Computing science is never going to help you be a better animator. But still, I think the best thing you can do is to just sit in a room and watch movie after movie. There is nothing - apart from making movies - that will give a better feel for how they are done than just watching them. When you spot a nice shot ask yourself, "Why does it look great?" Break it down. Pause the video a second. Check out the shadows on everybody’s faces and figure out where the light is coming from. How many lights do they have on that set? Which ones are soft? Which ones are hard? Are there any nice little background reflections really add to the shot? I’ve heard a lot of people say, "Look at real life." No. Don’t look at real life. Real life isn’t what people want to see in an effects shot. They want to see movie life, not real life. And movie life looks completely different than real life. The lighting is different, the colors are different, and the saturation’s different. We ran into a perfect example of this at Digital Domain. A couple of us were doing some tests for Air Force One; the whole battle with the MIGS at the end. We bid on that. We spent three or four days trying to make it look real. We’d added film grain and diffused the hell out of it - really mucking with the image to make it look as real as possible. When we checked it out the screening room, the producer turned around and said, ‘Yea, it looks great! It looks like you were standing next to the DP with a 16mm Bolex. But, we can’t cut this into a feature.’ You see, we actually went too far. We made it so gritty, so dirty, so real that it looked like something out of a documentary. It didn’t look like it was something out of a movie. So we had to back off on it, and make it a little less real life to get that movie feel into it." Film & art "To stand out, you need to have a depth of knowledge," explains John Follmer, Vice President and Head of Production at Metrolight Studios. "Technical skills are just one of the things that we’re looking for. But somebody that has a knowledge of filmmaking becomes a valuable commodity because invariably what we’re doing is creating film - not computer animation. So, to have that knowledge of traditional film is helpful. To have an art background is also very helpful. In fact, you can’t have too much background in art, film, and photography." "When I started in school, I didn’t really know what direction I wanted to go," says Metrolight Studios’ animator Jeremie Talbot. "I knew it was this field. So, I went for a general art background, taking a visual communications type of curriculum. Along the way, I learned a lot about the art of filmmaking - something I wouldn’t have learned at an animation school. The thing I did miss was the principles of animation, which I had to get on my own through talking to people, showing my reel, and studying, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston." Traditional animation "I think learning 2D animation is the best way to go," advises Blue Sky animator Doug Dooley. "Because, in 3D the computer starts interpolating the motion between keys - it starts doing it for you - and then people stop concentrating on what’s happening. Traditional animators are so good, because they really focus on the movement of every little thing - the hair, the arms, where the hand is going. With the computer, you put a key frame here, you put one there, and it starts to figure the inbetweens for you. People see it moving and they lose the critical eye. So, I think learning how to animate frame-by-frame, in two dimensions, is a tremendous help in developing a critical eye for motion." Art and design "I studied industrial design which gave me a basis for general design theory," says Digital Muse’s Creative Director, Bruce Branit. "I focused on color theory, things like that. I find that quite valuable. It’s interesting, there are a lot of people in this business with film backgrounds and so they understand things in terms of what they were taught in film school. I think there is a lot for me to learn from them, and a lot for them to learn from me in terms of composition, and the things I learned in design." "First and foremost I would say just get a basic understanding of art itself," urges Rhythm & Hues character animator Lyndon Barrois. "You have to have that. The fundamentals of those skills are essential. Learning computer skills alone is not enough. You have to know what to put into the computer. The computer does nothing. I don’t care what version of Photoshop or Illustrator you have. If you have no clue how to draw, or know nothing about color theory, or composition and design, everything you do on a computer is going to look bad. So, learn all of the skills practically first. Learn how to do it from all aspects and then apply it to the computer. A lot of people tend to believe that a computer makes animation easier and it doesn’t. It makes it easier because you can do things faster. But, you can do a lot of fast animation that looks horrible if you don’t have the skills. It’s like having a tool and not knowing what to do with it. And you see that a lot." Technology and art "I think if you have a broad palette to draw from for inspiration and a passion to make a statement, you're more likely to bring a unique point of view," says Paul Diener, Director of Digital Production at Will Vinton Studios. "The computer skills are a necessary complement because there is such a wide range of tools, and it's important to stay current with technology to support your aesthetic. But, I also think that storytelling, writing and filmmaking skills are also complementary mediums." "I would recommend a good foundation of basic drawing skills and photography," says Robert Lurye, Lighting Director at Rhythm & Hues Studios. "Some computer programming would certainly help so that you understand the concepts behind computers. A lot of programs have a higher level graphical interface, but they’re ultimately based on computer logic. So maybe a little programming, C-Shell, scripting, that kind of thing. The more you know about the tools, the stronger you’ll be. You can develop aesthetic sensibilities using computer tools, but I think there is something to be said for a traditional approach." "Most students don’t recognize that the computer is just a tool," says animation artist and Station-X CEO Grant Boucher. "Six people can be given brushes, oil paints, and canvas. But the person who is a trained artist is going to create an image. Everyone else is going to slop it around a bit. If you really want to do film work, you’ve got to take some film-making and art classes. You can learn the tool and the new software, but you still need to have the artistic skill to make use of the tool set. If you don’t know the difference between an image that is over lit and under lit, then how are you suppose to do high-end effects work? So, I would recommend both the art classes and the computer classes. If you take just technology classes, you’ll be nothing but a technologist who’s stumbling with the art. If you’re only an artist, it will take you quite a long time to catch up with the technology. Those two areas must work together." Right brain / Left brain "I think that the people who survive the cycles of the industry the best are at two extremes," says Rhythm & Hues Vice President and Co-owner Pauline Ts’o. "One is the ultra specialist, who is the absolute best in some niche position - really tops. The other extreme is the ultra generalist - the one who is excellent in many different areas. There are different levels of generalizing and specializing, but someone who can program as well as be and excellent artist is obviously a stronger candidate than someone who can just draw or just program. And in particular, in actually doing shots and being responsible for shots, you really need both. If you’re in the design department, you might not need the technical end. But as a technical director or computer animator, the more you can master a tool - and that means having both aesthetic and technical skills - then the more valuable you’re going to be. Finding the people who are truly excellent on both sides of their brain is always difficult. The American public school system is not set up to train both sides of the brain. We’re asked to decide - at what I would consider a very early age - between one or the other. And our industry suffers for that. If you’re inherently a technical person, don’t ignore your artistic side and vice versa. Force yourself to think in that other pattern of thinking. The more you do, the easier it becomes. The percentage of people coming in the studio door with that right-brain, left-brain training is about two percent. And that’s what we’re always looking for." Choosing a school There are plenty of great schools - both college and trade - that teach courses on animation, filmmaking, art design, and other related studies. When studio personnel were asked which schools seemed to turn out students with consistently good skills and demo reels, several came to mind: California Institute of Arts (CalArts), Valencia, CA; Ohio State University-Department of Art & Design, Columbus, OH; Ringling School of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL; Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah, GA; Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario, Canada; and Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. Choosing a school involves weighing many factors, and the few mentioned above (along with those listed in the back of this book) are not intended to be an all inclusive list, or suggest any kind of endorsement. Many schools are actively pursued by studios looking to recruit personnel. Contact the school of your choice to learn what courses and technological support they offer, and whether they participate in any recruitment programs. Teaching Yourself A self-taught animation course may be easier to fit into an already busy schedule, but the task of disciplining your time can be daunting to a lot of people. If you have the moxy for a self-taught course, you’ll find you can work at your own pace (without giving up your current job), pursue those areas that interest you most, and fine-tune your skills at an accelerated pace (time permitting, of course). The downside of self-instruction is that you’ll need to buy a computer capable of professional work, and won’t have the luxury of turning to instructors or other students when faced with a problem. When it comes to job hunting, you’ll find yourself all alone again. Still, the rewards are great, and for many self-instruction may be the only alternative. You may find it inspiring to know that most of the people running today’s boutique studios learned their skills on their own! Seek out resources around you Determining which path is right for you depends on where you are geographically. Take advantage of the resources that are available in your area. "If there’s a community college nearby," advises freelance animation director and instructor Brad Carvey, "and they have an incredible program with a $10 million dollar computer lab, then go there. If there is a great art school in your area, you should go there. If there is a great film school in your area, you should definitely go there. You may be isolated to the point where you’ve got to learn it yourself, and then you should do what I do. When you’re working on a computer, and waiting around for something to render, study traditional animation, art, compositing, and filmmaking." Get hands-on training Whether you choose a trade school or a self-taught course, the most important consideration is hands-on training. You need to be able to spend hours (and hours) with your hands on the keyboard. Watching someone else operate the machine doesn’t teach you anything - except that it looks easy! How many people do you know that learned how to play a musical instrument by watching someone else? It can’t be done. I took up piano a few years ago. I would sit down everyday and plunk out notes at an excruciatingly slow pace. If I missed a day, I would regress a week. But once I disciplined myself to play a few minutes everyday, my skill level improved. I began to amaze myself, and my confidence grew. I soon found myself at the keyboard for hours at a time, and saw my skill level grow proportionally. My ability increased in direct relation to my familiarity with the keyboard. Playing music became comfortable, almost second nature. Becoming skilled at computer animation works exactly the same way. It’s not enough to know what to do (although that is paramount). You’ll need to be able to execute your ideas without struggling with how to do it. The computer’s interface must become as familiar as that piano keyboard. You need to be able to reach for the correct pull-down menu, slider bar, or numeric input without thinking about it. To become successful in this business, your use of the computer must become second nature. I’ll guarantee you, your competition operates that way. And if your ability with a computer is anything less than second nature, you won’t last six months. That’s just the way it is. Everyone feels intimidated by computers. Conquering those fears is as simple as taking one step at a time. "Learning computer animation is a lot like learning to speak a foreign language," says freelancer Brad Carvey. "You learn a word like ‘wasser,’ which is German for ‘water.’ When you visit Germany and you say ‘wasser’ you’ll notice they bring you a glass with water in it. After five or six times, you not only remember the word because it’s easy, you also know it works. So now, you’ve added something to your German tool kit. Now, it’s not hard to learn that word. It’s just that there’s lots of the words you’ve got to learn. And so, if you learn a little bit at a time, eventually you start to ask for ‘cold’ water. And then you order a meal. Next, you ask somebody what time it is. It’s not hard to learn those individual phrases and words, it’s just that you have to stay with it, and eventually you learn to become fluent. And then something magical happens. You learn enough that you become creative. Soon, you’re adding humor, puns and all the rest to your speech. "Almost anything that has to do with computers is exactly like that. The computer as a whole is hard to learn, just like it’s hard to become fluent and articulate in German. But, any one word is easy. So anything that you can learn that’s related to film, television, art, lighting, compositing, or software is kind of like another ‘word.’ You always want to keep incrementally adding to your knowledge until one day you’ll have the ‘Ah-ha’ experience, where you say, ‘Oh! I get this!’ At that point you can start being creative." Put in the time now to learn the trade, and you’ll always be in demand. Remember, most people are unwilling to do what it takes to be at the top. [Excerpted from, Chapter 1: Getting Started, Computer Animation: Expert Advice on Breaking into the Business by Dale K. Myers, © 1999 DKM, All Rights Reserved. This excerpt is made available for the purpose of evaluating the book, and may not be reposted or reprinted without expressed written permission from Oak Cliff Press, Inc.] |
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COMPUTER ANIMATION: Expert Advice on Breaking into the Business by Dale K. Myers (ISBN: 0-9662709-6-7) 160 pp. |
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