This Semester is... FINAL!

All semester long, we've been playing this clip after someone's shot got finaled in dailies. So, in that spirit, I want to commend the entire crew for this semester's work and declare this semester FINALED!

Crew, thanks for all your hard work this semester. This project would not be where it is without each of you! To those of you that are leaving, we wish you well and would gladly have you back, so in that spirit, I have this for you:

And for those of you staying on board for the summer, rest up and recharge your batteries, because when we get back... well, I'll let Europe tell you:

Either way, happy summer, everyone!!!

Keep Calm And Carry On

Production has a tendency to get crazy from time to time. You just got to keep the faith and do as the British did. To everyone on the "Just Looking" crew, and to anyone who's going through finals and reading this, good luck with finishing the semester strong!

Being Versus Doing: A Happy Artist Is A Productive Artist

West and myself signed up for this class in the Acting Department this semester, ACT 620 - 01: MS: Movement: The Alexander Technique. The class is taught by Constance Clare-Newman, who is fantastic, and focuses on learning the specific Alexander techniques that actors use to optimize movement and voice.  The class has been one that has give me more than I could've ask for. Not only have I learned how to see and approach movement, posture, and voice in new ways, but I've been able to keep my focus better and keep my cool more in HIGH stress situations.


Part of our work for the class was to do a book report on a book relevant to the Alexander technique. I, by fate, luck, or both, end up with this book:

"The Art of Effortless Living" by Ingrid Bacci has helped me personally in multiple ways, but I never thought it would help me with directing the way it has. 


WARNING: This is an over simplification of the book and I highly recommend it.


The book describes that so many of life's conflicts come from us being obsessed with "doing" versus "being". A good football metaphor for this concept is being focused on running into the endzone before you've caught the ball.  If player is too focused on the future goal he's trying to achieve, it jeopardize what he is currently doing. On the flip side, if the player stays in his body and in the moment, he'll have a greater ability to adapt and actually realize his goal. And if the player is actually enjoying him or herself, they can perform to such a high level, they make it look easy, or effortless.


That's where the book instantly change me as a director. In dailies, I decided to not focus on results or deadlines. Instead, I shift my focus to my artists' state of being. Instead of saying things like "Can you get that done?" I would say things like "How's it going with this shot?" and "You feeling good about this?" The results from this approach were visible within one week. Dailies, the week after I started talking to my animators like this, were awesome. The quality of everyone's work jumped dramatically! I could tell they were enjoying themselves and taking ownership of their shots. I have been fully convinced that a happy artist is a productive artist, and my job as a director now is to keep my artist happy and feeling good about what they do. 

The Animation Collaborative

This production would like to take a moment to thank the Animation Collaborative. Located in Emeryville, California, across the street from Pixar, The Animation Collaborative is an amazing new animation school (http://www.animationcollaborative.com/index.html). Five of our animators just finished taking the Animation Demo class with Mike Makarewicz this last winter session, and the things we learned didn't just benefit the animators who attended the class, but helped improve the animation quality on the whole film. That being said, "Just Looking" would like to show our support and highly recommend The Animation Collaborative.

Music

Listening to the music while animating.

I usually listen to the music while I am animating ( I'm sorry I know I shouldn't...) BUT one thing I found it interesting was that music (especially Jazz music) has a lot of patterns and rhythms, which seems to be similar to the timing in animation. It sounds funny but sometimes I get interesting timing from the music. Actually, me and Sean had talked about the relationship between music and animation before. I think there are a lot of things in common music and animation in terms of timing.

Coincidentally, Tom was explaining "Who is the Star?"(it is I think all about making contrast) in the dailies last week. I think music is one of the ways to think about it more. You may be surprised (or have already known) there's a tons of interesting patterns and accent in music.

so....Don't listen to the music while animating, focus!!

haha

Be Vulnerable

As artists, we are constantly looking at each others work, giving critiques, and receiving critiques, which can sometimes be difficult and painful to hear. We spend so much time and effort on our work, that when we receive critiques, we have a natural reaction to defend ourselves and our work. But if we can suppress that urge to defend ourselves, and let ourselves be vulnerable, be open to what others are saying, and know that they are not trying to tear you down, but to help build you up, you will be on your way to becoming a better artist.

That's what we are all doing here right? Striving to be better, to do better, to grow and learn as men and women. If everyone is working towards the same goal of becoming better, and if you can let yourself be open and vulnerable when you are receiving a critique, there is no telling how much you will be able to grow and learn.

Layers

 

I know some the animators started using layered approach, I think it's really fast and efficient way to animate THEN why not using layers?

Our character rigs are really heavy and really hard to play in real time 24 fps unless hit playblast. I used to do that all the time, but think about how long we waste just waiting for letting computer do their jobs.

So I put everything in layers.

I put all the clothes, body and hands in a layer when I am working on facial. I put legs or any other body parts in a layer when they are not showing in the main camera. I hide Catherine when I am working on William. I usually make several layers depending on where I am working on then. so now I can play my shot by 24 fps(or at least look like). Of course, there are several situations that we can not avoid to deal with heavy stuff but at least I usually try to make it faster. Faster means I can try different ways more, and it means quality to me. Work efficiently, quality and sleep well.