Professional Development Report
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Professional Development: Industry Report – Character Animation and Design Gurpreet Johal UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON 1504167 Contents • Introduction • Industry Roles and Opportunities • About Pixar • Pixar Opportunities • Pixar Competitors • Case study x2 • Conclusion • Bibliography Introduction In this report I will explore Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004) and be used as a starting point to follow the career paths of individuals who have worked on this film. With this being my favourite Pixar film, using IMDb, I will be specifically diving into the career paths of Gini Cruz Santos and Teddy Newton. Gini Cruz Santos was a character animator on this film whereas, Teddy Newton took on the role as a character designer. Teddy Newton’s career history is much more diverse in comparison to Gini Cruz Santos which in turn will show the industries wide-range. With my main focus being character animation, character design also peaks my interest. The ability to create my own unique characters that are not of the norm compared to stereotypical designs in terms of being fair skinned and very slim, as well as giving life to them is a very rewarding experience that animation has to offer. Industry Roles and Opportunities My ultimate goal is to work for Pixar Animation Studios as a character animator. The role of a character animator as the Creative Skillset designates, “Animators follow a brief from a Director, Animation Director or Key Animator, and refer to established designs, models and layouts when creating the movement which will appear on screen”. A character animator trains for years to understand the principles (rules) of animation, these are basic skills that are advanced within character animation to aid the believability of a character. It does not matter which software or animation technique is used, the principles are the same. A trained character animator may need to train in various forms of animation (2D, 3D, stop motion) and to be knowledgeable in a variety of software. Pixar uses 3D software, and it would be a requirement of the role to know the software in addition to the animation training. Although I am intent in character animation, character design also peaks my interest. I enjoy creating my own characters that are unique and different to stereotypical designs in terms of being fair skinned and very thin. Seeing my characters come to life is very rewarding as animation allows this to happen. The role of a character designer as Career Match depicts that, “A Character Designer creates the look and feel of animated characters”. As well as character animators, a character designer is quite a varied role in terms of area in which they may be desired. In these roles, the areas of industry could include, video games, animation, illustration, etc. Both character animators and designers could potentially work as freelance or as part of a studio. However, this does tend to be set on a basis for the duration of the film they are working on for example. This can make it quite difficult to keep a steady income as you would be constantly trying to look for work before your next job ends. Nevertheless, each job would get your name out there and possibly make it easier to get work as your credibility increases. Some studios do however hire staff on a permanent basis. For example, BrownBag Films is one studio that does this. However, they also hire on a contract basis. About Pixar Pixar is one of the most successful animation studios around today. As described in an article by John M. Cunningham, “Pixar Animation Studios, motion-picture studio, from 2006 a wholly owned subsidiary of the Disney Company, that was instrumental in the development and production of computer-animated films in the late 20th and early 21st centuries”. Pixar has received worldwide success with their full-length feature films as well as their shorts. As they have also developed their characters beyond their films and continued into merchandising them as toys, as well as tourist attractions in together with the Walt Disney Company. One thing Pixar does very well is storytelling. From watching Pixar films, I feel as though their characters always resonate with you. You feel as though they are real people that you begin to know yourself. From Pixar’s website they have stated that, “The objective of Pixar is to combine creative talent and proprietary technology to create computer animated films with heart-warming and memorable stories and characters. Pixar has a “story first” approach in all of their films”. I agree with this statement as it is apparent in their films. With Up being one of them, in the married life scene you get so much insight into the characters life in such a short period of time. Each shot flows very easily into the next. From once painting their child’s room to a shot of a hospital room, the transition of colour and change in mood retains a significance to the audience. Their story’s also entail Figure 1: Up. Pixar (2009). such moral chooses for its audience. The films resonate with you and also to young audiences they help teach them what is right and what is wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5HN3-l_f-U Above is a link to a documentary of a day in the life of John Lasseter. This documentary does not only glorify Pixar and John Lasseter’s life style, but also shows the challenges they face and the way in which the team deal with it. One challenge they faced was the references to radiation in a scene in Cars 2. During its production, an incident known as the Fukushima Accident occurred in Japan which according to The Telegraph, “Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 150 miles northeast of Tokyo, was severely damaged by the earthquake and tsunami with its crucial cooling systems knocked out, resulting in a series of explosions, meltdowns - and the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years”. In order to be sensitive about using the term radiation at this time, John Lasseter made the decision to re-word a line of dialogue in Cars 2 which originally stated, “when hit with a blast of radiation it becomes extremely dangerous”. This was then changed to “this camera is actually an electromagnetic pulse”. The way in which this situation was dealt with was very remorsefully as they took into consideration the unfortunate events that happened. Within this documentary John Lasseter indicated, “Even in animation sometimes you have to make changes… you try to be sensitive to your audiences all around the world”. This graph from Box Office Quant compares films since 1980. Which an article by Edmund states, “comparing their domestic gross to their reported production budget. The line represents the average (the regression line), and Pixar has beaten the average every single time – a feat no other studio has come close to matching”. Pixar Opportunities Pixar offer internships for both undergraduates and graduates all year round, for twelve weeks as well as six-month terms for a variety of different areas including animation. They also offer other forms of class room-based internships as well. Pixar seem to be a company who nurtures talent and especially young talent as Pixar readily open up their internship programs. This could be a good way to get your foot in the door into a large animation studio. However, with Pixar being such a large and successful company it is very competitive in order to get into as you must excel at your craft in order to do so. Although they offer these opportunities, they are extremely competitive to get into. Due to the fact that they are a dominating studio in the animation industry they are a company that many individuals would want to get involved with. Therefore, you must also be highly skilled at your craft in order to do so. Pixar also create various short films which are directed by existing employees. This would be a great chance in order to test their directing skills and possibly give them the chance to increase their status in their career ladder. On Pixar’s website, they have several videos under “Path to Pixar”. In these videos, they show how current employees managed to get into the company from various departments. These are helpful to watch because they give you useful tips about the industry and ways that you can improve your own skills. There are also many online resources that are good for practise. For example, 11 Second Club is an ongoing animation competition. Every month a new sound file is released that individuals can animate to for free. Each submission is reviewed by professional animators which is incredibly useful when trying to find ways to improve. Animation mentor is another website that can be used to enhance your learning. There are a variety of different courses by staff from Pixar who would be teaching you. This is a very popular online animation school however, it is very expensive to get onto due to the fact that the staff come from large animation studios which also gives it, its high rate of employment after the course. Pixar Competitors According to an article by Jason Dietz he stated just before the release of Toy Story 3 (2010), “every one of Pixar's 10 releases has been a box office smash, averaging over $550 million in worldwide grosses per film. Add in merchandising and home video revenues, and it's enough almost to make you forget that one- time Pixar owner Steve Jobs has another company”. This shows how successful Pixar has been and how large their dominance is within the industry.