ADDED TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences introduces a Visual Effects cate- gory for the Oscars.
1977
R/GREENEBRG FOUNDED:
Founded in 1977 by brothers Richard and Robert Greenberg, whose pioneering achievements in computer-assisted filmmaking earned their company a technical Academy Award.
1977
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH22ND FEATURE FOR DISNEY: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Poohis a full-length animated film based upon the Winnie the Pooh
books by A. A. Milne.
1977
Another great tool is to utilize those around you. You can act out your scene, but how would the guy next to you do it? If you have other people act out your scene too, you get even more ideas on how to solve the issues with the shot. You can direct that person because you’re watching, not performing. You will get some of your best ideas from this technique. Look at the scenes around your shot as a point of reference, as well. Research is so important to making your choices believable. Tony Bancroft offers more insight on his first steps to animating a scene:
I look at the scenes around it to check for hookups. I ask myself, “What is the purpose of this scene in the movie?” That question always helps me to not overthink the acting.
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By acting out a performance, you can discover all kinds of nuances, like Don Waller tells us in his story about animators on Jurassic Park. Sketch by Floyd Norman.
WIZARDSBY RALPH BAKSHI:Wizardswas originally to be entirely cel-animated from scratch, but because of budget problems, Ralph Bakshi was unable to complete the battle sequences. As a result, he finished his film by paying out of his own pocket and using rotoscoping for the unfinished sequences.The art in this film is heav- ily influenced by Vaughn Bode’s Cheech Wizardcomics and has inspired many street and graffiti artists of today.
1977
PETE’S DRAGON RELEASED: Pete’s Dragonis a live-action movie, but its title character, a dragon named Elliott, is animated.This was Don Bluth’s biggest influence on a Disney film, and Ken Anderson designed the dragon.
1977
The scenes leading up to and after your shot will give you a point of reference for the state of mind of your character. Now, play that moment out to understand the meaning behind the action. When acting out a scene, you begin to really feel what is going on physically and mentally. Acting it out for reference is the best way to observe how the scene feels and to try to live inside the head of your character. Victor Huang tells us why his new digital camera is his best friend:
I picked up this [digital] camera that shoots full-motion video and copies MPEGs right to your computer. It’s my new best friend when it comes to planning a scene. Acting an entire scene out lets you “animate” it 10 different ways without setting a single key frame. From there you can pick out your favorite performance. Acting is essential to my prep time before starting a scene.
Finally, acting out the scene as a form of reference will help you get all of the different ideas out of your sys- tem, concentrating more and more on the goal of the scene. Improv actors have many warm-up exercises they do before performing. These exercises help the improvisers get rid of all of the trite and used ideas in their head and start a more evolutionary and organic approach to their scenes. You need to have fun explor- ing your own interpretation of what the acting should be. If YOU were the character, how would you do it? Conrad Vernon offers his approach to providing reference for his animators on Shrek:
OnShrek, when I was giving direction on a scene, I would get up and say, “Here is a sugges- tion for the acting the way I see it.” I would get up there and literally act it out. They would sketch my poses every once in a while. I would give them ideas, and sometimes they filmed it. I would go to their desks and re-act it out for them because I knew what I wanted in my head. The animators will come up with such great stuff. You give them the raw materials, and they make it work. I get up and act it out, and I do the body language to it. They take an impression away with them. They don’t film me and then literally match my every move. They are looking and they say to themselves, “Okay, I get it. I see what he is going for.” It’s never that literal, thank goodness. They do take an impression away, and what we see next is their interpretation, which is really, really great.
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THE RESCUERS23RD FEATURE FOR DISNEY: The Rescuerswas inspired by a series of children’s novels by Margery Sharp.
1977
DEATH STAR SIM USING GRASS PRO- GRAMMING LANGUAGE:Larry Cuba produced Death Star simulation for Star Wars
using Grass at UICC developed by Tom DeFanti at Ohio State. GRASS (Graphics Symbiosis System) was a programming language created to script visual animations in 2D.
1977
RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTUREFIRST ANIMATED MOVIE BASED ON A TOY:Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure was directed by Richard Williams, who reluctantly took over after Abe Levitow’s death.
1977
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Hard at work. Sketch by Dave Zaboski.
FRANK CROW CRE- ATES ANTI-ALIASING:
Frank Crow created innova- tions in anti-aliasing and shading algorithms.
1977
OSCAR FOR SPECIAL DELIVERY
(NFB):Special Deliverywon the Best Short Subject: Animated Films Oscar and numerous other international hon- ors, including top prize at the Zagreb Animation Festival in the former nation of Yugoslavia.
1978
DIGITAL EFFECTS (DE) IS FOUNDED:DE was the first CG house in New York and was one of the first com- panies to establish itself as a contributor to the film industry in a big way.They teamed with Abel, MAGI, and III to contribute to the motion picture Tron.
1978
This is what acting out your scene does for you before actually animating. Whether you are using a pencil or a computer, this step is crucial. Don’t worry about making a fool of yourself jumping around and acting out at your desk, because the animators around you understand what you are doing. If they are not animators, then just do what Corey Florimonte does, and they will stay far away from you and let you work (because they will think you are crazy):
Before I start animating a scene, I like to think of how I would do the action myself. Generally, that gives me a great idea of what not to do with the animation because it is usu- ally not broad enough. After that is established, I try to find the other extreme—to go com- pletely overboard on the motion. This is where I like to start acting out the part in my cubicle or in the hallway, especially if there is running and jumping involved. Be careful, though—non-animators tend not to understand when you come flying around a corner and crash into them. If this happens, you should simply state, “This is gonna be great—you’ve really helped me nail down this character!” and run back to your desk, put your headphones on, and pretend you’ve been struck by the lightning bolt of inspiration until they stop staring at you. Generally you’ll find the action you want somewhere within these two extremes.
Acting out a scene as a form of reference will help you escape stale and cliché ideas when posing your scenes and will tighten up the ideas you have for the shot. It’s one of the most organic ways to really walk in your character’s shoes. Video reference is a great tool to use when acting out your scenes because you can be “in the moment” and watch that recorded. If you use the reference footage loosely and stylize it into exaggerated moments, you will come up with some really creative performances.