I don’t know if there’s anyone still reading this blog, anyway. After I left Double Negative, I spent a dull 2 months and a half looking for my next gig. Finally, I came back to France to work at Pinka again on another TV series aimed for children. I’ve been working there for nearly two months, but London studios are starting to ramp up again so here comes the exciting news!
I’ll be starting over at Cinesite in December! I’ll be working on John Carter Of Mars from Andrew Stanton, a movie that I know really well as I’ve already been working on it during 6 months at Double Negative. I can’t wait! I’ll try to let you know how it goes.
Definitely unexpected! The video passed around at the studio and everyone laughed at it. Another great example of how little we need to do to make people laugh. Just be smart!
The first time I watched this, I laughed out loud. I think that’s the stuff that we should be always looking for as animators, not only to get inspired, but mostly because we can learn a lot about those comedians, and apply their tricks into our animations as well.
So why did we laugh at it? (I am assuming that you laughed to, or at least smiled)
- First, what they do is unexpected in the context. I never expected that he would throw the last egg into the bowl. It’s brilliant. Or that by throwing one pancake in the air, four would fall down. And not only that, but his reaction to that is definitely well thought. He just raise his glasses a little and frowns a bit, as if something wrong happened, and then goes on doing something else. The glasses bring another level of hilarity. It would have been certainly less hilarious if it had been the other guy who did this.
- Great timing.
- Great holds. If you want to make people laugh, sometimes the best way is to do near to nothing at all. Remember in Kung Fu Panda, when Po tells Mant that he’s the same size as his figurine? Mant just watches Po, and all you get in this shot is a tiny glitch of his antenna. Now I remember the cinema loughing out loud at this. For example in the video above, it’s when he watched the pancakes.
There is an interesting podcast on Speaking of animation that I recommend to you if you want to go deeply into this subject. I realize that I just scratched the surface, but I hope you’ve found this information helpful. Cheers!
Today, I came across this amazing post from Aaron Hartline (Pixar animator), on the tips and tricks blog. It’s a blog that I follow everyday because it is packed with so much useful and inspiring thoughts. And this post really touched me at the bottom of my heart, because this is really how I have been feeling those past 2 years and a half, in fact since the day I applied to AM and got accepted. I knew, from this moment on, that I was deciding what my life would be, and that I was actually DOING everything I could to get where I wanted to be. You know what I’m talking about, your ultimate goal, your dream job.
Whatever your dream job is, you have to be active, and do whatever you can to get it. And when you’re facing a choice just ask yourself: “is it going to help me getting my dream job or not?” If not, just let it go, and look for something that will help you on your path.
For those who are interested, Stephen Silver has got some amazing thoughts about it. You can find him and subscribe to his weekly thoughts on Facebook, or you can find his blog here.
I’ve learned so much those past few years about animation, but also about being proactive and knowing what is it you want to do with your life! I can just only pass this information along to everyone I know or meet, or to anyone who will read this post. Just keep working hard, and it will happen.
Today was my last day at Pinka. After 8 months of production on Garage Club, I am saying goodbye to all my coworkers here in Annecy. We’ve had so much fun together, and I learned a ton too. Being my first job as an animator, it also really meant a lot to me, and will be an unforgettable, lifetime experience. Today I am moving forward, and I hope I will get to work with some of you again in the near future. Especially you Jonathan. Especially you Stephane.
You guys have been really kind to me, and it was such a blast to be surrounded by so many talented people. Take care, everyone.
Remind me why I wanted to become a character animator in the first place?… Oh wait… Now I remember, this is because I want to dream, and to make people dream.
This is all Avatar, the last James Cameron’s superstar movie is about. Dreaming. I sat down, put my special glasses on my nose, and dreamt for nearly 3 hours of pure magic. Needless to say that I loved this movie. One of the best I’ve ever seen in my life. The characters are fantastic, the sets are gorgeous, the music is magical, the shots are so well filmed and the story is great. I won’t say that the story is fantastic, the plot is a classic one, but you won’t hear me complain. I had not dreamt like that since The Lord of The Rings. These movies have nothing in common except that when I saw them, I wanted to believe. (Oh, and also that Weta did the VFX on both too).
I’ll see it again next week, with my wife. I know she’ll love it, and I just can’t wait to go back to Pandora. For those of you who are still hesitant, please don’t. Take profit of the 3D and go see it in theaters. It’s really amazing what they managed to achieve with this new technology. Just go, and enjoy the ride!
On a side note, tomorrow evening is the beginning of our much awaited holidays! We’re going back to the south of France to hang out with our family, so they enjoy Gabrielle a little bit and so we just relax and appreciate doing nothing at all. Let’s recharge the batteries and get prepared for 2010, cuz 2010 is the beginning of my new feature character animator at Double Negative, and I will need all my skills and energy to become as good as the dudes who are already working there.
I added some images of my freelance work as I was studying at AnimationMentor and trying to pay the bills in the meantime. Not really what you’d call exciting work, but I learned what it is to work freelance: finding a customer, dealing with deadlines, dealing with the customer changing his mind… You can find those images in the 3D Artwork section of my website.
The promotion of Garage Club, the show that I’m currently working on, has begun on Nickelodeon France. Do not hesitate to check it out here.
It’s in french, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of the designs, renderings and style of animation hopefully.
You may not have access to the website if you’re using a computer outside of France. I’m really sorry for that. I will be looking for links that allow my friends from everywhere in the world to watch it.
I’ve been sketching this dude for a long time in the corners of my sketchbooks and everywhere I could, so I thought that I would finally give him a real try. I love this kind of mood, I was mainly inspired by the concept arts of The Nightmare Before Christmas from Tim Burton. I love this movie.
Anyway, you can find this drawing in higher res in the 2D Artwork section of my website.
I’m proud to say that I accepted an offer to work at Double Negative, and will be starting over in March. Just to name a few, these dudes are the ones who did all the visual effects on Hellboy 2, they also worked on Dark Knight, Batman begins, all the Harry Potter movies and a lot more blockbusters. Anyone who knows me knows how deep I am into movies that truly make me dream for two hours like the ones above. This is definitely going to be the most challenging experience in my life, but I just can’t wait to get started and am so looking forward to it.
I will always be thankful to Pinka for having believed in me and offered me that first gig as a professional animator. I will never forget you guys.
From here, I want to thank my family, my sweet Christelle, and all my friends at AM who supported me and believed in me. I couldn’t have done it without you.
