Now Ye're Talking - to a Film Animator

Boards.ie: Niamh · 12-05-2016 05:00PM #1

After an unexpected hiatus, we are back with an AMA today with an animator.

Our animator works on some major Hollywood films and is happy to answer your questions about his day to day job, what he gets up to and what goes on behind the scenes. Oooh!

He says:

I feel there is a general lack of understanding of how animated films and visual effects for live action films are made. Theres a lot more to it than just pressing render on the computer!

So, ask away!

Barry Badrinath · 12-05-2016 05:06PM

Bon Jovi movie animator guy!

Did you work on Jurassic Park?

Did you work on Star Wars?

What's the last project you worked on?

What was the best?

Is there a project you wish you could re-do?

What did you have for lunch?

Thanks

Dublinstiofán · 12-05-2016 05:08PM

Whats your favourite individual scene from any animated movie (a) your worked on yourself and (b) in general.

Gotta say some of the Toy Story and Up hold some of the best in my book.

Edward Hopper · 12-05-2016 05:09PM

Do you animate live cartoons or does it put too much strain on the animators wrists?

tracey turnblad · 12-05-2016 05:17PM

What got you interested in this? How did you get into this? My son is 11 and makes stop motion films with his Lego and super hero figured

Speedwell · 12-05-2016 05:25PM

What are the industry-standard software packages for modeling?

What's the best program for rendering convincing hair and fabric?

How do women fare in the industry these days?

cherryghost · 12-05-2016 05:29PM

How hard do you study human motion and emotions and is there a 'pattern' implementing it into animation? I heard it takes even the most hardended animator years to perfect it.

Gloomtastic! · 12-05-2016 07:15PM

Are you based in Ireland?

With Brown Bag and Geronimo doing really well internationally, what's Ireland's USP when it comes to persuading major studios to back Irish production houses?

Call Me Jimmy · 12-05-2016 08:10PM

Do you ever get negative thoughts about rendering someone else's ideas all the time? Is there enough freedom and creativity within it to be fulfilling? (No offense, i once was very interested in animation)

John_D80 · 12-05-2016 08:52PM

Have you ever hidden any secret messages or anything rude or naughty in anything you have animated?

evolving_doors · 12-05-2016 10:39PM

Do you need to work in silence?
If you listen to music then what music do you listen too whilst working?

I'm an Animator, AMA · 12-05-2016 11:29PM

Hello all!
Apologies for my tardiness in replying, I'm currently working on the west coast, so the times I reply may be at odd hours!
So Thanks very much to Niamh for getting this set up, lets get the ball rolling!

McGruber wrote: »

Bon Jovi movie animator guy!

Did you work on Jurassic Park?

Did you work on Star Wars?

What's the last project you worked on?

What was the best?

Is there a project you wish you could re-do?

What did you have for lunch?

Thanks

Hello to you too!

Does Jurassic World count? if so, then yes

Unfortunately, never worked on Star Wars! I'd love to though, I don't think there is an animator alive that wouldn't want to work on something as historic in film as Star Wars. There's still 2 films to go, so it's still possible!

The last project I worked on was Captain America: Civil War, and now I am on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The best Project I've worked on was probably Guardians of the Galaxy. As far as the film pipeline goes, this went as smoothly as it could. but there was a loooooot of overtime...

There's not so much a whole project I'd like to redo, I'd say it's more certain shots where I can see some mistakes/unfinished work that could really do with a few more days of finessing, but time/money has ran out for that particular shot.... It's actually pretty much every shot I do I can see a fault!
Also, in the VFX world, we don't have any say on story/screenplay/editorial etc. so if the film story and characters are trash, no amount of beautiful VFX is going to save it. There are countless examples of films like this!

For lunch I had a cheap and tasty thai dish from a local food truck!

I'm an Animator, AMA · 12-05-2016 11:37PM

Dublinstiof n wrote: »

Whats your favourite individual scene from any animated movie (a) your worked on yourself and (b) in general.

Gotta say some of the Toy Story and Up hold some of the best in my book.

Thats a toughy... for myself, maybe the shot at the end of Guardians where Groot is dancing in the pot plant. I always like to go along to the cinema and see the films I work on just to see how the audience reacts. I find american audiences are a lot more extroverted with their emotions in a cinema. They'll laugh, scream, cry etc. a lot faster than the hardy Irish!
So when that shot came on, there were a fair few chuckles in the cinema, which is nice to see!

As for in general, Probably the scene in the Lion King... You all know which one *wipes away tears*

I'm an Animator, AMA · 12-05-2016 11:40PM

Edward Hopper wrote: »

Do you animate live cartoons or does it put too much strain on the animators wrists?

Do you mean like do I use a pencil?
We'll I'm a CG Animator, havn't actually drawn in quite a while, which is a shame!
I personally use a mouse, but I'd say a good 70-80% of people at work use a wacom tablet, which is like a digital pencil and paper.
I do know some people can get wrist pains and have to do wrist exercises daily to help with it. It's not the most bodily hazardous job though

I'm an Animator, AMA · 12-05-2016 11:46PM

tracey turnblad wrote: »

What got you interested in this? How did you get into this? My son is 11 and makes stop motion films with his Lego and super hero figured

It's a tough one to put a finger on, I know a lot of people at work have said things like "I saw jurassic park when I was 10 and instantaneously fell in love with vfx" but for me, I was always drawing in school and really enjoyed it, but I never thought I would go into something like this for a living. it never even crossed my mind to be honest. Then I didnt really have any idea what I was going to do after school, so I tried out an online class and really enjoyed it, so it just went from there! went to ballyfermot for a bit, and then I did an online course called Animation Mentor and after that landed a job in London.
And your son sounds like an animator in the making! It seems a lot of people working in this industry had those same sort of tendencies when they were younger too

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:03AM

Speedwell wrote: »

What are the industry-standard software packages for modeling?

What's the best program for rendering convincing hair and fabric?

How do women fare in the industry these days?

The standard for VFX/Animated Features is 99% Maya. although a lot of games places might use 3DSMAX, and I know for things like Architectural Visualization, they use mostly 3DSMAX.

I'm not too savvy on rendering, Thats usually a job for someone else down the pipeline! But I know we use Arnold at work. I know hair and fabric is still very much a "work in progress" to get it to the realism that can be achieved in other departments.

If you're a woman and can animate, you'd be snatched up in this industry! I do know recruiters are actively seeking females in order to balance it out. So if a Male and Female go for the same role, and their skills are similar, most likely they'll choose the female. It is what it is I guess!
However from talking to a recruiter friend here, the females don't negotiate as hard for pay increases as their male counterparts, for the most part. So the company naturally isn't going to give them anything more than they have to.
So if you're a female thinking of entering this industry, keep that in mind and fight for what you're worth!

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:24AM

cherryghost wrote: »

How hard do you study human motion and emotions and is there a 'pattern' implementing it into animation? I heard it takes even the most hardended animator years to perfect it.

Studying the motion of humans (or animals, depending what character is in the shot) is the base for every single shot an animator does. It is impossible to just imagine every single nuance a person has in every single thing that they do.
If its a human character I film myself doing the performance a few times, maybe ask someone who can act better than me to perform the shot too and film them. If it's an animal, I'll scroll through countless videos of that animal doing something similar and base it off that. However, for a animal shot for example, once you incorporate all that animals particular movement patterns, it still needs to look good first and foremost. As long as the shot works and the character is performing in a readable and clear way to the audience, the job is done. take nagini the snake from harry potter for example. If you remember in the half blood prince (I think) when voldemort and all his death eaters are at the table, he feeds a person to his snake. In the shot, The snake is moving along the table towards the camera in a point of view of the victim, and at the end opens its mouth. That snake moves nothing like a real snake should move. It curves all over the table, whereas snakes are super economical with how they use their energy to move. Also, snakes always have their spine on top, but in this shot Naginis spine is twisting and sliding everywhere.... Yet, it's still a cool shot and quite a memorable one.
Sorry that was long winded!
But to answer your question, even animators I work with who have been in the biz for decades still use reference for their shots. You can understand how certain things work on the body, like the hips acting counter to the torso for equilibrium and such, but you'd be amazed at the little things you pick up in shooting reference that makes something come alive when you use it in your animation

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:31AM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Are you based in Ireland?

With Brown Bag and Geronimo doing really well internationally, what's Ireland's USP when it comes to persuading major studios to back Irish production houses?

I'm currently in California, although I am looking into work back home, or London.
Thats a tough one for me to answer, I'm not too savvy on the bussiness side of things.
I know a loooot of studios that used to be in California are in Canada now because of tax incentives and the canadian dollar being quite weak.
I was actually in Canada working for a couple months because of all the work being done up there.
As for the likes of Universal or Warner Bros. backing Irish studios, I think Ireland might simply not have the man power to do high budget films. It takes hundreds and hundreds of people to do the vfx for big budget films, and I dont think there are any irish studios with that amount of people. But that could change very quickly, like how so many studios took off to Canada!

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:46AM

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Do you ever get negative thoughts about rendering someone else's ideas all the time? Is there enough freedom and creativity within it to be fulfilling? (No offense, i once was very interested in animation)

Wow these questions have been tough so far (in a good way)!

Yes, No and sometimes

The great thing about the animation part of the pipeline is we do the performance. So the director will tell us something like "his cat died, so he's sitting on his bed crying". it sounds quite a narrow spectum to work with, but really when you get down into it, you get to make it your own. If you gave that same script to any actors, like Fassbender, Meryl Streep, Ian Mckellen etc. they are all going to perform it differently and you can tell its their individual performance, even though it was on a script the director handed them. It's quite similar to animators (except without the incredible acting skills and massive cheques!

)

And like actors, we can improvise. If I think something would add to the story/the characters emotion for the shot, I can add it in... This is where it can get annoying though! If you spend so much time on a shot and pour your heart into it, and the director turns around and says "actually, i think it'd be better if he was doing X". and you know X suuuucks, you still gotta do it. But you learn as you go to not get too attached to any of your shots, as they can be changed, given to someone else, directors notes, or even cut from the film entirely because it doesnt fit the new edit... still, sometimes you can't help but love a shot!
Thats another thing while I'm on it, the film is continuously a work in progress right until maybe 3 weeks before it is in cinema. all the trailer shots are done first so it looks like its a full film just waiting to be released, but the truth is the director doesn't have a clue what the final thing will look like until they literally run out of time on it!
I found it amazing how much of a cluster the film making process when i first got into it. Now, I just ride with the chaos and see what happens. It doesn't make it dull, anyways!

Absoluvely · 13-05-2016 12:47AM

Have you ever had to animate juggling? It's a well-known fact among jugglers that all juggling animations are unrealistic (i.e. shit).

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:49AM

John_D80 wrote: »

Have you ever hidden any secret messages or anything rude or naughty in anything you have animated?

Hahaha no, not yet!
I know one guy at work was animating a flock of birds and tried to write out his wifes name, where the birds feathers came together to spell it out on 1 frame, but he had less than a day to do the whole shot so after like 4 hours of trying to do it he gave up... he ended up staying to finish the shot til about midnight because of it!

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 12:57AM

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Do you need to work in silence?
If you listen to music then what music do you listen too whilst working?

No I actually hate working in silence!
I find I work faster when I'm listening to music, but I do have to be careful what I'm listening to because it can mess up my timing!
Animation is an art form based in time, 24 frames in a second etc. (Also fun fact: We usually do roughly 70-75 frames of animation a week. That's 3 seconds every week).
So I have found if I'm listening to something with a fast rythmn, say AC/DC for example, and I'm working on a huge beast, who because of their size, should be quite slow, ends up running like a bugs bunny cartoon!
But I usually like listening to film scores, 80s music, top of the charts stuff and when I'm doing a fast action shot... mostly Dubstep (I'm sorry).

I'm an Animator, AMA · 13-05-2016 01:02AM

Absoluvely wrote: »

Have you ever had to animate juggling? It's a well-known fact among jugglers that all juggling animations are unrealistic (i.e. shit).

No not yet, and after seeing that Krusty gif I don't think I could ever match something of that level!

Tell me how · 13-05-2016 01:22AM

Thank you for your detailed responses and effort in answering all questions.

Do you have any advice for software packages/process for someone interested in getting into animation purely for hobby purposes.

Are there online tutorials you would recommend for this purpose?

Liamario · 13-05-2016 08:06AM

Do you tend to analyse effect shots in other movies while you're watching them (in a non-professional capacity)?

Are there any effects shots in movies that you've created all by yourself?

IrishAlice · 13-05-2016 03:09PM

Does working as an animator entail working odd hours and having blocks of time where you're not working at all or is it a regular 9-5 type job?

Did you always have a talent for drawing or did you improve your skill with practice?

5rtytry56 · 13-05-2016 04:03PM

Have you done stop-gap film product

job seeker · 13-05-2016 10:49PM

What advice would you give someone that want's to really follow in your footsteps? #Dreamjob!

Also

Which is your favourite? Simpsons or Family guy

misstearheus · 14-05-2016 05:28PM

What's your favourite colour?

How well do you take criticism?

Is this what you've always wanted to work at?

What's your dress-style like?

uck51js9zml2yt · 14-05-2016 08:55PM

What the next big movie in the pipeline....promise we'll swear a blood oath and promise to do nasty things to ourselves if it ever leaks out

I'm an Animator, AMA · 14-05-2016 09:34PM

Tell me how wrote: »

Thank you for your detailed responses and effort in answering all questions.

Do you have any advice for software packages/process for someone interested in getting into animation purely for hobby purposes.

Are there online tutorials you would recommend for this purpose?

you can download Maya for free with a student license, theyd only come looking for money if you start profiting off what you make with it. I believe 1 professional Maya license is about $3000.
As for online tutorials, I'm not sure, I know a lot of people trying to break into the industry go through online schools like animation mentor or ianimate. You should check out their YouTube channels as they have a lot of tips and tricks videos that might help

I'm an Animator, AMA · 14-05-2016 09:42PM

Liamario wrote: »

Do you tend to analyse effect shots in other movies while you're watching them (in a non-professional capacity)?

Are there any effects shots in movies that you've created all by yourself?

Yes all the time, it can be quite a pain when you're trying to enjoy the film and you see every small mistake!
I saw the jungle book a while ago and while it was a great film, I need to watch it again as I spent most the time analysing everything. Even down to the birds flying in the background.

And no,for every 1 shot in a film there's probably 10 hands in it. I know how to animate and slightly know how to rig.
Just so we're on it the process is this:
Say for a shot with a cg character in a live action scene,
Someone will model the character, then someone textures it (colours, bumps in the skin, different speculars for different parts of the body),
Someone rigs it (gives it bones and joints, to put it simply),
I animate it,
Next person adds effects like fire/dust etc in the scene,
Then it's given hair/cloth
Then it's lit (making sure the lighting on the character matches the lighting in the real scene),
Then it's comped (someone puts all this stuff together and adds that final 10% of colour variation to pretty it up).

So it's a big long process and very much hands on, I think when I first started getting into cg I was suprised how little (almost nothing) the computer did for the final image. It's very manual

I'm an Animator, AMA · 14-05-2016 09:50PM

IrishAlice wrote: »

Does working as an animator entail working odd hours and having blocks of time where you're not working at all or is it a regular 9-5 type job?

Did you always have a talent for drawing or did you improve your skill with practice?

It's a regular 9-6 until crunch time where you can be doing overtime til midnight. Essentially it's on you to finish the shot no matter how long It takes. Studios will always underbid how long the film should take to make as the production companies want it done fast. It's probably the biggest problem in this industry is the ungodly overtime at times. I would like it to change but I don't really see in practicality how it can. All in all its a fun job so it's not a deal breaker when the last few weeks on a project rolls round.
It is a very contract based job though so there is a lot of jumping between different studios. It's good and bad as the best way to bump your salary is to have two studios wanting to have you work there. But it's bad obviously if it's quiet Month in film (usually end of the summer, after all the big blockbusters but too early for the Christmas releases).

And I was always drawing and doodling and I enjoyed art since I can remember, but I think if someone is passionate enough it won't hold them back not being a fantastic drawer. And animation is a very different art form to anytime else. It's art based in space and time, so everyone is a beginner to animation when they actually start animating

scudzilla · 14-05-2016 09:53PM

You said you'd worked on Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy, how close would you ever come, if you do, to the films stars??

Also, after a hard days animating, if you were to sit down to a good cheeseboard, what would your favourite cheese be?

I'm an Animator, AMA · 15-05-2016 12:38AM

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Have you done stop-gap film product

I'm not sure what stop gap is, is it stop motion?
If do no I never have, that'd be an interesting one to try! In paper animation and cg animation the usual approach to animating is called "pose to pose". So if a guy is throwing a punch let's say, you would pose him in a 'getting ready to punch' on 1 frame, then pose the actual punch a few frames later. The animatin at this stage would look very robotic, since it's going linearly from point A to B. So this is where you add in all the nice realistic motions that makes it feel alive on the frames in between these two poses (such as limbs overlapping, an anticipation for the punch, etc).
But with stop motion you can't go pose to pose, you have to animate it "straight ahead" which is where you keep in mind all this stuff at all times and animate it frame by frame. It's extreeeemely difficult to do, so I'm very impressed when I see great stop motion, such as the stuff that comes out of Laika.

I'm an Animator, AMA · 15-05-2016 12:50AM

job seeker wrote: »

What advice would you give someone that want's to really follow in your footsteps? #Dreamjob!

Also

Which is your favourite? Simpsons or Family guy

I'd say if you're in Dublin, ballyFermot have a 1 year animation course that's a good foundation, however, I don't think the degree is particularly the best route to get into cg animation.
Honestle, your best choice would probably be animation mentor, ianimate or animschool. They're all online classes and you do lectures with high up animators working at studios like Disney, Pixar, ILM etc.
It feels a bit weird to take online classes instead of going to a college, but honestly it really is the best route to get your foot in the door of this industry. They have a fairly high employment rate of graduates within the first year, I think it's like 80%.
Apart from that, download Maya and do some exercises! Start with a bouncing ball and nail it. The bouncing ball has been the standard starting point in animation because it basically has 99% of all the principles of animation. When you really break down how someone moves, it all comes from the hips... and the hips are pretty much just a ball bouncing along.
11 second club is a good one too,its a monthly animation competition and there's a big forum of people giving tips, advice, tutorials etc.
So yeah, if you think it's something you'd like to try, give it a go! If you end up liking animating then give it your all. Honestly, it is a hard discipline to learn and it's tough to land that first gig, but it really isn't out of reach like you may think. If you put in the work you'll get to where you want to go. One of the great things I find about this industry is that it doesn't matter how many degrees you have, where you went to college, how good your cv looks... you show the recruiter your animation and if it's good you get the job.
Hope that helps, let me know if you need anything cleared up, I tend to go on tangents in these replies!

I'm an Animator, AMA · 15-05-2016 01:00AM

misstearheus wrote: »

What's your favourite colour?

How well do you take criticism?

Is this what you've always wanted to work at?

What's your dress-style like?

I suppose I don't have a favorite colour! They're all nice except grey!

Ya have to take criticism well in this industry or you will be kicked to the curb! Some shots you poured your heart into can be torn to shreds in seconds by a supervisor. We constantly critique each others work through the day. Like, I'll have dailies with the supervisor once a day, and he'll give me notes on what to do/change etc. But beyond that, I say every hour I'd ask the guys around me what they think of X movement or if Y would be a good idea, and they do the same.
I've learnt too many times that a fresh pair of eyes can see something so obvious that you missed from staring at it for hours. Honestly I have been shocked how I could have missed something and when it's pointed out it becomes so obvious. So yeah criticism is, second to using reference, the most important thing you need as an animator.

No actually, I had no clue through school what I wanted to do with my life, and honestly working on films seemed so out of the realm of possibility. But then I took a class in animation just to try it out and I got hooked! It really became the only thing I was interested in making a living at after that. So I just took a leap of faith and it worked out. I know it sounds a bit cliche but at least for this industry, if you work hard you will make it. I don't know anyone who's put in 100% that hasnt landed an animation gig

Tuxedos everyday! Ha nah just jeans and a shirt, there's really no dress code in this line of work. When it gets to the overtime I usually break the sweatpants and hoodies out.

I'm an Animator, AMA · 15-05-2016 01:02AM

Brittany Shrilling Lobotomy wrote: »

What the next big movie in the pipeline....promise we'll swear a blood oath and promise to do nasty things to ourselves if it ever leaks out

Well there's some I can't say at all, NDAs are taken so seriously!
But I know jungle book 2 is in the works.
Ghost in the Shell is one too.

I'm an Animator, AMA · 15-05-2016 01:09AM

scudzilla wrote: »

You said you'd worked on Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy, how close would you ever come, if you do, to the films stars??

Also, after a hard days animating, if you were to sit down to a good cheeseboard, what would your favourite cheese be?

Yeah I've met a few, sometimes they've come in to use the motion capture room. It's odd seeing them in person at first but you kinda get used to it! Also you try to keep an air of professionalism since both them and you are there for work... but sometimes your inner fangirl gets the best of you!
If I'm being honest though, a lot of them have too much of a "hollywood" ego persona for me to like. I think a lot of people would be disappointed meeting some actors who seem so normal and cool in interviews in real life.
Also I've yet to meet a director that has a single clue what he was doing with his film haha.

I hate eating cheese by itself! I'd take some cheddar and make a grilled Sambo with it!

Lisha · 15-05-2016 09:45AM

What did you think of Song of the Sea and the Book of Kells?

I loved them but was saddened that audience numbers were small compared to bigger budget offerings .

I'm an Animator, AMA · 16-05-2016 03:44AM

Lisha wrote: »

What did you think of Song of the Sea and the Book of Kells?

I loved them but was saddened that audience numbers were small compared to bigger budget offerings .

I have only seen secret of kells, and I really enjoyed it! I do miss seeing 2d animation and I think its a terrible shame Disney closed down their 2d studio... but money talks and the mainstream audience pay more for cg animation.

And yes it is sad to see that good films don't get recognized because they don't have blockbuster budgets. Marketing is a huge factor for films, and if the studio doesnt have the budget to advertise it enough, it's hard for the average Joe to even know it exists. In a perfect world having a great story and compelling characters should be enough.

Liamario · 16-05-2016 11:48AM

Are you limited to live-action work or do you do full cg movies like Pixar?

What movie/franchise do you think is king when it comes to digital animation? What did you think of

young Tony Stark in Cap 3?

I'm an Animator, AMA · 16-05-2016 11:44PM

Liamario wrote: »

Are you limited to live-action work or do you do full cg movies like Pixar?

What movie/franchise do you think is king when it comes to digital animation? What did you think of
young Tony Stark in Cap 3?

The studio I'm at does just VFX but I wouldn't say it's limiting, you'd be suprised how much is actually full cg. Everyone but Black Widow and Hawkeye were CG in the airport battle sequence in Civil War, so the process for making something CG Photorealistic and cartoonish just comes down to style, the process for making both is exactly the same.
Even with Black Widow and Hawkeye, a gooood majority of their shots were digital doubles as well.
Personally, I enjoy making something thats not real look like its part of a world in whatever film with live actors. There are annoyances too; if you have to have a CG character interact with a real actor you have to take the actors ques on when to do something/where the character needs to be in the screen space, which can mess up the beauty of the animation. like for example, if a character is supposed to run from screen left to screen right and the actor needs to watch him run across the whole time, if the actor is too slow or too fast it can ruin the realism, but if you just make the animation nice and ignore the actors ques, it kills the illusion completely. Theres a balance to be made in that sense. The film making process still has a ways to go to really nail how to successfully have the actor and CG character interact. Right now it feels like 2 builders laying bricks at opposite ends of a driveway and hoping to god it matches up in the end!

I would have said Pixar were the kings a few years ago, but honestly the stuff they have been coming out with has been extremely lackluster. I know Inside out was popular (I personally didn't enjoy it, felt too "lets go to this island, oh no it sank, lets go to this island, oh that one sank too, ok this island!" just please get to where you are going!)
but apart from inside, out there has been Cars 2, Brave, The Good Dinosaur,
Whereas look at disney slaying it! Zootopia, Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6. Disney are the kings of Animation right now hands down!
As for VFX, ILM are usually always mentioned as the top tier for VFX. However Double Negative just won the oscar for Ex-Machina (Fantastic film) and MPC just did The Jungle Book which was a visual spectacle, So the waters as to whos king in VFX is a little more murky.

I thought they could have found someone who looks similar to him and used that person. VFX should be subtle and used when it's needed. It should help to tell the story. I felt with young Stark it was distracting as it's clearly CG. Good CG, but still noticable and it took the audiences focus away from what was an important story moment.

Liamario · 17-05-2016 12:15AM

I'm an Animator, AMA wrote: »

The studio I'm at does just VFX but I wouldn't say it's limiting, you'd be suprised how much is actually full cg. Everyone but Black Widow and Hawkeye were CG in the airport battle sequence in Civil War, so the process for making something CG Photorealistic and cartoonish just comes down to style, the process for making both is exactly the same.
Even with Black Widow and Hawkeye, a gooood majority of their shots were digital doubles as well.
Personally, I enjoy making something thats not real look like its part of a world in whatever film with live actors. There are annoyances too; if you have to have a CG character interact with a real actor you have to take the actors ques on when to do something/where the character needs to be in the screen space, which can mess up the beauty of the animation. like for example, if a character is supposed to run from screen left to screen right and the actor needs to watch him run across the whole time, if the actor is too slow or too fast it can ruin the realism, but if you just make the animation nice and ignore the actors ques, it kills the illusion completely. Theres a balance to be made in that sense. The film making process still has a ways to go to really nail how to successfully have the actor and CG character interact. Right now it feels like 2 builders laying bricks at opposite ends of a driveway and hoping to god it matches up in the end!

I would have said Pixar were the kings a few years ago, but honestly the stuff they have been coming out with has been extremely lackluster. I know Inside out was popular (I personally didn't enjoy it, felt too "lets go to this island, oh no it sank, lets go to this island, oh that one sank too, ok this island!" just please get to where you are going!)
but apart from inside, out there has been Cars 2, Brave, The Good Dinosaur,
Whereas look at disney slaying it! Zootopia, Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6. Disney are the kings of Animation right now hands down!
As for VFX, ILM are usually always mentioned as the top tier for VFX. However Double Negative just won the oscar for Ex-Machina (Fantastic film) and MPC just did The Jungle Book which was a visual spectacle, So the waters as to whos king in VFX is a little more murky.

I thought they could have found someone who looks similar to him and used that person. VFX should be subtle and used when it's needed. It should help to tell the story. I felt with young Stark it was distracting as it's clearly CG. Good CG, but still noticable and it took the audiences focus away from what was an important story moment.

Stark wasn't 100%, but it's possibly the best I've seen of something of that nature.
The CG in Ex Machina was immaculate to my amateur eye. At least, if there were flaws, I never noticed them.

17-05-2016 08:33AM

is it true ray harryhausen made king kong from a sock?

I read it somewhere!, seriously. What an amazing guy though.

I don't expect you to know that, but you really should be blown away by his talent, as I'm sure you are.:)

jigglypuffstuff · 17-05-2016 04:44PM

I'm an Animator, AMA wrote: »

Hello all!

The last project I worked on was Captain America: Civil War, and now I am on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The best Project I've worked on was probably Guardians of the Galaxy. As far as the film pipeline goes, this went as smoothly as it could. but there was a loooooot of overtime

Two of my favourite movies, what kind of scenes did you do on them?

I'm an Animator, AMA · 17-05-2016 08:21PM

rusty cole wrote: »

is it true ray harryhausen made king kong from a sock?

I read it somewhere!, seriously. What an amazing guy though.

I don't expect you to know that, but you really should be blown away by his talent, as I'm sure you are.:)

Ha I'm not too savvy on much practical effecrs/stop motion, but apparently the original king Kong felt so realistic at the time people left that theatre terrified

I'm an Animator, AMA · 17-05-2016 10:52PM

pone2012 wrote: »

I'm an Animator, AMA wrote: »

Hello all!

The last project I worked on was Captain America: Civil War, and now I am on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The best Project I've worked on was probably Guardians of the Galaxy. As far as the film pipeline goes, this went as smoothly as it could. but there was a loooooot of overtime

Two of my favourite movies, what kind of scenes did you do on them?

On Civil War I worked mostly on the Airport battle sequence.
On Guardians I worked on a few shots scattered through the film, but most of them were in the prison escape scene

jigglypuffstuff · 17-05-2016 10:58PM

I'm an Animator, AMA wrote: »

On Civil War I worked mostly on the Airport battle sequence.
On Guardians I worked on a few shots scattered through the film, but most of them were in the prison escape scene

My hats off to you Sir, you did an amazing job on both!

Boards.ie: Niamh · 24-05-2016 10:35AM

I think we'll close this one up now- thanks for all the answers and questions!

Now Ye're Talking - to a Film Animator

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